Chapter 28

"So...fire, huh?"

Jo chuckled, swinging her feet as they sat on the tailgate of Ryker's truck. Neither of them had been particularly interested in leaving quite yet, but they'd needed to come back to the truck to grab a water bottle for Jo. As desperately thirsty as she was, she was still born a city girl, and it just didn't quite seem like the best idea to drink straight from a pond.

In her defense, Ryker had agreed that was probably a bad idea.

"So...wolves, huh?"

Ryker grunted, but she could tell there was amusement there. "Are there lots of...uh, fire-making people in your family?"

Jo's mood instantly deflated a bit as she looked away, shaking her head quietly. "As far as I know, I'm the only one." She didn't say it, but she implied it--unlike you. He'd indicated it was a family thing, and considering wolves ran in packs and all, she would bet most of his family were werewolves. Especially if real life was anything like half the legends and folklore.

"Oh wow," Ryker breathed. He reached out to take her hand and squeeze it, almost as if he knew she needed comfort right now. He was ridiculously good at this dating thing, she'd never met someone who had been so in-tune with her emotions. "Your family must've been shocked."

Jo bit her lip, afraid of the question that might come next. The why. "I haven't told them," she admitted quietly. "You're the only one."

Ryker was silent for long enough that she turned to look at him again. He was gazing at her with more emotions than she could identify--some of them she knew, there was awe and comfort, and maybe sadness. But others flashed too quickly for her to catch, before his hand was on her cheek and he was leaning in to press a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead.

Jo's breath caught in her throat as the gentle touch inspired a sudden wave of sadness counterpointed by relief, all at once. It had hurt so much to keep her secret, but she hadn't seen any alternative. Ryker's arms looped around her, holding her close, and she sagged against his steady warmth for a moment.

But there was still more to tell.

She drew back, and Ryker met his eyes, one of his hands still lingering on her lower back, his thumb rubbing a comforting circle there. Now she saw the question there. Why? But he seemed reluctant to ask it.

"They would have wanted to know what happened," she said, answering anyway. It was hard to hold back now that someone knew...but there were also still places she didn't want to go, even with someone else who was supernatural. This definitely wasn't something she was ready to talk about with a guy she'd just started dating.

"I think it'll be a while before I'm ready to talk about that night," she said, looking away from Ryker again. Hell, she'd just had to revisit it less than an hour ago, she definitely didn't want to dive back in right now. Her brain was still busy trying to shove that memory back into its compartment.

"Tell me about your wolf family," Jo said, hoping he'd let her change the subject.

He gave her a long look and then let her get away with the subject switch. "Do you mean the whole pack or my actual family?"

"Both," Jo said.

"You've met my brother and my sister," he said, "I mean, Brett's technically my half-brother, but he's my brother. There's also my dad. My mom died a couple years ago--"

"I'm sorry, Ryker," Jo said automatically. She didn't know whether to comfort him or hug him, so she shifted and leaned a little more against him.

He shook his head. "Thanks. She was...my mom was sort of like the rock of our family. It was pretty bad after she died, but we've been fixing things."

Jo couldn't imagine. Her own mother was kind and loving but she wasn't the hovering kind. It was her mildly hands-off approach that allowed Jo to live her own life up here in the mountains without having to call her parents every moment.

"The rest of the pack is made up of some relatives and then other werewolf families," Ryker explained. "A lot of them have lived around Jackson's Hollow for a long time, but we get new families or members every few years. Wolves tend to gather."

"Makes sense with the whole pack mentality," Jo said and then raised her eyebrows at him. "You do have that, right? The pack mentality? I don't want to assume you guys are like wolf-y wolves."

Ryker laughed. "We're sort of like regular wolves. But we're definitely humans that turn into wolves." He leaned back on his hands for a moment. "I've heard there are other shifter types out there, but I've never met them. Wolf types tend to stick to themselves. Safer that way."

"I don't think fire people have the tendency to group up," Jo said with a shrug. "I mean, I wound up in a place with wolf people, not fire wielders."

"That might be true," Ryker said. "I don't know. If you're comfortable with it, we can ask my dad and some of the older pack members if they know anything."

"Can we hold off for a while?" Jo said. She rubbed her hands together and then held them out in front of her, palms outward. "I'm still getting used to this, and I don't..."

"Yeah, you haven't even met my dad yet." Ryker nodded. "I think I get it."

Jo nodded, biting her lip at that amount of thoughts and feelings she was trying to process. She had just shared something with Ryker she'd never shared with anyone before, and he'd told her things that opened up a whole new world to her. It was hard not to get caught up in all the feelings that brought out. But...she'd known him a week. This was her first, oh wait, second date. After all, Ryker had called painting night a date.

Jo twisted her hands in her lap. She had to keep reminding herself to put the brakes on, at least a little bit. It was a little scary how easy it felt to lean on Ryker, and she was never the type of person that had ever wanted to be dependent on anyone else.

Hadn't she moved up here to be on her own? To cope with her trauma by herself?

Yeah, she doubted that's what a therapist would recommend. But what else was she supposed to do when she had a secret--no--two secrets-she couldn't share with anyone else?

And now she'd just told Ryker one of them.

The other one was on the tip of her tongue, but no way was that second date material. At the rate they were going though, there was a good chance it'd be a third date discussion. Jo huffed a quiet wry laugh that Ryker immediately picked up on.

"What's funny?" he said, his voice amused as he twirled a strand of her nlack hair around his finger. She'd lost the clip somewhere between fleeing brunch and setting herself on fire.

"Do you have wolfy hearing too?" Jo asked, deflecting his question.

Ryker smirked, shifting to lean back against the side of the truck, pulling his legs up to splay across the truck bed. "Even a normal human would have heard that. But yes, we do." He wrapped one hand around her waist and tugged her arm gently with his other hand, easily sliding her across the bed until she was settled between his legs with her back to his chest. "Now stop avoiding my question."

Jo groaned, leaning her head back against his chest, trying to calm her heart rate down after his sudden action. He bent one knee next to her, and as she rested her elbow on it, he leaned forward, chuckling against her ear. "You know I can hear your heartbeat too."

She shoved his head away from her, but he only laughed as he leaned back again, one arm lazily circling her waist. She glanced up at the darkening sky, where some of the stars were already starting to peep out--they'd spent pretty much the whole day together. A crazy, eventful day. Jo blew out a sigh. "A girl's gotta have some secrets."

"I hate secrets," Ryker grumbled.

"There's the Ryker I first met," Jo said, laughing. She turned her head slightly to look at him. "You should respect the need for secrets, Mr. Wolf Boy."

"Wolf man, thank you very much," Ryker muttered, half-growling.

"Wait, hold up a sec!" Jo turned and sat on her knees, grinning widely at him in delight. "That growl thing you do sometimes--is that your wolfy side?"

Ryker groaned and covered his face with his free hand. "Wolfy, really?" He lowered his hand and shot her a glare, although there was no real menace to it. "I'm a giant, wild, dangerous predator, babe."

Jo snorted, leaning her elbow on his knee again. "And I'm a living bonfire."

"I have a whole pack of me's."

"That doesn't sound egotistical at all." They both laughed and Ryker hugged her to his chest.

"You're impossible," he sighed.

"Yup." No denying that. He brushed the lightest of kisses across her temple, which reminded Jo...

"Did you kiss me before you transformed because you were afraid I'd freak out and leave?" she asked, tilting her head to look up at him. The sunent was giving his hazel eyes a golden glow that reminded her of the wolf side of him all over again.

Ryker grimaced like she'd brought up an unpleasant thought. "Yeah, kind of."

Kind of?

He looked down at her. "I don't think I ever, in my wildest dreams, imagined you'd tell me you were totally cool with me being a wolf."

Jo was in a teasing mood. "But you did imagine me bursting into flames?"

He chuckled, his tone suddenly getting husky. "Never in a literal sense."

"Oh?" Jo managed, her voice suddenly a lot breathier than it should have been. She was suddenly very, very warm, and very, very aware of the way he was practically wrapped all around her, sheltering from the rapidly cooling evening air.

"Mhmmm." He leaned forward, his eyes watching hers for a moment as if checking to make sure she wanted what he was about to do. Oh, she most definitely did. Not one to play games, Jo leaned forward the rest of the way, her hand tangling in his hair as their lips met. His arm wrapped tightly around her, pulling her impossibly close as he met her with equal passion.

She had no idea how long they were out there, teasing each other with stupid jokes and breathless kisses, but it was almost pitch black when Ryker suggested they should get her back home. Reluctantly, Jo agreed, because as easy as it apparently was to get caught up in Ryker, she knew she needed time to herself to process everything. It was really difficult to think clearly with him in front of her right now.

The drive back down the mountain was quiet, but comfortable. Ryker's hand tangled with hers as he drove, his thumb occasionally rubbing circles across the back of her hand. It was soothing, and Jo found herself blinking sleepily by the time they pulled up to her house. One moment they were driving, the next, Ryker had her door open and was gently tugging her out.

"C'mere, sleepy girl," he said, chuckling.

"How'd you get over here?" Jo muttered, half tripping out of the car as her brain worked on catching up with her feet. Ryker caught her, of course.

"I believe they call it walking."

Jo smiled and shook her head as he tugged her up the porch steps. She was slowly waking up, but she doubted it would last for long. She was finally coming down from today's adrenaline rush.

"Don't forget to lock that door after you get in, Josephine Scott," Ryker said sternly as Jo unlocked the front door.

Jo laughed at the use of her full name. Good thing he didn't know her middle name yet. "Did you not see what I can do?"

"Did you see what I can do?" Ryker retorted. "Not all the werewolves around here are in my pack."

Jo blinked at him. She hadn't even thought...."Duncan?" she asked softly.

Ryker's lips thinned, but he nodded.

"I'll lock the door," she promised. She really wasn't too worried, but it didn't hurt, and it would make Ryker feel better. And as if her words were magic, he breathed a sigh of relief that seemed to let go of some of his tension at the same time.

"Thank you," he said quietly. He leaned forward and kissed her again, his hand lingering a moment longer to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'll text you tomorrow, k?" She nodded. "Goodnight, Jo."

"Goodnight," she said, smiling at him before heading in. Jo waved at him through the screen door before closing and locking the main door. Then she rested her back against the door and slid down it until she was sitting on the floor in her front hallway.

Well then.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! This story will update in one week! :)