Thrust — Mia West

THRUST (Into the Fire #1) When the western Roman Empire collapses into chaos, career soldier Marcus does the only thing that makes sense: he returns to the home of his foster father, a blacksmith who raised him on the northern frontier. But twenty years have passed, and the massive brute claiming the smith's forge knocks Marc unconscious with a hammer blow. Since the nearby garrison disbanded, Wolfram has defended his former master's home and smithy against the marauding bandits thriving in the vacuum left by the legions' retreat. When he fails to kill the latest intruder, Wolf drags the ragged man into his house, honor-bound to nurse him back to health. As Marc heals at Wolf's hands, the two men discover a slow-burn attraction drawing them together. The unexpected revelation that they once were boyhood rivals stokes the fire between them to a weapon-melting inferno. A novella (approx. 21,000 words) featuring a M/M collision that makes the sack of Rome look like a tea party. INTO THE FIRE Series Against the backdrop of the Roman Empire's collapse comes this story of two boyhood rivals reunited as very different men. Twenty years on, Marcus is a soldier with no army and few skills beyond killing. Wolfram is a blacksmith forced to defend his home with a hammer and his wits. Thrust together by cataclysm, Marc and Wolf will strike a partnership from the raw material of their shared past, shaping its angles and edges with a desire they won't deny, to forge a future strong enough to withstand an unpredictable new world.