Klepto POV

It's been a long day, and I am ready to crash like the titanic. My sluggish legs barely hold me up as I make my way to the pack office building, the sun still high in the sky. It can't be past 4:30 and I'm already drained of all energy.

Though Beta Thorn hasn't said anything to indicate that my day of chores is punishment, I have the sneaking suspicion that it's in retaliation for what happened to Nathan, even if there isn't any way to prove I had anything to do with it.

Poor Nathan is still bedridden and has yet to show his bruised and battered face, but I hear it's a pretty gruesome sight to see. Not that rumors in my pack ever prove to be completely true, I of all people should know that.

I can't say I feel sorry for him, and it's one of the only things that my lousy mate has done that's actually helpful.

Everything else he touches is a disaster just waiting to happen.

And I'm typically on the receiving end.

Thankfully enough, I haven't seen Ezra at all in the past few days. I am very glad to be away from him, but the mate bond inside of me is not as over the moon as I am.

There is always a little prick in my heart when I think of him, a longing to be beside him that I wish would disappear eventually, but I knew it's a lost cause. I hate him. He's an asshole. Why should I be tethered to him by a magnetic pull? That's not fair.

There is no breaking the bond unless one of use dies. There's no spell, no potion. Even the strongest witches and wizards can't find a way to sever a mate bond, whether it be faeries, or shifters, or vampires.

It's the way the Moon Goddess intended it to be.

I made my way to my attic, taking each step slowly. I just need to crash in bed and sleep for a week, and then I'll be good to go.

When I get to my dusty bedroom, I close the door and slip off my banged up sneakers before collapsing on the bed. As I fell asleep, I drool on my pillow which tends to happen when I'm tired, but I don't mind.

It just feels good to rest after hours of being on my feet, cleaning every inch of the pack buildings.

I know I'm in a dead sleep because I'm woken up by a bang loud enough to send a jolt through my bones. I jump, hearing the springs on my old mattress creak underneath me in protest.

Waiting quietly, I pick up on the sound of someone rushing upstairs and I fly off of the bed. Still being half asleep, I stumble a bit and my eyes burn from the sunlight pouring in from the window. There's no time to adjust.

Before I know it, the door to my room swings open, revealing Beta Thorn. His absolutely sinister face is ugly with disgust and fury. His emotions loud and clear like a bull horn, oh he is definitely mad.

Two pack warriors stand behind him. They are somewhat tall and muscular, definitely strong enough to hurt me, but after meeting Ezra and his band of lycans, and knowing just what they're capable of, it's hard for people to intimidate me anymore unless they ooze that spicy scent.

But I know without a doubt that something is wrong. Horribly wrong. This is going to be a mess, that's for sure.

"What do you want?" My words come out slurred and scratchy, and Beta Thorn doesn't have a reply for me. He just storms into my room and starts tearing into my cramped closet with a vengeance, ripping clothes off the hangers left and right. The few items of clothing I own go flying everywhere.

I let out a little yelp and rush over to grab his shoulders, I tear him away and push him to the ground with a thump.

"What are you doing?" Another one of my questions that goes unanswered as the two pack warriors rummage through my things as well. One of them has the audacity to start messing with my books, the piles of pages toppling over.

Oh nuh uh, you can mess with my clothes all you want, but no one touches my books.

Before I can reach the imbecile, Beta Thorn kicks my legs out from under me, and then I'm the one on the floor. My back aches from the contact with the wood, and tears spring to my eyes. I'm seeing stars.

When I finally sit up, I hear one of them shout, "I found it!" and I can't help but being outrageously confused.

Is it my sleep deprivation, or am I just going crazy from my abusive life? It wouldn't really surprise me at this point.

I spot the other pack warrior, slightly shorter than the other who assaulted my books, hold up something shiny in between his sausage fingers. In his other hand he holds my slobber stained pillow.

My eyes narrow on it to discover it's a ring.

A wedding ring.

My evil Beta grabs it, holding it up in the light and inspecting it. A slow grin grows like a weed on his face, and a deep sense of foreboding trickles through the marrow of my bones.

"I wonder how Luna Green's ring got here?" He asks, and I have the sudden desire to throw up all over him.

"I'm right along with you, I have no idea where it came from." I can see he doesn't believe me, not that I thought he would. He nods his head, and then the warriors are on me, pulling me up by my arms and into the air like a freaking rag doll.

I let out an oof sound from the sudden motion, my vision blurring.

"I knew you were a thief, omega, but I never expected you to take the dead Luna's wedding ring." He twirls the jewelry in his hand, "A precious memory the Alpha keeps stowed away, and one of his most prized possessions. You've got balls."

"No, I don't have balls. Thank Goddess too, otherwise I'd be as stupid as the rest of you."

The angry look is back on his face, and before I can get a word out his fist connects with my stomach, I gasp for air when the wind is knocked right out of me.

It's an awful sensation not being able to breathe. I'm choking and gagging as I try desperately to let oxygen in.

Beta Thorn looks down at me with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.

"Time to pay for your crimes."

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It's not a long trek to Alpha Green's office, seeing as it's in the same building as my comfy attic room.

I'm barely conscious as they take me there. It isn't because of the awful hit I took, no, it's simply because I can't believe this is actually happening.

It's as if my life is all a horrible nightmare and this is the climax.

Before I can blink the door to the Alpha's office is open, and our worried looking leader is revealed with his hunched shoulders and grimacing face.

When he spots the ring in his Beta's hand, he's clearly relieved, his body slackening. Then Alpha Green appears furious. This is going to be fun.

The warriors holding me plop me into a chair across from the Alpha's desk. It's a chair I'm all too familiar with, and things never turn out good when I'm in this chair. Wouldn't it be fitting if my ending happens in this piece of ugly furniture?

With a nod of his buzzed head, Alpha Green sends the warriors out, they leave, closing the door behind them. They trap me in a room with my life long enemy.

Beta Thorn strolls to his boss's side, standing straight and handing the ring over like the dutiful servant he is.

The Alpha grabs it, holding it with both hands, simmering anger and grief hidden in his cloudy eyes. A jolt of energy reverberates through the room from his Alpha power.

"Why did you take this?!" He demands, his voice booming and abrasive. I lift my eyebrows and lean back in the chair, wishing more than anything that I could disappear into the leather, never to be seen again.

"I don't know how that got in my room, I swear! I was framed." I sputter out, and neither of them look the slightest bit convinced.

"Yeah, the thief of the pack was framed for theft. Makes a lot of sense." Beta Thorn mumbles, and I can tell the Alpha agrees with him by the nod and glare he shoots my way.

Desperation bubbles up inside me, I'm suddenly scared witless at what's to come. I can't go back to that prison cell, I absolutely refuse. I would rather die.

"I'm telling the truth! It could've been anyone, have you forgotten that every single wolf in this pack hates me?" My voice gets louder with each word until I'm practically screaming.

"I know it was you! You are an evil girl with no respect for authority, and no care for anyone except yourself. You stole this ring because you knew no one would ever give you one of your own." Alpha Green thunders, and I flinch at the insult.

It cuts deep, but it doesn't mean I stole the freaking ring.

"You're punishment last time didn't seem to teach you anything." He says, no emotion in his voice, "I know what we'll do with you now. Something I should've done long ago."

I gulp hard, too afraid to ask what it is. Maybe he'll kill me, maybe he'll whip me, the horrid possibilities are countless.

He comes right out and says it.

"This pack doesn't need scum like you, you will be banned from the pack, and live the rest of your miserable life as a rogue."

I hear what he's saying, I see his lips moving, but I can't quite process what he means. My body is numb, blood draining from my face. I'm half expecting to wake up in my attic room, sprawled out on the bed with drool plastered to my face.

He didn't actually just say that, did he?

"I'll need you pack ID card." He spits.

Apparently he did.

When I don't reply, Beta Thorn strides towards me and holds out his hand. I stare at his palm before reaching into my bra.

Pulling out my laminated pack ID, I trace my picture with my fingertips. I was 17 in that picture, nearly 5 years ago, and I'm not smiling. The picture was taken right after getting a lecture from my Alpha.

It seems fitting, doesn't it?

Before I can hand it to him, he grabs it, ripping it away from me.

He makes eye contact with me as he tears it in half, then again, and again until the ID card is in a million little pieces.

Tears fill my eyes as the situation comes crashing down. This is my reality, this isn't some horrible dream after all.

I'm being grabbed again, and lifted out of the chair, and I start screaming bloody murder. My limbs flail, and I buck against the pack warriors that have me locked in a death grip.

They take me across the lawn towards the woods, and now is when I start with the yelling.

"Where's my babies? Where's my baby brothers? I need to see them, let me say goodbye. LET ME SAY GOODBYE TO MY BROTHERS!" I scream, and I know I'm making a scene... again, but I don't seem to care.

People are trickling out of buildings around the pack, wolves of different shapes and sizes standing out on their decks to stop and stare at the inevitable.

Everyone assumed I would be kicked out of this place eventually, and here it is coming to pass.

As we reach the woods, a delicious smell hits me like a ton of bricks, and I shriek again trying to get Ezra's attention.

When I see him, he's got a glazed look over his eyes, I can tell he's looking at me, but just barley. His tall, intimidating figure stands beside another lycan, the youngest one with crazy blonde hair.

They're on patrol, protecting the pack. They have to help me, right? Ezra may be a jerk, but I'm still his mate, and he won't let them kick me out. He can't.

As we draw nearer, his amber hair shines in the sunlight and a spark of hope bursts in my chest. He'll save me, he has to. That's what mates do.

"Ezra! Help me, they want to kick me out!" I struggle again for emphasis, the pack warriors stopping in front of my mate to pass him. "Tell them this is crazy! Do something about this, please! I can't be a rogue."

The warriors holding me give him a questioning look, a request for permission to go past. Ezra looks down at me, yellow eyes aglow, auburn eyebrows drawn tightly together in concentration.

"Ezra?" I ask, and my heart plummets when he gives a nod to the warriors.

"This is for the best." He says to me, his voice void of all emotion.

My world comes crashing down as I'm pulled away, into the deep, dark forest. I continue flailing, trying to kick out at my captors.

Panic seizes up tight in my chest and I can hardly breath.

This is it, this is the moment where my life will change forever.

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