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“
Nope, I want
a go.”

Jack kissed
her again and pushed up on his hands before helping her to her
feet.

“
You want
another go?”

She laughed
and nodded enthusiastically. She heard Eli's curse as they stumbled
out of the huge bubble, both of them eager to fall
again.

25

DIFFERENCE OF
OPINION

“
This came for
you,” Tabitha said as she handed Cora a sealed envelope with her
name on it.

Cora felt the
uneasy tension between the two of them. Tabitha wasn’t stupid. Cora
couldn’t hide things from her. Cora opened it and found yet another
note from Quinn. He'd sent her one yesterday too. Tabitha was
glaring at her, so she masked her reaction from his words. Cora
couldn’t help it if Quinn wanted to keep in touch with her. She
considered him her friend.

Cora, I know
I've told you about my mam and having lost her at an early age. But
it's my dad that caused the change in me. I lost him recently and
that nearly killed me. He was my rock, my best friend, I think you
know what I mean...

I have one
brother, Luke, who hasn't gone through the change and he continues
to grow older every day. I worry about losing him, but Alastair is
the one who took me in after I lost my dad. I know what he has done
to you is unforgivable, but he's given me a home and he's allowed
my brother to be a part of my life as a witch. Commoners cannot
know about us but he can, thanks to Alastair. It means so much to
me that Alastair has done this. You know yourself how important
family is.

I just wanted
you to know this part of me and know that I understand what you are
feeling.

Thinking of
you,

Quinn

x

Cora put the
piece of paper to one side and tried to act as if everything was
normal, yet she couldn’t deny that the letter from Quinn had
stirred something inside her. It helped the turmoil swirling
inside, knowing what he’d lost. She couldn’t believe that Alastair
had done something good for him. She believed that man didn’t have
a good bone in his body. And now she understood Quinn’s
predicament; that he couldn’t go against Alastair’s decision
regarding her
punishment
. Quinn had a brother to
think about.

“
What's that?”
Jack asked as he walked into the shop.

“
It's
nothing.” She hadn't lied to Jack before, and she didn’t like how
it felt now. But it
was
nothing, and Jack would only make it into
something more.

“
You know what
I don't like,” Tabitha said as she sauntered up the fake staircase.
Cora's heart jumped around her in her chest, fearing that Tabitha
was going to say something. “I don't like the fact that you haven’t
heard anything from Ethan. How long has it been now?”

“
Two weeks
since this whole thing started.” Cora exhaled and looked at Jack
who didn’t react to the mention of yet another man’s
name.

If she was
being honest with herself, she was so tired with this whole thing
that the idea of another person to date made her feel like yawning.
Give her a quiet night at home with a DVD any night.

“
I like it,
one less person to compete with,” Jack muttered.

It was at that
precise moment that Ciaran chose to walk into the shop. She cast a
second glance, making sure it wasn’t Ayden.

“
Morning
everyone,” Ciaran greeted them as he made his way to the back
room.

The bell above
the door chimed moments later and Ayden walked in. “Here are my two
favourite ladies.”

Cora felt her
heart tighten, felt the shock of tears. She hadn’t heard Ayden say
that for months, she’d missed the sparkle in his eyes when he said
it. Ayden strolled over and kissed her cheek. She still had an
issue with him keeping the knowledge of her brother from her, but
after everything that had happened to them, she knew not to keep a
grudge. Life was just too damn short.

“
I was
thinking, how about we have a family dinner tomorrow night. I think
we need a meal to get us back on track. We can do it
here.”

“
What a lovely
idea, yes of course,” Tabitha instantly agreed.

“
Great, see
you tomorrow,” Ayden said and made a move for the door.

“
Wait, was
that it?” Cora asked, unsure of Ayden’s new mood.

It was unlike
Ayden to just walk in and out without sitting down and talking. Was
he planning something? There had to be something behind this visit,
surely?

“
Yeah,” he
laughed and headed out of the shop leaving her scratching her
head.

“
We haven't
sat down as a family for ages,” Jack commented and nodded his head
like he agreed with it.

Cora didn’t
say it as she dusted the bookcase, but their meal would be missing
some of their family. A family meal would never be the same without
them.

*

Ayden walked
into the shop, wearing a suit and tie. He had this not so genius
idea earlier in the day to ring around their group and tell
everyone to wear formal attire. Why? It wasn't like they were going
out to an expensive restaurant, but Tabitha had told them to go
along with it. If it made Ayden happy, then she would go along with
it.

Cora picked
out the deep rich purple dress that Jack had bought her for their
valentine’s dinner and slipped the material over her head. She
would never get used to the way the cool satin felt against her
skin. It was like water lapping against her body, nice warm water.
She applied deep purple and soft grey powder to her eyes, adding a
little mascara and eye liner to make the whites of her eyes stand
out.

Heading into
the living room, not bothering with the little purple pumps as they
would only be down in the shop, she found Jack sat at the breakfast
counter wearing his suit. It was the same suit he’d worn at the
valentine’s dinner. He turned when he heard her approach. The look
on his face made her heart stop and then splutter back to
life.

“
You’re
beautiful,” he whispered. He stood up and walked to her, his hands
sliding around her waist. That one action had her heart stumbling
over itself.

“
Cora! Jack!”
Tabitha shouted from downstairs.

“
Remember
where you were stood, I want to come back to this moment later,” he
whispered against her ear. She loved the feel of his lips brushing
her skin.

Entering the
shop, she realised Tabitha had been up to her usual tricks when it
came to dinners and events. The small table had been changed to the
big one used at Christmas. There were several small, medium and
large pillar candles clustered together within the corners of the
shop. It created a soft glow across the table with the aid of the
shop lights. Because it was Tabitha, it was beautifully
done.

Positioned in
the middle of the table was a silver candelabra which housed six
candles that added to the soft glow. The table was glistening with
pristine wine glasses and brilliant white plates.

“
Tab, look at
this place, it looks amazing,” Cora stated, looking around her. She
didn’t know when Tabitha found the time. Cora had barely had time
to change
and
Tabitha would have cooked. She sensed magic was at play
here.

Tabitha was
wearing a gorgeous violet robe which complemented her coal black
hair that was pulled rather elaborately into swirls on the top of
her head. Ember had been at work there too. Why couldn’t Ember help
her? In fact, Cora had also noticed that Ember had been distant of
late. She made a mental note to ask her what the problem
was.

Ember looked
stunning in a buttercup yellow dress. One thick strap swept over
her shoulder which revealed a scattering of diamonds that trailed
the full length of her dress. The bottom of the dress exploded in
ruffles which licked at the wooden floor. It was a dress Cora would
snap up in seconds if she was Ember’s size. Ayden was wearing a
charcoal grey suit, Eli and Clay mixed it up a bit with their black
suits.

Everyone moved
to their place at the table, Jack sitting to one side of her and
Ember sitting to her other. Tabitha and Clay walked down the fake
staircase and moments later brought the food to the
table.

“
Ayden picked
the food theme, I hope everyone likes Italian,” Tabitha
smiled.

Cora's stomach
grumbled letting her know that it did like the smells of Italian
and would demolish anything put in front of her.

The
conversation flowed as they each filled their stomachs. Ayden had
been right, they’d needed family time. She missed her mother at
moments like this, missed the family she had lost, but it was so
important to keep the family you did have close to you.

“
I just want
to say, this is really lovely, but I will forever miss those that
are not here,” Ayden whispered, raising his glass in the
air.

“
To family
that are no longer with us,” they chorused and toasted their
glasses.

“
You know, we
are not that dissimilar from other people in the other covens,”
Cora informed them whilst shovelling in the pasta.

“
How so?” Eli
asked.

“
Well,
Quinn-”

“
We don't want
to hear about Quinn,” Jack stated, cutting her off.

“
I was going
to say that Quinn has lost his parents too.”

“
Who cares?”
Jack sighed.

She felt anger
build up inside her. How could he be so flippant? “Who cares? Jack,
how can you be so cruel? You know how it feels, and Quinn has lost
what we've lost-”

“
How do you
know he's telling the truth?”

“
Why would he
lie about a thing like that?” Her voice was rising with temper. It
was a distasteful accusation. One she’d never thought would leave
Jack’s mouth, let alone be thought about.

The table had
become silent as they listened to their heated exchange.

“
He would lie
because he wants you, he likes you, so I don't trust him,” Jack
stated with one hint of apology.

Clay made an
agreeable noise. Cora glared at him as those green eyes steadily
held hers. Fine, so they didn't trust Quinn. That didn’t mean
anything to her. “Well, I do trust him.”

“
What? How can
you trust him?” Jack exclaimed.

“
I trust him
because he's told me things that I know to be true. I know he
wouldn't lie to me.” She was sure of it. She had looked into his
eyes as he’d told her.

“
He works
under Alastair, so anything that comes from that coven is bound to
be a lie,” Ayden added.

“
I don't think
so. Alastair took Quinn in, and Quinn feels like he owes him. That
is the only reason he is in the coven. He’s doing it for his
brother.”

“
This is all
complete BS. I can't believe you think he is telling the truth!”
Jack shouted.

“
Why can't you
trust my judgement?!” she argued.

“
Because,
well, because sometimes it’s piss poor!” Jack shouted.

“
How dare
you!” Cora stood up, her hands shook with anger. Before she did
something she may regret later, she stormed out of the shop,
forgetting that she had no shoes on.

“
Cora, wait,”
Tabitha called.

Cora continued
running away from the shop with angry tears falling down her face.
Of all the people she knew, all the people she loved, she’d never
expected Jack to turn against her.

26

WORTH FIGHTING
FOR

“
Jack, damn
it, what the hell has gotten into you?” Tabitha chastised, slamming
her hands on her petite hips.

Jack growled,
not really having an answer to hand as he looked around the table.
His first real argument with Cora and it happens in the middle of a
family meal.
Bloody brilliant!
He cursed.

He ground his
teeth together. Well, she didn’t help. She was so stubborn and pig
headed. Why couldn’t she see what was happening? Why wouldn’t she
listen to reason? Quinn had a game plan, Jack just knew it.
Everyone else knew it, but Cora had been sucked in to Quinn’s
lies.

“
I don't know.
Sometimes my mouth runs away with words before my mind hears them,
but she doesn’t see!” He heaved in several breaths and looked
around the table. “I just hear Quinn's name and it sends me crazy.
That man turns my stomach. I don't like him one bit and it sticks
in my gut that Cora trusts him. Does anyone remember what he was
like back in Edinburgh at the hotel?”

“
I do, he
couldn't keep his eyes off her,” Clay said. “Cora doesn't know what
Quinn is capable of.”

“
And you do?”
Tabitha asked.

Clay shrugged
his shoulders. “I used to be him. I looked at Cora that way and I
can tell you, no disrespected intended, Jack; but if I wasn’t loyal
to this coven, I would have fought for her, and I would have fought
bloody dirty too.”