Page 41 of Tamed By Air (The Nature Hunters Academy 4)

“What?” He gave her a puzzled look.

“Show me the world? A whole new world?” she asked. “Those words aren’t ringing a bell?”

“Should they?”

“Ugh, even my insults are lost on you. Not only do you not know pop culture, but you don’t even know Disney culture. What do you do with all your free time?”

He kept his hand out, and she continued to ignore it. “If you want to know more about me, I’ll be happy to tell you. Just come with me, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

“Anything?” She forced herself not to fidget. Fidgeting seemed like a sure sign of weakness. She was not weak.

Osiris pursed his lips. “I reserve the right to set limitations, if necessary.”

“Chicken.” She walked toward the door, past his hand. “Let’s go then. Fresh air is calling my name.”

Shelly could feel his eyes on her as she passed. She didn’t turn when she heard his footsteps following behind her. Osiris took her hand. Before she could pull it away, they disappeared and reappeared in a large field covered in lush, green grass. Shelly’s eyes widened. She pulled her hand from his and slowly turned in a circle, letting her eyes take in the incredible sight. Mountains surrounded the field, and she realized they were high in a grassy valley. She could see a small village farther down the plain.

There were cars parked on the dirt roads next to adorable cottage-style buildings. It was as if they’d stepped back in time, but based on the cars and poles that showed electricity flowed through the village, they were at least in the twentieth century, if not the twenty-first.

The scene looked like something that might appear on a postcard. Shelly didn’t want to be enamored with the location. She didn’t want to be excited to see anything Osiris had to show her. But it was difficult to keep from feeling a tiny form of delight. She felt her lips turn up in a smile as she thought of Ra and how much more amazing this would be if he’d been the one to bring her here.Ra. She hadn’t forgotten him. Although she was in the company of the lord of the underworld, and could still feel those damn emotions she didn’t want, Ra was still with her. He was filling the places where darkness hadn’t yet taken over.

“Don’t you want to know where we are?” Osiris asked.

Shelly turned to look at him and found that he no longer wore black slacks and a white dress shirt but sported denim jeans and a V-neck sweater that fit nicely against his fit form. She looked down at herself and realized that her clothes, too, had changed. She also wore jeans, and her top was a soft cream sweater. Shelly shivered as she realized for the first time since appearing that it was significantly cooler here than in hell. She snorted to herself.What place isn’t colder than hell?

“Honestly, I don’t really care.” Shelly found she meant it. “It’s stunning with the mountains, deep green grass, and the cozy little Hogwarts town,” she said. “But I don’t give a flying cow patty. What I care about is why you broke your oath. Why can’t you leave me alone?” Her voice rose with every question, and her anger grew. “Why do I have feelings toward you I know aren’t real? Why does everything inside of me feel like it’s trying to rip itself from my body? Why?” Shelly yelled. “How can you want someone who doesn’t want you?” Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she hastily wiped them away. Her breaths came in quick succession as she attempted to get herself under control. But there was a part of her that wanted to lose control. She wanted to simply let go of every ounce of self-control she’d been maintaining and fall apart. Shelly didn’t care if it cost her some of her dignity. She didn’t care if she looked like a four-year-old throwing a tantrum. All she wanted was Ra, to see Tara, and to be back in her world where she belonged.

Osiris blew out a breath. For a moment—a very brief moment—he looked remorseful. But Shelly blinked, and the emotion vanished. The indifference she’d grown used to returned. “Why?” he asked. “Because I can. It’s that simple.” He slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans, and his shoulders relaxed. “I rule hell. The earthly realm is my playground, and I will take what I want.”

Shelly stared at him, watching his face closely. He held her eyes briefly and then looked away, which wasn’t like him. Typically, Osiris challenged her with his bold looks and intense eyes, which often flared with flames. She narrowed her eyes on him and tilted her head. “I’m going to call bullcrap on that answer.”

He frowned, though he didn’t look directly at her, she could see the down turned lips from his profile. “You can call it anything you want. It doesn’t change the facts. I’m tired of my tedious existence with no one to share it with. Even the lord of the underworld gets lonely.”

Shelly felt again: the annoying desire to comfort him. She mentally shoved it in a box and then pushed the box over the edge of a two-hundred-foot-high cliff. “Then perhaps you should consider changing your profession and quit acting like a child. Real men don’t have to force a woman to be with them, Osiris.”

The flames in his eyes exploded as his head whipped to fully face her. His skin flushed with an otherness that chilled her to the bone. His cheekbones sharpened, his irises morphed from round to vertical slits, and when he hissed at her, his teeth had become pointed like that of a predator. She stumbled back, putting more space between them. A chill ran down her spine as she realized this was his true face. The handsome man he showed the world was evil, wrapped in beauty.

“You think I want to be this?” He spat and pointed to his face. “Do you honestly believe this is something anyone would choose?”

“I, well, you’re the devil, the fallen angel,” she stuttered.

Osiris laughed, but bitterness laced the sound. He shook his head, and the demon face slipped away, replaced by the handsome human one. “I don’t know where that legend comes from because I have no memory of that.” He turned his back on her and tilted back his head. “I have no memory of where I came from or how I came into existence. But this is all I’ve ever known. Power, with limits. Darkness, though there is a part of me that longs for the light. And a hole inside me that hurts more than any flame of hell.”

The anguish in his voice squeezed Shelly’s heart. He sounded utterly hopeless, resigned to his fate despite loathing his lot in life. “I feel sorry for you, and that pisses me off. But it still doesn’t excuse what you’ve done.”

“I don’t want your damn pity, female,” he snapped. “I want your loyalty. I want what you freely give to Ra.” Her soul mate’s name sounded like a curse from Osiris’s lips. “And I will have it.” He turned back to her, his shoulders squared and his jaw set. “I’ve been patient with you. But I’m tired of your obstinance.”

Shelly’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “You’vebeen patient,” she said with a staccato tempo. “You ripped me away from my family, my soul mate, my best friend, my entire life. Every breath is a damn struggle. My body feels as if I’ve been beaten with a baseball bat and then thrown under a herd of elephants that have danced an Irish jig on my body. And you’re telling meyou’vebeen patient?”

“Yes.” He lifted his chin in defiance, as if she had no right to challenge him. “Verypatient. I have not used the full force of my charm on you. I’ve been subtle, coaxing you like the scared animal you are so you would grow to trust me. I have handled you like the most precious jewel, but still you refuse me. I’m done waiting. You will choose me. You will look upon me with adoration. You will touch me with true desire. You will long for my touch and my attention. You will do these things, or I will destroy Ra.

“Not only will I take his soul, but I will replace it with the most depraved demon from the underworld and then turn him loose in the human realm. He will become the antithesis of what he is now. And I will make you watch every second of it.”

The wind fled from Shelly’s lungs as if a heavyweight boxer had punched her in the stomach. It had been Osiris’s magic working in her all along. She didn’t feel genuine attraction for him. He’d been manipulating her emotions, playing with her like a damn cat plays with a mouse. “You bastard.” She seethed. Her blood boiled inside her veins, and the flames that burned inside of her ignited along her skin. The fire licked at her flesh, but it didn’t burn her. It was the first time since arriving in the underworld that she had been able to tap into the power that Aviur had given to her. “You… I…” She didn’t know what to say. Whatcouldshe say? No? The hell I will? If she refused him, Shelly knew he would follow through with his threat. There was no way she would ever allow Ra to suffer that.

The fire suddenly disappeared when she realized Osiris had won. She had no weapon that could fight against his power. She had no way of escaping him. And not only was her life in his hands, but so was the life of the man she loved. “Take me back. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to see your face right now.” Not that she ever wanted to see his face, but she couldn’t say that. She couldn’t risk angering him further, pushing him to make good on his threat against Ra.

Shelly inwardly cringed when his hand wrapped around her arm. Bile filled her throat, and she swallowed it down. When they reappeared in the room that was her cage, she ripped her arm from his grasp. His touch repulsed her. His very presence was an affront to everything good in the world. She walked away from him, giving him her back. Shelly squeezed her eyes closed, forcing the tears to remain at bay. She was sick of crying. Sick of feeling helpless.

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