Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

Bella Forrest




Chapter One





“RUN!” Navan roared.

It was already too late. As I lunged out of the way, the coldblood who had sensed me clutched the fabric of my suit.

“Invisibility suit,” he snarled.

I tried to wrench myself away, but his grip held. His arm didn’t even budge. Now, the other rebel coldbloods were circling me, like panthers about to pounce.

The next thing I knew, Navan was throwing all of his body weight forward. The chair he was tied to crashed into the legs of the coldblood gripping me, and in the millisecond in which his grasp slackened with surprise, I managed to rip myself free. My legs jerked into motion, sending me racing between two coldbloods with their wings spread wide.

“Leave me!” I heard Navan yelling at me from behind.

His request tore me apart, but I pushed my emotions aside. I darted through the open door, and out in the hallway, running as fast as my shaking legs would carry me. Overhead, the fluorescent lights seemed to flicker in time with the word repeating in my head: Run. Run. Run.

I heard the wrenching of metal behind me. A quick glance back revealed a silver door hurtling my way, and I hurriedly ducked—though I didn’t miss the door’s sharp corner, which grazed my cheek in its thundering path down the hallway.

Laughter echoed after it.

“Don’t you know it’s only a matter of time?” a shrill voice called, and I turned to see a coldblood approaching from the end of the hall. He was advancing slowly with his muscled arms out, his hands feeling at the air.

Breathe, Riley, I reminded myself. You’re wearing an invisibility suit, which blunts the ability of regular coldbloods to smell you. This coldblood is probably less powerful than the one back there. Just keep quiet and he won’t find you.

I clapped a hand over my mouth to muffle my terrified exhalations. The coldblood was advancing at a rapid pace, swiping his hand across everything in his path. Painstakingly, I tiptoed forward. The door was only ten feet away, but if he heard me and flew ahead…

Crouching, I scanned the ground. I spotted a tiny, rusty nail and closed my fingers gingerly around it. With one rapid flick of my wrist, I chucked it across the floor. Seconds later, the coldblood had slammed into the wall where the nail had landed. Trembling overtook my body at the sight of the wall’s now caved-in form. If he had heard me, then that would’ve been me.

The coldblood grunted as he recovered and strode closer to me than before, only a few feet away, and advancing fast. As he moved, his silver-haired head roved like a searchlight, his bulging brown eyes set into a glare over his wide, aquiline nose, while his arms lashed out violently. Heart pounding, I tiptoed ahead as quietly and rapidly as I could.

When I reached the set of double doors, I paused. There was no way around it: once I opened them, the coldblood would know exactly where I was.

Now only a couple of feet away, the coldblood had paused too. His roving head stopped to face right where I was. His mouth spread into a fang-toothed smile. His wings unfurled, and I took off.

Bang! The wall where I’d been a second ago bent.

Bang! The door I had just raced through burst off its hinges.

Outside, the harsh wind swiped across my cheek, and I flattened myself against the wall a few feet away, on the left side of the exit.

The remaining door whined as it swung open, and the coldblood’s head appeared, swiveling slowly, a furious scowl overtaking his features. He lunged forward to the right of the door, the side opposite me, striking his arm out at nothing.

By now, my whole body was one trembling gasp away from being discovered. If I moved, he’d find me. And if I didn’t, well… I couldn’t hide for long.

I lifted my foot, then froze as the coldblood threw himself in my direction, stopping mere inches away from me. My heart stilled as he paused. He took one sniff, then another, his nostrils flaring.

And then he shook his head, and swore under his breath.

“You guys going to help or what?” he yelled over his shoulder, presumably to those back in the bunker, and a second later, he raced away, back into the building.

I let out a ragged sigh of relief, and wasted no time finding out whether the other coldbloods would take him up on his request. I staggered away from the bunker, my footsteps picking up speed over the hardened Siberian snow. Only once I’d put a few yards between me and the squat stone structure did I stop and take a look around. I swallowed hard.

While the bunker’s immediate surroundings had been thankfully deserted, here, closer to the main camp, was a different story. A yard or so ahead, it was bustling with activity: coldbloods and shifters threading in and out of brown tents, as well as loitering and talking to their own kind in groups. This tent village extended both ways as far as the eye could see. If I wanted to get around it, the trip would take hours, maybe even longer. Right now, I needed to head back to the ship and alert the Fed using the ship’s comm device. To do that, I had to find the edge of the camp’s invisibility shield. That meant navigating my way directly through the camp, around coldbloods and shifters alike.

My decision reluctantly made, I turned back one last time, fists clenched.

I’ll come back for you, Navan, and get you out of there. Just like I promised.

My fingers rose instinctively to my lips. They were tingling with the memory of our passionate, doomed kiss. I sucked in another deep breath before continuing. If I got caught standing here like a melodramatic idiot, that was not going to help Navan. I had to make it through the camp, and I had to do it now.

As I neared the camp’s border, I practiced taking shallow breaths and light steps. The snow was thankfully not soft, but the frozen ground was muddier around the camp, which would not be that easy to pass over quietly. I also had to hope that I wouldn’t bump into any more highly sensitive individuals like that imposing coldblood back there. If I was heard, smelled, or felt again, there’d be little to no chance of escaping.

A large structure a dozen feet away caught my attention. It was cylindrical, almost like an overgrown metal silo, and it was emitting a low, ominous creaking sound—as if it had something inside it that was turning slowly. My gaze moved to the top of the structure, and I stilled.

Billowing out of the top of the silo-like building, in great big red puffs, was smoke. Deep, red smoke. I’d never seen red smoke before.

That… That can’t be from…

I turned away, a wave of nausea overtaking me at the thought.

Humans. That’s who the coldbloods and shifters have been stealing. Humans like me.