“I can’t join his team. I can’t be like him and do what he does. What his team does.” He leant forward and gripped Logan’s forearm. “I want you to get me out of here.”
“Ok, that’s—”
“And my parents too.” Cole met his gaze, eyes boring into Logan’s as though his will alone would make Logan agree.
“Cole, I can’t—”
“You said yourself that I didn’t imagine Paul threatening us.”
“Yes, but—”
“I can’t fuck off to safety and just leave them here.” His grip on Logan’s arm tightened, fingers digging into the skin, eyes filling with tears. “And I can’t let them think I’m dead. It’d kill them too.”
Logan tipped his head back and looked up at the sky. This was the part he absolutely hated, and it never got any easier. No one ever wanted to leave their family behind. He’d had one or two bail on him when it came down to making the decision, to accepting what it would mean. Thankfully, so far they’d kept his secret. “Cole, it’s not up to me. I can only offer places to those whose lives might be at risk if they were forced to join a pack. While I don’t think you’re a threat to yourself, I think joining Paul’s team and my pack would be the death of you. But your parents...” He sighed and put his hand over Cole’s. “They’re not at risk.”
“Can you imagine what my death will do to them?”
“They’ll be devastated, I know.”
“They will, and they’ll want to know everything about how I died. They won’t rest until they’re satisfied it was an accident or whatever your people come up with. Are you prepared to have that sort of scrutiny?”
“The people who do this... they’re very thorough.”
“So are my parents. You know where my mum works, right?”
Logan pictured Cole’s file, trying to recall the info on his parents. “Part-time at the hospital.”
“Yeah, but doing what?”
“I—”
“She’s an A&E nurse.”
“Fuck.” Logan had assumed because she was part-time, her job was clerical. Stupid! He knew better than that.
Cole’s smug expression made his lip curl, exposing his teeth. “It doesn’t matter. I still can’t take them.”
But Cole wouldn’t let it go. “She won’t be allowed to examine my body, but she’ll be able to see the records. The humans in that hospital are thicker than family. There’s nothing they won’t do to help her. Especially if it concerns her son. If she starts poking around, there’s a good chance some of your lot are going to notice. They already suspect I don’t want to join them. If I suddenly end up dead and my parents think it’s suspicious, odds are they will too.” His eyes flashed. “Where do you think they’ll start looking first, hmm? I wonder what they’ll find if they look back through your records.”
“I see loads of fucking candidates. Ninety-eight per cent of who affiliate with their chosen pack without any trouble.” But fuck him, Cole was right. They did have their eyes on Cole and his family now. Maybe it was too risky to take him after all. “You’re right,” he said, taking his hand off Cole’s. “They do have their suspicions about you. It might be too dangerous to make you disappear.” Guilt seeped in as he watched Cole’s smile vanish.
“What? You can’t just take it back?” Panic etched his features as the colour drained from his face.
“There’s more than just your safety at stake here Cole. I—” His head snapped around, the scent drifting over to him wholly unwelcome at the minute. “Stay here.”
Not waiting for Cole’s reply, Logan stood and jogged over in the direction of the shifter walking up to the park entrance. He met Rob just inside the gate. “All right?”
“Yeah.” Rob looked over his shoulder in Cole’s direction. “I’m sorry about earlier. I wanted to text you, but Paul was being a dick about it. Said he wanted to talk to Cole and his family first. There was nothing I could do.”
“Yeah.” Logan rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I get it, don’t worry.” He should’ve known Rob wouldn’t have purposely left him out of the loop. And now that he was here... “Did he threaten them or anything before I got there?”
Rob grimaced. Strictly speaking, he shouldn’t be having this conversation with Cole. If Paul had wanted him to know, then he’d have told him himself. But Rob was his mate, and he liked Paul about as much as Logan did. “Not outright. You know he’d never overtly go against protocol like that. But he implied enough to make them worry.”
“Any substance behind his threats?”
“Nah, I don’t think so. He had his nose out of joint, that’s all. A guy from one of the other teams took the piss about Cole wanting to jump ship already. Someone overheard Cole talking in the pub and passed it on. You know how they like to gossip.”
“So he’s not taking it seriously?”
