Logan laughed as they headed up the stairs side by side.
“It’s not funny,” Rob carried on. “She called me sexist.”
Rob was a nice guy, one of Logan’s closest friends after Aaron, but he did have a tendency to play the big protective alpha male. This wasn’t the first time it’d got him in hot water.
“Well...” Logan held his hands out.
Rob waved him away. “I know, I know. Karen’s already told me I need to ‘get out of the fucking dark ages, already.’” Yeah, Logan could easily picture that. Karen could probably kick his arse too. “But this girl was tiny.” He gestured with his hands. “I figured she’d get eaten alive by Paul and his bunch of fucking arseholes.”
Rob was about six four, so Logan guessed the girl in question was probably five seven. Hardly tiny to most people. But Paul was a twat. “They’re not all bad in that team,” Logan offered and got raised eyebrows in return.
“No, but Paul can be a nasty fucker, and there’s a couple more I wouldn’t trust.”
“So what made you change your mind about putting her with them?”
Rob immediately looked sheepish, cheeks blooming a deep pink.
Logan barked out a laugh, knowing what was coming.
“Oh, fuck off. How was I supposed to know she could move like that?”
“Didn’t it say on her file?”
Shrugging, Rob blew out a breath. “Yeah, but she didn’t look like she could snap a twig...”
Logan stopped at their floor but didn’t open the door. The stairs were soundproofed, but once they went through that door, anyone could listen if they wanted. “What did she do?”
Rob groaned and put a hand over his eyes. “She put me on my arse.”
“Oh, mate.” He put his hand on Rob’s shoulder, trying to hold in his laughter.
“I wasn’t expecting her to move that quick, otherwise she never would’ve been able to do it.”
“Mhmm.”
“Piss off.” Rob rolled his eyes, shoved him towards the door. “Like you’ve never misjudged anyone.” As soon as he said it, Rob looked stricken. “Shit, I didn’t mean—”
“I know you didn’t.” He gave Rob’s shoulder a squeeze. “It’s fine. Go find Paul and see if you can get your feisty girl what she wants.”
“Logan—”
“It’s alright. Really.” He waited until Rob reluctantly went through the door into the office area and let it close behind him. Leaning against the wall, Logan let his head tip back and closed his eyes for a moment. He could still picture her face as clear as day. Rob was right, he’d sorely misjudged that situation. Hadn’t realised that for her, joining a pack was far worse than anything.
Until it was too late.
He’d vowed never to make that mistake again.
And that’s when he’d found out about theCandidate Evacuation Group.
JACOB’S OFFICE sat at the back corner behind all the open-plan desk spaces. It wasn’t as big as some, his rank in the pack not sufficient to warrant a bigger one, but it was soundproofed, and that was all Logan cared about.
The door was shut when he got there, so he pressed the button on the outside and waited.
A few minutes later, the door swung open and Jacob welcomed him inside. “Sorry to keep you. I was on the phone with Simon.”
Logan nodded and entered, waiting until the door shut securely behind them. “I can’t put Cole Moreton in Paul’s team.”
Jacob sat back behind his desk, elbows resting on the clutter-free surface. “Why?”
