Page 10 of Tamed By Air (The Nature Hunters Academy 4)

The other royals hadn’t approved of how he’d gotten their attention. Apparently, setting fire to the elementals under their care wasn’t an appreciated way of communicating. Ra made sure the fire was harmless … mostly. But he was still chastised and informed that scaring the elementals was just as harmful as inflicting physical pain.

Ra had expected the royals to be more understanding, considering their own mates had also been abducted to the underworld. He’d thought they’d be willing to help, but each time he gained an audience, they turned him away.We need to wait, he’d been told.We will know when it’s time to make a move.

“How will they know?” Ra muttered to himself as he felt the familiar heat of his power. He’d been asking them and himself that same question over and over, but no one would give him an answer. Ra balled his fists where his hands rested on the table. He could feel his blood boiling in his veins and the fire inside of him burning, begging to be let loose. Suddenly, unable to sit still any longer, he jumped up, shoving his chair back so hard it fell to the floor with a loud clang. The room went silent. He could feel the stares and knew they’d be worried. Ra stormed from the room, refusing to look at anyone, his eyes straight ahead.

Within minutes, he found himself standing on the sparring field. A few students milled about. They would clear out soon as lunch ended and classes resumed for the afternoon. Ra closed his eyes and took slow breaths. He clenched his jaw and forced himself to hold it together while others were present. Ra didn’t want to hurt anyone.That’s not true, the voice of his soul said in his mind. Youwant to hurt them all. You want to destroy anyone not willing to assist you, or at least get out of your way so you can find her.

Ra’s chest spasmed, and his heart skipped several beats. Every day, the pain of their separation became greater. He was sure that a dagger in his chest would be less painful than what he was enduring. Ra knew Shelly would be suffering the same misery. The thought of hisMeryin pain filled him with rage, sending fire licking up his arms.

“You cannot keep doing this.” It was Jeremiah, the Crimson Academy headmaster. “You have got to gain control of your emotions, prince.”

Ra’s eyes snapped open at the use of his irrelevant title. He swallowed hard, then realized he could feel heat surrounding him, more than was emanating from his arms. Ra raised his eyes and turned in a circle. He saw an enormous ring of fire at least thirty feet in diameter, burning around him. Ra was alone in the ring with Headmaster Jeremiah, though he could make out a few bodies watching on the other side of the flickering flames. Ra turned to the headmaster. The other fire elementalist’s hands glowed with flames as well, but they rested at his sides. Not here to attack then, Ra thought, but to defend if he needs to.

“Can’t keep doing what?” Ra could hear the menace in his own voice. “Worrying about the woman I love being trapped in hell with the lord of the underworld?”

“Losing control,” Jeremiah replied. “You’re too powerful to lose control, Ra. You don’t have that luxury. So far, you’ve managed to keep your fire from burning down anything important, but your emotions seem to be escalating. What happens when you become too out of control? What if you burn down a forest or even a school?”

“Tell me, Headmaster,” he said, taking a step toward the older man, “is Talia your soul-bonded?” Ra knew she wasn’t, and it was a low blow, but he was beyond caring. Everything inside of him hurt. Down to the marrow of his bones, Ra ached for his mate. Every single breath felt like a day’s work.

The headmaster didn’t fully understand the situation. If he did, Jeremiah would understand just how much control Ra was actually exerting. If he lost control, more than a building or forest would end up ablaze. The flames that would flow out of Ra would consume everything and everyone in their path. The attack would be so swift that those in the fire’s path would be piles of ash before they knew what hit them. Ra knew it. He could feel it. He was holding back an inferno.

“She is not,” Jeremiah answered. Ra noted the gentleness in the headmaster’s voice. Apparently, the blow had missed. “I cannot say that I understand what you’re feeling entirely because my bond with Talia is not that of a soul-bonded pair. I can tell you that if she was taken from me, I would be devastated. The pain would be unimaginable.”

Ra took another step toward him. “You have no concept of the pain I feel from my separation from Shelly. Of the painsheis enduring. The bond you have with Talia doesn’t bind you mind, body, and soul. Shelly is… She’s…” Words failed him as he thought about the blonde spitfire who’d rocked his world off its axis.

“She’s your everything,” Jeremiah said. “She’s your air, your reason for trying to be a better man every day more than the day before. She’s why you walk taller, with pride in your step, because she chose you and not someone else. She’s in every thought you have, every decision you make, every plan for your future. Without her, you are only half a person.”

Ra both hated and appreciated Jeremiah’s words. Appreciated, because he was right, and that meant that despite Talia not being his soul-bonded, hedidunderstand to an extent what Ra felt. But Ra hated Jeremiah’s words because it proved that despite knowing what he endured, the headmaster had done nothing to help him. “Why haven’t you done anything?” he asked. The surrounding flames grew taller, and Ra could no longer see the faces beyond them. “Ifyou understand I am nothing without her, then why have you not helped me get her back? Why have you prevented me from going after her?” Even though he wore the runes of Aviur that bound him to the human realm, Ra had been down to the basement of the school, in hopes of using the River Styx to enter the Underworld, but it had been magically warded. He had been unable to call the ferryman. That had been when he had lost control, and the basement currently wore the aftermath of his rage on its blackened walls.

“Wearetrying,” Jeremiah told him as he glanced around the circle. “You’re still a student, Ra. Regardless of how you feel, you are not privy to the plans of the school heads or the elementals. You must trust us.”

Ra’s hand lifted and flung out in front of him before he could even think. A flash of blue fire burst from his palm and shot straight for Jeremiah. The headmaster jumped out of the way just in time. An instant of hesitation, and the man would sport a sizzling hole in his chest. “I trust no one,” Ra growled. “And when it comes to the woman who shares my soul, then, student or not, I am privy to every plan that relates to getting her back.” He reached out his other hand and raised his arm slowly. Blue flames stretched out in an arc over his body. Ra swiftly brought his arm down and wielded the flame like a whip. He snapped it toward his headmaster. Before the fire could touch Jeremiah, a massive wave of water crashed through the circle of fire and blocked the whip before it could strike the older elementalist.

“You can’t go around killing headmasters, Ra.” Liam’s voice came from across the circle. Water continued to rain down on them, dousing the flames that covered Ra’s body and sending up gouts of steam. “I’m not saying you don’t have a right to be angry. I’d be pissed, too. But going on a killing spree isn’t the answer. You’re lucky they haven’t locked your ass up the way they did Elias.”

Ra’s head snapped to the side to face his friend, and literal fire shot out of his eyes. He heard gasps from the onlookers. Such a power was rare, but then Ra wasn’tjustany ordinary elementalist. He carried the magic of his ancestors in his DNA. Ancient power that flowed in the blood of every pharaoh of the line of Ramses the Great. That power magnified his elemental abilities, though Ra usually kept that knowledge to himself and his brothers. But now the secret was out. “No one is locking me up,” he said, as sweat practically sizzled on his skin from the heat.

Liam whipped a hand up and released another torrent of water that extinguished the flaming projectile before it could hit him. “Neat trick.” He smirked. Only Liam could crack jokes while facing off with Ra in his current state. “Perhaps you’d like to reveal more of your secret arsenal?”

“Walk away, brother,” Ra said through gritted teeth. He honestly didn’t know if he could keep from hurting Liam. Ra fought the urge to see everyone as the enemy. He tried to remind himself that regardless of what he’d told Jeremiah, there were some people hedidtrust. But that was only when he was in his right mind. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Liam threw his head back and laughed. “Since when? Let’s be real, Ra. I stay on your shit list. That’s how our relationship works. I do stuff to piss you off, and you put me in my place with your powerful Ra-ness.” He turned and looked at his female, Gabby. “Ra-ness, get it?”

Gabby rolled her eyes. “Could you maybe focus on not getting fried by your friend?”

“Baby,” he drawled. “I’m not worried about that. I know you got my back.” Liam turned to Ra. The playfulness left his voice as he said, “And Ra won’t hurt my female.”

He wasn’t wrong. Unless he unleashed his fire completely, Ra would never willingly hurt any of his brothers’ mates. Or any female that wasn’t actually attacking him or those he loved. Ra didn’t look at Gabby but kept his focus on Liam, the joker of their band of brothers. Elias, his brow drawn into a deep V, stepped up beside Liam.

“It isn’t like you to lose control,” Elias said. His stance was casual, but Ra wasn’t fooled. His earth elementalist brother would attack in a flash if he needed to. “You said you don’t trust anyone. I’m asking you to trust us.”

Ra knew when Elias said “us,” he was talking about their close-knit group. He wasn’t including the school faculty or even the elementals in his statement. As he stared at Elias, his mind was a mess of chaotic thoughts. He’d been wracking his brain day after day trying to figure out a way to get into the underworld. But no matter how many things he came up with, none of them were possible. Short of a miracle, there was no way they could get into Osiris’s territory.

“Ra,” Elias said, his voice firm. “Stand down and come talk to us. I’m sure Headmaster Jeremiah will give us a break for the rest of the day.”

Ra glanced at the headmaster, who gave him a sharp nod. “I think a break is a good idea. And, Ra,” Jeremiah said, “this is the last outburst we will tolerate. We’ve been lenient because of your circumstances. Up to this point, you haven’t been a threat to the students of the academies. But your outburst today is the final straw. We will do what’s necessary to protect the students from any threat. We are not ignoring what has happened, Ra. Despite what you think you know, there is more going on. Information is being gathered, and a plan worked out. That is all you can know at this point. You don’t have to like that answer, but you will follow our rules and orders. There are going to be consequences if you do not. Am I clear?”

The water stopped falling, and Ra managed to keep his flames from erupting over his skin, though they simmered just below the surface. “Yes.” His voice was tight from the emotions that seemed determined to strangle him. Still, nobody moved. After several tense moments, Ra finally nodded and added. “Crystal clear.” He thought he heard a collective sigh, and he could feel the tension filling the sparring grounds evaporate.

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