Chapter 8

Storm

When Winter arrived, I was relieved to see that she had brought Felix with her. Winter and Felix sat with us and joined in for a brief chat with Kat so that we wouldn’t appear suspicious. It wasn’t long before Winter suddenly announced that we had to be leaving, because we had somewhere that we needed to be. Thankful that Winter had come up with an excuse for us to leave, I got up from the table, glad to be away from Asher, and hugged my 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 Winter’s SUV, unable to hold my emotions at bay anymore, I burst into tears. Winter who was sitting in the back seat with me, looked at me for a moment, before she wrapped her arms around me, drawing me in to her and resting my head on her shoulder. Felix started the car and headed out of town while Winter continued to hold me while I cried my heart out. It wasn’t long before the car came to a stop at Brook’s Lake. Neither of them said anything while I continued to cry, they seemed to be happy enough to let me get it all out of my system before we had to go back to the house.

“Tell me I am doing the right thing,” I whispered, as I sat up and looked between the two of them. I needed their reassurance that there was no other way for me to survive. That leaving here was the best thing for me.

Winter reached out and wrapped her arms around me, drawing me in for another hug. “It’s the only way that I know I can keep you alive. If I go to Germany with Felix and leave you here alone with Mason and dad and the pack, you will die for sure, and I could never live with myself if that happened. There is no other way. This way, I will be giving you a chance at a life of your own making,” she replied as she continued to hug me.

After I had gotten my act together, we slowly made our way back home. “I have packed your bags, along with our 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,” Felix told me, pointing towards the back of the car. “I am glad we managed to get everything in the back of one car. I will admit that the thought of taking two cars was actually worrying me a little,” Felix added, smiling at us through the rear-view mirror.

I turned in my seat and looked to the back of the car, seeing my duffel bags, along with their luggage in the back of the SUV. With the extra dark tint on the windows, no one could see the luggage that was packed in the back of the car, so I believed Felix when he said that so far, we were in the clear. All I could think about was the fact that I was almost free!

“What time are we flying out, in the morning?” I asked, needing to be distracted from my own thoughts, as I turned back around in my seat.

“Be up at three o’clock in the morning. Felix’s pilot has scheduled a four-thirty am departure. Now, Felix and I were talking, and we figured we would buy breakfast on our way to the airport so that we don’t have to be at the Alpha residence longer than necessary, maybe we could just stop at Macca’s or something for breakfast. It’s important we get out fast and clean,” Winter said, as she watched me from her side of the back seat.

“Okay, I trust you,” I told her, as I gave her a weak smile while I wiped my eyes. When we got back to the house, I quickly made my way up to my bedroom and grabbed my backpack. I started making sure that I had everything I would be needing for our trip in the morning. I placed my phone charger in my backpack, which also contained a B6 sized notebook and an assortment of pens and two sharpie markers. I added my wallet to my backpack. I didn’t have the paperwork for my new identity yet. Winter had told me that she had the documents for my new identity tucked away in a safe place. She had said she would give them to me when we got to the airport, so I didn’t have to worry about anybody else discovering them and messing up our plans. Making my way into my walk-in wardrobe I opened the wall safe and grabbed out the cash that I had hidden in there, which turned out to be a little over fifteen thousand dollars. I put the money into my backpack along with a mini makeup kit, a mini manicure kit, a hairbrush, and a bottle of my favourite perfume along with a tin of body spray and my favourite lip gloss. I also added a tin of breath mints, a pack of gum, and a black beanie. I wanted the beanie handy in case it was icy weather when we landed.