The world around them.
His sole focus was the sharp sting of Isaac’s teeth pressing into his skin.
Michael closed his eyes, the pain acting like a reset button as he relaxed against the wall, tension seeping out of him like the receding waves he heard in the distance. With another shuddering breath, he let his head fall back onto the cold rock behind him.
Isaac retracted his fangs, placed a kiss over the spot that was already healing, then met Michael’s gaze. Whatever he saw there made his expression soften. “That’s better.”
Michael swallowed past the lump in his throat, already missing Isaac’s warmth. “How did you know?”
How did you know what I needed so badly?
Isaac shrugged, but his eyes bored into Michael’s. “We might be strangers in some respects, but not others.” He rubbed a hand over his heart and said simply, “I felt it.”
He turned to go, but Michael caught his arm, body thrumming with the after-effects of Isaac’s teeth on him. He had to have known what that would do to him? “I thought we were taking things slowly?”
Isaac’s smile turned predatory and he swept his gaze down to Michael’s throat, tongue slipping out to lick over his bottom lip, and Michael’s shiver had nothing to do with them being underground this time. “Thatwastaking it slow.”
He took another step back and gestured over his shoulder. “Come on, I want to show you the rest of it.”
As he disappeared around the corner, Michael slumped against the wall, heart beating a rapid rhythm, all coherent thoughts banished from his head. “Fuck,” he whispered, lips curving up into a smile. Isaac always had known how to pull him out of his own head. His words rang in Michael’s mind.“We might be strangers in some respects, but not others.”
He clung to them, shaking off whatever melancholy had seeped in on their walk through the tunnel, confidence returning as he made his way down the last few steps until his feet hit soft sand.
Wow.
When Isaac had said it was a smuggler’s cave, Michael had expected to find rocks and sand leading out to the sea. And while the sand under his feet did lead out to meet the sea, it wasn’t only rocks that surrounded him. What looked to be beach huts lined the side of the cave. Small but sturdy-looking, six huts took up most of the space: three on either side.
The others were already investigating, and when Isaac saw him watching, he walked over to him with a smile. “It’s not much, but it keeps our guests safe and dry while they wait to be evacuated.” He gestured to a firepit in the middle. “And warm.”
Michael nodded, glancing behind him at the tunnel entrance. “And no one can hear them?”
“No. The door in the fireplace is totally soundproof.” He pointed out to where the waves broke gently onto the sloping shore. “We’re cut off from the main stretch of beach, even when the tide is out. It’s the perfect place to hide you.”
Michael turned in a circle, taking in their surroundings. “We should probably stay down here instead of returning to the house.” He breathed in deep, their scents already detectable in the air. “It’ll take a couple of days for all traces of us to fade from up there.” He pointed above them. “And we don’t know for certain when they’re going to come.”
“I’ll have some of my pack bring down your things.” Isaac pulled out his phone and Michael raised his eyebrows.
“You get a signal down here?”
Isaac laughed. “No, but we do out there if we’re lucky.” He started off toward the cave mouth and Michael followed. “Oh. Wait one second.” Isaac turned and called to Logan. “Who in your pack knows you have a cat?”
Logan frowned for a moment before realisation dawned. “Fuck, I forgot all about Smudge.” He glanced around them, frown deepening.
Yeah, this was no place to bring a cat. But Smudge was quite distinctive. “I don’t think anyone outside of Jacob’s team would know about his cat,” Michael offered. “But you probably don’t want to keep her at the house just in case.”
“There’s a woman nearby in Battisborough Cross who runs an animal shelter. I treated her daughter for a broken leg,” he added at Michael’s questioning glance.
Of course he did.
“I could ask her to take Smudge, for as long as necessary?” He looked at Logan, waiting for his answer.
It wasn’t hard to guess the thoughts running through Logan’s head. The next few weeks would be fraught with danger. And as much as none of them wanted to admit it, the worst could happen.
Finally, Logan sighed and nodded. “Yeah, okay. I think that’s probably for the best.” His voice cracked as he added, “But only until this is all over, right? Then I can get her back?”
“Of course.” Isaac promised. “I’ll ask one of my pack to arrange it.”
“Thank you.”
