Isaac sighed and gave Logan a withering look. “By the looks of things, if Max hadn’t bitten him when she did, he’d be dead.”
And it would’ve been Logan’s fault. If Max had listened to him, Cole would be dead and they’d be looking at a corpse right now. The thought almost brought him to his knees.
“Not only is his body going through a huge change,” Isaac continued. “It’s also trying to put itself back together. I’m more than pleased with his current condition. Now if you don’t mind,” he said, pointing to the door. “I have a bullet to remove.”
LOGAN TOOK the seat next to Aaron’s bed, for want of anything better to do. The recovery room was quiet––John had disappeared to go find Max––and Logan didn’t feel like going far from Cole.
He also wanted to be there when Aaron woke up. So many confusing and conflicting thoughts whirled around in his head. Talking to Aaron would hopefully make sense of it all.
And he felt guilty.
Since the cavern, his main focus had been Cole, who he’d known for a few weeks. Aaron had been his best friend for years. He sat back in the surprisingly comfortable chair, rested his head against the wall, and closed his eyes.
“Maybe you should be the one in bed.”
Logan startled so badly, he almost fell off the chair. “Fuck’s sake!”
Aaron grinned as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, then winced. “Ouch.” He gingerly rubbed at his chest. “Or maybe not.”
Logan sat forward. “You should take it easy. Isaac said you had some pretty bad internal injuries to heal.”
“Isaac?” Aaron seemed to realise they were somewhere different, and he glanced around the room, confusion evident. “Where the hell are we?”
Logan hesitated. Should he be telling Aaron where they were? Was he allowed? Yes, Aaron had helped save them back at the caverns, but—
“Oh, get that look off your face. I can hazard a guess where we are. Somewhere near Plymouth, right?” When Logan didn’t answer, Aaron blew out a breath, wincing again. “Shit, that hurts. Look, Logan. I know what you do, I’ve known ever since you helped my brother escape.”
Logan was speechless.
Keeping that from Aaron had just about killed him, and he’d known all this time? “How?”
“You think he could keep a secret from me?”
“He should have.”
“I know, but he didn’t. And I know why you couldn’t tell me.” He reached over and took Logan’s hand. “It’s okay.”
Tears filled Logan’s eyes, and he hurried to blink them away. “I’m so fucking sorry. I should’ve trusted you.”
Aaron shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t. It wasn’t just your secret to tell. People’s lives were at risk. I get that.” He squeezed Logan’s fingers. “Thank you for getting him out of there. Joining our pack, any pack, would’ve killed him.”
“But you’ll never see him again. Do your parents...?”
“They know. I couldn’t let them go on thinking he was dead. They feel the same as I do. I didn’t tell them it was you,” he added, obviously seeing Logan’s worry.
“Fuck.” Logan scrubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. “When I saw you in that cavern... with Paul’s team...”
“What a bunch of wankers.” Aaron scowled. “But it was the only way we could make it look like you weren’t involved with the escape.”
“We?” Logan frowned, not following.
“McKillan went ballistic when he found out Cole had done a runner, and the whole cottage fiasco made it ten times fucking worse. Since Cole was your candidate, he wanted you brought in for questioning, but Jacob told him he’d already sent me and you after them.”
“But...” Logan shook his head, not following. “You arrived with Tim, and he didn’t believe my story for a second. He knew we weren’t together.” It didn’t make sense. “He seemed convinced that Paul and the others thought I helped Cole escape.”
“It was one of their theories. You know Paul hates Jacob and would do anything to discredit one of his team. I caught up with Tim just after they left the cottage, told him you’d gone on ahead. He didn’t believe me either, but he had his orders.”
“But my phone’s back at the flat.” All they had to do was track it and they’d know it was all a fucking lie.
