“We have enough of everything for today and tomorrow, I reckon. As long as we go careful.”
“Good. I think Paul will want to stay overnight, but unless they find something, I don’t think they’ll stay beyond that. Too many other places they need to search.”
Logan shrugged. “It’s a lot better than the last time I was on the run.”
Michael grimaced. “I wish I could’ve helped you more with that.” He waited as Logan lowered himself to the ground beside him. “I didn’t know they’d put a tracker in Cole. That was all Simon. Nothing to do with me.”
Logan sighed. “Fucking Simon.”
Michael huffed out a laugh. “Indeed.”
“I tried to get Cole to stay with Isaac or go join his parents in Jersey, but he wouldn’t do it.”
“If I’m honest, I expected none of you to come back to London.” He shook his head, remembering how livid Simon had been. “Not all fucking three of you. You can imagine what Simon suggested I do with you all.”
“I take it he didn’t believe our story?”
Michael’s lips twitched. “Not a hundred per cent, but naturally I did, and I’m the alpha, so...” He held out his hands in a “what can you do” gesture.
Logan grinned. “I would’ve loved to have seen his face when you refused to put us all in shifter jail. I bet he was livid.”
“He wasn’t overly thrilled, no. I suspect he upped his plans to have me removed as alpha that night.”
Logan bit his lip, clearly deciding on whether to say what was on his mind. In the end he sighed and dropped his head down, facing the sand. “I’m sorry we caused such a fucking mess for you. If I’d known who you really were, I’m not sure we would’ve come back at all. Probably could’ve helped more by staying away.”
“Don’t apologise, Logan. You risked your life, time and again, in those escape runs. It was only a matter of time before something went wrong. I underestimated Simon, and that’s my fault.”
“But if we’d stayed away after—”
“Then Simon would’ve insisted on doing the same search he’s doing now, and who knows how that would’ve ended up.”
“But you’d still be alpha.”
Logan nudged his shoulder, and Michael realised it was the first time they’d touched since they’d left London.
He still felt like pack.
Excluding Nick, they all did.
The alpha in him wanted to reach out and offer reassurance, something he wouldn’t have hesitated to offer before. But now he kept his hands to himself, despite the wolf inside him desperate for the contact.
“Maybe so,” he said after a too-long silence. “But it was getting harder and harder to play my part.”
Logan shuffled closer until their arms brushed, and even with layers of clothes between them, something in Michael eased a little. “I never said thank you.”
“What for?” Michael held his breath, not daring to hope this was going where he wanted it to.
“Without you, we’d be in shifter jail right now, looking at life imprisonment or worse.” He blew out a long breath and glanced over at the firepit. The conversation there had died down and Michael was positive everyone was listening to them. “Saving us meant exposing your secret, but I’m so fucking glad that you did.”
“So am I.” He’d let a lot of things slide in his time as alpha of the McKillan pack. Things that he wanted to put a stop to but couldn’t without risking exposure. But letting four of his pack and a member of the CEG rot in shifter jail wasn’t something he could allow.
And who knew how many others would’ve been put at risk if Simon had been allowed free rein to interrogate them.
“I can’t speak for the others,” Logan continued, voice rough, and when Michael met his eyes, the emotion in them floored him. “But I’d be proud to still call you my alpha.”
Michael’s eyes welled with tears, his wolf desperate to howl at the sheer elation he felt at hearing those words. “Thank you.” His breath hitched as he turned towards Logan and placed his hand on the base of his throat, slowly drawing their foreheads together.
He let himself breathe in Logan’s scent until it was all he could smell.
