The Jaguar's Bride (The Necklace Chronicles Book Five)

By R.E. Butler

Wanting to help her down-on-her-luck sister, witch Thea Greene plans to concoct a spell to help her find romantic happiness. The problem is that the one ingredient she doesn’t have is a flower that blooms solely during the full moon. There’s only one place the flower can be found, so she dons her hiking boots and heads out to locate it.

Jaguar shifter Savage Bayle is a marked male. Unable to secure a bride on his own, he’s now facing his people’s traditional Mate Hunt, which occurs during the full moon. As part of a matriarchal society, the females are the ones who chase the males during the Hunt, and any male caught must mate the female or face punishment. One female in his prowl has set her eyes on him – the cold, cruel daughter of the queen. The last thing he wants to do is spend the rest of his life mated to her. Hoping to ride out the Hunt and escape unmated, he heads into the woods with his fingers crossed to find a place to lay low until the Hunt is over at dawn.

When Thea follows an enticing smell deep into the woods, she stumbles into the arms of a gorgeous man. He purrs on contact, and the attraction between them is electric. One kiss and she wants to be his forever. But she’s not the only one laying a claim to the sexy Savage – the jaguar princess has one, too. Is their budding love enough to protect Thea, or will Savage lose her forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.E. Butler
• Release date: Sep 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463815854

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

The Jaguar’s Bride

The Necklace Chronicles Book Five

By R. E. Butler

Copyright 2019 RE Butler

The Jaguar’s Bride (The Necklace Chronicles Book Five)

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.

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Cover by C. T. Cover Creations

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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.

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Editing by Sara Dawn Johnson

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Many thanks to the amazeballs betas: Shelley the awesome & Ann the fab.

Hugs and special thanks to Joyce.

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

Coming Soon from R. E. Butler

Contact the Author

Other Books by R. E. Butler

Having Hope (Ashland Pride Eleven)

The Jaguar’s Bride

The Necklace Chronicles Book Five

Wanting to help her down-on-her-luck sister, witch Thea Greene plans to concoct a spell to help her find romantic happiness. The problem is that the one ingredient she doesn’t have is a flower that blooms solely during the full moon. There’s only one place the flower can be found, so she dons her hiking boots and heads out to locate it.

Jaguar shifter Savage Bayle is a marked male. Unable to secure a bride on his own, he’s now facing his people’s traditional Mate Hunt, which occurs during the full moon. As part of a matriarchal society, the females are the ones who chase the males during the Hunt, and any male caught must mate the female or face punishment. One female in his prowl has set her eyes on him – the cold, cruel daughter of the queen. The last thing he wants to do is spend the rest of his life mated to her. Hoping to ride out the Hunt and escape unmated, he heads into the woods with his fingers crossed to find a place to lay low until the Hunt is over at dawn.

When Thea follows an enticing smell deep into the woods, she stumbles into the arms of a gorgeous man. He purrs on contact, and the attraction between them is electric. One kiss and she wants to be his forever. But she’s not the only one laying a claim to the sexy Savage – the jaguar princess has one, too. Is their budding love enough to protect Thea, or will Savage lose her forever?

Chapter One

Thea Greene inhaled the sweet aroma of her favorite tea, the steam wafting over her skin. Her gaze flitted over the edge of her favorite mug, which depicted a cartoon llama demanding there be no drama, to the front door of the quaint cabin she shared with her older sister, Anne. Any minute now, Thea expected Anne to walk into the house with details about her latest endeavor to find a man: Speed Dating for Supes.

Which Thea thought was insane on several levels. Seriously? Who called supernatural creatures supes anyway?

But Anne had dreams of finding Mr. Right and sashaying down the aisle before she hit the big 3-0, a mere three years away. She always wanted to ask her sister – why the rush? Why not just wait for fate to bring the right man into your life? Anne was a romantic at heart, but also not interested in waiting for fate.

After taking a sip of tea, Thea set the mug on the end table and tucked her feet up on the couch, turning her attention back to her spell book. Thea and her family were the leaders of a coven of witches, and it was her turn to choose a special spell to cast at the next gathering of their small coven. The coven called the sleepy town of Ingot’s Mill home, along with a wolf pack, a family of fae, and assorted humans and other supernaturals. Nestled in the mountains and surrounded by woods, Ingot’s Mill was Thea’s very favorite place. Her family had lived in the town for generations, and she couldn’t imagine ever living anywhere else.

Which meant that she didn’t leave town all that much, so her husbandly prospects were those single fellows in town. Like Anne, she’d never felt much more than a passing interest in the boys she’d grown up with. She’d dated a few wolves and humans, but no one had ever made her swoon like the heroines in her favorite romcoms. She wanted to meet a guy and fall head over heels for him, and she was willing to wait for fate. Unlike Anne, who had dated her way through the wolf pack and come up empty.

In a few days, Thea and the coven were gathering to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of their coven’s creation. Each coven member was allowed to cast a spell, and she was looking for just the right one. There were so many spells she could choose from and she wanted to make sure she picked the right one. 

The front door creaked as it swung open and Thea looked up. Judging by the look on your face, she said as she put down her spell book and stood, I’m going to guess the speed dating didn’t go well?

Anne shut the door and leaned against it. It’s that obvious?

Your mascara is smeared. You look like an 80s rocker who went a little crazy with the eye makeup. Thea grabbed a tissue from the decorative box on the coffee table and walked to her sister, handing it to her and giving her a hug.

It wasn’t great.

I’m sorry.

Anne carefully wiped under her eyes and then sniffled. I’m an idiot.

You know you’re not. You tried something and it didn’t work out, but at least you tried. Unlike me, who just hopes to trip and fall into the arms of my future husband at some point.

Anne chuckled and gave Thea a watery smile. It was awful.

How about some tea? Thea asked. Anne nodded, and the two headed into the kitchen, Thea stopping to pick up her own mug. She turned on the burner and set the kettle on it, then reached into the cabinet and withdrew her sister’s favorite tea. What was it like?

There were hardly any guys! It was at least a four-to-one ratio of guys to girls, and the ones who were there were slimy as hell. Clearly looking for sex and not love. Anne leveled her sapphire gaze at Thea. I think you called it.

Before Anne had left for the speed dating event, Thea had suggested that love couldn’t be forced. Anne might meet a great guy, but the odds seemed unlikely. Thea was more practical than Anne, but she adored her sister’s doe-eyed romantic view of love.

I’m sorry you had a bummer of a night. Those jerks missed out on getting to know you. I happen to think you’re spectacular, and whoever you choose is going to be one lucky guy.

The kettle whistled and Thea poured the boiling water into a mug and Anne dipped the mesh ball of tea inside. Thea took a sip of her own tea and watched as the liquid in Anne’s mug turned a pretty pink from the dried strawberries in the mixture.

Maybe I’ll be single forever, like Aunt Eugenia.

Their favorite aunt was what people would call a spinster, a woman who never married or had children. But Eugenia, who had sadly passed away a few years earlier, lived a long and fabulous life, filled with travel and adventure. She’d never wanted for lovers and had a reputation for telling inappropriate stories about her bedroom romps at family get-togethers.

If you want to be single, be single. If you want to get married, then I believe you’ll eventually find the right guy. You’re still young.

Anne hummed. Maybe. I’m feeling pretty skeptical right now, though.

Well, you just spent two hours with a bunch of assholes looking for a quick lay. Anyone would feel skeptical.

Thanks for the tea, Anne said, kissing Thea on the cheek. I’m going to take a bath and go to bed. It’s been a long day.

Sweet dreams.

Same to you.

Thea finished her tea and put her mug in the sink, then cleaned up the kitchen. As she worked, her mind came back again and again to her spell book and the upcoming celebration. What about a love spell?

Drying her hands on the yellow kitchen towel, she hurried to her book and flipped through the pages, searching for a spell to help her sister. Love spells were notoriously difficult to pull off, and there was the occasional side effect of turning one of the parties into an emotionally overzealous stalker who wouldn’t take no for an answer. But she was certain she’d seen a spell at some point that would draw the parties together but not mess with their emotions.

Coming up empty,