Klepto POV

My eyelids are pried open like a camera lens, going up and down as the light floods in. It's too bright, too harsh, and I moan as the rays burn my irises to a crisp.

When I can finally look around, everything is blurry. A dull beep echoes beside me, and I peer over at the machine attached to me.

My nose scrunches up, and I grab for the IV sticking out of my wrist. The beeping suddenly goes berserk, going faster and faster.

If there is one thing I hate more than crying, it's needles. No way in hell am I letting that stay.

"Whoa, whoa there sweetheart! Calm down, it's just some meds to make you feel better." I don't like the way Dr.Poland is addressing me as if I'm a toddler.

I huff at him to show him my dismay.

"I don't need them, I feel fine." I don't recognize my own voice, it's so scratchy and gross.

The pack doctor rolls his eyes at me while he strides closer, bending over the queen sized bed to make sure my IV is still properly attached.

"Yeah, that's because you have meds in your system." I move my legs restlessly, and the Doctor pushes his glasses up farther on his long nose, "Don't worry, he's on his way here as we speak."

He? Who is he?

It's then that I realized I'm back at the pack, panic flares and the heart monitor once again goes nuts, blaring in my left ear like a siren.

"Calm down!" He shouts, and his loud voice doesn't succeed in calming me down at all.

"How.. how did I get here? Why am I back?" I ask numbly, no longer struggling in the bed, but my mind is still going crazy. Last thing I remember is being in the woods alone, now I'm in the evil pack that kicked me out.

Oh Goddess, don't let Alpha Green show up, or worse, his awful Beta.

They are going to imprison me again. I can't go back there, I just can't!

"Ezra brought you back here, bleeding out." Dr.Polland explains slowly, his mouth quirking around the words. "He was sick with worry, and he has barley left your side since then, and that was over a week ago."

Ezra? Ezra brought me back?

The puzzle pieces click back into place, and the memories are all that I can think about.

The rogues, the fighting, the blood, the knife.

I jumped in front of my mate. I saved him.

I can still picture the blade sailing towards his heart, and the burst of motion as I flung myself in the way. It's hard to believe I actually did that.

"A week?" I whisper, my eyes staring far off into space.

He nods, squinting at me in concern.

"Your body needed time to work the silver out of your system. You should be able to leave tonight after we run a few diagnostics, then you'll be good to go."

Why did I take a silver knife for Ezra?

Stupid, stupid mate bond.

More importantly, why on earth did he take me back here when he could've left me behind to die?

The door opening leads my gaze to land on the culprit. Ezra's wide shoulders stretch his dark flannel shirt, his figure filling out the doorway. Those beautiful eyes the color of stars attach to me like a parasite, sucking the life out of me.

"You're awake."

"Nope, just having a nightmare with my eyes open." I reply.

An emotion takes over his face, and I can't quite place it. The pack doctor takes a look at me and then Ezra before grabbing his clipboard and scurrying away, slamming the wooden door shut with a loud thud.

"So, you decided to save me." I say, my voice bursting with sarcasm as I smile sweetly at him.

His face remains blank, he limbers over to where I lay. Ezra slithers into the chair beside me, his hand reaching up to brush some hair away from his forehead. The dusky auburn locks have grown longer since he's first arrived, and he needs to get it cut again.

"You saved me first, I figured I owed it to you." He says, and I've never heard him speak so softly before, speaking like he understands me in some sort of bizarre way.

I shift under the covers uncomfortably.

"You don't owe me anything. I'm surprised you didn't kill me yourself. After all I am a rogue now, right?" I don't know why I feel so argumentative when I should be happy since I'm all doped up, not to mention I'm the one who chose to jump in front of him in the first place.

"Did you come to escort me back to the pack borders? Ready to send me off again and clean your hands of me?" I say, and I realize deep down I'm lashing out because I'm angry with myself.

Why do I care about him? Why did I risk my life to protect him?

"No." He whispers, and I narrow my eyes suspiciously at him.

"I'm done fighting this. I'm done letting you hurt." He says, and I watch as he shakes his head, reaching out for my hand and grasping it in both of his, "You deserve better. I thought you being out there by yourself was the best option you had, so I let you go. I let them take you away. I thought your life would be better out there."

I slowly ease my hands out of his, and I'm surprised when he lets me without a fight.

The Ezra I know would grip the life out of my fingers before letting me go. I keep quiet, observing him as desperation fills his orange speckled irises.

"What was it like... before all of this happened? Were you okay out there?" There's no hint of hesitation in his words, it's like he isn't shy to speak his thoughts anymore, and I don't know how to react to that.

I'm not prepared for this change in him.

"It was great. I was fine, fantastic actually. I love freezing my tail off." I spit, venom in every syllable.

He doesn't flinch, he doesn't even get mad at me like I want, he just sits there with sadness in his eyes.

"I'm sorry." He says, and I'm shocked into silence for a while.

Sorry?

He's sorry?

I shake my head and look down at the plastic clamped down on my pointer finger, the device to measure my pulse is bulky and looks out of place on my pale hand.

"It wasn't that bad actually," I say softly, "I was a bit cold, but nothing too awful. I hunted for myself, found a den, I felt independent. Strong."

He nods his head, never looking away from my eyes.

"I'm glad. I knew anything would be better than being in this pack."

I don't know if I should believe what he's saying, he could be trying to gain my trust back just so he can dash my hopes once more.

"Just because you were right doesn't mean you can make my decisions for me! I get to choose what I do, not you." I huff, the heart rate monitor beeps faster and faster.

Ezra's hand automatically shoots out to touch my forearm, the skin to skin contact calming me down.

"I know that... well I know that now. I'm trying to be better, learn from my mistakes. I want to be a good mate, I want to be good for you." His mouth is in a firm line, and I can tell he's trying, but I still don't trust him.

I don't know if I can ever trust him.

"Please let go of me, I'm fine now." He lets go quickly, like my skin burned him. He tries to smile at me, and it's an unsure smile, but I feel it deep in my heart.

I sigh, looking away from him, anywhere but him. I don't really know what to say to him.

"I'm sorry. I really, truly am. I thought I knew what was best for you, I thought doing all those things to you was better than accepting you, even though I wanted you more than anything, still do." He groans, pressing his fingers to his forehead and rubbing, "I've just now come to realize that I'm wrong, I shouldn't make decisions on your behalf, I need to let you take your own path."

His words sail through me with a thick gust of wind, and I can hardly breath.

He wants to accept me? He wants to be my mate?

Since when?

"What do you want me to say to that?" I question lightly, finally making eye contact with him again, not quite ready for the way he stares at me.

"You don't have to say anything. I just, I want you to know I'm sorry. The way I treated you? The things I said? Yeah, at first I was being selfish and denying that I wanted you, but after awhile... it was all about you. All of it was me trying to protect you."

I let out an exasperated choking sound, my eyes bugging out of my head.

"Protect me? Protect me? What could you possibly be protecting me from by being a jerk, huh?"

He suddenly seems to be uncomfortable, running a hand through his long hair and shifting in his chair like he's under a magnifying glass, being poked and prodded at like some specimen.

"Myself." He states it like it's simple, like one word explains away all of his sins.

I raise my eyebrows at him to let him know to keep going. He sighs before continuing.

"Klepto, my parents are rich and snobby. They are some of the highest in lycan society. They never told me they loved me, they tried to forget that I even existed. They only adopted me to make all of their friends think they were fertile."

I can't say I'm not shocked at what he's revealing to me. This closed off lycan that is my mate is telling me intimate details about his life, a peek into what shaped him into who he is now.

He's adopted, by parents who cared nothing for him. I feel a twinge of pity and quickly stuff it away.

"So what? You're a terrible person because of a messed up childhood? I got the short end of the stick too, but you don't see me blaming my problems on that."

Ezra shakes his head frantically.

"I'm not trying to get you to feel sorry for me, I'm trying to tell you that I lashed out at first because I didn't know how to love." He sucks in a breath as if the word is poison in his mouth, "I wasn't taught about emotions, or what to do with them, how to show them. I was embarrassed and I didn't want you to be disappointed."

He hides his face behind his hands for a second, before crossing his legs and leaning forward. I can smell his breath as he gets the slightest bit closer.

"Then once I realized how dumb that was, that I was just being insecure, I figured out it was too late to get you to forgive me. I knew that you wouldn't want me anymore so I let you go."

I push myself to sit up in the bed, it was a plain bed with a wooden frame and a fluffy down comforter. I focus for a moment on my feet under the covers, wiggling them as I sink deeper and deeper into my thoughts.

It makes sense from a certain point of view, and I can see where he is coming from, but his reasoning in all this is very skewed.

He has a lot to learn.

"So what's going to happen after I'm better? Do I get to go back and be a rogue again?" I press, and I observe as a spark of fury lights in him.

"No. After all of this? No way. You are not going out there with the rogues."

I get frustrated now.

"I came back because I heard two of them talking about attacking the pack. I came here to warn you, now that I've done that I'm going back." I insist, and Ezra's getting mad now.

"They're going to attack the pack? You're just now telling me this?" His nostrils flare, "And you would just leave, even when your little brothers are here? Leave them so your mother can protect them? I thought you would want to stay."

I feel defensive all of a sudden, because part of me knows he's right, but the other part hates to agree with him.

"What happened to letting me make my decisions for myself?" I shout, and I can practically hear the blood rushing into my face.

"You can make whatever damn decision you want. If you want to leave, then leave if that's what you think is best." He bites his lip, rubbing at his temples and blowing out a puff of air, "I just want you to be happy."

I don't know what to do, every time I try to insight an argument he just keeps agreeing with me! How dare him?

"What the hell happened to you? All of the sudden you're actually a decent person? What's changed?" I demand, and his face sinks.

"I thought you were dead. I... I thought I'd lost you forever." He whispers, his eyes haunted.

"What, so you just decide to be my mate now? You want me to forgive you and pretend nothing ever happened, live happily ever after?"

Ezra slides back in his chair, slouching lazily as if all of the life has been sucked out of him. His eyes blink slowly at me as he decides what to say.

"I'll be honest, I'd love for you to forgive me, I want you more than you'll ever know, but I know it's not likely. I've been a terrible mate, and again, I'm sorry."

It takes a moment for me to collect all of the thoughts running rampant in my head, and then I try to put them into words.

"I forgive you, but that doesn't mean we're together. I can't just trust you right away, and I don't know if I'll ever trust you." Or anyone, I add in my mind, but I don't tell him that.

I'm surprised at the understanding in his eyes, swirled together with grief as he tries to accept it.

He finally nods his head, and murmurs an "okay".

Then we're left to sit there and listen to the machine beside us beep for eternity.

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