CHAPTER12
Michael whirled around at the sound of his name. His skin prickled, Isaac’s alpha voice hitting him like static electricity. “Don’t you dare use that fucking tone with me!”
“Stop acting like a child then!”
“A child?” Michael repeated, incredulous. “I’m worried about you getting arrested and thrown into shifter jail, or worse, and you’re accusing me of acting like a child?” He shook his head. “You can’t do it.”
“No?”
“No. Because I won’t fucking let you do something so reckless it’ll put you and ten other alphas in danger.”
Isaac’s nostrils flared, and Michael knew he should back off, let this go before one of them went too far.
But he couldn’t back down, not now.
“You won’tletme?” Isaac asked, the words more of a growl than anything else. “I’m an alpha, Michael, same as you. You’re a guest in my home, for Goddess’s sake, so don’t presume to think you have any authority over me.”
His words hit home, and Michael deflated, all the fight leaving him in a whoosh.
“You’re right.”
That took Isaac by surprise, the shock clear on his face. “I have no right to tell you what to do, especially here, in your own territory. I’m sorry.”
And that wasn’t the only thing he was right about, and deep down, Michael knew it.
It was the main reason he was so angry.
“Apology accepted.” Isaac came over to him and drew Michael into his arms. He went willingly, sliding his hands around his back and holding on tight. “You know I’m right about the pack meeting too, don’t you?” he whispered, face buried in Michael’s hair, but he heard him clear enough.
Michael sighed, not wanting to admit it, because that would make it real. Unfortunately, time didn’t afford him that luxury. “I do.” He tightened his grip, fingers digging into Isaac’s back, making him hiss, but he couldn’t let go. “It doesn’t mean I like it.”
Isaac laughed. “I don’t like it much either, but do we have a choice?”
Michael wanted to say yes. Wanted to say they’d find another way, but the meeting was the day after tomorrow. He’d been fooling himself to think they could meet anywhere but London. “No,” he said, exhaling heavily and feeling like everything was slipping out of his grasp, so he clung on tighter.
“I’m scared,” he murmured. It was the first time he’d ever admitted that aloud, and it left him feeling vulnerable and open in a way he wasn’t used to.
Isaac pulled back enough to slide his hands along Michael’s jaw, grip firm. “I’m fucking terrified.”
It was exactly what he needed to hear, that he wasn’t in this alone, that Isaac felt every bit as afraid as Michael. He crashed their mouths together, wanting to get as close as possible, needing Isaac to ground him in the way only he could.
Isaac moaned, fisting his hands in Michael’s hair, the pain a sharp addition to the heat coursing through him.
I can’t lose you.
He poured everything into the kiss, trying to show Isaac exactly how much he meant to him. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but Michael swallowed them down. He wasn’t sure Isaac was ready to hear them yet, and it felt like tempting fate to say it two days before Isaac went to London.
Eventually Isaac broke their kiss and rested his forehead against Michael’s. “We should get back inside.”
“I know.”
He glanced over Isaac’s shoulder to see Sam and Aaron stood at the kitchen window. By the flurry of movement behind them, he suspected everyone had been standing there a moment ago. “At least we won’t have to explain what happened.”
Isaac’s soft laughter tickled his throat. “Did we have an audience?”
“I think so.”
“Come on. We still have plenty to sort out.” He took a step back but held his hand out. Michael took it, smiling as Isaac’s strong fingers wrapped around his.
