The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika (5 page)

Bo ended the call, proud that he could count on his friend and alpha.  He hadn’t expected less.  He went into the master bathroom and took a shower, letting the hot water work on his sore muscles.  He’d been up for more than twenty-four hours now, and he was damn tired.  After rubbing a numbing ointment onto his bad leg, he pulled on a pair of jeans and sat down in the leather chair in the corner of the bedroom.

As he settled himself to rest, he made a vow to himself and to the woman in the bed.  Today was the start of his new life.  He’d been dealt a shit hand in life with his injury, but he’d never been forcibly mated before, chased down by another group when he was weak and wounded.

The woman needed help, and Bo was going to do anything in his power to set her free from those who would harm her.  He would keep her safe.

Chapter 3

Sleep eluded Reika, slipping away like a shadow being chased by the sun, and although she tried to hold onto it, she couldn’t.  And then she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to be asleep; she was supposed to be running for her life.

Her eyes snapped open, and she bolted upright, her blurry vision taking in everything too fast for her to process.  Rubbing her eyes with her palms, she blinked several times and scanned the room.  She wasn’t racing through unfamiliar woods at night with the lynxes hot on her tail.  This was someone’s home.  And that someone was seated in a chair in a corner, slumped down and fast asleep.

Reika knew him immediately by his scent as the events of last night replayed through her mind quickly.  He was the male wolf she had seen before she was rendered unconscious by one of the lynx’s harsh actions.  The wolf had clearly come to her aid.  But what happened to the lynxes?  Dare she hope that they were dead and out of her life forever?  Although her luck had improved considerably with the wolf who had saved her, she doubted the wolf spirits liked her enough to kill off the lynxes, too.

She remembered the taxi had driven her for an hour and dropped her off at an all-night car rental.  Using her new ID, she rented the first car available, tossed her bag in the back, and drove.  She had no idea where she was, but she could practically feel the lynxes on her tail even though she never actually saw anyone.  She sped, turning down various streets.  She pulled the car into a park when the gas tank was nearly empty.  It was near dusk.  She saw a truck moving slowly down the park’s main drive, the same truck that had picked up the young woman with the rose on her birthday.  With her heart pounding, she looked around frantically for help but saw no people or open businesses.  She had only one chance to escape, and that was to shift and run.

She stripped, tucked the keys into the visor, left her bag under the passenger seat, shifted, and raced off.  The full moon loomed in the sky, and Reika ran quickly for as long as she could.  She could feel she wasn’t alone.  She felt the menace and hatred emanating from the lynxes.  They weren’t going to take her nicely.  They were pissed she’d run.

She ran as far and as fast as she could, but they caught up to her, trying to injure her so she couldn’t run anymore.  She remembered them striking out at her, wounding her.  She closed her eyes against the memories and shook them away.

Reika would never be able to hide from the lynxes.  They had excellent scenting abilities.  She had no idea how they’d found her in the airport in the first place, but it didn’t matter.  If the wolf who had saved her had chased them off, it was only because the lynxes knew they would be able to find her again, no matter where she was.  She shivered in the bed.

The only thing Reika could do was keep running.  One problem was that she was out of money.  Her belongings were in the rental car in the park, and she had no idea where the car even was.

She looked at the man.  If he had saved her life, could he help her escape?  There had to be a place she could go where the lynxes would never find her, or he could perhaps help her contact the WAA again.

Reika noticed he was handsome.  Thick black hair cut short and carelessly mussed, tan skin, stubble-darkened jaw, and a mouth made for kissing, with a slightly larger lower lip that just begged to be nibbled.  As she let her eyes roam over him shamelessly while he slept, she noticed his features shift slowly, from peaceful and smooth to frowning and drawn.  His brows drew together, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his body went rigid.

“No, no,” he murmured, lost to his bad dreams.  His hands tightened slightly and his body jerked.

Reika couldn’t stand to watch him suffer in his nightmare, so she pulled the sheet around herself and straightened from the bed, wincing at a tugging pain in her side.  She moved to him, kneeling and laying one hand on his arm.

His eyes popped open immediately, hazel and bottomless.

“You shouldn’t be up, sweetheart.  You’ve got a bad gash on your side,” he said, his deep voice rumbling pleasantly in her ears.  His jaw was clenched tight, and his knuckles were white, but his body remained relaxed so he managed to look at ease.  She guessed he was doing that for her benefit.

“I do?”  She blinked up at him.  She parted the sheet to reveal where the pain radiated.  She pulled away a bandage, and saw three claw marks that were healing.

Shaking her head slightly at the wound, she said, “You were having a nightmare.  Are you okay?”

His eyes rested on her, warmth in the depths, and he pressed his palm to her cheek.  “I’m not the one who was attacked by three males last night.”

With a quick motion, he scooped her up in his arms and set her back on the bed, squatting on the floor in front of her.  “Can I get you anything?”

“Your name?”

“Ah, sorry.”  He smiled, and she had a feeling that he didn’t smile much, or he hadn’t smiled in a long time.  She liked his smile, though.  Took him from handsome to gorgeous in 2.2 seconds.  “My name is Bo Elliott.”

“I’m Reika Snow.  Thank you for saving me.”

He told her the story of how he’d followed her scent and stumbled into the middle of the lynxes trying to subdue her.  She clutched the blanket to herself in shame.  It must all seem so barbaric to him.

“Hey, hey,” he chided softly, “I don’t give a damn what their reasons were.  You’re a person and not property to be treated so poorly.”  He stood slowly and winced, but schooled his features quickly to hide the pain that temporarily marred his features.  Her healing nature told her that something was wrong with one leg, something old, and that he had been tormented with nightmares from the injury ever since.

“Thank you, Bo.”

“I’m glad I was there, Reika.”

She liked the way he said her name.  Like a verbal caress.  She chided herself for thinking such sweet things about the man.  He was her hero, sure, but she needed to hit the road quick so she didn’t bring hell to whatever town she’d landed in.

“What day is it?”  The early sunlight told her it was morning, but she had a feeling she had been sleeping longer than just a few hours.

“It’s Monday morning.  I found you late Saturday night, and you’ve been asleep since I brought you here and you shifted.”

She nodded, chewing on her bottom lip.  Had the males come for her already or were they biding their time?

Bo placed his hand gently on her bare shoulder.  “You’re safe here, Reika.  I swear on my life.”

His words were as honest and genuine as any she’d ever heard.  This was an honorable wolf, and he was promising to keep her safe.  A well of emotion threatened to open up inside her, and she swallowed hard, fighting not to fall apart.

Reika looked down at her hands that clutched the sheet to her body and noticed her fingernails were caked with dirt.  “I must look awful.  Can I take a shower?”

“You look perfect, Reika.  But of course you can,” Bo said with a smile as he helped her stand.  He showed her the bathroom.  “My female alpha brought over some clothes for you last night and some, uh, girly things.  When you’re done, I’ll have breakfast for you.”

Leaving her no time to respond, Bo left her in the bathroom, and she shut the door, turning the shower on and dropping the sheet.  Steeling herself, she looked into the mirror over the sink and sucked in a breath.  Bruises and scrapes dotted her flesh, overshadowed only by the angry claw marks on her side.  Thankful for her fast healing, she stepped under the spray and cleaned up.

Reika was warmed through and through by Bo’s sweet words, but what could he really do about a lynx clan that was intent on having her as mate for its males and as a healer for its warriors?  She could sense that Bo was powerful, most likely highly ranked in his pack, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to take his pack to war for her.

She couldn’t remember ever waking up and not feeling her impending mating to the lynx males hanging over her head.  But she’d woken up feeling safe with Bo.  Her wolf growled softly in her mind.  She felt attracted to him.  Not just physically, but deeper.  She stopped her mind from exploring the growing attraction to the handsome wolf before it went too far.

Sighing, she turned off the shower and got out, wrapping a thick towel around herself.  Bo wouldn’t want her.  She was damaged goods.  Arranged to be married to three lynx males.  The only way that Bo could break that bond was if he was her truemate.  And even then, he would have to fight all three males for the right to mate her.

How did she start that conversation? 
I feel connected to you, cutie.  How would you like to risk your life for a woman you just met?

No, it was better to just be on her way as fast as possible.  That was best, for all their sakes.

His alpha female had left a stack of clothes of different sizes, and she chose a pair of comfortable jeans and a thick, soft sweater.  The underwear was in a new package, and the bra was a new sports bra.

She brushed her teeth and hair, took one last look at herself in the mirror, and stepped out into the bedroom.  The scent of bacon called to her, and she followed it to a cozy kitchen.  Bo, now wearing a long sleeved shirt with his jeans, stood at the stove, using a fork to remove bacon from a pan.

“Ouch, shit,” he groused, wiping his hand after grease snapped up at him.

She smiled.  “It’s nice to see a man who knows his way around a kitchen.”

Bo looked over his shoulder, his eyes brightening when he saw her.  “Don’t get too excited.  I can only do the basics.  Bacon, eggs, boiling water.”

He returned his attention to the bacon, finished removing the slices from the pan, and turned off the burner.  Setting the hot pan on a cool burner, he said, “Have a seat, Reika.”

She sat down on one of the two chairs at the pub table, as he put down a plate of bacon alongside a stack of toaster-heated waffles, a bowl of scrambled eggs, and a pot of coffee.  “I know this isn’t all that great, but I wasn’t sure when you would wake up, so I just had one of the wolves bring me some things I could throw together easily.”

“It’s perfect, Bo, really. Thank you.”

She turned her attention to the waffles, putting two on her plate and smothering them with butter and syrup.  She sweetened her coffee and added a splash of milk, taking an experimental sip before deciding it was perfect.

“So … where am I?” she asked after taking a bite of waffle.

“Allen.”

“Is that in Kentucky?”  She’d never heard of the town before, and she had no idea where she’d been when she stopped in the park or how long she’d run in her shift.

He frowned.  “Yes.  Where are you from?  Is there someone you’d like to call?  Your family?”

Her heart panged in her chest.  She desperately wanted to call her parents, but she didn’t dare.  What if the lynxes had their people watching her house?  She couldn’t risk her parents knowing anything.

She’d never really been a good liar, but the less that Bo knew about her, the better.  “There isn’t anyone to call.”

She busied herself eating, feeling dejected at not only lying to him, but also  pretending as if her family didn’t exist.

He didn’t ask any follow-up questions, and she was grateful.  They ate in silence, but she could feel him watching her.  She found it incredibly arousing but tried to banish the lustful thoughts from her mind.

When they were finished eating and the plates were washed and set in the drainer, he dried his hands off on a kitchen towel and led her to the overstuffed tan suede couch.  She sat and sunk down into a cushion.