Hotbloods 6: Allies

“Hey, don’t blame me for that. I thought you already knew,” he protested, though there was a mischievous look on his face. “Plus, wasn’t it more fun to find out that way? I imagine you need a bit of excitement with Captain Dull for a boyfriend. A cheap thrill or two is never a bad thing.” He winked, his wrinkled lid trailing over one red-veined eye.

“No, it wasn’t freaking fun! That’s something a girl like me needs to know!” I shouted. “Do you have any idea what’ll happen if Ezra finds out I was the one who killed Pandora?”

Mort snorted. “Don’t kid yourself, sweetheart. He definitely knows it was you by now. Orion will have told him,” he said bluntly. “I’d bet my life on it, and you know how precious I am about my life.”

I stared at him, aghast. I wanted to wipe the amused look off his face, but I was frozen to the spot in shock. Ezra was Orion’s right-hand man—of course he would’ve told him. Plus, judging by what I’d overheard, he’d been the one holding Orion’s hand through his grief. I’d known this day would come, when my part in Pandora’s death would no longer be a secret, but the fact still terrified me.

“How did these coldblood rebels come to infiltrate Earth in the first place?” Xiphio asked, breaking the tense silence. “Surely, there ought to have been Federal agents preventing such a thing from taking place. The Vysantheans are known flouters of the rules, but they should not have been permitted to settle on a planet with such limited exposure to the universe.”

Mort shrugged. “What’re you asking me for? In that setup, I was the equivalent of you, Agent Klutz—the lowest of the low.”

“Yes, but Earth ought to be protected under the Embryo Project, wherein young planets with a fairly lesser-developed indigenous species are shielded by hidden groups of Fed agents,” Xiphio insisted, ignoring Mort’s insults. “It is a well-known project. There are several planets under its protection, and Earth is one of them, I believe. I cannot understand how such an infiltration has been allowed to occur.”

“Lycans, probably,” Mort remarked. “They’re bored and lazy, and it’s made them more or less useless.”

Xiphio shook his head, his brow furrowed in concern. “This really is not acceptable. I didn’t realize that the coldbloods had such a strong base there. Someone ought to have stopped it by now.”

He genuinely seemed troubled by the situation, reviving my hopes that we might have a long-term ally in him, despite all the crimes I’d committed. In the grand scheme of things, I hoped that a rebel coldblood infiltration would be a lot higher on the priority scale than a couple of misdemeanors. Although, he’d never been stationed on Earth before, so what power he could wield there, I had no idea.

“You know they’re trying to make an immortality elixir too, don’t you?” I said, testing the waters. “Queen Brisha, Queen Gianne, and the rebels—all three are in a race against each other to see who can make it first. So far, nobody has succeeded, but it’ll only be a matter of time until one of them does. In fact, Stone has a notebook with him that might hold the secret to making a successful elixir. It’s another reason we need to take him down, without him getting away, in case he sells it to someone.”

Xiphio’s gills began to open and close more quickly. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that. I can assist with retrieving the notebook, but beyond that… No, I don’t think that’s for me, I’m afraid.”

“Can’t you tell your friends in the Fed? Can’t they do something to stop it?” I pressed. Honestly, I was shocked by his hesitancy. I would’ve thought he’d jump at the chance to take on the bad guys, in the same way he’d shown concern about the rebels congregating on Earth.

“No, I really don’t think there’s anything they can do,” Xiphio mumbled.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Isn’t that what you guys are for?”

“We traverse the universe, to serve and protect.”

“Yeah, well, this falls under that category, Agent Xiphio,” I urged. “What’s the problem? Why can’t you call up your Fed buddies and let them know what’s going on? I’m sure they’d do anything they could to stop the Vysantheans, rebel or otherwise, from making an immortality elixir—as in, Vysantheans with eternal life, leaving a path of chaos wherever they go!”

Xiphio lowered his head. “The truth is… I don’t have much influence with the Fed anymore. My reputation is in tatters. Even if I told them about it, they’d think I was overreacting or trying to come up with something to regain some respect. They would likely file it under ‘unimportant’ and carry on with their lives,” he explained sadly. “Plus, you and your friends are still, technically, criminals. Your faces are in the index, and I will be forced to arrest you after this mission, regardless of my feelings.”

Mort snorted. “I’d like to see you try.”

I shot him a cold look, before turning back to Xiphio. “I understand. You’re just doing your job.” Although, in my head, I knew we’d just overpower him again.

“Fear not. I will do whatever I can to help your vulnerable home planet. It might end up being a suicide mission, to attempt to overtake a rebel coldblood and shifter alliance, especially one of that size, and try to remove them from Earth,” he said dubiously. “I imagine that’s why the lycan forces on Earth have not attempted it. Undoubtedly, the rebels installed themselves under the lycans’ noses, and by the time they realized it, the coldblood numbers were too great.”

“Yeah, but you said so yourself, that’s their job—to serve and protect, especially less-developed planets like ours,” I pressed.

Xiphio sighed. “Everyone fears the coldbloods, and retribution from the Vysanthean queens. Even if the rebels are clearly working against their own leaders, it doesn’t lessen the fear. Vysantheans will always defend their own, above anyone else.”

“So, you’re saying the Feds are cowards?”

“No, I am saying that I will do what I can to help you, under the circumstances,” he reiterated, his eyes flitting toward me. “I may be able to persuade them that it is worth taking on the Vysantheans, just this once.”

The door sounded suddenly, with the typed-in tone that indicated there was a friend outside. I broke away from Xiphio and ran for the door, turning on the cameras to see who stood outside. I already knew it was Navan, but I wanted to be sure. He stood there at the top of the cloaked gangway, peering into the camera, his face a blank canvas, showing nothing.

I yanked the door open, letting him inside. I was eager to tell him all about the new dot on the compass, and our potential alliance with Xiphio. It wasn’t all good news, given that we had no idea whether the Fed would cooperate, but it was a definite start. A much-needed boost to our confidence.

“Good morning!” I said, throwing my arms around him.

He chuckled, pulling me to him. “Good morning to you.”

I squealed as he picked me up, bridal-style, and carried me across the main space, the hatch closing behind us. He dipped to kiss me, and my whole body felt safe in his grasp. I looped my arms around his neck and smiled against his mouth as we kissed, my heart fluttering with excitement as he held me close.

“Where’d you go, anyway?” I asked. “Should I be worried about you being in such a good mood? You didn’t make an early morning trip to the brothel, did you?” I grinned up at him, although I was still anxious to know where he’d really gone.

“Not a chance, considering I left everything I could ever want in my bed,” he assured me. “I just headed to the weapons market to check for invisibility suits. I hoped they might have had a shipment, but there weren’t any.”

His excuse seemed a little off, as Bashrik had already picked up everything we needed while Angie and I were enjoying our first taste of the casino. There hadn’t been many weapons available, but he’d come back with a few guns, blades, arm shields, and a retractable spear to match the other one we still had. Plus, I could tell Navan was lying to me—he couldn’t meet my eyes.