CHAPTER TWELVE. INTO THE WOLF'S DEN

"WORST BAD GUYS EVER."

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Wren regretted ever leaving the Institute. She should've stayed there that day and taken Isabelle up on her offer to train her. Maybe if she had, she wouldn't be in the predicament she was in now. Maybe she would've been able to better fight off her captors or at least sent a mean right hook to the man's face. At least she got one of them with pepper spray.

The two cars pulled to a stop and Alaric parked the one that the three were in. "Where are we? This isn't the police station," Clary inquired. "Just cooperate and everything will be fine," Alaric replied as he got out of the car and opened the door. "Get out!" The other man demanded, opening the other door. "We didn't do anything wrong," Simon told the man as Wren followed him out of the car.

"Be quiet or you're gonna make this worse for yourself," the other man said. Wren was grabbed by the man from before after he exited the second car. "Hey, you're not cops! Alaric, who are these guys?" Clary said as she looked to Alaric, whose phone was now ringing. "Luke's calling," he told the man who had Simon. "Ignore it. That's an order," the man replied.

"Are you guys with Luke? Did he send you?" Clary asked. "None of your business," the man replied as they were pulled into the building. Wren looked around at the unfamiliar place. It looked to be some sort of restaurant.

Wren was pushed into a seat, followed by Simon, and then Clary. The blonde grunted at the force of being pushed and glared up at the man. "Okay, what is going on? Alaric, did you arrest us for trespassing or something, because, news flash, I was in my own apartment," Clary was saying.

"We're just having a little conversation, that's all," the man next to Alaric answered. "Do you always handcuff people you wanna talk to? I bet this guy has one of the scariest online profiles ever," Simon said. "Simon, shut up," Wren hissed. The unknown man pointed at Simon, "This guy's funny. I like funny."

Alaric leaned onto the table and got in Clary's face. "Look, I know you're scared of Luke. He's trying to find you, I can keep you safe. You just need to tell us where the Mortal Cup is," he said. "Everyone thinks I can find this Cup, but I don't know where it is!" Clary replied.

"Think, Clary. I'm trying to give you a chance," Alaric pressed. "She said she doesn't know where it is," Wren spoke up. The other man's gaze shifted to her. "We're not talking to you," he said, his eyes narrowing. Wren refused to meet his threatening stare. Turning to look at Alaric who was looking at Clary.

"I can't help you. I'm sorry. Now, will you please let us go?" Clary said. The unknown man stabbed a fork into the table and the three friends jumped back. "Playtime's over," he began. "Theo, just let me talk some sense into them," Alaric tried. "No, we did it your way. Now, we're gonna try it my way," the man, Theo, replied before waving someone over.

Wren was suddenly being grabbed and she jumped. "Hey, hey..." Simon was saying as he was also bing grabbed. "Hey, don't touch them!" Clary shouted as the two were pulled out of their seats. "Don't move. Tell us where the Cup is or your friends die," Theo threatened. Wren's eyes widened in fear and she began to fight against the man who had grabbed her, only for his grip to tighten painfully.

"Please, please... Please, don't hurt them, okay? I promise you, I swear to you, I do not where this Cup is," Clary stammered. "That's too bad. Get rid of them," Theo commanded. "No, let go of me!" Wren shouted as she was lifted from the ground. She kicked at the air as the man pulled her toward the back. "Hey, let go of me!" Simon yelled.

"Wren! Simon!" Clary shouted. Wren kicked at the man's kneecaps. He faltered slightly but continued to carry her. "Get your hands off her! Get off of me!" Simon shouted. Wren grunted, using all of her core strength to try to bring herself downward and lower her center of gravity to make herself heavier. The man stumbled and Wren nearly pulled herself from his grip but her legs were grabbed by another man and the two dragged her out of the eating area.

"Clary!" Simon called out to the redhead. "Please, wait, don't hurt them. No!" Clary yelled. Simon continued to yell for Clary until both he and Wren were behind the door. Once they were, the two were pulled to separate areas. "Where are you taking me? Let go!" Wren screamed. "Wren? Wren!" Simon yelled. "Simon!" The blonde called back. He shouted her name again and then she no longer heard him.

She was carried into a room and thrown onto the ground. She released a pained grunt as scrambled to her feet, rushing to the door right as it closed and locked. She twisted and yanked on the doorknob before slamming her fists against the door. "Let me out!" She yelled, banging repeatedly on the door. She let out a sigh before turning around.

She looked around the area to see that she was in a small supply closet. She began looking around for something that she could use to pick the lock or break the door down or something. She began rustling through different things, throwing things aside as she looked for something, anything, that could help. She came up short.

Wren took a deep breath and released it slowly as she tried to calm herself down. "It's okay. It's going to be okay. Someone's going to find you. Alec. Alec's gonna come for us, right? Right. He's coming," she tried to reassure herself. She closed her eyes and squeezed them tight. "Please come."

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It felt like hours had passed as she sat in that supply closet. She felt completely and utterly helpless. She didn't have anything to break out of the closet and she didn't know what to do. She leaned her head backwards against the wall and looked up. Her eyes ran along the ceiling until they landed on an air vent close to the ceiling and next to the metallic shelf. She scrambled to her feet and squinted at it. "Bingo," she muttered.

She pulled the mop bucket that she had been sitting on over to it and stood on top of it, hoping that she wouldn't fall. She reached her arms up toward the air vent. The bucket wasn't tall enough and she couldn't reach it. She looked over at the supply shelf and placed a her foot onto it. She reached her arm out and grabbed ahold of the shelf, pulling herself onto it. She quickly climbed up as far as she could and reached out toward the air vent.

She shuffled her feet on the shelf closer to the vent. The shelf wobbled slightly and she froze for a moment before moving again. She reached out for the vent again and grabbed onto one of the screws. Luckily for her, it was loose enough to grab and she began untwisting it. Once she got the screw out, she used it to remove the remaining screws before throwing off the air vent's cover.

She released sigh of relief before grabbing onto the bottom of the vent. She did a little hop and hung for a moment before using her feet, arms, and whatever upper body strength that remained from her years as a gymnast to pull herself upwards. She managed to get herself into the vent and quickly began crawling. She heard the shelf in the supply closet crash to the ground. "It's what they get," she muttered as she crawled through the vent.

It was a tight fit at first but the vent began to get bigger the further she got. She wasn't sure where she was going but she hoped that she would find Simon. The fire alarm began to go off and Wren looked around the metal vents. Fire? There just had to be a fire while she was in the air vents. She needed to get out of there.

As if luck was on her side, she heard Simon's familiar voice and she crawled closer to it. Before the space grew tighter again, she turned around until she was feet first and crawled forward on the back of her elbows. She neared the vent and began kicking at the the cover once she reached it. She kicked with all of her might until the cover loosened and eventually came off.

Wren moved forward, her feet now sticking out of the vent. She managed to turn her body around until she was on her stomach and pushed herself toward the inside of the room. She carefully lowered her legs, and then her lower body, grabbing onto the bottom of the vent with her hands. She lowered herself as best as she could before letting go of the vent and dropping to the ground. She bent her knees to help absorb the shock of the pretty far drop and took a breath.

The blonde whipped around to see a very shocked and impressed Simon locked away in a sort of meat locker with lockers behind him. Smoke was shooting down around him and he looked to be struggling to breathe. "Wren? How did you— Where did you— Wha— That was the coolest thing I've ever seen!" He stammered. "Thank God," she breathed, rushing over to the the door that kept him locked in. She looked around the room and looked for something to get the door open with.

Her eyes frantically searched the dark room before they landed on keys. "Seriously? Worst bad guys ever," she muttered before grabbing the keys and running back over to the door. She shoved the key into the lock and twisted it before pushing the door open. Simon immediately pulled her into a hug, releasing a breath.

"Are you okay?" They asked simultaneously. "I'm fine," they both said at the same time again. Wren let out a breathy chuckle and Simon pulled away. "I'm so sorry. About everything. You were right, I was being immature—"

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be insensitive and I never meant to hurt your feelings. You know that right?" She interrupted. "Yeah, I know. But I overreacted and I'm sorry. Like really sorry," Simon continued. She nodded, "It's okay. I forgive you."

"I forgive you too," he said. Wren pulled him into another hug. "I'm glad you're okay," she mumbled. "You too," he said. A noise caused the two to pull away from one another. On the barred window was what looked to be a metallic whip. The bars on the window were pulled off and Isabelle came into view. Wren let out another relieved sigh at the sight of the brunette.

"I'm getting seriously tired of saving your life," Isabelle said, her statement directed at Simon. "I am not!" Simon replied with a grin. "Well, come on," Isabelle urged. Wren went over to the window and climbed onto a crate to pull herself upward. Isabelle helped her out of the window and she stepped onto a crate outside before her feet touched the ground. Simon crawled out of the window next and once his feet were on the ground, Isabelle hopped down, handed Wren her bag, which had been at Clary's apartment, and began leading them away from the building.

Simon ran ahead of the two. "Clary!" He called. "Simon!" She responded, pulling him into a hug. As soon as Wren came into view, the redhead was charging into the blonde. Wren gave her a tight squeeze, her shoulders relaxing in relief. Clary pulled away before looking between Wren and Simon. "Are you guys okay? I was so worried," she rushed.

"I hate to break up this little reunion, but we got a bunch of werewolves trying to kill us so maybe we should get going..." Jace informed. "Werewolves?" Wren asked incredulously as. Clary said, "Wait, wait, the box. My backpack. I think I left it at the loft."

"No, we've got it. I didn't screw up everything," Alec said. "Let's get out of here, then," Simon said and they all turned. "Wait, Simon, Wren! Whatever you do, do not make any fast moves," Isabelle said.

Low growling filled the air and Wren's eyes swept across the darkened area. She made sure to keep close to the Shadowhunters as she looked around in fear. There were werewolves in New York and they were trying to kill them. They were for sure going to die tonight. The werewolves stalked closer and into view and Wren let out a tiny gasp. They were even scarier than in the movies.

"This can't be good," Jace said as he stepped in front of Simon and Wren. He pulled out his seraph blade, Isabelle pulled out her whip, and Alec notched an arrow onto his bow string.

"We're surrounded," Alec informed as he looked around. The brunet pulled the string back as he lifted his bow and pointed it. "Everyone, stay together," he told them. "Believe me, I'm not going anywhere," Simon informed. "Yeah, me neither," Wren agreed. The growling intensified and she scooted closer to Alec. To her surprise, he didn't scoot away. But in his defense, he was probably too busy focusing on the werewolves trying to kill them to notice.

"Everyone, get back, that's the alpha leader," Jace informed. Wren turned to see a wolf that seemed to be walking taller than the other wolves stalking toward them. The alpha werewolf ran toward them and Wren instinctively moved back. "Jace, behind you!" Clary shouted just as a new wolf began howling. Said wolf jumped off of the shipping crates and pounced at the alpha.

Wren watched through wide eyes as the two wolves momentarily disappeared behind some crates. Wren could just make out the wolves fighting behind the crates and could hear whimpering. "He's challenging the alpha," Alec said. "He's helping us!" Clary realized. "Or cutting in line to kill us," Simon said. "Simon, not helping," Wren hissed.

The two wolves slammed into a crate. Wren heard one last whimper before one of the wolves began turning human. The group walked closer to see the dead body of Theo lying faced down on the ground. "The alpha's dead," Isabelle informed. Suddenly, the other werewolf transformed into... Luke?

"Luke?" Wren questioned. "Oh, my God, Luke," Clary said. The werewolves behind them began howling before they transformed back into their human forms. They all lowered themselves onto one knee. "What is it? What's happening?" Clary asked Jace. "When a werewolf kills the alpha leader, he becomes the new alpha. Your friend Luke's the leader of the pack now," Jace answered.

Wren continued to look at Luke in shock. He was apart of this world too? "Clary..." Luke began tiredly. "No," Jace said as he grabbed onto her arm. "It's okay," Clary assured as she carefully walked toward him. "I promised your mother I'd always protect you," the man said. Suddenly his eyes were rolling into the back of his head and he was falling forward. Wren, Clary, and Simon rushed forward to catch him. "Luke! Oh, my God!" Clary rushed.

Luke's body fell into Wren and she struggled to get a good grip on him. The three friends held him up as he struggled to stay on his feet. Jace pulled Clary to the side and began talking to her, presumably about Luke and what the next plan of action was. Wren was looking down at Luke in concern. She then looked over at Simon who was staring over at Clary and Jace, a twinge of sadness in his eyes. He looked back down at Luke and then at Wren who sent him a sympathetic look. Unrequited love must fucking suck.

"Clary, we gotta go," Simon informed. "We have to get him to his car," Jace said. Luke was groaning softly, his breathing heavy. Simon and Wren passed Luke off to Jace and Clary as Simon grabbed the keys. "Here, I'll drive. I'm the only one with a mundane license," Simon said. "I have a license," Wren reminded.

"Yeah, but you're a terrible driver," he said as they made their way to Luke's car. "I'm going to pretend to not be offended," Wren replied lightly. "I never should've doubted you," Clary said to Luke. "We never should've lied to you," Luke replied. The redhead and Jace helped him into the backseat of the car. "Get in the backseat, you're smaller," Jace told Wren as he moved around to go to the passenger seat.

The blonde nodded and slipped into the back seat. She and Clary were on either side of the man and Clary grabbed his face. "Luke. Luke, hey! It's okay. We're getting you help, okay? Just, please, don't leave me again. I can't have anyone else die because of me," Clary said to the man, who was like her father. He could barely keep his eyes open as Clary held onto him.

Wren's worried eyes stared at the man she had known for a good majority of her life. He couldn't die. Not now. "Please don't die," she whispered before pulling on her seatbelt as Simon began driving away from The Jade Wolf.

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