Watch The Dark

The wolf who had arrived at his doorstep was a basket case. Tuk was his name, but Declan couldn't get anything else out of him other than that. He was scrawny and scarred, which led him to believe that he had a good reason for keeping his origins a secret.

However, this trembling young wolf had not come alone. Only two days after he had arrived a patrol found something much worse at their border, so bad that they called on him to check it out.

A pup, no older than three, dressed in bloody clothes with sticks and leaves tangled in her golden hair. She was curled up in a ball with her eyes shut tight, whimpering softly in her sleep.

"We found her like this. She looks pretty banged up and like she hasn't eaten in a while," Enzo, one of the wolves on patrol, told him. "What should we do with her?"

Declan watched the girl for a moment, the pained look on her sleeping face. Most people looked peaceful when they slept but this tiny pup looked troubled. What troubles could a pup so small have?

"Take her to the medics. Tell them what you told me. Once she's better we'll assign her a den mother until we can figure out where she came from," Declan said. His wolf whined in the back of his head, something in him telling him to stat with the pup.

But Declan had responsibilities, so he turned away and ignored the urge to stay.

***

A week passed before he heard about that pup again. This time it seemed she was much more lively and causing even more trouble than the den mothers could handle.

No one had reported a missing pup and it seemed that no one was looking for her so they had tried to get her to take to a den mother. Apparently in the past week she had chased away three den mothers, scared the other pups half to death, and bitten his delta so hard that she drew blood. So, now Declan had to get involved. Again.

The den mothers insisted on clearing out the nursery of any other people before he got there, leaving the pup alone inside.

"She is a horrid thing. Absolutely horrible. If there ever was a time to send a pup back out in the woods this would be it," he heard one of the den mothers murmur to the other. He frowned.

When he entered the nursery, the pup was huddled in one of the corners of the room. Her legs were pulled up to her chest and she was peering over her knees at him, watching his every move.

"I hear you've been causing some trouble," he said. No response.

"Can you tell me your name?" He asked. Silence.

"My name is Declan. I'm the alpha." The pup tilted her head at this, curious.

"You're safe, it's ok-" he reached out to the pup, only to be met with a snarl and a tiny hand slapping his away. He took the warning and stepped back with his hands up, not wanting to upset her.

"I guess I will just sit over here for a while," he then said, walking over to a plush armchair and settling down. He couldn't very well leave her like this, so he would stay until she calmed down.

The pup kept her eyes on him the whole time, but after about an hour she started to emerge from the corner. Once she was completely sure he wasn't moving, she stepped into the open and stared at him like he was the most puzzling thing she had ever seen. He could clearly see how skinny and small she was. Wherever she had come from must have been hellish for her. He felt a pang of sympathy in his heart- if wherever she had come from was bad enough to make her this scared and malnourished, he couldn't imagine what it had been like for her.

Another hour passed and Declan was close to nodding off in the soft chair when the pup headed over to a bookshelf with tons of disorganized children's books. She hesitated before turning her back to him to look for a book, taking long enough that he assumed she was looking for something specific.

When she found what she wanted, which was a rather old book called 'Goodnight Moon', she slowly walked over to Declan. He sat stiff as a board, not wanting even the slightest movement to scare her off.

But then, she did something he really was not expecting.

She climbed up on his lap and handed him the book. She barely weighed anything and the only discomfort he felt was from her bony body when she shifted around to get comfortable.

He assumed he just sat there and gaped at her for a few moments because she eyed him and then tapped on the book expectantly. She wanted him to read to her. Without any other choice, he did.

When he was done, she tapped on it again and looked at him with the same expectant look. He read it two more times before she was satisfied.

"Can you tell me your name?" He asked quietly. The pup gazed up at him with big, brown eyes, then back at the book. She reached over to turn the pages until she got to a page with three bears on it.

"Mama," she said as she pointed to the first one. "Marie," she continued and pointed to the second one. "Me," she finished and pointed to the third, then at herself.

"Sincere," she then said, still gesturing at herself. Then, she poked his cheek and tilted her head. "Big wolf," she added. Declan chuckled softly.

"Big wolves protect small wolves, like you. You'll be safe here, you know that, right?" He said. Sincere blinked and shook her head.

"Mama and Marie got hurt bad. I ran from the bad wolves. There are bad wolves here. They called me pest and runt but my name is Sincere," she explained. For such a young pup he was surprised at how well she was able to speak. Maybe she was older than she looked and her growth had simply been stunted.

He thought for a moment. He couldn't very well just leave her in the nursery where she and the den mothers and the other pups clearly did not get along very well. But he also didn't really know what else to do with her. Unless...

"Do you want your own room?" He asked. Sincere tilted her head, then poked his chest.

"Stay with you," she said. He frowned. She couldn't stay in his room.

"What if you had a room beside mine?" He suggested. The pup kept staring at him, like she was processing what he was telling her, then nodded.

***

By giving Sincere her own room he gave her the freedom to come out of her shell at her own pace. She liked to play in his office while he did work and one day, when Blake entered while she was there, she hid behind his couch and only came out when Blake offered her a lollipop. Declan had no idea why Blake had a lolly in his pocket or how he had gotten it, but it got Sincere out from behind the couch and onto Blake's lap for the time he was in there.

"Looks like you're daddy Declan now," Blake joked one day when they were eating lunch outside. Sincere heard this and perked up with a tilt of her head, glancing between Blake and Declan.

"Daddy?" She said, pointing at Declan. Blake laughed so hard he had to clutch his stomach.

"Uhh..." Declan narrowed his eyes at Blake, who was still laughing and ultimately leaving Declan to his own defences.

She got distracted before he could correct her, and at first he thought that she had forgotten until she started telling Jade that he was her daddy.

Jade had laughed just as hard as Blake, but neither of his irritating betas had helped. So, months later, he was still stuck with a tiny pup claiming him as her father.