7. Jax
Chapter 7
Jax
T here are several cars at the pack house when we arrive, and Enzo orders me to get rid of the shifters hanging out before we enter.
“Make sure you tell them that they never saw us here,” he adds, but that’s unnecessary. I know we need to keep a low profile until we devise a plan.
The group leaves, casting curious looks at my car, but no one asks questions.
“Make a list of what you need, and I’ll see if we have it here,” I tell Violet when the coast is clear, and we head inside. “Whatever we don’t have, I’ll go get.”
“I think we should stay together,” she mumbles, flopping back on the sofa. Her pale complexion worries me, and I say as much aloud.
“You guys all look like shit,” I hiss through gritted teeth. “Maybe I should call a doctor.”
“No!” All three of them speak in unison, and I hold up my hands, seeing that I’m outnumbered.
“Fine, but we need to fix you guys up.”
“I can do some healing,” Violet mumbles, sitting forward to look at the gash on Steele’s stomach. “I’m still capable of healing.”
She says it, but she doesn’t look good. I want to protest more, but when her hand touches Steele’s skin and their eyes lock, an unspoken truce forms between them, and I stop myself. A sense of relief overcomes me as I realize that he’s trusting her again, if only a little bit. Maybe the circumstances aren’t the best, but at least we’re getting somewhere.
“I don’t understand what they want from us,” Enzo grumbles, pacing the living room. He pauses at the window to peer out into the vast desert landscape as the morning sun shines overhead. His cuts still ooze, and I try to look him over, but he waves me off. “Don’t.”
Frowning, I fall back, but I’m not happy about it. We need to work together if we want to get to the bottom of what’s going on. But to do that, I need to come up with solutions, not play a blame game like Enzo.
“We’ll need to form an alliance of shifters we can trust to go through the estate and root out the danger,” I offer logically. “If we don’t go back there, they’ll come looking for us.”
All eyes are on me, and I glance from one to the next as a plan forms in my mind. I have their attention, and I intend to keep it. Steele’s face is already regaining its normal color, and I exhale as Violet stands, shuffling toward Enzo to work on his injuries.
“What do you need from me?” I ask her. “Did you make a list?”
“Can you find me some willow and white sage? I need to do a cleansing.”
Enzo eyes me. “Do you think we have that here?”
“I think so.”
Hurrying toward the second-floor bathroom, my mind turns toward the staff at the estate. Most of them have been with us for years, but there are a couple who could have been planted. It still boggles my head that they’ve gained entrance to Dusty Woods without our permission.
Digging through the medicine cabinet behind the mirror, I find the herbs Violet needs and return to the living room where a full-blown argument has broken out.
“You’re not going back there!” Steele growls. “Are you out of your mind?”
“I’m one of them,” Violet says patiently. “They won’t hurt me as easily as they’ll hurt you.”
“You’re a dark witch?” Steele hisses. “You just said?—”
“I’m a witch,” she corrects him. “And they’re less likely to hurt me than they are a shifter. They care less about your lives than they do mine.”
“They almost killed you in that car, too,” Enzo reminds her. “I don’t think they have any regard for you, either.”
Violet falters over the observation, but she doesn’t relent. “I need my stuff, and if there are dark witches or warlocks at the estate, my presence probably brought them out of hiding. You’re right about one thing. That’s why things got worse when I got back. Don’t you want to see who’s behind this?”
Silence falls through the living room as Violet reaches for the sage and willow out of my hands. She smiles at me, but I can’t return her expression. The idea of her returning to the estate alone stresses me out too much. “You want to go back to the estate and antagonize the witches?”
She shakes her head. “No. I want them to think I’m on their side. I think that’s the only way to get them.”
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.”
My brothers stare at me for a moment, considering the suggestion.
“She’s not going to agree any other way, and we won’t catch them otherwise,” I press. “This is our only shot. Our estate has been infiltrated, and we need to root out the cause. One of us let in the first dark witch somehow, and that witch clearly let in the others. Violet had nothing to do with that—she couldn’t have. We’ve been living with the enemy for years, and we blamed her for it all along. It’s time to make things right, guys.”
“I don’t like the idea of using her as bait,” Enzo mutters.
“She’s going whether we want her to or not,” I remind him, and again, they realize I have a point.
Enzo exhales. “Fine. But we have to be careful—no one can know what we’re up to.”
“Super careful,” I agree. “And you all need to heal first. We need to regain our full strength. No half-assing this. We’ll take a day.”
We retreat to the pack house where Violet is cleansing the property with white sage, her mouth moving in a protective chant. Patiently, we wait for her to finish before announcing our decision.
“We changed our minds,” I tell her. “You can go back to the estate and collect your stuff.”
Her suspicious gaze trails toward me and then to my brothers. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch except you need to take a day to heal. You can’t go in there weakened.”
“You won’t interfere?” she asks nervously, narrowing her eyes at me. “If you do, Jax, the results could be catastrophic. I don’t just mean for me?—”
“Don’t worry about us,” Steele grunts.
“You just get in and out. You can take my car,” I tell her. I don’t like withholding our plan from her, but it’s the only way. She parts her lips as if she’s about to question us more, but I swiftly change the conversation. “I’ll see about food. There’s not much in the fridge and pantry here to eat. I’ll be back.”
“I’ll come with you,” Violet offers.
“You should stay,” I prompt her. “And finish working on Enzo and Steele. They still need healing.”
“We’re better,” my brothers chorus, clearly not wanting to be left alone to answer the question.
No one wants to lie to Violet.
Grunting softly, I force a smile and allow her to follow me back out to the car.
“What’s really going on, Jax?” she demands the minute we’re out of their earshot. I realize she’s following me because she thinks I’m the one who’s most likely to give it to her straight. “Why the sudden one-eighty on letting me return to the estate?” she asks.
“You need your supplies. You’re stronger with your stuff, and one of us needs to go back there eventually,” I answer honestly, unlocking the car.
“My stuff is replaceable,” she says flatly.
“That’s not how you were making it sound a few minutes ago.”
She rolls her eyes. “Come on, Jax…”
“Anyway, someone should see what’s happening there without us, and if you think you can draw out the coven?—”
“You’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?”
Slipping into the driver’s seat, I give her a look as she climbs in, too. “Letting you go is pretty stupid, don’t you think?”
Violet smirks. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing that for the past three years, remember?”
My chest tightens, and I swallow a sigh. I wish we had taken better care of her. Maybe none of us would be in this position if we had.
“What do you know about the dark witches?” I ask, pulling away from the pack house. “What would they want with us?”
“I honestly have no idea. If I knew, I would tell you.” I believe her, the exasperation in her voice palpable.
“You said we were cursed.”
“That’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“But what kind of curse is it, Violet?” I press, steering the car toward the highway. Instantly, my hands tighten, my senses on high alert, as if I expect someone to be following us.
“I don’t know,” she moans. “I know I sound like a broken record, Jax, but I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
My mind flicks back to my parents and the brief entanglement they had with the witches before they passed. Could this be some kind of revenge?
A cold sweat forms on my brow, and I gnaw on my lower lip. Suddenly, I don’t want to let Violet out of my sight. We can’t use her as bait, even if we are following her, but she’s going to go, with or without our approval.
Her hand reaches across the console and curls into mine gently. “You’re stressed.”
“I don’t like the idea of you going there alone.”
“I’ll be careful. I won’t antagonize them if they surface. It will probably be uneventful. We’re probably worried about nothing. The whole thing will be anticlimactic.”
My gaze focuses on the road in front of me.
And if they don’t surface? Then what? I suppose that’s a bridge we’ll have to cross when we get to it.
“Do you promise you’re telling me everything?” Violet asks after a moment of silence.
“Are you?” I reply.
She turns her head to look out the window, and I don’t feel so bad about withholding our plan from her now. Neither one of us is being one hundred percent forthcoming. Let’s just hope this doesn’t end up to our detriment.
Either way, she’s back with us. We won’t let anything happen to her. That’s for sure.