“And by ‘we’, you mean Ra?” Aston leaned forward and attempted to keep his leg still. He felt like a junkie needing his next fix. “Since only fire elementals or elementalists can go into the underworld without becoming fried crispy.”

  Gabby raised her hand. “I can go.”

  “No,” Liam blurted out and slapped her hand down. “You have to remain topside and make sure I don’t do anything rash. It’s in the soul-bonded instruction manual.”

  “There’s not a soul-bonded instruction manual,” Gabby said, rolling her eyes.

  “Not yet.” Liam grinned. “I’m working on it.”

  “You guys were supposed to be figuring out how to get me out of the dragon realm, and here I am, so what now?” Aston really didn’t care what their answer was because, no matter what, he was going after Rory.

  “No.” Tara shook her head and scooted to the edge of the bed where she sat. “We were supposed to figure out how to get you and your woman out. Only half of our mission has been accomplished.” She smiled, and he liked the determination he saw in her eyes. “Now, we complete said mission and get Rory back to you.”

  Aston dropped his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I just hope she wants to be back with me. After the things I said, I want to kick my own ass.”

  “Would you feel better if Elias and I kicked it for you?” Liam smirked “Because we’re totally willing to help you out, brother. We always got your back.”

  Aston halfway smiled. “Thanks, but I think I’ll give my soul bonded the privilege of setting me straight.”

  “What I don’t understand,” Elias cut in, “is how could you guys say those things? They weren’t true, and soul bonded cannot lie to one another.”

  Aston shook his head and looked back up at the group. They were watching him closely. “Honestly, it felt like there was something pushing us. I’m not using it as an excuse for what I said, but seriously, guys, we weren’t ourselves. Either of us. There was a heaviness attempting to drown me. My blood boiled inside of me despite the fact that I didn’t want rage to consume me.” Aston blew out a sharp breath. “I knew what I said was irrational, but I couldn’t keep my damn mouth shut.”

  “While you were there, did you learn anything about her past?” Gabby asked. “There’s a reason you two are soul bonded. And it’s not because of some romantic story about singing animals and an enchanted forest.”

  Aston thought back to the research he’d done on the soul bonded when Elias had met Tara. Gabby was right. Soul bonds happened because of a deep tragedy that tore, or shattered, the soul of one of the individuals. “To be honest”—he dropped his eyes—“we didn’t spend all that much time talking.”

  “My boy!” Liam held his fist in the air.

  Aston’s eyes widened. Gabby went from sitting neutrally next to her mate to moving so fast he barely saw that she grabbed a dagger from her thigh and pressed it to Liam’s throat. It happened in a matter of seconds. Liam’s eyes, however, didn’t betray the least bit of surprise. He lowered his fist and batted his eyelashes at Gabby.

  “You know how much I like it when you whip out the sharp objects, baby.” Liam gave her a flirty smile.

  “Are you done being a perverted tween boy with no self-control?” The hand clutching the blade didn’t move.

  Liam leaned forward into the sharp dagger and nodded. “I’ll behave.” A trickle of blood ran down his throat, and Aston noted several other scabbed-over marks. Apparently this was a regular occurrence for the couple. Gabby snatched the blade away just as fast as she’d pulled it out. “For now,” Liam added as Gabby wiped the blood from his neck, glaring at him all the while.

  Aston cleared his throat, trying not to think too hard about the peculiar scene he’d just witnessed. “It’s not like that,” he told Liam. “When I say we didn’t talk much, I mean we didn’t interact much at all … in any way.”

  Tara threw out her hands. “Then what in the world have you been doing for the past two weeks? And please don’t tell me you were interviewing dragons or gathering some sort of data about the dragon realm.”

  Aston shook his head. “I mean, sure, there was a bit of that. It was a fascinating place. But I’m more fascinated by Rory. I just…” He shrugged his shoulders, and it felt as if the weight of the world settled there. “I didn’t know what to do.” Aston explained how he and Rory had only seen each other at night and even then they rarely spoke about anything. If they did, their conversations were surface level at best. He shared more than Rory, telling her about his friends and the academies, but she was closed off. And she never went into detail about her past.

  “Aston,” Tara said gently. A small piece of him resented the pity in her voice.

  “I know I was a fool, Tara,” he began.

  “No.” She sliced her hand through the air as if she could wipe his words. “That’s not what I was going to say. Not even close to it.” She leaned toward him. “You’re beating yourself up about not knowing how to manage a soul-bonded relationship. But you’re forgetting that plain ol’ human dating relationships are hard enough.”

  “What would you know about human dating relationships?” Elias tugged a piece of her hair.

  “Hush, Neanderthal.” She pushed away his hand. “You were put in an impossible situation, Aston, under extremely stressful conditions. You need to cut yourself some slack.”

  “Besides,” Gabby added, “did either of you die?” She waited, but no one responded. “No, no one died. So, see? Nothing that can’t be fixed.”

  “I think we need to talk about why the ‘did anyone die’ argument isn’t always the best way to go.” Liam rubbed a hand down Gabby’s thigh.

  “It’s effective,” Gabby said. “Because it’s true. If no one is dead, then the problem can be fixed. Dead is the only thing you can’t fix.”

  “She’s not technically wrong,” Tara said.

  Liam pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t encourage her.”

  “Getting back to the matter at hand,” Elias huffed. “When you left the dragon realm, you said Kimba, Rory’s dragon friend, helped you?”

  “Yes. We lived in a cave on a mountainside. Rory was attempting to bring down the mountain,” he explained.

  “Wow. Witch has got some power. We totally need her on our side,” Gabby said.

  Tara nodded. “Agreed.”

  Elias ignored the girls and kept his eyes focused on Aston’s. “If she was trying to bring down the mountain, was she trying to kill you or just prevent you from leaving?”

  “The former would accomplish both,” Gabby said. “And seeing as how the chick is riding dragons and snatching up hot elementalists at the same time, she strikes me as the type of girl who likes to kill two birds with one stone.”

  Aston flinched. Preventing him from leaving was one thing, but the thought that Rory might want to kill him was too terrible to think about.

  “She wasn’t trying to kill you.” Tara shot Gabby a glare. “Regardless of what was said during your fight, in your soul, you knew she was yours. She knew that, too. And she still does. There is no way she wanted you dead.”

  “I agree,” Liam said. “No matter how angry she was at you, she’d never be able to kill you. It would be like killing herself.” Liam looked over at Gabby and brushed a piece of red hair from her cheek. The gentleness in his touch was almost painful to watch.

  “All right,” Tara said, clapping her hands together. “You guys fought. She tried to knock you on your butt. You managed to get out of Dodge because you thought that’s what you wanted, and then BAM!” She clapped her hands together again.

  “ARGH!” Aston groaned and doubled over before hitting the floor on his knees.

  “I did not do that.” Tara’s voice sounded far away. “All I did was clap my hands. I didn’t make him fall over. Did I?”

  Aston tuned out her voice and focused on the pain currently stabbing through his gut. He felt a ripping sensation inside of him and then something he thought he wouldn’t ever feel again. “Rory,” he bit out through clenched teeth.

  “What?” Elias said. Aston felt his brother’s hand on his back and could see his shadow fall over him. “What did you say, Aston?”

  “Rory. I can feel her.”

  “Does that mean she’s in the human realm?” Liam asked.

  “Not necessarily,” Tara said. “He’s been in pain since he left the dragon realm.”

  “I’ve been hurting,” Aston confirmed. “But I couldn’t feel her. Her magic, it’s reaching for me. And her—”

  “Soul,” Elias finished for him. “Her soul is reaching for you.”

  “Yes,” Aston answered, the words barely audible even to his own ears. He rested his palms on the floor and tried to get himself under control. Not to mention feeling her inside of him. He breathed in and out slowly and pictured her the first time he’d ever laid eyes on her. Rory had been astride the back of a massive dragon. His soul bonded’s black hair blew around her face wildly as her fierce gaze met his. Aston had known as surely as he knew himself—she was meant for him.

  “I have to go.” He shoved from the ground and stood up. He staggered but got himself under control before one of the others could steady him. “If she’s in the human realm, she could be in danger.”

  “There’s no ‘could be’ about it,” Gabby said. “If she’s your soul bonded, then that means she’s an elementalist. Which means her parents were killed by dark elementals. As it stands right now, she doesn’t appear to have picked a side. That means the dark elementals are going to try to recruit her.”

  “And by recruit…” Tara said.

  “I mean pull an Osiris and take what doesn’t belong to them,” Gabby confirmed.

  Aston didn’t need to hear it. He knew exactly what could happen to Rory if he didn’t get to her before an acolyte or dark elemental did.

  He opened a portal but didn’t have any idea where it led to.

  “Focus on her,” Elias encouraged. “You can find her. Just focus on every little thing about her. And then let her soul guide you to her.”

  Aston did as his brother instructed and gave in to the pull inside. Suddenly, through the portal, he could see a neighborhood. Row after row of identical houses lined the streets.

  “That’s just creepy.” Liam stood beside Aston and looked into the portal. “I feel like any minute now all the doors are going to open at the same time and kids are going to file out and start bouncing balls at the same tempo while their moms wave from the doorways.”

  “That’s where Rory is?” Elias asked.

  Aston nodded. “She’s there. I just can’t tell which house, if she is in a house.”

  “Let’s do this.” Gabby stepped through the portal.

  Liam followed closely behind. “Dammit, woman. You’re supposed to let me go first to make sure it’s safe.”

  “I don’t need you to keep me safe, water boy,” Gabby said just as Aston stepped through.

  “I’m not talking about it being safe for you,” Liam said. “I’m talking about making sure the innocent people on the other side are safe from you until we determine if they are indeed innocent.”

  Tara laughed. She and Elias followed behind Aston. He closed the portal and then looked down at both ends of the sidewalk where they stood. A deep ache swelled inside of him when he faced one direction, so he turned his feet that way and started to jog.

  “I guess we’re going this way,” Elias said.

  Aston knew his friends would keep up with him. He hoped they’d be watching for any trouble because his attention was focused solely on finding Rory.

  They reached a stop sign, and Aston glanced both directions again. The pull remained steady in one direction, so he crossed the street and kept on jogging. They passed intersection after intersection until, finally, something changed. The feeling intensified when he looked left.

  “This way.” He motioned and then turned to cross the street.

  “I don’t think there’s a single thing about these houses that is different,” Liam said. “Even the paint colors are the same. I bet even the grass is all the same length.”

  “It seems unnatural.” Tara’s voice was filled with trepidation.

  “That’s because it probably is,” Gabby said.

  Aston stopped. “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “I mean, there’s nothing about this neighborhood that’s natural. Can’t you all feel it?” Gabby leveled her gaze on him.

  Aston looked around and noticed the others doing the same thing. Every time his eyes landed on something, he felt the need to look away, as if something was compelling him not to take notice. “We aren’t welcome here,” he said after several minutes.

  “Winner-winner, chicken dinner,” Gabby cheered. “This is a neighborhood that is controlled by the dark elementals.”

  “How do you know this kind of stuff?” Liam asked.

  “Sometimes I forget that you guys aren’t in your third year of academy,” she said. “I’m old and wise, therefore, I know things. And I know there is strength in numbers. The dark royals set up these types of places for their acolytes. Here, they can gather and amplify their power. I learned about these communities in The History of Dark Elementals, which you guys are still a year away from taking.”

  Liam purred. “I like a knowledgeable woman. Teach me everything you know. You’re my sexy teacher, and I’m your naughty pupil. Aww, Mrs. Nash, do I have to stay after school?”

  Tara made a gagging noise. “Dude, you’ve got to tone that crap down.”

  “Can’t help it,” Liam said. “She’s my catnip.”

  Elias groaned. “And just when I think you can’t get any weirder, you go and say something like that.”

  “So, while we’re on the topic,” Tara said, “and we’re just following Aston’s bloodhound bond, I’ve got a few questions. How are you a third year, Gabby, when Elias, Liam, and Ra are only second years? Yet they’re twenty years old?”

  “Haven't they gone over any of this since classes resumed?” Gabby replied.

  “Nope,” Tara said. “We’ve been learning more about the soul bonded, practicing using our magic together, and getting in a ton of practical magic use. But no rules and regs.”

  “That makes sense, considering all we’ve learned in the past couple of months,” Gabby agreed. “Elias, you want to fill her in? I’d ask why you haven’t already, but I imagine it has something to do with the fact that when you two are alone, there probably isn’t much talking going on.”

  Liam made a low whistle. “Damn, babe. You aren’t pulling your punches today.”

  “I’m feeling a little fiery,” Gabby said.

  “The school doesn’t measure your progress in years so much as it does in credits,” Elias spoke up. “It’s more like how a university would work. You can be three years into college and still only be a sophomore, not a junior, based on how many credits you have.”

  “So you progress at your own pace?” Tara asked.

  “Exactly,” Elias said. “Myself, Liam, Ra, and Aston asked to be allowed to work together. That has taken time away from our regular schedules because we don’t earn any credits for working together. Though now that things have changed, with the schools all working together and training to use their powers in tandem, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Academies altered that rule as well.”

  “And here I thought you four got held back for being delinquents.” Tara said.

  “We should go with that answer next time,” Liam said. “Sounds way more badass.”

  “Because that’s what’s important.” Tara sounded both annoyed and humored.

  They continued to banter back and forth, but Aston tuned them out and continued down the sidewalk. He got the distinct feeling they were being watched, and now he knew by what—the dark elementalists that inhabited the neighborhood. In fact, if he were a betting man, he’d wager there were eyes in every house, and they were all on them. Creepy was an understatement.

  They were about to reach another stop sign when a loud explosion lit up the sky. It was two streets over, and everything inside of Aston screamed that’s where his Rory was.

  Aston didn’t think; he just took off running. There were no fences in between the houses, only a few feet of earth, and Aston made use of those grass covered alleyways instead of staying on the pavement.

  “Aston!” He heard Elias’s voice behind him, but he didn’t stop or even turn back to look at his brother. All Aston could think of was getting to Rory.

  Sweat rolled down his face, and his heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. Blood rushed in his ears. His feet hit the ground, sending jarring motions up through his legs. Aston pumped his arms back and forth and prayed that whatever had exploded hadn’t hurt Rory. It seemed to take forever, though he knew it had probably only been seconds before a house came into view. There was a large hole in the roof, and smoke was billowing out of it.

  “RORY!” Aston rushed forward. He’d barely touched the curb when the front door crashed open, and a figure came flying backward through the doorway. The man cleared the front porch and landed on his back in the middle of the well-manicured lawn. Aston looked down at the guy on the ground, who was groaning and struggling to his knees. Then Aston looked back at the doorway.

  Rory came storming out, her hands held up in front of her. Lightning danced between them. Her long, dark locks whipped around her as wind blew through the strands. Rory glanced around. The wind didn’t seem to be blowing anywhere but around his soul bonded. Her eyes danced with fury as she bore down on her prey.

  “Did you really think you could touch me and live?” Rory snarled, her voice filled with venom.

  Aston wanted to keep looking at her because she captivated him, but at her words, his head snapped back to the male on the ground. “You touched her?” Aston didn’t recognize his voice as he started forward.

  “Tucker?” Tara’s voice came from behind Aston. The name helped Aston remember where he’d seen the male before. He was a dark acolyte. And Aston remembered the boy had once been after Tara.

  Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound, and a giant boulder flew across the yard. Tucker barely rolled in time to keep from getting hit. Elias roared. Another boulder materialized and went hurtling toward Tucker. At the same time, Elias stomped his foot, causing the ground to roll. Tucker pushed into a forward somersault and came up onto his feet. “I’m going to kill you,” Elias said, his voice low and deadly.