“So,” his mum said, voice suddenly a lot softer, and Cole raised an eyebrow. “What are you going to say to Nick? You can’t tell him anything, right?”
“I know,” he snipped, but she gave him a pointed look. And okay, fine, maybe he’d been tempted to hint at what was happening, but that had been before Paul and his gang had turned up and scared the shit out of him.
He couldn’t tell Nick or any of his friends anything.
Running a hand over his face, he sighed, long and heavy. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I know it sucks.”
His head snapped up, meeting her gaze, andfuck. He wasn’t the only one who’d have to leave their friends.Jesus, way to be shitty and selfish, Cole.“I’m sorry, I—”
“Don’t.” She stood and hurried around the table to wrap him in a hug. “We’ve thought about something like this ever since the shifters took power. So have a lot of our friends. We’ve been prepared for a while. Don’t worry about us.”
“But—”
“No.” Her tone had a finality to it that reminded Cole of when he was younger. “This hasn’t been our home since they took over. Your father’s stuck in his role while he watches shifters younger and far less experienced leapfrog him. And I’m tired of seeing people forced to risk taking the bite because it’s deemed too expensive to try and treat them.”
Cole looked back and forth between his parents, stunned. “Why have you never mentioned any of this before?”
She smiled and ruffled his hair. “Because it was what it was, Cole. We couldn’t leave London until you’d turned twenty-three because no way were we leaving you alone to deal with this. We wanted you to enjoy life, not worry about us.”
Cole leaned over the table and hugged her tight, then stood and rushed to do the same to his dad. “Thank you.”
He still felt as guilty as hell for... well fucking everything, but thank Christ they could come with him now.
“So this means you’re coming with me, right?” He sniffed back tears.
“Yes. We’re coming with you.”
He closed his eyes and held onto his dad as his mum joined in the hug.
Thank fuck for Logan.
THURSDAY rolled around far too slowly. Each day dragged by at a snail’s pace, and Cole struggled to keep himself occupied. Until Logan came round later that evening, he had no idea how to prepare for leaving. Did he need to pack anything, do anything? The not knowing was killing him.
His parents seemed to be taking it all in their stride. They went to work as normal, came home, cooked tea as though their whole lives weren’t about to change in little over a week. Maybe they really had been thinking about this for years.
Cole was still thinking about it when Nick knocked on his door ten minutes later.
“Hey,” he said, opening the door wide for Nick to come in. Pulling him in for a quick hug, Cole had to stop himself from holding on for too long and making things weird. “Mum and Dad are at work, so we might as well stay down here.” His voice sounded rough, emotion leaking through, and Cole cleared his throat as he led the way into the kitchen. “Cuppa?”
“Yeah, please.”
It was only after he’d put the kettle on and turned around that Cole got a good look at Nick’s face. He looked... Cole couldn’t put his finger on it, but Nick lookedoffsomehow. “Everything okay?”
Nick shrugged.
The move was so unlike him, Cole froze, midway through dropping a teabag in the bin. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.” He shrugged again, then sighed.
The fuck was it nothing.
Quickly finishing off their teas, Cole then carried them over to the table. “Sit down and tell me what’s going on. Please,” he added when Nick still looked reluctant. “Come on, Nick, you can tell me anything. You know that.”
He took the seat next to Cole and slumped into the chair. “I feel like such a tit.”
“Why? What’s happened?” The last time he spoke to Nick he was still excited, still looking forward to joining his pack.
