Instinctively, her hand darted out and grabbed the first thing she could use as a weapon, which happened to be a heavy metal flashlight that she kept on the counter. After she had both hands gripped around the flashlight, she remembered that she could scorch Duncan if he came too close. Her fire powers were relatively new, and she wasn't too good with them yet. Burning down the house while trying to scare off a werewolf wasn't exactly on her to-do list for the evening. But neither was letting the werewolf win.
"Get out," Jo said, holding the flashlight like an extremely short baseball bat.
"Calm down." Duncan grinned and held up both hands, palms facing her. "You do know what I am right?" His smile grew wider. "I can tell you do. It's all over your face. How much use do you really think that flashlight is going to be?"
"Come any closer, and we'll see if I can dent your thick skull with it," Jo said.
Duncan stepped further into the kitchen, and Jo got ready to drop the flashlight and light him up with her fire powers. The surprise would be enough to catch him off guard and give her time to run, and hopefully the fire wouldn't be big enough to torch the house. But Duncan settled onto a stool at the island in the middle of the kitchen. He grabbed an orange from the basket in the middle of the counter and began to peel it methodically, not looking up at her.
"I'm not here to fight," he said in a lazy, casual tone, "We know how that'd end, so let's not bother."
Yeah, right. Jo stayed back toward the sink, holding tight to the flashlight. "I don't know why else you'd be here, so you should leave."
"I'm going to, but first, let's talk." He gestured toward the other stool beside him, inviting her to sit down at her own kitchen counter.
Jo scowled. "I don't have anything to say to you."
"But see, there's a lot I want to talk to you about." Duncan dropped part of the orange peel and started on a new piece. "Like what's the deal with you and Ryker."
Staying on her side of the island, Jo narrowed her eyes at him. Why did it matter what was going on with her and Ryker? So much so that Duncan would cross into Ryker's territory and invade her house?
Yes, invade. The terminology was entirely justified.
"None of your business," Jo snapped, deciding that anything he wanted to know probably wouldn't be good for Ryker. And no offense--okay, fine, maybe some offense--to Duncan, but she was kind of on Ryker's side when it came to their feud. Although she really needed Ryker to give her a more thorough briefing on werewolf politics after this.
"Actually, it's very much my business," Duncan said, popping an orange slice in his mouth. He talked around it, probably trying to deliberately disgust her. Yeah, well, she was concerned by more important things than rudeness right now.
"I don't see how," Jo said, trying to sound as cold as possible.
Duncan leaned his elbows on the island, eyeing her speculatively. "Hmm, seems like that much is honest at least." He smirked and split another orange slice out of the orange. "Guess Ryker hasn't told you everything."
"Well, it's not like I've shared my whole life story with him either," Jo said, starting to be more irritated than alarmed. "Might take a little longer than the time we've had so far." Seriously, she'd never expect someone she was dating to spill all their dark secrets within a few weeks of dating her. She was surprised at how much she and Ryker had already shared with each other, so the fact that Duncan seemed to be questioning her relationship pissed her off more than anything.
Duncan swallowed his orange slice whole, then chuckled--and not in the warm, friendly way that Ryker often did. "My guess is you read up on werewolves once you found out Ryker was one. Did you ever see anything about mates in your research?"
Now that he mentioned it, she had seen that mentioned, but mostly in reference to modern day fantasy/fiction. She'd kind of figured if it was a real thing, it would be in the older folklore as well. And, so...well, she didn't know much.
"Fine." Jo gritted her teeth. "You want me to ask Ryker about mates? I will. You can go now if that's all you came to say."
Duncan gave her a flat look. "Now what's the fun in letting him get to do the explaining?"
"I think anything's better than listening to you talk," Jo growled. She would've crossed her arms if it hadn't been for the flashlight. Still, she didn't want to let go of it.
"I don't mind telling you about it." Duncan dug his fingers into the orange, yanking off another slice. "See, most werewolves have a mate. It's basically this unbreakable bond between two of our kind."
"Yeah, sounds like a regular soulmate."
"It's more than that," Duncan said, waving her off. The scent of oranges was heavy in the kitchen air. "It's deeper." He popped the orange into his mouth and chewed methodically, making her wait to hear more.
"Great. Super soulmates."
"Werewolves mate for life. We only get one true mate, and we're linked to them on a level that humans can only dream of. It..." Duncan lifted the orange. "It's like you really love oranges, right? They're your favorite fruit. But one day, you taste a peach and then you realize that peaches are so much better than oranges, you never want to eat another one again."
Jo shifted uneasily, getting the metaphor, even if it was a stupid one. "Okay."
"You don't get a choice. Once you meet your mate, you don't go back to oranges." He grinned and peeled off another section of the orange. "So, Jo, are you a peach or just another orange to Ryker?"
It took Jo a moment to process what Duncan was implying, but when she did, she had to fight off the urge to chuck the flashlight at Duncan's head. Or maybe Ryker's whenever he came back again.
Seriously? When was Ryker planning on telling her this?
Duncan chuckled. "It's obvious you don't know." He stood up. "I'll be interested to see what happens when you do. I'm sure you and Ryker will have a lovely talk." He cocked his head in a way that was very similar to Ryker whenever he seemed to be getting a message from someone in his pack. He was probably about to leave.
"You said most," Jo found herself blurting out. Idiot. She was already letting Duncan get into her head.
He turned a chilling smile on her. "Hmm?"
"Most werewolves," she said flatly, crossing her arms. "So, not all."
Duncan shrugged. "We all have them, we just might not all find them. It's a big world out there, sweetheart." He popped the last slice of orange into his mouth and dumped the peels on her counter. Apparently he was doing his best to be as annoying as possible.
"Anyway, I have to go--apparently your boyfriend is kicking up a fuss about my boys paying a little visit." He smirked at her. "I'll tell him you said hi." As if to reinforce the truthfulness of his statement, Jo heard several wolf howls somewhere out in the distance, coming through the screen door. She shivered, wishing she knew what they meant. Ryker hadn't exactly had time to teach her the differences in all the wolf howls.
And if he wasn't honest next time she saw him, he might not get that opportunity to.
"Go ahead," Jo said calmly. Maybe Ryker and his pack would beat Duncan up. And if she was pissed at him right now, she certainly wouldn't shed a tear over Duncan getting roughed up.
Duncan paused in the doorway, his hand already on the screen door latch. "You know, while you have that talk with him, you should ask him what an alpha wolf does when he feels his mate is threatened, especially by another alpha wolf." His eyes glinted strangely. "It would be quite the shitshow."
And then there was another howl, only this time it came from much, much closer. Practically in her yard. And despite her frustration with Ryker, the threat that Duncan had just implied had her feeling like her heart had taken up residence on her throat.
"Get out of here," she ground out.
"Too late for that," Duncan said, grinning. But he opened the door and stepped out on the porch. For a moment, as Duncan strolled down the steps and Jo moved to bolt the door, she thought everything would be fine.
As her fingers, which she noticed to her annoyance were trembling, found the door knob, a wolf came running up the driveway, huge paws skidding over the dirt and gravel. She knew from the fur color and pattern that it wasn't Ryker. This wolf was slightly smaller but still much larger than a normal wolf. It had grey and golden-brown fur, shaggier and fluffier than Ryker's. It snarled at Duncan, getting lower as it approached.
Duncan stepped back, something almost feral in his movements. "Calm down, Charlie. I didn't even touch her. I was just leaving."
The wolf, who must've been Charlie, looked startled and glanced at Jo with that embarrassed look dogs got sometimes, eyes wider, ears down. Did he not know she knew about the whole werewolf thing? Jo thought that Ryker must've sent him, but now she didn't think that was the case.
"He stole an orange though," Jo said, hovering in the doorway, one hand on the doorframe.
Charlie shot Duncan a glare and slunk toward the porch, where he sat down on the steps and growled at Duncan.
"Charlie, if you could let Ryker know what's going on here, I'd appreciate it," Jo said.
"I already said I was going," Duncan said with a laugh.
"Go faster."
He lifted his hand in a weird three-fingered wave and sauntered off down her driveway the way Charlie had come from, his gait jaunty and obviously pleased with himself. Jo ran a hand down her face and opened the door wider.
"It's okay, Charlie, I already know about the werewolf stuff. Do you want to come in or stay out here?"
Charlie huffed and shook his head, still looking chagrined.
Jo nodded. "All right, then I'll just be in here."
Waiting. And thinking.
A/N: Sorry for the delay! There will be another update next weekend on Sunday!