Page 5 of Smoke

3

Alina

I had healeda lot of things over the years.

Broken bones were my specialty. When a clan of creatures whose nature was to live outside in the trees was forced to live indoors, there were bound to be accidents.

Mostly the young ones, mostly from daring each other to do stupid things in a desperate attempt to burn off some of their energy.

Instead of jumping from tree branch to tree branch, which their genetic makeup told them to do, they would jump from the railings of the old staircases to the floor. Or fall while daring each other to climb the mansion walls. Or tumble out of the window of the old, unused barn which sat just beyond the main house. They weren’t supposed to play in there, but they had to do something.

We weren’t meant to be indoor beings. Sometimes the adolescents would play tricks on each other, the way the fae had been doing since the beginning of time—tripping, shoving from across the room, pulling the rug out from under each other’s feet as soon as they were old enough to start working their magic.

And so, I would treat them and send them on their way, with orders that they never do anything that stupid ever again. And they would promise, and they would run off, and I would see them again in a few months with another broken bone and another crazy story.

I had also treated illness. Cuts, bruises. Indigestion more times than I could count—some of the older members of the clan were inclined to overdo it at our many feasts. Insomnia. Nervousness. If there was a symptom, I had a remedy for it. The clan kept me on my toes.

I had never treated a broken heart.

There wouldn’t be a remedy for that in any of my books. I was sure of it. If there were, I would’ve come across it by now, since I knew my books backwards and forwards. My work was my life.

That was a real shame, then, since I was sure my heart was breaking into a million pieces as we drove away from the cave. I could hardly breathe. It felt like a truck was sitting on my chest.

Or a dragon.

I never got to see him as the dragon, I thought as a sinking feeling filled my stomach.

I never got the chance to see that side of him. I never had the opportunity to watch as he flew free and embraced his full nature. I would’ve bet he made a beautiful dragon, too.

There was no way to go back. I had lost the chance to see him like that, just like I had lost the chance to ever tell him what he meant to me.

Why didn’t I ever tell him?

He’s not who you should be thinking about right now.

My cheeks flushed with guilt when I remembered Jasmine. She was the person I should’ve been missing. She was also the person whose absence would cause the most trouble for me, at least until the rest of the clan accepted that she was dead.

I had to be convincing when they asked questions about her. I couldn’t waste my time thinking about Smoke when I needed to come up with a believable story to tell them.

Especially Uncle George. Not to mention Bradley.

“Are you okay back there?” Miles seemed nice.

They all did. I wished I had more time to get to know them—but then, I would only miss them more once I was back home.

“I guess so. As okay as I can be right now.”

“We’ll make sure to take good care of her,” Cash offered. He glanced back at me in the rearview mirror and tried to smile. I tried to smile back.

“I know you will. And I trust Pierce with her. It’s obvious he loves her. I’m not worried. I’m more worried about being convincing.”

“You mean, with your clan?” Miles asked.

He and Cash exchanged a look.

“I’ll make sure they know nothing about you guys. You have nothing to worry about. I’m more concerned about the questions my uncle will ask when I tell him I looked for Jasmine.”

“He won’t believe you?” Cash asked.

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