Watch The Dark
II: twelve

"Ugh. What the fuck are they doing here?" Tuk growled. Tana turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"You knew they were alive?"

He nodded. "They came from the South Bay pack after you were captured. They told us the truth and claimed to want to help you. We put them in lock up but Alpha Lennox said they were his wolves since they were initiated into South Bay, so we had to let them go," he explained. Tana felt a low growl bubble in her throat and pushed it down only because she caught Icarus looking at her.

"I'll let them through," Bea said, raising her arms and muttering a similar foreign chant to the one she had used before. A tear-like image appeared in the ward big enough to allow some of their wolves through. The rest seemed to be told to fan out and search the area.

"Tana! It's lovely to see you again in person and not just in the pictures Declan painted with all of his moaning and groaning. I apologize for what has happened but I can assure you that Declan and Sincere are both safe and sound back at my pack. We tried to save some others but we didn't arrive in time. But my wolves are on it and the ones we did save are with Declan," Alpha Lennox said. She felt as though a weight had been lifted off of her. She hoped that Wynona would be one of the ones saved.

"Why is his mind link blocked?" She asked.

"They injected him with an ungodly amount of wolfsbane before we got to him. Honestly, I'm surprised he's alive." Noting the panic on Tana's face, he continued, "he's more than fine, though. We extracted the wolfsbane and now we're just waiting for him to wake up. Sincere, too. She's perfectly okay," he added quickly.

"Dada," Icarus babbled. Mika cocked an eyebrow at the baby.

"Tana?"

She didn't want to look. She didn't have to either. She kept her head turned away from her.

"Tana, please. We want to help," the woman said. Tuk growled.

"How about we go back to my territory and speak there? Rest assured that many of my warriors are intent on replaceing survivors and will take care of them when they do. They're on their way to the safe house as we speak," Lennox suggested. He waved the two wolves off once he saw that Tana was not going to move with them around.

"Do you know what happened?" Tana asked as she grabbed one of Icarus's emergency bags and slung it over her shoulder before picking him up.

"We looked around and found that Talon had gotten out somehow. Looks like he killed another prisoner in the process but we couldn't catch his scent. He's probably long gone by now," Lennox stated. Tuk picked up Noah, who instantly began tugging at Tuk's hair.

"I've sent some wolves to try and follow some of the scents of the attacking wolves but for some reason they aren't leaving much of a scent trail," he said. Tana frowned. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that the woman who took Sincere had no scent.

Maybe it was all apart of the serum.

"I hate to rush you but we really should be going. It isn't safe here and I think Declan will heal faster if you're around," Lennox said. She nodded in agreement and lifted Icarus onto her hip, expelling a deep breath before following Lennox out of the house.

***

Icarus and Noah were taken to the nursery while Lennox led Tana to Declan. His son, Asher, insisted on helping his father escort Tana through the mansion. He had his tiny chest puffed out and was mimicking every movement his dad made.

"I saved Sincere! I brought her water and even helped beat up the bad lady," Asher boasted. Lennox rolled his eyes.

"Yes, when I specifically told you to stay at home," he huffed. Asher frowned.

“He’s in here. He looks a lot worse than he actually is. Once we’ve gotten all the wolfsbane out of his system he should heal just fine on his own,” Lennox said with a polite dip of his head as he held the door open for Tana and closed it once she was inside.

Indeed, Declan looked awful. His cheeks were bruised and his arms and torso were wrapped in blood stained bandages. He was asleep, hooked up to an I.V and a heart monitor. Despite his battered appearance he looked peaceful.

With a heavy heart Tana moved a chair to his side, just as he had once done for her years ago. She sat right there and stared at him, a deep longing aching in her chest. She had fought the mate bond so fiercely before and now all she wanted was to reach through it and heal him. To take his pain away and make it her own.

It was her fault, after all. She should have killed Talon when she had the chance. She never should have allowed him to rot in that prison. He was too dangerous to be kept alive.

She let out a deep sigh and leaned forward, taking one of his limp hands into her own. His skin felt cold and it only worsened the guilt she felt.

With her sitting there it was obvious that he could heal much better. The bruises on his face and chest were slowly shrinking and fading right before her eyes and he began to look like his usual self. Not much, but it was a start.

“I’m sorry I got you into this. I wish Aurora had given you a better mate. I wish I could have protected you,” she whispered.

“I wish I had never run away from you. You deserved to see your son. You deserved to hold him and love him as much as I did,” she breathed.

Tana shook her head and began pulling her hand away when his tightened and his eyelids fluttered open. He gave her a tired smile and slowly started sitting up, even though Tana protested.

“I seem to recall being in a similar situation, except you were the one who should have been resting,” he joked. She rolled her eyes.

“You don’t need to apologize, Tana. It’s in the past. You’re here now. Icarus is here now. That’s all that matters. We can do this together, okay? You’re not alone anymore,” he rasped, bringing tears to her eyes.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being there. I’ve only ever had Alec and Tuk there for me. It’s...it’s nice to be looked after for once,” she said. He grinned again, bringing her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to the back of it.

“You’re kind of stuck with me, Ingrid. Better get used to it,” he whispered.

For once, Tana laughed and realized that maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay.

((Sorry about the short chapter and slow updates, I’m doing my best! Thanks for being patient and for your support. I love reading all your comments!))