Page 22 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)
“Like lawyers,” Kat said.
“We’re not that bad.” Lyall sounded offended. “But the alphas can’t stop a full member of the pack from accepting a work contract. Especially if they don’t know about it. I—felt like I needed to prove myself, so I went to Arimanius behind my mother’s back and took the job.”
“Are your two moms equal leaders?” Kat had forgotten that they were swapping questions, but maybe he could answer more of Lyall’s later on.
“Cesmak handles security, assassination opportunities, that sort of thing. Gremory supervises anything to do with research on human or Riftworld tech, education, what you would call infrastructure planning.” Lyall’s voice softened when he mentioned his second mom’s name, and Kat wondered if he was closer to her than he was to Cesmak.
“What was the job?” Kat was afraid he wouldn’t like the answer.
“The head of a human trafficking ring decided to branch out and abduct riftpeople.” Lyall glowered at the memory. “They went after species less able to defend themselves, and they focused on young kids. There were mothcat kits and a few fairy hound pups, among others.”
“That’s horrible.” Kat’s anxiety about the story turned into outrage. “They deserved to be shaken out or down or whatever it is.”
“They deserved to die,” Lyall said. “I told Arimanius that, but he wanted to bring me in as a warning and get what he wanted out of them.”
“Didn’t he want to help the other riftpeople?” Even Kat knew that sounded naive, but he didn’t care. “Suppose they kidnapped one of the ratkind?”
“They had,” Lyall replied. “And the don wanted to get the ratkind pup out, but not all of the others. I kept arguing with him, and that’s when he offered me a subcontract.
If I brought him something from the Salem monstertown, he’d let me rescue the abducted rift people and take out the traffickers.
If I failed, I’d owe him ten years of service. Stupidly, I agreed.”
“I’m guessing it was a setup.” Kat normally tried to focus on the positive in people, but Arimanius was an exception. “He planned it from the beginning.”
Lyall laughed. “I keep forgetting how smart you are. Yes, it was a con from the start, and not only for me. Ceto, the matriarch of the drakone clan in the Witch City Rift monstertown, had an item in her hoard Arimanius wanted. I stole it—with a good deal of difficulty since I had to do that without hurting or maiming anyone—and took it back to him. It was a Riftworld creature kept inside a smaller version of the stasis container you saw at the base. But when I took it to him, the organism inside portaled away. If I had set up the right ground rules—that I only had to bring it to him, not make sure it stuck around—I could have walked away. But I didn’t. ”
“And there was no way your clan could get you out of the agreement?” Kat knew who Ceto was—Remi had tried to steal something from the aquatic drakone and had almost been eaten.
After all that risk, Lyall had lost his freedom because he had tried to help people.
It didn’t sound like unfair contracts could be contested by hiring a lawyer and fighting it in court, but Lyall should have been able to turn to his family for help.
“Even if your moms were angry with you, they shouldn’t have let you be trapped for ten years. ”
“Like I said, it was a much bigger con. The drakones threatened my clan with war over the theft and were only satisfied after Cesmak renounced and exiled me. That meant I was stuck, with no help in breaking the contract. Ceto also threatened Arimanius, but he told her he hadn’t ordered me to steal anything from her hoard—not technically a lie, it had been my choice—and he returned the empty stasis container to her and one of the kidnapped rift children who had been taken from the monstertown.
Then he told Ceto where to find the traffickers.
She took them all out, and the don moved into their territory without lifting a clawed finger. ”
“Wow.” Kat had heard stories about Ari, as Remi called him, and the half-ratkind had shared parts of his own larcenous past, but this type of planning and double-dealing was stunning. And impressive, he had to admit. “What happened to the trafficked riftpeople?”
“Ceto and her clan rescued them all, along with the humans that were being held. From what I heard, it took months of work and diplomacy to return the rift children to their clans, and then there were the humans to deal with. Anyone who didn’t have a home to go to was offered a place in the monstertown. ”
Kat felt cheered by that. At least in the end Lyall had succeeded in saving both the riftpeople and the human captives, even if it was at a great cost to himself.
Lyall had stood up for people who couldn’t protect themselves, and it was unfair that he had been punished for it.
“I guess the message is never to negotiate a contract with a giant rat who has his own mafia.”
“I only know one person who tried it and beat him.” Lyall gave Kat a lopsided grin. It was as if sharing the story had helped, in a way. Kat felt his traitorous heart melt at the sight. “Giana Gatti, Remi’s mother. Now there’s someone you don’t want to mess with.”
“Thanks for sharing this with me.” Kat rocked his hip over a little in Lyall’s direction. The hellhound didn’t move away. “It must be such a relief to be free.”
Lyall didn’t smile at that, but only gave a shrug. “I can’t think of another question for you, so go ahead.”
“You gave examples of how contracts and agreements are important in hellhound society.” Kat’s upper leg was pressed against Lyall’s now, and he could feel the hard muscle underneath.
“Is that true for romantic relationships as well? No sex before marriage or with the same gender or restrictions on physical intimacy with non-clan members, that sort of thing.”
Lyall stretched out an arm behind Kat’s head. Not quite touching, but close. “We’re not prudish, believe me. Having sex outside the clan isn’t frowned upon. Marriage, however, is the one contract the alphas have to sign off on, and I’ve never even heard of an interclan marital contract.”
“Oh.” Kat tried not to feel disappointed and focused on the positive, which was that casual sex was okay for hellhounds.
He didn’t know why he was even worrying about a longer-term relationship anyway.
Lyall was the poster child for every bad boy Kat had ever slept with, mooned over, and then got dumped by.
Making a move on Lyall right now was a terrible idea.
Kat was going to do it anyway.
He turned on his side and pressed his groin against Lyall, not trying to hide his arousal any longer. “If a contract-free hook-up is an option, I’d be interested if you are.”
Lyall froze for a moment, and Kat cursed himself for saying all of that out loud. He should have kept the upside-down computer tent over his pants and stayed quiet.
The hellhound moved so fast, Kat didn’t realize Lyall had grabbed him and flipped him onto his back until Lyall was on top of him, his amber eyes glinting with a sheen of red.
“Kat, you have no idea how interested I am.”