Hotbloods (Hotbloods #1)

“You might have noticed he gets a little obsessed with things,” Bashrik said. “And by a little I mean a whole heck of a lot. He’s got this idea in his head that he’s somehow going to be able to protect Earth, like it’s his sole purpose in life.”

“He told me about your sister,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

Bashrik paused. “He did?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s . . . surprising. I didn’t think he’d ever bring that up with anyone outside the family.” He sighed. “Well, Naya would’ve been all for this little recon mission you two are on. And I know that plays a role in all the decisions he’s made, too. He thinks that he can somehow make it up to her, even though she’s dead. Like if he saves Earth, he’s somehow atoned for the fact that he couldn’t save her. Even though none of that was his fault.”

“He doesn’t think so.”

“Of course he doesn’t.” Bashrik sighed again, and when he spoke, his tone was softer, resigned. “Navan’s always been the biggest, strongest brother. The smartest, too. Some of the brothers resented him for it, though I never did. How could I? But that doesn’t mean Navan is immortal—not yet, anyway. Sometimes he acts like he is, but we both know that he’s not. I don’t want him to get himself killed. You’ve got to watch out for him, Riley. I know he’s going to be focused on keeping you safe, so maybe you can figure out a way to make sure that means he’s safe, too.”

“I’ll try,” I said, though what I really wanted to ask was how did he expect me to do that? I was just a human, after all—inferior in every way to a coldblood. But if there was something that I could do, some way that I could help, then of course I would try my best.

“Thank you,” Bashrik said. “Losing Naya was hard enough—I don’t know if I can deal with losing Navan, too.”

“We’ll be in touch soon,” I said.

Bashrik said goodbye, and I disconnected the call, placing the comm back into Navan’s bag. A gust of wind whipped the side of the ship, rattling something on the outside, and I shivered. I peeked out—there was no sign of Navan.

How long had I been on the call for? Didn’t he say he was just going to fly around and be right back? What if something had happened to him? I had no idea how to operate this ship to go after him. I’d be stuck out here, helpless.

My heart started to beat faster, and I took several deep breaths, telling myself I was getting carried away, that everything was probably fine, and I just needed to stay calm.

But several more minutes passed, and still Navan didn’t appear.

He should be back by now. Finally, I could no longer ignore the thought.

I climbed out of the ship and stood outside, looking up at the sky, doing my best to ignore the wind that whipped through my hair. It was so cold, and the darkness seemed to go on forever. Like there was nothing else out there.

“Navan?” I said, and it felt as if the wind snatched the word right out of my mouth and carried it away. I stumbled away from the ship. If I kept moving, that would at least get the blood flowing, and maybe I’d warm up a little, and at the same time, be able to find Navan. Maybe he was wrong about his ability to sense the shapeshifters, especially if they were invisible. What if they had ambushed him, or he was injured and couldn’t get back?

“Navan?!” I yelled, a note of fear tinging my voice. Aside from the wind, though, there was nothing.

I kept walking, until the vastness of where I was suddenly hit me, and I turned, realizing that I had gone farther than I thought. I couldn’t see the ship anymore, though I wasn’t sure if that was because it was dark or I’d gone too far. I stopped, paralyzed by both fear and the cold. It was stupid to have left the ship. I’d acted out of panic, and even though I knew acting out of panic was never a good thing to do, I hadn’t been able to help myself this time. The thought of that vampire being in trouble just seemed to have scrambled my brain.

I turned, hoping to follow my footprints back. But the snow was old and had a crust of ice over it, so there were no tracks. I could only hope that I was going in the right direction, though with no point of reference, I couldn’t be sure. I widened my eyes, then squinted, trying to make out anything in the darkness.

I had to force myself to start walking again; the cold had seeped into my bones and made my joints feel as if they no longer worked. I took as many steps as I thought I had taken away from the ship, but when I looked, all I saw was darkness. Somehow, I had gone the wrong way, and now who knew how far I was from where I wanted to be.

Needed to be. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to keep going, but I knew my situation was becoming dire. Hadn’t I just promised Bashrik that I would try to stay safe, that I would try to keep Navan safe? And now here I was, completely alone, lost in the freezing tundra. I would have been mad at myself, but I was too scared.

My foot slipped on the ice and I went down hard, the impact jarring every last bit of breath out of me. I lay there, unable to move, unable to get my breath back for a few terrifying seconds. But then my chest unlocked and I sucked in a cold mouthful of air, which burned my lungs and made my eyes water. I couldn’t stop shaking, but a heavy feeling suddenly overcame me, like I was more tired than I’d ever been in my entire life. I could barely keep my eyelids open.

My eyes had almost closed all the way when a surge of anxiety shot through me, and with that anxiety was a jolt of adrenaline. I tried to scramble up, knowing that if I let my eyes close now, I’d probably never open them again. But my limbs didn’t want to cooperate; it was like my brain was telling them one thing and they were doing the opposite. I flailed and thrashed and I couldn’t get my feet underneath me. I couldn’t get up.

I lay back, looking up at the dark sky. Another shooting star. Was that my imagination? Had I ever even seen a shooting star before tonight? And now I’d seen two? You were supposed to make a wish when you saw one, right? That heavy feeling returned, lurking like a stranger at the edge of my vision. All I could hope now was that Navan was okay, that nothing bad had happened to him, that he’d be able to continue the mission and be successful.

I let my eyes close.

The wind blew around me, and though I wasn’t sure what would happen next, I expected it to be something like falling, maybe a tunnel, my whole life flashing before my eyes. But there was just . . . the sensation of the cold, which felt as though it had worked its way into my blood, was coursing through my veins. Suddenly, though, there was the sensation of ascension, of being lifted somewhere, the wind rushing around my face. I struggled to open my eyes, half-expecting to look down and see my body still there on the ground, my spirit lifting off to who-knew-where, but instead, I saw an arm, wrapped around me, the ground getting further away.