Page 21 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)

That was fine, because the last thing Kat wanted now was a hard sell on romance with anyone who wasn’t Lyall. “See you then.”

“Bye, Kat.” Paul sounded even more cheery. Or maybe a little creepy. Kat shouldn’t be judgmental. Besides, if the hopper situation wasn’t rectified, he’d have to cancel anyway. He couldn’t put Paul in danger, and he doubted Kaveh or Lyall would want to tag along on a date with a venture capitalist.

After a quick but much-needed shower, Kat dried himself off with a towel, then realized that he hadn’t brought in a bathrobe or clean pajamas. Living alone, he didn’t have to worry about covering himself up.

Making sure the towel was secure around his waist, Kat peeked out the door. No sign of Lyall. He scurried into his bedroom and found the least sexy nighttime outfit he could come up with: a pair of long sweatpants and a tee shirt from one of the cat rescues his parents supported.

Once safely dressed, Kat opened his bedroom door. “The shower’s free.”

There was a grunt in reply, and Kat caught a glance of Lyall, his hands raised and glimmering red sigils floating in the air.

What Lyall was doing fascinated Kat, but he needed to let him finish up and get his own chance to jump in the shower.

That thought let his mind divert to an image of a naked Lyall, water dripping over his muscled chest and running in rivulets over his abdomen. Maybe he was standing next to Lyall in the shower, the water beading down both of their bodies as they embraced.

He shook his head, picked up his laptop, and tried to banish the dirty thoughts from his mind as he heard water running. He needed to research academic articles on hoppers, not obsess over his fantasies of a wet and naked Lyall.

It didn’t work.

After twenty minutes of staring at the same article, he heard him come out of the bathroom.

“In bed already?” Lyall asked. He walked into the room—wet and mostly naked.

He had a towel wrapped around his waist, white and far too small.

The cloth dipped down below his fantastic abs to the v cuts underneath.

He had slicked his hair back and had his living leathers necklace dangling between his pecs.

Kat’s earlier shower fantasy had not even been close to this sexy reality.

He opened the laptop wide and dropped it over his groin like a tent.

“I’ve got an early shift at the ranch tomorrow.” Kat did his best not to stare at the loose knot that was all that held the tiny towel in place around Lyall’s hips. “If you want to stay up, that’s fine.”

“Getting rest is a good idea for both of us.” Lyall gave Kat and his incriminating laptop tent a curious look. “You’re wearing a lot of clothes to go to sleep. Do you want me to wear some?”

Kat had no idea how to answer that question. Saying yes if Lyall liked to sleep naked would be rude. Saying no would blow the whole platonic sleeping thing out of the water. “Whatever makes you comfortable. I feel bad that you got stuck being my bodyguard again.”

“Keeping you safe makes me feel comfortable.” Lyall went to Kat’s closet. “I don’t wear anything to bed in whatever form I’m in, so I’ll take you up on the offer of clothes.” He reached inside the closet and pulled out a piece of clothing.

Then Lyall dropped his towel on the floor.

God, he had the most amazing ass.

Kat wrenched his eyes away and picked the computer up again, trying to avoid staring by pretending to read. Lyall came over wearing a pair of sweat shorts that were too tight for Kat’s lean frame, let alone Lyall’s bubble butt.

He plopped down beside Kat, and the mattress dipped, threatening to tilt the two of them closer together. “Your laptop is upside down.”

So much for discreetly hiding his erection.

Kat closed the computer and put it next to him on the dressing table. “I guess I’m a little distracted. It’s probably not a good night for me to get any studying done.”

Lyall stretched out beside him, the flexing of his muscular arms and jacked upper body driving every academic thought out of Kat’s brain. “I think you’ve earned your relaxation after the day you had. Put the books away and rest.”

Yes, Kat knew objectively that he should be exhausted, but the last thing he wanted to do was go to sleep.

“I was wondering.” The words more or less tumbled out of Kat’s mouth. “Our scientific literature is limited when it comes to hellhounds. I’d like to learn more about your clan’s culture and relationship to other species in the Riftworld. Could I ask you a few questions?”

A smile played around Lyall’s lips. “To start with, knowledge isn’t free in my culture, as you put it. But if you want to trade questions, I’d be up for that.”

Easy enough. Kat couldn’t think of anything remotely interesting about himself that Lyall might want to know. “Okay, that sounds fair. Do you want to go first?”

Lyall shook his head. “No, you can start. Ask away.”

“Could you tell me more about your clan’s social structure?” Kat decided talking about family might be a good way to start. “There’s been speculation that hellhounds and wolf packs have a similar hierarchy.”

“I’ve only seen Earth wolves once, at a rescue center.

” Lyall shifted, and the already small distance between the two of them decreased.

He was close enough now for Kat to feel the heat of his body against his skin.

“The people there talked about how the whole alpha male idea wasn’t accurate at all.

Wolf packs are family units, and they all care for their cubs.

It is true that since the Sundering Earth concepts and words have been picked up by many Riftworld people, including my clan.

If we’re in human form we call the leaders of my clan alphas.

In the case of the Mt. Hood pack both are female, though. My two moms.”

“Your mothers are the alphas?” Kat was intrigued. “Is it matriarchal, like drakone society?”

“That’s three questions, and I haven’t even got in one,” Lyall pointed out. “I know how human society in this part of the world works, more or less, but I’d like a little background on your family, given that I’m meeting them tomorrow.”

“My mom and dad like cooking, cats, and hovering over me.” Kat felt he needed to be truthful with Lyall, since the hellhound was sharing personal details with him. “I have two older sisters who give new meaning to the word bossy. And I love them all very much.”

“I can understand why they’re overprotective.” Lyall gave a laugh. “Given how our day went today. My moms are not like that. My mother Cesmak exiled me when I got trapped in the indenture contract with Arimanius, even though my other mom Gremory argued against it.”

Kat drew in a breath. That sounded awful. As frustrating as his parents could be, he couldn’t imagine how he could make them angry enough to send him away. “How did you get trapped into your indenture contract?”

Lyall tensed, his face unreadable for a moment. “That’s quite a question. I’ll answer it if you’ll answer one from me. A secret for a secret.”

“Of course.” Kat didn’t have secrets, unless you counted the theft/rescue of the trash scorpion. “Ask me anything.”

“Did you have sex with Paul?”

Kat opened his mouth to say that was way too personal, but he had started this. He gave himself a second to compose himself. “No, I didn’t. It wasn’t that kind of a date.”

“What sort of date was it, then?” Lyall sounded—well, intense was too strong a word. But it wasn’t a casual question.

“That’s two questions.” Kat thought Lyall might get pissed about him pushing back, but the hellhound grinned instead.

“Fair enough.” Lyall moved over again, one hip now brushing against Kat’s sweatpants. “The short answer is that I was an idiot and underestimated Arimanius. I’m not the only one who’s made that mistake, but it was my fault.”

That was an answer, technically, but Kat had no idea what could have tempted Lyall to risk ten years of being forced to work for a boss he hated. Was it money or incredible Riftworld tech that could be used as a weapon? Whatever the reason, it was Kat’s turn to tell the truth.

“My date with Paul was more for my parents and my siblings than for me.” Kat could have added that he had only gone out with the venture capitalist because he was angry at Lyall, but he wasn’t brave enough.

“They want me to meet someone mature and successful, and Paul dresses well and makes a lot of money, so they like him. Naomi especially, because of her work in finance.”

Now Kat felt guilty about bashing his date, who had been decent, in his own way.

“He’s a nice person, if a little self-absorbed.

Frankly, I couldn’t get away from him fast enough, but he was oblivious.

He felt he needed to tell me he wasn’t ready for intimacy because he was only separated from his wife and not divorced. ”

Lyall gave an incredulous laugh. “He turned you down for sex? And before you even brought it up?”

Kat drew in a breath. Had Lyall been complimenting him with that comment? Maybe he hadn’t meant anything by it.

“Consider those rhetorical questions.” Without any prompting, Lyall put up a hand to stop Kat from sharing more embarrassing details of his date with Paul.

“Okay, I’ll tell you the story of how I ended up as Arimanius’s bitch.

” He took a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling as he spoke.

“I haven’t told anyone this before, although that little bastard Remi tried to get it out of me for years.

Arimanius approached our pack because he wanted a hellhound as back-up muscle for a shakedown. ”

Kat had sat with his parents through enough fake crime docudramas on riftpeople to get the gist of that. “I thought your clan didn’t like the ratkind.”

“No one likes the ratkind.” Lyall gave an irritable wave. “Well, I get along with Remi, but no one else in his family is even tolerable, believe me. That’s not why Alpha Cesmak turned him down. She didn’t trust he’d adhere to the contract. Hellhounds are big on contracts.”