Page 68 of Flameborne: Chosen

“Hey!” Harle—the sandy-blonde haired one with the big smile that they’d all been teasing about shitting his pants—stepped forward, his jaw jutting forward. “Don’t listen to them, Bren. It’s just because I’m the youngest and newest. Wait. No, I’m not! Not anymore—thank God! Thank you, Bren! Thank you!” he lifted me into an enthusiastic hug, and my heart flipped into my throat. I sucked in and braced on his shoulders to push out of his grip, but the others had already protested, and Harle set me back down on my feet. “Sorry about that,” he said scratching the back of his neck and looking sheepish. “I’m just so grateful!”

“You’re still the youngestbrother,Harle,” another of the men muttered. “Don’t get too excited.”

Harle’s face fell as the tall man with the black hair stepped forward. “I’m Voski. And if Harle gives you any trouble, just tell me. I was raised before him and he’s still pissed about it, so I can get under his skin easy.”

I tried to laugh because I knew that it was funny, but my body was still trembling from the flight, and that unexpected embrace. My stomach churned as the men teased each other while the two remaining men introduced themselves.

I struggled to concentrate, my pulse pounding in my ears as Oros, thehugeman with heavy brows and jaw who looked like a bull in human form shook my hand. Then Jhoare stepped forward and was introduced by Voski asthe Whore,which made him mad, and made my heart stop again.

But then they all looked at me, expectant. Apparently, I was supposed to talk.

“I’m… I’m s-sorry I t-told you all to g-go fuck yourselves.”

Ronen threw back his head and laughed, and the others thought it was funny too, though I’d meant it. But the raucous noise startled me and I jumped. I tried to breathe through it. Tried to keep my head from spinning. I knew the men were just teasing each other and relaxing, but my lungs didn’t work and—

‘Don’t panic, Bren. It’s all over. You’re safe. These are your brothers. They will protect you.’

“You okay, Bren?” Ronen asked quietly as the other continued to jab at each other with words.

I nodded, but took another step back, my stomach churning.

Gil turned from watching the others to frown at me. “It’s been a long day already and I bet you haven’t eaten since breakfast. Would you like to go get some food, Bren? We always eat together if we can.”

There was a chorus ofhell yes,andlet’s do it!from the squad. But as I opened my mouth to tell him that I didn’t feel hungryat all,pressure rose into my throat.

“I… just—give me a minute!” I squeaked, then whirled and ran, head spinning, stomach flipping, stumbling to my knees twenty feet away and heaving again and again.

I was left gasping, coughing, andmortifiedas I wiped my mouth, and the re-emerging tears as a chorus of sympathetic, wincing,“Oooooo”went up behind me.

But as I stumbled back to my feet, the deep voice of Gil rose across the field. “At least you didn’t shit your pants.”

20. The Specter of Doubt

~ DONAVYN ~

I was at my desk, frowning over conflicting accounts from our men in the field when Ronen knocked on the door of my office. “Sir? You asked me to report?”

I looked up and waved him in, carefully folding the messages from our spies and scouts and placing them in one of my desk drawers so that they wouldn’t be overseen. “How did it go?” I asked Ronen, then growled at him to be at ease when he stood at attention at the other side of my desk. “Make yourself comfortable, man. Your respect is proven and noted. If you’re going to lead, you must grasp your own authority. Take a seat and look me in the eye.”

Ronen’s brows rose, but he did as I asked, dropping into one of the plush leather chairs on the other side of my desk and meeting my eyes. “Noted,” he said. I grinned when it was obvious he’d swallowed theSir.

“How did our new Flameborne do?” I asked, sitting back in my chair, surprised by how eager I was to hear this report. Bren was chaos, but that made her fascinating.

Ronen’s expression was strange. “A very mixed bag,” he said frankly. “On the one hand, she managed every instruction almost at the first attempt. On the other…”

He trailed off and I waited.

He clawed a hand through his hair and huffed. “At one point, she told us all to go fuck ourselves.”

The laughter burst out of me in a guffaw that I didn’t bother stifling.

Chaos.

I shook my head. “Well, I guess she’s not too submissive for this, then,” I chuckled.

Ronen frowned. “Like I said, it was a mixed bag. She’s clearly nervous about us, and untrusting. But if she were a man I’d say she has a desire and will to succeed.”

“If she were a man? Is it just her physical weakness that gives you pause?”