Page 6 of Fallen Heirs

It wasn’t a stretch to deduce where his intel had come from either. Another motherfucker—Callum.

“Yes. That’s how it started off.Butit became so much more than that, Alena.” I reached out and took her hand and she let me, not pulling away. “More than I could have ever hoped for. It’s not my goal anymore. I’m not using you. Not for anything. What we have is real, I swear it to you.”

“It’s how it needs to be.”

I frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“To defeat Constantine, it needs to be how you originally intended. For me to come into my true power and become somebody who can stand on your level, side by side with you against that psychopath.”

“You’re not… mad?”

She rolled her eyes. “Not now I’m in my right mind again, no. Like you said, so much has happened since then between us, something amazing has grown between us. And, my goal was to beat you at your own game in the beginning too, so I wasn’t exactly innocent in that respect either.”

“Wow. Talon was so upset when he found out about that. He was so scared it would fracture our foursome and drive you away from us. I didn’t expect you to act this way.”

She squeezed my hand. “Well, other things matter more. And I trust you now. Implicitly.” She raised my hand to her lips and brushed them over my knuckles, smiling up at me. “Don’t you know by now? Nothing could drive me away from the three of you.”

I smiled down at her and slid my hands to her hips, holding her to me. “You can already stand on my level now.”

“I need you to help me train with my new ability—extinguishing dark magic. It stands to reason that, with me being able to erase a dark magical stream, I should be able to do it entirely, maybe completely wipe out a dark being’s magic—Constantine’s. If I could do that, then he’ll just be a vampire, a lot easier to take down and no longer such a major threat. Even with the black magic now gone, the level of magic he wields is staggering. You know that, you went up against him.”

I released her and pulled away. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m not going to takeyourmagic, Orpheus. I would nevereverdo that to you.”

“Alena, when I said that before, I meant it’s dangerous to you.”

“To me?”

“If word got out, you’d be hunted. Dark beings would want you exterminated if they learned of the extreme threat that this special ability of yours posed to their power.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take in order to put him down.”

“I’m not.”

“What about your whole modus operandi of doing whatever it takes?”

“You eclipse that. Your safety and wellbeing does. Nothing compares to that. Nothing comes before that.”

“So, you’re going to go it alone, is that it?”

“Not alone.”

“You’re going to joinExemplarin their fight against him, bring your army into play?”

“The nature of the army has been exposed now and the faculty won’t allow it to happen again. A lot of parents, their families, have been up in arms that their children were put in danger by becoming a part of a militarized force.”

“You and Elliot then? Maybe your father too?”

“Something like that.”

“So, you get to protect me, but I have to accept you going out there on the frontlines and putting yourself in danger against Constantine?”

“Ihaven’t suffered through what you have, Alena. It’s different for me.”

“You don’t think I can keep a clear head when it comes to him, do you?”

“I don’t.”

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