Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 20

"Dude, if you had murder vision, the paint cans would explode right now."

Ryker looked away from glowering at a can of purple paint and instead leveled his glare on his Beta. Charlie had decided to look at the paintbrushes instead of Ryker, though he tossed a bright grin over his shoulder once he felt Ryker's attention on him.

"Duncan's getting cocky."

"Oh, I just thought you were mad at the color lavender," Charlie said, gesturing toward the can. "But Duncan makes more sense."

How Charlie kept his cool and didn't get insanely irritated whenever Duncan came around or did something infuriating (which was practically all Duncan did), Ryker would never understand. It had taken every ounce of self control Ryker had to not jump across the chairs and go for Duncan's throat when he had seen him talking to Jo that afternoon.

The only thing that kept him from going after the other alpha was knowing that being overly protective of Jo would make it clear that she was his mate, and Ryker wasn't ready for that. Jo definitely wasn't ready. The longer he let it go, though, the harder it was going to get. At least this painting date thing would help. They could start moving forward.

"They should go to another college," Ryker said. He double checked the text from Jo before grabbing a can of eggshell paint and then another of a shade of green called sage. Like the plant. She had actually typed that in there.

"The treaty says they can attend Sugar Maple." Charlie shrugged. "And that's been around since the college started."

"They weren't trying to edge onto our territory when the college started," Ryker growled, feeling heat crawling up his neck. His skin began to itch as fur threatened to grow. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself down.

Wolfing out in the middle of Seth's hardware store probably wouldn't be a good look, even though Seth did know about the pack. He was one of the few people in town who did, but Ryker wanted to stay on his good side so he couldn't turn into a huge brown wolf and possibly shove the metal shelves over.

"Yeah, well, they're just testing their limits. Brett thinks they're bored."

"I think they're planning something," Ryker said. Unlike his older half-brother, he always had to be on the alert, always thinking about the worst-case scenario. Honestly, having a human mate was a pretty terrible scenario. He gripped the paint cans harder and then nodded to Charlie. "Grab a couple more cans of these. And whitewash."

"How much of the house are you painting?"

"As much as she'll let me."

It would give them plenty of time to hang out, and he could get to know her better. Even though they rode together to and from college every day, he still felt like he didn't know much about her. She was stubborn and aggravating, witty, and incredibly guarded.

As for her background, he knew she was from Charlotte and both of her parents were alive. That was about it. She might as well have been the Fort Knox of girls.

He grabbed a couple clean paint rollers and tossed them into the basket Charlie was carrying. There were also a couple packets of nails and a deadbolt in there. That front door of Jo's wasn't set up for security, and he would feel better about her being all alone if her lock was better.

"I still think you should figure out what she likes to do. She'll get bored of painting eventually," Charlie said as they walked up to the front.

"I'm working on it, Charlie."

"At like a snail's pace." He grinned and jumped out of the way as Ryker reached over to shove him.

By the time they got to the front and set the paint cans on the counter, Ryker's cans both had bent handles, the curves perfectly in line with his clenched fists. Seth gave him a long, even look.