Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes #1)(76)

“Was that what the bruising was that day at the beginning of the semester?” Landon’s voice was disbelieving, he was struggling with how anyone could do this. She nodded and continued.

“Everything had been healed by then, but like I said, I needed a few more weeks for that to heal.” She admitted quietly.

“What did you mean when you said you couldn’t handle it anymore?” Dean Renaud asked, watching Lucie intently.

“I finally told Char and my mom what had happened, Char that same night and my mom the next day after she had explained what I was. Char came over once I had told my mom, we made a plan to get me away from him. The day of graduation, we were supposed to act like it was a normal day, but Char and I had purchased bus tickets for right after the graduation ceremony. We packed our bags that night before and loaded them in the trunk. We were technically supposed to go to the large graduation party with Noah after graduation, but when the ceremony was over, and everyone was taking pictures and distracted, we left. My mom drove us immediately to the bus station, and we left the city. She’s going to school at UW in Seattle so we took the same bus there where she headed to her university, she had had a job lined up for the summer so it wouldn’t have been suspicious for her to leave early.”

“I hopped on a second bus and came here. My mom had contacted the school that day before graduation asking if I would be able to help around campus in exchange for early living quarters, which you already knew,” she waved a hand at Alex. “So, that’s the basics. He didn’t know I left, we had made sure to get my mom, Char, and me all new numbers and that no one back home knew which school I was actually going to. We went with my initial school I applied for when I thought I was human as a cover story. So far, Noah hasn’t reached out to my mom or Char, but I know if he found me I would be in some serious shit.” Her voiced wobbled towards the end, fear permeating her emotions at the thought of him finding her.

“So with Declan being at that party, it could become a serious possibility,” Cam added. She nodded glumly.

“And with Claire’s threat, we need to make sure you are safe,” Nik interjected, his statement clipped in fury. Dean Renaud’s head snapped to Nik.

“What threat?” He demanded.

“Claire and her friends; Brittney, Madison, and Khloe have been targeting Lucie all semester if she didn’t leave Dante or me alone. They gave me a rune bracelet that kept me away from them. They threatened her a few weeks ago at a party where one of Lucie’s old friends who knew her and Noah was there, that if she didn’t stay away from us, she would have Declan tell Noah where she was. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he found out anyway since Declan now knows you’re here and are a supe, which is big news,” I explained to the dean, looking at Lucie at the end. Her face was paling rapidly as her breathing was short and fast.

“She’s panicking,” I shot through the telepathic line to my family. Dean Renaud called for the doctor who came in and gave Lucie a sedative allowing her to calm into a deep, restorative sleep. Probably a good idea after tonight anyway, I thought to myself.

“I want you all to stay close to Lucie over the next few weeks until we determine if Noah will be a threat to her or not. I plan on dealing with the girls, do you have the rune?” Dean Renaud asked us. Landon handed him the cut leather bracelet and the small piece of metal, his frown deepening into a scowl as he examined the rune. “I will increase security around campus until we see how this will play out. If she suspects anything at all that he knows where she is or that he’s coming here to get her, you let me know immediately. We have a backup living location for her if it looks to be unsafe to stay in the dorm.” We looked at each other confused at where she would go. Dante asked him straight out where.

“She lived in the old head librarian’s rooms in the library during the summer semester, Muriel approached me before move-in if it would be acceptable for Lucie to keep those rooms for herself and I agreed. If I’m informed correctly, she still has most of her stuff in those rooms with only a small amount in her dorm.” My eyebrows furrowed trying to remember where those rooms where at in the library, but came up blank. Dean Renaud continued, cutting off my internal thoughts, “if it does get to the point she needs to go there, at least one of you will be required to be with her at all times as well as security outside her room. I won’t let anything happen to her,” he looked at her sadly. I couldn’t help myself, I lowered my shields to read his emotions. For some reason, he was taking everything she had admitted personally and on a much deeper level than I would have expected. He nodded at us before exiting the room, leaving us with our sleeping girl. Sadie, who had been silent during the exchange left as well, her eyes drooping with exhaustion.

“It is going to be a long few months ahead if it looks like he could find her,” Nik broke the silence. We all nodded and hummed in agreement.

“We need to be here for her,” I added looking over her beautiful face that was marred in scars and bruises. “I think we should also talk about something we should have discussed at the beginning of the semester.” I looked at the rest of my family. “I won’t be running from how I feel about her anymore.”

“We all have feelings for her, but we don’t even know if she likes us like that,” Dante added, rubbing the stubble on his chin.