Page 38 of Rifted Hearts
Remi stopped struggling, instead trying to catch the rest of the conversation. His ears still worked, even if his mouth didn’t.
“This is how you repay us, when we took you in and saved you?” Rhys’s emotions boiled out in his words. Shock, fury, and an emotion Remi knew all too well—fear.
“We’ll discuss this when you’re calmer.” Xiang Jao’s tone was icy, and a moment later her red-and-gold full drakone shape snaked upward into the sky, growing larger as she gained elevation. A smaller gray version joined her, the two swimming through the night sky as if it were a vast ocean.
The flames around Kaveh died away. He put a hand to his forehead as if wondering what he had just done, then reached into his pocket. Light glinted off the gold surface of the bracelet as he walked toward the main building of the ranch, his body rigid with tension.
Remi sagged in relief. Kaveh wasn’t hurt, only capable of some kind of drakone fire magic that had impressed even the matriarch.
Then Remi remembered his cousin was still manhandling him.
He jerked his head back, slammed it into Zale’s nose, then followed it up by stomping on the half kraken’s instep.
“Shit.” Zale released his hold, the tentacle whipping back and off Remi. He kept his voice down to an angry hiss, even though Kaveh was now out of earshot. “What are you doing? I was trying to rescue you.”
“Why are you here?” Remi spun to face him.
His cousin was a full head taller than him and currently wearing a leather jacket and an outfit that screamed illegal motorcycle gang. He loomed over Remi with his pale skin, overly muscled upper body, and long brown hair that was currently writhing like a pack of unruly eels.
“Let me repeat the part about saving your ass.” Zale gestured at Kaveh. “Did you miss the fireworks? That green flame trick is called summ, and you don’t want to be anywhere near it. Kaveh Salehi is the Azdaha drakone Xiang Jao took into their clan. Even she’s afraid of him.”
Remi’s first thought was that this was ridiculous. Kavehwas at least part drakone, yes, but he couldn’t be the cannibalistic monster dragon Lyall had warned him about. Kaveh was honest and caring and—nice. And he was the kind of guy who wouldn’t even find that last part embarrassing.
Then another, furious thought followed. He couldn’t believe Kaveh hadn’t told him. Sure, he had mentioned he had joined the clan at young age, but he had left out the part about being a terrifying earth drakone with poisonous flames as a weapon.
He had lied to Remi. Lied to everyone, in fact, because Xiang Jao’s and Rhys’s reaction had been one of both fear and surprise. Of course, Remi had been far more deceitful, but that was beside the point.
Kaveh wasn’t supposed to be the one who kept dark secrets. That was Remi’s job.
His silence while he tried to process all of this annoyed Zale, who had the attention span of a minnow. “Let’s go. I got an awesome Harley for this job, and you can ride on the back.”
“I can’t leave now.” Remi found himself making the same argument to Zale he had made to Lyall. “Kaveh’s under the Matchmaker curse. I’ve spent the past few days trying to help him figure out who he’s matched with. He has a drakone amulet that will change shape when his future spouse touches it.”
“We know who it is.” Zale snorted. “Lyall told us. It’s that Asian kid who works here. Plus, we already have him. We’ve had a tail on you the whole time here. The Don insisted on it. The Pouch Twins grabbed Kaveh’s future hubby after he left that bar in Tucson.”
Zale’s words sent a chill through Remi. The twins were two of the Colony’s most violent enforcers. They could transform into massive humanoid versions of giant Africanpouch rats, although their nickname came from their tendency to steal anything that wasn’t bolted down.
“What do you mean, Lyall told you?” Remi had been the one who let Lyall know Kat was the match, but he had hoped the hellhound would keep an eye on the vet assistant, not turn him over to Colony enforcers.
It didn’t make sense. Lyall wasn’t under the indenture contract anymore. He could have left at any time, leaving Remi’s half-chewed body behind if he felt like it. If he hadn’t wanted revenge on Remi—which to be fair, wouldn’t be unreasonable—why would he go after Kat? He liked the vet assistant. A lot. He couldn’t hide something like that from Remi’s psychic ability, even with the mental shields he had. The hellhound could have simply left. Instead, he had stayed, gone with them to the club, then turned Kat over to the Pouch Twins.
An awful thought crystallized in his mind. Lyall hadn’t been able to get out of his indentured servitude for years. Arimanius was very good at keeping his claws in someone once he got a hold of them. Remi could testify to that. Maybe Lyall had lied about tricking Remi into breaking the indenture contract. Instead, the hellhound’s sudden freedom could have come from making a different, better bargain with the head of the family.
Lyall had set things up so Remi would distract Kaveh while he delivered Kat into the hands of the Colony—and Remi’s father had given him his freedom for it.
“The twins told me they grabbed the kid first, but Lyall showed up and said the Don gave him new orders. The hellhound has the hostage now.” Zale waved in the direction of the new line of the rift. “The snakes have pushed out their territory somehow, so maybe the plans changed. I don’tknow what the fucking dog is doing, but it’s not like he can lie to us. We own him.”
The Colony didn’t own Lyall anymore. Was the hellhound going to threaten to hurt Kat in order to force Kaveh to give him the information about technology that could move rifts? Somehow, he had never thought of Lyall being that cold-blooded. It was the sort of plan Remi’s father would have come up with. Then he remembered he had convinced Lyall to stay by warning him the drakones could use their new power over rifts to come after Lyall’s pack on Mount Hood. Seen in that light, Lyall might be thinking of this as a way to protect his family.
To sum up, this whole shitshow was Remi’s fault, and Kat might die a horrible death because of him. Then Kaveh would hate him even more.
“Where are the Pouch Twins?” If he found the twins, they might know where Lyall and Kat were.
A plan began to form in Remi’s mind.
A stupid, poorly thought out, downright suicidal plan.
“Mabel and Fable told me they were going to the monstertown first. Someone told them there was expensive shit in Kaveh’s clinic there, and you know how the twins are when they think they can score some loot.” Zale let out an exasperated breath. Talking about operational details bored him. He liked to bust heads, not plot complicated strategy. “Anyway, you’re done here, little cousin. After what happened in Salem, the Don will put me in eight cement sneakers if I don’t get you out of here in one piece. Get going, or I’ll carry you to the bike.”
