Smoke and Mistletoe (Best Wishes Book 3)

by A. J. Macey

  “Thanks, I got it on sale. I’ll show you the site if you want. Char works just fine, and it’s nice to meet you too. I love the colors you have going on.”

  Colors is an understatement, I thought as I watched the two of them immediately hit it off. Char was wearing a simple and soft yellow sweater with a pair of skinny jeans whereas Sadie was rocking a pair of acid washed skinny jeans and a multicolor polka-dotted shirt, all topped off with her signature purple glasses and sparkly Monroe piercing.

  “Seems they’re getting along well,” Mom observed quietly, coming to stand next to me. Nodding, I continued to watch all my friends and boyfriends mingle and chill, seemingly happy to be together. “I’m happy you found such good people to be around, sweetheart. You deserve some happiness and cheer in your life.”

  “Thanks, Mom. It feels good, a fresh start,” I murmured with a shrug, looking over at her. “It wouldn’t have happened without you though, so thank you. I love you.” A wave of water built in my mom’s eyes as she smiled, pulling me into a hug and a returned sentiment.

  “Oh, you should probably eat before your stomach decides to go on a rampage and eat the town,” my mom teased when my stomach growled loud enough that we could hear it over all the talking. “All right kids, what do you want for food? I can order in, or you guys can head on down to the diner for dinner.”

  “Oh, definitely the diner!” Hudson called. Char and my guys agreed, while Sadie, Austin, and Benji just went along for the ride.

  “I’ll call Bruce and let him know you guys will be down there in a little while so he’s prepared,” my mom said, pulling her phone from her pocket. “Go enjoy your time with your friends, sweetheart.”

  Doing as she asked, I made my way over to the group, sinking into Logan’s lap when he held his arms open for me. Settling into his muscled torso, I got comfortable, my lips permanently curled into a smile at the back and forth.

  “Char, do you want a coat?” I asked my best friend when my mom gave us the go ahead for dinner. Thank god Bruce wasn’t too busy for our giant party of eleven.

  “Nah, I’m good,” she tried to tell me, but I saw my mom give her the ‘mom glare’ so she changed her answer to yes. Once we were all bundled and figured out who was riding with who, we headed into town.

  “Two of my best customers!” Bruce belted out as soon as we walked in. “Come in, you two, let’s get you and all your friends set up in the corner over there. We pushed several tables together so everyone can fit. Abigail not coming?”

  “Nope, I think she wants the house to herself for a little longer to relax before going into her final batches of cookies for her New Year clients,” I explained, sitting between Char and Logan. I smiled over at Benji and Austin who sat across from me with Sadie across from Char. Bruce was quick to take orders, going around the group and jotting everything down as people picked out their food, while two of the waitresses brought waters and any other drinks we wanted to the table.

  “So, Lucie, how are you liking RSU?” Austin questioned, tucking his long curly black hair behind his ears. His crooked nose was covered in a dusting of freckles, and his warm hickory colored irises centered on me.

  “It’s good, I really like it. Some of the students can be assholes, but for the most part, I’m learning a lot and making a lot of good friends.” I nudged Benji on the leg under the table to tell him he was included in that. Sadie and Char were jabbering away next to us in their own little world while my guys were talking amongst themselves about the upcoming semester leaving Austin, Benji, and me to converse. “Heard you might be going there this next semester?”

  “Yup, got my official acceptance a couple weeks ago,” Austin explained, Benji clapping in excitement.

  “Awesome, maybe we’ll have some classes together. You get your schedule yet?” Austin shook his head, taking a sip of his soda.

  “Nope, we won’t get it until the day before classes start when everyone comes back to campus,” Benji told me. “Though you’ll probably get it early since you’re special and doing that exhibit.”

  “Exhibit?” Austin asked, his dark brows drawing together as he glanced between us.

  “Yeah, Lucie’s special and gets to help with the setup of this special artifacts display they’re doing in the library.”

  “Not special,” I countered with a laugh, “I just know how to navigate the storage area. Muriel’s the special one since she gets to know all of the pieces and set up ahead of time, whereas I’m just going to be directing the people on where things are.”

  “Oh, that’s cool, when’s the set up? Or when’s it supposed to start?” Austin asked, genuinely curious about the exhibit.

  Who knew there was a nerd behind that cute surfer exterior, I thought with a smile.

  “Set up is a few days before the start of the semester, I believe. I’d have to look at my paper when we get back, but it opens officially the start of school,” I explained. “I think they’re also having some kind of ball, gala, party thing for alumni and donors to come see it but that’s just something I heard and don’t know for sure.”

  “Awesome, we’ll have to check that out. Won’t we, babe?” Austin asked Benji, Benji’s glowing smile making me laugh.

  They’re so cute together.

  December 27th

  Thursday Afternoon

  Lucienne

  “What are you doing, Lemon Drop?” Landon called out from the patio, Logan following him out onto the shoveled cement.

  “Practicing,” I huffed, “or trying to anyway.”

  “I take it it’s not going well?” Logan asked as they came into the yard.

  “Ha, no,” I deadpanned, glancing over at Hudson and Cam who were sitting on the swings on the swingset. Nik leaned against the support bar as Grigori fluttered around overhead, darting into the wooded area out back before returning. “I’m trying to see if I can get back into the swing of my reality warping as well as try and practice smoke shifting.” It had been about an hour since Benji, Austin, and Sadie left with plans to be back for our New Year’s Eve party meaning I had been out here for about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of me standing here and my powers being completely useless.

  “Are you doing all the things Dean Renaud suggested?” Cam asked from the swing. “Touching the object to connect to it?”

  “No, because I didn’t have to do that before everything went to hell.” I ground my teeth, irritated that I had fallen back on my progress because Noah had been a pain in my ass. Again.

  “Did you want to call him and see if he has some suggestions?” Dante offered, joining us from inside. Sighing, I shook my head.

  “Let me try just a couple more times and see if that works,” I bargained. “I’ll try something more manageable.”

  “You got this, Babe,” Nik stated, his rough voice soft amongst the crunching Dante and the twins’ foot falls as they moved to sit on the outdoor bench and chair. I gave him a grateful smile before taking a deep breath and centering myself.

  Extending my awareness past the bubble of my mind, I did everything Alex had taught me, but as soon as I tried to push what I wanted to happen to the branch I’d locked onto, my connection broke. A bead of sweat broke out on my forehead, my body growing increasingly warm despite the cold temperatures of the Washington winter.

  “Do you need to take a break, Doll? You don’t need to overexert yourself while you’re still healing,” Cam reminded me. Opening my eyes, I glared at the thick stick, deflating as I realized he was right.

  “All right, I’ll try to do the smoke shifting,” I mumbled, playfully whining as I stomped on the ground, not wanting to stop what I was doing.

  “Holy shit,” Hudson’s exclamation had me whipping my head to look at him over to my left, but Hudson wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at the stick, that just so happened to be tied in a knot.

  Exactly what I had been trying to get it to do for the last twenty minutes.

  “Wait, did I do that?” I questioned, an
d as soon as I spoke, the spell seemed to break, and the branch snapped back to its original position.

  “Were you purposely trying to force the branch right then?” Cam asked, getting up to kick the stick.

  “No, I was just playing around because I didn’t want to stop,” I explained. “I wasn’t feeling super emotional or anything like what used to happen.”

  “No, but you stomped your foot,” Nik stated, “and there was an influx of power that radiated from you when you did it.”

  “Maybe your power responds better to a physical movement, like ours,” Logan offered, his head tilting to his brother. “When we construct or deconstruct with our energy manipulation, it’s easier when we use physical movements. Like a wand, but of your body.”

  “Like the Avatar,” Dante added. Everyone’s brows drew down as we looked at him. He gave a sheepish shrug, the tiniest hint of pink appearing on his cheeks. “What? I like Avatar: the Last Airbender, and benders use motions all the time. Some do it with more fluid motions while others require hard, precise movements.”

  “Heh, hard movements… that’s what she said.” Landon giggled to himself, uncaring of the eye rolls he got in response.

  “I’ve never watched that show,” I told Dante, “but it wouldn’t hurt to try it, I guess.”

  “I know you did not just say you’ve never watched Avatar,” Hudson countered with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. “Okay, that’s it, we’re having another TV show marathon. Princess can’t go on living her life without knowing all the wisdom Uncle Iroh provides.”

  “Or Sokka’s one-liners,” Logan added.

  “Or Toph’s sass,” Landon continued.

  “Okay!” I hollered, putting a stop to the continuing string of information about a show I hadn’t seen. Yet. “We’ll watch it, can I try now or are we going to continue to talk about it?”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry, Love.” Logan cringed.

  “Any suggestions on how to do it? Hard or soft? Yes,” I drew the word out, “sexual innuendo was intended, and yes, that’s what she said.”

  “I love you, Doll,” Cam managed to get out through his laughter, all of my guys chuckling at my statement. When they finally calmed, Cam took over as he adjusted his glasses and slouchy beanie. “We can try both. Since the stomp worked the first time, let’s try that again and go from there. Possibly even a forceful push forward, like a punch or a palm heel strike we did in training.”

  “Fight an invisible person,” I hummed skeptically. “I can totally do that.”

  “You can, Firecracker, just take a deep breath.” Dante’s deep and melodic voice soothed the growing worry that I was about to make a fool of myself in front of all of my boyfriends. Doing as he suggested, I focused on what I wanted the stick to do.

  Knot.

  As soon as the thought was in my mind and I mentally reached my target, I stomped, pushing what I wanted through the movement.

  And it did exactly what I wanted.

  “Holy shit, I did it!” I squealed, letting go of the connection. Turning to face the chain link fence at the back of our yard, I focused on wanting it to bend and punched forward. Everything happened quickly, but it was as if my mind processed it in slow-motion.

  “Lucie!” I heard one of my guys say as I stumbled, my hearing abnormally far away. Swaying, I struggled to stay standing, feeling as if I’d had one too many shots.

  “Look at that,” I heard another say, recognizing the husky voice of my twins. Forcing myself to focus through the quickly descending darkness, I saw that not only the fence was bent backward, but so were the first few trees on the other side.

  “Princess, let go of the mental connection. You’re using too much of your mana.” Hudson’s wide, fear-laden lavender eyes appeared in front of me.

  As soon as he was in my field of view, it was as if whatever was draining me released. The spinning and wobbling stopped, my hearing returning slowly. I realized I was being held up on either side of me, my body dangling between Cam and Landon as they supported my weight.

  “Lucie? You back, Princess?” Hudson asked softly, his hands coming to cup my cheeks. Nodding, I got my feet stable under me and stood as well as I could, clutching onto the guys until I was steady.

  “What the hell just happened?” I murmured, a headache quickly forming at the back of my head, sweat dripping down my forehead and into my eyes.

  “You didn’t fully lock onto your target,” Hudson explained.

  “Meaning your reality warping did not have one target, but a wave of power. It would not have been so bad if you were not healing and had a larger mana store,” Nik whispered roughly from his place next to Hudson. Grigori shoved his head into my temple as soon as he fluttered from Nik’s shoulder to mine. His squawk and rustling wing against my cheek conveyed how much I had worried him.

  “I’m okay, pretty boy,” I cooed softly, letting go of Cam to pet the familiar. “A bit tired, but okay.”

  “That was a huge show of power.” Dante appeared over Hudson’s other shoulder. “It’s not a surprise Dean Renaud is working with you on your powers. I think you should call him to let him know what you were able to do. When you’re feeling up for it, of course.”

  “I think I’m good. Maybe just need a granola bar and some water,” I said, sending Landon sprinting into the house as soon as I finished my sentence. “I’ll call and update him.”

  This isn’t going to be fun.

  Landon

  Lucie busied herself with her phone, pressing it to her ear as I darted back to where she was sitting on the bench. Opening her granola bar and water bottle, I passed them over as she made her call. I joined them by the old swing set when I noticed the guys’ huddle.

  “Should I just address the obvious?” Dante started quietly. “That was a massive feat, and if she can do that while she’s injured—”

  “Imagine what she’ll be able to do when she’s healed,” I finished for him.

  “Or how powerful she’ll be when she’s fully grown into her powers. Lucie’s only eighteen, soon to be nineteen, but if her powers continue to grow as fast as they are, she’ll reach maturity within the year,” Cam explained.

  “Yeah, but we always knew Lucie would be powerful,” Hudson stated. “I’m not saying that it wasn’t impressive, but what’s the issue with it?”

  “Remember when she was in smoke form in the hospital and I watched Noah’s interview?” Dante brought up.

  “Yes, but what does that have to do with now?” Logan asked, my thoughts echoing a similar question.

  “Noah hinted at an unknown person or group thinking that she was useful,” Nik murmured. A lead weight settled into my stomach, all of our faces sobering as we realized the implications. “I have a bad feeling.”

  “You said something.” Dante redirected the conversation randomly after a tense moment of silence, pointing to Nik. “Something about seeing the magic? Is that new?”

  “Yeah, it has never happened previously. I am not sure where it is coming from though, but I see it with large bursts of magic or power,” Nik explained, trailing off at the end when his voice gave out.

  “It might be through Grigori, seeing as how he’s your eyes. It could be that your bond with him is growing, and you’re starting to share powers,” Cam proposed. “Familiars are documented to have their own unique abilities that then grow with their bonded supe.”

  “Okay, but that doesn’t help us when it comes to Lucie,” I challenged. “Not saying it’s not awesome, Nik, but you know what I mean.”

  Worry wormed its way into my body, the urge to pace racing through me as if I couldn’t stay still. Somehow though, I forced myself to remain in place, keeping the tingling of my claws and horns at bay even though I felt them right beneath my skin ready to appear. No, I commanded myself, Lucie doesn’t need to be anymore concerned than she is by seeing you storm around in your daemon form. The lecture calmed me, but only to the point I was able to focus on what was going on around me.

&nb
sp; “Yes,” he murmured an agreement to my statement with a strained chuckle.

  “There’s nothing we can do,” Hudson said, his lips thinning.

  “Ugh, this sucks.” My twinheaved a sigh, his fingers clenching in a tight fist before releasing, his irritation at not being able to help filtering through our mental connection.

  “Make sure Dean Renaud stays up-to-date, and keep an eye out,” Dante directed. “That’s all we can do, ensure she’s ready.”

  “Ready for what?” I asked.

  “Whatever is to come,” Nik said. “Because whatever it is, I do not think this is over.”

  That’s what I’m afraid of.

  Lucienne

  Pulling out my phone, I dialed Alex’s number. Landon appeared a moment later with an opened granola bar and cold water bottle. I took them with a soft thank you, and started munching as the guys all huddled, more than likely discussing what just happened while I talked to Alex.

  “Hello?” someone answered, but it wasn’t Alex’s low tone.

  “Uh, Jonathon? Is that you?” I asked, recognizing the wobbliness of the voice. “It’s Lucie.”

  “Lucie, dear, it’s good to hear from you. Mr. Renaud is currently in the middle of finishing some filing up in his private rooms, but he should be done soon. Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, I just had an update on my powers from my practice,” I explained, taking a bite of my snack.

  “Oh, I hope that’s going well. Are you working on your mental powers? Those can be just as important, if not more so, than your physical ones,” Jonathon reminded me. “If you need help at all, you know you can come to me. I used to be quite the mental connoisseur. If you’d be willing to take some tips from an old man like me.”

  “I would love to,” I told him, his teasing tone making me giggle.

  “Who is it, Jon?” I heard Alex ask, such an informal nickname coming from him sounding odd to my ears.