Smoke and Survival (Best Wishes Book 2)

by A. J. Macey

  We filed out into the hallway, Troy falling into formation behind us when we reached the lobby. All of us were quiet, lost in thought. I could tell based on our body language that we were all shaken up about how real Noah’s threat was. Not that we didn’t know it before, but this time he got too close to our Lucie. I kept thinking as we made our way back to the library. Regardless if Dean Renaud thought the room was too small for all of us, I knew none of us would leave her side tonight. Lucie went through her nighttime routine as the guys situated extra pillows and blankets around the room. After emerging from the bathroom in pajamas, she gave each of us a quick kiss and a mumbled good night before sinking into a deep sleep, the events of the day catching up to her. There was a soft pop in my head of the mind link Hudson always kept open for times when we needed to discuss private matters.

  “I’m going to kill him.” Landon’s voice filled my mind, his rage palpable in the biting words as he curled his hands into white knuckled fists.

  “I second the urge, but our main focus needs to be keeping Lucie safe,” I commanded.

  “She’d be safe if he was dead.” Landon’s eyes flashed black as he stared at me from his seated position in the corner near her dresser, his horns curled out of his messy hair.

  “We’ll deal with how to handle Noah when we get him. For now, we need to figure out how to make sure Lucie is safe and as happy as she can be right now.” My tone conveyed that the previous conversation was over.

  “Make sure at least one of us is with her at all times,” Cam tossed out, joining in the mental conversation.

  “Having security nearby at all times will help,” Logan added. The longer we talked the more Landon’s horns and blackened eyes changed back into his human form.

  “If it seems she’s struggling too much, as a last resort I can try and soothe some of the fear and stress,” Hudson suggested. His empathy not only gave him access to feel others’ emotions, but he had another complementary power that allowed him to alter them. It was typically considered rude and was highly discouraged, but we couldn’t rule out his power to help if the situation was bad enough and Lucie gave her permission. I nodded in agreement, thinking through anything else we could do.

  “I could get in contact with…” Logan started, before I cut him off.

  “No, absolutely not. You got out, and I’m not going to let you go back to that. Lucie’s safety is a priority, but I’m not willing to risk you turning to any of them in the process,” I bit out, my voice hard and cold as I addressed him. I got why he would suggest it, the twins knew a lot of people in not so great places, but their welfare was my responsibility, as was Lucie’s. I will keep my family safe, I chanted internally, not allowing the words to filter into the telepathic link Hudson had opened.

  “I second Dante. As easy as it would be to turn to them, your safety could be at risk. I’ll see if I can get in touch with anyone who can trace or track him,” Cam added into the conversation, his eyes darting to Nik who nodded in agreement.

  “All right, Cam and Nik, see if you can find someone. Hudson, monitor her emotional state. We can’t let it get too bad. If it seems like it’s taking a turn for the worst, we’ll talk with her. Logan, Landon, and I will keep an eye out for him or any suspicious students. Got it?” Mental hums of agreement and physical nods went up around the group showing we were all on the same page. I nodded before we all started to shuffle into our designated sleeping areas. My arm curled around Lucie’s tiny waist, her body heat radiating against me as she curled sleepily into Hudson on the other side of her. No matter how hard I tried to fall asleep, I stared at the pale olive walls until the early hours of the morning, too close echoing through my thoughts.

  11

  November 15th

  Thursday Afternoon

  Lucienne

  The library buzzed with quiet activity; students filled all of the study tables and a majority of the leather chairs. I was seated next to Sadie with Benji across the table from her. Both were buried in their classwork, neither speaking after starting their assignments. Despite their protests against me being out of their immediate eyesight, the guys were tucked away in the library office with Alex discussing what to do with the Noah situation.

  My attention darted around the room at the thought of Noah. I didn’t spy his messy dark hair, but I spotted Troy. He wasn’t in his uniform as he reclined in a leather chair right by our table, his gaze flittering around the room every few seconds. Feeling a quick burst of comfort at his presence, I tried to get back to some semblance of work. Books scattered around the shiny wood surface in front of us as I focused on my near blank notebook page, the topic for my persuasive speech the only words on the paper.

  Do you think there should be more separation between supernaturals and humans within society? Why or why not?

  My brain was short circuiting the longer I stared at the words, irritable and cranky with lack of sleep. How the hell should I know? I barely know anything about what it’s like being a supe within a human-dominated community.

  A bag dropped with a thud at the end of the table, and Elijah’s fire red hair came into view. The waves of his hair flipped over his pale and freckled forehead. Gabe, in his typical plaid shirt, showed up next to me at the end of the table, sitting down softly into his chair whereas Elijah flopped like a dead fish into his before slumping over to his bag.

  “Hey,” Gabe greeted the table politely, his bright white teeth shining against his darker complexion. I flashed a friendly smile to both of them when Elijah sat up straight, a heavy textbook and notebook in his hands.

  “Hey, guys, how’s it going?” Benji looked up from his notes, his pen falling to the wayside. Sadie’s head also popped up, her purple frames tilting crookedly on her nose at the sharp movement.

  “Not bad,” Gabe started softly.

  “Speak for yourself, I have so much damn homework,” Elijah interrupted, his pitiful groan making me chuckle.

  “Maybe you should have worked on it throughout the week so it wouldn’t be as bad,” Sadie lectured, her eyebrow raising as she teased the ginger sitting across from me. I sat silently, listening to their back and forth banter, a smile permanently affixed to my face at their easygoing teasing. I forced my attention away from their conversation in an attempt to concentrate on my debate speech. At some point though, I must have spaced off because Elijah’s hand waved in front of my face over the lined paper I was staring at blankly. I snapped my head up and looked at him, and a smirk teased his lips as he attempted to hide his laughter.

  “So,” he started, his forearms coming to rest on the table, his book unopened in front of him. “The other day I saw that friend of yours who punched Claire in the face. Why was she here?” Despite his head tilted toward the table, I saw Gabe peeking at me through his lashes waiting for my answer. Sadie and Benji were back in their homework world not listening to anything happening at the table.

  “She just stopped by to pick up cookie tins for my mom,” I fibbed, not wanting to get into the background of the real reason. “Why?” My eyebrow raised, my lip curling on its own accord as I leaned forward mimicking Elijah’s position. “Do you want to see her?” A blush flamed on his cheeks almost as red as his hair, and he scoffed lightly playing off my question.

  “Good one, Lucie. Nah, I was just wondering.” He waved a hand in the air looking anywhere but at me. Oh, he’s got it bad, I thought, turning to look at Gabe whose eyes had lit up at the topic of my human best friend.

  “What about you, Gabe? Do you want to see her?” I ignored Elijah who was shooting looks at his best friend trying to keep him from talking. Taking a deep breath, Gabe answered.

  “Yes, I wasn’t sure if she liked us or if she would be open to something like you and your guys have.” His words were soft, not wanting to pull attention from those around us. I gave a large triumphant smile to him and Elijah.

  “Good thing for you guys,” I taunted quietly, my dimples strong on my cheeks with how wide my smile
was. “She wants to see you two as well. She gave me permission to give her number to you two if you wanted it.” They both went slack jawed as they stared, stunned by my news. I held out a hand waiting for one of their phones. Elijah recovered first, unlocking his phone and handing it over for me to program in Charlie’s information before doing the same with Gabe’s.

  “Thanks, Lucie.” Elijah’s voice was filled with sincerity as his fingers flew over his phone screen. Gabe echoed a similar sentiment.

  “No problem, now let’s actually get homework done,” I chided Elijah in particular since he hadn’t done any work in the last half hour he had been sitting there. His groan had me chuckling, but internally I agreed as I stared at my topic. Ugh is right.

  November 16th

  Friday Morning

  Lucienne

  My sneaker clad foot hit a root that was sticking out of the moist dirt. I stumbled, wasting precious time, before I righted myself and continued my sprint, the sound of steps closing in behind me on the trail. I pushed harder, my breath coming in hard puffs of clouds in front of me. Cold, rough fingers brushed against the back of my neck…

  My alarm sounded startling me from my vividly real nightmare. Arms shaking with adrenaline, I pushed to a sitting position, my heart racing in my chest. Hudson’s warm arm slid down my side onto my lap as I moved. He didn’t stir despite the continued dinging of my alarm. I shut it off and gently moved his arm off my hip and onto the spot I had just vacated. I slipped silently into the bathroom, immediately brushing my teeth and turning the shower knob; the sound of the running water filled the air.

  Steam from the shower billowed out of the bathroom as I collected my clothes for the day. I quietly pulled the bathroom door closed and undressed, removing my bandage so I could check out how my wound looked before the mirror fogged up. I was relieved to see that it was healing nicely despite all the exercise I’d been doing. I probably wouldn’t need the bandage anymore since it no longer bled, but I wanted to check with Cam to be sure. The bruise was dark in the center, but the edges had started to shift from the deep blues and purples to more of an ugly yellowy brown. The scabs on the punctures were starting to itch more and more, and I had to force myself not to rub them throughout the day. My focus turned to my face; the bruised cheek had healed quicker than my chest since the bruising had been less severe and was almost completely gone. The checking on the progress of my healing complete, I stepped into the shower.

  The hot water chased away the last of the effects from the nightmare. I pushed through washing my hair and the rest of my routine, fighting the urge to stand under the hot stream for the remainder of the morning. Have to get ready for work, I reminded myself. I turned the fogged-up handle to off and slipped the towel off the bar. As I rubbed the soft material against my skin I heard Hudson rustling around in the bed. I was one step out of the tub when a light knock sounded on the door.

  “Come in,” I shot out, pulling my second foot out of the tub making sure the towel was secure around my chest.

  The door squeaked open, and a sleepy-eyed Hudson poked his head into the bathroom. His black hair was sticking out in the most adorable way, his honey-colored chest barely visible through the crack of the door. His eyes zeroed in on the striped towel that I had tightly wrapped around me.

  “Good morning, sunshine.” I leaned over and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek, but he was still staring at the towel. Clearly not a morning person. I chuckled at his dumbfounded expression. The kiss seemed to jolt him out of his stupor.

  “Good morning, Princess, when did you get up?” The usual warmth of his voice was thick with exhaustion. He pushed the bathroom door open the rest of the way and stepped into the quickly dispersing steam cloud.

  “About twenty minutes ago. You were still passed out, and I didn’t want to wake you. I only got up so early so we both had time to shower.” I spritzed my leave in conditioner onto my hair and ran a brush through the long strands. Hudson reached behind the shower curtain and turned the shower back on. The steam started to build again as he stretched up toward the ceiling, his back popping. I stored my brush back in the medicine cabinet and turned to face Hudson. A sense of peace filled me at the normality of our morning routine.

  This is what normal is like. A bubble of hope filled my chest chasing away the darkness that had seeped in the last few weeks of the fucked up game of cat and mouse Noah had been playing. Is it too early to love someone? I immediately pushed the thought down. You haven’t even been with them for two weeks yet, I chided myself. I placed a hand on Hudson’s warm chest, and he brought his lips to mine in a soft kiss before I headed back into my bedroom, pulling the door closed behind me.

  A half hour later, Hudson and I exited my room into the back hallway meeting the Head of Security outside the “Employees Only” door. I gave a small nod and a quiet ‘good morning’ that still seemed to echo around us. The library was fairly empty in the early morning since most people were still sleeping. I sat behind the desk and signed into the system, taking over for Muriel who was shuffling around in her office. Hudson plopped onto the stool next to me and flipped through one of the books for his classes. Once he reached the page he needed, he hunched over his notebook and started taking notes. My phone vibrated, and panic seized my chest as I pulled my phone out of my pocket, only easing when it read Cam instead of Unknown Number.

  “Hey, Cam,” I greeted softly, not wanting to disturb the couple of students spread throughout the study tables.

  “Hey, Doll. We’re grabbing coffee and breakfast from Coffeeology, what do you want?” The bustling in the background gave away that he and the rest of my guys were shuffling out the door.

  “Just tell Em it’s for me, she’ll know what to get me,” I responded. Turning to Hudson, I asked, “What do you want from Coffeeology?” After relaying his order, I hung up, ignoring the thirteen unread messages. The guys knew if they wanted to reach me to either call or contact whichever guy was with me. It had been odd last night having only one of them stay with me. Every night leading up to that they had all stayed, but sleeping cramped around my small room was too difficult, so they finally gave in and took the temporary rooms in the Administration Housing building.

  “Lucie, hon.” Muriel’s grey hair and wrinkled face poked out from the office door. I spun on my stool to look at her. “I have several rare books that need to be returned to the basement. Would you be able to take those for me? Stairs no longer get along with this frail old body.” She chuckled as I rolled my eyes. She knew very well my thoughts on her “frail body.” She’s one of the nimblest people I know. I took the three books in their protective coverings from Muriel’s age-spotted hands and squeezed around Hudson on his stool.

  “Hudson, you want to come with?” I asked, pushing open the half door that separated the study area from behind the desk. He closed his textbook and slid it under the raised section of the counter.

  “Where are we headed?” he whispered, peeking around my shoulder at the books.

  “The basement.” I turned down the aisle we took earlier out from my room.

  “The library has a basement?” Eyebrows furrowed, his question was colored with surprise. My lips curled into a smile at his reaction. I nodded and looked over at him.

  “Yes, it does, it’s where all the rare items are kept. I overheard Muriel talking with several professors about a special exhibit for the spring semester. I’m sure I’ll be getting roped into coming back from winter break early to help with set up since Muriel and I really are the only ones who can navigate down here,” I explained, turning on the light switch at the stop of the stairs after we had slipped back through the “Employees Only” door. The first door wasn’t locked, but the steel door at the bottom of the stairs was accessed with a key card. I swiped my employee badge and pushed the heavy door open with my shoulder after I heard the click. I flipped another switch illuminating the large, crowded basement. Display cases, locked storage cages, large bookshelves housing rare bo
oks in protective covers, like the ones I was returning, and randomly placed concrete columns cluttered the open space.

  “Wow.” Hudson’s exclamation was breathy, jaw open, eyes wide as they darted around the basement. “This is amazing.” He took more in-depth looks at the display cases trailing behind me as I wove in and out toward the bookshelf where these books called home. “Cam would love this, Nik too.”

  “Why’s that?” I questioned, finally seeing the shelf in the sea of objects.

  “Cam’s aunt and uncle are historians, and they work fairly closely with Nik’s parents who are archivists and curators for museums around the world.” His explanation caused my eyebrows to raise.

  “What about Cam’s parents? Are they in the same field?” I slid the first book into its slot. Silence greeted me, and when Hudson didn’t respond I turned to see him rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at the ground. “What?” Worry wormed into my chest at his expression.

  “Cam’s parents were killed when he was little; his mom’s brother and his wife adopted Cam after it happened. He was five, so most of his memories are of growing up with them. He grew to love history like his aunt and uncle.” My heart felt like it had been ripped from my chest. I had completely forgotten when Cam had talked about his parents. I squeezed my eyes shut to will away the tears that built. I thought it was bad not knowing who my parents were, but I couldn’t imagine what it was like having them and then losing them. I would be absolutely devastated if I lost my mom. I didn’t know what else to say as I slid the second book onto the shelf, so I remained quiet. “Can I ask you something completely random that has nothing to do with all of that?” His voice was quiet, and he avoided looking at me when I turned to him clutching the third volume to my chest.

  He’s so nervous. “Of course, Hudson.” I made sure my voice was friendly to ease the tension in his shoulders. My eyebrows drew low over my eyes as I watched him fiddle with his jacket zipper.