Page 3 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“I will try,” I conceded.

We talked for a little while longer before she left, and I briefly wondered if she was sick of having to walk here. It was only supposed to be temporary, these visits, until I was ready to go to her office, but it hadn’t happened yet.

I walked over and grabbed my tablet, opened my book up, and settled back in bed. Reading books was now about eighty percent of my life.

A year ago, I found my mate, and five minutes later, he was killed when men attacked Blue Moon, my sister Areli’s pack, during a full moon celebration. Months later, my best friend Tori and I were kidnapped by men working for the Aztec God of Darkness, Tezcatlipoca. He wanted to kill my uncle Helios, the Aztec God Huitzilopochtli, and anyone associated with him. While my family searched for us, Tori was killed, and I was raped.

I wasn’t the only one hurt during this time, but I seemed the only one stuck in that moment. Ever since the incident, I couldn’t be surrounded by people for too long. I freaked out when someone, especially men, came near me, and I couldn’t handle men outside of my family touching me.

The day I was kidnapped was the first time I had left the pack grounds since the day of the massacre that took my mate, and it was the last time I had stepped foot outside since I came home.

Most of my friends stopped texting me after trying to get me out of the house for months. The only one still coming around was Danielle, but she only came around when she was on break from law school. I sighed, thinking about how much she wasaccomplishing. I had been about to start my last year of school and deferred, thinking I would be over my trauma by now. If I wasn’t able to get through my issues, I would never finish my degree in graphic design. I needed to make a decision, and I always sucked at those. I was probably going to have to defer another year.

It was in times like these that I really missed my wolf, Nenetl. She was still there in the back of my mind, but ever since she was suppressed and watched what happened to me while I was kidnapped, she’d stopped talking to me or coming forward. Dr. Campbell thought it was misplaced guilt and her own trauma. I missed her, though. She was my perfect balance. She was good with decisions and had great instincts, but she felt it was her fault for pushing me to go to the mall with Tori that day.

I heard knocking coming from the end of the hall, then a little closer. It was Mom and Dad’s method of ensuring they didn’t startle me, and it reminded me that I had turned everyone’s life upside down. The knock was finally at my door, and I set my tablet to the side.

“Come in,” I called.

Dad opened the door and came and sat at the edge of the bed. He set a plate down on the nightstand with a wrap, fruit and chips.

“How are you doing today? Did you see Dr. Campbell?” he asked, speaking quietly. That was the only way he spoke to me now.

“Yes. I’ve just been reading since she left,” I answered, trying to smile.

“What are you reading today?” he asked, grasping at ways to keep the conversation going now that I was afraid of everything.

“Someone on a Reddit thread recommended the Kingkiller Chronicles Trilogy. I’m on the second book,” I answered.

Dad winced, and I cocked my head, confused.

“I’m still waiting for the third one to come out,” he explained.

“Shit. Since when?” I asked, cursing myself for not checking if the series was complete.

“2011,” he said, his face full of sympathy and mirth.

“Fuck.” I deflated, then slapped my hands to my mouth, making Dad laugh. I covered my face with my hands and whined, “But it’s so good.”

“And hopefully, I get to read the ending before I die,” he joked. I let out a small giggle and popped a grape in my mouth. We talked a little more about the book and where I was in the story before he got to the subject of what he came for.

“Uncle Diego is landing in about an hour and a half. Mom is heading over to the kitchen to cook a meal for the pack and the family. I just wanted to let you know we won’t be home for dinner. I can bring you some food when she’s done, okay?” I stared at my father for a few more minutes, the psychologist’s words running through my head.

“Bug?” Dad rarely used the nickname Cory loved so much, so it brought me out of my thoughts to find him looking at me with concern.

“Can I-Can I try to go?” I asked quietly. I hated seeing the hope that came into his eyes, so I felt the need to make an addendum. “I don’t know if I can stay, but I want to try.”

“That’s fine, Vi. We can do whatever you need us to do. I’ll come grab you when Diego arrives?” he asked.

“Okay,” I answered meekly, trying to fight the need to take my words back and tell him I’d stay here alone.

Uncle Diego was a good man, and I hoped so were my cousins, but I didn’t know them very well, and I was nervous to be sitting so close to any of them.

Still, I promised Dr. Campbell I would try, and I knew it would mean a lot to my parents. So I bit my tongue until after Dad left and then tried to distract myself with the book.

Sometime around four thirty, I stopped reading and went to shower, trying not to bite my nails, which were no more than stubs these days.

‘You ready, Bug? I’m your escort today. Dad went to grab Uncle Diego. He’s a few minutes away,’Cory mind-linked me.

---