Page 32 of Rifted Hearts
“A truthful one.” Kaida rose to her feet, forcing both Kaveh and Remi to do so as well so they could bow their goodbyes. “Farewell to you both. Raion and I will pray for your good fortune. This has been a most illuminating conversation.”
14
Remi closed the door to his cabin and collapsed onto the room’s small sofa, putting his head between his knees. Spending that much time in a riftland had upset the balance between himself and his inner chinchilla. His nerves were shot, and he simultaneously wanted to chow down on some sweet hay and run away in an absolute panic.
He lifted his head, searching for Lyall. The dog had darted inside while he and Kaveh were setting up plans to meet for dinner. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t leave the collar on him. He needed Lyall able to transform into his human or hellhound form if Kaveh’s terrifying family decided to pay him a call.
Remi didn’t believe, deep down, that Kaveh would betray him. He wasn’t that kind of guy. Unfortunately for Kaveh, Remiwasthat type of guy.
Kaida, the guardian who spouted mystical nonsense about Kaveh’s match, was another story. She could tell the drakone clan about him, but she also could have taken him out in the saloon if she had wanted to. Besides, it had takena nail-biting hour or more to cross the rift border, and there had been plenty of time for Rhys or one of the other air drakones to swoop down on him if the guardian had told them Remi was ratkind.
Kaveh had stayed by his side right up until he had left Lyall and Remi at the cabin, keeping his promise to see him safely back in the ranch. Meanwhile, Remi had lied to him about everything except wanting to find out who his match was, and that was only so he could use that information against him.
He tried to shake off the oppressive weight of guilt that had been growing throughout the speed matrimony event. Every time someone had touched the bracelet without it transforming, Remi had been thrilled they weren’t going to get to be with Kaveh forever and sick over the thought that Kaveh’s spouse-to-be was most likely someone at the ranch Remi knew—and liked.
Exhaustion was also eating away at him. He had been able to keep most of the adults in the saloon in a low-level state of mild sexual and romantic arousal, but the effort cost him. Regardless, he needed to get off the couch, take the collar off Lyall, and endure a tongue-lashing from the dog before he collapsed for a brief nap before dinner.
“Lyall, come here.” It would be lovely if the stubborn bastard did walk over. That way Remi didn’t have to get up, could disengage the collar while horizontal, and then get chewed out while half napping. “I’m sorry about tricking you, okay? Let me take the collar off, and I’ll buy out the whole supply of beef jerky in the gift shop for you.”
“Kaveh got me the last batch.” Lyall didn’t sound pissed off at all, which was a surprise.
He also didn’t sound like a Scottish terrier.
Remi jerked his head up. Lyall leaned against the wallnear the bathroom in full human form, wearing his skintight living leather armor and more razor-sharp weapons than even a mercenary like him could possibly want.
The indenture collar was draped around his finger.
“You took the collar off yourself.” Remi tried to process what happened and failed. “I didn’t think you could do that once it was on.”
“Not when I’m under an indenture contract, yes.” Lyall gave Remi a smile that had far too many teeth in it. “Good thing for me I’m not.”
Remi took in the room and tried to calculate his chances of escape. Given he hadn’t been able to outrun Lyall on an open stretch of ground with four legs instead of two, he gave that option zero chance of success.
“When did you get out of it?” Remi went with continuing this bizarrely calm conversation, since he couldn’t think of any alternatives. Maybe Kaveh could save him from Lyall, if he could get out of the cabin and find him. Then he’d have to explain Lyall was his hellhound bodyguard, assigned by Arimanius, don of the Colony mafia, because Remi was his half -human son. At that point, the only thing Kaveh and Lyall would be fighting over was who got to kill Remi first.
“When you took it off José.” Lyall pushed off against the wall and walked closer. He dropped the collar on the coffee table. Remi considered using his powers against him, but that had an even lower chance of working than trying to run away. “You’re Arimanius’s son, and the tech in the collar is based on bloodlines. It’s designed so that you taking it off me wouldn’t reverse the contract, but the effort you had to put in to break it off José’s neck was enough to do the trick. Then I decided to hang around until the job was finished.”
“So you could kill me at the end of it?” Saying it out loud should have made it real, but it didn’t feel that way. Just Remi’s luck to talk his way out of being ripped apart by angry drakones only to be murdered by his bodyguard.
“Well, you did tell an entire town I was a goddamn mothcat.” Lyall let that hang for a moment then gave a long sigh. “No, you little idiot. I stayed because you almost got killed by a drakone last summer when your asshole of a father sent Zale out as the muscle on the job.”
“You don’t hate me, and you don’t want to murder me?” Remi hunched his shoulders as Lyall glowered at him. “I’m not complaining, believe me. I don’t understand why.”
“I’ve known you since you were fifteen.” Lyall threw up his hands. “When your con artist of a mother sold you to Arimanius after the two of them figured out you had psychic gifts. I’m responsible for you, damn it, but you won’t listen to me. Kaveh has been selected by the Matchmaker for a pairing. He won’t necessarily fall in love with his match or be happy with the marriage, but he will have an uncontrollable compulsion to protect that person from anyone or anything that’s a threat to them. Even though Kaveh likes you, even though the two of you got down and dirty during that picnic, it doesn’t matter. He’ll kill you to protect her.”
“I don’t think it’s a her.” Part of Remi—the sane part—told him not to pick any fights with the terrifying hellhound who had decided not to kill him. The other part of him opened up his mouth and said, “Jeannette’s the only likely woman left on the list. My money’s on Kat. It has to be him.”
Lyall’s eyes glowed red, even though he was in his human shape. Remi knew the hellhound found Kat attractive, but he hadn’t thought much about it. Kat was seriously cute. Who wouldn’t like to bang him?
“I don’t know for sure it’s Kat.” Remi backtracked as fastas he could. “Kaveh’s talking to more friends at the ranch I didn’t think were good prospects. He could tell me he’s found his one true love when we meet for dinner, and that would be that.”
“And then you’re going to call Zale and let him threaten Kaveh with killing his match if he doesn’t tell them how the drakones can manipulate the rift.” Lyall wasn’t asking—he was laying out the awful betrayal Remi planned to inflict on Kaveh in brutal clarity.
“No one’s going to get hurt. Kat will be leverage against the drakones, that’s all.” Remi needed to explain to Lyall why he had to do this because if he did, maybe he would start believing it himself. “You saw what they did with your own eyes. They expanded their riftland and took over an entire interzone and all the species in it. If they can do that, they could alter riftlands that don’t belong to them. Suppose they use this power to shrink the hellmouth in Oregon where your pack lives?”
Remi didn’t know much about Lyall’s pack, except that the dog had been exiled. The hellhound made it clear it wasn’t a subject he was willing to discuss. Still, Lyall had come from the Mount Hood Rift—or hellmouth, as land rifts were usually called—and the threat to it wasn’t farfetched.
“Did you tell Zale you thought it was Kat?” Lyall all but growled out the words.
