Smoke and Wishes: Between the Wishes: Collection of Additional Scenes (Best Wishes Book 0) Read online

  Between the Wishes

  Collection of Additional Scenes

  A.J. Macey

  Blurb:

  Collection of Additional Point of View (POV) Scenes from Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes book 1)

  This collection includes over ten additional POV scenes from the main characters from the Best Wishes series including a deleted chapter from book 1. There are also three additional scenes that are pre-Smoke and Wishes including a never before seen POV from Camden and Nikolai, as well as an exclusive look at the unedited first chapter of book 2- Smoke and Survival (releasing July 1st, 2019).

  These POVs are in chronological order. Corresponding chapters to Smoke and Wishes are noted for easy reference.

  Warning:

  The Best Wishes Series is a WhyChoose/Reverse Harem saga featuring MMFMMMM meaning there is M/M content, and the female main character doesn't have to choose between her love interests.

  These POVs possibly contain references involving PTSD, sexual assault recollections, domestic violence, and other themes that some readers may find triggering.

  Contents

  Between the Wishes

  POV 1

  POV 2

  POV 3

  POV 4

  POV 5

  POV 6

  POV 7

  POV 8

  POV 9

  POV 10

  POV 11

  Chapter 1

  About the Author

  Also by A.J. Macey

  Copyright © 2019 by A.J. Macey

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover: JodieLocks Designs

  Formatting: Inked Imagination

  Dedicated to:

  My daughter, Evelyn Rose.

  Wake up and kiss ass.

  Between the Wishes

  Collection of Additional Scenes

  By A.J. Macey

  POV 1

  Childhood Promises

  Spring 2008

  Nikolai

  (Pre-Best Wishes)

  "What do we want to do?" Cam shielded his eyes as he glanced around the playground. "Where're the others?" He continued to pepper me with questions as I looked around the jungle gyms, grassy areas, and monkey bars. The twins were off running around causing trouble and Dante was over with his older brother near the kickball field.

  "There is Hudson." I pointed him out when I spotted him sitting alone off to the side on the curb of the sidewalk, his knobby knees knocking together as he waited. Cam pepped up and started towards him, jabbering on about something his aunt and uncle had been working on. I was only half paying attention because three kids had formed a small semi-circle around Hudson. "Cam,"-I nudged him and pointed-"it is Vince, Bobby, and Mark." Cam's lip pulled back in a small snarl, shiny fangs flashing in the spring sun at the sight of the three biggest bullies targeting our friend. Again.

  "The little hippie’s all alone," Mark taunted, his squeaky voice already irritating me. "Where's your stupid friends?"

  "Leave him alone." I stomped in between Hudson's hunched form and Mark's puffed up chest. He laughed, his two friends joining as they looked between me and Cam.

  "Awe, look at the little couple," he teased. "Heard you two were kissing under the slide the other day." I rolled my eyes. Ever since my parents and I moved to the United States from Russia, I had been teased for the large periods of time I spent with Cam at his aunt and uncle's house while my parents traveled for work.

  "Go bother someone else," Cam snarled. They held their hands up and went 'ooo' in a mocking way at the fact Cam's fangs were out. I rolled my eyes, dumb humans, they are always out, he just does not show them.

  "Someone thinks they're so cool because he's a vamp." Vince took a step closer. He was a bit taller than us, his unruly black curly hair hanging into his eyes as he attempted to tower over us.

  "Back off." I curled my hands into fists. Their eyes re-centered on me.

  "What are you going to do? Shoot me with an arrow?" Bobby pouted his lip and pretended to wipe tears. "Oh boohoo, so scary."

  "That is exactly what I will do if you do not leave me or my friends alone," I hissed. The breeze started to blow, rustling my Dark Knight Batman shirt. The stand off continued until they noticed Dante and the twins making their way over. Realizing they were about to be outnumbered, they stepped away from us, breaking the showdown first.

  "Whatever, freaks," Mark scoffed before they walked off. I could hear them mumbling other mean things about us, but I tuned it out. Turning, I looked down at Hudson who was staring at the ground. His scrawny arms wrapped around his equally thin legs as they bent in front of his chest like a shield. I sank onto the curb next to him knowing he did not want to talk about what had happened. The bullies might be my age at nine, but they loved to pick on all of us because of what we were. They even tried to pick on Dante despite the fact he was eleven, but Hudson had the worst of it due to his family's oddness.

  "Hi!" Logan shouted as he ran to close the distance between us. His eyes were bright, a half eaten candy bar clutched in his hand. "You alright?" His dark brown hair was messy and long, brushing his jawline and flopping against his cheek as he tilted his head to look down at Hudson. "Who do I need to punch?" He brought up his fists in a play defensive stance.

  "Oh!" Landon piped up, joining in the conversation. "Yeah, let us at them! We'll teach them a lesson!" I shook my head. They were little and not very intimidating. Not in the sense that they were skinny like Hudson, but they were the shortest and youngest of the group at eight years old. Dante had not said a word since he came over. Wonder what is up with him.

  "I'm fine," Hudson squeaked. His bony hands came up and rubbed his face, the rest of us pretending we did not see the wash of wetness in his eyes that he wiped away. When he finally seemed alright, not just pretending, he looked at Dante who had still not said anything. "What's up?"

  "Sebastian is being himself," Dante huffed, crossing his arms over his graphic t-shirt. "You know how he is." We nodded in understanding. The middle brother of the Rodriguez family, Sebastian, was closer to the eldest son, Miguel, than he was to Dante, despite the fact Miguel was a sophomore in high school.

  "Can we go after him?" The twins perked up once more, always attempting to pick fights with people bigger than them. "We've been itching to go after him." I rolled my eyes again.

  "Do you want to suffer the angry, judgmental stare of his dad?" Cam questioned, his thumb hitching over to Dante. The twins thought about it, their eyes squinting as they both tilted their head to the side. "I mean, you can if you want, but you're not old enough to flash daemon claws. You'd practically be fighting like a human," Cam countered despite no one arguing his points. He is such a dork, I chuckled to myself.

  The bell rang, meaning our time out in the spring weather was up. I groaned slightly and stood up. The twins pouted, crossing their arms simultaneously as a tiny light of mischief lit their blackened red irises. Dante realized they were about to cause trouble and pulled them into the building, using his size to maneuver the two of them easily.

  Let us just get through the day, then we can go play.

  Logan

  "Race you!" Landon shouted before taking off the last bit of distance between us and our house. Huffing over the fact he cheated and got an unfair start, I sprinted after him making sure to ho
ld tight to my backpack straps. He beat me, of course. Irritation flooded me at that and I shoved him out of the way from where he stood taunting me in the entry. "Hey!" he shouted, pushing me back.

  "Boys!" Dad hollered, his head popping over the top of the staircase to glare down at us before he made his way down. He was swiftly buttoning his uniform shirt, the badge winking in the afternoon sun that was filtering through the front door that was open. "Keep the yelling and fighting to a minimum, your mom is on the phone attempting to secure some more pieces for the shop." I pointed at Landon.

  "He started it," I whined, chucking my bag in its designated cubby by the laundry room. My dad shot me his 'don't start' look with stern eyes and hard set jaw. "Can we go play with the guys?"

  "Stay out of trouble." He agreed with a nod before shouting out behind us as we ran up the stairs in yet another race. "I don't want another call from one of the neighbors about how you're up to no good, boys!" I chuckled mischievously with Landon who held up his hand for a high five.

  My twin ran into our shared bedroom while I waited for our older brother to finish in the bathroom. I only had to wait a moment before Lance’s harsh scowl filled the doorway. He looked like us, only his hair was shorter and he was taller than us since he had just turned fourteen years old a couple weeks ago. Despite looking like us, he had changed lately.

  He’d become angrier, more defiant towards our parents, but especially to our dad who was a local police officer. I knew he had been spending some time in the woods late at night when he snuck out, since our dad worked third shift. He’d been hanging around some of the not-so-nice daemons and other supes from the surrounding areas. I had overheard Dad and Mom talking the other night about how Lance might even be part of some kind of gang. That little factoid made me cautious around him. That’s not even mentioning that one of his stupid friends always eyeballed Landon and me each time he was around, which made me edgy and uncomfortable despite Landon telling me not to worry.

  “What?” he barked down at me when I didn’t move. He shoved past me roughly, heading towards his own room. “I have somewhere to be, and I don’t need some useless, little kid getting in the way.”

  “I just was waiting for the bathroom,” I argued, pointing at the door he had just left. “And I’m not a useless, little kid.” He scoffed and rolled his eyes before stomping down the stairs and out the front door.

  “Lance!” my dad shouted after him, quickly shuffling to meet him on the porch. I couldn’t make out what they were talking about other than they were both nearly shouting at each other before my dad sighed and came back inside. Shaking my head at my brother’s weird behavior, I went about my business until Landon was done packing the bag full of our hidden junk food and candy stash.

  Landon

  We had just gotten to the trail two houses down from ours. It went through the small park and came out on the street one block over where Hudson and Dante lived. Cam lived on our street while Nik’s parents lived one block the other direction. Although, his parents were traveling so much that we rarely went over there. The guys were collecting in the small cul-de-sac at the end of their unfinished street with a basketball to play on the local neighborhood hoop. Hudson’s five-year-old little sister, Aria, was drawing with chalk on their driveway.

  “We got snacks!” I shouted as I ran the last bit of distance between them and us. Logan had already beaten me by taking off as soon as we reached their street, snatching the ball from Cam’s hands to make a shot. Which he missed, of course, because his hair flopped into his eyes.

  “Ha ha,” I mentally teased him which resulted in a glare from my twin as he shifted his hair out of his eyes.

  “Shut up,” he snapped back. I giggled but let it go, not wanting a basketball thrown at my face. Again.

  I wasn’t sure why we had this mental connection since we didn’t have access to any of our other powers. At least not really. We were able to get a quick spark if we focused hard enough, but that drained us almost immediately. This tele...whatever it’s called, though, we’d had since we were born. A yank on my bag made me take a step back, pulling me from my weird thoughts and back to my friends.

  “What did you bring?” Nik’s warm voice drifted out of him as he rummaged around in the bag. “I call the Doritos!” he shouted making my ears nearly ring as he pulled the crinkly chip bag from my backpack. Cam attempted to steal the bag back, but Nik took off running, laughing since he got the chips first. Cam and Nik were two peas in a pod, both nerdy, although, Nik less so than Cam. Glancing around I realized we all had our own little ‘pair’ within our friendship, Logan and me, Nik and Cam, and then Hudson and Dante. Somehow though, we made it work and when four of the human kids who lived a couple of blocks over showed up, it was clear there was that separation between them and us.

  “Hey,” Lily called out, “can we play too?” She pointed to the ball while her younger brother, Patrick, trailed after her until he saw Aria coloring. Breaking away from the three older kids, he ran over to her and plopped down next to her.

  “Sure,” Hudson nodded, passing the ball to Zane and Walker who lived on Nik’s street. We spent the next hour alternating between stuffing our faces with sugar and salty snacks and playing basketball. The only one who didn’t play too much was Dante, who spent most of the time sitting on the grass with whoever was nibbling on food. Despite my poking and prodding, he refused to come play with us while the others were there, too nervous to try and make friends.

  The game only stopped when Aria started crying, loudly, as she clutched her knee in her hands. Hudson was the first to reach her, his attention on her knee that was skinned from falling against the cement. I had no idea what to do, crying girls weren’t something I was used to, coming from a family with only brothers. I shuffled awkwardly next to my brother, Cam, and Nik, all of which looked just as confused as me.

  “Hudson,” Dante started as he kneeled next to Aria. “Go grab the first aid kit.” Hudson wanted to argue, but his wide eyes betrayed that he didn’t have a clue as to what to do either. After a moment, he nodded and bolted inside. “Hey, Ari,” Dante said warmly as he looked at the crying girl.

  “Hi, Dante,” she hiccuped a greeting. Her face was puffy and tear-streaked and her lavender eyes were red from crying.

  “What happened? Did you fall?” She started to cry harder as she nodded, but her hands were still covering her knee. “Can you show me? I can’t help it feel better until I see what’s going on.” After a few hiccuping sobs, she nodded slightly and moved her thin fingers to reveal a wide scrape that had started to bleed around the roughed up skin on her bony knee.

  “It hurts,” she whimpered. Dante’s hand rested on her back as he patted her bright tie-dye shirt in attempts to comfort her. Hudson came barrelling out of the house with the small plastic box that held all of their first aid stuff. We had seen it enough with how often one of us got hurt. Popping it open, Hudson’s hands shook as he prepared the pad with antiseptic.

  “This is going to hurt, Ari.” Dante continued to soothe her. “If you want, you can hold my hand while Hudson cleans it up. Once it’s all clean though, you can pick a fun bandaid to wear.” She nodded and placed her tiny, trembling hand in Dante’s much larger one.

  “I’m sorry, Ari,” Hudson squeaked, “this is going to hurt for a bit.” She cried harder as he cleaned the scrape, but before long, it was all clean and she was picking out a tie-dye bandaid to match her shirt.

  “Good job, boys,” Hudson’s mom, Vera, praised. None of us had realized she had even come out, her very pregnant belly straining her long, flowy dress. Her black shiny hair was braided and threaded with bright green vines that I’m sure she had grown herself in the Hudson family garden out back of their house. Her feet were bare and coated in dirt, her gardening gloves still adorned her hands.

  “Look, Mommy!” Aria shouted cheerfully as she pointed at her newly acquired bandaid. “I got a rainbow one!” Vera bent down as far as her belly would allow and
popped a quick kiss on her head before doing the same to Hudson and Dante.

  “That’s a very pretty bandaid,” she commented sweetly. “There’s fresh-baked brownies inside, kids, if you want some.” With that, basketball and Aria’s fall were forgotten as all of us cheered and ran into their house.

  Hudson

  I pushed the greens around the plate, my appetite nearly nonexistent. Aria was chattering away with Dad about some of the stories he had from his shift at the national park he worked at as a ranger. I was only half listening, my mind too preoccupied with Vince, Mark, and Bobby, and how much their words hurt. Dinner passed quickly as I mentally grumbled about the bullies who constantly made fun of me for my family and their ‘hippie’ ways. We might be a bit different, we’re fae after all, but we weren’t that weird. And I’m not that weak just because I’m skinny, I thought fiercely.

  “Hudson, honey,” my mom’s tinkling voice called. Her lavender eyes centered on my face, the purple irises practically glowing in the dim evening light that filtered through our dining room windows. When I was spaced out, my father and sister had gotten up from the table and washed their dishes leaving my mom and me alone. “What’s wrong?” I shrugged, but I could never lie to her as my lips curled down and my eyes misted over leaving the table in a wash of wavering shapes.