Page 11 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

Doug, if I remember his name correctly. I think I went to school with him. I couldn’t answer his question, though. I was trying to breathe through my panic.

You’re safe. You’re safe. You’re home. You’re safe,I chanted, closing my eyes tight. I willed them all away, hoping they would move on when I didn’t answer.

“Violet?” A voice reached my ears.

The voice was familiar, and Nenetl instantly calmed down and curled back up in the back of my mind. I opened my eyes and saw Christopher a few feet away, pushing past the other warriors.

“I’m f-I’m fine,” I stuttered. “I was trying to go see Aunt Kassie.”

Christopher turned around and dismissed the warriors. To my relief, they all walked past me, giving me a wide enough berth that helped calm my racing heart.

“Do you need someone to walk you?” Christopher asked.

“I um...” I started nervous but trailed off, staring at the bridge behind him for a minute. I looked back at Christopher, who didn’t push me to keep going. He just stood there patiently, waiting for me to answer. “I can’t get across the bridge,” I answered quietly, shame crashing into my body as I admitted it to someone outside my family.

Christopher cocked his head at my answer.

“How come?” he asked.

“I can’t move my legs,” I admitted.

“Are you injured? Should I call the doctor or Luna Natalia?”

“No. It’s not phys—I just can’t make myself move.”

“Oh.” He was quiet for a moment, contemplative before he offered. “Should I carry you across?”

I didn’t expect the laugh that came out of me, and I swear I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. “No. I can’t have you carrying me over every threshold I’m scared to cross. I need to do it myself. I have to figure this out.”

He looked at me again for a long moment before he grunted, but didn’t move from his spot.

“Aren’t you going to leave?” I asked awkwardly after a few moments of silence.

“Got nothing more to do. I will wait with you.”

“Why?” I asked, honestly surprise and boggled by his answer.

Christopher grunted and I thought that was the end of his explanation, but then he surprised me.

“Someone being brave enough to push through and do something that scares the crap out of them bears witnessing,” he stated, in that calm way of his that made it feel like his words were a fact he was reciting.

I pondered his words for a while, looking over at the bridge. The guards were still looking at us with curiosity.

If I could do this, maybe I could help Bells,I thought. I repeated it a few times before I took in a deep breath.

You with me, Nenetl?I asked my wolf.

As usual, she didn’t say anything. She didn’t even stand, but she did lift her head to watch. I guess that was as much encouragement as I was going to get out of her.

I walked over to the edge of the bridge with heavy, shaky leg, but when I got to where the gravel met concrete of the bridge, mylegs stopped working. I wiped my hands on my jeans, my heart was hammering in my chest, and I was starting to feel a little faint.

You can do this. You can do this. Come on. Do it for Bells.I kept repeating the words, hoping one of them would stick and my legs wouldn’t feel like they were made of marble anymore.

I felt a presence behind me, and I was oddly not reacting to it, but a whiff of the wind brushing by me told me why.

Imprinting.

That’s what Dr. Campbell called it when she explained why I didn’t fear Christopher after the attack. Me and my wolf had imprinted on the poor man because he was the one who rescued us, the one that pulled the vile man off me and took me out of that place. For almost a month, he was the only male outside of Cory, Lucien and Dad we could stand being near. He was the only person outside my immediate family that we didn’t fear. He was still the only male outside my family who didn’t make me scream when he got near.

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