Page 31 of Wicked Heirs

And then he rolled onto his back beside me, not wanting to crush me.

I reached out and linked my hand with his and he gave it a squeeze.

We laid there for several moments in comfortable silence, basking in the pleasure of it all.

When I’d finally come down a little, I asked him, “Took the edge off?”

“Almost.”

What?I turned my head to see him scrubbing his free hand over his face, looking distressed and a whole lot agitated. Really close to how he’d been when he’d first burst in here. “What are you saying? It wasn’t good for you?”

He turned to face me, rolling onto his side. “It’s always good between us. Physically. It’s my mind, is all. No reflection on you. Don’t worry about it.”

“Of course I’m gonna worry about it. You’re my brother-in-arms, Orpheus.”

“I meant, there’s nothing you can do to help. It’s just a matter of time until it eases off.”

“What eases off? You haven’t said. We’ve just fucked, then never talked about thewhyof all this relief fucking you’ve been needing. You know I’m not complaining about the actual acts, but Iamworried about what’s got you in this kind of state. I’ve never seen you like this before. It’s something to do with her? The girl? The timing matches. Ever since you took her to have words after I paved the way with the cafeteria incident, you’ve been off-kilter.”

“I thought Xavier would have told you, that you just weren’t bringing it up to spare me and avoid aggravating me.”

I bolted up to a sitting position. “What? X knows about this… whatever it is?”

“Only because he walked in on what happened and used his vampiric senses to determine a few things.”

“A few things like what?”

“Alena’s magic… it did something to mine, tome.”

I started in surprise.

Orpheus Hart was always so sure of himself. Unflappable. Determined. Full of conviction and confidence.

Yet, here he seemed so thrown, not himself.

As he moved into a sitting position, I reached out and stroked his hair, trying to soothe him as I asked, “What did it do to you?”

“It caused a ravenous sexual need in me—towardher.Even though the magic has long dissipated, the sensation is lingering.”

“Shit, that’s something else. I’ve never heard of anything like that. The fact you seem so shocked by it means even you haven’t, and that’s a hell of a thing in itself.”

“She doesn’t know how to use her magic properly so it’s not like I can simply have her undo whatever it was that she did, or to dispel these lingering effects either.”

“You just need a distraction, something else to channel all that shit into. With theKick Offtomorrow, you’ve got that in spades. You’ll be erecting a hell of a powerful illusion, a glamour or two, and punishing those fuckers who tried to cross us. Weak little shits running off for the summer before we could get at them without it being tied back to us.”

He sucked in a steadying breath. “You’re right. Of course. That’s all I need to shake this ridiculousness.”

“Exactly.”

He gave my shoulder a squeeze, relief all over him. “Thank you, baby bird.”

“No worries. Got your back. Always, Ore.”

He smiled and sank against the headboard.

As I watched him relax and I tried to do the same, there was doubt there nagging at me that I couldn’t deny.

I wasn’t sure that a distraction would actually be enough.

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