Page 21 of Second Chance By Fate

Her lips press together, and I remember what she told me in the car at the massacre. I decide to air it, even though I know she won’t like it. “And your curse?”

“Jax!” she cries, hurt flooding her face. “I told you that in confidence.”

“What curse?” Enzo demands.

“I can’t?—”

“You have to tell us,” I insist.

“I literally can’t,” she moans, swirling her finger around. Another silence falls over the room.

“Oh, gods. You’re already cursed,” I whisper, and she hangs her head.

“Are you?” Steele snarls. “Give us some damn answers, Violet!”

“I can’t!” she yells, the frustration on her face tangible. “Don’t you think I want to?!”

Silence falls between us, and she exhales slowly, like she’s trying to compose herself.

“Look,” she sighs, reclaiming her spot on the sofa and rubbing her eyes. “Let me go back to the house and see if I can draw them out, see what they want from you exactly.”

“Why us?” Enzo complains. “Of all the Apex Alphas.”

“Exactly. I’m in the rare position to figure all that out if you let me,” she coaxes us.

“It’s too dangerous,” Steele repeats.

“Not if we go with her,” Enzo declares slowly, sitting beside her. “We stay out of sight, but we follow her back?—”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Violet interjects. “They’ll sense you there.”

“You’re not going alone,” I cut in. “What if something goes wrong?”

Violet stares up at me with pleading eyes. “Things are much more likely to go wrong if you guys end up coming, particularly if we’re up against dark witches. You know that as well as I do.”

I drop in front of her, taking her hands in mine. “No. I don’t. I have no idea what we’re up against or why they’re targeting us.”

She sighs deeply. “That’s what I’m trying to find out. But you have to trust that I will.”

“It’s not a matter of trust,” Steele argues, sliding beside her on the other side. “It’s a matter of safety. We can’t send you back to the estate alone.”

“Then it’s a moot point. It’s too dangerous if you go.”

I gesture for my brothers to follow me, and they reluctantly do while Violet fusses with the herbs on the table. She’s pretending not to strain and listen, but I call them too far out of her range for her to overhear. She doesn’t have the benefit of shifter hearing, and I have to make absolutely sure she’s not listening in.

“Maybe this isn’t such a bad idea,” I mutter in a low voice.

“Are you out of your mind?” Enzo snaps. “We can’t send her to the house by herself.”

My gaze darts toward the witch, and she casts me a sidelong look, as if she suspects my intentions. Waving them further out of the room, I quieten my voice even more.

“What if we make her think she’s going alone and follow her?” I suggest.

Both my brothers eye me balefully.

Steele groans. “She won’t like that.”

“She might not have to know if nothing happens,” I respond thoughtfully. “But if something happens, she’ll have the backup she needs, and she’ll be grateful for it.”

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