Chapter 73

"She's going to be okay, right?"

"Calm down."

"Shut up, and get over here!"

"Ryker, take a breath..."

Ryker gripped the cellphone so tightly he thought it might shatter. Brett wasn't listening to him. If he was listening, he would already be on his way. Maybe he should've tried for the mindlink he had with his brother, but he wasn't sure it wouldn't all come across as unintelligible mental screaming. "She's unconscious."

"Well, you Marked a human, what did you expect? It must hurt like hell." Brett sighed. "Honestly, I think she'll be fine. You're an idiot for doing it without talking to me first, but hey, we all know I'm the smart one in the family so–"

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm the only one with a doctorate–"

"No, that she'll be okay," Ryker snapped, his shoulders tense. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand wrapped around Jo's wrist so he could feel her heartbeat. It was fast but steady, and while she had broken out into a sweat, she seemed...fine. But again, unconscious.

"There have been humans in packs before Jo," Brett said, "And it's not like a Mark was an automatic death sentence for them."

Ryker frowned but he had to admit, Brett had a point. Still, he had heard the horror stories of it not ending well for human mates. He should've thought about it more, but he had been caught up in the moment. And then there was the fact that she had burned him.

It had happened right after she had fallen unconscious, or maybe technically in the moment right where she passed out. He wasn't sure. Her eyes had gone wide and then her hand, the one that had been resting on his left arm, heated up incredibly quickly. It had been like getting scorched, and now there was a hand print burned into his right forearm. The wound still stung, and pain was radiating outward from it, but it couldn't be nearly as bad as what Jo was going through.

"How long has she been out?"

"About ten minutes," Ryker said. "Is that normal?"

"I mean, the Mark does tend to change people physically, so it's probably just her body's way of coping with it," Brett said, "But if you're that worried about it, you can bring her to the house. Dad's, that is."

"You'll meet me there?"

"I guess," Brett grumbled. "You really couldn't wait to do this some other time–oh, the follies of young Alpha love."

"Brett."

"I'll meet you there."

Pocketing his phone, Ryker gently slid his arms under Jo, lifting and cradling her to his chest. It was scary how light she felt, but he knew that had nothing to do with how the mark was affecting her. The only good thing was that she felt a little less warm than before. Maybe it was hopeful thinking, but he had to focus on that right now to stay sane.

Going as fast as he could without tripping and damaging his precious cargo, Ryker made it out to his truck in record time. He leaned the passenger seat back so she'd be less likely to shift around on those curvy mountain roads, then buckled her in before hopping in on the driver's side. Automatically, his hand reached for hers, his thumb going to stroke her wrist and feel her pulse.

"I gotcha, Jo, don't worry," he murmured, his thumb moving rhythmically as he started down her driveway. "It'll be fine, promise."

Mhhmmm. Ryker.

Ryker frowned at whatever pack member was trying to get his attention. They must be pretty far away since they were so faint, but they were going to have to get help from someone else right now.

Opening up to a pack-wide broad range message, Ryker sent out a quick link to any nearby members. Anyone who needs me in the next few hours go through Charlie first.

YOU'RE IN MY HEAD, WHAT THE...?!?

Ryker slammed on the brakes as the mindlink roared in his head, throwing an arm out to protect the unconscious Jo from slamming forward too hard.

Only she wasn't unconscious anymore.

"Ryker!"

"Jo!" He yelled back, matching her tone and volume without thinking. Ryker quickly pulled off onto the shoulder as he turned to look at her. He probably mirrored Jo's expression right now–wide-eyed and chest heaving in shock.

"You're awake!"

"You were in my head!"

"That was you?"

Jo crossed her arms, glaring at him. "What, you didn't recognize my voice?"

"It was faint..." he rubbed the back of his head, staring, then it clicked. 'Cause you were still out of it I guess..." Then he was throwing the truck into park, undoing his seatbelt and then hers, all while Jo gave him a very confused look. Ryker ignored it, hauling her onto his lap and burying his face against the crook of her neck. His mark, a little raw and red, was there, freshly healed, and he kissed it, appreciating that it hadn't killed her. Hadn't messed her up and caused him lifelong regret.

"Ryker..." Jo curled her hands into his hair for a moment, stroking, then pulled so that he was looking at her. "What's going on, why are we in the truck?"

"You weren't waking up," he muttered, brushing her cheek with his hand. "I got worried."

"How long was I out of it?" she asked with a frown.

"More than ten minutes," Ryker said, shaking his head. "I was on my way to meet Brett..." he trailed off, studying her to see if any damage had appeared or if she looked any different. She seemed okay, but it wouldn't hurt to still have Brett check her out. "We should still make sure you're okay after that."

Jo rolled her eyes. "No need, I'm fine." A grin broke out across her face. "And I got the telepathy thing! However that works..."

Oh ,trust me, it's definitely working.

I CAN HEAR YOU BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO...Jo abruptly stopped, probably because she saw Ryker wincing at the volume of her message. "What's wrong, am I hurting you somehow?" Jo asked, biting her lip as she searched his eyes worriedly.

Ryker chuckled, shaking his head. "No, don't worry, babe. You're just...kind of at shouting volume right now."

Jo only looked slightly remorseful, mostly mischievous. "Oops, sorry."

"Better tell me now if I'm mated to a sadist."

"Ryker!" She swatted at him, but was obviously more excited than anything. "But seriously, can we go home? Can we play with the telepathy?" Ryker's arms tightened around her as she practically bounced on his lap. "Do you think there's anything else I can do?"

Ryker shifted her off his lap and back into her seat. "I don't know, but maybe that's a question Brett can answer when we get you checked out."

Jo scowled in a way that strangely reminded Ryker of himself. "I told you..." She stopped, frozen, staring at something on him.

"What?" Ryker twisted, looking down to see—oh, shit. He'd forgotten about the hand print she'd left. "Jo, it's not..."

"Did I do that to you?" Her voice had lost all excitement and was quiet, almost trembling as she still stared at him. Crap, Jo's worst fear–that she would hurt the people she loved.

"It doesn't hurt," Ryker said quietly, trying to soothe her. "It's like...your mark on me I think." It was totally a wild guess, and may or may not be true, but he didn't care. He didn't want Jo to think of this in any kind of negative way, and it was true it barely hurt. Not really.

"How can it not hurt?" she asked, her expression crumpling further. It looks terrible I'm sorry I'm sorry I'msorryRyker–

"It just stings a little," Ryker said. He reached toward her with his right hand, but she backed up against the door. "Jo, I'm serious, it's not bad."

"I can't believe I hurt you," she said, lifting her hands to her face.

Don't cry. Ryker grabbed her hands and pulled them away from her face. "I bit you. You burned me. We're both Marked, and that's exactly how it's supposed to be." He squeezed her fingers, firm and insistent. "Don't be upset about it. I don't regret it."

"Brett has to look at it," she said. Her dark brown eyes glistened as she looked at him, and he could almost swear that there was a faint ring of gold around her pupils. But that could be a trick of the light. "Okay?"

"It'll heal–"

NO. He's going to LOOK at it.

All right, all right.

Ryker let go of one of her hands so he could drive. Steering the truck back onto the driveway, he started off again toward his dad's house. He kept his eyes on the road, but he could feel Jo looking at him, fixated on his arm. Finally he pulled down the sleeve of his t-shirt, covering the burn mark.

That doesn't make it just disappear, Ryker.

How do you know? Maybe it does. Maybe this is a magic shirt.

Jo made a face. "I don't remember doing it."

"Jo, don't worry about it."

"Hmm, if you accidentally bit me, you'd feel totally okay with it?" she asked, pressing her fingernail gently into his skin. "Not at all bad or worried?"

Ryker shifted gears. "That's different."

"How?"

Frowning, he lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. "It just is."

Jo made an extra grumpy sound, and he could feel her upset mood pressing against their newly established mindlink. It put his own concern into overdrive, and he sped up.

As they turned onto his dad's drive a while later, he glanced over at Jo, trying to distract her. "On the plus side, you seem to be getting control of the mindlink pretty quickly."

"I know what you're doing," Jo muttered, but a small smile peaked out from the corner of her mouth. "But...you think so?"

"I know so," Ryker said firmly. He grinned a little, squeezing her hand. "You're not shouting in my head anymore."

Watch your insults, buddy. Now I can invade anytime I want.

Not if I block you.

"Wait, that's a thing?"

"Of course," Ryker nodded. "You have to be able to trust your privacy when you need it. You sort of already do it in a way, when you don't project every automatic thought, so it's just a matter of strengthening it so that none of your thoughts get out and no one else's get in."

"Hmmm." Jo was thoughtful as Ryker put the truck in park. Thankfully, Brett was already here, coming down the front porch steps as he tugged a shirt on–he'd probably shifted to run there from his place.

Jo and Ryker both spoke at once.

"She's awake but I don't know if the marking hurt her internally..."

"I burnt him when I went unconscious, Brett, you have to treat it."

"Whoa, whoa," Brett held his hands up, stopping them from speaking as he eyed the two of them. "So what I'm gathering is this was an eventful marking that maybe a certain little brother should've consulted with his much wiser and knowledgeable older brother about."

Ryker glared at Brett while Jo wrapped her arms around him. "It was my idea, Brett," she said, "I pushed him."

Ryker glanced down at Jo. "I wanted it too, stop–"

"Good Lord, preserve us from the newly Marked," Brett said with a long-suffering sigh. "Both of you, inside." Ryker shoved Brett's shoulder as he passed him, ducking to the side before Brett could shove him back, then led Jo to the back room that they kept stocked for Brett in case of emergency procedures. As soon as they were in, Brett grabbed a tube of something and threw it at Ryker.

"What's this?" Ryker asked, turning it over to look at the label.

Brett snorted. "Tube of aloe vera. That's a first degree burn you have there, you'll be fine."

"See?" Ryker kissed the top of Jo's head. If it had been any worse before, it had healed quickly, like her arm. "I'm fine."

"Still needed the aloe vera," Jo muttered, but he could see some of the tension leaving her body, shoulders dropping as she leaned back against Ryker. He circled an arm around her waist to give her a quick hug then let her go as Brett proceeded to do a routine check-up on her, going through the usual eye, ear, and mouth checks.

"From what I can see," Brett said, leaning back against a counter, "You're healthy as a horse. Or wolf." He grinned at Ryker's flat look–the guy's dad jokes were getting worse every day. "Your eyes have a bit of a strange color to them, but between your fire ability and being linked to werewolves now, that's not much of a surprise."

"So...we're both fine?" Jo asked, her hand tracing patterns against Ryker's arm. Thank God.

Brett nodded, his smile genuine now. "Go home. Have fun exploring your new abilities. Celebrate getting marked. It's supposed to be a joyous occasion, and should be now that we know you came through just fine."

"And telepathic." Jo said, smirking just a little.

Brett raised an eyebrow in surprise, and several moments of silence passed in which Ryker assumed they were communicating via mindlink. Well, that answered one of his questions. Jo could mindlink with more people than just him.

"Will do," Jo said out loud after a few beats. Then she turned slightly to look up at Ryker. "Why haven't you put that aloe on yet?

So bossy. He leaned down to kiss her, ignoring his brother taking his leave of the room with an exasperated sound. Brett could deal. Like he'd said, they were newly marked and it was normal for emotions to be heightened right now. Not to mention the extra adrenaline that came with what happened to Jo.

Takes one to know one.

S'why we're perfect for each other. Sometimes he couldn't believe how much he loved this woman. Then another completely unrelated thought occurred to him. We're so gonna ace the music exam now.

Jo laughed out loud as he trailed kisses down her neck and then all thoughts of exams left his head as she wrapped her arms around his neck, going on her tippy-toes to kiss him. Deciding to help her out, Ryker hoisted her up, wrapping her legs around him as he held her as close as humanly–or supernaturally humanly–possible.

Let's go home.

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A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you to everyone, including any new readers since the views, comments, and votes have soared in the last two days! So EXCITED!! So happy to have everyone here reading, and again, a big thank you to all of you for reading this story. I really hope you enjoy it!