Alaric's Perfect Mate (Saber Chronicles Book One) by R.E. Butler Page B

her. Joining up with the NWFA had
been the easiest way to travel.
    The human government had regulations when it
came to shifters moving around the country. They were required to
register with each city they stopped in and state their business.
Joining up with the NWFA had meant that Alaric and his pride hadn’t
needed to register with anyone because they were employees. It
saved him a lot of red tape.
    The door to his bedroom opened and his
sister, Lia, looked at him in concern. “Another one?”
    Wiping the sweat from his brow, he nodded.
“What are you doing up?”
    “I could hear you tossing and turning, so I
came to check on you.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Don’t be. It’s not your fault you’re having
mating dreams and can’t find your mate.”
    “I think we’re close to her. The dreams have
been more intense the last few days since we came to Belle
Terra.”
    She smiled. “Maybe she’ll be there for the
first fight on Friday and you can impress her with your ability to
beat people up.”
    He chuckled. “It is one of my better
qualities. Thanks for checking on me.”
    “It’s what sisters do.” Blowing him a kiss,
she shut the door, and he heard her soft footsteps as they drifted
away.
    His pride, comprised of his only family – his
younger brothers Slade and Galen, and Lia – were the last known
saber shifters in the world. It was hard as hell being the last few
of a shifter species, because the fate of the future of their
people rested on their shoulders. Unfortunately, only truemates
produced saber shifters. While it would have been nice if he and
his family could have populated the earth with saber shifter kids
produced through mating with random humans or other shifters,
sabers were unable to procreate with anyone but their
truemates.
    If he and his family were going to have
families of their own and keep the saber shifter lines going, then
he needed to find his truemate. Wherever the hell she was. Once he
found his truemate, then Slade, the next oldest family member,
would begin having mating dreams of his own. It was the way of
their kind – mating dreams occurred from oldest to youngest. His
brothers and sister were anxious for him to find his mate so they
could find theirs.
    Dropping back onto his pillow, he closed his
eyes and willed himself to sleep as thoughts of his truemate filled
his mind.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Friday night, Alaric stood with his family in
the fighting arena’s training center. At one time, it had been a
private high school’s football field. When the school closed, a
developer had renovated it for semi-professional football, and when
interest had faded in that sport, another developer bought it and
rented it out for various activities, such as the NWFA battles.
    Lia didn’t fight. She could – she had a hell
of a right hook – but females usually didn’t fight in the NWFA.
Call it sexist or anti-feminist, but the humans didn’t want to see
females beating each other all to hell. While Alaric and his
brothers wore only linen shorts, Lia was dressed in a dark blue
sparkly gown and would be Jonathon’s date for the night. Alaric
didn’t particularly care for the way the wolf looked at his sister,
but Lia could handle herself, and she was content with her role as
arm candy.
    Galen cracked his neck. “What’s the pot
tonight?”
    “Five grand for each win. First place in
final gets fifteen grand, second gets seven,” Slade said.
    Between the three of them, he and his
brothers would make a lot of money tonight. They were unrivaled in
the arena. He and his brothers never fought each other in the
finals, they were engineered by Jonathon so that only one of them
made it to the battle. Jonathon knew that while Alaric and his
brothers liked to fight, they would never actually hurt each
other.
    “If I make it to the final this time, I’m
going to get my car painted,” Galen said.
    “If you’d stop being an asshole and parking
across two spaces, people wouldn’t purposely