Page 36 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“Why is this so funny to you?” he asked, a genuine smile finally gracing his lips as he watched me lose my shit. He was probably just grateful that it wasn’t a panic attack for once.

“You’re just so serious all the time. I’ve never seen you crack a joke or laugh loudly. You’re this grumpy old man in the body of a twenty-five-year-old.”

“I make jokes,” he mumbled, his smile replaced by a frown.

“Make one now,” I challenged.

He gave me another annoyed look, and I giggled.

“I can’t just make one up on command,” he said, a bit of indignity to his voice, as if I was treating him like a dancing monkey, expecting him to perform.

“Point and match,” I teased.

He gave me a look of incredulity, then decided he was done with my shenanigans and buried his nose in the newspaper. I swallowed the giggle in my throat and turned back to my work, but stopped when I saw Nenetl sitting in the back of my head, watching everything with interest and wagging her tail softly. I was tempted to reach out, but I didn’t want to scare her, so I went back to work.

A few hours later, a notification on Chris’ phone told me it was lunch time. I looked up to see he’d moved on from readingthe newspaper to working on his book of crossword puzzles. He placed the pen inside the book and closed it before standing.

“I’ll grab our lunch. Lock the door behind me,” he ordered.

I nodded and locked the door after he left, pacing until I heard his heavy footsteps approaching. I opened the door, and he stopped with his hand raised to knock. I moved away so he could enter, but I didn’t expect him to look so angry when he turned around.

“Don’t answer the door until I make myself known. What if it was someone attacking?” he growled.

I took a step back, not out of fear, but out of surprise. This was probably the most emotion I’d seen out of the man. At my step, he stopped, and his shoulders slumped as he mistook it for fear.

“I’m sorry. I—You’re my responsibility, and there was an attack today. I need you to stay safe.”

“I know your footsteps now. I could hear you coming down the hall,” I explained.

“What if someone has the same step I do?” he asked. I raised an eyebrow, and he slumped a little more. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“What’s for lunch?” I asked instead.

“Chicken burgers and homemade fries,” he answered, sitting down by the desk.

I walked around to the other side and grabbed the plate with one burger on it instead of two. We ate in comfortable silence for a while before something popped into my head.

“When was the last time you went to train?” I asked him.

“What?”

“You used to train all the time, didn’t you?” I asked, when he nodded, I asked again. “Have you trained since you left Crescent Moon?”

“No,” he shrugged.

“Don’t you want to anymore?”

“Training isn’t part of my assignment,” he grunted, taking a bite of his second burger.

“Doesn’t your wolf need to run?”

“He’s fine.” I shook my head.

“If you need to train and run, I can stay locked in here or my room for a while.”

“I’ll be fine, Violet. I took a look at the training and it’s basic stuff. I won’t learn anything from it.”

“What about working out or letting your wolf... what’s your wolf’s name by the way?”

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