by R. E. Butler
Galen’s Lovely Mate
Saber Chronicles Book Four
By R. E. Butler
Copyright 2015 R. E. Butler
Galen’s Lovely Mate (Saber Chronicles Book Four)
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.
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I’d like to thank Jennifer Moorman for editing the story.
To Joyce – the bestest sisterfriend in the whole universe.
Many thanks to Shelley for beta-reading.
To BB & BL - I love you both.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Contact the Author
Other Works by RE Butler
Galen’s Lovely Mate
Saber Chronicles Book 4
Galen Carmichael is officially in hell. His two brothers and sister are all mated, but he’s still painfully single. As a saber-tooth tiger shifter, he’s been having mating dreams for the last week, but he can’t make any sense out of the fuzzy pink and gold dreams.
Fairy Serena Fontaine has been away from the Belle Terra Supernatural Hotel for a week when she has a dream urging her to return to town. As she draws close to the arena where the were-fights are being held, she has a vision of a saber-tooth tiger and passes out. She wakes up in the arms of her truemate, a gorgeous saber shifter.
This book contains a fairy with pink and gold wings, her sexy saber-tooth tiger truemate, the hotel where they live and work, and their growing family. Expect plenty of growls, neck biting, fluttering wings, and sex-fueled flower gardens.
Chapter 1
Serena Fontaine woke up with a start and nearly fell off the couch. The TV was on, and the afghan was twisted around her legs. Sitting upright, she untangled her legs and tossed the afghan over the back of the couch. She picked up the remote and turned off the TV and stood, unable to stop the trembling in her limbs.
She didn’t normally fall asleep on the couch in the early evening, but the previous night she’d received a message from her mom and it had kept her up late last night. Tiredness had seeped into her bones while she ate dinner and watched a reality TV show. As she rubbed her neck, she remembered the dream she’d just had about her sister.
It was times like this when she wished she hadn’t been exiled from her people. She could have called her mom and asked for her to cast a telling spell on the dream so Serena would know if it was a true foretelling or if it was just her brain’s way of freaking her out. Her mother’s fairy talent was dreams, one of the lesser known but more powerful forms of fae magic. Serena took after her father, whose power was the ability to control plant life. She had forayed that talent into a successful florist shop in the Belle Terra Supernatural Hotel, where she lived and worked.
Shoving the unsettling dream aside, she walked into the bathroom of her suite and turned on the shower. She had been living and working at the hotel for a year, ever since she’d been exiled from her people. The owner of the hotel, master vampire Caleb Night, had been really gracious and allowed her to open the flower shop in an empty storefront in the lobby of the hotel. At one time, it had been a gift shop, but that shop had moved to the other side of the lobby closer to the restaurant, and the storefront had sat empty. It suited Serena just fine. She had a workshop in the back where she could coax the flowers to perfection, and she’d even hired a cashier, Jocelyn, so she could work instead of dividing her time between the back and the front. She liked Jocelyn, a human who enjoyed pretty flowers, and was glad the young woman had been looking for a job.
Serena’s wings, hidden by magic within her back, tingled, and she had the urge to throw open the balcony door off her bedroom and go for a long flight. Master Caleb, however, had asked her to stop flying off her balcony. The local police had been called to the hotel a number of times when Serena had hopped off the balcony. Humans seemed to think she was committing suicide or being killed. She understood their misunderstanding – fairies didn’t normally live where other supernatural creatures lived. They usually lived in communes deep within wooded areas where they could live and work in peace. To continue to live in her family’s commune, where her father sat on the council of elders, she would have had to agree to marry the fae male the clan’s king had chosen for her. One look at the male – a thin, pale man with a shock of red hair and wings the color of burnt toast – and she’d said no thanks. Her king had given her an ultimatum, but she wasn’t about to play house with a guy she wasn’t attracted to just because her king thought it was a good idea.
Being exiled sucked. Contact was cut off from her family. She wasn’t able to see her sister, Alanah, or her mom, who she loved dearly. Her mom sent notes to her every now and then through woodland creatures who responded to her sister’s ability to communicate with them. The day before, Serena had been turning a bouquet of roses an enchanting turquoise color with her powers when a mouse had hopped onto the counter and nearly scared her to death. If she hadn’t seen the tiny scroll tied to its neck, she would have shooed it away with a broom.
Written on the scroll in her mom’s beautiful scripted handwriting were two sentences that made the center of Serena’s body run cold:
King Orpheus is pressing Alanah to marry Cenrik or he will remove your father from the council and exile us all. Your sister is marrying him in two weeks to protect us.
When Serena had dozed off, she’d dreamed about her sister being hurt by the redheaded fairy, Cenrik. She had no reason to believe the guy was particularly evil, but she figured that any guy who would marry a girl who didn’t want to marry him wasn’t a good guy in general.
Not that there was anything she could do about the situation. If she returned to the commune, she’d be jailed. Exiled meant to stay the hell away from their land forever. She had penned a note back to her mom saying she wished she could help and missed them all terribly, and the mouse had scurried off as soon as she’d tucked the note behind the string around its neck.
After showering, and still feeling unsettled, she decided to go for a flight and try to clear her head. She liked to fly for days sometimes, finding places to sleep in the canopy of trees or in caves tucked into mountains.
She dressed in a pair of jeans and a specially designed top that would allow her wings to slip through the material so she could have her wings out without being topless. She packed a small messenger bag that she secured tightly to her body, unfurled her pink and gold translucent wings, and headed out of her room.
She had a suite on the twelfth floor. Among the other tenants she shared the floor with were a sweet she-wolf named Gretchen and a warlock, a heavily tattooed mountain of a male named Dredge. She knew Gretchen, the assistant of the hotel’s manager – a human n
amed Aubrey – fairly well because they both worked in the lobby.
Still unsettled from her dream, she strode down the hallway to the elevator, pressed the button, and began to pace. When the door opened, she came face-to-face with Gretchen.
“Hi, Serena, are you okay?” Gretchen asked as she stepped from the elevator.
“Yes. No.” Serena shook her head. “I fell asleep watching TV and had a bad dream.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you want to talk?”
“No, I need to fly and sort out my thoughts. Master Caleb asked me to stop flying off my balcony because it freaks out the humans when they think someone is falling from the twelfth floor.”
“Humans are so silly,” Gretchen said. “You can knock on my door if you want to talk after your flight.”
“Thanks,” Serena said, smiling. “You’re a sweetheart.”
After taking the elevator down to the lobby, she waved at the concierge and headed outside. The hotel was in downtown Belle Terra on the Belle River, which her room overlooked. On nights when she didn’t feel the urge to fly, she enjoyed sitting out on the balcony and looking at the stars, but tonight she needed to spread her wings.
Striding to the back of the hotel, she moved her wings and lifted from the ground. Flying over the river, she moved high into the sky and left Belle Terra behind. Her assistant could handle the flower shop for a few days while Serena mulled over her sister’s problem. She wished she could help, or that her dad would stand up for Alanah and not let her be forced into a mating just because he liked being on the council and living in the commune. Unfortunately for Alanah, Serena could do a lot of things with her power over plant life, but she couldn’t change the future that lay ahead for her only sister.
Chapter 2
“Damn pink and gold,” Galen groused as he rolled to his stomach and buried his face in the pillow. It had been a week since he’d begun dreaming about his truemate. As a saber-tooth tiger shifter, he was the recipient of mating dreams, meant to lead him to his truemate, the one woman on earth who was meant for him. The dreams, however, weren’t a map to lead him to her. They would strengthen the closer he drew to her, but because they were so fuzzy, he was certain that he wasn’t anywhere near her. His mate, whoever she was, didn’t live in Belle Terra.
He was the last single saber. His family – consisting of his brothers, Alaric and Slade, and his sister, Lia – had all found their mates within a week of their arrival at Belle Terra. He and his brothers had joined up with the National Were-Fighting Association, which was owned by an alpha wolf named Jonathon Black. Alaric had been having the mating dreams for more than a year when he finally found his truemate, the sister of the master vampire of Belle Terra.
Galen glanced at the clock on the nightstand and groaned. It was before dawn. He hadn’t slept well in a week. He woke up frequently because of the dreams, and more often than not, he was completely aroused. How anyone could be turned on by colors in a dream and no other indication of what they meant he didn’t know.
Deciding to duck out and go to the arena where the NWFA fights would be held that night, he got up, dressed, and hurried from the hotel. The NWFA arena had at one time been a high school football stadium. A developer had purchased it, turning it into an event arena where everything from concerts to stunt shows amused the locals. He drove the SUV he shared with his family to the arena. For the year they’d traveled with the NWFA, they’d also shared an RV, but it had since been emptied of their belongings and given to another group within the NWFA who needed a place to live.
He pushed open the doors to the training center within the arena and found the workout room empty. A four-lane track ran the perimeter of the large room, and within the circle was every kind of exercise equipment known to man. Popping his earbuds in, he turned on his mp3 player, turned up the volume, and headed for the weight bench.
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Galen waited in the staging area for his turn on the sand. The previous week had been the inaugural fight, and the crowds were just as intense as they’d been that first time. He never fought without his family by his side. Alaric and his mate, Aubrey, and Slade and his mate, Gretchen, were in the owner’s private box so they could watch the fights. He felt strangely alone. Although he liked the idea of being the big winner – he and his brothers never lost their fights – he didn’t like how it made him feel to stand by himself while the other fighters stood with others.
Wolves stood with their pack, bears with their sleuth, and lions with their pride. The saber stood alone.
Shaking the odd thoughts from his mind, he watched as Jonathon Black, the owner of the NWFA, escorted a group of VIPs through the staging area. Scenting the air, he knew they were all human. He could never figure out why humans enjoyed the fights so much. Maybe because it was carefully controlled chaos. Or maybe they liked watching shifters beat each other all to hell, but only from a safe distance.
Ignoring the group, Galen concentrated on the fights ahead. Several minutes after Jonathon took the humans from the area, the fights began. He watched on the monitors as a young wolf was tossed around like a ragdoll by a lion. It was against NWFA regulations for one male to kill another during a fight, but there were times when some of the fights got a little too close to the line.
As he stepped out onto the sand with the bear he was supposed to fight, the crowd roared its approval. The bear, a big male named Grenich, grunted at Galen as they squared off. The fighters never socialized outside of their own groups. Galen was going to be leaving Belle Terra in a few months if he hadn’t found his truemate by then. He hoped that as the NWFA progressed on its journey across the country, that he’d find her, and he hoped like hell it was soon.
Grenich’s fist flew past Galen’s face, narrowly missing his jaw. Galen spun to the side and kicked out, nailing Grenich in the knee. The bear roared in anger, and Galen saw his fangs elongate as his fury grew. He didn’t like getting hit. Well, who the hell did? Dropping to the ground to avoid the bear’s wildly swinging fists, he drew on his cat to enhance his strength and speed. The bear might be big, but Galen was an unparalleled fighter. He would win tonight. Then he’d go to the hotel and dream about pink and gold again.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 3
Serena smiled as she watched two squirrels fighting over an acorn on the ground below where she sat on a thick limb. She’d landed on the tree an hour ago to watch the sunset, which was her favorite time of day. She loved the colors the sky turned as it prepared for night. Each sunset was different, beautiful in its own way.
She’d been gone from home for a week. She usually didn’t stay away from the hotel that long, but she hadn’t wanted to stop flying. Flying calmed her nerves and helped her think. Not that she’d come up with anything good to help her sister. Her only thought had been for Alanah to disappear so she didn’t have to marry Cenrik, but her sister was too honorable to take off and leave her parents to be punished by exile. Alanah was loyal to a fault.
She felt like she let her family down. Realistically she knew she couldn’t do much of anything except cause trouble for herself and her family, but she didn’t believe that Alanah marrying a fairy she didn’t love was going to be good for anyone. Especially Alanah. Her sweet, sassy sister would be crushed under the weight of a loveless mating.
Alanah didn’t really have to marry Cenrik. She could choose to leave the commune the way that Serena had, but she knew in her heart that she wouldn’t. Serena had left because she hadn’t wanted anyone to tell her who she should marry. Alanah didn’t want that either – she had supported Serena from the beginning – but the king hadn’t threatened their parents with exile when Serena had said no. If he had, she wasn’t sure what she would have done.
She sighed loudly. The squirrels stopped fighting and stared up at her, their beady, black eyes questioning as their tails flicked rapidly. “I wish Alanah was here. She’d tell you to stop fighting over that nut, since the tree is full of them.”
Shaking an overhead branch, she sent more acorns falling to the ground, much to the squirrels’ delight.
Resting her head against the rough bark, she closed her eyes and yawned. Just as Serena had done, Alanah had to make her own choices. She wished she could be there for her, but that was out of the question. Even flying near the commune would get her tossed into the royal jail.
As she drifted to sleep, she found herself standing on sand with puddles of blood surrounding her. The air was filled with cheering and the roars of what sounded like big cats. She turned in a slow circle and found herself looking up at a stadium filled with people. Her vision began to dim, and she slipped to the ground, the hot sand under her hands and the scents of the jungle and sunshine filling her nose.
She woke, startled, and nearly fell from the tree. Grabbing the trunk quickly, she managed to keep herself upright as her heart pounded and her mind spun. Panic, twined with bone-deep desire, filled her. The dream was important, and although she didn’t know why, she knew she needed to be wherever the stadium was.
Climbing to her feet, she balanced on the tree branch and leapt into the air, her wings carrying her through the canopy and into the air. It was dark, but she knew the way home and flew in that direction. The only stadium she knew of was the one that had been renovated outside of Belle Terra for shifter fights. Her heart pounded as she flew as fast as she could, her wings carrying her through the cool night.
She’d never woken up from a dream with a desire to go to a specific place. She didn’t know what it meant, but she believed that something important lay inside the stadium. She knew if she didn’t go there right away, she’d regret it. At the moment, she had enough regrets to last a lifetime. She wasn’t interested in adding any more.