Bound by Earth: The Nature Hunters Academy Series, Book 1

by Quinn Loftis

  “Don’t you dare,” she growled as she pulled out of his hold and opened the door. She needed to get out of the car before she embarrassed herself more by climbing into his lap. Tara eased out of her seat, realizing she was already feeling bruised from the hail. When she turned back to look at him, the playfulness was gone, and in its place was something possessive and dangerous.

  “Will you make me a promise, luv?”

  She nodded. She owed him a promise after her singing, princess gig and the animal digs she gave him in regard to his sanity.

  “Don’t answer the door if someone knocks on it. Not while you’re alone, yeah?”

  She frowned. Who would be knocking on her door that was dangerous? It was Buffalo, Kentucky not New York City. Her face must have made it clear she was skeptical of his request.

  “Humor me,” he added.

  “Okay,” she relented. “I won’t answer the door.”

  “I had fun today, even though for a bit there you thought I was not all with it. And before a storm tried to beat the shite out of us. I really like you, Tara Thompson. I like who I am when I’m with you.”

  She paused and bit her lip. “I like who I am when I’m with you, too,” she admitted.

  “Good. Off with you.” He put the car in reverse and then motioned for her to go inside. “I’ll wait ’til you get in.”

  Tara nodded and shut the car door. She made her way up to the porch and then turned back to look at him. His phone was to his ear and his lips were moving, obviously talking to someone, but his eyes were on her. His stare was the usual intensity, but it was also dark. She got a sense, as she had when they’d been driving back, that he was angry, but she didn’t understand why. When he winked at her, she gave a small wave and then unlocked the door and went inside.

  The day had been perfect. Even with Tara’s ridiculous notion about his so-called madness, being with her had been pure pleasure. And then it had stormed. Elias knew for a fact this storm was not the natural work of Mother Gaia, brought on by the changes in temperature and currents. Nope, this had been the work of several acolytes. They’d hurt Tara with the hail. He’d seen the redness and beginning of bruises on her skin. Everything in him was roaring at him to end those who had caused Tara’s pain. His hands clenched the steering wheel, causing it to creak under the pressure as Elias drove his car around the corner where he’d be out of view from Tara’s house. He’d just gotten off the phone with Jax, and the anger that had begun simmering during the attack was growing at a rapid rate. Elias had told his mentor about what had happened and told him that he planned to confront Tucker. Instead of backing him, Jax had ordered him to return to the academy immediately. He expected him to just leave Tara alone while Tucker was a danger to her? “Like hell,” he growled under his breath.

  Elias’s hands clenched and unclenched as he tried to keep his magic under control. His soul was rebelling at the idea of leaving Tara. It had taken all his willpower not to follow her into her house. Spending time with her last night and today had definitely made the bond grow in intensity. Allowing himself to touch her, kiss her, even if it wasn’t on her lips, had only increased the need he could feel from his magic to join with her own. He hadn’t done himself any favors by not keeping his distance. But he didn’t regret it at all. He wanted more. He would always want more when it came to her.

  The passenger’s side door jerked open, and a beautiful woman plopped down into the seat. Immediately, the entire interior of the car began to heat up, and steam fogged the windows.

  Elias’s mouth dropped open. “How are you doing this, Zuri?” Her hands were glowing. She put them together and the light faded.

  “You’re welcome,” she said.

  The car began to return to a normal temperature. “You’re welcome?” He raised an eyebrow. “For what?”

  “Your clothes are no longer wet,” she said simply.

  She wasn’t wrong. His clothes, minutes ago soaked through, were now completely dry. He wasn’t a fool, though. Zuri had not just done him a favor. She’d been refreshing his memory that she was much older and very powerful. He could hold his own against her, but it wouldn’t be an easy battle, and he honestly didn’t know which of them would win. “Seriously, how did you do that? You can’t control fire.”

  “Of course, not,” she replied. “That’d be silly. I wouldn’t want to. Fire is entirely too volatile. Earth is reliable, solid. The earth is unshakable, just like my power.”

  “Okay then, explain.” He put out his palms.

  “That subject is too advanced for you. You don’t get to magma manipulation until your fourth year. And I don’t have time to even begin to explain it to you now. Jax is waiting for you at the gate in the forest close to Tara Thompson’s house,” Zuri informed him. “You are to go straight there, now.”

  “Did he tell you what she is to me?” Elias asked through gritted teeth.

  “Yes. I’m not terribly familiar with the soul bonded, and there isn’t much information in the archives about them. It’s as if all memory of them has been wiped from history,” she said. “Such a thing is very rare. Perhaps that is why there has been a steady increase in dark acolytes over the past century. The soul bond was meant to prevent the young elementalist from going dark. But you aren’t bonded yet.” Her words had a bite to them that made him want to lash out.

  “You have no bloody clue what I am,” he barked. “Regardless of whether or not we’ve joined our magic, our souls, or our bodies, she is a part of me. Being away from her is torture.”

  “You’ve had my class in withstanding torture. That was in your second year. You should be able to handle it. It won’t be pleasant. That’s why it’s called torture and not quiet meditation time or frolic-through-the-meadow time,” Zuri snapped. “Just because you are to be”—she emphasized those words—“her soul bonded, does not mean that you will always be what’s best for her at every given moment.”

  “I never said I was what’s best for her,” Elias said. “I just…” She stopped him with a slash of her hand through the air.

  “You just need to do what the hell you are ordered to do. Go to Jax. I will watch over your better half.”

  Elias sighed. He couldn’t go against Jax and Zuri’s orders. Not unless he wanted to face severe discipline and possibly have to go before the administration of the school. Those two things might keep him separated from Tara longer, and that was unacceptable. Elias climbed out of the car, slammed the door, and headed back toward Tara’s house. He cast a spell to blur his form so he wouldn’t be seen by the humans and jogged to the gate Jax had set up in the woods near her house.

  “I figured she’d have to forcibly bring you here,” his mentor said.

  Elias rolled his shoulders back and met Jax’s stare. “I’m not a lad who needs to be pulled around by his bloody ear. And I’m not throwing a fit about being dragged out of a candy store. This is her life, her soul, Jax. And it’s my responsibility as her soul bond to make sure she doesn’t get taken by the dark side. Don’t bloody patronize me.”

  Jax was quiet as he stared back at him. After a couple of minutes he nodded. “You’re right. What we are asking of you shouldn’t be taken lightly. I apologize.”

  “I understand why I shouldn’t be with her,” Elias said. “I know that if the protection spell is dissipated by knowledge of our world, she will be at the mercy of the acolytes and elementals. That is why I am here of my own free will. Now, let’s get going before my magic decides to cause a mutiny and takes control of my faculties.”

  The look on Jax’s face almost made Elias laugh. His friend and mentor looked horrified at the idea. But he wasn’t exaggerating. He could feel the magic inside of him pulsing, pushing and yearning to be free, to go to its mate, their mate. The restlessness he felt when away from her was already building, and he knew it was only going to get worse.

  “Call your contacts over at the other academies,” Jax said as he turned to walk through the gate he’d conjured. Elia
s followed as he pulled out his phone. “Tell them to meet us at Yellowstone.”

  Before Elias made the calls, he sent a text to Tara.

  Jax called. I’ve been pulled away for an emergency. I’m not sure when I’ll be back. This is NOT goodbye. I’ll be in touch.

  He hit send and prayed to Mother Gaia that Tara would be safe under Zuri’s protection.

  Chapter 17

  Well, I guess we are about to find out if the inter-academy relations program we started this year is about to pay off,” said Jax as he and Elias stepped back into the gateroom at Terra Academy. Elias barely registered the words. It was taking everything he had not to lash out at Jax and go barreling back through the gate to get Tara. He should be heading toward her, not away from her. Elias grunted in response.

  “Listen,” continued Jax, “I know this is hard—”

  “You don’t know,” snapped Elias, cutting Jax off. “You’re not soul bonded. You have no idea what I’m going through.” He clenched his fists at his side.

  Jax put up two placating hands. “You’re right. I don’t know. Maybe no one does. But I know Tara is in capable hands. Believe me. No one can protect the girl like Zuri. I’d trust her with my life. I have, several times over.”

  “I’d trust her with my life, too,” said Elias quietly. “But not Tara’s.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to. C’mon. What we are about to do may end up helping Tara more than anything you could do in Buffalo, Kentucky. And it might help others just like her. We need answers. Our ambassadors at the other schools report that dark acolytes have been appearing around their new students as well. We have to find out why.”

  “So, Tara isn’t the only one?” asked Elias. “Other Marks have been harassed?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Let’s get on with this then.”

  They walked in silence past all the stone gates to the very center of the large chamber. Here, standing alone, was an archway that appeared as if it were constructed simply by piling large, misshapen stones atop one another. Elias had learned on his first day of geo-spatial travel class during his first year at the academy that each stone was a different shape, color, and composition and was gathered from a different part of the world. There was no mortar, nothing to bind the rocks together, yet against the laws of physics and gravity, they clung to one another. And had done so for thousands of years. He’d only been through the gate once, also during one of his classes. But this was a class on ley lines, those places of elemental power where the magic woven throughout the earth flowed the strongest. They were about to travel to one of the strongest concentrations of elemental power on the earth. But because of the inner turmoil he had raging from being separated from Tara, Elias couldn’t even be a little excited.

  He and Jax stood before the gate. There were no words of power needed to activate this particular portal. One just needed to step through. “After you.” Jax said, gesturing to the opening. Beyond it, Elias could see through to the rest of the room, but he knew he wouldn’t simply step through to a spot on the floor. He’d step out in one of Yellowstone Park’s geyser basins in Wyoming, over a thousand miles from Tara. He growled and forced his feet forward. When he passed under the arch, he felt the same strange tingling sensation all over his body he always did when geo-spatial traveling. Then, the mountains of Yellowstone opened before him. He just caught the setting sun as it disappeared beyond a mountain and sent rays of pink and purple cascading across the sky. Elias heard Jax step up next to him and draw in a huge breath.

  “I always love coming here,” said Jax. “It never gets old, even after hundreds of years and thousands of visits. Zuri and I used to come here when we were young, started when we were still students at the academy.”

  “You ever going to tell me what really happened between you two?”

  Jax huffed. “That’s another story for another day. Right now, tell me about the other students in the inter-academy program. Are they all as surly as you?”

  “What’s to say? They’re students like me.”

  “I mean, do they seem like decent people? Are there any problems we should be aware of?”

  “Jax, you’ve really got to get out of this old way of thinking. You were just lecturing me about trusting Zuri. You’re the most distrustful person I know.”

  “I trust Zuri because I know Zuri. I trust Zuri because she’s earth. Earth is the only element worthy of trust.”

  “Headmaster Terrick disagrees,” said Elias.

  “Whatever,” said Jax. “Just tell me about them.”

  “Well, there’s Ra. He’s from Crimson Academy. He seems pretty cool. He’s from Egypt originally, I think. Then there’s—” Just then, a large geyser erupted close by, sending steam shooting several feet in the air. Before it dissipated, two figures materialized from within it. They approached Jax and Elias.

  “Speak of the devil,” said Elias. “We were just talking about you, Ra.”

  “All good I hope.” A young man with dark features stepped forward and shook Elias’s hand. His movements were purposeful, as if he never even shifted without having planned it first. His voice was deep, and he talked with a distinct cadence that Elias assumed was normal for the Egyptian people. He turned to the other man standing next to him. Ra was tall, but this man dwarfed him. If Elias didn’t know he was a professor at Crimson Academy, he would have assumed he was a professional basketball player. He was tan skinned with dark hair as well, but not as dark as Ra’s black locks. His almond-shaped eyes seemed to take in everything around him with a glance. His nose was long and straight, and his mouth a thin line. “Professor Fernis, this is Elias Creed, of Terra Academy,” Ra said with a small indication of his head.

  “Pleased,” said Professor Fernis, extending a long, slender-fingered hand. His voice was smooth like liquid mercury.

  “Likewise,” said Elias.

  “Jax,” said the professor, nodding to Jax. “Long time no see.”

  Jax returned the nod. “Frederick. I trust you’ve been keeping well.” The contrast between the two men was striking. Professor Fernis was slender and suave, with a quiet intensity burning behind his eyes that was almost a tangible thing. He wore dark slacks, a red vest with gilded buttons covering a white button-up shirt, and a long peacoat. Belted to his side was a slender rapier. Jax, with his giant muscles, shaved head, army fatigues, and pistol at his side, looked as if he was about to lead a company of army rangers to war. Ra and Elias both wore simple jeans and t-shirts.

  “Always,” answered Fernis.

  A minute later, there was a sudden blast of wind. Seemingly out of nowhere, two figures stepped into existence. Closest to Elias was he and Ra’s good friend, Aston Spence. At six foot, he was the shortest of the four best friends. He was also the smartest of the bunch. Aston was their resident techy. He could hold his own in a battle but preferred to be behind the screen of a computer hacking into files that not even top government officials could get into. Next to him was a man about three inches shorter and ten inches wider. He wasn’t fat. he was just built like a brick outhouse.

  “Elias, Ra,” Aston said and then motioned to the man next to him. “This is Professor Dawson Hart.”

  Professor Hart gave a slight bow of his head.

  “Nice to meet you, Professor,” Elias said and then introduced him to the others. “It shouldn’t be long now,” Elias started but was cut off by a loud whooshing sound.

  Twenty feet away, the sky opened up, and rain suddenly pounded to the ground, and with it, two people dropped to the surface of the earth.

  “It never gets old seeing you do that, Liam,” Elias said as he walked over to his friend from the Hydro Academy.

  “I do love making an entrance,” Liam said with a wide grin and deep dimples. He shook Elias’s hand and gave him a quick hug. Aston and Ra came over, and Liam greeted them the same away. Then Liam turned to the woman standing next to him. She was average height with shoulder-length brown hair and shrewd blue e
yes that took in each of them in quick successive evaluations. “This is Professor Beatrix Warren.”

  Elias and the others introduced themselves, and, once they were all acquainted, Jax gathered the group's attention with his raised hand.

  “I appreciate you all coming when Elias contacted you. It shows me how much you all trust one another to simply drop whatever you had going on and travel across the world to meet us. As I’m sure your own headmasters and headmistresses have been doing, we’ve been monitoring the movement of the dark elementals and their acolytes closely for the past few years because it seems their standard operating procedures have been changing.”

  “It’s indeed concerning,” Professor Warren said as she crossed her arms in front of her. “They’ve never worked together before.”

  Jax nodded. “So, you’ve seen it, too. Acolytes of differing elemental attunements have begun working together.”

  Professors Hart and Fernis both nodded their agreement.

  “The last Mark I checked on,” Professor Hart said, “was being shadowed by a water acolyte and an air acolyte.”

  Jax glanced at Elias. Elias could see in his mentor’s eyes that the problem was more widespread than he thought.

  “This might take longer than I anticipated,” Jax said. “If they’re working together, then we need to stick together as well. We should try and visit as many of our Marks as we can across the globe and find out how many of them, and which ones, are being tailed by acolytes.”

  “Once we gather this information,” Professor Warren said, “what then?”

  “Then we take it back to our respective headmasters and headmistresses and determine when to tell the kings and queens of the elemental kingdoms,” Jax answered. “It will be up to them on how we respond to the new threat. For now, we need to get as much information for them as we can.”

  Elias looked at each of the friends he considered brothers. He could tell by the seriousness in their returned stares that they understood the magnitude of the fact that their four academies were willing to work together in this matter. It was a testimony to just how dangerous the situation was.