Watch The Dark
II: fourteen

"Stop fussing, Tana. I'm fine. I'm a werewolf too. I don't need more rest," Declan grumbled as he winced and tugged on a clean shirt. Tana was watching him from across the room with narrowed eyes and her arms folded across her chest.

"If you were fine you wouldn't be flinching every time you lifted your arms. That gash on your chest was really deep. You have to be careful," she stated. Icarus, who was sitting on their bed, clapped as if in agreement.

"I'm just going to speak with Lennox and Blake. The war doesn't stop just because I'm injured. I promise I won't do anything strenuous, okay?" He huffed, smoothing out his hair as he bent over to press a kiss to Icarus's head.

"We'll meet for lunch, okay?" He prompted once he finally stood in front of her, his fingers trailing up and down her arms.

"Fine," she muttered, begrudgingly kissing him back when he pressed his lips to hers.

"See ya when I get back from sparring practice!" He taunted over his shoulder before dashing out of the room. Tana growled lowly and rolled her eyes. He was a massive pain in her ass.

With a sigh she scooped Icarus up and propped him on her hip as she walked out of the room. She went the opposite way that Declan had, although her wolf whined for her to follow him.

"Hey, Tana! So I've been reading a few things about wolves like you and it turns out that it isn't actually just your blood that can make wolves obey you. Any bodily fluid will do the trick and most of the time in the past they would use their saliva and bite wolves that stepped out of line. You can even use your own urine to control someone," Mika suddenly appeared at her side, an old-looking book in her hands.

"That's disgusting. Where did you even replace that?" Tana huffed. Mika laughed and shook her head.

"I found a library. There's almost nothing about Star Children in the Dark Wolves' library so I guess I got lucky here. But look! Did you know a Star Child once had an extra eye?" Mika continued, a beaming grin on her face as the two of them stepped outside, nodding to the guards who were keeping a close eye on the two of them.

"Thank Aurora I don't have an extra eye. I don't think I want to see you more clearly than I already do," Tana teased. Mika rolled her eyes and shut her book.

Just as they sat down under a tree with Icarus, a loud scream ripped through the semi-serene air. Out of the woods stumbled a dirty, horribly scarred woman who looked beyond terrified as she pressed her face into the ground and cried. Five guards ran towards the woman on high alert while other went to examine the woods she had stumbled out of.

"What in the name of Aurora..." Mika whispered, the two of them watching as the woman was pulled to her feet and restrained by the guards. She turned scared eyes onto Tana, pulling against the guards.

"Please! Please, help me! Please, he won't leave me alone! He's going to kill me!" She screamed. Tana got up and passed Icarus to Mika as she walked over to the guards. They were a mix of Dark Wolves and South Bay wolves, so Tana wasn't sure how much authority she had over them.

Up close, the woman was even more grotesque than Tana had thought. Half of her face gave the impression of past beauty but it seemed to have been ripped away as the other half was almost completely burned off. Her black hair was in a mess of tangles and she was covered in dirt.

"I-I was just walking. I didn't know I was in his territory- he didn't let me go. He kept me locked up for weeks. Please, you can't let him get me again," the woman begged. Tana narrowed her eyes. The woman had the faint stench of Blood Wolves on her, which sent an unpleasant chill down Tana's spine. However, with how terrified the woman looked, it was possible that she had been a prisoner.

That, or she was one hell of an actor.

"Fang? The alpha of the Blood Wolves?" Tana asked.

"I-I think so. I don't know. I know he was an alpha but I never got his name. I managed to get away when they were all busy. I've been running for two days. Please, you can't give me back to them. You can kill me if you want. Anything other than him," she pleaded, striking a particular, melancholic chord in Tana's chest.

"Put her in a cell for now. I'll go get Luna Erica and see how she wants to deal with her," Tana said. There was a flash of uncertainty in the woman's eyes, but it went away within a second and was replaced with gratitude.

"Thank you. My name is Mara, i-if you wanted to know," the woman said. Tana smiled and dipped her head. "Nice to meet you. I'm Tana," she replied. The woman nodded as Tana turned to leave.

Tana spared a quick glance at the woman before hesitantly walking away, only the sound of multiple footsteps heading towards the cells filling her ears as she went.

***

Mara's P.O.V

It wasn't difficult to manipulate a traumatized person. As long as you played at their weaknesses, it was almost too easy to win them over.

Mara was no stranger to fake tears or displays of terror. It was how most of her victims fell into her trap. But she could tell that Tana didn't buy it completely.

The good thing was that Tana had no ground to stand on. After all, for all she knew Mara was just a poor, traumatized rogue. Just like her.

The guards escorted her into a cell, being especially kind when they helped her in. They even went as far as to give her a cup of water with kind smiles.

How foolish some wolves could be. A bit of dirt and a few tears was all you needed to fool them.

Only two of them remained at the door, the other going off to attend to their duties. She could hear Tana talking to another woman up the stairs. The other woman must have been pregnant, which would explain the faint heartbeat that accompanied the two of them.

Mara couldn’t help but smirk to herself.

“Luna,” the two guards greeted as the doors opened, dipping their heads respectfully.

“Oh, dear,” the beautiful dark skinned woman, who must have been Erica, said softly as she looked at Mara.

“Tana told me what you told her. A cell is no place for a damaged woman. Though, since my mate is irrationally cautious, I’ll have to assign two guards to you at all times. You’ll be able to have your own room, though. No one will bother you in there,” the Luna said. Mara forced a smile to her face and made herself tremble slightly as she nodded.

“Wonderful. Unfortunately, I must go lay down for a while. Carrying around an Alpha’s pup is not an easy task. Tana has offered to take you to your room,” Erica said. “It was lovely to meet you. I hope that we can talk again soon,” she said before nodding to Tana and leaving the room.

“Follow me,” said Tana as soon as the guards unlocked the cell door, following behind her when Mara began following Tana.

“I hope you know that you’re completely safe here. There are eyes and ears everywhere. No one gets in and no one goes out without someone knowing about it. Since you’re new here we’ve given you a bit of a smaller room, hopefully you don’t mind,” Tana explained, stopping outside of a room door and opening it to reveal a queen sized bed and a small sitting area in the corner. It seemed to even have its own bathroom.

“I’ll leave you to get settled in. The guards will be right outside and will have a shift change in about six hours. My and my mate’s room is just at the end of the hall if you need anything at all,” she added. Mara nodded gratefully.

“Thank you for being so kind. I-it’s very refreshing,” Mara said. Tana just smiled at her and nodded before walking down the hall. Mara smiled once she stepped into her room and closed the door.

It seemed that her plan was playing out as smoothly as she had anticipated.