Page 34 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“Are you good with baking?”

“Ehhh...” I stammered, feeling my face heat.

“Here, cut up all the ingredients for omelets,” he replied, chuckling as he pushed a few packages of deli and veggies.

“You got it, boss,” I saluted.

Chopping, I could do. It required a knife, which I knew how to do, and anger, which I had in spades. We worked comfortably for the next hour, and I learned a little more about Charles.

He was twenty-four. His parents were in Crescent Moon. He had another little brother who was still in high school. Cade gave him the option of staying with his family instead of coming here, but he wanted to help.

“I love grapes, so maybe I won’t be so much of a help getting it all into the processing plants as you might hope, Luna,” he joked.

“I probably eat a few bushels myself through the harvesting, but don’t tell anyone I said that.” I winked.

Somehow, we had all the chafing dishes filled with an incredible amount of food for people to devour by the time the pack house came to life around us.

“We did it, buddy!” I said, high-fiving him.

“Having fun so early?” Cade asked from behind me. He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans and cowboy boots. He held his cowboy hat in his hand. The man was a walking romance book cover.

“We’ve been up cooking for a while, sleepy head,” I teased.

“Youmade breakfast?” he asked, suddenly looking at the food with skeptical eyes.

“I helped. Yes,” I said, crossing my arms.

“Who cooked the eggs?” he asked, lifting the lid as if it was going to explode.

“I did. Luna Bellarose makes a good sous chef, though, Alpha.” Charles came to my defense.

I sent him a grateful nod before I glared at Cade again.

“Don’t give me that look, Princess. I was sick for a week.”

“It was one time. I didn’t know eggs could go bad,” I defended.

“A week, Bells. I had fluids coming out of every hole in my body except my ears,” he emphasized, making one of the warriors grabbing eggs put them down with a groan. “Sorry, Derek,” Cade said sheepishly.

I started making plates for Chris and Violet, and when I was done, I put them on a platter. Cade came over and took it from me.

“I’ll take this to Violet. Why don’t you go wake your son up. You have to take him to a daycare, right?”

I nodded, and with only a bit of hesitation, let him take the food up to my sister, ignoring how good it felt to have Adam being called my son.

After breakfast, I was halfway on the way to the daycare to drop off Adam when things went to shit.

‘Rogues on the south borders. There’s like ten of them,’Brianna, one of the patrol wolves on shift, mind-linked.

‘Don’t engage if you can. I’ll be right there,’I ordered.

I picked up Adam and ran back. I burst through the double doors of the pack house and put Adam down.

“Go to Violet. You hear me? I want you to go to Violet and stay with her and Chris.”

When he nodded, I shifted, tearing through my clothes. I thought I heard someone call my name, but I was too far away by then. Five wolves were waiting for me at the borders, their hackles raised as a few rogues were stutter-stepping in and out of the pack borders. Coyo growled and moved into place in front of our pack members protectively.

The rogues looked confused and desperate, and this wasn’t the first time they’d done this. After a few moments of this standoff, Coyo cocked her head and watched the rogues do the same.

---