“You’d have better fucking luck with Simon,” Nick spat.
As much as Michael didn’t want to harm any of his pack—hisformerpack—killing Paul was almost as inevitable as killing Simon.
Michael retrieved the laptop Callum had brought them and opened up a new page. “Okay, let’s make a note of things discussed so far and we can go over it all with Isaac when he’s dealt with the HRU.”
He started to type as everyone threw out ideas.
There was still a long way to go before they had anything resembling a solid plan. The other packs and the human side of the CEG would need to be on board, and that wouldn’t be an easy alliance to manage, but as Michael jotted down ideas and concerns, it felt like they at least had a starting place.
* * *
Isaac sat in the dark,facing the door to the library, waiting.
From his vantage point, he could see into the hall, which at the moment was empty, but instinct told him it wouldn’t be that way for long.
Dinner had been strangelynice, for want of a better word. With the exception of Paul and a couple of others, the HRU team were a decent bunch.
Despite his dislike of having them search his house and territory, Isaac found himself warming to them. Fletcher in particular.
Maybe they’re not all Paul clones. Maybe some of them would be on our side if they only knew we existed?
Or maybe it’s wishful thinking and I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about.
The soft click of a door being closed sounded somewhere above him and Isaac tensed.
Listening.
Alpha senses allowed him to pick out the soft footsteps that would be silent to anyone else. Callum and Alice had stayed the night in the house as Isaac had no wish to be alone with so many McKillan pack members. Not that he thought for one second that they’d attack him, and he’d planned to stay awake for the whole night anyway, but it felt reckless not to have any backup nearby.
Callum and Alice were in the kitchen, though, and the footsteps had come from above. Only Paul and his team were staying on the second floor. No one else was up there.
Isaac wasn’t privy to HRU search protocols, but he’d fully expected some sort of search to take place at night.
Unobserved.
It’s what he would’ve done, and it was the reason he was sat in an armchair looking out into the dark hallway at two o’clock in the morning.
He strained to hear even the faintest sound, only catching the barest creak now and again. Whoever was making their way down the stairs was good at keeping quiet. Issac’s house was old, the staircase, in particular, full of creaks and groans if you stepped in the wrong places.
Whoever came down it now had clearly paid attention and knew the safest places to step.
Isaac’s money was on Paul.
He seemed the type that hated delegating the important jobs. Why give it to someone else to do when you could do it better yourself?
Keeping his eyes trained on the doorway, Isaac’s whole body thrummed with anticipation, his heart rate steadily increasing the longer he stared out into the darkness.
It felt like he’d been there forever whenfinallya shape appeared a few feet from the doorway.
Isaac remained motionless, senses on full alert as he watched whoever was there pause and turn back towards the kitchen.
Callum and Alice were talking quietly at the other end of the house. Isaac could only make out the murmur of whispered conversation, not the actual words. For a moment he expected the figure to head in the direction of the kitchen to go listen in, but after a second or two, they started walking back towards Isaac.
He curled his hands into fists on the arm of the chair. The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention and his heart now beat a steady but rapid rhythm as the figure approached.
Isaac knew the exact moment they saw him.
It was the same moment he realised he’d been right.
