Forged from the Ashes (Wings of War Book 1)

by J. Kearston

  I catch the book aimed at my head easily without looking.

  “You’re such a sap, Yri,” Caius declares in annoyance, going back to dressing his wounds. “I thought you’d given up on that sort of thing.”

  Soren rumbles out a laugh, sitting back in his recliner. “You met Ezra too, I take it?”

  My eyes meet his steely ones instantly. “You met her?”

  He nods, smiling. “Got a fantastic look at her ass as she left us in her dust.”

  I stand up straighter, frowning. “What the hell are you talking about, Soren?”

  Caius answers instead. “This town is psychotic and let their only woman run in the fucking gauntlet.” He scrubs a hand through his blonde hair, frowning. “She used me as a damn springboard and jumped onto a rope two hundred feet above the ground. She nearly fucking died, and nobody here acted like it was a big deal!”

  What the flying fuck?

  “I think I’m missing some key information here. You’re telling me not only did Ezra run against you, but she won? I saw her less than an hour ago and besides burning her own clothes off, there wasn’t a scratch on her.”

  Soren leans his elbows on his knees and laces his fingers together. “You saw her naked?”

  I roll my eyes. “No, I’m a gentleman, thank you very much. I gave her my shirt.”

  He nods his head as if he expected as much. I start cooking dinner while we all get lost in our own worlds, the time passing comfortably and easily as it always does with each other. When we’re settled in at the table, Soren can’t seem to take it anymore though.

  “When’s the next race?” he asks, and Caius huffs.

  “Not you too? Look guys, you know as well as I do there’s no point in getting our hopes up. There are thousands of men in the area. Resign yourselves to a life of masturbation like the rest of us and move on already. If she’s going to go for anyone, it’ll be someone that horde of brothers of hers approve of, so it’ll be a local they’ve known their entire lives.”

  Soren takes another bite before he casually tosses out there, “Heard a rumor on the way back that whoever can beat her in the Gauntlet gets to marry her.” He goes back to chewing, subtly watching the way Cai’s hand tightens around his fork.

  “I don’t buy it. Girl like that has too much pride, she wouldn’t want to go for someone that makes her look weak in front of a crowd,” he counters, stuffing another bite into his mouth.

  “I met the triplets,” I add. “They were looking to hire another hand around the forge and offered me a discount on my bow if I could start tomorrow.”

  Cai’s fork pauses halfway to his mouth. “You didn’t.”

  I happily finish off my plate, rising to my feet and towards the kitchen. “I did.”

  I start washing the dishes as the other two finish and come join me, Cai glowering and Soren smirking.

  “This is a mistake,” Cai tries again, but there’s a little less heat behind his words than before.

  “All the best things in life seem that way at first,” Soren counters, grabbing a rag to dry the plates.

  “It’s not going to end well,” he tries again.

  I set my sponge down and look Cai right in the eye. “Since when have you ever rolled over and accepted defeat? You have to fight for what you want, and if you never try, you’ll never succeed. I’ve never taken you for a quitter, Cai.”

  He rolls his eyes and flips me off. “I’m practical, not a quitter. But fine, what do you suggest, Yri? Show up on her doorstep and sweep her off her feet?” he mocks.

  Soren smacks a cut on Caius’ side and he hisses in pain. “Don’t be a dick.”

  Cai rubs his side, glaring, but nods. “Fair point.”

  I crack my knuckles. “We’re not going to do anything dramatic. We’re newbloods. We get jobs, get our new life set up over here, and we’ll end up crossing paths with her enough in daily life. No need to turn into stalkers and get exiled from town.

  “We let her get to know us and see if she even has an interest. If she doesn’t, we back off and I’ll let you say ‘I told you so’ as much as you want. I’m not about to force ourselves on a girl that doesn’t want to give us the time of day, so let’s just see what happens naturally. No schemes or evil plots to trick her into falling in love with us, just spend time figuring out who she is. For all we know, she might not even mesh well with our flight and it’s a moot point.”

  Soren snorts. “You walked in here ready to kidnap her and skip town.”

  I shrug. “What can I say; the heart wants what the heart wants.”

  Caius shakes his head, walking away. “I’m taking a shower and going to bed, you nutjobs. Soren and I will head out to look for work in the morning.”

  We part ways for the night and I head to my room, setting my alarm ungodly early in preparation for my first day at work tomorrow. Despite the reasons we had to leave home, I can see this new life worth every bit of the suffering it took to get here.

  Chapter 5

  Ezra

  That same afternoon

  I settle into the nearly empty bleachers, making it before Elias’ afterschool training is over. He hasn’t seen me yet, and he is one hundred percent able to just be himself. Around our brothers he has to try and be just as strong and responsible. Around me, he may let his guard down, but he’ll always still try to protect me. Here though?

  He has the biggest smile on his face as he sidesteps one of his friend’s tackling attempts, the two of them getting splattered in mud. He reaches down to help his buddy up and they break into a sprint, trying to trip each other up on their way to the first obstacle. It’s nice seeing him so free, just enjoying himself.

  “He’s a good kid,” a voice behind me states, but I heard his steps on the metal stands long before he came to sit near me.

  “The best,” I agree wholeheartedly.

  I turn to face Colton, the training coach for the school. He’s a solid man, befitting the position, with bright blue eyes and dark hair that should make any girl swoon. But yet, he doesn’t get my blood pumping. He usually ends up finding any excuse to bump into me when I show up to these things, as do all of Elias’ other teachers. I’ve taken point on all of the conferences and such since our brothers are always busy, and the men around here jump on the chance for any excuse that my brothers can’t protest against.

  “You coming to the game next Friday?” he asks casually and I fight off my grimace.

  “You know I never miss his matches.”

  And that’s exactly why this entire conversation is making me uneasy, because everyone in the school knows I am in the front fucking row for anything Elias is even remotely involved in. I take my role as sister-mom incredibly seriously.

  “Maybe I’ll see you there?” he asks and I just get annoyed at his hemming and hawing.

  “Spit it out, Colton. I don’t do subtle well.”

  He turns to face me, completely ignoring the teenagers under his watch. As such, I can’t help but keep shooting glances that way, because teenage boys left unattended is a blank check for trouble.

  “I’d like to take you on a date,” he rushes out, and fuck, that gets my full attention, teens be damned.

  “Have you lost your damn mind?”

  He laughs, going so far as to take my hand and run his thumb over the back. It’s been years since anyone has been this fucking bold, and not going to lie, I’m low key freaking out about it. As much crap as I give my brothers, they’ve been a perfect excuse to fall back on to not have to deal with this sort of thing.

  “You’re almost twenty-four, Ezra. You know what that means,” he prompts and I just blink at him, because I have no clue what the lunatic is going on about.

  When he sees my honest confusion, he blushes. Blushes. And I slide my hand from his grip, unnerved. I feel the vibration of footsteps on the stands, but they sound far away.

  “Your brothers didn’t tell you, did they?” he asks awkwardly.

  “Tell me what!?”
r />   He clears his throat, slipping into teacher mode. “When a female dragon hits the age of maturity, she goes into heat. The feeling won’t abate until her mates have been chosen.” He meets my eyes seriously. “The longest a female dragon has gone before mating in recorded history is twenty-five, Ezra. I’m just asking for a chance.”

  Fingers curl around my bicep as Elias hauls me to my feet, glowering at his coach. “Since training is apparently over, I’m leaving for the day, sir.” He spits the title out with an anger I haven’t heard from my mild-mannered brother.

  Colton rises to his feet, looking between Elias and me as he debates how to react to the disrespect. He settles on ignoring it, no doubt thinking it’ll keep him in my good graces.

  “Training resumes tomorrow, Veles. Don’t be late,” Colton declares before walking away.

  Elias doesn’t remove his death grip on my arm as we march down the stairs, and I’m grateful for it. I pride myself on looking like a badass in front of people, and face planting is a surefire way to undo years of hard work. And with the bomb the coach just dropped on me, I wouldn’t put it past myself to trip in my distracted state.

  I wait outside of the locker room, leaning against the wall while Elias gets changed and grabs his backpack. He throws an arm over my shoulder casually as we walk back to my car, but he hesitates before getting in.

  “You good to drive?” he asks quietly.

  That snaps me out of it and I climb in, slamming the door harshly behind me. Elias is far more calm and collected, so I take the drive home to try and settle my raging emotions. I don’t want to snap at him, and right now I no doubt would.

  We get home and I sit in the recliner in the living room, elbows on my knees and hands on my head. I take a few deep breaths to center myself and look up to see my little brother leaning against the wall in front of me, waiting patiently.

  “Is it true?” I ask quietly.

  He nods sadly. “Yeah, it’s true.”

  I bite my cheek, but finally voice the biggest thing that’s bothering me. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He sighs, swiping a hand through his bright red, shaggy hair. “Kahl, Kaiden and Kinsley don’t want to accept it, are convinced that if you weren’t aware, it’d be different.”

  But I’m already shaking my head. “No, why didn’t you tell me? We tell each other everything,” I croak, heart breaking into no less than a million pieces as I realize the close relationship with my little brother was all in my head.

  He closes his eyes, and when he opens them, they’re shining with restrained emotion. “Because a part of me hoped they were right and you wouldn’t leave me.”

  I get up and hug him. Neither of us cry, just hold onto each other like if we can just hold tight enough, the world won’t be able to tear us apart. We stay like that for a bit, not needing to say anything, because we know each other well enough to know where the other’s head is at.

  “Even if I move out, you know you’ll still always come first, right? That I’d only be a phone call away?”

  He’s shaking his head. “You can lie to yourself, Ez, but not to me. We both know how these things go. It’ll start that way at first as you try to prove a point, but then you’ll get caught up in your new life. One missed event turns into two and you’ll swear you’ll make it up, but it will never end. And Fates forbid if you have a baby, then all bets are off.”

  I fake gag. “Eww, gross, why would I want kids? They’re all needy and emotional,” I tease, still not letting go of him.

  He rests his cheek on the top of my head for a moment before playfully shoving me off of him. “You sure are,” he jabs, making a big show of wiping off his shirt. “What with your girly feelings and all. Disgusting.”

  I smile at him as I go to start dinner. “I know, I should really be ashamed of myself.” I gasp dramatically, turning to face him. “Maybe my fire power translates to something badass like lava tears. That’s a close second to shooting lasers from my eyeballs.”

  Elias snorts as he starts cutting up the chicken. “It would just turn to steam, dork. Best you could hope for is to steam clean some dude’s shirt, or maybe a carpet if you’re really determined. Nothing to brag about.”

  I grin, chuckling. “Lamest power ever. I better just never cry so I don’t have to find out; ignorance is bliss.”

  He sighs. “Yeah, it is.”

  Chapter 6

  Ezra

  I will fight those sons of bitches and I will win.

  I storm into their shop with breakfast in hand, because I may be pissed, but I still love the idiots and they never came home last night.

  Kinsley’s is the first face I see, sharpening a dagger on the wheel as sparks fly. The light reflects off of his safety glasses and I know he won’t be able to see me yet. I march over and wait for him to finish, because I’m not a monster. I don’t want him to get startled and hurt or ruin the project he’s no doubt spent days perfecting and have to scrap it. He finishes a few minutes later, standing up and taking off the glasses, wiping sweat off of his face.

  “Ez?” he asks, setting the dagger on his work table and coming over in concern. “What’s wrong?”

  I narrow my eyes at him. “A cosmic fuck ton is wrong, you butthead. Here.” I toss a breakfast sandwich at him that he catches easily, forehead scrunched in confusion. “Where are the others so I can yell at you all at once?”

  He starts leading me around the bend to the forge, where Kahl and Kaiden are working in tandem. I’ve always adored watching them work, but I can’t even find the enjoyment in it right now. Kinsley gets their attention and they arrange the time sensitive things to buy themselves a few minutes.

  “You alright?” Kaiden asks as I toss him his breakfast with a scowl, but it’s Kahl I glare at because I know he’s the ringleader and final decision maker on all things since our dads died.

  “I went to watch Elias practice yesterday and the coach decided he’d try to hurry up and ask me on a date before my apparent oncoming heat makes me too horny to think straight, so no, I’m not okay! Why the fuck would you guys keep something that big from me, you assholes?”

  Despite the situation, they still devour their food and I hate the fact that it steals away from my anger at them, worrying if I should have brought more.

  “Ez,” Kinsley starts tentatively, but stops as I glare daggers at him.

  “What did that bastard say to you?” Kaiden growls.

  Kahl on the other hand is quiet, and it’s his answer I really want to hear. My anger rises with each second that passes until he finally sighs, swiping a tired hand down his face.

  “We hoped that if you didn’t know about it, you wouldn’t think you didn’t have a choice and accept it. We wanted you to have a fighting chance to decide your own life instead of having it already mapped out for you.”

  But I don’t back down. “And if you had given me a little forewarning, I could have prepared myself. I could have actually had time to date people and get to know them instead of just being so horny I want to jump on the first guy that-“

  Kaiden’s snarl cuts me off. “You’re our sister, don’t say shit like that.”

  I roll my eyes. “So now I have less than six months to try and find my mates, so thanks a lot, dickheads.”

  Kinsley grabs my shoulders and looks down at me seriously. “You don’t have to do anything. We can just lock you in the house or something until you get over it.”

  I give him a withering look. “Do you think it’s a period? Like I just suffer for a week and then it goes away?”

  He blanches. “Why do you have to be gross?”

  “Why do you have to be a baby?”

  “Look!” Kahl snaps. “Ezra, we’re doing our best here, okay? The attack scared the hell out of everyone. The humans just fucking snapped and killed off nearly every female dragon to try and cripple us, and we lost countless men when we eradicated their race. We’re all that’s left and that’s pretty damn terrifying.”

&n
bsp; I bite my tongue as Kaiden adds, “Why do you think we encourage you to run the Gauntlet instead of coddling you? We aren’t always going to be able to protect you and you need to be able to fight back or escape if anything like that ever happens again. As much as everyone claims the humans are all dead, we don’t buy it. There’s no way that at least a handful didn’t go into hiding and they are going to hate us more than ever because of it. You need to be able to fight, or run.”

  Kinsley musses up my hair and I don’t have the strength to bat him away this time. “We love ya’, Ez, and we just can’t imagine any other guys loving you as much as we do. Most of the men in town would just as soon keep you barefoot and pregnant and never let you leave the house. We want better than that for you.”

  Despite my conversation with Elias, my tears do not in fact turn to steam or lava. They just splatter wet drops on the dusty floor.

  “Well now I just look like a dick,” I state on a watery chuckle, swiping at my face and the damning tears.

  Kinsley pats the top of my head. “But you’re our dick.”

  I bat at his arm. “Now who’s being gross?” I laugh, balling up the bag in my hand and tossing into the trashcan nearby.

  I lean against the table as Kahl and Kaiden go back to what they were doing before it gets ruined. “But I guess this means you guys are going to need to let up a bit and I should start dating,” I probe, testing the waters.

  The three of them wear identical scowls, green eyes pinched with annoyance.

  “One of us should go with you so no one can try anything,” Kaiden growls, but Kahl is the one to overrule him.

  “No,” he sighs. “As much as we’ve claimed not to, we’ve shielded her to the point of ignorance, as she so kindly pointed out. We need to give her a little room to breathe and make her own choices.”

  Kinsley turns to him in surprise. “What happened to you, traitor? We’re supposed to vet them and let her pick between the best candidates.”