Kelley (Were Zoo Book Six)

Kelley (Were Zoo Book Six)

By R. E. Butler

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Excerpt from Auden

Other Books by R. E. Butler

About the Author

Copyright

Chapter One

Kelley London tied his work boots as he yawned. It was his turn to get up early and feed the animals in the zoo. Once a week he had to take the early shift instead of sleeping in, which was something he enjoyed doing. One way or another, he would be walking around in the paddocks whether he started early or late. At least during the early days, he was able to get his work done before it got too hot. Working at a zoo in the summer sucked.

And stunk. Literally.

He grabbed the edge of his comforter and drew it up over the bed in a halfhearted attempt to make it look presentable. Not that anyone was going to be seeing it but him.

After snagging his cell from the nightstand, he headed into the kitchen. He popped a pod into the coffee maker and checked his messages, noting one from the alpha council that had come after midnight.

A reminder that the extended summer hours of the tours begin today, starting at 3 instead of 4. Be sure to be in place prior to the start of the first tour. Check in with your alpha if you have questions.

Kelley closed the message app and fixed his coffee in a travel mug. Then he left his home in the underground living quarters of the Amazing Adventures Safari Park. He was an elephant shifter and lived in their group’s private area, along with three other elephants. Alistair was their alpha and also Kelley’s uncle. Kelley had lived at the zoo since he was eighteen, when he’d been invited to join the zoo and experience something outside of the traveling circus his parents were part of. He’d jumped at the chance to have a stable home instead of one that was always on the move. Along with his cousins, Indio and Cael, they took care of the normal animals in the zoo.

The shifters called them ‘norms’.

There were three paddocks of norms: rhino, giraffe, and deer, antelope, and moose.

Elephant shifters made perfect zookeepers because they weren’t predator shifters. Anytime the other shifter groups got too close to the norms, they got nervous. Not that he thought elephants weren’t dangerous in their own right, because he was a kickass male in and out of his shift, but the norms were calm around the elephants.

And of course being a shifter meant he had a unique understanding of what it meant for the animals behind the fences, gawked at by humans.

None of the elephants had mates. He’d been living at the zoo for ten years, and in all that time only a small number of shifters had found mates in the other groups, but the four elephants remained single. The alpha council, which consisted of the leader of each of the five shifter groups who called the zoo home, decided to start up a safari tour directly aimed at bringing unmated human males and females into the zoo with free coupons. It was their belief that their people weren’t finding mates because not enough single people came through the front gates.

Some shifter groups didn’t like mating outside of their own kind, but the ones at Amazing Adventures didn’t mind. The trick was that shifters were a secret from humans, so if a shifter found a human mate, they had to carefully reveal their nature to them. Those who lived at the zoo weren’t allowed to live outside, so the mates were brought to live within the private quarters.

Since the alpha counsel had started the tours, five shifters had found their mates: two gorillas, two lions, and a bear. The elephants and wolves hadn’t found any mates at all. The safari tours for the mates ran Fridays through Sundays, from four to eight p.m. Now that it was nearly the end of June, the alphas had added an extra hour of tours every day in the hopes that more humans would sign up for the tours and more shifters would find their mate.

But not just any mate…their soulmate.

Kelley’s parents weren’t soulmates. Some shifters grew tired of waiting for their soulmate and would simply choose a mate from their own kind. It crossed Kelley’s mind over the years to do just that, except he always worried that somewhere out in the world was his soulmate, and he just hadn’t met her yet. If he picked a random shifter as his mate, then what would happen to her? Would she be alone for the rest of her life? Would he always feel an ache?

There was a sharp whistle as he reached the door that would lead him up to the maintenance shed in the giraffe paddock.

Morning, he said, waving at Alistair.

Morning, his alpha said.

They met in the center of the private area. You saw the reminder text? Alistair asked.

Yep. I’ll be there.

I have a good feeling about this weekend.

Oh? he asked. Feeling psychic?

Alistair shrugged. Maybe. I just think it’s time for one of our people to find a mate. The gorillas and lions have us beat.

I wasn’t aware it was a competition, Kelley said dryly.

Alistair laughed. It’s not, but tell me you’re not a little jealous.

Of course. Don’t you want your mate, too?

You young fellows first, and then me.

Maybe you’re feeling psychic and it’s your own soulmate who’ll be on the tour.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed for all of us.

Me too, Kelley said. The norms are calling, I’ll see you later.

Have fun, Alistair said.

Kelley opened the door that led to a stairwell. He followed it up to a wooden door, which was in the floor of the shed in the giraffe paddock. Each paddock had a maintenance shed with a secret entrance in the floor. It was how their people came and went without being seen. They also shifted in the sheds, and since elephants were enormous, the shed in their paddock was big enough for all four of them to be inside in their shifts.

He set his coffee mug down on a work table and closed the door, then set about preparing the giraffes’ morning meal. After feeding the giraffes, he headed back into the maintenance shed to use the stairs to go to the rhinos’ paddock, and then the third paddock, where the male moose greeted him with an annoyed bellow.

Sorry, sorry, Kelley said. I’ll feed you guys first next time.

Once he’d finished feeding and checking on the animals, he cleaned the paddocks and checked the fences to make sure that nothing needed to be repaired. His watch beeped in reminder of the tour, and he hustled to get to the elephants’ paddock before the tours started.

About time, Indio said.

Yeah, but I made it.

Barely, Alistair said. But you’re here and that’s what matters.

The alpha had his cell in his hand and typed for a moment and then put it on the work table. Kelley knew he was informing the wolves who ran the tours that their people were all accounted for and they could start on time.

Kelley stripped and shifted, shaking out his ears. Alistair was the last to shift, and then he used his trunk to open the latch that held the shed closed from the inside. They moved out of the shed, and Kelley waited until they were all clear and then he pushed the door shut.

He tilted his head and looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful day, the sky a perfect shade of summer blue, like a blue jay. His elephant was happy to be in his shift, and Kelley wondered if Alistair was right, and that one of their people might find their soulmate this weekend.

He selfishly hoped it was him.

He wanted nothing more than to find his soulmate and start a family.

If it was someone’s lucky weekend, he sure hoped it was his.

Chapter Two

Rhapsody Caine set her bags down at the firepit and sat down on one of the cut logs. Just two weeks earlier, she’d sat out here under the stars with her Aunt Joy, and it had been just another Friday night.

That night, under the stars, Joy had told Rhapsody it was more than high time she found a mate. Since there weren’t any other panther clans around, Rhapsody hadn’t had a clue how to go about finding mate, but Joy had told her about a shifter zoo in New Jersey and suggested she go there. Since panthers didn’t live with other shifter groups, Rhapsody found it odd that the zoo was apparently run by five different types of shifters, who lived and worked together.

How’d you find out about this place? Rhapsody asked. We all keep this kind of stuff a secret cause of the nosy humans.

Joy had hummed and said, The mother of the alpha wolf in Bramburg told me that one of their grandsons had gone to live and work at the Amazing Adventures Safari Park for a while, hoping to find his soulmate.

Did he? Rhapsody asked.

Yes. She’s a wolf shifter and they came back to the pack to live instead of staying at the zoo.

You’ll come with me?

No, girlie, I think I’ll stay right here in the hills. But you should go. Find your soulmate and name your first baby after me.

What if it’s a boy?

Then you better teach him how to fight because he’s going to get picked on with a name like that.

Rhapsody laughed. I don’t mind being here with you. I don’t need a mate right now.

Yes, you do. If you wait too long, the best years of your life will be behind you. I mated Wally when I was eighteen and we had many beautiful years together. I want that for you.

She wanted it for herself, too. But she was loyal to Joy and didn’t want to go traipsing off into the sunset looking for a mate, when Joy needed someone to look after her. In the end, though, the choice had been made for her.

That was the last night that Joy was alive. Rhapsody was now the last living member of her panther shifter clan. Shifters didn’t get sick, generally speaking, but they did get old. Joy’s heart just gave out, but the woman had made it two days after her ninetieth birthday, and Rhapsody thought that was something special.

After scattering her cremated remains in the woods that the clan had hunted in, Rhapsody went to town to visit the library, and use their computer to research the Amazing Adventures Safari Park. She’d discovered there was an individual safari tour that could be booked online, so she used her credit card to make a reservation for Saturday at three. If it was true that there were shifters in the park, then the safari tour would give her a chance to check them out before she revealed herself. She assumed that only shifters worked at the zoo, but she wasn’t going to race in there with her fur flying when she wasn’t sure what the situation was.

Even if she didn’t find her soulmate, she could at least meet some shifters, and perhaps they’d be willing to offer her a job and a place to stay so she could join their ranks. It was a lot to ask of perfect strangers, but the alternative was that she came back home and moved on with her life alone.

On her way back home, she stopped at the wolf pack’s territory and knocked on the alpha wolf’s door.

Hello, Rhapsody, the alpha’s mate, Ayana, said.

Hi Ayana, she said as she stepped into the house. I was wondering if Max was around?

The large male walked into the foyer. Right here. I was sorry to hear about your aunt. She was a lovely female.

Her heart still stung whenever she thought about Joy, but she smiled. Thanks. I’m heading to New Jersey for a while. I just wanted to let you know that if you’re still interested, I may be willing to sell you the property when I get back.

His brows rose. Well, I can’t say I’m not pleased that we’ll be able to expand our territory, but I’m sorry to see you leave.

She said ‘may be willing,’ Ayana pointed out.

Rhapsody knew that even if things didn’t pan out with the park, that she wouldn’t be able to handle the upkeep of the homes and land. She’d rather the territory go to shifters than humans, and Alpha Max would give her a fair price.

I’ll be back in a week or so, Rhapsody said. I called Deena to tell her I wouldn’t be available for cleaning jobs. You have my number if you need to get hold of me.

Safe travels, Max said.

Ayana gave her a gentle hug, and then Rhapsody returned to the little house she’d shared with Joy to finish packing. When she was finished packing a week’s worth of