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An explosion
of peace and total serenity overwhelmed him as he deepened the
kiss, one of passion, of fire. He felt her tongue brush against
his. His hand slid through her hair, pulling her closer to him so
their bodies became one. He’d missed the taste of her kiss. He’d
missed the way her lips teased, how they sent his heart galloping
like mad horses. She sighed, the sound brushing up against his skin
making it tingle.

“
I love you,”
she whispered against his lips. “We can move on from this. I know
we can.”

47

CHOICES

“
He’s here,”
Tabitha whispered, touching her arm gently.

Cora knew he’d
come to see them. Yet her pulse still quickened when she realised
what today would entail.

Jack’s arm
moved around her waist, his grip a little tighter than it usually
was. She squeezed his hand telling him she was okay. Her heart rate
told a different tale. He would worry, she knew, because they’d
been through so much together and this was another thing trying to
force them apart.

They were
gathered in the middle of Tabitha’s immaculate living room. No one
bothered to sit on the soft sofa. No one felt comfortable enough to
do so. Ayden was standing at Eli’s side, his eyes pure ice, his
fists clenched at his sides. Eli looked stricken by the news,
almost like he’d convinced himself this wasn’t going to happen.
Ciaran and Ember were sitting at the breakfast bar. Ember’s face
remained emotionless; her silver hair was pulled away from her face
in a high bun that highlighted sharp cheekbones. Her fierce eyes
portrayed anger at the mention of his name. Clay was leaning
against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest. His dirty
blonde hair was pulled back in a bobble, his eyes fierce as they
looked at the wall, his fist clenched.

A sad
expression crossed Ciaran’s face, and then it was instantly pushed
aside by anger. Ciaran had become a part of their small family in
the weeks following their reunion. She valued Ciaran’s opinion and
he’d given it freely. He supported them, no matter what. He had
also begun introducing her to his coven. This would help when the
time came.

“
You remember
the plan?” Jack whispered.

She nodded
finding her tongue had grown in size in her mouth, but she couldn’t
show him that she was nervous.

“
Right, well,
let’s go down and see what happens,” Tabitha addressed the
group.

Tabitha
fronted their group as they marched down the steps into the shop.
Cora knew that whatever happened, she couldn’t be luckier to have
such a great coven. The sting of tears in her eyes forced her to
blink. Jack squeezed her hand. She was so lucky that he knew
everything about her. She’d almost lost it. If he’d given up on
her...They’d overcome the whole Quinn business making them stronger
than ever. She could thank Alastair for that. His little plan made
her see how much she needed him. How much her coven meant to
her.

“
Tabitha, nice
tae see yer again.”

“
Hmmmm,”
Tabitha responded.

Alastair
nodded his head at her response. It was so unlike Tabitha to be a
less than welcoming host. Alastair obviously knew this and he liked
the reaction.

Alastair’s
eyes slitted when he saw that she held Jack’s hands tightly in
hers. That was the reaction Cora appreciated. This hadn’t been his
plan, it was obvious, especially with the disgusted look on his
face. The corners of her mouth twitched as she felt the urge to
laugh in his face. Jack squeezed her hand which set her heart
racing for all the wrong reasons.

“
A see...”
Alastair looked at her coven, each of them in turn. His eyes
registered surprise when he looked at Ciaran.

“
Dae yer
happen tae know where Quinn disappeared tae?”

Cora felt the
jolt run through her body at the mention of his name but she
covered it. She looked around at the group trying to make her face
show some confusion. Tabitha’s face had clearly perfected the
look.

“
I do not
know, he was here for a while, but once he knew that he could not
wheedle his way in to our coven, he left.”

Alastair
nodded and glanced at Tavish. That looked told her that they had
figured it out. They didn’t believe their little excuse, but the
Scottish coven couldn’t prove anything.

“
A
see...”

If Alastair
said that one more time, Cora was going to put him on his
ass.

“
So, A’m haur
tae hear whit decision yer hav come tae.”

Jack held her
hand as she stepped forward to tell Alastair what they had decided.
He obviously wanted to take the lead on this so she let
him.

“
I think we
should come to another arrangement. You cannot force us to go
through with this.”

“
A think A
can,” Alastair grinned wickedly as Tavish smirked next to
him.

Tavish shifted
his footing, preparing himself.

“
Can’t we
decide on something else? I could move to Scotland, perhaps under
your lead, do something with the covens? Why do we need to be
married right now? Why a baby so soon?”

“
The Corenthio
Coven were dealt wi’ in one night by yerselves. A cannae let that
happen again. Look at whit it has done tae everyone. Marriage means
security, and the baby would mean yer line continues.”

“
It’s a
stupid, old tradition!” Ciaran stormed.

Alastair
barely spared Ciaran a glance. He slowly moved his icy stare back
at her, trying his best to intimidate her, but she was beyond
intimidation.

“
You are a
sick pervert,” Clay growled.

Alastair
merely shrugged his shoulders as Tavish stepped towards
Clay.

“
You make it
sound like the Corenthio Coven were dealt with so quickly. They
upheld the law for centuries. Witches feared them. They still do,
even in death.”

Again,
Alastair shrugged his shoulders.

“
Let me just
ask you this. If Cora is thrust as the leader of all covens, where
does that put you?” Eli asked.

“
A dannae
follow yer.”

Oh, Alastair
followed Eli’s train of thought alright. Cora saw the annoyance
flash in his eyes. Alastair’s plan had crumbled around him, and he
had no other option but to follow it through because he’d announced
this plan in front of every coven member. Alastair didn’t have any
other option. How very silly of him.

“
Well, you
will no longer be the leader. And I’m sure you wouldn’t like to be
under Cora?”

Alastair’s
cheeks pinked. Cora nearly laughed. She only just managed to hold
it together when Jack squeezed her hand.

“
A stand by ma
decision that was made. Yer will hav tae pick.”

“
Your
decision?” Tabitha asked, picking up on his use of
words.

“
Nae, I mean,
our decision. We all came tae this decision.”

“
I bet you
did,” Ayden growled.

“
I’m not
picking either of the options,” Cora stated.

“
Very
well.”

Before Cora
could follow what was happening, Tavish lunged towards Ayden who
had already popped, forcing himself into three versions. She turned
as a black cloud engulfed Eli and then both the cloud and Eli
disappeared. Where he’d been standing was now an empty
space.

“
Eli!” Jack
shouted.

Tavish had one
of the Ayden’s by the throat, as each new Ayden appeared, they
instantly disappeared.

“
Now, yer can
continue with this so that yer coven will all disappear, or yer can
choose which option yer want tae gae wi’. It’s up to yer,
lassie?”

Cora pulled
her lips tightly across her teeth. “Let Eli and Ayden go,” she
hissed.

“
Nae. They ar’
some place nice.”

She let go of
Jack’s hand. He’d squeezed it twice telling her to do
it.

She watched as
Jack part ran, part flew toward Alastair who had a huge grin on his
face as he watched Jack fly towards him. She barely had time to
gather her element and throw it at Alastair, the black cloud
leeched forward from within Alastair and engulfed Jack.

48

CHINK IN THE
ARMOUR

An ebony
curtain cloaked him as he tumbled into the darkness. Jack knew
where he was. He stood and searched the darkness, prepared. On his
second breath, Varick appeared from within the darkness and still,
Jack shuddered. Varick grinned like an idiot and then lifted his
hands. Jack held his body still as a bolt of lightning struck at
him. It missed as a vibrant spark of electricity cackled in the
silence surrounding them.

Before Jack
could counter attack, another bolt flew at him. He judged this one
would hit the spot so he threw his body to the ground and rolled,
avoiding the death bolt by millimetres. He took a deep breath and
stood up. Another bolt narrowly missed him. His head spun but he
refused to move one inch more. He’d had enough of this. He’d killed
this man once before. If he had to do it again, he knew he
could.

“
How are you
here?” he whispered into the darkness and watched as Varick
struggled to process his words.

Still Varick
didn’t speak. His lips remained formed into thin lines Jack
considered to be some sort of smile.

“
Fine,” he
hissed as he felt his element come to life inside him.

Pulling his
energy towards him, thankful it still worked in this place, he let
his element leap forward and spring back. Cobalt blue flickered
around him as Varick released his element. Jack let go in the same
second the brilliant blue travelled towards him.

Pain exploded
in his thigh as the lightning struck. It sent his leg crashing
underneath the weight of his body from the shock. He bent on his
knees trying not to think about his skin that had melted to his
jeans. He kept his eyes open, watching as his element picked Varick
up and sent him flying through the darkness. Something caught his
eye as he did so.

Have I
imagined that?

As Varick flew
back, the ebony curtain seemed to bend around him like there was
some exit out of this place. Jack was only able to see it due to
the blue current that was soaring through the air towards him. When
surrounded by the darkness you couldn’t see it. He rolled and
hissed as his bad leg took the brunt of his weight.
What the hell is that? Is it a way
out?

Varick smiled
as he disappeared from sight. That was it? There wouldn’t be any
words of retaliation? Varick had never been so quiet. How did the
cold blooded killers find their way here? A more frightening
question, did Alastair have control over when he appeared back with
the coven?

He assumed
Alastair could hold him here forever, which was a rather scary
thought. He hoped they were dealing with Alastair at the shop.
Obviously Alastair was in charge of what Jack saw whilst he resided
in this mini hell. The Corenthio Coven had to be figments of his
imagination, surely? Yet these figments could cause pain and
injury? He’d never heard of such a thing before.

Wasting no
more time, Jack hobbled his way into the darkness, reaching, if he
could, towards the curtain. He had to see if it would flex under
his fingers. He moved closer and closer. Before his fingers touched
it, he felt the weight of a bus slam into his body and force him to
the ground.

Jack’s ribcage
was crushed against the floor, forcing the air out of his lungs. He
was unable to breathe. This was ridiculous. Growling in
frustration, he pushed his arms out to the side and pushed his body
weight against the force on him. The fact that he could do this
said so much. Evander wasn’t even trying. Why not? What was he
holding back? Didn’t he feel anger that they had killed
him?

Jack turned
and glared at the man who had taken away so much. Evander’s face
wasn’t smiling like Varick’s. Instead an angry scowl was set on his
lips. His cold steel eyes locked on to him, snarled. He wasn’t
happy. Good, that made two of them. Did Evander know that he was
dead? Maybe Jack should divulge the information to see his
reaction.

Evander raised
his hands, lifting them as he gathered his power. The bone crushing
pain was not going to happen today. Pulling his energy, he pushed
with all his might and found that lady luck was definitely on his
side. Jack pushed harder making Evander stumble over and over
again. Evander couldn’t gain his balance after each hit. The
revelation hit Jack like a ton of bricks. Alastair may have the
image correct of each of the coven members, and the elemental
powers were right, but it wasn’t quite perfect.

Alastair
didn’t know how powerful the Corenthio Coven had been. He’d never
fought against them and this showed. He stood up, rather shakily,
and pushed his hands out in front of him, letting his energy flow
out of him in a constant stream of power. Evander continued to
stumble back, each knock making Jack’s confidence grow. Evander’s
face remained expressionless, much like that of a mannequin. It was
rather unnerving.