You haven’t told him about this.
True.
But—
None of it mattered now. And shit, he needed to get rid of his phone. Pulling back into the parking spot, he replied with a quick,Ok thanks. Call you later,then jumped out and ran around the front to the car, the fake Moreton family still sat inside, apologising quickly as he handed it over. They’d make sure it got back to his flat so he couldn’t be tracked.
Once back in the van, he reversed out again and drove off.
The rendezvous point was on the other side of Guildford, about an hour’s drive away. An old-style cottage about ten minutes off the A3. Logan had memorised the directions, couldn’t risk putting them in his GPS.
After about twenty minutes he relaxed into his seat and loosened his grip on the steering wheel. The first swap point was always a good thing to get out of the way. They didn’t have checkpoints between boroughs, but shifters were everywhere. If Cole or any of his family had let slip what was happening, Logan figured someone would’ve followed them and taken them there.
To get that done and make the switch soothed his wolf a little and let him concentrate on the next leg of their journey. “Everyone okay back there?” He glanced over his shoulder at the three of them sat on the floor, backs against the side of the van. Cole’s dad had his arm around his mum, their heads together, while Cole sat on the other side. “I know it’s not exactly comfy back there...”
“It’s fine.” Cole’s mum sent him a sad smile. “We weren’t expecting luxury.”
Logan tried to put himself in their shoes: leaving the comfort of their home with little more than the clothes on their backs, trusting Logan to take them somewhere where they could start all over again. The responsibility weighed heavily on his shoulders, but it was the least he could do. This wasn’t how he’d envisaged things turning out when his pack had taken over most of the security positions, growing in both numbers and power.
He wished he could help more people escape a life they didn’t want.
“What happens next?” Cole asked, finally looking Logan’s way.
“We meet up with the others, change vehicles, and they’ll take it from there.” Logan kept a close eye on his mirrors, ever vigilant in case they were somehow followed.
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Cole didn’t sound desperate exactly, but there was an edge to his voice that pulled at Logan’s heart. They’d got too close. Logan knew it was happening, but he’d let it continue anyway.
Stupid.
“No.” He rolled his shoulders, trying to settle his wolf and the part of him that wanted to say fuck it and keep going until he’d taken them all the way to their final destination. “I have to get back. I need to be at home tonight, need to be there when they give me the news of your accident.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess.”
Logan kept glancing back at him. Cole drew his knees up and rested his head on them. This part was usually the worst for them. After a while they’d get used to the idea that they’d left London behind and focus on what was ahead for them. Now all they could focus on was what they’d left behind.
“What sort of accident will we have?”
Logan had already told him he didn’t know, wasn’t his business to know, so he figured Cole was just making conversation, maybe trying to distract himself. So Logan indulged him.
“I don’t know. They can vary. Sometimes it’s made to look like an accident, sometimes suicide. I’ve even known them to stage it so it looks like they were murdered. Naturally there’s no evidence and no one is ever convicted. They’re very thorough at what they do.” He sighed. “For the three of you, though, I’d go with a car crash. Seems like it would be the easiest.”
“Yeah. Do all of us in one go.”
“Something like that.”
Cole fell quiet, and when Logan stole a glance at him, he had his head back, eyes closed.
He let him be, concentrating on the road instead and refusing to think about never seeing Cole again after this.
THE ROAD TO the cottage was narrow enough that things would get interesting if he met anyone coming the other way. Logan didn’t like it. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he drove down, his wolf lurking under his skin, anxiety putting his body on high alert.
If I was going to ambush us, here would be as good a place as any.
Fucking finally the gates to the driveway came into view and Logan turned into it, pulling up in front of the cottage with a sigh of relief. Paranoia wasn’t something he usually suffered from. They were here and they were safe.
He glanced in his mirrors, but no one had driven in behind them, no one was following.
Still, Logan couldn’t shake the feeling that it was different this time, something not quite right. He thought back to Aaron’s text.Office is weird. Something’s off. Be careful.
