The Wild Wolf Pup (Zoe's Rescue Zoo #9)(94)

raise my glass, tipping my chin to my brother in appreciation.

“To Reina,” I add. “And all the sunshine she brings to this place.”

“To Sunshine,” everyone cheers.

The Bill Wither’s song, Ain’t No Sunshine, always reminded me of Reina, especially after Jimmy Gold kidnapped her.

She was young, a bit shy, a whole lot sheltered until I came storming into her life.

I should’ve let her be.

But she had me from the very first time I set foot inside Dee’s Diner.

Now, I’d never let her go.

Because…

Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone.

Only darkness every day.





Chapter Thirty-Six




Standing in front of the mirror, I tie a knot in my white silk robe, my stomach twisting in knots. My anxiety spiking to levels I have never experienced. Today is my wedding day, a day I wasn’t so sure I’d ever see. I was going to marry the love of my life, promise to share all of me with all of him. I was going to be Jack Parrish’s wife.

It was everything I ever wanted and nothing I knew I needed. The crass biker who strode into the diner, night after night, for five weeks. The man I barely looked at, hardly spoke to. The man I never wanted to give a second glance was the man who rescued me from my own hell, my own torment and breathed life back into my soul. He healed me and in the process I healed him too. We were broken, lost, two fractured souls who found one another in a sea of grief and despair.

Piece by piece, brick by brick, we built one another up and then he asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes, I wanted to marry Jack Parrish more than I wanted to breathe. But as much as I wanted him, I was frightened to have him.

It all goes back to having everything and having everything to lose.

I’ve been there before.

My relationship with Danny may have been a farce. I still don’t know if he truly loved me. How could I? There were so many lies between us it was impossible to decipher the truth. At the time of the fire and his death I didn’t know about all the lies. After the fire I found myself in a hospital, covered in burns, listed as a Jane Doe, grieving for a man I knew nothing about. I grieved for the woman lost in that fire, the man I thought was my forever and the deceit our forever was built upon. I lost everything I thought I wanted.

Now I have everything I want but everything I need too. I have a real forever. True love. I have Jack Parrish and I am so afraid of losing him. My fear is consuming me, turning the happiest day of my life into a nightmare full of anxiety. I can’t shake the feeling lurking in the pit of my stomach. The strange sense that something terrible is about to happen. Call me crazy, but it’s not like doom doesn’t fall on the Satan’s Knights doorstep frequently. In fact, it’s more common than not.

I was too wrapped up in my head to hear the door open but I heard Lacey call for me as she walked around Jack’s room.

“In here,” I rasp, lifting my hand to my throat, swallowing down the fear and forcing a smile on my face, one that didn’t reach my eyes.

“Happy wedding day,” Jack’s daughter cheered. Standing in the doorway of the bathroom, her smile falters when she takes in my reflection in the mirror. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I lie, spinning around to face her.

Her eyes widened, and she takes a step closer, placing her hands on my shoulders.

“Reina, everyone is arriving, you need to get dressed,” she whispers, lifting a hand to my hair which still tied back in a ponytail.

“I just lost track of time,” I insist, drawing in a deep breath as I reach for her hands and give them a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll hurry up.”

Her dark eyes skeptically stared back at me, assessing me, probably trying to figure out why I looked so fucking scared on my wedding day.

“Okay,” she says finally. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Can you go downstairs and tell everyone I need a little more time?” I ask, turning around to face the mirror. Grabbing my make-up bag off the counter, I rummage through it, busying myself so I didn’t have to look at Lacey and have her discover how nervous I was. I didn’t want her to think the worst, that I didn’t want to marry her father.

“Sure,” she says, pausing a moment. “I’ll go do that and be right back.”

“Thank you,” I mutter, keeping my head down, pretending to dig in the bag, for what, I don’t know. I hear the door close behind me and finally lift my eyes to stare at myself in the mirror.

“Snap out of it, Reina,” I hiss to my reflection. “Everything will be fine. Nothing will stand in the way of you marrying the love of your life.”

Please God, let it be true.





“Bulldog, looking sharp,” Nikki Pastore greets, working her way in-between the band of brothers surrounding me.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite Pastore,” I grin, taking her and pulling her into a hug.

“It’s Valente now,” she corrects, returning the embrace.

I had a soft spot for Vic’s youngest daughter, took a liking to her the moment she and Mike jumped into my truck and she robbed my cigarettes.

Pulling back, I avert my eyes back and forth between her and her new husband. Mike Valente, dressed in black dress pants, a white V-neck t-shirt and a sports jacket that matched the tailored pants. Taking another look at Nikki, I notice she matched his attire with a black and white dress. They were the perfect fucking couple, made me real proud to have a hand in saving their asses.