Chapter 44

Jo wanted to wait until they were out of Charlotte traffic before she told Ryker about what happened the night she discovered her powers, so he could concentrate on driving. Charlotte traffic was a beast. But she fell asleep as they were heading out and didn't wake up again until they stopped for gas.

"You should have woken me up," Jo muttered, getting out to stretch her legs.

"I promised you that you could sleep if you needed to," Ryker said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead.

"I want to be a good passenger," Jo muttered sleepily, wrapping her arms around him and leaning against his warm and solid chest while they waited for the truck to fill. Good passengers talked to their drivers to help them stay awake. Ryker chuckled as he circled one arm around her back to hold her close to him, his other hand stroking her hair.

"Someone gets cuddly when they're sleepy."

"Mhmm." Jo nuzzled her face into his chest. "But you already know that."

"Why do you think I like sleeping over so much?"

Jo laughed and punched him half-heartedly in the chest. Ryker simply caught her fist, holding it there. "We're almost home, maybe 45 minutes."

"Awesome." She yawned. "We're gonna suck in music appreciation class tomorrow."

"We could just skip."

Jo looked up at him, amused. "If we were going to skip, we should have just done it earlier today."

"Ahh, but then your parents would have known."

Jo rolled her eyes. "Don't be a bad influence." The gas pump clicked, signaling that the car was full, and Ryker went to remove the handle and close the gas cap, letting Jo go momentarily.

"Yup, that's me, the terrible influence," Ryker said dryly.

Jo batted her eyelashes at him teasingly. "Every girl dreams of a bad boy boyfriend."

Ryker laughed and gave her a gentle shove toward the front of the truck. "Get in the truck, you shameless woman."

Jo climbed up while Ryker got in on his side. Just as Ryker was about to shut his own door, he froze.

"What?" Jo asked, studying him closely, then looking out at the woods.

"I thought I saw..." he frowned and shook his head. "I don't know."

"Saw what?"

He hesitated. "I thought I saw a car pass by that was behind us earlier on the road. But it's hard to tell. So many cars look similar."

"Well if it passed by we're okay, right? It didn't stop here?"

"Mhmm." Ryker rubbed his jaw, thoughtful. "Well, we're on less-traveled roads now, so I should notice if it pops up again." He started the car. "Just tell me if you notice any black SUVs that seem to be keeping pace with us."

"Got it." Jo clicked her seatbelt, then looked up at him as he pulled out of the gas station. "That reminds me, remember in my bedroom earlier..."

"When I was naked?" Ryker said, giving her a quick mischievous look before returning his attention to the road.

"Ryker!" she growled, although her cheeks warmed at the reminder.

"You shouldn't do that while I'm driving," Ryker returned, his voice deeper and more gravely. He reached over and squeezed her thigh lightly, his thumb brushing against her skin. "You know how distracting I find it when you start growling at me."

Jo's heart rate sped up and she shifted toward the feeling of his hand tracing patterns on her leg. "As much as...no!" She grabbed his hand firmly, removing the contact. "No. Now you're the one distracting me." She shot him a stern glare. "I was talking about the conversation we were having in the bedroom..." Noticing his suggestive look, she snorted. "The one where we were discussing who might not like my family."

Ryker's expression immediately became serious, mouth tight as he squeezed her hand. "You've thought of someone?"

"Maybe. Remember how I mentioned my powers are pretty new to me?"

"Yeah," he said, his gaze flicking to her.

There was really no easy way to talk about this. Even as she thought about it, she could feel her breath coming more quickly. It had been such a nice night before that. Before the cat calls and then lewd grin and the gun. "I found out I had them when I burned a guy so bad he wound up in the hospital."

Ryker's face went stony. "What'd he do?"

Jo leaned against the window and tried to detach herself from the story. It could've been so much worse. It had been scary enough, but it could've been...way worse.

Ryker's fingers squeezed hers again. She could tell he wanted her to keep talking because not knowing was making him crazy, but he also didn't want to push her too hard. He was giving her time.

She nodded once. Okay. She could do this. "It was this year, back in the summer. I was leaving a theater down in Charlotte, me and some friends had just gone to watch this indie film, it was about--well, it doesn't matter what it was about." She could hardly remember the movie, anyways. "I left the theater, and I was heading down to the parking deck where I left my car. Everyone else had come together, but I had gone shopping that morning so I drove separate." Jo tapped her fingers against the armrest on the passenger side door.

She could still feel the early summer summer and smell the oily darkness of the city sidewalk. There had been the smell of something grilling as she walked past a hole-in-the-wall burger place. It hadn't been that late at night, maybe ten at the latest. The others had offered to drive her to her parking deck, but she had decided to go alone.

Stupid move.

"I was almost there when this guy came out of an alley on the way. He wasn't that much taller than me, and he was skinny. Looked a little out of it. Probably on drugs."

The money he had tried to steal from her probably would've gone to drugs. Maybe. Who knows. She glanced over at Ryker and decided to leave out the next part, where he started saying dirty things and catcalling. It might've made Ryker grit his teeth so hard they'd break.

"He followed me," she said, "He was talking to me, trying to get me to stop. I wasn't going to, I was trying to get the mace out of my purse, but then he grabbed the strap."

The guy had yanked on it, pulling her back toward him, and she hadn't been able to grab the mace. Asshole.

"I knew I should've run, but I tried to get my purse back and that's when he grabbed me. I think he thought I might've had my wallet on me or maybe he was angry that I saw his face. There was no one around, it was just us."

Ryker's free hand was so tight around the steering wheel his knuckles were turning white. The steering wheel might've been indented.

"I know I should've run," Jo said, guessing that he might want to say something about that. "But I was--I was having a moment. I was just so scared and mad and he wouldn't let go--"

Ryker's voice was quiet and intense. "Did he hurt you?"

"I think he just wanted money," Jo said, "But I didn't give him the chance. My hands started to feel like they were on fire, then they really were on fire, and he--he--yeah."

It had been terrible. The smell of burning skin and cloth and the way he screamed and how frantic she had been when she ran away. Calling the ambulance from the emergency phone in the parking deck and panicking.

The memory was stuck in her mind, inescapable, and the reason why she hadn't wanted to get close to anyone. What if she hurt someone she cared about like that? But Ryker was helping her control it, and she hoped that she wouldn't do something like that to them and--

She didn't realize that the truck wasn't moving anymore until Ryker turned her head toward him then cupped her face with both hands.

"Breathe," he said, and she realized that her breath was coming in short, shallow gasps. "Jo, take deep breaths."

Breaking down like this wasn't normally how she responded to things, but she avoided thinking about that day as much as she could. She tensed up everytime she remembered something about it.

Ryker shifted toward the middle of the bench and then suddenly Jo was in his lap, his warm arms secure around her, hand soothingly stroking along her temple, down her hair. As if he'd managed a thousand panic attacks, he took her hand and placed it against his chest. "Breathe with me."

She hated this, she hated feeling out of control, she didn't want to hurt Ryker...

"I know how to not let you hurt me, love, don't worry about me."

That was what she needed to hear. God, she loved him. It was painful at first, but finally she was able to align her breaths to Ryker's, finally she was able to draw enough oxygen. A few tears of relief escaped, but they were quickly wiped away by Ryker's thumbs.

"Sorry about that," Jo said, leaning against Ryker. "I don't know what's gotten into me today."

"I do," Ryker said confidently, breath warm across the top of her head. "You're being threatened by a werewolf, which you didn't even know existed until a few months ago. You didn't know powers existed until a few months ago either and now you have to control them. Your parents are being threatened by unknown strangers. You live in a different city from them. You live in a town you're just getting to know. You have a mate and there's a whole pack you're going to help run one day, and I dunno, what's stressful about that..."

Jo huffed out a half-laugh, thumping his chest with her palm. "What happened to helping me?"

"I'm validating you," Ryker grumbled.

Jo snorted and kissed the edge of his jaw. "Did you learn that in Psychology 101?"

"A smart man never reveals his sources."

She snorted, burying her face back against his chest. "I love you."

"Love you more." He kissed the top of her head. "I hate that happened to you, Jo. The thought that someone would try to hurt you..." Ryker tensed under her, the anger that he'd pushed aside for her sake returning.

"Life happens." Jo ran her hand up and down his arm to soothe him, but in the process also soothing herself. "It's how we move forward that matters, right?"

"He should still pay," Ryker said, growling, his chest vibrating underneath her.

"He already did," Jo reminded him. "And I wonder if he's pissed now, too." She couldn't blame him if he was. Her only hope was that she hadn't left him too horribly scarred. That he could recover and live a normal life. That she hadn't traumatized him the way she'd traumatized herself. But she suspected that was wishful thinking.

Ryker ran a hand across his face a few times, then finally sighed. "Do you know anything about him or where he was hospitalized? I could have some pack members track him down and watch him for a few days, just to make sure he isn't up to anything. And in the meantime, I can also see what Duncan says at the meeting with my dad." That's right, Ryker and his dad were meeting with Duncan in a few days' time to clear the air about whatever it was that Duncan wanted.

"No, not really," she said, "Sorry. They left his name out of the newspapers."

"It's okay," Ryker said, "We'll figure it out." He bumped his forehead against hers, their nose brushing for a moment. "I promise."

Jo nodded. Maybe, just maybe, things would be better by next week.

------------

A/N: New cover! What do y'all think? Hope you liked the chapter, and thanks for the reads, comments, and votes! :)