The banging wouldn't stop, it was loud as it rang through the house like a warning, a warning of death. A whimper left my mouth in distress.

It was overshadowed by the panting as the woman clutched me to her chest, her tears falling onto my cheeks.

She runs, carrying me tight as she ducks into the closet under the stairs. I somehow hated this closet, I hated it when I went in here, I don't know how I remember, but we came here often. I squirmed and whined wanting the scary sounds to end.

"It's okay, baby. It's gonna be okay." I look up at the woman holding me, her slim arms wrapped around me securely. She leans back and I look into her beautiful brown eyes. The amount of care in those eyes is overwhelming.

"I love you. I love you so much. Mommy won't let anything happen to you. I promise." Her tears are rivers down her slim face, her thumb brushes up and down my cheek gently. Everything about her was gentle.

"Don't go. Bad guys!" A little voice says, a voice I've never heard before, though somehow I know it came from me.

"It'll be alright, Ezra. Mommy will be right back, just count to 100 and I'll be right here with you." She sobs, hugging me again, her crying making her whole body shake in rugged quakes. Her hug was tight and warm and I don't want it to end, I didn't want her to leave.

"OPEN UP! WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!" A voice shouts, and the woman holding me shudders, another sob taking hold of her.

"I love you, baby. I'll be right back."

"Mommy, no!" The tiny voice cries, but the door is already closed, slamming shut loud and locking.

I tremble as I begin to count, tears falling down my face as I rock back and forth, wanting the woman to return.

"1....2....3....4....5"

An enormous bang fills the stale air, and a scream. I start crying as more screams come and then abruptly end, cut off halfway through.

"6....7....8....9....10"

"Find him! He's in here somewhere, find him!" The voice sounds familiar, but it's scary. I let out a small cry, I just wanted the woman to come back to me like she promised she would.

There's loud sounds all around and I shake my head, shutting my eyes as tight as they can get.

"11....12....13...."

The door flies open and a growl echoes in the small closet. I let out a terrified scream, clutching my arms around myself.

"I found him!" The man says, but he smells funny, not like the woman that I cared about.

There's the sounds of stomping, before a larger man stands over me, blurry through the tears.

He gives a malicious grin, his red mustache lifting, his hands dripping in blood.

Ezra POV

I shoot up, gasping for air desperately while my heart hammers in my chest. My eyes bounce around the room in a crazed frenzy. Where am I? What just happened?

It comes back to me like a tidal wave. I'm in my room. In my bed, the covers around me wet with sweat.

One look at the clock shows me it's 7:12 AM. The dream I've woken from has me in a whirl of emotions. I don't want to accept what I just saw, what I just lived through, or relived I should say. Because as much as I want to deny it, I know it wasn't any normal dream.

It was a memory.

A deep, horrific memory I must have buried down deep inside, my subconscious forcing me to forget it in order to protect myself.

The woman in my dream, she was my mother. I know it without a shred of a doubt, but something doesn't make sense. Growing up, I was always told that the CPO rescued me after I was abandoned. I've always thought my mother didn't want me, that she threw me away as if I was some sort of inconvenience.

It seems they were wrong.

The door opens so suddenly, I let out a small growl. I'm not surprised to see Klepto behind the door. She holds a muffin in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other.

She rushes in the room, closing the door behind her with her foot. She quickly makes her way over to the side of the bed, sitting on the very edge next to me. My mate hands me the muffin and uses her now free hand to press against my forehead.

"You don't look good. Are you okay?" She sounds worried, actually worried for my well being. That will definitely take some getting use to.

"I'm fine, sweetheart. Just a funny dream. That's all." I try to reassure her, but Klepto is anything but stupid, she knows something is up. I can tell by the narrowed eyes she shoots my way.

"Doesn't seem too funny to me." She says, sass dripping from each syllable. She hands me the orange juice.

"Is this for me?" I ask dubiously, surprised at the show of affection. She smiles and places a hand absently on my thigh that's still under the covers. A small physical touch that she doesn't think much of is all I can focus on now.

"You took care of me yesterday. It was sweet. We're mates, we're together now, and I want us to always take care of each other." She waves a hand at the food, "So, voilà! Breakfast."

"Thanks, sweetie." I murmur, still not recovered from the thoughts of my mother, but Klepto shrugs it off.

"It's nothing compared to what you did for me yesterday. No one's ever treated me like that, and I'm very thankful." Before I can say another word, she moves on. "So, you wanna talk about the dream you had? Or nightmare I should say, at least from the look of it."

The crystal clear image of my mother pops into my head and I begin to ache inside. Her shimmering tears, her determination to keep me safe. The revelation is enough to rethink my whole life.

What happened to her? Who were the men that attacked us?

I shiver, trying to put it out of my mind once more, but the nagging of the memory won't let go.

Who is she?

Klepto sits there patiently as she seems to watch each conflicting emotion on my face, clear as day. I haven't masked any of my emotions since the day she saved my life. The more I let myself close to her, the safer I feel.

But I don't know if I want to talk about my mother. I don't even know what to say, and I most definitely don't want her to worry about me when so much is going on already.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then it can wait for when you're ready." I can't hide the shock after what my mate says. It's like she read my mind.

"You said something similar to me yesterday, and I don't want to rush you. If you're uncomfortable, then we'll talk about it later."

Dear Moon Goddess, what did I ever do to deserve her?

Nothing, that's what.

I place my breakfast aside on the nightstand, leaning forward to wrap my arms snug around my mate. She eases into my hold, letting her whole weight relax as she snuggles into me.

"Thank you." I whisper, and Klepto lets out a small, amused laugh.

"You're welcome, I'm happy to help." Little does she know, I wasn't talking to her at all. I was thanking the Moon Goddess for gifting me with the most intelligent, sweet, and beautiful mate on the planet.

I finally have my whole world, and I'm not letting her go.

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The endless pile of color scheme samples are splayed across the table in an enormous spread. Stacey stands with her lips stuck out like a duck as she stares down at the pile of paper, humming to herself.

"Well, I think red would be fitting for the winter, or maybe a nice dark green." I gulp, darting my glance to Klepto who's eyes are wide, a slight pinkish hue to her cheeks.

"You need to decide! It's your mating ceremony after all!" She demands, throwing an arm out and waving it to gesture at the colors.

Once Stacey caught wind that we planned on having a mating ceremony, she threw herself into planning it to perfection. She wants flowers, music, a huge feast, the whole nine yards.

I want to spoil my mate too, obviously, I'm the one who pushed for a ceremony. They're not very common nowadays, but I want to do something special for my mate. Although, now doesn't seem like the time to have a lavish ceremony with all the danger going on around us. The rogues could be in the forest as we speak, plotting to take us down.

"I don't want it to be too big a deal, it doesn't have to be a riot. I'll take anything I can get, honest." Stacey narrows her eyes at Klepto after she speaks. The she-wolf bit her bottom lip in thought.

"Fine. It can be small, but it will happen and there will be festivities. This place is boring as shit, we need some action!" She declares, and I fight rolling my eyes, this girl is crazy. Maybe it isn't such a bad thing, but being around her for too long is hard to take.

"It's nice that you want to help, Stacey, believe me. But I don't want to be more stressed than I am now after the rogue attack. They came and they left, but they could be back any second, I don't know if I could plan a whole mating ceremony." Klepto admits, and I can't help but agree. Stacy's grins, fiddling with the butterfly barrettes in her hair.

"That's fine, I can plan it! Don't worry, I'll do a great job. Please? Pretty please!" I don't know why the girl is asking when she's already single handedly planning our ceremony.

Klepto looks to me and I give her a shrug, effectively telling her that it's her choice to make. Whatever she wants.

She gives Stacey a wary glance.

"Fine, ok."

The very eccentric girl jumps up and down and all around. Stacey's arms fling around my mate as she continues to dance with joy.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She pulls back, her purple lipstick smudged onto her cheek. "I won't let you down, promise!"

She runs away, grabbing her color samples and darting up the stairs like the mad woman that she is. I stare after her, still astounded at her interesting behavior.

Stacey is absolutely bizarre, and there is no getting around that.

"So... wanna watch a movie?" I turn to see Klepto with a smile on her face. I glance around, and see that there's no one else around so she must be talking to me.

"Yeah, sure. What movie did you have in mind?" I ask as we head to the living room.

She shrugs, looking unsure. We sit on the couch and I lean back. I lazily fold my legs out in front of me. My mate looks away, and I chuckle. What is up with her?

"What movie? We have Netflix you know." She raises an eyebrow, and something suddenly dawns on me.

"You don't know what Netflix is, do you sweetheart?" Klepto's dark hair falls around her shoulders as she shakes her head. I sigh, feeling like strangling someone, well one person in particular, the one and only Alpha Green.

"The amount of things held back from you by your Alpha is ridiculous. This place is more like a cult than a pack. How much do you know about the world outside of this place?" I ask, placing a hand on her knee reassuringly.

"I don't know a whole lot. I despise him for it, he's always restricted anything and everything he can. He's a control freak. Even the books in the library are handpicked by the Alpha. It's like he wants us to remain clueless so he can control us." She stares at the tan couch cushions in thought, a pained expression on her face.

I scoot closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her against me.

"That's alright, sweetie. I'll take care of you, show you all the cool things you've been missing out on."

Her gray eyes flicker like a light switch being flipped on in a pitch black room.

"I've never left, well, I've never left here. When I was a rogue I stayed close. I want to see the world. Will you take me away from here, from this pack?" Her soft spoken words humble me, to know she trusts me to take care of her is enough to take my breath away.

"Anywhere you want to go. Damn the rules." I reply, and my mate's broad smile makes my heart stutter in my chest. Her mind seems to take control as the happiness fades momentarily from her.

"We'll take Felix and Daniel with us, right?" She asks in an unsure voice, and I nod automatically. No matter where we go she will still be unhappy if she doesn't have the two little pups at her side.

"Of course." Klepto nods, nestling closer to me and sighing in contentment.

"Good, cause they're going to need their Uncle Ezra." I'm shocked at her words, letting out a long, deep laugh and jostling her a bit.

"Uncle Ezra, huh?" She snickers, "You know I'm technically their brother in law, right?"

My mate nods against my chest, not even bothering to look up at me.

"Yeah, technically, but they're little and it's cute. You should hear them say it." I can practically see her heart melt with the words. I can only imagine how adorable the boys are calling me Uncle Ezra.

I take the remote in my hand and flip the TV on. I decide a movie isn't such a bad idea, I need something to get my mind off of my Mother and the dream/memory that doesn't want to go away.

Clicking on Netflix, I start scrolling through the endless movies and shows, looking at them from Klepto's perspective is unsettling. There are countless things to watch, and she's seen none of it, completely oblivious to the world of film.

"What to watch first?" I ask her, scrolling through the programs when I hear her gasp as she points at the TV with a squeal.

"High School Musical 3! They made a third one?!" She exclaims, and I hold back a groan.

I guess I'm sitting through a few hours of a teenage soap opera, but if it's what she wants, than I know I'm hopeless to tell her otherwise.

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If you're reading this, I love you :)

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