Wicked Heirs (Electi Academy #1)

Prologue

~Alena~

Three Months Ago

Nobody knew me here.

Nobody could see the shadow that followed me.

In fact, it didn’t even exist here.

It was just me.

I could fool myself into being one of them.

And the bucket load of booze I’d basically drowned myself in tonight had really helped to facilitate that.

Because of what I was, it took a lot for me to even feel a buzz.

A lot of human alcohol, anyway.

The supernatural kind was another deal, with a whole other kick.

But I didn’t want anything to do with that.

I was fine just leaning into my human side.

I threw my head back, closing my eyes and raising my arms as I swayed to the seductive beat of the song blaring from the speakers of the packed nightclub.

The strobe lights added another immersive element, an otherworldly effect.

Just what I needed.

To let go.

To feel some semblance of peace.

Unfortunately, I knew it would just be fleeting like always.

I could hear the song coming to an end all too soon, the threat looming of the thrall breaking, of the accompanying stillness, even brief before the next song started up, bringing with it a jolt of reality.

And reality would be as brutal as ever.

Stopping even for a moment was pain.

Sure enough, it happened, and that nasty, toxic feeling engulfed me.

The fact that it was affecting me so much meant it was time to call it night, time to sleep and escape it all for a few hours.

I made my way off the dance floor, stumbling a little in my inebriated state.

Good thing it was only a ten-minute walk to my apartment.

Plus, the cool night air would help sober me up.

It seemed to take an age to make my way past the bright lights, the cacophony all around, the blurry surroundings of the bustling nightclub at the height of a busy night.

I ended up staggering into the door rather than actually actively pushing it open to step outside.

I’d barely made it two steps away from the building and into the back alley that led around to the main streets of the entertainment district when two guys followed out after me.

Right after me.

“Hey, babe!” one of them called out.

With some struggle, I managed to turn around.

The one with the long dirty-blond hair was decked out in a casual beige blazer with a white t-shirt beneath and a pair of slacks. The other with the shaved head had on a sheer black shirt with a pair of designer jeans.

Nothing about them looked familiar at all.

“Headed home. Have a good night,” I said, waving my hand dismissively, before turning back around and making my way down the alley.

Again, I didn’t get far, as they suddenly dodged right into my path.

It forced me to pull up short to avoid crashing into them. “What the hell?” I grumbled.

“You were into us,” long hair accused.

“What?”

“Grinding up on us both for two songs’ worth.”

Seriously?

The two of them looked me up and down in my denim crop top and my white flowing mini-skirt that spun when I twirled.

Uncomfortable at their blatantly leering gazes, I pulled my jacket closed.

“Everyone was grinding up on everyone. It was a crowded dance floor,” I responded.

My words sounded coherent in my mind, I just hoped my response came across that way to these guys too, so they understood it was just meaningless fun. It was a nightclub, for goodness sake. Was this their first time having a night out at one? Well, it certainly wasn’t mine. I knew the deal, even if these fools didn’t.

“We don’t care about everyone. Just you, pretty girl.”

I glared. “Back off. The night’s over for me.”

“Don’t be so hasty.”

A warning went off in my brain, trying to cut through my drunkenness.

Good luck with that.

Putting one foot in front of the other was about all I could handle.

Although, the frustration quickly building from these dickheads continuing to bother me was definitely ruining my buzz.

“Step aside,” I demanded.

Instead of doing that, one of them slammed their hand into my chest and I stumbled back into the brick wall of the alley.

The two of them were there then crowding me.

My first reaction was to respond with a show of force that would no doubt eclipse theirs.

But in my less-than-sober state I wasn’t in control of my strength. With the added intensity of being set upon like this, it could very easily result in me using accidental fatal force.

The complications associated with that were unfathomable.

Their autopsies would give away the fact that somebody preternaturally strong was responsible, it could expose the existence of the supernatural world to humans and—

My thoughts shut off as fingers skimmed up my thighs.

I jolted against the wall as I looked to see the guy with the long hair feeling me up.

The other leaned in and slicked his tongue over the side of my neck.

I shuddered with revulsion.

Panic took me.

Rage and fear alike collided.

And indignation.

Who the hell did these dickheads think they were?

To come after me?

Me!

I couldn’t stop it then.

That familiar pins and needles sensation took me, taking my whole body.

Warmth gathered in my palms.

It was awakening, rising from its long-term slumber.

My body shook with the intensity.

I couldn’t pull it back.

Heat built.

Nerve endings sparked.

I felt the warmth coiling.

Building.

Building.

And then it happened.

Gold fire burst forth from my palms, exploding in a violent furor.

“Ahh!” I screamed at the intensity.

After remaining dormant for so long, it was a hell of a buildup and once it ruptured into being it was a melding of pleasure and pain—kind of like being pleasured right after orgasming with the sweetness of the pleasure tainted by that edge of pain.

I gazed at my flaming magic, the embers dancing on my palm, relishing their long-denied freedom.

The shock of it all meant it took me a while to notice that the guys were no longer on me.

I scanned my surroundings and located them both on their backs at the far end of the alley.

Unmoving.

“Oh my God,” I breathed.

Before I could do a single thing, a burst of white light assaulted my senses.

When it died down, she appeared right in front of me.

Abigail Rose, the great Fallen, a renowned leader of the supernatural world.

Revered among them all.

A hero.

A legend.

My mom.

She took in the situation quickly, looking from the guys to me.

“I felt your expulsion of power, darling.” She came to me and snatched my hands, her stark abilities able to snuff my magic out in moments.

Well, she was absorbing it for me, because I wasn’t equipped to in my current state, as she’d already clearly discerned with her insane level of perceptiveness.

“Are you all right?” she asked, looking me over for any sign of injury.

I stared up at her, her long, wavy white hair cascading down her back, her cobalt-blue pant suit and her designer shoes. A far cry from my appearance and the look I usually went for which was much more of a bohemian edge. Not to mention, my bright-pink hair and my tattoo sleeves.

Another way in which I’d disappointed her by not presenting myself in the sophisticated and dignified way she’d wanted me to.

As her only daughter, I was technically her heir.

In truth, I was nothing but a fallen heir, long ago fallen from grace.

Inept.

Completely wrong for it all.

For her role.

For the supernatural world as a whole.

I just… didn’t fit.

Being half human and half angel really didn’t help with that whole identity crisis deal.

I always thought I’d managed to make peace with it, with choosing the human world, but then something like this happened.

It was actually my third strike now.

Because of those assholes.

“Alena?” my mom pressed, and it had me realizing that I hadn’t answered her, that my mind had been wandering like crazy in my inebriated and shocked state.

“I… I’m fine. Mom. I think… I think I killed them.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Their hearts still beat.”

I blew out a breath of relief.

Those assholes didn’t deserve my mercy, but I didn’t want to be responsible for taking a life. Allowing them to make me a murderer made me sick.

“They are severely wounded, however.”

The words had barely left her, when she swept over to them.

And then she was there crouching down and pressing a single hand to their chests.

That white glow emanated from her palms, healing them, and I watched their limbs twitch, their heads move as they started to rouse now they were no longer hurt so badly.

Before they woke fully, my mom came to me and swept me up in a cloud of teleportation.

We rematerialized in a field in the middle of nowhere.

Far away from civilization.

“Mom, what are we—”

“Your foray into the human world is done with.”

“What? No, I just—”

“I had to extract their memories of the last few hours. That’s a violation that will require disciplinary action.”

“You don’t have any superiors.”

“I still have to answer to my equals.”

“Elliot Sabre?” I scoffed. “He’s not going to punish you.” He was far too smitten with her to do anything like that.

“That’s not the point. What happened tonight was a risk. It was dangerous. This is the third time, Alena. You have very little control of your powers and I’ve allowed you to deny that huge part of you, hoping you would come to your senses. Yet, you still haven’t. Time is up where that’s concerned. You cannot return to living as a human.”

“I am human. Half.”

“Your angelic half is much stronger. Tonight was a testament to that.”

“It was an accident.”

“One that would never have occurred if you were in control of your abilities.”

I blew out a breath and shoved a hand through my hair.

I couldn’t deny that.

She was speaking the truth.

I just hated hearing it.

“No more running, Alena.”

“What does that mean in practice?”

“Think of it as immersion therapy.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head vehemently.

“I can’t keep what happened tonight off Exemplar’s radar. A violent, uncontrolled expulsion of Nephilim magic would have been felt all over. You’ll be considered a danger. As a result, you have only two choices—hide away under my protection, or embrace your heritage.”

“Mom, I—”

“Knowing how you are, I can’t imagine you’ll be in favor of enduring an isolated and repressed existence and relegated to hiding behind a ward and glamour of my conjuring.”

“I’m not,” I confirmed with an edge I couldn’t keep from my tone.

Recognizing that I was already upset and not in the greatest state at present, and having clearly put together why I’d had a magical expulsion, she didn’t call me on it.

Instead, she stepped forward and told me, “I want what’s best for you. Always. You’re my daughter, the most important being in the world to me. With circumstances being what they are, the best thing for you is to rejoin the supernatural world.”

“I know,” I admitted, another brutal truth I couldn’t turn away from anymore.

Not this time.

“You will attend Electi Academy.”

In that moment, little did I know how much those five words would change my life forever.

How much they would change me.