Page 20 of Defiance
“But we all need to be careful. Simon isn’t happy. Not one fucking bit. Cole’s lack of useful information makes him suspicious, which I guess was to be expected. The names Cole could give them were either fake or already dead. The only way Simon would’ve been satisfied was if Cole gave them someone to arrest. And no way could we sacrifice anyone.” He sighed. “If it was left to Simon, then Cole would either be on his way to shifter prison right now or getting quietly disposed of.”
Logan’s breath caught, his heart stuttering, and he was so glad that Aaron asked the question because he couldn’t force words out at the moment.
“What did he say?”
“What you might expect. The HRU is his baby, and because of Cole, some of his team died. Luckily for Cole, Simon doesn’t believe he directly killed any of them, or at least he has no proof that he did. He also doesn’t want some newly turned ex-runaway spoiling his well-oiled machine. Thinks Cole is a risk they don’t need to take. A waste of both time and effort.” Fixing Logan with a look that told him not to interrupt, he added, “And from his perspective, he has a point.” He held a finger up when Logan opened his mouth to object. “Cole joined with the human resistance and tried to escape London. Members of our pack died trying to get him back. You and I know that Tim and the others were vicious arseholes, but Simon doesn’t see it that way. As far as he’s concerned, his people died as a direct result of Cole escaping. He thinks Cole—and also you too, incidentally—should be punished severely.”
“I bet he had just the thing in mind too, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” Jacob replied, smile wry. “He had plenty of suggestions.”
Logan could well imagine.
“So what was the outcome?” Aaron sat forward in his chair.
“As far as Michael’s concerned, Cole’s the best thing to come out of the candidate programme in years. Despite the somewhat rocky and unconventional start, he believes with the right training and support, Cole can become a vital part of the HRU and will go a long way to proving to other humans that joining a pack isn’t as bad as some make it out to be.”
Aaron snorted. “Or he’s a perfect example of how it’s exactly as bad as humans think it is. Even when you do everything you can to get out of joining, there’s just no escape.”
“Quite.” Jacob sighed and leant back in his chair. “But I wasn’t about to argue that point. Baker agreed with Michael, and Simon eventually came around when Michael told him he could recruit four new members for the HRU.
“Poor bastards.” Logan shuddered. He couldn’t imagine anything worse than joining Paul’s team.
Like Cole’s about to.
The realisation must have shown on Logan’s face because Aaron reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “He won’t be there forever. And he’s stronger than you give him credit for. He’ll be okay.”
Will he, though? Back at Mothecombe’s house, Logan had thought so. Now he wasn’t so sure.
“I told him Paul’s team wouldn’t make it easy for him.” He drew his lip between his teeth, noting Aaron’s wince out of the corner of his eye. “But it’s going to be so much worse, isn’t it?” He didn’t wait for either of them to reply. “They’re pissed off with me and Aaron, but they’re going to hate Cole.”
Logan hadn’t mixed with many of his pack since returning, and those he had met hadn’t been overjoyed to see him. But he and Aaron were pack, had been for years. The underlying bond was strong, even if they weren’t exactly popular at the minute. They were still family.
Cole didn’t have that luxury.
“Yes, I’d imagine so. Some of them will have had friends who died, Logan. You can’t blame them for not welcoming Cole with open arms. It’s going to take time.”
“I know.” Logan tipped his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “And I know we told Cole to expect as much, but...”
Jacob’s voice softened. “It’s going to be hard to watch. I know.”
And as his fucking chaperones, they’d have no choice but to witness all of it. “Can we intervene at all?”
“Logan,” Jacob began, a resigned edge to his voice. “You know that’ll only make things worse. They’ll be under orders not to kill him, but anything else will be fair game. If Cole’s going to earn any respect or level of trust in that unit, he needs to take what they throw at him and give almost as good as he gets.”
Closing his eyes, Logan tried to calm himself, tried to ignore the butterflies swirling in his belly.
Worrying about someone was exhausting.
Of course he’d been concerned for all his candidates, but he’d never worried like this about any of them, or anyone else, for that matter. Rubbing the heel of his hand over his chest, he met Jacob’s gaze.
Honesty was the only way.
“I’m not sure I can handle seeing that and not interfering.” He rubbed his chest again. “It hurts.”
Jacob’s eyebrows rose infinitesimally. “I didn’t realise it was that serious between the two of you.”
And okay, maybe Logan hadn’t been entirely honest regarding his and Cole’s relationship. Which needed to change. “I know, and that’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
