Page 2 of Rifted Hearts
“Not everything with scales is a dragon, Kat.” Kaveh let more irritation show in his voice than he should have. He turned his attention away from the foal and Amanita to make sure Kat didn’t get closer. “It’s a Riftworld animal known as a repoequus.”
He was about to add in the part about the poison fangs when Amanita charged.
The hybrid mare had been lying on her side after the delivery of her monstrous offspring, but the creature who towered over Kaveh when he whirled back didn’t look much like a horse. Amanita had transformed into the unholy sight of a full-size repoequus, her scales pearly white, and herdeadly horns fully developed. She reared up. A glancing blow from her hooves sent Kat flying against the wall of the stall. He crumpled to the floor, and she turned her attention to Kaveh, opening her mouth wide. A single drop of venom glistened at the tip of one of her two fangs.
Without thinking, Kaveh flung his hands up, and green fire crackled toward the repoequus.
Amanita hissed, backing away and putting her body between her baby and the flames, as Kaveh shifted to stand in front of his unconscious veterinary assistant.
It took a moment for him to grasp what he had done. The flames crawling over his skin weresumm,a poisonous fire he knew only from written accounts of Riftworld battles—and he had no idea how he had produced them. He concentrated on his hands, breathing deeply and trying to absorb the summ back into his body. He had to get it under control and convince Amanita he wasn’t a threat. She was frightened and enraged, her focus on protecting her foal.
There was good reason for her fear. Summ was one of the most destructive weapons in the Riftworld, a power he should be far too young to use and one he didn’t want. His hands and his mind worked together to help and heal, not to destroy. He focused on that positive image in his mind, then sent those thoughts out toward the repoequus—flashbacks of care he had given to other young foals and their mothers and the treatments he used to nurse Amanita herself back to health after he found her battered and bloodied in the desert.
The flames extinguished. Amanita snorted, then nuzzled her new colt’s head as if she hadn’t tried to kill Kaveh.
He backed away from the animals, his focus now on his injured assistant. Kat staggered to his feet, swaying as he did.Kaveh put an arm around his shoulder, and the two of them stepped out of the stall. Kaveh closed the door behind them and leaned against it.
“Amanita turned into a mon.” Kat stared back at him, his eyes wide. “A scary one too.”
Kaveh waited for him to hurl the same name at him. He would have to leave the ranch and the animals and people he loved. The ranch might tolerate Riftworld creatures, even ones like Amanita, but Kaveh had pretended to be human. He’d tricked the owners and wranglers like Kat who trusted him. Even his Riftworld family might reject him if they found out he had the ability to kill any of them with a simple touch.
Kaveh was a monster even in a world of monsters.
Kat reached out to give Kaveh a hug. “You saved my life back there. How did you stop her?”
Kaveh hesitated then forced out a partial truth. “I talked to her about how I wanted to help, not harm her or the baby, and I think on some level she understood.”
That wasn’t a lie, as far as it went, but he knew Amanita had backed down because he had frightened even her.
“She’s only half mon though, so she’ll go back to normal when the storm passes.” Kat, despite his near-death experience, was already craning his head to see back into the stall. “Her foal doesn’t look anything like a baby horse.”
No, he didn’t, and Kaveh worried he might stay in his Riftworld form. If the ranch owners balked at keeping the two of them here, he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t bring the recently foaled mare and her monster offspring back over the rift. His clan had little tolerance for the dangerous species, which was why he kept Amanita at the ranch.
Of course, if Kaveh’s relatives found out he was capableof calling up summ when threatened, the mother and son repoequus pair would be the least of their concerns.
“I’ll have to talk to the owners.” Kaveh didn’t want Kat to get mixed up in his falsehoods, but if the full story of what had happened spread around the ranch before the owners heard about it, they might not react well. “If you could keep the details under your hat until I do, I’d appreciate it.”
“I won’t say anything.” Kat rubbed at his scalp then winced. He hadn’t been out for long, but even a short loss of consciousness indicated a concussion, hopefully a mild one. He would need to get checked out when the storm passed. “I don’t want Amanita and her foal to get in trouble. She only wanted to protect her baby.”
“Thank you.” Kaveh’s shoulders relaxed a fraction. “I’m not sure how I’m going to convince them to let Amanita and a baby repoequus stay here.”
Kat looked thoughtful, which was never good. As sweet as he was, Kat somehow managed to get into a mess of trouble every time he came up with one of his ideas.
“Don’t worry.” Kat all but bounced with excitement. Kaveh needed him to rest and get a proper medical evaluation, but there was no stopping the young wrangler when he got this way. “I’ll go with you to talk to the owners. I have a fantastic plan on how to convince them to let Amanita and her baby stay.”
2
Remigio Gatti climbed out of the bright Arizona sunlight and into the rideshare truck’s cool interior, flashing the lanky young man in the driver’s seat his third-best sultry smile. A little flirtation went a long way—but with Remi’s seductive powers, laying it on too thick might require him to find another form of transportation from the airport.
“Nice truck.” Remi took in his driver’s dazed expression and dialed back his allure before the guy passed out. He stowed his pet carrier under the dashboard in front of him and checked his wrist for the time. He had left the Rolex in Boston, since he needed his Bug watch for this job. “Hello, I’m Remi. Moon Star Ranch and Resort please.”
“Sure, Remi.” The young man blinked a few times then recovered enough from the state of overwhelmed lust Remi’s psychic abilities had induced to reach for his cell phone. He furrowed his brow for a moment then turned the screen off before pulling out of the airport and heading to the highway. “Sorry, I almost forgot. GPS doesn’t work out there.”
“So I’ve heard.” Remi stretched out his legs, ignoring the low growl that came from the carrier at his feet when the movement rocked the pink plastic crate. Lyall, the wheaten Scottish terrier inside, hated traveling in it. “I’m not too upset about giving up work emails and text messages for a week. Do you ever get any rift effects here in the city?”
“Some of the storms hit the northern neighborhoods a few times a year. I drive a horse-drawn rideshare when that happens.” The driver’s eyes were less dilated now, and he regained some semblance of conversational ability. “I’m Javier, by the way. Do you, uh, come here often?”
“It’s my first time.” Remi couldn’t resist flirting back and even succeeded in not wincing at the clumsy line. Young, horny guys were too susceptible to his charms, and Javier had to be in his early twenties. Not even remotely a challenge. “In Arizona, that is. Not to mention my first time at a dude ranch.”
