Ironclad Wolves (Precipice of Godhood #1)

Five Years LaterGarrett: Callie’s place. @8. Show up l8t.Toby: You got it. Thx bud.The clearing of a throat forced his attention upward. Toby Irons brushed the dark hair out of his brown eyes to catch his father glaring at him from across the dinner table.Emerson Irons sighed, disappointed. “Would it kill you to not text at the dinner table, Tobias? Put your phone away.”Toby rolled his eyes but complied. “It was just a quick text.”“Always be attentive to those around you. Have I not crammed that into your head enough?”Oh no. Toby knew a lecture was coming a mile away, but that didn’t mean he dreaded it any less. Now, any son would be happy to receive just an ounce of their father’s attention. Unfortunately, the brunette was unlike any other teenage boy he knew. Not that he tried to be any different. His life and destiny seemed to b

Seven Years Ago“Why couldn’t he just get another girl?” Maisie complained for the umpteenth time.For the last six months, it was the same question ever since they heard their father’s new girlfriend had a son around their age. This was the day Toby himself dreaded. As he and his twin sister sat on the steps of their home manor watching their dad speak on the phone, his mind whirled with anger, anticipation, and confusion.“He did,” Toby deadpanned. “You’ll have a new mom to play dollies with.”Maisie’s face scrunched up in distaste. “But she’s like… old.”“Still a girl,” he shrugged.One that was only after his dad’s money, he was sure. At eleven years old, he understood more than most kids his age. More than he should. Being a part of an elite system had you grow

Something was off today.It was an uneventful school day, or it would have been if Toby hadn’t sensed the shift among his classmates. It wasn’t usual for him to tune into the utterings of the lower branches. Rumors devised to elevate their statuses while tarnishing another’s reputation. However, the whispers and murmurs have been getting to him all day.The talk of a new student.Even Garrett prattled on about the kid, having just met him before the start of the school day. He got it out of him after lunch period.“As far as first impressions go,” Garrett spoke, “he’s going in with the right head. Cautious but somewhat amicable. A bit standoffish, but when has that ever been a bad trait to have in Hadleigh?”Toby raised an eyebrow. “He can take care of himself?”The newbie was going to need to be able to. Especially since he was entering directly into senior year. There were so many

Chapter 7 “You’re not kidding!? That was him!?” Garrett, sitting beside Toby as the latter drove, exclaimed in shock. The Irons heir was dropping his best friend back home after school when he was asked about the mysterious new student. Toby nodded stiffly. “Yes.” Relaying his crooked past with his stepbrother always succeeded in dampening his mood, bring back old emotions he thought he was finally starting to get over. Beau wasn’t the only one to lose sight of the plot those five years ago. And the earlier confrontation with the long-lost fire-starter seemed to send his mind careening back into that dark place again. Garrett exhaled, still stunned. “Well, no wonder he hates your ass. You got him locked up. Not in jail, but is a mental hospital any different?” “I don’t know where he came from. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like much time has passed at all. It feels like yesterday he burned down the manor.”

Garrett was putty in Beau’s hand. That was Toby’s thought as he watched his stepbrother and best friend chat with each other from across the cafeteria. The two sat alone, but it didn’t feel as if nobody wanted to join them. It was as if the auburn-haired enigma was somehow warding outsiders off with his presence alone. The Irons heir knew he wouldn’t be spending much time around Garrett during Trials season, but there was a sort of possessiveness that sprout up whenever he went to hang with somebody else. He was the first real friend Toby’s made in Sheffield. “Stepbrother, huh? Still?” Rhys said from beside him, gazing at him with eager eyes. Toby frowned. “What?” “He’s still your stepbrother, right? Is the mother around?” “Unfortunately, yeah.” “Seriously,” Arthur stuck a fork into his mashed potatoes as his lips curled up in amusement. “Daddy Irons hasn’t gotten rid of her, yet? My pops cycles through his wives like cigarettes, I’d h