Redeeming Rue (Ashland Pride Four)

By R.E. Butler

As an albino black panther banished by her people, Veruka Jennings knows if her clan discovers she had a child, it would mean death for them both. Labeled an abomination and forbidden from having cubs, she’s spent the better part of her life as an outcast, believing she is worthless because of the color of her fur. After secretly overhearing traveling clan members discuss a bonding ceremony in Indiana, she decides to spy on the proceedings for one last look at the people who treated her like trash.

When James and John Fallon investigate a shadowy figure in the woods during a bonding ceremony, they do not expect to find the woman they are meant to share. But instead of enjoying their mating, they are embroiled in a clan war as they fight to protect Veruka and her son, who have come to mean everything to them. If they can protect her, will they be able to keep her? Or will Rue believe she’s not worthy of their love and disappear from their lives forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.E. Butler
• Release date: Oct 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311948427

R.E. Butler

A Midwesterner by birth, R.E. spent much of her childhood rewriting her favorite books to include herself as the main character. Later, she graduated on to writing her own books after "retiring" from her day job as a secretary to become a stay-at-home mom.When not playing with her kids, wrestling her dogs out the door, or cooking dinner for her family, you'll find her typing furiously and growling obscenities to the characters on the screen.Her best-selling series Wiccan-Were-Bear, The Necklace Chronicles, Hyena Heat, Wilde Creek, Were-Zoo, Arctic Shifters, Norlanian Brides, Saber Chronicles, and Ashland Pride are available now.

Book preview

Redeeming Rue (Ashland Pride Four)

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

Excerpt from Saving Scarlett

Other Books by R. E. Butler

About the Author

Copyright

Chapter One

James Fallon tried to be interested in what the human woman across the table from him was talking about, but he found it difficult to hold the smile that had been plastered to his face since she sat down. It was a blind date set up by his sister-in-law, Samantha, who assured James that he would find the substitute Spanish teacher a joy. James went into the date with high hopes. He was tired of being alone, but after listening to his date drone on about herself, going so far as to refer to herself in the third person, he decided there were worse things than being alone. Being on this date, for example.

And Krista just does not like to be kept waiting, the strawberry-blonde said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

James hummed and the sound was a lot less enthusiastic than he’d planned, but she didn’t seem to notice.

He could salvage the evening. Maybe. Do you like being a teacher?

The fork holding a hunk of chocolate pie stopped just inches from her mouth, and James hoped to hell that she wouldn’t talk with her mouth full, like she’d been doing for the entire meal. She popped the bite into her mouth.

Damn it.

Well, she said, giving him an unpleasant view of chewed up pie, Krista wanted to be a professional singer, but could never get her foot in the door. It’s all political anyway. So Krista likes teaching, since it pays the bills, but wishes she was doing something more exciting. She leaned forward slightly. Like what you do. All Krista’s friends were very jealous to hear she was going out with a cop.

James felt his eye tick. The evening was just going from bad to worse. I’m not a police officer because it’s exciting.

Oh sure, she said and winked exaggeratedly at him and he sighed inwardly. We just had dessert, she said after taking another mouthful of pie, "but how about we go back to Krista’s place for dessert."

James didn’t particularly care for how she said that word. It sounded sleazy. He didn’t think he’d ever hear that word again without thinking about her staring at him like he was the piece of pie.

He signaled the waitress, ignoring Krista’s pleased expression, and pulled out his wallet. After paying for dinner and leaving a generous tip, he stood and escorted Krista to her car. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.

So, Krista’s place? She dropped the hint like a lead balloon.

I have an early shift tomorrow, Krista, but thank you for joining me for dinner. Take care. He turned quickly and strode to his truck, where he waited until she got into her car and pulled away. Releasing a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, he thanked his lucky stars that she hadn’t tried to get in his truck or stop him from leaving. He didn’t really know how to be rude to a woman. He’d been raised to be polite at all times, even in the presence of those who were too self-absorbed to realize they’d spent the entire hour and a half date talking about themselves.

He drove home to the boarding house he shared with the mountain lion pride in Ashland, Indiana. The pride had been living there for three years after leaving their former home in King, Pennsylvania. When he opened the front door and stepped inside, he was glad to be home. Walking through the grand foyer, he moved into the kitchen and with an audible sigh sat on one of the stools along the counter of the island. His brother John turned from where he’d been gathering a glass from the cabinet and greeted him.

How’d it go? John asked.

Remind me to ask Samantha not to fix me up again. James knew he was making a face because John chuckled.

That bad, huh?

I guess. I’m sure the man of Krista’s dreams is out there somewhere, but it’s definitely not me.

John poured a glass of lemonade for himself and after offering some to James, put the pitcher away and took a long drink. He ran his finger along the rim of the glass and then said, Did you ever think that we were meant to share a mate?

We as in you and me?

Yeah.

James would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it. Most of the lions in the Ashland Pride who had found mates were sharing them. Their brothers Aaron and Grant shared a human named Samantha. His son Alek shared a bear named Lachlyn with another bear named Jericho. His twin sons, Ethan and Eryx, shared a wolf named Callie. And two of the males in the boarding house—Micah and Tristan—shared a lioness named Melody. Although he had been told that there were males in the King Pride in Pennsylvania who had found mates that they didn’t share with others and his brother Rhett was mated to a human woman named Lisa, James believed they were the exceptions, not the rule. He truly believed that lions were meant to share.

Well, if you’re thinking that I didn’t feel connected to Krista because you weren’t there, trust me when I say that she was definitely not for either of us.

John snorted. But you do think about it? His tone was earnest. Hopeful.

Nodding, James said, I do. If we both felt connected to the same woman, I would be honored to share her with you.

Me too. John said. Seeing Jilly with her mates makes me wish that things could’ve been different for all of us a long time ago.

John agreed one hundred percent. Mountain lion females were cold and callous, never wanting to start a family or be part of their children’s lives. The males were the nurturing ones, the ones who raised the kids. The females were content to breed with a male to carry a child, but dropped the child like a hot stone once it was born and never seemed to even recognize their own children. Jilly, John’s daughter, had been like that. Changing slowly over the years from a sweet, loving baby to a cold and uncaring female. She disappeared from John’s home after she shifted at age sixteen and no one expected to ever see her again.

But Jilly had come across twin were-panthers who shared blood with her by nicking her and themselves, and that simple action had torn apart the curse that had bound Jilly. Because the compassionate part of Jilly’s nature that had been hidden by the curse had been restored, she was now living in Ashland in the boarding house, and the panther clan, including her twin mates, Wyked and Fate, were now living on the other side of the woods behind the boarding house. A farmer had rented a portion of unused land for the small clan to inhabit while the twins courted Jilly. They didn’t allow matings in their clan until all involved were twenty-one, and Jilly was just now eighteen, which meant that John, and the rest of the pride, was thankful to have three years to get to know Jilly again before she mated her twins and decided to become either part of their nomadic clan or for the twins to join the pride. James hoped that she would want to stay. He liked having his family close, under the protection of the pride.

I have a feeling it won’t be any easier to find a shared mate than it will be to find a woman for just one of us, John said.

I agree, James said. But I believe she’s out there somewhere.

John smiled and said goodnight to James. He was left alone in the big kitchen. When they’d come to Ashland and rented the boarding house, he had thought it was a huge place that they would never use to capacity, but slowly it was filling up. Since James and his brothers and their kids had come, they’d also welcomed seven males from the King Pride, and three mates, and just recently two more males had come from King—Melody’s uncles, Holden and Jackson.

He heard the sounds of a video game and went into the family room. He was not surprised to see Ray and Wesley Fiero sitting on one of the three couches, intently playing a game. Although it was a Friday night, it was late enough that the younger children were all in bed. James’ own children were all grown and married. Ethan and Eryx lived in Ashland, but in a converted apple barn on his brother Rhett’s property and Alek, Lachlyn, and Jericho lived in the boarding house.

Ray looked at James, briefly, and then turned his attention back to the game. Although he and Wesley said hello, they didn’t tease him about his date like he’d come to expect the fraternal twins to do. Ray could be a little arrogant and liked to use too much foul language, but he was funny and kind to those he loved. Wesley was shy, but very sweet and fiercely protective of his brother. The two were always playing video games into the wee hours of the morning.

What, no funny quips about my date? James sat down on one of the couches.

There was a plinking noise and the game was paused. Ray tossed the controller onto the coffee table and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. Sorry. I’m not feeling quite like myself.

I didn’t mean to interrupt your game, James said.

It’s not that, Wes said. We’re both just feeling out of sorts.

Something wrong at work? The males worked on Rhett’s farm.

No, it’s Melody’s friend, Scarlett, Wes said.

Ray stood abruptly and left the room. Wes looked over his shoulder and stared at the empty hallway where Ray had escaped. James remembered Scarlett. Melody was a mountain lion female who had been raised away from the cruel influence of the females and because of that she had never been cursed. Before her, no females had ever been kept apart from other females and she grew up not to be like her cruel counterparts but loving and sweet. She was raised by her dad in a town in Ohio where a wolf pack was prevalent. Her best friend was a female named Scarlett, who had come to Melody’s wedding over the weekend.

I saw you two cozying up to her. Did something happen?

Wes nodded, but just barely. When he met James’ eyes, the depths of pain that James saw there blew him away. Without hesitation, James moved next to Wes and put his arm around him. Although he wasn’t Wes’ dad, he knew that some of the younger males looked at him and the older males as family.

With halting words, Wes told James that Scarlett had captivated him and Ray from the moment they saw her, and they were certain that she was feeling the mate-pull to them, too. After spending the night together, they were shocked to discover that she had disappeared while they slept. When Melody came back from her honeymoon with Tristan and Micah, she called Scarlett on their behalf and Scarlett told her that there was nothing between them more than what had happened and she didn’t want to hear from them again.

Wes scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. It’s bullshit, James. I’ve never felt so close to a female before. If I’d known she was going to leave, I would never have gone to sleep. I would have held her all night and made sure she knew we were serious.

What did Melody say about it?

She said that Scarlett has some pack responsibilities that she can’t get out of, but wouldn’t tell us what they were. We wanted to be more important to her than whatever she has to deal with, but she won’t talk to us. Ray suggested going to Bent Creek and talking to her in person, but Melody said it’s a terrible idea. Ray is going crazy, and I’m not much better.

James squeezed Wes’ shoulder. I’m sorry, Wes. I wish I could help you, but the only thing that I can tell you is that from what I’ve seen, when truemates find each other, they can’t stay away forever. If she is really meant to be yours, then she’ll come back to you. Don’t give up hope.

Wes gave James a watery smile. Thanks.

James decided to believe his own words and not give up hope that he and John—if they were meant to share a woman—would find her eventually and she would want to stay with them. He offered to play a game with Wes, but Wes chose to go find Ray. James sat in the empty family room and envisioned, for just a moment, what it would be like to have a woman there with him. Because of the way that mountain lions had been made, the females and males of the species didn’t mate together. The females were uncaring and distant and the males were nurturing and family-centric. It was a role-reversal of epic proportions. It wasn’t until recently—with Jilly’s homecoming—that the pride discovered the strange behavior of their females was actually because of an ancient curse.

The result was an upside-down world where the males were the ones craving family and unity, and the females scorned them at every turn. James had been on the receiving end of their cruelty several times through the years, when they had been one large pride living in King. The female he’d cared for had born him three kids, but she’d never cared one iota for him or the boys, no matter how he’d tried to change her mind. He’d raised his kids alone the best he could, but he knew that they’d missed out on having a female in the house. A mom for his boys. A wife for himself.

Through Jilly, the pride had discovered that if a male and female were truemates and she truly desired the male, they could share blood through marking and she would be changed into her true mountain lion nature. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it firsthand in his niece. She’d been claimed and marked by twin panthers and the difference between the Jilly he’d known as being a typical mountain lion female and the Jilly who now resided in the boarding house with them was as different as night and day.

Not that it mattered in the long run to James, at least not as far as the females went. He never believed the female he had kids with was his truemate. He’d seen what the relationship between truemates was like, not only in his own kids, but also in the other males, and what he’d felt toward her was a pale shadow of the love that grew in the house.

Someday, he’d find the woman who was meant for him. Him and John. And when they did find her, he’d do everything in his power to make sure she was safe and happy.

Chapter Two

Rue!

Veruka Jennings glanced up from the pitcher she was filling to find her boss, Titus Perkins, motioning for her from across the bar. She hurriedly topped off the pitcher and handed it across the worn countertop to Sallie, one of the waitresses at Biggie’s Bar where Rue slung suds four afternoons and one evening a week.

She lifted the counter at the side of the horseshoe shaped bar and maneuvered her way around the tables until she reached Titus.

Rue, can you switch shifts with Margie so she can work Friday night and you can work Saturday night?

Sure. Dom and I didn’t have any plans. Her son, Domino, was the light of her life and the only true family she had.

Thanks, I know you like having your weekends free. Titus cuffed her on the shoulder with a friendly smile.

You’ve been really good to me, to both of us, Titus. I’m happy to help.

Titus had given her the job behind the bar a year ago, when the tattoo parlor she’d been working at during the day had been robbed and she’d been held at gunpoint for long enough to have nightmares for a month. She’d loved working at the parlor while Dom was in school, cleaning and answering the phone while the shop was closed during their off hours spanning from late morning to early afternoon. It had allowed her to see Dom off to school and greet him when he got home. Except for that one day.

The next day she’d seen the Help Wanted ad on the sign outside the bar, and Titus had given her the job even though the only experience she had with beer involved cracking a cold one open on occasion at home. He’d never said what he saw in her, but she figured it was her promise to be the best worker he’d ever had, along with her earnest desire to find someplace else to work that had intrigued him. Granted a bar wasn’t the safest place to work, but Titus was a big man and a werewolf to boot, and no one messed with him or his staff.

Rue walked back to the bar and checked out her reflection in the mirror that hung behind the bar, making sure her wig was on straight, and then turned around and took another order. The Thursday lunch crowd was surprisingly big considering it was only one thirty in the afternoon. Rue had never been a drink-during-the-daytime sort of person, and after working at the bar and seeing the sorts of folks who drank every day, she was just about put off alcohol entirely.

She made a vodka tonic and took the cash from the customer, a process she repeated hundreds of times a week, with varying drinks and cash amounts. The people in the bar were normally generous with their tips. Biggie’s was located on the end of a strip mall, next to a shipping store, in the bustling town of Tanner, Michigan. She and Dom lived in Perry, fifteen minutes south of Tanner, and it had been their home for seventeen years.

For just a moment, her mind drifted to the scared kid she’d been when she came to town, but she quickly shoved the thoughts away and concentrated on work.

Before long, it was three o’clock and she was done for the day. Waving at Sallie and Titus, she gathered her purse from the cabinet under the counter and left. Leaving the parking lot, she drove home, always happy to see the quaint little brick home that she shared with her son.

Growing up, she’d never had a permanent home. Her people were nomadic were-panthers. They traveled in clans, mostly made up of family members and their extended families, and were constantly on the move. Her former clan had moved through the southern states, from Florida to California, traveling from one coast to the other in a constantly moving wave. She hadn’t minded the constant traveling as a youngster, because that was the way of her clan. She knew there were panthers who chose to live life in one place, but they were oddities to her people and not the norm. Not that she knew anything about being normal.

Pulling into the gravel driveway, she parked next to Dom’s ancient Ford Taurus, got out of her car, stretched, and walked up the stone sidewalk to the front door. It was a rental home, and the owner was a kindly older human woman named Mrs. Milford who had given her and Dom free reign to decorate as they pleased. They’d lived in Perry for seventeen years, when she’d come to town at nearly nineteen, with an infant in one arm and a trash bag full of their scant belongings. They’d lived in several places through the years, and had only been in the small house for the last five years, but this was her favorite of all the places they’d called home since they became a family. Knocking loudly twice in rapid succession, pausing, and then knocking once, which was her and Dom’s code that everything was okay, she unlocked the front door and stepped inside. The scent of spiced pumpkin greeted her thanks to a bowl of potpourri that sat on a small table just inside the door.

Dom? she called, dropping her purse into the narrow hall closet and toeing off her shoes before kicking them inside and shutting the door.

Back here, Mom, he called from his bedroom.

She tugged off the wig as she strode back to his bedroom, releasing her hair from its braid and scratching her fingernails against her scalp. She hated wearing a wig, but her hair wouldn’t hold color, and it was a telltale sign to other panthers of what she really was: a genetic mutation. Tucking the wig under her arm, she flipped her long, white hair over her shoulder and leaned against the open door of Dom’s room. His head was bent over his lap as his hands moved, using a small knife to shape a piece of wood he was carving. His hair was the same white as hers. Not white-blonde, but stark white, and like her, he had been born with inky black hair that had changed to the polar opposite when he shifted for the first time during his sixteenth year. And like the white of their hair, their panther forms were also pure white, a genetic glitch in her family’s otherwise entirely normal gene pool.

What are you carving? she asked, noticing the small pile of shavings surrounding his feet.

I had an order on the craft site for a koi. He made one slow movement with the knife, slicing a section of wood away, and then held it up for

Reviews for Redeeming Rue (Ashland Pride Four)

[Yuridia Salinas · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not very good