Page 43 of Cursed Heirs

“It was our first time coming together without him,” Ore said to me. He held her tighter. “Little angel, he’ll come around. Don’t take what he said as being definitive.”

“Yeah, he’s just pushing you away because he’s trying to deal. He’s doing it to us, too. Won’t respond to our texts.”

She lifted her head a little, and as she looked between us, my gut twisted at her red, swollen eyes, the tears streaking hercheeks. “I don’t think his therapy is working. Before I left, all I heard for hours was him roaring through the house, completely enraged.”

“You were right,” I told Ore.

“Right about what?” Alena asked of my comment and the looks passing between us.

Ore told her, “He needs to let it out, to do what he fears. Teaching him to control it like I’m sure Wilhelm is doing is just going to reinforce that fear.”

“And stress him out, have him getting all up in his head.”

“They’re not gonna let him unleash like that, though,” Alena pointed out.

“But he could with us,” Ore said.

“He could withme,” Alena returned.

“No. No way,” I spoke quickly.

“I can survive an attack. I can stop him.”

“You mightnotbe able to survive it. Your human side is vulnerable to an attack from a rabid vampire, especially one like Xavier who’s never let go of his control,” Ore told her. “Besides, he’d never go for it. Not with you.”

“He’d never hurt you,” I emphasized. “Fucking ever.”

“But he would me,” Ore said. “Years of pent-up animosity of him not agreeing with harsh decisions I’ve made, stuff with you. I can trigger him to let go, and I can take a full-blown attack from him and allow him to let it all out over me.” He grimaced. “But that will have to be a recurring thing, because the fact is, without his magic he’s going to be like this constantly, reaching this point of frustration, desperation, and rage.Becausehe can’t accept a life without magic. I understand that more than most. My magic is the core of who I am. It’s my identity, my purpose, and my passion. It’s everything. Xavier and I share that understanding.”

Alena sat up, holding the covers to her naked body. “What if there was a way to get his magic back?”

“There is. Killing Constantine.”

“A shit-tastic tall order, Ore.”

“We need to putObsidianinto full effect,” he argued.

Alena shook her head. “There might be another way that doesn’t involve heavy casualties, which will be the result of any war we wage against him.”

We both stared at her in question.

She sucked in a breath, then revealed something awful, “He’s given me an in to get close to him. Very close. Once I’m in that position—”

“Whatin?”Ore interrupted, really fucking worried, mirroring my state of mind.

“Remember what he said during our battle?”

“How could we ever forget those creepy-ass words of his?” I said. “Him wanting all of us for different purposes involving whatever his crazy endgame is and then calling youhis,saying he’d actually make you his.”

It was so fucked-up that Ore and I hadn’t even discussed it or given it breath.

It made it too real.

And the idea of her being taken away from us… it couldn’t be real. We wouldn’t allow it to be.

“Well, he came to me in a dreamscape to… enforce that. Like I said, I can get close to him and take him out.”

Ore sat up rigidly straight. “Enforce.What does that mean? Did he attack you?”

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