What happened in Silver Elite by Dani Francis - Recaptains

The basics

Title: Silver Elite

Author: Dani Francis

Series: Silver Elite #1

- Silver Elite (2025)
- Broken Dove (2026)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Psychic gifts are a death sentence and there are rules to survival: Trust no one. Lie to everyone. And whatever you do, don’t fall for your greatest enemy.

TRUST NO ONE.

Wren Darlington has spent her whole life in hiding, honing her psychic abilities and aiding the rebel Uprising in small ways. On the Continent, being Modified means certain death—and Wren is one of the most powerful Mods in existence. When one careless mistake places her in the hands of the enemy and she’s forced to join their most elite training program, she’s finally handed the perfect opportunity to strike a devastating blow from inside their ranks.

LIE TO EVERYONE.

But training for Silver Block can be deadly, especially when you’re harboring dangerous secrets and living in close quarters with everyone who wants you dead.

AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T FALL FOR YOUR GREATEST ENEMY.

As the stakes grow ever higher, Wren must prove herself to Silver Block. But that’s easier said than done when your commanding officer is the ruthless and infuriatingly irresistible Cross Redden, who doesn’t miss anything when it comes to her. And as war rages between Mods like her and those who aim to destroy them, Wren must decide just how far she’s willing to go to protect herself . . . and how much of the Continent is worth saving.

Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in Silver Elite by Dani Francis to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel. If you need help remembering what happened in Silver Elite then you’re in the right place.

What happened in Silver Elite?

• We meet Wren Darlington who is living in a village called Hamlett with her Uncle Jim. They previously lived in the Blacklands together for a few years, because Wren is Modified (has psychic powers) and Jim needed to take her away from the city.
• On Liberty Day, Wren sleeps with a soldier called Jordan, which seems like a bad idea. Wren tries to sneak away and bumps into a hot guy, who she bickers with. Jordan finds Wren again and walks her to the main square.
• Wren’s friend Tana approaches and the two talk telepathically. We learn that Wren has been working some minor jobs for the Uprising, and she’s particularly useful because her veins don’t glow when she uses her powers – something that often gets “normal” Mods caught.
• Wren shoots a white coyote that is trying to eat a boy. The shot was basically impossible, so everyone notices and Wren regrets it. She rushes home.
• Wren talks to her bff, Wolf, in her head. The two don’t know each other’s real names, they just spontaneously linked when they were children and have been talking telepathically ever since. Wren uses the codename Daisy.
• Uncle Jim warns Wren that she has drawn a lot of attention with the shot.
• Wren also has a second power, inciting. She can give people commands and they’ll follow them. She can’t control this though, and it tends to just manifest when she’s experiencing heightened emotions.
• The next day, Wren heads off across the ranch to mend some fences. Jim reaches out telepathically to tell her to run as Command soldiers are at the house. The soldiers take Jim away, as he is a wanted deserter.
• Wren rushes through the tunnels to find Griff, a friend of the family and Tana’s father. He works for the Uprising. He tells Wren that Jim will be taken to the Tribunal.
• Wren decides to board a train to Sanctum Point to intervene with Jim’s trial. She is met by two Uprising members, Faye and Declan. They plan to take her to a safe house. Wren insists on continuing to the Point to find her uncle, especially when she learns he is set to be executed the following day. The Uprising isn’t interested in helping with the rescue.
• Wren reaches the plaza. Jim communicates with her and tells her to run. The soldiers raise their guns to execute Jim, and Wren uses her incite power to make them turn the guns on themselves. She almost manages it but in the end they do kill Jim. Wren flees but is caught.
• Wren is interrogated by the Command soldiers. The hot guy from the village is in the room, along with a guy called Xavier and a woman called Tyler. Wren insists her uncle wasn’t Modified or a guy called Julian Ash, who deserted fifteen years ago.
• Jayde Valence, a Modified mindreader who works for the General, shows up and gets into Wren’s mind. Wren manages to trick her and Jayde doesn’t find anything.
• Tana connects with Wren and tells her that Hamlett is full of soldiers asking about Jim and Wren. Tana has heard about the incitement incident at the execution, and Wren can’t tell her friend it was her.
• The hot guy comes in and introduces himself. His name is Cross, and he’s the captain of Silver Block. He recruits Wren to train as a soldier and join his team.
• Wolf connects with Wren and he can tell something is wrong. Wren tells him she’s just having a bad day. Wolf starts talking about the ocean and describes what he’s looking at.
• Orientation begins. There’s a guy called Hadley there, who turned his Modified mother in a few years ago. She was sent to a labour camp in the salt mines.
• Wren vows to fail the programme so she can get kicked out.
• Wren is assigned to the Black Cell. They are taken to their quarters, where there are only 23 beds for 24 people. Wren gives up her bed for Lyddie, hoping that it’ll get her kicked out for being too kind. Wren shares a bed with a guy called Kaine.
• Hadley takes Wren to see the Captain for breaking the rules. Cross says he won’t let Wren leave the programme.
• Lyddie tells Wren that Cross used to date a woman called Ivy, who is going through the programme for the second time.
• Wren learns that Cross is General Redden’s son and is disgusted. She learns that Travis, Cross’s older brother, is high up in Intelligence, and his younger half-brother, Roe, is in the programme too.
• There’s a mention of a lost continent called Carora so I’m wondering if this is foreshadowing??
• A prisoner called Amira is used during a shielding class. Amira tests the students. Wren pretends to have a weakened shield so she doesn’t get discovered for being amazing. She desperately wants to link to Amira but can’t or it will give her away.
• Wren attempts to escape on a motorbike but Cross chases after her and brings her back. The whole cell gets punished for this.
• Wren continues to try to fail her classes.
• Lyddie spots Wren’s burn, and Wren tells her she had an accident with a pot of boiling water. It was actually Uncle Jim who poured the water over her birthmark, which would give Wren away as a Mod.
• Wren fights Kess for being rude. Kess is taken to Medical and Wren is told off by Cross. The two of them fight and Wren loses.
• Wolf talks to Wren about his nightmare about drowning.
• Wren goes looking around base and ends up in the plaza where Jim was killed. Cross joins her and they talk about the good ol’ days of the Old Era, and how the General is trying to fix mistakes from back then.
• Wren has to list her weaknesses for class.
• Wren’s call sign is now Broken Dove.
• Wren and Kaine perform a mock test together and fail by tripping an alarm. Wren is able to steal a knife.
• Lyddie and Wren look at a map together. Lyddie points out Tierra Fe, which is apparently where Wren’s mother’s family were from. It seems very secretive down there, and the population is said to be very religious.
• Anson tries to attack Wren so she pulls the knife on him. Cross tells Anson to leave, and lets her keep the knife.
• Wren borrows clothes from Betima to attend the pit night. She and Cross flirt from across the room. Roe warns Wren away from Cross, saying that his brother likes fragile women.
• Cross and Ford spar in the pit. Cross wins. Afterwards he gets drunk and flirts with Wren some more.
• The recruits have to jump across the roofs of buildings for their next activity. Wren helps Lyddie climb. Another recruit falls and gets impaled. Betima holds him while he dies. Roe looks at the group suspiciously.
• Back at the barracks, Betima is really thrown. She and Wren go to the roof to smoke. Roe and Anson corner them, and Roe shoots Betima because he has realised that she is an empath – which is why the death affected her so deeply.
• Wren runs back to the barracks and throws up. She kisses Kaine but they decide they shouldn’t do anything else while they’re grieving.
• Wren overhears Cross talking to his father. Cross thinks his brother should be kicked out of the programme, but the General thinks Roe is brilliant.
• Wren allows Kess to break her wrist during sparring so she can be sent to Medical. Cross calls in a healer to fix Wren’s wrist.
• Declan from the Uprising contacts Wren and tells her that a woman called Adrienne will be by tomorrow to speak to her.
• Adrienne tells Wren that Betima was working for the Uprising and she wants Wren to fill her spot. Wren will need to pass through the programme and get into the Silver Elite though.
• Wren crushes the next exercise, which is sniping. Cross scores her low on purpose.
• Wren steals a signal jammer from Hadley’s class.
• Wren uses the jammer to sneak out of the barracks and head to Cross’s room. She finds Cross with a woman and interrupts. She puts her knife to his throat. The woman Cross was with leaves.
• Cross agrees to stop scoring Wren low.
• The team goes to the desert for some parachuting practice. That evening, Lyddie admits that she misses Betima. Some of the team don’t believe that she was a Mod.
• The team hears the General’s broadcast over the radio, talking about eradicating Mods/Aberrants, and how terrible President Severn was.
• Wren heads to the showers at the same time as Cross. They shower in adjacent stalls and tease each other.
• Ford tells Wren that this whole thing with Cross is hilarious to him.
• Lyddie offers to tutor Wren so she stops failing the written tests.
• The team takes part in a rescue drill. Wren and Kaine need to wait to be rescued, which they don’t. They free themselves, but fail the drill.
• Jayde Valence pulls a recruit from Peter from the programme because she has had a vision about him getting his fellows killed.
• Wolf and Wren discuss fate.
• Wren and Cross kiss.
• Jordan from the beginning of the book shows up. Cross is jealous.
• Wren has to go undercover for a mission. She has to visit a brothel called Haven and ask for a job. Cross shows up partway through and they flirt. Wren is then told to leave abruptly and forget about the job, as this whole thing was about following instructions.
• Wren and Cross sleep together that evening, and Wren regrets it immediately since Cross is the General’s son.
• Lyddie and Wren pair up for another drill. This time, recruits are supposed to leave their fellow behind and use the 46 seconds to escape. Wren refuses. Wren gets paired with Kaine and the same thing happens, except Kaine leaves her behind when it’s his turn.
• Cross tells her she can have one more go at the drill so she has to pass. Wren refuses to leave anyone behind. Her score gets changed to a Pass without having to retake the test.
• Wren and the other recruits are drugged. Wren wakes up in an abandoned train car with Ivy and Roe. This is the start of the interrogation testing, and it’s where Ivy failed last time. Wren tries to help Ivy. The trio stay in the car for several days and undergo mild torture, and eventually all three pass.
• The recruits receive their final scores. Wren is put forward for Silver Elite but has to pass a test first.
• Wren has to fight Bryce and she ends up killing her because Bryce will not yield. This means Wren makes it through to the Elite, with five other recruits, including Kaine.
• Kaine comforts Wren after the fight.
• Now that Wren has graduated, she and Cross can sleep together whenever, but they agree to keep it a secret. Ivy spots Cross leaving Wren’s room one evening, though.
• The Elite team is split in two. One half have gone to Hamlett to find the Uprising members. Wren isn’t allowed to join them. She is told her half of the team are going to try to take down a smuggler called Jasper Reed.
• Wren tells Declan about the missions. He tells Wren not to warn Tana about the Elite coming to the village, but she ignores him.
• Wren goes with Ford and Kaine to a hospital in Ward C, which Reed apparently uses to move his supplies. Wren finds some Mods in the hospital who have clearly been impacted by their powers. They’re said to be fragmented. Everyone knows about them, but no one seems to care.
• Cross needs backup in Hamlett, so the others join him anyway. Tana and Griff have been detained. Wren convinces Griff to give up information about the tunnels to save Tana.
• Anson assaults Tana and she shoots him, so she calls Wren for help. Wren sorts out the crime scene and covers up the murder, claiming Anson shot her first. Cross knows what’s up but he wants to look out for Wren. And Anson was awful anyway.
• Tana is taken away to work at a labour camp. She doesn’t want to link to Wren after she turned in her father.
• Wren gives Adrienne coordinates for an Elite weapons stash, which the Uprising bomb. Unfortunately for the Uprising, they missed.
• The Elite go for their routine checkup with the healer, Ellis. He wants to heal Wren’s burns but she won’t let him.
• Cross takes Wren on a date to see glowing flowers. He gets a call about his mother, so he races them both back to his family’s estate. He goes to find his mum, leaving Wren alone. She doesn’t find much, so she goes to find Cross. She sees that his mother is incoherent, and she reminds Wren of the fragmented Mods at the hospital. Cross thinks it’s “just” schizophrenia because his mother’s veins don’t turn silver.
• Wren helps Vinessa eat soup.
• Wren spots an oil painting on the wall. It matches the view that Wolf often describes. This sends Wren into a bit of a spiral because she thinks Cross must be Wolf. (Obviously.)
• Wren and Cross sleep together. Wren brings up the recurring nightmare that Wolf talks about. Cross pulls a knife on her before realising that Wren is Daisy.
• Cross admits that he has telepathy and asks that she doesn’t tell anyone.
• Cross and the team respond to an emergency alert. An Uprising jet has crashed near a weapons depot. Struck, Kaine, and Jones enter the warehouse and it burns down, killing all three of them. Then someone flies off with one of the Elite’s jets.
• A funeral is held for the three deceased.
• Cross doesn’t trust Wren for a bit after that, so she decides to tell him everything as proof of her love or whatever. She also STUPIDLY got her thigh healed by Ellis, who is apparently also working for the Uprising, so now her birthmark shows.
• Adrienne instructs Wren to gather a package of explosives for the Jubilee. Wren tells Cross that the Uprising are planning something for that day.
• Wren heads to the supply room to set the explosives. Jayde Valence shows up and tells Wren she had a vision about what she’s doing. Jayde is impressed and angry that Wren was about to trick her.
• Jayde wants Wren to join her so they can be some sort of psychic dream team.
• Wren incites Jayde to shoot herself and then calls Cross for clean up. Ford comes along because he’s their bestie now. Cross tells Wren to head to her room.
• Lyddie shows up and sees Wren’s birthmark. Ivy shows up too. Wren concocts the most idiotic story about being on the same team as the General and working with them in secret. Lyddie promises to keep it a secret for now until Cross can tell the Elites, but Ivy leaves the room.
• Lyddie immediately blabs to Roe, which we find out later.
• The General holds a speech at the banquet and it goes horribly. Adrienne is messing with the General’s brain and is getting him to talk nonsense. People start to panic, and then there’s an explosion. 
• Wren helps Adrienne to a getaway car.
• Roe shows up and arrests Wren.
• Cross tells Wren that the General’s mind is completely gone, and Travis has been promoted to General. Oh and also Wren is to be executed.
• Travis declares war on all Mods.
• Adrienne links with Wren and tells her to come to the Uprising base beyond the Blacklands, if she can.
• Cross smuggles Wren out of the base with the help of Ford. Wren telepathically tells Cross that she thinks Vinessa’s mind has been fractured by the Uprising.
• Ford will be accompanying Wren through the Blacklands because Cross can’t leave right now.
• Wren has to help Ford the entire time because he keeps nearly dying. Wren and Ford come across her old hut that she lived in with Jim. Wren finds a note from Jim and reads it once Ford is sleeping. We only find out what it says later.
• The note says that Wren’s real name is Stella, and her parents were called Marina and Jake. They coordinated an attack against the Uprising from the inside, and got loads of Mods killed.
• Wren and Ford make it through the Blacklands in one piece. Adrienne sends a crew to come and get Wren.
• Kaine shows up with the crew. He’s not dead, and he’s actually a really skilled pilot called Grayson Blake.
• Ford attacks Kaine for getting Tyler killed. Ford is arrested. The team heads to Dagger.

That’s what happened in Silver Elite! Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!