Page 186 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

Cory was an overprotective big brother, but there was no reason he should be reacting this badly to the news. I knew he liked Chris. He wouldn’t have allowed him to protect Violet, otherwise.

‘Evie’s pregnant,’he answered after a few moments of hesitation.

‘That’s amazing!’When there was nothing but silence, I asked,‘That’s not amazing?’

‘It is! It’s not that. She didn’t fucking tell me. She knew two whole weeks before she told me, and she admitted she only told me now because her scent was going to change soon,’he grumbled.

‘That hurt your feelings?’I guessed.

‘Everyone’s keeping secrets from me like I can’t handle them. She accused me of not letting her get her work done if she’d told me.’

‘Is she right?’

‘What if something happened while she was trying to lift something heavy, Bells?’he asked instead of answering, which was an answer in and of itself.

‘So, she’s right and you’re angry because you know she had a point. Tell me Cory, did she actually lift anything very heavy while getting things ready?’

‘Well, no. Zi was there making sure she didn’t do any of the heavy stuff,’he grumbled in response.

‘Would you have let her be there at all if you knew?’

‘Of course I would!’

‘Would you have hovered over her the whole time?’

‘W—’Cory stopped and sighed.

‘Go makeup with your mate, Cory. She’s pregnant, which means she’s likely feeling very emotional right now,’I advised.

‘Okay,’he grumbled.

‘And, congratulations, brother.’

‘I’m going to have another pup, Bells,’he said, happiness back in his voice.

‘You always wanted lots of them,’I responded, genuinely happy for him. At least one of us was getting his happy ever after.

‘I did, and I do. I just don’t know how I’m going to handle three under two.’

‘Ask Mom, she did that with us,’I replied, chuckling.

‘Oh, Goddess, you remember how we used to hide on her? I have a feeling Lucas and Leo are going to be worse than we were.’

‘Well, I’ll be there to help you hunt them down.’

It was the only silver lining to all of this shit. I was going home to my family.

‘I’m going to go look for my mate. I love you, Bells. Thanks for talking sense into me.’

‘Chat tomorrow, brother.’

“Was that Cory?” Vi asked when I ended the mind-link, guilt flooding her face.

“Yep.”

“Was it bad?”

“Not really. He is having a moment because Evie is pregnant, and she didn’t tell him right away.”

---