Page 14 of Rifted Hearts
“How the hell do you know so much about them?” Remi asked.
“None of your goddamn business, so stop whining and listen to me.” Lyall rolled off the bed. To forestall more arguing, Remi pulled a bottle of single malt scotch out of his shopping bag. He had picked it up as a bribe to improve Lyall’s terrible attitude, and this seemed a good time to give it to him.
Lyall grunted and snatched the bottle from him then grabbed a water glass and poured himself a solid slug of the liquor. “It’s about time you got me a real drink. Smelling that fruit punch you call a cocktail is pissing me off.”
“Like you’re ever not pissed off.” Remi sipped his cactus fruit margarita, which was a little sweet, granted, but well deserved after all the hard work he’d put in today. “Okay, you’re old and know a lot more about drakones than I do. Go on, dazzle me with your knowledge.”
“Ceto is water, of course, and the head of Saguaro Riftdrakones, Xiang Jao, is air.” Lyall sounded very sure of himself.
Remi’s anxiety rose. Maybe it was only the mention of Ceto that made his inner chinchilla freak out.
“Xiang Jao is from the Loong clan. After the Sundering, she gathered together a group from other air clans and formed an alliance with Ceto and the water drakones. Dangerous enough on their own. But the land drakones—you can think of them as giant worms that can burrow up through the earth—are even more deadly. Their clan, the Azdaha, hunted everything, including other drakones. They’re big, vicious, and some of them can call up a poisonous fire called summ. Even people in my war-crazy pack don’t want to fuck with someone like that.”
“I heard something about the Azdaha once.” Remi didn’t remember much about that conversation, possibly because he was excellent at ignoring information he didn’t know how to deal with. “I thought they were one of the drakone clans left behind when the rifts opened.”
“There’s a rumor that Xiang Jao found a juvenile Azdaha caught up in the Sundering and brought them into her clan.”
“Okay, so the matriarch may have a super-dragon fighter.” Remi’s head was spinning, and half of his drink was still in his glass. “It can’t be Kaveh.” There wasn’t any way a killer dragon with poisonous fire that could terrify hellhounds was working as a veterinarian at a dude ranch. “This isn’t a problem as long as I follow standard ratkind operating protocol and seduce, steal, or con my way to get what Father wants. I’m not going to provoke a full-blown war.”
“A lot of people, human and not, would go to war if they thought they could gain power over the rifts.” Lyall knocked back another slug of whisky and glared at him. “Anyway, Iwant to check out the abandoned military base. I’ve heard disturbing rumors about what lives there.”
Remi considered his options. He could ignore the dog, of course. But Lyall didn’t often give out free advice, and insulting a hellhound was never a good idea. He could force the dog to stay in the cabin all day, which would infuriate him, even if Remi could manage that type of compulsion now that the collar was off.
A thought struck him. Why not manipulate Lyall into doing what he wanted? After all, that was Remi’s usual modus operandi, and he was quite good at it.
“Look, I don’t need a third wheel on this trip.” Remi reached out with his powers, this time aiming to increase Lyall’s sexual desire for a target the dog was already interested in. “But I could convince Kaveh to bring Kat along.” Remi wouldn’t have missed the mental equivalent of Lyall perking up his ears even without his ability to sense lustful emotions. “I’ll plant a strong suggestion he comes with us and takes you on a little stroll around the base.”
Lyall appeared torn for a moment, but in the end, he listened to his heart, instead of his brain. Or maybe a different organ. “That makes sense. You see what you can learn from Kaveh, and there’ll be a good reason for me to be sniffing around if Kat is with me.”
“Plus, you get to spend the day with the hottie vet assistant.” Remi raised his margarita glass in a toast. “A win-win for both of us. Let’s drink to it.”
8
Remi hadn’t expected to ride out to the monstertown in an air-conditioned limo—although it would have been nice—but he had forgotten that transportation in these parts involved getting on a horse.
He stood waiting for Kaveh near the stables, watching as the early risers among the ranch’s guests saddled up for a morning ride and headed out. The horses had no trouble sniffing out his ratkind heritage, and like most Earth animals, they took a strong and instant dislike to him. He had tried using some of his magic on Ranger—yes, that was the brute’s name—but the whole gelding thing made Remi’s attempts to stir up the horse’s lustful side less effective.
Sure enough, Jeannette was leading Ranger out of the temporary stables the animals were brought to in the morning. Remi recognized the animal by the white stripe on his nose, as well as the snort of fury Ranger gave when he got a good whiff of Remi. The cologne he put on to throw off Riftworld people who could pick up the ratkind by scent didn’t work on Earth animals.
Kaveh walked out next, and Remi could feel his pulse quicken as the man strode forward holding the reins of another horse, this one all white. The vet patted the animal’s long neck, murmuring something that sounded soothing even at this distance. Damn, those shoulders. Remi couldn’t wait to see Kaveh with his shirt off, with everything off, in fact.
Well, maybe not the boots.
He was so busy running through sexual fantasies in his head about Kaveh that he paid little attention to the horse as he stepped into the corral and made his way over to the man, putting on his most flirtatious smile.
“Good morning.” Kaveh gave him a brief nod, his expression more of anxiety than enthusiasm over their upcoming date.
Remi would have to work a little harder to get the man to loosen up.
“I thought you might want to try a different horse today. This is Amanita.”
“She’s so pretty,” Remi said without glancing at the horse. He dug into his pockets for the treats the staff kept at the front desk. They were crumbly and smelled like stale cat food, but he was trying to blend in with the guests, who couldn’t get enough equine quality time. “Maybe she wants a horse cookie.”
He slid his gaze reluctantly away from Kaveh to the animal as he held out a treat.
The horse regarded him with liquid black eyes that appeared even darker against the animal’s pale fur, and her nostrils flared.
Remi startled, pulling his hand back. He couldn’t do much with his sense of smell, even on the rare occasions—rare as in once since adolescence—that he transformed intohis ratkind alter form. Still, the scent of bitter almond mixed with burning metal was distinctive. And familiar. He had picked up the same smell at the petting zoo.
