Anduron: God of Mabon (Sons of Herne, #7)

by J. Rose Allister

  She appeared at his side door. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

  He climbed out of the van, grateful that his erection would not show under cover of darkness. Her features were outlined by brash lighting in the alley, along with the reddish tinge of the blinking neon sign that was still turned on, even at this late hour.

  When he got out, a parchment sheet fell from his pocket. Jenna bent to pick it up. She started to hand it back, glanced at it, and shot him a scowl.

  “Is this what I think it is?” She scanned the paper. “Are these the other women lined up behind me? You brought this along?”

  He snatched it back. “The Counsel insisted I take it right before I phased here tonight. I have no intention of using it.”

  She folded her arms. “Prove it.”

  With a sigh, he crumbled the paper. “There.”

  She shook her head. “Not good enough.” She plucked it away and ripped it into small pieces that she stuffed in her pocket. Then she shot him a wicked smile. “That’s good enough.”

  “If I did not know any better, I would say you are jealous.”

  She raised her chin. “I know this is a one-time gig. But generally, guys know better than to let their little black book fall out in front of a date.”

  “Little black book?”

  “So are we going to do this or stand around the dark alley all night?”

  He rolled his eyes at the change in subject. For all her positive qualities, Jenna could be a most confounding woman. “Did you bring what I asked for?” Anduron pulled the veil pendant out from beneath his tunic. “This will not work unless I have a clear image either of the individual or the setting I wish to phase to.”

  “I brought them.” She turned on the portable telephone device and flipped through colored photographs. “These are pictures of the room where the animals are kept. The photos were taken in secret by a former employee who posted them online.”

  She scrolled through them, and he frowned at the images of cats and dogs inside a line of metal cages.

  “Will these work for you?”

  He gave a nod. “More than sufficient.”

  She tucked the phone away. “What would happen if you didn’t know where you were going?”

  “Phasing is not an exact ability. Even with a clear impression of my goal, I might only get reasonably close to my destination. Without a clue where I’m going, we could end up anywhere, even inside a solid space, such as a wall. As an immortal, I could survive such an error, though far from happily. Bringing you along poses a much greater risk.”

  He reached out and swept Jenna against his body, hearing her suck in a breath. His cock pulsed with poorly timed lust at the feel of her ripe, warm flesh rubbing along his. He lengthened the cord that suspended the glowing pendant gem, tugging the adjustable leather until it was long enough to drape around both of their necks.

  “You are certain you wish to go through with this?” he asked.

  She shivered and pressed closer to him. “Let freedom ring.”

  He shut his eyes and focused his intentions on the building they stood in front of, picturing the room she’d just shown him and the animals trapped within. He felt the queasy flutter, the thick pressure of air changing around him, and he squeezed Jenna tighter as they phased. He opened his eyes quickly to assess their destination, and apparently she had as well, for she stiffened and stifled a quiet gasp.

  She pulled him behind a corner, hiding them from view of the security guard they appeared not five feet away from. He sat at a desk, his feet up, watching multiple monitor screens. Thank the gods Anduron had phased them off to the side of the man, not directly in front of him.

  Jenna tugged on his arm, and when he turned to her, she pointed toward a door partway down a dimly lit hallway. With a nod, he removed the pendant from around her neck and took the lead while they tiptoed toward the room. A glass window was set into the wall beside the door, and a glance told him they had found their destination. Fortunately, the door was not locked, and they headed in to the room he’d seen in photos moments before. Two rows of cages were lined up, facing each other, with small dogs and cats inside. Most were lying down, heads on paws, looking abandoned and dejected. But as soon as Jenna and Anduron walked in, several lifted their heads. Some began whining and barking.

  “Shh,” Jenna said. “It’s okay. We’re here to help.”

  The commotion grew louder, and Anduron feared they would attract the attention of the guard. He walked the aisle between cages, lifting his hands, letting calming energy pour forth. The din quieted immediately.

  “How did you do that?” Jenna whispered.

  He shrugged. “I am an elven god.”

  “My boss would hire you at the vet clinic in a heartbeat.”

  “We should be quick. The guard might choose to investigate their disquiet.”

  She nodded and walked past the animals, peering inside each cage. “These cages are bigger than they seemed in the pictures,” she said. “They won’t all fit in the van I rented.”

  “Two will fit,” he said.

  She shot him a look. “I’m not leaving without all of them.”

  “The animals are small enough to cage together temporarily.”

  “What if they fight?”

  “They will not.”

  He raised his hands again, whispering ancient words while letting his intention pour out onto the creatures. He opened a cage containing a black, furry dog and placed it into a cage with a smaller, hairless one. They sat quietly, looking at him.

  “See?” he said. “One for dogs, the other for cats.”

  Jenna nodded, and the pair began transferring animals together. Halfway through, the click of boot heels sounded in the corridor, and they froze.

  “Hide,” Jenna whispered.

  They got behind a counter just as the guard came in. His footsteps got closer, then he whirled and left again. Jenna let out a sigh of relief when the door clicked shut, but when she tried to rise, Anduron grabbed her wrist and held her there, putting a finger to his lips. He listened until the guard was well down the hall before allowing them to rise.

  “I thought for sure he’d notice there was more than one animal in those two cages,” she whispered.

  “Let us move quicker. In case he decides to come back.”

  They got up and went back to work. With his magic in place, the animals were docile and huddled together cooperatively in the two cages, the cats included.

  “Amazing,” Jenna said, tucking a gray kitten in with the rest. “I thought they’d be at each other’s throats.”

  Even with both of them working, the process took longer than Anduron would have liked. Many minutes had passed from the time they had first reached the testing room until the two cages were filled with no less than eight animals inside each. It took longer still for them to figure out how to get the full cages down on the floor so that they were separate from the rest and portable to carry.

  “Looks like that’s it,” Jenna said, scanning the rows quickly. “We should go.”

  They squatted down low, beside their cages. He threaded the pendant through the bars before looping it back around their necks. He put one arm around her. “Hold fast to the cages while I hold you,” he told Jenna. “Do not let go.”

  She pressed close to him and grabbed the bars of each. “Just don’t let go of me.”

  He was already focusing on the alley way beside the van before he closed his eyes. Just as he was shutting them, he heard the whining noise, and saw the fluffy, perky-eared puppy pawing at the bars of a cage at the far end, looking at him with pleading desperation. The air pressure shifted, however, and they phased out of the room.

  They appeared right beside the van, just a couple feet away from where they’d started off. Jenna straightened up with a gasp just as Anduron turned to her. They spoke at the same time.

  “We forgot one!” she exclaimed.

  “I have to go back,” he was saying.

  “It
was the terrier I couldn’t save before,” she said. “I’m sorry I didn’t see he was there. It was dark, and we were in such a hurry.”

  “No matter. I will retrieve him.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  “You cannot. Phasing in rapid succession, even using the gentler powers of a veil pendant, involves energies a human cannot readily withstand. That is mainly why I had us gather the animals for a single trip.”

  “I’ll get the cages into the van while you grab the terrier,” she said, gazing up at him with wide, glassy eyes. “We can’t leave him.”

  He nodded. “Agreed. But do not wait for me.”

  “Of course I’ll wait!”

  “I have a feeling that would not be wise. Go, Jenna.” He opened the van doors and loaded the cages. “Leave now.”

  “But what about you?”

  He lifted the glowing pendant. “I can phase directly to your house faster than you can drive. I will be there ahead of you.”

  She nodded and got up on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Anduron,” she said, her cheeks flushed and eyes glazed with excitement. “Thank you for doing this.”

  Her action left a tingle on his skin that lingered, spurring him to greedily claim more. He pulled her to him and mashed his lips against hers, and her tongue sought his even before he could slip it into her mouth. Gods help him, he couldn’t stop himself from pushing her up against the side of the van, and her arms slid around his back while he ground his hard, aching dick against her pelvis. She responded, her hips thrusting with need, her hands sliding down to grab his hips and hold them tight to hers. He groped one of her breasts, feeling the weight of that perfect round flesh as he hefted it in his hand, running a thumb over a stiff nipple.

  He broke off when she molded her hands to his ass, and it took every bit of his fortitude not to push her inside that van and claim her in what little space remained beside the cages. His breath came in hard gasps, and her eyes were smoldering when he gazed down at her. “You are welcome,” he said. “I will be awaiting your return when you get home.” And he prayed that when she did, he would somehow stop himself from taking her to bed right then. He needed to remain celibate until the sabbat, which even at one day away, was too far off for him to fathom how he would manage it.

  She climbed into the van and he watched her drive off, fighting to steady his breaths. After she was gone, it took him some time to ease the pounding need between his legs enough to focus on the stranded puppy. When he had calmed himself, he phased back inside the factory, pleased to note he’d managed to transport right into the testing room this time. He headed for the puppy’s cage. The dog pawed faster when it saw him, its tiny tail wagging, while it whimpered for Anduron’s attention.

  “I am sorry, my little friend.” He lifted the latch on the cage and pulled the warm, wriggling animal up against his chest. “It was not my intention to leave you behind.”

  A warm lick on his face was his reward, and he smiled. “Let us be on our way, then.”

  The door to the lab slammed open, and three police officers burst in.

  “Stop right there!”

  “Down on your knees,” another said.

  Guns were drawn on Anduron as the officers edged closer.

  He reached for the veil pendant.

  “Freeze!” the first policemen shouted. “Put the animal back slowly and hook your hands behind your head.”

  Anduron did freeze, trying to think. He weighed his options. He was a god, but his powers were not sufficient to stop a bullet. Their weapons would not kill an immortal, of course, but getting shot wouldn’t be pleasant. And the dog cradled in his arms might not survive. If he managed to get hold of the pendant and phase, it wouldn’t likely be fast enough to escape a bullet. Not to mention that phasing in open view would cause a stir in his realm. Feillor had to answer at great length for showing himself to a group of pagans and a few others the previous month. And Anduron had heard some griping about how he’d phased in front of the thugs who attacked Jenna’s grandmothers. Their credibility would be considered sketchy at best. A group of law enforcement officers was something else altogether.

  “Now,” the policemen said.

  As Anduron’s magical abilities did not include mind control, memory alteration, or bullet stopping, he had little choice at the moment but to cooperate.

  “I am sorry, little one,” he said to the dog, setting it carefully back in the open cage before locking his fingers on his head. “I am afraid your rescue has been postponed.”

  While he was being handcuffed and ordered around, he tried to come up with a plan that wouldn’t involve the Counsel finding out what he’d done. Something that wouldn’t risk proving to the naysayers that his Mabon freedom gesture should be abolished forever.

  He couldn’t think of one.

  ***

  Jenna was pacing around her living room, talking to the dog she had tucked under her arm. Andy was sniffing the scent of other animals on her with keen interest. “Where is he, Andy? He should have beaten me here. Especially since I made a stop on the way.”

  Whatever calming magic Anduron had worked on the animals had begun wearing off just as she pulled up behind the animal rescue shelter. The owner, Quinn, had agreed to help when Jenna had confided her plan, and together, wearing leather gloves, they began separating howling, hissing animals who were no longer happy about being penned up together like sardines. Each one, cats first, were split off into separate cages, carriers, and cardboard boxes. She’d been grateful that Quinn offered to board the animals on the sly and quietly find homes for them. There’d have been no way she could have fostered sixteen kittens and puppies in her tiny guest house, even temporarily, and her grandmother would have flipped out if she’d learned Jenna had violated the pets rule to such a degree.

  Despite the time it took to transfer the rescued pets over to Quinn’s care, Anduron still hadn’t surfaced by the time Jenna got home. With each passing moment, she grew more certain that the police cars she’d seen racing past her in the opposite direction, lights flashing but no sirens, had been heading to the factory. She’d thought she was just being paranoid, or that Anduron had been long gone before police could confront him. But now, she feared the worst.

  “This was my fault,” she said. “I thought we had all the animals. I told Anduron we did. I didn’t see the poor little terrier.”

  She tried to imagine what a god would do if the cops showed up to arrest him. Would he use his powers? Had he vanished back to the other realm, too irritated by her reckless suggestion to return?

  “That’s probably what happened,” she said, wandering to the window and parting the curtains to peer out. “He cut and run to use that list and find somebody else. I hope he at least adopted a terrier puppy while he was at it.”

  She scanned the area, looking for him. He did say that phasing wasn’t an exact science. Maybe in his rush, he’d transported himself farther away than he’d anticipated.

  Her gaze landed on her grandmother’s place, and she frowned. Lights were on inside, even though it was after eleven o’clock.

  “What’s Gran doing up at this hour?” There was no sign of movement in the house. “Maybe she can’t sleep either.”

  She grabbed her house keys off the ring inside the front door, still carrying the dog. “Let’s go find out. I guess this is as good a time as any to let her know that I’ve got a furry roommate. Until Quinn finds you something.” She sighed. “Guess you’ve got some extra competition for that now.”

  They headed to Gran’s. She let herself in and glanced around the living room.

  “Gran?” she called out softly. She headed for the hallway and stopped dead. “Oh, my god, Gran!”

  The woman was sprawled on the floor, and Jenna raced to her, falling to her knees and putting the puppy aside. “Gran! Are you all right?”

  “Jenna,” she said weakly. “I can’t get up.”

  “Just lie still,” Jenna said, leavin
g her side just long enough to grab the cordless phone off the kitchen wall. “I’ll call an ambulance.”

  “I don’t need an ambulance,” the woman said, trying to sit up. “I’ll be fine.” Doing his part, Andy waddled up and licked Gran’s face. “Who is this cutie?”

  “Don’t try to get up yet,” Jenna said, already on hold for paramedics. “Let’s get you checked out first. What happened?”

  “I was feeling so restless and got up for a drink,” Gran said, tucking the puppy against her robe. “I haven’t slept well since all the excitement when my angel saved me.”

  “I put fresh water at your bedside,” Jenna said. “You shouldn’t have had to get up.”

  “I wanted warm milk. It always helps me relax. But I started feeling dizzy, and I lost my balance.”

  “I should have checked on you,” Jenna said. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of pouring a glass of milk,” the woman said with a stubborn edge. “I just stood up too fast, I think. Where did this dog come from?”

  “I was coming here to tell you when I saw the lights on. He’s a rescue waiting for a home. I swear I’ll only have him for a little while, if that’s okay.”

  “Oh, that’s a shame. He’s so adorable.”

  An operator finally picked up her call. “I need an ambulance,” Jenna told the dispatcher. “My grandmother got dizzy and fell.”

  Jenna was so wrapped up in getting help for Gran that she didn’t even think about Anduron again until they were at the hospital. She had been out in the waiting area of the Emergency Room for over an hour before she found herself wondering whether he might pop in. Maybe he’d use the pendant to focus on Jenna, rather than her house. Then he’d find himself in a crowded public room. Alarmed by the thought, she got up and moved over to a small nook around the corner. But he never showed, and as hours passed, she had a feeling that she would never see him again.

  Her fingers brushed her lips while she thought back to that last kiss. Every cell in her body came to life when he touched her, and the feel of his mouth hungrily laying claim to hers turned her into a wild tigress. If he hadn’t stopped when he did, she would have started tearing at his clothes, dragging him somewhere to do the “ritual” he’d gone above and beyond to get her to agree to. He seemed into it, at least at first. Then he cut things off. Why had he done that? Had he not been telling the truth about his offer to go back for the sole remaining puppy? Was he just trying to get away from her? Or had something else happened to him?