Page 51 of Wicked Heirs

Her golden glow emanated a moment later and I watched the wound start to heal.

Talon sighed in relief as the burning of his blood—a disturbing effect of a phoenix being stabbed by an iron weapon—also subsided.

“That’s a fraction of what I’m capable of,” Alena told him as she rose to her feet and disintegrated the iron blade with her magic before our eyes. “Remember that.”

Still clearly out of it, he struggled as he went to get to his feet.

I went to offer him my aid, but he shrugged me off with a grunt, then hissed at Alena, “I might’ve agreed to stop the attacks, doesn’t mean I’ll stop hating you. My parents died because of you!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

He roared then, pain and rage colliding, “They were sent to protect your ass and they paid the price. All because ofyou!So you still think I’m overreacting? Huh? Do you?”

She didn’t respond.

She just stared at him for several moments.

And then she surprised the hell out of me as she used her magic again perfectly and disappeared in a swirl of gold teleportation smoke.

Fuck.

10

~Alena~

I was supposed to stay inside.

My mom had taken off to attend to another emergency.

There’d been so many over the last few weeks.

All because of that madman, Constantine Vale.

The Vampire Elder had acquired the ability to wield the magic of a sorcerer, along with the powerful abilities he’d already held as an age-old vampire. It was a lethal combination for somebody so unstable and power-hungry.

He’d been delivering brutal and devastating shows of force upon the supernatural world since, vying for ultimate power, as well as the destruction ofExemplarand all those who sat at the proverbial table.

If that wasn’t already bad enough, he also had an army at his back, his acolytes, those also seeking power and those who had a beef with the wayExemplarran things.

As the daughter of Abigail Rose and her one and only heir, I was a target of their wrath.

My mom hadn’t wanted to leave me, but she’d been needed.

And she’d assured me that I’d be safe behind her ward, that no one could penetrate it.

So I’d stayed inside one of her safehouses in the middle of nowhere like she’d instructed. She had enough going on without me arguing about it and pushing to help when we both knew I wasn’t ready.

I’d intended to keep to my word all the way, to wait until she returned to me.

But then I’d heard the screams.

Awful, agonized screams and roars of horrific pain.

How could I ignore the clear cry for help that they obviously were?

To have the power to aid somebody in need and not do so would make me just as monstrous as our enemies.

And so, I teleported through my mom’s ward, something I was able to do because of the blood-link between us. I was the only one alive who could easily pass through her ward.

---