Chapter 40

"What happened?" Ryker growled the moment he strode through the door, shaking the rain from his hair. The weather kept doing that on and off again thing, and while it had been calm when he left Jo's house, it'd opened up right before he got to Brett and Aaliyah's home.

"Everyone's ok?" he questioned his sister, who'd been the one to contact him after Aaliyah got back. She was also the one who he'd alerted to the fact that he was pulling up to Brett's house.

"I don't know the full story, but they seem to be okay," Lexi said, glancing back at the living room. She bit her lip and then looked up with worry. "What's going on, Ryker? Why is Duncan suddenly doing this?"

Ryker wished he knew. Unfortunately, his best guess was that Duncan was taking advantage of the fact that Ryker now had a weakness. Ryker had always had weaknesses in the form of his family, but they were all trained werewolves. As far as Duncan knew, Ryker's weakness was very human, and very vulnerable.

Ryker almost couldn't wait for the day Duncan found out otherwise.

He just wished that could happen without also putting Jo in danger.

Ryker started down the hall. "Let's see what they say happened," Ryker said, deciding not to share his hypothesis with his sister. No need to make her as worried about Jo as he was.

"Ryker, that you?" His brother appeared in the doorway, looking more frazzled than Ryker had ever seen him. He held Connor in his arms, his hands rubbing soothing circles on his son's back.

"Hey," Ryker said, trying to keep his voice quiet for the sake of the five year-old. "Y'all want to talk about what happened?"

Brett nodded and looked at Lexi. "Can you take him up to bed, Lexi?"

She stretched her arms out for her sleepy nephew, and a few seconds later they disappeared up the stairs.

"Is dad here?" Ryker asked as Brett ushered him into the living room where Aaliyah was curled up in an armchair, Talon in her arms.

"He's with Marcus," Brett said, referring to Aaliyah's dad. "They're trying to track Duncan's trail and see where he slipped through our border."

Ryker nodded. "I've got Charlie sending extra people out." Not that it would do any good. It seemed like Duncan's pattern was to strike and disappear, then wait until everyone was complacent before striking again. It was infuriating.

Aaliyah echoed his thoughts. "He's probably long gone," she said, shaking her head. "If it wasn't for the kids, he wouldn't have gotten away though." Her eyes flashed yellow for a moment, teeth slightly bared in anger. "He knew what he was doing."

"And he's an absolute moron for doing it," Brett said darkly, leaning against the arm of Aaliyah's chair. Leaning over, he kissed the side of her head and then reached to run his hand gently over Talon's dark curls. The three-year-old was fast asleep, his head resting on Aaliyah's shoulder.

"No doubt about that," Ryker said. He stayed standing, his arms tightly crossed as he paced the room. "Can you tell me what happened again, Aaliyah?"

He hadn't gotten the full story yet. Lexi had burst into his thoughts demanding he come immediately, but she hadn't told him anything besides what he needed to know right then. Plus he wanted as many details as possible. Maybe he'd be able to figure out where Duncan was planning to be next, and they could get ahead of this before it happened again.

Aaliyah nodded, shifting a little, her arms tightening around Talon as she leaned toward Brett. "Sure. We were out near Ferndown Mountain, hiking with Dad to one of the waterfalls. Nowhere near their territory. We didn't have any problems until we were coming back from the falls." Her frown deepened. "We were just about half a mile away from the parking area when I smelled him. It was definitely Duncan. Pretty sure he was alone."

"Did you see him?"

"A few times," Aaliyah said, "The closest he got was only ten feet away."

She looked like she was barely containing her cool, calm anger while beside her, Brett was stony and rigid, fury and concern warring over his face. He reached for one of her hands, and she let go of Talon so she could intertwine her fingers with him. That simple touch seemed to make both of them relax a little, and Brett ran his thumb across the back of her hand over and over.

Ryker looked away and headed for the window. The rain was still coming down hard, streaking the window with trails of raindrops. Duncan had gone too far this time, and it wasn't even near his own territory. Honestly, it was in the unclaimed area between Monroe land and the Buchanan pack. "He's getting bolder."

"Why now?" Brett asked. "Why is he suddenly pushing his limits?"

"I don't know," Ryker said, though he did think it might be about him and Jo. It could be something else, though. "We haven't...things haven't been exactly the same since Mom...yeah." He turned and settled his back against the wall beside the window.

Their dad had been a wreck when Lexi and Ryker's mom passed away two years back. All of his responsibilities had fallen to the wayside for a year, and it was only Ryker and Brett who kept the pack from falling apart. He had been better this past year, good enough for Ryker to spend the year with another pack, the Tellers, over in Tennessee. Maybe Duncan had been biding his time.

Also he was nineteen and apparently stupid.

"What exactly did Duncan say?" Ryker asked, sitting on the arm of the couch across from Aaliyah. He'd always left messages for Jo or said something directly to her before when he was threatening her, so he had to have said something to Aaliyah if he'd come that close. Maybe that could help them figure out what was in his head.

"I let him speak through the link so I could tell him to get lost," she said, referring to the mental link between wolves. It was clearest between pack mates, but you could reach out to other people and they could choose whether to let you talk or not. It was like speaking through a crackling phone connection, but it worked. Aaliyah glanced up at Brett, then sighed and looked at Ryker, lips thinning tightly for a moment before she spoke. "He told me it was a pity I mated into the Monroe clan."

Brett and Ryker both growled--it was a direct insult to their family and their pack. Talon let out a soft whimper in his sleep, and Aaliyah immediately rubbed his back soothingly while glaring at Ryker.

"Keep it down!"

"It wasn't just me," Ryker retorted, eyeing his brother.

"Well, I'm not married to you," she tossed out. Brett nodded, giving Ryker a pointed look, but then Aaliyah thwacked her hand backwards, hitting his abdomen none too lightly. "But you, too, don't wake up Talon."

"Fine, okay," Brett grumbled, eyes still dark with anger over Duncan's words. Ryker waited as patiently as he could until Aaliyah returned her attention to him.

"Anyway, he basically said maybe it wouldn't matter in the end, that I still had a chance..." her hand moved to rest on Brett's thigh reassuringly, and after a moment of hesitation, she continued, "to be a Duncan."

Ryker had himself under control this time, but Brett immediately stood up and moved out of the room, fists clenched at his sides. Ryker got it--if Duncan had said something like that to Jo, he would've gone straight to tear him limb from limb.

"Brett," Ryker said, standing up, worried his brother might try to do just that.

"He's okay, he's just in the yard," Aaliyah said softly, her eyes on the door her husband had disappeared through. She didn't turn away from watching the door as she continued to speak. "That's basically all he said before my dad and I tried to get him, so if he meant to say anything else, I don't know. Sorry, Ryker."

"No worries," Ryker ran a hand through his hair, agitated. Maybe he should have brought Jo with him, as selfish as it might have been--he could've used her calming presence and practical outlook right now. "Let me take Talon so you can go to Brett."

She looked back at him and nodded, and a minute later Ryker had joined his sister in the boys' bedroom,Talon in his arms. Connor had just fallen asleep, so Lexi helped him tuck Talon in before they quietly exitted. Ryker paused to check in with Hannah and Charlie, who were watching Jo's place, then reassured that all was fine, headed downstairs.

Aaliyah was in the kitchen, heating a kettle of water. Her normally dark brown eyes were golden as she glanced up at him. "Want any tea?"

"Is it sweet?" Normally he didn't drink sweet tea now that he was an adult. It always seemed too sweet to him, seeing how everyone where they lived added sugar until it "tasted right." But when he was worked up like this, sometimes sweet tea had just the right touch of nostalgia to ground him.

"That's in the fridge," she said, nodding in its direction.

"Aaliyah...This shouldn't have happened," he said as he reached for the fridge door.

"What, this unsweet hot tea I'm making?" she asked, her tone deadpan. Ryker looked over at her, eyebrows raised, and she shrugged. "I know what you meant. And yeah. I agree." Opening a cabinet, she took down a small metal container and set it by the stovetop. "We're going to have to do something about Duncan."

Ryker nodded, his jaw feeling tight. "I'll take care of him."

"Not by yourself," Aaliyah said firmly.

He made a face and grabbed the pitcher of tea from the top shelf of the fridge. "I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"And we don't want you to get killed," she said. When he started to protest, she held up a hand. She kept talking as she measured out tea into a few of those weird little mesh tea things that she and Lexi sometimes liked. "I know you'd do fine one-on-one. You could definitely beat Duncan by himself. But he's not playing by the rules anymore, which means it might turn into a dirty fight, with more than just him fighting you."

"I'm not letting the whole pack go to war," he grumbled.

"And we won't let you go all lone wolf," she said, rolling her eyes though her tone wasn't unkind. "Honestly, you act like you have to do everything on your own. You know we all have your back."

Ryker poured himself a glass of tea, trying to ignore how the tips of his ears heated up. "It's not that..."

"Right, it's your need to protect everyone," she said. "Admirable, but just remember, we're your family. Not your responsibility."

"I didn't say you were," Ryker said.

"You didn't have to." Aaliyah poured water into a tall green pottery mug and dunked one of the metal tea things into it, draping the end over the edge. A small copper tea clinked against the mug as she handed it to him. "Go get my husband to come inside, will you? He'll want to talk to you anyways." The other two mugs must've been for her and Lexi. She reached over and squeezed his arm. "We'll figure this out."

"We will," he said. He bumped his shoulder against hers in a kind of familial wolf comfort way as he grabbed Brett's mug and went for the door.

Oh wait, backtrack. He grinned sheepishly at Aaliyah while she rolled his eyes, already knowing what he'd forgotten. She handed him a tall glass which he promptly filled with his sweet tea, then made his way out toward Brett.

Shit, the stress that came dealing with the Duncan pack was making him scatterbrained. And he didn't like it.

"Hey man," Ryker said to Brett as he sat down on the second stair from the bottom--the short staircase ran up to the back deck, and the bottom step was currently occupied by Brett. Ryker leaned forward and shoved the mug of steaming tea in front of Brett's face. "From your wife."

"Thank," Brett said heavily, inhaling the steam for a moment before taking a sip. "She always knows what to do."

"That's what mates are for, right?" You knew each other and what the other person needed. His heart ached--it had only been a few hours, but it was impossible not to miss Jo when talking about mates. The bond between them was only growing stronger.

"Now you know," Brett said, chuckling--but it was a dark sound, not light and casual like usual.

"You know we're not gonna let him get away with this, right?"

"Definitely not," Brett growled. Then he sighed. "But how do we deal with them without starting a war?"

Ryker reested a cheek on his fist as he thought. "I don't think Lexi will argue about inviting the Buchanans to her party anymore, and that's not far away. Maybe we can formalize an alliance to pressure Duncan..."

Brett snorted. "He already knows we're close to them. He obviously thinks he won't do anything."

"Something's changed," Ryker said, frowning. "He thinks he's going to win whatever he wants...somehow." He looked over at Brett. "Did anything happen while I was away?"

Brett shrugged. "The only recent changes I know of are a few new mating pairs..." Brett trailed off and turned to meet Ryker's gaze. "Does he know about Jo?"

"He shouldn't," Ryker shook his head. "I haven't told anyone but trusted family."

"But you've had guards watching her," Brett pointed out. Brett was right, maybe Ryker had made a mistake. Maybe he had made things too obvious. But Duncan had already started threatening Jo before that. There was still something they were missing.

"Hey," Brett said, taking Ryker's silence for guilt. "I would have done the same thing if Aaliyah was human."

Except Jo wasn't. Not completely.

"I think," Ryker admitted reluctantly, "that dad was right. It's time y'all meet Jo officially."

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A/N: Surprise midweek chapter!! :D So excited to reach 40 official chapters! Thank you to everyone who is reading, voting, and commenting! I very much appreciate it. <3