Page 32 of Tamed By Air (The Nature Hunters Academy 4)

“What the hell is it? And how long have you known your eyes do that?”

Rory glanced at Liam and saw him pointing at Ra’s face. Liam’s lips were drawn tight across his face, and his own eyes seemed to flash with something that looked very much like the swell of an angry ocean. And she thoughtshewas weird.

“That’s not what’s important,” Ra practically growled and his body had a stillness about it that was unnatural.

“I bloody disagree, mate.” Elias walked closer to his friend. His hands clenched into fists at his side. Tara grabbed one of them and tried to open it, hoping to calm him by holding his hand.

“I’ve got to agree.” Gabby cocked her hip to the side and placed a hand on her waist. “And I make it a point never to agree with the males in our merry little band. Eyes like yours only happen to demons, dark elementals, and elementalists with the blackest of souls.”

“How do you know that?” Liam asked.

“She’s not wrong.” Aston lifted his chin in Gabby’s direction.

“Well, I expectyouto know, A,” Liam pointed at Rory’s bonded. “You live to research that kind of crap, but Gabs is more likely to destroy a computer than use it to actually learn something. No offense, babe.”

“None taken,” Gabby said.

“Ra.” Aston’s voice was firm as he narrowed his eyes on his friend. “Have you already been in contact with a demon?”

Ra shook his head. His brow drew low, and he bared his teeth. The Pharoah looked ready to murder someone. “If I tell you why I think my eyes are doing this, will you then shut up and let me explain what we are looking for in the library at this coven?”

Everyone’s heads nodded, even Rory’s. For the moment, this was actually more important than warning against the perils of summoning a demon.

“When I rescued Shelly from the underworld, as you know”—his jaw was so tense Rory was surprised he didn’t break some teeth—“she made a deal with Osiris. It was necessary because one cannot leave hell without paying. I offered my own soul, of course, but myMerywouldn’t hear of it.”

“I thought her name was Shelly,” Rory said, as she pursed her lips.

Ra shot her a look that made it perfectly clear he would be all-too-happy to burn her to ash, just as he had done Tucker.

She held up her hands, and Aston wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. “My bad. Not my business what you call your chick.”

Ra took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if attempting to get himself under control. “My Mery,” he continued, “refused to allow me to give up my soul because it meant that I was guaranteed to spend eternity with my ancestors in the underworld. She offered her own soul.”

“Then how on earth did she come back topside without turning into an evil witch?” Rory quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she said, sounding muffled through her hand. “I have a bad habit of blurting.”

Aston pulled her hand down. “Quit glaring at my soul bonded, Ra. Cut her some slack.”

Ra did not look inclined to cut anyone any slack, as his black eyes shifted from hers to Aston’s and back again.

“I really won’t interrupt again.” She made the sign of a cross over her heart. She didn’t add ‘hope to die’ to her wordless mime of the classic saying because death was not exactly on her list of to do’s.

A single brow rose on his forehead as he stared at her. After a few moments, Rory shrugged and added, “Maybe.”

The large male finally looked away from her, and Rory felt as if her lungs suddenly remembered how to work. She sucked in a ragged breath and leaned back against Aston. “Has anyone ever told that dude he needs to dial it down?” Rory whispered.

“No one really tells Ra what to do,” Aston replied just as quietly.

“Fair enough.”

“When my mate,” Ra continued, “offered her soul up to Osiris, he took it. But there were consequences put in place. And though, as far as I know, neither myself nor Shelly have done anything to cause those consequences to come into play, they’re happening anyway.”

“What are those consequences, Ra?” Tara’s voice trembled. “And what do you mean, ‘as far as you know?’”

Rory watched Ra’s face, and her heart squeezed tightly. She had known him all of half an hour, maybe, but even she could see pain etched on his strong features when he met Tara’s gaze.

“Shelly’s soul belongs to Osiris.” Ra’s voice sounded like sandpaper. “And in order for her to live in the upworld, she is bound to me fully by my soul, and we are never to be parted. If we give ourselves to another—” He paused and squeezed his black eyes closed while his hands fisted at his sides. The tendons in Ra’s neck stretched so tightly they looked ready to snap. “If we give ourselves to another, then our fate is with Osiris.My”—he emphasized the word with a pound to his chest—“fate is with him, with my ancestors. Our fates are so bound that even the order of our death determines our eternity. If she dies first, we both die, but we both belong to Osiris. If I die first, then we escape the underworld.”

“You must die first to fulfill your oath?” Aston said.

---