Page 71 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

What the hell does that mean?

I have no clue, but he can mean whatever he wants if he keeps smiling at us like that,Coyo added.

I thought we both agreed: no more alphas,I replied.

He’s different.

He’s not ours.

He could be. He hasn’t found a luna and he’s over thirty. He’s going to have to choose soon,Coyo reminded me.

You really want to go through that heartache again? Being a luna? Leading a pack where the majority of the wolves in it don’t respect you?

You tell me, Bells. Is Cade worth it? Don’t you think we deserve more than what we’ve gotten so far?

I didn’t know how to answer that. To answer that, I would have to unpack a lot of things I’ve shoved down very deep in my heart. Doubts of my worth, and words Brandon had put in my head over the years. I would have to dissect which words were true and which were not. Opening that can of worms was something I wasn’t sure I could survive right now, and my dying pack needed me to function.

Did I deserve to be happy? I’d like to think so, but if we were being honest, I wasn’t sure. There was a reason the Moon Goddess had sent me so far away from the people I loved, and some nights I wondered if it was because they were better off without me.

I passed by Lindsay and Charles and smiled at them both. “Congratulations you two. I’m so happy for you.”

I was. I was happy for both of them, but I was also sad at losing Lindsay. There was no way she would get Charles to join, instead of the other way around. Lindsay had no family here, while Charles had family waiting for new pack grounds in Crescent Moon. It wouldn’t even be kind of me to try to convince them not to go. I wouldn’t wish anyone to be separated from their family like I was from mine.

“Let’s shift and have a run,” I ordered, letting Coyo forward, when Cade reached the front of the packs.

Cade’s wolf eyed Coyo, who stood only slightly shorter than him. She was a beautiful black wolf with a random red boot on her left hind leg. I couldn’t communicate with Cade, but with an encouraging nod from Coyo, his wolf tilted his head back and howled at the moon. Coyo followed suit and we took off running, enjoying running beside Cade’s wolf for the next hour. I could see she liked him just as much as she like the human counterpart.

When we returned, I shifted back and pulled on my jeans and shirt. I chatted with people for a while, before I decided I wasdone socializing and walked back inside as everyone was having snacks.

The woman who came to talk to Cade the other day during our picnic with Violet, stumbled out of the kitchen, adjusting her clothes with a frown on her face. She smiled when she saw me and bounced out of the pack house with a giggle. I was confused, until Cade came walking out of the kitchen a moment later.

Pain slashed through my heart as my mind put two and two together. I was wrong about him. He was just like Brandon. He took what he wanted without any thought to consequences.

“Alpha Cade.” I managed to nod. “Have a good night.”

Confusion and then understanding flashed through his eyes, but instead of waiting for him to give me an excuse, I walked away. I climbed the stairs as fast as I could. I wanted to have a drink and push out the images running through my head. I heard him calling my name, but I didn’t turn around. This was something I could walk away from before my heart fractured beyond repair.

“Fuck! You’re fast when you want to be. Will you slow down?” Cade was huffing behind me.

“I’m going to bed.”

“We need to talk.”

“We don’t need to talk. What you do with your pack members is your own business. I would just appreciate it if you keep it to your own people. I’ve already broken up enough fights over Hugh’s sexcapades. I don’t need more broken hearts.”

“I’m not fucking Ada, Bells.”

“I don’t care!” I growled, turning around to face him. I expected him to stop but he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed me by the arms and walked me backward until we hit the door to my room.

“You’re infuriating sometimes,” he growled, looking down at me.

“And you’re just like every other asshole alpha, taking what you want no matter who you hurt or how many broken hearts you leave behind. You’re selfish. To you it’s just a fuck, but do you know what that girl is thinking? Maybe she wanted to be your luna and you’re stringing her along, making her think you’re going to love her when you can’t. You can’t because you’re selfish and you’re going to break her.” The words were coming out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Cade stepped back at my words, a myriad of strange looks crossing his face. Finally, he took a step forward, caging me against the door of my room again.

“I don’t know what the hell kind of mate you got, Bells, but I’m not him. I don’t cheat. I don’t fuck around with random pack members. I don’t mistreat my woman.” He lowered his face until he was close enough to look into my eyes. “I don’t fuck pack members. I don’t fuck around, period. I can count on one hand the number of women I’ve taken to my bed and Ada isn’t and will never be one of them.”

“She was adjusting her cl—”

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