Reina's Mate

by Dawn Wilder

  REINA'S MATE

  By

  Dawn Wilder

  Copyright 2016 Dawn Wilder

  * * * * *

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is fictional and any resemblance to persons, places, or events is coincidental.

  Adult Reading Material (language, violence, sexual content). All characters are above 18 years of age.

  *****

  By Dawn Wilder

  Paranormal Erotic Shorts:

  Mate Me

  Were My Mark

  Incubus Needs

  Foxy Lady

  Runt of the Litter

  Paranormal Erotic Shorts Collection (contains all of the shorts above)

  Were It (best read after Were My Mark)

  Sea Me

  Fangs for Coming

  Were Break (best read after Were My Mark)

  Paranormal Erotic Shorts Collection, Volume 2 (contains the four above, plus Were My Mark so it can be read before the other Were shorts)

  Were Shield

  Gunner’s Mate

  Tracker’s Mate

  Breaker’s Mate

  Ryder’s Mate

  Asher’s Mate

  Elena’s Warriors

  Curves Ahead

  Foster’s Mate

  Fisher’s Mate

  Play Hard

  Luther's Mate

  Sayer's Mate

  Casper's Mate

  Rader's Mate

  Fuller's Mate

  Ryker's Mate

  Carver's Mate

  Keller's Mate

  Billionaire's Assistant (previously titled Hidden Mate)

  Denver's Mate

  Foxy (adapted from the short Foxy Lady)

  Billionaire's Mate

  Billionaire's Neighbor

  Ranger's Mate

  Lenora's Mate

  Reina's Mate

  Dawn Wilder Writing as A.R. Dawn

  Paranormal Romance:

  Going Lupe

  In the Lupe

  Let Sleeping Lupes Lie

  *****

  Free Paranormal Romance Bundle

  If you sign up for my mailing list, I’ll send you my paranormal romance bundle (Gunner's Mate, Breaker's Mate, Tracker's Mate, Ryder's Mate, Foxy Lady, Incubus Needs, Were My Mark, Mate Me, Runt of the Litter, and Going Lupe). Just email me at dawnwilderbooks@yahoo.com with the subject ADD ME. Or, sign up on my Facebook page and download a copy of the bundle right away!

  Happy Reading!

  *****

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Connect

  *****

  REINA'S MATE

  *****

  Chapter 1

  Griffith

  I opened my eyes blearily.

  What was that sound?

  Sitting up, I tried to shake the sleep off. I'd been up late trying to work out the bugs in a new program I'd been writing and had only gone to sleep...I checked the clock.

  Half past four in the morning.

  A couple hours ago.

  Man, no wonder I felt like shit.

  The sharp knocking started up again.

  Fuck. Who was up at this hour? And why the fuck did they decide to inflict the same pain on me?

  I fell back onto the bed.

  Maybe they'd go away.

  A pause.

  And then the knocking started up again.

  With a sigh, I grabbed my sweatpants and pulled them on. It would serve whoever it was at the door right if I just showed up in the buff, but I didn't really want my boys hanging out there all vulnerable.

  The cobwebs cleared as I walked down the hall to the front door, not bothering to turn on any of the lights.

  I could see clearly in a lot less light than this. One of the advantages of being a wolf.

  I opened the door mid-knock.

  And almost physically staggered back as the past collided with the present.

  She'd changed. But then so had I.

  Her jeans and long sleeved t-shirt showcased the more generous curves she'd acquired, though it was also obvious her body was honed and strong. She was still a couple of inches shorter than me, her hazel eyes striking against the warm brown of her skin. Her dark hair was shorter, cut just above her shoulders and framing her striking face.

  She was even more beautiful now.

  I felt the pang in my heart, still there even after this many years.

  But there had to be a reason she came looking for me.

  “Reina? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

  “Yes. It's Sofia.”

  Sofia? Reina's little sister must be...fuck, in her twenties now.

  “What happened?”

  Now that I'd gotten over the shock, I could see the lines of stress and worry on her face.

  “Can I come in?”

  “Yeah, of course.”

  I moved back and she stepped passed me. Her scent followed, the same slightly minty evergreen smell that had driven me wild.

  And, unfortunately, apparently still did.

  I closed the door and gestured for her to take a seat on the couch as I sat in one of the armchairs across from it.

  “What happened?” I repeated.

  She scrubbed at her face wearily, looking even more tired as she sat down.

  I tried not to look at the way the movement pulled her shirt against her chest.

  Which made me feel like a real heel when she was obviously going through something.

  Alright, I needed to focus here.

  “Dad sealed a political alliance with Manny. She was part of the deal. You know how they are about all that bloodline bullshit.” Her face tightened. “And he made sure to wait until I was out of town to pull this shit.”

  I leaned back in the chair, trying to process this.

  Political alliances sealed with what amounted to arranged marriages weren't unheard of, but they were increasingly rare.

  And it was beyond surprising that Mariana would let John do that to her daughter.

  “How could Mariana let that happen?”

  Reina looked at me with faded pain in her eyes.

  “Mom's dead. She died three years ago. Car accident.”

  That hit me right in the gut. Mariana had been one of the sweetest, most nurturing people I'd ever met. I could never understand how she and John had gotten together in the first place.

  “I'm so sorry.” And didn't that just sound completely inadequate. But there weren't any words to adequately convey the grief I felt at the news, or how much the loss must have hurt Reina.

  “Thank you.” She looked away and I gave her a little time to gather herself again.

  Taking a deep breath she turned back to me.

  “I came to ask for help. I can't leave Sofia with Manny. She should be in school, getting her degree. Not held hostage by some egomaniac.”

  Manny had a well-deserved reputation for being a ruthless bastard. A ruthless bastard who loved to whore around every chance he got.

  The fact that Sofia was already there with him left a bad taste in my mouth.

  “I understand if you don't want to get involved,” she started.

  “Don't insult me,” I interrupted. “Sofia was like a little sister to me
too. I can't just leave her there. Give me five minutes to get dressed.”

  Yes, I'd lost contact with everyone in the pack. But that was more my doing than theirs. I hadn't left behind any means of contact.

  The fact that Reina had found me so quickly made me wonder if she'd been keeping track of me. But I couldn't think about what that could mean, especially not right now.

  I didn't wait for an answer, just went into my bedroom and shucked my clothes, pulling on an old pair of jeans and a flannel shirt along with some boots.

  My eyes went to the gun safe, but guns wouldn't be helpful in this situation. They weren't exactly inconspicuous when used.

  And they weren't looked upon favorably by wolves either. Fights were meant to be up close and personal, not technology based from a distance.

  Phone and keys and I was good to go.

  “Do you have some kind of plan? Or are we winging it?”

  She stood up as I came back in.

  “I know someone in Manny's pack. I contacted her, but nothing so far...if she doesn't get back to me, I guess we're winging it.”

  I nodded, pulling on my beat up jacket.

  “Taking my car or yours?”

  “I came on my bike.”

  Bike, huh?

  “My car it is.”

  I saw the nice piece of machinery out in my driveway as we left the house. It was a little surprising for someone so responsible and by the book to have a bike.

  But it had been a long time. And people changed.

  I felt a twinge in the region of my heart at that thought.

  We got into my truck without any other talk and I drove down the small, out of the way road that led to my cabin to reach the main drag.

  When I'd left the pack, I actually hadn't gone too far away. I was about two hours by car, in neutral territory that was supposed to act as a buffer zone between John's and Manny's packs.

  We could drive to the edge of Manny's territory in a couple of hours, but the rest of the journey would have to be made on foot.

  “When was she taken?” I asked, pushing the accelerator down.

  I weighed the risk of being pulled over and decided it was worth it since the cops weren't usually interested in lying in wait here.

  “Two days ago. I didn't find out until I got back last night. They must have taken her phone.”

  I nodded, the sense of urgency telling me to go even faster, but it wouldn't be safe. The last thing we needed was to be delayed by a car accident.

  We drove for a while in silence, the tension between us almost palpable. Neither of us brought it up though.

  Reina's rejection was one of the reasons I'd left the pack, but it wasn't the only one. John wasn't an Alpha I felt comfortable giving my complete loyalty and faith to.

  This mess just showed me that my gut had been correct on the matter.

  And I'd wanted to go out and make something of myself. So I'd gone away to college, far from pack territory, when I'd been expected to stay nearby like everyone else.

  Like Reina.

  I couldn't even completely blame Reina for her rejection. We'd been friends ever since I could remember. Growing up together as pups, getting into trouble together. But my rebelliousness had been a central part of my personality. Hers had been more based off of light-hearted fun.

  At her core, she was loyal and responsible. She took her role as the Alpha's oldest daughter seriously and genuinely admired her father.

  She hadn't liked the fact that I'd begun doubting that power structure.

  And I hadn't exactly been discrete about it either, which had caused John to reprimand me publicly. If I had been older, I'm sure he'd have called me out in a challenge.

  Reina's desire to make her father proud meant that trying a relationship with me had been out of the question.

  But I'd refused to see that, laying my heart down on the line as recklessly as I'd done everything else at that point in my life. I loved Reina. And as I'd gotten older, I'd realized that love wasn't the platonic kind I'd have for a sister.

  Looking back, I could see that it had killed something inside her to tell me no. But at the time, I couldn't look past my own broken heart.

  “I think we might have some company.”

  I jerked back to the present and glanced in the rear-view mirror.

  There was an SUV barreling toward us with the headlights off.

  “Do you recognize it?” I asked, pushing the accelerator down a fraction more.

  “Yes. My father's guys.”

  They were still gaining on us, but I didn't dare go any faster. There were some pretty sharp turns coming up ahead and I didn't want to risk losing control and flying off the road. One side had a pretty deep ravine at one point.

  Which gave me an idea.

  I looked back at them still steadily gaining on us and pushed down the accelerator a little more.

  “What should we do?”

  “Hold on.”

  Reina looked over at me and then grabbed the bar above the door.

  The car rocked as we made one of the turns and I eased up on the gas a little.

  No use if we went careening off-road ourselves.

  There was another turn up ahead that was not that bad, but it was misleading because there was one right after that one which was much sharper, with the ravine on one side. If you didn't slow down before the first turn, you would have to adjust quickly to make the second.

  And that was going at a normal speed.

  If you were going as recklessly fast as the the car following us, there was no way you could make the adjustment in time.

  I was counting on the fact that the pack tried to stay away from other claimed territories. They shouldn't be very familiar with the roads in this area.

  The crash into the ravine wouldn't kill them, but it would total their car and slow them down considerably.

  I eased off the accelerator for the first turn and kept an eye on them as they screeched around it.

  Here came the second turn.

  I felt the back tires lose traction for a heart-stopping second and Reina cursed next to me.

  But they caught the road again and we made the turn, avoiding the dark crevasse to the right of us.

  The guys following us weren't so lucky.

  We watched them lose control and go flying into the pit. There was what seemed like a long pause, though I knew it wasn't very long at all.

  Then the crunch of metal as the car plowed into the rocks below.

  “Fuck,” Reina said quietly.

  I slowed back down to a more reasonable pace now that they weren't on my tail anymore.

  Reina turned back to look.

  “Are they going to be okay?”

  “They should be. It's not deep enough to kill them. Injuries, sure. But unless there was some kind of freak accident, they should be fine.”

  “Shit.” She leaned her head back against the headrest. “They were just following orders.”

  I paused, thinking about how to handle this.

  “Would you have gone back with them willingly?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  “Do you think John told them to handle you with kid gloves?”

  It was Reina's turn to pause as she chewed on that.

  “No,” she said slowly. “The good of the pack supersedes my well-being. He would have told them to stop me by any means necessary.”

  I didn't say anything about how shitty a father that made him.

  Not that he was winning any father of the year awards anyway.

  “There you go. I simply stopped them by any means necessary instead.”

  Reina nodded, looking out the window.

  I sighed to myself. This was one of the things that had drawn me to Reina even as it frustrated me at times. She was such a naturally empathetic person.

  I would have wondered if she was really John's daughter if I hadn't also met Mariana.

  That part of her was definitely from her mother.


  We were silent as we continued driving.

  The buzzing of an incoming text message broke the silence.

  I watched out of the corner of my eye as Reina checked her phone.

  “Fuck me.”

  “What is it?”

  “My contact just got back to me. They're keeping her smack dab in the middle of the territory with beefed up security. Apparently, Manny isn't exactly sure of her compliance.”

  I snorted.

  If Sofia was anything like she'd been as a child, he should be worried.

  But this did make things tougher.

  “Does he have any advice?”

  “It's a she. Yeah, she'd sending me the schedule of the guard shift changes. But if we manage to sneak in during that time, we'll have to stay in the territory until there's another opening to get out.”

  I thought about that, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel.

  This whole rescue was really a shot in the dark, and I knew Reina realized that too. If we were caught, I sincerely doubted Manny would show any mercy.

  “Is there any way to get word to her? Get her more toward the edge of the territory?”

  “Let me see.”

  She texted back quickly.

  “She's pretty isolated. Not a lot of people are allowed to talk to her. And when she is out, she's always accompanied by a pair of guards.”

  “Well, we can handle two guys a lot easier than a whole pack.”

  “True. Bar says she'll try to get a message to Sofia. But even if she does, Sofia might not be able to convince her guards to accompany her too far from the heart of Manny's territory.”

  “It's worth a shot.”

  Reina grunted her agreement as she sent off another text.

  “Why is she helping you?” I asked casually.

  I wasn't jealous. That would be crazy.

  Fuck. I was jealous.

  And apparently crazy.

  I hadn't had any indication that Reina swung the other way, but I hadn't been around her for a good while either.