Here's another chapter! Dedicated to @MonsterGirlPony for laughing at my joke (which I worked really hard on, btw... not really, but I thought it was funny, so yay). 

I STARTED A NEW STORY! It's a Sold to a Wolf Pack spin-off called "Her Alpha Mate" and it's entirely interactive! I ask you guys to suggest character names, decided on their personalities, and vote on where the story should  go. The main character is a guy who's just turning 17, and he happens to be Logan's hot Alpha cousin! You get to help him find a mate, you can choose if he accepts or rejects her, and you can even bring him here to the pack house, or make him run into Saffron's Dad! It's entirely interactive, and I will write it based on your comments, so please check it out! 

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Saffron

"You should leave the binders," Zara tells me.

I know she's right, but I still stare at them longingly. They're brand new, with a never-been-touched shine that my own binders haven't seen in years.

"We can buy more when we get there." Jess adds, plopping onto the bed. When she's not yelling, Jess is actually not that bad. Plus, ever since I agreed to run away with them, she's been super nice.

I remove three of my five binders from my new backpack and cushion Mom's painting between the remaining two. I've decided to take the backpack instead of my bright yellow duffle bag—actually it's more of a dirty, faded yellow, but it's still easy to spot at a distance. That and I couldn't bear to part with my new backpack. It's bad enough I have to give up most of the binders. At least Zara and Jess haven't mention the other school supplies.

I rummage through the contents of my duffle bag decide to leave all my old school stuff, including the history book. I take it out and set it on the table. Hopefully, POW will see it and send it back to OPS.

I transfer my health card and picture of Mom to my new pencil case and pack the toothbrush, floss and toothpaste I risked my life for yesterday. What is really only yesterday? Have I really only been here one day?

"You'll need jeans," Zara tells me, heading to my closet and ruffling through all the clothes she gave me.

"You sure you don't need them?"

"Jess and I already packed everything, remember?" Zara says, handing me the jeans, several pairs of tights, a tank top, and a few t-shirts. "And wear these," she adds, passing me a pair of boots, "well, maybe after you wash up." She looks down at my dirty feet.

"Those boots always gave me blisters," Jess complains from the bed.

"They're yours?"

Jess nods. "The flats too. They were always slipping off."

"Oh."

"You should wear the sneakers though. They're great. I only got a new pair because of Kaitlin. She wanted all the girls on the squad to get matching shoes this year." Jess falls back on the bed and stares at the ceiling.

I turn to look at her old pair of sneakers, which you can barely tell were ever worn. My own have too many holes to count, and this girl's throwing away shoes because of a few small grass stains?

"You're lucky you two wear the same sized shoes," Zara tells me. "Jess was planning to leave all of these behind, so..."

"Right." I nod. Jess wasn't being selfless and giving away her stuff; it was stuff she didn't really need. On the other hand, she didn't need to give it to me, so...

"Yeah, if you want any of my other shoes, help yourself," Jess adds.

"These are fine." I grab the sneakers and place them next to my backpack. I think for a second, then add the boots too, just in case. "So, are you going to tell me the plan?" I ask, stuffing the last of the clothes into my backpack.

Zara's phone buzzes and she pulls it out of her pocket. She reads something, giggles, and types a response. Jess rolls her eyes. "We keep driving until we get to Matt's," she tells me while Zara keeps texting. "He's just finished college, so he has his own place."

"Who's Matt?"

"He's Zara's second cousin... or is it third?" Jess waits for Zara to correct her, but she's too busy typing something into her phone to notice. "Anyway, he's cool."

"And he'll just let us stay there?"

"Until we find out own place, yeah. He owes us." Jess shrugs. "It's a long story."

"Fine, but wont anyone look for us there?"

"Maybe." She shrugs again. "He'll just lie and say he hasn't seen us."

"Our scent will be all over the place," I argue.

"Look, no one's going to come after us." Jess rolls her eyes.

"They'll understand...," Zara adds, looking up mid-text. "They'll probably freak out at first, but they'll see it's for the best."

"Yeah, but..." I hesitate. POW probably wouldn't send a search party after them, but then they're not the ones who cost him ten grand. The minute he realizes I'm gone, he'll send his army of guards to retrieve his property. Then when I get caught, I'll end up taking Zara and Jess down with me.

Going to Zara's cousin's place is definitely a bad idea. POW's not stupid. It's probably one of the first places he'll look. Plus, can we really trust this guy? What if POW calls him and he freaks out and spills everything?

"Look, Zara and I have been planning this for weeks," Jess says, playing with one of her earrings. She pulls it out then puts it back again. "We'll be halfway to Matt's by the time the others wake up."

"We can text Luna and tell her we're okay so they don't worry," Zara adds. "Then we'll go apartment hunting, look for jobs, maybe see a movie."

It sounds absolutely wonderful. For a second, I picture the three of us, rooming together, lounging around the house in our PJs doing homework, and going to the movies. It's a better life than anything I could have ever hoped for, but it's so unrealistic. At least for me.

If it's just the two of them, that's probably how things will play out. With me in the picture... not so much. I wish I could tell the girls that, but if they knew I was just a liability, they'd leave me behind. No, the smartest thing for me to do would be to get in the car, hitch a ride as far away from the pack house as possible, and then make a run for it. I wouldn't go as far as wherever this Matt lives, since that's the first place POW will look. Maybe a gas station somewhere around the half-way point? I could say I need to go to the bathroom and just disappear. Then, once I've found a job and paid off my dept to POW, I track them down. It might take several years, but then I can tell them everything, and maybe we can all be friends.

"Hey, do you have a winter jacket?" Zara asks me after giggling over another message on her phone.

"No," I groan. I had a pair of water-proof boots and a ski jacket at home, but they were in the downstairs closet. Since it's still warm out, it never crossed my mind to pack them. At the rate I'm going, I'll probably be dead on the first day of winter.

"I have an extra one, but it's downstairs." Zara pauses to think. "Jess, do you have extra boots?"

"Yeah, the black ones, with heels and the fur lining the top. Remember those? I really wanted to take them, but I already packed two pairs."

"You'll love them, Sof." Zara grins. "I helped Jess pick them."

"I don't want to go down and get them though," Jess complains. "If I run into that lying son of an Alpha I'm going to—"

"It's okay." I cut her off. "I don't need the boots."

"It's going to get cold soon." Zara argues.

"Zara's right." Jess nods. "Maybe you guys can go?"

"What if someone sees?" I ask. Of course I need winter clothes, and boots. They can get really expensive, and by the time I get a job and get my first paycheck, I'll probably die of frost-bite. On the other hand, if Zara and I get caught sneaking up winter clothes, I'll probably die in the dungeon.

"We can get them at night," Zara suggests. "When no one's around."

"Right before we leave," Jess agrees. "Now lets get some sleep."

"It's the middle of the afternoon." I frown. I don't have a phone, so I can't check the time, but I figure it can't be any later than like five or six.

"We have to drive all night," Zara points out. "Hey Sof, can you drive?"

I shake my head no.

"We'll teach you," she puts an arm around my shoulder and squeezes, "but for now, Jess and I will take turns, and it's a ten hour drive, so we better get some sleep." 

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What did you think of this chapter?

Are you as nervous as I am about what happens next?

As always, if you liked this chapter, please remember to VOTE! 

Oh, and CHECK OUT MY NEW STORY, "Her Alpha Mate," which is entirely interactive and lets you choose what happens next! Oh, and don't worry, this story still gets updated daily--the new one is like chocolate sprinkles on an ice cream cone (a delicious bonus!).