Page 45 of Cursed Heirs

“I don’t need your permission for anything!”

In the next second, she called her magic to teleport away.

Ore and I both darted forward to stop her, but she was gone too quickly.

“Shit,” I grunted.

“I didn’t mean thatshewas dangerous. I meant this development is dangerousforher,” Ore told me, looking distressed. I wasn’t surprised.

I laid my hand on his shoulder. “I know you did, brother.”

He cursed. “She’s not herself. He’s definitely inside her head.”

“But you can cast him out, right? When she calms down, I mean?”

“I can if he’s just using dark magic to establish the connection. I have enough power to overcome that. But if he’s using black magic, it’ll become dangerous. I’ll have to entertain the same. I can’t even try while she’s in such a state, though. She needs to be calm.” He paced back and forth, thinking. And then another curse left him, before he looked out at me. “We need to take this matter to Abigail.”

I started, absolutely stunned that he was willing to go that route, given everything.

“She’ll take Alena away.”

“The way things are, the longer Constantine has that connection with Alena, the deeper he’ll be able to burrow inside her head, and we’ll lose her anyway.”

Before anything more could be said, a whirring alert came through via the speakers throughout the Academy, stilling us both.

Then Dean Bronson’s voice sounded.

“This is an Onyx Alert. Constantine Vale and his army is on the move. The Oakley Coven has been decimated, along with the Wrightman Vampire Nest. All students are instructed to be on high alert. Lockdown protocol has been initialized. You are to remain inside the dome at all times and any specialpermissions have been cancelled effective immediately. We will keep you updated as more information reaches us. Be safe.”

“This is a distraction,” Ore surmised. “Neither of those targets are high-profile or key supernatural strongholds. It doesn’t make strategic sense from that point of view.”

“A distraction to what end?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. And being stuck here in lockdown really isn’t going to help to answer that question.”

“Now the Commander won’t be able to make it out here. Fuck, Ore, I’m so sorry. With the level of this alert, the whole of the supernatural world will also be taking up battle stations, so he won’t be able to even reach out to you at all.”

“I’ll find another way. I’ll get my father back. And I won’t stop until I do.”

A dark look flitted across his face and I grasped his shoulder, pulling him back to me.

“Please, Orpheus, don’t go dark. With Alena and Xavier pulling away from us, I can’t take it if you do this. I need you, brother. I fucking well needus.”

He laid his hand on mine. “I need you too. I won’t leave you. Ever.”

The fact that he’d uttered those words, that promise, was a major deal.

And I really wanted to believe he could live up to it.

10

~Alena~

“This wasn’t what I meant, darling princess.”

I jolted at the sound of that smooth voice, my eyes snapping open to find myself in a comfy armchair, a cozy blanket draped over me.

I was dressed in what I had been earlier before I’d inexplicably fallen asleep while working on an assignment for myMatter Manipulationclass. A pair of gray lounge pants and matching tank.

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