Evan (Were Zoo Book Thirteen)

Evan (Were Zoo Book Thirteen)

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

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Excerpt from Requiem

Books by R. E. Butler

About the Author

Copyright

Chapter One

Evan James finished buttoning his shirt and then turned to look at himself in the mirror of the tiny trailer that he’d called home for the last four months. His real home was in New Jersey in the Amazing Adventures Safari Park, where he lived with his wolf shifter pack and several other shifter groups, hidden from humans who didn’t know shifters existed.

Evan’s family, including his brother, Auden, and Auden’s soulmate Jess, lived and worked in the park. Evan had come to Virginia to live with a pack that his alpha, Joss, had ties with, sort of an unmated male and female exchange between the packs. But at the last minute, the wolves from the Virginia pack had opted not to go to New Jersey and Evan had been the sole exchange. He hadn’t minded because he’d wanted to expand his horizons and hopefully find his mate in the Virginia pack.

Tonight, Evan was going on a date with a female named Aletris. She was cute and sweet, with strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes. He’d liked her immediately when he’d come to the pack, but Alpha Bernard had wanted him to spend time getting to know the pack before he decided on a mate.

Shifters found mates a few different ways. The most traditional way was for a male and female to choose each other and mate. His parents had chosen each other during a gathering of wolf packs when they were in their early twenties. His father had been part of a pack led by Alpha Joss, and their pack had joined up with several other shifter groups to form the safari park.

And then there was the way Auden had found his forever girl—seeing her one time and knowing she was his soulmate.

Soulmates were like love at first sight but on steroids because their animal also had input. Auden said seeing his soulmate Jess for the first time had felt like he’d been struck by lightning.

Evan wouldn’t mind finding his soulmate, but he was twenty-two and ready to get the next part of his life going. Alpha Bernard’s pack didn’t believe in soulmates. They thought it was a silly, romantic notion cooked up by humans that shifters shouldn’t bother with. It was, according to Bernard, the responsibility of every wolf to mate and bear children so their people didn’t go the way of the dodo.

So here he was, getting ready in a single-wide trailer that he shared with a male named Forrest. The pack rented land in a trailer park in the small town of Candle. Evan had taken a job at a local grocery to earn money, which was where he’d met Aletris.

The twenty-one-year-old was really shy, and it had taken him weeks to get her to come out of her shell and talk to him so he could get to know her.

And now, four months later—which seemed like an eternity—he was ready to take her out on a real date and see if things panned out between them.

His phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen. He hit the answer button and then the speaker. Oh, hey, he said to Auden. What’s up?

Jess and I are going out on a date tonight, and Mom said you had a date too. I thought I’d check in and see what’s going on. You’ve been gone forever. I miss you.

I miss you too, Evan said. He turned around and leaned against the counter with a sigh. Alpha Bernard wouldn’t agree to let me go on a date with Tris until recently.

Why?

I don’t know. He said I needed to get to know everyone before I made any decisions about mating.

Well, yeah, but why couldn’t you date her anyway?

He’s traditional, I guess. I’m not entirely sure, but I think her uncle was kind of against her being with me so the alpha put the brakes on it.

Her Uncle Alphonse didn’t seem to think much of Evan, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he was from New Jersey or if her uncle didn’t care for outsiders in general. He was sure that Tris had been willing to go on a date with him before tonight, but something had impeded things, and it had dragged out long enough that Evan was about to go bonkers.

Well, that’s not good.

Meh. As long as Tris likes me and our wolves like each other, then none of that matters.

True, but you don’t want her family to hate you.

I don’t think he does, but there’s definitely a weird vibe here. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was a subtle unrest in the pack. It didn’t have to do with him, but he felt like an outsider which made him miss his home pack even more. And his mom’s french toast.

You don’t have to do this, you know. You can come home and wait for your soulmate. That’s what the tours are designed for.

The alphas who ran the park had set up VIP safari tours, sending out free coupons to eligible human males and females in the tri-state area. Their people were in their shifts during the tours—unless they were working as a driver or tour guide—and the hope was that their people would find their soulmates in the visitors. So far, though, only a few soulmates had come through the tours. The others had just been fate, including his brother’s. Jess was hunting in her owl shift with her people and had been shot by a hunter. She landed in one of the paddocks, and Auden had rescued her, realizing on sight that she was his soulmate.

My mate’s not going to drop out of the sky and land in my lap, like someone I know, Evan said.

Auden snorted. Probably not, but still...you’re young. You can wait. There’s nothing better than finding your soulmate.

I’m just ready to start the next part of my life. And what if not everyone gets a soulmate?

What do you mean?

Alpha Bernard said it’s nonsense, a romantic figment of lonely shifters’ imaginations.

You don’t believe that, Auden said, his voice going low and stern.

No, but I also don’t know that everyone is supposed to get a soulmate. Look at how many unmated old shifters there are.

Atticus just found his soulmate, Auden said.

The gorilla shifter alpha was in his mid-forties. Yeah. Well, I don’t want to be single for the next twenty years on the off chance I’ll meet my soulmate. Tris is great. I think she might be the one for me. My wolf is happy—well, he was content at any stretch, not minding the idea of mating but not doing backflips whenever he was around the she-wolf—and that’s what matters.

All right, I can see that your mind is made up. Just think about it. You’ve got plenty of time; you don’t have to mate anyone right now.

I’ll think about it, he said, although he didn’t plan to. He didn’t want to think about the odd ache that plagued him whenever he thought about going through with this mating. All this talk about soulmates was putting him on edge. He’d made his decision, and he’d spent the last four months of his life trying to get a chance to romance Tris. He wasn’t going to back out now. I gotta go.

Have a good time on your date.

You too.

Hey, I love you, man.

I love you too.

Ending the call, Evan looked at his reflection in the mirror and sighed deeply. He wasn’t making a mistake; he was doing what he’d planned to do for a long time. He was going to take Tris on a date and see if being alone with her and spending time with her in a romantic way would lead to mating. He wouldn’t know until he got closer to her, but he was sure she was his future mate.

Pretty sure.

Almost one hundred percent.

Almost.

Chapter Two

Lark Phillips flipped through the magazine as she listened to her pint-sized niece tell the stylist about their upcoming trip to the Amazing Adventures Safari Park.

So when are you going? the woman asked as she trimmed Rayanne’s long blonde hair.

Next weekend, Rayanne said. Mom and Dad can’t take me, and I absolutely need to see the eagle they have in the aviary.

Oh, you do? the woman asked with a smile.

Yes! He was injured and they rescued him and now he lives there. I’m not allowed to have social media, but Mom lets me use hers to get the daily video updates from the zookeepers. They only let people into the part of the exhibit where he is a few times a month, and Saturday is one of those times. I’m so excited.

Lark chuckled. In case you couldn’t tell.

Do you want to be a vet when you grow up? the woman asked.

I don’t know, maybe. Or an ornithologist. I’ll have to talk to the keepers there. Their names are Auden and Jess, and she’s so pretty! And Lark says he’s a cutie-patootie.

Oh, my gosh, Lark said, her cheeks heating. I said that one time, and you haven’t let me live it down.

They’re married anyway, I saw a ring on her finger, and he gives her goo-goo eyes, Rayanne said, her voice dropping low with seriousness. But maybe we can say hi to them, and maybe he has a cute brother.

Stop trying to fix me up with people, girl, I’m perfectly happy the way I am, Lark said.

Mom says different.

Tell your mom— Lark stopped before she said something she couldn’t take back. Rayanne was a sweetheart, but she could not hold onto a secret for any amount of money. The girl was a human colander. Tell her I’m happy.

I will. But she won’t believe me. Anyway, about the eagle… Rayanne switched gears back to her favorite subject, talking the stylist’s ear off until she’d finished the cut and left to grab a hair dryer from another station.

Rayanne swiveled in the seat. Do you think he’s lonely?

Who?

The eagle. He’s all by himself.

Maybe. Do birds get lonely?

Well, I read that some birds can die of loneliness when their mates die.

He’s doing okay, though. Maybe he didn’t have a girlfriend so he’s not really lonely. But you can ask the zookeepers if we get a chance to talk to them.

Somehow, Lark was sure that her sister, Dove, and her husband, Lance, hadn’t actually been too busy to take Rayanne to the zoo next Saturday and had simply not wanted to spend a day listening to their daughter go on and on about the eagle. Lark didn’t mind, though. It wasn’t like she had a busy social calendar. She just had a nine-to-five at the township’s main office answering questions about the recycling program, selling pet licenses, and taking care of the other minutia of small-town living. She’d gotten the job in high school and really liked it. Small-town office stuff was her jam. And it left her weekends free to hang out with her favorite, and only, niece.

When Rayanne’s hair was done, the long blonde tresses lightly curled, they left the salon and walked along the strip mall to the ice cream place that had Lark’s favorite butter pecan and freshly made waffle cones.

So, do you want to be a vet or an ornithologist? I’ve never heard you say vet before.

Rayanne dug her spoon into the cup of cookie dough ice cream topped with hot fudge and marshmallow sauce. I was just being nice. The lady didn’t know that bird doctors are called ornithologists.

Ah, gotcha. Bird Doctor Rayanne sounds good.

Obviously it would be Doctor Messner. I’m going to be a very important ornithologist, like Gustav Beretti, and people will be so excited to meet me because I’ll be an expert on eagles.

Her niece was one determined eight-year-old. I know you’re going to be an awesome ornithologist. And I’ll get to say I knew you when you were little.

While they finished their ice cream, they talked about the park and the aviary until Lark thought she’d heard every single thing about the aviary three times over.

When they left the ice cream shop, Rayanne said, I wish Mom had given me a bird name like you two have.

Well, our mom really loved birds, and your mom hated her name growing up. She swore she was going to change it as soon as she was eighteen, but she ended up sticking with it. I like our names because they’re unique. If you could have a bird name, what would you pick?

Rayanne’s face scrunched up adorably, and then she said, Raven. Or maybe Wren. Raven sounds like a villain, though.

"True. But not all villains have dark-sounding names. Remember the book we read last year where the villain was named Beauty and the heroine was named Geraldine? And the point was that Beauty was a lovely name, but the girl was all evil on