Page 40 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)

L yall tried to step back to protect Kat from the control object.

But the indenture contract had its claws in him, and he had no choice but to focus on Arimanius’s safety.

“I must admit, I’m impressed.” Ari ignored Lyall’s pointed glare and walked around the elongated egg floating a meter above the floor. The damn thing was dangerous, and his boss shouldn’t be getting this close.

Being forced to care whether Ari lived or died was the absolute worst.

“Is this the control object, Lyall?” Arimanius at least didn’t go closer to the thing.

“Yeah, they’re the real deal, boss.” Zale answered for Lyall, obviously eager to boast about his accomplishment to the head of the family. Bug took off from his shoulder and flew across the room to greet Evangeline. “Their name is Lyric. They can talk to me in my head.”

Lyall was surprised that Lyric had found much of interest in the half-kraken’s thick skull, but this explained how Kat had pulled this off.

The young human had struck a bargain with both Zale and a phantom fetus who was certainly up to no good.

In the process, Kat had betrayed his friend Kaveh, maneuvered around Remi, and even convinced Giana Gatti to play along.

All to give Lyall a chance to get away.

Now Arimanius possessed one of the most powerful Riftworld weapons Lyall had ever seen, and Kat had badly damaged his relationship with Kaveh, who cared deeply about his safety. Not to mention what the Saguaro Rift drakones might do when they heard of this.

“I’ve delivered my part of the bargain.” Kat walked up to Ari, doing an excellent job of being bossy. As worried as Lyall was, he did have to admire his Matchmaker pick’s bravery. “Now it’s time for you to hold your end up. Release Lyall from his indenture contract.”

“I will.” A smile played around Ari’s whiskered lips, which was never a good sign. “Lyall will be out of the contract and free to leave with you.”

Ari turned and gave Lyall a triumphant smile.

That was all the warning Lyall had before he doubled over, the force of the compulsion hitting him hard. His body contorted, transforming him out of his human shape.

Then he was looking up at the mafia boss towering over him. He had four paws and sharp teeth, but he didn’t even come up to Arimanius’s knees.

Shit. That ratkind son of a bitch had used the collar to transform him into his Earth canine form.

He barked furiously at Arimanius, but since he was a Scottish terrier again, that was all he could do.

“You can’t leave him like this.” Kat bent down and scooped up Lyall in his arms, which was even more embarrassing. “We had a deal.”

“Lyall’s no longer bound by the contract and can scurry on out of here at any time.” Ari moved closer to Lyric, who shimmered with iridescence, as if they wanted to entice him to approach. “I’m sure you’ll figure out how to get the collar off eventually.”

“I wouldn’t get too close if I were you.” Remi had a taunting edge to his voice. “There’s a reason even Kaveh keeps his distance from them.”

Arimanius scowled. Remi had always been good at getting under his father’s skin, and the mafia boss would want to relish this victory. However, Ari hadn’t lived this long with that many enemies by being reckless.

“Put your hand on it,” Ari called to Zale. The half-kraken nodded, then enveloped the floating object in a two-armed and eight-tentacled hug. Lyric vibrated against him, turning a shade of pink that made it look like the glowing egg was blushing.

“If Zale can manhandle the thing, I doubt it’s too difficult to manage.” Ari waved away Remi’s protest and came up to Lyric. Zale backed away, and Ari hovered his paw-like hand over the glowing surface.

Lyric lashed out, electricity arcing into Arimanius’s body. The mafia boss was flung backward, sprawling onto the ground.

Okay, maybe Lyall had misjudged Lyric. He was beginning to like the phantom fetus.

The control object shook wildly, as if enraged, and the floor beneath it opened up into the roaring maw of an earth rift. The elongated egg sank through the portal and disappeared in a dramatic shower of sparks. Zale made a choking noise, then half-jumped, half-fell into the mini-hellmouth.

Giana scrambled over to Ari’s side, as did a clearly embarrassed Teo after Remi dropped his psychic control over the hopper. Arimanius snarled at Teo and then switched to a bubbling series of orders in the hopper language.

Teo shot a glance at Lyall, gave a shrug, and then hopped into the portal seconds before it closed.

Remi came over and gave Kat a friendly punch to the shoulder before strolling to the spot where Lyric, Zale, and Teo had disappeared. He was wearing a shit-eating grin.

Lyall tried to swear under his breath, but it came out as a bark. It had all been a con. Remi had pretended to be furious that Kat had betrayed his trust while the two of them strung Arimanius along, with a little help from Zale and Lyric.

“Well, I tried to warn you, Dad .” Remi used that endearment with Arimanius only when he really wanted to make him angry.

He peered into the dissipating smoke that was all that was left of the portal.

“Lyall could probably explain how that mini-earth rift allowed my little baby to get away, but since he’s a dog now, he can’t talk. ”

Arimanius staggered to his feet, his face a mask of fury as he came toward Kat. Lyall bared his teeth and growled.

“Get it back for me, now, or our arrangement is over.”

“I delivered the control object to you as I promised.” Kat tightened his grip, which prevented Lyall from giving his former boss a nasty bite. “Thus satisfying the seymour contract. The fact that Lyric didn’t like you and left—is your problem.”

Kat had been listening closely when Lyall had told him how he ended up trapped in a contract with the head of the Colony mafia. Lyall would have found this all hilarious if he didn’t have to worry that Kat would provoke Ari into attacking him.

“Don’t worry,” Remi added with saccharine sweetness, also apparently not worried about his father’s fury. “I’m sure you’ll figure out where Lyric went eventually.”

“My wife, my son, and even my traitor of a nephew.” Ari leaned in closer, his pointed teeth bared at Kat. Lyall tried to squirm free and give the mafia boss a good nip, but the young human had serious upper body strength. “You turned them all against me. I promise you’ll regret this.”

Kat might have had an answer to this threat, but he didn’t have a chance to respond. The floor of the building shook again, and a familiar roar of rage rang out throughout the space.

Lyall recognized the sound all too well. His mother Cesmak was here, and that meant trouble.

Arimanius whirled around as two hellhounds, one in humanoid form and the other in her Riftworld incarnation, walked toward him.

Cesmak always dominated whatever space she inhabited, and today was no exception.

Transformed into an approximation of a human, she had reddish-blond hair cropped close and was about Arimanius’s height and bulk.

She wore scarlet living leathers with weapons that gleamed gold, although they weren’t made from that soft metal.

Beside her, Gremory’s jet-black hellhound shape was a negative space, her liquid silver eyes gleaming in the darkness of her coat.

“You’ve disrespected our clan for the last time, rat.” Cesmak’s frequent roars of fury were nowhere near as ominous as her current cold, precise words. “I’ll rip your heart out and eat it, then do the same to your son and the worthless human who birthed him.”

This was not good.

Lyall wasn’t indentured and had no obligation, or even inclination, to protect the head of the Colony.

But he wasn’t going to stand by while Cesmak killed Remi, along with Giana and every other ratkind here.

Kat might be in danger as well, unless Gremory could suss out that Kat was his Matchmaker-chosen spouse.

In his current form, Lyall was useless. Arimanius was the only one who could remove the collar. If the mafia boss released him into his hellhound shape, Lyall could try to stop Cesmak, either by striking a bargain or fighting her as a last resort.

The problem was the don of the ratkind mafia wouldn’t consider for a moment that Lyall might protect members of Arimanius’s family because he wanted to, not because he had no other choice.

He had seen Arimanius fight before, and although the mafia boss avoided getting his own hands bloody when he could, he was a powerful fighter.

But he didn’t stand a chance against Cesmak, and that meant every other Colony member in the room—including Remi—would die.

Lyall couldn’t let that happen. He reached out and clamped his jaws around Kat’s arm. Not a true bite, but the surprise of it caused Kat to drop him. Lyall landed on the floor and charged at Cesmak, but it was Gremory who lunged at him.

His birth mother used her mouth to lift him up by the scruff of the neck, ignoring his snarling and barking.

It was hard to imagine how this day could get any more humiliating.

“I should leave my pathetic son in this form, since he deserves it for his stupidity.” Cesmak turned toward Lyall, then dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

Not surprisingly, Lyall’s mothers had found a way to make his disgrace even more complete. He gave up barking and hung limply, trying and failing to come up with a plan to get out of this situation.

“Fight me first in a formal duel.” Arimanius didn’t give as much as an inch to Cesmak, even though he must know how little chance he had against her. “You’re the alpha of your clan, and I’m the patriarch of the Colony. I have the right to ask for that.”

Ari would stand even less of a chance in a one-on-one fight with Cesmak. The Pouch Twins—if they hadn’t run away already—might put up enough of a fight to give the don time to get away, leaving his son and wife behind to be slaughtered.

Instead, Ari was throwing away his only chance to save himself and giving his family a chance to run instead.