Arctic Shifters Volume One

By R.E. Butler

This volume contains the first three books in the Arctic Shifter Series:

Blitzen's Fated Mate
On Christmas Eve, romance writer Charli watches as something plummets into the woods behind her home. When she investigates, she discovers an injured reindeer who quickly transforms into a man. When arctic shifter Arian’s sleigh harness breaks during the Christmas Eve run, he knows he’s lucky to be alive after the fall. But he’s even luckier to have found his fated mate in the alluring human, Charli. When Arian contacts his people to tell them the news, he’s surprised to discover they don’t believe that Charli is his mate and are coming to see him before dawn on Christmas Day. Arian refuses to consider a life without Charli and will do whatever is necessary to ensure they’ll be together forever.

Dasher's Fated Mate
When Mrs. Claus sneaks away from the North Pole on Christmas Eve, Santa sends out a security team to bring her home before dawn on Christmas Day. The team follows the tracking beacon in Mrs. Claus’s coat to downtown New York City, finding her in the crowded streets of the human city. They hustle her into an alley and use magic to take her home to North Pole City. Merri Blevins has had a rough night. Not only was her adorable elf costume unavailable at the costume store, forcing her to take the frumpy Mrs. Claus costume, but she’s lost in New York City. It’s cold, it’s crowded, it’s late, and a crazy woman dressed just like Merri bumped into her and nearly knocked her over. Could things get any worse? When Rhys is called by the security team to his bedroom after the Christmas Eve run because of a problem with Mrs. Claus, he realizes immediately that the woman wearing the traditional red dress is not Mrs. Claus, but his Fated Mate. She’s human. She’s pissed. And he has to take her back to her human world before dawn or she’ll be trapped in North Pole City for a year. Can Rhys convince her to give him a chance to prove his worth as a mate, or will Merri demand she be taken home immediately? Only Santa knows what the future will bring.

Prancer's Fated Mate
Kerri’s excited to be able to help plan the wedding of a friend of her sister’s. 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, arctic shifter Sullivan, goes with two members of the 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 belonging to the mate of one of their friends, he follows the scent of something amazing and comes face to face with a beautiful woman. She takes one look at his polar bear and screams. He shifts, to tell her that she’s in no danger, and she 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 she leaves him 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?

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.E. Butler
• Release date: Oct 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005522209

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.

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Arctic Shifters Volume One

By R. E. Butler

Copyright 2021, R. E. Butler

Arctic Shifters Volume One

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.

Cover by CT Cover Designs

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.

* * *

Blitzen’s Fated Mated (Book One)

Copyright 2016

Dasher’s Fated Mate (Book Two)

Copyright 2016

Prancer’s Fated Mate (Book Three)

Copyright 2016

* * *

Table of Contents

Blitzen’s Fated Mate

Dasher’s Fated Mate

Prancer’s Fated Mate

Arctic Shifters Volume Two

Contact the Author

Also by R. E.

Available Now in the Arctic Shifters Series

Blitzen’s Fated Mate (Arctic Shifters Book One)

By R. E. Butler

On Christmas Eve, romance writer Charli watches as something plummets into the woods behind her home. When she investigates, she discovers an injured reindeer who quickly transforms into a man.

When arctic shifter Arian’s sleigh harness breaks during the Christmas Eve run, he knows he’s lucky to be alive after the fall. But he’s even luckier to have found his fated mate in the alluring human, Charli.

When Arian contacts his people to tell them the news, he’s surprised to discover they don’t believe that Charli is his mate and are coming to see him before dawn on Christmas Day. Arian refuses to consider a life without Charli and will do whatever is necessary to ensure they’ll be together forever.

Chapter One

Arian rubbed the polishing cloth on the buckle of his harness until it shone brightly. Excitement filled him as he thought about what the night would bring. Christmas Eve in North Pole City was always a busy night, and as one of the chosen eight to pull the sleigh, Arian’s day had been especially busy. After he’d turned eighteen and first been able to shift into an arctic animal, he’d known that someday he’d be chosen for a sleigh run. He’d never expected it to take twelve years for a spot to open, but thanks to a mating arranged by Mrs. C, the Blitzen position had opened up.

It was about damn time.

Rhys, head of the North Pole City security team and also the Dasher position on the sleigh, slapped Arian on the shoulder. You ready, rook?

Arian arched a brow. I’ve been shifting as long as you have, Rhys.

But you’ve never pulled the sleigh before. This is a trial run. If everything goes well tonight, you’ll be looking at a permanent position, and you know what that means.

Arian felt the beasts within him stir. There weren’t many females in North Pole City. The males outnumbered them seven to one. In order to be allowed to pursue a female to mate, a male had to prove his worth in a noble profession–for shifters like himself, Arian needed to find a permanent position, such as sleigh-work. For the last twelve years, he’d been standing on the sidelines, working his ass off but never actually being given a permanent position. It had been hell. His beasts wanted to be mated and start a family. Waiting because of an ancient Santa law had started to make Arian want to forget his shifting abilities and take a permanent position somewhere else, like with the toy builders.

His beasts hadn’t much cared for that notion. Shifters weren’t supposed to be toy builders; they were part of security or part of the sleigh team, and sometimes they were both.

I’ll do my best, Rhys, Arian said.

Rhys smiled. I know you will. If you’re nervous, go for a run in your shift before we have to harness up. It helps to take the edge off.

I will, thanks.

Arian finished polishing the buckle on his harness and hung it on the rack in the stall. In a few hours, he would be shifting into his reindeer form–one of his four shifted forms–and an elf would attach the harness and hook him up in the line. He didn’t relish spending the evening staring at Roi’s ass as they flew from house to house, but he’d gladly take it to have a chance to find a mate and start a family.

Deciding to take Rhys’s advice to heart, Arian jogged out of the barn to the trees and stripped, closing his eyes and talking to the beasts inside him. He could transform into four arctic creatures at will–polar bear, snowy owl, arctic fox, and reindeer. His favorite shift was the arctic fox. He liked blending into the snow and being able to race through the trees. The polar bear, while powerful, was just not as fast as the fox.

He shook himself out as he took on the mantle of his shift and stretched, curling his claws into the snow and snapping his tail. Without any thought to the point of his run, he took off, the trees a blur as he raced by. As he ran, he thought about how powerfully unfair the mating situation was for those born in North Pole City. He’d never been to a human city before, but he’d heard rumors from some of the elves who regularly visited to pick up supplies for NPC, that humans mated at will. No one made them wait until they had a certain job, or matched them up through a special ceremony. It would be nice if he were human, but he wasn’t, so he was bound by the rules and laws of his world, which although on the same planet as the humans’, were about as different as night and day.

After lazily chasing some snowshoe rabbits and then chuckling to himself as they cursed him out in their strange bunny language from the safety of their dens, he headed back to the barn. He could feel the time drawing close for when he would need to shift and take his place. Excitement coursed through his veins, the idea of having the opportunity to mate with a female shoved to the back of his mind as more important tasks awaited him.

* * *

Declan shoved Sullivan, and the big male tilted slightly and took a swing at the bigger male, narrowly missing his face. Ha, too slow, old man, Declan taunted.

I’m only three months older than you, Sullivan said, grimacing.

Stop messing around, Lan, the elf in charge of the sleigh team, bellowed. SC is on his way.

Declan fell into step behind Rhys as the male walked in front of the stalls, stopping to wish each male a good run. After Rhys and Declan passed by, the males stripped and shifted into their reindeer forms. Arian was nervous, but he did his best to calm his racing heart.

You’ll be great, Rhys said as he stopped in front of Arian’s stall. Just remember your training.

When it had been revealed that Arian was a true arctic shifter, able to shift into so many forms, his training had begun for the sleigh team. If he hadn’t been able to shift into the all-important reindeer form, he would have been trained for the security team only. All those years of training were paying off tonight. He felt electricity in the air. He knew that by the time his first flight was over, he would be a completely different male. He relished the knowledge.

Declan gave a nod to Arian, and the two males walked back toward the front where their stalls were. Arian’s fingers trembled as he undid his trousers and let them fall. It took a moment for his nerves to calm enough for him to be able to claim his shift. His body stretched and his bones snapped and reformed as he became a reindeer. He stamped his hooves and snorted.

I’m coming, I’m coming, Oliver, one of the barn elves, said as he hurried into the stall and attached the ancient harness around Arian’s body. He patted Arian on the haunches and smiled. Good travels, Blitzen.

Arian snorted, trying not to prance out of the stall like some kind of show horse. Oliver led him to the sleigh, and the red painted wood shined under the light of the candles glowing brightly in the barn. Arian took his place, right in front of the sleigh and was attached to the main harness. Donner, his fellow shifter Jack, was next to him, and the male nudged Arian with his horns. Arian would have grinned if he’d had the ability.

SC, otherwise known around the world as Santa Claus, strode into the barn, his cloak billowing around him. Mrs. C, his wife, hurried next to him, clucking under her tongue as they had an argument that Arian had heard many times over the years.

What if you just ate the cookies at every other house? she asked.

It’s important the kids know I was there.

The presents aren’t an indication of that?

SC stopped next to Arian and put his big hand on Arian’s head, scratching him lightly just under the horns. Good flight tonight, Blitzen. Then he turned to his wife and drew her close, kissing her soundly. You worry for nothing, sweetheart.

She sighed. I love you.

I’ll eat only a bite at each house. How does that sound?

Better.

And I’ll bring home a special cookie for you, he said, his voice low and filled with lust.

Mrs. C giggled. Stop it, you old horn dog. Safe journey, Santa Claus.

Until the dawn, Mrs. Claus.

SC climbed into the sleigh and the barn doors were thrown wide. The elves cheered as SC picked up the reins and with a mighty shout, cracked them in the air. The two lead reindeer started them off, and Arian found himself caught up in the rush. His feet were moving before he could focus on the need to move, and he was thankful that some part of him was working on autopilot. As the North Pole dimmed in the distance below them, he blinked and found himself rushing through time and space.

The stops at the houses were so brief that they barely touched down before SC was back in the sleigh and they were moving on. Arian lost himself in the blur of the houses, focusing on doing his job and keeping the team on time.

The world was theirs for the night. The sleigh raced across the sky, invisible to human eyes, through the magic of SC. Arian was running high on adrenaline, happy to finally take the job that he’d longed to do for so many years.

He heard a clicking sound, like the ping of metal against metal, and as they flew through an expanse of wilderness, the buckle holding him against the main harness gave way. He bellowed in alarm and tried to grab the harness with his teeth to hold himself to the sleigh but his jaws snapped on air and he was falling. Down, down, down, through frigid air that took his breath away. Then he was being slapped rapidly by trees, before he hit the ground. His whole body cracked against the earth, and his brain rattled in his skull.

He remembered nothing else.

Chapter Two

Charli tugged her fleece robe a little tighter around her body as she stared out the front window of her home. It was 11:30 on Christmas Eve night, and she should have been asleep. There was a part of her that still believed that if she weren’t asleep by midnight, Santa wouldn’t come by and visit. Leftover childhood beliefs. As an adult, she knew that the parents were the ones who brought the presents for their kids, and she’d had many happy Christmases as a youth wanting to stay up late but being too afraid of missing out on presents to do so.

She glanced at her tree in the corner. She’d cut it from the woods herself, the small, three foot tall tree had been just the right size for her own holiday decorations, and she’d gone all out–popcorn and cranberry garland, her favorite ornaments, and a beautiful golden star on top.

She yawned. She’d spent the better part of the last two hours trying to fall asleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she found herself uneasy and unable to rest. She wasn’t a night owl by any stretch, and she had a long drive in the morning to visit her sister for Christmas Day brunch at her apartment, so Charli had tried to go to bed early, with no luck.

If I go to bed now, she said to her reflection in the window, I’ll get six hours of sleep. That’s not bad. I get less than that on a deadline.

She paused and sighed.

Great, I’m talking to myself. Out loud. And now I’m pointing out the obvious. I need to get a boyfriend. Or maybe a dog.

She looked at the fireplace and decided she could toss another log on the fire and get some work done. Her laptop sat at her small desk in the corner, but the last thing she really wanted to do was sit down and write. She hadn’t been able to come up with a new story idea in a few weeks. Her idea to move into the middle of butt-nowhere so she could write uninterrupted had gotten her a big fat goose egg when it came to inspiration. Her muse, it seemed, had taken a vacation.

Unable to draw herself from the window, she stared into the woods that surrounded her cabin. She wondered, not for the first time, if she’d made a mistake. When her favorite aunt had passed away a year earlier, she’d left Charli and her sister, Kerri, a small fortune to share. Kerri had put the money toward paying for her culinary degree, and Charli had bought the cabin in the woods. It had been heaven for the first few weeks but now, as the winter thundered down on her and she found herself missing human contact, she thought maybe she should take Kerri up on her offer and stay with her for a couple of weeks to recharge and get her writing mojo back.

She began to turn away from the window when something that looked like a falling star plummeted toward the woods. She shoved her feet into the boots she kept at the front door and grabbed her coat and a flashlight from the hooks by the door. Bitter wind bit at her cheeks as she stepped onto the porch and put on her coat. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she gripped the handrail and stepped off the porch, the recent snowfall fluffing up around her. She turned on the flashlight as she made her way toward where she thought whatever it was had fallen from the sky.

She realized she was being silly, because her perception of where the object had fallen could have been distorted from her view through the window. The falling star, or whatever it was, could have hit the ground miles from here.

Something she couldn’t explain propelled her to keep going. As she trudged through the snow, her boots filled with the icy fluff, and her bare legs were freezing as her robe billowed around her while she moved as quickly as she could. The light bobbed ahead of her, and she scanned the darkness for a sign of something, anything. Her mind raced as she moved into the trees, wondering what it was that had fallen. As a long-time lover of fantasy and science fiction movies and books, she had a

Reviews for Arctic Shifters Volume One

[Gladys Burgess · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

All of it. There was something heartwarming about this series. I hope to be able to read them all.