Surviving the Storm

Chapter 2

Storm

I was thinking of calling it a night and heading home. As much as I didn’t want to be at home and dealing with my brother Mason and his mate. I knew I should leave the club before the men here got even more drunk and became even more difficult to deal with.

My relationship with the members of my pack had taken a turn for the worst eighteen months ago after the death of the former Alpha at my hands. My pack had turned on me on account of my brother’s rumours. Rumours which had painted a dark, twisted picture of me. I used to be well respected by several members of my pack, but now I got treated abysmally by all of them. There was a time when I only had to deal with my father and oldest brother harming me regularly. Now I had to watch out for members of the pack attacking me as well.

Whenever one of them got the nerve to have a go at me, I fought back with everything I had, not caring how much I hurt them. As I made my way towards the door of the club, my best friend Kat grabbed me and dragged me into a bear hug. She was as close as a sister to me. We had been inseparable ever since childhood.

As we hugged it out, the music continued to reverberate around us, pounding through my bloodstream, making me feel as though I was on an adrenaline high. Kat moved us in a swaying motion as we moved to the beat. My body took over and soon the two of us were dancing, our bodies moving to the sound of the music pulsing through the speakers.

I had been trying to spend as much time with Kat as I could because I felt guilty for the secret that I had been keeping from her for the past several weeks. She had no idea I was going to be leaving town soon. Only my twin brother Logan knew I was planning on leaving the country in the next couple of days and that I wouldn’t be coming back. My twin brother Logan was helping me to leave the country. After everything that had happened in the past nine years since my mother’s death at the hands of rogues. I couldn’t be around my family or my pack anymore. I needed to get out before someone killed me.

Kat had no idea that in less than thirty-six hours, I’d be gone, out of her life for good, and as much as it hurt me to admit it to myself, we’d never see each other again. As we continued to dance to the music, beads of sweat gathered on my forehead. We had been inside this club for hours now. It was hot, and the sweat covered my body as my hair stuck to my neck. I needed another drink or five.

As if reading my mind, Kat grabbed my hand and dragged me back towards the bar. Leaning over the bar she yelled, “Vodka and orange juice please,” the bartender nodded and looked at me, “Can of Jim Beam please,” I shouted. The bartender nodded to us, then walked over to the fridges that were behind the bar.

As we waited for our drinks, Kat hugged me to her once again and leaning in closer to my ear, she said something to me, but I didn’t catch what it was she had said. Her voice was drowned out by the loud music. I looked up to tell her I hadn’t heard what she had said when her lips were suddenly on mine.

Caught by surprise and stunned by her actions, I didn’t react to her kiss. I knew that the only reason she had kissed me was because she was drunk. Before I knew what had happened or could react to the situation, I had just found myself in. A hand wrapped around my upper arm and dragged me away from Kat.

I looked up at the owner of the hand that was wrapped around my arm and saw Asher looking at me, disapproval written upon his face. Annoyed with his macho attitude, I ripped my arm out of his grip and put a little distance between the two of us. Glancing back over at Kat, I took in her appearance. Kat was what people called a classic beauty. With her long black hair and ivory complexion coupled with her beautiful emerald green eyes rimmed with thick lashes, and a body that women around the world would happily kill for, she was stunning. No wonder men drooled over her wherever she went. She was gorgeous enough to easily grace the covers of magazines around the globe, and I was proud to call her my friend. On her face was a smile as big as Texas.

I glanced back at Asher, trying to figure out what was up with him. What did it matter to him that my friend had just kissed me? Who cares? It was just a kiss given in harmless drunken fun! I turned back to Kat as I waited for our drinks. It took me longer than it should have to realise that Kat’s attention wasn’t on me or Asher any longer.

Her attention was now on a man who was standing a few feet away from us. The man she was looking at was tall, roughly the same height as Asher and he had brown hair with blonde tips, light blue eyes, and he was of muscular build with a healthy tan. He could be a model gracing the cover of GQ with that body and those looks.

“Kat, want to play a game of pool?” I asked her, breaking into her ogling session. She looked over at me and nodded.

Picking up our drinks off the bar, we made our way over to where the pool tables were in the back of the room. Two members of our pack, Cameron and his friend Josh were there playing a game of pool. Josh and Cameron, ever the womanizers, were trying to sweet-talk their way into the pants of two blonde bimbos who were hanging onto their every word. They were human, so as far as the boys were concerned, the girls were easy targets for a night of fun. Still, I felt a stab of anger as I watched them. Josh wouldn’t ever change his womanising ways.

I was turning eighteen in two weeks and when I did, I would find my fated mate, or soul mate in human terms. Josh’s birthday was three days after mine. There was once a time when I was still a kid when I had been friends with Josh. Back then, I had hoped my fated mate would end up being Josh, but now? Now I was constantly worried that in two weeks, I’d find out Josh is my mate and I’d be stuck with an unfaithful mate for the rest of my life.