Page 6 of Veiled By Smoke (The Nature Hunters Academy #5)

“I’m thousands of years old . . . I think.

I’m not exactly sure how old I am, and I’ve recently found out people have been fiddling with my memories.

But I know I’ve been around a long time.

And I thought nothing could surprise me.

But being thousands of years old, I should have realized there are no certainties in life.

As such, there is an opportunity for surprises every single day. ” ~Osiris

“Once upon a time, I had your loyalty. I had your everything.”

“I am Kimba, the light queen of the soul elementals, the fifth element lost to the memories of our people.”

“And I am your mate.”

The woman’s words played over and over in Osiris’s mind as he stared out of the large cave entrance.

The crisp winter air should have been uncomfortable to him considering where he came from.

Osiris frowned at the thought. Did he come from the underworld?

Perhaps the cold doesn’t bother me because I come from somewhere else?

And maybe pigs were flying alongside the escaped demons in the human realm? And that man begging for iced water in hell has finally gotten a cool glass and a bowl of refreshing fruit to go with it.

All of those things felt more likely to Osiris than what was actually happening.

The whole damned world had been flipped upside down, and he was left dangling like a bat with its leg trapped on a branch.

He was blowing in the wind while the insects he usually ate flew around him, laughing and taunting him.

Okay, maybe he was being dramatic. And perhaps his metaphors were getting a little out of control, but seriously, what the actual hell?

He let out a frustrated sigh and ran his hand down his face. One minute, he’d been wrapped up in his obsession with Shelly and making her his own, and the next, he was facing the possibility that everything he thought he knew was a lie.

After dropping a proverbial bomb in his lap, Kimba, his supposed mate, had left, but not without one hell of a parting shot.

“I do not know what our future holds, Osiris,” she said. “But I know it does not include you with another female. Give up this obsession with the human, or I will let her mate tear you to shreds.”

“Bloodthirsty little female,” he muttered, slipping his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “Little?” He scoffed. “Hell, an hour ago she was the size of a city bus.”

Osiris turned his back on the winter scene and walked deeper into the cave.

The flames from the torches that lined the walls bobbed and weaved, causing shadows to dance on the stone.

He took a deep breath and held it, relishing the cold air that burned his lungs, before finally letting it out.

He was restless, like a caged animal, but trapped by what?

There were no bars holding him in, nothing keeping him in this cave. Nothing but her . . .

His feet began moving of their own accord.

Osiris paced around the bed, the chair, and the unlit fire pit that took up part of the center of the cave.

There were very few times in his existence when he remembered being unsure of his next move; though, now that he’d found out that he’d lost some of his memories, for all he knew his past could have been a constant mess of confusion and uncertainty.

“Dammit all to hell,” he cursed and clenched his hands into fists, still resting inside of his pockets.

“Pull yourself together, man.” Osiris hissed at himself.

He was losing his mind. Everything that had once been in order was now tossed into the air.

And it was coming down around him in a hot mess, landing at his feet, twisted, broken, and, in some cases, unrecognizable.

This was his life. Something completely unknown.

A man who’d been taken from a rock-solid place and hurled into the eye of a tornado of doubt in the blink of an eye.

“Talk about a mind screw,” he growled. With a final, resigned sigh, he sat down on the bed and then flung himself back.

Apparently, throwing himself about like a moody teenager was his new thing.

Osiris closed his eyes, and immediately her image was there.

Kimba. Not Shelly, the human female he thought he’d wanted.

But Kimba, the woman, the dragon , the whatever, who claimed to be his .

. . soul mate? No matter how he tried to shove her out of his head, she remained, with her direct gaze, proud, lifted chin, and defiant air.

And despite how badly he wanted to say she didn’t intrigue him, he couldn’t.

If he were honest with himself—though honesty wasn’t something on which he prided himself—he would admit he was beguiled.

And damn if that didn’t just piss him off.

“I’m supposed to be the beguiler, not the beguile-ee! ”

* * *

“I ’m going to go out on a limb here and say that all hell has broken loose.” Radagast, the dark water king, folded his arms in front of him.

Viscious slid his eyes from the night sky to glance at the other royal. “What gave it away?” he asked dryly. “All the demons flying around like monkey bats, or all the demons running around like toddlers on crack?”

“You don’t seem concerned.” Radagast motioned to the sky. The denizens of hell swirled in circles overhead, set against a backdrop of heavy, gray clouds. Lightning illuminated the dark night every few seconds, revealing, in bright contrast, the winged abominations. “Why aren’t you worried?”

Lamia, the dark air queen, purred, “Maybe the firestarter isn’t worried because he knows something we don’t.”

Viscious snapped his teeth together, his ire rising at his fellow royals. “You know as much as I do,” he growled. “One minute, our world was demon free, then boom.” He clapped his hands. “Ta da, demons!”

The dark earth queen, Nimue, chuckled. “Melodramaticic today, aren’t you, Viscious?”

“I’m irritated, is what I am,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You all are gawking like you’ve never seen a demon before.

Instead of standing here with our fingers implanted in our rear ends, we should take advantage of this rare opportunity.

Now is the time to strike against the light elementals.

They’re going to be so busy trying to get this mess cleaned up, they won’t have time to follow up with their Marks. ”

“Hmm,” Radagast rumbled. “They’ll be easy pickings.”

Viscious nodded. “Exactly.” He didn’t bother adding that the distraction had an added benefit for him personally.

With the light elementalists fighting the demons, they wouldn’t be protecting a certain wayward baby pharaoh.

“I’m going to increase the number of my acolytes searching for Marks,” Viscious said.

“I would respectfully advise you three to do the same.”

Lamia practically hissed at him, as he’d known she would. The dark air queen had always allowed herself to be too easily riled. “We do not need you to tell us how to run our acolytes.” She reminded Viscious of a cat with an arched back and hair standing on end.

Viscious held up his hands. “I wouldn’t dare.” Yet he would. And their damn kingdoms would thrive off his wisdom if they would take his advice. He mentally snubbed his nose at the three other dark royals.

Nimue cleared her throat and stepped toward Viscious.

“We trust you, fire king,” she said, her voice soft.

When she stood within touching distance, Nimue took a finger and ran it down his shoulder while tracing the motion with her eyes.

“We trust you because we know your motives. When one of us is strong, we are all strong. If we are ever to defeat the light elementals, then we must work together. And now we are vulnerable after the debacle with the witches. We know you wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize our positions.

Right?” She smiled, and it was all teeth.

Vicious forced himself not to take a step back from the dark earth queen.

The woman was unhinged. Viscious had known that for years.

And he had a theory about why. A couple of decades ago, when pollution had become a growing human problem, Nimue had acted more and more erratically.

Viscious theorized it was because of the poor oxygen levels in the earth.

Because she was so connected to it, he figured—much like humans without enough oxygen to their brains—the woman’s brain cells were dying.

“You’re correct, Nimue,” he agreed. “I wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t in the best interest of us all. ”

What was he supposed to say? Nope. Not right. I would throw you lot under the bus in a second. Then I’d stomp on the gas pedal, run you over, stop, throw it in reverse, then back over you to make sure I’d gotten the job done. Probably best to keep that thought to himself.

“We should reconvene in three days,” Radagast offered. “And report back on our progress. Fair?”

Viscious nodded, and the other two royals did the same.

At the moment, he would have agreed to anything just to get rid of the three fools.

It was his own fault they always came to his home.

He had been the one to suggest regular strategy meetings and had always offered his own place.

He felt it gave him some advantage over the other dark royals if they had to come to his territory.

The other three royals opened portals and stepped through, offering no sort of goodbye.

They weren’t friends, and none of them had the illusion that their relationships were anything more than politically beneficial.

Despite her insanity, Nimue was right. They had a common enemy.

And the chances of defeating that enemy were better if they all worked together.

Viscious slashed his hand through the air, opening a portal of his own. He was about to step through when someone knocked on his office door. “Enter,” he called.