“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
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Also from R. E. Butler
Arctic Shifters
Blitzen’s Fated Mate
Dasher’s Fated Mate
Prancer’s Fated Mate
Vixen’s Fated Mate
Cupid’s Fated Mate
Dancer’s Fated Mate
Donner’s Fated Mate
Comet’s Fated Mate
Ashland Pride Series
Seducing Samantha
Loving Lachlyn
Marking Melody
Redeeming Rue
Saving Scarlett
Chasing Cristabel
Jilly’s Wyked Fate
Embracing Ehrin
Holding Honor
Tempting Treasure (Coming 2019)
Having Hope (Coming 2019)
Hyena Heat Series
Every Night Forever
Every Dawn Forever
Every Sunset Forever
Every Blissful Moment
Every Heavenly Moment
Every Angelic Moment
The Necklace Chronicles
The Tribe’s Bride
The Gigolo’s Bride
The Tiger’s Bride
The Alpha Wolf’s Mate
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Dex’s Bride
Norlanian Brides Volume One
Villi’s Bride
Dero’s Bride
Saber Chronicles Series
Saber Chronicles Volume One (Books One - Four)
Uncontrollable Shift
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The Dragon’s Treasured Mate
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Were Zoo Series
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Jupiter
Win
Justus
Devlin
Kelley
Auden
Tayme (Coming 2019)
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A Flash of Fang
A Price for a Princess
A Bond of Brothers
A Bead of Blood
A Twitch of Tail
A Promise on White Wings
Awaken a Wolf
Daeton’s Journey
A Dragon for December
A Muse for Mishka
The Wiccan-Were-Bear Series Volume One
The Wiccan-Were-Bear Series Volume Two
A Wish for Their Woman
Wilde Creek Series
Volume One (Books 1 and 2)
Volume Two (Books 3 and 4)
Volume Three (Books 5 and 6)
The Hunter’s Heart (Book Seven)
The Beta’s Heart (Book Eight)
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
Stand Alone Stories
Purred Promises
The Alpha’s Honor (Howls Romance)
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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