“Paul’s gone then?” Logan pulled his T-shirt over his head as he walked towards him, and Michael nodded.
“He and his team left this morning.”
“Thank the Goddess.” He grinned, and Michael returned it. The atmosphere felt lighter already. “So we can go out onto the beach? Stretch our legs and see something other than this?” He waved to the cave walls around them. “I mean, I’m grateful we were able to hide, but fuck me, I need to get out and run.” He rolled his shoulders, almost vibrating with energy, and Michael got it. He did.
Wary of ruining the tentative pack they’d formed, he made sure to keep any trace of alpha power from his voice as he replied. “I know, I feel the same. Pretty sure we all do. But maybe we could eat first, hear what Isaac has to report, and then go for a run or whatever you need to shake out the cobwebs?”
Logan stared at him, a touch of surprise in his expression before a wide smile stretched across his face. “Yeah, I think that’s an excellent suggestion. I’ll go tell the others.”
Michael shot him a grateful smile in return.
One step at a time.
Isaac rounded the corner then, Alice and Callum following him out into the cave. More than one pair of eyes tracked Alice’s movements, a fact she didn’t miss.
“Calm down, boys,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m spoken for. And stop acting like you’ve not seen a woman in months. You’ve been down here for three days.”
Laughter trickled through the group, such a welcome sound after the tenseness of the last twenty-four hours.
Nick grinned as he came to stand next to Michael and Sam, watching as Callum and Alice set out the food. “I like her. She’s so...feisty.”
Sam barked out a laugh. “You have no idea.”
Alice ignored them all, refusing their offers of help, claiming they’d only get in the way. Much to Callum’s amusement.
Smith watched Nick, a frown on his face as Nick continued to tease Alice.
Cole joined him, nudging his shoulder. When Smith turned to look at him, he nodded at Nick, eyebrows raised.
“What?” Smith’s frown deepened.
“Nick’s always been an outrageous flirt,” he murmured. “He doesn’t mean anything by it.”
“Why are you telling me?” Smith replied with a look of indifference, but Michael caught the flush on his cheeks and the slight tic in his jaw.
He watched it all with quiet amusement, wondering if their close confinement had anything to do with it. Not that it mattered. Michael wasn’t about to tell any of them what they could and couldn’t do. Not that Nick would’ve listened to him anyway.
“Do you think it’s one-sided?” Isaac whispered in his ear as he came up behind him. It was all Michael could do not to lean back into him.
“No.” Their voices were pitched low enough that no one should overhear unless they were actively listening, but Michael still glanced around the group to check. Satisfied that no one was paying them any attention, he nodded in Nick’s direction. “He’s been stealing looks at Smith since we’ve been down here. Very stealthily. I don’t think Smith has noticed.”
Isaac placed his hand on Michael’s hip, drawing him closer. “I hope they get the chance to pursue whatever it is building between them.” He sighed and then stepped back, giving Michael some distance.
Michael missed his presence already.
“Paul and his team left at first light this morning. It wasn’t quite the visit I was expecting,” Isaac added when all eyes turned to him. “When everyone’s got food and a hot drink, I’ll fill you all in.”
Michael wanted to pull him aside and ask him for details now, but there was no point getting Isaac to explain it all twice. So instead, he helped himself to a couple of the bacon rolls Callum and Alice were preparing, grabbed a coffee, and took a seat around the firepit.
When everyone was seated, Isaac stood where they could all see him. Alice and Callum perched against the table at the back. “I had a very interesting chat with Paul last night while everyone else was asleep.”
Michael bristled, the wolf in him possessive, and gritted his teeth, trying not to let it show.
Isaac caught his eye. “I had a feeling that at least one of them would get up when we were all asleep and have a look around on their own, so I waited in the library.”
“Did he find the entrance to the tunnel?” Sam asked, agitated.
And he wasn’t the only one. After the relative calm, while breakfast was prepared, the surrounding tension now built as the seconds ticked by.
