The Bear's Reluctant Mate (Uncontrollable Shift Book Three) Read online

  The Bear’s Reluctant Bride

  Uncontrollable Shift Book Three

  By R. E. Butler

  Copyright 2019

  The Bear’s Reluctant Bride Uncontrollable Shift Book Three

  By R. E. Butler

  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 CT Cover Designs

  *Special thanks to Eric Battershell Photography for being so awesome to work with,

  and David Wills for being the perfect Cruz!*

  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.

  * * *

  Editing by Sara Dawn Johnson

  * * *

  Thanks to Ann Ivey for taking a chance on beta-reading, you rock!

  Big hugs always to Joyce for being a fab beta & bestie

  Thanks to Shelley for making time in your schedule

  * * *

  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

  Coming Next from RE Butler

  Contact the Author

  Other Books by RE Butler

  Tempting Treasure (Ashland Pride Ten) Coming Soon

  The Bear’s Reluctant Mate

  Uncontrollable Shift Book Three

  By R. E. Butler

  When paranormal romance author Juliette Parson’s latest manuscript is billed by her editor as being too “unrealistic,” it’s suggested she contact a shifter group for advice on her storyline. Writing about shifter romances is one thing, but meeting with a person who can change into an animal at will isn’t something Juliette ever thought she’d do. But if she wants her book to be believable, she needs to find someone to talk to about shifters.

  The last thing alpha bear Cruz Miller wants to do with his free time is chat up a human writing a smutty story about shifters. But when his brother points out that their clan could angle the interview for some much-needed promotion for their shifter bar, he decides to give the author a chance to tell him how much she doesn’t know about shifters.

  What he doesn’t expect is to take one look at the curvy redhead and explode into his shift. But he’s in the fur and she’s petrified, so what’s an alpha to do? Bide his time until he can shift back into his human form, explain she’s his mate, and that he’s ready to claim her good and hard, again and again. He just never counted on the feisty female having her own ideas about her future, and the fact that they don’t seem to include staying with him.

  An alpha won’t give up without a fight, and Cruz is no different. He’ll show Juliette that he’s the right male for her – shifter or not – and that he can be as romantic as the males she writes about.

  Chapter One

  Cruz Miller looked around the club owned by his clan with a deep frown. It was Saturday night, what should traditionally be the busiest night of the week next to Friday, but the place was nearly empty. Most of his bear shifter clan was at the club, either hanging out or working, but aside from them and a few wolves from a nearby pack, there weren’t any new faces in the room.

  The club was a necessity for shifters; they needed a safe place to hang out where other shifters would have their backs, no matter what they happened to shift into. Before Cruz and his brother Tomlin started the club six months ago, they’d been hanging out with their clan at a bar in another city. It was run by humans who liked taking money from shifters, but didn’t appear to like shifters. For some odd reason, when humans were drunk, they seemed to enjoy trying to pick fights with shifters. A shifter was naturally far stronger than a human, and it was against his clan’s code to fight except in self-defense. It was too easy to kill a human if a bear became enraged, so they tried their best to diffuse situations or just leave.

  One too many nights of having to hurry his people from the bar to avoid a fight had gotten to him, so he and Tomlin bought and renovated a building in their town of Rock Creek to turn it into a haven for shifters.

  And anyone else who wanted to have a place to hang out and have a good time.

  There weren’t a lot of rules at The Den, but not being an asshole was number one. Cruz honestly didn’t care if shifters from other groups visited the club, or humans, or other supernatural creatures. What he did care about, however, was the fact that after they’d been open for six months, they were barely making enough money to keep the doors open. For reasons he couldn’t fathom, shifters weren’t flocking in droves to the club, and that was a situation he needed to rectify.

  He’d never failed at anything. Whatever he did, he went at full force. He’d been alpha of the clan for five years, the youngest male to ever lead the forty-person shifter group at age twenty-eight. When their old alpha had decided to retire from leadership and move out of Kentucky after the death of his mate, Cruz had been one of six males who’d stepped up to fight for the position. After a long battle, he was the last one standing. Their clan had been located for generations in a small, mostly-human town on Lake Cumberland, known for its restaurants and beautiful scenery. But before The Den opened, anyone who wanted to have a drink at a bar had to travel to Jamestown.

  “You look pissed,” Tomlin said from behind Cruz.

  He turned and found his brother wiping down the long counter.

  “I’m worried.”

  “About?”

  Cruz made a face and gestured to the nearly empty club. “Do you really have to ask?”

  Tomlin hummed and dropped the rag into a bucket of soapy water under the counter, then leaned on his elbows. “I think we need to hire someone to do some PR for us.”

  “We’re already running ads on the local radio stations.”

  Tomlin snorted. “You’re totally out of touch, grandpa. We need something else, like social media advertising or a story on the news that we can hype.”

  “How do you suggest we go about doing that?”

  “I don’t know. You’re the alpha. Isn’t it your job to be super smart and cunning?”

  “Yeah, and also to surround myself with people who are those things. You don’t have any bright ideas?”

  “Aside from hiring someone, no.”

  “We can barely afford the people we employ right now.”

  “Good point. Let me think about it.”

  Cruz turned his attention back to the club. Tomlin was probably right; they’d need to figure out a way to get marketing for the club without spending a buttload of cash. And aside from the club, he also had clan issues. As the alpha, he was in charge of everyone which meant that nothing happened in the clan without his say-so. Tomlin was second-in-command, handling a lot of the smaller issues so Cruz didn’t have to, but it didn’t mean he was any less busy.

  They had several hun
dred acres of wooded land to shift and hunt on. Every person in the clan lived in the territory. Cruz lived in the Main House and had the whole second floor to himself. His parents – Oscar and Viola – lived on the first floor in a private suite, as did Tomlin. They had big family dinners on Sundays, often including other clan families.

  The word family made his bear chuff in longing. He rubbed at the space over his heart as his gaze focused on a newly mated couple who were snuggling up in a booth. It was far past the time when he should have mated and started a family. His bear was restless because fall was right around the corner, and nothing made him want to find his mate more than the turning of the leaves as the woods prepared for its winter slumber. Shifter bears didn’t hibernate like natural bears, but the desire to settle down grew stronger in the winter.

  Rubbing his thumb between his eyes, he focused on the club. They needed to find a way to bring more people into the club so it wouldn’t go under. Although his bear didn’t agree with him, finding a mate just wasn’t important now.

  First the club, then a mate, he mentally told his bear. It would be ridiculous to try to bring a female home to a bad business. A female from a good family would take one look at the books for the club and realize there was nearly zero income for his clan, and she’d hightail it out of his arms in a heartbeat. He needed to be successful first, and then he could concentrate on finding a mate.

  His bear grumbled, but he shoved the beast aside, headed to his office, and shut the door.

  It was going to be a long night.

  Chapter Two

  Saturday morning, Juliette Parson took a drink of coffee and looked at the clock on her computer for the hundredth time. In ten minutes, she’d be video chatting with her editor Kaylie about her latest book. She and Kaylie had been working together for years. At one time, Kaylie had been employed by a large indie publisher, and when they went under, she began to edit for authors like herself, who self-published. Juliette was one of Kaylie’s first clients, and over the years they’d become good friends.

  But their friendship didn’t mean that Kaylie took it easy on her. She never failed to tell her exactly what she thought of Juliette’s books and to challenge her to dig deeper and write better. Her nerves this morning, however, weren’t because Kaylie was certain to be hard on her. She’d started a new series about shifters, and she wasn’t sure how she’d done. Normally she wrote about witches and vampires, making shifters tertiary characters to help the stories along and not focusing on them as main characters. Then she’d gotten an idea while getting a manicure three months earlier about a group of lion shifters. The words had flowed from her and she’d worked day and night in her apartment to finish the first two books of what she hoped would be a six-book series. She was a full-time writer and could dedicate herself to writing, fortunate to make enough money to support herself instead of needing to get an Evil Day Job.

  It helped that she was as frugal as possible and lived in what had to be tiniest efficiency apartment in Kentucky. She scrimped and saved every penny so that someday she could put a down payment on a house somewhere more private and away from the hustle and bustle of Somerset. She dreamed of living in the woods somewhere in a quaint cabin. Once she was settled in her dream home, she was certain she’d find a guy to marry and make a life with. Despite her mother’s insistence that she get a “real job” and start a family, Juliette knew she still had plenty of time to find a husband – she was only twenty-seven. It just wasn’t on her list of priorities.

  The video chat website began to ring. Kaylie’s avatar – a picture of the beach – appeared on the screen. With a deep breath, Juliette clicked the mouse on the phone icon to answer, tucking a lock of long, red hair behind her ear.

  “Morning, sunshine,” Kaylie said cheerily.

  “Hey lady. How’s life?”

  “Meh. We had to cancel our trip to the beach next weekend because Kyle has to work. I offered to suffer and go without him, but of course he wasn’t having that.”

  Juliette chuckled. “I wonder why?”

  “Maybe because he saw the cute bikini I picked out and he doesn’t want me to wear it unless he’s around so he can ogle me.”

  “Aw. Are you still going to get to go another time?”

  “We don’t know yet. The place we were planning to rent is booked for the rest of the summer, but I think I can find another place on short notice. How’s life for you?”

  “Pretty good. I got my car washed yesterday and I organized my closet. I’m living the dream.”

  Kaylie laughed. “Indeed. All right, my dear, are you ready to talk about your new book?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know!” Juliette put her hands up and said, “I’m nervous.”

  “Why?”

  “This is different than what I usually write.”

  “Are you worried about readers? Because I don’t think you should. Paranormal romance covers so much territory that it’s not a leap to write about vampires and also shifters.”

  “I’ve never written about shifters as anything but villains or cannon fodder.”

  “Yeah, you don’t give them a fair shake.”

  “I’m trying to.”

  Kaylie smiled. “To start, I want to say that I like the book in general. Just like your other stories, it’s witty and fast-paced, and you worked in some interesting mythology with the pride. Plus the hero is such an alpha-jackass, I love it.”

  In the pause that followed, Juliette’s heart fell. “But?”

  “It doesn’t seem realistic. I mean, seriously, Jules, we live in a world where – unlike the vampires you write so well – shifters are real. But in this story, you write shifters like they’re vampires that happen to change into animals, and that doesn’t work.”

  “Ugh.” Juliette put her head in her hands.

  “Have you ever spent time with a shifter?”

  Juliette put her hands down and stared at the screen. “No.”

  “I think that’s the problem. Shifters are as real as you and me, which means that people who read your stories need to believe that you’ve spent time with them. There was a very successful motorcycle romance author a few years ago. Her books are super realistic because she researched them and spent time at motorcycle clubs talking to the people. It was easy to tell that she knew what she was talking about, as opposed to other motorcycle club authors who watched a few TV shows and movies and then wrote books. You need that same level of believability. Shifters aren’t fantasy like vampires, so there’s behavior and hierarchy that doesn’t come across in your story, but it needs to.”

  “You’re suggesting that I go meet with a shifter? I don’t know any. I wouldn’t even know where to meet one. It’s not like they have websites.”

  “True. And aside from that, lion prides aren’t in the states anyway, they’re all in Europe as far as I know. But I was talking to Kyle about your book. He works with a bear shifter named Brian Kahn who has a cousin near where you live. If you lived closer to me, you could just meet with Brian, but since you’re in Kentucky and so is this clan, it’s simpler to go this route.”

  “I didn’t know there were bear shifters in Kentucky.” Her interest was piqued. She liked bears. In fact, she’d planned to write about bears after she wrote her lion series.

  “Yep. I have the name and email address of the alpha. You can reach out and ask to interview him. I think you need to spend time with some shifters and see what their life is like.”

  Juliette wrote down the information and then twirled her pen in her fingers. “I don’t even know what to ask. Aren’t lions and bears very different?”

  “Yes and no. Lions are large predator shifters like bears. While their shifts are different, their hierarchy would be similar. They have a leader – either a male or a mated pair, who are in charge of everyone. Sometimes, shifters only have a few ranked positions – the alpha and his second-in-command – but sometimes they rank everyone down to the weakest member. I’m not certain how bears han
dle rankings, so that would be one thing to ask. Did the alpha fight for position or was it hereditary? Are the females ranked with the males, separately, or not at all? I believe bear clans all live together in their territory only in separate homes, but you could ask how they sustain their people, where they work, and what they do.”

  “Do you think they hibernate?”

  Kaylie snorted. “It wouldn’t be a super good use of time for an entire group of shifters to sleep for a few months every year.”

  “Good point.” Juliette leaned back in her chair with a sigh.

  “Don’t be upset,” Kaylie said. “You know I think you’re a rock star. I just need you to give a shot of believability to your writing. I mean, if you really wanted to go ahead with the book as-is, I think it would do okay, but you’re going to get spanked in the reviews. I’m not an expert on shifters by any stretch, but your story has the feel of a book that’s based on other books of the genre, and you’re better than that. So, meet with the alpha, or whoever he wants you to meet with, and ask your questions. I think you’ll see why your story doesn’t quite have that truthful ring to it.”

  “Okay.”

  “I didn’t ruin your day, did I?”

  “Of course not. I knew when I sent you the book that it needed something else, but I honestly didn’t know what. It never occurred to me to meet with a shifter.”

  “It’s easier to write about fictional characters like vampires and aliens because you can make up your own mythology. But you’ll be happy that you made the effort to research shifters and meet with them in real life. The question right now is, do you want to talk about your book as-is, or do you want to make it the best it can be and do a re-write?”

  “Why did you have to phrase it like that?” Juliette asked with a groan.