Chapter 37

Jo's bed was way too soft. Ryker buried his face into the pillow for a moment before kicking away the covers and getting up. Once they moved in together, whenever that was, they were probably going to have a fight about the bed. Quickly, he grabbed the sheets and blankets and straightened them out, then tossed the pillows to the top of the bed.

It was almost five in the morning, and he needed to get Jo up and moving. While she planned on taking the day off, he didn't have the same plans. The more training she had, the better she would be able to protect herself.

Dragging on his t-shirt, Ryker headed downstairs, his footsteps as light as he could make them. The other girls would still be here too, and he didn't want to wake them up. There would be a lot of teasing, some of it aimed at him.

As he stepped into the living room, a pair of bright green eyes under a mess of red hair glared at him over the back of the couch. Ryker made a face at his sister, who waved a hand toward the door in a definite 'get out' gesture.

Instead, he ignored her. He walked over and attempted to ruffle her hair. Lexi bared her teeth in a silent snarl, and Ryker smirked. Reaching over the couch, he started to shake Jo's shoulder, but Lexi reached out lightning quick and popped him on the back of the hand.

Ryker frowned at her. She frowned right back.

The pop was loud enough that Jo stirred, her black hair falling in her face.

Ryker would never admit this aloud to anyone, but it was like his heart stirred with her. Watching her move in her sleep, unaware and vulnerable, caused a strong surge of protectiveness to strike him. That was one of the hardest things about not sharing her bed yet--okay, well, there were many hard things. But he just felt better, more relaxed, when he was able to hold her. When he knew that he could be an extra line of defense between her and anyone else.

Lexi called him paranoid.

Ryker called it being an Alpha male.

Catching sight of Lexi's smirk, it reminded him of why he was there again. She's gotta train he sent to Lexi, reaching over to Jo again. Lexi tried to interfere again, and this time Ryker let out a low warning growl. Sister or not, she was not about to come in between him and his mate.

The growl apparently did the trick as Jo blinked up at him sleepily.

Now you did it, Lexi said, rolling her eyes.

Exactly. Yes, he knew Jo wouldn't be pleased, already evidenced by the glare she was sending his way. But he was willing to suffer her wrath if it kept her safer.

"I'll make coffee," he whispered down to Jo, leaning forward to plan a kiss on her forehead. Jo groaned an unintelligible response while Ryker headed toward the kitchen, knowing he had a few moments before she managed to make it out from under the covers. At least if one of the other girls woke up now, he could claim he'd just gotten here. They'd never know he spent the night.

But damn, it would be useful when they finally fully mated--from what Aaliyah had learned from her old pack member, it seemed that while fulfilling the bond with a bite wouldn't result in Jo turning into a werewolf, it would possibly give her their telepathic pack ability. Ryker grinned--then he'd be able to wake her up from a mile away.

He wasn't going to tell her about that yet.

A half hour and two travel mugs of coffee later, Ryker and Jo were in a clearing well away from the house; Ryker was sporting workout clothes plus a spare set for post-shifting, while Jo was in leggings and an oversized hoodie. It was kind of amusing that Ryker apparently still ran at a higher average body temperature than his fire girl, who actually claimed she was chilly this morning.

Not that he was going to complain. He loved seeing her in his hoodies. And it helped appease the Alpha in him, knowing she was surrounded by his scent.

"I hate you," Jo muttered in a sigh, setting her now-empty coffee mug aside.

"They say there's a fine line between love and hate."

"Oh yeah? Whoever 'they' is, they better never show up to one of these morning trainings."

Yeah, Ryker had to agree. Jo was not a morning person. If he wasn't her mate, he had a strong suspicion he would've been charcoal day one of their training sessions.

"You ready for some target practice?" he asked, determined to get her into the mindset to actually practice instead of grumble.

Jo yawned and glowered up at the tree branches overhead, her hands jammed into her hoodie pocket. "Can we nap instead?"

"Jo..."

"Yeah, yeah." She took her hands out of her pockets and rubbed her eyes before rolling her shoulders. Her dark eyes cut toward him for a moment before looking over at the set of targets. There were three, each one set twenty feet apart, with the farthest being sixty feet from where they were standing at the moment.

She closed her eyes, and a second later, fire enveloped her hands. By watching her practice, he was starting to get desensitized, but it still made Ryker's protective instincts kick in. He had to resist scooping her up and dunking her in the nearest stream or pond. They had chosen this place because there was a creek nearby, with a small pool created by a few boulders and rocks. Still, they hadn't needed to use it yet.

Jo played with the flames for a few moments, letting them trail around her fingers and across her palms. She was getting so much better, and she hadn't been practicing that long.

Eventually, she let the fire sit in her left hand and curl into a ball. She lobbed it at the first target, which so far was the only target she could safely reach. A few days ago, when she had tried for the forty foot target, she had almost set the target on fire.

So far, it seemed like she could only control the fire if she was touching it, or that's what she thought. Ryker wondered if maybe, with time, she would be able to control it even when she wasn't touching it.

He hadn't heard of anyone with powers like hers, but they could definitely be out there. Certain groups were more secretive, and there were legends and stories about people who could control the elements. It wasn't that far-fetched.

As Jo practiced, Ryker started his own morning workout by stretching. He didn't want her to feel like she was the only one exercising, so while he helped her, he also did his own set of exercises.

A few stretches in and the sun was climbing up high enough to overheat him, so without thinking much, he pulled his shirt off and went back to his stretches, just like he would any other day of working out.

It didn't really occur to him that a few shirtless stretches could be a problem until a fireball zinged by his head and lit up a tree branch. Ryker whipped around to stare at Jo who looked torn between guilt, amusement, and horror.

"Ryker, the tree!"

He turned back to see the flame trying to catch on the tree branch--luckily it was still a little early in the fall for the needles to be very dry yet, so it hadn't really taken hold yet.

Ryker picked up his shirt in case it was needed, but held back a moment. "See if you can put it out from there," Ryker said.

"Ryker," Jo growled.

"You made the fire, I bet it's still connected to you," he added, keeping an eye on the flame. It took effort to ignore her sexy growl, although that gave him an idea...

"I know it's hard and all with my sweaty muscles being so distracting..." He flexed a bicep and turned to look over his shoulder, winking at Jo.

"I'm going to set your head on fire," Jo muttered, although her bright red cheeks made him think he wasn't far off target.

"Or, you know, save a tree?" Ryker suggested.

"Anger makes my flames get bigger, dumbass," Jo tossed out, crossing her arms as her gaze switched from him back to the tree.

Oh yeah. Shit. Though the small twitch of Jo's lips told him he wasn't in too much trouble yet if she still found him amusing. The tree, however, might be another story.

"Do I need to put it out?" he asked, realizing the flames had grown as he also looked back at it. Much bigger and his shirt would have a hard time putting it out.

"Yes!" Jo snapped.

"You know, if you can make them get bigger from a distance, you should be able to make them smaller..."

Jo scowled and started heading toward the tree, yanking his hoodie over her head as she marched forward. Apparently his encouraging words were aggravating because the flames grew a little more. That, or the tree was starting to burn faster.

Since the branch was starting to blaze, he dropped his shirt and grabbed one of the two five gallon buckets he had brought out to the clearing when they had started these practices. This was the first time the fire had been big enough to warrant using them. Everything else had been easy enough to snuff out.

Ryker caught up with Jo and passed her before turning around on his heel and walking backwards toward the tree. "Could you try?"

"The forest is going to burn down because of your experiment," Jo said, still heading forward.

"It's actually burning down because you can't keep your eyes off me."

The noise she made was a combination of frustration and annoyance all wrapped up in a sigh and a groan. "Don't make me regret these practice sessions."

Ryker half-smiled at her and then turned around, feeling the heat against his back. He looked over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows, intending to silently communicate to Jo that this was her last chance. Her steady stare made him roll his eyes and sling the water from the bucket up at the blaze. The water doused it, and it let out a dying hiss, smoke rising from the burning needles. Luckily it had still been pretty green.

Jo's hand smacked against his shoulder, not entirely gently. "Don't try to test me like that!"

"We're exploring your powers here," he said, glancing down at her. The way her eyes sparked made him want to kiss her, but he had a feeling she might really singe him if he tried. "You don't know how they work, and I think you could do it."

"But you don't know."

"And we won't know until you try."

Jo rubbed at her forehead and Ryker felt a bit guilty--he was used to being constantly pushed to get better, that had been his way of life since birth--but this was all new for Jo. "I'm sorry if I went too far, but...this is just the best way I know to train."

"I know...I just...I'm not a fan of trial by fire methods, okay?" She rolled her eyes as Ryker attempted to hide his smirk at her unintentional play on words. "Don't even go there," she said, holding up a finger.

Ryker nodded as solemnly as he could.

"Can we just stick to slow and steady wins the race?"

"The only problem is we don't know when the race starts," Ryker said quietly, pushing a strand of Jo's hair behind her ear. He was going to have to settle for that right now instead of pulling her to him the way he wanted to. "And I'd rather you were as ready as possible if it comes as a surprise."

Jo nodded, but her gaze seemed like she was focused on some other thought and Ryker raised an eyebrow in question. "Jo?"

She looked away, cheeks flaring pink. "I'll try next time," she huffed out on a sigh. "If we use one of the actual targets. And maybe a little less improvisation to start?" Jo finally looked at him again, her eyes narrowing as she frowned. "But only if you put your stupid shirt back on."

Ryker's grin felt like it was going to split his face in half.

"Your wish is my command." Well, this time around.

A guy had to use whatever advantages he had, right?