Page 14 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)
L yall chose to take a rideshare to the ranch, rather than portal over. Part of that was the location of the motel. Creating portals was easier for him to do when he was near or inside a rift, and creating one in a full Earth environment while in human form yesterday had been a stretch.
Besides, opening a mini-hellmouth in full view of the motel manager and the various families with kids wasn’t particularly discreet.
Lyall preferred not to dwell on the other reason he wanted to remain in his Earth alterform when he visited the ranch.
Kat had seen Lyall in all of his hellhound glory and had surprisingly not devolved into the screaming panic most humans did when they laid eyes on him.
Lyall still didn’t want to remind Kat that he was going on a hike with a Riftworld monster.
Especially now that he knew Kat had a human lover.
The swell of jealousy that flooded through him at the thought of anyone else touching Kat was so strong his eyes transformed, his vision altering the world into a heat map that allowed him to track prey.
“You might want to back off the weed a bit, bro.” The rideshare driver smelled of the human intoxicant himself, which might account for him not realizing Lyall’s glowing red eyeballs weren’t human. “Never seen eyes that bloodshot.”
“Allergies.” Lyall growled out the reply.
He had become accustomed to Earth transportation, as distasteful as it was, but he preferred robocars so he didn’t have to interact with irritating humans.
Given that Moon Star Ranch was affected more by rift storms than the city proper, only human-driven cars were allowed to go there, so passengers weren’t left inside a useless shell of metal and plastic if the natural laws of Earth switched off.
Lyall didn’t have much faith that his current driver, who was playing a game on the car’s touchscreen as the vehicle drove itself, would have a clue if a rift storm did roll in.
The driver found Lyall’s answer hilarious, which annoyed Lyall even more, so he was in a foul mood when the car pulled up to the ranch’s main building.
“Have fun at Monster Ranch, bro.” The driver waited a beat, as if hoping Lyall would laugh at the joke. “Instead of Moon Star, get it?”
Lyall slammed the door as he got out and stalked toward the large metal gong near the ranch’s restaurant.
Kat had suggested meeting at the spot. The device was a low-tech way to sound the alarm when a rift storm was incoming.
A few months ago, the gong had warned the ranch that a horde of rampaging monster invertebrates was on its way.
Fun times.
Lyall didn’t have to wait long. Kat came walking toward him, and Lyall found himself smiling, which did not happen often.
Kat had a hesitant look about him, perhaps remembering what an absolute jerk Lyall had been yesterday, but he brightened as he saw Lyall’s face.
Then Kat was standing right next to him, and all Lyall’s mind could focus on was how fucking hot his Matchmaker match was.
Kat was close to a head taller than him, lithe and slender. He had a graceful, long-legged gait Lyall could have watched all day and a face more beautiful than any human had a right to have.
He smelled great as always, and more importantly, no other human’s scent clung to him. Showering and cleaning removed some odors, but Lyall’s nose was sensitive enough even in his current form to pick up if Kat had spent time in bed with that loan shark he was dating.
“Hey.” Lyall wasn’t chatty on general principles but having Kat near him made him incapable of speech. Maybe Remi was right and the Matchmaker had a fucking twisted sense of humor. Why, of all the members of his clan, had the Matchmaker selected a human husband for him?
No, not his husband. Kat would panic if he found out there was a secret plan to marry him off to a monster. The young human wanted to be friends, which was more than Lyall had any right to expect, given the situation.
“Hi, Lyall.” Kat’s face broke into one of those smiles that made Lyall’s guts twist in longing and frustration.
He was so damn cute. “I think I solved the problem of getting the trash scorpion back to its home. It turns out that Chucky gets along fine with this species, so I’ve set up a contraption that will let us all ride out to the monstertown together. ”
“And Chucky would be…who, exactly?” Lyall didn’t feel like sharing Kat with anyone on this little trip. He didn’t want to share Kat ever, but that was impossible, and he needed to get those possessive thoughts out of his head.
“That’s the name that Remi’s streaming audience picked for Amanita’s colt.” Kat gestured toward the day stables where the Earth horses were kept, and Lyall fell into step beside him. “We had thousands of suggestions, but Chucky got the most votes.”
“We’re going to put that garbage-crazed crab on top of a juvenile repoequus?
” Lyall was pleased they weren’t going to have any other humans join them, but even he respected the danger posed by the animal.
The Riftworld species had features in common with Earth horses in terms of their overall shape, but they also came with horns, poison fangs, and a psychic ability to paralyze their victims with nightmarish visions.
“Chucky isn’t afraid of Riftworld animals like the other horses.
” Kat gestured to the animals tethered in a roofed structure with open sides.
Their comfy nighttime stalls were located further away from the main building of the ranch.
“Amanita isn’t either, but Remi’s the only one except for Kaveh who rides her.
The last time we did this you didn’t want to get on a horse, so I figured you could run along with me and Pogo in your Riftworld form.
She’s used to you because of the last time, so I think it’ll be fine. ”
“If you’re not bothered by it.” Lyall had been so stressed about seeing Kat that he had forgotten the human would want to ride out to the monstertown. So much for not frightening Kat by showing him his true form.
Kat blushed, which made Lyall’s mind jump to thoughts of how the human would look sprawled out on a bed, flushed and mussed up after vigorous love-making. The jeans he was wearing were suddenly too tight in his crotch.
Shit, he had to get control of himself.
“It doesn’t bother me at all.” Kat was stammering a little now. “In fact, it’s fascinating to see you like that.”
Of course. Kat was studying the medical care of Riftworld species, and few humans had seen a hellhound close up and lived to tell the story. Scientific curiosity, or something like that.
A short time later, their strange party was ready to depart.
The young repoequus had grown since Lyall had seen the creature and was close to Amanita’s height, although far more gangly.
Chucky tried a few psychic assaults, but Lyall deflected those with his mental shields and let out a snarl that gave the little brat a warning not to try and fuck with him.
Kat didn’t have any psychic defenses, but he didn’t need them. Chucky clearly adored the vet assistant, rubbing his red-scaled snout against the human’s side and allowing paired baskets, one of which contained the trash scorpion, to be slung over his back.
“The weight isn’t balanced.” One of the ranch humans—Javier was his name, Lyall remembered—had shown up to watch the process.
“I know.” Kat stepped back to pick up a saddle bag. “I’m going to add this to the other basket, but I don’t want to put too much weight on Chucky.”
The trash scorpion, which had submitted to the odd arrangement without complaint, began to move.
It scrambled up onto Chucky’s back, and the repoequus responded by altering his scales to form an open-air palanquin of sorts.
The trash scorpion settled into his scaly throne, the tower of junk attached to its shell wobbling but remaining intact.
Javier snorted. “All that work, and Chucky has him set up like a float in a parade.”
Kat shook his head, laughing, and removed the basket construct. He gave Chucky a horse treat before handing the bridle to Javier. “If you want to take this pair out into the yard, I’ll get Pogo ready and join you.”
Lyall followed Javier and Chucky out to the small corral the horses gathered in before the rides began.
“Are you going to walk all the way to the monstertown?” Javier gave Lyall a curious look. He knew who and what Lyall was but had only seen him in his alterform as a Scottish terrier. “I can saddle one of the more mellow horses for you, if you like.”
“I’m going on my own four feet.” Lyall watched as Kat came out on Pogo, the horse least likely to spook while walking next to a hellhound.
Kat was gorgeous all the time, but the charming awkwardness he often displayed in large groups vanished when he was in the saddle.
He and the horse moved together in perfect synchrony, his long legs splayed over the animal’s broad back.
Lyall had never been so jealous of an Earth herbivore in his life.
“Are you going to turn back into a terrier?” Javier sounded amused. “I can get you doggy treats if you want. I think I gave you a few of those when you were disguised as Remi’s pet.”
“Something like that.” Lyall gave the human a grin and transformed.
His body contorted into his Riftworld shape, and the world settled into his enhanced senses of sight and smell.
He shook his huge shaggy head in Javier’s face, enjoying the bug-eyed stare of fear he got back, then turned to lope alongside Kat and Pogo.
The repoequus trailed behind with his strange passenger.
“That wasn’t nice,” Kat chided Lyall as they headed out on the trail that would take them into the saguaro forest. Lyall was sure he had pissed off his human companion, but then Kat flashed him another smile, and Lyall’s heart lurched.
“Ok, it was funny, but try not to scare my friends any more than you have to.”