CHAPTER NINE
Cole locked the door and leant against it, head back, eyes closed.
His heart still beat far too fast, the semi in his jeans irrefutable evidence that he liked Logan far more than he wanted to. In what world were they meant to be together? Certainly not this one. Even for the short time they had left before Cole fled London for good.
And hewasleaving, his mind was made up, and he was taking his parents with him.
Logan... well, Logan was nothing like Cole expected him to be. But he was a shifter and a member of a pack who wanted to force Cole to join them and take the bite.
But he’s helping you escape.
Has probably helped others too.
It didn’t change the fact that Logan belonged to a part of society that wanted to keep humans under their control. He benefited from the new laws, had no doubt fought for his people to take power. He helped some humans now, but how many had he killed so his kind could take over?
Cole didn’t know and didn’t want to know.
Soon he’d be far away from here and it wouldn’t matter anyway.
With his ardour eventually quashed, Cole turned and headed back to the kitchen. Now he just needed to get his parents on board, and the sooner they left here, the better.
His mum spoke as soon as he sat back down at the table. “Is this what you want, Cole? To leave everything behind and start afresh somewhere new?”
“Yeah.”
She reached for one of his hands. “You’ve worked so hard these last few years, have such wonderful friends. I know joining a pack wasn’t what you wanted, but are you absolutely sure this is?”
Cole swallowed but met her gaze. “I can’t join their pack and become one of them. I just can’t.”
She glanced at his dad and they both nodded. “Okay then. We don’t want to be here for the authorities to question. We won’t put Logan or any of the others in danger by revealing what little we know.”
“So you’re coming?” He stared at them, mouth hanging open a little. That seemed altogether too easy. He huffed out a laugh. “Got to say, I expected more of a fight.”
His mum shrugged. “If you hadn’t tested positive for compatibility, we were going to suggest moving anyway. Not everywhere is as strict as London. The packs out in the countryside keep to themselves far more and generally let humans get on with their own lives.”
“You were going to join Mark and Cath?” His brother and sister didn’t live all that far from each other. Made sense.
“Yes. Whether or not you joined us would’ve been up to you.”
“And now I’ve made that impossible.” Fuck, he felt like shit now. “I’m sorry—”
“No.” She shook her head, and his dad reached for his other hand. “We knew this was a possibility. And I did wonder if you’d be lucky enough to be offered a way out.”
“How did you know about all that anyway?” They’d never mentioned anything to him before.
She sighed. “All I’m going say is that someone needs to find dead bodies to replace those who leave, and someone needs to wrongly identify them. When you work closely together with people, it can be hard to hide that sort of thing from everyone. You don’t need to know any more than that.” She sat back with the kind of expression that clearly said end of discussion.
Was his mum part of the— No. He needed to stop thinking about anything like that. She was right. He didn’t need to know. “What about Cath and Mark, though. They’ll think we died.”
“No they won’t.” His dad sighed. “We had a talk with them a while ago. Discussed all sorts of possibilities if you became a candidate. I’m pretty sure they’ll know it’s not real. And hopefully we’ll be able to get word to them after a while. And if not. Then so be it. At least I’ll knowallmy children are safe.”
“What if the McKillan pack go after them?” How far would they go to investigate?
His mum huffed. “They don’t care about much outside of London. And they’d have to get permission from the local alpha. I’m pretty sure the feelings of dislike are reciprocated. Besides,” she said, patting his hand. “Logan’s friends are very good at what they do. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to keep doing it.”
She had a point.
But Cole felt antsy about everything now and probably would until they got out of London. To be honest, he hadn’t thought much beyond that. Where the fuck would they end up? Did it even matter?
