Page 9 of Veiled By Smoke (The Nature Hunters Academy #5)
“Do not blame me for your propensity for profanity, or judge me for my use of it,” her dragon bonded said as she shook her head.
“Really, you have enough crap going on in your life. By the way, where have you been keeping all your clothes all this time? Do you have several crowns, like for special occasions? Ohh, did you and Osiris have matching robes?”
Lark laughed. “I want to see the crowns. Do you think she has one for the dragon form and one for human?”
Kimba ignored Rory’s words, mostly. She knew her friend was hurt over the secret, or really more over the fact that Kimba hadn’t told her about it first. She had to remind herself that Rory was only nineteen.
She was a youngling compared to Kimba. “The point is, the fifth element, the one that brings all of you together, needs to be restored. If we fail, evil wins.”
Liam whistled. “No pressure, then. Just don’t screw it up, or demons invade again.”
Brontes rumbled, “Demons are the least of your worries if you don’t pay attention.”
Solyn added, “Not to mention, if you fry my tail, I’m eating your shoes.”
“Noted,” Gabby pointed at the dragon. “Definitely bigger worries at this current moment.”
Kimba pressed on. “Your first lesson: use your bond. I know you’ve already experienced using your power together.
But this is more. It should be second nature.
You should be able to sense your mate anywhere, feel their fear, their hope, their strength.
When a threat comes, you don’t just react—you respond together. ”
She let her gaze sweep over the group, making sure to include the new couples. “And now, since you’re all so alert, we’re going to practice. The dragons and I will be . . . let’s call it ‘sneakily aggressive.’ You’ll need to defend, attack, and remember not to blast your own team.”
Gabby grinned, fire dancing in her palm. “Bring it, Kimba.”
“Don’t provoke her,” Rory suggested. “Bitch be crazy.”
“She’s not wrong,” Aston added. “Kimba takes a scary amount of joy in scaring the crap out of people.”
Osiris’s voice drifted in again, “You should let me scare them a little. Maybe I’ll pop out of the woods and–”
“Try it, and I’ll let Zephyra sit on you,” Kimba shot back, barely hiding her own smirk.
With a gesture, Kimba signaled the dragons. In an instant, Zephyra, Brontes, and Solyn vanished into the trees. Kimba faced her new trainees, her expression fierce. “Stay with your mate. Use your bond. And remember—this is only a game until it isn’t.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “Great pep talk.”
Rory grabbed Aston’s hand, eyes bright with adrenaline.
Shelly pressed closer to Ra, both of them already glowing faintly with the flicker of their combined power.
Gabby flexed her fingers, and Liam cracked his knuckles, both ready for anything.
Tara and Elias stood back to back, the earth shuttering beneath their feet.
The other couples fanned out, having obviously worked together and being seasoned warriors by the way they took a ready stance and watched each other's backs.
Kimba gave a sharp whistle. The woods erupted with the sound of dragons on the prowl. “Let the games begin.”
The first dragon attack came from above—because, of course, it did.
“Whoa, dude, that is more than the three dragons that you mentioned, Kimba,” Gabby hollered as Zephyra swooped low over the tree line, blue scales glinting as she unleashed a gust of wind that sent everyone sprawling.
Gabby shrieked as her hair flew straight up, and Liam instinctively threw his arms over her, only for both of them to end up facedown in a snowdrift.
On the far side, Riggs and Lark were already reacting, their air magic combining to create a swirling shield that deflected the worst of the gust.
“That’s how we do it,” Lark called, her grin wild.
Rush and Brianna, both air as well, linked hands and sent a counter-gust that sent Zephyra spinning.
“We’ll take the sky, you take the ground!” Rush called to Crey and Tinley, who stood ready.
Crey and Tinley, fire blazing between their palms, squared off against Brontes. The green dragon reared and shot a jet of emerald fire.
Tinley snickered. “Let’s show them how it’s done, Crey.”
Together, their flames spiraled into a shield, holding off the dragon fire and earning a grudging nod from Brontes.
Lawson and Cara, fire elementalists, stood back to back.
“Our turn,” Lawson said.
Cara rolled her eyes but grinned. Together, they summoned a dome of fire that Solyn’s tail smashed against, fire and gold scales clashing in a spray of sparks.
“Ten points for dramatic entrance, minus two for personal grooming,” Aston called, brushing snow from his glasses, watching the action, and analyzing as usual.
“Personal grooming?” Elias asked, ducking a stray blast of wind.
Aston pointed. “That dragon is literally licking its wings like a cat would lick a paw.”
“At least they are clean,” Tara offered. “Would you rather be attacked by a dirty dragon?”
“Not really important at the moment, people.” Rory was already back on her feet, grabbing Aston’s hand as she pulled power from his air element, her own magic sparking just beneath the surface. “Ready?” she whispered. Kimba watched the pair, eager to see Rory work.
He nodded, and together they summoned a swirling updraft that caught Zephyra’s next gust and sent it spiraling harmlessly into the sky.
Rory’s eyes sparkled. “That’s how you fly with style! You’re welcome, by the way.”
Kimba chuckled and then her attention turned to the others.
Shelly and Ra faced Brontes’s next attack—a tail swipe this time. Ra pulled Shelly close, and together, with seamless motions, summoned a wall of fire, blocking the blow. Shelly leaned into Ra, and Kimba could see their bond, strong, whole, a living current between them.
Across the field, Brianna and Rush took to the air, their combined wind magic lifting them above the fray, dodging dragon fire and laughing.
“Try to keep up!” Brianna hollered to the earth couples below.
Lark and Riggs, not to be outdone, used their air magic to launch themselves, flipping over Zephyra’s head in a wild aerial maneuver.
“Show-offs!” Gabby called.
Gabby and Liam, water and fire, braced as Zephyra arced back around, this time aiming a cold blast of wind their way.
Gabby’s palms flared with heat, and Liam called up a burst of water from the snow at their feet.
Together, they turned the wind into a cloud of steam that rolled over the clearing, shrouding them in mist.
“Did we just make a sauna?” Gabby asked, incredulous.
Liam grinned. “We’re all about creature comforts.”
Kimba watched, pleased—especially at how the new and old pairs were already starting to mesh, bantering and competing, but always, always working together.
Her heart warmed as she saw the soul bonds flare: Lark and Riggs, Rush and Brianna, Crey and Tinley, Lawson and Cara—each pair unique, each one vital to the whole.
Osiris’s mental presence brushed her mind, smug and teasing: “They’re better than I expected. Still, you’d get faster results with a little healthy fear.”
She didn’t bother hiding her wry amusement. “How’s your cleaning going? Did you make the beds and line up the firewood into neat stacks?”
He huffed, but she felt the pride in him. “Don’t think I won’t remember this. Payback is a bitch.”
“So, not too different from you? Bitches get stitches,” she fired back, using another of Rory’s favorite sayings.
Kimba focused on the field. “Remember, it’s not about brute force. It’s about connection. Feel your mate, anticipate them. Don’t wait for words—move together. Let your souls be one.”
Across the clearing, Tara and Elias squared off against Solyn, who prowled closer, golden scales gleaming. Solyn’s tail whipped across the ground, sending a wave of earth and snow rippling toward them.
“Push your power into the ground,” Elias told her, his voice steady. “Picture it joining with my own and then pull upwards.”
Tara nodded, her face set with determination and focus. Together, they slammed their palms down, and the ground rippled beneath them, rising up into a wall of stone and dirt. Solyn’s tail smashed into the wall, shattering earth and snow but leaving the pair untouched.
Tara smirked. “Not today, lizard.”
“Okay, Love,” Elias chuckled. “Maybe don’t provoke that large, strong dragon?”
“Fair point,” she agreed.
Liam grinned. “As I said, we’re all about creature comforts.”
Kimba circled the clearing, arms crossed, her dragon and human instincts both keenly aware of every move.
She watched their bonds flare bright, watched the way they reached for each other—sometimes seamlessly, sometimes with a tangle of fumbling hands and nervous laughter, but always, always together.
Zephyra swooped in again, this time aiming for Rory and Aston. Rory spun on instinct, her witch power weaving with Aston’s air—wind and magic twining in a shimmering cyclone that lifted Zephyra’s wings and spun her away, harmless. Rory whooped, hair wild, laughter ringing out.
“Another one bites the dust,” she crowed.
Zephyra snorted a cloud of frost in response.
Embera, along with one of the other dragons, a smaller one called Streak, tried a sneak attack on Riggs and Lark, but Lark sensed it, her bond with Riggs so strong that she didn’t need to look.
She used the power of air to fling a boulder up behind them just as Embera’s massive paw came crashing down, the rock absorbing the blow with a satisfying crunch.
From behind, Riggs faced Streak, turning his arms in a circular motion, as tornadoes formed all around them.
The smaller, but faster dragon, Streak, weaved and darted in between the tornadoes, but Lark added her own power to Riggs’s, and there were just too many to dodge.
One of his wings took a hit from a tornado and sent him off into a spin.
“Way to back me up,” Riggs told his soul bonded, pride in his voice.