by J. Kearston
“Think he’s just been avoiding the house because of me?” Ezra whispers as we dart between tree trunks. “I’ve been there nearly every day and hardly seen him; maybe he’s just sick of me encroaching on his space.”
Yri looks at her like she has three heads. “You’re a goddamn delight, that couldn’t possibly be the reason.”
I muffle a low chuckle as she lifts a shoulder in half of a shrug to agree. “Can’t argue with flawless logic.”
We can hear the sounds of saws and axes now that we’re getting close and drop our volume a bit more. I plaster my back against a tree trunk and Ezra gestures for a boost. I thread my fingers together for her to step in, giving her an extra push so that she can reach the lowest branch above us. Yri follows behind her to navigate the branches while I keep my ass on the ground. I’m many things, but built for stealth isn’t one of them.
I peer around the tree, seeing nothing more than a small crew working away. There are ten of them including Caius, caught up with breaking down a fallen tree into usable pieces. They load the lumber into the back of a truck with a massive flatbed, turning around to start the process all over again. He whips off his shirt to wipe sweat off of his face, tossing it aside and picking his axe up to start in without slowing.
I see the change in the men surrounding Caius in the clearing first, watch their eyes dilate and their hands slow. Soon, they give up all pretense of work, getting agitated, starting to dissolve into fights with one another.
I feel the same pull, but after being assaulted with low levels of the pheromones almost daily, it doesn’t take too much effort to fight the effects. Cai realizes what’s happening, scanning the surrounding area to search for her while tossing frequent glances at the men around him. He grits his teeth, but keeps his hand curled around his axe’s handle.
“Dead kittens, saggy grandpa balls, algebra,” Yri whispers in rapid succession and a surprised laugh slips through my lips unbidden.
Cai’s head whips in my direction a split second before he storms over, looking ten shades of pissed off. His blonde hair is matted with sweat and there are shadows under his usually bright blue eyes, leaving him looking rundown.
“What were you thinking, bringing her here?” he demands on a harsh whisper, glancing back over his shoulder at his coworkers starting to mellow out a bit.
I raise my eyebrow in challenge. There is no single leader in a flight, and as such, the three of us are on equal footing. Cai can be upset all he likes, but he doesn’t get to make decisions for the rest of us.
“She wanted to find out why you were avoiding her.” No point beating around the bush.
He embeds his axe in the trunk beside us, groaning and swiping a tired hand down his face. “Damn it, I’m not avoiding her. Why would you let her think something like that?”
I look at my brother in arms, really look. We haven’t seen him more than in passing the last week and we’ve been so caught up with Ezra, we haven’t been paying close enough attention to how stressed out he is.
“Hate to tell you, Cai, but no one lets that girl do a damn thing. She wanted to figure out why you’ve been avoiding the house now that she’s been hanging around, wanted to make sure she wasn’t chasing you out. So we changed our date plan into a recon threesome.”
“Hold on.”
He heads back to the clearing and says something to a couple of the guys, grabbing his shirt off of the ground and a water bottle before jogging back over. I lean back against the trunk, letting him take a minute before he continues.
“So where is she?” he asks cautiously.
“With Yri.”
He nods, assuming he would have gotten her out of here and speaking freely. I have a brief moment where I consider warning him that they’re eavesdropping, but after what Ezra just went through with her brothers, I think she deserves blanket honesty. And Cai, the idiot, is terrible at talking about himself. It’s to help him as much as her because if she chooses to take Yri and I as mates, it means Cai will be left out in the cold if he doesn’t come around. He just needs a push and she needs to know where he stands for all of our sakes before this goes any further.
“I’ve been volunteering for extra shifts,” he finally explains and I give him a look, gesturing to elaborate. He sits down, resting his head against the trunk and closing his eyes for a brief moment.
“We pissed off the leader of a goddamn country, Ren. No way we don’t have bounties on our heads. Why the hell would she consider our flight over all the other options? She’s the one paying you and Yri hates his job; I figure if I can make enough to support us, then it might be at least one point in our favor. Then you two can stay with her so we don’t have to worry about leaving her alone. We don’t really offer much here, Soren. If we can’t even provide for her, why the fuck would she want to be our mate when there are hundreds of better options she could choose from?”
He keeps his eyes closed, overwhelmed and overtired. I don’t answer, instead looking up to find Ezra and Yri in the branches above us. Ezra is stretched out on a branch, lithe as a panther and resting her head on her folded arms. Yri sits at the base of the branch with a hand on her ankle, ready to grab her if she starts to fall.
I see guilt flash across Vyrian’s face that he doesn’t attempt to mask. But Ezra? She looks down at us with a combination of understanding and amusement.
“Maybe because she isn’t as shallow as you seem to think?” she purrs teasingly.
Cai’s eyes fly open and lock onto her hovering above him before turning an accusatory glare on me. “You knew she was there, didn’t you, you bastard?”
I grin, unrepentant. “Yep.”
He smacks a hand on the ground in frustration before getting to his feet. “You trying to add a broken leg to your collection?” he shouts up at her.
Her broad grin takes over her face, especially when she slips her ankle out from Yri’s grasp to stand up. “I think it’s been too long, newblood. You seem to have forgotten your epic defeat at my hands.”
She walks towards the end of the branch that starts to bow. My heart rate kicks up a notch, preparing myself to catch her when she slips. She’s completely right; it’s hard to remind myself that she’s been winning the gauntlets years before we came along.
It goes against everything in my nature; I just want to protect her. Hearing her ribs crack, seeing her coated in blood, made me want to lock her in the house where I could keep anything from hurting her again. I know logically that’s ridiculous and she’d resent me for it, but I can’t help the feeling.
“Good thing there’s another race in a couple of weeks,” she continues, and it just serves to agitate me further.
“You don’t need to sign up.” I know it’ll do as much good as talking to a brick wall, but I have to try. I don’t know if my heart can take a repeat of last time.
She snorts. “Nope, but I’m ‘gonna anyway.” I open my mouth, but she cuts me off before I can utter a single word. “And you don’t get to run this time.”
Yri doesn’t walk after her like I can see he wants to, not wanting to add any more weight to the branch. “Well now, that’s a bit hypocritical.”
She shakes her head, stepping off and catching herself. She swings from the branch before dropping, her hat going first and her fiery hair tumbling free. I catch her before she manages to break a leg like Cai claimed and she pats my shoulder condescendingly.
“Because, this, right here. It’d be cheating. You don’t want me to get hurt and you’d try to help me or let me win; I can’t have that. I’m not about to have people question my impeccable record and drag my name through the mud by calling me a cheater. I win on my own merit,” she declares.
I release my grip enough that she can slide to her feet, torturing myself with the friction. “What’s the point of being a bodyguard if you refuse to let me do my job?”
She smirks, bending down to pick up Yri’s hat from the ground and making me envy her jeans. “Because it’s fun?” A
t my narrowed look she rolls her eyes and adds, “If I end up getting mobbed by men that can’t keep the right head in the game, you can intervene. I doubt you’ll need to, because without you three or my beautiful books nearby at risk getting caught in the crossfire, I can go all out. But it’s been a heck of a lot easier letting you scare people off instead of having to deal with it day to day.”
Cai scoffs. “I’m running with you.”
She cracks her knuckles, looking thrilled at the idea, but trying to temper her reaction. “I mean, you can try to keep up, but don’t feel bad when you fail.”
His nostrils flare as he looks her over, but I interrupt. “Why does he get to run if I can’t?”
She doesn’t tear her eyes away from him. “Because he didn’t take so much as a single step to try and catch me just now. And by that look on his face, I’d say he wants to win nearly as bad as I do.”
He doesn’t deny it, sizing her up. One of his coworkers shouts for him and he curses, jerking the blade out of the tree trunk and getting ready to go back to work.
“You staying for dinner again tonight?” he asks her, cracking his neck.
She slips a knife from her pocket, rolling the still closed blade between her fingers. “You want me to?” she challenges.
Fates, she’s perfect for every part of us besides our sanity.
Cai bites the inside of his cheek. “Wouldn’t be the worst way to spend an evening.”
Her lip twitches as she fights a smile before schooling her face into a blasé mask of indifference. “I suppose I could stick around, give you a few pointers.”
He lets out an amused breath, shaking his head and turning to leave. “Then see you tonight.”
“It’s a date,” she winks, making him curse and walk faster. She turns to us and waggles her eyebrows. “Looks like we’ve gone from a threesome to a foursome; finishing off this date thing with a bang.”
Vyrian barks out a surprised laugh, throwing an arm over her shoulders to guide her back through the woods towards town.
“I have somewhere I need to swing by before we go to Elias’ game this evening.”
Yri drops his arm from her shoulders, watching her out of the corner of his eye as we walk. “I can head home so you two can have some one on one time if you want,” he offers and she turns to give him a strange look.
“You don’t want to go?” she asks.
I roll my eyes, already filled in from last week when he originally asked her out. “He’s giving you the opportunity to sneak out the bathroom window if the date’s going terribly, little dragon.”
She bursts out laughing, walking backwards so that she can see our faces, miraculously not smashing into anything. “We never developed our codeword, Ren. How shortsighted of us.”
Yri watches her warily.
“How about pineapple?”
Yri snorts. “Codeword, not safe word. Though I’m not opposed.”
“What if I wanted to order pineapple though?” Ezra objects. “Let’s go with the obvious ‘I’m not feeling well’ and pretend I need you to take me home? Then it’s an excuse instead of just a word.”
“Sure. How are you feeling this afternoon, Ezra?” I tease, enjoying Vyrian’s squirming.
She taps her finger on her lips, pretending to think hard on the matter. “A little hungry, but pretty good. You?”
Yri grins, mooning over the girl.
“Just peachy.” I wink.
We walk for nearly an hour. I ask Yri to shadow her and keep her occupied while I make a detour for my errand without prying eyes. I duck out of the shop and meet them in a nearby store, window shopping. I take a minute to appreciate that brief time before they notice my arrival, the one where I can just watch them joke around and be happy.
It’s terrifying.
I get where Caius was coming from originally, not wanting to get his hopes up. It’s one thing to know you’ll die alone and another to have someone like her, a shot at happiness, dangled in front of you just to have it ripped away.
“Get what you need?” she asks, running her fingers over damn near everything around her. She just can’t seem to stop herself, like it’s a borderline compulsion to feel every blanket, shirt, or knick knack.
I nod and she doesn’t pry any further, for which I’m grateful. She’s aware enough to realize if I wanted them to know, I wouldn’t have set off on my own to do it. I appreciate it more than I can say. She’s observant. Dangerous and fragile, guarded as well as all in. She’s a walking contradiction that’s the perfect balance and I admire the hell out of her for it.
We waste some more time just wandering around downtown before heading to the middle school, climbing into the stands and finding a seat in the front row. Vyrian and I flank either side of Ezra on the uncomfortable, metal bench, and she folds her arms over the rail, looking at home here.
“Triplets aren’t coming?” Yri asks, leaning beside her.
Ezra huffs in annoyance. “Never. Monday through Friday the two of us are always on our own. No games, no conferences, usually not even dinners. They haven’t even shown up to watch a Gauntlet since I won the third time. If it wasn’t for the weekends, I’d forget they even existed.”
I share a look with Vyrian. “They’ve been working that hard for years?”
She turns with a look of confusion before understanding dawns on her. “They can’t possibly have been stockpiling weapons and armor since then, right?”
I stay silent and the bars in front of her start to warp from the heat she’s giving off. “They better have a goddamn armory under the house.”
I don’t say anything since everything at this point is speculation. One thing’s for damn sure though. When Ezra isn’t around, the triplets and I are having a goddamn conversation. Secrets on top of secrets and even when they see how much they hurt her, they continue to keep them. If there’s something new going on that I’m unaware of, you can bet your ass I’m going to find out before it’s too late.
“Ezra,” a man says from behind us and we all turn at her name.
“Colton,” she replies curtly with a frown.
He narrows his eyes at me, posturing in an attempt to be intimidating. Not only does he miss the mark, but it’s painfully obvious to the men eavesdropping around us as they chuckle at his expense.
He scowls, swiping a hand over the back of his dark hair. “You never got the chance to give me an answer at practice.”
Now I’m the one glaring and it has a far better effect. “That’s an answer in itself, isn’t it?”
Ezra’s hand falls on my bicep before it comes to blows. For being her bodyguard, I haven’t gotten the chance to beat the shit out of anybody yet. It feels like a waste of my talents.
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to pass, Colton,” she dismisses.
He gets pissed. “All these years of us in town looking out for you, and you’re going to mate with the newbloods? Seriously?”
She turns around completely in her seat to glare at him. “I don’t owe you a damn thing.”
He smacks his hand on the bench, making a scene. “What the fuck do you see in them that you don’t in one of us, huh?”
She leans back against Vyrian casually, pissing Colton off worse with the lack of reaction he’s getting from her. “They don’t throw little bitchfits when they don’t get what they want, for one.”
He starts in on another tirade, but I have had enough. I rise to my feet, towering over him and making myself abundantly clear. “You should leave now.”
He looks like he’s debating throwing a punch, but ultimately spits on the ground and storms off. Elias is coming up the bleachers at the same time and passes a shirt to Colton on the way. The coach snatches it and the two dissolve into heated whispering before parting ways. Elias joins us on the stands and squishes between Ezra and me.
“You quit right before the match?” she asks, surprised.
Elias snorts. “Yeah, because I want to deal with that bullshit. He eit
her would’ve benched me or put me through the wringer pissed off like he was.”
Her face falls, “Eli, I’m sorry, I-“
He cuts her off. “I don’t blame you, Ez. It’s a game, not the end of the world. But people suck and as much as they shouldn’t, take stuff out on the rest of us when they’re pissed; sports even more so. I wasn’t about to spend the next hour running laps and getting screamed at because coach got shot down.”
She looks like she wants to argue or go smooth things over with that asshole so Elias doesn’t need to deal with the fallout, but he just starts poking her in the side of her cheek until she gets annoyed and smacks his hand away.
“Feed me, oh mighty sister mom,” he continues, effectively slamming the door closed on the past. “I’m withering away from your neglect.”
She rolls her eyes and gets to her feet. “Since we don’t need to stay for the game now, we might as well go back home and start dinner then.”
Yri pulls out his phone to shoot Cai a text, letting him know to meet us at her house instead. We climb into her SUV, and make it back without any more incidents. Dinner prep is easy, falling into a bit of a routine over the last week.
We’re just setting the table when Cai arrives, hair still damp from a hasty shower. He looks uncomfortable and I fight a smile.
“You know, if you hadn’t been avoiding the house this last week, you wouldn’t feel so awkward about this.” I keep my voice low so the conversation stays between the two of us at the door.
Cai looks so worn out that he might fall asleep standing up. “I already explain-“ but I wave off the excuse before he can hide behind it.
“No, you’re scared and hiding behind work. I get it. But you’re building this up in your head way more than it needs to be. Just breathe and pretend it’s any other night, alright?”
He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re right. Fuck. Okay,” he mutters and I grin, slapping him on the shoulder, his awkwardness more amusing than it should be.
We sit down to dinner and the tension bleeds out of his shoulders the longer the evening wears on. As per usual, when the time comes to head our separate ways for the evening, I feel a pang of unease.
