Page 168 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

A sob threatened to slip out of me, but I swallowed it back and began making my way to the pack house, walking past where Cade was looking at me. Aware of the many eyes watching me, I blinked back the tears and kept my chin up.

“You have a pack,” Cade growled in response.

“Without the wine, we have nothing.”

“Bu—”

“They’re right, Alpha Cade. Without the wine and the grapes, the pack won’t survive. If they want to join your pack and you have the capacity to grow, go for it. Just give me a list of people you accept so I can reach out to the rest to find them a place to go.”

“Luna, how can I help?” Hugh pushed forward.

“Build a pyre so we can send Eric back to the Moon Goddess.”

“Bells...” Cade’s soft whisper was drowned out as people swarmed toward him, asking if they could join his pack.

Violet and Chris pushed through and walked with me to the basement. I placed Eric on a bed there.

“There are white shrouds and washcloths in the linen closet there. Can you grab me some?” I asked Violet.

She nodded and ran towards where I pointed.

“I’ll grab some water so we can clean him,” Chris said, heading toward the bathroom.

“You should have left when you had the chance, old man. Maybe we all should have left when we had the chance,” Iwhispered to Eric, not bothering to blink back the tears any longer.

We worked in silence as Violet and Chris helped me clean away the dirt and blood from his burnt skin. Once he was ready, we wrapped him in the white shroud, and Chris carried him outside.

I found a line of people coming out from the conference rooms and I chose to look ahead instead of at the people running from the sinking ship. I couldn’t fault them for wanting to get the hell out of this nightmare.

I found Charles, Cade and Hugh finishing the pyre. Cade looked at me like he wanted to talk, but I had nothing to give him. Everything was gone. All of my hard work, my pack, the fucking magic I pulled out of my ass to keep the pack afloat month after month. And, now I had to say goodbye to one of the few people that made the years of misery here lighter.

Violet and Chris stayed by my side as I watched Eric burn, a small part of me envying the peace he must be feeling now. As I watched the fire consume him, I felt the mind-link pull from Cory.

‘Can I reach out in a little while? One of my pack members died and I’m watching the pyre burn,’I answered him.

‘Of course. Take your time. I’m sorry for your loss.’Cory cut the mind-link off just as I wanted to snort.

You have no idea just how big a loss, brother,I thought.

“Bells, can we talk?” Cade asked quietly when there was nothing but embers left.

“No. I need to check on my child and then I’d like to be alone. We can talk in the morning.” Cade nodded, though I could see the hurt in his face when I asked him to leave me alone.

We walked back to the pack house and separated.

Cade headed toward the conference room, where I imagined he’d left John grabbing the names of his new pack members.Charles bade me goodnight and told me not to wake up for breakfast, that he and Lindsay would have it covered. I nodded, not having the energy to argue. All I wanted was to sleep right now and hope when I woke up in the morning, this had all been a dream.

“Bells, are you sure you want to be alone right now? I could stay with you,” Violet asked when we got to the top of the alpha floor, hesitating as she watched me walking the opposite way of her room.

“I’m sure. Thanks, though.”

I walked back and gave my sister a hug, hoping it spoke the gratitude I felt that she fought her fears and pushed through a crowd to find me. I watched her and Chris walk away hand in hand, then walked toward Adam’s room. Thankfully, my child was sound asleep, so I gave him a quick kiss on the forehead and went to my room. I locked the door, ensuring I was left alone for the night.

‘Cory?’I reached out to my twin.

‘I’m here,’he answered right away.

‘I’m coming home,’I told him, finally letting the tears flow.

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