Jupiter (Were Zoo Book 2)

Jupiter (Were Zoo
Two)

By R. E. Butler

Copyright 2016

Jupiter (Were Zoo
Two)

By R. E. Butler

License Notes

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.

* * *

Editing by Alexis Arendt

* * *

Many thanks to Shelley and Joyce for
beta-reading.

To my Aunt B.L. and my Husband, I love
you both!

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Contact the
Author

Other Works by R.E.
Butler

Coming Soon

Jupiter (Were Zoo
Two)

by R. E. Butler

Second-in-command lion shifter Jupiter
Ross has a lot on his plate. As the head of security for Amazing
Adventures Safari Park, he has to ensure the safety of not only the
humans who come through the gates every day, but the natural
animals, and most importantly, the shifters who live and work in
secret at the park. The alphas have recently determined that
bringing in unmated humans for VIP park tours would allow some of
the males and females to find their soulmates, and that increased
Jupiter’s duties tenfold. As an unmated male, he’d like to find his
soulmate and settle down, but he’s not sure that random human
females coming in for free tours is the way to go.

When Celeste Patterson receives an
invitation for a free tour of the safari park, she and her best
friend, Adriana, can’t wait to go. Even though they’re separated
and unable to take the tour together, Celeste can’t help but think
that a wonderful adventure is just around the corner.

Jupiter is amazed to discover that his
soulmate is in fact one of the recipients of a VIP tour invitation.
The feisty female is everything he could have ever wanted in a
mate, from her gorgeous curves to her mile-wide
attitude.

Get your ticket and get in line for
the Amazing Adventures Safari Park VIP Tour. You just might be
lucky enough to find your happily ever after.

Chapter 1

Jupiter yawned and stretched, rubbing
the back of his head on the large, flat rock that he’d staked out
for his afternoon nap. He didn’t usually take a nap, but recent
changes in park security had him keeping late hours. Over the last
few weeks, the Amazing Adventures Safari Park had begun private VIP
tours. He understood the point of them, but he wasn’t sure if they
would work. What were the odds that the one female on the planet
for him – his soulmate – would happen to live in New
Jersey?

A shadow passed over him, blocking the
sunlight that was warming his whiskers, and he opened his eyes just
enough to see his dad and alpha, Caesar, staring down at
him.

“
You know, I never had to
sneak off for a nap when I was your age.”

Jupiter grumbled and closed his eyes.
His dad thumped him on the nose, and Jupiter knew he wanted to talk
man-to-man, not man-to-lion. Rolling off the rock, he stretched and
snorted in Caesar’s direction and then turned toward the shed. The
lion paddock was quite large, but his favorite rock was near the
shed, so it didn’t take him long to enter it and shift into his
human form. As he dressed in the clothes he’d left in there, Caesar
walked in and shut the door.

“
How are things?” Caesar
asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his
chest.

Jupiter raised his brow.
“Fine.”

Caesar snorted. “No, I mean with
security. Are you having any trouble with the VIPs?”

“
No. Everything’s running
smoothly.”

“
Except that no one has
found a mate yet and we’ve been doing tours for three
weekends.”

“
It would’ve been nice if
there’d been a soulmate on the first tour, but that didn’t
happen.”

“
Do you think it
will?”

“
I don’t know. I
hope
so, because if it
doesn’t, that means that staying here in this park is going to end
with all of us remaining unmated, permanently.”

His dad growled in agreement. “I’ve
never been particularly patient.”

Jupiter grinned. “Me
either.”

Caesar clapped him on the shoulder.
“Sorry to interrupt your nap.”

“
It’s no problem. I should
check in at the security office anyway.”

His dad walked out of the shed and
into the paddock. Jupiter took the secret way down to the lions’
private living quarters, lifting a hidden door in the floor and
walking down a flight of stairs. All the shifter groups who called
Amazing Adventures home lived under the park, and each group had
its own private quarters surrounding a large, open central area
that contained a restaurant, a market, and a conference
room.

Jupiter, his dad, his brothers Amadeus
and Lucius, and the four other members of their pride had joined
the park when Jupiter was eighteen. All the lions lived and worked
at the park. The lions’ specialty was security. It was his group’s
responsibility to ensure that every shifter was safe, whether they
were in their shifted form in the paddocks, in their homes
underground, or in their human forms inside or outside of the
park.

“
Hey, did Caesar find you?”
Mercer, one of the lions, asked after Jupiter entered the pride’s
private area using his security key code.

“
Yeah, he interrupted my
nap.”

Mercer snorted. “Sorry. I think all
the alphas are worried about how long it’s taking for anyone to
find their soulmate.”

“
It hasn’t really been that
long. Why is everyone in such a rush?”

His brow lifted. “Don’t you want to
find your soulmate? Have a bunch of little Jupiters running around
and raising hell?”

He smiled at the idea. “Yeah, of
course, but we can’t force fate.”

Mercer shook his head. “You are such a
downer sometimes. Me, I’m trying to stay positive. I was up in the
security booth this morning when an elementary school came through
for their tour, and one of the teachers winked at me.”

“
And?”

“
And, nothing. I’m
irresistible, you know.”

Jupiter rolled his eyes. “I feel sorry
for your soulmate. She’ll have to put up with your giant
ego.”

Mercer waggled his brows. “I’m very
worth it.”

Jupiter left Mercer and his ridiculous
eyebrows and headed for his home. The pride’s private area was a
large, open space with small individual homes placed close
together. The walls were painted like the savannah, with a cushiony
floor the color of dry grass. The ceiling was wired with special
lights to mimic the sun. Although it was nice, he preferred the
real thing, especially on his favorite rock.

He kicked off his shoes and sat down
at the desk in the kitchen to check over the VIP tour schedule.
After the alphas had made the decision to use the VIP tours to lure
unmated males and females into the park, the security of the
shifters had become even more important. They were unknown to
humans, and that meant that if and when someone did find their
truemate in a park visitor, they were going to have to share the
knowledge of their shifting abilities with that person and hope
they didn’t flip out.

His own parents had not been
soulmates. His father, who had lived at a shifter zoo in
California, had hooked up with a lioness from another pride. They
were together for several years in the California zoo, but after
his youngest brother Lucius was born, she chose to mate with a lion
from another pride who didn’t want to raise another male’s
children. His dad had raised them on his own, but Jupiter had known
from a young age that he didn’t want to follow in his dad’s
footsteps. He didn’t want to hook up with a female just to have a
baby, and he didn’t want to mate with a female who wasn’t his
soulmate.

And unless his soulmate happened to
fall out of the sky, Jupiter needed to be out there during every
VIP tour, holding onto the hope that maybe, just by some twist of
luck or fate, the perfect female for him would have received a
ticket and decided to come.

The alternative was a long and lonely
life, and he didn’t want to think about that.

Chapter 2

Celeste Patterson was practically
vibrating with excitement as her best friend Adriana drove them to
the Amazing Adventures Safari Park. They’d both received tickets in
the mail for a free VIP tour of the park, and she couldn’t help but
think it was kismet.

Adriana was a little more skeptical.
“I wonder why they sent us tickets.”

Celeste finished applying a coat of
pale pink gloss to her lips and then flipped the mirrored visor
closed. “What do you mean?”

Adriana glanced at her briefly and
then turned her attention to the road. “How did they get our names
and addresses?”

“
We get random junk mail
all the time, it’s not such a mystery. But besides, who cares?
We’re getting expensive VIP tour tickets for free and we get to
have a fun day out.”

“
I just don’t think there’s
such a thing as really
free
. ‘No strings attached’ doesn’t
seem like a good way to grow a business, if that’s what they’re
trying to do.”

Celeste rolled her eyes at her
always-logical best friend. “I don’t care what they’re trying to
do. What I’m trying to do involves having a fun time out with my
bestie. Stop being such a pessimist.”

“
Can’t help it,” she said,
sighing.

Adriana rolled down her window as she
edged the car forward in the lane that led into the park. A big guy
in a black security uniform leaned down and took the ticket that
Adriana handed him. He looked at it, smiled at the two of them, and
then handed it back. “Stay in this lane, and turn right at the VIP
parking lot. Have a nice visit.”

Adriana took the ticket from him and
said, “Thanks.”

After the window was rolled up,
Celeste said, “See? He was good-looking. I told you this was a good
place to come.”

The two friends had been discussing
their lack of romantic prospects for a while now. Both worked at a
nail salon; Celeste manned the reception desk and Adriana did
manicures. It was hardly a mecca of single guys. Then they’d gotten
the free tickets in the mail and Celeste had felt like it was
prophetic. What better place to meet single guys than a park full
of them? Animal handlers, security guards, park workers – there had
to be a few good-looking, unattached guys in the mix.

“
Just because the
parking-lot guy was handsome doesn’t mean that there are any more
in the park, and P.S., you just smiled at him silently. You do plan
to actually talk to guys you’d like to date, right?”

“
Eventually,” Celeste said
with a chuckle. “I’ll know him when I see him.”