A Warrior’s Second Chance novel Chapter 359

ROMAN

I hit harder than I used to.

I knew it.

But I didn’t stop.

The impact ran up my arm, sharp and familiar–the kind of sting that usually helped me focus.

Today, it didn’t do much. My thoughts were still louder than the rhythm I was trying to force into my body.

Again.

My fist drove forward, controlled.

That was the problem.

I wasn’t calm.

Not since this morning.

I exhaled sharply, stepping back for a second, rolling my shoulders like that would shake it off. It didn’t. The tension sat there, stubborn, like it had settled into my bones.

I ran a hand through my hair, jaw tightening as the memory flashed again.

Mason.

The look on his face.

The moment everything snapped.

I clenched my fist.

I hadn’t just reacted.

I’d lost it.

There was a difference.

And I knew it.

That was the part that didn’t sit right.

Not the fight.

Not even him ending up on the ground… or lying that I attacked him first.

It was the way I couldn’t stop once it started.

The way something in me had taken over before I could even think.

Lexhaled through my nose, dragging my focus back, lifting my hand again-

Then I felt it.

That quiet awareness that someone was there,

Watching.

I stilled, lowering my hand slowly as I turned.

Him… Jeffery,

He stood a short distance away, not hiding it. Just there. Watching me like he’d been doing it long enough to settle into it.

I held his gaze for a second.

“You planning on saying something” I asked, “or just standing there?”

He just pushed off where he was leaning and started walking toward me like he had nowhere else to be.

“Didn’t want to interrupt,” he said.

I huffed lightly. “There’s nothing to interrupt.”

He stopped a few steps away, his eyes flicking briefly to my hands, then back to my face.

“You’re good,” he said simply,

I almost scoffed.

“Yeah,” I muttered, looking away for a second. “It doesn’t really matter.”

He took his time to respond.

And for some reason, that made me glance back at him.

“Everyone knows what truly happened,” he said.

I exhaled slowly, shaking my head a little. “Then you know enough to keep your distance.”

“Not if I don’t see it the way you’re seeing it.”

I frowned faintly. “Which is?”

“That you lost control,” he said.

I didn’t hesitate. “I did.”

There was no point pretending otherwise.

“That’s not all that happened,” he replied.

I let out a short breath, something between irritation and disbelief. “Pretty sure that’s the part that matters.”

“Not entirely,” he said.

I looked at him properly this time, trying to figure out what exactly he was getting at.

“You haven’t been here long,” I said. “You don’t know how things work.”

“That’s fair,” Jeffery admitted easily. “I haven’t.”

Then his expression shifted slightly.

“So am I,” I shot back. “He didn’t say much, but you don’t need words for that kind of thing.”

Jeffery shifted his weight slightly, unbothered. “He’s Alpha,” he said. “He’s supposed to react

like that.”

I frowned. “Like what?”

“Like someone responsible for everyone here,” he replied. “Order, control, making sure things don’t get out of hand.”

I didn’t interrupt.

Because that part made sense.

“But that doesn’t mean he’s against you defending yourself,” Jeffery added.

I glanced at him.

“He didn’t look like someone who thought you were completely wrong,” Jeffery went on. “If anything…”

He paused, like he was deciding whether to say it.

“Say it,” I muttered.

A faint smirk touched his lips. “If I’m being honest, I’d say I saw a bit of approval in there.”

I blinked once.

Then let out a quiet breath, shaking my head.

“Approval,” I repeated.

“Yeah.”

I looked away for a second, that almost–smile tugging at the corner of my mouth before I could stop it.

“You’re definitely reaching now.”

“Maybe,” he said with a shrug.

Silence settled for a moment.

I exhaled slowly, rolling my shoulders again as I glanced back at my hands.

“Alpha Alexander always says my biggest problem is overthinking,” I said after a second.

Jeffery didn’t respond.

“But what happened this morning…” I continued, a dry note slipping into my voice, “that wasn’t overthinking.”

He raised a brow slightly.

“I didn’t think at all.”

That was the truth.