Page 21 of Defiance
Sitting back in his chair, Jacob fixed him with a soft expression. “You want to bond with him?”
“Yeah.” Logan managed a small smile. “If things were different.”
“Fuck’s sake, Logan. You don’t make things easy, do you?”
“No.”
Silence filled the room.
Logan’s gaze drifted to the main office, watching his fellow pack members going about their business, unaware that high treason was taking place in Jacob’s office. For a moment Logan wished he was blissfully unaware of it too. It seemed like years since he’d felt that way. Forcing himself to snap out of it, Logan sat up a little straighter. “I’m sorry,” he said, injecting all the confidence he could muster. “I know you’ve got enough things to worry about without me adding to it. I’ll be fine.” He cracked his neck from side to side. “We all knew the risks going into this and what to expect when we got here.” He clenched his hands into fists then relaxed them, trying to let go of some of the tension. “I know Cole can handle it. And so can I.”
Jacob’s gaze bored into him, and Logan met it head-on. “Good.” With a nod of his head, the conversation moved on, just like that. The trust Jacob had in him made Logan’s wolf preen, but it also set a heavy weight on his shoulders.
He couldn’t let him down.
Or any of them.
“Have you heard anything from Mothecombe?” Aaron asked, and Logan looked up quickly, eager to hear his answer.
“Yeah.” Jacob crossed his arms, sparing a quick glance out to the main office before elaborating. “Since Cole gave up Max and John’s names under interrogation, they’ve stepped back from the candidate runs for a while. Which was always the plan with Max due in a few weeks. I don’t know their pack or their real names, and I won’t ask. But they’re both safe and that’s all we need to know.”
“Thank fuck,” Logan breathed, and Aaron muttered much the same. If not for those two, Logan and Aaron probably wouldn’t be sitting in Jacob’s office right now. And Cole would be dead.
His initial anger at Max for biting Cole had since morphed into enormous gratitude. She’d been right. Logan could never have done it himself, and Cole would never have forgiven him if he had. “Anything on Cole’s parents?”
Jacob smiled. “Settling in well, from what little information trickles back. But I can tell you that Mrs Moreton’s arrival was very much appreciated at the hospital.”
“That’s great.”
Cole was undoubtedly going to miss his parents, and there wasn’t much to be done about that, but at least Logan could tell him they were okay and settling in well to their new life. Hopefully, it’d be enough.
“What happens now, then?” Aaron crossed his arms, fidgeting a bit in his seat.
Logan smirked at him, his excitement obvious despite everything.
“We wait, do what we’re told, and keep our heads down.” Jacob pointed a finger at them. “As far as you two are concerned, I’m currently reprimanding you for the mishandling of your candidates.”
It was only then that Logan remembered one of Aaron’s candidates had been on the run too. “What happened to yours? The one who went missing?”
Aaron’s face fell, and Logan immediately reached out to clasp his shoulder. “Fuck, I’m sorry.” He knew first-hand what it was like to lose one.
“Yeah, me too.”
“Another reason for doing this,” Jacob said softly. “There aren’t enough of us to save everyone. We need help; we need to get more of the humans to trust us and more of our own people to see that the way things are at the moment is wrong. If it’s ever going to change, we need shifters we can trust in pack positions that can help us. Getting Cole to become a valued member of the HRU is the start of that. If a member of the McKillan security team is willing to join the human resistance, then others will too. I want you to remember that when things get tough and you’re struggling. Cling to it and use it to get through the next few months. Okay?”
They both nodded.
“Right. I think we’re done for the day.” He pushed back from his desk. “As far as everyone else is concerned, I just gave you both a bollocking and confined you to work and your flats for the next two weeks. No shifting, no going anywhere unless it’s pack business or home.”
“Two weeks?” Aaron groaned, and Logan was right there with him. A run through the park at night was very appealing right now. More so now that Jacob had just forbidden them to do it.
“Be thankful it’s not a month like Simon suggested.”
Logan scoffed. Fucking Simon. Although he was surprised he hadn’t suggested a six-month ban.
“Go home,” Jacob said, gesturing towards the door. “And get some rest. Tomorrow you’ll be with Cole all day, and that includes giving him an overview of his new team. It’s going to be a rough one.”
They both nodded and left the relative safety of Jacob’s office. With the exception of Rob and maybe one or two others, Jacob was the only friendly face they were going to encounter for a while. Logan felt eyes on him and Aaron as they walked through the offices to the lifts.
