Page 17 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

“So what?” said Elias with raised eyebrows. “So … you’re always happy after a kill. That’s what sowhat.”

Jax shrugged. As they passed the golems, without pausing, he reached out a hand to the one on his left and touched it, whispering something under his breath as he didso.

“Hmm, don’t want to talk about it, eh?” asked Elias. His British accent got on Jax’s nerves at the best of times, mostly because girls fawned all over Elias simply because he had it, but now Jax wanted to strangle thekid.

“Nope.” They passed through the arch and entered a cavernous room illuminated by lights that seemed to come from within large stones set along the round walls. Within the room, set in concentric circles, were no less than a hundred free-standing stonearchways.

“Right. Then I guess I should just drop it,yeah?”

“Yep.” They walked further into the room, passing the archways on either side. Jax glanced left and right, reading the runes on the supporting columns as theywent.

Elias rubbed his chin. “Hmm, the big guy comes back from a kill, he’s all bloody and dirty and beat up, which always makes him giddy because he’s a psychopath. He’s got his girlfriend on hisarm—”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Jaxsnapped.

“And therein lies the problem, doesn’t it, Stonehenge? She shot you down again, didn’t she? Doesn’t surprise me. Zuri is waaaaaayyyyyyy too hot for you. I mean, she’s all…” Elias held his hands up and ran them down through the air in an hourglass shape. “And you’re all…” He put his arms out in a wide O shape gesture around his body, then waddled back and forth in an imitation of the Stay Puft MarshmallowMan.

Jax couldn’t help but chuckle. Though he sometimes wanted to throttle Elias, the young man was still his charge, and all Jax’s charges held a special place in his heart … though he would never admit it to any of them. Some of the other trainers didn’t feel the same way. They refused to become attached. Jax knew that was probably the best strategy. After all, the mortality rate amongNatura Venatoriwas so high, it didn’t pay to let feelings run too deep. But Jax refused to be so guarded. As hard as he was on the outside, he was equal parts soft on the inside. Not to mention, Elias rarely acted playful. He was usually very stoic and serious. It was unusual to see this side of him. “You know that Zuri and I used to date,” Jaxsaid.

“I do. And I know she came to her senses and dropped you like crap through agoose.”

“She didn’t drop—” Jax growled and cut himself off. “It’s complicated. It was … mutual … sortof…”

Now, it was Elias’s turn to chuckle. “Mutual … right. Sorry, mate. No one believes that. You don’t mutually break it off with a woman like Zuri. When she says it’s done, it’s done. Otherwise, you stay wrapped around her little finger until she decides to unwindyou.”

Jax glowered. “That’s truer than you know, boy.” He walked around and amongst the arches, reading the runes running along the pillars of eacharch.

“Stop calling me boy,” said Elias. “I’m twenty. Legally an adult, even in thiscountry.”

“Psh, twenty. Call me when you’re two hundred and twenty.” Jax stopped in front of one of the arches. “Ah, here we are. Buffalo,Kentucky.”

“How does it feel to be older than dirt, Jax? I mean, you basicallyaredirt at thispoint.”

“And so will you be one day,ifyou don’t get killedfirst.”

“Isn’t your job to make sure I stayalive?”

“I’ve only lost one student in three hundred years of service to this school. I don’t think one more little blemish would hurt my performance evaluation too much. Now, are we going to stand here in the gate room all day, or are you going to perform the spell to open thisportal?”

Elias reached out and touched the gate. He bowed his head and chanted, tapping into the magic within himself and within the earth below. The open space inside the gate popped and fizzled. A light shone within the gate for a second then blinked out. Elias growled. He chanted harder and faster, but the portal remained silent andclosed.

Jax laughed. “Looks like you’ve still got a bit to learn there,rookie.”

Elias huffed and then turned to Jax. “You know geospatial travel is one of my worstsubjects.”

“And if you start being nicer to me, I’ll teach you what you’re doing wrong on the return journey.” Jax held up a hand and snapped his fingers. The portal flared to life, a swirling vortex of light between the stone pillars of thearchway.

Elias’s mouth fell open and he pointed to the gate. “How didyou…”

“And by the way,” said Jax, “the reason I’m upset today has nothing to do with Zuri and everything to do with where we aregoing.”

“Why isthat?”

“Now is not the time. C’mon.” He grabbed Elias and shoved him unceremoniously through the archway where he disappeared from under the giant mountain located in the remote Asian country of Bhutan and reappeared in a forest in Buffalo,Kentucky.

Chapter 7

Hey, loose-woman-who-spreads-her-legs-indiscriminately.” Shelly’s voice chirped through the speaker on Tara’sphone.

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