Wicked Heirs (Electi Academy #1)

27. ~Talon~

27

~Talon~

I winced as Alena was knocked to the ground again by a powerful bolt of magic.

And unnecessarily powerful bolt.

Of Ore’s magic.

He was being so fucking intense.

After claiming the title of her tutor with Professor Edgar Marlowe’s agreement in their Magic in Combat class—something I had no doubt had been pressured by Professor Callum Cornwell—they’d commandeered the Training Hall right after class for the last few days wherein Orpheus and Alena had been going hard at it.

Hard at it.

Really not the way I wanted that phrase to be playing out.

In fact, this obsession Ore had with training her and pushing her further and further had taken away from any fucking—or lovemaking as Xavier called it and wanted us to refer to it as—and even hanging out in our secret place in the woods at the edge of campus.

It had pretty much become the only thing we did, except for going to class together—those few me and X still shared with her now that she’d moved into the advanced level of most things—and eating together once a day, usually for lunch.

And it sucked.

I missed her.

I missed us.

The quality time just wasn’t there and it was compromising our emotional and physical connection.

It had been made all the worse by X hardly being around. Any time the mission came up, he vamp sped off, letting his disapproval be known and his refusal to support it.

It was typical of Orpheus Hart to fixate on what could be coming, instead of the reality of what currently was. Often, he had trouble being in the moment.

And right now was one of the worst I’d seen.

Because of Saryan.

Because of his dangerous Machiavellian plan that basically doubled as a fucking suicide mission—either figuratively with landing him in prison at Valmont, or even literally with him being taken down by Constantine himself when he attempted his dangerous mission.

As much as I doubted Ore would ever really admit it, his father hadn’t been the same since the blow he’d taken during the Cataclysm.

This latest bullshit was proof of that.

He was paranoid, bitter, angry, quick to react in devastating ways, and he was all too willing to risk so much now. Including making Orpheus an orphan.

Yeah, his mom was still alive, but I didn’t count her as being so. She’d left and never kept in contact, so she was dead as far as I was concerned, even though Ore wouldn’t think like that because he had a soft spot and a blind spot when it came to Lenora Hart.

The point was, I knew what it was like to live like that, without family, and I didn’t want that for him. I’d do anything I could to protect him from having to face that nightmare.

And that included supporting this dangerous plan of his.

The one good thing about Xavier not being on board was that if he’d been present during this training, he would have interfered and stopped it from taking place the moment Ore had gotten more aggressive and started kicking Alena’s ass.

“Still holding back!” Orpheus yelled all of a sudden, stepping back from Alena and throwing up his hands with a burst of extreme frustration.

It wasn’t like him.

His patience and capacity for rational thought in the face of extreme circumstances was unparalleled. It just showed how much this situation was getting to him.

His father on a precarious mission, the acolytes back, a way to free that monster, Constantine, now on the table… it was a lot. For all of us. But with his father in play, it was even worse for Orpheus.

“You’re overreacting,” Alena said, calmly. “It’s going fine.”

“ Fine isn’t close to being good enough for what needs to be done!”

“Let’s just continue,” she said, resuming a magical fighting stance that he’d taught her, a stronger one than the one she’d randomly come up with, one that enabled her to shield herself, while also dealing out damage. If she’d followed his instructions. But I’d been observing and it was a case of her being hesitant to do more than one thing at once in case she lost control.

So she’d take a hit just so she didn’t risk that.

Not good at all considering this was practice for going against Saryan Hart. He was a brutal, merciless bastard in battle. He didn’t hesitate. I mean, he might go a little easier on her because of how much she meant to his son, but it wouldn’t be by much. With angel magic in play, he wouldn’t want to take his chances like that.

“Continue? To what end, Alena?” Orpheus bit at her. “More of this half-assed performance?”

“There needs to be a balance!” she yelled back, losing her cool too now. Kudos to her, because it had taken her a while to actually snap even a little, despite the energy coming off Ore the entire time.

“You’re ready now. Ready to go beyond issues with control. So what is this all about? Why pull this weak shit now?”

“I don’t want to kill your father!”

“What?”

“I don’t think you understand the true breadth of my power. I need to be very careful when we’re dealing with an opponent who’s not actually an enemy.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re just making excuses.”

“And you’re just being an ass.”

He threw up his hands. “He’s gonna die anyway if we don’t stop him, Alena!”

“He’s not. And if he’s arrested, I’ll get him out. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get your father back to you if things go south.”

“You say that, but all I see from you is the opposite.”

I was about to step in then, but then I saw emotion swimming in his eyes. It looked like he was barely holding it at bay.

Alena noticed too and she went to reach out to him.

“Don’t,” he said, stepping back so she couldn’t make contact.

He cursed under his breath and then he abruptly spun on his heel, then stormed out.

I held up my hand as Alena went to go after him. “Best if I deal with him right now, firecracker.”

“Okay,” she murmured, shoving a hand through her hair.

I smiled at her. “It’ll be okay.”

I could tell she didn’t believe it any more than I really did.

Shit.

As I headed out, using my phoenix senses to track Ore’s path, I pulled my phone out and fired off a text.

Talon: Training took a turn. Going after Ore, need you to see to Alena.

Xavier: Is she all right? Did Orpheus take it too far?

Talon: It was tough, but she’s fine. It’s him I’m worried about.

Xavier: Because you’ve finally recognized that this mission you’re all on is insane?

Talon: Lock it up for a moment, will you?

Xavier: Fine. Why are you worried about him, firebird?

Talon: He got emotional—angry and then really upset.

Xavier: Hell.

Yeah, he knew how bad and out there it really was for Ore to be in that state.

And he was also aware of how destructive he could become as a result.

Talon: I’ll handle things from this end. You console and explain it to Alena. And please fucking don’t make it worse by trying to tell your dad about the fucking mission.

A couple of days after we’d set things in motion and X had opted out, he’d tried to get a communication through to Elliot Sabre about it all, but Orpheus had anticipated him doing just that and he’d blocked it with his magic.

X hadn’t tried since, knowing that would be another level and basically mean going up against Orpheus, the two of them throwing down.

Xavier: You’ve got it.

Talon: Good.

I pocketed my phone, then used my phoenix senses to pick up Ore’s appetizing cloves scent and track him through the corridors of the academy. The fact he hadn’t simply teleported was actually worrying. It meant that he felt his emotional state was too unstable to risk doing magic.

I found myself outside the gym, not the typical place anyone would expect to find Orpheus Hart. Whenever he worked out, he did so outside. Always. He hated being stuck indoors longer than necessary, hence him needing his garden in his suite.

It was all the more surprising considering the gym was closed for renovations and wouldn’t be open to the student body for another couple of weeks. It was in for an entire redesign which required plans to be drawn up and options to be put on the table, rather than just a quick magical fix or something.

The door was ajar, the place barely lit inside.

I pulled on my stealth abilities and slipped through, keeping to the shadows.

I heard commotion coming from the far end somewhere, near the small locker room and shower area. It was small because students had their own chambers, but sometimes it was faster after a workout between classes to quickly shower where they were at instead of heading to their suite—not everybody had vampire, or phoenix, speed.

As I drew closer to the sounds, I was able to make out two sets of voices. The first was most definitely Ore’s and he was a mixture of irate and devastated. And the other was… Professor Cornwell?

What was going on? It wasn’t one of the scheduled Obsidian meetings with him.

And what was Orpheus doing in here with him?

Obviously meeting in secret.

Yeah, I’d got that much.

Why, though?

I leaned against a nearby wall a few feet from the entrance to the showers and listened.

“I’m dealing with amateurs! After all my ball-busting work pushing them to be who they need to be for the inevitability of that psychopathic bastard returning, and this is what I get! More walls! More disappointment! More weakness! More fucking stress! I need them to be ready now, especially her! My father… fuck. I can’t… I can’t do this, Callum.”

Callum?

“Of course you can. And you are. This is just a wall, another to obliterate as you do so well, as you have done many times over.”

“No. It’s… it’s hopeless.”

“You feel helpless, not as strong or as prepared as you need to be, and I understand. After that meeting with your father, anyone would. He’s left little room for anyone to act, to be able to stop him from this foolish kamikaze action. But you will. You always find a way.”

“I need her to do this with me. I can’t take him alone.”

“All this effort I’ve gone to, all the carefully laid plans and manipulations to get Alena to where she needs to be and it’s still not enough. There may not be a choice for me now. I may have to go it alone.”

“You won’t be alone. I’ll go into battle with you before I allow that to happen.”

“You’re retired going on a decade.”

“Dabbling in black magic a little too deeply will do that to a sorcerer. But one battle will be fine.”

“Like an alcoholic who thinks they can have a drink out of the blue and be fine?”

“I practice here. I wouldn’t be able to teach if I didn’t.”

“Combat is different. In fact, that’s where you first went dark, right?”

“It is, but that was then.”

“Fuck, Callum, I can’t… I can’t calm down.”

“I know. The last time you were in this state was after the Cataclysm when you left the DFR and began your time here.”

“The week we met.”

“And what a week it was.”

“I remember. Vividly.”

“Mmm, I believe it went something like this…”

I heard a thud in the next moment.

Startled and worried, I used my phoenix speed and stealth as one to blur closer and around the corner so I could get a look right at the showers while also remaining out of sight.

I choked at the visual that greeted me.

There Professor Cornwell was on his knees, one hand shoving down Ore’s leather pants, and the other pressed to his stomach, holding him against the wall, his amber magic glowing and effectively being used to pin Ore there.

I sucked in a breath as Ore’s cock sprung free and then Cornwell was there slicking his tongue all over his shaft.

“Fuck… yeah… drench my cock,” Ore rasped, throwing his head back.

“There it is, my dirty Fae prince, relax for me,” Cornwell murmured between licks and nips to Ore’s shaft. “Such a pretty cock.”

He dove down and took Ore right to the back of his throat.

“Ungh… yeah,” Ore groaned. “Swallow me whole, Professor.”

He pulled at Cornwell’s long silver hair, fisting and tugging as he rolled his hips, moving with him.

Cornwell allowed it, before executing a dominating move that surprised me—Ore didn’t usually go in for that.

With a flash of his amber fire, Ore’s hands were tugged above his head, then bound to the wall with shimmering amber cuffs. The same happened to his ankles, leaving him completely immobile and at Cornwell’s mercy.

Cornwell smirked and pulled off Ore’s cock, telling him, “You need to release all that pent-up rage and upset. You’re going to let go completely. You’ll moan, beg, and scream for me. You’ll shatter in ecstasy as I play your pretty body to my will.”

“Ah, fuck,” Ore groaned.

“Yes, you like that, don’t you, my dirty Fae prince?”

Ore nodded, clearly beside himself, because he basically begged next, “Need your mouth on my cock.”

Cornwell stroked Ore’s shaft with teasing, slow movements that had his cock twitching. With a flick of his magic, he had Ore’s shirt gone, so he was standing there bound against the wall with just his pants and boxers around his ankles, while Professor Cornwell was fully-clothed in a black pinstripe Armani suit.

It was as fucked as it was smoking hot.

“Where else do you need me?”

“My balls.”

Cornwell slid his fingers lower, grazing Ore’s balls with his nails and making him buck against the wall.

“Where else, pretty prince?”

“Ah… fuck… taint.”

A long groan left him as Cornwell teased him there with his pinky finger.

“Your answer is incomplete,” he said, like a professor.

That was the first thing I seen of him in professor-mode since I’d walked in to see this sordid scene playing out and him, a member of the faculty who was decades of supernatural years older than his student, taking advantage of his state and using him.

The only reason I hadn’t stepped forward was because I knew Orpheus was stronger than him, that he could have stopped it if he wanted. Instantly. It was also working to calm him down like he’d desperately needed.

But beyond what was happening now, that had to be it.

I had to intervene and stop this fucked-up relationship they obviously had going—something me and X had no clue about. And according to their conversation, it had been happening since Ore had enrolled here? What the ever-loving shit?

A flash of magic drew my attention back to them and I watched as Cornwell levitated a fancy Mont Blanc pen from his pocket in front of Ore’s face.

A second later, he flicked his hand, and it buried halfway down his throat, making him gag as it pounded in and out of his mouth.

“Use your tongue, get it nice and slick. Believe me, you’ll want it that way.”

My dick jerked as I watched Ore’s tongue come into play, swirling wildly around it as he took the face-fucking, a bit of a degrading face-fucking with it being a pen forced down his throat, and stabbing like that.

It was ripped out with Cornwell’s magic in the next second, and then it shot through the air and slid into Ore’s asshole.

Real slow, twisting as it drove deeper and deeper.

“Motherfuck… ungh,” Ore gasped.

He shuddered as it must have hit his sweet spot.

“Yeah… fuck… fucking… ungh. Suck… suck me, Professor… please.”

“Good little prince.”

In the next moment, Cornwell drove down onto his cock, bobbing furiously and taking him deep and sloppily, making Ore lose his shit and fight against his binds to buck his hips like a wild thing.

“Yeah, don’t stop… don’t fucking stop… yes!”

The pen picked up pace, matching Cornwell’s blowjob, and Ore strained against the cuffs, panting heavily, sweat pouring down his brow and his sexy cut torso.

“Make me come… ungh… shit.”

Cornwell chuckled around his mouthful of cock, then grabbed Ore’s balls, twisting and pulling, giving him that bite of pain that he needed.

And that was it, Ore lost it, roaring out into the room as he came.

Cornwell pulled off his cock while he was still shooting his load, and he gathered all that delicious hot cum and spread it over Ore’s nose, mouth, and chin, adding more degradation to the mix.

Then he grinned and rose to his feet, and started lapping it all up, telling Ore how impressed he was with him, how hot he was when he came, how pretty his cock was.

With a flick of his hand, he released the binds, and then they were wrapping their arms around each other, Cornwell stroking Ore’s naked back as his fully-suited form pressed against all that bare skin.

It took me several moments to regain my equilibrium.

And then I took off out of the gym in another covert blur.

I stopped down the corridor and leaned against the wall, trying to get a handle on what I’d just witnessed.

The fucking, the talk about manipulating Alena right from the start, Ore struggling more than I’d even realized… all of it.

Holy. Fucking. Hell.