Page 27 of Defiance
Chapter 5
Fuck.
Cole gently banged his head against the door.
Repeatedly.
Logan’s scent lingered in the room, thick and familiar in a way that both soothed Cole’s wolf and made his heart race. The pull to join him in the lounge tugged at him, but Cole resisted. If he gave in now, where would it end?
Instead he reminded himself what they were doing here, why he’d come back, and immediately remembered the image of Nick tied to that fucking chair. Anger threatened to overtake him again, but Cole forced it back into a simmering rage, still there but buried below the surface. Logan had promised Nick would be okay and Cole had to trust him. Needed to if he was going to get past this.
Rolling his shoulders and stretching out his spine with a satisfying crack, Cole took a long, deep breath in and slowly blew it back out.
This was as calm as he was going to get.
The trick now was to hang on to this feeling while watching the rest of that bloody video.
Both Aaron and Logan looked up when he came back into the living room. “Sorry,” he said, more for something to say than because he meant it. “Needed a minute.”
“Understandable.” Aaron had moved onto the sofa, so Cole sat next to him, in front of the laptop.
The screen remained dark, and Cole swallowed down any lingering doubts. “Let’s get this over with.”
Logan nodded and a few seconds later had the video back up and playing where they’d left off.
Nick tied to the chair, just like Cole had been.
The difference being Nick hadn’t done anything wrong. This was all because of Cole.
Guilt wasn’t something he had the luxury of indulging in right then. He’d save that for when he was alone later.
“He’s not tied to the chair.” Logan tapped the screen, and sure enough, Nick moved to cross his arms.
Frowning, Cole leant in closer. “I don’t understand. He was before, wasn’t he?” He glanced at Logan for confirmation, certain he wasn’t the only one who’d thought so. “Go back to the start bit.”
Logan did as asked, and the three of them watched the scene play out again.
“What the fuck?” Cole stared at the screen.
On closer inspection, it appeared Nick was only gripping the arms of the chair. Not forced there by rope or cuffs. The light and shadows and the way Nick clung on had made it seem like he was bound. “That was on purpose, right?” He glanced at Logan and then Aaron. “To make me think he was being interrogated?”
Logan sighed in a way that told Cole everything he needed to know. Sneaky fucking bastards. Was that to see if he’d watch the rest of the video? If he had the nerve to see his best friend go through what he had? But that didn’t explain the cut lip and the black eye.
“What about his face, though?” Cole raised an eyebrow. “There’s nothing fake about that.”
Logan sighed again and reached for the keyboard. “Let’s just watch it, shall we?”
Now he knew Nick wasn’t being restrained, Cole wasn’t as apprehensive as he had been. In fact, he was curious to see just what the hell was going on. “Yeah,” he said, sitting back so everyone could see. “Play it.”
They watched in silence as Paul came into view and stood in front of Nick.“Can you state your name, age, and pack association if you have one, please.”
“Nick Thomas, age twenty-three, Cox pack.”
Paul smiled. “Cox pack? I know their alpha. You’ve made a good choice.”
Aaron let out a low whistle. “I’ve never seen Paul so... polite?”
“Me neither.” Logan stared at the screen and Cole voiced what they were all thinking.
