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Word Count: 2149

~Thea

Just seeing him sent an entire wall of emotion at me.

His back was turned to me, but I knew it was him without a single doubt. The man I thought would once be my mate, but who actually wanted to sacrifice me.

"We need to go," Jasper says quickly, seeing Luca at the same time as I did.

He grabbed my hand, dragging me toward Aria's house, which was luckily right there. My feet slugged through the snow, my burning limbs fighting against the drag. Jasper had no problem disrupting the snow around us, but it was mildly heartbreaking to see the beautifully resting fluff get tainted by our footprints.

I kept turning back as we jogged across Aria's lawn, making sure Luca and his men hadn't turned around to see us. Because if he sees us...Everything would have been for nothing.

Don't let him find me. He can't find me. If he finds me, I am dead.

"How does he know we came to the Love Pack?" I question frantically, once Jasper had closed the door behind us, but not before checking Luca was still occupied with that woman. How had they figured it out? Is the whole town out looking for me?

Jasper looks stricken, and I can tell his plan had just flown right out the window.

"We need to go...We can't stay here," he insists, making sure the door was locked before he full faced me. It is almost like I can see him thinking about our next move...How he is going to get us out of here without Luca finding out we were even in this Pack to begin with.

"Where? How?" I question, watching him frown as he rakes his hands through his hair.

Suddenly, he grabs my arm, pulling me swiftly upstairs. As he closes the curtains, he tells me to pack my belongings again. I feel tears of stress and fright well in my eyes as I zip my backpack up, shoving the gloves I was previously wearing in there as well.

"We leave this Pack right now, and we don't look back," Jasper mutters, grabbing my backpack for me.

We run downstairs, just as a knock on the front door resounds through the house. It has to be Luca, ready to show whoever lives here a picture of me in an attempt to see if anyone has seen me around.

"Out the back door," Jasper says quickly, ushering me toward it. He hasn't taken a moment to stop and look at me. I am grateful, because otherwise he would see the tears in my eyes, that I so desperately try to swipe away.

The moment we go through the back door, as silent and as elusive as we can, I regret not keeping my gloves on.

"This way," Jasper mutters, cutting through my thoughts about how frustrating the coldness of this Pack must be for someone like Aria, who has lived here her whole life.

We scale the side of the house, which to the left, is Jasper's parked car. The windscreen is layered by thick snow, dusting even the bonnet and the roof. Pulling his keys out, Jasper makes it to the car to unlock it, while I try my best to shovel the snow off the window with my sleeve over my hand.

As Jasper turns the car on, I want to beg him to hurry and pull the car out. My desperation can be felt in my beating heart, in the lump in my throat, and especially in my tense muscles that could plead their own case to Jasper.

"Hurry," I whisper, my voice hoarse with desperation.

Snow bursts out from around the wheels as Jasper frantically pulls the car into reverse, and onto the road. My eyes search for Luca, and I don't have to look far. Him and those two other men turn as Jasper shifts the car into drive.

Our eyes lock for just a second. Surprise, confusion and anger.

Tires sliding dangerously across the tarmac, Jasper slams the electorator down, lurching as forward, so I have to brace myself on the dashboard.

Luca disappears from my sight in less than a second, as we drive swiftly down the street, leaving him in the dust...Or snow, I suppose.

"We should really stop needing these quick getaways," Jasper says with a slight breathy chuckle. I know he is only saying that to lighten the mood, but I am too busy recovering from that rush of fright I just experience.

But as I rest my head back against the seat, I smile despite myself.

"I can't believe we actually got away," I note, shaking my head. Jasper glances at me, before nodding at the backpack on my lap. How did I not notice he threw that there? Without questioning it, I toss it into the back seat.

"Maybe we are getting good at this," Jasper imparts, which makes me roll my eyes, not sure if I want to be good at it...

As we drove out of the Love Pack, leaving the beauty of that winter wonderland behind, a brooding silence fell over us both. I couldn't help thinking about what would have happened had Luca caught us. Surely Jasper would have gotten us out of that situation, but if I had been alone...?

"So we just drive until we find somewhere to stay?" I ask, as the snow on the side of the road starts to thin out, becoming less of that silky, fluffy snow, but more like a filthy, icy mess.

Jasper shrugs again. He seems to be good at doing that. "Maybe. I have a place to take you, but I don't want to risk Luca following us there. We are going to have to stay somewhere for the night to steer him off our trail.

I'm not sure if I want to know exactly where we are going. Jasper looks tense, and I can tell, just from his expression that where he is apprehensive to take me is something somewhat special to him. Living by my motto of taking it as it comes seems to be what is stopping all the stress I could be feeling right now.

"How are you holding up?" Jasper asks, casting me a wary glance.

It makes me feel a little warm inside to know he at least kind of cares about my well being. "I am fine. Are you?"

"Don't you worry about me," Jasper remarks, smiling slightly.

Staring out the window, I watch the snow begin to disappear, as the trees thickened on either side of the road. Living next to a forest, I am nothing but used to trees, but these trees seem darken, tighter and more compact together. I shiver uneasily.

"We need to stop somewhere for petrol. Maybe there will be something there to eat," Jasper asks after awhile. Sitting up with a start, I rub my bleary eyes. Had I fallen asleep?

When I look out the road, we are still driving down a straight two lane road, with trees lining the side of the road. The shadows they cast through the car make me tuck my legs up on the seat to hug them, in a wild attempt to warm myself up.

"Sure," I affirm, ready to fill the void of hunger that had grown throughout our drive.

Luckily enough, we only had to drive for another twenty minutes to find a gas station on the side of the road. It was beside some eerie looking motel complex Jasper and I collectively agreed we wouldn't stay at.

"You get the snacks, I'll get the gas," Jasper discloses, and I agree, liking that.

While the Alpha stood at the car, I wandered inside the petrol station. Fairly run down, the entire place looks like it was meant to exist a few years ago, and that is it. The man at the front reads a newspaper, and doesn't even look up as I wander in.

Turns out my options were very limited.

I grabbed two waters from the fridge, that weren't even chilled, a few bags of chips, something unfamiliar that I didn't want to question, and a couple chocolate bars. The clerk finally looked at me, putting his newspaper down.

And then he stared at me. And stared...And wouldn't stop staring.

"Ah, I have decided what I want. Can I pay for the gas as well?" I ask, motioning out the window to where Jasper had the nozzle of the gas pump shoved in the car.

The strange man, with thinning grey hair, turned his head enough to see Jasper, before he looked back at me. Then without a word, he started to finally scan my items, putting them into a bag slowly, despite my insistence that I didn't need one.

As he bagged my items, I turned around to see two other people were in the store with me. Both stared at me, as one grabbed a bottle of milk, the other had their hand hovering over a stack of newspapers that broad cast the murders from my part of the Devotion Pack.

Grabbing my items after paying, I quickly left the store, jogging over to where Jasper had just finished filling the car up.

"I just experienced the weirdest thing in there," I mutter, as Jasper takes the bag from my hands to inspect the content inside. "Those people in there wouldn't stop staring."

Jasper pulls a chocolate bar from out of the bag, tearing the packet open. "They are probably rogues."

Rogues? I haven't heard much about them, but I know for a fact that not many people like them, and tend to stay as far away from them as possible. Those without a moral to stick with a very frowned upon.

We get back on the road, looking out for a place to stay the night. Jasper told me the Loyalty Pack wasn't too far from here, but decided against it, since apparently Luca would be able to find us easier here.

"As long as Luca isn't there, I will sleep wherever," I admit, wanting to knock my head against the dashboard to end this suffering.

Jasper doesn't want to use his power in case they trace it, so I was left having to endure the long drive.

Jasper chuckles. "How does on the side of the road sound for now?"

I shrug. We are far enough away that I doubt Luca will find us, at least for now. Jasper had even chosen some side roads in a way to draw him off our trail. Now, as the sun begins to set, all I want is to sleep.

Without even having to wait for my consent, Jasper pulls over, parking the car within the grass on the side of some country road.

He switches the roof light on as we eat a bag of chips eat, and talk about anything other than our current situation. Easy to talk to, Jasper's soft voice begins to lull me into a sleep. Until suddenly, a loud bang on the roof makes me wake back up instantly.

Jasper's violet eyes are wide, as he looks at me, as if to make sure I am actually alive. Something is on our roof.

To my surprise, Jasper immediately cracks the car door open.

"Stay here," he orders. "And don't leave the car until I come back."

💚••💚

Want more and don't want to wait!? More of Jasper is available now on Radish (:

🍀••🍀

So, I'm having a good time writing Malik in its preparation for release on the 1st.

Aria is probably one of my favourite characters to write so far. She's a girl to my own heart, and I'm adding a lot of elements to her that I share.

I'm liking Thea too, for she's an emotionally strong character, and very open minded. I have some really good character development for her in much later chapters that I'm really excited about!

Mara was too bland and faceless to me-we never connected. She was a shadow to Kaden, in my eyes, and she's my biggest regret about that book.

Lexia is too confident for me to relate to as well. But in a way I liked that about her.

Rylan and Asher's mates will be fun to write. I'll have to adapt to those characters.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Vote and comment if you did! (:

Snapchat: midikacrane

Radish: Midika

~Midika 💜🐼