Page 39 of On A Rift's Edge
The sound of the shot reverberated through the air. Lyall blinked, so shocked he had trouble processing what he was seeing.
Teo stood unmoving as the bullet Kat had fired at his chest hung in the air in front of him, quivering as if torn between the laws of Earth physics and the alien reality of the Riftworld.
“Bad kitty.” Teo hissed the words out at Kat then moved forward to grab him.
Lyall growled, furious and desperate to help his human. What should have been a low sound from the throat of a small Earth animal morphed into a battle roar.
He had transformed back into his hellhound shape, and he wasted no time before launching himself at Teo.
This time the hopper was caught unawares, and Lyall landed on him with all his weight driving the hopper into the ground. It should have broken a few bones, but Teo’s body had an annoying flexible quality. He broke free as soon as Lyall tried to twist his jaws around him, then jumped through the air to land on the roof of the petting zoo’s clinic.
Lyall shot a quick glance around, but the Pouch Twins had abandoned Teo as soon as Lyall had transformed.
“Nice trick, gatito.” Teo threw Kat a mock salute. He had the collar in his good hand, as blood dripped down his right. Lyall rushed toward Kat, poised to fight if the hopper tried to attack again.
“To next time.” Teo sprang backward off the roof and disappeared.
15
Kat had never wished for a rift storm more. The ranch was in a lockdown after the attack by Teo and the Pouch Twins, he was supposed to be at a strategy meeting in Garreth’s office, and a clingy Lyall had been downright mutinous when Kat had explained he needed privacy for a phone call.
But if he didn’t call his mother back right now he’d be disowned.
Kat had gone into the ranch’s bar to talk to her. There was usually a scattering of guests even during the day in the comfortable space, chatting while they sat on stools topped with riding saddles or enjoying the view of the ranch’s beautiful desert landscaping while playing the antique board games Chrissie collected.
But the guests were tucked away in their cabins, and the windows were now reinforced with living crystal shields and writhing vines of guardweed. He set the phone in his watch on dual project mode and made the call.
“Hi, Mom, it’s me.” Kat gave his mother his cheeriest smile as a holographic view of her in the kitchen appeared.
“Kat, I was frantic!” His mom plopped the cat sitting on her lap on the floor next to her wheelchair and leaned forward, volume rising with each word. “No messages, no calls, no nothing from you. Naomi left a message yesterday. You didn’t answer, and now the news is saying there are more monster problems at the ranch.”
Kat kept up a perky tone. “Everything’s fine. Well, there was a security incident, which is being looked into, so I’ll be stuck at work for a while.”
He wasn’t fine, but he had stopped shaking. Not so much from the fear he had felt facing yet another kidnapping attempt. No, what had disturbed him was shooting Teo. Or trying to shoot him. He hadn’t been sure his trick to free Lyall would work, but he had been confident a shotgun wasn’t enough to kill a Riftworld baddie like the hopper.
It had still been an awful moment.
“An alien demon dog rampaging through the grounds.” Winkie Nakamura would have made a great narrator for docudramas about the Riftworld. “There are pictures of that monster all over the feeds. Glowing red eyes and huge fangs—it was terrifying.”
Pictures of Lyall in his true form had gone viral. Lovely.
“Some of the riftpeople helped secure the ranch, and no one was hurt.” Kat put all the reassurance he could into his words. “I got busy and forgot to call or text Naomi back, and I’m sorry. I’ll be at dinner tomorrow like always.”
“You’d better be,” his mother said. “Naomi was calling to see if we should invite that nice Paul fellow you’ve been dating.”
Kat winced. “I don’t think Paul will be up for dinner tomorrow. He was visiting the ranch when the security issue happened. Don’t worry. He’s okay, but he’s a little rattled.”
They had found their VIP guest cowering in the sauna room adjacent to the pool. He was decidedly moist from the steam but unhurt. Physically, at least. He had fled to the private limo that had been waiting for him at the ranch entrance and left as soon as he could.
Winkie, for once, was stunned into silence for a moment. “Did the alien dog attack Paul?”
“No, that’s not what happened.” Speaking of Kat’s favorite alien dog monster, as his mother put it, he needed to prepare her for having Lyall as a dinner guest. “I’d like to bring a friend to the house if that’s okay. His name is Lyall, and he’s doing security consulting for the ranch.”
“You haven’t mentioned this Lyall before.” His mother could zero in on the faintest hint of romance like a bloodhound. “Are you seeing himandPaul?”
“I’m not in a relationship with anyone right now, Mom.” Kat glanced at the door leading to the back rooms and saw Lyall leaning against the doorframe. It was reassuring, but it reminded him that he needed to wrap this phone call up. “I have to go to a work meeting. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
He cut the connection before his mother began to grill him about every detail of Lyall’s home life, work history, and dietary preferences. So many lies. Dinner was going to be even more stressful than usual, but that was a tomorrow problem.
