Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 73

"She's going to be okay, right?"

"Calm down."

"Shut up, and get over here!"

"Ryker, take a breath..."

Ryker gripped the cellphone so tightly he thought it might shatter. Brett wasn't listening to him. If he was listening, he would already be on his way. Maybe he should've tried for the mindlink he had with his brother, but he wasn't sure it wouldn't all come across as unintelligible mental screaming. "She's unconscious."

"Well, you Marked a human, what did you expect? It must hurt like hell." Brett sighed. "Honestly, I think she'll be fine. You're an idiot for doing it without talking to me first, but hey, we all know I'm the smart one in the family so–"

"How can you be so sure?"

"I'm the only one with a doctorate–"

"No, that she'll be okay," Ryker snapped, his shoulders tense. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hand wrapped around Jo's wrist so he could feel her heartbeat. It was fast but steady, and while she had broken out into a sweat, she seemed...fine. But again, unconscious.

"There have been humans in packs before Jo," Brett said, "And it's not like a Mark was an automatic death sentence for them."

Ryker frowned but he had to admit, Brett had a point. Still, he had heard the horror stories of it not ending well for human mates. He should've thought about it more, but he had been caught up in the moment. And then there was the fact that she had burned him.

It had happened right after she had fallen unconscious, or maybe technically in the moment right where she passed out. He wasn't sure. Her eyes had gone wide and then her hand, the one that had been resting on his left arm, heated up incredibly quickly. It had been like getting scorched, and now there was a hand print burned into his right forearm. The wound still stung, and pain was radiating outward from it, but it couldn't be nearly as bad as what Jo was going through.

"How long has she been out?"

"About ten minutes," Ryker said. "Is that normal?"

"I mean, the Mark does tend to change people physically, so it's probably just her body's way of coping with it," Brett said, "But if you're that worried about it, you can bring her to the house. Dad's, that is."

"You'll meet me there?"

"I guess," Brett grumbled. "You really couldn't wait to do this some other time–oh, the follies of young Alpha love."

"Brett."

"I'll meet you there."

Pocketing his phone, Ryker gently slid his arms under Jo, lifting and cradling her to his chest. It was scary how light she felt, but he knew that had nothing to do with how the mark was affecting her. The only good thing was that she felt a little less warm than before. Maybe it was hopeful thinking, but he had to focus on that right now to stay sane.

Going as fast as he could without tripping and damaging his precious cargo, Ryker made it out to his truck in record time. He leaned the passenger seat back so she'd be less likely to shift around on those curvy mountain roads, then buckled her in before hopping in on the driver's side. Automatically, his hand reached for hers, his thumb going to stroke her wrist and feel her pulse.

"I gotcha, Jo, don't worry," he murmured, his thumb moving rhythmically as he started down her driveway. "It'll be fine, promise."

Mhhmmm. Ryker.

Ryker frowned at whatever pack member was trying to get his attention. They must be pretty far away since they were so faint, but they were going to have to get help from someone else right now.