~Xavier~
Alena had been mortified.
Seeing as though she was so open and free when it came to her sexuality, that was really saying something.
It had caught both of us off guard.
And, worse, it had completely tainted our date.
Things had been going so well up until then.
We’d been connecting, really enjoying one another’s company. I’d even been flirting, which was not a given for me, nor something I was usually comfortable with. But she’d been lapping it up and loving it as much as I had.
It had been one of the best afternoons I’d had in ages—since I’d been turned, especially.
And then that piece of shit had steamrolled right over it.
Of course he had.
He’d had no control over it and he never took well to being in that position.
Bringing Talon into it had been a real dick move too.
Especially with him trying to make peace with Alena and maintain a truce now.
She wasn’t exactly going to see what he’d done at Orpheus’ behest as remaining true to that.
Fuck,he’d screwed up so many things with his interfering bullshit today.
I stormed down the corridor and when I reached his suite at the far end, I went to knock, then to demand he drop his ward, when I was pulled up short by the door opening of its own accord.
He’d sensed me.
I pushed on through, scanning his chambers rapid-fire, unable to contain the anger and intensity coursing through my veins like livewires.
I didn’t see him right there.
I forced myself to stop and take stock, and then I employed my vampiric hearing to locate him. Scent would’ve been my first go-to with anyone else, but he’d been known to mask his several times since I’d known him when he went into his secretive phases, so I’d learned to always employ my hearing first when it came to him.
Damnation,he was a frustrating bastard at the best of times.
But he was also a loyal, supportive, and attentive friend.
A best friend, a brother.
What he’d done had to just be him losing it for a brief window in time.
At least that was what I was hoping.
Butmaking excuses for him wouldn’t suffice.
It wasn’t good enough just because I’d figured out the reason for it.
He needed to acknowledge it, that what he’d done was wrong. He then needed to apologize and swear like hell to me that he’d never repeat any actions like those of earlier.
I picked up on the sound of a trowel sinking into soil, telling me exactly where he was.
In the next second, I sped out through the open balcony doors.