Page 31 of Second Chance By Fate

“I started poking around and asking questions myself,” she admits. “I couldn’t understand why a coven, particularly a dark coven, had any interest in Apex shifters. I probably aroused attention because I wasn’t exactly being discreet. Suddenly, the same witch was back on my doorstep, threatening me. She told me if I didn’t leave it alone, I was going to end up with a curse on my head, too.”

“Too?” Jax echoes.

“Exactly. I started to understand all the stuff that was going wrong over here. I sat on it for a while, but I couldn’t in good conscience let you guys suffer…” She trails off. “But coming back put me at risk, too.”

“Oh, Violet.” I hug her closer, shame overcoming me.

“And this Bitsy?” Steele asks.

“Oh,” Violet laughs. “She’s my best friend. She warned me not to come back.”

“She sounds like a smart witch,” Jax sighs.

“I don’t like her,” Steele grunts.

“She just saved our asses. Come on. We should go tell her the coast is clear and thank her for coming all this way—also at a great risk to herself.”

I’m reluctant to let Violet go, but she’s right.

We untangle ourselves from one another and hastily dress, stepping over the bodies of the dark witches in our path. The servants cower as we emerge, and I order them all out of town.

“No one is allowed back on the estate until a proper background check has been conducted. If any of you have information you want to share about the dark witches in our midst, now’s the time to save yourselves. If we find out later that any of you were in cahoots with these terrorists…” I trail off, and they hang their heads. “Get out. All of you.”

They shuffle out, and Jax eyes me warily. “Don’t you think you were a little hard on them?”

“Or not hard enough,” I retort, stalking ahead to catch up with Steele and Violet. “Don’t tell me they didn’t know.”

“Wedidn’t know,” Jax reminds me.

A fusion of annoyance and guilt flames through me.

“We’re taking back our territory,” I tell him firmly. “We have a lot of work to do.”

I noticethe rush of power instantly, and my brothers claim the same. Coupled with Violet’s matehood, I’ve never felt more in control of myself or the territory, and the next three months are fixated strictly on housecleaning.

“I’m sure we’re in good standing with all the Southern Apex packs now,” I tell the pack at our monthly meeting. “We won’t be met with any more rebellions.”

“And the dark coven?” one shifter asks brazenly. “Is that threat definitely eliminated?

I scowl at his boldness, but Jax answers for me. “They were a handful of rogue witches and warlocks—even for a dark coven. When their coven learned what they were doing, they made reparations.”

Violet eyes me, sensing my discontent on the whole matter.

“Are you sure?” the same shifter calls out, and I bare my teeth at him.

Violet stands from her seat and nods at me.

“May I?” she asks sweetly.

I exhale. “Go ahead.”

“Do you remember last year when your brother broke into that convenience store and bit that human clerk?” she asks the shifter.

He balks and stammers. “Y-yeah, of course. He went to jail.”

“It’s kind of the same thing,” Violet continues calmly. “That wasn’t done with pack sanctioned approval, was it?”

The shifter swallows visibly and sits back down as Violet stares him down. Jax snorts, covering his mouth to hide his expression as the rest of the Apexes chuckle.

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