Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes #1)(36)

Hell, not to mention the fact that Nik isn’t the only one I cared about. The twins, Cam, even Dante and Hudson despite being with those girls. Oh, this is not good. They all somehow wormed their way to my concrete-surrounded heart and had started slowly chipping away at it. I wanted to tell them about him. Not now, but the fact I wanted to tell them at all was mind-blowing to me. What is it about these guys? Why do they make me feel this way?

A tap on the podium at the front of the small auditorium pulled me from my internal worries. Professor Dorsial was a petite woman with greying hair and tan skin. Her hazel eyes scanned the crowd before speaking. While she was smaller, her voice was confident and carried easily through the room.

“Hello, class. Today, we’re going to try our first practical run through of what we’ve learned in the last three classes. I have the Advanced Mental Defense class coming in to assist. I will pair you up with one of the older students, and have everyone head into the surrounding booths to practice,” she walked to the door to the auditorium and opened it letting the students filter in.

My heart almost stopped when I saw Cam and Hudson walk in the door. Cam noticed me first, walking away from Hudson with a warm smile. He’s looking good today, I noted. His pale cheeks were flushed ever so slightly, his hair more messy than usual and his strides were confident. The most noticeable difference though were his eyes, they were surprisingly dark at the moment. The normal kaleidoscopic coloring was saturated with an intensity I couldn’t quite place. He looked like a predator. It was a startling contrast to Cam’s usual quiet demeanor, I felt my cheeks heat as I realized I was staring and looked away. Really, really good looking today.

Hudson looked over to say something to Cam, when he realized he was standing alone. I turned my attention back to Cam instead of Hudson, still feeling an irrational sting of jealousy from that night in the quad.

“Hey, Cam, how are you feeling today?” I smiled up at him when he finally reached my row, sliding into the seat to my left.

“Hey, doll, I’m feeling pretty good. I was able to feed off Nik after you two left the range,” feed? Oh right, vampire. Duh. No wonder his presence was so dominating. And sexy, definitely sexy. I nodded and opened my mouth to respond when Hudson dropped down to my right.

“Hey, asshole, way to leave me in the dust,” he glared at Cam before turning his lavender violet eyes to me. “Hey, princess.” He slid down in his chair and threw an arm over my shoulders, letting it hang on the back of my chair. I stiffened at the movement, not wanting to deal with anymore backlash from Brittney and her crew of bitches.

“How was your date?” I tried to sound casual and nonchalant.

“It was a stereotypical date, dinner, movie. What were you doing so late last night?” His voice was edged with a hint of something. Was he jealous? I turned to look at him, his grey long sleeve shirt was tight across his muscled chest and tapered torso. His black hair shining in the overhead lighting.

“I was with Cam,” I shrugged, his mouth thinned into a tight line as his hard gaze slid over to Cam. I raised an eyebrow at his ridiculous behavior. “We were working on our debate in the library.” He relaxed at my reasoning, nodding his head. I shifted back to face the front and saw Cam roll his eyes at Hudson in my peripheral.

“Now that everyone is here, let’s pick partners and head into a room.” Cam and Hudson immediately turned to me and proceeded to go back and forth about who was the better partner for this exercise. I just sat there letting them argue. Standing up when I realized they weren’t going to just pick, I walked towards one of the booths. They could figure it out. I rounded the corner and sat down in one of the chairs.

“Gentlemen, I will be assisting Miss Envie today,” a honeyed voice cut through Cam and Hudson’s increasingly loud argument. The masculine voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Popping my head around the corner of the booth, I was shocked when I saw the dean of the university walking away from my guys. Both of whom looked equally stunned. I stepped back into the booth as Dean Renaud approached. He was tall and lean, dressed in an impeccable charcoal pinstripe suit with a deep blue button up shirt and black tie. His ash blonde hair was short but long enough to see it was gelled lightly away from his face. The color of his shirt made his light blue eyes pop against his warm skin. He held out a well-manicured hand for me to shake.

“Hello, Miss Envie, I’m Dean Alexandre Renaud, you can just call me Alex. It’s nice to meet you. As I’m sure you heard me tell your friends, I’ll be overseeing your practical work today,” I shook his hand, which was warm against my cold fingers.

“Please, call me Lucie. It’s nice to meet you,” I nodded at him unsure of how to act. I mean this was the dean. Just what I needed today, I internally groaned. He took a seat and motioned for me to do the same.

“Lucie, that’s a beautiful name. I was made aware of your background before you started working at the library. Your mother, Abigail, actually reached out to me directly about your situation. I know this is a huge adjustment for you, but I want you to know you can come to me anytime if you have any issues or questions. My door will always be open to you, Lucie.” He clapped his hands once sharply after dropping that emotional bombshell. “Now, let’s get started. Why don’t you run through what you know so far on mental shielding.”

“Well,” I shifted in my seat, feeling insecure in my knowledge of what he was asking. “Certain people have a higher disposition for psychic work. Some are capable of having permanent barriers or are able to communicate between minds. Those who don’t have that disposition essentially have open minds. Humans and supes both have a small mental barrier, but if someone is strong enough, they can bulldoze passed it, or if they’re really good, they can slip in without the host knowing.” I paused to take a breath and organize my thoughts before finishing my explanation. “To help create a stronger mental shield, one should visualize a 360-degree barrier around their mind. It usually helps to start out with building up a visual brick wall layer by layer. Once the solid foundation is built and constant, it can be visualized as more of a curtain where it can be raised and lowered at will…?” I trailed off, my statement sounding like more of a question.