Chapter 4
Wrecker
She looked at me, teeth bared. “Get off me.”
“No,” I said, and meant it as I tightened my hand around her throat. “You’re not in charge here, little bird.”
She tried to move my hand, then opened her mouth to shout. I pushed her back and clamped my palm over her lips, pinning her head to the pillow. My knee came up onto the bed, my weight pressing her down.
“Shhhh,” I said, and the sound filled the room like a blade in the dark. “You’re in no position to be chirping at me, Wren. You want to keep that mouth open? I can fill it with something.” She shook her head violently. “Then keep it shut for me. Can you do that?”
She glared daggers. But she nodded, slow, and when I took my hand away, she stayed quiet.
Smart girl.
She looked up at me, lips pressed tight, but there was a challenge in her eyes that tasted like defiance. I wanted to rip it out of her, see what would happen if she stopped pretending to be strong and just let herself break.
I gripped both of her wrists in my left hand and raised her arms over her head as I leaned over her, running my gloved hand down her side, slow and deliberate. She squirmed, but didn’t say a word. I could see the flush rising up her neck, a red line drawing itself over her collarbone.
“Look at you,” I said, voice low and mean. “Just a little bird, caught by the big bad wolf. You like this, don’t you?”
She shook her head, but the heat in her face said otherwise.
I traced her hip, then dipped my fingers between her legs. She was soaked. I pressed down, slowly at first, then harder. She bit her lip, hard enough I thought she might draw blood. I kept going until she started to shake, her knees trying to close, but my hand was too strong.
“Want to know why I’m here, Wren?” I said, leaning in until my mouth was just above her ear. “Because you’re stupid enough to think you can outsmart me. You want to win. But the thing is, little bird, you can’t. You’re not as good as me.”
She gasped, and the sound shot through me like whiskey in an empty gut.
I raised my gloved fingers to her face. “Look at this. I know your deepest, darkest secrets. The ones that you thought nobody knew. I know how much you want to let go. To let a stranger take control of you.” I put my fingers in my mouth.
“You taste as delicious as I expected. Open your mouth. Finish cleaning my fingers, Wren.”
Her eyes went as big as saucers as she clamped her lips down tight.
“You’ve already earned punishment. Don’t make it worse for yourself, little bird.”
She swallowed hard, and slowly I saw her pink tongue reach out between her lips to my fingers. She lightly licked and then sucked my fingers until they were clean. I could have come in my jeans at the sight.
I let go of her wrists, sat on the side of her bed, then rolled her over onto my lap. “Now there is the matter of your punishment. You know what this is for Parker.” I brought my palm down on her bare ass. Once, then twice, until the skin turned hot and red. She yelped.
“Count,” I said. “Loud enough for me to hear.”
She hesitated, then: “Slap. One!” Then she cried out, “I don’t understand!”
“You do!”
I hit her again.
“Two! I don’t!”
“You’re a smart girl. It’ll come to you.”
Again and again, until she was sobbing and half-collapsed over my knees. I gave her 10 hard slaps. I stroked her hair, gentle now, and murmured: “You’re playing dangerous games little bird.”
She was shaking, the tears hot against my thigh, but when I slid my hand between her legs again, she arched into it. I fingered her slow, steady, until she bucked and came with a moan that was almost a wail.
I turned her face to me with my left hand as she still lay over my lap. I licked her wetness off my glove, watching her face as I did.
“Next time,” I said, “it’ll be my tongue diving into your tiny, dripping cunt, Wren. You think about that when you’re alone in this bed.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, like she wanted to disappear. Skin glowing, breath coming in sharp, ragged bursts.
I pulled her up, sat her on my lap, and brushed the hair out of her eyes.
I reached for the glass of water on the nightstand and held it to her lips. She drank slowly, still dazed.
“You did well, little bird,” I said. “Took it like a fucking champion.”
She glared at me, but she leaned into my chest. There was no fight left.
I held her for about half an hour until she was dozing off.
I tucked her back under the covers, gentle for the first time all night.
She curled up, silent. Within a minute, she was asleep, body still trembling with aftershocks.
I stood, went to the guest room and picked up that silly dog who licked me all over my face. “Take it easy there, pal. I’m taking you back to your mom.” I slipped him back into his bed with the bone I’d brought for him. He curled around it and promptly dozed off.
I watched Parker for a long time, then slipped out as quietly as I had come in.
Outside, the night was still waiting.
I grinned behind the mask, and let myself disappear into it.
The next day was Saturday, and the clubhouse buzzed with bodies—Juliet, Ms. Pearl, Bronc’s sharp-tongued sister Maddie, and a handful of women who kept glancing my way like I’d hung the goddamn moon.
Their laughter prickled my skin; their perfume cloying.
My wolf snarled low, restless beneath my ribs.
Not her, it growled. None of them smell like her.
Parker’s absence clawed at me even here, even now.
Since we were all here, it was a good time to debrief. Bronc gathered us all together, then called the meeting to order, slamming a fist on the table. “Toy run’s on Christmas day. We need routes finalized, gifts sorted.”
His voice was gravel, but my focus fractured.
Two women lingered near the door, whispering, their eyes darting to me.
One flicked her hair, smiling like she’d practiced it.
My jaw tightened. Sad thing was, I couldn’t remember if I’d ever slept with her or not.
I’m not proud of it, but I’d had a run at more than my fair share of women around here.
Doc leaned over. “You got a fan club workin’ at the back of the room, looks like.”
“Hell if I even know their names. That’s the fucked up part of it.” I laughed. “You’d think they’d have more pride than that, since I clearly never gave them a second go at it.”
He just shook his head. “You’ll never be accused of being a gentleman, Wrecker.”
“Hey, I guaran-fucking-tee I never made one promise to any of ‘em. If they expected something more, that was a delusion they created in their own minds.”
Bronc gave us both the stink eye. “Anything you two sons of bitches wanna share with the class?”
“Not anything you’d have any interest in hearing. Uh, sir.” I added with a grin.
He shook his head with a chuckle. “Then shut the fuck up and pay attention, how ‘bout?”
I gave him a mock salute.
When the details drained into arguments over wrapping paper and pickup trucks, I jerked my chin toward the back office. Bronc nodded, and the team followed—Arsenal scowling, Ghost silent as smoke. I shut the door hard.
After everyone was seated around the table, I started right in. “First off, I stopped the flow of any funds leaving Iron Valor coffers going anywhere we don’t expressly want. I know the who and why now as well. Parker Reid is our hack. There is no question.”
Every face had looks of hurt and anger all over them.
“Now, as far as getting to the why. Her slimeball, piece of shit, twin brother Axel dragged her into this. Sold her out, more like,” I said bluntly.
I opened my laptop and pulled up the video from the camera I had put in her house.
The screen on the wall suddenly had the feed. The video glared out at them.
Axel’s face appeared big as life: “I’m dead if you don’t do this. You know Silas. He’ll make it hurt.”
Then Parker’s reply: “Cry me a river. You act like I’m not dead if I do.
Do you think when Wrecker figures out that I’m the one who did this, he’s not gonna burn this whole thing down and me with it?
I’m just doing this so Silas doesn’t cut you up into tiny pieces and feed you to his dogs while you scream my name. ”
Axel’s laugh came through the speaker. “Iron Valor doesn’t give a damn about you. They never did.”
Arsenal lunged forward, palms slamming the desk. “And that excuses her selling us out? Burn her. Now.” His rage hung thick, but my own flared hotter.
“You think I don’t want to tear someone apart?
” I snarled, stepping into his space. My wolf surged, teeth bared.
“She was scared. Stupid, loyal, and scared.” The admission burned my throat.
I’d replayed that video a hundred times—the tremor in her voice, the way she’d flinched when Axel spat Greenbriar’s name.
“She should’ve come to Bronc. Should’ve trusted us.
But fear makes a fool of everyone. She did leave a backdoor open for me to get through.
She wanted us to find this. She’s one of the best hackers I’ve ever come across.
If she’d wanted to keep me out, she could have.
I’d have gotten in eventually, but not this quickly. So you need to fucking back off.”
Bronc’s hand clamped my shoulder, yanking me back. “Enough.” His glare silenced Arsenal first, then pinned me. “You’re soft for her, Wrecker. Fine. Use it. Get close, play nice. If she’s tangled with Silas and Greenbriar, we get to them through her.”
The order landed like a blade. Arsenal scoffed. Doc, Gunner, and Big Papa stood. I felt their support. But Bronc’s stare held me. “Do you have a handle on this, Eli?”
“Did you have a handle on Juliet?”
He shook his head. “That’s fair.”
“Bottom line, brother, do you trust me?” I held his eyes.
“With my life.” He told me, his confidence clear.
“I swear, I won’t let you or this pack down.”
“You need help, you tell me.”
I nodded, the weight of Parker’s secrets and my own damn weakness digging deeper. My wolf whined, torn between her betrayal and the need to keep her safe.