Page 55 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

His smile fell. “Why?”

“Because it makes me want to do more than lick your lips and … dammit, someone should staplemylips closed.” Shelly pinched herself, hoping the pain would bring her to her senses.

“I’m not stopping you,” Ra said, his lashes dropping over his eyes as his voice lowered another octave.

No smiling and no talking. She’d have to make a list for him. Shelly fanned herself. “Is it hot in here? I mean, I realize it’s hell, but I think it’s hotter than it’s supposed to be. Do you think there’s a thermostat somewhere?”

“Shelly.” Ra laughed. “You delight me so.”

She froze, her eyes wide. “I do?”

He nodded. “You do. Very much. Will you tell me about yourself?”

“I think you should go first. My life story will take all of five minutes, and it's a snooze-fest.”

“I doubt that. You’re too feisty to have a boring life.”

She grinned. That was something she couldn’t disagree with. Shewasfeisty, but sometimes her feistiness was merely a shield to cover up her insecurities. It worked most of the time. The only one who saw past it was Tara.

Shelly groaned and threw herself against the back of the couch. “Fine. I’m from nowhere-ville Kentucky, AKA Buffalo. I go to a high school full of bitches and pricks. Except for Tara. She’s the only one not in those categories. I’m an only child. My parents are still married and, for the most part, pretty great. They’re sickeningly in love. They make me gag frequently, and not just because they think it’s funny, but because they are truly giddy about each other. I like to read. No, I won’t tell you what kind of books. My favorite color is”—she glanced at his beautiful skin and smirked—“tan. I believe that ice cream should be served at every meal. Santa is real. And I frequently binge on Netflix. That’s me in a nutshell.”

Ra’s eyes traced her face as if he were trying to see inside of her head. There was no way she was ever letting him know everything that went on inside her twisted brain. He’d run far and fast.

“I’ll let you get away with that for now. But youwilltell me more. We have twenty-”—he glanced down at the watch—“-three hours.”

“It’s already been an hour?” She asked. It hadn’t seemed that long.

He nodded. “It’s going to go much too fast,” he said quietly. “I wish I could slow down time.”

“Me, too,” she muttered. She looked at him and smiled. “Your turn.” She was eager to hear his story. He seemed so fascinating to her. She wanted to know everything.

“All right.” He sighed, as if talking about himself was not one of his favorite things. “I am from Egypt. My parents were in love as well. They were very good parents, though misguided in some ways. They died when I was fourteen.”

“I’m so sorry, Ra,” Shelly said and meant it to her core. She remembered when she’d met Tara and how broken her friend had been over the loss of her parents. She hated the idea of Ra enduring that.

“Thank you,” he said. “It was difficult, but I have survived. Two years after they died, I learned about the supernatural world around us. I was summoned by a demon to go to the underworld.”

“Did you think you’d mistakenly added cocaine to your cookies instead of sugar?” Shelly asked.

Ra looked confused and then grinned. “I did think I had gone mad. But I realized quickly that it was real. I met Osiris and then my ancestors. I am a direct descendant of Ramses the Great.”

“The Pharaoh?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never really thought about Pharaoh’s having descendants.”

“No one does anymore, I guess. At least no one outside of the supernatural races. Amongst their ranks, those types of things are still important.”

“Wow. See? I told you that you were special.”

He shrugged. “Not really. I didn’t ask to be born of the Ramses bloodline.”

“But you were. And that’s something very unique.”

“Does it matter?” he asked. “Would you think me less if I was not this?” He motioned to himself.

Shelly frowned. “If you mean, am I attracted to you only because you’re some royal descendant, then no, I’m not. I didn’t know you were Ramses’s descendant when I found myself drooling over you. But itisa part of who you are. Everything about you is what makes you Ra. That’s just the way it is. I can’t tell you how I would feel about you if a single thing was different because it is all the parts that make you the whole.”

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