Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 28

Jo couldn't imagine. Her own mother was kind and loving but she wasn't the hovering kind. It was her mildly hands-off approach that allowed Jo to live her own life up here in the mountains without having to call her parents every moment.

"The rest of the pack is made up of some relatives and then other werewolf families," Ryker explained. "A lot of them have lived around Jackson's Hollow for a long time, but we get new families or members every few years. Wolves tend to gather."

"Makes sense with the whole pack mentality," Jo said and then raised her eyebrows at him. "You do have that, right? The pack mentality? I don't want to assume you guys are like wolf-y wolves."

Ryker laughed. "We're sort of like regular wolves. But we're definitely humans that turn into wolves." He leaned back on his hands for a moment. "I've heard there are other shifter types out there, but I've never met them. Wolf types tend to stick to themselves. Safer that way."

"I don't think fire people have the tendency to group up," Jo said with a shrug. "I mean, I wound up in a place with wolf people, not fire wielders."

"That might be true," Ryker said. "I don't know. If you're comfortable with it, we can ask my dad and some of the older pack members if they know anything."

"Can we hold off for a while?" Jo said. She rubbed her hands together and then held them out in front of her, palms outward. "I'm still getting used to this, and I don't..."

"Yeah, you haven't even met my dad yet." Ryker nodded. "I think I get it."

Jo nodded, biting her lip at that amount of thoughts and feelings she was trying to process. She had just shared something with Ryker she'd never shared with anyone before, and he'd told her things that opened up a whole new world to her. It was hard not to get caught up in all the feelings that brought out. But...she'd known him a week. This was her first, oh wait, second date. After all, Ryker had called painting night a date.

Jo twisted her hands in her lap. She had to keep reminding herself to put the brakes on, at least a little bit. It was a little scary how easy it felt to lean on Ryker, and she was never the type of person that had ever wanted to be dependent on anyone else.

Hadn't she moved up here to be on her own? To cope with her trauma by herself?

Yeah, she doubted that's what a therapist would recommend. But what else was she supposed to do when she had a secret--no--two secrets-she couldn't share with anyone else?

And now she'd just told Ryker one of them.

The other one was on the tip of her tongue, but no way was that second date material. At the rate they were going though, there was a good chance it'd be a third date discussion. Jo huffed a quiet wry laugh that Ryker immediately picked up on.

"What's funny?" he said, his voice amused as he twirled a strand of her nlack hair around his finger. She'd lost the clip somewhere between fleeing brunch and setting herself on fire.

"Do you have wolfy hearing too?" Jo asked, deflecting his question.

Ryker smirked, shifting to lean back against the side of the truck, pulling his legs up to splay across the truck bed. "Even a normal human would have heard that. But yes, we do." He wrapped one hand around her waist and tugged her arm gently with his other hand, easily sliding her across the bed until she was settled between his legs with her back to his chest. "Now stop avoiding my question."

Jo groaned, leaning her head back against his chest, trying to calm her heart rate down after his sudden action. He bent one knee next to her, and as she rested her elbow on it, he leaned forward, chuckling against her ear. "You know I can hear your heartbeat too."