Dropping his hands with a sigh, Aaron stepped back and leant against the wall. Logan wondered how much this was taking out of him.
“How far has it gone?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, Logan. You know exactly what I mean.” Aaron crossed his arms, expression stern. He wasn’t going to budge on this until Logan told him the truth. And he’d know if Logan lied.
“I like him. A lot. If things were different, then maybe bonding would be on the cards at some point. For me anyway. But he’s hum—”
Except he wasn’t anymore.
Logan’s heart gave a traitorous little stutter.
“Does he feel the same?”
“I don’t know. He doesn’t even know he’s a shifter yet, let alone...”know that I’m falling in love with him.
Aaron pushed off the wall, stretching out his muscles, bones cracking. “You’re not going to like what I’m about to say.”
“But you’re going to say it anyway?”
“As your friend, I have to.” He walked back to the bed and sat down with a heavy sigh. “You need to be prepared for Cole to be incredibly pissed off that he’s a shifter. The last thing on his mind will be entering into a bond with you, or anyone.”
“I know that,” Logan muttered.
“I’m just saying that even if he had feelings for you, his life’s been turned upside down.”
“I know that, too.”
“You can’t stay here with him or go to Jersey—if they’ll take him—and he would never come back with you.”
Logan sank to the floor and put his head in his hands. “So you’re saying I should forget him? As easy as that?”
The next moment Aaron was beside him, arm around his shoulders. “I never said it would be easy.”
Closing his eyes, Logan leant into Aaron’s side.
Fuck my life.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Voices, faint but getting louder.
Cole felt like he was coming up from under water, struggling to break the surface. His eyelids were heavy, mouth dry, and it took him a good few seconds to focus when he eventually opened his eyes. The room was bright, too bright, and Cole blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted.
He felt...off.
The room he was in looked like some sort of posh hospital room, empty except for him.
Fuck. How long have I been out of it?
A door stood ajar, revealing what looked to be an en suite, and Cole was suddenly reminded why he’d woken up. Still in a bit of a daze, he shuffled over to the bathroom and relieved himself. Swaying a little, still unsteady on his feet, he moved to wash his hands and spotted the new toothbrush sat on the counter next to the sink, a small tube of toothpaste next to it.
Why not? His mouth felt like shit.
Staring at his face in the tiny mirror, he tried to remember how he’d got here, wherever the fuck here was. The images were vague, blurry, until all of a sudden they weren’t and memories of the cavern came back to him with a jolt. The toothbrush fell from his mouth, clattering into the sink.
Logan.
