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“
Yeah, I guess
I'm a little hungry.”

The bedroom
door opened as she sat down, and Jack walked through into the
kitchen, yawning loudly. He wore only a pair of shorts and a tight
vest that revealed toned arms and the cuts of his abs. She
swallowed, enjoying the view as he pushed his hand through his bed
hair forcing it to one side. His eyes latched on to hers. Hot
chocolate eyes, and she felt the punch deep in her gut. It amazed
her, the effect he could have on her. How he steadied her but at
the same time, he set every little part of her on fire with lust.
He was one amazing man. He was her man.

“
Morning, Tab,
smells good.”

She watched as
he kissed Tabitha's cheek and then turned to her.

She never felt
whole since the
visit.
A huge chunk of her heart died when her mother and unborn
sibling had been taken away from her. The only time she came close
to feeling any sort of whole was in his presence. His arms slipped
around her shoulders as his lips brushed against her
ear.

“
Morning,
beautiful,” he whispered softly.

He kissed her
cheek and slumped onto the stool next to her, at the same time
Tabitha put a loaded plate in front of him. Tabitha didn’t need to
ask him what he wanted to eat, Jack usually had the full English
most mornings. He needed it. His face had looked so gaunt before,
but now it was filling out nicely.

“
I’m sorry
that I woke you, but you could’ve gone back to sleep.”

He stopped
chomping on the massive bit of sausage he’d just stuffed into his
mouth, and looked at her. She noticed that his left cheek had sleep
lines creased into it and that his eyes still held the slightly
glazed, sleepy look before they fully woke. He looked sexy slouched
over his breakfast. The look alone made her smile.

“
Let me ask
you something, if I’d woken up and left the room, would you go back
to sleep in a big empty bed?” He pointed a speared mushroom in her
face as he spoke around the sausage in his mouth.

She tried to
hide the blush in front of Tabitha, but she wasn’t sure why she was
embarrassed. Tabitha knew they shared a bed, and hopefully, she
knew that nothing happened between them. “No, I couldn’t,” she
muttered.

Tabitha put a
not so loaded plate in front of her.

“
There you go
then,” he said, popping the mushroom into his mouth followed by a
piece of crispy bacon.

“
Morning,” Eli
sang as he sauntered into the kitchen.

He received a
grunt from Jack and a nod from her.

Everyone had a
key to this place, more so since she’d started temporarily living
here. It meant that anyone could come and go as they pleased. Eli
was one person who came and went often. He’d spend hours just
sitting, talking and passing the time of day. Ember was also here
quite a bit. The one person she missed was Ayden. She’d not seen
him since her mother’s... goodbye. She wanted to know how he was,
if he needed her like she needed him. She just didn’t know how to
find the right words.

Eli
practically skipped over to Tabitha and pinched some of her sausage
from her plate. He grinned whilst chewing the stolen piece in his
mouth. He walked around the breakfast bar and hugged both of them
from the back, giving her a big sloppy kiss on her cheek which made
her smile. He’d told her three weeks ago that it would be his
mission to make her smile every day, and so far he’d done
okay.

“
So, what is
everyone doing today then? You fancy playing some games,
Jack?”

“
Errmmm, I
don’t know.”

Jack glanced
at her as she slowly chewed on a fried mushroom. It felt like she
was chewing cardboard, which made her wonder if her appetite would
ever get back to normal. “Jack, you can play on it, I’m not
bothered,” she said with a shrug. She didn’t want to hold him
back.

“
Yeah, I
might.” Jack shrugged.

“
Tabitha, have
you got any plans today?” Eli asked.

“
Not really,
no.”

“
Cora, what
would you like to do?”

Eli did this
every morning. Her answer usually consisted of two things. Watch TV
or read, or pretend to read. Occasionally, she'd watch Jack and Eli
fight on one of the games. Sometimes the fighting became too much,
so she would leave the room. She wouldn’t tell Jack that it was
still too raw. She didn’t want to take away his relaxation thing
from him. He deserved to have some time to relax, to stop worrying
about her like she knew he did, often.

Jack looked at
her waiting for an answer. Tabitha was concentrating a little too
much on her cup of hot chocolate. She swallowed the mushroom that
was suddenly stuck in her throat. “Well, I want to work in the
shop.”

Every set of
eyes widened in shock. She cringed and tried not to look at anyone
other than Tabitha. “Tab, shall we open the shop?” she asked,
trying to keep her voice level and the tears from her
eyes.

“
Of course, if
that is what you want?”

“
Yeah, it is.
Mum would be pissed if I sat around moping any longer.”

This was true.
Her mother would be pissed, and she didn’t want to sit around
thinking anymore. Doing things, that was her next course of action.
Just doing anything was better than nothing. She had to start
living.

Jack jumped up
and rushed to her. His arms flew around her waist as he held her in
a tight embrace. Eli was leaning against the breakfast bar grinning
at her. Tabitha was standing by the door with a strange expression
on her face.

“
You can
change for the day, I will go down to the shop and open up.”
Tabitha walked out of the room with the quizzical expression still
on her face.

“
Tabitha is
just concerned about you,” Eli explained, answering her own
confused expression. “She wants you to take things steady, not to
rush things before you’re ready.”

“
Yeah, I can
understand that, but I wouldn’t say it unless I wanted to. You know
me.”

“
Yeah,
beautiful, we do know you.” Jack kissed her cheek, still hugging
her. “You're doing great. You’re so strong, and brave, and
beautiful...” he said as his lips brushed against hers.

She pushed
Jack to sit with Eli. Heading to the bedroom, she pulled on white
jeans and a deep aubergine jumper. She found that she dressed
quickly now, so she wouldn’t look at the scarred skin that was
another reminder of the night when everything changed. She'd doubt
she'd ever wear a skirt or shorts again.

The scar
covered the bottom half of her leg and came to a jagged end. Waves
of dead flesh rolled up to her knees; it looked like she had dead
slugs moving up her legs. Her arm still hurt. The bone ached when
it was too cold, but at least it wasn’t broken anymore.

As Cora walked
by the living room, she could see that Jack and Eli were already
engrossed in their game. She left them to it. Walking down to the
shop, she felt unexpectedly nervous. Could she cope with ‘I’m
sorry’ from every person who knew her mother, or from the people
who knew her? This village was small, so that meant someone was
bound to say something about her mother’s death.

Tabitha was
opening the blinds, allowing much needed light to filter in which
highlighted the amount of dust that had gathered on the bookcases.
Her usual annoyance at seeing the dust didn’t rise up. At least she
would be busy. Tabitha turned the sign around on the door. There
was no going back now. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to
the little room where she would find the duster.

*

Cora had seen
a steady stream of customers throughout the day, only Mrs Rogers,
the obsessive sex lady, had asked if she was okay and how she was
coping. Mrs Rogers’ pale green eyes had offered her genuine
sympathy which Cora appreciated. A tiny smile had touched Cora’s
lips because it was kind of the woman to think of her. She’d grown
used to Mrs Rogers and her kooky ways so she appreciated the
support.

Tabitha had
left her to her own devices most of the day, because she’d needed
to purchase a lot of Valentine’s Day stock. This meant that Tabitha
was either walking with the phone stuck to her ear, or the old
stone they called a laptop was in her hands.

She followed
the last customer out of the door and started lugging in the
decrepit witches that stood on the pavement outside the shop. This
was one part of the day where she wished she could openly use her
element. She dropped the last of the witches on the top step and
pushed them aside into the corner. Heading to the little room, she
locked the windows and heard the chime above the door.

Cora stood for
a moment with her hands on her hips as her brain flicked back over
her previous steps. She’d locked the door, hadn’t she? Retracing
the steps in her head, she recalled that she’d moved the witches
and walked to the door, she must have locked it? Obviously not. Was
Tabitha still in the shop? She opened her mouth to call for
Tabitha, but before she could speak she was interrupted.

“
May I help
you?” Tabitha asked.

So, Tabitha
was in the shop.

“
A’m haur tae
see the wee lassie.”

Cora’s spine
straightened at the sound of an unfamiliar name. The
wee lassie
could only
refer to her. She recognised the accent, it was hard not to, but
she couldn’t remember if she knew anyone who lived in Scotland. She
blamed the memory potion that Tabitha had given her. Had he found
out about her mother’s death? Had he wanted to come to the
funeral?

“
Could you
tell me what it is about?” Tabitha asked politely.

“
Am afraid A
cannae dae that.”

Cora took a
deep breath and walked into the shop to face the
stranger.

The man had
quite a long, drawn out skinny face that was hounded by wrinkles.
His brown hair, thinning in places, was tied into a loose ponytail
at his neck. His blue eyes latched onto her and followed her every
movement until she came to a stop next to Tabitha. “I believe I’m
the person you wish to speak to?”

“
Aye, are yer
Cora?”

“
Yes.”

“
The leader of
yer coven?”

“
Yes.”

“
Nice tae meit
yer lassie. Ma name is Alastair.” He nodded his head and smiled,
his face exploding with more wrinkles.

“
A’ve come tae
talk aboot the Corenthio Coven.”

Her heart
stopped beating at the mention of the Coven. She panicked and
backed away from this stranger. She knew that she'd have to face
some consequences for their actions, eventually. For some reason
everything they did always came back to bite them on the ass.
Obviously, the deaths of her mother and Clio hadn’t been punishment
enough. This couldn’t be happening.

Tabitha
shifted her body to stand protectively in front of her. Alastair
understood the meaning behind such a move, and Cora saw it register
in his eyes.

“
Ach nae. I
dinnae come haur tae bicker. A’m fair puggled after the wee
journey, cud we sit?

“
Yes, of
course,” Tabitha said.

Whilst she
continued to stare at the man, Tabitha’s inner hostess came to the
forefront and she led the way to the small table. She didn't have a
clue what the man had just said. What the hell was a
puggle?

As she
followed them, Jack chose the perfect moment to come into the shop.
He’d not been down for at least half an hour, so she knew he was
due a visit. She registered the shock on his face at seeing a
stranger taking a seat at the table. Then she watched as a fierce
protectiveness wiped away any sort of smile that was forming on his
face. Oh lord, this could turn ugly, and she really didn’t want
that to happen. He marched over to her and placed his hand in hers.
She noted that he made sure he stood just a little in front of her,
blocking this stranger’s way. Just in case.

Tabitha, now
assured she was protected, walked to the little room to get the man
a drink. She assumed that is what he meant by being
puggled.

“
Why are you
here?” Jack asked.

The man stared
at Jack, his beady eyes judging him. “A’m here tae talk wi’ Cora.
Who are yer?”

“
I’m Jack
Whittle.”

Alastair
nodded his head but didn’t respond. Judging from Alastair’s
reaction he knew who Jack was. She tried to fight off the nervous
butterflies as they thrashed around in her gut. Tabitha returned
and placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of him. He took several
sips, smacking his lips together and smiled.

“
Cora, please
tek a seat,” Alastair offered, gesturing grandly with his
hand.

“
I’d rather
stand.”

“
Fine.” He
inclined his head.

Cora caught a
glimpse of something simmer underneath the surface. She didn’t like
this man. She had the feeling, the one you get when you first meet
a person. He was holding onto his temper. Interesting. What had
made this man so mad?