The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika

by Butler, R. E.

  She snapped her jaws down on his shoulder, deep into the muscles. Her healing venom flowed freely into his body now, carried into the blood stream, fast on the path to healing him. She kept her jaws locked on him, not only to keep more healing venom flowing into him, but also to keep him from shifting. His body shook and jerked under her and he struggled, but he was no match for her as she straddled his body.

  Her senses picked up the changes in his body as the venom in her claws worked through the muscles, healing and repairing damage that had caused him pain for so long. She knew his story and knew that she’d been brought into his life for this reason. No one should suffer his entire life for one bad mistake in his youth.

  His body locked up as the venom healed. She released him once she was certain he had plenty of venom in his body. She nuzzled the fabric of his jeans out of the way and looked at what remained of the scars of his youth. She had split his leg open from hip to ankle with two well placed slashes of her paws, digging her claws into the worst of the injury.

  His mouth worked silently, and a single tear escaped his tightly closed eyes. She knew from what others had told her that there was no pain quite like an apex healing. She only hoped he forgave her when he could walk and shift without his old pains.

  Stretching out next to him, she licked the tear from his cheek and nuzzled his neck, amazed at his resilience as he continued to stay in his human form and not give in to the shift. For wolves, when pain in their human form became too great, the wolf tended to want to spring free. Holding onto the wolf while pain rode his body would be one of the most difficult things that Bo would ever do. Pride wove through her as she watched his muscles tense harder and harder until he was like a string stretched taut.

  An hour passed. Two.

  She watched him intently as he wrestled with the pain as her venom forced his body to heal at an accelerated rate. As she marveled at his strength and determination, she thought over her growing feelings for him. Ever since they had made love, she’d fought her own battle over leaving him behind. Her wolf wanted to mate with him and stay in Allen forever, but the rational part of her mind knew that was selfish. If she stayed, she was sending Bo to his death at the hands of those sadistic males. It would be the most difficult thing she had ever done, but she would walk away from him. To save him. To set him free. She would rather suffer alone for the rest of her life than know that her selfish heart had gotten him killed.

  There would be no other male for her for the span of her life but him, and she would do anything to see him safe. Even if that meant running away.

  With her heart breaking, Reika shifted into her human form and knelt next to Bo. “Shift, baby, please. It’s been long enough.”

  Bo’s eyes were bright amber when he cracked them open, his lips drawn tightly, and he let out a hard breath and shifted. Within minutes, a dark gray wolf rolled onto four paws and howled, and then stalked right for her.

  Chapter 9

  Bo had thought the most painful thing he’d ever had happen was the accident and the follow-up surgeries. Reika’s healing abilities were far, far worse. It was as if she had injected his body with acid and then told him to just hang out while it obliterated him. His first instinct had been to shift, when her claws were digging into his leg and the first pains had begun like little flames licking at his muscles. He’d remembered her words and had been determined not to shift. He knew he could trust her. He loved her, after all, and he couldn’t really love someone he didn’t trust.

  When her jaws clamped down on his shoulder, he’d been caught between pleasure and pain. She’d marked him, whether she meant it that way or not, and he just hoped like hell that the marks lingered. When wolves marked in their wolf forms, it was serious business. She’d just made it known that he was hers.

  As she stayed right by his side while he fought against the urge to shift, an idea formed in his mind. If she was really healing him, if his body would really be whole, then he would use it to keep her here. There was nothing wrong with a little seduction, a few dozen orgasms, maybe, to make her admit that she loved him, that she was his mate, and that she was going to stay. No matter the threat that stretched over them from the lynx clan, he knew in his heart that he could protect her. His wolf would not allow her to be taken. And once she was free of the blood-debt, he would claim her as his truemate forever.

  After the lynxes had attacked Jazlyn, Bo knew it was just a matter of time before they recovered and attacked again. He and Jason had spoken at length about the situation and decided the best thing to do was to go challenge the lynx males for Reika. Bo was her truemate; they belonged together. It wasn’t even a matter of him letting her go anymore; she was ingrained too deeply into his heart and soul. Hell, she was his heart and soul. When Jason had called about the garage, Bo told him he was ready for the plan to be implemented. As alpha, Jason would have called Reika’s alpha and asked him to speak to the lynx leader. If the lynxes would back off for five days, Bo would bring Reika to her home pack and challenge them for her. They would use the time to travel, but mostly, Bo was going to get the idea of her running off on her own out of her mind. If he had to drown her in pleasure to get her to admit to being his, then he’d just jump on that grenade.

  He stalked towards her in his wolf form as she sat, naked, on his bedroom floor. Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears, and she sniffled and leaned forward, running her fingers through his thick coat. “Feel better, baby?”

  He nuzzled her neck and licked at her pulse. She shivered and wrapped her arms around his neck. He let out a long sigh and then took in a deep breath, letting the sweet scent of her wash over him. He loved how she smelled, how she tasted. He didn’t think there was anything that tasted better in this world than his woman when she came on his tongue.

  He sat back on his haunches and regarded her. Their eyes met, her dark blue and his wolf-amber. She looked happy, but he could see the turmoil in her eyes. She was torn. She’d probably decided to heal him so he’d have something nice to remember her by. Well, she had his heart now, and he wasn’t just going to let her walk away with it.

  They moved to the kitchen, and she tossed him one of the steaks he’d planned to grill for her for dinner. He caught the meat in his jaws and settled down to eat, amazed at the ease with which his right leg moved now. No tightened muscles screaming for relief, no desire to gnaw his own leg off. When the steak was gone, he nosed his leg. He was pleased to find her scent lingered on him.

  “It’s the healing venom, Bo.” She sat down on the floor while he ate, with her arms wrapped around her knees. “When I’m in my form, I can secrete a healing essence. If a wound is small enough, I can lick it and it will heal. For bigger wounds, I can bite, and the venom goes into the blood stream and helps heal. But in your case, I wanted to put the venom directly into your wound and bite you as well, since it’s so old.”

  He hummed in his throat, which came out sounding like a wolfy purr. He could practically taste her nervousness. He imagined she was worried he would be pissed off at the pain the healing had caused. The phrase “no pain, no gain” floated through his mind. He certainly didn’t fault her for what she had done, and now that he could feel his body getting back on track, he fell a little bit more in love with her than he had when he’d been buried to the hilt in her hot body.

  He licked her neck again, growling softly, and turned around and headed towards the back door. Standing at the back door, he felt a little bit like an idiot, but he barked and scratched until she stood next to him, grinning.

  “What’s that, boy? Did Timmy fall down the well?” She was grinning so hard her cheeks had to hurt.

  He huffed and nipped at her bare knee, and she laughed, pushing open the sliding back door. “I’m going to grab a blanket and sit out on the porch. Have a good run, baby.”

  He barked once and leapt off the porch. He wasn’t going to go far, or even leave his yard. There was always a chance the lynx males might come here, although he doubted it.
They’d not tracked him to the house yet, and at this point, their leader would have called them home. They were determined to have his woman, and there was no way in hell he would allow that as long as he had a breath left in his body.

  He felt like a puppy. Or, rather, since werewolves didn’t shift until they were adults, he imagined he felt like a real wolf puppy might feel — as if the world was new and his for the taking. He leapt and hopped, stretching his right leg and not feeling the familiar painful twinge that always made his breath catch in his throat. He roused a rabbit from a hole near the back of his property and chased it as it darted around the yard, not really interested in catching it.

  He turned as the door shut, and his sexy sweetheart, wrapped in a thick blanket, sat down in the old rocker that had belonged to his grandfather. Fuck, he loved her. He felt his heart swell, and it filled his chest, rumbling out of his throat with a long, low growl. Now he understood what his friends meant when they said that love changed everything. He’d never considered himself selfish, but now he wanted to give her everything, including freeing her from the promise to the lynx males.

  He stretched out on the snow and rolled around a few times, digging his claws into the hard ground and launching himself around the yard. If he could grin in his shift, he would be grinning like a mad fool right now, but he didn’t care. His woman had given him back his life and his heart. He couldn’t love her more than he did at that moment.

  She fidgeted on the rocker, and even on the cold air, the scent of her arousal pulsed at him, and his wolf growled in happiness. Mark her. Make her ours forever!

  He stalked towards her, breathing in the deep, hot scent of her. Shifting easily, for the first time in his life, his body changed rapidly from wolf to human, and he climbed the steps, grabbing a hunk of snow in one hand, before falling to his knees in front of her. Dropping the tightly packed snow to the porch, he drew her legs out from the blanket and lifted her knees, spreading them apart and hooking them over the arms of the rocker. She gasped and moaned as the brisk air touched her heated flesh, pink and wet and throbbing, just for him.

  “You look like you’ve got wicked things on your mind, baby,” she crooned, running her fingers through his hair.

  “I’m getting revenge on you for that Lassie crack earlier.” He leaned forward and licked her pussy in one slow stroke, from the bottom of her hot, dripping slit, to the tight, needy pearl of her clit. “Oh yeah, and I’m thanking you for healing me.”

  Her body lifted for him, and she dug her fingers into his scalp. “You are very welcome.” Biting her lip and closing her eyes, he watched her head fall back and bliss light her features as he stroked his tongue across her heated folds again. She tasted incredible. As sultry as a summer night and as sweet as the first flower to bloom in spring. He tilted his head and swiped his tongue around the edges of her entrance, probing the depths with his tongue lightly, caressing and teasing. He ignored the incessant tug on his hair from her fingers, relishing the pleasure soaked whimpers that seeped from her throat.

  He reached for the snow he had captured in his hand. The pressure of it being held in his palm had created a small icy phallus, just the thing that she needed to help her cool down a little. With the fingers of one hand he pulled the flesh around her clit taut, exposing the bundle of nerves. He deviled it with his tongue, casting his eyes up the length of her body and finding her digging her teeth into her bottom lip as she panted and groaned softly. He laved her clit once and then ran the end of the packed snow across her tender bud, and she jerked, her blue eyes popping open.

  He sucked her cold clit until it was hot and wet, and then applied the ice to it. He alternated the heat and cold until her legs trembled and a tiny bead of blood dotted her lip where she’d dug her teeth into it. Tossing the nearly melted ice aside, he thrust his cold fingers into her body and clamped his lips around her clit, sucking hard on the needy bud until she shrieked in pleasure, her body wild beneath him. He jerked upright, pushing the rocker backwards until it met the wall of the house, and he thrust his cock into her waiting pussy, feeling the sweet wetness of her body as she pulsed around him in the throes of her orgasm.

  He kept himself above her with his hands on the spindles of the rocker and fucked her hard as her hands pulled his mouth down to hers, and she sucked his tongue into her mouth. He tasted the bit of blood on her tongue from where she had swiped it across her lip, and his wolf went nuts as his body slammed into hers with speed and force. Until there was nothing but the two of them. Their bodies meeting, their tongues tangled, and the splintering sound of the rocker as he found release in her pussy and she followed, milking him hard.

  Easing back, he righted the rocker and winced at the creaking sound, noticing the splinters on the porch. Well, he hadn’t exactly expected an eighty-year-old rocker to be able to handle a sound fucking from an impassioned wolf, had he?

  He picked Reika up in his arms, loving the glazed look in her eyes and the flush on her skin. He carried her straight into his bathroom and flipped the water on, closing the drain so the old-fashioned clawfoot tub would fill. Keeping her tight against him with one arm, he adjusted the water until it was just a shade under too-hot and stepped into the tub.

  Her body nestled nicely right in front of him, his legs on either side of hers and her back to his chest. They watched the water fill the tub in silence as he stroked her arms lightly, and she rested her head on his bicep.

  The water reached their hips, and she sighed deeply, “That’s better.”

  Chuckling, he scooped water up in one hand and let it dribble down her slit. “A little cold, sweetheart?”

  She hummed in her throat. “There was this crazy wolf who tried to freeze my clit off.”

  “Just crazy about you.” He nuzzled her cheek and kissed her ear. Tipping her chin until she looked at him he said, “I am, you know. Crazy about you.”

  “Bo, I —” she started, and he sensed she was about to pull away.

  Stopping her before she could say anything that might damage his self-esteem, he brushed her lips with his finger. “You don’t have to say it back, sweetheart. Just hear me say it. I love you. I know you’re mine, my truemate. And I’ll do anything to keep you safe and keep you forever.”

  Her eyes widened and the glitter of tears shone before she closed them and settled her head back on his bicep. If he couldn’t feel that she was meant to be his mate, he might have felt her rejection as a crushing blow. But he knew she wanted to get away from the threat of the lynxes and that she wanted to keep him safe as well. In her mind, leaving was the only way to do both of those things, and she didn’t want him to lose all that he had. The only way he’d lose everything was if he lost her.

  They soaked in the tub in silence, washing each other eventually with soap and making love on the bed. This time he was not only completely naked with her, but he lay with her on the bed, not forced to stand because his leg ached. His leg now had two sets of claw marks on it, but they were fading to a color just slightly lighter than his natural tan. The long twisted scars of his injury and surgeries were gone, and he would wear these marks with pride because they came from his woman.

  He’d been happy to see that the marks on his shoulder from her teeth were still there, a curve of dots from where each tooth broke through the skin on either side of his shoulder. She had passed out quickly after they made love, and he waited until she was sound asleep before he put his plan into action.

  He dressed quickly and packed a bag for them, running out to the truck and turning it on so the heater would have time to warm up the cab before he put his sweetheart inside.

  With two boxes of groceries and a battery charger for his cell, he went back into the bedroom and gathered Reika in the blankets and strode out into the cold night air. Settling her still sleeping body in the passenger seat, he closed the door silently and went around to the driver’s side where he climbed in and closed the door. The last thing he did before he put the truck into gear was han
dcuff her right wrist to the door handle. No matter what, she wasn’t leaving his side until she promised that she wasn’t going anywhere.

  Bo had spent a lifetime seeing things he could never have because of his injured leg. He wasn’t about to let his mate run off on her own on some kind of misguided mission to lure the lynxes away from town, away from him, and try to disappear on her own. He was proud as hell of her for being so noble, but he wasn’t about to wimp out and let her take the fall for him.

  Everything that mattered in the world to him was sitting in the seat next to him, and he’d be damned if he let three entitled, asshole lynxes get in the way of their future. Come hell or high water, Reika was his. Period.

  Chapter 10

  Reika yawned and stretched, and her eyes popped open as a chain rattled and her right arm wouldn’t lift over her head. She was in a truck. Bo’s truck. With Bo. Handcuffed?

  “Morning sunshine,” he winked, looking far too sexy in a scruffy, unshaven sort of way.

  “What the hell, Bo?” She jerked on the handcuff and glared at him. All her fuzzy feelings over the healing and the fantastic, bone-melting sex they’d had afterwards disappeared in a rush.

  “Don’t worry, honey. We’re nearly there, and then I’ll let you go.”

  “Nearly where?” Panic rose inside her like a tidal wave. Was he taking her back to the lynxes? He’d gotten his healing and a few good tumbles and he was done with her? No! Her wolf growled in her mind, and she knew that was the furthest thing from the truth. Bo loved her. Not only had he told her that amazing truth last night in the tub, but she could feel it. His wolf wanted to commune with hers, and her wolf was clamoring in her skull to do the same. He was her truemate, the only one who would be strong enough to break the promise that her alpha made all those years ago.