Watch The Dark

It had been two weeks since Talon declared war. Two weeks of gruelling physical therapy that Declan insisted she do to get ready. He had been busy securing support from the packs allies and training up the warriors and apprentices. She had barely seen his within those weeks, actually.

On a particularly hot day Tana had opted to forgo the light training that she had been allowed to do with Tuk and just lounged on Declan's couch. He had gotten a new iPad for her and thankfully had turned the sound all the way down so that she didn't get startled and break it again.

"Play this one. It's got a lot of colours," Sincere was saying, pointing to some app that she had been talking about non stop.

"Here, I'm gonna play it," she then said when Tana ignored her, snatching the iPad out of her hands to do her own thing. Tana snorted and flopped back into the couch.

Just then, Declan walked in with a disheveled sigh. Sincere shot up right away, hopping off of the couch to greet him. He gave her a tired smile in return.

"Sincere, he's tired. Let him be," Tana said, turning her head to look at the two of them, who seemed to be whispering about something already.

"No, he has a surprise! Come on! We have to go see the surprise!" Sincere insisted, tugging at Tana's good arm.

"Ugh. Gravity. It's keeping me here," Tana moaned. Sincere frowned and pulled harder.

"No it's not! Get up! Stop being so lazy!"

"Yes it is. I can't move," Tana replied tauntingly. Her cousin huffed angrily and kept pulling.

"Get up! Get up! Daddy, tell her to get up!" She growled, stomping her foot. Declan walked over and picked her up with a laugh.

"I promise you'll like it," he said.

Sighing, she pulled herself up and nodded. Right as she stood up, both Declan and Sincere grinned and led her out of the pack house.

***

They walked towards a building that was a little ways away from the pack house. The second pack house was visible from where they were and the area was sheltered by trees and flowers. In the middle of the clearing stood a beautiful house with large windows and three floors, four if there was a basement.

"Holy shi-"

"I started building it with Blake and Alec when I was 18. I always dreamed of living here with my mate. Away from the business of the pack house. Where we could just live, together," Declan said, turning to her.

"I wanted to show you what I'm fighting for, Tana. When we first met I said that my pack will always come first. But that couldn't be more wrong now. I want this to be our home," he explained, a small smile on his face. Sincere giggled in his arms, turning her face to Declan.

"She likes it. I'm gonna live here too, Tana. It's bigger than the house me and Mama and Marie had, so I like it a lot," Sincere said, wriggling to get put down. Once she was, she raced over to the porch and reached for the door handle, only just able to grab it and pull it open.

"Daddy spent all week putting stuff in the house. Stripes is in here too!" Sincere enthused, disappearing into the house.

"It's- it's really beautiful," Tana finally said. Her eyes fixed on the house.

Was that what she wanted? A house and a mate and pups? Is that all she was working towards?

"You don't like it? I can change anything you don't like, I swear," Declan said quickly, his eyes wide and concerned.

"No, I love it, it's just... I'm not some housewife, Declan. I'm a fighter. I can't just sit around all my life taking care of pups. Sure, I love Sincere, but she's my cousin. I was never meant to take care of her, or any pup for that matter," she said, scratching the back of her neck.

"The house was never meant to pressure you into anything. I don't need pups now. Or ever, if you don't want them. Sincere will already be my heir, as messy as it is. It's just so that we don't have to be stuck around my father and the others all the time," Declan said. Tana gave a light smile and nodded.

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"So are you going to give me a tour or not?"

Declan laughed and wrapped his arm around her waist, leading her into the main room. It had a big flatscreen against one wall and a sectional couch in front of it that Sincere was sitting on with Stripes, watching some cartoon Tana didn't recognize. Apparently, it led into the dining room which then led into the kitchen. The upstairs rooms were bedrooms and bathrooms and a playroom for Sincere as well as an office for Declan. The basement had been turned into an indoor gym. Sam, surprisingly, was already in the house sitting on the couch with Sincere. If she was being honest, Tana hadn't even noticed his absence.

"It's...big. But it's nice," Tana said as she gazed around, taking in every bit of new and nice furniture around her.

Declan was quiet, so she turned her head towards him. He was staring at her with a smile on his face, an unrecognizable expression in his eyes.

"What?"

"We never got to dance at the ball," he stated, holding his hand out to her with a playful twinkle in his eye.

"You want to dance? Right now?"

"Yep."

"I can't dance," she huffed, raising an eyebrow at his advances. He just chuckled and shook his head.

"Just follow my lead," he replied, taking her hand and pulling her towards him as he began to move side to side. He started off slow so that she could get used to the rhythm. There wasn't any music but by the way he swayed you would never know that there wasn't. He didn't even flinch when she stepped on his toes.

"See, you're a natural," he told her, slowly spinning her when she let out a snort of laughter.

"I look stupid," she said tartly, letting out a yelp when he suddenly pulled her into his chest.

"You look like you're having fun," he said. She just rolled her eyes at him.

"I wanted to ask you something," she said as he slowed down and just swayed with her. He nodded for her to go on, so she let out a sigh.

"Don't cut me off with your possessive alpha bullshit, ok? I just want to ask you what you plan to do if I...you know, die," she said. He growled in response, his eyes narrowed on her.

"It's a real possibility, Declan. I know what Talon is like. If he decides that he can't have me, he will kill me so that you can't either. I need to know that you'll be okay without me," she said. She could see the pain in his eyes, but she needed to know that he would be okay.

"Losing a mate means losing half of yourself. My dad barely survived my mom being killed. I don't know that I'd be able to survive it, Tana. But...if that's what you really want...I'll try. For you," he said quietly. He stopped swaying and looked her right in the eye, before leaning in and pressing a chaste kiss to her lips.

"Through hard times and easy. I'll be there for you. I promise you that," he whispered against her lips.

And for some reason, she believed him.