Page 4 of Rifted Hearts
“You little bastard!” Remi lunged outside to grab the terrier, but Lyall darted away, scampering between the artfully arranged cacti and disappearing in a blur of white fur.
Remi could have used a summoning connection with the collar to track Lyall down—the dog was his family’s indentured servant after all—but he wanted to avoid usingRiftworld tech outside until he had a better idea of how savvy the ranch staff was about “alien magic.” Hopefully, the ranch was full of clueless humans, tourists and staff alike, but having a veterinarian who cared for “mons,” as Javier had put it, meant they had to have some knowledge.
Thinking of Riftworld tech made him remember Bug. He tapped his watch, and an image of a large beetle gleaming in cobalt blue and copper appeared. When that didn’t work, he shook his wrist several times until the Riftworld insect embedded into the watch woke up. A pair of questing antennae came out first, followed by the head and body of the insect. The beetle enlarged its size as it emerged from the watch’s sapphire crystal surface, reaching the size of Remi’s palm. Bug lifted up his metallic outer shell to reveal inner translucent wings and flew off, buzzing around the room in erratic circles before landing on a bedside table to chew on a pen sticking out of a welcome basket.
“You’re supposed to be searching the place for anything dangerous.” Remi rarely tried yelling at the insect, since it did whatever it wanted and was obsessed with eating Earth plastics—which cost a fortune these days.
Between Bug and Lyall, Remi was quite fed up with his companions on this trip.
He pulled his bag inside, cursing the dog as he cleaned off the leather. So much for the room smelling nice. Once that was done, he took care to unpack immediately, hanging up his clothes and sorting out his personal care items. Other than the business suit he always wore on flights, he had brought along what passed for casual clothing in his wardrobe. Stripping down to his boxer shorts, he selected a neatly pressed pair of jeans and a polo shirt. He made a quick pass around the room, picking out inert shroom lights hanging on hooks near the bed, door, and bathroom.Nothing too surprising about that. The ranch would need backup lighting when the electricity went out. He paused and looked up at the ceiling. It was done up in a rustic style, with dark wooden beams that contrasted with the silver vines accenting the windows and door frames.
“Bug.” Remi used his most authoritative voice. “Check these out. Now.”
Miracle of miracles, Bug actually listened to him, releasing the chewed-up pen and flying over to land on the stucco wall beside the door. It crawled over the vines, antennae waving. Finally, it paused, turned toward Remi, and made a series of loud clicking noises.
Remi let out a long-suffering sigh. He was quite good with Riftworld languages, but he didn’t speak creepy-crawly.
Getting the hint, Bug flew back to his watch and plunged through the crystal surface like a diver into a pool.
Remi scanned the screen. The dead-appearing vines were guardweed, a semi-sentient Riftworld plant species that could be trained to violently attack intruders. Expensive stuff. Moon Star Ranch had some impressive defenses. Could Kaveh Salehi have helped them acquire the guardweed? That would be one of the many bits of useful information Remi intended to obtain with a little pillow talk.
The overly friendly woman at the check-in desk had told him the owner of the ranch would be available to chat with him in about half an hour, and if all went according to plan, Kaveh Salehi would be with him. It shouldn’t take long for Remi to parlay that brief business meeting into a one-on-one interview that would end up with the two of them in bed.
Seduce the man, get the information his father wanted, then clear out.
It was his usual plan of action, and he nearly alwayscarried the seduction part off to perfection. At least there was one thing his father thought he did right.
A little more than thirty minutes later—Remi strove never to be too punctual or too late—he crunched his way down the gravel pathway to the main ranch house. Next to an outside fire pit, three men stood chatting as guests strolled by the front courtyard’s two most striking features, an old-fashioned dinner bell and a large hanging gong, its surface featuring an etching of the same moon-silhouetted horse that adorned the front entrance.
An older man wearing a silver moon buckle on his belt had to be the owner, Garreth Hathaway. Along with his wife Chrissie, the two were a power couple in the hospitality business, running one of the most unique lodging properties in the world—a dude ranch featuring alien monsters. Next to him, a much younger man nodded shyly along with the conversation. With his stylishly mussed black hair, high cheekbones, and slender frame, he looked like a J-pop star dressed up in cowboy attire.
The third man was Kaveh Salehi.
Remi slowed his steps, eager to get a good look at his target before the man spotted him and Remi’s powers crumbled Kaveh’s intellectual and emotional defenses into dust. The pictures he had pored over during his preparation for this job had not done the veterinarian justice. He had intense hazel eyes under striking brows, broad shoulders, and a muscular frame nicely set off by well-fitting jeans.
Damn, the man was hot.
Maybe Remi could draw out the seduction and questioning stage a tad longer than he had planned. He plastered his best business-friendly smile on his face and approached Garreth first.
“Mr. Hathaway, good morning. I’m Remi Gatti, the live-streamer from Apocalypse Data. Thanks so much for inviting me here.” Remi shook the man’s hand with enthusiasm. “Your ranch has been on my bucket list for a long time. But I’m sure all your guests say that.”
“We’re delighted to offer you our hospitality.” Garreth had a pleasant, deep voice with a faint twang. Not a bad-looking silver fox, but Remi couldn’t afford any distractions on this trip. “I know you were interested in talking to our veterinary team, and they both happen to be right here.” The owner gestured to the boy-band cutie first. “This is Kat Nakamura, one of our wranglers who’s also a veterinary assistant.” He beamed at Remi’s target. “And here’s Dr. Kaveh Salehi, the world’s top expert on the medical care of Riftworld animals.”
Remi deftly extracted his fingers from Kat’s sweaty grasp as the vet assistant stammered out how pleased he was to meet him. He stuck out his hand to Kaveh and was rewarded with a warm, firm handshake. Not a boorish crushing grip, but the strength in Kaveh’s fingers was still apparent. The good doctor was even more handsome close up, and Remi felt a pleasant electric tingle from the skin-on-skin contact even before he poured his seduction energy into the other man.
“Nice to meet you.” Kaveh dropped Remi’s hand and turned to Garreth. “I’ll be heading back. I want to check again on Amanita. Her colt is eight weeks old today, and I’d like to reassess him one more time before we let the public see him in the petting zoo.”
Remi stared at him in disbelief.
Kaveh wasn’t even making eye contact. Granted, Remi had held back, but his allure should have been enough to have the vet hanging on his every word. It wasn’t like his powers were having an off day. Garreth was smiling at him—and Remi waspositivethe man was straight—and Kat had a flush on his cheeks and had become incapable of speech.
He hadn’t directed any of his talents in their direction, and they were responding appropriately. Why wasn’t Kaveh?
“I was hoping to spend some time talking to you about your work, Dr. Salehi.” Remi sought out and caught the man’s gaze, and this time he didn’t hold anything back, sending waves of lust in Kaveh’s direction. If that meant the man looked like a lovestruck fool in front of his colleagues, so be it.
“I’m sure Kat can answer any questions you have.” Kaveh gave the barest of nods in his direction then began to step away.
What the hell was going on? Remi had never struck out like this in his life. Humans didn’t have mental shields that could protect them against Remi’s abilities. Most Riftworld species didn’t either. His skills were the primary reason his father found Remi to be a useful member of the Colony, as his ratkind family was known.
