Wren
She tried to sit up too quickly and hit metal behind her with a painful clang.
She realized that she was in a cage, and her breathing sped up as reality crashed back piece by piece.
Flashes of being in the room upstairs, the power cutting out, and hands grabbing her plagued her memories from earlier.
She also remembered fighting and biting someone hard enough to taste blood before being hit on the back of the head.
Now, she was apparently sitting in a cage.
“Where am I?” she demanded, hating how weak her voice sounded.
The man laughed. “That’s adorable.” Panic threatened to overwhelm her again.
No, she couldn’t panic. Buck’s voice echoed through her head suddenly, telling her how smart she was.
Ghost’s followed right after, calling her a pretty thing and saying that she was tougher than she looked.
Emotion burned unexpectedly behind her eyes.
God. Buck and Ghost—the memory of sitting between them on the bed hours earlier hit so hard it hurt.
Buck touching her hand carefully like she mattered, and Ghost looking at her with all that teasing affection, hiding something deeper underneath.
They were going to come for her. The certainty settled inside her immediately.
Not because they had to, but because they would want to.
The man stood slowly and approached the cage. “You know,” he mused, “we expected you to be harder to grab.”
Wren glared at him. “Go to hell.”
He barked out a laugh. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Her stomach twisted. “You’ve been watching me.”
“For weeks now,” he said. Ice flooded her veins instantly. The man crouched in front of the cage. “You ask too many questions, Doctor Callahan.” His grin widened cruelly. “Then you started mapping routes.”
Wren’s pulse hammered harder. “The wolves,” she whispered.
“Smart girl,” he praised. Horror crashed through her. All those missing collars, the strange movement patterns, and the GPS paths that stopped making sense—it had never been random.
“You used them,” she breathed.
“We needed something nobody pays attention to.” He shrugged. “Conservation types don’t notice trucks moving through storm corridors if they’re busy crying over dead wolves.”
Wren felt physically sick. “How many women have you taken?” she whispered.
His expression sharpened slightly. “Enough.” Tears burned behind her eyes. Oh God. This was bigger than poaching—way bigger.
The man studied her quietly for a second before smirking again. “You know who really ruined everything, though?” Wren said nothing. “You.” He grabbed the cage bars suddenly hard enough to make her jump. “You should’ve stopped digging.” Fear shot through her, but anger came faster.
“You’re trafficking women through protected land,” she spat. “You think I was supposed to ignore that?” The man’s expression darkened instantly, and then he smiled. Somehow, that felt worse.
“That fire’s exactly why the boss wants you alive,” he said.
Wren’s stomach dropped. “Boss?”
The man laughed softly. “You really think this operation stops with the Black Vultures?” Cold dread crawled down her spine, and she suddenly realized that there was more. There were more people, more money, and more power behind this than she’d realized.
The warehouse door suddenly slammed open somewhere behind him. Heavy footsteps echoed across concrete floors, and the man straightened immediately. Wren saw who walked in, and her blood turned to ice.
“Eli,” she whispered. He was the prospect Buck had exiled a few days back. He looked rougher now. Meaner with tattoos crawling up his neck, while snow melted across his kutte, but it was definitely him.
Eli’s eyes landed on her instantly, and he smiled. “Well, there she is.” Wren’s pulse exploded because she recognized him now, too. He’d been at the compound, watching her with Buck and Ghost. He was watching all of them.
Eli stopped in front of the cage slowly.
“You know,” he murmured, “Buck’s gonna tear this whole province apart looking for you.
” Something possessive flickered in his expression.
“But I gotta admit—” Eli crouched slowly in front of her.
“I kinda wanted to see what made both of them lose their damn minds.” Wren’s fear sharpened instantly because he knew that she wanted them both.
Her stomach twisted hard. Eli reached through the bars suddenly and grabbed her chin painfully.
“You got any idea what you did to them?” he asked softly. “Ghost hasn’t cared about anything in years.” His mouth curled bitterly. “And Buck?” He laughed once. “That man was practically made of ice before you.”
Wren jerked away from his grip. “Don’t touch me.” Eli’s eyes darkened, and then he smiled again.
“You know what the funny part is?” he asked quietly. “They’re still too late.” Fear crawled colder through her veins.
“What does that mean?” she asked, not sure that she wanted to know.
Eli stood slowly. “It means by tomorrow night,” he said, “those routes are ours permanently.” His gaze swept over her carefully. “And if Buck wants you back?” A terrifying smile spread across his face. “He’s gonna have to choose between saving you—” Eli paused, “or saving his club.
Buck was coming for her. Wren knew it with terrifying certainty, and while that thought should’ve comforted her, it didn’t.
Instead, it scared her almost as much as the men holding her captive.
Because Eli was right—Buck would burn everything down trying to get her back.
And Ghost would stand beside him, smiling while the world burned.
The realization sat heavily in her chest long after Eli disappeared deeper into the warehouse with the other men.
Now she sat alone in the metal cage again, her wrists aching from restraints while cold seeped through the concrete floor beneath her. She needed to think because panic wouldn’t save her. Buck’s voice echoed through her head again.
You’re smart.
Wren inhaled slowly through her nose and forced herself to focus on her surroundings instead of fear.
The warehouse was massive and old. Rusted support beams stretched high overhead while dim industrial lights buzzed weakly every few yards.
Crates lined the far walls. Fuel drums sat stacked near loading bays.
And near the southern corner, vehicles were parked.
There were three trucks, one black SUV, and a snowcat.
Wren shifted carefully inside the cage, pretending to curl tighter into herself while she watched through lowered lashes.
She’d spent years tracking wolves through brutal terrain.
Observation came naturally to her now. She noted that there were three armed men near the main loading doors, one patrolling the upper catwalk every fifteen minutes, and another stationed near the vehicles.
They weren’t randomly placed throughout the warehouse—they were organized.
A loud metallic bang echoed nearby, and Wren looked up.
A younger woman stumbled through a side door carrying a box nearly bigger than she was.
Dark bruises covered one side of her face, and Wren’s stomach dropped.
The girl looked terrified. She was probably about nineteen—twenty at most. One of the armed men barked something cruel at her while she hurried across the warehouse floor with her head down.
Rage hit Wren hard enough to burn through the fear.
Those missing women—they were real. Before, they had only been rumors and theories, but now she knew that was just her way of protecting herself from the truth.
They were real people trapped in places like this while monsters moved them across borders like cargo.
The girl glanced toward the cage briefly and froze as recognition flashed across her face instantly. Not recognition of Wren herself, but for some odd reason—of hope. It was the kind of hope that people got when they saw someone new who was still fighting.
One of the guards seemed to notice. “Keep moving,” he growled. The girl flinched hard and hurried away. Wren clenched her fists helplessly. It was at that moment that she knew that she wasn’t leaving any of these women behind—not if she survived this.
Footsteps echoed toward her again, and she knew that it was Eli. Wren straightened instinctively as he approached the cage, carrying a bottle of water and a sandwich wrapped in plastic. He crouched outside the bars casually. “Eat.”
Wren stared at him coldly. “Go to hell.”
Eli sighed dramatically. “You know, I liked you better unconscious.”
“Likewise,” she spat. A grin tugged briefly at his mouth. Wren hated that he seemed so comfortable here, like this place belonged to him now.
“Buck really got under your skin, huh?” Eli asked lightly. Wren’s pulse betrayed her immediately.
“You don’t have to answer, sweetheart. Your silence tells me everything,” Eli said.
Wren glared harder. “You don’t know anything.”
“No?” Eli leaned closer to the bars. “I know Buck looked at you like he’d already buried bodies for you.
” His eyes darkened slightly. “And Ghost?” He laughed softly.
“Never thought I’d see the day he cared about anybody again.
” The words hit harder than she wanted them to because she’d seen it too.
The way that Ghost hid concern behind jokes, and Buck touched her like she was something fragile and precious at the same time.
Wren swallowed hard. “They’re going to kill you.”
Eli’s smile was mean. “Probably.” His easy acceptance unsettled her. “But not before tomorrow night.” He leaned back slightly. “That’s the fun part.”
Wren’s stomach twisted again. “What happens tomorrow night?”
Eli studied her carefully. “You really don’t know how important you are, do you?”
“I’m a wildlife specialist,” she said. “How does that make me important?”
“No.” Eli pointed toward her. “You’re the woman who accidentally mapped every active trafficking route through northern Manitoba.
” Cold dread slithered through her chest. He had to be talking about the strange travel paths of the wolves that she’d flagged weeks ago.
She had no idea that she was mapping trafficking routes.
“Oh my God,” she breathed.
Eli nodded slowly. “See, the Vultures were smart. Wolves cross borders naturally, and nobody questions strange movement patterns during migration season.” He shrugged. “Until you started tracking anomalies.”
Wren felt sick. “How many routes?”
“Enough to make people very rich,” Eli said as though he was boasting.
“And the women,” she croaked, “what happened to them?”
Eli’s expression flattened slightly. “It’s business, sweetheart, not personal.”
Rage exploded through her. “They’re human beings!”
One of the guards glanced over sharply at her raised voice. Eli only watched her calmly. “That’s exactly why Buck likes you.” The mention of him hurt unexpectedly, and Wren looked away quickly. “You really care about them,” he said softly.
Heat crept briefly into her cheeks despite everything.
Even now, trapped in a cage surrounded by traffickers, she couldn’t stop thinking about them.
Buck’s rough hands and Ghost’s teasing grin.
Remembering how the moment sitting between them had somehow felt right was the only thing that was keeping her going right now.
They were worth fighting for, and that was exactly what she planned on doing.
Eli studied her expression carefully before laughing under his breath. “Well, shit.”
Wren looked back sharply. “What?”
“You really did choose both.” His grin widened slightly. “Didn’t think Buck had it in him to share.” Wren stayed silent because denying it suddenly felt impossible.
Eli stood slowly. “You know what’s gonna happen tomorrow?” She said nothing.
“Buck’s gonna come for you.” Eli shoved his hands into his pockets casually. “And when he does, he’ll walk straight into a slaughterhouse.”
Fear sliced through her. “What are you planning?”
Eli’s smile turned cruel. “We’re starting a war.
One that I plan on winning.” He walked away before she could say another word.
Wren stared after him with her heart hammering painfully against her ribs.
She was certain that Eli was right and that Buck would come—Ghost too, and somehow that terrified her more than being trapped in a cage.
Because if Eli was telling the truth, they were walking straight into a trap.
A soft sound came from nearby. Wren looked up to find the bruised young woman from earlier standing partially hidden behind a stack of crates.
She was carefully watching Wren, and the fear in her eyes was unnerving.
Then, very subtly, the girl pointed toward the far western wall of the warehouse to a door.
It was hidden behind hanging tarps, but Wren saw it.
And for the first time since waking up in a fucking cage, hope flared painfully in Wren’s chest. The girl disappeared immediately after, and Wren stared toward the hidden exit while adrenaline slowly flooded her veins.
Okay—maybe she wasn’t helpless after all.