Pandora opened her mouth to answer, but the words were drowned out by a rush of yapping and barking fur that resolved itself into two puppies frolicking around his ankles.
He squatted down. “Hey, guys.” Two heads butted his hands, and he laughed as he tugged ears, rubbed noses and generally said hello to the bundles of multicolored fluff jumping up and down for his attention.
Beside him, he could almost hear the “Awww” sound that women tend to make when confronted with warm cute fuzzy things. Although Pandora managed to restrain herself, she couldn’t help squatting next to him and chuckling as one pup eagerly nudged her hand with its nose.
“They’re adorable. And they probably know it.”
He glanced at her as she spoke, getting a first glimpse of the woman beneath the businesslike legal façade.
There was light shimmering behind her breathtaking blue irises, laughter bringing character and charm to her perfect face. She was almost surreally beautiful at this moment—and totally unaware of the effect she was having on him. A strand of hair blew free from her tight knot, tumbling around one ear in a slash of flame-colored heat.
She took his breath away each time he looked at her and saw something new. Which seemed to happen each time he looked at her. If he wasn’t so fascinated by her, it could get to be frickin’ annoying.
“What do you do? How do you care for them?” She turned inquisitive eyes to his face.
“Would you like to see?”
He knew she didn’t realize the magnitude of his offer. He’d never shared this experience with anyone, preferring to keep his talents under wraps for the most part. Excluding those moments when an illusion was called for, of course. Like during a seduction. It worked really well at times like those. Especially the pirate captain one…
Her eager assent drew him back from those ever-present lustful images and he extended a hand. “Hold on and relax.”
She settled onto the grass, heedless of her suit, watching him intently.
“Close your eyes.”
“Okay.” She followed his instructions.
Cheney made himself comfortable and closed his eyes too. Within seconds a door in his brain opened and the illusion he created just for his pups took shape. Only this time, he wasn’t alone.
A gasp from beside him let him know that Pandora was there too, seeing what he was seeing.
They were still in his garden, but the house had vanished. It was now more of a woodland glade, fresh and full of the sounds of nature. He turned his head and smiled.
Through no conscious effort on his part, she’d undergone a wardrobe change. She was now clad in a soft white low-cut gown of some sheer floaty stuff which clung to her generous curves. Her hair fell in great waves of fire down to her waist.
She glanced down at herself and then back up at Cheney, a look of astonishment on her face.
He grinned, enjoying himself enormously. It was warm and sunny where they sat, yet her nipples were hard, budding sharply through the white silky fabric that covered them.
Dude. You so rock.
Chapter Three
Pandora’s senses were reeling as her brain attempted to process the impossible. “What is this? Where are we?”
“Still in the garden.” Cheney sat comfortably, looking at her.
“I don’t understand…”
“I’m an illusionist, Ms. Jackson. That’s my AG talent. I can take what’s in people’s dreams, thoughts, sometimes their subconscious feelings, and create a pseudo-reality from it.”
“You mean this isn’t real?”
“It’s real enough. You can do pretty much everything here you’d do anywhere. The flowers smell good, the earth is hard. It’s kind of an alternate reality, I suppose. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
She shook her head, forgetting her hair was loose, and then tucked a lock behind one ear with a mutter of annoyance. “I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”
“What can I say?” He spread his hands. “I’m one of a kind.”
“Yeah.” She snorted. “Right down to the choice of clothing.” She had noticed that he’d managed to keep his outfit intact.
“Forgive me.” He grinned unrepentantly. “I couldn’t resist seeing you like this. Indulge me, okay?”
“Hmph.” She snorted. Okay, it was a nice dress, but she really wasn’t accustomed to wearing anything resembling a fairy-tale princess gown. “You didn’t pull this from my head.”
“No.” He looked away. “This is one of mine. A simple readjustment of our surroundings that makes them feel more at home.”
Pandora followed his gaze and another gasp choked in her throat.
Walking toward them were two young children. At least they were close to being young children. The taller one, a boy, was grinning, moving quickly to Cheney through the grass.
The smaller child approached on all fours.
Pandora swallowed. She’d formed a vague image of what Cheney did and how he did it, but this surpassed anything she could have imagined. The boy sported a lush wagging tail and the little girl—well, the face was there but the rest of the body was still a puppy.
“Hey you two. Come and say hello to my friend Pandora.” He held out his hand to the boy. “Pandora, this is Rusty.”
“Hi, Rusty.” Pandora smiled at him. “Nice to meet you.”
“You’re pretty.” The boy tipped his head to one side. “Wanna see me throw the ball?” He looked longingly at a well-used ball on the grass.
“In a minute, Rusty.” Cheney ruffled his hair. “Lucy, don’t be shy. Come and give me a hug.”
Pandora’s heart clogged her throat as she watched the little creature creep hesitantly to him. “Hi, Cheney.” She snuggled against his knee and looked shyly at Pandora.
“Lucy’s doing great, Pandora. She’s almost managed to change by herself.” He stroked the little girl’s soft blonde hair.
“I can. I can, Cheney. Watch.” Tiny features wrinkled into a grimace as she groaned and grunted. Before Pandora’s astounded gaze, shoulders and arms emerged, replacing the front paws of the puppy.
“Attagirl. That’s fantastic.” Cheney applauded.
Pandora found herself following suit. “Gosh, that’s amazing, Lucy.”
A smile crept over the tiny face and Pandora fought back tears. This was—heartrending.
“I like your hair.”
Rusty was about to tug a handful, but Cheney managed to grasp his arm gently and disentangle him. “Pandora is pretty, isn’t she?” Emergency averted, he nudged Rusty. “Go play with your ball, buddy. I can’t stay too long right now, but I’d love to see that famous Rusty pitch of yours.”
“’Kay, Cheney. We gonna play tonight?”
“If I get home before you’re both in bed, sure.” He laughed. “No promises though.”
“I hope you do, Cheney.” Lucy stood awkwardly, balancing herself on her back legs and hugging his neck with her chubby arms.
“I’ll try, sweetheart.”
Pandora’s mind seethed with questions, but something about the idyllic surroundings stilled her tongue and she watched, simply enjoying the sight of youngsters at play.
It didn’t seem odd when Cheney’s hand grasped hers and held it for a few moments. “Thank you.”
She didn’t know what he was thanking her for. She felt she should thank him for this brief glimpse into a world where all was light and happiness. So strange, so unique—and, sadly, so short lived.
“We have to go now.” He squeezed her fingers.
“Okay.” She wanted to say no. To beg for a few more minutes. To stay and play with Rusty and Lucy, to throw the ball, to leave everything and everyone behind. It was a seductively simple scene, yet she knew she’d never forget it.
Doing none of the things she wanted, she did what she had to. She closed her eyes and let the illusion disappear.
“Well, what do you think?”
His voice was calm and businesslike, and she opened her eyes to find herse
lf back in her own clothes, still sitting on his back lawn watching two puppies in the sunshine.
“I think I have a helluva lot of questions.” She organized her thoughts, frowning as she tried to figure out what to ask him first.
He beat her to it. “I meant do you think something like this will help your problem pup?”
She blinked. “Uh—I suppose so.” It was a difficult question to answer. “I take it you created that illusion for them. It wouldn’t be something they came up with on their own, right?”
“Correct.” He nodded. “Come on, let’s get a glass of iced tea and discuss our options.”
She accepted the hand he held out as he stood and let him pull her to her feet. There was strength in his grip, not totally unexpected but enough to tell her there were muscles under the casual jacket even though Cheney appeared tall and lean.
“By the way.” She brushed grass from her skirt as he glanced at her. “I liked the dress.”
“Me too.” He chuckled and led her into the house.
With two glasses of Roz’s perfect iced tea in front of them, Cheney faced Pandora across his kitchen table. They were alone and he could see the curiosity bubbling up behind her gaze.
“Fill me in.” Her tone was peremptory, allowing no room for debate. “Everything. What you do, how you do it and why.”
He lifted one eyebrow lazily. “I don’t think so.”
“Well give me the condensed version then.” Her fingertips drummed on the table. “Give me something. Some clue about this—this stuff.”
“This stuff, as you so succinctly call it, is my AG talent. What more is there to know?” He knew he was being evasive, but now that they were back in the real world, he was reticent to let her probe his mind. Of course, if she wanted to probe other things… He still had the image of her in that transparent dress locked in his head. Ruefully, he admitted to himself he might have made a mistake putting her in it. She looked too damn good.
“Those—those children. How do you help them?”
He thought about the question. “I give them a safe environment. I allow them to develop at their own speed. I let things happen the way they’re supposed to.”
“And their parents don’t?”
“Look, Pandora. I don’t have to tell you this isn’t a perfect world. It’s better, but it’s still not perfect. Children are born with AG talents. Parents don’t always know how to handle them. Some don’t want them. Some births result in an AG baby who comes into the world fully developed.”
“God.” She swallowed. “You mean some women have puppies?”
He shrugged. “It happens. Usually the mom understands and within a few days she has her baby. There are counseling services, doctors and therapists. We know a lot about AG mutations now. A loving parent pretty much takes care of any little childhood glitches.” He paused and frowned. “Sadly, there isn’t always a loving parent around.”
“And that’s where you come in?”
“Sometimes, yes. These two, for example. Lucy and Rusty.” He glanced through the window into the garden. “Rusty changed very soon after his birth. His mother couldn’t handle it. She was in her late teens, I believe. She left. Rusty was too young to figure out how to relax into his AG talent and stayed a puppy.”
“And Lucy?”
“Her mother died giving birth. There was no father present. He was in the wind long before that.”
“Oh God.” Pandora’s eyes swam with tears for a few seconds before she blinked them away. “And so they ended up with you.”
“I have a few friends here and there. I foster these kids, if you want to call it that. I just make sure they’re safe, happy and free to develop at their own pace. I help them physically. Once they’re on their own, or with new families, they’ll get counseling.”
“They get adopted?”
Cheney chuckled. “One good thing about werewolf AGs. They love big families. Thriving packs. There’s always one out there looking for kids to adopt.”
“But the others…”
“I can’t go there.” He straightened his shoulders. “I simply can’t think about it. I do what I can with these kids and pray to God somebody else is helping other kinds of AGs. Focusing on my family is the best way to deal with that lurking knowledge, believe me.”
“Yeah.” She nodded soberly.
“I see a lot of shit, Pandora. I’m a detective. It’s my job.” He grimaced. “A lot of it’s unpleasant. Coming home, doing this…” He waved a hand at the window. “Well, it makes life better. Not just for them, but for me too.”
“I can understand that.”
“So.” He gazed at her. “About your problem.”
She lifted her face and met his eyes, her own clear and blue as a tropical ocean. “I know now I need you more than ever. This creature isn’t like Rusty or Lucy. Only you can tell me what it is, what it needs and how to help it. Or him. Or whatever.”
“You think it’s a werewolf?”
“At this point, I’m not sure of anything except that my gut churns when I’m around it. And there’s something in its eyes…”
“Good enough for me.” He stood and drained his glass. “Got time now to go check him out?”
Pandora glanced at her watch. “I’ll make time.” She reached into her pocket and withdrew her tiny phone. Turning away, she spoke into it and within a few moments was reorganizing her schedule for the day.
Cheney took their glasses to the sink and rinsed them, noting that the pups were now lazily stretched out in the sunshine. Would he be adding a third? It was possible. She couldn’t help it, but at least she’d been smart enough to come to him for advice.
And he’d actually let her in to the private side of his life. A woman he’d not met before that morning. That was something indeed. Buck would give him a hard time, Cheney knew. But he’d always been one who followed his instincts.
And his instincts told him he was doing the right thing about Pandora.
However, when she turned and smiled at him, it wasn’t exactly his gut instincts that responded. It was about a foot or so lower. “Ready?” He ignored the curl of lust warming his crotch.
“Let’s go.” Her heels clicked on the floor as she strode from the house.
A thought drifted through his mind. In his opinion, most lawyers were asses. This was one who had an ass. A really fabulous tight and shapely ass. With a sigh, he shoved away the urge to grab it and followed it as it swayed rhythmically out the door.
Chapter Four
“Why so reticent about your talent?” Pandora spoke from the passenger seat as they drove back toward the city. “You seem to go to great lengths to keep it quiet.”
Cheney pondered the question for a few moments. “Probably because it’s not common. Or of much use.” He shrugged. “Growing up was hard sometimes. Not being able to fit in to the usual cliques—vampire, werewolf, elf—you know how it works. I had the mark but I couldn’t do the deed. And yet I wasn’t a bland either…”
She nodded. Everyone wanted to fit in, it seemed. “Yes, I can see you’d have some issues.” She frowned a little. “But now you’re an adult…”
“And a cop.” He turned the wheel as they exited the highway. “I finally found a place where a talent like mine can come in handy now and again.”
“Really?” She blinked. “You use it on the job?”
“Sure. Makes undercover work a helluva lot easier sometimes. I can’t hold it for hours on end, but there’ve been a few cases where minutes count. If I can persuade a perp he’s someplace else seeing something else? Hey, whatever gets the job done.”
“Is that legal?”
He lifted an eyebrow briefly. “There speaks the lawyer.”
“Of course.”
“Never had a case thrown out because of it.” He braked for a stoplight. “We know our job, Pandora. The DA doesn’t accept magical manifestations when it comes to prosecution. Hard evidence and facts. That’s what he wants.”
“Um.” She digested his comment, wondering if any of the cases she’d dealt with had involved some sort of AG event prior to arriving on her desk. The thought made her shudder at the potential implications and she turned her attention to the road. “Turn right at the next intersection.”
He did so, then glanced at her. “To turn that question to you—what’s a Fae doing becoming a lawyer?”
She tensed. “I don’t see the two as mutually exclusive.”
He grinned. “Touchy, are we?”
“Certainly not.” The pause that followed could best be described as pregnant. “Well, not very much.”
“Aha.”
“There’s no aha about it. I like the law.” Pandora lifted her chin defiantly. “It’s essential, clear cut and interesting. It’s a part of our society that’s pretty much always been there and always will.”
“True. And I could probably count on one hand the number of its members who are Fae. Most are blands or vamps who don’t mind burning the midnight oil in some musty library, poring over data that’s a gazillion years old.”
“But don’t you see? That’s the point.” She twisted in her seat and spread her hands for emphasis. “The law is a gazillion years old. It’s one of the few things that transcends the passage of time and the changes in our culture. It’s been a constant from the earliest recorded history. Before there were AGs, there was the law. Before there was hideous weaponry, there was the law. Before there was—well, before there were a whole lot of humans, there was probably a law or two.”
Cheney huffed out a soft laugh. “It’s illegal to kill more than one woolly mammoth a week?”
“Probably. You may make a joke out of it, but I regard the law as part of the glue that’s held humanity together for eons. I find that thought…comforting, in an odd way. And fascinating too. How the intricacies of it still make sense. How the necessity of it is still very much an integral part of our foundation as civilized beings.”
The car slid to a stop at the end of a cul-de-sac, in front of a small group of contemporary townhouses. She pointed. “That one’s mine.”
Cheney killed the motor and withdrew the keys, unfastening his seat belt as he surveyed the area. “You know, Pandora, if I was a shrink, I’d say you were looking for some major stability in your choice of a career. And that would be an interesting premise for therapy.” He opened his door and got out of the car.
Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend: Afterglow, Book 2 Page 3
