Downloading Before the Fire (Atlanta Firebirds 0.5)

A captain who was thrown away. A center who can't stop chasing a voice on the phone. Four rookies fighting to survive. And a stray cat who's already chosen his person. Antero "Avi" Ikonen gave Philadelphia seven years of elite hockey, quiet leadership, and a closet he never let anyone open. They repaid him by leaving him unprotected in the expansion draft and letting him find out from a beat reporter at seven in the morning. Now he's in Atlanta, building a team from scratch in a facility that still smells like paint, performing control so well that even his new agent can't see through it. He doesn't need anyone. He doesn't trust anyone. And he's definitely not thinking about the too-warm center who keeps texting at midnight and making him almost smile. Ryan "Ash" Asher left San Francisco, a divorce, and eleven years of being the easiest guy in every room. Atlanta is the fresh start he needs. New team, new city, new identity. He throws himself into everything the way he always full send, no hesitation, learning every name and filling every silence. But the silence in his apartment at night doesn't fill as easily, and the one voice he keeps reaching for belongs to a six-five Finnish defenseman who answers in two-word sentences and somehow says more than anyone. Tyler Davis, Sam Mueller, Tomáš Novák, and Matěj Hájek are four rookies who arrived at training camp with no pedigree, no connections, and everything to prove. They find each other at a cafeteria table on day one and build something between the cuts and the a group chat, a bench in the hallway, and the kind of bond that forms when nobody else knows your name yet. They watch the veterans circle each other, the captains orbit each other, and a stray cat claim the equipment room. They're learning to read the room. And the room is becoming a team. Before the Fire is a multi-POV prequel novella about the Atlanta Firebirds' first training camp told through the captains who are circling something neither can name, the rookies who are fighting to stay, and the locker room banter, group chats, and stray cat moments that turn strangers into family before the season even starts. No romance on-page. Just the spark before the flame. Start here, then read Fresh Ice (Ash & Avi's story). found family, teammates, forced proximity, slow burn setup, multi POV, MM hockey romance, expansion team, locker room banter, group chat fiction, stray cat, grumpy-sunshine, hurt/comfort, sports romance, rookies, ensemble cast 111 pages