Running a hand through his hair, Nick gripped the strands so tightly, Cole reached over and tugged gently on his fingers. “Nick?” Worry grew inside him, and he gave Nick’s hand a squeeze in encouragement.
“I had to sign my agreement with the Cox Pack today.” He sighed, and Cole’s gut clenched. “Well, I met with Patrick—that’s the guy handling my affiliation—and he said there were a few minor changes to it.”
Cole had an idea where this was headed, but he hoped he was wrong. “I take it they weren’t all that minor?”
Nick’s bitter laughter filled the kitchen. “To them maybe, but...” He met Cole’s gaze, eyes full of regret. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you before. When you were adamant all packs want us to take the bite eventually.”
“Shit, I’m sorry, Nick.” He reached out and drew him into his side.
“I mean, I might’ve ended up wanting it anyway, who’s to know? But now? Seeing it there in writing, that at a point Alpha Sebastian Cox decides is right, I’ll agree to take the bite and become a shifter? It makes me never want to do it. Ever. The thought actually makes my skin crawl.”
“Motherfucking wankers.” He held Nick close, wishing he could make it all better and feeling like absolute shit because he had a way out and Nick didn’t. “What changed? I thought they were happy to let you stay human for as long as you wanted?”
“Yeah, me too. But there was an alpha meeting earlier in the week apparently, and the bigger packs were laying on the pressure for the smaller packs to insist on it.”
“Maybe it’s more for show then, to keep McKillan and the others off their backs.” Because Cole just knew his pack would be behind it. “Maybe Cox has no intention of going through with it?”
“That’s what Patrick said, and I want to believe him, but Jesus, Cole. Once I sign, it’s there in black and white and there’s nothing I can do about it. They could decide it’s a great idea or get pressured into doing it. At the end of the day, it won’t matter what I want, they’ll do it anyway.” He put his head in his hands. “I feel like such a dick for being so excited, so eager to join them. I thought you were wrong, that they weren’t all like McKillan. And maybe they’re not, but it doesn’t fucking matter because he seems to have the final word anyway.”
“I’m so sorry.” What else could he say? “When do you have to sign it?”
“Tomorrow.” He sat back, letting Cole’s arm slip off his shoulder, and wiped a hand across his eyes. “Fuck, I don’t mean to be such a whiny bastard. Despite all that, I’ve still got it better than you.”
“Don’t, Nick. You’re entitled to be upset, to be pissed off, regardless of my situation.”
Silence settled between them, and Cole took a sip of his tea, wondering how the hell he was going to leave his best friend when he felt like this. Thinking Cole had died was going to add a huge ton of hurt on top of everything else.
What kind of best friend did that?
But he couldn’t stay either. Not now, not after all Logan had done to enable his parents to escape too. And not now they’d agreed to go.
Fuck everything.
“Anyway, apart from that,” Nick said, managing a small smile. “They’re still offering me a job I want to do, so it’s not all shit. What’s been happening with you and...?”
“Logan.”
“Yeah, what’s happening there?”
Cole let him change the subject and told him as much as he could without lying. Even so, each word felt like a weight around his heart.
LOGAN CAME ROUND later that night, and Cole took him through to the kitchen where his mum and dad waited.
His dad reached out to shake Logan’s hand. “Thank you for arranging for us to go with Cole. It means more than you can imagine.”
Logan glanced at Cole, then back at them. “I take it you’ve all decided to leave?”
“We have,” Cole cut in. He’d been a mess since Nick had left. Full of nervous energy and anticipation one minute, crippled with guilt the next. It was exhausting.
Now the decision was made, he just needed to get it done. “What happens now?”
Logan gestured for them all to sit down. “I’ll tell you what you need to know and when you need to know it.”
Cole nodded. He’d expected as much, and to be honest, he didn’t need to know the hows. He just wanted to know the whens.
“You can’t pack much, it needs to look like any normal day. Take only things that won’t be missed, and only very few of those. Everything should fit into a rucksack. A change of clothes, underwear. Pack your wallets and phones, they might be needed for possible identification. Depending on what’s decided. In any case, you wouldn’t have left home without them.” He went through a few more things, dos and don’ts, and Cole hung on every word, terrified of missing something and ruining everything. “I can’t give you a specific date and time to be ready, just in case. But from now on, I need you to be ready to go from seven o’clock every evening.”
“For how long?” Cole asked, face scrunched up in confusion.
