Chapter 2
Ezra
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“Let’s just kill them,” Kinsley offers for the fourth time in as many minutes.
“Guys,” I groan, flopping down on the couch. “Seriously, stop. They didn’t do anything and I doubt I’ll ever see them again,” I placate.
Elias, the little shit, comes over and sits on my stomach. For only being thirteen, he certainly acts like one of the triplets, despite how much older we all are than him. I’ve got a decade on the pipsqueak, but you wouldn’t know it with the way he towers over me too.
He looks like a younger version of the triplets, all of us having the same shade of fiery red hair and bright green eyes. Elias is closest to me in height, while the triplets are a little over six feet of lean muscle.
The guys aren’t the only ones with warrior genes though, and they can lie all they want, but I know how jealous they are that I’ve already got my abilities. They’ll never see them unless they find mates, and it’s that main reason why they don’t trust a single guy that expresses an interest in me. You have to assume anyone that wants a mate is only in it for the power boost or bragging rights, and you need to weed through the assholes to find someone that sincerely likes you for more than what you offer them.
I’m not some broodmare to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.
That one was fun, when some rich asshole tried to bribe my brothers for my hand. The poor fucker didn’t know what hit him after that. Not only did Kaiden kick his ass, but they spent the next year pulling cruel pranks on the guy just so he knew they never forgave or forgot, getting more enjoyment out of letting him live to torture.
“You let them live. Why?” Elias asks, ignoring me trying to knock him off.
“Killing them wouldn’t advance me anymore than letting them live would. I only sacrifice someone if their death benefits me, not to get my rocks off. You know that.”
I don’t bring an active flame into my hand, but I let my finger heat to blistering levels and poke my little brother in the side of his annoying ass. He yelps and hops off, letting me draw in a full breath at last as I pull myself up to a seated position.
“Not fair,’ he scowls, rubbing his ass and glaring at me.
I shrug as I get to my feet. “A girl’s got to do, what a girl’s got to do.”
“Ezra,” Kahl sighs, more level headed than any of them.
When our parents died, he shouldered most of the responsibilities, being the oldest by just a few minutes. He took it harder than any of us and has tried so hard to make sure we don’t go without anything, that the absence our parents left behind doesn’t undo us. Kaiden and Kinsley give it their all, but Mom and Dads’ deaths have always haunted Kahl the most.
He’s leaning by the door frame in our home, giving me the look that means a lecture is coming. After the train wreck of a sex talk the three of them gave me, I’ve done all I can to avoid any serious lectures from them since.
“What did you mean, about the men running in the races vying for my attention?” I interrupt before he can gain any traction.
His eyes harden and he stands a little taller, and I fight a grin when I know I have him. “Those races were created so a man could prove his worth, Ez. Only the strongest and most cunning win and as such, raises their status.”
I stretch as I walk over to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, easily able to hear him through the bar cut into the wall that separates the rooms. “Yes, yes; continue to sing my praises, dear brother.”
He snorts his amusement. “And with my baby sister’s obsession with the death race, you think men wouldn’t flock to them to try and get your attention? You’ve made it clear you value strength and winning, and you’ve won every race you’ve run since you started.”
Kinsley joins me in the kitchen and steals my glass, drinking half of it before returning it as I glare at him. “So there’s an idiotic rumor that whoever manages to beat you at your own game, you’ll take as a mate.”
I finish off my water and put the empty glass in the sink. “Well that’s stupid. Let’s be real here, I’d probably chuck a fireball at the asshole that broke my winning streak.”
