Slade's Feisty Mate (Saber Chronicles Book Two)
Read Slade's Feisty Mate (Saber Chronicles Book Two) Online
Authors: R.E. Butler
Tags: #shifters, #wolf shifter, #sabertooth tiger, #tiger pride
Slade’s Feisty Mate
Saber Chronicles Book Two
By R. E. Butler
Copyright 2015 R. E. Butler
Slade’s Feisty Mate (Saber Chronicles Book
Two)
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
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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.
Many heartfelt thanks to Joyce and Shelley
for beta-reading.
To the Wild Shifter Babes Street Team – I
adore you all!
To BB & BL - I love you both.
Table of Contents
Slade’s Feisty Mate
Saber Chronicles Book Two
By R. E. Butler
Slade Carmichael, second oldest were-saber
toothed tiger, is happy his brother Alaric found his mate. He can’t
wait to begin mate-dreaming about his own mate and get started on
the next chapter of his life.
She-wolf Gretchen Havers is thrilled her best
friend, Aubrey, found her mate at the were-fights and is happy to
help Aubrey’s new family get settled in the supernatural hotel
where she works. It is just a typical night, until a sexy guy walks
in the front door, locks eyes with her, and promptly passes
out.
She never expected her mate to purr, but
she’s thrilled she’s found her truemate. She’s always thought of
wolves as being the most awesome shifters because of their hunting
skills and pretty fur coats, but she’s beginning to think that
tigers are pretty awesome too. Especially her truemate, who thinks
she smells like butterscotch and likes how feisty she is.
Contains m/f interaction, a lot of pleasure,
and several creamy puns.
Chapter 1
Gretchen Havers stared at the newly mated
wolf couple as they snuggled in front of the hotel desk. Gretchen
had been the assistant to the manager, her best friend Aubrey
Night, since the hotel opened three years earlier. As a wolf
shifter, Gretchen had seen her fair share of public displays of
affection during the years, but there was something about the scene
tonight that made her ache in a special way.
She had a fantastic life. Aubrey was a great
boss and also happened to be the only sister of the master vampire
of the city of Belle Terra. Caleb was a good male who ruled the
city fairly, and Gretchen had known him almost her entire life.
When Caleb had the supernatural hotel built and made Aubrey the
manager, Gretchen had been excited to get out of her parents’ house
and away from the pack. It wasn’t that she didn’t love being a
wolf, because she did. There really was nothing better in her mind
than shifting and going for a long run through the pack-owned woods
in town.
But, she could admit, that watching the
couple wiggle obscenely together in front of her made something
very deep in the center of her body ache. The full moon was in a
week. She would just chalk up the feelings to early-full-moonitis,
something her grandmother said was akin to what humans called
ants in the pants
.
Smiling at the thought of her favorite
grandmother, she decided to give her a call after her shift at work
was over.
“Okay, everything is in order, Mr. Jackson. I
just need your signature on the screen.”
He stopped trying to suck his mate’s spine
through her neck and lifted his head, his eyes the amber of his
beast. The amber color faded as he straightened and picked up the
stylus. “Room service? We don’t want to leave.”
She pressed a red button on the tablet’s
screen to bring up the room service menu. “You can order right now,
and it will be up in approximately thirty minutes.”
“You order, babe,” he said gruffly. “I can’t
see straight because all I can think about is getting you
naked.”
The she-wolf blushed, and Gretchen smiled,
inwardly shouting,
TMI
!
Several minutes later, Gretchen watched as a
bellhop pushed the couple’s luggage on a trolley onto the elevator.
The couple was having a difficult time doing anything but keeping
their hands off each other. Someday Gretchen would have a mate who
couldn’t keep his hands off her, and she’d be the one making
everyone else uncomfortable with their gratuitous displays of
public affection.
The phone rang, and she lifted the receiver,
“Front desk, Gretchen speaking.”
“Have you heard from my sister?”
She relaxed and sat back on the plush desk
chair as Caleb’s voice came over the phone. “No. I’m not sure how
long the fights go, but she hasn’t texted or called.”
Aubrey had been invited by the owner of a
were-fighting group to watch the inaugural fights. The National
Were-Fighting Association, known as the NWFA, was like MMA for
humans. Were-fighting had been illegal for many years and still was
in some states, but the NWFA was a government sanctioned group that
traveled around the country hosting fights. Her own alpha enjoyed
watching the were-fights, but none of her pack was taking part.
She’d heard that the fights themselves were brutal, and some of the
underground fighting groups held to-the-death fights. She was
thankful the NWFA had strict rules regarding the fights, and
although the fighters could be injured, no one would die
tonight.
“When is your shift over?” Caleb asked,
drawing her from her thoughts of the fights.
She glanced at the clock on the wall. “An
hour. Do you need anything?”
“Leave a note with whoever has the next shift
to alert me when Aubrey returns. I want to ensure she gets home
safely.”
“She’s with Gabe and Lance. You know they’ll
take good care of her.”
“I know, but she’s my sister, and I want to
know she’s okay.”
She smiled. He might be the guy who used to
hide in the trees and try to scare her when she went hunting as a
young wolf, but he was, at heart, a male who cared about his family
and the people who had taken an oath to him. “I’ll make sure she
checks in.”
“Thanks, Gretchen. She’s being a good boss to
you, right?”
“Of course.”
He ended the call, and she looked up as
Farley, a security guard and member of her pack, came up to the
front desk. “Hey. Boss called and wants you to check in when your
shift is over.”
“I just talked to him.”
Farley’s eyes narrowed and he said, “Your
real boss.”
“Oh, yeah sure. Is something going on?” By
boss
, Farley meant her alpha, Terrance Johner.
“Full moon is in a week.”
“And?”
He made a face. “Just call him.”
Farley was a male of few words. And an
asshole. Worry slithered over her as she wondered why her alpha
wanted her to contact him. She hadn’t lived on pack lands since she
took the job at the hotel. She lived on the twelfth floor with
several other staff members, including a she-fairy who had pink and
gold wings and a warlock covered in tattoos.
For the remainder of her shift, she thought
of nothing but calling her alpha. She was pretty sure she hadn’t
done anything wrong, but the request to call him was like getting
called to the principal’s office in school – even if you hadn’t
done anything wrong, you still felt as though you had.
Chewing her thumbnail as she waited for
Craig, her replacement, she paced behind the counter. The lobby of
the hotel was beautiful – all gold and white marble with sturdy but
elegant furniture. She knew she was lucky to live in a city run by
a master vampire who cared about the shifter population. Caleb was
unique in the vampire world, she suspected. She’d met other master
vampires when they came to visit Caleb and see his city, and most
of them had looked down on her as if she weren’t fit to clean their
shoes. Just because they were immortal didn’t mean they were better
than any other supernatural creatures, in her opinion.
Craig walked through the front door of the
hotel. He was human with a flair for telling funny stories. “Hi,
Craig.”
“Hey, yourself. Anything exciting happen
during your shift?”
“Nope, it’s been quiet.”
“All right, I’ll see you tomorrow night. Have
a good one.”
He took his place behind the tall, cherry and
marble desk, and she took her phone from the small drawer next to
her chair. “Master Caleb would like Aubrey to call him when she
gets back from the NWFA fights tonight. I sent her a text, but her
phone isn’t turned on.”
“Will do.”
She walked swiftly to the elevator bay and
pressed the up button. Her phone felt like lead in her hand. She
knew she was being ridiculous and overly panicky, but she couldn’t
help it. Her alpha was a fierce male.
When the door opened on her floor, she found
herself looking at a frowning, pacing fairy. “Hi, Serena, are you
okay?” Gretchen asked as she stepped out of the elevator.
“Yes. No.” Serena shook her head, causing her
translucent pink and gold wings to flutter as she moved. “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 and smiled, her
brilliant blue eyes shining brightly. “You’re a sweetheart.”
The door slid shut, and Gretchen turned and
walked down the hall. Stopping in front of her door, she used the
thumb pad to unlock her room and walked inside. Unlike her best
friend’s opulent suite on the fourteenth floor, her own was a
modest two-room suite, with a bedroom, full bath, and sitting room.
She had a kitchenette with a mini fridge and microwave, but she
didn’t really need a full kitchen. She ate most of her meals in the
staff dining room on the first floor or brought something up to her
room to eat.
Glancing at the clock and seeing it was just
after eight, she dialed her alpha’s cell and debated what to eat
for dinner.
“Johner,” his gruff voice said as he
answered.
“Hello, Alpha, its Gretchen Havers. Farley
said you wanted me to call.”
“Yes. I’ve invited a pack to visit on the
full moon. I need an entire floor of the hotel blocked for their
visit.”
Relief filled her at his request. “I’ll get
to work right away, Alpha.”
There was a brief pause before he said, “The
alpha is unmated.”
She blinked in surprise. “Oh?”
“They’re from St. Louis. It’s a beautiful
city.”
“I’ve never been.”
“The alpha isn’t the only one in the pack who
is unmated. You might find a mate for yourself among their
ranks.”
She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t
looking for a mate right now, but that wouldn’t be true. She did
want to find a mate, but she didn’t want to just pick someone she
was attracted to, she wanted to find her truemate – the one male on
the planet who was perfect for her and her wolf. Sure she could
pick a wolf and mate him and pop out some pups, but she wanted more
than that. She wanted a connection to her mate that went soul-deep.
Maybe her alpha was psychic, and her truemate would be among the
unmated males of the visiting pack.
“I’ll make sure everything is taken care of,
Alpha.”
He grunted and ended the call, and she tossed
her phone onto the coffee table and walked to the mini fridge.
Inside she found the uneaten portion of her lunch in a Styrofoam
container, and she removed it and a bottle of water and set them on
the counter. Dumping the pasta dish on a plate, she put it in the
microwave and opened her water, taking a long drink. Once her meal
was reheated, she settled on the comfy white-and-green-striped
couch and opened her laptop to look at the available rooms in the
hotel.