Cael
Were Zoo Book Eleven
R. E. Butler
Cael
Were Zoo Book Eleven
By R. E. Butler
Copyright 2021 R. E. Butler
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
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Cael (Were Zoo Book Eleven)
By R. E. Butler
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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.
Edited by Sarah Dawn Johnson
Thanks to Joyce, Shelley, and Ann for beta reading.
Cael (Were Zoo Book Eleven)
By R. E. Butler
November Jones is the product of a one-night stand. She didn’t know her father except to curse his name and the weird genetics he left her with. She wouldn’t give him a single thought if it weren’t for the fact that he tried to kill her several times and she and her mother have been on the run since she was a toddler. When an invitation for a safari tour shows up in the mail addressed to the previous occupant, Novi feels compelled to go.
Elephant shifter Cael spends his days as the in-house veterinarian at the Amazing Adventures Safari Park taking care of the normal animals and his nights underground with the other shifters, staying hidden from humans. It’s a day like any other when he’s in his shift in the paddock while the safari tour vehicles drive by…until he smells something amazing and knows the beautiful brunette VIP is his soulmate.
The problem? Novi is no ordinary human. Can Cael and the shifters in the park keep Novi and her mom safe in the park or will Novi’s father finally catch up to them?
Chapter One
Cael Donnelly shoved his feet into his work boots and laced them, then stood and picked up the gift bag from the coffee table. His friend and fellow elephant shifter, Kelley, had just had a baby with his soulmate, Rhapsody. The little one was one week old, and Cael hadn’t seen the baby since he’d been brought home the day he was born. The couple hadn’t wanted to know the sex of the baby in advance, so Cael had decided to wait to get them a gift.
He’d had to call his mom and ask her what was appropriate, because he’d had no idea what to get for them. With her advice, he’d settled on something called a onesie with cartoon elephants on it and an infant rattle shaped like a black cat, since Rhapsody was a black panther shifter.
Leaving his house, which was in the elephants’ private living quarters underneath the Amazing Adventures Safari Park in New Jersey, he headed to Kelley and Rhapsody’s home. He knocked on the front door and heard Kelley’s muffled “Come in.”
“Hey,” he said when he opened the front door and found the trio sitting on the couch in the family room.
“Hey yourself,” Rhapsody said, lifting little Khap onto her shoulder and patting his back. “It’s so nice of you to stop by.”
“I would’ve dropped this off sooner, but I was afraid to wake the baby,” Cael said. He handed the gift to Kelley and sat in a comfortable chair across from them.
“He’s a great sleeper so far,” Rhapsody said. “We’re very lucky.”
“And also hoping it stays that way,” Kelley said.
Kelley took Khap from his mate and gave her the gift. Rhapsody pulled out the blue and green tissue paper from inside the bag and took out the onesie and rattle. “Oh! You got something for each of our animals, that’s so cool! Thank you!”
She beamed at Cael, and he made a mental note to thank his mom for the advice. “You’re welcome.”
“Wanna hold him?” Kelley asked.
Before Cael could answer one way or the other, Kelley set the little boy in Cael’s arms. Khap smelled like powder and the mixture of both animals—the dry sweetness of savannah grass and the deep earthiness of the jungle. Cael’s heart clenched as he looked down at the baby, smiling as he stretched his little arms and yawned.
“He’s a good-looking kid,” Cael said with a low voice.
“Takes after his daddy,” Rhapsody said.
Cael was a little jealous. Well, a whole hell of a lot jealous, because Kelley was the only elephant in the memory who’d found his soulmate. Rhapsody had bought a ticket for the VIP safari tour, which had been arranged by the alphas to draw in unmated male and female humans to the park. The hope had been that their people would find soulmates among the humans, but while the tours had been running for a long time, few soulmates had actually come from the tours themselves.
Looking down at this little baby, so sweet and cute, made him long for that in his own life. He could do what his mother wanted him to—which she herself had done—and find an elephant to mate with solely to have a child
