Page 121 of Wicked Heirs

“Motherfuck,” Ore uttered. “That’s—”

“Incredibly dangerous? A path that no one comes back from if they delve into it for too long or too deeply? Exactly. That’s why I had to push him away and make him believe I was okay with it all and seeing it as an adventure and not the curse that it really is.”

“Sweet thing,” Alena soothed, stroking his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

He smiled sadly. “It is what it is.”

“It’snota curse, you know?” she said carefully. “There are elements of goodness to it, a whole world opened up to you as a vampire.Andeven more so as a vampire-sorcerer hybrid.” I could see his intent to protest that, to tell her there was nothing goodhecould see about it. But then she said with so much conviction. “You’re special.” She rubbed his back. “You know that? You’re really special, Xavier.”

Instead of saying anything to dispute that, he sank into her and wrapped his arm tightly around her. “Thank you, beautiful.”

Ore and I smiled at one another.

That was the first time that anyone had calmed him and managed to soothe him when he’d gotten onto the vampire subject like that.

And he needed it.

He needed it badly.

After a little while, when the two of them pulled away, I clapped my hands. “Come on, let’s give thissnow datesome morale boosting. Let’s take it up a notch.”

“What do you have in mind?” Ore asked, between sips of his drink and snacking on his s’more.

“A little music, a little magic, maybe some dirty dancing thrown into the mix too, a snowball fight… the options are pretty much endless with the setup here—and our awesomeness, of course.”

They all chuckled.

“I’m down,” Ore said.

“Sounds fun,” Xavier agreed.

We looked to Alena.

She bolted from her chair excitedly. “Bring it.”

I grinned from ear-to-ear, breathing in her excitement.

I couldn’t wait for more nights like this together.

22

~Xavier~

“It’s time.”

Orpheus and Talon swung their heads my way as they tended to Orpheus’ garden on his balcony together.

Talon’s eyes widened. “You mean—”

“It’s time to tell Alena about the true purpose ofObsidianbeyond just giving students an outlet to party and let their magic and abilities run rampant every now and then behind the faculty’s back.”

“There’s no undoing this once the words are spoken,” Orpheus warned.

“What if it fucks up everything in a majorly shit-tastic way?” Talon worried in his usual overdramatic fashion of approaching pretty much everything.

“What if it doesn’t?” I took a sip from my glass of vodka and blood as I leaned against the balcony door. “It could very well bring us closer, bringhercloser to us.”

“We’re already getting close,” Tal pointed out. “And it’s been really great since the snow picnic. We’ve hung out between classes, at night, watching movies, flying together, doing magic and fucking about while she does her magical creations, eatingtogether every time our schedules intersect for lunch and dinner. We’ve spent every day together for the last couple of weeks, all four of us.”

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