by C. J. Pinard
“Well, I was pretty much left for dead in that alley, unconscious.”
Kellan’s face immediately appeared stormy. “He meant to murder you?”
I nodded. “I’m fairly sure. I remember him saying, ‘this will be quick and painless’, or something along those lines. I only got him to stop feeding when I managed to tell him I was a wolf before I passed out from the pain and blood loss.”
Kellan shook his head, rage still flashing in his eyes. “He sounds like he may have been a baby vampire, since he couldn’t sense you were a wolf.”
“He was; not even a year turned.”
“So... you know who this bloke is?” he asked, staring at me.
I nodded. “Well, here’s the thing. I had the chance to kill him, and I kinda... lost it.”
“What do you mean?”
After a deep breath, I launched into the entire story about how we’d tracked down and cornered Alexander after weeks of stakeouts and stalking. When I was done with my story, I stayed quiet and kind of waited, expecting to get a scolding from him for being so soft. I really was mad at myself, and I couldn’t stop thinking about where Alexander and his family might be. I really needed to grow some thicker skin and just not care. It sometimes baffled me how I could take a vampire’s life and not feel bad, but when I let one go, I couldn’t stop feeling guilty. I was so messed up. I remembered the first vampire kill I’d made in the woods as the wolf, and how I was in post-homicidal depression for weeks.
Kellan looked at me and said, “That child is in grave danger. We need to find him.”
Without my permission, my eyes got misty and I looked away. “I know.”
I stood up to excuse myself to the bathroom so I could try to get a grip on myself, when I felt what I suspected was probably my other monthly curse coming to visit me.
Dammit!
I grabbed his hand, since he had stood when I had. Such manners. “I’m going to the ladies’ room. I’ll be back. Please don’t leave?” I asked, sounding a little whiny and hating it.
He smiled. “I’ll be right here when you get back, beautiful.” He lifted our linked hands and kissed my knuckles
I swooned as I grabbed my little purse I reluctantly let go of his hand so I could make my way toward the restrooms.
Once inside, I was relieved I was alone in there and went into the first stall. A quick check confirmed my suspicions, and I cursed myself for not keeping better track of my cycle. Thankful I had supplies in my purse, I took care of business, and stood and buttoned up. As I went to grab my purse from the hook on the stall door, my vision began to swim and the room started to spin slightly, I began to wonder if I had really had that much to drink when the headache hit me in a split-second. I quickly sat on the toilet seat and put my head between my knees right before everything faded to black.
“I don’t know if this park is beautiful or not, because I’m sure it was meant to be enjoyed during the frickin’ daylight!” she snapped, snatching her arm from his grip.
“Oh, come on, honey. It’s not so bad, you’ll get used it,” Alexander replied, a desperate look on his face.
“I’m tired, Mom. Can we go home?” the little boy asked.
She shot her husband an annoyed look and picked up the child with ease, as he wrapped his arms and legs around her, resting his head on her shoulder. “Yes, baby, we can leave soon.”
“Please don’t pick him up like that,” Alexander said, a panicked look on his face.
His fears were confirmed when she closed her eyes and inhaled sharply into the child’s neck.
He blitzed over to her and snatched the boy from her arms. He started crying as Alexander tried to console him. “I’m sorry, kid. Mom’s not feeling well; let’s go back to the camp.”
Beth shot him a murderous look and put her fingers to her mouth, touching where her eyeteeth had grown into points, and followed behind them. She shuddered, and the eyeteeth seemed to go back to normal. “This is just so stupid, Alex,” Beth said, still confused. “How are we supposed to keep an eye on him when he’s up all day and we sleep all day? You screwed our entire lives, you asshole.”
Learning I could be more than a casual observer, I tried my hardest to look at their surroundings. It seemed they were in some kind of national park, with colossal rocks, a walking trail, trees, and the backdrop of a huge mountain range. So they were still in Colorado. Well I’d hoped so, could be Utah maybe, but I didn’t know which way was west so I couldn’t be sure. Then the couple went around a corner and the trail sort of ended. I noticed we were on a small ledge overlooking a large pond. The water was so still, the light from the three-quarter moon reflected perfectly on it like a mirror.
Suddenly, a chilling feeling of déjà vu hit me; I’d seen this before. The trio kept walking and I followed them to where a large tent had been erected. I noticed a snuffed-out campfire a few feet away. They went inside the tent, and as they did, I suddenly realized where I had seen that pond before. That was Beaver Pond... Oh, my God, they are camping out in the Rocky Mountain National Park!
Blinking my eyes open, I was grateful I hadn’t fallen from the toilet. I was sort of slumped against the wall. I stood up, grabbed my purse, took a quick look in the mirror, and left the restroom.
To my relief, Kellan sat at the table, and he was typing something on his phone.
“Oh, there you are,” he said, looking up at me and smiling. “I hope everything is all right. You were gone for quite a spell.”
I nodded. “Sorry, girl trouble. I’m good now, though.”
I didn’t think he knew about my little psychic visions, and it needed to stay that way. So what I said next was probably foolish, but I couldn’t be concerned with truths and pleasantries at the moment.
“Aren’t you going to sit?” he asked as we stood there and he had the chair pulled out.
I shook my head. “No. Do you fancy a road trip?”
He smiled. “Sounds fun. To where?”
“Estes Park,” I replied, feeling urgent.
“Oh. Well, all right, but obviously we will have to not stay long. Daylight will be here in,”—he glanced at his wristwatch“—about four hours.”
“It won’t take long, I promise. Please let’s go.”
He nodded to his two guards and they both nodded back. Then he ushered me toward the front entrance door, where we went around to the lot and got into his Porsche. He took off down the road at a high rate of speed I was beginning to get used to.
“Want to explain to me why this sudden urge to go to Estes Park?” he asked, pronouncing Estes like “esteez”, and it made me grin a little.
“Because that’s where Alexander and his family are. They are camping out in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and I need to just end this—and them—once and for all.”
Aside from glancing sideways at me, and then putting his eyes back on the road, he cleared his throat a little, and said, “And how, exactly, do you know this now, when fifteen minutes ago you didn’t know where he was?”
Shit, I knew he was going to ask me that. “Well, would you get mad if I told you to just trust me?”
“I do trust you, Ayla,” he said, taking the onramp to the freeway so fast, I thought we would surely crash into something. Of course, we didn’t. I had to remind myself of how long Kellan had probably been driving. “But, these vague answers, they have piqued my curiosity, and if I’m being honest, it unnerves me a little bit.”
I put my hand on his knee and looked at his profile. God, he was so perfect. That nose was flawlessly straight, his brow jutted out just enough to be masculine, his jawline was disgustingly perfect and straight, and the Adam’s apple wasn’t too big or too small. I swallowed and said, “I promise that one day I will tell you all my secrets. But you have to promise me something, too.”
He turned and looked at me, curiosity and something else I couldn’t decipher in his gaze. “And what’s that, sweet little wolf?”
“You have to tell me your secrets
, as well. Because I know you have them.”
He chuckled. “We all have secrets. Some are best left buried, though.”
Huh. That was intriguingly vague, yet so true. “I can’t argue with that.”
As the car continued to fly down the interstate, I wondered what was waiting for us in Estes Park. The visions were so strange, as sometimes they were things happening at the very moment, and sometimes they were events that were about to happen. But usually they were events that had happened in the not-so-distant past.
After a little more than an hour, the signs to Estes Park came into view. I sucked in a deep breath, hoping I was making the right decision to go after Alexander now. The regret that swirled in my belly every time I thought about him would not go away, and I knew what I had to do.
I just hoped Kellan would be there to back me up, because not only would I need all the help and strength I could get ... I needed him... irrevocably and completely.
The End
Book 3 in The Ayla St. John Chronicles, The Lunar Secret, comes out in late spring 2018! Watch my social media pages, newsletter, or my website for exact dates.
Song List:
Shape Of You—Ed Sheeran
Wolves—Marshmello & Selena Gomez
Dusk Till Dawn—Zayn (Feat. Sia)
Highway To Hell—AC/DC
I Can’t Do This—Plumb
Bad At Love—Halsey
Whereabouts Unknown—Endgame
There’s Your Trouble—Dixie Chicks
Never Be The Same—Camila Cabello
Lithium—Evanescence
For Those Who Wait—Fireflight
Gone Away—Five Finger Death Punch
Whisper—Evanescence
How Far I’ll Go—Alessia Cara
Beautiful Trauma—P!nk
Remembrance—God Is An Astronaut
Better—Plumb
Forever—Fireflight
Walk On Water—Thirty Seconds To Mars
Wheel In The Sky—Journey
The Devil Within—Digital Daggers
Panic Ghost—Common Velvet
My Demons—Starset
Our Solemn Hour—Within Temptation
OTHER BOOKS BY C.J. PINARD:
Paranormal Fantasy:
Enchanted Immortals 1 FREE
Enchanted Immortals 2: The Vortex
Enchanted Immortals 3: The Vampyre
Enchanted Immortals 4: The Vixen
BSI: Bureau of Supernatural Investigation
Enchanted Immortals Box Set: 4 Books + Novella
New Adult Contemporary Romance:
Patriotic Duty (Duty & Desire, #1) FREE
Tour of Duty (Duty & Desire #2)
Boots Beneath My Bed (Duty & Desire #3)
Playing the Field (Duty & Desire #4)
Romantic Suspense:
Antihero (Imperfect Heroes, Book 1) FREE
Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes, Book 2)
Beneath Broken (Imperfect Heroes, Book 3)
Beyond Love (Imperfect Heroes, Book 4)
Paranormal Romance:
Unscathed (A paranormal romance novel with Tim O’Rourke)
Soul Rebel (Rebel Riders #1) FREE
Soul Redemption (Rebel Riders #2)
Soul Release (Rebel Riders #3)
Kovah: Soul Seeker (A Rebel Riders Novel)
Lotus (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus’s Journey Part I FREE
Watcher (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus’s Journey, Part II
Guardian (Daughter of Darkness) Lotus’s Journey, Part III
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C.J. is a USA Today Bestselling author living in Colorado. Lover of red wine, wearer of fabulous shoes, and a die-hard Niner fan, she’s also an editor at heart. She’s the author of over 20 novels and short stories that contain both contemporary/new adult and paranormal romance that are a little bit badass, a little heart-wrenching, and sorta funny (to her, anyway). Almost all of her books usually contain law enforcement or military undertones, since strong, brave, alpha men and women are her weaknesses. 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.
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