Page 26 of Rifted Hearts
For several moments, Kaveh couldn’t do much morethan lay on his back, breathing hard, with Remi resting on top of him. He breathed in the man’s faint scent of green grass and shut his eyes against the bright sunshine above them. Colors danced across his eyelids, an aftereffect of what had been the best sex he had ever had, in his admittedly narrow experience.
Then Remi said, “What the hell is the rift doing?”
12
After the make-out session and the mind-blowing sex, Remi would have been content to lie in the sun on top of Kaveh for hours. Instead, he had opened his eyes to see the unbelievable sight of the rift shimmering less than thirty meters away.
The damn thing had moved, shifting both the base and the monstertown into the fragment of Riftworld controlled by the drakones.
Kaveh acted surprised but not shocked, which made Remi suspect he knew more than he let on about his clan’s ability to control their borders. But Kaveh was concerned enough to ride out immediately to speak to his family.
Remi had assured him he was fine riding alone to the monstertown—even if that now meant traveling inside the rift.
Remi was currently standing in a soccer field near the monstertown’s central park which had been set up as a dueling ground for José and Lyall to have a throwdown. He had no idea how he had gone from a romantic picnic date with Kaveh to refereeing a dog fight in a matter of hours.
The townies had been friendly enough when he’d arrived, especially José and Jessie. Everyone had been tight-lipped and uneasy about the rift movement though. Remi made an executive decision to announce Kaveh’s Matchmaker quest while Lyall did the buddy thing with José. Somehow, things had devolved into him betting on a dog fight between two Riftworld badasses.
Most of the town’s inhabitants, children included, had come out to watch and were perched on the field’s bleachers. Lyall, terrier ears perked up, sat at his feet. The damn dog’s tail was wagging, for fuck’s sake.
This was a terrible idea.
Remi hadn’t seen Lyall fight before, since during the only situation dire enough to require someone to kick ass, his cousin Zale, not Lyall, had been his bodyguard. This wasn’t some kind of fight to the death or anything like that, but Lyall couldn’t transform into his hellhound alter form without blowing their cover story.
On the other side of the midfield, José bounced around in designer sneakers, talking shit with a few of his buddies while his wife Jessie accepted more bets on the match while swigging beer.
José and Jessie were certainly a well-matched couple, aside from the fact that one was human and the other was a cadejo. In this town, though, that was the norm. Their audience consisted of an eclectic collection of human and Riftworld singles, couples, and a few throuples, along with their mixed children. Everyone wanted to see this show.
At least Kaveh wasn’t here—and hopefully wouldn’t arrive until this was over. Remi had arrived in the monstertown alone except for Lyall, while Kaveh had traveled to the keep, the drakones’ fortress inside the Saguaro Rift.
Of course, right now Remi was inside the rift—as was the entire town.
Jessie lifted her beer can to salute Remi then gave her husband a whack on the head to get him to concentrate on the match. Recovering his own focus, Remi did his best cowboy impression and tipped his hat in her direction.
The fight was on.
Jose’s lanky body twisted, a contortion of limbs that looked downright painful. A few moments later, a huge black dog stood in his place, jaws open to reveal a wicked set of teeth. The beast stalked forward, an eerie purple light emanating from its eyes.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Remi sucked in a breath. Jose looked a hell of a lot bigger than he had when he and Jessie had come to Kaveh to remove the indenture collar they were using for a little BDSM play.
Lyall had led José to believe he was a benign Riftworld species known as a fairy hound. Like mothcats, some of them chose to keep company with humans, although Remi hadn’t met one who mimicked an ordinary Earth dog the way Lyall could. No one had questioned the story, which was good, since even José wasn’t dim enough to go up against a hellhound in this ridiculous display of testosterone-filled stupidity.
Lyall gave an unconcerned sniff, as if Remi’s concerns were ridiculous.
Remi wasn’t afraid for Lyall, of course, only annoyed this was taking so long. Kaveh could come back at any time, and he doubted the conscientious veterinarian would approve. Plus, he had bet a lot on this match, and José needed to lose.
The bet had been for information about who the Matchmaker had chosen as Kaveh’s spouse. The dog-lion guardians knew something, but they hadn’t wanted moneyif José won. They wanted information in return, and Remi would have no choice but to answer anything they asked. Wagers were serious business in the Riftworld, and Remi was in that universe now. Between that and worrying Kaveh would be upset about both the fight and the bet, his inner chinchilla was scratching around in his brain, trying to find a way out.
Remi knew that transformation would be disastrous and tried to breathe through his anxiety. There should have been an easier way than this to get information about Kaveh’s Mr., Ms., or Mx. Right.
José let out a terrifying growl. Lyall bared his small teeth in a grin back at him. He charged forward, a streak of white, looking comically small compared to the slavering beast José had become.
The fight got rough in short order. José snarled and snapped, using the weight of his body to try and knock the terrier to the ground.
Lyall didn’t do much. He was a blur of movement, sure, scooting under Jose’s black-furred legs and dodging the cadejo’s teeth with less than a whisker to spare. Maybe José might quit out of sheer annoyance, but Lyall wasn’t doing anything to end this damn fight. Remi needed him to win so he could figure out if Kaveh’s match was in the monstertown.
Then he would…do what, exactly?
Give his father and the Colony an update of course. He should have done it already, when Zale, his half-kraken cousin, had brazenly walked into the restaurant where Remi and Kaveh had been enjoying their first date. Instead, he had lied through his teeth and told Zale to back off, because he still wasn’t sure if Kaveh knew anything.
