“Ordinarily I would’ve said no. And you’re right—although Paul was just being petty this morning by turning up at the house, Cole’s familyison his radar now. With us missing a candidate already—”
“Wait, they’re one of ours?”
“Yes, one of Aaron’s. Did I not say that?”
“No.” Fuck, poor Aaron. It happened, of course. Not everyone had access to what Logan was offering, and some took matters into their own hands. Aaron would feel guilty for not seeing it early enough to stop it from happening. Running was a criminal offence, and they almost always got caught. The consequences varied, but Logan had always failed to see how joining a pack under those circumstances could ever turn out well. The resentment would be so high, possibly on both sides. But then he didn’t agree with forcing people to join packs in the first place.
And neither did Jacob.
Which is why they did what they did.
As far as Aaron was concerned, there was also the possibility of an investigation into what went wrong, what could have been handled better. Those were never fun either.
“They’ve got teams both from our pack and a couple of the others out looking for him. I hope for his sake they don’t succeed, but...” He shrugged. Shifter search teams were like a unit of sniffer dogs, every one of them capable of picking up a scent and tracking it. With that many out looking for him, the odds weren’t good. “What do Cole’s parents do for a living?”
“Um...” The change of topic took Logan by surprise for a second. “His dad works as a physiotherapist and his mum’s an A&E nurse. Why?”
“Because, the more people we send to the refuge, the bigger the compound gets over there and the more resources they need to survive. If we’re to have any leverage with adding Cole’s parents to the list, we need something to make them special.”
“And do we have that?” Hope flared despite Logan’s attempts to quell it. As much as a small part of him liked the idea of Cole joining his pack, Logan would never want him to do it under duress. Instinct told him Cole would decide to go even if he had to lie to his family and leave them behind, but it would kill a part of him to have to do it.
“Cole’s mother being a nurse has increased their chances by a big percentage, that’s for sure. And I doubt they’re overrun with physios either. Medical personnel are in short supply.” He reached for his phone, and Logan noticed it wasn’t the standard-issue work one. He had a similar one under his floorboards at home. “Can you step out for a few minutes while I make a couple of calls?”
“Yeah, of course.” Logan slipped out the door and headed to his desk for lack of anything better to do.
When Jacob called him back in, it was hard to glean anything from his expression.
“Well?” Logan asked, nervous.
“I want you to understand that this is an exception to the rule. We can’t do this for every candidate you talk to, Logan. It’s got to be a one-off. Feathers are going be ruffled as it is when people realise Moreton’s been allowed to bring his family.” Logan did a little internal fist pump. “But the truth is they are under scrutiny, and Mrs Moreton is a valuable asset. Hopefully that should help ease any tension.”
“And it’s not like it’s his whole family. His brother and sister won’t be going.” He paused, not having been in this position often. Usually the candidate’s family were all in London. “What do we do about them? They moved to the South West a couple of years ago.”
“I don’t know.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. “They’re not pack affiliated, are they?”
“No.”
“Let me ask around and I’ll get back to you. But for now, you need to brief Cole’s parents.” He gave Logan a pointed look. “There’s every chance they won’t want to up sticks and leave everything they’ve worked for. You need to be prepared to handle the situation, and Cole, if that’s the case. Understood?”
“Yes.” Logan nodded. “Of course.”
“And with the date moved up, we’ll need to know for definite by Friday.”
Logan frowned. “This coming Friday? Why so soon?” He’d been expecting at least a couple of days more. “We’re asking people to give up everything; it’s not an easy decision to make.”
“Tentative preparations had already been made for Cole, but adding his parents means a change of plans. And there’s a reason the turnaround from testing to affiliation is so quick. They don’t want to give people time to think.” He stood, and Cole sensed their meeting was coming to an end. “And actually it is an easy decision. Leave and live a life of freedom or stay and accept shifter rule. Pretty sure most of the humans in this city would go for option one if given the choice.”
Logan bit his tongue. Easy for Jacob to say when he was part of that shifter rule.
And so am I.
Jacob’s heavy sigh filled the room. “I know what you’re thinking, Logan. And you’re right, I can’t possibly understand what I’m asking them to give up. But I’ve been doing this longer than you, and I’ve lost people I care about trying to give humans that freedom. Sometimes I forget that it’s more complicated than that. I’m sorry there isn’t more time, but it’s out of my hands. You’ll just have to be persuasive.”
AS IT TURNED out, he didn’t have to be very persuasive at all.
Cole and his parents were about to sit down for dinner when Logan arrived, so he talked as they ate. While Logan had anticipated hours of going back and forth explaining what would need to happen, they simply listened to him talk as though what he was suggesting was everyday dinner conversation. Cole at least looked as surprised by their behaviour as Logan did.
Setting his knife and fork down with a clatter, drawing everyone’s attention, Cole said, “Mum, Dad? You know what he’s saying right?”
