Tails Volume One

By R.E. Butler

This volume contains the first three books in the Tails Series:

Memory (Book One) – Duke knows that taking Ree as his mate is going to be the end of his bid for alphaship, but he couldn’t care less. He’s not about to let her go, and no lioness or pride laws will stand in his way. He’ll choose honor over duty, and love above all else.

Mercy (Book Two) – Barron isn’t about to let anything quite as silly as the fact that Mercy is human get in the way of him and his lion securing her as his mate. He’ll show her she’s the most important female in his universe, and that he’ll do anything to keep her by his side and in his arms. Forever.

Emberly (Book Three) – It doesn’t take long for Diesel to realize his heart-match is in the shifter bar where he works. Finding Emberly is the easy part, but revealing his flawed leg fills him with dread. If he can’t convince his beautiful mate that he’s worth loving, he doesn’t know what he’ll do. Can Diesel keep Emberly by his side forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.E. Butler
• Release date: Jul 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215547649

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

Memory (Tails Book One)

He only cares about becoming alpha…

There’s only one thing standing in the way of Duke Fairborn taking over his pride as alpha, and that’s choosing a mate. According to pride law, matings must be among their own kind, and only a mated male can become alpha. Mating an outsider means facing exile. After giving the pride matchmaker the go-ahead, he soon finds himself betrothed to a lioness, with a mating ceremony scheduled for the following weekend. Now, everything is falling into place in his life, and he couldn’t be happier. Right?

Her broken heart doesn’t trust easily…

Memory Hendrix isn’t interested in dating and doesn’t even believe in happily-ever-afters. After one too many broken hearts, Ree knows that the only person she can trust is herself. Accompanying her younger sister to a bar for a drink to kick off the weekend, she finds herself in the arms of the sexiest guy she’s ever laid eyes on. He’s built like a tank and he purrs! One night with him, and her broken heart is all but mended.

Not all is what it seems…

Duke knows that taking Ree to bed is going to be the end of his bid for alphaship, but he couldn’t care less. Nothing is as important to him as his new mate. Believing she’s safe in his room above the bar, he leaves her sleeping and goes to the pride elders to accept his exile. He’d rather have Ree than be alpha. But the jilted lioness isn’t going to go down without a fight, and when Ree believes that Duke will never choose her, she runs. He’s not about to let her go, and no lioness or pride laws will stand in his way. He’ll choose honor over duty, and love above all else.

Chapter One

Duke Fairborn swiveled back and forth in the comfortable leather chair and listened to the pride elders as they discussed issues from last month’s meeting. He hated these meetings; they dragged on forever. But as the son of the alpha, he had to be there, particularly because he was going to take over the pride when his father stepped down. Their pride, like all lion prides in the States, had a hereditary alphaship, passed from father to son for as far back as anyone could recall.

He wanted to be alpha more than anything. He’d been born for it, had trained his whole life to be in this place. Boring meetings aside, he couldn’t wait to be alpha. Taking a glance at his father, who sat at the head of the long mahogany table, Duke vowed to be just as successful when he was in charge. His dad, Byron, had ruled for thirty years. The pride had flourished under his leadership, and Duke was ready to grasp that brass ring for himself.

There was just one thing in the way.

A mate.

And not just any mate, but one worthy of being female alpha.

That concludes previous business, Winston, one of the elders, said.

Duke flicked his gaze to the male and then to his dad, who nodded.

New business? Byron asked.

Duke listened as the elders and high ranked pride males went around the table and discussed issues. He didn’t have anything to add. He was the second highest ranked male in the pride, and he’d earned that rank by fighting his way to the top when he was younger. The duties that came with being so close to the alpha included keeping others in line and protecting the alpha. When Duke took over, Lenn, the third-ranked male, would take over as number two. Thankfully, they were good friends, and he knew the male would always have his back.

When the meeting concluded, Duke waited until the elders left, and then swiveled the chair until he was facing his dad.

I take it you have something to tell me, son?

Yeah. I’m ready to take over.

You know what you need to do in order for that to happen.

Take a mate.

Byron arched a brow. Do you have someone in mind?

There were two ways to choose a mate—a heart-match or a mate-match. Some lions and lionesses waited their whole lives to find their heart-match, the one person on the planet meant for them. But for males like Duke who had their eyes on the highest rank attainable, waiting for his beast to find the one wasn’t feasible. He didn’t have to think hard to know that none of the unmated females in his pride were the right one for him. If one of the females was meant to be his mate, he would have felt it. The mating pull, which came from finding a heart-match, was impossible to ignore.

He could wait and hope to run across his heart-match, but that would mean delaying becoming alpha. He’d rather choose a mate-match and get on with his destiny. The reality of his life was that he was in line to be the next alpha, and in order for that to happen, he had to mate a lioness. It wasn’t about love, it was about duty. Period.

I’m going to reach out to Abbie. Abbie was the pride’s matchmaker.

Byron nodded. She’ll find you a suitable mate from another pride.

There were several prides that called Kentucky and the surrounding states home. The prides mainly kept to themselves, but the alphas did occasionally get together to discuss general pride issues, and during the solstice celebrations, unmated males and females would often gather to find mates or have cubs together. Duke had tumbled his way into beds with different females but had never felt connected to any of them.

I’m going to meet her this afternoon. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Good luck.

With that, Duke left the meeting room in his parents’ home, and stopped in the kitchen to say goodbye to his mom. Davina stood at the stove, stirring a pot of noodles.

Stay for lunch? she asked after accepting his kiss on the cheek.

I can’t. I’m on my way to see Abbie.

She turned to him, brows high. Really? Oh, that’s wonderful!

Setting the long-handled wooden spoon down, she hugged him tightly. His mother was well over a foot shorter than his six-and-a-half-foot frame, and he had to bend to return the hug. His parents had been mate-matched by Abbie, so he knew that a mate-match didn’t have to just be a business decision, but for him—at least for now—it had nothing to do with love and everything to do with becoming alpha.

Her brow furrowed and she said, Are you sure this is the way you want to go?

It’s time for me to be alpha, Mom.

I know you’re ready, and I’m certainly ready for your father to stop being the literal boss of everyone, but you don’t have to rush.

You and Dad were matched by Abbie.

Yes, but I think that a match like ours is the exception, not the rule. Do you really want to be alpha so badly that you can’t wait a little while longer, try to find your heart-match?

His lion agreed wholeheartedly. Guilt tickled at the back of his mind, but he pushed the unwanted emotion away. Didn’t you raise me to take over, to be the best alpha possible?

Of course, and you will be. I’m just pointing out that you’re still young and you don’t need to rush.

It’s time, Mom.

She looked up at him with narrowed eyes and then she sighed. I’m sure she’ll find you a lovely mate.

He knew he hadn’t really won their little argument, but he was going to claim it anyway. Me, too.

Tell me how it goes. I’ll send lunch to the bar for you.

Thanks, Mom.

First, he’d go meet with Abbie, and then he’d head to Tails, the bar that he co-owned with his best friend, Titus. Titus was a high-ranked male as well, and when Duke took over the pride, Titus would become one of his official guards.

* * *

Abbie Vernon was a seventy-year-old lioness with a penchant for good whiskey and a sixth-sense about mates. Her matchmaking sometimes ended with what the pride referred to as a heart-match. But that didn’t always happen. Duke knew very well that he could be matched with a female that he would never grow to love, and while his lion didn’t much care for the idea, he wanted to be alpha, and this was the final step.

Hello, Duke, Abbie said as she looked up from the rocker on her front porch. Her eyes flitted to the bottle in his hand and he smiled and handed her the whiskey he’d procured just for her. Well, well. Should I beware of a lion bearing gifts? I suppose you’re in need of my particular brand of counsel?

I’m ready for you to work your matchmaking magic on me. He took a seat in an empty rocker, which creaked under his weight.

She opened the bottle and poured a healthy amount into the mason jar that sat on a little side table between the rockers. Lifting the jar, she said, I’d offer you a drink, but I happen to not like sharing.

With a chuckle, he shook his head. I’m heading to Tails anyway, so thanks for the kind-of offer.

She sipped slowly, the rocker creaking as she moved. After several quiet moments, she set the nearly-empty jar down and said, Let’s move into my office.

He stood and grabbed the door and then followed her into her cozy home. The pride lived on a hundred acres of wooded, rolling hills, their hunting grounds full of all sorts of fast and furry creatures. Unlike the wolves, big cat shifters didn’t hunt at any particular time of the month, but whenever they felt like it.

Abbie cleared her throat and gestured to a sofa. He sat, and she took the overstuffed recliner next to it, placing a large, leather binder in her lap.

She stared at him for a long moment and he felt keenly aware of just how special she was. As a matchmaker, she held his future in her hands, and he trusted her implicitly. Matchmaking among shifters was passed down through the generations, and only through females.

She opened the binder and began carefully turning the pages. He knew from his parents’ mate-matching story that the binder was a fluid book that contained information on eligible male and female pride members in the Midwest. The pages had small photos of the lion, age and physical descriptions, and a code that only Abbie knew. Duke’s mom said she suspected the code was information about the lions’ personalities, and who their best matches would be.

He wondered what his page said.

When we do this, it’s binding. Do you understand? Abbie looked at him, and he had the distinct impression that she was seeing right through him.

Yes.

She arched an eyebrow and continued to stare at him for several more seconds and then turned her attention back to the binder. She turned page after page, murmuring to herself. Even with his enhanced hearing, he couldn’t figure out what she was saying. Not that he was trying to eavesdrop.

Ah, she’ll do, she said finally. He wasn’t sure how many minutes had ticked by, but it had felt like an eternity. Abbie turned the binder around and he saw a photo of a blonde lioness. She looked like a model for a fancy department store, the sort of ones his mom said she liked to window shop at, but never actually buy anything.

Madison Clary, twenty-three. daughter of the alpha of the Lewiston pride. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a bachelors in business. Not only good for the pride but also good for your business as well.

He stared at the photo, his gaze tripping over to the physical description, which said she was five-foot-eight and slender. It wasn’t that he cared what she looked like, because this was a mate-match and physical stuff wasn’t supposed to matter. But it did, kind of. Madison was beautiful, of that there was no doubt. And judging by her pedigree, and what he knew of the Lewiston pride, she would make an excellent alpha female.

You’re sure she’s the right match for me? he asked, sitting back and shifting his gaze to Abbie.

Her eyes narrowed. Are you really asking me that?

No, of course not. It didn’t take you very long, is all.

You think I need to dance naked around a bonfire and cast a spell to figure out what female is a good match for you? She scoffed. My matching abilities are well tuned. If you’re asking me to match you, she is the perfect female for the alpha of the Kedrick pride.

His lion let out a disgruntled growl, but Duke plugged his mental ears. It was time for him to be alpha and start a family. That’s what males did, and he’d been raised since birth to follow in his father’s footsteps. Perhaps Madison wasn’t as cold as she appeared in the photo, with her lips curved into a thin, haughty sneer.

Okay. I accept the match. What now?

Now I make arrangements for a meeting with your family and hers. You will be officially betrothed and the ceremony can happen shortly after.

How long?

She shrugged. A week perhaps, maybe more.

Good. Thank you, Abbie. He stood and took her hand, kissing the top.

Anything for the future alpha.

Which was just what he was going to be, as soon as he mated Madison. It didn’t have to be a heart-match—it just had to be a match, so he could be alpha. Finally, all his plans for his future were lining up. A mate. The alphaship. And a few cubs.

What more could he want or need?

Chapter Two

Memory Hendrix kicked off her heels at her apartment door and leaned against it with a yawn. The day had been a long one, thanks, in part, to a power outage that had taken out the whole block of the bank where she worked. Everything they’d needed power to do had been put on hold until power was restored, which made for a really, really long day. Thankfully, it was Thursday, and that meant just one more day until the weekend.

She hung her purse on the coat rack and then crossed the family room to the small, but cozy kitchen. Her apartment was one of four in a quaint building. Her younger sister, Mercy, lived across the hall. The front door squeaked as it opened and Mercy called out, I thought you’d never get home. I forgot to go grocery shopping again.

Letting out a sigh loud enough for Mercy to hear, Ree said, Did you really forget? Or do you just like being a mooch?

Mercy came into the kitchen and walked straight to the fridge. It’s not mooching if it’s family.

I disagree. Like a thousand percent.

Mercy straightened holding a container of chicken salad that Ree had made the day before and said, You still love me. Case in point, you made my favorite thing in the whole world.

It’s true. I have to love you, though. I think it’s a law or something.

Ree opened the bread box and removed a container of croissants from a local bakery, which she handed to Mercy. Ree set the table and grabbed two bottles of peach iced tea from the fridge. When the sandwiches were made, she listened as Mercy talked about her day. Her sister was a stylist at a local salon and was well-liked by her clients. She had a flair for hair and had been cutting Ree’s since high school.

Ree noticed that Mercy’s long, chocolate locks were now tipped with pink.

The color is cute. Did you do that today?

Yeah. I had a client cancel and I thought—why not dye my ends pink?

Must be nice. When I get bored at work I have to do filing.

You could have gone to cosmetology school like me, she pointed out.

No thanks. Ree had never cared to wash strangers’ hair all day or listen to their problems. Mercy, on the other hand, was very outgoing and sympathetic.

I have the weekend off, Mercy said. We’re going to kick it off by going out for a drink tomorrow night. Ree opened her mouth to give her standard no when Mercy put up her hand. Don’t say no, or that you’ll think about it. You and I haven’t gone out for a drink in ages, and one of my clients told me about a bar in Kedrick.

Ree lifted her brows. Kedrick was a town that shifters called home. Specifically, lion shifters. Humans and shifters lived and worked together, but there were towns where the majority of people living within the boundaries could change into an animal of one kind or another. Kentucky, for some reason, attracted big cat shifters.

It’s a shifter bar? she asked.

Mercy nodded. Yep. It’s called Tails. Isn’t that awesome? Anyway, my client was telling me that they have a great house band, and Fridays are Ladies Nights, so we can get a couple of free drinks, and maybe get felt up by some shifter guys. How does that sound?

Like you’re hoping to get laid.

Aren’t you? When’s the last time someone cleared the bats out of the attic for you?

A blush heated her cheeks. Merc, she said, her voice dropping to a warning tone.

Mercy waved her hand dismissively. You really need to get over yourself. Just because you picked a couple of losers, doesn’t mean that the next guy you find will also be one.

I’m not looking for anything right now.

Which was true, but also not true. Ree would love to be in a relationship, but she had a hard time trusting guys. Maybe because their dad had run off on them when she was in elementary school, and their mom had never really gotten over her broken heart. Or maybe it was because her last boyfriend had waited until she’d gone to work, snuck into her apartment, and sold all her electronics. The one before that had cheated on her and then blamed her for his actions.

She shook her head. No. I don’t want to go out to a bar tomorrow.

"Don’t make me call in the favor."

Ree narrowed her eyes. The favor, as it had come to be known, was the one thing that the sisters would do for each other, no matter what. They’d both promised to give each other one such favor. Ree had cashed in hers when she’d asked Mercy to move across the hall so she could have some privacy. She’d lived with her sister from the time they were little, and when they’d moved into the same apartment, Ree had felt stifled. She liked having Mercy close, just not sharing a bathroom.

Really? That’s what you want to waste your favor on? You could ask me for anything and you’re asking me to go out for a drink.

The corner of Mercy’s mouth quirked up. I think it will be good for you. And I know for dang sure you wouldn’t let me go to a shifter bar all by my lonesome.

Of course, her sister was right. Ree would never let her go to a bar by herself, let alone a shifter bar. She’d never actually been to a shifter bar, but she’d heard stories from her coworkers, who always talked about shifters being more aggressive than humans. Not that Mercy couldn’t handle herself, but that didn’t mean that Ree wouldn’t be there just in case.

Knowing that Mercy wouldn’t let this one go, she gave up. Okay. But I’m driving, you don’t bring home any strange men, and when I’m ready to go, you leave with me without any complaint.

Judging by the triumphant glint in her baby blues, Mercy knew she’d won. I’ll be over after work tomorrow to pick out your outfit. And you’ll let me do your hair, of course.

Fine. Nothing too crazy, though.

She tilted her head. Would I ever do anything crazy to your hair?

You once melted a chunk of my hair off while you were straightening it!

Sniffing, Mercy said, Yeah, but I fixed it by giving you that cute, short cut.

It had taken ages for Ree’s hair to grow back to the length she loved, which was well past her shoulders.

Nothing crazy.

Mercy put one hand over her heart. Promise.

* * *

Ree studied herself in the bathroom mirror. Mercy had been waiting at her door when she’d gotten home at six, her arms laden with clothing, shoes, and a bag of hair implements. Although she’d hoped that her sister had changed her mind about going to Tails, it hadn’t surprised her that she’d