Page 11 of Second Chance By Fate

“Me?” I bark. “What about you?” I whirl around to confront Violet. “You don’t waste any time, do you?” I snarl, throwing open the door to her room with such force, it smashes against the wall.

Violet tips her head back, unperturbed by my outburst. I’m almost impressed by her coolness. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t? It’s just a coincidence that the second you arrive here, the house goes crazy?” I retort. “I’m onto you. I won’t let you terrorize us again?—”

“Oh, please,” Violet cuts me off. “You can blame me for everything that’s going wrong around here, but you know full well that it’s going on, with or without me.”

“Funny how it’s so much worse with you, isn’t it?”

“Steele, shut up, man,” Enzo interrupts, stalking in behind me.

Jax follows him through the doorway, and he gestures for Violet to sit down and stop pacing, but she refuses.

“I don’t want to stay here,” she growls. “If you’re just going to accuse me of everything going wrong all the time?—”

“No one’s accusing you,” Enzo says.

“I am,” I counter, and he gives me a wary look.

“But you have to admit, this is suspicious. As soon as you get back here, weird stuff happens?” Enzo continues like I haven’t spoken.

“You’re acting like everything has been fine since I’ve been gone, and we all know that isn’t true!” she cries. “But I’m notgoing to stand here and justify every move I make to the three of you. I’m a grown woman, not a child. Stop treating me like one.”

Jax holds up his hands in mock surrender.

“You don’t have to justify anything to me,” he replies with a grin, and I almost hiss.

“You’re a disgrace to our Alphahood!” I snarl, advancing on the two of them. “Our parents would be ashamed of you.”

My youngest brother stands between Violet and me, but I’m annoyed. It’s not as if I would actually attack her. I can’t deny that I still have feelings for this treacherous witch, despite everything she’s done to us. How can I not? She shared our bed for years.

Enzo puts a hand on my shoulder.

“Look,” he says. “Why don’t we get some rest and talk about this tomorrow? Maybe you shouldn’t stay here after all, Violet, but you’re here now, and it’s late. We’ll figure it out in the morning, okay? In the meantime, try not to cast any more spells.”

“It wasn’t me!” Violet snaps. “I’m not messing with the power balance! How many times do I have to tell you guys that?”

“Yeah, right.” I roll my eyes and storm out of the suite, shaking with anger.

Enzo is on my heels, but so is Jax this time.

“You have to cut her some slack, Steele,” Jax pleads. “I don’t think she’s lying?—”

“Did you determine that before or after you let her seduce you?” I bark. “Gods, you’re so easily manipulated, Jax! Especially by her!”

Jax’s jaw stiffens. “I’m not. I just listen and use my common sense. This is Violet we’re talking about, not some random person on the street.”

I laugh bitterly, glancing at Enzo and thrusting a thumb toward Jax. “Are you hearing him? His common sense. Don’t you remember why we cast her out in the first place?”

“I was here,” Jax growls. “I remember.”

“Did we imagine when our powers started diminishing?” I demand. “Did we imagine it when other territories started moving in on us because they thought us easy targets?”

“No,” Jax admits. “But who’s to say any of that is Violet’s fault?”

“What other witches did we let into our lives? Are you being serious right now? You’re acting like we didn’t talk this through before we banished her! You’re talking like it was some kind of executive decision on our part. You agreed to it, too!”

Jax lowers his eyes.

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