Forged from the Ashes (Wings of War Book 1)

by J. Kearston

  Cai comes back with Soren and when he doesn’t immediately come sit beside me, it hurts worse than I want to admit. But I do, because despite being used to suppressing and hiding all of that, they need to hear it right now.

  “I can’t possibly stink bad enough that Yri’s the only one brave enough to sit by me, can I?”

  I hold their stare until Soren cautiously sinks to the ground on my other side and Cai across from me. Both of them are guarded and nervous, and I hate it. While still holding Yri’s hand hostage, I rest my head on Soren’s arm, waiting until he starts to relax before speaking.

  I can’t give Yri completely what he asked for, too accustomed to making inappropriate jokes at the worst of times. I take the power away from painful situations by making light of them, so they hurt less to talk about, and even now a part of me needs that coping mechanism.

  “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

  He snorts. “As am I, little dragon. I’m glad you got your fire back.”

  I sigh dreamily. “As am I, giant bodyguard.”

  “Ezra, I’m so sorry, I-“ I cut off Soren, turning my head and nipping his bicep.

  “Stop, okay? Worst I went through was not knowing if you three were actually dead or alive. They harvested my blood and smacked me around a little, but that was it.” I bite my lip before deciding to add any more, wanting to make sure all my cards are out on the table. I can’t expect them to always be open with me if I don’t offer them the same respect. “There was a few minutes there where I thought they’d actually go through with it, but some human showed up and distracted him,” I croak, hating admitting it and the shame that comes with it.

  I didn’t do anything wrong. I shouldn’t feel the slightest bit of shame, and maybe I’m confusing it with fear, but I don’t think so. I know exactly what sort of fate befell that woman and a horrible part of me is just so relieved it didn’t happen to me. I hate it. I hate myself for feeling that way, and I think that’s where the shame is stemming from. If it’s the last thing I ever do, I’m going to find a way to free that woman, to free all of them. I don’t care that they’re human; absolutely no one deserves that fate.

  “Saige,” Cai whispers.

  He reads the questions on my face and proceeds to fill me in on absolutely everything I missed while we were separated. He ends with them breaking into this house that’s listed for sale on the edge of a town, that way they could avoid the very obvious questions they’d get if anyone saw them dragging around an unconscious woman while they looked like they just escaped prison.

  “So we have no food, money, or supplies. What’s next?”

  When Yri tries to backpedal and give me more of that bullshit about choosing better mates, I kiss him, hard. “Moving on, what are we doing next, oh mates of mine?” I emphasize the word, looking at him pointedly. “Because I don’t need a ritual to make it official; screw the paperwork.”

  I bring his hand up to my face and lick the back. “Mine.”

  His lips twitch in a ghost of a smile. “I’m not a donut.”

  I shrug half a shoulder, leaning against Soren again. “I’m willing to overlook your flaws for the sake of our relationship. But seriously, Yri?” I wait until I have his undivided attention. “I love you guys. Thanks for getting me out of there.”

  His eyes soften and I see the Yri I know coming back to me, less freaked out now. His kisses the back of my hand and leans against my shoulder until we’re a domino of dragons against each other, staring at Cai.

  “Ren, you paid more attention than any of us in class, so I’d love a couple of theories,” Cai says, looking at me while talking to him. “It’s been over a week and she’s not in full blown heat.”

  “Stop trying to get in my pants, jeeze,” I tease. “Or at least bring me a burger first if you’re gonna’ seduce me.”

  He snorts, so I’m finally able to shut my eyes, exhausted and starving, but more assured things are okay.

  “Could just be how much blood they took and her body healing,” Ren says slowly. “Or she could already be pregnant. I’m not a doctor.” He shrugs the shoulder I’m leaning against, jostling me.

  “Or maybe the ritual is a load of horseshit to scare girls into not having sex before marriage,” I scoff. “Ritual’s probably a bunch of old weirdos that just want to watch us get it on and then sign a marriage certificate.”

  Even Cai laughs. “Doesn’t explain whatever makes us able to shift.”

  I sigh. “But really, where do we go from here?”

  Cai reaches out and touches my ankle, rubbing his thumb back and forth. “We don’t even have the map anymore and none of us know where the other sanctuaries are. We could ask around, but it would be a red flag to a lot of people wondering why we want to know. It’s a risk, but I think we should just call it and go home to lick our wounds and regroup. It’s better than wandering around without any money or direction; we’d just be more vulnerable.”

  I groan. “I don’t want to turn my brothers’ panic room into a sex dungeon. I’ve already scarred Eli for life as it is.”

  A pang of hurt flashes through me that I lock down, not mentally able to handle that train of thought on top of everything else. “Fine, but after a nap, give me one of your guns.”

  Cai’s hand stills on my ankle. “Why?”

  “You’re too nice of people. Next poor bastard we come across, I’m totally stealing his wallet this time so we can get something to eat.”

  ***

  “So you think the other sanctuaries are on top of mountains as well?” Soren asks as we get close to my house, not seeing any fires or streets lined with blood, so taking it as a good sign.

  “It’s like you’ve never read a cheesy romance novel,” Yri scoffs. “If this one is filled with bad guys from group A, obviously the other mountain is full of bad guys from group B. We might just need to rig up a hot air balloon at this rate,” he suggests, arm wrapped around my waist.

  I knock on the door, since naturally I don’t have my keys and it’s locked. We stand there for a few minutes, noting that their car is gone. “Forge?”

  We weave through town, a little more at ease since I haven’t had any more heat spells and the city isn’t torn apart in war like we feared. And as embarrassing as it was to wake up to, I’m certainly not pregnant, so that’s a huge relief. Not that I’m completely opposed to the idea, but it’s not the best time. It’s hard to remind myself of that when my brain is drowning in lust and an animalistic drive to stake a claim on my mates; what I wouldn’t give for a box of condoms. But at least we know my body has some sense of self-preservation and is focusing on healing instead of trying to reproduce; if I can’t even take care of myself, not the best time to add a baby to the mix, and I lost a hell of a lot of blood.

  “Ezra?” some guy asks, whirling around in shock.

  “Townsperson A?” I reply with matching enthusiasm, mouth agape before I realize I’m slap happy since Cai didn’t let me rob anyone and I’m fucking starving.

  “Michael,” he corrects with a frown.

  “That was going to be my second guess,” I retort flippantly. “My brothers at work?”

  He’s already shaking his head and a sense of absolute dread turns my stomach. “They went to catch up with you after we drove off the outsiders, make sure you got there and back safely.”

  My ears are ringing, fear seizing me along with absolute rage that we just marched all the way back here, just to have to turn around and make the hundred mile trip again. Not to mention, we can’t just drive over and pick them up, if they’re even still alive. There are too many sick bastards in that place to fight against and now they have four more weaknesses to use against me.

  “I think she’s going to puke,” Yri mutters.

  “No, punch him,” Cai disputes.

  Soren rubs his hand up and down my back, strong and steady, until I can collect myself. “Come on. Let’s go home, regroup, and make a plan. We’ll get them back, Ezra.”

 
I take several deep breaths before following his lead back the way we came, busting one of the windows to get inside of the house. We take turns showering and inhaling food until we’re able to think straight, gathering in the living room with a notebook so we can start sketching out a plan.

  “Okay, let’s start with facts. We aren’t sure my brothers actually made it there; just assuming the worst case scenario.”

  A thought pops into my head and I grab the house phone to try calling each of their cellphones, not surprised when they all go straight to voicemail, but it was worth a shot just to be sure.

  “It would be stupid to just storm in there assuming we could find them and fight our way back out; not with the dirty ammo they have,” Yri adds and I agree completely.

  I stare at my blank page, willing the answers to appear. “Since it looks like the threat around here deescalated, we don’t have to walk, we can take my SUV. That will cut down on the travel time, exhaustion, provide us with a quick escape, and a place to sleep.”

  “You think anyone here would fight with us?” Soren asks, but I shake my head.

  “I can’t imagine so. Defending yourself and city is one thing, but actively starting a war with a group like that? It’s asking to be killed. People are selfish before anything else, and like the triplets always said, lean towards the winning side instead of loyalty. Knowing our luck, they’d turn on us and we’d just be adding to the enemy’s numbers.”

  Cai rubs his temple. “So we need a way for four people to either sneak in and out of the place undetected, or successfully pull off an attack on the entire thing without killing everyone.”

  “Finding four people in that hellhole is going to be next to impossible; it’s massive, and we only saw a fraction of the place,” Yri growls in frustration.

  Cai’s face pinches as he suppresses his nerves. “Five. We need to get Saige out of there too.”

  “You know they most likely killed her after we escaped?” Soren murmurs, no doubt hating to voice it, but needing to nonetheless.

  “But we have to try,” I reply with conviction. “Because we’d all be dead right now if it wasn’t for that human.”

  We argue back and forth for hours, only stopping for another food break. As much as I need to race after my brothers, running in halfcocked is idiotic. I have absolutely zero plans to end up imprisoned again, thank you very much, and we wouldn’t be any help getting ourselves recaptured.

  “I hate to suggest it, but we should get some sleep,” Cai throws out there, scrubbing a hand down his face. “We’re all fucking exhausted and we’re getting nowhere. Ezra especially needs to heal and replenish her blood before she falls on her ass, and I don’t know about you two, but I still feel like shit. And I feel like an ass complaining, because you two had it way worse than I did.”

  I hate it, don’t want to keep wasting time, but he’s right. In this condition, we’re not going to kick anybody’s ass, much less save four stubborn redheads and a mountain full of traumatized humans. We all get up before hesitating, not leaving the living room.

  “I,” I choke on the admittance, “I’d rather not sleep alone, but my bed’s not big enough.”

  Yri wraps an arm around my shoulder, kissing my temple. “Panic room we could push the mattresses together, be safer too, just in case. We aren’t sure how long your body will take before deciding you’re healed enough and throwing the ‘open for business’ sign up.”

  I snort, leaning into him and inhaling his woodsy scent, no longer buried under blood and grime. The mood is gone just as quickly as it came as I sober.

  “You guys okay with that though? Being sealed in that room?”

  Vyrian tenses against me. “If we were followed here, I’d rather be locked in a cell of our own making rather than the one they’d drag us off to. If all of us are letting our guards down to sleep, I think we have to. Besides, we’ll be with you this time, angel.”

  Cai smirks softly. “We can rest easy with our guardian psychopath watching over us.”

  A laugh actually escapes this time and I waste no time going over there to kiss him. “You’re becoming as bad of a suck up as Yri.”

  He shrugs, unrepentant. “Figured he might be onto something here. Can’t let my mate’s fragile ego go a day without compliments, after all.”

  I flip him off without heat as we head downstairs to the hidden room beneath the basement. My heart rate kicks up a notch as we step inside and once more when we seal the door. I know it is the safest place to lay low and lick our wounds, but fuck, I don’t have to like it.

  “Deep breaths, Ren, don’t freak out on me here,” I mutter, patting his arm.

  He pulls me onto the mattress on top of him, Cai and Yri climbing in beside us as they finish shoving them together. “Maybe you should stay right here until I calm down then,” he benevolently offers, rubbing his hand soothingly over my back.

  I rest my head on his chest, letting his steady heartbeat seep into my bones. “Not a bad idea.”

  My eyes flutter shut, relaxing into their touch. Yri and Cai both manage to press some part of their bodies against mine, connecting us all. I may have scoffed at dragon-piles while we were camping, but even if I didn’t have my heat resistance back, I’d still go for one right about now. There’s just a sense of safety and belonging that comes with your flight, one I can’t imagine living without now that I’ve experienced it.

  I almost lost this, and still might.

  The thought makes me cuddle closer, wanting to soak up as much of the time as I’m able. Tomorrow, when we can think coherently, we’ll make a plan. We can’t wait long or they’ll be dead for sure, but we’ll only have one shot at this; we need to do it right.

  Chapter 21

  Vyrian

  “What the hell are you doing!” Cai shouts, and I bolt up in bed with a snarl.

  We’re still in the panic room, and no one else is with us. But Ezra stands on the other side of the room, a dagger in her hand. She slices through her hair, letting the fiery strands fall to the ground before tying it up in a small bun.

  “Saving China, obviously,” she says, explaining nothing.

  “China? What the hell are you talking about; are you having a mental breakdown? Is that it?” he continues, getting to his feet.

  She rolls her eyes. “Honestly, my wit is wasted on you three.”

  Cai takes the dagger from her and grumbles, walking across the room and missing the way she pulls another one from her pocket seamlessly. When he turns back around, his eyes narrow on it and then her. A smile fights its way through his annoyance, looking at Ezra with nothing short of love.

  And fuck, do we love her.

  If she had never woken back up? If we had found her dead? My heart couldn’t have taken it. First my sister, then my mother. My fathers. If Ezra fell too it would be the final blow, the last one needed to completely shatter me. I’d never be the same, and that’s if I could even keep myself from doing something in the midst of all the pain and loss. I need her as much as I need my next breath, my existence tied to hers.

  Call me obsessive if you will, but I never claimed to be perfect. I have my flaws as much as the next person; mine just tend to revolve around clingy attachment and abandonment issues.

  “You were completely right, I just needed to rest so I could start looking at things from a different angle. But I think I’ve figured out a plan, if you guys are game,” she says, moving towards the armory and opening the door.

  “We’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, angel.”

  She rolls her eyes and smiles. “And if I jumped off a bridge, you’d follow my lead?”

  I don’t even have to consider my answer. “Absolutely.”

  Her expression softens before she claps her hands, getting our attention. “Okay, so they may have an army, but we’re one in our own right; they just caught us with our dicks out.”

  “You don’t have a dick,” I helpfully point out.

  “I have three now, shh, I�
�m trying to be inspirational here.” I have a broad smile as she continues on like I never interrupted her. “Aaaaaanyway,” she draws out, “we know what to expect now, so we can prepare. If they can’t shoot us with their fuckin’ poison dart, they lose their main advantage.”

  She comes out of the armory with a suit of armor tailor made for her that she caresses lovingly. I glance in there, seeing one for each of her brothers as well. Cai and I are similar to the triplets’ size, so we can use those, but we’ll need to rig something up for Soren.

  It’s as fluid as fabric, but when I feel it, it’s made of the most tightly knit metal I’ve ever seen, more so than chainmail. It’s black as night, and it’s not nearly as heavy as I would imagine.

  “How the hell did they?” I trail off, mesmerized.

  Ezra smiles sadly. “They always could do the impossible and now we’re going to. This will cover all but our hands, feet, and heads. If we can keep them from shooting us in the face, that gives us a massive advantage.”

  “What about Ren?” Cai asks, mirroring my thoughts.

  She rubs the fabric between her fingers, willing it to reveal all of the answers. “There’s no way they got this as perfect as it is on the first try. They would have been experimenting with it for a while, so there has to be some discarded attempts somewhere we can work with to make something for Soren. It may not be as perfect, but I can fuse it with armor already tailored to his size at the forge so he’s just as protected.” We start making something to eat, moving upstairs into the kitchen as we continue to hear Ezra’s plan.

  Soren frowns down at her, radiating concern. “What if you go into heat or have another pheromone episode? It will give away our position.”