Page 19 of Defiance
Chapter 4
Logan and Aaron sat in Jacob’s office, waiting for him to come back from his meeting.
I shouldn’t have kissed Cole like that.Too dangerous, too much at stake. Too many people depending on them to take such a stupid fucking risk.
But I couldn’t help it.
Interrogating Cole had been as bad as Logan expected it to be. Worse, even.
Everything in him rebelled at leaving Cole tied to that chair, vulnerable and bleeding. He’d been afraid, the scent lingering in the air, and Logan had been on the edge of shifting too many times to count. Paul’s team were doing their job. Rationally Logan knew that, but it didn’t help.
Would he have felt that way if it was another candidate? One he wasn’t intimately involved with?
Logan liked to think so, but he doubted his reactions would’ve been so visceral. Grumbling to Aaron or Jacob would probably have been the extent of it. He needed to do better. They all did.
Except Cole.
He’s already gone above and beyond, and it wasn’t going to get much better for a while yet.
Assuming Michael didn’t change his mind.
“What’s taking so long.” He drummed his fingers on the desk, kept doing it until Aaron’s hand clamped down on his.
“Stop,” he murmured. “This room might be soundproofed, but people can still see in. You shouldn’t be this agitated over him. Pissed and bored, yes. Worried sick? Not so much.” He let go of Logan’s hand with a pointed look, and Logan took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly and forcing himself to calm down.
Aaron was right.
Slouching in his seat a bit, Logan attempted to pull off a ‘pissed off and bored’ look.
“Better,” Aaron whispered. “And to answer your question, he’s only been gone about ten minutes. You knew it’d never be over and done with that quickly.”
Ten minutes? Was that all?
It felt more like ten hours.
Jacob had assured them both that this was a mere formality. If Michael wasn’t one hundred per cent sure of wanting Cole in his pack, he’d be on his way to prison already. No luxury holding area in sight.
That didn’t make the waiting any easier, especially when he couldn’t go and see Cole any time he wanted.
These next few months were going to be torture.
In more ways than one.
Logan was used to being on edge, constantly aware of his surroundings and what he said to people. He’d had this secret to protect for a while now. But before it’d just been him and Jacob and whoever helped on the evacuations that he’d known about. Now there was Cole, Aaron, Max, and John—or whatever their names were—and Mothecombe. Logan fidgeted in his seat. Ever since they’d returned, it felt like things were unravelling. More people involved, more lives at risk, more secrets to keep.
As he scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to stem the flow of doubt and worry, the door opened, and Jacob’s familiar scent wafted in on the breeze.
Thank fuck.
Logan waited for him to close the door behind him and take a seat at his desk. “Well?”
Jacob had a poker face to be proud of, and Logan had no idea what to expect. “He’s in.”
“Thank the Goddess.” Logan blew out a relieved breath and some of the tension leaked out of him.
Jacob sat back in his chair with a groan, his poker face slipping away to reveal a weariness that set Logan back on edge.
“But?” Logan could spot it coming a mile off.
