Page 17 of Tamed By Air (The Nature Hunters Academy 4)

Rory lifted her head and looked at her unlikely friend. “Relieved,” she answered immediately. “I know that sounds weird, but I felt I had been wandering in the wilderness. When Aston came along, I was suddenly found. I felt seen … and hopeful.”

Kimba’s head tilted slightly. “What do you mean by found and seen?”

“I was no longer lost,” Rory answered, her voice soft. “To be found also means someone has seen you. Though I’d technically found Aston.” She moved her head from side to side, and her shoulders rose. “He found me, too, and he liked what he saw. There was joy when he looked at me. I’ve never had that before, Kimba.” Rory couldn’t ever remember being regarded with joy by the witches in her coven, especially not Danni. More often than not, the looks they gave her were of annoyance, as if Rory was, at best, an inconvenience. At worst, a burden.

Kimba shifted slightly, causing the cave floor to rumble. “And at some point, you feel that joy left? He no longer looked at you the same way?”

“Yes… No…” She paused. “I don’t know.” Leaning her head back against the cave wall, Rory took a deep breath. “I honestly can’t pinpoint a moment and say, ‘There, that’s when things changed.’ I feel like I blinked, and two weeks had passed. And we’d made no progress in our relationship, not even a little. Not only had we not gone forward, but we had somehow gone backward.”

“Do you think, maybe…” The dragon’s words were slow and measured. “You went a little too fast with the physical side of your relationship?”

Rory’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “But … but …you!” She pointed at Kimba. “You told me if the bond was complete, then he wouldn’t be able to leave me. And”—Rory looked around the cave, her head swinging back and forth—“I don’t see him anywhere, Kimba. Do you? If he was my soul bonded, then he shouldn’t have been able to leave. Right?” Perhaps she was being childish, and a bit overly dramatic, but Rory was hurt and angry. She was at a loss about what to do.

“But I didn’t tell you to bed the male,” Kimba pointed out. “You let your crazy out. To you, it seemed the only way to ensure you weren’t abandoned was to tie yourself to Aston in whatever way possible.” Kimba leaned her head in further and lowered herself to the ground. Her scales grew even darker as she blocked out the light streaming in from behind her. “You didn’t think of anyone but yourself.” Rory opened her mouth to argue, but a wing suddenly flung outward, blowing dirt into her face.

“Plltthhh. Damn it!” Rory spat out a mouthful of grit and glared at Kimba. “That was unnecessary.”

“We must agree to disagree.”

“You’re infuriating sometimes, you know that, right?”

Kimba did her version of a dragon shrug, which was basically the raising and lowering of a massive scale-covered neck, chest, and shoulders. “One of the many unfortunate byproducts of being best friends with an emotionally stunted witch that only has darkness left in her soul. Sometimes I have to say things to make the witch realize she’s a bitch.” Her lizardy lips turned up in a smile. “See what I did there?”

Rory rolled her eyes. “Can we please get back to the part where I figure out what I need to do about Aston?” Rory was ready to bang her head against the floor. She knew what Kimba said was true, but that didn’t make it easy to hear. And it didn’t bring Rory closer to anything resembling a plan. “Should I go after him and bring him back?”

“Oh, you mean, should you abduct him again? Well, that workedsowell before, didn’t it?”

“Kimba, dammit, that wasn’t an abduction,” Rory snapped. “You’re not helping.”

“Are you sure?” The dragon’s claws clicked against the floor as she tapped them, much like a human drumming their fingers on a table.

Rory pushed her legs straight out in front of her and folded her arms across her chest. “If I was strong enough, I’d totally kick your big ass off that ledge.”

“Wings, remember? Kick away, little witch. I would simply float away gracefully.” Kimba waved the beautiful, leathery appendages around, gently this time.

With another irritated growl, Rory pushed to her feet and dusted off her butt. “So kidnapping him is a no-go. Then we must go with Plan B.”

“What’s this ‘we’ business?” Kimba asked. “You got a baby dragon egg in your pocket? If you do, you better go on and give it back before you get your witchy butt eaten.”

Rory ignored her. “Plan B, you ask?”

“Did not. I did not ask.”

“Since you’re so insistent, I will tell you.” Rory held up her finger and paced.

“I would like it noted, for the official record of dragon history, that I didnotask you to tell me about any sort of plan. A, B, or C for that matter.”

“I will scry Aston’s location and see how he fares.” Rory glanced at Kimba.

The dragon stopped in mid-shake of her head and narrowed her eyes. “Okay, that seems oddly rational of you. What’s the catch?”

“If he seems to be doing fine and not suffering in any way, then I will drag his happy ass back here and make him as miserable as I am.”

“No.” Kimba sat up and tilted her head. “You see,thatright there is what I mean when I tell you that you let your crazy show. You cannot just kidnap a being of any race, human or otherwise, and hold them hostage. And you certainly can’t purposely make them miserable. I’m pretty sure that’s a crime, literally everywhere.”

“I’m just,” Rory started, but then slammed her mouth shut as a wave of pain ran through her body. Her only thoughts were of Aston. “Why the hell does this hurt so freaking bad?”

“Come here, Rory,” Kimba said, her words gentle enough to catch Rory’s attention despite her pain. Her dragon friend had been anything but comforting for the past hour.

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