Watch The Dark
II: eleven

"Fang sends his regards. Says he's sorry 'bout how it all turned out. He's perfected the serum, though. He's got the whole pack under his thumb," the ratty warrior wolf, Talon believed his name was Eric, rasped from the cell across from his. How such a pathetic wolf became an important warrior to his brother was beyond him. Things must have really gone to shit without Talon there.

"How are you still alive, anyway? I figured that old girl of yours would have killed you," he continued. Talon rolled his eyes and let out a disgusted snort.

"I'm useful to them. As for Tana, she's too much of a coward to kill me. Deep down she knows she still needs me, she just won't admit it to herself. Having a kid with that alpha of hers doesn't change anything," he spat. Eric flinched and turned his head away.

Fang may have been older but his brother couldn't survive without Talon. Ever since they were children Fang had needed him. Their father had always favoured Talon anyway, but Fang was never bitter about it. He didn't deserve the attention anyway. Perhaps if he had proven his worth he would've been more useful to their father.

"Are you okay, Alpha?" Eric asked timidly. Talon chuckled lowly and turned his gaze to the other wolf.

"I'm wonderful. Would you like to know why?" Talon asked. Eric, with wide eyes and a curious look, nodded hesitantly. Talon grinned.

"You, my dear friend, are going to help me escape."

***

Tana’s P.O.V

"I was supposed to start real school with all the other kids last year. But daddy said it wasn't safe. So now I have a tutor. She's actually just a den mother and she's not very nice. Did you know that my friend Asher goes to school? He's pretty good at it, too. I even told my friend Chloe about him and she said boys are gross. I don't think Asher is gross. Asher is my best friend. Mommy, are you listening? Tana! Tana are you listening?" Sincere was rambling, waving her small hand in front of Tana's face when she zoned out completely. She could have sworn that pup had some form of ADHD.

"I'm listening. Your daddy told me you have to get to your tutor by 9 today, so eat faster," Tana huffed. Sincere stuck her tongue out playfully and went back to eating the cereal Tana had gotten for her. Icarus, on the other hand, had eaten in record time and was entertaining himself by stacking blocks and violently knocking them down over and over.

"My feelings are so incredibly hurt I don't think I'll recover. Tana! Please dispose of your kin. He's cruel," Mika exasperated dramatically before falling onto the couch in front of Icarus, making him giggle.

"Tuk!" Tana exclaimed, running straight into her brothers arms. He laughed and buried his nose in her hair.

"It's so good to see you, Tana. I missed you so much. I thought Declan was torturing you or something," he chuckled tiredly. Tana rolled her eyes and pulled away to look at him.

"It's just been really complicated. With Icarus and Sincere and everyone. It's been hard but I...I think I'm getting used to it," she admitted. Tuk grinned down at her.

"Tutu," Icarus babbled, clapping his hands together with a wide smile on his face.

Tuk groaned. "I hate that he decided that's my name," he huffed.

"I think your nephew wants you, uncle Tutu," Tana teased. Tuk stuck his tongue out at her and walked over to the baby, who giggled when Tuk kissed his cheeks.

After a few minutes, Sincere finished her food and finally got ready to go to her tutor. After Tuk and Mika begrudgingly agreed to watch Icarus while Tana took Sincere to the packhouse, the two of them began their trek through the woods and down the path that led to the main house.

"Chloe and Suki are going to eat lunch with me today. Then we're gonna play tag outside. Daddy said it's ok as long as we don't go near the forest. Blake is gonna teach us how to fight in the afternoon. He says it's important because we might get attacked again," Sincere was babbling yet again. It was hard to tune out the shrill tone of her voice whenever she spoke.

"Oh, look, here we are. Guess you'll have to tell me the rest later," Tana urged, trying to usher her up the stairs only to be startled by a pair of warriors flying down the steps past them. They were followed by about six more frantic people all racing towards the woods, shifting as soon as they broke through the trees. Now that Tana started thinking about it, there were way more guards around the packhouse than there usually were.

"Oh, Sincere, come with me," an older woman said sweetly. When Tana turned to look at her, she noticed that she had never seen that woman before. Mind you, Tana really didn't know many wolves in the first place, but she figured she might at least recognize her a bit. Then again, she had been gone two years

"Who are you? Where is Miss Katie?" Sincere asked, pulling her arm out of the loose grip the woman had it in.

"Miss Katie wasn't feeling too well today. She asked me to fill in for her," the woman said. Her scent wasn't foreign, but it wasn't familiar either. In fact, she didn't smell much of anything which was quite peculiar for a werewolf.

"I don't know you. Daddy said to only go with Miss Katie," Sincere stated. Tana nudged Sincere closer to her body, eyeing the other woman carefully.

"Well I'm Eleanor. Miss Eleanor. I checked with your daddy and he said it's okay," the woman continued, reaching out for Sincere.

"Get down! He's got a gun!" Someone cried out just as a silver capsule whizzed through the air and stuck into Sincere's arm. It was similar to the dart that Blake had shot her with when she had first arrived in the territory, but the person with the gun was definitely not a Dark Wolf. His eyes were a blood red just like Sincere's and Tana's had been before and were solely focused on Sincere. He didn't seem to notice the wolves surrounding him at all.

In the seconds that Tana took to glance around, Eleanor had grabbed Sincere's limp body and hauled her up the stairs with a dagger to her throat.

"If you follow us I'll kill her, I swear to Aurora I'll kill her," she snarled. Tana felt her claws come out but she stayed put, focusing all her attention on capturing their scent so that she could track them.

"Tana! Help!" She heard someone cry. Turning her head away from Sincere, she saw Wynona get knocked to the ground while the baby that was in her arms crashed down a few meters away. The cry that left Wynona's lips was gut-wrenching and made Tana want to claw her ears off.

"Please, protect Noah! Please!" She screamed, the one hand that wasn't being restrained by the Blood Wolf reaching for the screaming baby that was being approached by another man. As soon as Tana started running, another wolf jumped onto Wynona, dragging her away while she screamed for her child.

Tana didn't know Wynona very well, but she knew what it felt like to need to protect your child.

Shifting as fast as she could, Tana lurched for the wolves that were going after Noah. The baby was screaming bloody murder but she didn't let it distract her from keeping those people away from him.

"Easy, girl. Let us take the pup and we'll let you stay," one of the men chided. His eyes were red, as were the other one's. Whatever serum Talon and Fang had cooked up clearly worked.

She bit into the ankle of one of them and used his following stumble to knock him down. The other lunged for the baby but Tana sunk her teeth into his hand and slammed him into the ground. Deciding that it was too difficult to watch the baby and fight, she grabbed the child by the back of his shirt and raced towards the house where Tuk and Mika were. Noah didn't stop wailing but all she was focused on was getting him somewhere safe. He was just a pup. He didn't deserve to suffer at the hands of Blood Wolves.

Thankfully, it didn't look like the Blood Wolves had even reached the guards posted around the house which allowed Tana to easily skid into the living room, terrifying all three of the people inside. Her nails slid on the floor and caused her to spin out, dropping Noah in the process before she shifted and picked herself up. Mika handed her a blanket to cover herself up and went over to Icarus, who had also started crying.

"What the fuck, Tana?" Tuk asked, bending down to examine Noah for any serious injuries that weren't healing right away.

"Blood Wolves. Took Sincere and Wynona. Tried to take the baby," she panted out, wiping her forehead and she struggling to catch her breath.

"Everyone was running when we got there. I couldn't replace Declan. Someone shot Sincere with a tranquilizer gun. A woman took her and threatened to kill her if I followed. The Blood Wolves are everywhere," Tana managed to finish. Icarus had quieted down to a whimper, as had Noah once they put the two of them together in front of the toys.

Tuk's eyes glazed over for a moment, snapping back to Tana only seconds later.

"His mind link his blocked. He might have been drugged with wolfsbane. Same with Markus and Blake. I think they've all been taken," Tuk explained as Mika reappeared with some clothes for Tana to change into. Once she had, she tossed the blanket towards the laundry basket.

A loud whoosh rippled through the room and sent tingles up Tana's spine. A few moments later Bea barged in, muttering something in a language that Tana couldn't understand with her hands held out in front of her.

When it appeared that Bea had stopped and finally lowered her arms, the other woman turned around and wiped her brow.

"There's a ward around the house. It's only a matter of time before they figure out how to get through so we have to come up with a plan and fast. No suggestion is a bad one at this point,” Bea said.

“There’s a safe house a few kilometres away underneath one of the pack houses. I’d imagine that’s where most of the pups have been taken if they got away. But it would be almost impossible to get to with the amount of wolves after us,” Tuk said, letting out a startled scream when a large group of unfamiliar wolves entered from the woods surrounding the house and faced the Blood Wolves head on. None of them looked or smelled like Dark Wolves, but they seemed hellbent on helping them. Tana was in no position to complain.

The new wolves outnumbered the Blood Wolves by at least fifty if not more, which made their disposal much faster. Once the last of them had scrambled away the leader of the new wolves turned to the ward that Bea had put up and looked through the window at Tana.

She recognized him. That was the man she had met at the gala. That was Alpha Lennox.

And her parents.