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Jack took a
breath and then slammed the trunk over Varick, encasing him in an
upright position. Once the trunk was there, he realised that his
plan could have been rather messy. Varick would have become two
very messy versions of himself. Jack shrugged his shoulders. He
wasn’t concerned with the method of Varick’s death. He just had to
die. Painfully.

Varick howled
with anger whilst smashing his body and fists against the sides of
the rough bark. The once dark sky was now a bright illuminated
blue. Jack couldn’t stop the grin spreading across his face. Varick
was pissed. Good. The trunk shook against the overpowering force of
electricity, but it held.

“
Water,” he
instructed. His whispered words were almost washed away with the
noise of screaming but they would be heard.

A wave of
water rushed from behind him and started filling up the trunk. He
cursed when he saw the water seep from gaps in the bottom. Lifting
his hands, he held his breath and forced them as high as he could.
Holding his power on the brink of losing control, he let it go. The
trunk sank lower into the ground with an almighty boom. Varick
roared from within the trunk, bashing harder at the sides as Clay
continued to fill it with his element.

The only way
his plan was going to work was to make Varick so pissed that he
wasn't thinking straight. Varick was rather cool headed and
calculating. He'd seen Varick use his ability, and he hadn't killed
himself. He needed the man to lose control. Varick had only ever
become mad when something happened to either Akina or Melitta which
meant he was protective of the women. Melitta was dead, so he only
had Akina to play with. He wasn’t particularly bothered which one
he would have used, but Akina was a good choice.

He turned and
looked around. Ayden caught his eye, the speed of his fists flying
from several Aydens was rather impressive. Ayden was clearly in
charge of that situation. There was no way Ayden would walk away,
unless he stepped over Evander's dead body or Evander killed him.
They would have to deal with it, if that happened.

He found Akina
taking hits from Tabitha and Ember, and they were holding up
surprisingly well. Where had Clay disappeared to? Eli was still a
no show. Fear tugged at his chest, but he pushed it aside. He
couldn’t let it take over him. He gathered his energy and whistled.
Tabitha and Ember stepped back, anticipating what he wanted to do.
Months of training meant they knew each other. Tabitha had been
right about the training sessions. The woman was always right,
though he never planned on revealing that truth to her anytime
soon. As his element burst from him, Akina flew into the
air.

She screamed.
The air around them stilled, forced by her element in her attempt
to get out of this tricky situation. Mist sucked at the air, his
breath puffed around his head. The only sound that could be heard
was Varick bashing against the inside of the trunk, a trunk that
was now filling nicely with water.

“
If you lay a
hand on her, I will kill you!” he screeched from within the trunk,
his words spluttering as the water hit his face.

“
How do you
plan on doing such a thing?” Jack sneered.

“
It would just
take one strike to hit you, boy!”

Now that was
exactly what he wanted. If the electricity didn't work, he knew
that drowning would. He didn't really care which method worked, as
long as one did.

He lifted
Akina and held her above the trunk. The mist around them stilled,
affected by her fear.

“
Var!” she
screeched.

Jack could see
an expression pass over Akina's scarred face; her right eye was
completely sealed, bulging with puss. He let them have their
moment, and then Akina fell. She screamed as Varick roared, and
then it happened.

A blinding
bolt of pure power exploded out of the trunk encasing both Varick
and Akina. Jack felt the ground slip away from him causing him to
fly in the air and land hard on his ass. He shook his head, his
ears buzzing from the charge of power. He could see that the trunk
had disintegrated. Shards of wood had exploded in every
direction.

Tabitha and
Ember stepped closer to Akina who lay in a puddle on the ground.
Akina appeared to be weakened by the hit. White tendrils stumbled
along the floor in a drugged haze. Jack stood and limped over the
only part of the trunk still standing, the one piece clinging on
for dear life to the heavy body of Varick.

Water gushed
around his feet as the dead Varick now chose the perfect moment to
drop heavily to the floor. Akina groaned, coming to her senses the
same second that Jack heard the whoosh of a fireball. He watched as
it hit Akina's back setting her hair ablaze. Akina screamed and
rolled around on the floor. Unfortunately, due to the rain still
pouring down on them, the fire was soon extinguished. Akina crawled
onto her knees, forcing her shaking body to stand. Jack stepped
forward just as another fireball followed, knocking her to the
floor with a yelp. Wasting no time, Ember popped up and swiftly
took care of her. It happened so quickly that Akina gave little
more than a gasp.

With Melitta,
Varick and Akina now dead, their odds were looking favourable. Jack
turned to watch the last fight. Clay and Eli were now standing on
the sidelines of what looked like a scrappy fight. He blew out a
relieved breath at seeing Eli. Tabitha and Ember also turned to
look at the only member of the Corenthio Coven left,
Evander.

2

BETTER TO HAVE
LOVED AND LOST

They moved as
one, prowling the sidelines to ensure Ayden was covered from all
angles. They wouldn’t let anything happen to him. It did appear
that Evander had gained some control over his ability. The shock of
success was wearing off, and he was now crushing the Aydens almost
as quickly as Ayden was able to duplicate himself.

Inside their
circle stood about twenty Aydens, each of them stepping forward,
trying their own hand at killing Evander. One of the Ayden’s
stepped closer to Evander and suddenly exploded. His limbs just
ballooned and combusted. Guts, blood and muscle were thrown in
every direction. Jack swallowed, trying not to throw up. The main
man didn't seem bothered that his duplicates were biting the dust.
Ayden continued his attack. “Care to give me a hand,
Jack?”

Jack tried to
hide the surprise on his face as he stepped into the protective
shield now created by the coven. He knew what Ayden needed without
the use of words, he was surprised Ayden had picked him out of
everyone.

Evander's
cold, steel eyes focused on Jack, he felt an intense pressure
attack every inch of his body. He knew what was coming and he was
powerless to stop it. His legs buckled beneath him. His body hit
the floor, straining under the weight. He tried to breathe, but he
couldn’t.

Evander
focused on Ayden, his blue eyes now ice, as one of them jumped at
Evander, slamming a heavy fist in his face which released the
pressure on his body.

Jack didn’t
stand up. Instead, he lay on the floor, panting as he threw out his
element. A second later, Evander was engulfed by a tree trunk the
size of a bus. This would have killed a normal man, but Evander was
anything but normal.

Jack stood,
rather shakily, and held the pressure on the trunk as it slowly
crushed Evander. Ayden moved in front of him, nodding once. Jack
waited until Ayden was close, then picked up the trunk and cast it
aside. Ayden pounced with the grace and precision of a leopard.
Even Evander didn’t stand a chance against such a predator. He
barely took a breath before Ayden’s fist connected with his face.
He punched and punched until Evander could no longer lift his body.
Ayden stepped back and dragged Evander to a standing position.
“Rope.”

Eli threw rope
into Ayden’s outstretched hand, and they watched in silence as
Ayden tied Evander to a tree.

After several
minutes of tense silence, Ayden stepped back to admire his handy
work. He heaved in big sobs with each breath. Jack could see that
Ayden was losing the little strength he had left. His shoulders
were slumped, his fists hanging by his sides as the realisation of
what had happened crushed him.

No one dared
move or utter a word. Jack knew that Ayden needed to do this. An
eye for an eye. But nothing could come close to justice for taking
away such a lovely, caring woman. Nothing could bring back his
future wife and child.

Ayden grabbed
Evander's chin, forcing Evander to look at him, to listen. Jack
felt his heart break as he watched Ayden, a usually strong,
controlled man, lose it.

“
You killed my
future wife and child, you self righteous piece of shit. She did
nothing to you! Nothing!!” His shout ended on a sob. He heaved in a
couple more breaths before continuing. “You used your power to kill
an innocent, powerless woman. Do you think that makes you any
better than the scum that lived during the trials?” Ayden punched
Evander, who only groaned. “You don't deserve a quick and easy
death. I wish I could make it last by gutting you
very slowly
.” Ayden made
his point by grabbing Evander’s hand and snapping it. The sound
turned his stomach upside down, but the man deserved it. He
deserved so much more. Evander bent over, groaning with
pain.

“
I want you
fully conscious until the moment I decide to kill you. Gutting you
would result in blood loss and you dropping into a nice black hole
of unconsciousness. We don't want that now, do we?” Ayden's smile
was so deadly, it sent chills down Jack’s spine. He never wanted to
get on the wrong side of this man.

Evander's eyes
widened and then closed like he was struggling to process exactly
what Ayden was telling him. That wasn’t it. Jack opened his mouth
to warn them just as Clay flew back into a trunk. His body hit with
a dull thud, followed by his loud curse.

“
Ayden, his
power...” Tabitha urged.

Eli followed,
crashing noisily into a tree. Eli grunted in pain. Jack wince when
he heard a bone snap. Evander wasn’t playing anymore. He knew this
was a make or break situation, and he was definitely
breaking.

He balanced
his weight, waiting for the next hit. He didn’t fly back into a
tree, instead the pressure surged into his left arm. He grabbed it
as if that would stop the pain from spreading. The bone stretched
then snapped as easily as a pencil. He bent over, feeling the bile
rise in his throat. His arm felt strangely detached from his
body.

“
You think you
can win now? Look around you. Everyone single one of your piece of
shit coven is dead, and you will be joining them.” Ayden punched
Evander in the gut. Then he smashed his fist into the side of
Evander's head for good measure. Evander’s body slumped, the rope
the only thing holding him up.

Ayden placed
his hands on either side of Evander's face. “For Laura.”

Cold steel
glared one last time. Ayden pulled Evander's head sharply to the
side. The woods echoed with the sound of his neck
snapping.

The silence
lasted no more than a second before Ayden dropped to the floor and
broke. The sound of his sobs punctured Jack’s heart. Tabitha moved
to Ayden and slid her arms around him. There was nothing she could
do to soothe the man. No amount of words could make it any better.
He’d lost his reason for living.

“
Jack, go to
Cora,” Eli spoke quietly. He pushed his hand through his short
conker red hair. The blue and greens in his irises swirled with
every emotion imaginable.

Jack didn’t
need telling twice. Taking a deep breath and ignoring his broken
arm, he lifted himself and shot towards the cottage. The less time
spent away from Cora, the better.

He landed in
the front garden. The jar from the landing made it feel like the
two ends of his broken bone were grinding together. A scream from
within the cottage had his heart lurching. Forgetting about his
injuries, he pushed the front door open.

Cora leaped at
him, claws thrashing, teeth snapping. He held onto her despite his
arm singing with pain. “Cora, it's me. For Christ's sake, it's me,”
Jack reassured her.

Her thrashing
slowed until she became a dead weight in his arms. He sucked in a
breath and held back his own shout of pain as he carried her back
to the sofa. She lay slumped there with her eyes open.

“
Cora, lovely,
you have to talk to me. Are you in pain?”

Cora's eyes
twitched once, but she didn't speak a word. Her body started
shaking violently. Her teeth were chattering so loudly, he was sure
she was going to smash them. Grabbing his phone, he called Eli.
“You need to get Tabitha here, now!” He ended the call without
waiting for a reply and pushed his good hand through his hair,
blowing out a nervous breath.

Tabitha came
bounding into the room, and with her presence alone, he felt
relief. She always knew what to do. He could trust that Tabitha
would help Cora. She always had. He sat now, the throbbing in his
leg and arm becoming worse.

“
Has she said
anything?” Tabitha asked.

“
No, when I
got here, she screamed and jumped at me, ready to fight, until she
realised who I was. Then she just went limp.”