Page 31 of On A Rift's Edge
“Could you tell me more about your clan’s social structure?” Kat decided talking about family might be a good way to start. “There’s been speculation that hellhounds and wolf packs have a similar hierarchy.”
“I’ve only seen Earth wolves once, at a rescue center.” Lyall shifted, and the already small distance between the two of them decreased. He was close enough now for Kat to feel the heat of his body against his skin. “The people there talked about how the whole alpha male idea wasn’t accurate at all. Wolf packs are family units, and they all care for their cubs. It is true that since the Sundering Earth concepts and words have been picked up by many Riftworld people, including my clan. If we’re in human form we call the leaders of my clan alphas. In the case of the Mt. Hood pack both are female, though. My two moms.”
“Your mothers are the alphas?” Kat was intrigued. “Is it matriarchal, like drakone society?”
“That’s three questions, and I haven’t even got in one,” Lyall pointed out. “I know how human society in this part of the world works, more or less, but I’d like a little background on your family, given that I’m meeting them tomorrow.”
“My mom and dad like cooking, cats, and hovering over me.” Kat felt he needed to be truthful with Lyall, since the hellhound was sharing personal details with him. “I have two older sisters who give new meaning to the word bossy. And I love them all very much.”
“I can understand why they’re overprotective.” Lyall gave a laugh. “Given how our day went today. My moms are not like that. My mother Cesmak exiled me when I got trapped in the indenture contract with Arimanius, even though my other mom Gremory argued against it.”
Kat drew in a breath. That sounded awful. As frustrating as his parents could be, he couldn’t imagine how he could make them angry enough to send him away. “How did you get trapped into your indenture contract?”
Lyall tensed, his face unreadable for a moment. “That’s quite a question. I’ll answer it if you’ll answer one from me. A secret for a secret.”
“Of course.” Kat didn’t have secrets, unless you counted the theft/rescue of the trash scorpion. “Ask me anything.”
“Did you have sex with Paul?”
Kat opened his mouth to say that was way too personal, but he had started this. He gave himself a second to compose himself. “No, I didn’t. It wasn’t that kind of a date.”
“What sort of date was it, then?” Lyall sounded—well, intense was too strong a word. But it wasn’t a casual question.
“That’s two questions.” Kat thought Lyall might get pissed about him pushing back, but the hellhound grinned instead.
“Fair enough.” Lyall moved over again, one hip now brushing against Kat’s sweatpants. “The short answer is that I was an idiot and underestimated Arimanius. I’m not the only one who’s made that mistake, but it was my fault.”
That was an answer, technically, but Kat had no idea what could have tempted Lyall to risk ten years of being forced to work for a boss he hated. Was it money or incredible Riftworld tech that could be used as a weapon? Whatever the reason, it was Kat’s turn to tell the truth.
“My date with Paul was more for my parents and my siblings than for me.” Kat could have added that he had only gone out with the venture capitalist because he was angry at Lyall, but he wasn’t brave enough. “They want me to meet someone mature and successful, and Paul dresses well and makes a lot of money, so they like him. Naomi especially, because of her work in finance.”
Now Kat felt guilty about bashing his date, who had been decent, in his own way. “He’s a nice person, if a little self-absorbed. Frankly, I couldn’t get away from him fast enough, but he was oblivious. He felt he needed to tell me he wasn’t ready for intimacy because he was only separated from his wife and not divorced.”
Lyall gave an incredulous laugh. “He turnedyoudown for sex? And before you even brought it up?”
Kat drew in a breath. Had Lyall been complimenting him with that comment? Maybe he hadn’t meant anything by it.
“Consider those rhetorical questions.” Without any prompting, Lyall put up a hand to stop Kat from sharing more embarrassing details of his date with Paul.
“Okay, I’ll tell you the story of how I ended up as Arimanius’s bitch.” He took a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling as he spoke. “I haven’t told anyone this before, although that little bastard Remi tried to get it out of me for years. Arimanius approached our pack because he wanted a hellhound as back-up muscle for a shakedown.”
Kat had sat with his parents through enough fake crime docudramas on riftpeople to get the gist of that. “I thought your clan didn’t like the ratkind.”
“No one likes the ratkind.” Lyall gave an irritable wave. “Well, I get along with Remi, but no one else in his family is even tolerable, believe me. That’s not why Alpha Cesmak turned him down. She didn’t trust he’d adhere to the contract. Hellhounds are big on contracts.”
“Like lawyers,” Kat said.
“We’re not that bad.” Lyall sounded offended. “But the alphas can’t stop a full member of the pack from accepting a work contract. Especially if they don’t know about it. I—felt like I needed to prove myself, so I went to Arimanius behind my mother’s back and took the job.”
“Are your two moms equal leaders?” Kat had forgotten that they were swapping questions, but maybe he could answer more of Lyall’s later on.
“Cesmak handles security, assassination opportunities, that sort of thing. Gremory supervises anything to do with research on human or Riftworld tech, education, what you would call infrastructure planning.” Lyall’s voice softened when he mentioned his second mom’s name, and Kat wondered if he was closer to her than he was to Cesmak.
“What was the job?” Kat was afraid he wouldn’t like the answer.
“The head of a human trafficking ring decided to branch out and abduct riftpeople.” Lyall glowered at the memory. “They went after species less able to defend themselves, and they focused on young kids. There were mothcat kits and a few fairy hound pups, among others.”
“That’s horrible.” Kat’s anxiety about the story turned into outrage. “They deserved to be shaken out or down or whatever it is.”
