Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

He twisted the spear, and my whole lower arm went numb with pain. What would it feel like if he actually… No, I couldn’t think about that. I wasn’t going to let Farl win this game. I shook my head, set my jaw. Yes, Navan had killed Farl’s brother, but it had been an act of self-defense. I had a feeling that Farl wouldn’t buy that reasoning, but I refused to implicate Navan, no matter what this psycho wolfman did.

Farl leaned in even closer, his eyes boring into mine. His voice was now deadly quiet. “You’d be dead now, you know, if I hadn’t lost track of you, that night in Alaska. I followed you to the nearby village, waiting to catch you all in a moment when your two coldblood companions had their guards down. But it seemed someone else was following you, too—on an unrelated mission. After the gunshots exploded, you took off, and I lost the chance of finding you. Still, I held out hope we’d meet again, and this time, I’d get the Fed itself to serve you justice… but instead they set you free on a mission. A mission during which you betrayed them again. Now, tell me what you did to my brother—I want to hear you say it yourself.”

I said nothing.

“Admit it!” he roared, jabbing the tip in deeper, sending explosions of pain all over my arm. “Admit that you and your master killed him.”

“I’m sorry!” I cried out. “This is all a misunderstanding. Navan—”

“What is the meaning of this?”

Hearing the familiar voice, I practically fainted with relief. It was the green-eyed lycan from before. He’d come to find me early.

“A mere questioning session, Galo,” Farl replied coolly. He lifted the metal spear off my arm, where it had left an angry purple bruise.

“In the torture chamber? In the middle of the night?” Galo asked in a voice laced with skepticism.

“There were doubts as to her story’s veracity,” Farl replied.

“And yet you weren’t questioning her story about the coldblood base,” Galo stated.

Farl sprang up, spear still in hand.

“Her coldblood companion lied to us. He killed my brother—I saw him less than a hundred yards from the scene of the crime myself!”

Galo strode forward and took my hand. “Then you should be speaking to him. This one is a human—a mere girl at that.”

Farl grabbed my other hand, although he kept his furious gaze locked on Galo.

“Humans can be swayed to commit crimes as heinous as any coldblood. We both know that.”

“That may be so, but right now you are defying a direct order from our authority, Commander Sylvan, not to interfere with the investigation,” Galo said in a forceful voice. “Stand down or face the consequences.”

Farl didn’t move.

“Careful,” Galo warned.

Farl spat on the ground, then let go of my hand.

As Galo led my trembling self over to the door, Farl called after him: “This isn’t the end of this.”

Galo paused to toss him a dark smile. “Oh, I don’t doubt it.” His gaze swept around the room, to the other motionless, masked lycans, whom I’d almost forgotten were there. “You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Farl mourned his brother. What’s your excuse?”

“We’re ready for a new legislature, one that’s harder on coldbloods and their ilk,” Farl answered for them, practically spitting.

“Thankfully, Farl, you are in the minority. This will be reported to Commander Sylvan, as I’m sure you know good and well. Farewell.”

Just before the door closed, Farl hissed, “Damned veritas.”

I had no idea what he meant by that, but as we walked along the corridor, I was too grateful to still be alive to think about it. I kept having to inhale and exhale deeply—it felt surreal, walking freely down the same place I’d been dragged through.

Galo patted my back almost gingerly, and I noticed only then that he had on a big backpack made of a thick black nylon-like material.

“Well, hello again. And I apologize for my… Hm, ‘comrades’ is too generous a word,” he said. “Some Fed agents aren’t worthy of the name. Certain lycans can be extremely territorial and vengeful, regardless of the vows they take when they join the Fed.”

All I could do was nod as we continued. My nerves were still on edge, half of me expecting Farl to come charging back for me. I’d feel safer once we’d put more distance between ourselves and that room.

“Anyway, all that did was further prove that you can’t stay here. With the commander gone, it’s not safe. I stole some invisibility suits, and now I’m taking you to your friends. We’ll rescue Navan together,” the lycan said.

I stalled and stared at him, stunned. “Wh-What?” I asked, hardly daring to believe my ears.

He sniffed, and then said simply, “I’ve decided it’s the right thing to do. Not to mention that Navan would make a valuable ally in the fight against these rebel coldbloods.”

“Wha… Okay,” was all I could respond with. I had been hoping he’d help me out, but what I hadn’t been expecting was for him to shoulder the responsibility himself. I was hardly going to interrogate him now, though. “Thanks,” I breathed.

“Come along, we’ve no time to waste.”

We continued up a stone staircase, until we emerged in a huge chamber of floor-to-ceiling white marble rippled with green. I paused to take in our impressive surroundings. The room was filled with ships that resembled the one Navan and I had used: small, compact, and made of what looked to be chrome.

“Hurry—if we take too long, they won’t let us leave at all,” Galo said.

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure that this odd lycan would even be able to fly a ship. Farl had called him a “veritas”, whatever that was. He was clearly different from the other lycans, with his thin, gangly frame, and he was visibly getting on in years.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked tentatively. As much as I was glad for his help, a part of me still felt this was too good to be true, and I wanted to be sure of our safety.

“Not now,” Galo said, his bushy brow furrowed. “I need to concentrate. We’re stealing a ship.” He said it matter-of-factly, the same way you’d say, “I brushed my teeth last night.”

He strode up to one ship, put his hand on it, then shook his head. “No, no…” he muttered. At the next ship, his face lit up. “Aha!”

He turned to me with a toothy grin. “To answer your question about whether this is a good idea, my answer would be ‘probably not.’ However, the result of us being caught and us doing nothing at all are about the same—you won’t be able to see your friends.”

He gave the ship he’d chosen two taps, and the door slid open, revealing a compact interior. We climbed in, and once we were both seated in the cushy seats and the steel door had shut behind us, I realized the obvious problem: getting the ship out of this room. There was no visible way of flying the ship out of here—the room was made up of four marble walls, as well as a marble floor and ceiling. Unless Galo planned on somehow squeezing the ship through a doorway, I wasn’t sure how we were going to lift off.

“So, uh,” I began.

“Don’t worry,” Galo said absently. “Just watch.”

With that, he pressed a small, round blue button. Seconds later, the ship was disappearing under his hands.

“Drat!” he cursed, jamming the button again, bringing the ship out of invisibility.