Page 72 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

“All right,” Zuri hollered as she approached. “Let’s see what you guys got. Then we will begin instructing you on your fight technique and giving you pointers. Get to it!”

Gabby ran at Tara full force. All Tara could think was she was about to know what it meant to have her ass handed to her. It was an experience to which she was not accustomed. For the first time since her protection spell dissipated, Tara wished she was invincible once again.

* * *

“Jax,”Zuri hollered as she headed back out to the training grounds. She loved him, and that was the main reason she was about to ream his ass.

He stopped, his shoulders visibly tense, and turned to look at her.

“Don’t glare at me,” she snapped as she stepped right up to his chin, because that’s where her face reached. “You know you’re wrong. You can’t stand on the sidelines. You were the one who gave the speech about students not letting their prejudices get in the way. Well, way to be an example there, champ.”

“I’ve been alive a lot longer than those students and have had a very long time to become set in my ways, Zuri. It’s going to take a while,” he said, his voice a deep rumble. He spoke softly, which clued her into the fact that he was indeed ashamed of how he’d acted earlier.

“You don’t have time, Jax. You have now. That is all you have. It is all any of us have. We aren’t promised five minutes from now or an hour from now or tomorrow. We literally only have the seconds we are breathing, so get out of sloth mode and decide now to be what these kids need you to be. If you can’t, then get the hell out so someone else can take your place.”

His eyes widened, and he looked as if she’d kicked him in the gut.

Zuri stepped closer and placed a hand on his cheek. They were in the “off-again” stage of their on-again, off-again relationship, and she’d been missing him. She hated to cause him pain or make him think she didn’t want him, because she did, but Jax wasn’t an easy person to love. “I don’t want you to leave,” she whispered. “But our first priority is these kids. We can’t keep them safe if we don’t train them to stay alive. Help me do that. Please. You’re one of the best warriors, Jax, and you’re also one of the best men. Don’tlet me or them down.”

He stared at her for several minutes and then leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. “You really know how to rip a man's balls off and hand them to him, babe,” he said quietly.

“Hmm.” She nodded. “It’s my thing. Now, are you with me?”

“I’ve always been with you, Zuri,” he said.

She didn’t miss the meaning in his words. “And you’ll start working with the other profs?”

His jaw clenched, but then he gave a single nod. “I will.”

She started to back up, but Jax wrapped his large hand around the back of her head and held her still as he kissed her again, deeper this time. When he pulled back, his eyes were full of familiar heat. “I’m done being without you. You’re mine, Zuri. Always have been.”

“I don’t belong…” She started to say what she always said when he got possessive, but he shook her, causing her mouth to snap shut.

“You can say whatever you need to say to feel like the strong independent woman we both know you are. Fine, whatever. But I am yours.I belong to you.And I’m done being without you. I’ve decided. Now it’s your turn to decide. Are youwith me?”He threw her question back at her.

After several heartbeats, she said, “You know we’re probably going to kill each other one day, right?”

His lips kicked up in a crooked smirk. “If I die by your hand, I’ll die a happy man. Now, answer the damn question.”

“Yes,” she finally said as her forehead fell to his chest. “I’m with you. I’ve nevernotbeen with you, Jax.”

She felt his lips on the top of her head and heard his whispered, “I love you, Z.”

Zuri stepped back and began walking backward, toward where her students were waiting. “The rule still stands. Touch another, and I’ll strangle you both withyourown intestines,” she said, without missing a step.

Jax rolled his eyes. “As if I’d ever be unfaithful. In all these years, Z, even when we weren’t technically together, there’s never been another female. Not once.”

She knew that. It was one of the reasons she loved him. Once Jax gave his heart, he gave it for good.

13

Dhara’s eyes flew open. Despite the fact she was weak, her magic still moved throughout her realm, and she was fully aware of every nuance flowing through it. From one breath to the next, there appeared a malevolent presence somewhere in the earth elemental realm.

She tried to sit up, but she was just too weak. Dhara closed her eyes and attempted to focus on the location of the evil, tried to see how far it was from her location, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. She could only sense that the evil was somewhere west of her.

Dhara sent out a call to the beasts roaming her realm and told them to be on guard and to let her know the minute they saw anything that didn’t belong. There were many beasts in the earth elemental realm that would be able to hold their own against the powerful forces of evil, but they often drew on her power to augment their strength. Currently, there wasn’t enough of her to go around.

“Leelin,” Dhara said, her voice sounding weak even to her ears.

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