Puca Read online

  “O-oh, and y-you mu-must tell her a-about th-the time th-the O’Reily’s c-cow g-got af-after him,” Pin 165

  Puca

  said, chuckling, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

  “Mother!” Kian said, aghast, a hint of pleading in his voice.

  “A cow? Oh, I’ve got to hear this,” Emma said, grinning.

  “Oh, aye, the cow,” Tilly said merrily.

  “I will not be forgiving you quickly for this, any of you lot,” the Puca said.

  “The cow, never the brightest creature in the pasture, had fallen in love with Kian,” Tilly began, ignoring her outraged and embarrassed nephew.

  Kian snorted and walked past Tilly and a quietly snickering Pin as if they were not there. He was halfway down the hall when he heard the sweet sound of Emma’s laughter. Turning his head slightly, he stopped to listen, smiling. Ah, if it lightened her burdens and made her laugh, he’d do anything, anything at all.

  He walked into her bedroom and pulled the covers back on the bed. A little bit of glamour and a touch of moonlight and he settled into bed to wait for her.

  Emma said good night to the Brownies and went to her room. She flipped the switch to the light, but nothing happened. Sighing, she made her way over to the dresser by the light of the full moon shining in through the lace curtains. Smiling at the soft sound that came from the other side of the room, she turned to see Kian reclining in her bed, waiting for her.

  She walked toward the bed, unpinning her hair and slipping off her shoes. He was silent, watching 166

  Penny Ash

  her with passion-bright eyes. Stopping next to the bed, she dropped the robe to the floor and lifted the skirt of the ivory silk nightdress, kneeling on the bed beside him.

  He reached for her and she caught his hands, bringing them to her lips and kissing each finger before pulling them up over his head. His eyes darkened to a deep emerald in surprised pleasure.

  She leaned in and brushed his lips with hers in a soft kiss, pulling back when he tried to return her kiss.

  Kian watched as she moved over him, straddling him, looking into his eyes for a long moment.

  “Emma my sweet, I’m not a cheap and easy plaything to be trifled with,” Kian said breathlessly, shifting his hips and trying to entice her to move.

  Emma didn’t respond. She continued kissing her way down over his body.

  He gasped and bit his bottom lip, stifling a moan.

  “Ah, all right then, I am that cheap and easy, Emma,”

  he said on the heels of another of her soft kisses.

  Emma let go of his hands, moving off and back up to lay beside him. He turned on his side and she touched her lips to his in a gentle kiss. She drew back, looking into his eyes again. “Moo,” she said softly.

  Kian’s eyes widened in shock and he covered them with his hand, rolling over onto his back with an embarrassed groan, dissolving into giggles with Emma. He pulled her into his arms and rolled them over, pinning her to the bed, and proceeded to turn the giggles into moans.

  He traced the curves of her ear with the tip of his 167

  Puca

  tongue and blew softly. Emma shivered and moaned.

  Smiling, he nibbled his way down her neck, kissing the hollow of her throat and moving back up to the other ear. He rose up and looked at her for a long moment, then covered her mouth with his in a deep, shattering kiss.

  She chuckled softly when she could breathe again.

  “I like the way you kiss,” she said.

  “Mmm, and I like the way you taste.” He kissed her again. Kian moved down, covering her breasts with his hands and placing soft, damp kisses between them. She gasped with each feather-soft touch and tangled her fingers in his jet-black hair.

  He moved down and ran the tip of his tongue around her navel. Her stomach jumped and clenched hard, drawing a groan from her. Smiling, he dipped his tongue deep and grazed his teeth over her skin, then sucking hard. She cried out and arched into his kiss. None of the others she had been with had ever noticed how much she loved being touched and kissed anywhere around or on her navel.

  Kian moved back up and claimed her mouth again as he took her hard and fast. He caught her hands and twined his fingers with hers, pinning her hands against the mattress next to her head. She matched his movements, surrendering to him until the world flew apart.

  168

  Penny Ash

  Chapter Sixteen

  awn turned the bedroom rose gold. Emma lay in DKian’s arms, idly tracing the pattern of the Celtic knotwork tattoo on the inside of his upper thigh.

  “Emma, I’ll not be responsible if you’ll be continuing that,” he said in a hoarse voice.

  “Really?” she said, and moved her fingers. “And what about this?”

  He rolled them over, pinning her down with a low growl and covering her mouth with his. “Keep on with that and I’ll never be letting you out of this bed.”

  “And who says I want to leave?” Emma asked, her voice low and sultry. She pulled him closer, touching the tip of her tongue to his and sliding her leg up over his hip.

  He moaned and moved into her slowly.

  Emma sighed and closed her eyes, rocking with him.

  Kian gasped and squeezed his eyes shut. Emma pulled him into a deep kiss as a wave of blissful pleasure washed over her. He moaned into her mouth, and she shivered as she found her completion in his release.

  He lay there catching his breath a long time. Finally she patted his back and he moved off of her. “We should get up,” she said softly.

  169

  Puca

  “Ah, Emma, I long for the day when we can spend all day and all night in bed with nothing to distract us but each other,” he said.

  She smiled at him and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

  * * * * * *

  Emma walked along the shallow creek that ran along the meadow the house was built in. She made her way up toward the small waterfall and spring fed pond slowly, enjoying the warmth of the spring evening and the pine scent of the forest just beyond.

  Malevolent orange-glowing eyes watched from just under the surface of the water. Emma sat down on the mossy slab rock next to the pond.

  Emma watched Kian, tiny in the distance, shirtless as he chopped wood near the old shed. She lay back on the soft moss and closed her eyes, smiling, letting the heat of the sun-warmed rock soak into her. Her memory conjured up an image of the Puca’s face, flushed with passion and gilded by candlelight and a fine sheen of sweat. The quiet splashing of the waterfall lulled her and she dozed, imagining the rocking of the ripples in the water moving her.

  Something alerted Emma to the wrongness in the air. A sound out of place, a movement in the rock and suddenly she was sliding into the pond. Her scream was abruptly cut off by the water closing over her head. Hands caught at her clothes, pulling her deeper into the water. She fought to get loose, the hands 170

  Penny Ash

  clutching at her, nails scraping and gouging.

  Emma kicked and connected with something solid.

  The grip on her loosened and she surfaced, gasping for breath. Before she could scream again, bony hands wrapped in her hair and jerked her under again.

  Blackness edged with purple and gold sparks began to crowd her vision, blood roaring in her ears as she lost consciousness.

  The Asrai let her victim float limply to the surface.

  She followed, surfacing near by. Licking her lips, she smiled, exposing sharp, tearing teeth. “The Puca is mine, human,” she said in a watery voice, preparing to tear her victim to shreds.

  * * * * * *

  Kian lost himself in the rhythm of chopping, reveling in the joy of the purely physical activity. Idly he wondered where Emma had got herself to. He could just barely sense her presence. The noise of someone clearing their throat made him stop and turn.

  “I’ve brought you some ice water,” Tilly said, handing him a coldly sweating glass.


  “Ah, just what I’ve been needing, it’s been that hot out here,” he said.

  He began to raise the glass to his lips and suddenly stopped. He looked at Tilly wide-eyed. “Tilly, please tell me Emma is in the house and not walking in the forest alone,” he said darkly.

  Tilly went pale and her hand flew to her open mouth. Kian dropped the glass and was already 171

  Puca

  turning toward the pond, beginning to run, when a scream split the air. He flowed like black water and the panther raced toward the pond.

  Arriving at the pond, the Puca flowed into his human form. He stopped and lifted a trembling hand to cover his mouth, choking back a sob. He waded into the pond, reaching for the Asrai’s raised arm.

  “Asrai! You were given warning!” he shouted.

  Kian wrenched the water Fairy’s arm back, oblivious to the brittle sound of the bone snapping. He shoved her away and gathered Emma into his arms, ignoring the Asrai’s hiss of pain and anger.

  Kian waded to the bank with Emma in his arms.

  He climbed out of the water and began to stumble down the path toward the house. His vision blurred and he fought against something tugging on Emma as he kicked the back door in. He carried her to her bedroom and gently laid her on the bed.

  “Emma, love,” he said in a choked voice, brushing her wet hair back from her face.

  Hands tugged at him, pulling him back. He rounded on the intruder, baring his teeth and growling.

  “Kian, we will be taking care of her,” Tilly said calmly.

  “Y-yes, g-go and do what, what n-needs to be d-done.” Pin touched his cheek.

  He looked at Tilly and Pin for a long moment then nodded once and stood. Looking back at the unconscious woman who had turned his life inside out, he sighed heavily. He glanced quickly at the 172

  Penny Ash

  Brownies as he headed for the door.

  “I will be back when it’s done. Fair warning was given. I’ll be asking for a witness, the Pixies will stand to,” he said and walked out the door. He strode purposefully toward the pond, thinking of mayhem.

  Partway there, he paused just long enough to call the pixies that lived in the old hollow stump.

  * * * * * *

  Kian stopped at the edge of the moonlit pond, the Pixies just behind him. He took a deep breath and stepped into the water. “Asrai! You were given fair warning what would happen if you harmed any belonging to me! Come out and face me!”

  The Pixies looked at each other with worried eyes and waited. The Asrai rose from the still water in front of Kian, her dress of green pond scum sliding slickly off her body to float around her cloven hooves.

  Kian had seen this many times. His eyes never wavered from her watery blue gaze.

  “Your tricks won’t be helping you now, Asrai,” he said firmly.

  “You are mine, Puca,” she said in a voice like rushing water.

  “I was never yours, Asrai, but for a few brief moments of lust gone on the wind as soon as they came.”

  Something subtly changed in the Asrai’s eyes. Kian braced himself. Suddenly she hissed and launched herself at him, her long broken fingernails like claws 173

  Puca

  aimed at his eyes.

  The Pixies jumped and huddled together, watching the shrieking, shifting vortex of the combatants moving out over the water in a churning mass of violence.

  There was a loud final shriek, followed by silence.

  The Pixies watched wide-eyed as the mist the battle had thrown up settled. They sighed with relief when Kian stepped out of the water. He turned and watched the smoking bubbling remains of the Asrai disintegrate, leaving bits of pond scum and weeds floating in the reddened water. The last shred of flesh disappeared and he turned, walking away without a word.

  * * * * * *

  Emma woke to find an anxious Pin seated in the rocker across the room. The Brownie jumped up and came over to the bedside, stopping Emma from getting up. “Y-you just be re-resting n-now, Miss Em-emma. K-kian is take-taking care of everything,” Pin said.

  “What happened?” Emma asked rubbing her forehead. Her head ached. She could not remember past falling in the water.

  “Y-you fell in-in the p-pond,” Pin stammered, not meeting Emma’s questioning gaze.

  “I remember that part, how did I get here?” Emma asked.

  “K-kian got t-to you before t-the—” Pin began.

  174

  Penny Ash

  “Mother,” Kian said from the door. He stepped into the room, walking toward the bed where Emma sat. Pin got up and gave Emma a bright smile and a wink before bustling out the door.

  Emma watched Kian stop beside the bed. His eyes were dark with some emotion she could not quite place. She held her hand out to him. He took it and she pulled him down to sit beside her.

  Kian threaded the fingers of his free hand through her hair and leaned in, touching his lips to hers softly.

  “The forest is dangerous, my love, don’t be wandering there alone,” he murmured.

  “I—” Emma began.

  “Hush, no, love, promise me when you’re wanting to walk in the woods you’ll be telling me. I’ll always be willing to go,” he whispered against her lips.

  “Kian, I—” she began again.

  He pulled back, looking deep into her eyes. “In my life I’ve lost so much, Emma. I could not bear losing you as well.”

  She reached up and touched the tear slowly trickling over his cheek. “I’ll be here as long as you want me,” she said, pulling him into her arms.

  Kian held her tightly, drying his tears in her hair.

  She rubbed his back and he jumped, hissing with pain when she touched one of the deep scratches the Asrai had managed to inflict. Emma pushed him back and tugged the hem of his shirt up.

  “What did this?” she asked, her voice full of concern at the sight of the injury.

  “It’s nothing love, a scratch,” he said. He looked 175

  Puca

  away, refusing to meet her eyes.

  “Kian,” she turned his face toward her. “How did this happen?”

  He tried to look away, but she wouldn’t let him.

  “What happened at the pond? My falling in was not an accident, was it?”

  “No,” he said in a quiet, small voice.

  “Tell me,” she said. He met her eyes and the fear there sent a shiver through her. “Tell me what happened up there. If it affects you, I need to know.”

  He took a deep breath and sighed heavily. “There was an Asrai that lived in the pond. She was jealous.

  She thought to kill you.”

  Emma suddenly remembered the hands pulling her under the water and shivered. “Were you and she...” she began, half fearful of the answer.

  “She never had my heart, never my whole being.

  You are the breath of my life, Emma, without you I would die,” he said. “I gave fair warning as the custom demanded. I did what was necessary. I could not let you be harmed.”

  “You killed her,” Emma said flatly.

  “I did. As I will any who seek to harm you. I cannot do otherwise,” he said, a bleak tone in his voice. “There are others in the forest who have been warned.” He looked away and began to stand up.

  Emma pulled him back down, refusing to let go of him. He looked back at her, startled. She put her hands in his thick black hair and looked deep into his eyes, silent for a long moment before speaking.

  “Thank you for saving my life today. Thank you for 176

  Penny Ash

  being honest with me. And most of all, thank you for loving me, because I most certainly love you,” she leaned forward and kissed him, softly and gently reassuring.

  They sat there silent for a long time just holding each other. Finally Kian moved to stand. He looked down at Emma, still holding her hand, and smiled.

  “I’ll be returning in the morning love, sleep well, rest, for tomorrow night I’ll not be leaving so easily,” he said.


  “You don’t have to leave,” Emma squeezed his hand.

  “Aye, I do, love, I’ll be no fit company for such a sweet innocent as you.” He smiled and slowly withdrew his hand. “I’d not be a gentle lover this night.”

  Emma watched him walk out of the room. She sighed, frustrated. Kian definitely needed a few lessons in women, she thought sourly. And she was just the one to teach him. She lay there long into the night, plotting.

  177

  Puca

  Chapter Seventeen

  he Puca sat on the back porch, leaning against the Tpillar that held up the roof. A faint breeze stirred his hair but did nothing to relieve oppressive heat that sapped every ounce of his strength. Cicadas buzzed in the trees, and he could hear the distant laughter of the kids. He wished he could go up and join them in the newly safe pond to cool off, but he just did not have the energy after the battle with the Asrai the night before.

  He sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head back. A sound caught his attention and he opened his eyes, turning his head to see Emma walking out of the house. So beautiful, he thought and wondered if she knew how he had protected and fought for her ever since she was a small child.

  She walked past him carrying a laundry basket, her sandals making a soft little click and slap sound as she walked. He had an excellent view of her long legs and the way her denim shorts hugged her bottom.