Sealed by Fire: The Nature Hunters Academy Series, Book 2

by Quinn Loftis

  Ra didn’t rise to the bait. It sickened him to think of Osiris's dirty claws on Shelly, but that was what Osiris wanted: to get a reaction from Ra. He wasn’t going to give Osiris the satisfaction.

  “And what about my proposal?” Viscious asked.

  “You have my attention, fire king,” Osiris said. “And when my business is done with Ra, and I have my consort, we will discuss what you have planned.”

  Viscious nodded, appearing pleased.

  Osiris held out a hand and said, “Before you go. You need to remove the spell you put on the mortal. You know that elemental fire is not the same as hellfire. I do not control it.”

  Ra didn’t miss the irritation in Osiris’s voice at the admission.

  “Of course,” Viscious said and then disappeared. Moments later, he reappeared with an unconscious Shelly in his arms.

  Ra took a step toward the dark fire king but stopped when Beast suddenly produced a sword and pushed the tip of it against Ra’s throat.

  “There’s no need for that, Beast,” Osiris chided. “He’s hardly going to grab her and run. Where would he go?” The lord of the underworld waved his hand and a table appeared. A second later, a pillow and blanket materialized on the table. “Set her there,” Osiris said.

  Viscious laid Shelly down and arranged her hands at her sides. When the dark fire king ran a finger down Shelly’s pale cheek, Ra wanted to cut the elemental’s hands off.

  “She is quite the beauty, isn’t she?” Viscious asked.

  “Beast will come for you when it is time for us to meet. I will consider your payment for leaving my realm deferred for now. For your sake, your proposal better be worth my while,” Osiris told him without acknowledging the fire king’s words. His eyes were on Shelly, and he looked greedy.

  “Very well,” Viscious said and then was gone.

  “Beast, you need to head back to your level and make sure your little minions are getting back to work. They were awfully enamored with the female,” Osiris told the demi-lord demon.

  Beast snarled as he glared at Ra, and then he disappeared.

  Ra’s attention went back to Shelly, and he took another step toward her. He felt drawn to her the way the tide was pulled by the moon. She suddenly seemed to be his gravity, dragging him to her.

  He didn’t remember walking closer, but a few seconds later, he stood right beside the table where she lay. Her skin was flushed. Her blonde hair was long and lush, fanned out around her. She was slender, built like a dancer. Her face was pinched tightly as if she were in pain.

  “Already enamored with her, I see,” Osiris said as he stepped up on the other side of the table.

  Ra couldn’t deny it. He was completely captivated. She was breathtakingly lovely.

  “She looks to be a gentle creature,” Osiris continued. “I wonder if she will be able to handle living in such a harsh environment. She might be too delicate. That would be a shame.”

  “Bloody hell!” Shelly suddenly gasped as she shot up into a sitting position. “Someone is going to die a very painful death, and I don’t give a fly-flipping pile of dog crap who it is.” She shook her arms as if trying to rid herself of some unseen burden. Then she shook her hair out and made a strange growling noise. “Where are the demons who kept poking me?” she asked as she glanced around, appearing not to notice Osiris or Ra. She flung her legs around the side of the table and hopped off. She yelped as her legs crumbled beneath her. Ra barely caught her before she fell all the way to the ground.

  “Oh snap.” She huffed. “Apparently, burning alive makes one weak in the knees.” Her head rose slowly, and her eyes met Ra’s. “Whoa.” She breathed out slowly, and her skin suddenly turned bright red. “You aren’t a demon.”

  Ra’s lips tilted up slightly. “No,” he agreed. “I am not.”

  “You’re, um, you're the guy…” She screwed up her face, apparently trying to formulate the correct words. “You’re Elias’s friend.”

  Ra nodded. “I am. My name is Ra.”

  She silently stared at him. It wasn’t until Osiris cleared his throat that she finally looked away.

  “What is this? The land of sexy men?” Shelly said as she frowned. “Is this my own personal version of hell? To be burned and then tempted by men I can’t have?”

  Osiris chuckled. “And here I thought you would be a wilting flower.”

  Her scowl grew even darker. “A wilting flower? I’m about as much as a wilting flower as you are an altar boy. Who are you? Satan’s brother?”

  “Shelly,” Ra said gently. “It might not—”

  “Oh, you are a delight,” Osiris said. “Not his brother, little one. I am in fact lord of the underworld, and you are soon to be my queen.”

  Shelly’s eyes widened. She looked back at Ra and then to Osiris. “Did he ask me to marry him?” Her eyes got even wider. “Shit fire, did I say yes?”

  10

  Shelly wracked her brain, trying to remember if she’d been proposed to. Surely she would remember someone as handsome as the devil before her, but she couldn’t. And she was certain she wouldn’t have said yes to the lord of the underworld, no matter how attractive he was.

  “You’ve never even met him before, Shelly,” Ra said in his deep, quiet voice. It was soothing, and she found herself leaning into him.

  “Then why does he think I’m going to be his queen?”

  Ra leaned closer, his lips brushing against her ear. “Being as powerful as he is, he’s a bit delusional.”

  Shelly grinned. “I suppose that’s to be expected.”

  “I think you can allow her to stand on her own,” Osiris said, sounding very irritated.

  Shelly’s face heated as she realized she was practically wrapped in Ra’s arms. She smiled and then stepped back. When she looked down, she saw that she was still in her prom dress. And it was not a pile of ash around her. In fact, it looked relatively untouched.

  “Why isn’t my dress burned up?” she asked.

  “Why would you think it would be?” Ra asked.

  “Because I was burning alive.” She looked at her arms and saw that they, too, were uninjured. There were no burns at all. Despite the fact she could have sworn her flesh had been burning while she had been unconscious, there was no evidence on her physical form.

  “You felt the fire?” Ra asked, his voice suddenly full of a dark rage. Instead of getting louder, it seemed to get softer and deadlier. She’d always thought the ones who didn’t lose control in a fit of rage were much scarier than those that did.

  Shelly nodded. “It was horrible.”

  “I’m going to kill him,” Ra said under his breath.

  “Is that a promise?” Osiris asked.

  Shelly thought the smirk on the lord of the underworld’s face was much too smug, which made it clear that he knew something she did not.

  “I did not say it was a promise,” Ra answered.

  “That’s too bad. Maybe it’s time for a new dark fire elemental king. If you were the one to kill him, you’d slide right into his position.”

  Ra’s face darkened. “I have no desire to be a dark king of any kind.”

  Osiris shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him, but Shelly got the feeling Osiris relished the idea.

  She didn’t like the sound of it. Ra wasn’t evil, and she was pretty sure anyone called the dark fire king had to be evil. Shelly didn’t want that for Ra. No, she didn’t know him from any other Joe Blow on the street, but something inside of her rebelled against the idea of Ra being evil.

  “We have business to attend to,” Osiris said as he rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get to it.”

  Ra rolled his neck in a circle and pulled his shoulders back as if readying for a fight. Shelly turned to face Osiris and wished she wasn’t in a dress. No one could fight in a dress. Why she thought she could tussle with the lord of the underworld in any clothing, especially since she’d never had a lick of combat training in her life, was a mystery.

  “What bus
iness?” she asked.

  “The business of your future, my dear,” he told her. “Unlike anyone else who enters my realm, you are getting a choice.”

  “Ooo, I choose the other place,” Shelly said as she pointed up. “Pearly gates and all that.” She nodded frantically. There was no way in … well … in hell she would choose to spend eternity burning. Who would?

  Osiris’s brow rose. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but that is not the choice you are making.”

  Shelly’s eyes narrowed. “Then what are you talking about? Is there another place a person goes when they die?”

  “Shelly,” Ra said, and his voice made her shiver. She liked it. Shelly turned to look at him and forced herself not to drool. He was yummy.

  “What?”

  “You aren’t dead,” he said.

  “I’m in hell,” she pointed out. “Pretty sure only dead people go to hell.”

  “Usually,” Ra agreed. “But your circumstances are not usual.”

  She snorted. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Apparently, I can’t do anything right, not even die.”

  “You were sent here by the dark fire king elemental,” he explained. “He had you wrapped in dark elemental fire to keep you alive.”

  She glanced down and then back up. “I don’t have the fire on me now. Why am I still alive?”

  “Because I want you to be alive,” Osiris answered.

  Shelly smirked. “For some reason, I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing for me.”

  “Oh contraire,” he said with a handsome smile. “It is a very good thing.”

  The glint of desire in his eyes made her shiver, but not in the same way that Ra’s voice did. It was more like the kind of shiver that happened when she found a spider crawling on her arm. Definitely not cool or yummy.

  “Enough of this nonsense,” Osiris said. “The choice you have to make is who you want to be with.”

  “Be with?” she asked. “Be with how? You mean, like, on their team? Because I will never be Team Hell. Not buying the shirt, not making up a cheer, and not wearing a button.”

  Ra pinched the bridge of his nose, and Shelly got the distinct feeling he wanted to chuckle. Butterflies were doing a line dance in her stomach because she suspected Ra didn’t laugh much, and she liked the idea that she could make him laugh.

  “You have to choose your mate,” Osiris said, completely undeterred by her statement.

  Shelly’s heart seemed to stutter in her chest. She’d heard that term before, and it wasn’t just on Twilight. Hadn’t Elias said something about being Tara’s mate? Or someone had said it. Maybe that Zuri chick? Mate? That was serious. Like, marriage-lasts-for-a-lifetime, serious. “Um, why?” she asked.

  Osiris looked confused. “Why? What do you mean why?”

  “Why do I have to choose a mate?”

  “Because I want you to,” he replied.

  “And why should that matter to me? Dude, you may be the lord of the underworld, but that doesn’t make you important to me. My loyalty only lies with the people I love. Sorry, Lucifer, but you haven’t made that list.”

  “That’s not my name,” he said as he stepped closer to her. “unless you want it to be.”

  Shelly sputtered. “I’m sorry. What?”

  “I could be on that loyalty list. You could love me.”

  Her mouth dropped open, and she glanced over at Ra, who stood still as a statue. His jaw was clenched tightly. It was obvious he did not like the garbage Osiris was spouting.

  “Pretty sure I couldn’t,” she said as she slowly turned back to Osiris. “You see, no offense, but I don’t get off on evil. That’s not my thing. I mean, don’t get me wrong. Harley Quinn is a badass, and her love/hate thing going on with Joker is sexy as hell, but that’s just a movie. I can live that out through fantasy, but I don’t want it in my real life. You get me?”

  Osiris looked so confused she nearly laughed but somehow remembered just in time that he could probably smite her with a snap of his fingers.

  “Who is Harley Quinn?” he asked.

  Shelly shook her head. “No one. I realize now that pop-culture references will be lost on you. That sort of defeats the purpose of using them.”

  “Just because I’m the lord of the underworld doesn’t mean I can’t be good to you,” he said, and she could tell, to some degree, he meant it.

  “Who’s my other choice?” Shelly asked. “You said I had to choose? If you’re in the running, then there must be a competitor.”

  Osiris nodded toward the silent hunk of hotness standing next to her. Shelly’s mouth suddenly went dry, and her tongue felt so large she couldn’t make it move. She could feel her eyes bulging as she turned her head to look at Ra.

  He was staring at her now. His face had softened a bit, and she was completely shocked to see vulnerability staring back at her. He seemed so formidable and confident she couldn’t imagine him being unsure of anything.

  “You?” She finally got her mouth to work.

  He gave her a single nod.

  “Why?”

  Ra licked his lips and stood up a little straighter. But before he could speak, Osiris did.

  “He’s agreed to bargain for your freedom. If you choose him as your mate, then you will be allowed to leave the underworld, for a small price. But if you choose me as your mate, then you will stay with me, and I will give you anything your heart desires.”

  She wasn’t a fool. Shelly knew the “everything your heart desires” bit came with so many strings attached it could be a marionette. Then a thought occurred to her. “How can you possibly give me what my heart desires when you don’t have a heart? You can’t possibly understand the desires of a heart if you’ve never had one.” She expected him to be angry with her assessment. Instead, he smiled slowly. It was creepy as all get-out.

  “You, my dear, are a diamond in the pits of hell.”

  Deciding not to touch that one at all, she added, “I don’t know either of you. How am I supposed to choose one of you to spend my life with? I'm assuming that would be the bargain?”

  “Yes,” Osiris said. “If you were to choose Ra, you could never be separated from him to be with someone else, nor could he choose to be with anyone else.”

  “And if I choose you?”

  “You will be mine for all eternity.”

  Shelly kept her head from shaking somehow because there was no way she was going to choose him. No. Freaking. Way.

  “Am I just supposed to choose right now?”

  Osiris shook his head. “You will spend twenty-four hours with each of us.”

  “Twenty-four hours and then I’m supposed to choose my”—she paused and swallowed—“mate?”

  He nodded as if this was the most rational thing ever. Dude was delusional. But then, he was the devil. It wasn’t like he could possibly be sane. Who could stay sane with all the never-ending wailing and burning going on all the time? She’d only been conscious in hell for fifteen minutes, and she was already becoming a little twitchy, which was not a good look on her.

  “Who goes first?” she asked.

  “What’s that?” said Osiris.

  “Who gets the first twenty-four hours? You or Ra?”

  Osiris narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. “You pick.”

  “I choose Ra.” She heard the breath rush out of Ra and felt it against her face. Had he stepped closer to her?

  “So be it,” said Osiris. Shelly wanted to laugh. The lord of the underworld sounded like a petulant child. “I will allow you a place away from the inhabitants of the underworld in which to spend your allotted time. But you may not leave,” he said. “Also…” Osiris’s eyes began to fill with flames, and his face took on a sinister glare. “No sex.”

  Shelly’s mouth dropped open. Though she knew her face was no longer physically on fire, she felt as if she’d just gone up in flames. The flames of the embarrassment of someone discussing her sex life, or lack thereof, out in the open. As if it was his busi
ness and up for discussion.

  “You don’t beat around the bush do you?” she asked.

  “I do not … and I will not permit my competitor to beat around your bush, either.”

  “Holy sh—” She slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from cursing at the lord of the underworld. She couldn’t believe he’d just used a sexual pun in such a vulgar way. Then she mentally kicked herself. He was the devil. Did she expect him to not act like an evil prick? Apparently, she would have to keep reminding herself of that fact. Mainly because he was so attractive and there was something contradictory about the devil being handsome.

  She felt a large hand wrap around her own and looked down to find Ra’s fingers entwining with hers. It felt good. Really, really good. And right, as if her hand had been waiting her whole life to be held captive by his.

  “Where should we go?” Ra asked, speaking for the first time in a while.

  Osiris flicked his wrist, and a door appeared out of nowhere. “Take that door. It will open to the abode you may share for the next twenty-four hours. If she is deflowered, I will kill you.”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Shelly snapped. “We will not discuss the state of my garden. Got it?” She glared at Osiris.

  His lips turned up. “You are delicious,” he said in a low growl. “I do hope you choose me. I can tell you will be a wildcat.”

  Shelly held up her hand. “If you finish that sentence with ‘in bed,’ I will cut off your man parts. That is assuming you have man parts.”

  He took a step toward her, his hand going to his belt as he began to undo it.

  In a flash, Ra swung her up into his arms, opened the door, and stepped through it. He slammed it closed behind him, but not fast enough to keep out Osiris’s mocking laughter.

  Ra set her on her feet, and she straightened her dress and looked around. They were in a lush bedroom. It looked as if it was furnished by someone with plenty of money— a ridiculous amount of money—so much that they could use hundred dollar bills as their bedspread, rugs, and curtains if they wanted.