Page 156 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“Yeah, well. Pathetic or not, one of these things could do a lot of damage,” Adrien said, kneeling down, grabbing the head of the demon dog and snapping it; the creature finally stilled. “Quick and painless. Let’s get those wounds looked at.”

It was nearing morning by the time Violet and Adrien cleaned and wrapped up our wounds. I was exhausted, and after drinking my dinner while the others snacked on food, I stood up.

“I’m heading to bed. When are you heading back, Adrien?”

“In two days. Are you coming back with me?” he asked.

“I think so. We figured out what the problem with the rogues was, and there haven’t been any more since. Demon dog was the only thing left in my mission.”

“I’ll let Kassie know.” He nodded at me in acknowledgment.

“You’re leaving?” Violet asked, and I was internally happy she might miss me a little, even as friends.

“Yeah. I’ll see you again when you’re back in Crescent Moon, though. Aunt Kassie is going to be training me for a few monthsat least.” I was looking forward to training with my aunt. I’d seen her spar once or twice with Dad. The matches were ones to behold.

‘Can’t get rid of me that easily,’I teased her through the mind-link as I was walking up the stairs.

‘You’re going to love it there so much, you’ll never want to leave,’she assured me.

‘We’ll see. Good night.’

I was excited to go to Guardian Moon. For years, I felt that it was where I was meant to be. Who knew, maybe the Moon Goddess might finally grant me my biggest wish there.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Violet

“Let me see.” I held out my hand for Chris to put his in it.

“It’s fine, Violet. Titan says it will be fully healed in a few hours,” he stated but humored me just the same.

I unwrapped the gauze from his hands. The blood made the material stick to the cuts in some places, so I was glad I insisted. I slowly and methodically removed the gauze, careful not to hurt him. I cleaned the wounds as gently as I could, then re-wrapped his hands, noting they were still pretty useless at the moment, though it didn’t stop him from trying to grab the trays for breakfast or lunch. I had to put him in time-out when he was trying to open the kids’ juices at the daycare.

It was after work now and we were going to nap until sunset. Chris wanted to spar with Elim again, and we were spending the rest of the night hanging out as he would be leaving as soon as the sun set the following day. The two of them spent the morning mind-linking and making training plans for when both were back in Arizona.

“Alright, go change and then we can sleep.” I patted his hand when I was done changing the bandages.

Titan was doing a great job healing his hands. I was sure he’d be able to keep his play date with Elim.

“Thank you,” he whispered, before he leaned forward and kissed me. He continued pushing forward until I was lying back in bed and I was breathing hard, then he pulled back. “I’ll be back.”

“Tease!” I yelled after him, making him chuckle.

I showered and pulled on some silk pajamas. Chris came back into the room when I was done, and we climbed into bed. There was no point in even trying to sleep in different rooms. I was used to his warmth and the nightmares never came when he was near. I’d frozen up again last night when our make-out session got heated, but he said it was okay. He was learning what to avoid, and that was as important to learn as what made me feel good.

Easy for him to say. My man had the patience and discipline of a military saint.

Did those exist? I should look it up.

But each time I froze, I was left frustrated and still in need of release. I appreciated his patience, but I needed to get through this shit and quickly. I wanted to have a life with him and in order to do that, I wanted to be a couple in every way that entailed. I wanted him to mark me eventually, but I wasn’t going to ask until I was sure I could give him all of me. I didn’t want to go into this with ghosts haunting me.

“Hmm, your shampoo smells good,” he mumbled when I tucked myself into his arms. I breathed in his sweet scent of mesquite. I never thought about it before, but I’d grown to love it as much as I loved the man the scent belonged to. “The vanilla combined with your pecan pie scent reminds me of pecan pie a la mode.”

“Pecan pie? I smell like pecan pie?” I asked.

“Don’t you?” He looked down at me.

“I don’t know. I can’t smell myself. Mom always said it was pecans and honey, though.”

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