Page 77 of Defiance
Chapter 12
Logan kept his breathing steady, focusing on a point on the far wall. His shoulders ached where Paul had pulled his hands behind his back, and the special cuffs bit into his skin, but he’d be damned if he’d give Paul the satisfaction of seeing him in pain.
“All right there, Logan?” Paul crouched in front of him, bringing their faces almost level. He had a syringe resting in his palm. “This—” He held the syringe up, examining it. “—will force you into a half-shift and keep you there. It’s incredibly painful.” He met Logan’s gaze. “But then you already know that, don’t you?”
Logan scowled.Yeah, I remember all too well.
“We don’t get permission to use it very often,” Paul carried on. “But I think Simon was pissed off you didn’t get punished more severely.” He sighed, closing his eyes for a second. When he opened them, his expression was as serious as Logan had ever seen it. “I know Tim could be...problematic.”
He was a fucking psychopath.
“But he was part of my team. They all were.” He glanced at the syringe in his hand. “I know you weren’t directly responsible for their deaths, but someone needs to take some fucking blame for it. Cole’s taken his punishment, my team are satisfied.I’msatisfied. We can move on and start to accept him as a fully-fledged member of the HRU.”
Logan hated the very idea of Cole fitting in with Paul’s team.
“But you...” He shook his head. “You haven’t.”
There was no point arguing. In Paul’s eyes—and fucking Simon’s, apparently—the punishment Michael had ordered for Logan and Aaron wasn’t nearly severe enough.
If he knew the truth, he’d kill me.
“So you’re going to torture me?”
Paul stood and glanced down at him, forcing Logan to look up. “I won’t do anything that you can’t handle. Most of my team have been in your position. To an extent.”
“I’m not part of your fucking team,” Logan spat.
“No, you’re not.” Paul grabbed his shoulder, fingers digging in. “If you were, none of this would ever have fucking happened.”
Logan sighed, tired of hearing the same old shit. “After this, we’re done, right?” He didn’t expect Paul to agree, but to his surprise, he nodded.
“Yes.”
Okay, then. Just a morning of torture to get through and then maybe he and Aaron could move on from being the pack outcasts. The less attention drawn their way, the better.
Paul set the syringe on the table next to Logan and spoke to the members of his team in there with them. Logan knew them all, although not that well. As far as the HRU went, three of them were okay.
Then there was Rich.
Almost as much of a wanker as Paul.
The door opened, interrupting his thoughts, and Smith entered the room, followed by Aaron and then Cole.
Logan hadn’t seen Cole since the full-moon run. The brief kiss they’d shared now a distant memory. It hadn’t been enough, their stolen moments never were, but it had almost cost them dearly. Thank fuck for Smith.
The way he eyed Logan, gaze travelling over him from head to toe with a look of grim satisfaction, Logan would never suspect he was Jacob’s contact.
Hopefully nobody else would either.
“Fuck’s sake, Paul.” Aaron marched over to Logan and crouched down to inspect his wrists. “Couldn’t you have used rope? It’s not like he’ll try and escape.”
“The purpose of this training exercise is for Cole to experience an extreme interrogation. As a member of the HRU, the worst-case scenario is that you end up interrogating friends or family who are charged with treason.”
Conspiring against your pack, alpha, or the Shifter Alliance Party.
“We’re emulating a worst-case scenario. And as such, the prisoner would be bound like so.” He gestured to Logan.
“I bet Jacob didn’t sign off on this,” Aaron muttered, standing up.
