Page 15 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

I wanted to scoff at him calling me important. I was one of the alpha children, that was true, but I was not important in the grand scheme of things. Lucien and I were the odd ones out of this, the middle children. The ones destined for normal lives. And his ambiguous, generic response did nothing to help me feel better about this situation. It sounded like it belonged in a movie like Mulan rather than the twenty first century.

Would I feel better with Christopher by my side? Absolutely. But was I willing to stop this man from moving forward? I watched him as we grew up. He was a good warrior. He had a lot of promise and he was loyal to a fault. I knew he wanted to be more and I wasn’t about to take that from him.

“No,” I told my brother and father, making up my mind. All three men looked at me in surprise. “I will go by myself. I might have a few setbacks, but I can do this.”

Dad and Cory started mind-linking as they talked about it, and I was fine with that until Christopher joined in their mind-linking.

“I would prefer to be included in this conversation since it’s about me,” I pointed out, making Cory sigh as their eyes cleared.

“I would prefer you go with a guard, but if you need to prove something to yourself, you have my support.”

Dad looked more conflicted, but in the end he nodded. Christopher excused himself and after discussing a few more things with my family, I walked back home with Dad. I packedand then sat in my room waiting for the panic attack to hit. It didn’t come. Instead, what I felt was incredible sadness.

I pulled my tablet out and started reading, hoping to keep the sadness at bay, but the words blurred, and my tears began running down freely. I didn’t deserve this. Any of this. All I ever wanted growing up was to find my mate and make babies. I was studying graphic design to help the family company. I was a good girl. I obeyed my parents. I never ran off to find trouble. I had saved myself for my mate.

In a few months, everything I worked for was stripped away.

I put my tablet aside, held my pillow to my mouth to stop the sobs from carrying down to my parents and willed myself asleep. It took a while, but eventually, darkness took me.

I woke up the next morning and checked my bedroom for anything else I needed to take.

“Violet, I’m here!” Cory called down as I stuffed my tablet into my backpack and rushed down to meet him. Dad helped me put my suitcase in the back.

“Be safe, sweetie,” Mom hugged me tight.

“I will.”

“Call every night,” Dad said.

“I will try.”

“Make sure you keep your appointments with Dr. Campbell.”

“I will, Dad,” I answered, getting annoyed.

“Come on, Violet. We’re going to be late,” Cory called.

“It’s a private jet. There is no late,” Dad pointed out.

“Yeah, well, neither is there an end to your mushiness when it comes to your princess,” Cory countered and Evie laughed out of the passenger side of the SUV.

“Dick. My son is a dick,” Dad grumbled, giving me another hug before I climbed into the SUV between the two car seats.

My anxiety kicked up a little when I felt us leaving the pack grounds, and I saw the way Cory’s eyes flickered to me through the rearview mirror.

“We’ve got five SUVs in front of us and three behind us. Each with about eight warriors. We’re going to be fine. I promise.”

I nodded and tried to steady my heart rate back to normal. I distracted myself with Lucas and Leo as they played with their toys. We made it without any issue to the airport and I watched everyone exit. I grabbed one of the twins while two warriors grabbed the baggage. We boarded and took our seats before the rest started climbing up. I looked at Cory when I saw Christopher climbing up. He walked past us, not even looking at me, and I wondered if he was mad at me.

‘Don’t look at me like that. He had already volunteered to help harvest even before we tried to make him your guard,’Cory mind-linked.

‘He looks mad at me,’I replied.

‘The man spent most of his life trying to be a good warrior for the pack. I think you hurt his feelings when you declined him the chance to do it.’

‘Babysitting the damaged sister of the alpha isn’t what a good warrior should be doing. I declined him because heisa good warrior. He doesn’t deserve this punishment.’

‘It wasn’—You’re not damaged, Violet,’Cory’s voice sounded harsh and angry.

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