Page 42 of Rifted Hearts
Kaveh only rode out to the monstertown on Ranger because he didn’t know what else to do. Kat hadn’t answered his phone or responded with any new texts. With rift effects spreading past the ranch and into the city, that could be because cell service was poor—or it could be something else. Garreth was still working in his office when Kaveh came in, but the ranch owner hadn’t heard from Kat either.
He suspected his assistant didn’t want to talk to him, but the confrontation with Rhys and Xiang Jao had convinced Kaveh he had to tell Kat everything. He didn’t want to have his friend trapped between mafia enforcers from the Colony and Rhys’s contemptuous view of humans, but that was the reality of the current situation.
Another reality was that his summ powers had manifested at the worst possible time. He had hoped to talk to the matriarch alone and share this development with her, but Rhys had made him absolutely furious. Kaveh didn’t want to think about what would have happened if the summ had hitRhys. He didn’t want this awful inheritance from the parents he had never known.
What he did want was to go back to Remi’s cabin and crawl into bed next to him.
But he couldn’t.
Remi was leaving tomorrow morning, and he understood Kaveh had obligations and duties that had to take priority. Besides, with the way Rhys was acting, the ranch wasn’t safe for Remi. Kaveh was grateful he had kept Remi’s ratkind background a secret from his drakone relatives.
After spending an hour brooding over the events of the evening, he had concluded that asking the guardians for their advice would be the wisest course of action. He needed to talk to someone objective about all of this.
Well, maybe not all of it.
Having sex with Remi wasn’t something he could bring up with two lion dogs. It also wouldn’t be appropriate to share the depth of his feelings about Remi with them—or anyone. Kaveh had already damaged his friendship with Kat, likely beyond repair, because of his duty to his clan. He couldn’t add on the betrayal of falling in love with Remi right before he was forced to marry Kat.
Was he falling in love with Remi?
Kaveh tried to push that thought out of his mind and focus on the problems the guardians might be able to advise him on. His furious display with the matriarch and Rhys had only made the situation worse. He hadn’t told his family he had developed the poisonous fire ability Azdahas were notorious for, partly because of the unspoken unease he had always felt about his birth clan. The Azdaha clan had warred against and even hunted other drakones for millennia. His ancestors had done the same to humans, back thousands of years ago when a rift in ancient Persia had openedlong enough to establish serpent dragons as the embodiment of evil and chaos.
Guilt over his background had hung over him since he was old enough to understand that Xiang Jao had taken him after the Sundering even though he was the child of her worst enemies. His birth parents were no more than a dim memory, but he felt their ominous presence hovering over him even now when his anger over the argument with the matriarch and Rhys still boiled under the surface.
Threatening his clan members with his toxic fire had been wrong. As frustrating as his clan’s dismissal of Kat’s feelings was, he couldn’t blame them for wanting the young vet assistant under their protection. The Colony had sent their people into Tucson, and as angry as he was with Rhys, he was glad his ex had driven them away. The mafia-like Colony had recently attacked Ceto’s human husband in the waters off Massachusetts, and Kat could become a target.
Lost in his thoughts, he only realized something was wrong as he drew closer to the monstertown’s gates. Both guardians were missing, and at least one of them should have been protecting the town against threats from the outside.
Unless there was a threatinsidethe town.
Kaveh urged Ranger into a canter then slowed as a large bird flapped toward him, sparks rising above its wings. A moment later, Snow landed on his arm.
“Bad guys, bad guys.” Snow cocked his head. It could have been Kaveh’s imagination, but the ever-mischievous bird seemed more solemn than usual.
He had no idea how the bird had escaped and why it would have taken flight into the desert at night. He tried to soothe the parrot by stroking his head, but Snow squawked and tried to nip his hand.
“Little rat.” Snow ruffled his feathers, as if frustrated, and the meaning hit Kaveh all at once.
Something had happened to Remi.
Kaveh galloped toward the entrance, Snow flying along beside him. As he drew closer, he saw a dog-like shape on top of the town’s outer wall, near the barred and shut front gates. José sat on the top of the barrier, using his cadejo night vision to scan the surrounding desert. As the most formidable Riftworld individual in the town other than the guardians, it would make sense he had taken up the guard position.
Spotting Kaveh, José launched himself off the wall, dropping over six meters into a graceful crouch. He transformed into human form and swung one of the gates open.
“I’m glad you’re here.” José pointed up the street, and with a sinking feeling, Kaveh realized the smoke was coming from his office building. “Two of the ratkind trashed your clinic. The phoenixes set the place on fire trying to escape.”
“Is anyone hurt?” Kaveh was breathing hard, and not from the ride. Maybe he had misunderstood Snow and Remi was safe and sound back at the ranch.
“Remi.” José winced at Kaveh’s expression and rushed out the rest of the story. “We pulled him out, but he’s got a bad cut on his head and with all that smoke…”
Kaveh didn’t stop to hear more. He swung off Ranger and handed the reins to José before breaking into a run toward his clinic.
Smoke billowed out from a shattered window. The phoenixes soared overhead, screeching with their alien metallic cries as sparks showered down from their wings.
Raion sat underneath the birds, as immobile as when he and his sister Kaida guarded the front gates. Dust swirled uparound him, extinguishing the sparks from the fire birds. A small crowd of town residents were nearby, hovering over someone on the ground.
Jessie jumped up as Kaveh approached, waving him closer with frantic hand movements. “He has a head injury and smoke inhalation, I think.”
She pointed to Kaveh’s medical backpack, resting on the ground next to more supplies salvaged from the clinic. Jessie had a law degree, not a medical one, but worked as an EMT and volunteered at Kaveh’s clinic. Her wild fashion sense often led to outsiders dismissing her as flighty, but she was as solid as a rock during a crisis.
