Page 3 of Second Chance by Fate (Fated Apex Mates #3)

Chapter 3

Jax

I continue to steal looks at Violet as we mount the dual staircase toward the guest suite. Her hazel eyes show no indication of magic, but I can plainly see she’s lost in thought. I don’t claim to know exactly what she’s thinking, but I can guess.

“You caught everyone off guard by coming back,” I offer when she doesn’t say anything. “You can’t really blame them for being upset when Enzo gave you a direct order to stay away.”

She stops halfway up the winding staircase and looks at me, her lips curling upward defiantly. “I wouldn’t have come if?—”

Abruptly, she stops and shakes her head, pivoting to finish climbing. She moves faster now, as if to outrun her last words to me.

“If what?” I press, hurrying to keep stride with her.

“Never mind. It’s like I told you—I was going to call and let you know I was back. You’re making it out to be some underhanded plan, but it wasn’t that way at all.”

I shrug. I’m not bothered by her return, not like my brothers are, but I am curious why she’s chosen now to return and why she’s being so evasive about the details.

In fact, I reached out to Violet twice since her exile, even if she ignored both correspondences. I land on the second floor at her side, the servants behind us. I wait for them to leave Violet’s bags at the door to the suite before waving them off.

“You act like I cut you off completely. You know that’s not true,” I chide her gently.

My confession is met with a blank look. “What?”

Her confusion is genuine. I know her well enough to see that, and I glance over my shoulder to ensure none of the staff is eavesdropping on Enzo’s or Steele’s behalf. It wouldn’t surprise me.

With a worried frown, I usher her into the luxurious guest quarters. After locking the door, I press my ear against it, my enhanced bear shifter senses alert for any suspicious sounds.

“What do you mean you tried to reach me?” Violet presses, but I hold up a hand, suddenly not trusting my brothers. If she didn’t receive my messages, did one of them block the contact?

I can’t see them doing that without confronting me about it first, but things were… strange where Violet was involved. We clearly didn’t see eye-to-eye. She rouses emotions in us we didn’t share with other lovers. None of us could deny that.

“Jax!”

Content that no one is spying, I turn to look at her, standing in the middle of the sitting room, and my chest tightens to take her in.

As an Apex Alpha, I could always have my pick of partners, and we have enjoyed many nights with various females in our beds. But no one has ever had the effect on me that Violet did.

And that’s one reason we had to let her go. I know that. She wasn’t our fated mate, and we could never find our future mate with this bewitching woman distracting us. As much as we lusted after her and cared about her, she could never be with us, not truly. But that was the least of Enzo’s and Steele’s concerns. They would have happily kept her here if our strength had not diminished so incredibly.

“Are you lying to make me hate you less?” she asks.

The question stings.

“Hate me?” I echo, and she drops her gaze.

“Make me less angry,” she corrects herself. “I… I don’t hate you… even though I should.”

I think about her perspective.

If she truly did nothing wrong, she would have every right to hate us.

I let the comment go.

“I texted and emailed,” I say, ambling closer to her. “I wanted to make sure you landed on your feet. I was worried about you, believe it or not.”

She smirks lightly, tilting her head back up to look at me. I forgot how I tower over her five-foot-five frame, my sense of protectiveness overcoming me next to her smallness. The urge to wrap her in my arms and consume her in my bear form is almost insurmountable, but I hold back. She’s not powerless, despite her stature. I can’t forget that.

“Well, your brothers probably blocked it,” Violet says, her brilliant hazel eyes locking onto mine.

A familiar shiver of arousal washes through me as she bites on her lower lip, but I don’t look away.

“I don’t think so,” I say. “Maybe your coven?”

“Less likely than your brothers,” she snaps, spinning away. “Assuming you really tried to reach out at all.”

I grab her arm and pull her back toward me, relishing the look of surprise on her face, but ready to release her if she protests. “Are you really accusing me of lying to you?”

She doesn’t pull away, staring up at me. Her heartbeat roars in my ear, her breath inches from my face. “What do you want from me, Jax?”

“Why did you come back, Violet?” I ask huskily. “I’m listening.”

I don’t release her, but she doesn’t pull away, her gaze again locking on me. “Your powers haven’t stabilized, have they? Even though you got rid of me?”

I shake my head.

“So you know I’m not the reason everything went to hell around here?”

My eyes narrow slightly. “Unless you put a curse on us.”

Hurt colors her face, but it’s gone as quickly as it came on.

“Even if that were true,” she growls. “I wouldn’t need to come back to see it through.”

I read between the lines. “Are you saying there is some kind of curse on us?”

Her amber-green irises register fear, but again, she hides her true feelings.

“I’m not saying anything,” she mutters, and my mind whirls with what she’s holding back.

“Let me be blunt, Violet; did you put a curse on us?” I demand. “I’ll believe whatever you tell me.”

Her scowl is so deep, I think she’s going to strike me for a second.

“I can’t believe you’re actually asking me that.” She finally pulls away.

Disappointment wells inside me, my opportunity to kiss her lips evading me.

“Of course I didn’t curse you, even though you probably all deserve it. Maybe I should now, just for good measure.”

She stalks toward the bedroom and flops down on the king bed, avoiding my stare.

“But there is a curse on us,” I press.

“I’m really tired,” she tells me, turning away, and I realize I’ve hit the nail on the head. It’s not something we haven’t already considered.

“Who? Why?” I perch next to her, grabbing her upper arm and forcing her to look at me. “You can’t just waltz in here and?—”

Without warning, her lips crush on mine, ending my sentence midway. I have no illusions that she’s trying to shut me up with my litany of questions, but somehow that doesn’t matter. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t hoped for this from the second I closed the door behind us. No, longer. From the minute we got the phone call that she was back in Arizona.

Her hands cup my face, drawing me closer, and through the narrow slits of her eyes, I see the familiar violet glow of magic radiating from her irises. Instantly, I’m swept away in that headiness that only Violet can bring me. It’s so unfair she’s not our mate when she drives us all so crazy. I can’t imagine anyone else in the world coming close to doing what Violet can.

I pin her down, throwing my weight on top of her as I pull my head back and growl, “This conversation isn’t over.”

“It is for now,” she demurs playfully, licking her lips. “Unless you don’t want to show me how much you missed me.”

Groaning, I press my mouth back to hers, my hands ripping away at the buttons of her jeans, their resistance fueling my passion. Her hands close around my neck, drawing me closer, but she pulls back slightly.

“Aren’t you worried about Enzo and Steele?” she whispers.

I respond to her concerns with another deep kiss, finally freeing her of her pants and underwear. My animal form threatens to break free, the pent-up emotions locked away after all this time too close to the surface, but I keep myself in check, moving my lips slowly across the ridge of Violet’s chin and neck, yanking away the dusty tank top to discard beside the bed.

Re-exploring her is magic, her scents, that subtle vanilla and sage, her delicate lines. She’s exactly how I remember, but different in some ways, too. More guarded, jumpier, as if she doesn’t trust me like she used to. The realization breaks me a bit as I work my way across the flatness of her stomach, inhaling her soft skin.

“Gods, I missed you,” I murmur, the truth of my words overwhelming me as they meet the air.

I didn’t realize how much I missed her, the smell, the taste, the feeling of her until that moment. Did I block it all out, knowing that it was really over?

Her hands curl into the thick of my hair and push me down lower, urging my lips along the tenderness of her flesh. I grow harder, power surging through me as I fight off the desire to shift into my bear form, the room vibrating around us as more items of clothing strip away from Violet’s body and land on the ground.

A soft moan falls from her lips, her body arching upward, and the tremors increase around the bed.

I raise my head to look at her. “Are you doing that?”

Violet props herself up on her elbows to look at me, shaking her head, our eyes locking with concern.

“No…” she murmurs worriedly, but I’m too aroused to stop now.

Earthquake or not, I continue the path between the soft patch between her thighs, draping her smooth legs over my shoulders, and she cries out as my tongue dips in her crevice. My eyes close, and I lose myself inside her.

“Oh, Jax, I missed you, too.”

My mouth works feverishly, tongue lapping relentlessly as she bucks upward, her shoulders falling back, hands reclaiming her spot in my hair to pull me down. She tenses, a low cry escaping to flood the room as she reaches her climax, but I don’t stop licking, bringing her higher.

“Oh, Jax!” Her ankles lock around my neck and drive me deeper, my hardness peaking as I ready myself to take her after three long years.

Suddenly, plaster falls from the ceiling, raining down over the bed to spray around us and pulling me away from her. Violet chokes and rolls away as I drop protectively over her, the house shaking wildly around us.

“What the hell is going on?” Violet yells.

Framed artworks crash to the floor, and I drape my arms over her naked form.

I have no answer for her, but I have a feeling my brothers will have plenty of theories.