Page 29 of Tamed By Air (The Nature Hunters Academy 4)

“I can’t open portals, and he can. I had no idea how I would find you, so I stayed with him until I could figure it out,” she explained. “He knows about the supernatural world, and about the Devil's Heart battle, so I figured one way or another he would lead me to you, or someone who knew how to find you.”

Aston leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead. He wanted to kiss her lips, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable or take any liberties that she might not welcome. “You amazing, reckless woman. He could have hurt, or killed you.”

She shook her head. “Babe, I’ve tangled with powerful witches and demons. Tucker boy has nothing on the evil I’ve dealt with.”

The words were meant to reassure him, but all they did was sadden him. He hated knowing that she’d had such a difficult childhood. He hated that she’d been raised with witches who thought only of themselves and the power they craved.

“Not to rain on your reuniting parade,” Liam said, “but we’ve got all sorts of eyes on us, staring out of these creepy cookie-cutter houses. And a few have actually stepped out to see why there’s a house on fire. Kiss the girl, kill the guy, and let’s bounce.”

“Did you seriously just say let’s bounce?” Tara pinched the bridge of her nose and briefly squeezed her eyes closed.

“You know? Like a ball?” Liam made a motion with his hands mimicking the action of bouncing his imaginary ball.

“Of course I know, you dork,” Tara huffed. “You just sounded ridiculous saying it.”

Aston tuned out his bickering friends and refocused on Rory. “He’s an idiot, but he’s right. We need to get out of this neighborhood.”

* * *

Rory looked over at Tucker,though she didn’t want to take her eyes off of Aston. The rage, which had momentarily subsided when Aston touched her, returned in full force. What kind of idiot would think he could hold her hostage?

“What should I do with you?” she asked Tucker as he hung suspended in the air by Aston’s power.

“I just told you what to do.” One guy standing on the sidewalk in front of the burning house spoke up. “And do it quickly and as cleanly as possible. I hear sirens, which means the regular humans are headed this way. They might have some questions as to why a freaking house just blew up.”

“You don’t have to kill him,” Aston said, his voice soft as he leaned toward her. His hand still pressed to her cheek, and his smell wrapped around her like a warm blanket. She wanted to bask in it. “I don’t want that on your conscience.”

“He’s right,” the one called Elias said. “I’llkill him, like I’ve wanted to do for quite a while now, and then we can all hit up a pub and have a brew.”

Rory opened her mouth to tell Aston he didn’t need to worry. But before the words were out, she snapped her mouth closed. Rory realized she only had those thoughts because her shattered soul was missing pieces. The darkness inside of her reveled in the idea of taking Tucker’s life. Even better would be to make him suffer.

Just when she’d made her decision, a portal opened, and a tall, tan-skinned male with dark hair and dark eyes stepped through. She couldn’t quite tell what nationality he was, but it was definitely Eastern.

“Ra?” Aston asked, confusion in his voice.

The male named Ra looked at Aston and then at the group on the sidewalk. Finally, he glanced at Tucker. “Is this the male that caused Shelly to be thrown into the underworld?” Rory wasn’t exactly sure who he was speaking to.

“Yes,” the girl Aston pointed out as Tara answered.

Ra walked straight over to Tucker, whose eyes opened wide with shock as his mouth dropped open. He couldn’t move thanks to Aston’s air magic, so he was powerless to do anything but watch the large, pissed-off male bear down on him.

“You sentenced my female to burn in hell. Now I will oblige you with the same fate.” Ra’s voice was calm and emotionless. He reached out his hand and placed it on Tucker’s forehead. Flames engulfed Ra’s hand. A scream erupted from Tucker that made Rory’s skin crawl. In a matter of seconds, the boy disintegrated into a pile of ashes at Ra’s feet.

“Holy witch crap,” Rory whispered. Her eyes jumped from the ashes to Ra’s face and back again.

“Bloody hell, Ra,” Elias shouted. “He was mine.”

“We need to go,” Ra said. If it bothered the pharaoh that he’d just burned a man alive, he didn’t show it. “Now.” Without another word, he turned and stomped back through the portal.

The group on the sidewalk didn’t ask questions but hustled toward the still-open portal. Aston took Rory’s hand and looked at her. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she answered without hesitation.

Before they could step through, Rory felt a stream of power flow from Aston into her body and all the way to her feet. She looked down and then heard multiple gasps. She turned her attention to the sound and saw the two other females were also looking down at their feet with wide eyes. They each held hands with who she assumed must be their soul-bonded males.

“What the ever-loving crap is happening?” the redheaded female hissed.

“Elias, why is power flowing out of me into the ground?” Tara glanced at him and then to Rory and then to the redhead.

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