Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 48

Sparks flew up from a bonfire at the edge of the lake, casting embers and ash into the sunset sky. Lavender, scarlet, and orange burned across the sky as the sun sank behind the mountains. Jo leaned back against the warmth of Ryker's truck, her eyes scanning the scene.

There were about fifteen to twenty people hanging around the edge of the water, and there were also a few wolves scattered around amongst the humans. One particularly large wolf (though not as large as Ryker in that form) was perched on a massive boulder at the edge of the water, ears perked and alert. The other wolves seemed more casual, like they were simply enjoying the party in wolf form.

One of the wolves ran up to Jo, and she struggled to not press farther back against the truck. While she had been around werewolves frequently, it was dark and there was still that first instinct of seeing a predator running at you. She knew she had to stand her ground, and she didn't even look over at Ryker as he rounded the front of the truck.

The wolf was lanky and shaggy, and there was blond/brown tint to his coat. Now that he was closer, Jo recognized the wolf as Charlie. He often had stakeout duty at her house, and sometimes he sat on the porch and chewed the enormous rawhide bone she had gotten him while she read. His tail swished as he bumped against her legs, mouth open in what had to be a laugh.

"Well hey there," she said, grinning down at him. "You know I always have the strongest urge to scratch your ears when you look like this."

"Don't feed his ego," Ryker grumbled, wrapping his arms around her, and trapping her arms in the process. It was like he was trying to prevent her from touching Charlie. Probably so--she'd been warned by Lexi that Alphas could get possessive sometimes, especially when they had cause to worry about their mate.

"Okay, Mr. Alpha, a little ear scratch doesn't hurt anyone."

Charlie made a huffing sound as if in agreement, while Ryker rolled his eyes.

"Attention hog," he muttered.

Jo laughed, then pushed against Ryker's arms. "C'mon, let's go meet some people."

Ryker released her, his hand going to touch her lower back as she walked toward the bonfire. Someone had laid out hot dogs & fixings as well as s'more ingredients on an old rickety wooden table that looked like it had seen better days. There were a couple of coolers of drinks beside the table, and a variety of camping chairs had been set around the fire.

"Jo, this is Oliver, Hannah you've met, Aiden..." Ryker went around the fire naming off people and they paused to wave or nod at her before going back to their conversations.

Lexi hurried forward, another boy and girl tailing her. Hang on, that was...

"Eli!" Jo said, grinning. He often ate lunch with her, Katie, and Lexi at the college campus. She hadn't realized he was a werewolf though.

He gave her a sheepish look as he rubbed the back of his neck, which had turned red. "Don't exactly look like the werewolf type, do I?"

He didn't look quite as ginormous like Ryker but beyond that, what was a werewolf type supposed to look like, anyway? From what she could tell, there were as many variations with werewolves as there were people. "At this point I'm going to assume half this town are werewolves," Jo said with a laugh.

"You wouldn't be far off the mark," Lexi said breezily, reaching past her to grab a hot dog for her stick. She looked back at them. "And since Ryker somehow thinks you have the superhuman ability to remember 20 names all said in a row, I'm going to reintroduce you to one of my best friends, Emma."

Jo said hi to the blond Emma, who seemed a little on the shy side but very friendly. A while later, Ryker was across the fire talking to a few of his pack members while Jo roasted hot dogs with Emma.