Page 19 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“They lost some of their cattle and had a few injuries, but thankfully no loss of life,” Dad answered and I was relieved.

“Thank the Goddess for small favors,” I said, though, by the way Cory was frowning at me, I wondered if it sounded more sarcastic than I meant to.

“Well, our pack isn’t equipped to house cattle, unfortunately, but I did have an idea that I wanted to run by you both before I brought it up to Troy.”

“What’s that?” Cory asked.

“The pack is staying in hotels in the next town over right now, but with how long properties take to close, especially with the amount of land they need... well, they can’t live in hotels indefinitely.”

“Do they not have allies nearby?” Cory asked, his brows furrowed.

“The only other pack nearby also got hit by the wildfires. They don’t have enough livable space for them to house people, though they’ve offered to let them bring in campers and make do for a while.” It was clear from his voice that the choice wasn’t sustainable to him, and I had to agree. Having families living in campers, figuring out how to empty the waste tanks would be a logistical nightmare.

“But you had a better idea?” I prompted, my stomach sinking already.

I had an inkling about what he was going to suggest, but Dad wasn’t aware of the financial struggles I was facing right now. I could house a couple hundred people in the empty houses with no issue. The problem was that I wouldn’t be able to afford the added cost of having that many people around. We were barely scraping by with the bills and food for pack members. Hell, we hadn’t even had full moon pack dinners in almost a year.

“Well, his pack is about four hundred people. Crescent Moon can’t house that many, but—”

“But Redmon Moon can?” I finished for him.

“Not four hundred either, no. But Crescent Moon can house close to two hundred as long as some single wolves are willing to share accommodations. Mom, Zi and Meli have been doing the math since yesterday. Do you think you have enough space to house the other two hundred?”

Was this when I came clean about how badly the pack was doing? It hadn’t been a year yet. I needed more time to get things in order.

“I have the empty houses for them and the pack house after Cory and the volunteers leave,” I answered, biting my lips and trying to do mental math in my head.

If I took a good chunk of my personal accounts, I might be able to feed them all for a couple of months. I didn’t want to use up all of my savings for pack purposes, but Cade was a good friend growing up. If there was something I could do to help his pack, I couldn’t, in good conscience, just shake my head and turn my back on my old friend. Especially when I considered the fact I was in a similar boat, and my family was helping me.

“Well, that was another thing. I know Cade. He’s stubborn to a fault. He won’t ask for help outright. I thought maybe you could make him a proposal.”

That was definitely the Cade I remembered. He was a good, kind man and friend, but he suffered some bullying growing up because he was adopted by Alpha Troy. People told him he wouldn’t cut it as an alpha because he had no alpha blood. It didn’t matter that his wolf would get a boost when he took the reins. They tried to convince him that he would lead the pack to disaster. Cade worked so hard growing up, training multiple times a day and learning how to lead effectively to prove himself. I could empathize with that.

“What kind of proposal?” I asked, pulling myself out of my memories when I realized Dad and Cory were waiting for me to speak.

“You need help around the pack and the fields with the grape harvesting. You can offer him room and board if he can provide the workers. Depending on how long they stay, they can help with the processing of the grapes, too. Split the cost of food and utilities?” I perked up at that. That could work and I might not end up bankrupt.

“What about us?” Cory asked.

“Well, you can send the volunteers home. Have them help get the houses and rooms ready before coming back. They have places here, so they don’t need to be taking up space that Cade’s pack needs. Free vacation for the bunch? Since they werevolunteering their time and had time off already, anyway,” Dad suggested helpfully.

“You want almost fifty warriors and unmated wolves with nothing to do? Are you trying to destroy the pack, Dad?” Cory asked with a laugh.

“Hey, you can send them to tend the cattle once they find where to put them if they get out of hand,” Dad countered.

“Can you talk to Troy for me and Cade?” I asked when we stopped laughing.

“I can talk to Troy and make sure Cade gets in touch with you. You two should hash out the details yourselves. That sound good?”

“Yeah. That works,” I answered.

“Alright, I’ll reach out to Troy and make my suggestion. Cory, you’re good with hosting some of the pack here?”

“Of course. We have the space. Ask Cade to reach out to me too so we can make the arrangements or have his L—Does Cade have a Luna yet?”

“No. I don’t believe he does.”

“Just have him reach out to me, then,” Cory amended.

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