Hotbloods (Hotbloods #1)(57)

“Here they come,” Navan breathed, and I felt his hand rest lightly on the small of my back in a protective gesture. “Lycans.”

I sucked in a breath. Our plan had gone horribly wrong. We were the ones who were supposed to have spotted the Fed so I could make the first approach.

I instinctively stepped in front of Navan and moved toward both men. The crowd on the other end, I realized, was staying in place, watching the two men approach us, perhaps mistaking them for off-duty policemen. I could make out the lycans’ eyes as they neared, vibrant shades of green and amber, and my heart was in my throat as they stopped three feet in front of us.

I held out my hands in what I hoped was a universal sign of peace, even as they eyed the two supernatural corpses behind me. Although the first question I wanted to ask was whether the shifter had been working for them, I had to be economical with my words, especially as they both reached for their belts and unhooked some kind of silver handgun.

“You’ve made more than a bit of a mess here, haven’t you?” one of them snarled, glaring at Navan. He pointed his weapon at Navan’s chest. “What’s a bloodsucker like you doing on Earth? Spit it out before I put a bullet in your brain.”

“Please,” I said, my gaze beseeching them to listen. I could see the question whirring behind their eyes as they looked at me: What’s this human doing with a coldblood? “I know what it looks like, but we’re not here to cause trouble. We pulled off a stunt back there only to get your attention—we have an urgent message for your chief, and you need to take us to see him. Human blood is currently in transit to Vysanthe.”

They stopped. It was impossible to tell if they believed it, as I couldn’t see their expressions behind their masks. But they went silent for a moment and glanced at each other, which I hoped was a sign that they were at least considering it.

Then one of them reached out and grabbed me by the arm. Navan immediately stepped forward, but the second lycan pointed the gun at him.

“Don’t move,” the officer growled.

My ears picked up on the sound of rotors, and I looked up to see a black chopper hovering thirty feet above us. Four more masked figures, clad in black suits, dropped from the aircraft, rappelling down on wires. They landed heavily, three of them instantly moving to Navan and grabbing him, roughly locking his arms behind his back.

The lycan who was holding me shoved me toward the fourth lycan attached to a wire. He gave Navan one last glare. “Oh, we’re taking you with us all right.”





Chapter Nineteen





The wires shot us into the night sky and pulled us into the belly of the waiting helicopter. The open hatch clamped shut after us, and Navan and I found ourselves standing within a small chamber lined with metal panels and long benches against the walls. Two lycans waited, in addition to the four who had escorted us up, and they grabbed us roughly by the wrists, fastening cold metal handcuffs around them. I wasn’t sure if Navan would be able to break out of them, but it was a moot point—we’d have to cooperate if we wanted a chance of meeting with the chief.

I shot a worried glance at Navan, who was standing a few feet away from me, and although I could sense nervousness behind his eyes, he was keeping his calm. He gave me a firm, reassuring look, and I tried to latch onto it, instill some of his calm into my racing heart.

One of the lycans led me to a bench and sat me down, and the others did the same with Navan, seating him next to me. A second later, black fabric was pulled over my head and I couldn’t see a thing.

“Is this necessary?” I asked nervously, but the lycans ignored me. It sounded like they were walking out, but I managed to make out one of them saying, “Sergis and Masta said they’ll deal with the cleanup job.”

I felt Navan’s warm hand touch my knee, as if to reassure me. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “They just don’t want us to see how to get to their headquarters.”

I swallowed as the sounds of the lycans’ voices faded behind the closed door. “What do they mean by ‘cleanup job’?”

“I imagine they have their own memory-wiping formula,” he replied. “I doubt they’ll bother with the people at the concert, given that I never revealed myself fully—you’ll probably see the story on the cover of tomorrow’s National Enquirer. But that scene in the alleyway was too graphic. They’ll have to go after the humans who’d gathered at the end of the street.”

The hairs on my arms stood on end as the chopper propelled forward to God knew where. I felt terribly vulnerable. We had no idea what these lycans were going to do with us, or if they would even arrange the meeting we needed. They could be on their way to a remote location where they could execute us. If anything was keeping us alive, it had to be what I’d said regarding blood being on its way to Vysanthe. We had to hope that would last.

I slid closer to Navan on the bench, craving his warmth. It was chilly at this altitude, and although I knew Navan’s heat would fade soon, he still held some warmth from the mild city night. He must’ve sensed my insecurity, as his hand touched my knee again, squeezing. “You’re doing great,” he said. “I mean that. You really are brave.”

If those words had meant something to me before, they meant a whole lot more now. “Thank you,” I whispered, squeezing him back.