Page 47 of Defiance
West was a good guy, a few years older than Logan, and unlike some in their pack, he wasn’t one to flaunt the power they now held over humans. More than once Logan wondered where his sympathies lay. “Yeah,” he said after a while, tracing his own ink. “West will do his best to give you what you’re after.”
Cole’s shoulders stiffened and he sat up a little straighter. “I had someone different in mind.”
“Who?” Cole and Aaron spoke in unison.
“Nick. The guy from the video,” he added as if they didn’t know who he meant.
Also Cole’s best mate.
Not a good idea, on any level.
“Look, Cole—”
“I know I’m not allowed to see anyone outside of the pack, but couldn’t you get a message to him? Ask him to draw it and send it over? Packs talk, don’t they?”
Logan shared a look with Aaron. “Yes, but—”
“His drawing is amazing. He designed his own pack tattoo, and I’d really like him to do mine.”
Fuck.
Logan hated to disappoint him, especially when Cole didn’t get to make any of the decisions concerning him at the moment, but he couldn’t see Michael allowing this. “Nick’s with the Cox pack now. You’ve already been bitten by a member of another pack; I’m not sure we should ask for your pack tattoo to be designed by someone outside the pack as well.”
Cole sat forward, expression imploring. “He’s not just anybody though. He’s my best friend. Could you at least ask?”
Logan was helpless to say no when Cole looked at him like that. Even though he should. “Fine.” He gave a sigh of his own. “I’ll ask.” He caught the slight shake of Aaron’s head out of the corner of his eye.
“Thank you.” Cole beamed at him, and Logan would take the shit coming his way if it meant Cole looked at him like that.
* * *
Training had beena repeat of the first day, but without Cole getting a beating this time, thank fuck. Paul had made all three of them watch the session from the side of the mat.
Cole was restless. He’d barely been able to stand still as they watched the rest of his unit being put through their paces. Not that Logan blamed him. All that pent up energy that came from being a shifter, with no outlet. It was a wonder Cole wasn’t climbing the walls.
Maybe that was another test. To see how far they could push him. Logan and Aaron might be banned from shifting, but they could still exercise in their human form. With Cole confined to his flat and not allowed to participate in training, he didn’t have that option.
He’d been quiet when they’d dropped him off at the flat. Quiet but agitated. Logan felt it in the air around him. And as much as he’d have liked to help him burn off some energy, he couldn’t.
They’d had no time alone since the funeral. There were only so many times he could follow Cole into his bedroom on the pretence of helping him get ready. Or happen to go to the bathroom at the same time as Cole got changed. The need to talk to him without someone listening, to pull him into his arms and drown in his scent, burnt inside him like a furnace.
Hiding it was getting harder and was probably the reason Aaron was threatening to drag him out for a run once they got home.
“You need it,” Aaron insisted as they drove into the city to meet with Jacob. The McKillan pack house, where Cole was being held, was about ten miles from the McKillan pack offices.
“I’m fine,” Logan insisted for about the fifth time, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as they sat in traffic.
Aaron huffed. “Course you are.”
Rob was just coming off the elevator as they entered the office building. After Aaron, he was Logan’s closest friend in the pack. “Heads up,” he said stopping in front of them. “Michael’s in with Jacob. Pretty sure they’re waiting for you.”
Aaron groaned, and Logan was right there with him. Asking Jacob about Nick designing Cole’s tattoo would’ve been bad enough. Asking their alpha? Logan swallowed down the rising apprehension.
“Thanks.” He nodded too.
Rob glanced around them before asking, “How’s it going with you two, anyway? Feels like ages since I’ve seen you. Still stuck chaperoning Cole?”
“Yeah.” Logan wondered what the pack rumour mill was saying about them.
