Lunar Court Read online

  First Published by Ink Monster, LLC in 2019

  Ink Monster, LLC

  4470 W Sunset Blvd

  Suite 145

  Los Angeles, CA 90027

  www.inkmonster.net

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  ISBN 9781943858507

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  Copyright © 2019 by Ink Monster LLC

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  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Also by Aileen Erin

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Alpha Erased

  Off Planet

  Off Planet Sample

  To My Readers

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Aileen Erin

  The Alpha Girl Series

  Becoming Alpha

  Avoiding Alpha

  Alpha Divided

  Bruja

  Alpha Unleashed

  Shattered Pack

  Being Alpha

  Lunar Court

  Alpha Erased - forthcoming

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  The Shadow Ravens Series

  Cipher

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  The Aunare Chronicles

  Off Planet

  Off Balance - forthcoming

  For my Facebook Ink Monster Superfans group.

  * * *

  Y’all are the bee’s knees. Just FYI. ;)

  Chapter One

  CHRIS

  I’d been walking up and sliding down an endless sea of sand dunes. At the top of each one, I hoped to see something on the horizon. One hundred and twenty-six dunes later, my hope had evaporated. I needed a destination. A clue to what the hell I was doing here. An answer to why Eli ditched me in the middle of what had to be the Sahara, with only one command. Head east.

  My breath came out in hot, heaving gasps, and I’d murder someone for a drop of water. I raised my hands in the air when I hit the top of the latest dune, trying to force more air into my lungs, but the air was too scorching, too dry, too miserable to fill my lungs.

  “Shit. This sucks.” I used my hand to block the sun as I looked over the horizon.

  Nothing. I turned west. Nothing. North. More nothing. Just dunes and heat and wind whipping sand in my face. No battles to fight. No demons to kill. No distractions from my regrets about last night and the heated fight I’d had with Cosette. It was just me and my well-deserved misery.

  A drop of sweat trickled down my face, carving a path through the sand stuck to my cheek. No matter where I looked, I saw mirages of lakes and seas and oceans. But there wasn’t any water and I was so damned thirsty. If I ever found my way out of here, I’d spend forever washing the sand out of every crevice of my body. After I murdered Eli.

  An answering growl rose up inside of me. My wolf and I were in agreement for once, but there was nothing I could do about Eli’s stupid games. Right now, I had bigger problems, like hunger and dehydration. I bit off one of the buttons on my shirt to suck on. It helped stimulate saliva, but that wasn’t going to be enough. Not long-term. I needed water. I needed it now. And more than that, I needed to go home.

  I started down a dune, keeping my eye on the next one. The first hour here I’d been in awe. I’d never been anywhere like this, and the heat had been a shock coming from the Texas winter. I’d pulled off my hoodie and tied the sleeves around my forehead to keep my eyes clear and my head covered. But then the heat had risen, and the exhaustion of climbing up the dunes, gaining an inch for every three steps, had stolen the last of my patience. I wanted the fuck out of here.

  “Damn it, Eli. What the hell am I doing here?” I blew out a harsh breath. I didn’t know who I was more pissed off at—Eli for dropping me in the middle of the desert or myself for being stupid enough to willingly go with him. If there was one thing I knew now, it was to not trust the archon.

  More than an angel, Eli had the power and ability to do whatever he wanted. His only quest was to keep the world going. To keep the balance between good and evil. And he had free rein to do that however he saw fit. Over the last week, that meant helping me and my friends. Today, who knew what side Eli was on?

  I didn’t think he wanted me to die, but I wasn’t certain that he really cared either.

  Christ. Why did I agree to come with him? Nothing good came from a desperate move. But I had been stupidly desperate for an escape.

  The last few months had been utter chaos. I’d fought caves full of vampires, slayed a horde of demons spilling out of a portal from hell, and sealed off the mortal realm from Satan’s second-in-command with my friends. In the process, I’d bound myself to twelve other supernaturals—some I didn’t even know—and I wasn’t sure what that meant.

  I should’ve stayed at St. Ailbe’s to find out, but Cosette had been there, sitting next to me, so freaking tempting. The high from the magic we’d used the night before made me jittery. I could feel my wolf making a demand to grab her—to hold her and fix what was between us—to make her mine—and I…I couldn’t let myself do that.

  Wanting what I couldn’t have was nothing new for me—I’d had long, hard years of that growing up—but wanting Cosette as anything more than a friend? That was a whole other level of torture. There was no way I could be with a fey from the Lunar Court, especially not a princess. The fey in her court controlled the moon, and I was a werewolf, tied to the moon. I’d be a slave, unable to even know if the things I did and felt and thought were my own. But I still couldn’t stop myself from wanting her, even if having her was suicide.

  But then—as I was about to start saying the words that would tie us together—Eli had popped in out of nowhere. He offered me a distraction, and it felt like an answered prayer, or fate, or maybe just an easy out. One I probably didn’t deserve. But I’d jumped at the chance before I could think about it. Before I could claim Cosette in front of all our friends. Before I could destroy both of us in one dumbass move.

  Damn it. “What the hell am I doing here?” I screamed up at the sky again. I wasn’t sure where Eli had gone, but I was sure he was laughing at me. “Get back here, you asshole!”

  I sat in the sand, unable to keep going without some explanation and a gallon or two of water. “You wanted help, so here I am. But I’m not playing your game.”

  The desert was definitely not my thing. I liked cold. I liked the woods and the hill country around St. Ailbe’s. I liked green, and life seeping from the ground under my feet. All I could smell here was sand and heat and my own sweat. Everything in this desert was dead, and if I didn’t get somewhere soon, it wouldn’t be long before I would be dead, too.

  Eli appeared in front of me, wearing his usual faded jeans and white shirt, looking perfectly refreshed. His long blond hair was tied back. When standing, I was easily a few inches taller than him and more muscular, but looks often lied in the supernatural world. Subtle clues were the only way to guess at someone’s power. His ponytail was perfectly still as the wind moved around him, keeping the sand away from his face.

/>   I clenched my jaw, and the fine grit in my teeth crunched. A subtle but effective reminder of who was more powerful.

  The girls seemed to think Eli was handsome, but all I saw when I looked at him was a whole bunch of danger I didn’t need.

  “You smell,” Eli said.

  “Walking through the desert all day will do that.” I used part of my shirt to wipe the gritty, sand-soaked sweat from my face as I stood.

  With a snap of his fingers, a water bottle appeared in Eli’s hands, and he tossed it to me. I wanted to bash in his face with it—but water, perfectly ice-cold water. I drank it down in three gulps.

  “You could say thank you.”

  Eli’s reprimand felt like sandpaper against sunburned skin. It was enough to have my wolf howling for me to rip the archon’s face off, but then I’d go back to being stuck in the Sahara with no water, no food, and no way home.

  I crumbled the bottle and tossed it to the sand. “Another one.” And I wasn’t saying please.

  He rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers again. The bottle popped and expanded as it rose from the sand then filled with water and flew toward me.

  “Nice trick.” I caught the bottle before it could smack into my chest. I drank it down and tapped the side of the bottle for Eli to refill it.

  “You’re immortal. Dehydration wouldn’t kill you.” But he snapped his fingers anyway.

  Once the bottle was full, I carefully set the bottle in the sand and then yanked the hoodie from my head. The archon was full of shit. “I can die from all sorts of things. Including dehydration.” I grabbed the bottle and dumped it over myself, cooling my body instantly. The water dripping down my skin felt like heaven.

  “Nah. You’d be painfully uncomfortable and might go a little crazy, but you’d survive. You weren’t easy to kill before, and now that’s even harder. Thanks to me.” He pointed at himself like I should be thanking him, but I wasn’t going to thank him. He could read my mind, so he should stop expecting it.

  Using his magic to power our spell last night was probably one of the stupider things my friends and I had done. We’d opened ourselves to all kinds of shenanigans, courtesy of Eli, and I wasn’t sure I’d live to see this through.

  The empty water bottle crumpled in my hands and I threw it down along with my hoodie.

  Eli gave me the same look my father had given me so many times. One that said I was pathetic and worthless.

  “You’re being dramatic. That’s the look on my face. Not the pathetic and worthless crap.”

  I didn’t like that he could read my mind.

  “But I can. So, get over it. A day in the desert is nothing more than a little discomfort.”

  I could take discomfort, but only when it had a purpose. “You bamfed me here and then left. I’m trying to be cool, but if you don’t tell me what’s going on, we’re going to have a problem.”

  “A problem?”

  He was baiting me. I knew it and wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction, but my wolf had always been a dangerous hothead. “No.” I was telling him as much as I was telling my wolf. “You’re more powerful than me. Starting a fight with you would end painfully—possibly deadly—for me.” I broke eye contact to give my wolf a second to believe what I’d said. “You needed my help, so I’m here. But I’m done with your bullshit. I want food and a bed, and as far as I can see, I’m not anywhere closer to that than I was hours ago. There’s literally nothing here. So why am I?”

  “Well, at least you’re not stupid.”

  “Not stupid? That’s a real compliment coming from you.” My voice turned gruff and thick, the effects of my old injury were worse when my wolf was close to the surface.

  “Don’t worry so much. You’ll get food soon and your wolf will stay as hampered as ever under your tight rein, lest you show any hint of being alpha. And since you’ve been so outwardly patient—”

  I growled. The guy could read my mind, and I knew it. That didn’t mean I was going to like it or get used to it. And he sure as shit didn’t have to bring it up when he—

  “Calm down. I’m happy to report that you are nearly to the Court of Gales.”

  His words were a million tiny daggers, stabbing fear through my soul and twisting as I realized how completely screwed I was. He’d said Court of Gales like it was a good thing, but I knew that if I continued east, the only thing I’d find was my own death.

  The fey hated me and my friends. For a very solid reason. We were caught on video and it went viral. We’d been fighting a demon. Some of us shifted. Cosette pulled a flaming sword out of nowhere. And in one three-minute clip, the existence of the supernatural world was outed to humans.

  Except the fey didn’t want to be outed, so they retreated to their underhills—the magical realm where their courts resided—and closed themselves off to the mortal world. From what Cosette said, they were more than a little pissed off about the whole thing. And they blamed us.

  Court of Gales? Eli was an asshole and he was going to get me killed. I opened my mouth to tell him to take me back to Texas, but he spoke first.

  “Do you or do you not want to save Cosette’s life?”

  I inhaled. The sand felt like embers in my lungs, but I barely felt it. All I could think was that Cosette was in danger, and I had to get to her. But I was in the Sahara, thousands of miles away.

  The shift started deep in my soul. Fur rippled along my skin as I battled for control. The human side of me wanted to ask Eli questions, but the wolf didn’t give a shit. He wanted to fight and he was more than happy to have a go with Eli.

  Pain drove me to the ground and it felt like every muscle in my body was ripping and tearing and reforming into its new shape. The wolf was clawing its way free, driven by his need to find her—to get to her—to be with her no matter the cost, no matter how impossible it was—and it hit me in that moment as I screamed in pain what an idiot I was.

  Only one thing could make my wolf this powerful. And with that realization, I was able to take control again. My body slid back to its fully human state, and I lay flat on the ground, trying to catch my breath.

  “You done?” Eli sounded bored, but he could be bored. I was in the middle of a fucking revelation.

  I’d thought I could get over Cosette with a little distance, a little distraction, but nothing was going to change what I felt for her. It was way too late for that.

  Cosette was my mate. My mate.

  The bond between us was tiny and weak and unacknowledged, but I could feel it now. So fragile. So, so faint. I hadn’t noticed it, but my wolf knew. He fucking knew. That’s why he was going to claim her this morning.

  Shit. I slammed my fist into the sand next to me, sending the grains flying through the air. I needed to track her down, and that meant going back to where I’d seen her last. I stood from where I’d fallen, sand raining down from my clothes. “Take me back to campus now.”

  “I will if that’s what you want, but she’s not there. She left as soon as you did.”

  I willed myself to hold on to my shit while I figured out what the hell Eli was saying. “She’s not there?”

  “No.”

  “Then take me to wherever she is.”

  “No. She’s at the Lunar Court. There’s no way I’m taking you there.”

  Fur rippled along my skin as I closed the distance between us, ready to tear his throat out if he didn’t tell me what I needed to hear. “Is she okay?”

  “So dramatic.”

  I growled and he rolled his eyes, effectively taunting my wolf even more.

  “She’s alive, for now. But she won’t be for long if you don’t keep heading east.”

  I paced away from him for a few steps so that I could think. I knew she didn’t like being at court, but she never told me why. It never occurred to me that it was dangerous. Her mother is the queen and she had Van and a ton of other guards to protect her. She should’ve been fine. Something had to have gone wrong.

  “Something has go
ne wrong.” Eli was reading my mind again, but this time I didn’t care. I wanted the answer. “The Lunar Court is destabilizing, and there’s been a hefty reward for Cosette’s head. One that’s too tempting for them to ignore.”

  Motherfucker. “Then you should’ve grabbed Tessa or Dastien or someone Alpha.” I hated that I had to say it, but it was the truth. Even if it burned in my gut hotter than the fires of Hell. I was alpha—little a. Little power. “I won’t survive there. I’ll be a slave. Worse than a slave. I’d be no help to her and she can’t—”

  “Not if you go to the Court of Gales first and gain more power. Or—more accurately—alter your tie to the moon.”

  Everything stopped—the wind, the heat, the feeling of exhaustion that had been beating through every muscle in my body—and all I could hear were his words echoing in my mind.

  Someone in the Court of Gales could change my lunar tie?

  This was huge. Mind-blowing. Seemingly impossible.

  But if it were true, then Eli wasn’t just going to help me save Cosette’s life. He was offering me a chance to have a future with my mate. I would be able to survive in the Lunar Court without fear of being controlled.

  No. There had to be a catch. Power always came with a cost, and that level of magic—untying my werewolf from its link to the moon? That was a sell-your-soul kind of bargain.

  “If it gives you a shot at being with Cosette, what price wouldn’t you pay?”