Page 175 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

I placed a kiss on her cheek and turned away. I didn’t look back as I turned over my engine and took off. If I did, I knew I would crumble.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Violet

“Are you sure you want to do this now, Violet? We could wait a few weeks until we’re back in Crescent Moon,” Chris asked as he paced in front of me.

“I’m sure, now go away.”

“I should stay here if you’re going to do it,” he insisted.

“Nope. They’re my parents, not yours. I’ll handle it.”

“But what i—”

“Chris, go. I'm not afraid of my parents.” Maybe I was a little, but I was determined and I was going to do this.

The love of my life sighed and finally gave in, making me fist pump in my mind.

“You’ll call for me if you need me?” he asked, and I nodded up at him, trying to look like an obedient mate.

He shook his head, already knowing I was lying. Regardless, he bent down and kissed me long and hard before he left. I felt a bit flushed as I dialed Mom’s number, and ended up hanging up before the first ring to fan myself. I didn’t want to sound allworked up from the kiss while I spoke to my parents about my relationship with my guard.

Once I was calm, I dialed Mom’s phone again.

“Hi, sweetie. How are you?” she answered on the third ring.

“Hi, Mom! I'm good. How’s everything going over there?”

“Good! Evie’s keeping everyone busy getting everything ready for the influx of people. How’s Bells?”

“Sad, I think. But, she’s hanging in there.” Probably more sad about how things ended with Cade, but I couldn’t say that.

Mom heaved a deep sigh at the other end of the line.

“I don’t think it’s helping that most of us here are so excited to have her back. I feel like she thinks we’re happy her efforts failed,” she admitted.

“No. She knows that’s not the case, Mom. A big part of her is happy to go home. I just don’t think she wanted it to end the way it did.”

My poor sister was conflicted about everything other than Cade. She just felt miserable and terrible about how things ended with him. She wouldn't even tell me what happened, only that it was her fault, and that it was irreparable.

“And you, baby? Are you okay with coming home?”

“I am! I miss you guys. I miss Crescent Moon.”

“I’m glad, Violet. I was beginning to think maybe it was the memories here that were holding you back.”

“No, Mom. You guys were great. I think I just needed the unknown to push through my fears. I’ve been doing really great, and every time I get through something, it pushes me to keep going.” I was silent for a few moments before I decided that was as good a segue as I was going to get. “That’s kind of why I’m calling. Is Dad around?”

“Yeah. Everything okay?”

“Yeah! I just wanted to talk to you both,” I answered nervously.

It was ridiculous. I knew them. I knew it would all be okay, but Chris’ fears were hard to ignore.

“I’ll grab him. One sec.”

There was silence at the other end of the line for a bit, and then I heard Dad talking in the background as Mom asked him to come over to her.

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