Chapter 47

Jo crouched down beside the stream, letting the icy cold water play through her fingers. She picked up a smooth stone and rolled it around in her hands, shoving off a bit of mud that clung to it. Beneath the dirt, it was a dark blue color. "Do you think it'll be enough?"

"No."

She looked back over her shoulder at Ryker. He was sitting with his back against a tree, watching her and the water. It felt like his frustration was rolling off of him in waves.

"At least Duncan can't come here."

"But it isn't always him, and he could just send someone to do his dirty work," Ryker said. "We shouldn't agree to it."

"When do you have to send someone to seal the deal?" Jo asked. She walked back toward him, rubbing her thumb against the river stone.

"We didn't give a date or time," Ryker said. It showed Duncan that they had more power and control than he did, not establishing everything in front of him. "But we'll still need to do it soon."

"Maybe a little bit of peace is better than no peace?" She sat down beside him and placed the river stone in his hand. "At least to start with."

Ryker closed his hand around the stone and gave her a stormy look. He hadn't smiled since he had gotten to her house after the meeting with his dad and Duncan. In an attempt to perk him up, she had suggested a short hike to the stream. Slowly, he had relaxed, but not enough to get a smile out of him yet. "I don't want him or his pack anywhere near you or anyone else in my family."

"I'd like for everyone to be safe, too," Jo said, "And we could see this as a start to that."

Ryker gave her a half-smile. She wasn't going to count that, because it still looked more forced and tired than anything else. "You're going to be great at this, you know."

"At what?"

"Leading my pack with me."

Oh. Yeah, that. She must've made a face because a second later, he was pulling her onto his lap, his arms circling her body as she rested her thighs on either side of him, straddling him. He leaned his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry, I know that's probably a lot to think about right now."

Jo ran her hands through his hair, enjoying the soft feel of it. "It's okay," she said quietly. "I know that's happening, down the line. I just...it's weird when I haven't even met most of your pack."

Ryker nodded and looked up to kiss her temple softly. "A bunch of us are having a bonfire tomorrow night if you want to meet some of them then? Most of the ones who'll be there are around our age."

"I'd like that," Jo replied after a second of thought, her fingers still absently running through Ryker's hair. It might be easiest to start with people her age since most of the pack members she'd met so far would be included in that. She'd at least have someone to talk to that she knew.

"Don't stop," Ryker suddenly growled and Jo looked at him in surprise, before realizing she'd paused in combing her fingers through his hair.

"What?" she asked, laughing a little.

"It feels good," Ryker muttered, and to her astonishment, his cheeks actually turned slightly red. Normally she'd tease him about it, but knowing how much he needed soothing right now, even if he didn't say it, she just went back to stroking his scalp.

"Y'all will get the pack through this," Jo said confidently. "Duncan doesn't have a reason to make things worse between your two packs, not if he really does have the smaller pack like your dad said."

"Yeah, I just don't get it," Ryker said, leaning back against the tree again. Jo settled against his chest, her hand lowering to play with the hair at the nape of his neck while Ryker's fingers traced circles against her back. "He wasn't like this when we were kids."

Jo tilted her head to look up at him. "You knew him as a kid?"

Ryker nodded. "We weren't best friends or anything, but we got along. He was a decent person." He shrugged. "His dad was always an ass though. Guess he became more like his dad as he grew up."

"Hmm." Jo propped her arms on Ryker's chest and folded her hands together so she could rest her chin on them as she thought. Then she sat up. "I just wonder why it's your pack out of all the packs that he's bothering the most. It seems kind of personal."

"Well, we definitely didn't take many of the wolves that left his pack," Ryker said, frowning. "Dad thought most of them were troublemakers and didn't think they were the right fit for our pack. So it can't be about that."

Jo blew out a breath. "I wish he'd just back off."

"You and me both."

A calm silence rested between them for a few minutes. Ryker looked up at the leaves as a few of them fell, knocked off their branches by the cool wind. He had said that pretty soon all the tourists would start showing up for the turning of the leaves. Jo's dad talked about it sometimes, how Fall was the prettiest season in the mountains. She remembered vaguely visiting her grandparents a few times and seeing the leaves, but now she would be living here through the whole season. And most likely many more.

It was difficult to wrap her head around the whole mate thing. Part of her wondered if she should fight it. Having her destiny and who she would be with her entire life laid out in front of her without a choice...but she could choose. She could walk away, but she knew it would feel like someone had cut her in half. She hadn't expected to be practically engaged or whatever they were at eighteen, but she couldn't imagine being without Ryker.

His fingers brushed through a lock of her hair and traced her face, curving across her cheek. "What are you thinking about?"

"You."

"You're frowning a lot to be thinking about me. So I don't think that's it," Ryker said, smirking.

Jo rolled her eyes. "I'm not frowning. This is my thinking face."

"It's very serious." He leaned forward and stole a kiss from her.

"I was thinking about what it means to be mates," she said, "Are we sort of...married?"

Ryker's eyebrows rose and then knit together. "Not legally. But in the eyes of the pack, we might as well be."

"Is there a ceremony?" she asked, genuinely curious. There was still a lot to learn about werewolves and pack politics and dynamics.

"Not in front of anyone. There's a part that makes it official, it's called a marking." Ryker reached up and brushed his hand over her neck and shoulder. "It's hard to control the shift enough for it, but we shift just our canine teeth and leave a mark here."

Jo reached up and touched the same spot, leaving her hand there for a minute. "I'm guessing it hurts?"

"It should heal quickly," he said. Now he was the one frowning. "But...I don't know. You're human, and I don't want to hurt you."

"I can take it," she said, rolling her eyes, "And you're human."

"A human that can turn into a wolf."

"And I'm a human who can start fires like Drew Barrymore in that one Stephen King movie."

Ryker threw his head back in laughter while Jo grinned up at him. He didn't often laugh like this, with his whole belly and chest, and she couldn't help but feel rather accomplished whenever she managed to bring it out of him. Laughter was the best medicine right?

And considering she hadn't yet seen a true smile from him today, it made her even happier. In a chest-aching kind of way.

"I love you," he murmured, brushing a kiss across her forehead, her nose, then her lips.

"Mmm, back at you," she retorted, kissing him back, deepening it for a moment before she leaned back. Ryker brushed a hand through her hair.

"Ridiculous woman."

"For loving you? Probably."

He growled and playfully tickled her sides, causing her to squirm and twist sideways in his lap--she'd never revealed how ticklish she was to him, but he apparently was going to figure it out today. Right before she was about to give in and beg for him to stop, he groaned.

"Bad idea." He rested his forehead on her shoulder.

"What? I mean, yes, but what--" She shifted to look at him, but he gripped her hips, forcing her to stop moving.

She smirked. "I know why you're really irritated with Duncan."

"Because of what he interrupted the other night? Yes, yes, I very much am."

Jo snorted, then stood up and held out a hand to Ryker, giving him a reprieve. "Me too," she admitted, leaning forward to kiss his jaw. She'd certainly never felt like this about a guy before, never been this attracted, never wanted to always physically be in contact with him. "But if this settles things between your packs..."

Ryker shot her a 'yeah right' look as he stood up and wrapped his arms around her.

"Even temporarily..." Jo said firmly, leaning into him, "then overall it's still good. If nothing else, it'll give us some time to figure things out." She stared out at the woods, thinking out loud. "Time for y'all to work out more long-term plans, time for me to train more in case things go south..."

"Things are not going to go south," Ryker interrupted roughly, gaze hard, arms tightening around her. She knew his anger wasn't directed at her though.

"Better to be prepared," Jo said, refusing to shy away from or ignore the truth of the matter. If the peace was as temporary as Ryker feared, then she needed to be prepared for the worst. Better safe than sorry.

"True," Ryker admitted. "But I wish it wasn't necessary."

"I like knowing I'm in better control of my fire anyway," Jo said. "I don't ever want to have to worry again about what happens if I lose control."

"I don't think that will happen with what I've seen, Jo," Ryker said confidently, hand rubbing circles against her back. "And from what you told me, you actually controlled it pretty well for a first-time experience with your powers. Werewolves struggle with their first shift too, and we have people to guide us and watch us when it happens."

She hadn't thought about it like that. It meant everything to her that she hadn't killed the man though. She didn't know how she could've lived with that if she had. "I guess you're right," she said softly. "But...I still want to do better. It's no wonder that he's angry at me, if he's the one that broke into my parents' house." Him or Duncan, it had to be one of them.

Ryker frowned as her words seemed to trigger a memory for him. "You know, Duncan didn't say anything about your parents or Charlotte at the meeting." He looked down at her quickly, as if worried she'd freak out. "But that doesn't mean he didn't do it, we didn't break down in detail every threat he'd made."

"Then maybe it wasn't him," Jo said, trying to be nonchalant. "Maybe it wasn't either of them. It could've just been a random break-in." Though it seemed way too strange to be normal. Nothing had been taken, and there were very little real signs that the house had even been entered. The fact that the intruder had been all over her room was disconcerting, but... sure, maybe it had been a terrible thief. "Or one of my friends from back home playing a prank."

"You really think that?"

"No, but it sounds better, doesn't it?" She smiled and pushed her hands against his chest, moving back from him even as she laced her fingers through his. "We should finish our hike."

"I need to know who broke into your parents' house, Jo," Ryker said, squeezing her hand. He refused to move for a moment, so she was left leaning out against the grip of his hand. He seemed immovable, like a stone statue, as if her weight was nothing for him to hold up.

"I know," she said, "But I need to go hiking."

"I knew you were a hiker, deep down," Ryker said, still frowning, though there was a hint of amusement in his currently dark, honey yellow eyes. "You were fighting against your inner nature."

"You know, I should just leave you here."

Ryker snorted then took two steps forward, outpacing her and pulling her along. "I'd find you."

Jo grinned. "I can't decide if that's sweet or menacing."

Ryker looked back at her and full-on smiled again. "The first one."