“How will he find it? I have no idea what town I was in, or the name of the park, or even how long I was running.”
“Teller’s our pack tracker. He’s going to follow your scent. Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ve got this, sweetheart. All you need to do is just trust me. Can you do that?”
He really hoped she would say yes. He’d never cared if a woman trusted him or not, but it was seriously important now. If she took off because she didn’t trust him to keep her safe, if she got hurt because of it, he’d lose his mind.
“Okay, Bo,” she said after a long moment. “I trust you.”
He could see her mind working. Even though she said that she would trust him, she was trying to figure out how to get away from him and get out on her own. He applauded her desire to keep others safe and keep the burden on herself, but he wasn’t about to let her waltz into hell alone.
She was his mate. He knew that with more certainty now than he had as he’d watched her recover in her sleep. His wolf rumbled an agreement. No female had ever made him feel the way that she did. He knew he was broken, and not worthy of someone as incredible as her, especially with such a powerful family line behind her. But he could still make sure she was safe. He had no choice. Even though his wolf rebelled at the thought of letting her go, she deserved a mate who could protect her for the rest of their lives, wolf and man, not one who would be crippled within a few years. He would set her free from the lynxes, and then let her go. It was the right thing to do.
That afternoon, he drove them to Jason and Cades’ home. Reika had been quiet for most of the morning, only speaking when he spoke to her first. As he watched her look around while they walked up the front porch of their home, he could sense her wariness. She was looking for the lynxes.
“A handful of our best fighters are patrolling the grounds, sweetheart, so you’re safe here.” Bo held his hand out to her. He waited for her to take it, watching as she took one last look around and then relaxed, but only fractionally.
“I’ve upset your entire pack. It’s not right.”
He felt the warm weight of her hand. “Of course it’s right. Not only are you a wolf and our kind, but you’re—” he faltered. He wasn’t going to put the word mate out there. She was freaked out enough as it was. Thinking quickly, he opened the front door and pulled her inside. “You’re allowed to choose who you mate with and what you will and won’t do with your life.”
Her lips parted slightly, and her head cocked to the side. He wanted so badly to pull her into his arms and kiss her. Feel her lush body pressed against him. Watch her fall apart in ecstasy.
She doesn’t need your baggage, his mocking inner voice said.
Shut up, his wolf growled in warning.
Reika followed him into the kitchen, where Jason and Cades stood at the counter. Michael, Jason’s brother and pack second, was seated at the kitchen table, along with Linus, fourth and Logan, fifth ranked. Bo’s wolf bristled at Logan, who was the only unmated male around. Bo struggled with his desire to push Reika behind him, to shield her from Logan’s eyes. A possessive wolf was the last thing she needed, when the lynxes had nothing but possession on their minds.
Cades and Jason came over, and Jason introduced her and the others at the table. Bo sat Reika down between himself and Cades as the two joined the group. He kept his hand on the back of Reika’s chair, laying silent claim to her.
While they discussed the situation with the lynx males, Bo’s mind drifted constantly to Reika. Her sweet, natural scent was like a beacon for him. He found himself unconsciously leaning towards her, wanting to stroke her soft skin, kiss her full lips. It was going to be hard to keep away from her. Reminding himself that the last thing she needed was his sorry ass panting after her, he curled his fingers into the wood of the chair back and focused on the conversation.
Jason’s dad, Peter, walked into the kitchen, head down, reading a large, leather-covered volume of pack law. “Right.” He put the book down on the table, the yellowed pages filled with writing in the old language. “A blood-debt can only be called by one powerful enough to break it.”
“Blood-debt?” Cades asked.
Peter lifted his head. “Yes. They sealed the promise with blood, didn’t they, Reika? Yours and the three males?”
She shivered and nodded, embarrassment flushing her cheeks. Fuck it. Bo put his arm around her and drew her against him. She stiffened only slightly, and then relaxed. She rubbed the tip of the ring finger on her right hand. He wondered if they had taken the blood from there. The thought of someone cutting her, drawing her blood when she was a child, made his hackles rise. The sorts of people who marked children and promised them to rapists to become brood mares weren’t the sorts of shifters he wanted to get to know. The sooner they were out of Reika’s life, the better.
“One powerful enough to break it. What does that mean?” Jason asked. “It’s not a physical bond. They’re not mated.”
Peter looked at Reika for a long moment, and she shook her head ever so slightly. He made a small humming sound in his throat and turned his attention back to the book. What the hell?
She fidgeted in her chair and moved his arm off her shoulder as she stood. Her voice was calm and even, but her pretty blue eyes were filled with dread. “Can someone show me where the bathroom is?”
“Sure, this way.” Cades stood and took her to the half bath on the first floor. He watched her go, her movements stiff and anxious.
When the door shut, Teller said, “Anyone else think that the only person who can break the blood-debt is her truemate?”
Peter nodded. “It’s pretty clear here in the old texts. The blood-debt was used as a promise between packs in the old days. When packs made peace, they often arranged marriages between the alphas’ children, sealing the promise with blood. The only thing that could break the promise was if either of the children found their truemates before the mating occurred. The truemates would fight to break the blood-debt. If they were successful, then the debt was erased. If they lost, however, they were not allowed to claim their mates.”
Jason leaned back in his chair. “I looked up her pack. They’re not much bigger than us, settled in Columbus. The alpha is old-school, not as much as Karly’s family, but honorable.”
“It’s barbaric,” Cades groused, bringing her baby, Lyric, into the room. The five month-old baby girl hung onto her mother with her fists tightened in Cades’ hair. “She was a child. They never should have agreed to it.”
“I don’t think they had a choice, Cadence,” Peter said.
“Bullshit,” Cades growled. “There is always a choice. And you can be damn sure if someone tried to bind Riki to three males in the name of honor, they’d do it over my dead body.”
Bo was sure that would be the exact scenario. Bo felt that same protective need sweep over him with Reika. He might not be worthy of her, but she deserved more than males who would force her and make her submit, and hurt her the way they did.
Speaking of Reika …
He glanced towards the bathroom with a sinking feeling. Without even bothering to go to the bathroom, he walked from the kitchen, out the back door, and moved around the side of the house. He saw the bathroom window open, and the spot where she had landed when she slipped from inside.
Her footsteps were easy enough to follow in the snow, but she hadn’t gone far. She stood a few hundred yards into the woods, her back against a tree, a cell phone in her hand.
“Going somewhere, sweetheart?” He stopped in front of her and put his hands on his hips. He was both furious and turned on. She shouldn’t have tried to walk away, but she was damn sneaky, and help him, he liked that.
She chucked the phone at him and folded her arms over her chest. “You people sure are trusting.”
He caught it, glancing down and finding Cades’ bright pink cell phone, with a password preventing it from being used. He tried not to laugh, but he couldn’t help it. While Reika glared at him, he laughed harder. It
was damn funny.
When he had laughed his fill, he tucked the phone into his back pocket and stepped close to her. “You said you trusted me.”
She tried to look away, but he caught her chin and made her look at him. Her eyes said it all. She was feeling the mate-pull as much as him.
“I do. I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”
“I’ll break their tie to you, Reika. You’ll be free to mate with who you want.”
“No!” she shouted, her hands suddenly gripping his arms. “You can’t. It’s too dangerous. They’re crazy and relentless. They’ll never give up on having me.”
He let his beast free enough for his canines to elongate, and he scratched the inside of his palm, drawing blood. Pressing his hand to her neck, he said, “I swear on my life, Reika Snow, that I will see you free of your blood-debt to the lynx clan.”
Her chest rose and fell as she breathed, almost panting, her fingers tightening on his arms.
“Why?” Her voice came out raw.
“So you can go home to your family and live your life the way you want.” It would kill him, but he’d see her safe so she could have a normal life.
Her brow furrowed, her mouth drawing down into a frown. “Go home?”
“Yes. Back to your family. Let me set you free, sweetheart.”
Her eyes dropped down to his mouth, and her pulse sped. His body sprang to life, heating with need and desire. “Bo,” she said quietly, her voice just a bare whisper.
He fell on her, leaning into her body, as their mouths crashed together. He pushed his tongue past her lips and drank in the heady taste of her, heat and woman and sweetness all rolled into one. He tilted his head and slipped his hand around to her neck, kneading the flesh just under her thick hair. He danced his tongue against hers and ate the throaty moans she made like they were food he could live on. She trembled, and the human part of him remembered that it was damn cold outside and neither of them wore coats. The wolf side of him, however, wanted to tear her clothes off and claim her, despite the cold.
She flattened her hand against his chest and pressed, and he allowed himself to be pushed away. Her eyes were bright, her mouth swollen from the amazing kiss, and her breasts heaving as she panted for breath.
“We should get back,” she said.
“Yeah.” He almost apologized. But the truth was he didn’t regret kissing her. Of course it would make it just that much harder for him to let her go, now that he’d had a taste of her and held her close. A twinge in his leg brought him out of sappy romance-land and into cruel reality.
“It’ll be okay, Reika,” he said as he put his arm around her and walked her back to the house. They stayed for dinner with Jason and Cades. Michael and his wife, Shyne, joined them. Although Reika was friendly and talked to the women, Bo could feel the tension in her. She was going to keep trying to get away from him, and he had a feeling that it wasn’t only because she didn’t want innocents hurt for her, but also because she didn’t want him to be hurt.
That night, he watched her walk into the bedroom and shut the door. She had promised, several times, that she wouldn’t try to leave overnight. He didn’t trust her a damn bit because she looked like a doe about to bolt, but he had to show her good faith. He settled on the couch, shoes and shirt off, jeans on. He never slept well on the couch, although he never really slept well anywhere.
Reika had been kind enough not to ask about his leg, but he was aware that she had glanced at it several times during the day. He wasn’t really ready to flay open his soul and share the story. Because sharing the story meant showing the leg, and he didn’t think he could bear to see the disgust roll through her when she saw the mangled flesh of his leg.
The irrational, primal part of him argued that she was his mate, and she would love him no matter what. But the rational part of him that had spent so many years watching doctors and nurses startle when they saw his leg, and then the pity that followed, didn’t think he could handle seeing that in her eyes.
He lay in the darkness, staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come. He hoped to hell he didn’t have a nightmare. It had been embarrassing waking up from his nightmare to find her worried about him. Not to mention how weak he must appear.
He was so deep in thought he wasn’t aware that Reika was in the room with him until she curled up next to him, tucking herself against him in the deep couch. His arms immediately went around her as she snuggled against him.
“Sweetheart?”
“I’m cold,” she said.
He pulled the afghan from the back of the couch and draped it over her. She didn’t feel cold; she felt flushed. And she smelled aroused.
His cock reacted, hardening and scraping against his zipper. He muffled the groan in his throat. “I can kick up the heat. It’s not comfortable here on the couch.”
She looked up at him. “Only if you come with me.”
Well, he didn’t think that was a good idea. If he took her to bed, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her, so it was best to stay on the couch. As it was, his body was screaming to roll on top of her and find out if she was as hot and wet as she smelled.
“Goodnight, Reika.”
“Night, Bo.”
When morning came and Bo woke, he realized that he’d actually had a good night’s sleep for the first time in many years. Reika was like a balm for his body. The constant twinge of pain was there, but it had dulled enough so he could sleep. Amazed, he lay with her while she slept, wishing he could bottle the feeling.
Just thinking about letting her go made his wolf prowl in his mind, snarling and unhappy. But it was for the best, Bo knew. She might have some healing abilities, but she hadn’t offered to heal him, which told him that he was truly beyond hope. No doctors or specialists had ever been able to help him with the constant pain and nothing that his aunt Lia had ever made for him with her herbal skills had ever worked beyond a temporary numbing that seemed to make the pain more intense when the herbs faded.
Extracting himself from the couch without waking Reika, he showered and changed for work. Although the last thing he wanted to do was leave her, he did have a job to do. And Cades and Karly were coming to spend the day with Reika, and two of the younger males were going to hang around outside and keep an eye on the house.
Reika was sitting on the bed when he came out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth. She smiled at him as they passed when she walked into the bathroom. He finished getting ready for work and walked into the kitchen. Reika had brewed a pot of coffee and fixed a cup for him. He’d never had anyone make a cup of coffee for him. Then again, he hadn’t ever had a woman spend the entire night at his house, either.
Reika joined him in the kitchen twenty minutes later. She had changed into the other outfit that Cadence had brought for her, a thick sweater and a pair of dark jeans. Her hair was damp.
“After work today, I’ll take you to a mall, and you can pick out some things of your own, okay?”
She looked surprised. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Why wouldn’t I? Cades’ clothes don’t quite fit you right, and you said you only had two changes of clothes in the bag you packed, which isn’t enough. We’ll grab a bite to eat while we’re out. Unless you want toaster waffles for dinner.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to pay you back, Bo.”
He cupped her face with one hand and stroked her cheek. “Don’t give it a second thought, sweetheart.”
Memories of the kiss they’d shared in the woods the day before flashed through his mind, and he found himself leaning into her, wanting to taste her and kiss her … devour her.
A knock on the door threw cold water on them, and he stepped back quickly, reminding himself that he wasn’t planning for her to stick around once he freed her from the lynxes. He walked to the front door, cursing inwardly at his erection and at his wolf’s insistence that they couldn’t allow her to leave, even after she
was freed. He opened the door.
Karly and Cades stood on the front porch, cheeks bright from the cold air and smiles on their faces.
“Come on in, ladies.” Bo stepped back and held the door open as Cades and Karly walked inside. Karly held a plastic container in her hands. As Bo shut the door, he nodded at the wolf standing in the front yard, knowing that the other one was in the backyard, already watching for trouble. He didn’t like leaving her at all, but knowing she had people watching over her helped to ease some of that burden.
As he expected, when Reika saw Karly and Cades, she bristled with anger.
Pulling him aside as Karly lifted the lid from the plastic container and Cades looked in the cupboards for dishes, Reika hissed, “I do not need babysitters.”
She was so fierce and passionate, and he wanted to silence her protests with kisses and nibbles.
Not the time.
“Baby, first of all, I have no idea if the lynxes know where you are or not. I would never take the chance of leaving you on your own while I go to work. If I could stay home with you I would, but I have a deadline and a customer waiting. You’re just going to have to suck it up.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Did you just tell me to suck it up?”
“Yeah.” He grinned and tweaked her chin. “I swore on my wolf’s blood that I would see you safe and that means I’m in charge of what happens until that comes to pass. Suck. It. Up.”
She let out a small gasp of surprise and her eyes widened, and then she snapped her teeth together. He imagined she was thinking about taking a bite out of him. At least she stopped arguing.
He kissed her cheek, snagged a fresh cinnamon roll, and grabbed his coat. Casting a glance backwards, he saw Reika plaster a smile on her face and greet Karly and Cades with enthusiasm. He knew she wasn’t happy, but she managed to convey that she was, regardless. Once more he realized just how long she’d been perfecting the facade of being happy when she wasn’t, and it strengthened his resolve to see her free and safe. No matter what, he would put down those lynxes and give her back her life.
The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika Page 5
