Page 238 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“I thou—” he started, but I shook my head.

“Bells trusts her to make the right decision. As long as it won’t threaten the pups, Violet will do whatever it takes to help Bells.”

I stood and held out a hand for Cory. He took it, allowing me to help him up and we started walking back to the pack house.

“I’m sorry,” Cory said as we neared the back entrance.

“There’s nothing to apologize for.”

“There is. I should have never tried to abuse my position as alpha to get you to tell me what happened to my sister.”

“When did that happen?” I asked.

Cory opened his mouth and closed it shut, throwing me a grateful look, before looking back up at the pack house, his lip trembling at knowing what was going to be missing from it soon.

I guided him to Bells’ room. When I knocked and got a response, I opened the door to find the bed full of people. Alpha Markus and Luna Celeste were sitting to either side of Bells. Violet was on the other side of her dad, while Lucien was next to his mother. Cory crawled into bed and wrapped his arms around his twin’s waist as he settled himself between his mother and Bells, placing his head in her lap. I thought I’d let them have this moment when Alpha Markus called out to me as I turned to leave.

“Get in here, Chris,” he ordered.

“This is a family moment. I—”

“You are family,” Bells and Luna Celeste said at the same time.

I swallowed the lump of emotion and nodded, settling in next to my mate.

Luna Areli arrived an hour later. She said nothing, so I guessed someone already explained what was happening. She crawled in between Bells and Alpha Markus, and Bells turned on a movie. Bells fell asleep within the hour, but no one made a single move to leave.

We stayed there in silent reflection for the next few hours. No one spoke or made a sound outside of a few giggles and sniffles. Evie brought dinner for everyone and after dinner, we went right back to crowding the bed with Evie joining in.

‘Cory, I’d like to take a leave of absence for a couple of months,’I mind-linked him early the next morning. Alpha Markus and Luna Celeste slept in Bells room last night. Cory, Violet, Areli and Lucien did the same, bringing in air mattresses with the intention of camping out tonight as well. This morning, Evie, Cecilia and I had brought up trays of breakfast, and we were all cramped up around the alpha floor tables.

‘To research?’he asked, as he continued to pick at his food.

‘Yes. I’ve already requested a bunch of books. They should arrive later today,’

‘Do it. We haven’t added you to any training or patrol schedules yet. I’ll let James know.’

‘I also need some help,’I mentioned.

‘With what?’

‘Violet mentioned we can submit a request to the council for a few old books they have that I want to look into, but the councilwebsite said they need to be requested by a ranked member,’I answered.

‘I’ll call them. I’m asking them to send their specialists to come see Bells, too, so I can do it then. Send me the list of tomes you need.’

‘You’re calling them?’I asked,

‘Yeah.’

‘Can you also ask for specialist numbers abroad? Violet wanted to make some calls.’

‘Evie’s already working on that. I’ll tell her Violet wants to split the list.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t thank me, Chris. I’m thankful you’re helping.’

After breakfast, Bells needed a nap, so I left Violet to nap with her. I took Violet’s car into town to find a bunch of the brownies and pecan swirls Bells loved. While I was there, I grabbed a shit load of ice cream and junk food, stopped a couple of department stores, and finally, I texted Elim, asking if I could borrow his projector.

---