The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika (18 page)

He pressed his lips together and then said, “I am grateful you feel that way, Reika, but I would still appreciate your forgiveness.  That I wasn’t able to get out of securing you in a blood-debt.  That I couldn’t find a way to break it once it was made.”

She glanced at Bo, who nodded.  All those years, she had never hated the alpha for what he had done.  She had hated the lynxes for forcing his hand, but had never once thought any less of him.  “I forgive you.”

He smiled, picked up her hand, kissed the top, and ducked out the door without another word.

Tuesday afternoon, as Bo and her father were loading up Bo’s truck to head back to Allen, Reika walked down the hall to Ben’s room and knocked on the door.  He looked up from his laptop and smiled.

“What’s up, Sis?”

“I just wanted to say goodbye.”  She sat down on his bed and looked around his slightly messy room.

“Maybe not.”

“Maybe not, what?” she asked, looking at him in confusion.

He turned the laptop around, and she saw his email program was open to an email from Karly Mayfield.

Ben, it’s my pleasure to offer you the position of sous chef at Lonestar’s.  You’ll work directly under me, helping to create the menu as we get ready to open the restaurant in time for our special Valentine’s dinner.  Once open, you’ll be responsible for prep, working particular areas during service, and leading when I’m away.  As discussed, your starting salary will be $25,000 annually with quarterly bonuses based on the restaurant’s profits.  I look forward to working with you.  Karly

She met Ben’s eyes over the lid of the laptop.  “You’re moving to Allen?”

“Yeah.  When I gave Linus the barbecue leftovers, he said that his wife Karly would probably want to talk to me some on the phone once she tasted the food.  Then Jason said that if things worked out, I could join their pack and work for Karly at the restaurant.”

He beamed at her while her mouth hung open in surprise.  “Do Mom and Dad know?”

“Sure, Sis.  I told them about it that night, and they said they’re glad to see me use my talents finally working some place worthwhile.  I get to help build the restaurant from the ground up, and Karly has got some really great ideas.”

“Where will you live?”

He quirked his head to the side.  “I can’t live with my sister and her new mate?”

She snapped her teeth together and felt her eyes widen at the thought of letting him room in her new home.  He started snickering, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

He rolled his eyes with a smile.  “I was just kidding, but thanks for the vote of confidence.  Jason said that one of their wolves just moved away, and he had a small house that he rented out to a few wolves my age. It’s four bedrooms, and there are three guys in there now.  He said I could join them until I make enough to get a place of my own.”

She was simply stunned.  But really happy.  She put the laptop on the bed and gave him a big hug.  “If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

“Good.  I’m thrilled.   I know my mate’s not here in our pack, and I’m ready to branch out and make my own way.”

She ruffled his dark hair.  “You’re too young to be thinking about finding a mate.”

“I’m only three years younger than you,” he chastised her as she stood and walked to the door.

“I know, but you’ll always be my little brother.”

A smile lit his face, and his dark blue eyes twinkled.  “Love you, Kiki.”

“Love you.”

As they headed back to Allen on Tuesday night, she and Bo talked about her and Ben joining the pack, their mating announcement, and what she was going to do now that she was free of the pall of the lynxes.

Ever since that fateful day, she had felt like it didn’t matter what plans she made for herself because they were going to take her away and keep her prisoner.  Going to college had felt futile, but she’d gone to make her parents happy.  They had hoped, and she had, too, that she would find her truemate somewhere on campus, or really at any place between age seven and her twenty-third birthday.  But it hadn’t happened, and she’d taken to the road instead.  That one foolish act of running for the hills had landed her right in Bo’s arms, and although there were things she regretted in the past, she never regretted the actions that led her straight to him.

“What are you thinking about so seriously?”  Bo tweaked a lock of her hair, and she turned from looking out the window to face him.

“That I love you.”

His lips split into a wide grin.  “I love you, too.”

Chapter 13

Wednesday morning, Bo left Reika at home and headed into work.  He knew the threat of the lynxes was long gone, and he had it on good authority from Reika’s home pack that the lynxes were already several states west of Ohio by the time he and Reika returned to Allen, and all he could think was
good riddance.

It had been a surprise that her brother Ben was coming to join the pack, and Bo looked forward to getting to know the young male.  He had moved into the home that once belonged to Clay, who was ranked fifth in the pack before he moved out of state with his human girlfriend.  Ben was joining three other young wolves — Paul, Drake, and Luka — in the house, and Bo imagined that the single she-wolves in the pack would be very happy to have four single males in one place.

“Glad to see you back,” Jason said, when Bo stopped in his office to check in.

“Thanks.  It’s good to be back home.”

“I’ll bet.”  Jason held out a work order, and Bo took it.  “It’s a renovation on a 1970 Mustang.  Take a look and let me know your time and cost estimates, and I’ll call the customer.”

“Sounds good.”  Bo turned to leave and then stopped.  “I don’t know if I said thanks, Jason, but really, thank you for everything.  I have my mate now because of the support of the pack.”

Jason smiled.  “You were there for me when we had to hunt down the wolves who kidnapped Cades, and you were also there for Linus when we couldn’t find Karly after she was taken.  We’re family because we’re a pack.”

Nodding, Bo left Jason’s office and headed into the bay to look at his new project.

A few hours later, as he dropped off his estimate to Jason and grabbed a bite to eat with Michael and Linus, Michael said that Reika had called Susan and accepted the part-time job at the community center and then had called Shyne to ask for a ride.

“She doesn’t have a car?”  Linus asked in surprise.

“She and Ben shared a car, and she wanted him to have it.  Her dad offered to buy her a new car, but I said I’d take care of it.  I thought I’d take her out this weekend to go car shopping.  Does Shyne mind driving her this week?”

“Nah,” Michael smiled, popping a chip into his mouth.  “You know how women are.  Shyne’s a giggling chatterbox whenever another woman is nearby, and she really likes Reika.”

Bo knew that Reika liked the women she’d met, but she’d hadn’t really made any real connections with them because she’d had one eye trained on the door to escape.  Now that she was staying with him forever, she could let go of her worries and have the friends that she’d been denied because of the blood-debt.

 Aunt Lia stopped in for dinner that night and brought over a big container of her beef stew and fresh, crusty rolls.  Reika and Lia talked about healing, and Bo was impressed with Reika’s knowledge of herbal medicine.

She shrugged with a smile.  “There are a lot of wolves, especially older ones, who prefer to use herbal medicine for aches and pains, and a good healer knows many forms of healing so she can best help her patients.”

“Reika has agreed to help me with patients if I need it, and I’m sure a lot of wolves are going to be thrilled to have an apex in the pack now.”  Lia smiled, and her eyes crinkled.

Bo narrowed his eyes at Reika.  “Remember what I said about licking males.”

Reika burst out laughing and shook her head, filling Lia in on Bo’s little jealousy issue.

Little jealousy issue?

He arched a brow, silently promising to get her back for that statement.

When Lia left for the night, Bo locked the front door and turned to face Reika as she stood from the couch and stretched.  He watched her top lift slightly with the motion, and his cock hardened at the small bit of her flat belly that peeked out between her tight jeans and her shirt.

Snapping out of the trance her beauty sent him into, he stalked over to her and tossed her over his shoulder, stomping into the bedroom and kicking the door shut.

She laughed, her hands gripping his ass before he flipped her around and dropped her belly first onto the bed.  Jerking her hips, he pulled until her feet were on the floor and her upper body was flat on the bed.

“I don’t have a jealousy issue,” he growled, trying to be stern when he felt incredibly giddy just to have her in his bed again.

Peeking over her shoulder, she bit her bottom lip and smiled slowly.  “Yeah, you do.”

He snarled, knowing she was baiting him.  Leaning over, he licked the shell of her ear and said, “I’m not jealous.  I’m protecting my woman.  You
are
mine, aren’t you, Reika?”

He licked the space behind her ear where her intoxicating scent lay heaviest, and she shivered and moaned, “Yes.”

His wolf howled in his mind, and his human side grinned like an idiot to know that she really was his.  He’d believed her before, but he could hear her say it a hundred times a day and never get tired of it.

Grasping either side of the collar of her shirt, he ripped it apart, seams tearing and buttons flying as he shoved it down to her elbows with her bra straps, until her breasts popped free.  He nuzzled her ear as he slid his hands up, rubbing his fingers under the sensitive underside of her breasts before covering both swells with his hands and squeezing gently.  Her nipples tightened and brushed against his palms as he pressed open mouthed kisses down her neck to the crux of her shoulder.

He felt her hands sink into his hair as she moaned, and he pulled her hands away and pressed them into the mattress. “Don’t move your hands.”

He paused for a moment to see if she would move, but she remained still.  Until she wiggled her butt against him.  “Are you going to just look at me or what?”

He swatted her ass lightly, and she squeaked in surprise, and then laughed, tossing her hair back and giving him a come-fuck-me look that almost melted his shoes off.

Unsnapping her jeans, he lowered the zipper and hooked his thumbs into the waistband of both her jeans and her panties and pushed them down her shapely legs and tossed them across the room.  His fingers trailed up the backs of her legs, curving around the smooth line of her hips.  She was so beautiful.

He stripped quickly, his shoes thudding against the far wall and his phone tumbling to the floor in his haste.  Leaning forward, he swept her hair off her back and kissed the space between her shoulders.  She lay flat on the bed, her arms out to the sides and her cheek resting on the comforter.  He kissed down her back, delving his hands down her sides to her hips and hooking them around her legs to pull them apart.

Sliding his hands up the inside of her thighs, he skimmed the lips of her pussy and grinned at how turned on she was.  He kissed her shoulder, biting down enough to leave a slight mark.

He straightened and picked up one of her legs at the knee and hooked it over his elbow, planting his hand on the bed to keep her body spread wide in front of him.  With his other hand, he guided his cock into her heated core, groaning as she tightened around him.

Stroking out of her slowly, he grabbed her waist with his free hand and gripped the bed tighter with his other hand, before thrusting hard and fast into her.  Her pussy was incredibly tight with her lower body spread the way it was, and he struggled to regain control of his body so he didn’t come before she did.

Inching his hand around the front of her body, he rubbed her slick, swollen clit with one finger, growling as her body began to tighten rhythmically.  She moaned and panted, her knuckles turning white where she gripped the comforter, while he strummed her clit and pounded into her.

She hunched forward and screamed his name as her pussy clamped down on his cock so hard his eyes crossed.  His control snapped, and he rammed into her, clenching her tightly and pumping hard and fast into her body.