Page 30 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)

K at woke up happier and more relaxed than he had been in years.

Last night’s sex had been awesome, and whatever happened between him and Lyall, he would never wonder again if the hellhound found him desirable.

Kat wanted more, of course; he always did.

But if casual hook-ups were all that Lyall was capable of, he could at least enjoy them.

His good mood didn’t last long.

First off, the electricity hadn’t turned back on, which was unusual.

He glanced at his back-up analog alarm clock, which he hadn’t set last night, and grimaced.

It was close to noon, and he had promised his parents he would pick up their new foster cat from a nearby shelter this morning.

Hopefully he could call them and collect the new kitty a little later.

Lyall wasn’t in bed next to him, which was also disappointing, but he had probably woken up early.

Kat rolled out of bed naked and decided he wasn’t going to cover up.

Maybe if Lyall had been waiting for him to get out of bed, he might appreciate the view.

Kat’s previous Sunday plans for cat delivery, grocery shopping, and laundry didn’t seem nearly as interesting as early afternoon sex, if Lyall was up for it.

A quick check of the apartment turned up no sign of the hellhound. He couldn’t have gone far, since he was Kat’s bodyguard. Trying not to feel abandoned, he cleaned up and got dressed.

A round of electronic chirping from various appliances told him the oddly delayed rift storm effects had stopped, so he checked his watch phone.

That was a mistake.

He had a long string of text messages from his family, which grew angrier and more hysterical as he skimmed them. He was about to send off a snippy retort to Jenny that he couldn’t be expected to answer phone messages during a rift storm when the banging on the door started.

“Stop pounding. I’m coming.” Kat tried to open the door and failed. That was weird. It had never stuck like this before.

“Kat, are you all right?” Jenny sounded alarmed.

“I’m fine. The door isn’t opening, and I don’t know why.” Kat looked up and saw one of the red floating sigils Lyall had used to create a Riftworld alarm system to protect his apartment. He didn’t remember it being over the door.

Had Lyall locked Kat inside the apartment?

“I’ll go downstairs and see if the super is around,” Naomi piped up.

Great, this was now a double big-sister intervention.

Jenny asked him to try again, all the while complaining that Kat hadn’t answered his phone and had provoked their parents into a state of full panic.

Kat tried to explain that there had been a rift storm and he had been sleeping in.

Then he shoved his shoulder against the door, which was both painful and ineffective.

He heard another voice, low and grumbling. “I’m a friend of Kat’s. That’s why I’m here.”

The door popped open, causing Jenny to fall forward into the room. Naomi followed next, a little crease between her brows indicating she was furious.

Then Lyall walked in, wearing his living leather armor and multiple knives.

This was not how Kat had hoped to introduce the hellhound to his family.

“This person tells me he’s a friend of yours.” Naomi gave Lyall a skeptical look. “If that’s true, maybe you could introduce us.”

“Sure.” Kat made eye contact with Lyall, who seemed unusually grim. Granted, Kat’s sisters could be a bit much, but Lyall could at least try to be pleasant. “This is my friend Lyall. He’s coming to dinner tonight. Lyall, meet Naomi and Jenny, my older sisters.”

“I need to talk to you.” Lyall snapped out the words as he addressed Kat. “Alone.”

Kat wanted to talk to Lyall as well, to get their stories straight and to ask why the hellhound had locked him inside his apartment.

But this meeting was awkward enough without ticking off his sisters even more.

Besides, if this was what Lyall had wanted to discuss last night before the sexy times started, Kat already knew the drill.

This was fun, you’re totally hot, but I’m not in the right headspace for a relationship right now.

Yeah. That conversation could wait a little while longer.

“Lyall’s a Scottish name, isn’t it?” Naomi gave the hellhound the frosty smile she reserved for difficult business encounters. “What’s your last name? Is it Scottish too?”

“I don’t have one.” Lyall glowered back at her. “I need to straighten out a few things with Kat. The two of you should come back later.”

“Yes, it does look like the apartment needs a little straightening up.” Jenny indicated the floor, and Kat tried not to groan.

His and Lyall’s clothing was strewn around, making what they had done together last night obvious.

Plus, Lyall’s living leathers and weapons must look like an elaborate BDSM get-up to his sisters. This was getting worse by the moment.

“Nice outfit, too.” Jenny expanded Naomi’s line of interrogation to Lyall’s fashion choices, confirming Kat’s fears. “Do you have your own dungeon to go along with it?”

“Why would I want a dungeon?” Lyall asked. “I don’t take hostages. Too much damn work.”

“He’s good at staying in character. I’ll give him that,” Naomi said. “I’m not sure how well his look will go over with our parents.”

“He should totally leave it on.” Jenny wasn’t letting this topic go. “It’ll spice up the dinner conversation.”

“Lyall, I slept too long this morning and didn’t go to pick up a rescue cat for my parents.

” Kat decided to step in at this point, since most of this was his fault.

“My sisters came from across town to check up on me, because the rift storm effects blocked my phone. How about we all go together to my parent’s house and pick the cat up on the way? ”

Sunday didn’t get better as the day progressed.

Kat hadn’t put the address of the animal shelter into his watch, and they wasted two hours trying to find it before Kat remembered that he hadn’t brought a cat carrier.

Jenny declared that buying one at a nearby pet store would be faster than going back to Kat’s place, and Naomi complained that she wasn’t showing fiscal responsibility.

At least his sisters’ fight over the kitty crate had taken their focus off Kat’s inexcusable behavior in not reversing the effects of a rift storm so he could answer their calls. All too soon, their argument was over, and they resumed their sniping questions for Lyall.

The hellhound did nothing to make the situation better. He responded to their interrogation with laconic grunts that could have been a yes, a no, or an “I’m not fucking answering that question.”

Naomi’s questions about what he did for work were answered with one word, “security,” and a glower. Jenny’s far from subtle ribbing comments about his involvement with the local BDSM community were met with baffled hostility.

At least he had changed into human clothing, except for the fang necklace around his neck.

The four of them finally showed up at the shelter, brand-new cat carrier in Kat’s hand, only to find out that it had closed twenty minutes earlier.

That led to more arguing, as Jenny kept banging on the door and Naomi left multiple messages on the shelter’s voicemail.

“Look.” Lyall paused, as if even that one word of verbal interaction had been exhausting. “I spotted one of those little carnivores in a window a block back. I can break in and steal that cat if you want.”

Both Jenny and Naomi turned toward him, mouths open and for once at a loss for words.

“That’s a good one.” Kat pretended to laugh and clapped Lyall on the shoulder, a little harder than necessary. “Great joke. Why don’t we head to my parents’ house, and I’ll stop by here tomorrow.”

Before his sisters could criticize Kat’s plan, the door swung open and a frazzled young man in a cat-fur-covered sweatshirt leaned out. “Sorry. I was in the back. Nakamura family again?”

Kat and his sisters trooped inside, but Lyall hung back at the entrance until the shelter volunteer waved them all into a back room.

Lyall was great at sneaking up on people. Which, given that he was an assassin/mercenary/bodyguard kind of guy, made sense. He had surprised Kat plenty of times by coming up behind him. But this time Kat knew exactly when Lyall entered the room, even if he couldn’t see him.

Because every cat in the shelter flew into a rage.

There were about twenty felines in cages on each side of the room, and the combined sound of their yowls, hisses, and shrieks of fury was deafening.

Kat waved at Lyall frantically to get out and saw Jenny narrowing her eyes as she caught him doing it.

The hellhound finally stepped back, clearly unhappy, which was ridiculous.

It wasn’t like the rescue animals or the volunteer were going to attack Kat, although the former might give him permanent hearing damage.

With a good deal of difficulty and more than a few scratches, the three of them managed to get the spitting-mad rescue cat—ironically named Happy—into the carrier and out the door.

Both the yowls and the ammonia scent of cat pee faded as they left the shelter and returned to the car.

Happy wanted no part of being in the back seat with Lyall, so Kat switched places with him and did his best to soothe the cat.

“You know what they say.” Naomi gave Lyall a vicious grin as she pulled the car out of the parking lot. “Animals are great judges of character.”

Half an hour later, Kat didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified to arrive at his parents’ house.

At least the ride was over. Happy the not-so-happy cat stopped hissing once Kat took him out of the car and away from Lyall.

Naomi had a business call that required privacy, so she stopped needling Lyall and left to answer it.

That left Kat, Lyall, and Jenny to walk together up to the front door.

“I need to talk to you alone.” Lyall snarled the words in Kat’s ear.