Page 44 of Fallen Heirs

Alena snarled, then I watched as all their chests opened and they roared as blood spilled down their shirts and they choked and spluttered.

She was ripping their hearts out of their bodies.

I darted to her and grabbed her arm. “Stop. They’re fanatics. Unbreakable.”

“We’ll see,” she muttered, continuing on, her eyes black with dark determination.

Hell.

“Alena, you do this and you’ll become him! Don’t! Don’t do this! You’ll lose yourself,we’lllose you! Don’t allow Constantine to push you to this! It’s not who you are!”

Her hand wavered.

And then I saw that darkness retreat, a moment before she jerked her hand to the side and snapped all their necks in unison, then let them drop onto the ground unconscious.

Her eyes were wide as she came out of it and looked them over, shock infiltrating her features, her hands shaking with it.

“Go,” I told her. “Take a beat. I’ll clean this up and meet you back at the house.”

“Xavier,” she uttered, shakily, clearly freaked that she’d taken things so far.

“It’s okay. It was just a slipup. We’ll see to it, I promise.”

She smiled at me, believing in me, in us.

And then she disappeared in a cloud of teleportation.

I turned to the mess before me.

But before I could lift a finger, a purple glow started to emanate from the fallen.

In moments it encompassed them entirely.

And then they disappeared from view, having been magically transported away.

“Orpheus,” I breathed.

I spun around, then found myself jerking back as purple smoke burst into being and the man himself teleported right in front of me.

“Hell,” I gasped.

“They’ve been transported toExemplarfor questioning.”

“They weren’t even on their radar. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“We’re not getting into that right now.”

“This is exactly the time to get into it.”

“Right when Alena was on the verge of crossing a major line? Really?”

I cursed under my breath.

He folded his arms across his chest and regarded me, none too happily. “You need to stop this.”

“Stop what? I’m teaching her how to hunt. Something they don’t teach magic-wielders at the Academy.”

“Bull.”

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