Chapter 9
Wrecker
Iwoke with a sheet wrapped around my ankles and the scent of her hair clogging my lungs.
Pre-dawn in this house was a hollow thing—nothing but the ghosts of bad coffee and a woman’s perfume baked into the drywall.
I watched the shadows on her ceiling as they crawled from gray to black, then rolled out of bed without waking her.
I went to the guest room and let the pup out so he could relieve himself outside.
He acted like he was thrilled to see me.
It made me feel a weird joy inside. Which is a little insane. I’m a wolf, for God’s sake.
“Come on, you little shit. I’ll let you out.
” He danced along beside me to the backdoor.
I walked out onto the deck and watched as he ran around the yard and peed, and then made about a dozen circles before pooping.
Everything the little guy did was funny.
It’s no wonder she loved him. I was suddenly happy she had him.
I headed to the kitchen and started the coffee.
No lights. Just the wet thump of my feet on cold hardwood.
I opened the fridge. It wasn’t as bad as I’d guessed.
Cartons of eggs, a shrink-wrapped ribeye, a carton of milk and some creamer.
Lunch meat, of course, and some fresh veggies.
I pulled out the eggs and the meat. Maybe she was turning over a new leaf and had decided to eat more than plain meat and bread sammies.
I found her pans, steel and unscarred, lined up like surgical tools.
Not what I expected. She must’ve bought them for show because she sure as shit never used them.
I cracked five eggs into a bowl. Shells hit the trash can with a click like tiny bones.
The skillet went on the front burner. Then I trimmed the steak, fast and precise, and tossed the trimmings into the dog’s bowl.
He devoured them in milliseconds. The steak hit the hot pan with a sizzle.
The smell was savage. I smiled. A quick sear on both sides and then into the preheated oven.
Fuck, I was starved from all the activity from last night.
I heard the shower running in the bathroom. Pipes vibrated in the walls. I pictured her standing there, steam curling over her skin, that pink-and-brunette mess of hair gone flat and dripping. The sound turned something in my chest molten.
I threw some butter into another pan and tossed in the eggs.
I threw in a little cheese I’d found in a crisper drawer and some salt and pepper.
When they were fluffy, I dumped them out into a bowl.
She had bread, of course, from all the damn sandwiches she eats, so I buttered a few slices and threw them in the skillet for pan toast.
I’d gotten the steaks out of the oven and let them rest until she wandered into the room ten minutes later.
She'd barely made any noise when she’d entered, but I caught her scent immediately—lavender and lemon.
I turned and goddamn if she wasn’t the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, skin scrubbed pink and wearing black yoga pants and a tank that clung to her ribs like a desperate thing, formed around her round tits like a promise.
The quarter-zip she wore was some eye-bleeding shade of pink.
“Have a seat.” I nodded to the table that sat in her breakfast nook.
She stood next to it. “Do I need to feed Rocket?”
“He just had a pretty good helping of ribeye trimmings. I think he’ll be fine.” I told her.
She looked irritated.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked her as I fixed her plate of food and poured her coffee.
“Well, I really don’t allow him to have table scraps. I found him living by a dumpster, so I try to keep his food regulated. You know, giving him the best dog food on a schedule so I can see if anything upsets his tummy or whatever.”
This woman. She was sunshine and goodness through and through, and she’d mixed up with the devil himself.
“I apologize.” I told her as I set her plate and coffee with cream on the table.
Leaning down, I kissed her. It wasn’t a simple good-morning kiss.
I wanted to remind her that I owned her.
My mouth consumed hers—and she opened for me.
No resistance. I decided then and there that I’d never tire of her kisses.
They felt right. Like they belonged to me, and only me.
When I let her go, she was breathless, and so adorable.
“Now, sit.”
She sat down and started moving her food around her plate, eyes flickering over my face. “So, what do we need to talk about first?”
The question hung between us, sharp and bright as a new blade. I let it bleed for a while.
“Right now?” I said. “I want you to eat. You’re too thin.”
She bristled, but shoved a forkful of eggs in her mouth. “You’re an asshole,” she said around the bite.
I waited, watching her chew. There was a satisfaction in it I couldn’t explain.
I watched her sip the coffee, saw the bruises on her wrists where I’d held her the night before.
“Yeah. I’ve been told that before,” I said. “Well, your little foray to the dark side has caused you to become my problem now.”
She set the mug down hard. “I’m nobody’s problem. Least of all yours.”
“See, Wren, that’s where you’re wrong,” I said, voice dropping to a growl. “You made yourself my fucking problem the second you started stealing from us.”
She sucked in a breath, eyes going wide. “You think I wanted this?”
“What you wanted has no bearing on the situation, little bird,” I said. “What matters is what happens next.”
She looked away, jaw clenched so tight the muscle ticked in her cheek.
“I’m going to fix this for you,” I said. “And you’re going to help me.”
She snorted, a rough little sound. “I don’t know how that can be done.”
“Well, then you’ve got a fuck ton more than Silas Drake to worry about little bird.”
“How long have you been watching me?” Her leg was shaking up and down.
There was no reason to lie to her at this point. “Not as long as you’d think. And no, I haven’t stalked any other women. Only you. The one that belongs to me.”
She finished her eggs in silence. I watched every bite, every swallow. She ate her food like a man who was eating his last meal before his execution. Except she had her faithful ugly little dog right by her side. It was as if he sensed her distress. He kept his head on her feet the entire time.
When she was done, I pushed my plate away and got up. I walked to where she sat and turned her chair toward me. I leaned in close and rested my hands on the arms of the chair, caging her in. Her little pup decided it was time to find his bed.
“You’re going to do what I say,” I said, low and even. “You’re going to tell me everything you know about Greenbriar. About Silas Drake. About how you got in this mess.”
She looked up at me, eyes burning. “Look, I want to trust you. Fuck knows I want a way out. I left breadcrumbs for you, you know? I was praying you’d figure things out. But I’m still afraid I’m gonna end up paying in the end.”
I smiled finally. “You don’t have to trust me. You just have to do everything I say.”
She didn’t move, didn’t blink. I waited. I could have waited forever.
When she finally spoke, her voice was a whisper. “You’re just as bad as him, you know.”
I shook my head. “No, Parker. I’m much, much worse.”
I leaned in, took her face in my hands, and kissed her. Hard, deep, unforgiving. When I pulled away, her lips were bruised and her breath was coming fast.
“Now clean the table. We have work to do.”
She stared at me, stunned, then nodded.
I watched the way her body moved, the way her wolf hovered just under her skin, ready to bolt or bite or both.
She didn’t slam the dishes into the sink.
She simply washed them and set them in the dish drainer.
Dishwashing was as methodical as everything else she did.
It was as though she lost herself in the task’s monotony.
I sat at the table watching her, picking steak from my teeth.
My brain wouldn’t quiet. There was no logic to what I felt—the mate bond.
This girl had been around me for years before she’d disappeared when she’d graduated from junior college.
I’d always watched her with fascination.
Now I knew why. Now she was my problem. Now she was in the crosshairs.
She came back over to me fifteen minutes later, drying her hands on a dish towel. If she were trying to look innocent, she failed miserably. She had the kind of face that refused to behave.
I waited until she was close enough to smell the fabric softener clinging to her sleeve before I started in.
“Why Silas Drake?” I asked.
She stopped dead. “Is that a trick question?”
I stood. “How does a bottom-feeder like him get claws into you?”
She crossed her arms. “He bought out Axel’s marker. Simple as that. Axel gambled at his establishments and couldn’t pay. Next thing I know I’m getting threats from Greenbriar. They wanted a hacker, not an accountant. They wanted me.”
“Bullshit,” I spat. “Greenbriar doesn’t pull stunts like this. Not with Iron Valor. Unless…” I leaned in, dropping my voice. “Unless they thought you’d fold easily.”
She glared, but didn’t deny it.
“That’s not fair, Wrecker. I’m not easy.
Axel is the only family I have left in the world.
Someone tells you the person you shared a womb with is going to die if you don’t do what they say, you ask what they want you to do.
I thought I could just fucking slow them down or something.
Buy time. Not…” She shook her head, angry with herself. “Not destroy everything.”
“Guess you’re not as smart as you thought, then,” I said.
“Guess not,” she said, soft.
I paced the length of the kitchen. The floor creaked under my weight. She watched me, arms still crossed, but the fight had gone out of her.
“What does Silas want?” I asked.
Her fingers tightened on her biceps. “He wants Iron Valor off the map. He wants to see Bronc dead. And he wants you in pieces, floating in the fucking river.”
“Nice to know I’m popular,” I said.
She gave a sad little snort.
I slammed a fist on the counter. The whole house jumped. “You don’t get it, do you? We’re not the only ones with something to lose. You think Greenbriar will let you go once they’re done?”
She met my eyes, and for the first time, I saw fear.
“No,” she said. “I know how it ends.”
I nodded. “Good. Then you know why we do things my way now.”
She went quiet, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
“I need everything,” I said. “Every password, every server address, every contact you have inside Greenbriar. And Parker, you’re gonna have to plant a bug inside.”
She hesitated. “How? They’ll know…"
“You have the benefit of Silas’s ego. He thinks he’s smarter than us. I’m going to help you make it look like what you’re doing is working. He’s going to think he’s winning. Don’t get me wrong. This is going to be dangerous for you. I’m going to keep you alive though.”
I took her hands in mine. “I have to know who else he’s working with.
He knows he can’t bring us down alone. You’ll need to arrange another meeting to let him know you fixed the transfer problem.
I’ll give you the tech you’ll plant in his office.
” I told her. Then I reminded her, “You’re alive because I let you be. That ends if you cross me again.”
She swallowed hard. “Fine. But you need to get Axel out, too. Or there’s no deal.”
I considered it. “If you help me burn Greenbriar to the ground, I’ll get your brother out. But you fuck up once—”
“I won’t,” she said, and for once, I believed her. I believed she was going to do her damnedest to make this work. The thought of anything happening to her sent my wolf into a fit. We had to be sure she’d be safe.
I grabbed a notepad and pen from the coffee table and slid them to her.
“I don’t have stuff committed to memory. Come over to my office nook.” She headed over and opened her laptop.
I watched. Every time her eyes flicked up to mine, it was like she was measuring out the weight of her own grave.
“Why didn’t you just come to Bronc?” I asked again, not expecting a real answer.
She paused after getting logged in. “Because I didn’t want to owe anybody. Not even him.”
That stung in its own way. “We all owe somebody,” I said. “That’s how packs work. That’s how families work.”
She didn’t reply, just grabbed the legal pad and started writing.
“I haven’t been inside any of the Greenbriar systems in weeks. It’s possible that some or all of these passwords have changed. If they have, at least you have a jumping-off point.” She continued to write.
I poured two more cups of coffee. We drank in silence, the only sound the scratch of her pen and the tick of the fridge.
I watched the sun finish clawing up the wall.
Watched the way the light caught her face and made her look older than she was, more tired.
Like the world had already chewed her up and was just waiting for the right time to spit her out.
“Silas is a coward,” I said. “He won’t come at us directly.”
She nodded. “He’ll use proxies. Always does.”
“He’s already got eyes on you. Probably has a tail out back right now.”
“I don’t think he’s gone that far yet,” she said, voice flat. “But fuck him if he does.”
“That’s my girl.”
She finished the notepad, tore the sheet, and handed it to me. Her hands were still trembling.
I folded the paper and tucked it in my pocket. “You need a safehouse?”
She almost laughed. “If he thinks I’ve gone into hiding, I’m as good as dead. You think you can keep me safe?”
I thought about the pack house. The vault in the basement. I thought about what Bronc would say, and then what I’d do, anyway.
“Yeah,” I said. “I do.”
She let out a breath. “What now?”
“Now you go to work. Act normal. I’ll handle the rest.”
She blinked. “You’re just going to leave?”
I nodded. “I’ll be watching, Wren. But if you need me, you know how to find me.” I hated that I was 30 minutes out. But I needed to be in my tech room with my equipment.
She watched me, those electric blue eyes, trying to read the part of me that wasn’t there. “Why are you doing this? Why not just burn me and move in on Greenbriar?” she asked.
I looked at her, really looked, and saw the truth in it. “Because you’re mine,” I said, “and I protect what’s mine. And when we take out Greenbriar, we’re taking it all the way out. We have to be thorough, know all the moving parts.”
She didn’t answer. Didn’t need to.
I walked to the door, pulled on my boots, and left.
Outside, the air was sharp as a razor. I stood on the porch, let the cold bite my face, and listened to the wind cutting across the fields.
The house behind me was silent, but I could feel her there. Waiting.
I was done pretending.
From now on, every move would be war.
And I was ready for it.