Watch The Dark

"I told you, I told you what would happen if you fucked with me," Talon snarled, driving the point of his shoe into her stomach. She was laying on the floor, her arms bound behind her back.

"You're a crazy motherfucker and I'll never stop trying to get away from you," Tana spat, blood and spit flying from her lips as her hair was suddenly yanked back and Talon shoved his face into hers. He laughed. A dark, menacing sound.

"You are more important to me than anything else. You are more important to the sake of this pack than you even know. But you'll know soon enough. You'll see how powerful I really make you," he hissed, slamming her head into the floor as he released her hair.

"Try that shit again, Tana. I dare you."

With a panicked breath, Tana shot up in bed. This time, the sun was out, but Declan was still asleep next to her. She could hear some movement going on on the lower floors, which told her that it wasn't that early.

She got up with a groan and collected some clothes for the day before heading into the bathroom. The cool tiles felt refreshing, but that wasn't what caught Tana's attention in that moment.

When she turned the light on and lifted her head to look in the mirror, her eyes were no longer brown. They were a bright, gleaming red that made her let out a gasp and back into the closed door of the bathroom.

"What the fuck," she whispered, moving closer to her reflection. The colour didn't wane, it only seemed to grow brighter the longer she looked at it.

A knock at the door set her hairs on end, making her jump slightly.

"Tana? Are you okay?" Declan rumbled through the door. The raps of his voice made her skin tingle; made her want to open the door to let him closer to her, but she held herself back. She couldn't let her wolf take over. Not now.

"I'm fine," she called back, turning back to the mirror and trying to will the colour to go away and return to normal.

He began to jiggle the doorknob to no avail, which made him knock slightly again.

"Why did you lock the door? Is something going on?" He asked.

"Everything's fine. I'll be out in a minute," she snapped, tugging on her clothes for the day, blinking rapidly to try and make the colour go away.

"I can smell your fear, Tana. What the hell is going on?"

Panicked, she pulled her hair into a bun and kept staring in the mirror, as if she could stare the colour out of her eyes.

What is going on? She asked her wolf, but the beast remained silent. It seemed that her wolf knew just about as much as she did.

Suddenly, with a loud slam, the door burst off of its hinges and clattered to the ground, leaving Tana with nearly no breath left in her lungs and a very, very angry Declan in the doorway.

"What the hell is- why are your eyes red?" He breathed, stepping closer to Tana with every step she took back until she was pressed against the counter and he was mere inches away from her.

"I don't know. I-I woke up and they were like this. It's not going away," she replied, her voice cracking as she spoke. Was this where he killed her? Where he got fed up with all her drama and finished her off once and for all?

He seemed to be thinking for a moment before a flash of realization crossed over his face. He didn't seem as angry, but he looked frustrated.

"Tuk said that you were apart of Talons plan. That you were one of the only ones to know what was going on. Maybe he did this to you and you didn't even notice. Maybe he...I don't know, did experiments? When you were knocked out or something like that?" Declan asked, gritting his teeth to contain his anger as he spoke.

"Maybe. But why would it start now? I don't remember anything else weird happening," she told him, scratching the back of her neck in thought. "His plan was to make some sort of serum. It was supposed to stimulate the bond between and alpha and it's pack. So that if his wolves were beginning to step out of line, he controlled them. Everything about them. He said he would kill anyone who refused the serum. He had enough wolves who were as evil as him to pull it off, too," she explained. Declan, for a moment, looked dumbfounded. However, he quickly schooled his face into neutrality and shook his head.

"I need to mark you."

"Excuse me?"

"Just...trust me. I know it's fast and I know that it's not what you want, but maybe if you become bonded to me, whatever he tested on you will kind of...cancel out," he explained. As much as Tana didn't like it, she knew he was right. However, it would only work if she marked him as well. She had a feeling Declan knew that and wasn't too torn up about it.

"I, um, okay. Yeah, okay. Does it hurt?" She asked, mentally hitting herself for sounding like a scared pup.

He grinned a bit at that and leaned a tad bit closer, making her shiver and her skin tingle.

"From what I've heard, it feels pretty good," he replied softly. She drew in a breath and nodded slowly.

"Besides, we'll do it at the same time. Same pain, or pleasure," he said with a wink that made her want to jump his bones then and there. She had a feeling that her wolf had something to do with it, but at the same time Tana found herself wanting it too.

"Okay. Okay. I'll go first and then you do it right after," she said, shaking out her arms as she moved her mouth towards his neck. She felt him shudder and let out a small sigh, but she didn't let herself linger for long. In one swift move she sunk her fangs into the side of his neck, nearly collapsing when he let out a moan into her neck. And when he buried his teeth into her neck, she barely felt the pain that she was expecting. All she felt was pure bliss and an overwhelming amount of pleasure coursing through her body. It made her wolf whimper when Declan pulled away, keeping his arms wrapped around her arms to keep her from falling. He was grinning at her.

"I think it worked," he said, gesturing to the mirror, where Tana turned to see her eyes returning to their original brown. She couldn't help but grin up at him as well, finding herself transfixed by his features. By him.

"Thank you," she whispered, her head still feeling fuzzy and her body feeling warm as she looked at him. She could feel what he was feeling. She could hear the thoughts running rampant in his head. And as she rested her forehead against his chest, she could hear the rapid pounding of his heart against his rib cage.

He reached up and cupped the back of her head, resting his chin on top of her head as he tried to slow his breathing.

She felt anxious and euphoric all at once. The feeling of him being so close to her seemed to lull her into tranquility. Tana wasn’t sure why she had been so scared when it felt so right.

“As much as I love this, my legs are getting sore,” Declan murmured against her hair. She let out a stifled laugh and pulled away, rubbing her face with her hands.

“I’m sorry I- I don’t usually do that with...with people I don’t know well- it was weird I’m sorry,” she stammered, only to have him cup her cheek suddenly to snap her out of her rambling.

“Stop apologizing. I liked it, Tana. Tell you what, how about we go out tonight. To get to know each other,” he said. Tana tilted her head to the side out of confusion.

“Like to a restaurant. In the town?”

Tana continued staring blankly at him.

“You’ve never been into town?”

She shook her head and shrugged, which made him laugh.

“Alright then. This’ll be fun,” he chuckled. Tana smiled at him. A real smile. A smile she hadn’t used in years.

But despite the bubble of bliss she shared with Declan, she couldn’t help the nagging feeling in the back of her mind.

What if the mark didn’t work?