Sam smiled and reached out to grasp Michael’s shoulder, as if he knew exactly how hard this was for him. “Let’s get started then.”
* * *
The hutswhere they’d sleep for the next few nights were too small to house all eight shifters together, so Isaac had his pack set up a firepit and tables on the sand further down the cave. He’d also had a large whiteboard brought down, and Michael stood in front of it now.
“The London packs are the ones whose alphas serve on the Shifter Council.” He wrote the number 32 and circled it. “That’s thirty-two packs, some more prominent than others, but these are the ones we need to take charge of. If we can do that, then the other packs will fall in line.”
“Take charge?” Logan sat forward, elbows resting on his knees. “Some of those packs are fucking huge.” He gestured at the others sat in a rough semi-circle. “We don’t exactly have numbers on our side.” His eyes narrowed as he looked from the whiteboard to Michael.
“We don’t need to fight them all. If we can get the top pack members on board or neutralise them, the rest of the pack will follow their alpha.”
“How many of those thirty-two alphas are in the CEG?” Logan asked.
“I don’t know exactly. It wasn’t safe for me to know all of them.” Before anyone else could interrupt, he started writing names on the board. “These are the alphas I know for sure are CEG. Cox pack.”
“Still can’t believe it,” Nick muttered.
He added the Davidson pack next.
“No way!” Cole nudged Nick before looking back at Michael. “What about Professor Damien? Is he part of it? Because I always got the feeling that he wasn’t keen on the way things were run.”
“Probably. Most of the Davidson pack are CEG sympathisers.”
“I fucking knew it.” Cole sat back in his seat, leg vibrating.
Michael added all the pack names he was certain of. They totalled ten. “I know that still leaves a lot of alphas to deal with. But remember, I don’t know all the CEG members. And even if the alphas of the other packs aren’t CEG, then some of their betas might be.”
“When will you know?” Smith asked.
“I’ve put out requests. Hopefully names should start being passed back in the next few days.”
“What about human members?” Cole spoke this time, and Michael wasn’t surprised that he asked. “Will they help?”
Michael ran a hand through his hair. “I hope so. As you can imagine, they’ll be reluctant to give up any names to me.”
“But you started the CEG,” said Smith again.
“I also helped form the Shifter Alliance Party.” He sighed. “And not many humans know that I’m involved with the CEG. They only know me as ‘that bastard alpha of the McKillan pack.’” He met the ripple of amusement with a wry smile. “It’ll take a while for them to come round. But I’m confident we can count on their help.”
Isaac caught his attention, and Michael raised an eyebrow. “Food’s on its way down. Why don’t we take a break for lunch?”
Everyone took that as their cue to get up, and Michael watched as Sam integrated seamlessly into the group of five, chatting with Aaron as if they were old friends. The twinge of jealousy was unwelcome, and he forced it back down. The ease with which they accepted him stung, but they had no reason not to trust Sam.
Whereas I’ve given them plenty in the past few years.
“Stop it,” Isaac chided, coming up to stand beside him. He followed Michael’s line of sight and shook his head. “They need time to adjust. That’s all.”
“I really hate the way you can still read me so well,” Michael grumbled.
“It’s a gift.”
“A shitty one.” He turned and walked down to the sea, fast becoming his favourite place to be.
The fact that Isaac immediately followed caused a flutter of excitement in his belly.
Instead of stopping when they reached the water, they walked along the beach. After a few moments, Isaac glanced over at him. “I’m not sure we ever properly thought this through,” he said softly, too quiet for the others to hear.
“I think you’re right.”
