The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika (16 page)

Her eyes were half-lidded, her hair mussed, and her lips swollen from kissing.  Her skin was flushed and dewy, and the scent of her was like a drug he couldn’t get enough of.

He’d kept her locked up for three days.  She was one stubborn she-wolf.  It had been hard for him to see her fight her true feelings in the name of protecting him and his pack.  He knew she would fit right into the Tressel Pack because she already cared so much for them.

He opened his mouth to ask her if she was hungry and found her asleep, her hands tucked under her cheek.  Exiting the bed slowly so he didn’t wake her, he checked his messages and sent a few texts to the pack before tucking it away and crawling into bed with his mate.

When he woke late the next the morning, the bed beside him was cold.  His heart leapt into his throat as he jumped from the bed, worried she’d found a way to get out.  The bathroom door opened, and she walked out, wearing one of his T-shirts.  “You look like you saw a ghost.”  She laughed, kissing his cheek.

He swallowed hard, ashamed that his first thought had been that she’d tried to leave him after promising she wouldn’t.  “We’ve got one more day together, baby, and since we’re newly mated, I wanted to make sure we started the day right.”

“Aw.”  She kissed his nose.  “I’m starving.  Someone put me in another sex coma last night.”

“I can’t help it.  I can’t get enough of your hot body.”  He nipped her ear, and she giggled.

They made breakfast together, watched a movie on his iPad, and talked.  He learned so much about her in those few days in the cellar.  Not only confirming what he already knew, that she was smart and caring and an all around amazing person, but that she was also incredibly sweet and nurturing.  He felt like he was basking in the sun when he was around her.

That night, they made love and fell asleep in each other’s arms.  He wanted to spend every night that way and wake up every morning with her being the first thing he saw.

As they packed up to head to her home pack on Saturday, he felt her anxiety grow with each minute that passed.  By the time he unlocked the cellar door and opened the hatch, she was trembling with nerves.  “Baby, it’ll be okay, I promise,” he swore, cupping her face and kissing her lips.

“I know that in my heart, Bo, but I’m so afraid to lose you.”  She squeezed her hands into tight fists as if to control her trembling, but they still shook visibly when she released them.

“You won’t.”  He raised her palms to his mouth and kissed the center of each one before pulling her into a hug and holding her close.

He put her in the truck along with their supplies and opened the doors of the barn wide.  When he backed the truck out and turned around, Reika gasped.  Ten vehicles were in a long line in front of the barn.

She peered through the windshield.  “Is that your pack?”

He squeezed her hand.  “They’re your pack now, too, sweetheart.  Don’t forget that.  They came here to support us.  Nothing is more important to a wolf than his truemate, and a pack that would let a wolf stand alone is no wolf pack I’d ever be part of.”

She turned to face him, her eyes bright with unshed tears.  “I love you,” she whispered thickly.

“I love you, too, sweetheart.”

He pulled around the line of vehicles and horns blared, breaking the morning silence.  Leading the way, he pulled out of the long drive of the farm and headed towards Columbus, where three lynxes were about to get a lesson … old-school.

* * * * *

“Oh, Mom!”  Reika cried as she closed the distance to a woman who looked like a slightly older version of her.  The woman hugged Reika tightly, and the two started to cry.  Grim, the alpha of their pack, stepped forward and met with Jason, and they shook hands.  Reika’s father, Tin, shook Jason’s hand and then Bo’s.

“Welcome to the family, son,” Tin said with a nod.  “You have no idea how long we have prayed that the great wolf spirit would allow her to find her truemate.”

“I’m not going to let her down,” Bo promised.

Tin smiled, briefly, and introduced Ben.  Ben was a few inches shorter than Bo’s six feet, stocky and well muscled.  Reika had painted him as a chef, and Bo had pictured him being thin and geeky.  He might like to cook, but he was packing some serious muscle.

A strange sound, like a bullhorn, echoed around the empty park.  It was neutral territory west of the city of Columbus, a wide open grassy park, lined with trees.  The lynx clan appeared in a huge caravan of RVs.  They circled the RVs around the perimeter of the park, and Bo was reminded of when wagons would circle up in the old west.  It was strange, to say the least.

They were like a swarm as they stepped out of the RVs.  There had to be a hundred and fifty of them who stood around the clearing.  A grizzled old male stepped forward with the three males who had been promised Reika.

The lynxes joined Alpha Grim, Jason, and Bo in the center of the clearing, with the wolves from both Bo’s and Reika’s packs standing to the side while the lynxes crowded around the open space.

“King Maurice,” Alpha Grim said, “I present to you Bo Elliot, werewolf truemate to Reika Snow.  By our laws
and
yours, a truemate can break the blood-debt promise.”

The three males growled in anger, their eyes narrowing.  Maurice raised his wrinkled hand, and the males stopped growling.

“We have waited sixteen years for the healer to join our clan.  If he is truly her truemate, then he will have to fight those who hold the blood-debt.  Only blood can erase the blood-debt.”

The crowd pushed back, urged by Alpha Grim, until only Bo stood in the clearing with the four lynxes.  Bo held his hand out to Reika, and she walked to him quickly.  He took off his leather jacket and handed it to her.  She slipped it on her shoulders, and he reached over and touched the marks on her neck.  Without looking at the males, he said with a loud, clear voice, “I, Bo Elliot, do hereby declare myself champion to my truemate, Reika Snow.  I will take on her blood-debt as my own.”

A tear trickled down her cheek.  “I love you,” she murmured.

He kissed her and repeated the words back to her.

And here was his ace in the hole.

“I call two
fregoris
to fight by my side in blood and honor.”

The lynxes around them erupted in unhappy murmurs.

Ben and Shayne stepped from the wolves and came to stand on either side of Bo.  The lynx males paled when they saw Shayne, and Bo relished their reaction.  Shayne and his family had traveled with their pack to support Bo.

“What is the meaning of this?”  Maurice shrieked.

Grim and Jason came to stand with them.  Grim spoke loudly, authority in every word.  “In your own laws, it is stated that a male may ask for warriors to fight with him, but only if those warriors have been wronged by the same men.  You hurt Ben’s sister, Reika, when you attacked her in your shifted forms when she ran.  And you injured Shayne’s sister, Jazlyn, when you tried to use her as collateral to force Bo to release Reika.”

Jason said, “You may take the three wolves in challenge to your three lynxes, or you may choose one to battle Bo alone.  It is not honorable to demand an uneven fight.”

“You know nothing of us or our laws,” one of the grandsons snarled.

“Fight or walk away,” Grim said, “but this ends today.”

Bo glanced towards Reika and saw her staring at him in shock.  He’d been willing to go against all three males, but when Alpha Grim told Jason about the lynx laws, Bo knew that there was nothing better in a fight than two wolves at his back.  He hadn’t known much about Ben, but when Jason talked to Grim about the situation, he assured Jason that Ben was a serious fighter and would happily fight for his sister’s honor.

The lynx males pulled off their jackets, cursing under their breaths, and stalked forward.  “Flesh to flesh.  If you shift, you are disqualified from the fight,” Alpha Grim said.

Shayne cracked his neck, his bright blue eyes flashing as he sought out the male who had put his hands on Jazlyn.  Shayne was 280 pounds of pure, primal male.  The lynx didn’t stand a chance.

The onlookers moved back further to give the fighters more room, as each male chose an opponent.  Bo knew he was looking at Eli, the eldest.

The three wolves faced off against the three lynxes.  The onlookers had given them a wide berth, and Bo focused all his attention on Eli, his vision narrowing on the male who had been a threatening presence for almost Reika’s entire life.

Bo’s wolf was anxious to end the threat to his mate, and for the first time, he felt truly at one with his beast.  The only thing standing in the way of his utter happiness was one pathetic excuse for a male.  Bo waited for him to make the first move, guessing he would try to disable him quickly, choosing brute strength over strategy.  Eli was bigger than Bo, but Bo knew he could beat Eli.

As he suspected, Eli rushed him with a roar, and Bo grappled him as the two landed hard on the ground.  He was only very dimly aware of the sounds of Ben and Shayne fighting, but he pushed the thoughts away.  He couldn’t lose focus now, not when Reika’s welfare depended on it.

She was the most incredible woman he’d ever known, and she belonged to him now, as his mate, his equal, and his future wife.  There was no way in hell he was going to lose the most important thing he’d ever stood up for in his life.

Chapter 12

Reika stifled a cry of alarm as Eli threw himself at Bo and landed on top of him, the two hitting the ground with a loud thud.  She was aware of her brother and Shayne fighting the other lynx males, but her vision had narrowed down to Bo and his fight.  She’d been so surprised her mate had found a way to make the fight even.  She had said she trusted him, and she did, but she hadn’t been certain what the outcome would be if he had to face all three.  Her mate was determined, though.

Within seconds, the two were apart again, Bo looking calm and in control and Eli looking like a wild man.  They circled for a few moments, gauging each other, and this time when Eli moved to strike, Bo hit first.  For each punch and kick that Eli threw, Bo returned ten, his fists and feet moving so fast that she could barely track the movements with her eyes.

Eli landed a solid punch to Bo’s right eye, and Reika felt her mother’s restraining hand on her arm, not realizing she had taken a step forward.  Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of her mate’s blood, and her wolf growled in worry in her mind.

Eli landed a hard kick to what had once been Bo’s bad leg, and Bo went to the ground with a grunt.  Reika nearly screamed in panic, wanting to throw herself between Eli and Bo as Eli reached for her mate with pure menace and hatred in his eyes.  Bo kicked out suddenly and swept Eli off his feet.  Eli hit the ground so hard that Reika thought she could actually hear his brain rattle around his skull.

Bo twisted Eli around until Eli’s arms were braced behind his back by one arm and Bo’s other arm was wrapped tightly around Eli’s neck.  Eli struggled, arching against Bo to try to free himself, kicking vainly at the ground.  His face began to darken as Bo cut off his oxygen.  The muscles in Bo’s arm tensed as he squeezed tighter, and Eli’s struggles slowed and then stopped.

Bo dropped Eli’s unconscious body to the ground and stood up, lifting his head to the sky and howling in victory.  Ben and Shayne stood victorious over the unconscious bodies of the other lynx males, joining Bo in their shared victory.  The wolves around them erupted in a chorus of answering howls, and Reika raised her head and let loose a howl in thanks to the great wolf spirit for seeing her mate safe and for erasing the blood-debt against her.

Bo lowered his head and glared at the lynx clan leader.  Maurice lifted a thin dagger from his belt and sliced across his palm.  When several drops of blood had splashed onto the grass, he said, “The blood-debt is answered, the she-wolf Reika Snow is free.”

Reika’s heart soared.  Free!  Free to love who she wanted, no longer looking over her shoulder.

Maurice spoke several words in a language she didn’t know, spat, and tossed the blade into the ground with an angry snort.  He turned his back and stalked away towards the RVs, snapping his fingers and barking orders at his people.  The three unconscious lynxes were picked up by their people and carried off.

Bo swept his eyes over the crowd and met her eyes as tears of relief and happiness streaked down her face.  He opened his arms to her, and she raced forward and clung to him as he wrapped his arms around her while she sobbed.