Page 20 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“Will do. Thanks, kids. I’m sure Cade and Troy will both appreciate it.”

“That’s what friends are for, Dad,” Cory reminded him. “We grew up with Cade, sort of. If he needs help we can provide, why wouldn’t we?”

“I know. You’re good kids. Love you both.”

“Love you, too.” Cory and I replied before Dad hung up the phone.

“Well, I guess there’s no point in teaching the volunteers what to do?” Cory asked.

“Fuck that! Free labor is free labor. I’m still getting what I can out of it,” I exclaimed, only half joking, but it made Cory laugh.

“What are we going to do about Violet?” he asked a little while later, frowning.

“What about her?”

“It was such a big step for her to come here, and it was because she thought you desperately needed her.”

“I do desperately need her,” I pointed out. “Yesterday and today have been the only days I haven’t holed up in here, trying to desperately keep up with the paperwork. You think she’ll leave?” I asked, biting my bottom lip.

“I honestly don’t know. It’s not just that we’re leaving that will make her want to go back to where she knows it’s safe. It’ll be the fact that two hundred strangers will be flooding this place pretty soon.” Shit, right. “I think she took the leap because she knows there’s not a lot of males here, and the ones we brought, while they make her uncomfortable, are under my command and won’t hurt her. That, and I think deep down she recognizes that she’s safe with them, even if her response doesn’t quite agree.”

“She still won’t let anyone touch her?” I asked, remembering how skittish she looked when the warriors were exiting the SUVs yesterday.

“Family only and light contact. Occasionally she lets Dad and I give her bear hugs, but sudden contact still makes her flinch, and contact from anyone other than family makes her freak out. It’s easier with females, but even then, she doesn’t like being touched. Just tolerates their presence a bit more.”

“Except for Chris, even after a year,” I pointed out.

“Except for Chris and kids. Though I tried to assign him as her guard for the visit, and she shut it down,” Cory sighed.

“Why? She didn’t show any apprehension to being in the room with him and Adam yesterday.”

“She isn’t afraid of him. She thinks Chris worked too hard to be an elite warrior to end up babysitting the damaged sister of thealpha. She thinks Chris will see it as a punishment,” Cory said, his face darkening in anger.

“She thinks she’s damaged?” I asked, frowning.

But I could see why she would think that, in a way. What I don’t think she realized yet, is that we’re all a little damaged. Every person. It would be impossible not to be.

When Cory nodded angrily, I continued, “Chris didn’t seem to mind when I talked to him earlier.”

“He’s never complained or even hinted that he doesn’t appreciate the assignment. I even asked him about it, friend to friend, not as his alpha. I hope he was honest, because letting him near my sister is not a punishment at all. It’s a sign of ultimate trust, considering what she’s already been through,” Cory answered.

“Would he stay? Stay and guard her while you guys go back?” I asked. I desperately needed her help, and I might be willing to grovel to the man if Violet agreed.

“He would. I don’t know that Violet would let him, though and I’m not shoving a man’s presence down her throat,” Cory answered with determination.

“Do you really think being here is good for her, or could she backtrack by herself?” I asked. As much as I needed her here, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if asking her to stay hurt her already fragile mental state.

Fuck this sucked.

“She wouldn’t be by herself, Bells. You’re her sister.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t know. But I know that if she doesn’t try, she might not forgive herself for it, and that will be worse than having a few freak-outs as she pushes through her trauma. That’s what Dr. Campbell told us, anyway.”

“You talk to Dr. Campbell? Isn’t that against their code or something?”

“She didn’t give us specific details, and it was all with Violet’s permission. When she asked to come here, we weren’t sure she would be okay doing this, and she let us talk to Dr. Campbell to reassure ourselves.”

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