Watch The Dark

"Goddess, Tana! I heard you were back but I was like: no way! Tana would never get caught again! Not after the shit I did to help get you out!" Devon huffed indignantly. Tana rolled her eyes at him and sat up, rubbing the back of her head with a groan.

"I didn't see them coming. It was five against one. One of them being Fang. They had silver," Tana retorted, holding up her scarred wrists to prove it.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're lucky I smelled you. What are you doing? Do you have a death wish?" Devon asked, rearranging the blanket so that it still covered most of her to hide her scent.

"No. Sincere and Tuk are with the Dark Wolves, dipshit. And I found my mate. He's there, too," Tana explained. Devon rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. I heard. The prissy alpha Declan. He's a massive douche. Not to mention a manwhore. He's marked tons of women before. He even killed one girl's mate because he wanted her to be his Luna. I think her name was Elena or something," Devon snorted. Tana tensed up slightly. Elena. That was the girl at the lake. She was the one who had been incredibly protective over Declan. If what Devon was saying was true, it would make quite a lot of sense.

"He did that?"

Devon looked up at her, regret pooling in his eyes.

"I thought you knew. But that doesn't matter right now. We need to get you out of here," Devon said, glancing around the room for a moment.

"Ok. They already know you're missing and are looking for you. That means the perimeter of the house must be secured as well as the area around the living areas. Our only option will be to sneak you out with the omegas," Devon said. Tana frowned at him.

"Talon will see right through it. I can't walk right through without getting caught," Tana replied tartly. Devon raised an eyebrow slightly and shook his head.

"The dead omegas, Tana. You know, the cart that they take out to bury in the woods? It'll be easy to disguise your scent because you'll be in a burlap sack anyway. Plus the smell of the others will overpower yours anyway," Devon said. He then frowned, looking quite perplexed about whatever he was thinking about next.

"Ok, but how do you plan on getting me there? I'll get identified right away," Tana retorted. Devon sighed and scratched the back of his neck.

"The laundry room is right next to where they keep the...bodies. So I'll just put you in the laundry basket and hope to Aurora no one wonders why I have so much laundry," Devon suggested, giving her a sheepish grin.

She nodded slowly. Bea had told her to keep Talon distracted. Surely leading him on a wild goose chase was distracting enough. If it wasn't, both she and Declan would be in a great deal of trouble.

"This needs to work, Devon. And if it doesn't I want you to kill me."

"Pshaw. Don't be so dramatic, Tana," Devon huffed.

"I'm serious. If he tries to take me I want you to kill me. I can't be his slave again," she insisted. Devon searched her eyes for a moment, probably hoping that she was joking. When he figured out that she wasn't, he let out a sigh and nodded slowly.

"Well, want to get in the laundry basket?"

Tana, for once, actually laughed.

***

As Devon carried the basket full of clothes and Tana down the hall, Tana found it increasingly difficult to calm the erratic beating of her heart. Every footstep of another person set her right on edge.

Not to mention the pain that erupted from her temple when Devon shoved the door open and slammed her head into the side of the basket.

It was an extremely uncomfortable experience. Her legs had to stick out slightly and be covered by blankets and whatnot. As well, Devon's dirtiest clothes had to be directly on top of her to cover her scent. She was incredibly close to vomiting.

"Damn, Devon. I keep telling you to stop leaving your laundry to the last minute," a deep, male voice joked. Devon chuckled as well.

"You know me, Trev. Everything slips my mind," Devon replies coolly.

"Yep. Hey, you hear about Talons girl? You were friends with her, right? She ran off somewhere and no one can find her. She's somewhere in the territory though," Trevor said with a small laugh.

"Imagine the beating she'll get. Maybe he'll whip her again," he continued. She heard Devon gulp and felt his arms shake slightly.

"Yeah. Sure wouldn't want to be her. Anyway, I should get this into the laundry. Unless I want to sleep on a bare mattress tonight," Devon said. Trevor laughed.

Once Devon managed to get away from him and lock them both in the laundry room, Tana nearly cried at the breath of fresh air she inhaled. However, the smell of rot and death quickly invaded her senses and brought back the nausea ten fold.

"I know. It's awful. But I'll get us out as quick as possible. I'm usually in charge of...disposing of the bodies anyway. Come, we don't have much time," Devon said, beckoning for her to follow him as he crept towards the door. Once he seemed that the hallway was clear and it was safe to go into the other room, he pulled her across the hall.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

Her wolf was whimpering, but Tana couldn't understand why. Declan wasn't there. She couldn't smell him.

Our mate is here. I smell him. I can feel him.

Tana froze, right as she was about to get into the other room. She could feel him, too.

“Tana, come on! We’re going to get caught!” Devon hissed, tugging at her arm. But she felt like she couldn’t move.

He was here. He had actually come for her.

And Talon was going to kill him if Tana didn’t get to him soon enough.

“We need to go,” she said, yanking her arm out of her friend’s hold. She took off towards the stairs and climbed until she reached the main hall. It was eerily quiet, except for the sounds of fighting that came from the clearing in front of the pack house.

“Tana!” Devon growled, close behind her as she ran. Her nausea was quickly forgotten. All that she could think about was getting to him. Getting to her family before Talon did.

She couldn’t let them get hurt again.

She threw the main doors open, her eyes watering as the bright sun shocked her and made her stumble slightly.

There was fighting in the clearing. Brutal, bloody fighting. The Blood Wolves were outnumbered by the Dark Wolves and their allies. However, Fang’s pack had not yet arrived. If Tana didn’t get Declan and everyone else out of the territory soon, Fang’s pack could easily overpower them.

Tana couldn’t see Declan, but she could smell him. Without even thinking she took off across the clearing, following that faint smell she had been craving for days. The faint smell she hadn’t thought she would ever get to experience again.

However, before she could even reach the main fight, someone threw her to the ground. Her face was slammed into the dirt as a low chuckle resounded above her. She groaned and pushed herself up onto her elbows before looking up.

“Nice try. Winston! Bring him over here!” Talon, the man above her, hollered. He grabbed her by the wrists and dragged her to her feet. He held her arms behind her back and whirled her around, forcing her to look at the scene before her.

It was Talon’s beta, Winston, and two other warrior wolves approaching them. Between the three of them was Alec, bloody and bruised and looking utterly defeated.

He looked just like he had the day Tana watched him almost die.

“Things could have turned out differently if you had listened. I wouldn’t have to do this,” Talon chuckled. Some Dark Wolves tried to get to Alec but were pushed back, some even killed on the spot.

“No. No! Let him go! I’ll do anything! Anything! Please, please, please,” she wailed. She felt like a pup again. Helpless.

“Oh, dear. It’s too late for that. It’s unfortunate, really. But this time we’ll make sure the job gets finished,” Talon drawled, ignoring her cries as she desperately tried to get out of his hold. Devon was restrained as well, his eyes full of pain as he tried to get to her.

“Alec! Alec!” She cried. Alec lifted his head weakly and tried to pull himself free, only getting a blow to the head in return. He coughed up blood and looked at Tana, panic clear in his eyes.

“I tried, hummingbird. I’m so sorry. I really tried,” he said. From her viewpoint Tana could clearly see the glint of a dagger in Winston’s pocket. She kept pulling, kicking, thrashing around to try and get herself free. But Talon didn’t let up.

Alec knew his fate. Her brother looked too tired to even try to fight back. He would weakly pull at the arms that restrained him, but they had beat him so badly that he couldn’t heal as quick.

“Live for me, okay?”

Just as the words left his lips, Winston pulled the dagger out of his pocket and plunged it right into Alec’s throat. It was silver. It would kill him instantly. But that didn’t stop Tana from struggling.

“Alec!” She screamed, her chest heaving with every pained breath she took. Alec’s body slumped to the ground at the same time Talon released her wrists with a sick, sick laugh.

She dragged herself through the dirt to her brother’s side, falling to her knees at his side. She pulled the dagger from his throat and whirled it right into Winston’s eye as if that would somehow heal him. But he didn’t move. Not when she threw the dagger, not when Winston screamed and fell to the ground, and not when Talon grabbed her wrist and dragged her away.

“Get the vials and the pump. We need her blood now. Go, damn it!” Talon yelled at one of his warriors, hauling her back to the house.

She could still smell Declan. But she could smell Alec’s blood even more.

Declan had come to save her.

But he had made everything worse.