Page 44 of On A Rift's Edge
“Stop pounding. I’m coming.” Kat tried to open the door and failed. That was weird. It had never stuck like this before.
“Kat, are you all right?” Jenny sounded alarmed.
“I’m fine. The door isn’t opening, and I don’t know why.” Kat looked up and saw one of the red floating sigils Lyall had used to create a Riftworld alarm system to protect his apartment. He didn’t remember it being over the door.
Had Lyall locked Kat inside the apartment?
“I’ll go downstairs and see if the super is around,” Naomi piped up.
Great, this was now a double big-sister intervention.
Jenny asked him to try again, all the while complaining that Kat hadn’t answered his phone and had provoked their parents into a state of full panic. Kat tried to explain that there had been a rift storm and he had been sleeping in. Then he shoved his shoulder against the door, which was both painful and ineffective.
He heard another voice, low and grumbling. “I’m a friend of Kat’s. That’s why I’m here.”
The door popped open, causing Jenny to fall forward into the room. Naomi followed next, a little crease between her brows indicating she was furious.
Then Lyall walked in, wearing his living leather armor and multiple knives.
This was not how Kat had hoped to introduce the hellhound to his family.
“This person tells me he’s a friend of yours.” Naomi gave Lyall a skeptical look. “If that’s true, maybe you could introduce us.”
“Sure.” Kat made eye contact with Lyall, who seemed unusually grim. Granted, Kat’s sisters could be a bit much, but Lyall could at least try to be pleasant. “This is my friend Lyall. He’s coming to dinner tonight. Lyall, meet Naomi and Jenny, my older sisters.”
“I need to talk to you.” Lyall snapped out the words as he addressed Kat. “Alone.”
Kat wanted to talk to Lyall as well, to get their stories straight and to ask why the hellhound had locked him inside his apartment. But this meeting was awkward enough without ticking off his sisters even more. Besides, if this was what Lyall had wanted to discuss last night before the sexy times started, Kat already knew the drill.
This was fun, you’re totally hot, but I’m not in the right headspace for a relationship right now.
Yeah. That conversation could wait a little while longer.
“Lyall’s a Scottish name, isn’t it?” Naomi gave the hellhound the frosty smile she reserved for difficult business encounters. “What’s your last name? Is it Scottish too?”
“I don’t have one.” Lyall glowered back at her. “I need to straighten out a few things with Kat. The two of you should come back later.”
“Yes, it does look like the apartment needs a little straightening up.” Jenny indicated the floor, and Kat tried not to groan. His and Lyall’s clothing was strewn around, making what they had done together last night obvious. Plus, Lyall’s living leathers and weapons must look like an elaborate BDSM get-up to his sisters. This was getting worse by the moment.
“Nice outfit, too.” Jenny expanded Naomi’s line of interrogation to Lyall’s fashion choices, confirming Kat’s fears. “Do you have your own dungeon to go along with it?”
“Why would I want a dungeon?” Lyall asked. “I don’t take hostages. Too much damn work.”
“He’s good at staying in character. I’ll give him that,” Naomi said. “I’m not sure how well his look will go over with our parents.”
“He should totally leave it on.” Jenny wasn’t letting this topic go. “It’ll spice up the dinner conversation.”
“Lyall, I slept too long this morning and didn’t go to pick up a rescue cat for my parents.” Kat decided to step in at this point, since most of this was his fault. “My sisters came from across town to check up on me, because the rift storm effects blocked my phone. How about we all go together to my parent’s house and pick the cat up on the way?”
Sunday didn’t get betteras the day progressed. Kat hadn’t put the address of the animal shelter into his watch, and they wasted two hours trying to find it before Kat remembered that he hadn’t brought a cat carrier. Jenny declared that buying one at a nearby pet store would be faster than going back to Kat’s place, and Naomi complained that she wasn’t showing fiscal responsibility.
At least his sisters’ fight over the kitty crate had taken their focus off Kat’s inexcusable behavior in not reversing the effects of a rift storm so he could answer their calls. All too soon, their argument was over, and they resumed their sniping questions for Lyall.
The hellhound did nothing to make the situation better. He responded to their interrogation with laconic grunts that could have been a yes, a no, or an “I’m not fucking answering that question.”
Naomi’s questions about what he did for work were answered with one word, “security,” and a glower. Jenny’s far from subtle ribbing comments about his involvement with the local BDSM community were met with baffled hostility.
At least he had changed into human clothing, except for the fang necklace around his neck.
