Smoke and Survival (Best Wishes Book 2)

by A. J. Macey

  “Lie,” Agent Bronstad cut him off. “I want the truth.” His words trailed off in a growl. I could see the gears turning in Troy’s head as he stared at the agents, but before he could come up with another lie, both men stood. “We’ll be back in a while.”

  “Come on.” Dr. Tanner nudged both the dean and me out into the hallway. We followed Agents Jenkins and Bronstad down to Noah’s room, us splitting off into the observation room.

  They followed the similar procedure only this time they didn’t say anything, just sitting in silence, staring. I watched with fascination; I hadn’t been as interested in something like this since I had started playing Kohl. Noah tried to stay still and stoic, but after we passed the one minute mark, he started to squirm. After the two minute mark, he finally spoke.

  “What do you two want?” he sneered as they continued to stare. Agent Bronstad glared coolly at the psychopath across from him as he leaned his forearms on the table.

  “Why’d you ask Lucie about her powers?” Noah’s face cracked, just barely, but I saw it. A sliver of uncertainty widened his eyes before he slipped back into his apathetic mask.

  “Because I wanted to see if she was valuable,” he played off, shrugging. Dr. Tanner’s brow furrowed, head tilted.

  “What’s happening?” I realized something was going on telepathically. Dr. Tanner looked similar to how Hudson does when he communicates.

  “He’s not lying, necessarily, but there’s a weird note to it. Like it isn’t the full story.” I turned back to the piece of shit who had hurt our girl, paying particular attention to his body movements. His face was stone cold, eyes closed off, but his fist tightened just enough.

  “Why would she need to be useful?” Agent Jenkins took over questioning. The scumbag shrugged but didn’t answer. “You know supes who would find her useful, it’s not just for yourself.” At his words, Noah paled. Bingo. Despite the surge of victory at finding out what he was really up to, the worry in my stomach grew at the fact that there were others who viewed Lucie as a hot commodity.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Noah shrugged again, finally answering the question, “even if there is, you won’t find out who. And by some miracle you do, well, let’s just say you’re outnumbered.” His smug smirk had me growling, my muscles twitching painfully to shift as I felt my griffin pacing in my head.

  “What does that mean?” Agent Bronstad scoffed. “We’re supposed to believe a single human with the help of one supe has an army behind him?”

  “Believe whatever you want, not my problem.” The interrogation came to an end after that as they both stood at the same time, but as they reached the door Noah spoke once more. “Lucie will be mine; she always will be.”

  Unable to listen anymore without fear of ripping him to shreds, I stepped out of the room to meet Agent Jenkins and Bronstad in the hall. Dr. Tanner and Dean Renaud talked softly in the observation room. I had to take my own advice. Deep breaths and soothing thoughts. It was odd to be on the receiving end of my relaxation coaching since normally only the twins needed it.

  “He was telling the truth when he hinted at having friends.” Dr. Tanner’s voice startled me, having been lost in calming the urge to shift. I frowned, unsure what to make of that.

  Agent Bronstad took charge. “Right now though, let’s focus on getting Lucie healed and finish questioning Troy. We can interrogate Noah again later.” I stayed in the hall, unsure if I could handle any more confessions. A sharp ringing sounded in the quiet space, echoing against the tile. Dean Renaud excused himself to take the call, leaving me alone in the empty hall. My dad’s and brothers’ harsh criticisms going ‘round and ‘round through my thoughts.

  28

  December 13th

  Thursday Morning

  Lucienne

  I felt weird and there was an incessant beeping in the background. All I wanted to do was continue to swim in this nightmare-free sleep, but when I tried to roll over, my body refused to move. I groaned, the rumble of my chest and throat burned and throbbed. What the hell? Peeling my eyelids open, I was only able to open my right eye, my left pulsing in lightning sharp pain if I tried too hard.

  “Lucie?” Alex’s voice sounded strange—breathy, wobbly, and something else I couldn’t place. When my eyesight finally focused, I saw the fear etched in his face. Where am I?

  “Alex?” My voice cracked from disuse. My brain was fuzzy as I tried to process what was going on, but the ache that held my head in a vise-like grip wouldn’t allow me to focus.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” he sighed, the relief in his voice bringing tears to my eyes. Whatever was going on was bad if he had been that scared. “Do you know where you are, Lucie?” I finally looked around me, recognizing the thin papery gown I wore and the white walls that surrounded me.

  “Hospital room,” I breathed a chuckle, “told you.” His brow furrowed in confusion. “Habit.” I smiled as far as my battered face would allow. The longer I lay there, more and more memories came back to me, the fog in my brain slowly lifting. Kidnapped, Noah, torture chamber, shifting to smoke, running until I collapsed.

  “Hopefully this won’t happen again,” he ground out, catching my attention. “We have him in custody; he can’t come after you again.” His words echoed in my brain, a few moments before it finally registered.

  “I’m safe?” I sobbed joyfully. He nodded. I grabbed his hand from edge of the mattress, trying to show him how appreciative I was. He squeezed back gently, taking care not to aggravate any of the bruises or the wrappings on my wrist. When I finally got control of myself, I realized it was just me and him. “Where are the guys?”

  “They’re sleeping, but they should be awake soon. I had to dose them all with sleeping draughts because they’d been awake for several days refusing to leave you. Professor Calypso is using her sleep manipulation to wake them, and they should be here soon. I hate to do this, Lucie, but do you remember what happened?” I tried to nod, but my neck was covered in bandages in different places, making it impossible to shift my head up and down. I hummed an assent to his question instead. “When you’re feeling better, the police and FSID will need your official statement and recount of what happened, but not until you’re ready.”

  “All right.” The emotional waves of everything came crashing down at that point, and I fought back tears. The weeks of psychological bullshit, his physical abuse, the utter fear and terror, and now, finally, hope and relief all flowed through me releasing in sob after sob. Alex shushed and cooed comforting words in a soft voice, kneeling to look me in the eye, his thumb brushing gently against my knuckles. It took several tries, but I reeled in the emotional tremors that wracked my body, the sobs quieting to sniffles.

  Ten minutes later, Alex had successfully calmed my mind with different topics of conversations. I tried my best not to laugh because it was extremely painful on my bruised and tender torso. My lips were cracked and still slightly swollen, making my words sound weird to my ears, but I had fully regained my mental clarity. The delirious state I had been lost in during the five days at Noah’s hands, and then the forest’s harsh weather, was completely gone. I had just asked something that I had been thinking about for the last couple of weeks when the door burst open, my guys stumbling in and crowding the bed.

  “I’ll see what I can do, Lucie.” Alex gave me a small smile before excusing himself from the room. No one said anything, we just stared at each other. More tears built, and with the inability to control them, they poured in waves down my cheeks.

  “Love.” Logan’s voice cracked, his hand hovering over my face wanting to wipe away the tears, but afraid of hurting me. I leaned as comfortably as I could into his palm, the familiarity of his skin against mine bringing a fresh wave of tears. I couldn’t hold the intense emotions back any longer, not when I could have died without telling them.

  “I love you guys.” The words were heartfelt and brimming with the emotions I had tried to ignore for a long time. “I’m in love with every single o
ne of you.” I hiccupped a sob at the end. “I almost gave up; I almost broke.” Their faces now glistened with tear tracks as I confessed how hard it had been. Knowing I needed to get this out, I continued, “But I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to me and you guys never got to hear how I really felt about you.”

  “Fuck, Lemon Drop,” Landon huffed, his voice thick, “we love you too.” They all passionately agreed, bringing even more tears despite my efforts to push them back. I didn’t want to be a blubbering mess any longer.

  We spent the rest of the day together once they had informed my mom and Char I was safe, talking about light-hearted topics and purposefully avoiding any and all discussion about Noah and what had happened the last week, but the impending interviews I knew I’d have to face sat over me like a dark cloud that not even my guys could take away.

  December 19th

  Wednesday Early Afternoon

  Lucienne

  Sinking down onto my mattress, I took several breaths. Fuck, this is a lot of work, I mentally huffed while eyeing my suitcase with disdain. The wrappings and bandages covering various injuries of my body made moving difficult, restricting a lot of movements especially in correlation with all my bruises.

  To be honest, I looked like I had been run over by a truck that then backed up over me before driving off to ensure it hit me on the way. Hell, I felt like that too, but I was alive, and Noah was in jail, and to me that was all that mattered. Well, other than the fact that my guys and my friends had been there for me through this whole shit show. Speaking of my guys, the twins were flopped back on my plum comforter, Dante and Hudson were on their way back over after helping Sadie move her stuff back into our dorm, and Nik and Cam were both seated on the ground at the foot of my bed.

  “You okay, Doll?” Cam asked, his hand straightening his plastic frames. I nodded as much as I could with the thick pile of gauze taped to the sides of my neck.

  “Yeah, just exhausted.” At my statement the twins jumped up off the bed and stood in front of my closet and dresser.

  “What else do you need, Love?” Logan eyed my open suitcase on the floor in front of me. I shook my head, a small smile curling my lip at their eagerness to help.

  “Nothing, hon, I got everything. I just got winded at the end.” Logan nodded before kneeling and zipping my bag closed. Landon tucked my messenger bag on top of it after Logan had stood it upright, both sitting on either side of me on the bed when it was done.

  “I can’t believe we aren’t going to see you for a couple of days,” Landon whined, his lip pouting out at the end and making me giggle. “Can’t we just come with you right away?” I rolled my eyes. We had had this same conversation several times already. The guys were planning on coming to stay for a portion of the winter break at my mom’s house with me. Sadie was also going to come for a day or two with Benji and his boyfriend Austin, but only after our Yule celebration on Friday.

  “You guys have to go see your families, then come over. That was the plan, remember?” I quoted the plan for the fourth time today. Hudson’s laugh met my ears as he entered my room, followed closely by Dante.

  “He still bitching about the fact that we aren’t going to your house right away?” Hudson asked, shaking his head at the whiny daemon. “Dude, it’s only until the weekend. I think you’ll be all right.” Landon huffed, and flopped backward still pouting.

  “Aw,” I cooed teasingly, “don’t be like that, babe. You wouldn’t want to make me feel bad, would you?” He lost his pout in a laugh.

  “Cheater.” He scooped up my hand gently, his thumb tracing circles on my skin. I looked at the clock realizing Charlie would be here soon to take us back to our hometown. Groaning, I stood, my muscles having tightened up in the few minutes of sitting down. Definitely need to do some light stretching after I get home.

  “We might be separated for a few days, but we can text, and talk, and video chat,” I listed off as I glanced around the room. Despite my teasing toward Landon, I had to agree with him. I didn’t want to be away from them after just getting them back. We hadn’t been separated for any length of time after I had been released from the hospital on Sunday.

  Landon grumbled but didn’t argue as he and Logan stood. Dante and Nik took my bags and filtered out of my room and into the library with the rest of us behind him. I ignored the stares and whispers from the other students. I had been excused from classes and finals and hadn’t been back around the other students since Noah had kidnapped me. This was one of the first times they had seen what I looked like after everything. I knew the gossip and rumors were going around like wildfire, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. It was the start of the holiday break tonight, and I would be spending almost the entire time surrounded by Sadie, Charlie, and my guys, so the curiosity of my fellow classmates couldn’t dim my excitement or happiness.

  When we reached the curb, Charlie’s car was pulling up, her head bouncing to music we couldn’t hear. I gently hugged and kissed each of my guys, Dante piling my bags in the trunk before turning to me.

  “Be safe, stay out of trouble, make sure…”

  “Make sure to do my stretching and exercises from Dr. Ingress,” I finished for him, a wide smile pulling painfully at the cuts on my lip. “I know, babe, I will.” He nodded, happy with my promise. I turned and opened the passenger door, looking over my shoulder one last time before getting in. “I love you guys.” They lit up, echoing the sentiment as I got situated in my seat. My heart was filled as Charlie started the drive back to my mom’s house, my phone already dinging with text notifications from them all. My smile permanently on my face for the rest of the drive, I couldn’t help but think, It’ll be the perfect holiday break…

  Epilogue

  December 31st

  Monday Early Morning

  Right After Midnight

  Noah

  I lay facing the stone ceiling on the lumpy cot, the bumps digging painfully into the large bruises that covered my body. Three other inmates had cornered and jumped me a couple days ago during yard time. Gritting my teeth in rage, I started to see red. They’ll pay for laying a hand on me. Internally growling, I felt my skin tingling as my anger grew. Taking several deep breaths, I calmed. The plan is well underway, I thought, taking solace in the reminder.

  Lucie’s beautiful face came to the forefront of my thoughts, her dark blue ocean eyes and lush pink lips. I felt myself growing stiff in the scrub pants I had been given at intake and booking. To pass the time, I thought through all our memories together, how we had met, how her skin reacted under my fingertips, how her eyes widened in fear when she angered me. She never learned, I thought in disappointment, always trying hard to aggravate me instead of just following my directions. I did everything for her—love her, provide for her, pleasure her. And now she has those damn freaks vying for her attention. Gritting my teeth once more, I fumed. Those freaks would not have my babygirl.

  The train of thought was interrupted by soft steps, and my lip curled.

  Right on time…

  Smoke and Mistletoe

  Book 3 of the Best Wishes Series

  Coming December 2019

  Acknowledgments

  Jake, my amazing husband, who supported me and cheered me on even when I doubted myself!

  My PA Katie and closest friend Jare for keeping me sane when things got overwhelming!

  My beta readers-Michelle, Jessica, and Cassie—you guys are awesome and are the best, forever #AJsAlphabets!

  Finally, for all of my readers, this wouldn’t be possible without you.

  Also by A.J. Macey

  Best Wishes Series:

  Book 1: Smoke and Wishes

  Supplemental Point-of-View Stories: Smoke and Wishes: Between the Wishes

  High School Clowns & Coffee Grounds

  Book 1: Lads & Lattes

  The Aces Series:

  Book 1: Rival

  About the Author

  A.J. Macey has a B.S. in Criminology and
Criminal Justice, and previous coursework in Forensic Science, Behavioral Psychology, and Cybersecurity. Before becoming an author, A.J. worked as a Correctional Officer in a jail where she met her husband. She has a daughter and two cats named Thor and Loki, and an addiction to coffee and swearing. Sucks at adulting and talking to people, so she’ll frequently be lost in a book or running away with her imagination.

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