None of them had their personal phones either, some having left everything behind when they’d shifted at the McKillan pack house.
“Isaac and I have ours,” Michael offered. “We can contact your parents.”
“We need to go back up to the main house for that.” Isaac looked around the group. “I was going to suggest you remain down here until we can confirm Paul’s back in London, but under the circumstances, I think we need to start working on our plan now and hope Paul was telling the fucking truth.”
Michael nodded. “I agree. We’ll pack up our things.”
Everyone moved at once.
The stunned silence of moments ago was now replaced with a flurry of movements and multiple conversations as everyone rushed to get ready.
As Michael shoved his stuff back into his bag, Isaac cleaned up their breakfast mess, along with Alice and Callum. The food he’d been so looking forward to now sat like lead in his stomach.
If Simon was prepared to snatch Logan’s parents without worrying about the consequences of his actions, what else was he prepared to do? And who else did he have backing him?
Because Michael knew Simon. He liked to throw his weight around, to use his power to put people in their place and keep them there, but underneath all that bravado lay a fucking coward at heart. Simon would never put himself at risk, never put his life or his freedom on the line for something he believed in.
No, every move he made, he did so with the knowledge that he had a backup plan, an escape route, friends on the council who would protect him.
It was the one reason he’d never made a move on Michael. Not enough support in case anything went wrong.
But something had obviously changed in the past few days. Allegiances shifted, maybe?
Exactly how many allies on the council did Simon have now?
Whether they believed Paul or not, one thing was for certain: they needed to act fast. Faster than they’d anticipated, before Simon got the whole fucking council on his side.
“You ready?” Isaac said, making him jump. He’d been so lost in his thoughts he’d not even sensed him getting close.
He glanced up to see everyone else had packed their shit and was waiting over by the tunnel entrance.
Fuck, how long had he been standing there?
Come on, Michael. Need to be better than that.
“Yeah.”
Isaac raised an eyebrow, but Michael shook his head and gestured in front of him.
“We can walk and talk.”
They brought up the rear as the others began the trek back up the tunnel to the house.
“What’s wrong?” Isaac mouthed, sparing a glance up in front of him.
“It’s fine,” Michael answered at a normal volume to show he didn’t care who listened now.
No secrets.
That’s what he’d promised, and he wasn’t about to go back on his word.
“You were so lost in your head back there you didn’t even notice me approach.”
“I know.” Michael sighed. “I was thinking about Simon.”
That caused a few backward glances from the others, but no one said anything.
“And?”
