Page 31 of Tamed By Air (The Nature Hunters Academy 4)

Rory managed a small smile, though it was forced. Her emotions were warring within her. Part of her wanted to grab Aston and run so she could be alone with him. Another part wanted to put a curse on the group just to prove her power. Only a small part wanted to do the right thing and engage them like a normal, non-darkness-filled human being.

Aston gave her hand a squeeze, and she felt something she’d not felt before—warmth. It was like walking from a dark, snowy night into a comfortable living room with a roaring fireplace. The sensation gave her just enough peace to keep her from doing the first two options she’d considered. “Nice to meet you,” she said to the group. “I’m Rory. I’m—” She stopped herself and glanced up at Aston, searching his eyes for some sign of acceptance.

“You’re my soul bonded.” He set his jaw firm and narrowed his eyes on her as if daring her to challenge him.

“I’m Rory. Aston’s soul bonded.”

“It’s an honor to meet another of my brothers’ soul bonded,” Elias said.

“Thank you,” Rory said. It was so weird to her, this interacting with human beings that weren’t trying to take over the world. Shouldn’t they be summoning demons and working with dark royal elementals?

She looked at Ra and waited to see if he introduced himself. All he did was bow his head to her and then look back at the group, his eyes seeming to take them all in.

“The witch I spoke with at the Blackhorn coven assisted my search of the books in their library,” he explained. “At first, she pointed out the books in their possession that referenced demons.” He paused and seemed to consider what he’d just shared. Rory thought he looked a little confused, but she didn't know Ra at all, so, for all she knew, the dude was actually constipated. “After expressing my frustration—”

Tara gasped. “Please tell me you didn’t burn their house down.”

“Please tell me you did,” Gabby countered with a wicked grin.

Elias looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh. “Mate.” He opened his eyes and looked at Ra. “The royals are going to lock you up if you don’t get yourself under control.”

“If you three are finished,” Ra said, his voice dropping an octave, which was saying something considering his voice was already low, “I will continue.” He stared at them, his eyes even roaming to her. Rory realized he waited to see if they would say anything more, but the group stayed quiet. “I did not burn the witch’s house down, although it would not have been a terrible loss if I had done so.”

“Understatement,” Rory muttered before she could stop herself.

Ra’s head snapped to her, and Aston stepped forward, placing his body partially in front of her. Ra’s eyes shifted to Aston, and he seemed to consider her soul bonded’s action.

Ra raised his chin at Aston, and some silent message went between the two. Rory figured it was one of those guy things where they understand each other’s head movements like baseball players understand their coach’s crazy hand motions.

“The witch I worked with saw that I was becoming very frustrated,” he began for the third time. “I explained to her why I needed to summon a demon.”

“Wait. What?” Rory snapped and pushed Aston aside. She felt her magic—her power that had died down to a simmer in the presence of Aston—suddenly flare up like a fire doused with gasoline. “Summon a demon?” Rory glared at the much larger male, and there was no intimidation in her gaze. “I’m sorry, but were you not at the Devil's Heart battle?”

Ra tilted his head at Rory and studied her as if she was a new species of bug. “That is a convoluted phrasing,” he said, his voice cool as ice. Ra’s eyes seemed to grow darker. “The correct way to ask that question would be, ‘Were you at the Devil's Heart battle?’”

Rory felt her blood begin to boil. This man talked about summoning demons as if it was no more dangerous than calling a plumber to fix a clogged sink, and now he was giving her a damn grammar lesson. “Excuse me?”

“What I mean is, how should I answer your question? If I say no, then you will take that to mean, no, I was not at that Devil’s Heart battle. But that would be incorrect. My ‘no’ would actually mean ‘no, I was notnotat the Devil’s Heart battle, meaning I actually was there. Likewise, if I answer yes, you would take it to mean Iwasat the Devil’s Heart battle, when that, too, might be inaccurate. I would actually be saying, ‘yes, I wasnotat the Devil’s Heart battle. That would also imply I do not understand the seriousness of summoning demons, but I do. All of this confusion could have been avoided if you would have simply asked me directly if I was at the Devil’s Heart battle.”

“Rory,” Aston said softly. He leaned down until his lips nearly touched her ear. “Let him explain, please. I mean about the demons. I don’t want any more grammar explanations.”

Rory wanted to tell Aston that no explanation would be good enough. There was nothing Ra could say that would convince her that summoning a demon wouldeverbe a good idea. Had Aston forgotten already what had happened the last time the witches had consorted with a demon?

She turned her head to look up at her soul bonded. Rory stared daggers at him, but he didn’t look the least bit intimidated, not even after he’d felt her attempt to bring down an entire mountain. If Rory wasn’t so pissed, she’d tell him she admired him for having a backbone and not letting her walk on him. But she was pissed, so instead she just kept staring at him.

“I promise you I wouldn’t support Ra if he didn’t have a good reason,” Aston said.

She shook her head. “There is no reason you could give me that would convince me that consorting with the inhabitants of hell is ever a good idea.”

“What about for love?” Ra asked.

Her head whipped around at the sound of his hard voice. She was about to give him a piece of her mind, but Rory snapped her mouth closed when she looked into his eyes. A moment ago, they’d been partially dark. Now, the darkness covered them completely, even the whites.

“What the hell?” She breathed out and stepped back, bumping into Aston’s chest.

“Ra,” Elias, the British one, said, “what’s happened since we saw you only a few hours ago?”

“My eyes,” Ra said. “I know.”

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