Hotbloods 6: Allies

In the end, Lauren, Angie, Ronad, Stone, and Xiphio all had several nudus on each arm, of varying colors and sizes. They seemed pleased about it, though I could see that Lauren was starting to feel woozy, her eyelids blinking more slowly than normal. Ronad looked a bit off color, too.

“Let’s get to the ship and put these beasties away soon as poss,” Stone announced. “Those without nudus, do us a favor and scoop up some o’ that there mossy stuff. Make sure ye pull it up from the roots. If we’ve got that, we won’t have to wear these critters all the time and feed ‘em with our nutrients.”

Bashrik, Navan, Alfa, Dio, and I nodded, before clambering down into the crater to pick some of the multicolored moss, which twisted in circular vines across the basins of the craters. It smelled of dirt and something lavender-like. As I picked up armfuls of the stuff, I looked up to see Stone flashing Lauren an impressed grin.

“Ye did well, Ren!” he commended. “I knew yer heart was as pure as driven snow.”

“Not too shabby yourself,” Lauren replied. “I knew this hard man act was just pretend. Inside, you’re a softie with a heart of gold.”

His gaze met hers. “Only fer the right folks, Ren. Only fer the right folks.”

With my arms full of colorful moss, I hurried after the retreating nudus-achievers, with Navan, Bashrik, and the other two bringing up the rear. They looked around as we entered the cruiser, and Alfa gave a low whistle of approval as he took in his new surroundings. Dio seemed impressed too, his wide eyes saying everything, his jaw nearly hitting the floor. As promised, the star-marked crates had been stacked just inside the hatch, awaiting Stone’s inspection.

“Nice digs, Stone!” Dio enthused, heading through to the cockpit, where everyone else had disappeared to. As I followed him inside, I saw the others removing the nudus and placing them in metal boxes, where I proceeded to dump the mossy vines, spreading the plants across each one.

“It’ll do, Dio, though you are guests on this here ship,” Stone insisted. “Ri here is the cap’n, and I expect ye to treat her as such.”

Alfa smiled. “Happy to have a captain who knows what they’re doing for a change!”

Stone laughed, gripping his pal in a headlock. “Take it back!”

“Never!” Alfa slipped out of the headlock easily, though I had no idea how he did it. One moment, he was trapped, the next he was on the other side of the room.

“Once everyone is finished messing around, perhaps we can get to the business of upgrading these engines and heading for Earth,” Xiphio interrupted loudly, clearing his throat. “We are running out of time, after all.”

Bashrik nodded, taking the controls. “I’ll chart our course now and get my toolkit. Hopefully, it won’t take us too long.”

“Thank you, Bashrik. At least we have a pilot we can rely on,” Xiphio replied curtly. “Now, while I have your attention, I was hoping to make a suggestion. Perhaps, on our way to Earth, we might enlist the assistance of other Federal agents. Now that I may use my capture of Stone as leverage to restore my reputation, I firmly believe my colleagues will join forces with us.”

Stone snorted, his fellow crewmates chuckling. “Ye didn’t capture nothin’. Ye couldn’t capture a fart in a jar.”

Xiphio scowled at him. “You all realize this is temporary, yes? As soon as Earth is saved, I shall be forced to arrest every single one of you, as per my obligation as a Federal agent. It is not my wish to do so, but it is what I must do.”

I wondered how far he would end up going with his threat, even though there were a million things standing between us and the end of all this. Truthfully, the merevin’s heart didn’t seem to be in it anymore… except when it came to Stone.

With him, it was personal.





Chapter Thirty-Three





I awoke with a start, my eyes flying open, my body drenched in a cold sweat. I couldn’t remember having a nightmare, but it felt like the aftermath of one. My breath was coming in sharp gasps, my heart racing, my temples thudding. As my pulse slowed, I glanced at the clock, noting that it was still the middle of the night, even if the view outside remained the same.

As my racing brain slowed down, I realized what had happened. It wasn’t a nightmare that had woken me but something far worse—the terrifying reality of what lay ahead of us. We had the nudus tucked safely away in their boxes, nourishing themselves on the mossy vines, but I was still anxious about what we planned to do with them. The barriers were strong and could cover vast distances—we’d already seen that in action from Stone and Glossa itself—but there was no way of knowing what would actually happen, when it came to using them. What if they failed? What if Queen Gianne found a way through? What if we got there too late to be of any use?

Navan, Bashrik, Ronad, Stone, and myself had MacGyvered a working deep-space engine from the endless stash of useful junk that the ambaka had scavenged over the years. Those crates had been a cave of engineering wonders. Thanks to Stone’s thievery, we would get back to Earth way quicker than we would have without it. But even then, there was no telling whether Gianne would get there before us. I just wished building the barriers could be as straightforward as building an engine. Machines were predictable and logical; these barriers we were intending to create were anything but.

Taking a deep breath, I rolled over in bed, seeking out Navan’s arms to comfort me. But his side of the bed was empty, his covers thrown back, and there was no sign of him anywhere. Instead of feeling sad that he’d disappeared in the middle of the night without a word, I felt a bristle of anger rise through me. I was tired of this. I was tired of turning over in bed to find him gone and not knowing why.

Enough was enough.

We were supposed to be in a partnership, but I was feeling more and more alone with every night that passed. I didn’t see the point in him keeping secrets from me, especially when we were about to ride into certain death together.

Powered by pure exasperation, I scrambled out of bed and stormed out of the room, into the darkened silence of the ship. Everyone else was asleep, having gone to bed hours earlier. Something was wrong with Navan, and I was determined to find out what.

Halting outside the room where he’d holed himself up the other night, I lingered on the threshold, pressing my ear to the closed door. I could hear strange noises inside. He wasn’t coughing up his insides this time. Instead, it sounded almost like metal scraping against the ground. I also caught the slam of drawers being closed and the gentle hum of Navan singing to himself.

I tapped the entrance pad, only for it to flash red. It was locked from the inside. I rapped my fist on the closed hatch.

“Open the door, Navan!” I hissed. “I’m not leaving until you do.”

Inside the room, the sounds changed. I heard things being shoved into drawers before they were slammed shut frantically.

A moment later, the hatch went up, and Navan stepped to the side as I strode in.

“Riley—” he began, his eyes wide.

I barely looked at him as I stalked around the room, flipping the lids off boxes and searching inside the cabinets. To my frustration, I still couldn’t find anything amiss, though I knew he was doing something in here.

“What are you hiding from me?” I snapped, whirling around to face him.

“I’m not hiding anything,” he replied, after a tense pause. “I was doing some… meditation, that’s all.”

“Why are you lying to me?” I gasped, feeling as though someone had squeezed the air out of me. Tears beaded in my eyes, and my stomach was churning with nerves.

He stepped forward, but I backed away. “I was just stretching in here. I haven’t been sleeping very well, and I hoped it might help.”

“Bull! A load of lying bull!” I wheezed, clutching my chest. “I know you’re sick, Navan. I know you’re sick and you’re keeping it from me. I heard you the other day, coughing and spluttering. All I want to do is take care of you and be there for you, but how can I do that when you won’t tell me what’s going on?” Tears trickled down my cheeks, hot and fierce, refusing to be forced away.