Hotbloods (Hotbloods #1)

“If all goes according to plan.”

“How do you know Earth’s geography so well, by the way? You seem to be well acquainted with the customs in general.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah. You knew what a pawnshop was.”

“Pawning. The universal language.” Navan shrugged. “I’ve spent a decent amount of time on Earth since I discovered it, under the guise of exploring other planets for an immortality elixir. And I managed to find a good library.”

I smiled, picturing Navan hunched over a little library table with a pile of books. “Where did you first land, when you arrived?”

“It was here, in Alaska. I was drawn to it for its temperature—given that I hadn’t invented any formulas yet. But, to get back to the plan . . . I didn’t actually ask you yet: are you really okay with helping us? As I said, we need a human.”

I nodded. I had to help—there were literally only three humans on the planet who could even theoretically help, and the other two were back in Texas. I had begun taking risks since the moment I decided not to take the Elysium Navan had offered me, and if these were the consequences, I was going to have to accept them.

“Are you sure?” he asked me, eyebrows raised. “Obviously it’s a decision I want you to come to on your own. And I want you to know that I’ll do everything I can to ensure your safety, but . . .” He swallowed. “As I mentioned before, I’m not infallible. I can’t guarantee it.”

I nodded again, even as I clutched my cup a little more tightly. “I’ll help.”

Navan sighed. “I hate having to put you in this position. I really do. But if you’re in, then, in that case—”

I never got to hear what he was about to say, because the sound of gunshots exploded into the night, and the glass behind us shattered. My drink slipped from my grasp as Navan slammed into me, his hands gripping me by the waist and forcing me to the ground. His body pressed against mine, and his breath came in quick pants against my neck—his eyes were wide and alert like an animal’s.

“What—” I gasped.

The next second, he was picking me up again, and as gunshots continued to fire all around us, he lifted me up and we went soaring through the air so fast I could barely keep my eyes open. The bullets seemed to follow us, but we were quickly over the café building and out of range. Navan continued to press forward, flying over residential houses and gardens, until he halted and dropped us back on the ground, a few miles later.

He planted me down on a bench, gripping my shoulders. “Stay here,” he breathed. “We lost Ianthan—I’ll be right back.” And with that he took off again, flying over the houses lining the street, and back in the direction of the café.

I held my breath, a chill running down my spine as I listened and tried to make sense of what had just happened. It sounded like the gunshots had stopped.

Who had fired them? Why at us?

It would be an absurd coincidence for that to have been a random shooting. Who would fire at an empty café in the middle of nowhere, and so early in the morning, when virtually no one was around?

I clasped my hands together and stood up, watching the dark sky for Navan’s return. I kept expecting the firing to start up again, but it didn’t, and I was left with the sound of my own harried breathing.

I finally caught sight of Navan in the sky, his dark wings beating hard as he lowered himself to the ground next to me. He was alone.

“I couldn’t find him,” Navan said, panting.

“What do you mean? Where could he have gone?”

“I don’t know. As soon as the firing started, I was focused on getting us away from there. Ianthan must have flown in an entirely different direction. I looked all around the area but couldn’t find any trace of him—no body, nothing. There was no sign of our attacker either—except for a lot of confused residents spilling out into the street, and the shattered remains of that bus stop.”

I clasped a hand to my forehead, trying to comprehend what he was telling me. “You think Ianthan might have been taken by whoever our attacker was?”

Again, Navan looked deeply concerned—and utterly clueless. “I have no idea.” He sat down heavily on the bench, and I stood in front of him, scrutinizing his face. “A part of me wonders if it was a preplanned escape attempt on Ianthan’s part, but… that would be impossible. Right? Who would have been his ally? How would they have gotten in touch with him? I’d been watching Ianthan ever since we left Texas. I have no idea how he would’ve pulled it off…”

“But then, who shot at us?”

“I don’t know.” His hands balled into fists. “How did everything get so screwed up so quickly? Maybe I should’ve ended him like I did his father. I just… I couldn’t…”

“No, no,” I said softly, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. I could see his conflicting natures grappling, and it made me want to comfort him. “You did the right thing, Navan. He was your best friend. You did the right thing by giving him the benefit of the doubt. I witnessed firsthand during Ianthan and Jethro’s conversation that Ianthan’s heart hadn’t been in it.” But how did that add up with his behavior now, if he really had escaped?

I could see how hard the idea was for Navan to swallow—to have his best friend betray him not once, but possibly twice. Ianthan had promised to stick around and help with whatever course of action Navan chose next.

I gulped, wondering, if Ianthan had indeed deliberately escaped, what he would do next.

I hesitated before voicing my next thought, not wanting to cause Navan more pain, but also recognizing the importance of discussing it. “Do you think… Do you think he might try to beat us to the Fed?”

Navan looked off into the distance. “I don’t know. That is apparently my new default response to everything: I don’t know.”

“We were just talking about the Fed being your only means back to Vysanthe. What if he tries to reach the Fed before you and comes up with a way to barter himself back to Vysanthe, in perhaps a different ship, where he could carry through his father’s plan with another blood sample?”

It did seem far-fetched, but the timing of his departure was odd—just when we had been discussing our next move. Could it really have been orchestrated?

My head hurt from the sheer confusion of it all.

Navan breathed out, shaking his head and standing up. “I need time to process all of this. But I think it’s safe to assume that we are in a race against Ianthan, and we don’t have a second to lose.” He paused, gazing down at me through his deep slate eyes. “Looks like it’s just you and me now.”





Chapter Fifteen