Watch The Dark
nine

Tana's first week with the Dark Wolves was hectic and frankly quite terrifying. Despite the announcement Declan had made to his pack about her, she still got nasty looks and whispers whenever she decided to venture outside of Declan's bedroom. Which, for the record, she didn't do much.

Sometimes Tuk would invite her to hang out with his friends, but that was only when he felt bad about her not doing anything else. She knew that he had moved on. She could see it by the way he acted with them. He didn't need her anymore.

The biggest reason she didn't leave was because she was terrified she was going to run into Alec. Subconsciously she knew she would have to run into him at some point, but no matter how hard Tuk tried to urge her to, she just couldn't do it.

She had watched him die, so to meet him face to face again struck something dark and grotesque inside of her. It made her stomach churn and her eyes water and she never wanted to feel it again.

She was lounging in Declan's room on a particularly sunny day, trying to figure out how the television worked with the remote, when a loud knock reverberated off of the door. Without waiting for an answer, Declan's sister waltzed in and gave her a questioning look.

"I haven't seen you around at all. Do you just stay here all day? By yourself?" Jade asked, to which Tana merely shrugged.

"I don't really have anywhere else to go. The only person who wants to talk to me is my brother," said Tana, narrowing her eyes in frustration at the remote. Why did it have so many useless buttons?

"Well, you're in luck. Wynona and I are here to be your new besties! Come on, let's go. We're taking you on a tour," Jade exclaimed, clapping her hands together excitedly just as another, slightly shorter, female with short brown hair and dazzling green eyes walked in and smiled as well. That must have been the other Delta Tuk had told her about. Markus, the delta she had encountered on her first day, must be her mate.

"Do I have to?" Tana grumbled, just as the remote was plucked out of her hands and tossed onto the coffee table.

"Yes, you do. Let's go," Jade insisted, grabbing her arm to pull her up. The two girls beamed at her, to which Tana only rolled her eyes and dragged her feet as she followed them, hardly listening to them chatter on about whatever they had planned. Perhaps this was some kind of torture Declan had planned. If so, it was effective.

The two girls chatted amongst each other while Tana walked behind them, fiddling with the end of one of her braids while she surveyed the things going on around her. There weren't many young wolves, but apparently that was because the young wolves went to school outside of the pack. There were two schools, one for younger kids and one for older kids. Apparently, they were run with help from a close ally pack to the Dark Wolves which allowed the kids from each pack to intermingle and get used to each other.

The Blood Wolves tutored their young in the pack and nowhere else.

There were wolves around the age of 18 training in the meadow, Markus running through intense drills with them. The older wolves were training with Blake, all sparring or working on cardio. All of them, though sweaty and shirtless (even the females were just in sports bras), looked deadly. Tana wasn't sure she would want to mess with them, but she was sure that they probably didn't want to mess with her either.

"God, I love it when Blake takes his shirt off. But I could slap the shit out of all those bitches staring at him," Jade growled, eyeing her mate from where they stood. Tana cringed a bit but nodded slowly, trying to back away from the two of them who were now very focused on their mates.

"Anyway! Come on, Tana. We wanted to show you this amazing lake that wolves around here swim in all the time. Oh, shit. Do you have a bathing suit? You can borrow one of mine. I totally forgot!" Jade enthused, grabbing her arm once again to drag her back inside. Tana wasn't too keen on swimming, but she wasn't in a position to pass up friends, especially ones who seemed very nice.

Jade understood that she wasn't comfortable with a lot of skimpy suits, so she gave her a simple black sports-bra like top and bottoms that resembled very very short shorts. Both had more coverage, which made Tana much more comfortable than the other ones did.

After all three of them had put the bathing suits on under their clothes, Tana was dragged out once again, this time all of them headed towards the woods, only to be stopped by two guards who frequently were posted outside of Declan's room.

"Sorry, ladies. We have strict orders to not allow her any further than the woods," said one of the guards, to which Jade let out a snort.

"Tony, move. We're going with her. What, do you think two females aren't strong enough to catch her if she tries to run?" Jade accused, which caused the males to blush furiously and shake their heads.

"Apologies, Jade. If anything happens, it's on you," Tony said, to which Jade just grinned and continued on.

By the time they got to the lake, the sun had warmed the water a bit more, which pleased Tana greatly. There were a few other wolves but not so many that Tana couldn't keep her distance, which made her more comfortable.

"You'll love this place. Declan and I used to play around here all the time. Just never come here on Wednesdays. That's when the elders come around," Jade said, cringing at her last comment, which made Wynona giggle a bit. When they turned to look at her, Tana offered an awkward smile.

"Well, come on!" Jade squealed, confidently throwing her clothes off before taking a running start into a cannonball, sending water flying everywhere. Wynona was quick to follow, earning a laugh from Jade.

Tana, however, removed her clothes slowly before walking to the water and sliding in slowly. The other girls just seemed happy that she had gotten in the water.

"Jade, who's that?" A sweet voice called from a few meters away. Swimming towards them were two girls, both utterly stunning, with wide grins on their faces.

"Hey, Elena. This is Tana. She's Declan's mate," Jade said, moving out of the way so that Elena could look at Tana, who simply stood there, suddenly very self-conscious.

"Mate, huh? I heard you were a Blood Wolf. Don't look like much, either. Sure this isn't some joke?" Elena asked. Tana's wolf let out a growl, getting more and more territorial by the minute.

"Elena, cut it out," Wynona piped up, shooting the girl a glare. Elena just shrugged.

"I'm just saying. If you're supposed to be the Luna, I would just up and leave. You're in no way fit to be a leader. You should just step back and let a real female rule by his side," Elena snorted, swimming off towards her friend again, to which Jade rolled her eyes.

"Sorry about her. She and Declan...well, it's not my place to say, but she's just jealous. Ignore it," Jade told Tana.

Tana nodded. She could ignore it.

For now.

***

Declan's P.O.V

To say he was angry would be a vast understatement. The running, the stand-offish behaviour, it all made sense now. He had known she was traumatized but he had no clue how far it went.

There was a soft knock on the door before Tuk hesitantly stepped in, wincing when the doors were shut by the guards outside.

"You asked to see me?" Tuk said, sitting in the seat across from Declan's desk when Declan gestured.

"I did. I'm sure you're aware of what happened to Tana, with Talon? The whole...slave thing?" Declan said. Tuk seemed a bit shocked, but nodded slowly.

"She told you?" He croaked out. He looked a bit scared, actually.

"She did. She said that he used her ever since she was 13. For fighting and...other things," Declan said. Tuk cleared his throat, nodding again.

"That's all she told you?"

"Why? Is there more?"

"N-no, nothing, no worries," Tuk stammered, his wide eyes not concealing his emotions at all. Declan could clearly see who the weakest sibling of the three was.

"I'm your alpha, Tuk. If there's something you're keeping from me, I demand to know what it is," Declan growled. All he had wanted to know from Tuk was whether or not Talon would wage war or not. Declan had not yet had face to face conversations with the male, so he had no clue what he might do. But now Tuk was clearly hiding something about his mate and that only fuelled his growing anger.

"I can't, Alpha. I'm sorry. If I could I would but Tana would kill me. I understand that you're my alpha but she's my twin and I just can't break her trust again," Tuk said quietly, turning his head away.

"But if you were wondering, Tana is very important to what Talon is planning. No one really know what he's planning besides Tana, Talon, and Talon's brother from another pack. I think his name is Fang. But all we know is that it's...it's really bad for anyone other than them. It's why Tana ran. She didn't want to be apart of it," Tuk said, expelling a deep breath. Declan gave him a curt nod and gestured to dismiss him, so he nodded and scurried out of the room just as Declan got up and swung his fist right into the closest wall with a loud growl that reverberated around the room.

He was sick of the lies. She had only been there less than a week and she was driving him insane. Blake had told him that he saw Jade and Wynona dragging her off to the lake, which pissed him off even more. She trusted his sister and his delta more than she trusted her own mate.

But that was going to end. One way or another.

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