The Lunar Promise: The Ayla St. John Chronicles, #5

By C.J. Pinard

With Ayla's greatest enemy now gone, she is both relieved and restless, knowing she's done what she had to do, yet, still feels the need to hunt. With Kellan still faithfully by her side, she decides she needs to take a rest. But that rest is short-lived, as she's told that her biological father—the alpha—is nearby and is searching for her and her brother. Ayla has no plans for a happy family reunion, but threats cause her to have to meet the alpha.

From there, things go from bad to worse for Ayla. When someone close to her is kidnapped, and a strange spell is put upon her that seems to sap her powers, she wonders how she is going to rescue him and keep it together. It's only with the help of her friends—and a new relative she didn't know existed—that she can only hope to find him in time, since it seems her powers can't help her.

The Lunar Promise is book 5 in the Ayla St. John Chronicles, and is for readers 18 and older. This is an ongoing series and books must be read in order.

THE AYLA ST. JOHN CHRONICLES
The Lunar Effect
The Lunar Curse
The Lunar Secret
The Lunar Magic
The Lunar Promise
The Lunar Light

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pin House Press, LLC
• Release date: Oct 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393454670

C.J. Pinard

C.J. is a USA Today Bestselling author living in Colorado but wishes she was someplace warmer. She loves the SF 49ers and has a weakness for expensive shoes. She's the author of over 30 novels and short stories that contain both fantasy and paranormal romance with kickass heroines and strong alphas. When she's not writing, she can be found working at a very strange day job, which may or may not have some mild influences on her gripping stories--so strange, in fact, she may just write a book about it one day. She can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on her website, cjpinard.com

Book preview

Chapter 1

I bit my lip and sucked in a deep breath as the ink-filled needle penetrated my skin. After all I’d been through, I thought finally getting the half-sleeve tattoo I’d been wanting would relax me.

Boy, was I wrong.

I could fight until I was exhausted. I could shove my arm up to the elbow through blood and bone and remove a heart. I could take the stinging pain to my cheek as an uber-strong vampire backhanded me, my body flying across the room, just to get up to fight again. But... having my skin assaulted with a needle, the vibrating prick pounding and piercing my flesh and drawing blood, was anything but relaxing... and hurt like a bitch.

This was where I told myself the end result was what I needed to focus on. The design I had paid for. Turned out Beckett’s boyfriend, Gavin, had an amazing tattoo artist cousin, and he’d drawn me a breathtaking design I knew I’d wanted inked on me forever.

Forever and ever.

There wasn’t anything more special to a girl than her first time getting flowers from the man she loved. The dozen roses Kellan had given me on my birthday were just about dead, but I hadn’t thrown them out. A quick web search had told me that if I hung them upside down before they completely died, I could preserve them. So, that was what I’d done. In a sick and comical twist of fate, those twelve red roses had hung upside down from my ceiling, just like a vampire bat. And now they weren’t red anymore—they were pitch-black and very, very dead.

Fucking perfect.

And it was those black roses, intertwined with moonstones and opals for my birthstones, that I had put in a badass design from my shoulder to right above my elbow. The words Death is Only the Beginning were interwoven between the flowers and stones in an unobvious script that had to be pointed out. It was exactly what I wanted.

Once he had begun to clean up my arm with a cool, wet rag, I breathed out a sigh of relief and looked down at my arm. A gasp flew down my throat and my eyes immediately grew misty.

Oh, my God.

I glanced into the wall-to-wall mirror of his shop in Colorado Springs. I was sure I resembled a fish out of water with my mouth open in shock and delight. I couldn’t stop staring at the beauty of the tattoo. I shifted my gaze to the tattoo artist, and he smirked at me, amusement in his piercing purplish-blue eyes. The shock of light-blond hair standing up in a purposeful mess on the top of his head reminded me so much of Beckett’s boyfriend, Gavin.

Who knew elves could be so big, tall, and sexy?

This is... I shook my head. So amazing, dude.

He chuckled. I’m glad you like it, girl.

What do you think Kellan’s gonna say? Beckett sat in the corner, examining his nails before he lazily drifted his gaze to mine.

I lifted a shoulder and let it fall, a grin on my face. Who cares? It’s my body, not his.

He chuckled. True. It’s badass for sure.

The tattoo artist smeared some thick, clear goop over my fresh tat, and then covered it in cellophane.

I pulled a wad of hundreds from my pocket and handed him five of them. Thanks again, I love it.

He grinned and shoved the bills into his pocket. You’re welcome. Anytime you want more ink, just text me.

What days do you work? I asked, definitely planning on using him again in the future.

He pulled his gloves off and began cleaning up his station. I don’t work at this shop regularly. I live in a small town south of here. But Dez lets me use the empty station whenever I need to, so just hit me up when you’re ready and I’ll head down here and get you inked.

Awesome, thanks again!

I glanced at Gavin, who was, of course, looking down at his phone. You guys ready?

Been ready, Beckett said, yanking him up from the chair.

I was just answering some emails, but yeah, I’m ready, Gavin replied, pulling his keys from his pocket and replacing his phone into the same pocket.

They had given me a ride down here from Denver since Gavin was making the introductions and all that. It was nice of him to work late so Beckett could come with.

As we piled into the car, I absently patted my arm where it was a good kind of sore. I could not wait to see the final product... but honestly, I was a little concerned.

I had not seen any tattoos on my best friend, Beckett, or my vampire boyfriend, Kellan. When I’d gotten my first tattoos—beautiful on one forearm, and disaster on the other—I had been worried if they’d stick. What if our healing ability made them disappear? It sounded crazy, but logic had shown me that any sort of trauma—intended or not—had healed into perfection, leaving not so much as a blemish or a scar. Tattoos were trauma to the skin, ink bleeding into the epidermis to produce a permanent mark. But thankfully, the tats on my forearms had stayed, and I had never regretted them. Beautiful Disaster described me perfectly.

My brother Austyn had gotten a tattoo right after high school on his back, but I had never paid attention to see if he’d still had it. And sadly, I’d never know because he was dead.

And... as of yet, my brother Aden hadn’t gotten any, but I completely understood why. He had a baby on the way—a baby he’d made with a witch—and he was under a bit of stress. I remembered he and I had discussed getting matching tats to honor our fallen brother, but again—things had been so chaotic lately that we hadn’t gotten around to it.

Oddly enough, my adoptive parents were witches, and we hoped they could shed some light on what would become of Aden and Celeste’s baby. They—along with my witch bestie, Sanja—had thought that any wolf who mated with a human would produce a one-hundred percent wolf baby, but—that wasn’t guaranteed.

As we drove back to Denver from Springs, I sat in the backseat and stared out the window at the passing mountain landscape. It was beautiful, but just above it sat a full, fat moon. Yes, it had been foolish of me to get a tattoo when I knew I’d be shifting soon, but I honestly wasn’t concerned that it would have been a waste of time. I checked my watch to see I had less than an hour before the moon was at its highest—when I would begin to transform into the gruesome wolf woman.

We’re here, Beckett announced.

I looked up to see us pulling up in front of Evan and Karina’s house. The place I went to shift once a month.

I took a deep breath and pulled the handle to open the door. Thanks, guys.

Beckett replied, Anytime. Now, try not to bite anyone’s head off over the next few days.

I glanced up to see Gavin grinning as he typed on his phone.

Fuck both of you. I flipped them off. I may have muttered something about vampires being fairies as I slung my backpack over my shoulder and slammed the door closed.

The wrap the artist had put on my arm seemed useless now, and I tore off the cellophane to stare down at my new tattoo. It was beautiful and looked as if it had been there for months.

Gotta love wolf super-healing.

The door opened before I could ring the bell, and my beautiful redheaded friend, Karina, answered. You’re just on time, she remarked.

I’m twitchy, I quipped.

She laughed that high-pitched tinkle of hers and ushered me inside with a flourish. I bet. Please grab a few bags from the fridge before going downstairs.

I cut her a sideways glance and tried to force a smile, but I just couldn’t. My bones felt like they were shifting underneath my skin, and all I wanted was to lie down on the bed they’d provided for me in the basement. I quickly snatched three blood bags from the refrigerator before heading down the stairs.

Evan was on the couch with the X-Box controller in his hand. He barely looked at me as I entered the room.

"Grand Theft Auto... again?" I asked, dumping my purse and blood bags onto the couch next to him.

He nodded and kept playing. Then, he picked up a smoldering, hand-rolled joint, took a drag, and then handed it to me.

Surprised, I said, This is new.

He lifted a shoulder and let it fall, without taking his eyes from the screen. Can’t hurt, right?

I took the cigarette and stared at it, as I remembered Ryder and my brothers always using marijuana during their shifts. I hadn’t cared for it, but I was just a kid then. I shrugged and lifted the joint to my lips and inhaled.

Of course, I coughed most of it out, but I had sort of been expecting that. After my coughing fit, I tried again, this time slower. It eased into my lungs smoother this time, and I handed him back the blunt.

Then, I stared at the TV. I wished I could get into the games as fervently as most, but I just couldn’t. Already feeling more relaxed and less twitchy thanks to the THC, I got up to pluck a book from the massive built-in bookcase against the wall when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked down at the text.

Kellan: I love you.

I tried to smile, but instead, I just began twitching again. I wanted to message him back, but I dropped the phone.

Fuck! I heard Evan holler as his game controller clattered to the floor.

We both heard the locks at the top of the staircase engage.

I looked down at my arm, and with a hand that was more like a claw, I used the fingertip of my index finger to tear my tank top from my body. It was bothering me. Everything was bothering me.

I screamed out a howl and fell to the ground, praying the transition would be quick. I hated that I missed being the grayish-blonde wolf. I hated that I had to transform into a hybrid freak.

Lifting my face to the ceiling, I let out a grief-filled howl to tell the entire world about how much I loathed my new existence. I didn’t have to look up to know that Evan hated it, too.

How had he done this for ten years? How was I going to? But I knew... It would be a hell of a lot more than ten years. It would be forever.

For both of us.

Panting, I slammed to the ground on all fours and continued to whimper and whine while my bones violently broke and re-healed instantly. My canines elongated and pierced my bottom lip while I felt my brow protruding from my forehead. Hair began to sprout everywhere, and for some stupid, illogical reason, that was the thing I hated the most about this damn transition. Being hairy. I paid a lot of money for my monthly waxes when I was in my human form, and trust me when I say—they did absolutely nothing for what I became in this form.

Thankful my sports bra and shorts still remained, I breathed out in relief and stood up once I felt the transformation was complete. I looked up to see Evan standing across from me next to the couch. He grinned at me in that creepy but familiar way, and patted the cushion next to him for me to join.

I couldn’t smile, but I did heavily lumber over to him, then sat down to watch him play his violent video game. He tossed me a controller and I awkwardly picked it up. Even though I didn’t care for gaming, I did have a general idea on how to play. As I looked down at the controller, which now looked so small in my huge, hairy, and hideous hand, I wondered how the hell I was supposed to push the buttons. My fingers were awkward and not at all smooth and agile like they were when I was in my human form—minus the expensive manicured nails I rocked, of course. I watched through red-tinged wolf sight as he switched the game to two-person, the strange haze framing my vision as it always did in this form. Reading books was a bitch, but doable. Playing video games? I wasn’t sure how he did it.

I can’t fucking see the sides of the TV! I cried out, irrationally upset over something so trivial.

Squint, he replied quickly, dodging his stolen car around a police barricade on the screen.

So I did.

Wow, that actually worked. Huh.

My little blue car followed after his red one, gunshots echoing around us, as we flew through the streets of the fictional city, evading the cops on our way to freedom.

I heard Evan chuckle in a voice much deeper than his usual one, and looked over at him. He was just as hideous as I was. But somehow beautiful.

Beautiful?

Was I now embracing my freakish new existence?

Placing my focus back on the game, I quickly began to feel tired. After a few minutes, I could feel my eyes grow heavy and the controller slip from my hands as darkness consumed me.

Chapter 2

It was a beautiful face to wake up to. I smiled as I stretched, arching my back to work out the kinks.

Wait.

My lazy, half-mast eyes flew open wide as I sat up and blinked, looking around at Kellan’s ostentatious bedroom. How did I get here?

Kellan’s familiar chuckle filled the room until my gaze landed back on him as he sat in a plush, red chair in the corner of his bedroom. I didn’t say anything. I just waited.

Evan called me to come get you.

I racked my brain for my last memory and then sat up. I swiped a hand over my face, grateful it was smooth, then ran my tongue over my teeth, happy to feel no fangs. We were playing video games. I still have two more days until I can show my face in public!

He canted his head to the side and studied me. No, love. You are done. The moon is full no longer.

I put both hands on the back of my neck and looked down at the sheet covering my knees, which were now up against my bare naked chest. I just lost two days of my life—again?

When I looked into Kellan’s face, I saw sympathy swimming in his blue gaze. I’m sorry, love. All I was told was that you needed to be picked up, as you were in a deep, heavy sleep. The three days were well over.

I shook my head and threw the sheet aside. This isn’t good. Not good at all. I stood, buck naked, and looked around the room. Where are my clothes?

Kellan stood, and I noticed he was still fully dressed in a button-down black shirt and a pair of crisp blue jeans. He put his hands in his pockets and regarded my body appreciatively. When his stare eventually met mine in a lazy once-over, he grinned in that sexy way of his and replied, "I know where