by Anna Zaires
“Thank you,” he said, his voice gruff and unsure. She was, by her own admission, magic. Not only that, but she’d crushed Sellers like a bug. And he’d nearly done for them. What chance did they have should she turn on them?
“I can assure you, Duke Queenmaker,” she said with a smile. “That I will never turn on you or any of your number.”
He blinked and said the first thing that came to mind. “Okay, I’m fairly sure I didn’t say that aloud. And what’s with this Queenmaker shit?”
Chase gasped at her mate’s rudeness, hand tightening on his arm warningly but he wasn’t done. “And, Miss-fire-woman, let me tell you I’m done with fucking riddles so don’t you spout any of the shit Seer-boy over there did when I asked him.”
“Blunt. I like it.” Baby’s lips quirked, amusement in her eyes. She held up a hand when Chase went to speak, meaning to apologize for her mate.
“No, you didn’t say that aloud, but you were broadcasting loud enough for even a half-deaf dragon to pick up. And, traditionally, our kind’s names are descriptive. Chase’s mother called a storm the moment she was born, so she was Stormcaller. Chase was born at night when most of us wait until the dawn to enter the world, so she was named Nightborne.”
She stepped forward to look him in the eye. “You, Duke, were never given a name, so now I name you Queenmaker, because thanks to your willingness to support your mate even into death, I was able to re-enter the world.”
He started a little at her words. “You’re the baby dragon. The princess...?”
“Not a princess.” Chase pushed free of his hold to stand before the female she had protected for millennia. “She’s a Queen now. Our Queen.”
She studied Baby’s face, and smiled. Her voice was soft when she spoke, and thick with tears as emotion threatened to overwhelm her. She couldn’t stop looking at Baby, her gaze roving over the features that were so familiar, yet different. “You have your father’s hair, but you’re the image of your mother. And she’d have been so proud of you.”
Slowly she tried to kneel, to pay the proper respect to their new Monarch, but Baby stopped her halfway. “No, Chase. There will be no kneeling. Not now, not ever. You gave up everything to protect me. You left your home, your family, and your people to sleep at my side and here, you were prepared to sacrifice everything to stop an evil from entering the world. You are my rock, my guardian, and my anchor to the mother I never knew. Never will there be formality between us. Just love and trust.”
Tears flowed freely down Chase’s cheeks as Baby touched her mind. Instantly she dropped her shields, letting the new Queen read everything about their shared past, and the mother, Chase’s friend, who had set them both down this path.
Baby’s mental touch was deft and sure, non-intrusive as she read what she needed and left the rest of Chase’s thoughts alone. When she was done, she withdrew gently, adding a last feeling of warmth and love that warmed Chase through with its sincerity. She swayed on her feet and Duke reached for her, feeling through their link how deeply the contact had affected her.
“Thank you,” he answered when she couldn’t speak. Pride in his mate filled him, filtering through their mental link.
“You are more than welcome.”
“So,” Rat drawled from behind them. Bruised and bloodied, he leaned against the remains of the altar next to Sellers’ body. “Do I get a snazzy name as well?”
Baby lifted an eyebrow, her expression unreadable. Chase hid her smile, almost feeling sorry for the demon.
“There are many names for you Raterrenh, but not many of them are fit for polite company. Although,” she inclined her head toward him and Ris. The Seer was now on his feet, his wounds no longer bleeding, which reinforced Chase’s suspicion that he was far more than he appeared. “I will concede that I owe you and your companion a debt of gratitude for aiding my champions in ensuring my survival.”
“Champions? Scale-boy is a champion now is he?” Rat chuckled. His skin had returned to its normal hue and the horns and tail were nowhere in evidence. His expression dropped serious. “So, debt. How about dinner?”
Chase shook her head at the demon’s daring and reached out with a tentative mental query. Er, your ma—
Yes, Chase, Baby answered before she could finish the query. Please get your mate to take you home. I’ll deal with the rest of the clean-up here.
Chase sighed in relief, gratitude filling her mind. Without asking, Duke swept her up in his arms to take her home.
Epilogue
“You can tell she’s royalty just by the way she holds herself,” Duke commented, sliding into the seat next to Chase at the top table. Since this was his brother’s wedding, they’d been seated next to the bride and groom and Duke had been forced to give a speech. One in which his deep loyalty and love for his brother had shone through brightly.
She turned to look the same way and nodded. Baby, the new queen, was on the dance floor with one of the werewolves from Duke’s work. The wolf was teaching her to dance, and, by the looks on their faces, flirting an awful lot.
“You can. Her mother moved the same way. The women in her bloodline have always been graceful and elegant,” Chase managed to wipe the envy out of her voice, just. Baby, who still hadn’t settled on her adult name, was tall and blessed with an abundance of curves whereas Chase still thought she looked like a boy at times.
Believe me, love. You look nothing like a boy, Duke assured her, his mind sliding into hers with ease thanks to their established link. To prove his point, he fed her a series of erotic images from the night before. From his point of view.
Chase blinked, heat building across her cheeks and surging through her veins, turning to look at him in surprise. The woman in his memories was sexy, and sultry...a seductress of the highest order. With significantly more sex appeal than Chase had ever owned.
You see me like that? Seriously?
Duke smiled and she didn’t need the link to his mind to read the truth and love in his eyes. Reaching up, he smoothed a loose strand of hair back from her face. “I do. I always will. How about we get out of here, and I’ll prove it to you.”
She giggled, the soft sound one she wasn’t used to from herself and stood, holding out her hand. “Now, there’s an offer I can’t refuse.”
His chuckle joining hers, Duke swept her off her feet and carried her from the hall, leaving the revelry behind to prove to her that an old warrior could learn new tricks, and to love and be loved, for a lifetime.
THE END
About the Author
Mina Carter is a bestselling, multi-genre author. As a full time author and cover artist, Mina can usually be found hunched over a keyboard or graphics tablet, frantically trying to get the images and words in her head out and onto the screen before they drive her mad. She’s addicted to coffee and would like to be addicted to chocolate, but unfortunately chocolate dislikes her. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and a bossy cat.
Learn more at mina-carter.com
Find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or GoodReads
Zane
by R. E. Butler
Were Zoo One
He saved his soulmate's life. Will she save his in return?
Gorilla shifter Zane Keeton has spent the last twenty-seven years of his life at Amazing Adventures Safari Park, where shifters live in secret away from humans. The enjoyment he gets from tuning up safari vehicles and hanging out in his shifted form for the park visitors has slowly ebbed, and now his thoughts are consumed with finding a mate of his own.
When human Adriana and her best friend, Celeste, receive free tickets for a VIP tour of the safari, they decide that it’s just the sort of exciting adventure that they’ve been waiting for. But when their vehicles are separated, Adriana finds herself on the receiving end of unwanted attention from a creepy tour guide. As the tour guide suddenly attacks her in front of the gorilla paddock, she’s rescued by an unlikely hero – one of the gorillas.
Adria
na quickly discovers that her rescuer is no ordinary gorilla. Not only are shifters real, but the gorilla who saved her life claims that she’s his soulmate. Is she willing to let go of everything she knows and embrace being Zane’s mate?
CHAPTER 1
Zane Keeton walked next to his dad, Atticus, alpha of the gorilla shifters, as they left the meeting hall. The alphas of the other were-groups had met to discuss their unmated males and females, and the lack of suitable mates for either. Zane, as the second-in-command of the gorilla band, had been along to offer feedback.
For years, the Amazing Adventures Safari Park, where the shifter groups worked and lived, had remained open to the public, allowing humans to ride large vehicles safely through the various animal areas. An unmated male or female would inevitably be in one of the vehicles at some point, and would be the soulmate of one the shifters. But over the last twenty years, there had been fewer and fewer unmated males and females coming through the park. Families and couples came now, but single people were few and far between.
Something had to be done. It wasn’t fair to the unmated shifters to spend their lives alone. Joss, the wolf alpha, wanted their kind to go public with the humans, but the other alphas agreed that it was still too dangerous. Humans tended to kill what they feared or didn’t understand, and they would surely fear humans who could turn into dangerous animals.
The elephants floated the idea of sending out VIP tour coupons to unmated males and females in the surrounding area; the other alphas had voted and approved the measure. The lions, in charge of park security, were going to purchase a commercial mailing list with the needed information and mail out the coupons. Hopefully, by the first weekend in May, the VIP tours would be scheduled, and the shifters would begin to find mates.
There were many other were-zoos around the world. All shifters lived in secrecy, and an animal park was an effective cover. Some of the zoos were mostly normal animals, with only one shifter group living and working there. Others were like Amazing Adventures, where many groups lived and worked together. However, the lack of males and females finding mates, and the fact that the majority of shifters being born were males, meant that the lack of female shifters was a world-wide problem. Unmated female shifters were precious and rare. There were only a handful of unmated females at Amazing Adventures: three wolves and one lioness. It would have been easier if the four unmated females had found soulmates within the park, but they didn’t. Sometimes males and females would visit other were-zoos in hopes of finding their mates. Zane and his band had visited other were-zoos themselves, but without success.
Proceeding down a long hallway to their band’s section, Zane unlocked the security door with a code and entered a cleared area where seven homes sat on fake trees, several feet in the air. The small tree-city helped him and his people to feel at home underground. The fake trees were made of concrete and steel, but they were covered with a bark-like material that felt real; the sturdy branches were covered with thick silk leaves.
He could hear his people talking and followed the sound to the home of Neo, who was a year younger than him. Leaping up, Zane caught the lowest branch and swung himself up into the canopy, landing safely and silently on the front porch. His father followed, landing alongside him. Opening the front door, he found Neo and the four other males that made up their band sprawled out on the comfortable furniture in the family room.
The rowdy group of males quieted immediately.
“The meeting went well?” Neo asked.
“It did.” Zane’s dad outlined the new effort to bring unmated males and females through the park. There weren’t any female gorilla shifters in North America; they were one of the smallest were-groups outside of the elephants. Atticus had been the alpha of the New Jersey band since Zane was a toddler, but he had never mated. He’d been in Europe looking for a mate, when he’d had an affair with the daughter of another alpha. When Zane was born, she gave him to Atticus to raise so she could mate with a male of her father’s choosing, and Atticus and Zane had come to New Jersey.
“This means that whenever there’s a tour, all of us have to be in our section in our shifted form so we’ll have a better chance of scenting our mates. The tours will be scheduled in advance, and the mated or uninterested amongst the other shifter groups will take over any duties that need to be handled during the tour times,” Zane said.
“You too, Atticus?” August asked.
Atticus shrugged. “I’m not looking for a mate, but if one should happen to fall off the back of a truck, I won’t turn her away.” He smiled. “This is for you guys. Our were-group is slowly dying, and you need to get busy and produce some babies.”
Neo grinned. “I can’t wait. When will they start showing up?”
“The first weekend in June, so we have time to get ready.”
“Good luck to you guys,” Patton said.
“What about you?” Zane asked.
“I don’t need luck. I’m awesome,” Patton answered.
August threw a pillow at his head, and as his dad muttered something about idiot males, they attacked each other, attempting to prove who was the greatest in the group. Zane knew they should be talking about the changes coming with the VIP tours, but for now he figured they could goof off. Tomorrow they could get serious. In a few short weeks, the first unmated humans would be taking private tours, and perhaps among those people they would find their soulmates.
He certainly hoped his soulmate would be getting a coupon and come visit him soon.
CHAPTER 2
Adriana leaned against the counter at the nail salon and asked her best friend Celeste for the schedule.
“Man, I’ve got a client at five, so I can’t cut out early,” Adriana complained as she scanned the page.
“Sorry. You love Mrs. Cameron, though. She always tips big and has the most interesting stories about her ex-husbands,” Celeste said. “Will you do my nails after she’s gone?”
“Sure. What do you want?”
Celeste looked out the large windows at the sunny sky and said, “What’s a good design for May?”
“How about chevron stripes in spring colors, like pink, blue, and yellow?”
“Sounds perfect. Then I’ll take you out for an after-work drink.”
The door opened and Celeste greeted the customer who entered. Adriana ducked into the back to set up for her next appointment.
Adriana had been working at Gorgeous Nails for two years, and she loved it. When she was young, she’d always enjoyed painting her fingernails, and those of anyone else who would let her. After graduating from the beauty academy, she’d worked at a salon for a while, but hadn’t liked the hours. She’d eventually settled at Gorgeous Nails, where Celeste was already working as the receptionist. The small nail salon had a great staff and a friendly owner named Trish, all while being close to the apartment that Celeste and Adriana shared.
The day passed quickly; Adriana handled her appointments as well as a few walk-ins before she finally painted Celeste’s nails with delicate chevron stripes in pretty spring colors.
“We should open our own salon,” Celeste said as she patiently waited for her nails to finish under the dryer.
“That would be cool, but we don’t have the money,” Adriana said as she worked. She was cleaning her station and returning the polishes she’d used to the shelves in the front where customers could pick and choose.
Celeste sighed. “You always crap on my dreams with reality.”
Laughing, Adriana shook her head. “Sorry to be the bearer of reality-based-news, hon. We’re both saving money, though, so it could happen someday. Maybe we’ll get lucky and marry rich guys.”
“Can mine also have a six-pack? I want my husband to look good naked.”
“You and me both,” Adriana agreed.
After her nails were dry, Adriana and Celeste gathered their purses and jackets and said goodnight to Trish. Adriana followed Celeste as she drove to their favorite local watering hole, The
Dancing Gecko. When they’d settled at the bar with drinks in hand, they chatted about the future.
Neither woman was dating anyone. Celeste had broken up with her boyfriend a few months ago, and Adriana hadn’t had a serious relationship in a year. She’d dated here and there, but she couldn’t find a man of substance.
“I think I read too many romance novels,” Adriana said as she twirled the straw in her Long Island Iced Tea.
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, none of the guys I date ever measure up to the sort of guy I’ve always pictured myself with.”
“What’s your ideal guy?”
“Six-pack, obviously,” she said with a laugh.
“Obviously,” Celeste nodded enthusiastically.
“And I know it’s shallow, but I want him to be sexy and gorgeous, to make me melt with a smile.”
“I don’t think it’s shallow to want the person you spend the rest of your life with to be sexy. Okay, so sexy and ripped, what else?”
“Kind, funny, protective. He should like kids and animals, be able to cook a good meal every now and then, and be romantic as hell.”
“Sounds like my kind of fellow. Can he have a brother or a sexy best friend for me?”
“Oh sure. Since I’m living in my fantasies right now, you’ll be finding your ideal guy at the same time I find mine. We’ll live next door to each other, babysit each other’s kids, and have lunch together at least twice a week.”
“Love it.” Celeste said. She turned around on the bar stool and looked at the other patrons. “I don’t think we’ll find our Prince Charmings in a bar. Maybe we should expand our horizons, do something different.”
“Like what?”
“I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
Finishing their drinks, the two best friends waved goodbye to their favorite bartender, and left. Celeste checked their mailbox, while Adriana unlocked the door to their townhouse. Their two-bedroom apartment was the end unit on a row of twelve. Adriana and Celeste had grown up in the same town and been best friends since they were little; moving in together had been a no-brainer.
