Are we out of the woods?

Chapter Eleven

Karlie closed the door behind herself. Gusts of wind swept through her long hair as she stepped outside of the old walls. She had left the torch inside with Taylor so now all she got to make out her surroundings was the pale light of the moon, and the shining of the stars above her head.

Her breath came out in small white puffs, her lungs almost burning from how cold it was. The clouds from that afternoon had completely disappeared, but piles of snow still appeared here and there, covering the dry yellowish winter grass. A stinging wind swept through the branches of the nearby pine trees, making the dark green needles fall to the ground and tainting the breeze with their smell.

The alpha took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She remembered that smell, the cold sting on her face as a kid that ran through that same pine trees. Cara's screaming as she tried to catch her, Leo's laugh coming from the house door before he called them back to lesson.

Her eyes were starting to tear up, but she sniffed, pushing them back. Leo had left her long ago, as an old happy man, he didn't suffer. And Cara, she had never seen her friend, her sister, happier than she was then, mated and expecting.

The only one she could cry tears for was herself.

If she was going to lose, Cara would have a slighter harder life. But she knew that the alpha would have taken care of herself and her family. And why not, she could have waited a few years, make West grew old and challenged him herself. She knew that she would have been a good Alpha.

But her? If she was going to lose, there wouldn't have been anything but death for her.

And for Taylor too.

The thought sent shivers down her spine.

West would have killed her. She was sure of it, maybe not as fast as her, maybe making her life slowly agonizing, but he was going to do it sooner or later.

A growl came from her chest, her eyes growing as dark as the night surrounding her.

If it was for her she would have made Taylor run away as far as she could send her. Bring her somewhere safe and hid her there for the rest of her life. She would have told her to run south, cross the river, build a new life, forget her if she had too. Every option was better than her dying.

She shook her head. Taylor would have never left her side, she knew how stubborn she was. It was already a surprise she hadn't challenged West herself in an attempt to save her.

A smile appeared on the alpha's lips at the thought.

Her omega, so stubborn and hard headed. She still remembered the day they met, her blue eyes striking her from the opposite side of the river. It was as her heart already knew, making her step forward, the river water reaching her ankles even if it wasn't her territory. But with the woman in front of her, it felt as if she was hers.

A part of her she had never known had been missing.

I have to win.

The words came to her mind as an order. She didn't have a choice. She could have planned on saving Taylor all night but as long as West would have been around, the omega wouldn't have been safe.

She wasn't a fighter, she had been trained all her life, but it wasn't her.

She had beat another alpha, she knew that, but he had been old and weak. Karlie knew he didn't have a chance the moment she challenged him. That's why she had never done it before, she wasn't a killer, but he had condemned himself the moment he stole that young omega from her pack.