Page 86 of Defiance
“Greenwich.”
Cole’s skin prickled. “That’s Cox pack territory, right?”
“Yeah, but the HRU has permission from all the London alphas to go where we need to.”
Cole glanced up and caught Paul’s gaze in the rear-view mirror.
“Something wrong with Greenwich?” Paul asked, voice neutral, but Cole felt a change in the atmosphere inside the car.
“No, I was just curious where we were headed.” He averted his gaze and looked out the window instead.
Scenery whipped by them, but Cole registered none of it. They could’ve been anywhere for all the notice he took. His gut kept telling him that this was wrong, and it was all he could focus on. Spying on his own people—
They’re not my people anymore.
But they felt like it.
As much as the people around him were starting to feel like pack, a part of him still clung to his human side and everything he’d known for the first twenty-three years of his life.
Everyonehe’d known.
* * *
They cameto a stop outside the house Cole recognised from the photos.
“Everyone out now.” Paul shot out of the car and jogged to the front door, Rich close behind him, while the occupants of the other SUV disappeared around the back.
“I thought this was a routine chat?” Cole hissed, hurrying after them.
Obviously hearing him, Paul glanced back over his shoulder as he approached the door. “It is, but guilty people run, Cole. Never assume.” He knocked on the door. “But this area also houses some Cox pack members, so we do need to tread somewhat carefully.” He grimaced as he said the last bit, as though taking other packs into consideration was a pain in the arse.
The door opened and Paul straightened to his full height, looming over the young woman who opened the door.
Cole had, stupidly he realised now, expected the people at the house to all be men in their late twenties to early forties. He was ashamed to say he’d never considered the fact there might be women here.
The woman in question looked totally unimpressed at Paul’s attempt to intimidate her. She eyed their uniforms, clearly recognising who they were, but fixed Paul with a bored expression. “Can I help you?”
Paul pulled out a sheet of paper from the pocket of his cargo pants. “This is a routine HRU visit. We require total access to your property and for everyone inside to remain where they are.”
She didn’t even bother looking at what was written on the paper, just stepped aside and walked away. Cole got the feeling it wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
Paul and Rich followed her inside as another two SUVs pulled up outside.
Cole went to follow, but Smith caught his arm. “Stay with me.” He shot a glance at those getting out of the cars, brow furrowing.
The hairs on the back of Cole’s neck stood on end.
Smith was definitely worried.
That didn’t bode well at all.
Wiping sweaty palms on his cargo pants, Cole followed Smith through the door and inside. “Draw your gun,” Smith murmured. “Always be on guard.”
Cole’s mind flashed back to Paul being in his mum and dad’s kitchen and how fucking scared they’d all been. He hated being the one doing it to someone else. Hated even more that he had no choice.
But you did choose this, he reminded himself. Not that it made it any easier to stomach.
They found Paul and Rich in the open-plan living room, guns out and aimed at three men and the woman who’d opened the door sitting around a circular dining table. They looked like they were in the middle of a card game.
