Chapter 74

Jo leaned against the railing of the back porch at the Monroe's house, her hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate with huge marshmallows in it. Snow laid across the huge porch and the patio, a couple inches thick on top of the grill and the picnic table beyond.

Her nose was instantly cold. Bringing the mug up to her face to warm it with the steam, she took a sip, one of the oversized marshmallows bumping against her skin. The hot chocolate was delicious and relaxing after the last day of final exams.

Where'd you go? Ryker asked. He must've come out of the kitchen where he had been devouring a disgustingly massive sandwich and found her missing. Seriously, that sandwich had been eight inches high. Malcolm was a sandwich making monster.

Outside. It was hot in there.

You can throw fireballs, but you can't take a wood-burning fireplace?

It was HOT. It had been a couple months since they had Marked each other, and while her mental voice was never as clear as his, she had gotten better at talking through the mindlink. Now she could shout on purpose.

A moment later, the door opened, letting out the sounds of some random Disney movie that Lexi and the boys were watching. Brett and Aaliyah had gone out of town for the weekend, which meant Malcolm had gotten Lexi, Ryker, and Jo to agree to help him with Conner and Talon. The two of them had already created a fort in the middle of the living room, complete with a tower made of couch cushions. Ryker and Lexi had both complained that their dad never would've let them make something like that, but Malcolm had simply said that being a grandpa was different than being a dad and he would still skin them alive if they tried to make cushion towers.

"You didn't feel like yelling Silenzio Bruno?" Ryker asked as he walked over to her. He reached out and wrapped his hand around her mug, his long fingers engulfing hers. With his eyebrows raised, he lifted the mug and her hand and took a sip from the drink. "Ugh. Too sweet."

"Says Mr. Sweet Tea addict," Jo said, rolling her eyes. She extracted her hand and turned around, resting her back on the railing instead of her front. "I like the merkids, but now it makes me wonder if mermaids really are a thing."

"I've heard rumors, but that's about it," Ryker said. He crossed his arms over his chest. "There's probably a lot out there we don't know about."

"Like me?" she teased, but she did mean it, in a way.

"No one's like you," he murmured, voice dropping to that husky-sexy tone that was addicting and unfair and...and...really sucked when they were at his dad's house babysitting right now. Ryker's free arm wrapped around her waist and he tugged her against him, dropping his head to kiss her hair for a moment. Jo cuddled into his warmth while also snagging her hot chocolate back from his other hand.

"Thief." he murmured, wrapping both arms around her now.

She grinned up at him. "Well someone was a bad influence first."

Ryker gave her his best innocent look, which he was disturbingly perfecting the more time he spent around Conner and Talon. "Me? A bad influence."

"Mhmm. Who tried to cheat on their exams this morning?"

"You're my mate, we're supposed to always help each other," Ryker grumbled.

"Yeah, show me that rule in the handbook of mates."

Ryker lifted her up and sat her on the deck railing, his arms still gently around her to keep her balanced, although now her head was above his for once. He smirked up at her as Jo lazily draped an arm over his shoulder. "I'm gonna write the handbook and then it'll be there."

"You do that. Become a millionaire author and make me a trophy wife. Then we discuss cheating on exams." Ryker threw his head back with a laugh, then leaned in to kiss her.

"Somehow I think you'd get bored being a trophy wife," he murmured against her lips, one hand rising to brush his thumb against her neck. She hissed quietly as his thumb moved aside the collar of her sweater, revealing her Mark and allowing him to bend and kiss that next.

Jo raked her fingers through his hair with one hand, trying to remember to keep the hot chocolate steady with the other. "You don't think I'd have fun burning up the curtains so I could sit there and watch you have to replace them?" Mmm, she could picture it now–Ryker shirtless, muscles flexing as he lifted a curtain rod high above his head, golden sunlight reflecting off tan skin...

"I think..."

"I think you should remember I don't have curtains on the living room doors."

Jo's eyes flew open, hand falling from Ryker's head as he quickly straightened up and turned around with a guilty expression. She was pretty sure her face was on fire right now.

"Sorry." Ryker rubbed the back of his neck. He offered his dad a half-smile. "Least it didn't go further?"

Malcolm rolled his eyes. "Come back inside you two, or at least go upstairs." Shaking his head, he closed the door as Ryker turned back to Jo, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"We're the worst babysitters ever," Jo said glumly, pushing at Ryker's chest so he'd back far enough away for her to jump down. He took the hot chocolate from her and held her elbow, steadying her as she landed on the deck.

"Practice makes perfect, right? We'll get there."

"Yeah, somehow I don't think that explanation will fly with Brett and Aaliyah." Tonight Malcolm had the boys but tomorrow night they were Jo and Ryker's responsibility, so they were really going to have to be on their best, child-appropriate behavior then.

"Tonight we can blame it on Lexi."

"I'm sure she'll love that," Jo said, "I'm surprised you're not somehow making it Hayes' fault."

"Duncan," corrected Ryker, still not willing to change what he called his future brother-in-law. Jo had transitioned to calling him that slowly, even if she still hadn't fully forgiven him. It was harder to be completely callous though when she saw how moon-eyed he got over Lexi. He was also staying out of Jo and Ryker's way on campus and generally being way less annoying. Which helped.

"Hayes," Jo said, bumping her hip into Ryker's side. She laughed when he tickled her, and she hurried up to duck inside in order to escape.

"You're missing it," Conner said. He picked up a handful of popcorn and tossed it back with the casual air of someone twice his age. Lexi was missing from the mix, so she must've gone to eat one of those massive sandwiches in the kitchen. Or call Hayes.

"You're right, that's why I ran inside," Jo said, grinning at him as she snagged some popcorn from his bowl. "Better share this popcorn to make me feel better."

"Don't listen to her, she's lying," Ryker said, snagging her waist and pulling her down with him as he sat on the couch. She curled up in his lap, resigning herself to a nice cold shower in the middle of winter to deal with the furnace she was surely about to become.

"Watch it," Jo said, "Or you won't be getting any of this popcorn."

"See how mean she is to me, Conner?"

Conner smirked at his uncle, expression pure mischief. "You told me girls were always right."

Jo laughed as Ryker stared at his nephew in disbelief. "Now you listen to me," he muttered with a groan.

"High five, buddy," Jo said, holding her hand out to a triumphant Conner. The kid totally cared more about one-upping his uncle than whether girls were right or not, but she was here for it if it meant he was going to side with her in arguments.

After a mini popcorn fight that only Malcolm's intervention stopped, Jo and Ryker got ready to head out while Malcolm made sure the boys actually brushed their teeth.

"You're quiet," Ryker observed, studying her as he handed Jo her scarf.

"Mmm." Jo wound the plaid scarf around her neck, trying to put into words what she'd been thinking about. "You know what we were talking about earlier? I can't be the only one, right?" It sounded cool, sure, to be special and unique–but it was also kind of scary. Conner and Talon could learn from their family–how to be a werewolf, what to expect, how to train. For Jo, it was all guesses and throwing herself in the deep end while closing her eyes, holding her breath, and hoping not to drown.

Hey. I can feel your worry. I got you. Ryker rested a hand on her arm, his other tilted her chin up to look at him. "If there is someone else out there, if you want, we can look for them. And if not, I'm right here with you, ok? You're not in this alone."

Jo nodded. "I don't know what I want." Did she want to go looking for them? If they even existed?

"You don't have decide right now," Ryker said. He ran his thumb over her skin and then released her chin. After stealing the quickest of kisses, he grabbed his coat. "It's up to you, whenever you want to. Or if you never want to."

"Yeah, yeah," Jo said, pulling on her toboggan. "Maybe this summer."

"Road trip," Ryker said with a sharp grin.

The drive home was quiet except for some rock station that Ryker always seemed to have on. He never did seem to connect his phone to the speakers. Jo watched the snow-covered landscape rush by, the tree limbs dusted with white, ice clinging to rock faces. She had never thought she would actually like living up here, but it had a kind of beauty that the city just didn't. Yeah, she loved Charlotte, and there was always something to do there, but it was beautiful in the mountains. Maybe she wasn't a huge fan of the cold weather, but that didn't mean it wasn't picturesque to look out the window and see the mountains blanketed in snow.

She glanced over at Ryker. He had been just as unexpected as her burgeoning love for the Smoky Mountains. Leaving home, she had been determined to avoid people, not get in a relationship, and basically ignore men altogether while she focused on schoolwork and figuring herself out. But Ryker had shown up almost day one and ruined all those plans, and she was glad about it.

Ryker and the mountains. Marks and werewolves and fire powers and packs and shifter politics. There was still so much she didn't know. Maybe he really should go ahead and write that book. Maybe she should write a book for any other human who wound up having to deal with grumpy werewolves.

Or overly jubilant ones, like Blake, who was texting Ryker over and over again. She could tell because she had set Blake's text tone on Ryker's phone to sound like someone going 'heh'. So Ryker's phone, which he often forgot to set on vibrate, was going, 'heh, heh, heh,' in the console's cup holder.

"Do you want me to answer that?" Jo asked before pulling her lips between her teeth to try to hide her smile.

"Chuck it out the window."

"Maybe it's important."

"Or maybe he's trying to tell me he likes corndogs." Ryker's shoulders ratcheted back. "Which do you think is more likely, Jo Scott."

Jo let her grin show. "Well, I can't blame him, corndogs can be great, if it's the right corndog."

"You're a corndog," Ryker teased. He picked up the phone and handed it to her. "Here. You can answer him, if you want."

Jo thumbed open the phone and went to his text messages. Instantly she realized that he had been ignoring texts from Blake for the past three days. Somehow she had missed that. Maybe Ryker had actually put his phone on silent. "You're going to drive him crazy," she mumbled as she started reading through the texts, which she had to admit was almost like reading a diary for what Blake had been doing. He had watched The Ring and been unable to sleep, he had started working on his application for the community college, he wanted help on his application, he wanted to go to Burnsville for donuts, he wanted to go to Boone to buy new boots...

"He's going to make me crazy," grumbled Ryker.

"He wants to know if you want to go hunting with him and Hayes next weekend," she said, "Which is a big change from the rest of it."

"No."

Jo laughed, glancing up as the surface changed from the relatively smooth asphalt of the main road to the bumpy gravel of her driveway. Almost home. Hmmm, maybe she'd start a fire–in the fireplace of course–and convince Ryker to join her for some cuddle time. Not that convincing him to do that was usually very hard. When it came to physical touch, he was even needier than she was.

She blamed it on his werewolf genes.

"It wouldn't be the worst idea, you know," she said, choosing not to answer Blake's text yet. "Hayes is going to be your brother-in-law, it might be nice to just hang out and get to know him."

"I already see him enough during Alpha training," Ryker grumbled, holding his hand out for his phone.

Jo ignored the hand. "Don't you want to properly vet him for Lexi? Of course he's going to be on his best behavior around your dad." Ryker eyed her suspiciously and she smiled back sweetly–they both knew exactly what she was doing. But they also both knew it was going to work.

"You're going to owe me big time if I have to spend a whole day with the two of them." His face clouded in horror as it sunk in who exactly he was committing to spending time with. "God, no, Jo, I can't." Geez, his tone was almost panicked.

Figuring they were relatively safe at 10 miles per hour, Jo unbuckled her seatbelt and slid across the bench so she could wrap her arms around Ryker's chest. Propping her chin against his shoulder, she looked up at him. "My big bad Alpha mate boyfriend can't handle Hayes and Blake?"

Ryker frowned, although she didn't miss the twitch in his lips. "It's rude to peer pressure me."

"This is girlfriend pressure, totally different," Jo said, smile widening. She was definitely going to win this argument.

"Fine," Ryker groaned. "But only if Charlie or Brett come with me to keep me from killing them."

"Done!" Jo sang, leaning back to text Blake before Ryker changed his mind. She added that Ryker would probably bring Charlie or Brett, too focused on her text to get out of the car quite yet, even when Ryker opened her door for her.

That was, until his arms were under her and she was suddenly being carried bridal style up to the house.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a laugh, swinging her arms around his neck.

"Making you pay more attention to your boyfriend than the annoying Beta of an even more annoying neighbor pack."

Waiting until they were safely up the stairs, Jo leaned forward to kiss him, noting with satisfaction his sudden fumbling with the lock on the door. "He got one minute of my attention, I think you'll live."

"Lucky bastard," Ryker muttered, but he was smiling again as he finally managed to shoulder the door open.

"Well, true," Jo answered cheekily. She glanced around as Ryker's grip on her didn't even slacken and he headed straight for the stairs."Um, you can put me down. My ankle has long since healed, in case you forgot."

"I didn't forget, I was just thinking bed sounded real nice," Ryker said, his smirk and the glint in his eyes way too suggestive.

"Course you do," Jo said, rolling her eyes. Not gonna lie, she was in total agreement. But still, people had needs. "Not that I object to this plan, but let me get some water from the kitchen? I'm parched."

"Fine," Ryker said with a sigh, setting her down."I'll talk to Charlie about hunting, but I expect you upstairs in two minutes, Miss Scott."

"If you insist, Mr. Monroe." Jo gave him a mock salute and then headed into the kitchen to grab a glass. Was it weird to feel so content with life at only 18 years of age? Like she was exactly where she wanted to be, on a path that felt right? Jo leaned on the counter, sipping her water as she heard the shower upstairs turn on. After all the turmoil from this past summer, it somehow felt too good to be true, as if any second this dream life could be shattered.

She didn't want to even think about that.

But as her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out to find her dad's name on the caller iD, a sinking sensation told her she might have to.

"Dad?"

"Honey?" His voice was choked up and...fearful?

"Dad, what's wrong?"

"Your mom...she's missing."

"What?" Jo straightened up. "Did you call the cops? When did it happen? Where does her phone say she is?"

"Jo, it's not..." Her dad cleared his throat. "They left a note this time." This time? Was it the people from before?

"Jo, they said to tell you, but we couldn't tell anyone else. They have your mom and when they contact you, you have to...they want you to..."

"Meet with them? Exchange myself?" Jo's heart rate was accelerating, her vision narrowing, almost as if in a tunnel. What was happening? Why her? Why her mom?

"Yes," her dad's whisper was broken. "But Jo, you can't, your mom wouldn't want it."

Yeah. Fat chance she wouldn't. Hearing the water from the shower upstairs turn off, Jo rushed her next words out quickly, carefully, still unsure exactly how great werewolf hearing was. "Look, Ryker's going hunting next weekend, I'll come down and visit you in Charlotte, okay? We can talk about it then."

"Jo, ok. But just don't–"

"I know." Jo rubbed tiredly at her forehead, already throwing up the mental barriers Ryker had taught her to create. She made them as solid as she could. Love you dad–I'll see you soon." Probably sooner than next weekend. She couldn't just let whoever had kidnapped her mom keep her, no matter what.

Ending the call, Jo looked up at the ceiling, listening as she heard Ryker's footsteps thumping around upstairs, the sound a reassuring counter to the nervous thumming of her heart right now. She used the sound to steady and calm herself, preparing herself before she went upstairs.

Jo knew this had been too good to be true.

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A/N: Guess what y'all? This is THE END. But of course, there is a book 2 coming! Stay tuned, as I'll be posting a summary to the new book soon as well as when to expect the first chapter to be up. Plus a link to a placeholder book! In the meantime, check out Race The Storm (I consider it book 1.5), set in the same world as Light the Fire but with a whole new set of characters (summary below). I appreciate everyone reading, voting, & commenting; you really help inspire me on the weeks when my muse is struggling, and I hope you've fallen in love with this world as much as I have! Thank you!

Race the Storm: https://www.wattpad.com/story/289718840-race-the-storm

When Willa Richardson was offered the chance to be a nice couple's surrogate while staying at a very posh estate, she took it. Life hasn't always been kind to Willa, and she needed the money to start her own business. Plus, the Jamesons seem great, and everyone at the Estate is so nice. She's settling into her place there when her entire life is thrown into chaos after she's kidnapped by Jax Sinclair, who is very adamant that the baby she's carrying isn't the Jamesons. It's hers. And his. And he's not exactly your run-of-the-mill average guy, seeing how he can blow things up with a glance and happens to be part of an extremely secret PysOps military unit. With the Estate on their trail, Willa and Jax have to learn to trust each other with their lives and the life of their baby.