by R. E. Butler
Alaric’s Perfect Mate
Saber Chronicles Book One
By R. E. Butler
Copyright 2015 R. E. Butler
Alaric’s Perfect Mate (Saber Chronicles Book One)
By R. E. Butler
License Notes
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.
Cover by S. Frost Designs
This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is coincidental.
Disclaimer: The material in this book is for mature audiences only and contains graphic sexual content and is intended for those older than the age of 18 only.
* * * * *
I’d like to thank Jennifer Moorman for editing the story.
For Joyce Bange, the best sisterfriend a gal could ask for.
Thanks to Shelley for beta-reading and being a wonderful friend!
With love to B.B. and B.L. for your support.
* * * * *
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Contact R. E. Butler
Other Works by R. E. Butler
Coming Soon
Chapter 1
Aubrey Night looked at the envelope and the wax seal that kept it closed. The wax was navy and thick, with a circular imprint that looked like a medallion with a snarling wolf in the center.
Her name was written in beautiful calligraphy in the center of the ivory envelope. Glancing at her assistant, Gretchen, she said, “Who dropped this off?”
She shrugged. “A guy in an expensive suit.”
“Was he human?” Aubrey was human herself.
Gretchen, a wolf shifter, said, “I think he was a fairy of some sort, but he also smelled like wolf.”
“Really? Do fairies work for wolves? Does the delivery guy work for the people who sent the letter?”
“You’re asking me questions I don’t know the answer to.”
“Because you’re always such a wealth of information,” she said, smiling.
Gretchen and Aubrey had been friends since high school. Aubrey’s brother, Caleb, was turned into a vampire seven years earlier. He became master of the city of Belle Terra three years ago, and he opened a supernatural hotel and made Aubrey general manager. She’d immediately brought her best friend in as her assistant.
“Well, not on this. Sorry, babe. The seal is from the National Were-Fighting Association, though. That’s the only thing I can tell you.”
Humming in her throat, she slid her finger under the flap and opened it, pulling out the card inside. The heavy paper was burned around the edges, giving it a gothic feel. She read out loud.
“Jonathon Black requests the honor of your presence at the opening night games of the National Were-Fighting Association on Friday, October 1. Please join him in celebrating this ancient tradition, with opening ceremonies to take place at seven p.m.”
She pulled out four VIP badges and one parking pass.
“Jonathon Black is an alpha wolf from the West Coast. I don’t know what he’s doing here. Did Caleb approve the NWFA to set up games in Belle Terra?”
“According to the address, they’re outside our city limits. I don’t know if Caleb knows, but it’s not technically our territory.”
“Are you going?”
“Maybe.” Aubrey looked at the invitation for the fights the following night. “I’ll see what Caleb says.”
Pushing away from her desk, she left her office on the first floor of the supernatural hotel and stopped at the security desk. Because her brother was the master of the city, she never went anywhere without a guard. Sometimes vampires who thought they were more powerful than him tried to take him out or get him to step down, and becoming collateral damage in a fight over the city wasn’t Aubrey’s idea of a good time.
“I want to go see Caleb,” she told Gabriel, one of the wolf shifter guards who watched the hotel’s comings and goings from behind a large circular desk in the lobby.
“I’ll go,” Lance, another wolf guard, said as he stood.
Gabe made a face at Lance, and Aubrey chuckled. “I know I’m irresistible guys, but don’t fight over me. There’s plenty of me to go around on the full moon,” she said, wiggling her brows.
They both growled, their eyes filling with heat and lust. Aubrey had known Lance and Gabe since they came to Belle Terra with their alpha, Sky, two years earlier. Although she was human, the alpha had invited her to join their full moon celebrations, and she’d enjoyed hanging out with the wolves. They were a fun group, and the males were notoriously horny. She’d spent several full moon nights tangled between the two ripped males.
“That’s in a week, you know,” Gabe said. “I hope you’re well rested by then.”
Winking, she turned and walked with Lance out of the hotel. She hooked her hand on his arm as they walked the three blocks to her brother’s office. She told Lance about the invitation she’d received.
“You going?”
“I’ll see if Caleb thinks it’s a good idea. I don’t know. Does Sky know about it?”
“Yeah. Some of the underground fighting groups sanction to-the-death fights, but NWFA doesn’t. Most alphas are okay with the group and let their people fight. The winners usually make a few thousand dollars a night, and humans like to get dressed up and watch our kind beat each other all to hell.”
“What for?”
Lance held open the door for her at the office building. “Hell if I know. Humans are strange.”
She laughed. “Humans think supes are strange, too.”
Supes was the abbreviation that was used for supernatural creatures, everything from witches to shifters to fairies.
Leaving Lance in the reception area, she walked up the stairs to Caleb’s office. His office, like the others on the floor, was made of glass, so she could see he was feeding from the neck of a scantily clad brunette.
Caleb lifted from her throat and said, “Come in, Aubrey.”
“I thought you ate right at sunset,” she said, sitting down in the plush chair across from the enormous mahogany desk. He licked the wound on the woman’s neck. It healed instantly. He set the woman on her feet, patting her butt and pointing to the door.
The woman, a regular blood donor for her brother, gave Aubrey a dirty look and stalked out of the office.
“She likes you a lot,” Aubrey mused.
Caleb pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth. “I know. I told her there was nothing between us but the donations, but she keeps trying to worm her way into my chamber.”
“So drop her.”
“She’s a honey-blood.” At her arched brow, Caleb said, “Because of her ancestry, she has sweet blood. It’s rare, and so damn tasty.”
“You vampires always think with your fangs,” she said, laughing.
“And I do usually feed right after sunset, but I had a meeting, so I took bagged blood to stave off my hunger. Now, what can I do for my favorite sister?”
“Only sister.”
“See? You’re the favorite.”
> Tossing the invitation to him, she watched while he read and then looked at her. “Are you going?”
“Should I?”
He handed the invitation to her and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin with his fingertips. “I don’t see why not. If you want to go, then do it. If not, then don’t. Take guards with you, and for hell’s sake, don’t do anything to embarrass me.”
“As if I ever do.”
His brow arched. “During the June full moon, photos of you and two wolves made it to the tabloids.”
She blushed. At least she’d still had most of her clothes on. A tabloid photographer had been recording the pack’s full moon celebration and had noticed her and her two wolf pals heading off into the woods and decided to see what the sister of the master vampire of Belle Terra was doing. He’d gotten an eyeful for sure.
“I promise to keep my clothes on.”
He rolled his eyes. “Good grief, girl.”
She stood and walked around the desk to kiss him on the cheek. “I’ll let you know how it goes.”
“Keep your clothes on.”
“I already said I would.”
“Some things bear repeating.”
With a wave, she left Caleb’s office, met Lance at the foot of the stairs, and walked back to the hotel. After spending the evening thinking about the fight, she decided to go. It couldn’t hurt to see what it was all about. If nothing else, she’d get to wear a pretty dress and get out of the house for the night.
Chapter 2
Saber-tooth tiger shifter Alaric cracked his neck as he sat up in bed, his body drenched in sweat. He’d had another dream. Normally sex dreams were something he enjoyed, but during the last year he’d begun to regularly dream about a female with dark brown hair and creamy skin. Over and over he found himself rolling around in bed in his dreams with the woman he was certain was his truemate. The only problem was that he had no fucking clue who she was or where to find her. When the dreams had first started, he’d ignored them, expecting to find his mate at some point. As the nights turned into weeks, he’d decided to travel, hoping to stumble upon her. Joining up with the NWFA had been the easiest way to travel.
The human government had regulations when it came to shifters moving around the country. They were required to register with each city they stopped in and state their business. Joining up with the NWFA had meant that Alaric and his pride hadn’t needed to register with anyone because they were employees. It saved him a lot of red tape.
The door to his bedroom opened and his sister, Lia, looked at him in concern. “Another one?”
Wiping the sweat from his brow, he nodded. “What are you doing up?”
“I could hear you tossing and turning, so I came to check on you.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s not your fault you’re having mating dreams and can’t find your mate.”
“I think we’re close to her. The dreams have been more intense the last few days since we came to Belle Terra.”
She smiled. “Maybe she’ll be there for the first fight on Friday and you can impress her with your ability to beat people up.”
He chuckled. “It is one of my better qualities. Thanks for checking on me.”
“It’s what sisters do.” Blowing him a kiss, she shut the door, and he heard her soft footsteps as they drifted away.
His pride, comprised of his only family – his younger brothers Slade and Galen, and Lia – were the last known saber shifters in the world. It was hard as hell being the last few of a shifter species, because the fate of the future of their people rested on their shoulders. Unfortunately, only truemates produced saber shifters. While it would have been nice if he and his family could have populated the earth with saber shifter kids produced through mating with random humans or other shifters, sabers were unable to procreate with anyone but their truemates.
If he and his family were going to have families of their own and keep the saber shifter lines going, then he needed to find his truemate. Wherever the hell she was. Once he found his truemate, then Slade, the next oldest family member, would begin having mating dreams of his own. It was the way of their kind – mating dreams occurred from oldest to youngest. His brothers and sister were anxious for him to find his mate so they could find theirs.
Dropping back onto his pillow, he closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep as thoughts of his truemate filled his mind.
* * * * *
Friday night, Alaric stood with his family in the fighting arena’s training center. At one time, it had been a private high school’s football field. When the school closed, a developer had renovated it for semi-professional football, and when interest had faded in that sport, another developer bought it and rented it out for various activities, such as the NWFA battles.
Lia didn’t fight. She could – she had a hell of a right hook – but females usually didn’t fight in the NWFA. Call it sexist or anti-feminist, but the humans didn’t want to see females beating each other all to hell. While Alaric and his brothers wore only linen shorts, Lia was dressed in a dark blue sparkly gown and would be Jonathon’s date for the night. Alaric didn’t particularly care for the way the wolf looked at his sister, but Lia could handle herself, and she was content with her role as arm candy.
Galen cracked his neck. “What’s the pot tonight?”
“Five grand for each win. First place in final gets fifteen grand, second gets seven,” Slade said.
Between the three of them, he and his brothers would make a lot of money tonight. They were unrivaled in the arena. He and his brothers never fought each other in the finals, they were engineered by Jonathon so that only one of them made it to the battle. Jonathon knew that while Alaric and his brothers liked to fight, they would never actually hurt each other.
“If I make it to the final this time, I’m going to get my car painted,” Galen said.
“If you’d stop being an asshole and parking across two spaces, people wouldn’t purposely scratch your car,” Lia pointed out.
Galen loved his BMW convertible more than anything else. And he was definitely an asshole about it.
Galen rolled his eyes.
Lia said, “Here come the humans.”
Steel doors opened and a large group of humans wearing VIP badges walked in. They were led by members of Jonathon’s pack. The human males wore suits, the females wore fancy dresses, and they all reeked of money and privilege. Alaric would bet his left fang that they’d never had to hunt a meal or fight for their lives.
Focusing on the fights ahead of him, he zoned out and ignored the humans who walked by slowly, several yards away, and stared at them as if they were freaks in a side show.
An alluring scent caught his attention, and he snapped from his revelry, scanning the crowd.
“Whoa, what’s wrong?” Lia asked.
He scented the air, sifting through the scents until he found the one that called to him. Even without knowing what she smelled like in his dreams, he knew he was in the presence of his truemate. The scent strengthened as the crowd passed by, and then he saw her. Long, dark brown hair like melted chocolate. Skin like fresh cream. A body to die for – this time trapped behind satin and sequins. She walked between Jonathon and another male, who had his hand on her elbow.
Everything within him focused on her. His beast roared for him to shift and go to her, and the sound spilled out of his mouth. The deafening roar silenced the humans for a brief moment, and then they panicked.
As his family tried to hold him back, Jonathon rushed Alaric’s truemate from the training center along with the other humans and pack members, and when the doors had shut and her scent was gone, his beast roared in anguish.
“Calm down!” Slade said, growling the words.
“Mine,” he groaned as he went to his knees, his bones cracking as his beast tried to force him to shift so he could hunt for his mate and protect her.
“No, don’t shift!” Lia grabbed his face and stared at hi
m. “Don’t you dare shift! If you go into your form here, you won’t be able to find her. Jonathon won’t let you out of the center in your shift, and you’ll never see her. Let me go find her, okay? She’s obviously a VIP. I can get her and bring her to you after the fights.” She slapped his cheeks. “Okay? Are you listening to me?”
He swallowed hard and breathed through his beast’s rage. “I hear you.”
Forcing back his beast, he shook his head and stood, his knees shaking and his heart pounding. “She’s actually here. I can’t fucking believe it.”
“Fucking-A, that means I’m next. Yes!” Slade pumped his fist in the air.
“I hope like hell your mate shows up faster than his,” Galen grumbled. “I’m damn tired of dating my right hand.”
“You guys are gross,” Lia said, making a face. “We’ll celebrate after we get you and your mate together. Meanwhile, get your head in the game and kick some ass. You’ll need the money from the fights to put down a deposit on a nice place for you and your mate.”
That thought, more than anything else, drew his attention to the upcoming fights. Lia was right. He needed money to provide for his mate.
“Kick ass, man. The night is yours,” Slade said, clapping him on the shoulder.
Alaric cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. “It certainly is.”
Chapter 3
Aubrey sat in her brother’s limo, and through the tinted glass, she watched the crowd surrounding the entrance to the NWFA building. The renovated high school football arena was covered in lights and looked like a coliseum from ancient times. She could picture gladiators fighting for their lives and crowds cheering for blood. She sat between Gabe and Lance, who she’d chosen as her private guards. They both wore solid black suits.
Her own outfit was chosen by Star, a member of her brother’s kiss. She was a stylish woman, and whenever Aubrey had to go to a party, she always let Star dress her. The black, floor-length gown had a slit up to the middle of her thigh, and tiny sequins and seed pearls decorated the tight bodice. The strapless gown gave her great cleavage, and a single, seven-carat diamond pendant – a birthday gift from her brother – was nestled perfectly between her breasts.