CHAPTER3
“What the fuck do you mean he’shere?” Michael swung round to face him, eyes blazing, the wind off the sea whipping his hair into a riotous mess and making him look even more foreboding, if that were possible.
Isaac sighed and ran a hand through his own hair. This was why he hadn’t wanted to talk about this at the house. The sea raged behind them, matching Michael’s mood, the crashing waves reaching almost to their feet, but neither of them moved.
“He’s part of my pack,” Isaac said the words quietly, hoping to soften the blow, because he knew it would hurt. Sam was Michael’s brother, his flesh and blood. For him to have joined another pack would be like a knife to the heart.
Michael opened his mouth but no words came out. Instead, he turned and faced the sea.
Isaac let him be, let him absorb the news in his own time. Taking a few steps back from the shore, he sat down at the bottom of a sand dune and drew his knees up, resting his elbows on top of them.
And waited.
Michael wasn’t prone to losing his temper without extreme provocation. As an alpha, he needed to remain calm in tense situations, keep his head when everyone looked to him for answers. Hopefully this wouldn’t tip him over the edge.
Isaac watched as he raked his fingers through his hair and kicked at the wet sand around his feet, until finally Michael turned and walked over to him, slumping onto the sand beside him.
He blew out a breath, slow and steady. “I’m so angry right now.” The tension in his voice added weight to his words, and Isaac sighed.
“He went to Jersey. Stayed there for a year or so.” Sam had been one of the first people they’d helped leave. The McKillan pack that Michael headed up was no place for him. Too much of a risk to have him there when he knew what Michael was doing. Too many people waiting for the chance to find a chink in Michael’s armour and exploit it.
Michael was a fierce fucking alpha, but his one vulnerability was Sam.
Always.
“Why did he leave?” Michael grunted out the question as though he still found it hard to get the words out.
“He wanted to help.”
“Hewasfucking helping.”
Going to join the Jersey packs had been their compromise. Helping the candidates who escaped settle into their new lives. Not that Sam had been all that pleased with the arrangement.
“It wasn’t enough.” Isaac had known deep down that it wouldn’t be.
Michael turned to him. “Why didn’t you stop him? Tell him you didn’t want him in your fucking pack.” His voice rose in volume, and he stopped to take another deep breath.
“Do you think I didn’t try?” Isaac said, biting back the urge to snap back at him. It was the hurt talking. “Do you really think I didn’t try my fucking hardest to keep your baby brother safe in Jersey?”
“What happened?”
Isaac scoffed. “He’s as stubborn and pig-headed as his big brother. That’s what happened.”
Michael was quiet for a while, tracing idle patterns in the sand between his feet, until he finally stopped and let out a low chuckle. “I guess I should’ve expected as much.”
“He was never happy with you shipping him off to Jersey.”
“No, he wasn’t.” He nudged Isaac’s shoulder, surprising him. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, eyes focused on the distant horizon. “I had no right to bite your head off.”
“I couldn’t tell you.”
“I know.”
Isaac had wrestled with that choice since the moment Sam joined his pack. He could have got a message to Michael if he’d wanted. It would’ve been risky, but there were ways. Michael didn’t need any more to worry about though, and knowing Sam was involved with the CEG back on this side of the Channel would’ve been a distraction he didn’t and couldn’t afford.
“Where is he now?” Michael asked.
Isaac offered him a wry smile. “Jersey.” At Michael’s raised eyebrow, Isaac elaborated. “Since the Shifter Alliance cut off trade with the Channel Islands, we do supply runs every now and again.”
