Wicked Heirs (Electi Academy #1)

14. ~Orpheus~

14

~Orpheus~

Xavier was being a smooth bastard.

He’d picked Alena up from her chambers for their date dressed all dapper in a pair of his nicest navy blue designer jeans and a gray sports jacket. He’d actually forgone his usual hoodie or denim shirt look for her. That said a hell of a lot, because those were his comfort clothes. For her part, she looked magnificent and unbelievably sexy as usual, this time in a turquoise crop top that was decorated with a golden leaf design, a pair of white wide-leg pants and then jeweled sandals completing her look.

Xavier had even driven her down here in his pimped-out midnight-black RAM truck.

If he’d clued me in, I would’ve suggested he asked Tal for his neon-orange Corvette ZR1 for the night. Given that she drove a sweet Mustang, it was a sure thing that she would’ve appreciated such an impressive ride.

But he hadn’t.

He hadn’t come to me.

He hadn’t told me a thing about this little date of theirs.

They were dining at a cute little patisserie café in town. He’d even had the staff set up a table complete with candles and her favorite sweet foods and drinks. I’d learned through my observations of her that she had a real sweet tooth.

Xavier was really pulling on the romantic side of himself this afternoon.

Fortunately, he had no trouble walking in the sun. The first was because of the magic flowing through his veins from his sorcerer side. But should his power weaken, his father had added a failsafe in the form of one of Xavier’s tattoos, specifically the one over his heart that was a tree of life with a sun behind it in deep indigo—the color of Elliot Sabre’s magic.

I’d been watching them since I’d caught sight of him settling her into his car, then I’d followed them down here, using the brief breach of the dome that Xavier had requested, in order to get through myself without having to risk using my magic to get the job done.

I’d intended to hop on my Harley V-Rod to follow them, but something had come over me and I’d let my wings loose instead.

I stroked them absently as I watched Xavier and Alena across the street from my position on the treetop. My wings were charcoal-gray with a leathery texture, a cross between a bat’s and a dragon’s wings, really, just obviously not as mammoth as the latter. At the tips there were silver spikes, both functioning as adornments and as useful assets during battle.

It had been so long since I’d had them out and then even flown that it was a relief I hadn’t even realized I’d needed that had come over me, that had calmed me somewhat.

Probably the only thing preventing me from storming into the café and breaking up Alena and Xavier’s romantic fucking afternoon out together.

Their time together than should’ve also been mine.

But she’d claimed she couldn’t trust me.

No, not even that, because it was to be expected, the need to build that trust over time. She couldn’t even begin to start on the road to trusting me.

“You’re enamored right now, but when this connection is no longer new, it’s quite plausible that this issue between us could revitalize and cause a shitstorm—again.”

It wouldn’t.

There wouldn’t be a shitstorm.

I’d made the definitive decision to back off with targeting her and I wouldn’t go back on that. I’d promised her and myself.

More than that, I didn’t have the desire to do anything like that any longer.

I hadn’t for a while.

Ever since she’d gotten under my skin.

“Tell me why you hated me, why you hated my mom. The whole story.”

I’d considered giving her what she’d asked for, what she believed she needed from me.

But it was fraught with complications.

She might not take it well.

I’d managed to make the distinction between her and her mother, to move beyond all that, and I didn’t want anything dragging it all back.

And there was also the matter of the personal aspect attached to it. I’d have to reveal that along with the rest and then she’d see deeper into me than I was ready for at this juncture. She’d see vulnerability from me. I didn’t do that. I didn’t reveal anything that even came close to being classed as a weakness. Especially not at this early stage with someone. My boys were the exception, but we had grown close for a long time before I’d even been able to let my guard down slightly.

I’d already given Alena a little bit of that when I’d dropped Obsidian’s targeting of her. It had shown her that I’d been affected by her. Anymore right now didn’t sit right with me.

I gritted my teeth as I watched Alena throw her head back in genuine and utter carefree laughter in response to something that Xavier had just told her.

I watched as he made a theatrical hand gesture that Elliot Sabre was known for, one of his signature moves when he was performing magic, and it had Alena laughing again and Xavier joining her when she responded with one of her own. Well, it wasn’t one of her gestures when she performed a spell, I’d seen hers for myself already. No, it had to be her mother’s.

I was well aware that their parents were familiars.

So X was drawing on that bond right now between them.

Something I didn’t share with her, that I couldn’t because of who my father was.

Even Tal had a bond to her from the past, one he was aware of now—her attempting to save his parents.

Mine wasn’t a bond and the thing itself was immersed in nothing but hatred.

Not the greatest foundation to build something on.

And if I told her about it, that would be exactly what it would become.

But if I didn’t, she’d keep blowing me off and keeping me at a distance.

Motherfuck, it was a quandary and a half.

There was a positive side to it, though.

She wouldn’t be pushing this if she hadn’t wanted to get closer to me, which suggested that the night we’d spent together had gotten under her skin as much as it had mine.

I looked to see Alena handing her hot chocolate topped with a ton of whipped cream and multicolored marshmallows over to Xavier. He took it easily—he had a bit of a sweet tooth as well, when it came to those sublimating Red Vines of his. He surprised me as he took a sip, then ran his tongue over his lips, savoring it while locking eyes with her. He was flirting and even doing a little more than that. Alena’s eyes lit up as she got the message—he was opening up to her a little from his sexually-repressed standpoint.

It was much faster than I’d anticipated.

Then again, she did bring that need out in a man.

Fuck, did she.

Or maybe it was just us with the whole allure of darkness that the four of us shared. We were named Obsidian for a reason and she had her deep issues with the dark that she’d expressed to me in no uncertain terms. That could be what was drawing us together, the thing that was predominantly behind the pull we felt toward one another.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a text.

Talon: How’s your afternoon working out?

What? Since when did he check in on me like this?

Orpheus: You angling for a taste of my cock?

It had been a while. I just hadn’t felt so inclined. It was all Alena’s fault, getting inside my head and entrenching herself there.

Talon: Nah, took care of it myself. Rain check?

Orpheus: What’s going on?

Talon: Nothing. Why?

Orpheus: As soon as I mention it, you jump right on it. No matter where or when. Quite literally sometimes.

Talon: I know your focus is elsewhere. And you know I need your full attention when that kind of thing goes down between us.

Orpheus: My focus? What are you talking about?

Talon: Maybe I’m getting at the fact of you being secluded in the trees a few feet from me while you stake out X and Alena’s date.

Fuck.

I swung my head either way.

My phone buzzed again.

Talon: A few feet below me. Sorry, should’ve specified.

Sure enough, as I looked up and to my right a little, I spotted him there partially concealed by the trees, hovering, his phoenix wings—a beautiful and intricate blend of orange, red, and golden hues—outstretched and flapping away.

I pocketed my phone and gestured for him to join me on the sturdy tree branch that could hold both our weights.

He carefully descended then landed right beside me, tucking his wings away before dematerializing them from view with a little bit of magic, just like I did in the very next moment.

“What are you doing out here?” I asked quietly.

We had to keep it to whispers with a vampire being the target of our observations. While Xavier was over a hundred feet away in the café, his hearing rage was vast. It depended on his diet and strength at the time, as well as his concentration levels as to how far away he could make out a sound. Considering he was drinking from human blood bags now after Alena had pulled some strings, he was stronger than he had been since I’d known him, so it was impossible to gauge now. So, best to be safe.

“I followed you. The real question is what are you doing here encroaching on this date of theirs?”

“I’m not encroaching.”

He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his tight black pants. “Oh, I’m sorry, stalking.”

“I’m merely observing.”

“You’re gonna have to come up with something better than that shit-tastic excuse if they catch us out here.”

“And why has it become a we?”

He pulled his hands from his pockets and folded them across his chest, shifting his weight. “I figured you could do with some company.”

I frowned. “Is this about your cock again? Or mine?”

“No!” he whisper-yelled back at me. “You sex-obsessed fucker. It’s me wanting to support my friend, my brother-in-arms.”

When I just stared at him, he threw up his hands. “Is that really so hard to believe?”

“Normally, no. But I presumed you were angry with me for the revelation that I forced on you.”

“I was upset, yeah, but I get why you did it. You know me well, I need things shoved in my face to actually take notice sometimes.” He reached out and grasped my shoulder. “You helped me by doing that. By showing me the truth, especially when it comes to her.”

“And Constantine.”

It wasn’t a question, but a statement so sure in its conviction.

“Yeah. Alena could’ve saved them, but he stopped her. I saw it, I saw it all. And I felt her pain at being forced away too.” He dropped his hand from my shoulder. “Are you planning to tell her about the other aspect of Obsidian , the real reason it was actually formed?”

“No. At least not yet. It’s not time.”

“Too early, I get it. Although, I heard what she asked of you. If you can’t give her that, I just thought revealing the truth about Obsidian could be something you could give her in its place.”

“It’s too volatile at this juncture.”

“I’m sorry things aren’t going the way you want with her.”

“It is what it is.”

“I didn’t exactly help by tearing down there like a bat out of hell and ruining your time with her. The least I can do is try to fix that in any way I can, to help you.”

“And you like her too.”

“What? I… no. I mean, yeah, she’s a real firestorm of a woman. She’s hot as hell. And she’s got that darker edge that I’m all for. She’s a free spirit too and that shit turns me the fuck on. But I don’t think… I mean…” His eyes went wide. “All right, fuck, it seems that I like her, yeah.”

And he’d only just realized it.

That made due sense with the way that Talon rarely allowed himself to experience the full range of emotions, as he’d been stuck in grief, pain, and rage for so long. If he was starting to open up now, which it certainly seemed like with the way he’d just spoken about Alena, then it was expected that he’d been lagging behind in that area.

I leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Good boy.”

He beamed out at me, always delighting in me calling him that.

“The first step is recognizing it.”

He arched an eyebrow. “And the next?”

“Doing something about it, of course.”

We both watched then as Xavier and Alena leaned in across the table and kissed.

Not just a peck on the cheek or forehead, but an intense, all-consuming kiss where he was fisting her hair and she was digging her nails into his sports jacket.

A current of indignation shot through me.

In my mind’s eye, I recognized that it was rooted in jealously, which I considered a weakness from people, but I just couldn’t seem to care in that moment as I watched her growing closer to Xavier, as I watched the two of them solidifying their bond, the both of them dropping their guards and being rewarded for it, being happy for it.

Something I couldn’t obtain at this stage.

Maybe ever.

I felt Talon watching my reaction.

Before I could call him on it, he announced, “I have an idea.”

“I’m listening.”

“She needs a gentle reminder—as does X—that she’s also yours.”

Hmm. “I couldn’t agree more.”

They’d just ordered a Snickertini each, clearly the wind down to their date. As soon as the ridiculously sweet alcoholic drinks arrived, the two of them ventured out to the patio.

Fortunately, the staff immediately set up several more candles for their romantic fucking date.

“Phew,” Tal breathed as we watched them settle into their new seats. “That would’ve fucked with what we’re about to do.”

Yes, the candles were key. “We’re fine.”

I saw a spark of Alena’s magic a moment before she dipped her finger into Xavier’s drink and it changed color. She was adding blood in for him.

He looked so touched as he realized, and it had me considering stopping this interference for a second.

But then he sank his hand into her hair and softly stroked the pink strands, the intimacy of it really not doing my jealousy any favors.

In fact, it settled it—this was happening.

Fucking jealous? Me? The Dark Prince? It was absurd. Yet it was reality at this juncture.

Talon held out his hand to me. “Ready?”

I gave a nod, then took his hand in a steadfast grip and closed my eyes as I called on my magic and brought a specific memory to the surface at the same time.

As I felt my power rise, I heard a choked sound from Talon as it flowed into him. It was a lot to take without a doubt. His hand shook in my grip for a few moments, before he was able to get a handle on it.

“I have control. I can feel your glamour is also in place, so only the two of them will see, not the humans in the café,” he told me. “Here goes nothing.”

“Give it to them, baby bird.”

I opened my eyes now I had the spell steady and melding with his, and I looked as he worked his fire magic, circling his free left hand while the other clasped mine tightly so we could combine our efforts of his ability to manipulate fire and mine to do a whole lot more.

The candles on their table flickered, the flames dancing, before starting to rage and providing more surface area.

“Now,” Tal spoke to himself, a second before the images of my memory appeared in the flames like a combination of a video and a hologram.

It depicted the memory of my night with Alena.

Flesh on flesh.

Passion unadulterated.

And a whole lot of down and dirty.

I could hear the sounds thanks to my connection to the spell.

“That’s right, my dirty little angel, come all over my cock.”

“Ah… fuck. Fuck me, Orpheus!”

“Ungh, yeah. There it is. Break for me, Alena.”

“Damn, that’s some hot shit,” Talon commented.

I smirked. “Did you really expect anything less?”

“From a dirty and depraved bastard like you? Absolutely not.”

We observed the shift in their demeanors, the two of them tensing as they took in the sight before them.

Alena’s cheeks heated and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Xavier’s eyes narrowed and then he slammed his fist down on the table, pissed that the mood and their romantic date had now been torn right through in the blink of an eye.

Alena shoved her hand through her hair, then blew out two of the candles.

And then Xavier snapped his fingers and extinguished the remainder.

But even with it gone, the damage had already been done.

I smiled to myself.

Ah, magnificent.