Ryker grimaced as he stared at the loops of wire wrapped around his hands, small light bulbs sticking out at odd angles every which way.
"Fairytale lights? More like demon lights."
"You don't even have to do anything besides hold the untangled part," Lexi snapped back, carefully looping a strand through another as she tried to sort out the lights for her party.
"If you'd just looped them the first time when we took down the Christmas decorations..."
"Yes, I know, I learned my lesson. Now shut up." She was practically growling at him, causing Ryker to smirk at her. Normally it was much harder to get a rise out of his sister, but their wolf sides tended to get agitated around their 18th birthday. The theory was that it had something to do with being able to find a mate after that point, maybe like a wolf sort of puberty, but who really knew.
Jo walked by with a basket of decorations, a light load per Brett and Ryker's demands, and it was obvious from her twinkling eyes and tight mouth that she was trying to suppress a laugh at Ryker's predicament. 'Help me,' he mouthed at her.
Jo widened her eyes and shrugged at him.
Ryker mock-glared back at her, which Lexi unfortunately caught and assumed was directed at her.
Well, truthfully, it kind of was.
But not actually.
"Look, I helped out at your 18th, so suck it up, buttercup!"
"I didn't demand fairytale lights and machete thread things."
"Macrame, for the twentieth time!"
Ryker couldn't help the grin that stole across his face at the sound of Jo's laughter from the grouping of tables she was setting her basket down at.
Lexi dropped her lights, fists on her hips. "You finish this!" she ground out through gritted teeth. "I'm going to go check on Brett and Aaliyah." With that, she stalked off, leaving Ryker to stare bewildered at the pile of lights at his feet. Which was probably completely tangled again.
A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind, and a cheek pressed against his back. "Think you'll make it out of this birthday alive?"
Ryker turned in Jo's embrace, lifted his fairytale light-wrapped hands up before settling them back down over her head, arms resting lightly on her shoulders. It was about the closest thing to a return embrace that he could manage right now without losing the last half hour's worth of work.
"That's a question I've been asking myself a lot today," Ryker said with a chuckle, leaning forward to kiss the top of Jo's head. "Are you here to be my princess charming and save me?"
Jo eyed the lights with an expression of obvious distaste. "Hmm, I dunno, how much do I like you?"
"Enough to keep me alive?"
She tilted her head, considering, but Ryker saw the twitch to the corner of her lips. "I'll cook you dinner tonight," Ryker said, doing his best to persuade her.
Jo's eyes lit up. "Go on, I'm listening."
Go on? She needed more? His woman drove a hard bargain. "And dessert?"
She was practically radiating joy. If he knew she liked his cooking this much, he would've started doing it a long time ago. "Brownies?"
Ryker filed that important bit of information away for future bribery. "Of course," he said, voice lowering as he leaned in. "And I'm pretty sure I have some ice cream in the freezer I can raid to go with it."
A wide grin broke out on her face. "Deal!"
Jo took the fairy lights from him and began to untangle them, her quick fingers making fast work of a task that had been driving him crazy. With her help, they were able to get the majority of the lights out of the pile and into the trees in about thirty minutes when Ryker would've sworn it would take a couple hours. Ryker kept an eye on Jo as they worked, making sure she wasn't overdoing it. But she seemed all right, if a little sore sometimes.
"Have you done this before?" he asked.
"Once or twice," she said, "My friend Tara had a lot of fairy lights at her sixteenth birthday. And so did Logan."
Jo didn't often talk about her other friends, the ones from high school and back home. Maybe she was worried they would find out about her powers? "So I'm dealing with an experienced light engineer."
She tossed a grin at him. "Sure. Very expensive right here."
"Hey, I'm paying in brownies and ice cream."
"I guess that'll cover my costs."
"If you guys can stop being disgustingly cute for a minute..." Lexi stepped up beside her brother and put her hands on her hips as she examined the lights. "This looks okay."
"Just okay?" Ryker rolled his eyes. "Is there a different way you want them hung?"
"No, this is fine."
Ryker and Jo shared a glance, and Ryker frowned at Lexi. She seemed happy enough, but something was off. He was certain it had something to do with the attack last night, but he couldn't decide whether to push the issue or not. Then again... "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Lexi said, forcing a smile. "It's just weird that we're having a party when Duncan's pack could come after us at any time." She pointed a finger at him and then waved it at Jo. "Plus there's whatever you're not telling me. Which I'm guessing there's a reason for that, but I don't like being kept in the dark. But if you don't trust me, I can't do much about that."
"It's not like that, Lexi," Jo said, "I...it's complicated."
"No, no, it's cool," Lexi said with a shrug. Her smile was increasingly tense. "It's fine. Secrets in families, what could go wrong." Before Jo could say anything else, she whirled on her heel and marched off to the house.
"Lexi!" Ryker snapped after her, angry on Jo's behalf. But Jo reached out and grabbed him by the crook of his arm.
"I'll talk to her later," Jo said, her dark brown eyes worried but steady, "We should probably tell your whole family, honestly. She's right about the secrets thing."
"But your parents don't know yet."
"Yeah, but they're not used to the already weird world," Jo said, attempting a half-smile. "Your family is."
Ryker hated that Jo was having to deal with a Lexi temper tantrum right now. Sure, Lexi was his favorite sister--well, only--but she was also his sister. They made each other mad sometimes and they lived with it. That's how siblings worked. But Jo and Lexi had become friends, and he could tell Jo didn't like being at odds with her friend. And so he just wanted to do whatever would make Jo feel better.
"Only if you're comfortable with it and what's what you want to do," Ryker said, a little more sternly than he'd intended, as he wrapped his arms around Jo. She looked up at him, biting her lip for a moment before nodding and leaning forward into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him as well.
"We're not disgustingly cute," Jo muttered against his chest.
"Right?" Ryker smirked as he kissed the top of her head. "We're credibly hot. Or astoundingly sexy, or..." he broke off laughing as Jo playfully punched him in the gut. Dang, for a non-werewolf, his girlfriend sure had quite the arm.
"What, they're all good adjectives," he said, rubbing his abs and giving Jo a mock-hurt expression.
She rolled her eyes at him. "And don't make us sound self-absorbed at all."
"Just stating facts," he said, grinning as Jo threw her head back with a groan. As she looked back at him he quickly stole a kiss, then another...well, maybe one more..
"Okay, yeah, I see what Lexi was muttering about."
Ryker broke away to look over at his brother, who was standing a few feet away with a bemused expression on his face.
"You were the same way when you found Aaliyah," Ryker said, not loosening his hold on Jo, even as she made to move away from him.
"I know. I told Lexi it'd happen for her too, but then she threw an apple at me," Brett said with a chuckle. "Anyway, Jo, can I steal you away to take a look and see how your stitches are doing? I want to make sure nothing's opened up with all the activity you've been doing today."
Jo nodded. "Sure, but I think it's fine."
She made to step away from Ryker, but Ryker tugged her hand, looking at Brett. "Give us a sec?" Brett gave him a curious look but shrugged.
"Sure, Jo, just meet me in the living room."
Ryker looked down at Jo as soon as Brett was heading back into the house. "I'm going to go talk to Blake for a few minutes but...do you want to share about your ability after dinner?" He squeezed her hand. "I can help you talk about it if you want me to." He just wanted to make sure he knew what Jo wanted before they got caught up in other things this evening, because if she was going to try and share, he wanted to be ready to support her. "And if you're not ready, we can hold off. I can tell Lexi to suck it up and get over it." And maybe a few other choice words he wouldn't mention to Jo.
That earned him a half-smile and an eye-roll, but after a moment, Jo spoke. "I think I'm ready to share tonight. With everything going on with the Duncan pack, I think they should know what I can do and that I can be helpful."
Ryker frowned at that--he'd always viewed Jo's training sessions as a way to help her gain control and confidence, and as a bonus, a way for her to defend herself as needed. He didn't like to think of her as a fighter.
"Only if it's needed."
Jo raised an eyebrow. 'Well, I don't think any of y'all are fighting unless it's needed, right?"
"Definitely not, my pack knows better." Ryker sighed. "I hope no one has to fight."
Jo tilted her head, studying him. "Is that why you're going to go talk to Blake? To see about coming up with a better peace agreement with Duncan?"
Ryker hesitated. "That's part of it." Noticing Jo's expression, it occurred to him that if there was anyone he should probably trust with more information, it should be Jo. She was his mate, and they were meant to lean on each other through difficult situations. She wasn't pack yet, but that was only a matter of time. "I need to understand why they were there too. If Duncan was actually trying to start something..."
"That changes things," Jo finished for him as he trailed off.
Ryker sighed. "It sure makes a peaceful resolution seem a lot less likely."