Dasher's Fated Mate (Arctic Shifters Book 2) Read online

  “Rhys said that Arian was the first one to find a fated mate in years.”

  “I think there were only one or two fated mates in my generation, and before that, there were more but not a lot. You have to remember, also, that our people hardly leave NPC. There are teams of elves and shifters who will head to the human world for supplies on Christmas Eve morning, but they never stay in any one place long.”

  “Mrs. C’s brand of magic makes perfect matches, but not fated mate matches.”

  Flora hummed in agreement. “If a couple were fated mates, they would know and wouldn’t need help being matched.”

  “What was it like when Mrs. C matched you and Dare?”

  Flora leaned back with a smile, fiddling with a leftover piece of fluffy fabric. “I wasn’t really looking for a mate at the time. I was enjoying myself, working at the toy factory, and hanging out at the tavern with my friends. Then Mrs. C came into the factory one day and told me that she thought it was time for me to be mated. I looked up at her, and it was like suddenly finding my mate was the most important thing in the world.”

  “Is that part of Mrs. C’s magic?”

  “No, it was just the right timing. I hadn’t thought about it much, but when she said she thought it was time, it just clicked with me. I met with her that night at their home, and that’s when I met Dare. I knew him by name, but I hadn’t ever really talked to him. Mrs. C said we were a perfect match for each other, and he took me to the commissary for our first date. I thought it was pretty lame to go to the place where everyone else goes, but then he surprised me by having our meal packed up in a picnic basket. He had already planned to treat his mate right from the first moment, so he’d set up a tent with a heater up by the lake, and we took our picnic dinner there and spent the whole night getting to know each other.”

  “How long before you had your joining ceremony?”

  “About a month. We moved into one of the cabins after the ceremony, and Rhys was born nine months later. We were never blessed with any more children, but he was a handful, so all I have to say about the bun in your oven is, honey, watch out.”

  Merri joined in with her mother-in-law’s laughter. Rhys had already told her some of the trouble he got into when he was a boy, everything from sneaking out when he was a teenager with his friends, to hiding food he didn’t like in a houseplant.

  “Maybe he’ll take more after me,” she said.

  “Either way, he’ll be well loved.”

  After trying three times to tie a perfect bow on the teddy bear, she finally got it right. The cream-colored bear, similar to the one she’d been given as a child by Santa, was soft and huggable, and a perfect first gift for her son.

  “I think I’ll let him be named Rhys, but we’ll call him RJ like my dad suggested.”

  “It’s a sweet name.” Giving the teddy bear’s ear a gentle tug, Flora said, “The bear is perfect. If you’d ever like to start working in the toy factory, I know they’d happily let you join in.”

  “Seriously? It took me three weeks to make this one perfect. Everyone in here is so fast.”

  The toy factory workers had a high output of toys, some of them making upwards of two or three dozen toys a day.

  Flora smiled gently. “It’s because you wanted to have something special for your son that you took so long. There’s love in every stitch.”

  Merri hugged Flora. “Thank you for being patient and sharing this time with me. I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Me too, sweet girl. Your son is one lucky boy to have such a caring mom, and my son is truly the luckiest male to have you as a fated mate.”

  Chapter 9

  Rhys stared down at his son, his heart so full that he was sure it would burst. He loved Merri with every inch of his being, but the love he felt for his son was immediate and deep.

  “Welcome to the world, RJ,” he murmured. His son stirred, making a soft snorting sound, his little lips pursing. “I think he’s hungry.”

  Merri, face beaming, lifted her hands, and Rhys set RJ in her arms. As she settled their child against her breast, she smiled up at Rhys. “He’s perfect.”

  “It’s no surprise since his mother is, too.”

  “There you go, being all sweet.”

  He winked at her. Sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed, he linked his fingers with Merri’s and watched their son feed. His parents had been the first ones to see RJ. His mom had cried when she held him for the first time, and his dad teared up, which made Rhys’s eyes sting at the show of emotion from the people he loved the most.

  When RJ was finished, with his belly full and a snore rumbling in his little chest, Rhys said, “Everyone is waiting outside to meet him. Do you want me to take him out there or bring them all in here?”

  “In here is okay,” she murmured, “but let me make myself decent.”

  He lifted RJ from her and cradled him in one arm as she adjusted the pale blue nursing top one of the tailors had made for her. When she was ready, he gave her back their son and then walked out of the private room in the NPC hospital and hurried to the waiting room. The seven members of the sleigh team were waiting, along with his mother, SC, Mrs. C, Charli, Hope, and their one-month-old son, Arjan.

  “We’re ready for visitors,” he said.

  Everyone followed him into the room. Mrs. C and SC were first, standing at the bedside and smiling. Merri held RJ up to Mrs. C, who cradled him in her arms and made cooing sounds.

  SC rubbed his big hand over RJ’s head gently and said, “He’s perfect, you two. Congratulations.”

  RJ kicked out his legs and Mrs. C chuckled. “What a strong little one. Just like his father.”

  Mrs. C kissed RJ on the forehead. One by one, everyone in the room greeted RJ.

  “You’re going to be a quad, just like your dad. Someday you’ll be leading the team,” Sullivan said.

  “I know that you and Arjan are going to be the best of friends,” Arian said. As if to add in his two cents, Arjan made a sound of agreement, and everyone laughed.

  Declan said, “This gives me hope, that somewhere out there in the world are fated mates for the rest of us. Someday, all our children will be taking over for us, leading the team and making us proud.”

  “I can’t wait,” Vaughn said.

  After everyone had personally met RJ, congratulated Rhys and Merri on their beautiful baby, and left gifts for him on the bedside table, the room was once more quiet. Merri yawned and kissed RJ on his chubby cheek. He snored lightly in her arms, unable to stay awake for the duration of the visit. “This momma is ready for a nap.”

  Rhys bent over and kissed her. “I’ll be here when you both wake.”

  “I love you,” she said, her blue eyes sparkling.

  “I love you too, sugarplum.”

  He sat at the bedside, watching his mate and his son sleep, and he thought that he’d never been happier. There were times in his life when he’d thought he was happy – being able to shift into a reindeer and knowing he’d be a sleigh team member, taking the position as lead reindeer, finding Merri – but nothing compared to how he felt in this moment, with his beautiful mate slumbering with their son in her arms. If it weren’t for Mrs. C sneaking off to buy SC chocolates and bumping into Merri, Rhys most likely would never have met her. There was no other explanation for their meeting other than destiny, and he thanked his lucky stars every day for the magic that had brought them together.

  He’d woken up last Christmas Eve thinking it would be a day like any other day, but he’d been wrong. It had been the most amazing day he’d ever had in his life, and every day after that was even better.

  “I hope you find your fated mate, RJ,” he whispered, rubbing his fingertip gently on his son’s cheek. “It’s the most wonderful thing in the world.”

  The End

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  Also from R. E. Butler

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  Prancer’s Fated Mate (Arctic Shifters Book Three) Coming December 4, 2016

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  Coming December 4, 2016

  Prancer’s Fated Mate (Arctic Shifters Book Three)

  Kerri’s excited to be able to help plan the wedding of her sister’s friend. Decorating her sister’s middle-of-nowhere cabin and taking some R&R after finally finishing cooking school is exactly what she needs before she starts her job hunt. Unable to sleep, Kerri heads out into the woods before dawn on Christmas Eve to cut pine boughs to decorate the fireplace mantel. It’s cold and dark, but Kerri finds herself enjoying the early morning walk in the woods. Until an unwanted guest in the form of an enormous polar bear intrudes on her quiet morning.

  At dawn on Christmas Eve, Sullivan, an arctic shifter, goes with two members of the NPC security team to scout out the location for a close friend’s wedding. Deciding he’s a better hunter in his shifted form, he chooses the polar bear, his favorite of his four shifts. Heading into the woods that surround the cabin, he follows the scent of something amazing and comes face-to-face with a beautiful woman who watches him shift back into his human form and promptly passes out.

  When Kerri awakens, she feels immediately connected to a man she’s pretty sure she saw change forms from bear to human. She can’t explain why she feels drawn to him, but he can. He’s a quad shifter, part of Santa’s sleigh team, and she’s his fated mate. For a human who never realized that shifters, or Santa, were real, Kerri has to make a choice…fast. Either she’s waiting when Sullivan gets back from the Christmas Eve run, or he’ll leave her behind. Will Sullivan get his Christmas wish for Kerri to accept being his mate and join him in the North Pole, or will this be a blue Christmas for everyone?

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