Page 69 of Rifted Hearts

Kaveh’s whole face lit up, which made him so beautiful Remi wanted to jump him here and now. It would have to wait. Remi wasn’t sure he could even walk, much less do complicated sexual gymnastics.

“I’d like to take another stab at dating you—for real this time.” Kaveh reached out, and they embraced again, this time pressing together with less frantic worry and more passion. Remi felt more stable than he had anticipated, although that didn’t stop him from leaning against Kaveh and feeling the warmth of his muscular chest. He inhaled, breathing in a rich, masculine scent of leather and rain, with a hint of green apple. Even Kaveh’s poison ability smelled great.

“We can talk about all of this,” Kaveh said. “But first I want you to drink some water and let me make sure your injuries aren’t more serious than they look. Then you should lie down and rest.”

If Kaveh took Remi to anything resembling a bed, Remi had strong opinions about what he wanted to do in it before they both fell asleep. He brushed a kiss against Kaveh’s cheek. “I’m sorry about the break with your family. Rhys is a total jerk, but I think the others only wanted to protect you.”

Kaveh’s breath hitched at the mention of the drakone clan he had publicly rejected, but he kept steering the two of them in the direction of his pickup truck where he kept afirst aid kit. “I have a lot of anger right now. Maybe things will change in the future.”

“Well, in addition to dating advice, I’m an expert on dysfunctional family dynamics.” Remi released his hold on the vet reluctantly and let Kaveh help him into the passenger seat of the truck. Until the rift boundary moved, the vehicle was little more than a comfortable place to sit. “You’ve met the worst of my cousins, and don’t even get me started on my father. He started this whole mess, trying to steal the control object to manipulate the rift.”

Remi still had the damn thing, since the guardians had returned to the monstertown, and Kaveh didn’t know any more about it than he did.

“Will your father try to retaliate when he finds out you’re not bringing it back to him?” Kaveh pulled a water bottle from inside the truck—because of course he had one ready—and opened up an old-fashioned black leather doctor bag and pulled out a mix of Earth and Riftworld first-aid materials.

“Arimanius is more likely to cut his losses and try to hit Kaveh up for a bride price.” That depressingly accurate statement came from Lyall, who had come over to the truck.

Kat was at his side, with Snow on his shoulder. The bird’s fiery dramatics had been a setup, of sorts. Lyall and Kat had convinced Flutterberry to help with a distraction if things got bad. No one had expected Snow could fully manifest as a fireball of a phoenix.

Then again, no one, including the man himself, had thought Kaveh could turn into a killer Azdaha dragon.

The hellhound grinned at them. “If your father is too much of a pain in the ass, I’d be willing to give you a discount on assassinating him. Come to think of it, maybe I could make that your wedding gift from me.”

“Violence doesn’t solve anything.” Kat broke in with that, and Lyall gave him a fond look and refrained from his usual comebacks.

Remi didn’t need to lean into his powers to guess the hellhound’s vow never to get romantically involved with a human might soon be put to the test.

Kat winced in sympathy at Remi. “Kaveh needed to do what he did, but murdering Remi’s father isn’t justified. Lyall needs to use his powers for good.”

“Maybe Lyall should use his powers to get drinks and food for the two of you in the monstertown.” Kaveh started cleaning and treating a cut on Remi’s forehead. It stung, but it was so nice to have someone take care of him. “Put everything on my tab at the saloon. Thank you, Lyall, for helping with the phantoms and taking care of Remi and Kat. Don’t kill anyone on my behalf, but if you ever need help from a drakone, you can come to me.”

Lyall gave Remi a pat on the shoulder. “All right, rat boy, I can tell I’m leaving you in good hands. But make sure to tell the rest of your family I’m coming for them, just for laughs.”

Remi relaxed, the sharp pain of a cut on his forehead fading as a Riftworld bandage took effect. He was feeling better physically already, and more importantly, the aching void in his chest that had opened up when he left Kaveh was now filled with a warm glow of something that felt like happiness.

Terribly sappy of him, but he didn’t care.

Plus, the thought of punking Zale and the Pouch Twins with tales of the hellhound thirsting for their blood cheered him immensely. “I’ll enjoy scaring the hell out of them. Go and have a beer with Kat. Snow, only water for you.”

The parrot gave an incredulous squawk, and Kat dug outa Brazil nut from his jeans for him as consolation as he and Lyall walked off together.

“I was worried about a few of the deeper cuts, but everything should heal fine.” Kaveh put the doctor’s bag away and settled into his seat. “When you’re ready to stand, I’d like you to eat and then rest in the cabin for today. We can get you set up in the monstertown tomorrow.”

“Food, yes. Rest, later.” Remi leaned over to kiss Kaveh, this time on the lips. The two of them drew together, melting deeper into the heat of close contact, and all of the emotional and physical pain of the past several hours faded away. “I’m beginning to think the Matchmaker might actually know what it’s doing.”