by Penny Ash
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Puca
* * * * * *
Kian snickered silently, watching from the trees as the policeman glanced at the vehicles, looking for Kian’s Harley. His eyes narrowed when he saw it was not there and Kian laughed. Daniels spun around, searching the tree line for him before giving a frustrated curse and going inside. The lawman was much like Finvarra, arrogant and stupid, a lethally dangerous combination when coupled with power of any sort, to be sure.
Kian waved his hand and spoke a word. Slowly the air began to leak from the police cruiser’s tires.
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Chapter Four
ometime later, Kian silently rolled his bike into the Sshed and covered it. He was still buzzed from the whiskey and the adrenaline from the fight had not dissipated at all. He walked up to the pond and sat down on the flat rock he used for sunning himself on fine days.
The Asrai rose to the surface and leaned on the rock, looking at Kian. He gazed back at her, waiting for her to speak. An image of Emma’s smiling face rose between them and he looked away. The Asrai made a faint sound of frustration and anger and sank under the surface of the water. Finishing the whiskey, he tossed the bottle into the pond and turned toward the house.
Looking at the house, he saw Emma’s lights were still on. He took a deep breath and winced slightly, then walked toward the house, idly wondering if she might be waiting for him, preferably in nothing but a bedsheet and candlelight.
Ah, she’d not be so base, not my Emma, he thought.
But then again, she might be wanting you as much as you are wanting her, Kian Puca, the tiny voice of his lust whispered. Would it hurt to go and be seeing about it?
He walked up to the window moving silently over 51
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the grass. The lace curtains that hung at the window offered little privacy. Searching the dimly-lit room, the Puca stood in the shadows and watched, gazing longingly at the bed with its lacy canopy and soft quilt turned back to reveal the white cotton sheets.
Emma stepped out of the little bathroom attached to her bedroom. Dry mouthed Kian licked his lips, his eyes glowing like green embers. The T-shirt Emma wore caressed her curves, the fabric lying against her like a lover—like he should be doing. He watched as she climbed into bed, pulling the covers over herself.
Baring his teeth, he turned and moved away with a low, frustrated growl. Soon he would have her, make her his, hear her honeyed voice cry out with passion, but not just yet. The time was not right and for Emma, everything must be perfect.
The Puca moved silently through the forest to his home high in the grandfather Oak.
* * * * * *
Licking his lips, the Puca sauntered by Emma, giving her a nudge that made her stagger to keep her balance. She rolled her eyes in exasperation and grabbed a handful of hair, stopping him in his tracks.
This was the day she started her 'project pooch'; to make sure he was vaccinated, clean, pest-free and fixed.
“Oh no, you don’t, Booger Boy, we have an appointment with a nice man about some shots.” She steered him into the kitchen, where her purse sat on 52
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the table next to a brand-new collar and leash. She scratched his ears and smiled when he whined and leaned into her hand. A quick snap and she had the leash on him. The Puca tilted his head and looked at Emma with a sweetly puzzled expression.
“Come on, sweetie, let’s go for a ride to see the nice people about those shots,” she said.
The Puca followed her out to the red Jeep Cherokee and watched her while she unlocked the back and raised the hatch. She turned toward him and he leapt into the back of the vehicle in a graceful flowing movement. Emma shut the back and went to get in while the Puca reclined and rested his head on the back of the rear seat.
Emma my sweet girl, what are you about, he wondered suspiciously, watching every move she was making.
* * * * * *
Thirty minutes later, they sat in the waiting room of the little animal hospital. The Puca had a bad feeling in his bones about this. He glanced around at the others there, not one of the creatures looked happy and he could smell illness about several of them.
A large cheerful woman dressed in bright blue clothes came out of a side door. “Pookie O’Neill?” she called out.
“Come on, sugar, that’s us.” Emma pulled the reluctant Puca along.
The vet walked into the room, and Kian smoothly 53
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placed himself between Emma and the intruder. The vet spoke pleasantly to Emma, then patted Kian’s head and then spent several minutes examining the Puca, earning several dark looks. He yelped suddenly as something cold and hard was introduced to a very private place; the vet taking his temperature. The Puca glared at Emma and then back at the vet. What did I do to deserve that unpleasant bit of madness, he wondered. He aimed a menacing growl at the vet.
“I know, baby, it’ll be over in a minute,” Emma said.
The Puca laid a paw in her lap and whined.
The vet finished up and stepped out of the exam room. The Puca perked up and took a step toward the door, stopping when he noticed Emma did not move.
He glanced worriedly at the door when it opened once more.
“All right, here are the shots,” the vet said, moving toward the Puca.
Kian shivered and backed up in a panic, bumping into Emma. He rolled his eyes wildly at the sight of the gleaming needle. There were few things that stirred fear in the Puca’s heart like a steel needle. The vet came closer and the Puca howled wildly, trying to scramble into Emma’s lap and away from the dreaded sharp metal.
“Pookie! No!” she yelped as the huge Puca tried to climb onto her lap. The seat she’d been sitting in broke, and they ended up in a heap. The Puca jerked and whined, his eyes rolling back in his head as the vet gave him his first rabies vaccination.
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Kian felt a wave of nausea at the touch of the cold steel of the needle. His kind and the metal of the humans did not get along, the iron and its cousins burning and destroying them. The searing pain from the injection made his vision go white around the edges and for the first time in his life, the Puca fainted.
“This has never happened before,” the vet said in shock. He ran to call for help.
Kian looked down at Emma, sitting on the floor underneath his passed-out dog form. A strange roaring sound filled him and suddenly it was black again and he could feel Emma’s arms around him, cradling him, and her soft hand stroking his head.
“Poor baby, it’s all right, Mama’s here,” she murmured, her voice soothing.
Regaining consciousness, the Puca lay as still as he could, enjoying her warmth and softness. He cracked one eye open and quickly shut it, playing possum, not ready to give up the comfort of her embrace.
The vet and his assistant came back in. Emma smiled and winked at him. Emma reached down and scratched just behind the Puca’s front leg. He shivered, and his back leg jerked wildly. He yelped a few times, and Emma and the vet laughed.
“I’ll put a note in his chart for your next visit that he doesn’t like needles,” the vet said.
“That would be a good idea,” Emma replied.
“We’ll see you tomorrow.” The vet waved as he stepped through the door to see his next patient.
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* * * * * *
On the way home, the Puca lay in the back and made moaning noises. What the hell did that horrible little man give me? I’ve not felt this ill in seven hundred and fifty-three years. A wave of nausea swept over him. Oh, Emma, stop this awful vehicle, I need out now.
Emma suddenly heard gagging sounds. She pulled over and got out of the jeep, running around to the back. Opening the hatch door, she was just in time to see the wolfhound throw up. Emma sighed heavily and grimaced, reaching for the old towel she kept in the jeep.
Emma sighed and leaned into the jeep to clean u
p the mess. She patted the miserable Puca’s back. The sound of a car pulling up behind her startled her and she turned, losing her balance and falling off the bumper of her jeep. The police cruiser pulled to a stop and a tall muscular officer stepped out of the vehicle.
“What’s the trouble here, ma’am?” Officer Daniels asked.
Emma looked up at the officer and smiled, blushing. “No trouble, really, I just lost my balance.
My dog got sick, so I pulled over to take care of him.”
“Well, it looked like more than that, so I stopped.”
He reached out his hand to help her up, smiling.
“That’s the Toddle dog, isn’t it?” Daniels asked.
“I inherited the house and the dog. I’m Emma O’Neill.” Emma looked into Officer Daniels’s deep blue eyes and smiled, in no hurry to reclaim the hand he still held. He was about to say something she 56
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hoped would be a request for a date when she heard a shaky growl coming from the jeep.
The Puca raised his head and growled weakly.
Emma, no, don’t be encouraging yet another man who only wants you in his bed, and particularly not that one. A wave of nausea made him dizzy. He managed to sit up and make an unsteady lunge toward the open back of the jeep.
Seeing her turn toward him and reach out, the Puca dodged Emma’s grab for his collar and gave the nasty interfering police officer a glare, then promptly puked down the front of his uniform.
“Oh, Pookie.” Emma looked at Officer Daniels and covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, I am so sorry.”
“It’s all right,” Daniels said tightly.
“No, it’s not. If you’ll let me have your uniform cleaned...” Emma began.
The Puca heard the distressed tone in her voice and felt a twinge of conscience over his actions. But only a twinge. He absolutely hated the pompous Officer Daniels.
He looked at Emma and whined pitifully as he began to realize this was backfiring on him. He put his head down and shut his eyes, placing his paws over them in misery. Oh, poppet, I’ll die before I’ll be letting that bastard have you. The corrupt son of a bitch was not to be trusted. Kian began the bonding process that would make Emma his alone. The policeman would not be taking her.
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“No, I can get it cleaned, it’s no problem. My shift ended ten minutes ago, I was on my way home anyway. But you could repay me by having dinner with me tonight,” Daniels said.
“I think I could do that,” Emma said.
“Good, I’ll pick you up in about an hour and a half,” he said.
Officer Daniels helped Emma get the Puca settled in the jeep and left with her address. She pulled out onto the road and headed home, grinning. “Well, Pookie, that didn’t turn out so bad after all,” she said, reaching back to scratch the Puca’s ears. He just whined miserably.
When they arrived home, Emma opened up the jeep and a very ill Puca jumped out. He slunk away, head hanging and staggering a bit, to hide under the front porch. Emma went inside to get the cleaning supplies.
* * * * * *
Emma hurriedly finished dressing for her date with Officer Steven Daniels and walked into the kitchen.
She had chosen a black lace dress lined with coral silk, and she’d pinned her hair up with one of Great-Aunt Chloe’s antique combs. Pin looked up from her polishing and smiled brightly. “Well, and aren’t you a lovely sight,” she said, forgetting to stammer.
Tilly looked up and stopped her mixing. “Ooh, such a sight, even all the Fairies pale,” she said, grinning.
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Emma smiled at the two little old ladies. “I wanted to check on Pookie before Steven got here, poor baby was so sick on the way home.”
Kian looked up from his seat at the kitchen table.
His eyes were bloodshot and he looked like the fourth day of a three-day drunk. The look he gave her sent chills through her.
“And where do you think you’ll be off to in that dress, my fine girl?” he asked in a hoarse voice that dripped menace.
“First of all, I’m not your fine girl. And second—not that it’s any of your business—I have a date,”
Emma said shortly.
“You’ll not be leaving this house in such a revealing dress, my girl, parading your body for all to see,” Kian said. He stood slowly, his eyes boring into hers.
“Oh. Really. And just how do you propose to stop me? Hmmm?” Emma said sweetly.
“Emma, my sweet poppet, do not defy me. It’s concerned for your welfare I am.”
“Thank you, but I can take care of myself.”
“Oh, can you now?” he asked silkily, moving around the table toward her. He reached out and suddenly found himself lying on the floor looking up at her.
“Yes, I can,” she said and turned, walking out to answer the door. She mentally thanked Jason, the boyfriend from her college days, yet again for teaching her that slick little move. They had spent several very pleasant weekends drilling her on self-
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defense and other things.
Kian scrambled up, hearing the door shut, and stood at the kitchen window. He watched her getting into the car with the police officer, his heart in his throat. Tilly and Pin exchanged worried glances and turned their eyes back to the Puca.
“Oh, Emma, Emma, your innocence blinds you,”
he whispered softly.
“Puca, be remembering the first rule,” Tilly said quietly.
“Aye, gi-give y-your love n-not to-to human,” Pin added.
Kian stared out into the twilight. “And when have I ever followed any rule but my own heart?” His voice was bleak.
“Puca, will you not reconsider?” Tilly asked her voice filled with compassion.
He turned stricken eyes to the two Brownies. “It’s a hard thing you’re asking, Tilly, harder than I can bear.
If I must be exiled forever, then let me love who I will.”
Kian turned and walked out of the kitchen. His steps quickened until he was running up the stairs to the attic room, the distress he felt evident on his face in the tears that streamed over it. He had given his heart too soon.
The hot tears blinded him as he hurried up to his haven at the top of the house. “Oh, Emma, Emma, Emma, if only I’d a clue how to make you love me. If only I was human,” he whispered sadly. He sat down at his computer and opened his email, hoping for a 60
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note from PoohLady. She could always comfort him.
She had not sent any notes and when he checked, she had not been seen on the chat channel. Suddenly he stood up and stumbled toward the open window, making a dive through it and emerging into the night in his owl form. He headed for the heart of the forest and the cold ephemeral comfort of one of the Fairies that lived in the trees.
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Chapter Five
mma unlocked the door and stepped inside as ESteven drove away. Her date had been a pleasant but dull evening of a Chinese dinner followed by a movie she could not for the life of her remember and a visit to the bar where Steven and his fellow officers met. The best thing about it had been the goodnight kiss, and that was not anything to write home about.
Well, she would give Steven another chance, she thought with a smile. He did have potential, if she could get him away from his buddies. She sighed and headed for her bedroom through the dark house.
Switching on her light, she thought that maybe giving up on men might be a good idea. She dropped her purse on the dresser and began to unfasten her dress. A soft red shine reflecting in her window caught her attention, and she walked over to see where it was coming from.
She stared out the window for a few minutes before she slipped on a worn grey T-shirt and unpinned her hair, giving it a quick brushing. She chuckled softly to herself. “Girl, you could no more give up men than you could stop breathing,” she said softly.
<
br /> Walking to the library, she went to the computer and settled in front of the glowing screen.
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Logging on, she opened her chat program and entered her favorite room. She read through the names and smiled, her heart lightening when she saw Muffin was there. Quickly she typed a command,
*PoohLady nudges Muffin*. Emma waited for a response.
*Muffin cuddles passionately with PoohLady*
quickly popped up on her screen.
Emma smiled and began flirting with her favorite friend and saying hello to the chat room occupants.
Her smile widened when the private message icon began blinking. She clicked and opened the window.
Muffin: Where have you been?
Poohlady: There was a death in my family.
Muffin: Where have you been?
PoohLady: There was a death in my family.
Muffin: I am sorry to hear that.
