Chapter twenty-three

Talon's P.O.V "You haven't made a move, brother. What kind of leader do you think that makes you?" Fang, his older brother, snarled. He had always been bolder in battle than Talon. Smarter than Talon. More vile than Talon.

"If I attack later, they won't see it coming."

"If you attack later, they have more time to prepare."

Talon growled, his nails sinking into the polished wood of his desk. Had he not needed his brother's warriors, he would have slammed his head into the desk by now.

"You're letting that girl blind you. She isn't even your mate. Why are you so obsessed? She’s a good fuck but that’s about it," Fang growled right back. Talon narrowed his eyes. Fang knew exactly why he needed Tana back. He just wanted to remind him how weak and inferior he was for letting her get away.

"Alright. Let me remind you. Her blood is the key component to our serum. The blood of a killer. A true killer. Not to mention she has my heir with her," Fang huffed in response. Talon rolled his eyes. Fang's bastard child had been no concern of his. The fact that it got away was solely due to his brother's incompetence.

"Seems we both have something we need from that pack," Talon replied tartly. Fang, for once, nodded in agreement.

"So why don't we get this started, hm, brother?"

***

Tana's P.O.V Another week had passed and nothing, not even a word, had been heard from Talon. Many wolves were starting to doubt that he would ever actually attack.

Declan had been extremely busy once again. Many other packs were arriving that day with their warriors, all the while Tana had been teaching Sincere a few moves just in case something were to go awry.

Sincere, however, had the attention span of a goldfish. She would go from throwing intentionally lazy punches to running away and grabbing the television remote to watch more cartoons. By the third incident, Tana gave up and decided to lounge on the couch with Sincere and Sam.

With the cartoon droning on behind her, Tana let her eyes close for a moment as she leaned her head back against the pillows.

As she began to drift off, she had absolutely no idea how a small action could snowball into such a massive mistake.

***

She was jolted awake by Sincere vaulting onto her stomach, pure terror pooling in her eyes as she clutched Tana’s shoulders and continued shaking her. Right away she could smell intruders, could hear pounding at the door and the cackles of people outside.

“I did what you and Daddy told me. I locked the door when I saw them in the woods and closed all the curtains. They say they’re gonna come in and kill us,” Sincere whimpered, burying her face in Tana’s shoulder.

Tana let out a low growl as she got up, Sincere in her arms, crying softly.

“Come on, sweetheart! Our alpha is very close. If you aren’t out when he gets here you’ll be sorry!” One of the wolves shouted, a sickening malice laced in his voice. Tana clutched Sincere closer to her and glanced around frantically.

Tana then bolted up the stairs, quickly hurrying into the bathroom and glancing around frantically.

“Ok, Sincere, you’re going to stay here and lock the door. It’s the only door that locks. If you smell me or daddy you can open the door. If not, I want you to take the scissors and defend yourself, ok?” Tana said, but Sincere just whimpered and shook her head with tear-filled eyes.

“Bad wolves are gonna hurt you. Where’s daddy?” She whined, looking at the scissors that Tana had dug out of the drawer and placed on the counter.

“You bitches better get down here! Or I swear I’ll kick this door in and drag y’all out by your hair!” One of the men snarled loudly, pounding on the door again. Tana could hear it even from all the way upstairs.

“It’s ok if they hurt me, Sincere. Daddy isn’t here yet but he will be soon. Remember, you’re gonna be an alpha when you’re older. You’ve gotta be strong, alright?” Tana said. Sincere hesitated, but slowly nodded. Tana pressed her lips to her cousins forehead and stood up.

“Lock the door,” she said as she closed it behind her, hurrying back down the stairs to see the door still fully in tact.

“That’s it!” Another wolf snarled. With a loud the door flew off of its hinges, sending the wood splintering in all different directions as a red-eyed, growling male entered with at least five others behind him. When he spotted Tana, he flashed her a malicious grin.

“Well? What now, boys? Excuse me if I’m not the most friendly host,” Tana snarled, stepping out of the way when a male lunged for her. A second tried to take his place, but she reared back and slammed her elbow into his chest. When he hunched over, she grabbed his head and threw him towards the floor, using one leg to keep him down when she launched herself at the wolf who had previously lunged at her. He snarled and caught her cheek with his claws, but not before she snatched that same hand and wrenched it back until she heard a loud crack, leaving him to howl in agony as he stumbled back.

Another two rushed for her, so she used her speed to get away from them. There were four still standing and the fifth was close to getting back up. She couldn’t fight them all off, so she would need to be smart about it. Clearly they had all been trained by Talon, as they seemed to know what kind of tactics she would use. But she was smaller. She could use that to her advantage.

She moved far enough away to shift, and once she was on all fours, she rushed forward and sunk her teeth into one of their calves. As he screamed, she shook her head back and forth until a large chunk of flesh tore free and hung from her teeth. She spat it out just as the other male kicked her back. She let out a snarl and lunged again, but he was faster. He drives his heel into her side and shifted as well, diving for her stomach.

The other three shifted as well, closing in on her. When she tried to lunge again, they came on just as powerfully. One grabbed onto her ear, tearing at it viciously while she clawed at his throat, eventually leading him to let go. Another pounced on her back and tried to force her down, but she simply rolled over and used the position to reach up and clamp down on his throat. She pushed him down so that she was on top and clamped down even harder until he stopped struggling and blood poured from the bite wound.

The third caught her just as she stepped off of his friend. He grabbed her tail and swung her around, throwing her into the coffee table that effectively broke underneath her weight.

“Enough! Frederick, get the hell away from her. You two, hand the lady her clothes. And Rico, clean up the body,” a man, who radiated dominance, growled loud enough to shake the room. His eyes were fixed on Tana, his hands stuffed casually in his pockets.

His eyes were, indeed, intriguing. And it only just occurred to her why.

Those were Talon’s eyes.

When a half naked man dropped her clothes in front of her and turned around, same as the other males, Tana hesitantly shifted back and tugged her clothes on as fast as she could. Then, she grabbed one of the broken table legs and held it in front of her.

“No need for that, dear. I’m not here to hurt you. You’ve started quite a ruckus, though,” the man said.

“Where’s Declan?” She growled.

The man chuckled lightly. “Of course you would ask about him. He’s...distracted right now. I find it interesting that his guards were so easily defeated. To be fair, they put up quite a fight. I didn’t want to kill them, but...well, you know,” he said, gesturing towards the dead body that lay on the floor.

“What do you want?”

He smirked. “Now we’re talking. Really, I’m surprised you don’t recognize me, Tana. We saw each other often enough. Does the name Fang ring a bell?”

Tana gasped lightly. Fang, Talon’s older brother. He was equally as vicious, if not more. He had had his sick fun with Tana as well when he visited. However, it had been at least two years since Tana had seen him. He definitely looked different from before. His dark hair was down to his shoulders now and he had a thick, grotesque scar running from his chin to his throat.

“There we go. I want what is rightfully mine. And I want you, back where you’re meant to be. You’ve had your fun, but that’s over now. I have no patience for my brother’s outbursts. And I am not happy that I had to take over. If you come peacefully, it’ll be easier for you,” Fang drawled. There was a small that echoed from upstairs, setting Tana on high alert when Fang glanced that way.

“Hiding her, hm? Shouldn’t she know who her dear old dad is?” Fang taunted, holding a hand up to dismiss the wolves who started to try and head for the stairs. They gave a hesitant nod and left to stand outside of the house, dragging both their unconscious and dead friend with them.

“You are not her father and you’ll never touch a hair on her head. I’ll kill you,” she spat. Fang laughed.

“You may be lethal, Tana, but don’t forget who arranged your training in the first place. I taught my brother everything he knew. Anything you try I will shut down like that,” he spat, snapping his fingers to make his point.

“I was quite fond of Lumina. She was a lovely lady.”

“You raped her.”

Fang snorted, rolling his eyes. “Such a vile word from such a pretty mouth. Lumina may tell you that I raped her, but she wanted it just as much as I did,” he said, the anger in his eyes rising.

“You murdered her mate,” Tana spat back, snarling when he began walking closer.

“And who have you murdered, hm, Tana? You and I are very much alike, actually. So, what do you say, are you going to come peacefully? Or will I have to drag you?” Fang inquired. When he got close enough, Tana clawed him across the cheek, eliciting a low, dark laugh from him.

“Very well. Boys, get me the shackles,” Fang ordered loudly. Tana growled and darted around him, aiming to slam her boot into his back when he suddenly whipped around and grabbed her leg, twisting it until she lost her balance and crashed to the ground. He then stepped onto her legs, keeping her in place as she let out a growl of pain and tried to twist herself forward and grab him. However, as he was handed the silver shackles, Tana swung her fists into his face. Another male came forward and held her wrists in front of her as Fang clamped the shackles around them, eliciting a loud roar of pain from Tana. It felt like pure acid on her skin and it didn’t fade at all. Her wolf cried in the back of her mind, already weakened due to the silver.

“Find the girl. Now,” Fang ordered, stepping off of Tana as he sent the males up the stairs.

“No,” Tana growled, trying to stand up, only to collapse to her knees when Talon wrenched her down again by the chain.

As a few minutes passed, the males returned without Sincere. One who was sent to the basement returned empty-handed as well.

“Alpha, she’s not there. We can smell her faintly but she’s no where,” one male reported. Fang growled loudly and grabbed Tana’s chin, wrenching her face towards him.

“Where the fuck is she?” He snarled, to which she laughed. Sincere was smarter than she thought. Tana had no clue how she could have gotten away or hidden that well, but she was happy for it.

“Fuck it. We’ll get her later. Let’s go before lover boy tries to catch up.”