A Bond of Brothers

By R.E. Butler

Shaylee Tannia is a banished fairy with the powers of healing and nature at her disposal. One wintry morning, she stumbles upon an injured and dying were-bear. Saving his life leads to a connection she didn’t expect and the love kindled between them is hot enough to melt the snow. But all is not easy with their newfound love...a brother’s claim threatens everything.
Can she bridge the gap between them or will choosing both be the end of it all? When a demon from her past jeopardizes all she holds dear, will the cost of her freedom be the lives of the ones she loves most?

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.E. Butler
• Release date: Aug 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476416755

R.E. Butler

I write for the readers who stay up past their bedtime, telling themselves "just one more chapter" long after the lights should be out. The ones who fall in love with fictional characters, escape into magical worlds, and crave protective heroes who would do anything for their women. My love for paranormal romance started as a young mom reading ebooks in the middle of the night, drawn to the monsters who were more than villains—they were heroes. Inspired by shifters and fated mates, I set a goal in 2011 to publish my first book. Over 100 books later, I'm still creating the kind of stories I love to read. Now, I spend my days dreaming up protective heroes, captivating heroines, and the happily ever afters they fight for, often while walking with my pup coworker and plotting my next book. I write for readers who love adventure, passion, and a touch of magic—because I'm still that girl under the covers, reading by flashlight, lost in another world.

Book preview

A Bond of Brothers

Wiccan-Were-Bear Book Four

By R. E. Butler

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Excerpt from A Bead of Blood

Books by R. E.

About the Author

Copyright

Chapter One

I woke up from the nightmare with a scream lodged in my throat. My eyes roamed my bedroom wildly, looking for the wraith that had stalked me in my dreams. It wasn’t just any wraith, though. The creature from my nightmares was very real–my uncle Tiamet. As my pulse settled and I willed my breathing to return to normal, I laid back on the bed and took a few deep breaths. He wasn’t here. I was alone in my cabin in the woods, separated forever from my uncle by my banishment from the fairy realm.

It wasn’t so bad being here in the mortal realm. Humans were surprisingly tolerant of supernatural creatures, at least the non-scary ones, and I’d quickly made friends. I’d been grateful to find the cabin nestled away from the small town of Carriage Place in Northwestern Ohio. After growing up in the overcrowded fairy capital city of Rairna, Carriage Place was a sweet change of pace.

My mother died when I was a teenager, followed shortly by her sister, my aunt and only living relative. As part of one of many royal families, I was the last living heir for my family line and that meant when my mother and aunt died, that I was expected to take my rightful place on the Seelie Court. At fifteen, I had no idea how to be part of the court and really no desire to do anything so boring as that, and my uncle had kindly offered to take my place until I turned eighteen and came of-age. When I turned eighteen, he protested my place in the court. I fought for my family name and my seat on the court, certain that the court would side with me. He was a usurper to my place; they would see the light. I was younger then, naive and foolish to think that a group of esteemed princes, princesses, queens, and kings would side with a child over a man that had already wormed his way into their world.

But while I fought the battle for my seat in front of the court, he went behind the scenes and turned them against me until he had secured the seat for his own and I was removed from the court. My family’s name was stricken from the records and I had no political power and no allies. It had taken almost two years for him to turn them all against me, but when he did, his next plan to take everything from me started to progress. Stripped of title and family name, I had only my parent’s home and their belongings. Soon, all that was gone, but I’d managed to hide what I could and planned to escape the capital city and start my life over somewhere in the country, far away from his reach. But it wasn’t enough for him to take everything from me. He wanted me gone, completely.

The first time he tried to kill me, he sent a few of his guards to do the job and it was unfortunate that the daughter of one of the other council members looked an incredible amount like me and she was killed instead. The council couldn’t turn on my uncle who had become too powerful, so they chose instead to banish me from the land of my birth for all eternity.

Even though I had been a princess, I was seen as a commoner now. They let me keep my wings, and the day that they opened a portal to the mortal world, I was warned that if I ever returned, I would be killed. The last thing I’d seen as I stepped through the portal with my belongings was my uncle’s smirking face.

It hadn’t been so bad, though. Not as bad as I thought it would be. The portal opened in a wooded park and after a few days of wandering, I found people who were willing to help me. But sometimes, in the quiet of the cabin in the woods, my uncle returned to me in my nightmares, reminding me that while he lived, I really wasn’t ever going to be safe.

My mind refused to stop thinking about the past ten months that I’d been living in the mortal world, so I got up and took a shower. There wasn’t a whole lot that I missed about the fairy world, but I did miss being with my own people. And I missed sex like mad. I hadn’t had sex in well over year, not just the ten months I’d been here in the mortal realm.

Toweling off my curvy body, I brushed through my long hair until it shone like melted rubies and citrine gems and then tied it back in a loose braid. My eyes were fairy green, bright and light like a leaf in spring, fringed with thick black lashes. A small nose and a Cupid’s bow mouth completed my looks and made me feel like I was much younger than eighteen plus three.

I puttered around the cabin for the day, unable to sit still for long. The book I’d been planning to read failed to catch my attention, the quilt I’d been working on sat untouched. The need to get out into the fresh air pushed at me, so I gave up the warmth of the cabin and decided to go hunting. More than the actual hunt itself, I enjoyed exploring the lush forest that was like my whole backyard. Although the cabin I rented lay on only a tiny piece of property, the woods belonged to the owner and I could hunt as I pleased.

I stepped from the warmth of my small cabin and shouldered my knapsack and my bow. I hadn’t been hunting in a while, but it was a skill that I knew I should keep up with. Snow blanketed the ground, but it was February in Ohio and according to the locals, that meant snow and ice and cold temperatures. There was a large supernatural population in Northern Ohio, which was what had enticed me to stick around. I hadn’t gone into Cleveland, which was nearly two hours East of where I lived, to try to meet any of the groups that called the area home, but it was nice to know I wasn’t entirely alone.

I scanned the woods for a few quiet moments. It was about two hours until dark and I was sure I’d be freezing well before that time and ready to get home. But just in case, I packed my knapsack with supplies. Always better to be prepared, period.

I headed north, my insulated boots making a trail behind me in the fresh snow. According to the mortal calendar, their holiday of Valentine’s Day was just two weeks away. Last week, when I’d gone into town to buy groceries, I’d seen a display of cards full of red and pink hearts and seen shelves full of candies and stuffed toys with endearing sayings embroidered on them. Although Cupid was a fairy of legend, fairies didn’t have the same holidays as mortals, and there certainly wasn’t a holiday just for celebrating love. But I liked the idea of it all the same, even if I didn’t have anyone to share the holiday with. Or even anyone that I loved. In fact, I had no one in my life at all. These last ten months had been supremely lonely, not only exiled from my home and my friends, but also from the only world I’d ever known.

What the hell is wrong with me today? I groused out loud, my breath steaming around me in the chilled air. I cleared my mind by sheer force of will and