As he neared the car, the wind changed direction and Michael’s scent hit him full force like a punch to his stomach. Stealing his breath.
Home.
Family.
Mine.
Long-buried feelings rushed back to the surface as though they’d never left him, and his pace quickened, two long strides taking him to Michael, and Isaac pulled him roughly into his arms.
Burying his face in the crook of Michael’s neck, Isaac breathed him in greedily until all he could smell was Michael.
The front door to his house closed, the sound loud in the quiet surrounding them.
“Goddess, I’ve missed you,” Isaac choked out, hands fisted in the back of Michael’s shirt, voice ragged as he struggled to rein in emotions threatening to overwhelm them both. “So fucking much.”
“Missed you too,” Michael whispered just as roughly. “I didn’t know if...” He left the rest unsaid, but Isaac didn’t need him to spell it out.
Heknew.
“There’s been no one else for me,” Isaac murmured. Michael relaxed in his arms and Isaac tsked. “How could there be?” The touch of bitterness in his voice surprised him, but Michael’s resigned sigh suggested he’d expected it.
They’d made no promises to each other. How could they when neither one of them knew what the future held in store? Leaving Michael had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done, but if they were to have any hope of putting right the atrocities taking place by the Shifter Alliance, an outcome they’d both helped instigate, then it had needed to be done.
But no matter how many times Isaac told himself that, a small part of him resented Michael for being such a fucking martyr. He should’ve left London when the rumours started. Simon courting the other alphas, telling them Michael was going soft, was the perfect time for him to get out. Not dig his heels in and tempt danger with every extra moment he spent there. It wasn’t fair of him to think that, and rationally he knew it. Michael felt he had more to atone for than any of them, but Isaac’s heart didn’t give a shit about rationality.
Finally Isaac stepped back and allowed himself to take a good look at the man before him. He looked about as ragged as a shifter could. The beginnings of a beard covered his jaw, the barest hint of shadow under stormy-grey eyes. Hair a riotous mess as though his fingers had been having a party in there. It was longer than he used to wear it too. Isaac caught the odd fleck of grey at Michael’s temple. Another testament to the time that had passed since he’d last seen him.
If anything, the extra years had only served to make him more attractive. Time spent as alpha of the McKillan pack had given Michael an air of confidence and surety that he hadn’t possessed when they’d parted. Not in the way he seemed to now, anyway.
The Michael in front of him was an older, wiser, and more mature version of the idealistic and driven shifter he’d first met all those years ago.
Isaac liked this version.
A lot.
But the thought of what he must have gone through to get there made him push those feelings deep down where they belonged. So much had happened since the Shifter Alliance Party came to power. They were both vastly different people to who they’d been back then.
Although attraction simmered between them, a fizz of energy under the skin that only needed a little push to ignite, Isaac wasn’t stupid enough to think they could pick things up as though nothing had happened.
It didn’t work that way.
Besides, they had far greater concerns right now—like half the London shifter packs out looking for his guests. Maybe more, depending on how Baker was handling things.
“Come on,” he said, finally noting Michael’s curious but tired gaze.I’ve been lost in my own thoughts for too long.“Let’s get some food in you before you fall over. When was the last time you ate? Hmm?” He raised an eyebrow, earning himself an eye-roll, but the small smile accompanying it squeezed his heart.
I’ve missed that too.
“It’s been a while. Longer for some of the others, though.”
Isaac laughed and shook his head. Even before he’d taken on that responsibility, Michael had taken care of others. It was his nature. Which was why Isaac knew becoming alpha of the most prominent London pack and having to make decisions that went against that very nature had taken their toll. “Ever the alpha.”
“Not anymore,” Michael said quietly, eyes closing on a heavy exhale.
Without thinking, Isaac reached for his hand, slotting their fingers together, and waited for Michael to look at him. “You may not be the McKillan pack alpha any longer,” he replied fiercely, “but those five you brought with you need an alpha now more than ever.”
“They don’t want me,” Michael scoffed, eyes ablaze with a fire that Isaac welcomed. “After the shitshow we left behind, I doubt they want anything more than to fuck off to Jersey if that’s an option.” He let go of Isaac and ran a hand through his hair. “And I wouldn’t blame them.”
Turning away to look out into the inky blackness surrounding them, he added quietly, “I’ve lied to them for years, done things that no self-respecting alpha ever should.” He glanced back over his shoulder, and Isaac’s breath caught at the agony in his expression. “I have no right to that title anymore.”
