Hotbloods 6: Allies

Lauren shrugged. “Sure, just don’t kill him or anything,” she half joked. “I’ll go find the others and let them know what’s happening. I think it’d be a good idea if we set off for Glossa now, before those pirates come looking for us.”

I was pretty sure she had an ulterior motive for wanting to get to Glossa as soon as possible, given that she was friends with the crew there, but I didn’t say anything. After all, it was good for us all to expand our horizons. Had we stayed on Earth, we’d probably be doing the same thing, each of us finding our own way in life in our new cities and colleges, while trying to hang on to the friendships we’d had our entire lives. Yes, this was a little unorthodox, but it was pretty much the same thing, right?

As soon as she was gone, her footsteps disappearing down the hallway, I turned back to Stone. Lauren might have been quick to forgive him for what he’d done, perhaps won over by his tragic sob story, but I wasn’t so easily manipulated.

“I don’t know what you’ve done to fool Lauren into thinking you’re a decent guy—and hey, maybe you’re not as bad as you seem—but if you EVER try and kidnap Lauren, or any of my friends, again, I will not hesitate to kill you on sight. I don’t care if you’re the last of your kind. If you put us through that hell again, I will make you extinct. Do you understand?” My voice was low and firm. I only wished I’d brought one of my knives so I could cut through his stupid hammock and send him falling to the floor.

Stone smiled, his face as calm as ever. “All understandable, but you’ve forgot one thing—what if Lauren wants to come back to us? What if her path’s already moved too far away from yours? Her course could be different. And we’ll not turn ‘er away if she wants to stay with us,” he said casually. “I weren’t joking when I said she was a rare bird. Never known a lass like ‘er. She’s sharp as anything, knows how to keep her head screwed on in any situation, and has this wicked sense of humor that has us rollin’ on the decks. Most extraordinary person I’ve ever met.”

I didn’t know what to make of him, now that he’d said that about Lauren. I’d been ready to huff and puff until the message got through, but there appeared to be genuine affection in his voice. His eyes had gone twinkly, a wistful smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. To an outsider like me, it was clear he had feelings for Lauren, but he didn’t seem aware of them. In fact, it was pretty obvious that Lauren had feelings for him, too, though she didn’t seem willing to admit them either.

They would make for a strange pair, but then again, a coldblood and a human had once seemed just as unlikely.





Chapter Twenty-Four





After locking Stone back in the storage closet, I walked toward the cockpit, where Bashrik was setting a course for Glossa. Lauren had already passed the news on to him, and he didn’t seem too upset about joining forces with a known criminal. I supposed we were past all that, given our own misdemeanors. I just hoped that meant the others were on board too, though they were nowhere to be seen. I thought about going in search of them, but I was too tired. Threatening Stone had taken the last morsel of energy I had, forcing me to seek comfort in the copilot’s seat. I sank down, taking deep breaths as I stared through the windshield at the grimy canal.

“Hmm, interesting,” Bashrik murmured thoughtfully, glancing down at the navigation panel.

“What’s up?” I asked half-heartedly.

“Well, the course to Glossa is in the same direction as Vysanthe,” he explained. “We can either pass by it or take a route that avoids it altogether.”

“Wouldn’t passing by it be too dangerous?”

Bashrik nodded slowly. “In theory, but if we’re very clever and use the cruiser’s shields, we can move past it without detection and pick up some news transmissions, to get a status on the war. If we’re planning to take on Orion and the rebels, we should probably find out what the queens are up to first—make sure they’re suitably occupied.”

“I wish there were intergalactic newspapers,” I joked, putting my feet up on the dashboard.

“Well, there are interplanetary news stations, but Vysanthe doesn’t allow reporters in. It’s a no-go zone with a hefty sentence if anyone gets caught undercover.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Yeah, take a look.” He pressed a few buttons on the control panel. Images and video clips flickered to life on the monitor. I couldn’t read the words running along the bottom of the screen, but the images didn’t look too good. From what I could gather, it was talking about a shipment of factory-farmed Sonorans, which had been intercepted en route to a black-market trade deal.

“And planets can just opt out?” I asked. There were countries on Earth where the media wasn’t allowed to go, but surely planets were harder to regulate than countries.

“They can when they’re as powerful as Vysanthe.”

“Point taken,” I said wryly, as Bashrik switched the screen back to navigation mode. “Anyway, don’t suppose you can shed any light on what’s wrong with Navan, can you? Apparently, I’m banned from seeing him. Is he really that bad?”

Bashrik squirmed in his chair. “I don’t know too much about it, Riley. You should just ask him when he decides it’s time to come out of hiding.”

“So, he is hiding?”

“I didn’t say that!”

“Yes, you did—what’s he hiding from? Is he hiding from me?” I couldn’t understand what might have happened that would lead him to forbid me from seeing him. We’d already been through so much together. Prior to waking up after my serum coma, I didn’t think there was anything in the universe that could have kept us apart, but he seemed to be letting something get in the way.

“Ask Navan!” Bashrik muttered, setting our coordinates to pass close to Vysanthe.

“You called?” Navan asked, stepping into the cockpit.

I whirled around in my seat, peering suspiciously at him. He’d come out of nowhere and looked just fine, with no visible marks on his face. I knew that didn’t mean he wasn’t injured, but he wasn’t moving like someone in pain.

“You’ve got some explaining to do,” I said, beckoning for him to come over. “What happened to you? Are you okay? Has something happened to stop you healing?” I reached for the edge of his shirt and lifted it up, checking his torso and chest for any sign of injury, prodding his muscles just to be sure. Aside from the old scars that had always been there, his skin was smooth and unharmed, without the slightest hint of a bruise or a cut.

“Not that I mind you looking, but you won’t find any wounds,” he teased. “I’m fine now.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What were you doing, locking yourself up in your room like that? Angie said you’d banned me from visiting. Is that true?”

He crouched on the floor in front of me and lifted my hand to his lips. “I needed to take some extra healing measures, that’s all.”

“What measures?” I pressed. “You’ve never done that before.”

“I just needed some time. It’s not a big deal,” he assured me. “I didn’t want you worrying, so I thought it best that you stayed away. You had your own healing to do, without having to think about mine, too.”

I wasn’t satisfied with his answer, but I could see I wasn’t going to get anything else out of him. There was a warning in his eyes, urging me not to keep asking about it.

“You realize that about a million things have happened while you’ve been hiding, don’t you?” I said, feeling a bit miffed. He was keeping something from me; I could tell.

He chuckled quietly. “I wasn’t hiding—I was healing. Lauren and Ronad filled me in on everything.”

“What do you make of it all? What do you think of Ezra snatching Yorrek’s notebook? Do you think he’ll take it straight to Orion? Do you think we’re doing the right thing, asking for Stone’s help?” I asked frenetically. “I wanted you to come with me to speak to him, but you were ‘healing.’”