Forged from the Ashes (Wings of War Book 1)

by J. Kearston

  “And ruin my perfect streak?” she mumbles into Soren’s shoulder, fighting to keep her eyes open. “Do I look like a quitter?”

  Cai swipes a shaky hand over his face, not faring much better. “No, you look like an adrenaline junky with a death wish. Fuck, Ezra, I can’t believe I let you talk me into that.”

  She snorts derisively. “Like you weren’t getting desperate too? My arms fucking hurt. If I was going to fall, I was at least going to go down trying. Besides.” I pass her a water bottle that she chugs down greedily. “Ren would have caught me.”

  Soren’s hands tighten possessively on her thighs at her blind trust, rumbling, “Of course I would, little dragon.”

  “See?” she tosses at Cai. “It was fine.”

  Her arms are wrapped around Soren’s neck as she leans on his shoulder, her eyes fluttering closed as we walk back to our house. Elias is in school and the triplets are at work, but they only hired me on as part time help, so I’m working three hellish days a week right now. More often than not, she spends her time at our house, or us at hers. Since the capture the flag, there’s been an unspoken change, like we earned her brothers’ approval.

  That, and I’m going to marry this girl. She kissed me, chose me. She’s part of our flight whether she likes it or not at this point because I’m not giving her up. Sure, there’s some paperwork and a ritual to knock out of the way before it’s ‘official’, but those are just technicalities.

  Just call me Vyrian Veles; I’m already working on t-shirts.

  “So we’re not going to talk about her chucking Cai aside like a rag doll then? I tease.

  “Yeah, would you have even cared if I broke my damn neck?” he demands with narrowed eyes that she doesn’t see, nuzzling into her living pillow and half asleep.

  “I would’ve found a nice picture to put up at home and a candle or some shit,” she retorts flippantly.

  Cai’s expression softens, catching her slip like the rest of us. Home. She already considers us hers. Fuck, that will go to a man’s head.

  We get back home and she comes to when Soren insists she shower before passing out. There’s just too much filth to fully clean and dress her wounds as she is now and we all know that when she crawls into bed, she’s going to be out for a long time.

  Presumptuous as it may be, we made sure to pick up some stuff for her to keep here. It was way more work than I imagined, needing to find the right people to trade with. Things especially tailored to female needs aren’t nearly as accessible anymore and Hadeon has been careful to not give away the fact there’s a female within its borders, so everything’s done with the utmost discretion.

  At the last minute, I swap out her shirt for one of mine, leaving the pile outside of the bathroom door. We only have one bathroom, so Cai cleans up as best as he can in the kitchen sink until it’s his turn.

  Now that she’s out of ear shot, I whirl on Cai, punching him in the shoulder. “What the fuck was that shit!?” I demand, not needing to clarify; he knows what I damn well mean.

  He groans, sinking into his seat at the table. “I know, okay? I couldn’t find a better plan and our arms were starting to give out. Would you rather I just let her fall?”

  Soren growls, his chest vibrating with his fury. “You could have climbed or slid down.”

  Cai thumps his head on the table, exhausted and defeated. “She never was going to back down and you know it. She’s going to climb to the top of the damn world, with or without our help.”

  I deflate, his words breaking through my anger as I sense the truth in them. He proceeds to tell us about her speech before she chucked him to his death and I have to agree with his thoughts on the matter.

  “Bathroom’s free,” she calls out, towel drying her hair as she comes down the hallway.

  “Damn, angel, you look good enough to eat,” I praise without realizing I spoke out loud until it’s too late.

  Soren and Caius freeze, waiting to see her reaction to my slip up. While we’ve gotten more casual with our touches, testing the waters, that’s a line we haven’t crossed. Nothing overly sexual to scare her off or get the wrong idea; we agreed. Hell, I haven’t even tried to kiss her again.

  She doesn’t bat an eye and I wonder if she even caught my meaning.

  “I’ve got to admit, your clothes are comfier than mine,” she tosses out there, dropping into the seat beside me and happily taking the food I slide her way.

  She passes out at the table halfway through lunch. Soren chuckles, gently picking her up and taking her over to the couch. He wavers for a moment before sitting down with her instead of laying her down, drawing her into his side. He reclines back and settles in for the afternoon.

  “Sneaky bastard.”

  He shakes with silent laughter. “Like you weren’t, sneaking your clothes in with hers?

  I shrug, unrepentant. “You blame me?”

  He smirks, shutting his eyes. “Wish I’d thought of it sooner. It’s a good look on her.”

  I snort. “She’d get lost in your shirt.”

  He grins, eyes still closed. “You mean it might slip off her shoulders? Oh no, how tragic.”

  Laughing quietly, I go to grab the keys to our car. “I’ll pick up Elias and hit the store.”

  Soren gives me a thumbs up and I leave, knowing she’s in good hands.

  I do a quick run through the store and pull up outside of the middle school, keeping an eye out for a shock of red hair. I see him before he catches sight of me and frown, leaning back against my car with crossed arms.

  That asshole coach, Colton, is shouting at him as he walks out of the building. Elias keeps his eyes straight ahead, not giving him the reaction he no doubt wants. Colton puts a hand on Elias’ shoulder to pull him back, and even then, Eli’s face remains impassive. Words are exchanged, but nothing else as I flag him down.

  He climbs into my car, slamming the door. “She get hurt or something?” he tosses out there, scoffing. “Or just doesn’t want to waste time picking me up anymore?”

  I don’t turn on the engine, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah, she got hurt, so no need to be a dick. That asshole been giving you a hard time since you quit the team?”

  His eyes widen then, just thinking she was blowing him off and lashing out. I get it, we’ve been stealing a lot of her free time lately, but we’ve made an active effort to include him in it. We get her while he’s in school, but afterwards we typically hang out at their house so he isn’t alone.

  “What happened? How bad? You just left her?” he demands in rapid succession, but I still don’t turn the car on.

  “The damn Gauntlet happened and she lost a lot of blood, but she’ll be okay. She’s sleeping it off and Cai and Ren are watching over her. I thought I’d be nice and come get you so you weren’t stuck wondering where she was, but fuck me and my help, right?”

  I raise an eyebrow at him, waiting for a response. I get it, he resents us for all that we represent and taking his sister away from him, but there needs to be some middle ground we can meet on here. He pauses, eyes simmering with anger. Elias is the most subdued of all the Veles, but the same fire flows through his blood as the rest of them; he’s just better at keeping it in check.

  He grinds his teeth, letting me know I won the stare off. “Yeah, he’s been an asshole since then.”

  I nod my head, figuring as much. “Ever consider homeschooling?”

  He blinks, not expecting that. “I’m not going to let one prick chase me out of school.”

  I finally fire up the engine, pulling out of the parking lot. “No, but you could graduate a hell of a lot faster and spend more time at home.” I watch him out of the corner of my eye. “Because I know you want to soak up as much time with your sister as you can before we have to leave.”

  He’s silent for a while, lost in thought. “We already talked about it and are going to come with to make sure she makes it to the sanctuary in one piece,” he says softly, not looking at me.


  I assumed that was their plan, and it makes sense. “Thanks.”

  I’m never going to turn away help to keep her safe, not in this shit world. The drive is awkwardly quiet as I give him time to work things out. I don’t push, giving him time to work through things on his own without interfering. I’m not about to offer him some clichéd bullshit about her always finding time for him and won’t put him on the backburner; we both know how things will go.

  I’ll marry her and keep her distracted by copious amounts of sex until she doesn’t even know what day it is. We’ll do weekly dinners so she can see her brothers, and everyone will adjust to a new normal. I’m a selfish bastard; my new normal is going to be fucking amazing, but his will probably suck. I at least owe him enough to not lie to his face and say nothing will change.

  “Homeschooling might not be terrible,” he finally says, not looking at me. “It’s not like there’s more than three people in that entire place I’d miss.”

  I bite my cheek, assuming as much. Elias has always been more withdrawn than the others, so I figured there must be some reason for it.

  “I’ll start hinting at it to Ezra so when you bring it up it’ll go better.” He nods, still not looking at me. “Our house or yours?”

  He strums his fingers on the dash. “Yours. Mine’s boring.”

  And we leave it at that, heading back to my house without any more conversation. We get out of the car and I don’t have to ask, Elias is already grabbing bags to help unload. I stiffen, whipping my head towards the house. Elias doesn’t notice anything off, and I chalk that up to him being her brother.

  “Eli, hold on, let’s-“ I try to stop him. I really do.

  “MY EYES!” he shouts, dropping his bags at the front door.

  Inside, the pheromones she’s giving off are staggering and I have to bite back a groan. I’ve been building up a tolerance over the last few weeks, able to keep my head around her better, but this? Holy hell, my legs actually tremble.

  Soren is on his knees in front of the couch, face buried between Ezra’s legs. Her fingers are tangled in his dark hair while the other hand claws at the couch. At Eli’s shout, she tries to scramble up, but Soren’s mouth is still latched around her clit. She moans, adding another thing to scar the kid for life.

  “Bleach. I need bleach,” he loudly proclaims stomping down the hall towards the bathroom. “Fucking really? Does anyone in this house know how to lock a damn door!?”

  He storms back out, Cai right behind him. By the flush on his face, I can pretty much assume what he walked in on.

  “You couldn’t at least jack off in your own room?” I taunt, trying my damn best not to burst into laughter and embarrass Ez any more than she already must be.

  “Fuck off, Yri, you wouldn’t have even made it that far,” he snaps, a scowl masking his mortification.

  “Ez, if you’ve ever loved me, you will melt my brain right now,” Eli deadpans, shutting his eyes and rubbing his temples.

  I on the other hand can’t tear my eyes off of her. She’s still wearing my shirt, quickly tugging it down to cover herself while she frantically searches for her shorts. Ren passes them to her with a satisfied smirk, which she hastily tugs on and tries to compose herself.

  “You were right, Yri,” Soren rumbles, helping her to her feet and adjusting himself over his jeans. “Good enough to eat.”

  “LALALALALALA,” Eli starts repeating loudly, sticking his fingers in his ears and walking right back out the front door.

  Even though she can’t feel the heat, that doesn’t mean she can’t blush. And right now, Ezra’s nearly as red as her hair.

  “Well...that was...memorable,” she throws out awkwardly and I finally lose it, breaking out laughing until there are tears in my eyes.

  “Oh, I’ll certainly be remembering it fondly,” I tease.

  She groans. “Fuck, I need a cold shower.”

  Turning on her heel, she brushes past Cai on her way and not long after I hear the water kick on. Cai curses, scrubbing his hand over the back of his hair.

  “Fuck, now she smells like that and is naked. And wet.” He storms off towards his room and even Ren busts out laughing when he slams his door behind him.

  Soren looks down at me with a small frown pulling at his lips. “You said you were going to the store after picking him up.”

  I punch him in the arm. “I left an hour before school let out, obviously I went shopping first. You couldn’t have shot me a text or something?”

  The corner of his mouth twitches. “It happened rather suddenly and then I was too busy. You try thinking straight with her coming on your face.”

  I groan, heading down the hall to my room. “You’re an asshole, Ren,” I accuse.

  He just laughs. “You’re just jealous.”

  I pin him with a look over my shoulder. “Fuck yeah I’m jealous. But just you wait, I’ll even the scales.” I laugh maniacally before shutting the door, just to screw with him.

  But really, she’s our mate; this is going to happen. I don’t mind seeing her with the others; enjoy seeing her like that honestly. I love the fact she’s chosen us, considers us to be her home. Safe and happy, that’s all I want for my flight mates; all of them. But if someone else tries to put his hands on her, thinks to take what’s ours?

  Heads will roll.

  ***

  Still needing to recuperate, from the Gauntlet and embarrassment, I offered her my bed since I had to go to work early and took the couch. We all knew Eli would rather not see any of us right now and left him be, but Ez plans to swing by later this morning to make sure he gets to school.

  I walk into the forge before the sun comes up, the heat already sweltering. Kinsley sees me first and half waves, going back to the blade he’s sharpening. Around the bend, Kahl and Kaiden are working in tandem pouring into a mold.

  They take point on all of the actual metal work, I’m just here to handle the grunt jobs that suck to free up their time. I sort orders, keep the fires burning, haul materials in and out. I head out to the building they use as a bloomery, smelting out the iron from the raw ore. It’s an entire process before they can get the wrought iron they need to forge all of these weapons.

  I haul coal and wood to their proper places, making sure everything’s stocked for them. They’re the artists here, I just make sure they have everything at their fingertips to work their impressive skills. Bins of broken bits from botched projects or excess material need sorted, things need cleaned; and all the while it’s a million fucking degrees.

  “Vyrian, the truck driver that took out today’s shipment just called; engine’s smoking. Any chance you’d be willing to go take a look?” Kahl asks, wiping his face with a rag. “You said you used to work on cars before coming here or something, right?”

  I start pulling my shirt back on. “Yeah, one of my fathers was an engineer. He didn’t build cars, but taught me enough I filled in the gaps.”

  “Engineer? Damn, you come from money?” Kinsley jokes, but his face loses all traces of mirth when I decide just to be blunt. They’re going to be my in-laws, and just like Ezra, I’d rather our fresh start be on honest footing.

  “No, he was forced to build some of the machines at the genetic lab the psychotic dictator had built. It was follow orders or they’d kill our family; not exactly much of a benefits package to go with the job.”

  Kaiden curses. “Fuck, man. Sorry.”

  Kahl looks at me for a minute before hesitantly asking, “What happened to your family when you fled the country then?”

  I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste blood before emotionally detaching myself from the situation. “He eventually found out about my little sister, tried to demand my fathers turn her over. She killed herself rather than be subjected to that; she was eleven. Mom followed her, couldn’t live with the pain. Mine and Cai’s dads helped get us out of the country, stayed behind to hold them off and give us a head start.”

  I grab my keys out of my pocket
and start walking towards my car. “Where’s the truck broken down at?”

  “I’ll text you the address,” Kinsley offers and I give him a thumbs up over my shoulder without turning around.

  I spend the drive just breathing, not nearly as pissed off and worked up as I should be. The only way to survive is to distance myself from those thoughts, to leave me numb to the pain. If I were to sit down and focus on it all, I wouldn’t be able to function. I’d spend my days wallowing in misery or too pissed off to function. My fathers gave their lives trying to give me a chance; I’m not going to spit on that gift by throwing it all away and wasting it.

  My angel needs me to be happy, needs me to be the best man I can be. She swooped down to save me from a miserable existence and I’ll return that favor tenfold by saving her from anything that tries to hurt her. My soul is stained in blood, but that doesn’t make it worthless, not to her. She sees me despite the pain I keep buried, sees the man I want to be for her. I’m more than my past and though these shadows will always haunt me, I won’t let them suffocate me.

  “Hey there, the tri-force sent me,” I toss out flippantly, trying to get my head on straight again. “What seems to be the problem?”

  He’s thin, not what I would have expected for someone carrying hundreds of pounds of weapons; though I suppose he just needs to drive, not necessarily unload. His brown hair is stringy and his fingers tap on the wheel nervously.

  “I need to get moving, that’s the fucking problem!” he snaps, agitated and twitchy.

  I’m not an idiot and promptly get right back in my car, lock the doors, and call my bosses. One, I came as a nicety; I don’t owe this asshole jack shit. And two, he’s given off about forty red flags.

  “What?” Kaiden asks, voice perpetually gruff and irritated.