The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika
Read The Wolf's Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika Online
Authors: R.E. Butler
The Wolf’s Mate Book Five: Bo & Reika
By: R.E. Butler
Copyright 2013 R.E. Butler
The Wolf’s Mate Book Five: Bo & Reika
by R.E. Butler
License Notes
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 purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.
**Cover Artist: Ramona Lockwood**
This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locations is coincidental.
Disclaimer: The material in this book is for mature audiences only and contains graphic sexual content and is intended for those over the age of 18 only.
* * * * *
I'd like to thank Jennifer Moorman for editing this book. I couldn’t have done it without you.
For Jacq McNeill, whose friendship means the world to me. And to my fans and friends... thank you for your support.
Table of Contents
Coming Soon...Book Six in
The Wolf’s Mate Series
Reika plopped down on the couch next to her younger brother, Ben, and peered over his shoulder. He was glued to the eBook reader, a digital cookbook page displaying a vivid picture of a bubbling dish on the screen before him. He loved to cook and had taken culinary classes at Columbus State Community College. Ben worked at a greasy-spoon as a cook, but one day he wanted to work in an upscale restaurant. For now, he was also the family cook, which their mother was thrilled with.
“What’s on the menu tonight?” Reika ruffled his short black hair.
He patted down his hair with a scowl and then tipped the reader so she had a better view. “Spinach and ricotta manicotti.”
She looked at the dish, a cheesy, gooey masterpiece of pasta and sauce. It looked delicious.
“Cool. Can you make me a peach smoothie for dessert? You know I love them.” She grinned at him and stood.
“Isn’t it a little cold for icy drinks?” He looked out the window towards the snow that blanketed the yard. They lived in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio that had seen more than its fair share of snow this past January.
“Never too cold for peach smoothies, Bro.”
“They’ll have to be canned peaches, Sis.” His upper lip curled in disgust. To Ben, using anything except fresh produce was a culinary sin. Reika didn’t care. He was a master in the kitchen and could make even canned peaches taste amazing.
“You’ll make some woman a really great wife someday.”
“Oh, ha ha, Kiki.”
She enjoyed teasing Ben. Although they argued from time to time, they had a loving relationship. He was sweet, funny, and protective, even though Reika was almost three years older.
“Hey, I’m making your cake for tomorrow. What kind do you want?” he called to her as she walked towards the stairs.
Her steps faltered and she froze, her hand tightening on the pale oak banister. Her twenty-third birthday was tomorrow.
Maybe they’ll forget about me
, she thought.
“Chocolate.”
“You got it,” he answered lightly.
She knew Ben also remembered that Saturday wasn’t
just
her birthday, but he didn’t say anything more, and she was relieved. The less she thought about the noose that tightened around her neck, the better.
Her footsteps felt suddenly heavy as she made her way up the stairs to her bedroom. She had spent her whole life in this home. She loved everything about it — the vanilla candles her mother liked to burn, the scent lingering in the air long after they had been snuffed; the height marks climbing the wall in the pantry, marking Ben and her as they grew; and the bay window in her bedroom with the specially made pillow her grandmother crafted before the arthritis stole her abilities.
She pulled her sweater tighter around herself as she hugged her arms around her middle and sat down, pressing her forehead against the cold glass of the bay window.
Sixteen years had passed since
the incident
. Even though she had a fleeting thought that they might have moved on, she knew in reality they wouldn’t have changed their minds. Were-lynxes didn’t forget their debts.
Were-lynxes were the gypsies of the were-world. The Cullaga lynx clan had traveled through Central Ohio when she was seven and took over the wooded area surrounding Buckeye Lake. Reika’s wolf pack had been there for the Fourth of July, celebrating with a cookout, swimming, and boating. Reika’s alpha, Grim, had warned their people to stay clear of the lynxes, but little Ben had been only four and fascinated with the horses tied up around their camp.
He’d unintentionally opened the makeshift gate of the horse pen, and the king lynx’s prized Arabian had been injured when it escaped and had to be put down. Ben had been terrified. Hell, they all had been. Reika remembered when the lynx king brought Ben back to the area where the pack was enjoying the picnic, and Ben was white with fear. His small body trembled, and tears spilled down his cheeks. The king, Maurice, demanded payment for his horse — a horse he said was worth one hundred thousand dollars.
Reika’s family wasn’t poor, but they didn’t have a lot of cash laying around. She’d stood behind her mother, fearful for her brother, wishing she were old enough to shift into her wolf-self so she could rip off the rotten old king’s arm for touching Ben and making him cry.
The king suddenly noticed her as she peeked around her mother’s body. He lifted his head, closed his eyes, and opened his mouth, scenting deeply, making a strange, rasping noise that caused shivers to race down her spine. Her mouth went dry, her heart pounded in fear, and her knuckles turned white as she clutched her mother.
“You,” he said, pointing at Reika as she cowered behind her mom. “You are a
qualfo
, a healer wolf.” Looking at Alpha Grim, the king said, “We will take her. She will mate with my grandsons and produce a new generation of lynx-wolf healers.”
Reika didn’t entirely understand all that he said, but she knew that
mate
meant husband and wife and that her mother suddenly drew her into her arms and held her close enough that Reika could feel her shaking. The woman who had never been afraid of anything, now trembled in fear.
“No,” her mother hissed as her father came to stand with them. A growl seeped from his lips.
Alpha Grim snarled, “We do not give our children to become breeders. We will get you the money for your horse. Release the child, and be on your way.”
“You will give us the girl, or we will kill the boy.”
A young man, not more than twelve or thirteen, stepped forward and pulled a knife from his belt, pressing it against Ben’s throat. A line of blood trickled down Ben’s throat, and he whimpered.
The young lynx kept his eyes on Reika but said to Ben, “Hold still, little dog, or I might accidentally slit your throat before your pretty sister’s eyes.”
Ben then went very still, but his eyes widened and he bit down on his bottom lip, squeezing his little hands into fists as his body went rigid. Reika sobbed, burying her face in her mother’s shirt.
Reika’s father stepped forward. “We can work out an arrangement. I do not want to see our people come to blows over a simple accident.”
The king sneered. “Our people number two hundred.”
Reika knew what that meant. Their pack had less than sixty members. If the lynxes went to war with their pack, the wolves would lose. She could lose not only her brother, but also her parents and possibly her own life.
She tugged on her mom’s arm. She looked down at Reika. “I’ll go, Mama. I can’t let them kill Ben.”
Her mother dropped to her knees and hugged Reika tightly, sobs wracking her mother’s body. A shadow loomed over them, and when Reika opened her eyes, she saw her father’s face pulled taut with anger. “We’ll make sure they won’t come back for you until you’re an adult, honey. That will give us enough time to find a way out of this.”
“I know, Daddy.” Reika believed him. Her father had never lied to her, prizing honesty above all else. If he said they’d figure out how to free her from the lynxes, then she knew he would. Somehow.
She stood between her father and Alpha Grim, with her mother right behind her. The king lynx stood with three young men, including the one who held the blade to Ben’s throat, and the king introduced them as Josef, Eli, and Adam, his grandsons. They were tall and skinny, each with dirty blond hair that hung, matted, past their shoulders. Their clothing was worn and patched, and their fingernails looked like dirty half moons. The young men stared at her in a way that made her skin crawl. She wanted to run home and hide in her closet among the stuffed animals and dolls, but she had to be strong for her family and her pack. Her father said they’d figure it out, and his promise gave her strength to stand tall.