Hotbloods 6: Allies

“Maybe we should throw these things and get back outside the perimeter,” I suggested, feeling suddenly uneasy.

A crackle came through the comm device. “The queens’ fleets arrived without warning. They arrived too early. The Fed ambush has failed. We are sending reserves to hold them off. The shield must go up now. Repeat, the shield must go up now.” I couldn’t tell whose voice it was, but I could hear the broken urgency in what they said. Our time was up. It was now or never.

“Turn the dials to ten seconds and throw at the lab!” I yelled into the device. “Go, go, go!”

Tearing the bombs from my belt, I did just that, turning the dials and throwing them with all my might toward the alchemy lab. Sprinting away, I felt the rumble of an explosion beneath my feet as the first of the bombs detonated, starting an incendiary chain reaction with the other bombs we’d set. A deafening roar bellowed in my ears as bomb after bomb went off. Thick plumes of black smoke were filling the air, and the sound of people shouting peppered the chaos.

It was time to see if we could smoke these bastards out.





Chapter Forty-Three





Coldbloods and shifters poured out of the alchemy lab in a tide of saggy flesh and gray skin, staggering as the tremors of every explosion rippled through the earth. Black smoke rose from the lab, and fires flickered in the entrance and inside the farthest chimney. Clearly, Navan had managed to get a bomb inside the chimney stack, and the rust-red plumes were turning a thick gray. I could see the beginnings of more flames licking up the sides of the lab walls, while the rebels raced for water, desperate to put out the fires before they could spread.

“Gather to the side of the bunker—there’s a metal container there. Let’s rendezvous behind it,” I hissed into the comm device, hoping the others could hear me. Across the open expanse of ground, where the panicked rebels swarmed, I’d picked out the shape of a shipping container, standing close to the entrance of the bunker.

Tucking myself behind every post and stack, I sprinted for the container. I glanced over my shoulder to see Lazar running toward the source of the explosions, his eyes scanning the spot on the ground where I’d lain. I hoped he wouldn’t figure anything out from the flattened grass or the splintered bomb casings, not with the thick smoke and ash falling everywhere.

I reached the back end of the container at the same time as Navan and Bashrik, with Stone skidding to a halt behind it a moment later. I stared at him in disbelief.

“I told you to wait in the trees!”

“Couldn’t hear nothin’ over these useless trinkets,” he muttered, shaking his comm device at me. “Yer bombs went bang, and I came runnin’.”

I shot him an unimpressed look. “How did you know to meet us here, then, if your device wasn’t working?”

“Ah… ye’ve got me on that one, lass.”

“It’s probably a good thing he’s here now,” Navan cut in. “We’re going to need him pretty soon with all of this going on.”

Bashrik peered around the side of the container, before ducking back. “Yeah, we’ve got most of the rebels out in the open. We can’t leave the freezing much longer, or we’ll end up getting caught.” His tone was anxious, his gaze flitting across the chaotic scene.

“Especially if Mauve and Lazar are here,” Navan agreed coldly.

I glanced up at the sky, as though the fae could appear at any moment. “She’s buzzing around this place somewhere, so keep your eyes peeled for her. If she uses her telekinesis on you, you’re toast.”

“What d’ye reckon went awry with the ambush?” Stone mused.

My heart clenched at the prospect of the queens’ fleets breaking through the Fed line. “I think they arrived way too early, that’s what happened. Gianne must have known she was being tracked or something and tricked the Fed into believing she was arriving later. What’s left of Brisha’s army will have followed whatever Gianne was doing, to try and keep up with her.”

“This is a mess—a complete mess,” Bashrik muttered. “Angie is out there, and now we’re going to have to deal with the queens’ ships too. There aren’t enough of us for that.”

“We knew there was a chance the ambush might not work,” Navan replied, though he didn’t sound convinced.

“Did we? The Fed sounded pretty freaking confident. If they hadn’t been sure, I’d never have agreed to let Angie go off like that, all by herself. This is ridiculous.”

“It’s only ridiculous if we give up before we’ve even begun,” I shot back. “Angie is stronger than you give her credit for. If she wasn’t busy raising a shield to protect us all, she’d tell you the same thing. So, come on, get your chin up, and let’s get on with our part in all of this.”

Our devices crackled as we pressed ourselves flat to the side of the shipping container. “This is the Universal Alliance calling Stone. We require the Deep Freeze.”

It was the signal we’d been waiting for, but the timing was all off. We needed to wait until Orion and Ezra showed up, but they were nowhere to be seen. Either they were deliberately staying below ground, keeping out of harm’s way, or they weren’t even here in the first place. To be honest, I wasn’t sure which scenario was worse.

“What d’ye want me to do, Captain Ri?” Stone asked, his eyes wide. “We waitin’ or what?”

“That is a negative on delaying the Deep Freeze. Stone, go now!” Commander Mahlo’s voice replied through the comm device. Even so, he held his ground, waiting for me to give him an order. I could feel the weight of responsibility that Commander Mahlo had spoken about.

I shook my head reluctantly. “We can’t wait for Orion and Ezra to show up. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” I said. It was a tough call, especially considering my theory about the whole pyramid crumbling if we took the ringleaders away. I just prayed I’d done the right thing.

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Stone dipped into a funny little bow, before clambering up onto the top of the shipping container. Bashrik and Navan helped him up, hoisting him by his feet. As soon as he was up there, he bent over the edge to look at us and tore off his bandana, leaving us free of his freezing powers. It was our own signal to start bringing a rain of fire down on the rebel forces.

“The Deep Freeze is in place,” I shouted through the comm device. A split second later, everyone around us came to a sudden, eerie standstill, each one of them frozen like a statue, their limbs bent at unnatural angles, their faces contorted.

Over by the alchemy lab, the fire raged on, spreading outward now that there was nobody to contain it. Soon enough, it would start consuming the nearby buildings, engulfing the rebel camp one structure at a time. I glanced at Bashrik and Navan, but the peculiar silence drew my attention once more. It was weird to see a would-be battlefield so still and unmoving, everyone frozen in place.

My eyes flicked up to Stone, who stood in the middle of the shipping container. I remembered what he’d said about the nudus draining his strength and compromising his third eye—as soon as he started building his part of the shield, we’d have to wipe out every single rebel.