Page 83 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

Chris opened the door and sat back down on the chair he usually occupied. Instead of grabbing whatever he usually busied himself with while he guarded Violet, he crossed his arms and glared at the wall.

“I was wondering if you’ve come across any of the delivery services Brandon’s used in the past before I go googling?” I asked my sister.

“Umm, I did. I’m not sure which of these boxes have it. I’ll take a look after lunch and let you know.”

“Thanks, Vi. Umm...” I shot a look at the grumpy man in his seat and added, “Want to have a girl’s night sometime this week?”

“Sure. Let me know what works for you.”

“You okay, big guy?” I asked before I stepped out, just to poke the bear.

“I am.” Something was definitely up with them, because Chris forgot to add his usual, overly courteous ’thank you, Luna.’

I nodded as I left, and pulled out my phone the moment I was out of the room to text Violet.

Me

Everything okay with you two?

Vi

Yes. Everything’s just peachy.

Well, alright then.

I put my phone back in my pocket and got to work. Time flew by, and soon it was time for me to go help prepare lunch. I was sweating but excited with the progress. I hurried up to my room to shower and change. I was almost disappointed Cade didn’t follow me like he did after that first night, but figured he understood I had a lot of work to do.

When I got down to Lindsay was back from her class, and she and Charles were so adoringly cute around each other now that I wanted to gag, in the best way.

I teased them about it, much the same way I teased Cory and Evie when they finally found out they were mates. It was a good thing Lindsay would be done with her studies by December. She could head to Red Wood without having to struggle with transferring her credits. It also meant I had Charles and Lindsay until then, even if Cade had left by then.

My mood soured a little at thinking Cade was going to leave at some point. It was already so easy to imagine myself waking up next to him every morning. Hell, he was going to leave for goddess-knew-how long soon.

I shook it off. I needed to take things one step at a time. Compartmentalize.

Chapter Fifteen

Violet

Iwas fuming as I stood to the side of the training grounds, and watched Chris getting pawed at by the same girls again. Initially, when they came in, Chris ignored them. But I guess the girls decided they weren’t going to be ignored tonight. Maybe it was something to do with the full moon yesterday, or maybe it was just because he’d humored them the other night, but they weren’t letting up with their request.

Finally, Chris asked me to wait for him on the bench while he helped them. He made it a point to ask me not to leave the training grounds, telling me he was still annoyed about when I ran off the other day.

That was twenty minutes ago, and I’d been watching him teaching each girl the right form for a stupid move that they were using to slither up and down his body. To his credit, Chris was looking really annoyed, and only touched them when absolutely necessary. Not that it helped my jealousy or my annoyance.

“I thought you were the one getting trained?”

I eeped then giggled when Elim jumped over the bench and sat a little further down than necessary.

“I told you, he appears to be taking up new pupils,” I answered.

“He doesn’t look very happy about it.”

We both turned to look at him in time to watch him huff as he tried to explain something again.

“Nope, but he also doesn’t seem to know how to tell them no.”

“What is it that he’s teaching you?” Elim asked.

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