Requiem (Were Zoo Book 14) Read online

  Requiem

  Were Zoo Book Fourteen

  By R. E. Butler

  Copyright 2022, R. E. Butler

  Requiem (Were Zoo Book Fourteen)

  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 CT Cover Creations

  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.

  * * *

  Edited by Sara Dawn Johnson

  * * *

  Thanks to my awesome betas – Joyce, Shelley, and Ann. You rock!

  * * *

  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

  Next in the Were Zoo Series

  Contact the Author

  Other Books by R. E.

  Khyle (Were Zoo Book Fifteen)

  Requiem (Were Zoo Book Fourteen)

  By R. E. Butler

  Requiem Dunn has zero problems doing whatever his alpha tells him to, so when he’s tasked with using a fake ID and counterfeit ticket to get on the Amazing Adventures Safari Park VIP Tour to check out the security, he’s ready and willing. His alpha wants to force out the shifters in the park and take it over for himself, and since Requiem is tired of living in a trailer with another wolf, he’d do just about anything to have space to spread out. Even if it means covering himself in a special chemical to make him smell human.

  Sarah Lowe is one of the few unmated female wolves at the park. When she’s not in the gift shop, she’s helping out in the kitchen and doing whatever else her alphas ask of her. While she doesn’t think she’ll ever find her soulmate, she dutifully spends time in her shift during the VIP tours, even though she holds out almost no hope that she’ll find the male for her.

  Requiem is suddenly in hell as he spies a beautiful she-wolf in the paddock. His beast wants out—now—and he has trouble controlling his base reactions. Not only is he beholden to his alpha and the plan to take out her people, but to make matters worse, she thinks he’s human! For the first time in his life, Requiem will have to choose between his alpha and the female who has his heart. The question is...will Sarah forgive him when the truth comes out, or is his only chance at happiness over before it begins?

  Chapter One

  Sarah Lowe, wolf shifter and cashier-extraordinaire, finished scanning the T-shirt for a customer and hit the tally button.

  “Twenty-four even,” she said, folding the shirt and placing it in a paper sack.

  The woman handed Sarah her credit card, which she swiped and handed back. When the receipt printed, she tucked it into the bag and said, “Have a great day!”

  “Thanks, you too.”

  The woman left the Amazing Adventures Safari Park gift shop. When the door shut, Sarah turned and leaned against the counter. She smiled at Aletris—call me Tris—a wolf shifter who’d been rescued from a shitty situation with her crazy uncle and given sanctuary at the park.

  The Amazing Adventures Safari Park was home to several groups of shifters, who kept their nature a tightly guarded secret from humans. They lived underground hidden from visitors, and worked during the day in the park. Sarah usually worked in the gift shop, but she also was occasionally assigned by her alpha to take tickets at the front gate or work on the janitorial crew. Her favorite was the gift shop, though, because when kids came in with their parents and caregivers to pick out toys, she loved seeing their excited expressions.

  “So, that’s about it,” she said to Tris. “You can try out the next customer.”

  Tris, who had strawberry blonde hair and pale green eyes, twisted her hands and let out a sigh. “If you think I’m ready.”

  “I know you are. It’s easy-peasy. You’ll be great, and I’ll be right here with you in case you get stuck.”

  Tris was living with Sarah in the two-bedroom house in the wolves’ private area under the park. Sarah had been living alone before Tris was brought into their pack. She’d had a tough time of things, including intending to mate with a male from Sarah’s pack named Evan, who’d found his soulmate in a human female who visited the park. Tris didn’t seem to harbor any hard feelings about the end of whatever had been between her and Evan, but she hadn’t really been herself.

  The gift shop was quiet. It was Friday, and sometimes Fridays could be a madhouse and sometimes they could be dead, and right now it was dead. Later, Sarah would be working on the Safari Tour, which was their biggest draw for visitors. Their people spent time in their shifts in the paddocks along the tour. And the next few afternoons were special tours—just for VIP ticket holders. The alphas of the shifter groups sent out coupons for free VIP tours to unmated human males and females in the tri-state area, hoping to bring in soulmates to the park.

  A soulmate was the one person on the planet right for a shifter. It was like love at first sight when a shifter was in the presence of his or her soulmate.

  Sarah didn’t have a soulmate, but she really wanted one. Hell, since Evan and his soulmate Lark had found each other, Sarah hadn’t been able to get the idea of the next chapter of her romantic life out of her head. She was ready to be mated and start a family; she just needed to find her forever guy.

  “You okay?” Tris asked.

  Sarah shook her head with a chuckle. “Yeah, I’m just stuck in my head about the future.”

  “How so?”

  “Thinking about finding my soulmate and starting a family.”

  Tris nodded. “I’d like that too.” She rubbed the space over her heart with her fingertips. “I can’t help but feel like something monumental is going to happen soon.”

  “To you?”

  “Maybe. I feel a change coming. Do you feel it?”

  “I don’t think so, but maybe that’s why my wolf is giving me such a hard time lately.”

  “There’s the tour today.”

  “Are you going to come out with me?” Sarah asked. Tris had been at the park for a couple weeks and hadn’t yet joined in with the pack in her shift during a tour. She was still a little gun shy about her safety since her Uncle Alphonse was crazy and had sent some of his males to try to get into the park and kill their Alpha Joss and take over. Sarah was certain the park was safe, but Tris hadn’t come to that same conclusion yet.

  “Uh, no. Not this time. I just haven’t felt like being outsi
de.”

  Their conversation stopped as a family with young kids walked into the shop. Sarah and Tris greeted them, then waited while they explored all the store had to offer.

  “Well, maybe next time. If you would come out with me, maybe we’d meet our forever guys.”

  “Do you really think they’ll come by way of the tour?”

  Sarah actually wasn’t so sure that her soulmate would ever show up on a tour. They’d been doing the tours for ages, and only a few soulmates had come from them. But Sarah wasn’t going to let hope die entirely. “Who knows? But no matter that you’re not going on the tour, I think we should definitely go out for a drink tonight.”

  Tris’s eyes went wide. “I haven’t been anywhere but here since you-know-what.”

  Sarah lowered her voice. “I promise we’ll take precautions and it’ll be perfectly safe.”

  Tris inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Okay. I think it’s a great idea.”

  “We’ll have Dani do our makeup. She’s great at it.” Dani was human and mated to one of the gorillas who called the park home. Along with wolves and gorillas, there were elephant, bear, and lion shifters, as well as several other types who’d come into the park as soulmates.

  The family walked up to the counter with toys and souvenirs. As Sarah stepped aside to let Tris have the register, her mind flitted to the day ahead.

  She really wasn’t a pessimistic person, but she had begun to doubt whether she’d ever find her soulmate. Hell, she wasn’t even sure that every shifter got one. Her parents weren’t mated. They’d gotten together at a multi-pack gathering to have a pup and then parted ways. Her mom’s pack was in South Carolina, and her dad’s pack was in Florida. They never got together again. Sarah was raised by her mom, only visiting her dad’s pack once she turned eighteen. She’d opted to join up with her aunt’s pack in New Jersey because she liked that they lived and worked in a safari park. Then her aunt had decided to leave the pack and go to South Carolina, but Sarah had been settled in the park and was happy to stay.

  As more customers walked in, Sarah pushed her thoughts of the future to the back of her mind. There would be time enough to think about the future when she was padding around outside in her shift.

  * * *

  After several hours in her shift, Sarah was ready to grab a bite to eat in the marketplace, which was underground with the private living areas as well as a general store, makeup shop, and nail salon run by shifters and their mates, then head out for a drink with Tris and several other pack members.

  When the all-clear was given, indicating that no humans were around the paddocks and it was safe for the shifters to head into the maintenance sheds and shift, Sarah hurried to get back to human. It had been a long day, and she was ready to unwind.

  She found Tris waiting for her in the private area.

  “How long has it been since someone found their soulmate on the tour?” Tris asked as they walked through the private area toward the house they shared.

  “Um, a long while. Officially, Cael’s mate Harmony was on the tour, but she bought a ticket online and didn’t get a free one in the mail that the alphas sent out.”

  “Unofficially?” Tris asked.

  “Lark and Evan.”

  “Ah.”

  “I’m sorry if it bothers you to hear about them.”

  “It doesn’t, honestly. She’s really sweet and he’s a good male. I grew up in a pack that didn’t believe in soulmates, and when Evan came along and didn’t seem to believe in them either, it seemed like a good match. But it wouldn’t have been right.”

  “Do you believe in them now?” she asked.

  “I do. Being around the soulmates in the park has helped with my outlook too. I think, why the heck can’t I have a soulmate too? And then I wonder if maybe the weird feelings I’ve been having since I got here is my wolf getting ready for it.”

  They walked into the house and parted ways in the hall. “You know what? Maybe that’s it exactly. I’ve heard some of the ones who’ve found their soulmates say they felt unsettled leading up to the meeting. Maybe your soulmate is on the way here; he’s just taking his sweet time.”

  Tris grinned. “I hope so. I love living with you, but it would be nice to have a male to snuggle up with.”

  “Fact.”

  Sarah shut the door to her bedroom and hustled to the bathroom for a quick shower. Dani was meeting them at the makeup shop in forty minutes. Before coming to the park and mating Neo, Dani worked for a big chain cosmetics store and did makeovers. She’d done Sarah’s makeup on several occasions.

  After she’d curled her hair and picked an outfit of jeans, white sandals, and a pink fitted tank, she grabbed her wallet and phone and headed out into the family room. “We can grab something for dinner at the marketplace before our makeup appointment,” she said as Tris walked out of her room. She was dressed similarly but wearing mules instead of sandals.

  “Sounds good. I’m starving.”

  Sarah checked her messages as they left the private area. “Okay, so Felix, Jasper, Thomas, and Silvanus are coming with us.”

  “I’ve only met Silvanus,” Tris said.

  “Felix and Jasper are tour guides, and Thomas and Silvanus are tour drivers. They’re all very good males, and they’ll make sure we’re safe.”

  “Good. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to do this. I’m kind of an introvert who likes to make plans and then hopes they get canceled.”

  Sarah chuckled. “I’m glad you changed your mind.”

  In the marketplace, they picked up baskets with burgers and fries and said hello to their alpha female, Jeanie, who was a cook.

  “Heard you’re going out tonight,” Jeanie said as she pulled a fresh tray out from under the counter, then looked at an order ticket.

  “Yep, to Kill Joys.”

  “Well, have fun. Tris, it’s nice to see you head out of the park. I hope you have a great time.”

  “Thanks, I hope so too.”

  After they found a table and started eating, Sarah asked Tris about her past relationships.

  “Well, Evan’s really my only romantic history, and that was just a date.”

  Sarah stopped mid-chew and stared at her. “You’ve only been on one date. Ever?”

  Tris shrugged. She swiped a fry through a puddle of ketchup. “My old alpha, Bernard, didn’t believe in soulmates and he thought he should be in charge of who mated who in the pack. I wasn’t looking to be mated yet, and I really wasn’t interested in any of the males in my pack. I mean, they were fine for a tumble in the sheets on the full moon, but not forever material.”

  “Oh, gotcha. I know that feeling. I’ve been out on a few dates here and there, but I’ve never dated any of the males in this pack. My mom’s pack doesn’t think shifters should mix with humans, so she thinks I’m a little nuts being part of the VIP tours and open to whatever my mate can or can’t shift into.”

  “Are you and your mom close?”

  “Sort of. We were closer when I lived at home. She’s busy with her friends and I’m busy working, but we talk a few times a month. You?”

  “My parents died when I was young. I’m not entirely sure that my uncle didn’t have them killed. My dad was a rival for the same rank as him.”

  “That’s awful!”

  “Well, it was just a feeling, and I didn’t want to draw attention to my thoughts in case Alphonse really did have them killed, so I kept them to myself. I always wondered, though.”

  “Yeah, I’d wonder too after hearing how crazy he is and how he hurt you.”

  “At least he can’t get me in here, right?”

  “One hundred percent.”

  They finished up their food, then met Dani in her shop, where she gave them both smokey eyes and loads of mascara and shared some new lipstick she’d gotten in.

  “Wow, you do such great work,” Sarah said as she looked in the mirror. “I love cat’s eye liner, but I always mess it up.”

  “It’s easier to
do it on someone else than yourself,” Dani said. She finished Tris’s makeup and turned her chair to the mirror. “What do you think?”

  “Holy crap!” Tris leaned forward and stared at herself. “I look amazing!”

  Dani grinned. “You sure do. Do you ladies need anything to take with you? I’ve got some yummy smelling body washes on the shelf and also some killer brow dye.”

  “I’m good,” Sarah said, slipping from the chair.

  “Me too,” Tris said. “Thank you so much.”

  The three hugged, and Sarah said, “Yes, you’re a miracle worker. Thank you.”

  “You’re both very welcome. Come see me anytime.”

  The pair met up with the four males in the employee parking lot ten minutes later. She and Tris drove with Silvanus and Thomas in an unmarked white SUV with Felix and Jasper following.

  Kill Joys was a bar that the park shifters frequented. It was nearby and allowed them to get away from the park without being too far.

  “I hope tonight is great,” Sarah said. “For both of us.”

  “Me too,” Tris said.

  Silently, Sarah hoped that her soulmate might be among the humans in the bar, a male perfect for her in every way. She knew having a human for a soulmate would be a tough road to go on because she’d have to keep her secret from him until he loved her and she could be sure he’d keep it too. But she knew in her heart it would be worth it. Somewhere out there was the other half of her heart.

  Maybe he was at Kill Joys.

  Wherever he was, she hoped he showed up soon.

  Chapter Two

  Requiem Dunn got out of his truck and stretched with a groan. He’d been cooped up in the truck for several hours watching the Amazing Adventures Safari Park courtesy of a silent drone. He’d come to New Jersey at the request of his alpha—Alphonse. Before he’d been summoned to the Pinelands, where the pack was hanging out in RVs surrounding an abandoned cabin, he’d been recruiting pack members to join their ranks.