Page 18 of On A Rift's Edge
“Thanks so much for dinner.” Kat had one hand on the door behind him, ready to scoot into the building if Paul decided to go for a goodbye kiss. “I’d invite you inside, but—” Kat trailed off because he was terrible at lying, and telling Paul he had zero romantic interest in him wouldn’t be nice. Maybe creating an imaginary roommate who hated to be disturbed by guests would work.
Paul moved in closer, eyes locked on him, and took Kat’s free hand in his. “You don’t need to explain why you want to take things slow.”
Kat, who didn’t want to take things anywhere at any speed, stood with his mouth open for a moment, then gave a few frantic nods of agreement.
“You see,” Paul continued, his voice dropping in volume as if he wanted to confide in Kat. “My wife and I are separated but not divorced, and I’m not ready to start a physical relationship with anyone yet. I’m old-fashioned that way.”
“Thank you for sharing that with me.” Kat pushed the door behind him open a crack and resisted the urge to rip his hand free and run screaming into the foyer. “I totally respect where you’re at emotionally right now.”
“I appreciate it.” Paul smiled and turned their weird handholding into a business-like shake. “Have a great night. I’ll call you.”
8
Lyall chose to take a rideshare to the ranch, rather than portal over. Part of that was the location of the motel. Creating portals was easier for him to do when he was near or inside a rift, and creating one in a full Earth environment while in human form yesterday had been a stretch.
Besides, opening a mini-hellmouth in full view of the motel manager and the various families with kids wasn’t particularly discreet.
Lyall preferred not to dwell on the other reason he wanted to remain in his Earth alterform when he visited the ranch. Kat had seen Lyall in all of his hellhound glory and had surprisingly not devolved into the screaming panic most humans did when they laid eyes on him. Lyall still didn’t want to remind Kat that he was going on a hike with a Riftworld monster. Especially now that he knew Kat had a human lover.
The swell of jealousy that flooded through him at the thought of anyone else touching Kat was so strong his eyes transformed, his vision altering the world into a heat map that allowed him to track prey.
“You might want to back off the weed a bit, bro.” The rideshare driver smelled of the human intoxicant himself, which might account for him not realizing Lyall’s glowing red eyeballs weren’t human. “Never seen eyes that bloodshot.”
“Allergies.” Lyall growled out the reply. He had become accustomed to Earth transportation, as distasteful as it was, but he preferred robocars so he didn’t have to interact with irritating humans. Given that Moon Star Ranch was affected more by rift storms than the city proper, only human-driven cars were allowed to go there, so passengers weren’t left inside a useless shell of metal and plastic if the natural laws of Earth switched off. Lyall didn’t have much faith that his current driver, who was playing a game on the car’s touchscreen as the vehicle drove itself, would have a clue if a rift storm did roll in.
The driver found Lyall’s answer hilarious, which annoyed Lyall even more, so he was in a foul mood when the car pulled up to the ranch’s main building.
“Have fun at Monster Ranch, bro.” The driver waited a beat, as if hoping Lyall would laugh at the joke. “Instead of Moon Star, get it?”
Lyall slammed the door as he got out and stalked toward the large metal gong near the ranch’s restaurant. Kat had suggested meeting at the spot. The device was a low-tech way to sound the alarm when a rift storm was incoming. A few months ago, the gong had warned the ranch that a horde of rampaging monster invertebrates was on its way.
Fun times.
Lyall didn’t have to wait long. Kat came walking toward him, and Lyall found himself smiling, which did not happen often.
Kat had a hesitant look about him, perhaps remembering what an absolute jerk Lyall had been yesterday, but he brightened as he saw Lyall’s face.
Then Kat was standing right next to him, and all Lyall’s mind could focus on was how fucking hot his Matchmaker match was.
Kat was close to a head taller than him, lithe and slender. He had a graceful, long-legged gait Lyall could have watched all day and a face more beautiful than any human had a right to have.
He smelled great as always, and more importantly, no other human’s scent clung to him. Showering and cleaning removed some odors, but Lyall’s nose was sensitive enough even in his current form to pick up if Kat had spent time in bed with that loan shark he was dating.
“Hey.” Lyall wasn’t chatty on general principles but having Kat near him made him incapable of speech. Maybe Remi was right and the Matchmaker had a fucking twisted sense of humor. Why, of all the members of his clan, had the Matchmaker selected a human husband for him?
No, not his husband. Kat would panic if he found out there was a secret plan to marry him off to a monster. The young human wanted to be friends, which was more than Lyall had any right to expect, given the situation.
“Hi, Lyall.” Kat’s face broke into one of those smiles that made Lyall’s guts twist in longing and frustration. He was so damn cute. “I think I solved the problem of getting the trash scorpion back to its home. It turns out that Chucky gets along fine with this species, so I’ve set up a contraption that will let us all ride out to the monstertown together.”
“And Chucky would be…who, exactly?” Lyall didn’t feel like sharing Kat with anyone on this little trip. He didn’t want to share Kat ever, but that was impossible, and he needed to get those possessive thoughts out of his head.
“That’s the name that Remi’s streaming audience picked for Amanita’s colt.” Kat gestured toward the day stables where the Earth horses were kept, and Lyall fell into step beside him. “We had thousands of suggestions, but Chucky got the most votes.”
“We’re going to put that garbage-crazed crab on top of a juvenile repoequus?” Lyall was pleased they weren’t going to have any other humans join them, but even he respected the danger posed by the animal. The Riftworld species had features in common with Earth horses in terms of their overall shape, but they also came with horns, poison fangs, and a psychic ability to paralyze their victims with nightmarish visions.
“Chucky isn’t afraid of Riftworld animals like the other horses.” Kat gestured to the animals tethered in a roofed structure with open sides. Their comfy nighttime stalls were located further away from the main building of the ranch. “Amanita isn’t either, but Remi’s the only one except for Kaveh who rides her. The last time we did this you didn’t want to get on a horse, so I figured you could run along with me and Pogo in your Riftworld form. She’s used to you because of the last time, so I think it’ll be fine.”
“If you’re not bothered by it.” Lyall had been so stressed about seeing Kat that he had forgotten the human would want to ride out to the monstertown. So much for not frightening Kat by showing him his true form.
