by R. E. Butler
“Oh?” he asked as he stripped.
“Sure. You’re huge in your shift. I don’t think there are any shifters bigger than elephants.”
“I don’t think I’d want to meet a shifter that was bigger than my elephant.”
“Maybe a dinosaur shifter?”
“I don’t think that’s a thing.”
She lifted the crate and said, “There could be. Big old T-Rexes and Triceratops milling around in ancient forests somewhere. Now that would be awesome.”
He shifted into his elephant form, chuckling at his mate’s silly imagination. He pushed the big doors open with his head and she stepped out first, carrying the crate. He deftly grabbed the box in his trunk and followed her out, swinging his trunk to close the doors.
He followed her as she walked toward the others, still talking about dinosaur shifters. She set the crate down and lifted a head of lettuce.
“What do you guys think? Are there dinosaurs like us or what?”
Alastair’s head tilted as he stared at her and then he lifted his trunk and trumpeted, and it sounded exactly like a belly laugh.
She looked over her shoulder at Kelley. “See? He agrees.”
Kelley snorted. Cael made an impatient sound and Rhapsody handed the lettuce to him. “Sorry, sorry.”
When she bent to pick up an apple, Kelley took a moment to appreciate how cute her butt was, and then he gave her a nudge with his trunk. She straightened and faced him.
He held out the box to her, and her gaze dropped down to his trunk and she took it from him.
“Is this for me?”
He nodded. She rolled the apple to Indio and opened the box, gasping at the ring. The yellow gold ring was an art deco design with tiny diamonds.
“Oh, Kelley,” she whispered as she took the ring from the box. “It’s beautiful.”
A paper scroll was attached to the ring and she pulled it off and unrolled it, reading out loud, “I love you, Rhapsody. Will you marry me and make me the happiest elephant on the planet?”
She put the paper back in the box and the ring on her finger. She lifted her head and smiled at him as she wiped at tears that sparkled on her cheeks. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you!”
Like the first time they met, she hugged his foreleg and he curled his trunk around her to hold her close.
His family trumpeted loudly and Rhapsody laughed. “I love how happy you guys sound when you do that.”
Indio made a grumbling sound and gestured to the trail. In the distance, Kelley could hear the gates squeaking open to signal the arrival of a tour jeep.
Rhapsody hugged his leg a little tighter and said, “We need to get to work or people will wonder what I’m doing hugging on you.”
She returned to the crate and passed out the produce as jeep after jeep full of park visitors passed by. When the last jeep went by and the produce was gone, Rhapsody said goodbye to the memory and followed Kelley into the storage barn where he shifted back into human form.
She leaped into his arms and kissed him. “I love the ring!”
“It was my grandma’s.”
“Oh, I love it even more now.”
“We can get married whenever you’d like.”
“Just before my belly gets all big with your baby.”
He chuckled. “You got it.”
“This was an amazing week,” she said. “Not only are we engaged, but Tank likes me.”
“Be honest,” he said, opened the door in the floor. “Is the thing with Tank your favorite part?”
“What?” she said indignantly, trying to hide her smile. “Of course not. It’s just icing on the cake. Oh, cake! Do we have any cake?”
“I’m sure we can find some in the market. If not, we’ll go out. Do you want anything else?”
He pulled the door shut behind them and took her hand as they walked down the stairs. “Just you.” He was about to tell her that he only needed her, too, when she whispered, “and peanut butter.”
“Whatever my mate wants,” he said with a laugh.
Next in the Were Zoo Series
Auden (Were Zoo Seven)
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Also from R. E. Butler
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The Wiccan-Were-Bear Series Volume One
The Wiccan-Were-Bear Series Volume Two
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Volume One (Books 1 and 2)
Volume Two (Books 3 and 4)
Volume Three (Books 5 and 6)
The Hunter’s Heart (Book Seven)
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The Wolf’s Mate Series
The Wolf’s Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence
The Wolf’s Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel
The Wolf’s Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats
The Wolf’s Mate Book 4: Michael & Shyne
The Wolf’s Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika
The Wolf’s Mate Book 6: Logan & Jenna
The Wolf’s Mate Book 7: Lindy & The Wulfen
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Available Now
Auden (Were Zoo Book Seven)
In the tradition of their people, owl shifter Jessica Thompson’s parents have chosen a mate for her. On the way to a ce
lebratory hunt to meet her arranged mate, a group of hunters spies them and she’s separated from her nest among the flurry of bullets. Injured and disoriented, she crash-lands in a zoo.
Wolf shifter Auden James has lived at the Amazing Adventures Safari Park his whole life, and he loves working on the VIP tours they’re hopeful will bring soulmates to the shifters who live in secret underground. When he takes a shift as a security guard, he watches something crash in the lion paddock and rushes to the scene, where he finds an injured owl. As the owl slowly changes into a beautiful female, Auden knows he’s in the presence of his soulmate.
But Jess’s nest isn’t about to let her go without a fight. When a betrayal puts everyone in danger, will Jess and Auden survive?
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