Page 32 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)

“That can’t be true.” Kat felt anger rising up inside him, like acid bubbling into his chest. He pushed it down, like he always did.

It didn’t go away as easily as it should have.

“I’ve met him, Naomi and Jenny have met him, and he looks nothing like a humanoid rat monster.

Remi told me he’s the only one in his family who can hold a full human form, and that’s because he’s mixed. ”

“Arimanius has tech that allows him to hold a human form if he’s away from Riftworld effects.

” Lyall shook his head. “I’d say I’m surprised he could pull this type of con off, but he has a lot of connections and power.

I can’t protect you in this environment, and that’s why I need you to come with me to my clan’s territory. ”

He was talking about taking Kat to the hellmouth in Oregon.

There was no monstertown near Mt. Hood. Most of the riftpeople there were hostile to humans, and none more so than the hellhounds.

Plus, Lyall had been exiled from his family.

They would hardly welcome Kat with puppy dog kisses.

Not to mention that Kat couldn’t leave work, his studies, and his family behind.

“How do you know Paul is Arimanius?” Kat thought back to his interactions with the venture capitalist. He had been annoying, but nothing else about him stood out. “That makes no sense. He was at the ranch when Teo and the ratkind attacked and ending up hiding in the sauna.”

Lyall paused, and Kat had a sinking feeling there was more to this story. “Teo told me. He came to your apartment early this morning and asked for a parlay—a type of protected negotiation Riftworld enemies use.”

Kat couldn’t believe Lyall hadn’t told him he had talked to the hopper. How could they trust anything Teo said? If Lyall was wrong and Paul wasn’t a rat mafia boss in disguise, the hellhound might try to hurt or kill him. Maybe that was what Teo intended to have happen.

“You didn’t tell me about any of this.” Winkie took the words out of Kat’s mouth. She would have shaken her spoon at Kat, but his father had already taken the utensil away. “You need to move back into your old room. Away from all the monsters.”

“That won’t work.” Lyall’s voice was flat.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Nakamura, but Arimanius and the ratkind have no trouble carrying out criminal activities in human communities, even far from a rift.

He knows he can get to me if he grabs Kat.

That’s why he approached Naomi and Jenny in the first place. This was all a setup.”

“There’s no reason for Arimanius to come after me.

” Kat knew Lyall wanted to protect him, but if the hellhound was the target, he might be making Kat less safe by staying with him.

Maybe that would be the argument which would calm Lyall down.

Then they could think things through, get Kaveh and Remi’s opinion, and not let Lyall merc a relatively innocent venture capitalist.

“There’s a reason, believe me,” Lyall said, clearly frustrated. Then he stopped, and swallowed hard as he avoided Kat’s eyes.

There was more that Lyall had been keeping from him. Something that felt awful and familiar at the same time.

“Kat’s your Matchmaker mate, isn’t he?” George, as much a fan of sensationalized Riftworld docudramas as his wife, broke into the conversation. “That’s why my son is in danger.”

“What?” Kat turned to Lyall, his pulse pounding in his ears. This felt like when Kaveh had told him the Matchmaker might have selected Kat to be his partner.

It felt awful.

He wasn’t going to accept that this Matchmaker insanity had spared him from being Kaveh’s partner so it could bind him together with Lyall.

“That’s why I wanted to talk to you alone.” Lyall looked and sounded guilty. “Kaveh was going to help me tell you yesterday at lunch, but?—”

“Kaveh knows about the Matchmaker thing?” Something inside Kat broke.

He was angry, and for once he was going to show it.

“I bet Remi’s in on it as well. This is as bad as it was the first time.

I’m not a child, and you shouldn’t have kept this from me.

You told me you could only do casual relationships the first time we slept together, remember?

And there was plenty of time to tell me last night after we had sex again.

I want to be with a person who loves me because I’m me, not because an alien force has taken over his mind. ”

That was wrong, and he shouldn’t have said it, but the words kept coming, boiling out of him.

It was also a shocking thing to say in front of his parents, but he didn’t care.

“Of course you hate Paul. You’d be jealous of anyone who wanted to date me.

That doesn’t mean he’s the ratkind mafia leader you used to work for. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“Kat, please.” Lyall held up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, and I should have told you sooner, but even if you don’t want to be with me, I need to protect you. I can’t take Arimanius and his enforcers on in a fight and keep you safe at the same time. He’ll use you to get to me.”

“Then you need to leave.” Kat pointed at the door. “I can’t stop you from dragging me off any more than Remi could have stopped Kaveh from doing that. But I won’t let you tell yourself I consented to it.”

Tears stung Kat’s eyes, and the hand he pointed at Lyall trembled.

This was worse than how he had felt with Kaveh.

He had fallen in love with Lyall, even though he shouldn’t have.

Lyall was being forced into a relationship with him because of the Matchmaker, and Kat couldn’t accept that. He wouldn’t accept that.

Lyall stared down at the floor. Kat waited for him to blow up and yell at him or maybe reach out and grab him, but the hellhound was silent for a long moment.

“You’ll need to stay close to Kaveh, then.” Lyall sounded defeated, not angry. It was as if he had expected Kat’s rejection. “I’ll see if the Colony will back off when I leave. Be safe.”

A mini-hellmouth opened up behind him, dripping with hot lava and sending out plumes of sulfur clouds into the room. Lyall stepped back through it, and then he was gone.

About thirty minutes or a lifetime later, Kat finished telling his family the whole story, from when he found out that Remi’s cute Scottish terrier was a hellhound, to all of the near misses and danger.

His father had gasped a few times, and Jenny blinked away tears.

Naomi kept sending messages to the ranch to see if Kaveh could be reached.

At least his family accepted his mentor as someone they could trust, even if he was a riftperson.

Throughout it all, his mother remained silent. That was so much worse than if she had yelled at him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all of this before,” Kat said for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

His mother spoke up. “I think Katsuo needs to take a break. Too much talking, too little eating.”

George nodded and stood up, but Naomi and Jenny didn’t budge until Winkie made the same shooing motion toward them that she used on rescue cats trying to steal table food.

Kat wanted to leave too, but he couldn’t hurt his mom even more. His anger and shock at finding out that Lyall and his closest friends had kept secrets from him had faded. Now he was left with guilt and a gnawing feeling that maybe they had been right to not tell him.

“So.” His mother reached out and took his hand. “This Lyall of yours. I liked him—until he turned into a monster and scared us all half to death.”

“He should have told me the truth from the beginning.” Kat thought that through and had to admit he was being unreasonable, given the circumstances when he had first met Lyall in human form.

Kat wouldn’t have taken the whole Matchmaker thing well while being chased by ratkind monsters and phantoms. “I’m not a kid anymore, and I don’t like to be patronized. ”

That had sounded better in his head. Out loud, it was just whiny.

“Well, you know now.” Winkie squeezed his hand. “Alien Matchmaker or not, Lyall likes you because you’re you—my beautiful, brilliant, and kind Katsuo. Have a little dinner and take a nap. When your dragon friend comes over I’ll send food back for him and the giant dog monster.”

Kat leaned forward to hug her and kiss her cheek, and she left to get him (and everyone, even Lyall) food. He got up and walked over to a front window, wanting a little more time before he had to deal with the mess he’d made of everything.

His watch buzzed, and a three-dimensional image of Remi floated in front of him.

Kat took a step forward, instinctively coming closer as he saw the fear on his friend’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Kat knew Remi didn’t scare easily. He was the son of a mafia boss, after all.

“It’s Snow.” Remi sucked in a deep breath. “He’s sick. I have no idea what’s wrong with him. Kaveh’s off at the Keep, and you’re the only one I know who can help him.”

Alarm washed over Kat. What had happened to Snow? The Riftworld hybrid had always been in the best of health, but maybe he had been injured. The bird was so reckless.

“I’m at my parents’ house. It’ll take me about an hour to get to the ranch.” Kat’s mind raced, trying to think of local vets who treated avian Earth species. Snow was half-cockatoo, and perhaps Remi could get the bird help sooner by taking the parrot into the city.

“I know. I’m driving up right now.” Remi paused, then said something Kat couldn’t catch to another person. He must have asked someone to give him a ride. Javier, maybe? “Can you come out to the car? I think he’s getting worse.”

Kat turned to the window and saw a solar-panel-equipped luxury auto pull into his parents’ driveway. The windshield and windows had embedded energy cells in them as well and were tinted so dark they’d be illegal in most other states.

The vehicle looked oddly familiar, even though Kat couldn’t think of anyone he knew who drove a car like that. Remi might have “convinced” someone to help him get Snow here fast. Kat was willing to let some moral laxity slide when it came to saving an animal.

He raced out of the house into the driveway. The back door popped open and Kat grabbed it and flung it open.

Remi and Snow weren’t in the back seat.

Teo was.

A familiar giant ladybug perched on the hopper’s shoulder. As Kat froze in fear and surprise, the cyberbug gave a friendly chirp before using an exact replica of Remi’s voice to order, “Get in the car.”

Teo patted the seat beside him as a strong arm jerked Kat’s head down from outside the car and pushed him inside.

Mabel and Fable grinned over at him from the front seats.

“Good to see you again, gatito.” Teo dropped what looked like a large worm on Kat’s lap. The Riftworld creature twisted over Kat’s wrists, a living zip-tie, as someone climbed in after him and slammed the door shut.

Kat turned toward his captor, his gut twisting in a queasy mix of fear and fury at himself for walking right into this trap.

“Thank you for your cooperation.” Paul Cicero—aka Arimanius—gestured at Fable to drive. “You’ve made all of this so easy.”