Page 15 of Wicked Heirs

“Nah,hell hath no furywith you two. I call bullshit.”

“You wanted out on this one, you’re out, X,” Orpheus told me. “Enjoy the peace and quiet of it.” He fiddled with the band around his wrist that was always glowing purple and silver—an amalgamation of his and his father’s magic to represent the connection that it facilitated. It was an interdimensional communicator that his dad used to contact him, also known as an IC Watch developed by my father’s company,Sabre Tech. It contained some of his power and his dad’s melded together to facilitate a connection for the communicator to latch onto across the dimensional barrier from here in the human realm to the Dark Fae Realm.

“Yeah,” Tal added. “We’ve got it handled. Just sit back and relax.”

“Is that what Orpheus tells you when he’s feeding you his dick, baby bird?” I bit back, agitated at both the condescension coming off them,andthe lack of information about what they were planning, meaning I couldn’t run interference.

Usually, the wholebaby birdnickname was reserved for Orpheus. He’d taken to calling him that because Talon Creed was a year younger than the two of us. We took special care with him as a result, looking out for him and helping him out a little extra than we did with each other.

Of course, my needling comment didn’t hit how I intended with Tal, because he was another level with this sort of thing, and he flashed Orpheus a dirty smirk, then told me, “Actually, he tells me to open wide and take his big, fat cock to the back of my throat like a good boy.”

Urgh.His crassness got under my skin at the best of times. The two of them, especially Talon, didn’t have a romantic bone in their bodies, and it flew in the face of what I was all about.

There was so much potential for them to have loving and meaningful relationships, because they both had a lot to offer, and there were so many guys and girls here lining up to be that for them. But they liked to pretend they didn’t have a full array of feelings, because they couldn’t stand the idea of puttingthemselves in any sort of vulnerable position to entertain love and care from anyone—outside of our own little unit, of course.

“Let’s talk about theKick Off Party,” Orpheus said, cutting into my thoughts.

“Yeah,” Tal spoke, once again there to back him up. “You must be counting down the hours, X. You actually get to feed straight from the vein for once.” He gestured at my glass of blood. “Unlike that shit. What is it today? Bunny blood?”

“Squirrel.”

“Jeez,” Orpheus grumbled. “You should head back over there and sort that out.”

I waved my hand dismissively. “No. It’s fine. I’ll deal with it.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” he pushed.

“I’m seriously fine for right now, Orpheus.” I looked at Tal. “You’re not gonna forget about what we agreed, right?”

“No, of course not. I’ll be there to pull you back from the feed.Ifyou need it. I really don’t think you will, though.”

“Neither do I,” Orpheus told me. “Your self-control is very impressive now, especially from a newbie vampire.”

“Newbie?” Tal questioned. “It’s been three years.”

“A drop in the bucket for vampires.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Still, I really think you’re gonna be able to handle it well, X.”

The two of them had much more faith in me than I had in myself.

It hadn’t been like that before.

But ever since I’d been turned, things had shifted.

In so many ways.

I’d been confident—more like overconfident—in myself, in everything that I did. I hadn’t second-guessed myself. I hadn’t doubted myself. And as heir to the great and renowned sorcerer, Elliot Sabre, I’d lived up to that, having excellent control and superb command over my magic. I’d been well on my wayto being the next Sabre to wield incredible power, power that would have rivaled my father’s.

But now… now all of that was gone.

My father had managed to find a way for me to continue to wield my magical power, despite my vampiric state,butit was nowhere near close to the power that it had been beforehand.

Orpheus finished his breakfast, then sat back in his chair, looking between the two of us. “I’ll be expending a great amount of power to craft the illusion needed for theKick Off.I’ll have just enough to punish those two fuckers who are taking their sweet time returning from vacation because they’re shit-scared knowing what’s coming. But beyond that, I’ll be tapped out. So, X, it’s down to Tal to help you to not over-feed.”

“No worries. Like I said, I’ve got him.”

“I wasn’t done. Tal, you’re gonna have to be careful with your phoenix fire. We don’t want a dragon-scorched-earthsituation going down.”

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