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

by Quinn Loftis

  Tara smiled to herself. Maybe Tucker wasn't going to be the only one appreciating the view on dance night after all.

  Maybe.

  You’re a cruel woman, and yet I just want more of you. What does that say about me?

  I make it a point not to psychoanalyze my friends. It’s disturbing and only confirms what I already know. People are nutters. Seen any wood nymphs lately?

  He responded with a meme of a person rolling on the floor laughing. And then added,I just spit coffee all over Jax. He might actually try and kill me. It was nice knowing you, luv.

  Tara was grinning like a fool as she read his message. She wondered what was different about tonight from other nights that he was able to take some time and respond to her texts.

  Has the emergency been resolved?

  There was a long pause before she saw the text bubble appear, and even after it appeared, it was at least two minutes before any text came through.

  Not exactly.

  Tara felt like there was a world of meaning in those two words. She responded with, That sounds ominous.

  You have no idea. I’ve got to go. Sleep sweet, princess. I’ll be in touch tomorrow.

  Stay safe.

  Tara set her phone on the bedside table as her final text ran through her mind. She didn’t know what Elias did for TGTE. But whatever it was, she got the feeling safety wasn’t something he had a lot of control over.

  Chapter 20

  Elias scrolled through his text messages until he found the one from Tara that explained that she’d been asked by Tucker to attend a school dance. There was no real reason to read it again. It hadn’t changed from the first fifty times he’d read it, and it wasn’t going to change no matter how many more times he read it.

  “You ready?” Aston asked as a gentle breeze nudged at Elias’s back. He knew his friend wasn’t using his power on purpose. Aston was so in touch with his ability to manipulate air that it often reacted to his intentions.

  “I’m ready,” Elias said as he slipped the phone into a pocket on his cargo pants.

  Jax walked over and looked him in the eye. “Are you good?”

  He knew his mentor was really asking was if he was about to go postal over his soul bonded. Elias nodded. “I’m all right, mate.” He was a bloody liar because he was feeling everything but all right.

  “Zuri said everything has been quiet,” Jax reminded him.

  “Yeah, I know. I’m good.”

  “He’s not good,” Liam said. “He’s pacing like a druggie looking for his next fix. Have any of you seen him sleep?”

  “How the bloody hell would you see me sleep if you’re sleeping?” Elias bit out.

  “We take turns watching you,” Liam said, his usual sly smirk in place.

  “Enough!” Jax’s deep voice boomed. “You”—he turned to Elias—“will tell me if you start to feel out of control. And you”—he pointed at Liam—“will stop poking him every five minutes. You couldn’t be more obvious about wanting an ass kicking if you sent an engraved invitation.”

  Liam shrugged. “He’s never been this easy to rile up before. I can’t help myself.”

  Elias knew that Liam didn’t really want an arse kicking. Well, that wasn’t true. He’d probably love to spar with Elias in his current mood, but like Aston and Ra, Liam was practically a brother to Elias. Liam was poking, as Jax put it, because he was concerned. Then again, brothers needed their arses kicked every now and then.

  “I can’t believe the dance is tonight,” Shelly said for the seventh time that day. Tara knew because she’d been counting.

  “You’ve already said that,” Tara pointed out.

  “And you’ve already said that, but you don’t hear me complaining.” Shelly shut her locker and turned to face Tara.

  “You literally just complained.”

  “Only because I had to in order to make my point.”

  “And by doing so, you made your point moot.”

  Shelly let out a low growl as she headed for the doors. The school day had dragged. Everyone was excited about the prom and unable to focus. Three of her classes had ended up with the teachers just telling them to use the time as a study hall. Not that anyone actually studied.

  “Are you walking or riding?” Shelly asked.

  Tara looked up at the sky. It was partly cloudy, but they were the white, fluffy clouds. So unless there was some fluke storm like she and Elias had experienced in the woods, she should be good. “I’ll walk,” she finally answered.

  “I’ll be by at seven thirty to pick you up tonight.”

  “Doesn’t the dance start at seven?”

  Shelly nodded. “But we have to be fashionably late.”

  “Don’t people have to care that we’re coming in order for our lateness to be considered fashionable?” Tara could feel the ire radiating off her best friend. She should probably ease up because Shelly was really excited about going to the prom, even if they didn’t have dates.

  “Don’t get hit by a car on your way home. I’ll be ticked off if I have to go to the dance alone and depressed because my BFFF who I thought was indestructible dies.”

  “Love you too, Shells,” Tara said as she headed off down the sidewalk while Shelly went in the opposite direction to the student parking lot.

  Tara was a little over halfway home when the back of her neck tingled. She stumbled as she came to a halt. She turned slowly, her eyes scanning the trees, houses, and streets around her. Tara refused to even think of the name of the person she knew she was looking for … hoping for. There was no reason for him to be hiding out behind a tree watching her. That would be creepy. What did it make her that she actually hoped to find him hiding out behind a tree watching her? Creepy squared, that’s what. She shook her head at herself. “Shame your weirdness later,” she muttered under her breath.

  Why do I feel like I’m being watched? No, not watched, stalked. Tara could almost see something out there dogging her steps, something more dangerous than herself. Not that she was really dangerous at all. Her only superpower was the inability to get hurt. So, basically an assailant could beat the crap out of her … repeatedly. When she didn’t find a creepy Elias lurking, or a creepy anyone else for that matter, she pushed the feeling away and continued on her way. The faster she got home, the faster she could get herself safely behind a locked door.

  When she finally made it to her driveway, Tara hurried to the front door, slipped her key in, and quickly opened and shut the door behind her, immediately turning the deadbolt. She tossed her bag and then went to the kitchen and made herself a quick snack. If she was going to have to endure Shelly’s perkiness and Tucker’s attention, she was going to need a long, hot bath beforehand. She was headed for her room when her phone rang. She considered ignoring it, thinking it might be Shelly, but decided to at least check the caller ID. Tara pulled the phone from her pocket and felt her stomach flip as she saw Elias’s nickname, given by the aforementioned best friend, pop up. She hadn’t talked to him in three weeks, not since he’d left. And even though they’d been texting daily, she was suddenly nervous at the idea of actually speaking with him.

  She stared at the screen and finally tapped it to answer the call.

  “Hello?”

  “Bloody hell, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice.” Elias’s deep voice filled her ear and warmed the cold places inside of her.

  Tara sighed. It felt like she’d been holding her breath for the entire three weeks they’d been apart.

  “Luv? You there?”

  She nodded and then remembered he couldn’t see her. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, I’m here.”

  “How are you?”

  “I’m good,” she said. I am so, so much better now that I can hear your voice and know you’re not this elaborate figment of my imagination that I’ve convinced myself is texting me. “How are you?” Tara asked him after she’d had her inner freak out.

  “I was shite until I heard your sweet voice,” he said without
any sound of shame. “Now, I feel like I can breathe again.”

  Tara’s mouth dropped open. It was like he could hear what she was thinking. Her eyes widened. Surely he couldn’t hear her thoughts. Right? But just to be sure she thought, I think you’re the sexiest man I’ve ever seen, and I miss the way you smell. She waited to see if he would respond to her ridiculous thoughts.

  “Are you excited about the prom?” Elias asked, sounding a little less enthusiastic than he had when she’d first answered.

  “I guess,” she answered honestly. “It’s not on my bucket list or anything.” Okay, so he can’t hear my thoughts. Good to know.

  Elias laughed. “Not big on dancing?”

  “Just not big on dresses,” she admitted.

  “That’s a right shame, princess. I have a feeling you’re breathtaking in a dress.”

  Tara felt her cheeks warm. “Um, so, how are things going with the top-secret environmental emergency?”

  He groaned. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve kept things very lock and key.”

  “It’s not a big deal. We’re just friends, Elias. You aren’t required to share every detail of your life with me.” Tara didn’t want him to tell her things just because he thought she was upset. She wanted him to share things with her because he wanted to.

  “You know I want us to be more than friends,” Elias said. “I don’t want to hinder that from happening by making you think I’m keeping things from you or don’t want to share things about my life with you.”

  Tara forced herself not to do some stupid little giddy dance over hearing him tell her he wanted them to be more than friends. And then failed because she totally did a stupid little girly dance. “So, what I’m hearing you say is that you want to tell me about what’s going on, but you can’t?”

  “That about sums it up. There’s more than meets the eye to our company. Nothing illegal or nefarious or anything, just confidential. All secrets you will be privy to if you come work for TGTE.”

  “I guess every company has trade secrets,” she said. Maybe that was why they had such a strange personality test for their potential new hires, because of the type of information they would be trusted with.

  “I would imagine so,” Elias agreed. “But what TGTE does is all good. Secrets often have a bad connotation. I don’t want you to think we are some kind of evil shadow corporation or something.”

  She could hear the urgency in his voice for her to believe him, like it mattered very much that she didn’t think he was involved in something dark or sinister.

  “Okay,” she said. She wasn’t really sure what else she could say. Tara wanted everything he said to be true. And she truly hoped it was, but she had only known Elias for a month, and during three of those weeks their only contact had been through text messages. Trusting him wasn’t a hard thing for her heart to do, but her head was telling her heart what a stupid organ it was.

  “I guess I need to let you go so you can get ready for your evening,” he said after a minute of silence. “I really do hope you have a lovely time.”

  Tara laughed at how forced his words were. “It sounds like you’d rather jump off a building than tell me that.”

  “No,” he said. “I really do want you to enjoy yourself. I just want it to be without that wanker.”

  This made her laugh even harder. He was completely sincere and unapologetic about it which just seemed to make it all the funnier to her.

  “I’m glad my jealousy is a form of entertainment for you, luv. Let me tell you, it’s a right laugh for me.”

  Tara sighed as her laughter died. “I’m not laughing at you,”

  “You’re not?”

  “Okay, maybe I am. But only because you sound so forlorn about something silly. It’s a dance and I’m not even arriving with him. I’m riding with Shelly.”

  “So you won’t be alone in the car with him?”

  “Hadn’t planned on it,” she said.

  “Are you going to dance with him?” he asked. Tara heard some deep voices in the background, and then Elias sighed and said, “Yes, I know I sound like a jealous boyfriend, you overgrown troll.”

  “Are you talking to Jax?” she asked, her eyes going wide. She couldn’t imagine a man like Jax being okay with being called an overgrown troll.

  “No, princess. I’m talking to a dead man.”

  There were more voices in the background that sounded suspiciously like a group of men chuckling. “Answer the question, Tara,” he said gently. “Are you going to dance with him?”

  Tara shrugged. “I guess, if he asks. I mean, it is a dance.”

  “Could we make a compromise?” he asked.

  “Um, I’m not sure how it will be a compromise when I will be the only one making any concessions,” she pointed out.

  “That is an excellent point, and like the shameless man I am, I’m going to ask you to make it anyway. Can it be a fast dance that requires plenty of space between bodies to move?”

  She smiled to herself as she shook her head. “You are too much, Elias Creed.”

  “Right you are. I’d tell you that I will change, but there’s no sense in making promises I know I’m not going to be able to keep. No slow dances?”

  “Fine. No slow dances. What do I get in return? I never agreed that this would be a one-sided compromise. That was you.”

  “I sort of thought not having to rub your delectable body against the git was the selling point, but I like an ambitious woman. What would you like?”

  Tara headed for her bathroom as she considered her answer. She grabbed her underclothes and a robe on the way. As she stepped inside and shut the door, she paused as she stared at the lock. She never locked the bathroom door, but the memory of the eyes she’d felt on her as she’d walked home was still vivid. She flipped the lock and didn’t point out to herself that if someone was able to get past the deadbolt on the front door then a flimsy turn lock on a bathroom door wasn’t going to keep them out.

  “Luv?” Elias’s voice reminded her that he’d asked her a question.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Got distracted. What do I want in return for not dancing with a handsome guy who will no doubt make me feel beautiful and wanted?”

  “To kick me in the balls? Because that’s where I feel like this conversation is headed.”

  She chuckled. “I don’t know. I like your British accent, but it’s the deepness of your voice that makes it really hot. Kicking you in your man parts might have an effect on that quality.” Tara tapped her chin. “All right, I’ve got it.”

  “This sounds serious,” Elias said.

  “In exchange for every declined slow dance that I give you, you must answer a question, any question, with the absolute truth.”

  There was a pause, and then he asked, “When will the questions begin?”

  “Right now.”

  “He’s already asked you to dance?” Elias’s voice rose just a hair. “Is this a dance where you have a dance card and people fill it out beforehand? Is your card already full?”

  “Dude, you sound like a creeper,” a deep, male voice in the background said. “You need to back off, or you’re going to lose your chance with her.”

  “Nobody asked you, Liam,” Elias said.

  “Studies do show that women are attracted to confident men who—”

  “I sure as hell didn’t ask for your input either, Aston,” Elias barked at the new voice.

  Who are these guys? Other employees of TGTE, she guessed.

  “You do realize this is 2020 not 1820, right? There are no dance cards,” Tara said. “And who are Aston and Liam?”

  “A couple of goobers. They work for two of TGTE’s sister companies,” he said. “So, if there are no dance cards, why do the questions start now? Are you simply assuming he will ask you to dance?”

  “I think it’s a pretty safe assumption since he did ask me to be his date and he’s already attempted to kiss me on a previous date.”

  “Both very good points
,” he growled. “Any other questions besides the one you just asked about Liam and Aston? I know you probably need to get ready.”

  Only a million. “A few,” she said. “But I do need to go … so you’re off the hook for now.” She pretended not to hear his sigh of relief. “I’m glad you called,” she admitted because she wanted him to know that she’d missed him, too.

  “I’m glad you answered.”

  Tara’s lips turned up. “Who knows? I might answer again if you call in the future. But I won’t promise it. I don’t want to become predictable. That would get boring.”

  “Oh, lovely Tara. Of all the things you could be, boring is not one of them. I look forward to getting a picture of you in your dress.”

  “I never said I was for sure sending you one,” she reminded him.

  “I know,” he said simply. “It’s been wonderful hearing your voice. Be safe tonight, all right?”

  “Yeah. You, too.” she said.

  “Bye, luv.”

  “Bye.” She hit the End button and set the phone on the bathroom counter. Tara stared at herself in the mirror for several minutes, trying to process the fact she’d just had a phone conversation with Elias Creed. And that she’d promised him she wouldn’t slow dance with Tucker in exchange for answers to her questions. She laughed because she knew Shelly was going to get a kick out of the whole situation. And after the fact that Tara had been a bit of an ass about the whole prom, her BFFF deserved a kick of the good variety. Tara shook off the past half hour and focused on the task at hand.

  She cranked up her favorite playlist and began to fill the tub with steaming hot water. She added a capful of bubble bath and then undressed. Tara slipped down into the water until her ears were submerged. She loved it when all she could hear was just the muffled sound of her music, and the rest of the world was muted by the water. Peace flowed over her as she tuned everything else out. The only sound she heard other than the muted music was Elias’s deep voice agreeing to answer her questions. Wait. Her eyes snapped open and she sat halfway up out of the water. Did he ever agree? She thought back through their conversation. “Son of a monkey’s tit!” She hit the top of the water with her hand. He hadn’t agreed, not really. All he’d done was ask when the questions would begin. But, she thought as she lowered herself back into the water, he hadn’t disagreed either.