Page 67 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“Violet? When did Violet see this thing?”

Worry for her sister was suddenly dripping from her voice. Violet gave me the CliffsNotes version of what happened to her a few days ago, and I couldn’t help but feel the same overprotectiveness Bells was feeling. Violet was a sweet girl. Too sweet to have gone through so much in her young life already.

“No, she found the rabbit, and then she drew that based on my description.”

“Violet is letting you near her?” Bells asked with even more disbelief and, surprisingly, a little bit of annoyance.

“Si. I joined her and Chris for training, and she was the one who suggested drawing it.”

“Wait, Violet is training?” It was my turn to be surprised.

“At night, when there’s no one in the gym,” Elim clarified.

“Well, fuck me sideways,” Bells breathed out, staring down at the image.

I’d love to, Princess. If only you’d let me,I thought.

“We need to keep the wolves out of the woods,” Elim finally got to the point of meeting with us. “Especially the little ones.”

“You want to keep wolves out of the woods during a full moon?” I asked, skeptically.

“I know it’s not ideal, but someone could get hurt.”

“I’ll figure something out.” Bells sighed, as if she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders.

And she probably did. I already noticed her beta was hardly around. When I did see him, he was usually flirting with my unmated pack members. She had no gamma. No support system here. I’d been trying to help where I could. Even John was trying after seeing how hard the woman worked, but she was so stubborn. Even with Charles cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner with Lindsay, Bells was still waking up early and leaving the fields in the middle of the day to help prep.

All of my pack members who interacted with her were completely impressed with her, yet her own pack members appeared to be immune to all the effort she put forth. It didn’t make sense to me. She should be hailed as hero, and instead she was treated as an inconvenience by eighty percent of her pack.

“I have one more request,” Elim said after a silence.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Could I perhaps join your full moon celebration tonight?”

“Looking for your mate?” Bells asked, with a little too much interest.

Was she interested in him? He certainly was a good-looking man, if you liked the slim type. Nyko, my wolf, growled in the back of my head, and I couldn’t help feeling the same jealousy, as I waited for his response.

“I... I was thinking that if my aunt and cousin found their Beloveds, there might be a chance for me.”

“You’re welcome to join,” Bells confirmed.

Elim stood and gave a grateful nod before he left, leaving me alone with Bells.

“He’s going to be disappointed,” she added after she made sure he wasn’t within earshot.

“Huh? Why? You don’t think he could have a mate out there for him?”

“Oh, I think he’s right and there’s a chance, but he’s not wanting to join for the chance. He wants to see if Violet is his mate, and she’s not going to be at the celebration. He likes her.”

“How do you know?” I asked, slightly relieved that he was interested in the other Salonen sister.

“You didn’t see the little hearts floating over his head when he said her name?” she asked, shaking her head and smiling.

Fuck, is that how I look when I talk about her? I should ask John.

“That could be anything.”

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