Surviving the Storm

Chapter 2

Storm

I was ready to call it a night.

As much as I hated the thought of going home and dealing with Mason and his mate, staying at the club until everyone was too drunk to know their own name wasn’t exactly appealing either.

I needed to leave before the alcohol took over and the men around me became even more obnoxious.

More importantly, I needed to get out before someone decided to put their hands on me again.

My life had changed eighteen months ago.

The night the former Alpha died at my hands, everything I’d known had come crashing down.

Before that night, I had been respected by members of my pack.

Now?

I was despised.

All because of the lies my brother had spread about me.

Rumours had painted me as something I wasn’t—a monster, a killer, someone who deserved whatever happened to her. Most of the pack had believed every word.

I went from being someone they respected to someone they felt entitled to hurt.

My father and oldest brother had been abusing me for years.

Now I had the entire pack to worry about.

Whenever someone decided to test me, I fought back.

Hard.

I didn’t care if they walked away bruised and bleeding. If they wanted a fight, I’d give them one.

I was almost at the club’s entrance when two arms suddenly wrapped around me.

“Storm!”

Kat.

She pulled me into a crushing bear hug before I could protest.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Kat was more than my best friend.

She was my sister.

We’d been inseparable since childhood, and there wasn’t a person in the world I trusted more.

The music continued pounding around us as she swayed from side to side, still holding me.

“Come on,” she laughed. “One more dance.”

I rolled my eyes.

“You’re drunk.”

“So?”

I laughed despite myself.

Within seconds, she had me moving with her.

The beat took over.

For a few precious minutes, I forgot everything.

The pack.

My family.

The past.

The future.

And the fact that I was leaving.

Because Kat didn’t know.

She had no idea that this was probably our last night together.

In less than thirty-six hours, I’d be gone.

Out of the country.

And this time, I wasn’t coming back.

Only my twin brother, Logan, knew the truth.

He was helping me disappear.

After everything that had happened during the nine years since our mother was killed by rogues, I couldn’t stay here anymore.

My family was destroying me.

My pack wanted me dead.

If I stayed, it was only a matter of time before someone succeeded.

So I was leaving.

Starting over somewhere no one knew my name.

Somewhere no one knew the lies.

Somewhere I could finally breathe.

But leaving Kat behind hurt more than I wanted to admit.

She was the one person who had never abandoned me.

And I couldn’t even tell her goodbye.

The guilt twisted painfully in my chest.

I danced harder, determined to shove the feeling away.

Sweat gathered along my hairline, and strands of my long brown hair stuck to the back of my neck. We’d been in the club for hours, and the heat was becoming unbearable.

I needed another drink.

Or five.

Apparently, Kat agreed.

Without warning, she grabbed my hand and dragged me back towards the bar.

“Vodka and orange juice!” she yelled at the bartender.

The bartender nodded before looking at me.

“Can of Jim Beam!” I shouted.

He nodded again and disappeared towards the refrigerators.

Kat wrapped her arms around me while we waited.

She leaned towards my ear and said something.

“What?”

I couldn’t hear her over the music.

She tried again.

Still nothing.

I turned my head towards her.

“What did you—”

Her lips suddenly crashed against mine.

I froze.

For several seconds, my brain simply stopped functioning.

Kat was kissing me.

My best friend.

My sister.

And she was definitely drunk.

I didn’t kiss her back.

Before I could even figure out what the hell was happening, a hand clamped around my upper arm.

I was yanked away from her.

Hard.

I stumbled backwards.

My head snapped up.

Asher.

Of course.

He stood between Kat and me, his jaw clenched and his green eyes burning with unmistakable disapproval.

What the hell was his problem?

I ripped my arm out of his grip.

“Don’t touch me.”

His eyes narrowed.

“I was stopping you from—”

“I didn’t ask you to stop anything.”

I stepped away from him, rubbing my arm.

Who the hell did this guy think he was?

He wasn’t my boyfriend.

He wasn’t my brother.

He wasn’t anyone to me.

As far as I was concerned, he was just some arrogant stranger who had decided he could interfere in my life.

I turned my attention back to Kat.

She was grinning.

Her smile was enormous.

“You’re drunk,” I told her.

“Maybe.”

She giggled.

I shook my head.

Kat was what most people would call a classic beauty.

Long black hair.

Ivory skin.

Emerald-green eyes framed by thick lashes.

And a body that could have launched a thousand fantasies.

Men practically tripped over themselves whenever she walked into a room.

She could have easily been on the cover of any magazine in the world.

And somehow, despite all that attention, she had chosen me as her best friend.

I loved her for it.

I glanced back at Asher.

He was still watching me.

I frowned.

Why did he care that Kat had kissed me?

It was nothing.

A drunken kiss between friends.

Harmless.

At least, that’s what I told myself.

I turned back towards Kat.

Only she wasn’t looking at me anymore.

Her attention had shifted across the room.

I followed her gaze.

A man stood several feet away.

And judging by the way Kat was staring at him, she’d forgotten I existed.

I couldn’t blame her.

He was tall—roughly the same height as Asher—with muscular shoulders, a healthy tan and brown hair tipped with blond. His pale blue eyes stood out even from across the crowded room.

He looked like he’d stepped straight off the cover of GQ.

I smirked.

“Kat.”

Nothing.

“Kat.”

Still nothing.

I waved a hand in front of her face.

“Want to play pool?”

Her gaze finally snapped back to me.

She nodded.

“Absolutely.”

I grabbed our drinks from the bar, and together we headed towards the pool tables at the back of the club.

Two familiar faces were already there.

Cameron and Josh.

Both members of my pack.

And both apparently busy trying to get into the pants of two blonde humans who were hanging on their every word.

I rolled my eyes.

Some things never changed.

Josh was a womanizer.

He always had been.

And apparently, he always would be.

Watching him flirt with those girls sent an unexpected stab of anger through me.

Maybe because I knew something he didn’t.

In two weeks, I would turn eighteen.

And everything would change.

In the werewolf world, eighteen wasn’t just another birthday.

It was the age when I would meet my fated mate.

My soul mate.

The person I would supposedly spend the rest of my life with.

Once upon a time, I had dreamed about that day.

When I was younger, I’d even secretly hoped my mate would be Josh.

Back then, I thought he was charming.

Funny.

Handsome.

My friend.

But I’d grown up.

I’d watched him sleep with girl after girl without a second thought.

Now the idea terrified me.

Because what if the Moon Goddess had a twisted sense of humour?

What if I turned eighteen…

Looked into Josh’s eyes…

And discovered he was my mate?

My stomach twisted at the thought.

I’d spent eighteen months fighting to escape the life I’d been given.

I couldn’t imagine being forced to spend the rest of it tied to a man who couldn’t stay faithful.

And in two weeks, I might not have a choice.

Unless I was already gone.

Which was exactly why I had less than thirty-six hours to disappear.

Before my eighteenth birthday.

Before fate had the chance to find me.

Before I discovered whether the one thing I feared most…

was already standing right in front of me.