Cat or man? Duty or love?
Who prevails after the great cataclysmic shift?
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Making it Happen
Cataclysmic Shift
(The Aloysius Tales Series, Bk #3)
by Tara Lain
Blurb:
Super cat, Aloysius, may be the most powerful witch’s familiar in the world, but when he takes a blast at the hand of an evil witch he loses it all -- power, memory, and his feline form -- to become the ethereal human beauty, Alain Bellarose. When Alain wakes up naked on the floor surrounded by dogs and cats, his eyes first set upon Luke Elliott, the handsome and mysterious veterinarian. Suddenly, the prospect of being human doesn’t seem so bad.
Luke has a lot to hide and he likes animals way more than people, but he can’t resist the flamboyant boy who washes his face with the side of his hand and tries to lick his own privates! The loss of Aloysius depletes the power of the Witch Master, Killian Barth, and that of his “secret weapon” Sammy and leaves their coven sitting ducks for two very nasty females. When Alain discovers that he’s really a powerful cat, he’s faced with the ultimate choice. To protect his community, or stay with the man he loves.
Available for purchase at
Also available in paperback
Excerpts
Quiet.
He opened his eyes. Dark. His back hurt. It was sorely cramped in here.
He pushed some towels
aside and scooted closer to the door. Quietly, he pulled the lever down and
opened the door a crack. Nobody. Good.
He pushed it farther and looked into that plastic-and-metal room.
Odd. He recognized all
the things in this room—an examining table of some kind, chairs, paper
towels—but not what the room was for. He stepped out into the dim glow coming
in from a streetlight outside the window.
He padded softly across
the room and peered out into a short hall, also dark and quiet. To the left,
the hall ended at a door. Light came from under it and a low noise, like maybe
music or voices. Someone must be in there. To the right were several more
doors. He went right.
Hmmm.
Restroom. He opened the door. It was very dark, but his eyes seemed good. He
looked in. A mirror on the opposite wall reflected the dim light of the hall
and what must be… him. He stepped closer and peered at his reflection.
He closed the door.
Until he knew his situation, best not to alert anyone. He ran his hand on the
wall and flipped on the switch. Light blazed harshly in the tiny room. Holy gods.
He stared. Huge eyes,
bluer than blue, stared back at him, surrounded by hair—long black hair down to
his back. He turned and looked. The middle of his back. And pale skin. That was
him. Truly?
What had he expected?
Not sure, but not this…
boy.
He looked down at his
bare body. Boy. Or man, for certain. His eyes widened. And quite a man. Look at those couilles.
But not just man. He
cocked his head. Hu-man.
Now why was that
strange?
He shook his head. This
was so peculiar. He wasn’t afraid, exactly, but he didn’t feel at home in this
skin. He shivered. There were important things he was forgetting, and he must
remember them. He took a deep breath. Lives might depend on it.
He flipped off the
light. The dark felt more comfortable. What should he do? That was the
frightening part. He didn’t know. Not an idea where he should go, and yet he
felt certain he had a purpose he must fulfill.
There was a person out
there. Should he go speak to them? He peeked down at his lean body. Probably
not like this. Humans were strange about nudity and such things. Wait. He was
human, wasn’t he? This was very confusing.
Luke lay
huddled on the couch—the couch Alain had moved, decorated, and made comfortable
in the apartment that screamed of his special power and sweetness in every
corner. Alain, who couldn’t stay hidden, couldn’t stop protecting, couldn’t
keep his pretty nose out of others’ business. The little superhero.
No. The
fucking cat.
He pulled a
pillow over his face. This was ridiculous. Such things didn’t happen. His crazy
mother’s wild-eyed face came into his mind. Maybe that was it. He’d followed
his mother over the edge. If they gave him meds, all this would go away.
The witches.
The cat.
Alain.
A sob
exploded from his lips. What the hell?
Alain had
already gone away.
And he felt…
how? God-awful.
Witchcraft
or abandonment. It all ended up the same. No Alain. No companion. No friend.
No… love.
That
couldn’t be right. Could it? Love? Had he ever loved anyone in his life?
Anyone?
A drip fell
on his hand. Another.
No! He
couldn’t love someone who had screwed up the life he’d worked so hard for. He
couldn’t love someone who messed around with crazy people. People who claimed
to be things that didn’t exist.
He threw the
pillow across the room and sat up. Okay,
quit this shit. What the hell did he really think about all this?
And there
was the truth, laid out across his heart like a fucking tattoo.
A-L-A-I-N.
He wiped a
hand over his eyes. He would believe in witches. Hell, he would believe in
Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster if he could have Alain back.
This could
not be happening. He threw his hands over his head. This could not be
happening!
A sound.
He looked
over his shoulder. What the fuck? He
stared at the window.
Slowly the
sash rose. Inch by inch. No hand on it.
The silky
feline jumped up onto the sill. “Merwaorwr.”
God, he was
so beautiful. Funny that Luke hadn’t known Alain was a cat from the first
moment. The boy moved like this feline, all sinuous grace. They shared the big
balls—and the eyes. They looked straight into your soul. Aloysius was clearly
more than a cat, just as Alain had been more than a man.
The cat
jumped down from the window and moved gracefully to the couch. He leaped up
beside Luke, sat, and crossed his paws.
Luke shook
his head. “I don’t get how this all works, Aloysius. They say you’re a
familiar. You don’t have power of your own, but you can open doors and
windows.”
The cat
sighed. The silky sides clearly expanded and contracted.
“I know. I
have to be nuts to be talking to a cat. Of course, I’ve always believed cats
were smarter than people, so I guess it’s not such a leap. But believing you’re
the man I held in my arms, the man I kissed and made love to….” His voice
broke. “That’s a one-way ticket to insanity.”
“Mewoow.”
Luke wiped a
hand across his eyes. “Why me? Why did you have to come to my clinic? Couldn’t
you have found somebody else to rope into your fucking life?”
“Merwaowr.
Waor.”
The cat
looked at him with those blue eyes, and he cried. No, tears didn’t fall, but as
certainly as Luke continued to breathe, the cat was crying.
A crack
lined its way through Luke’s heart.
The Aloysius Tales Series
Book #1
Spell Cat
Available for purchase at
Also available in paperback
Bk #2
Brush With Catastrophe
Available for purchase at
Also available in paperback
Grab the first two books in the series and get all caught up!
About the Author
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in gay romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 40. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Paranormal Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, Best Romantic Suspense, and more. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul-mate husband and her soul-mate dog near the sea in California where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!
You can find Tara at Lain
