Chapter twenty seven

Talon did not come back that night. Or the next. Tana was left alone with silver burning into her flesh and two meals delivered by an omega a day.

The second morning she had thrown up the second she woke up. Perhaps it was the stress of the ordeal or the fact that her wolf was still in ungodly amounts of pain from being in contact with silver for so long. Either way, it made her throat burn and made her dizzier than she already was.

No one had told her why she was so important. No one told her anything, really. She was left alone in the same room with no explanation and a plethora of things to worry about. Sincere was one of them. She hoped the pup had gotten out alive. However, death would have been the kinder option if the other was to be caught.

However, one morning Tana had a very strange feeling. Almost like she was being watched.

“Wow, ain’t you a pretty thing! Don’t look too good, though. You must be Tana, right?” A strangely accented, bubbly voice piped up from the front of the room, snapping Tana’s head up from where it was hanging over the toilet bowl. When she turned around a young woman stood there, about Tana’s age, with a grin on her face. She had brown skin and sharp features. Her hair just passed her shoulders and was wound in tight curls. She had a happy disposition that Tana didn’t quite understand.

“Oh, dear me. I’m Bea. I was close to your auntie Lumina. She always told me to look out for you if she died, so here I am!” The woman said, only puzzling Tana further.

“I know, I know. I’m young. I’ve been told I’ve got an old soul though. In case you were wondering, I’m only a few years your senior. Anyway, I’m here to help with this pesky situation you’ve got going on here,” Bea enthused, propping a hand on her hip as Tana rinsed her mouth out and stood up, wincing when the cuffs rubbed at her already raw skin.

“I don’t need your help. I can get out of here just fine on my own. And how did you get in anyway? I’ve never seen you around before. You don’t smell like a wolf either,” Tana huffed, earning a giggle from Bea.

“You’ve got some attitude, don’t cha? That’s ok. I do too. And that’s because I’m technically not a wolf. Well, see, my mama was half wolf half-witch, and my daddy was half pixie half-witch. So that makes me half-witch, quarter pixie, and a quarter wolf. It’s all very confusing. Essentially, I teleported in here. Takes a lot of magic but I didn’t feel like fighting today. Causes too much commotion,” Bea explained. The rate at which she spoke was starting to give Tana a headache. How could she be so upbeat in a place like this?

“So what do you want? You’re going to just teleport me out of here?” Tana huffed. Bea laughed at that.

“Oh, goddess no. It would be too dangerous for someone in your condition,” Bea said. Tana tensed and narrowed her eyes.

“My condition?”

Bea froze, looking like a deer in the headlights.

“Oh...uh, dear. Ignore me. I think the exhaustion is getting to me,” she laughed nervously. Her eyes flickered to Tana’s stomach and then up to her face again.

“Well, the thing is, I don’t have enough juice left to teleport us both. But I can get your boyfriend and his warriors through the barrier at the border. All you have to do is keep Talon distracted,” Bea explained. She then flicked her wrist and the cuffs released Tana’s wrists, falling to the floor at her feet.

Almost instantly relief raced up her arms and the blistering skin that coiled around her wrists began to flake off and get replaced by new, healthy skin.

“All I need is an hour. Can you keep him distracted for that long?” Bea asked. Tana inhaled deeply and gave her a short nod.

“Perfect.”

And in the blink of an eye, she was gone again.

***

Tana’s parents were in lock-up. Tuk and Alec had been adamantly avoiding him and Sincere stuck to him like a leech. He could barely take two steps without Sincere clinging to him.

“Alpha, another woman is here to see yo-”

“Oh, hush. I don’t need any introductions. Bea’s the name, pleasure you meet you,” a short, dark-skinned woman drawled as she stalked past one of Declan’s guards and into his office. Sincere, once again, was colouring on the floor while Declan sorted out paperwork and got in contact with the other packs who bordered with the Blood Wolves.

He was going to snarl, but as he stood up he smelled something he had been dreaming about for days.

He smelled Tana.

Why did she smell of his mate?

did she smell of his mate?

“I see those gears turning in your head. You and Tana are one in the same. I was scared she’d leave a sizeable divot in my arm. Oh, dear. You look just like Lumina. You are a doll, aren’t you?” Bea yammered on, crouching down in front of Sincere, who tilted her head curiously.

“Who the hell are you?” Declan growled, stepping towards Sincere protectively. The woman looked surprised for a moment, but then let out a laugh.

“Goodness! I do tend to ramble. Not the best quality during a war. I’m an old friend of Lumina’s. I visited Tana earlier and she is quite on board with this plan of mine. See, she’s busy distracting Talon. While that goes on, I’m going to get you and your warriors through the barrier at the border. Think you’ll be ready by six? I haven’t got much time,” Bea explained. Declan felt his breath catch in his throat. She had seen Tana. That meant Tana was ok.

“How exactly do I know that this isn’t a trap? Forgive me for being a bit hesitant, but I’ve not had many friendly visitors lately,” Declan huffed, folding his arms across his chest. Bea froze momentarily at that, but then straightened up and shrugged lightly.

“I never thought of it that way, though I do see why you’re a bit hesitant. There really is no way for me to prove myself, so I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it, hm?” Bea said. She didn’t falter for a second. Declan found that it was easy to find a liar if you pressed them hard enough. Even the most apathetic people had some sort of tell. Their scent would change ever so slightly and alert Declan that something was off. However, Bea’s scent stayed the same. She certainly wasn’t a full wolf, but that didn’t really matter. The longer he stared at her, the longer she stared back. She even at him.

“Fine. Six it is. But trust me when I say-”

“Oh, dear god. It’s the same with all you alphas. You’ll tear me limb from limb if I betray you, right? You bunch are so angry all the time. I’ll leave you to your brooding,” Bea sighed. She then peered down at Sincere for another moment before crouching down in front of the pup. Bea flicked her hand and, in a whirl of mist, a pendant appeared in her hand. It had a delicate looking flower with a gem in the middle hanging from the gold chain, which seemed to catch the attention of Sincere.

“Here ya go, sweetheart. I’ve been hanging onto this for quite some time. Your mama gave it to me when I was younger. But I don’t think I have much use for it anymore. It used to be Lumina’s, you know? Think you can take care of it for me?” Bea asked. Sincere stared at her for a moment with comically wide eyes but then nodded as Bea placed the necklace into her tiny hands.

“Lovely. I’m always around if you need me. See you both. And, Alpha Declan, is it? I would suggest preparing yourself for some...surprising news,” Bea said. Declan narrowed his eyes at her, but just as he opened his mouth to speak it was almost as if she had vanished into thin air.

“She’s funny. I like her,” Sincere told him, examining the necklace that Bea had given her. “You’ll go bring Tana back, right?” she asked, turning her gaze up to him.

He let out a sigh and gave her a small nod. If Bea was true to her word, he would get his mate back. If not, he’d kill her and anyone else in his way.

***

She paced the room for what felt like hours. Her wrists had scarred over and her wolf was slowly coming back around. However, there was still no sign of Talon.

When the omega had come into her room to drop off her meals, Tana had pretended to be asleep to hide her wrists. There was no doubt that if the guards saw she had gotten out of them that they would just put them right back on.

Talon still didn’t come back. So, Tana tried a new tactic.

For fifteen minutes, Tana slammed her fists into the door over and over and over. Her knuckles bruised and healed multiple times and she didn’t stop until one of the guards swung the door open and growled in her face.

“Stop that shit,” he snarled. Tana just rolled her eyes and folded her arms, making sure her wrists were concealed. She also twisted her face into a grimace to make him think she was in pain, although she wasn’t.

“Where’s Talon?”

“None of your business,” he huffed back. Just as he was about to close the door, Tana kicked her leg out and stopped the door with her foot.

“Tell me where he is,” she growled. The guard moved to shove her back, but his gaze was quickly caught by something behind Tana.

“The cuffs are off. Get Talon, now!” The guard growled to his friend. Tana tensed. She had forgotten to put away the cuffs themselves. How could she have been that stupid?

The guard moved to grab her, but Tana danced back and drove her heel into his foot. He stumbled slightly, so Tana took that opportunity to jump and wrap her arm around his neck, pulling him to the ground. He tried to shake her off, but she had already managed to wrestle him to the ground. She then tried to crawl away, but the guard grabbed her by the ankles and stopped her, keeping her on the ground as well. Tana growled and tried to kick out against him but he was much bigger than her and could keep her legs in place.

Panicked, she reached around as he started to drag her up. Without thinking she grabbed one of the silver cuffs, cursing when it burned her palm. She swung it up and slammed it into the guard’s eye, causing him to let out a roar of pain and stagger away with his hands over his eyes. With him distracted, she threw him to the ground once again and twisted his head as hard as she could. Once she heard a loud she let go and staggered to her feet, darting out into the hallway where two other guards had appeared.

“Get back in there like a good girl, Tana. We don’t wanna hurt you. Talon doesn’t like damaged goods,” one of the guards, Rebel, drawled tauntingly. The tone of his voice sent uncomfortable chills down Tana’s spine.

“Stand the fuck down, Rebel. Threaten to touch what’s mine again and I’ll tear your throat out,” a dark, steady voice growled. Tana instinctively took a step back and breathed deeply. All she had to do was distract him. She could fight him, but he knew all of her moves. He taught her everything.

Her only option was to run as fast as she possibly could.

So, just as Talon stepped in front of his guards, Tana took a running leap towards the banister and threw herself over it, relishing in the angry growl from Talon as she hurdled towards the stairs two flights below. Shocks erupted from her feet to her knees when she landed, but she wasn’t hurt otherwise. She could hear guards and warriors alike pounding after her, so she took off as fast as she could. The packhouse was a complicated maze of hallways that even Tana hadn’t quite figured out, even throughout six years living there. Sometimes she felt like it changed overnight.

“What the fuck- Tana! Tana!” A voice hollered. It was familiar. She knew that voice. She trusted that voice.

Before she could process what was going on, someone grabbed her arm and yanked her into one of the rooms she was passing by, draping a blanket over her despite her thrashing and struggling.

“Would you quit it? It’s me! Devon! Goddess, shut up! I’m trying to cover your smell,” the voice hissed.

Devon. Of course he was there! Her best friend was still there!

She was about to speak, but the sound of feet thumping down the hallway swallowed the words before they came out.

Once Devon determined that they were far enough away, he pulled the blanket away from her head and greeted her with a cheeky grin.

“Hey there, gorgeous.”