Page 24 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

‘Of course.’

‘You’re okay, though?’he asked.

‘Yep.’

I pulled out my tablet and read for a little while until I heard Cory’s knocking coming down the hall. I opened the internal lock of my room and let him in.

“What’s going on, Bug?”

“I want to stay,” I blurted out, making him raise his eyebrows.

“Stay?”

“Yes, here. I want to stay and help Bells. I want to try, at least.”

“Okay. Can I ask why you changed your mind?”

“I want to help her. Bells needs help and it’s something I can do. I want to be useful again. I think this will be good for me.”

Cory looked proud at my words, but there was still hesitation visible on his face.

“I-I don’t want to leave you here alone,” he stammered, and I rolled my eyes. Cory wasn’t good at lying to his family and he wasn’t really sneaky.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?” he asked.

“Yes, you can leave Christopher here as my guard.”

“Ho—”

“I heard you and Bells talking last night, Cory. I know you already asked him. If he agrees and doesn’t consider it a punishment, I’ll take the safety he’s offering,” I stated.

Cory looked relieved at my words and he started pacing my room. I couldn’t tell if he was thinking or mind-linking from the angle of his face, so I waited until he was ready to talk again.

“How long did you want to stay?” he asked after a while.

“Let’s start with three weeks, and see how much I’ve been able to help by then. That’s how long we planned on staying at the start.”

“Okay. I’ll let Mom and Dad know. Have you told Bells?” he asked.

“No. I haven’t seen her yet and I can’t mind-link her.”

“I’ll call her up and then you can have some lunch, yeah?”

“Okay.”

“I’m proud of you, Bug. I know Bells will appreciate it.”

Two days later, I was a bundle of nerves as I watched Cory leave without me, but I had a buffer of another two days before Cade’s pack was due to arrive.

After the SUVs took off, Christopher followed me over to the luna office and I turned at the door.

“I can stay here alone. It’s got an internal lock. Go rest or... I don’t know what you do on your time off,” I finished lamely.

“I usually train.”

I was surprised he answered instead of grunting, which seemed to be his preferred mode of communication.

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