Chapter 5 OFF THE GRID

YVAINNE

The first thing I felt when I came to consciousness was the cold biting into my skin. Not the morning chill of the mountains or the cold from the draughty stone corridors of the pack house that I was used to.

No, this was different. This cold was wrong. It bit into my bones and slid underneath my skin like ice water. Along with it was the scent of silver and something else that assaulted my nostrils—like rot masked with perfume.

Was I back in my room?

That couldn’t be true. My room was never this cold. I tried to move but felt restraint against my wrist, and the more I tried to move my arms, the more my wrist burned.

I blinked my eyes open, and the first thing that caught my attention was the sight of a glinting metal.

I was in chains. I blinked again, taking in my bound wrists and legs. I was in thick silver chains etched with runes I didn’t recognise. Fixed to the iron posts or a transport cage. I didn’t need a fortuneteller to spell it out to me that I was no longer in my room or anywhere near the pack house.

I was in the back of a truck, in a cage welded into the truck that smelt of sweat, urine and blood.

It took a minute for my new reality to set in, and I sat up so fast I nearly threw up. My wolf stirred within me—panicked—just as equally as I was but was met with the resistance of the silver burning into my skin. No one has ever known that I could sense her, I may have never been able to shift but I’ve always felt my wolf, lurking in the background, being the silent companion in my tumultuous

It took another minute for panic to begin to set in, and I felt my chest tighten, and my lungs started to close up.

My eyes darted around frantically, but there was not much to see due to the darkness surrounding me.

What the fuck had happened after I was knocked out? The most I remembered was going up to Roan’s wing to clean his room as usual, and I overheard him talking with his beta about framing me as a spy for rigged. And somewhere my attempt to flee from the pack had landed me in this cage.

The truck rattled to a stop as my thoughts became more jumbled. Voices rose outside as I heard the doors of the truck opening and then footsteps. One of them was laughing at something. I couldn’t quite pick up on what they were saying, and I had the silver chains and runes binding me to blame for that. As an omega who has never shifted, my wolf senses weren’t keen to begin with, and with this silver and these runes, it was worse.

The door opened and I flinched, vision blurring at the sudden light that speared through the darkness around me like a blade. Two fighters stepped into view. One was wearing a pack enforcer’s uniform, while the other had on a long, sleek black coat with silver detailing. Neither of them looked like anyone I’d recognised, nor did they smell like a pack.

The one in the black coat waved the flashlight in his hand, laughing the more I flinched and squinted my eyes.

“Pretty for a runt,” the enforcer said, peering into the cage, and I found myself scooting out of reach. “Roan said she might put up a fight. Doesn’t look like it though,” he commented as he leaned away.

The one with the flashlight scoffed and shrugged. “Once they’re in chains, the fight in them dies. Besides, what would fighting do for her?”

I stared at them as they conversed like I was here—like I couldn’t hear them. But I guess it didn’t matter if I could hear them. What exactly can I do when I’m chained up like an animal?

I wasn’t sure what exactly they were planning to do with me, but I knew I had to ask. The look in their eyes wasn’t exactly friendly, and I could help the way my heart felt like it was trying to dig its way out of my ribs from fear. But I know showing that fear wouldn’t help my situation.

“Where—” I paused, tongue darting out to lick my chapped lips. “Where am I?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper. “Why—what do you guys want with me?”

The man in the coat shared a look with the enforcer before grinning. “As far as you’re concerned. You’re off-grid,” he replied.

I frowned. “Off-grid? Where is that?”

The enforcer snorted as he rolled his eyes. “It is not a question of where or what. But since you’re curious. You’re a few hours, if not minutes, away from becoming someone else’s property.”