Surviving the Storm

Chapter 7

Storm

I snuck outside of the Alpha residence and made my way towards the eight-foot concrete wall which surrounded the Alpha residence. Crouching behind an enormous tree in the garden, I watched as two of Mason’s guards made their way past my hiding spot. As they went around doing their perimeter rotations, they were lost in their own discussion and oblivious to my presence.

Even though these guards were assigned to protect the entire Alpha family, Mason had turned the guards against me just as he had done everyone else within the pack. So, if they caught on to my presence, it would mean trouble for me for sure.

I waited until the guards were out of sight and when I could no longer see them; I ran over to the wall hiding amongst the trees near the wall. When I was sure the coast was clear, I climbed the tree that was situated closest to the eight-foot-high concrete wall.

Gripping to a branch, I carefully crawled across it. Once I was perched on top of the wall, I waited until I saw Kat’s Jeep approaching. The Jeep came to a stop beside the wall where I was kneeling. Getting to my feet, but remaining in a crouched position, I manoeuvred myself over to the edge of the wall and jumped off the wall and onto the roof of the black Jeep. Once on the roof, I slipped into the car through the sunroof.

“What the actual f**k?” Asher asked, looking at me in shock as I slid into the car.

“It was the fastest way out of the compound,” I explained in a ‘duh’ tone, hiding my surprise that he was driving Kat’s car and Lucas was riding shotgun while Kat was sitting in the back. Like, what the hell? Why would Kat allow herself to be kicked to the backseat of her own car?

“Do you need to sneak out a lot?” Lucas asked, turning in his seat, and looking at me and interrupting my train of thought.

“Yes, she does. Storm here happened to be blessed with a controlling family,” Kat explained, looking over at me.

“Good night, was it you two?” I asked Kat, changing the subject as I watched her.

“It was an incredible night, ain’t that right sweetheart?” Lucas replied, looking at Kat with love in his eyes.

Kat looked over at me and smirked as she mouthed ‘gigantic c**k’, and I laughed at her, unable to help myself.

We drove through the main street of Sugar Land, Texas, which had been home to me my whole life, and made our way to our favourite cafe where we were having lunch. I was enjoying my last day in Kat’s company, even though with each passing moment I could literally feel my heart breaking a bit more. I could see that Kat and Lucas were looking happy and in love, just like all fated mates are when they are in the early stages of finding each other.

It was that exciting beginning stage of the relationship, where you are giddy from first finding each other and learning as much as you could about each other. I had heard that finding your mate was an exciting roller coaster experience. But for me, it was one adventure that I hoped I would never have to go on. I never wanted to find my mate!

We made our way into the café and took a seat, then ordered our lunch. To say I was uncomfortable with having Asher and Lucas present while we had our lunch was understating things. There was something off about Asher. Something about him just didn’t sit right with me. I couldn’t explain it, but he made me extremely uncomfortable in his presence.

“So, Storm, did you end up getting into trouble when you got home last night?” Kat asked, looking across the table at me from where she sat beside Lucas.

“No, Logan and I snuck in without being caught,” I replied.

“That’s good,” she said, giving me a smile.

As I sat there, Asher draped his arm over the back of my seat making the hair on the back of my next stand up at his proximity. His behaviour was annoying me. It was almost as if the guy couldn’t take a hint. While I was trying hard to ignore the dangerous vibes I was getting from Asher and trying to enjoy my last lunch with my best friend. I was doing my best not to dwell on the fact that early in the morning before Kat had even woken up. I would get on a plane and fly off to my new life on the other side of the world and I wasn’t even going to give her a proper goodbye.

There would be no more thanksgiving dinners together, no more Christmases, Easters holidays, Birthdays, or vacations spent together. There would be no more sneaking out of the house to meet her for impromptu shopping trips or trips to the movies or the nightclub. No more meals at various cafes and restaurants. This was it. After all the time we had spent together, in all the long years we had known each other, this was where it would all come to an end, here in this little café in our hometown.

After being locked in my own thoughts for a while, I began feeling as if I could not keep my emotions in check long enough to make it through lunch, and I was believing that I might need a little help to deal with my emotions. They were now on the rollercoaster ride from hell. Holding my phone in my lap, hiding it under the table so it was out of the view of Kat and the others, I sent a text to Logan asking him to come and pick me up from the cafe.

When Logan arrived, he sat with us and had a brief chat with everybody so we wouldn’t appear suspicious before announcing we had to go because we had somewhere that we needed to be. Thankful Logan had come up with an excuse for us to leave, I got up from the table and hugged my best friend for the very last time. I held onto her tight and when I let her go, I saw the curious look she gave me.

So that she didn’t ask me questions that I wouldn’t be able to answer, I simply said, “I will call you tomorrow and see where you are at and what your plans are, maybe we can go do something together, okay?” Seeming happy with that, Kat smiled at me and nodded.

As soon as we got into Logan’s SUV, unable to hold my emotions at bay anymore, I burst into tears. Logan looked at me for a moment before he started the car and headed out of town. It wasn’t long before he parked by Brook’s Lake and let me cry, getting it out of my system before we had to go back to the house.

“Tell me I am doing the right thing,” I whispered, looking over at him. I needed his reassurance that there was no other way for me to survive. That leaving here was the best thing for us.

Logan reached out and wrapped his arms around me, drawing me in to a hug. “It’s the only way that I can keep you alive, baby girl. If I go to Germany and leave you here alone with Mason and the pack, you will die for sure, and I could never live with myself. There is no other way. This way, I will be giving you a chance at a life of your own making,” he replied as he continued to hug me, letting me cry.

After I had gotten my act together, we slowly made our way back home. “I have packed your suitcases and instruments, along with my luggage into the back of the car, no one saw me loading everything into the car or carrying everything through the house, so we are in the clear so far as that goes,” he told me as he pointed towards the back of the car.

I turned in my seat and looked to where he was pointing, seeing the suitcases and my instruments in the trunk of the SUV. With the extra dark tint on the windows, no one could see the luggage packed in the back of the car, so I believed him when he said that so far, we were in the clear, all I could think was, we were almost free!