Mercer were zoo book sev.., p.1
Mercer (Were Zoo Book Seventeen), page 1
Mercer
Were Zoo Book Seventeen
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
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Excerpt from Lyric & The Cats
Books By R. E. Butler
About the Author
Copyright
Chapter One
Mercer Cannick stretched lazily in the mid-October afternoon sun, his paws kneading the air as a low breeze blew through the lion paddock at the Amazing Adventures Safari Park.
He heard the low murmur of a male talking and knew without opening his eyes that it was Devlin, lioness Jenni’s human mate, who was dressed as a zookeeper and hanging out with her under the guise of working with the lions.
It was a ruse that their people had been using since the park opened years earlier, with a safari tour that carried people by paddocks of different animals.
What the human public didn’t know, however, was that most of the animals on the tour were shifters and not natural animals.
That was a secret shifters were intent on keeping, save for situations like Jenni and Devlin’s, when a soulmate was found and the secret was shared.
The rumble of a tour Jeep echoed around him. He rolled to his paws and stretched, yawning and whipping his tail before he turned to face the big iron gate that separated the tour Jeeps from the paddock’s occupants—Mercer and his lion pride, led by alpha Caesar. The lions weren’t the largest group living in secret at the park; that was the wolves, led by alpha Joss. But the pride had eight members including himself, and if you counted the two mates of pride members, that brought the total up to ten. Among the other groups besides lions and wolves, were gorillas, elephants, and bears. They all lived underneath the park in private living quarters, sharing a marketplace with small businesses like the nail salon run by a gorilla’s mate and a lion’s mate and a cafeteria run by the mate of the alpha wolf and several of the bears.
The lions handled security for the park. Most of the pride was in the paddock, but two of their people were in their human forms handling security: Javan in the security office and Xavier on foot patrol. Tomorrow it would be Mercer’s turn in the security office, which he was not looking forward to. He liked to patrol because it kept him busy; sitting in the office was powerfully boring.
His ears pricked as the Jeep rumbled to a stop. A lone female was in the second row of the blue camo Jeep, driven by Thomas, with Benjamin as the guide. Benjamin leaped from the vehicle and offered his hand to the female, helping her out and leading her to the gate. He rattled off some facts about lions while she stared at their people.
Over a year ago, the alphas of the various groups had decided to mail out coupons for VIP safari tours to unmated human males and females. The coupons entitled each person to free parking and entrance to the park as well as a VIP tour, which concluded with a small album of photos taken at each paddock.
While on the surface, it seemed like a goodwill gesture to the community and to draw in business, the tours’ main purpose was to bring unmated humans into the park in the hopes that they might be shifter soulmates. Matings from the tours hadn’t happened all that often, even though they’d been running three days a week nonstop since the tickets went out.
But there was always hope.
Like today, when the Jeeps stopped and Mercer and his unmated friends hoped for a connection to the person at the gate.
He stared at the female, who was tall with auburn hair. She had a nice smile and seemed very flirty with Benjamin.
Mercer felt no connection to the female, just like the others that had trooped by every half hour, moving from paddock to paddock.
It would have been amazing to find his soulmate. Even though he was only twenty-five, he felt like he’d been waiting several lifetimes to find his mate.
Benjamin stared through the gate, looking for a sign from one of the lions, and when a few moments had passed without any indication, he led the female back to the Jeep and it moved on to the next paddock.
Mercer sighed.
Lucius padded over to him and let out a grumble, which Mercer knew meant he thought it had been a bummer of a day too. They took off to circle the paddock and run off some energy as they waited for the next Jeep.
Hope always sprang within them at the start of each tour day, but as the Jeeps drove on without anyone finding their soulmate, it got more and more difficult to keep a good thought about it all.
He was damn ready to find his soulmate. He just hoped she showed up soon.
Mercer shifted back into his human form inside the large maintenance building in the paddock. It allowed them to change back without being accidentally seen by humans and also had a hidden door in the floor that led to their private living quarters and the marketplace.
When he was back to human, he grabbed his clothes and dressed.
Caesar shifted.
“Sorry, guys.”
“It’s not your fault,” Mercer said. “You can’t control when our soulmates will show up.”
“I know, I still feel bad, though. We had such high hopes for the tours when we started them.”
Mercer buttoned his jeans and took his flannel off the hook on the wall. As he slid his arms into the sleeves, he said, “We’re not giving up hope. A few soulmates have come on the VIP tours, just not as many as everyone thought.”
Jupiter, Caesar’s son and the second-in-command of the pride, grabbed his clothes. “I’ve gotta run, Celeste had morning sickness and she refused to let me stay with her. My lion’s been growling at me ever since I got up here.”
His mate, who’d come on the tour during one of the early weekends after the tickets went out, was four months pregnant. Mercer was happy for Jupiter, and also for Jenni with her soulmate Devlin, but he was definitely lonely and wishing he had someone to come home to.
It would happen. He just hoped it was soon.
“I know that look,” Caesar said.
“What look?” Mercer asked.
“You’re hoping your soulmate shows up before you’re in your forties like me.”
Mercer grinned. “You’ve waited forever, man.”
“Holy hell, I hope my soulmate shows up very soon,” Lucius said. “I want to have decades with my female.”
“I’m not that old,” Caesar said with a grimace.
“You’re no spring chicken, Dad,” Lucius said. Then he ducked down the stairs before Caesar could throw something at him.
Caesar let out a growl and then shook his head. “You guys will find your soulmates when the time is right. Maybe the tours haven’t worked like we hoped, but they have worked in the past and there’s no reason to think they won’t in the future. Don’t lose hope.”
“We won’t,” Mercer said.
“I’m trying, man, but I’d really love to have my soulmate to go home to,” Silvanus said.
“Me too,” Amadeus said. He’d been the last to come into the shed and shift.
Caesar looked at their group. “It’ll happen, guys, I know it. Just remember that people are rooting for you and hoping it will come to pass. Our soulmates are out there, we just have to find them.”
“The sooner the better,” Lucius said as he headed down the stairs.
“Damn straight,” Mercer said.
Wherever his soulmate was, he hoped she was safe and happy and would make her way into his arms as soon as possible. He was ready to start the next chapter of his life.
Chapter Two
Rhomi Quinn stared at the laptop screen in the coffee shop, her earbuds ensuring she couldn’t hear the conversations around her and could concentrate on the task at hand. She took a drink of her iced caramel apple latte and wiggled in the chair to get more comfortable. Opening her email, she mentally crossed her fingers that her inbox would be full of interview requests for the dozens of jobs she’d applied to over the last two weeks, after her job as a receptionist at a pediatrician’s office was first on the chopping block when they downsized due to budget cuts.
She’d spent the last two weeks job hunting and using her loads of free time to volunteer at a local animal shelter. Her cat, Bootsy, had died six months ago, and she’d always wanted to help out at an animal rescue, but she’d never had the time. Now she had plenty of time, and she loved it.
If only she could work there and get paid to take care of animals. That would be a dream job. But right now, her only dream was to find a full-time job that paid enough so she wouldn’t have to move back into her parents’ house. She’d turned in her notice to her apartment that she’d vacate in the next thirty days, but they were willing to let her stay there if she found a job and could pay the next month’s rent.
Two weeks wasn’t a terribly long time to look for a job, but it felt like an eternity. And she only had enough in savings for another four weeks of bills.
She scanned the inbox. Shit.
No interview requests.
She closed her email and opened the brow
She stared at a job opening for a dentist’s office that was thirty-five minutes from her apartment. She wasn’t sure she could listen to a dentist drill all day, though.
Her phone buzzed, and she saw it was her mom calling. She declined the call, then sent her a text: I’m at the coffee shop and can’t talk. What’s up?
Her mom texted back: I need to talk to you. Can you call me when you have a chance?
Yeah, give me a half hour. I’m going to finish my drink and apply for this job I really don’t want.
Don’t do anything rash yet. Your dad and I need to talk to you first.
Rhomi was intrigued. Okay. I’ll call ya soon.
While she sipped her favorite fall drink, she perused the other job sites but didn’t see anything new. It was the weekend, though, so maybe Monday would bring some new listings.
When the drink was finished, she packed up her laptop, tossed her cup, and headed out to her car.
Plugging her phone in, she waited for the GPS system to boot up, and then she called her mom and backed out of the parking spot to head to her apartment.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hi, honey. How are you?”
“Meh. What’s going on?”
“Well, your dad got a promotion.”
“Really? That’s very cool. What kind of promotion?” Her dad was a bank branch manager.
“Regional manager.”
“Sounds fancy. Does it come with lots of perks?”
“You bet,” her mom said with a laugh. “Including relocation.”
Rhomi blinked a few times. “Relocation? Where is it?”
“Outside Philly.”
“You have to move? Philly’s not that far.”
“It’s far enough, and you know how your dad hates traffic, plus the tolls are pretty expensive. The company agreed to pay our moving expenses as well as housing for a few months until we find a new home.”
“Well, congrats to Dad, though.”
“Honey…”
“What?”
Rhomi hit the blinker and rolled to a stop at a red light.
“You were going to move into our house if you couldn’t find a job.”
“Yeah.” She really hadn’t wanted to do that. She’d moved out when she was nineteen and had enjoyed living on her own for the last five years. She was grateful her parents had offered to let her move in with them if she couldn’t get a job in time, but truthfully, it had been the very last thing she wanted to do. “Oh, crap, I see what you’re saying. You’re going to sell the house.” Rhomi turned onto her street and accelerated. “But it’s not like I’m going to be jobless forever, and besides, houses don’t sell crazy fast even in this market.”
“Yes, that’s true, and you’re welcome to stay. But your dad would like you to come and work at the bank. You can move with us, and you’ll have a job you can slip right into.”
“I never really wanted to work at the bank with Dad,” Rhomi pointed out. “Plus, I love New Jersey.” Her two best friends—Darcy and Reagan—were here too, and there was no way she wanted to break up the group by moving out of state, even if Philly wasn’t that far away.
“You’d be in a different department than your dad. There’s a receptionist job open with room for advancement, plus they pay for college too, if you’d like to go. It would just be nice for you to come with us. You know how your dad likes to have us all near each other.”
“Yeah, I know,” Rhomi said. Rhomi had an older brother who died when she was little. She didn’t really remember Ray because she’d been so young when he passed from an infection. Since he died, though, her parents had been overly cautious with her, always wanting her close so they could watch over her. She loved that they cared so much, but all that attention had been stifling. It had been a relief when she moved out, so she could have her own space and breathe.
“I’m not going to move, Mom. I don’t really want to work at the bank. It’s one thing to move into the house with you guys until I get full-time work and am able to get an apartment again, but it’s an entirely different thing to uproot myself for no good reason.”
“Being with your family isn’t no good reason,” she said with a sniff.
“I’m not trying to upset you, Mom, I’m just being honest. I’m staying in New Jersey.”
“All right.” She could hear her mom smile at the end of the phrase. “It will work out for you, I’m sure. And of course, you can stay at our house when your apartment lease is up. Hopefully it sells quick because it will be helpful for us, but you can stay however long it’s available.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
After exchanging I-love-yous, they ended the call. Rhomi pulled into the parking spot in front of her unit and sighed. The apartment had felt empty since Bootsy, who’d always met her at the door with an I’m hungry meowed demand, was gone.
As she got out of the car she called her bestie.
“Darcy,” Rhomi said, her phone on her shoulder as she unlocked her front door. “I’m in need of some girl time. Want to grab a drink or a movie or something?”
“You bet! Lemme call Reagan. Come on over and we’ll make plans.”
“I’ll be there in a jiff.”
Rhomi changed from her comfy lounge pants and light sweater to jeans and a long-sleeved tee, grabbing her jean jacket and purse before heading out to meet up with her besties.
She didn’t really care what she did tonight, she just wanted to do something besides wonder if and when she’d ever find a job. She’d been so sure something would come up quickly after she’d been let go, but the last two weeks of no job offers had made that hope start to dissipate.
She locked her front door and pushed thoughts of her lack of a job to the back of her mind. Hanging out with her friends was just what she needed.
Chapter Three
That evening, while Rhomi was sitting on an Adirondack chair on the lawn of a restaurant with her two friends, a firepit in front of them, she stared up at the darkening sky and sighed.
“You’re a million miles away, babe, what’s up?” Darcy asked.
“Thinking about a job.” She dropped her head and looked at the flames licking the logs in the firepit.
“I thought you weren’t going to focus on that?” Reagan asked.
“Well, I didn’t think much about it when we went shoe shopping and then for dinner, but we’ve been sitting here watching the stars for an hour and you know how my brain is.”
“Ridiculous?” Darcy offered.
“Over-thinking?” Reagan suggested.
“Yes and yes.”
Darcy snort-laughed. “I wish my job was hiring.”
“Me too,” Reagan said.
“I just don’t like that my folks want me to move with them. But if I don’t have a job and a place of my own when their house sells, I’m screwed.”
“How long do you have in your place?” Reagan asked.
“About a month.”
“You’ll find something by then, I’m sure. Then you’ll just have to live at your parents’ house until you can get a new place,” Reagan said.
“You know what? If you don’t have a job or a place by the time your parents’ house sells, you can move in with me,” Darcy said.
“I can’t—your brother is already camping on your couch and you have a one-bedroom.”
“I’ll kick him out.”
“No way, he’s family,” Rhomi protested.
