Logan tilted his head as though to say,What the fuck’s wrong with you?
When Aaron lifted his head and nosed at the door, Logan got it.
Bollocks.He was such a fucking idiot sometimes.
Bracing himself, Logan changed back, wincing as he straightened. “I fucking hate changing back so quickly.” It always seemed to hurt more, as though his body hadn’t had long enough to recover. Changing back again was going to suck.
Aaron just huffed, as though it was Logan’s own fault, and trotted out into the corridor when Logan opened the door.
Locking the key away in the key safe next to his door, Logan gritted his teeth and changed back.
WITH SUNSET STILL almost two hours away, outside was still bright and cheerful. Thankfully, a few years ago someone had thought to install an electronic switch on the floor so the front door to the building could easily be opened from the inside. They had no trouble getting out.
Few people stopped to stare at them as they made their way to the park. Before shifters took over, seeing two wolves wandering down the street would’ve been a rare occurrence. They’d always done their runs at night under the safety of darkness.
But everything had changed.
Seeing a shifter in their wolf form was commonplace these days, and people were more likely to cross the street to avoid one rather than stop to point one out. Fear had a lot to do with that, Logan knew, and the thought made him uncomfortable.
Unlike a good few members of his pack—too many—Logan didn’t want people to be scared of him. Didn’t enjoy the power it gave him. There’d been a lot wrong with their country before shifters had taken over, and Logan had been fully behind the takeover of the government, but was this any better now? Different people were in charge, with different people being treated like shit.
The only difference was the ones in charge now had the strength to keep it that way.
This wasn’t the world Logan had imagined.
It wasn’t the one the wolves had promised in all their pretty speeches. Plenty of humans had helped the wolves take power, believing wholeheartedly that the future was a shared government, with positions of power held equally between human and shifter.
Somewhere along the way things had changed, and they were left with the same dynamic as before.
Only this time, Logan was on the side of the oppressors.
And he hated it.
He padded along the pavement behind Aaron, grateful for the silence but not for the thoughts now flying unchecked around his mind.
No wonder Cole didn’t trust him.
Why should he? To Cole, Logan was just another shifter sent to take away his free will.
They reached the park and Aaron eased the gate open with his nose. Those people taking advantage of the late evening sun cast them wary glances, so with a heavy sigh, Logan took the lead, heading off towards the trees on the far left-hand side of the open grass area.
They picked up their pace, the wind in Logan’s face a welcome distraction to his troubled thoughts. He hadn’t realised how much he needed this, how much he needed to let go of the stresses and strains of his life, even for just a little while, and embrace the sheer joy of running for running’s sake.
This was what it meant to be a shifter.
A magical gift that evolution had chosen to bestow on them, and they should treat it as such.
Not use their enhanced strength and senses to enforce their will on people just because they could.
Logan let his wolf take over, senses focusing on the wildlife around them, mind blissfully clear as his baser instincts came to the fore.
And he ran.
NICK WAS WAITING for him in the pub garden when Cole arrived.
“Hey.” He smiled as he sat down and hoped it didn’t look as forced as it felt. “Sorry I’m late.” It’d been two days since he’d seen Logan, and he was still struggling to get his head round what Logan had offered him.
A way out sounded so appealing, but could he live with the cost?
