Page 101 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“Don’t worry, mijo. She won’t have a scratch on her,” I told him in the most placating voice I could muster.

I heard my handsome mate chuckling darkly behind my son, and I turned to look at him. His eyes were black, telling meMarkus had let Atlas come out to play with this bitch, too. We wolves were a little more blood-thirsty than humans.

“Why do I feel like that’s all bullshit, Mom?” Cory asked, already knowing how protective we were of our pups.

Even Celeste, who was usually very forgiving, gave no quarter when it came to someone hurting our pups. And especially Violet. Out of all of our pups, there wasn’t one who was sweeter, or had gone through as much trauma as she had.

There was a big put-upon sigh from my first-born, and then addressed the guards, “Do as your former Luna and Alpha requests. It’s bath time, Mom. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Don’t limit your mother, son. She already promised the prisoner will be alive and without a single scratch on her,” Atlas reprimanded Cory with a wicked grin on his face.

Stepping down from the alpha title had made my mate a little more loose on having fun and I was all here for it.

“Turn off the cameras,” Cory instructed the warriors, shaking his head at both of us, but I could see the smile he was trying to hide. “And leave some for me. She tried to kill Bug. I want a few words with her, too.”

“That’s my boy,” Atlas chuckled darkly. “Give my grandkids a kiss for us.”

“And squeeze those cheeks for us, too!” I called after Cory as he climbed the stairs.

I waited until the door closed before I turned to look at the woman in the cell. She was rubbing her wrists, but her head was held high, as if she wasn’t going to be intimidated. It was too bad I could smell her fear, though. It was flowing out of every pore in her body, turning the air acrid. I looked over at who had ceded control to Markus.

I’ll come in soon. Have some fun with her first,Celeste told me.

“You first, Tuli.” Markus was ever the gentleman, holding the door to the cell open for me.

I passed by him, letting my fingers graze his lower abdomen, one finger grazing a little further than that. Markus chuckled, a heated look on his face. I knew we were going to have some fun this evening, and even more so, tonight in our bedroom. Teaching a good lesson always put me in the mood.

But later. First, I had to address my pupil.

“You’re the woman who tried to kill my daughter,” I growled.

Ada’s eyes widened, and she looked from me to Markus and the acrid smell of her fear intensified. I took one step forward, and she scuttled like a roach to the back of the cells, holding her hands up in a placating manner.

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait. I didn’t know. I swear. I didn’t know. I wasn’t trying to kill her. She’s a wolf. I just wanted to teach her a lesson.”

“You didn’t know she was the child of an alpha and luna? So, it’s okay to try to kill an omega’s child?” I raged.

“I—I swear, I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?” I growled. “Didn’t know she had a pair of loving parents who wouldn’t like seeing someone hurting her?”

The woman was quiet, and I felt like I had hit the nail on the head. She thought Violet wouldn’t be missed. That no one would bat an eye at having her hurt.

“I didn’t know. She was just so weak. How was I supposed to know her sister was the luna and her parents were ranked,” she whispered, and that pissed me off all the more.

I strode forward, Celeste coming forth until we were sharing control.

“You think my daughter is weak?” she seethed. “You have no fucking idea what she’s been through. Violet is the strongest person you will ever meet in your greedy little life.”

“She barely even has an aura,” Ada continued, and I realized the error of our ways.

This little girl thought she was safe with us because we hadn’t put a hand on her. That was easily remedied. I lifted her up by the throat, letting my nails elongate only a smidgen, so that they dug painfully into her throat but didn’t break skin.

“The things my daughter has gone through would have ended your pathetic little existence.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” she cried out, her hands clawing at mine to try to get me to let go.

But that pain was nothing compared to what we’ve been through before, and did nothing to dissuade me from teaching this lesson. Sure, we’d led an easy life since meeting Markus, but we knew we could survive worse than this, and it was enough for the pain to be bearable.

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