Pulling up a chair, Tim sat facing him, gun not wavering in the slightest. “It’s funny you should mention a tracker. McKillan asked one to be put in Cole when he went in for his compatibility test.”
“What? That’s against the law!” Candidates signed consent papers for a full body examination and a blood test, but that was all. They still had some rights. He couldn’t believe McKillan—of all people—had broken the law, even for a candidate as valuable as Cole.
“He didn’t order it switched on until we had probable cause that he might be a flight risk, so I think you’d struggle to prove that.”
Shades of fucking grey. The law changed slightly after they started the pack affiliation process, but he’d hardly call an overheard conversion between friends in the pub probable cause to have Cole monitored. And if that was the case, why hadn’t they caught up to him and Cole before now?
“How come you haven’t got him already?”
“The tracker got damaged in the fight at the cottage, it’s transmission has been a little sketchy.”
Motherfucker.Was it transmitting now? If Tim checked, would it lead them straight to where Cole and Max were hiding? Logan tried not to react, tried to calm his racing heart, but Tim was far too observant to miss anything.
“You look a little nervous, Logan.” He made a show of breathing in. “Smell it, too.”
“You’ve got me handcuffed to a chair. What do you expect?”
“That’s fair, I suppose.” He sat back, expression unreadable. “I went to the cottage. Saw the mess they left behind. I knew those guys, Logan. They were pack, and your fucking scent was all over the place.”
“I told you I was tracking him. I went to the cottage, had a look around to see if anyone was left alive. Of course my scent was everywhere.”
“But you didn’t report in, didn’t let anyone know you were tracking him and that you’d found members of our pack dead. Why?”
“I ran in wolf form at first. Left my phone back at my flat.” Thinking on the fly like this wasn’t Logan’s strong suit, but it seemed to be distracting Tim enough from killing him, so far.
“Then how were you tracking him? Hmm?” Tim shook his head, as though Logan was the stupidest person to ever live, and at that moment he felt like it. “If you were in wolf form, with no phone, how the hell were you managing to track Moreton? I doubt he made his way here on foot, so it’s not like you had a scent trail to follow.”
Shit. You fucking idiot, Logan!
He opened his mouth, but he had nothing. Tim had laid a trap and he’d walked right into it.Please don’t let Jacob lie to protect me. The last thing he wanted was Jacob in trouble with the pack too.
“And like you said. You’d never put an illegal tracker on him. Would you?” Tim stood, gun trained on Logan. “Tell me where they’ve gone.”
“I don’t know.” Logan kept his voice neutral, concentrating hard on not giving Tim anything else.
Tim shook his head. “I don’t believe you, Logan.” He sighed. “I’ll get the information eventually. You know I will.” Logan knew he’d try. Knew he had ways that Logan wasn’t going to enjoy. “Don’t make me do this.”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
Tim stalked over to him and bent to whisper in his ear. “For fuck’s sake, Logan. You’re pack. I don’t want to do this to you.” When he pulled back to meet Logan’s eyes, his expression held genuine regret. “Please, just fucking tell me. McKillan’s gonna be pissed either way. If you give them up, it might stop him from killing you.”
Logan shut his eyes and murmured. “I don’t know where they are.”
“Fuck you, Logan. I hope he’s fucking worth it.”
He is.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Cole lay on his side, the wooden crate damp and cold beneath him. The smell was enough to make him gag repeatedly, but if it kept them from being discovered, then he’d deal. Max’s claws cutting into the back of his neck were taking his mind off it anyway. She’d heard what Tim had said and immediately set to work. “Ouch,” he hissed as she dug around a bit.
“This is no fucking picnic for me either,” she whispered back. “Do you know how painful this is to sustain?”
“Sorry.” He’d seen how much it hurt Logan to keep his claws out, and Max was pregnant too. Cole felt doubly shitty.
“I can’t believe you had a tracker in you and didn’t know.”
“They poked and prodded me all day in that clinic, took blood, measured body fat, and made me run until I almost collapsed. They said it was to help me recover quicker.”
