Page 31 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)

Jenny had amazing hearing when it came to conversations she wasn’t meant to listen in on, so she plucked at Lyall’s sleeve with a grin. “Meet the parents first, have your little lovers’ spat later.”

Any chance for conversation came to an abrupt halt as the door was flung open and George Nakamura bellowed, “Welcome to our house, Paul! We’ve heard so much about you.”

He came forward to engulf Lyall in a hug that wasn’t reciprocated.

“I’m not Paul Cicero.” Lyall held still until George released him, then took a step back and brushed cat hairs off the sweatshirt and jeans he had thrown on before their road trip from hell. “And you smell like a cat.”

George sniffed himself and nodded, not at all bothered by the comment. “I’ve been with one of our rescues all day. Vomited up a tapeworm.”

“Dad.” Kat wanted to stop his father before even more messy details of the pet’s medical issues came up. “This is Lyall. He’s a friend of mine who’s staying at the ranch to help with security issues.”

“Welcome, Lyall!” George pumped the hellhound’s arm up and down and mercifully didn’t attempt another hug. Instead, he began his version of a boyfriend interrogation. “Are you hungry? What do you like to eat? Do you want a drink?”

He followed that up by slinging an arm over Lyall’s shoulder and steering the hellhound toward the door.

“I’m always hungry.” Lyall answered George’s questions one by one as he allowed himself to be led. “Meat is good. Scotch would be better.”

Kat followed a few steps behind. Jenny took a little longer, since she was laughing so hard.

Lyall took off his sneakers before entering the house without prompting, which was at least one polite gesture.

Once they were inside, he began to check out his surroundings, immersed in what Kat now knew was his where-could-the-assassins-break-in mode.

They were all inside a den that had been refurbished into what his family called the Cat Room.

There were floor to ceiling climbing towers, hanging circular hammocks, and a full play bridge that stretched over their heads and allowed the pampered felines to perch high above it all.

Multiple litter machines filled with fully compostable materials gave the animals a variety of potty options.

His parents kept the place clean, but Kat imagined that Lyall’s inhuman sniffing ability might find it overwhelming.

Lyall moved on from searching for hidden attackers and complaining about cat smells to carrying out his own interrogation.

“How do you know Paul Cicero?” he asked Kat’s father.

“Naomi said he was quite nice and that Kat was dating him.” George’s gaze went from Kat’s annoyed expression to Lyall’s furious one and furrowed his brow in confusion. “Do you know Paul?”

“We’ve worked together in the past.” Lyall put an alarming amount of venom into those words as he stared down Kat.

Ok, Kat was done with this. First Lyall had been rude to Kat’s sisters (not without provocation) and to Kat’s father (for no reason, other than smelling like a cat).

He had tried to drag Kat away for a talk all day to tell him he wasn’t ready for a relationship.

Now he had the nerve to be jealous that Kat had gone on a date with someone else.

This was why Kat needed to stop falling into bed with guys who would never fall in love with him.

Kat handed the kitty carrier with Happy inside it to his father, who opened it and scooped the cat in his arms. “Here’s the new rescue, Dad. His name is Happy. Maybe Lyall can help you get him settled in. I’m going to check on Mom.”

“Your mother is right here.” Winkie Nakamura rolled into the den, the one-eared cat on her lap and a yet another spoon in her hand.

The animal took one look at Lyall, hissed, and jumped off to run away.

“I’ve been sick to death with worry all day.

You told me the ranch was safe. Now I hear there are giant hellhounds kidnapping people and frog monsters hopping all over the place. ”

“I’m fine.” Kat realized too late he had practically shouted the mantra. He lowered his voice and tried to remain calm. “Everything’s okay. I brought the new rescue cat, and we’re all here early.”

Happy squirmed out of George’s hands and ran off to scramble up a cat tree onto the bridge, next to the senior cat. Hopefully both animals would get along. Usually, they tried to introduce new rescues to each other in more controlled circumstances.

Kat’s mother gave a Lyall a once-over, then pointed the spoon at her son. “Who’s your friend? Naomi said that Paul fellow was coming over. If this one’s a venture capitalist, I’ll eat my gardening hat.”

“I work in security at the ranch.” The hellhound cocked his head at Winkie. People often saw his mother’s wheelchair first, rather than her as a person, but Lyall’s focus was entirely on Kat’s mother. “My name’s Lyall.”

“I don’t think much of your security.” Winkie rolled up closer to Lyall, her tone sharp. Not a good sign. “What are you going to do if one of those monsters at the ranch goes after my Kat?”

Lyall didn’t hesitate. “I’ll kill them. And anyone else who tries to hurt him.”

“Okay.” Naomi had been standing in the doorway and now she strode into the room, exuding eldest daughter energy. “Let’s stop talking about unaliving people and go outside for cold drinks while Dad gets the grill going.”

“Killing anyone who wants to hurt my Kat is a perfectly acceptable answer.” Winkie gave Lyall an approving nod. “With all those muscles, you must need to eat a lot. We’ll have a few snacks before dinner.”

Kat allowed himself a sigh of relief. Lyall had found at least one member of the Nakamura family he could bond with, even if it was over shared homicidal urges. Maybe the whole security contractor lie would get them through dinner.

Then Happy and the one-eared cat dropped down on Lyall’s head and everything went south.

Lyall jerked in surprise, twisting away from the felines, and transformed. A few seconds later, an enormous hellhound stood in his place, eyes glowing red and the shredded remains of his clothing and their cover story strewn around him.

There was a moment of shocked silence, broken by Jenny’s scream and choked gasps from George and Naomi.

The cats booked it out of the room, and Kat tried to dart forward to stand in front of Lyall.

He needed to start explaining that yes, he had invited a Riftworld monster into their home, but they had nothing to worry about.

His mother was closer, though. She activated the standing function on her chair and drew herself up to her full height. Then she whacked Lyall on the nose with her spoon. “Bad dog!”

Lyall’s head gave a confused shake as George and Naomi rushed forward to pull Winkie back, and Kat was able to get in front of Lyall.

“Please, don’t panic.” Guilt overwhelmed him as he saw the horrified faces of his family. “Lyall isn’t going to hurt anyone, and he can turn right back into a human.” He jabbed his elbow into the hellhound, who let out a loud sneeze. “Now, please.”

The monstrous dog shape convulsed, folding in on itself, and human Lyall appeared, sans clothing. This time Naomi let out a squeal of shock, which might have been her awe at seeing a Riftworld alterform transformation—or might have been about the size of Lyall’s dick.

Dear God, his entire family had seen Lyall’s cock. Also, that wasn’t what he should be worrying about right now.

As the living leathers wound around Lyall’s nude Earth form, he sneezed again. “Fucking cats. They hate me, and they make my nose itch.”

Naomi, who had backed away toward the door leading into the kitchen, recovered her voice first. “Kat, I think you owe us an explanation.”

Everyone else started talking at once, with Jenny saying she had known something was off all along and Naomi threatening to call the police. His father and mother yelled at Kat, all while the two cats who had started this mess peeked around the doorway, ears perked up.

“All right.” Lyall’s human voice wasn’t as resounding and bone-chilling as his hellhound growl, but it rang through the room and shut everyone up.

“This isn’t Kat’s fault. I had to come with him today because a dangerous riftperson tried to snatch Kat twice in two days, and it’s my responsibility to keep him safe. ”

Kat buried his head in his hands. Why couldn’t Lyall have started off with something more reassuring than the attacks he hadn’t told his family about?

Oh right. Lyall sucked at being reassuring.

“Maybe it’s a good thing those little furballs jumped me.” Lyall glanced over at the two feline offenders, who appeared fascinated by the chaos they had unleashed. “I have to take Kat away, for his own safety.”

“What?” Kat asked. He had thought Lyall wanted to break to him that they could be fuck buddies but not anything more than that.

All of a sudden, he was talking about making him leave his family.

“No, you’re not kidnapping me again. I’m fine with keeping you or Kaveh with me to make sure I’m safe, but that doesn’t mean I agree to go to a safe house or whatever. ”

Naomi held her hand up, as if she was a student in a classroom. “He’s already kidnapped you once?”

“Paul Cicero is Arimanius.” Lyall ignored Naomi’s question and met Kat’s eyes before continuing to explain himself to the rest of the family. He was serious, then. This wasn’t a joke.

“He’s the head of the ratkind mafia in Boston, and I was his indentured servant until six months ago. Arimanius wants revenge on me, his son Remi, and the Saguaro Rift drakones, especially Kaveh Salehi. Kat was targeted by him because of me.”