Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 59

"Oh yeah, what did Duncan say when you told him we had Blake?" Brett asked curiously, as the three of them fell into step together.

"I don't know," Charlie shrugged.

Ryker stopped. "Charlie!" He barked, causing his Beta to stop and turn and look at him in confusion. Brett also turned, but his expression was more worried, probably a lot like Ryker's. Although his predominant feeling was frustration right now.

"You never delivered the message?"

Charlie frowned. "I did, but to Jake. Duncan was busy or something." He scratched the back of his head. "Jake never told me what Duncan said, but I didn't ask him to." He looked from Ryker to Brett, then back again. "Was I supposed to? Jake is his cousin and like third in command."

Ryker had no idea. Duncan seemed to trust Jake, but personally, Ryker cared even less for the guy than Duncan. He just seemed like a self-inflated dick, to be honest. And Duncan's pack dynamics were so odd, if there was truth to what Duncan had shared with them. Ryker set his cooler down and sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Well, nothing's happened yet, so let's hope it's not an issue."

"He's going home tomorrow so the situation should resolve itself soon," Brett tried to reassure him, but Ryker could tell he was uneasy with the situation as well. Ryker just wished he'd known this sooner, not an hour before Lexi's birthday party started.

"Okay," Ryker said, thinking aloud. "Let's spread the word that those on duty need to be extra vigilant. And let's tighten the patrol circle to dwelling areas so we don't leave too many gaps." They'd been trying to have a lighter patrol tonight so more people could attend the party for longer periods, but now that meant holes in the patrol. At least there was a lot of land that was just woods for running and whatnot, so they'd skip patrolling those areas tonight.

"Charlie," Ryker said, turning to his Beta who had the grace to look guilty. "I'm not holding it against you, but try to see if you can get the message to Duncan directly before the party starts, ok?"

Charlie nodded with a grimace. "Sorry, I'll do my best." Ryker clapped a hand on his shoulder in thanks, and then Charlie set his own cooler down and took off running.

"I'll finish with these," Brett said, nodding down at the coolers. "I'm guessing you want to go talk to dad."

"Yeah...thanks Brett." So much for a worry-free party. Well, the one thing he could do was try to spare Lexi the stress. Hopefully with his dad, brother, and Beta's help they could get this handled and the rest of the evening would go off without a hitch.

Leaving Brett behind, Ryker hurried through the backyard, looking for their father. Malcolm was over by the overly decorated picnic tables they had set up that morning, talking with a couple pack members and one of the Callahan men who had gotten there early.

Ryker stepped into their small circle and made eye contact with his father, knowing his hasty entrance would be enough of an alert to his dad that something was up. Everyone else would hopefully assume it was something party related, which it could be.

Malcolmoffered a nod to the others and moved away without offering an explanation. As the pack alpha, it wasn't like anyone would question him. Ryker fell into step beside him.

"What's wrong?"

"I made a mistake," Ryker said, grabbing the blame that could've been thrown at Charlie. "Duncan might not have gotten the message that we have Blake."

Malcolm's face turned stormy. "How?"

"Jake was told about it instead of Duncan, and you know how he can get. Charlie's going to try to fix it now."