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“
Would you
like to dance?” Quinn whispered in her ear.

She startled,
nearly dropping her glass. She wasn’t sure which number she was on
now, she’d lost count after six. “Where are we meant to dance?” she
giggled.

Quinn pointed
to an area up ahead.

You could see
the silhouettes of the couples swaying in each other’s arms through
the curtain. She couldn’t dance, but the champagne was helping with
her nerves. She nodded as Quinn took her hand and helped her out of
the booth. She stumbled feeling her legs wobble which made her
giggle. Quinn chuckled and led her through the curtain.

A man wearing
a tuxedo sat at a piano, his fingers brushing gently against the
bone white keys. Soft, romantic music drifted around the room as
they made their way into the middle of the dance floor. Now that
she was standing again, her feet were screaming at her. She really
wanted to take off the shoes and dance bare foot, but that wouldn’t
be appropriate in a place like this. Quinn turned to her, smiled
and gently pulled her closer to his body.

Being this
close to him helped her forget about the pain in her feet. She felt
his arm slide slowly around her waist as he pulled her that little
bit closer to his body. His other hand held hers between them. They
swayed together, their cheeks inches apart.

“
Have you
enjoyed your night?” he whispered against her ear.

She nodded,
her words were stuck in her throat. Why was she suddenly afraid?
Why did she suddenly feel like she was cheating on Jack by being
here with Quinn? She reminded herself that Jack had let her know
how he felt with regards to their relationship. They were no longer
together.

She pulled
back and looked at Quinn as his eyes came to rest on her lips. She
took a deep breath and leaned in and felt his lips touch hers
hesitantly. His hand travelled up her back tickling her skin, his
fingers brushed up against her face as he deepened the
kiss.

The romantic
music came to a stop, and the couples around them clapped. Their
lips broke apart. She’d just kissed Quinn? She couldn’t believe it,
but she wasn’t pulling away as he still held her close to his
body.

Her lipstick
had smudged onto his lips which made her giggle. She blamed the
champagne. She reached up and gently rubbed it off. She saw the
fire in his eyes as he swiped the back of his hand over his mouth
and then pulled her closer to him, his lips finding hers which made
her head spin.

Her legs were
shaking, and it wasn’t all due to the alcohol she’d consumed. He
broke the kiss as he spun her around and made her look like she
could actually dance. Her dress lapped at the floor as he pulled
her back into his body and crushed his lips against hers. She
laughed, letting herself feel, letting herself forget everything,
as he pulled her around the dance floor.

37

PHASE
TWO

Jack paced the
living room, feeling his anger build with each stride. Why had he
done this? It had been a stupid plan. Regret crashed up against the
anger as they fought within him. He felt sick and angry in equal
measure and he didn’t know what to do to alleviate some of
it.

He cursed and
stomped harder, ignoring the fact that Eli and Ayden stood at both
doors blocking his exits. They wouldn’t let him leave whilst he was
in this mood. In his opinion, it was a wise choice; they obviously
knew him too well. “Can you just repeat that last part?” he asked
Ayden through gritted teeth.

He couldn’t
believe it, maybe he’d heard it wrong.

Ayden coughed
uncomfortably. “Cora went on her date last night and they went to
some posh restaurant in Manchester-”

“
It’s just
like Quinn to flash the cash,” Jack scoffed.

“
Yeah, well,
we have cash too if you wanted to play it that way,” Eli
suggested.

Jack looked at
Eli in shock. Had the man been missing over the last few weeks? His
chance to woo Cora was over. He’d made sure of that. “Eli, Cora
hates me. I’ve made sure she hates me. I don’t think she’s going to
come running into my arms anytime soon, not unless we show her what
Quinn is really like,” he sighed, feeling the rejection cut through
his heart.

“
I wouldn’t
say that, Jack. We know that she still loves you.”

Jack shrugged
his shoulders. He didn’t want to discount the comfort of the words.
He really hoped Eli was right. Jack loved her deeply, and he hoped
she still felt the same way. Living without Cora wasn’t something
he planned on doing for much longer.

“
She does,
believe me. You never forget your first love,” Eli
whispered.

On that sweet
note, they sat in silence whilst they thought about the people
they’d lost. He kicked his foot against the side table. No, he
couldn’t sit around like this. He needed to fight back. Ayden and
Eli had lost their loves, but he could still win his back. “What
else was there, Ayden? What else did she say?”

“
When she got
home I was already upstairs. I didn’t want to wait and hear the
juicy details, if you know what I mean?” Receiving nods from them
both, he continued. “Anyway, Tabitha said that she was rather
tipsy, and because of this, Cora forgot to be her usual moody self.
She revealed to Tabitha that it had been an amazing date. They’d
drunk champagne and they’d danced. The evening, according to Cora,
had finished on the perfect kiss.”

The perfect
kiss.

Those three
words knocked the breath out of him. He growled and kicked the
chair.

“
Damaging the
furniture is not going to help you,” Eli warned.

“
Well you two
are in my way. Otherwise I would damage Quinn instead of your
precious furniture,” he spat.

“
I can
understand that this may get up your nose a bit, but this is part
of the plan,” Eli urged.

“
Well, plans
can change. I just need to crush him. That will help me feel
somewhat better.” Jack was seething, and thinking of the two of
them kissing didn’t help matters. What would help was sending his
fist into that man’s face.

“
We cannot
change the plan-”

“
Actually,
that might not be a bad idea,” Clay interrupted.

For once, he
appreciated the fact that Clay knew how he felt. He knew Clay still
had feelings for Cora, and this actually worked on his favour. He
also sympathised with the man. Clay had seen Jack and Cora’s first
kiss. If Jack had witnessed the kiss between Quinn and Cora he
would have blown his top, and then some.

“
See! Someone
who finally gets it!” Jack shouted.

“
I think you
should go to the shop and have it out with Quinn,” Clay
suggested.

“
Clay! He
can’t do that!” Eli warned.

“
No, he can,
because this works in our favour. A fight with Quinn will push Cora
further away. It’s perfect.”

The fight in
Jack suddenly deflated. “It’s not perfect. I don’t want to push her
into his arms. She’s been in them quite enough already.”

“
No, Jack,
this is the perfect part of the plan. If you attack Quinn, who’s
more than likely to show up?”

“
Alastair,”
Ayden spat.

“
Yes.”

After only a
second of thought, Eli moved away from the front door. That was his
invitation to go. Jack understood the intent behind it. Jack could
actually hurt Quinn, and no one was standing in his way. Looking
around the room, he ran to the door, pulled it open and sprinted to
the shop.

He didn’t
bother to look through the window. If there were customers then
Tabitha would handle it. He ran up the steps and into the shop.
Stopping short he felt his heart touch his toes. Standing at the
back of the shop next to the new table were Cora and Quinn. They
were quite oblivious to his entrance, mainly because their lips
were still fused together.

“
Don’t let me
stop you,” he snarled.

He’d witnessed
a kiss. His stomach churned. His element pushed at him.

Cora jumped
away from Quinn and yelped in shock. Quinn turned towards him and
smiled like the cat who’d gotten a hell of a lot of
cream.

“
No, Jack, it
wasn’t what you-”

“
What I
thought, Cora, is that what you were going to say?”

“
Yes...no...”

Jack watched
as she stumbled for an explanation.

“
Not in the
shop,” Tabitha declared as she opened the door that led up to the
flat.

“
Outside,
Quinn, now.” Jack turned on his heel and stomped out of the
shop.

He didn’t
bother to wait to see how Quinn dealt with Cora. He couldn’t watch.
He stepped into the middle of the street and watched as Quinn
sauntered down the steps towards him.

“
No, you
shouldn’t do this. People can see. Tabitha, do something,” Cora
pleaded.

Tabitha closed
the shop door and walked down the steps ignoring Cora’s
pleas.

“
You don’t
like it, do you?” Quinn snarled.

Jack knew what
he was referring to, and no, he didn’t like it one bit. He wasn’t
going to say it and give Quinn the satisfaction. Rather than
wasting time with
pleasantries,
he lifted Quinn high in the air and threw him
back.

Jack felt the
wind pick up speed, but it didn’t hit him. It should have. He
looked to his left and could see that Tabitha was restricting
Cora’s element. Fire brushed up against Cora’s element like an
angry dragon. Cora was standing wide eyed, looking at Tabitha in
shock. That was it. Jack could see it. It was the very moment when
Cora realised that her whole coven were turning against
her.

It didn’t
matter that the hurt on her face nearly killed him, that all he
wanted to do was hug her. Jack had to go through with it. Quinn was
back on his feet and he was running towards him. He shifted his
footing waiting for the moment when Quinn’s body hit his own. Bring
it on.

“
Stop.”

Quinn halted,
startled for a moment as he looked at Alastair. Jack didn’t bother
to look surprised; instead he grinned and turned to face
him.

Of course
Alastair was accompanied by Tavish, who again wore the same black
coat that constantly flapped at his feet. That would annoy the hell
out of Jack if he wore it. What was wrong with a normal jacket?
Jack shook his head. He couldn’t get side tracked by the coat. He
focused his attention on Alastair who was standing in the middle of
the street with an angry scowl on his face.

This was all
going according to plan.

38

THE PAST CAN
HURT YOU

“
Whit is the
meanin’ of this attack on ma coven member?” Alastair asked them
with an air of indignation.

Jack ground
his teeth together and fought the urge to shout, ‘as if you didn’t
already know, you git!’ Then again, why was he holding it back?
They were in this situation trying to grab Alastair’s attention.
Now they had it, what harm could it do?

Jack turned
and looked at Ayden, Eli and Clay who were standing behind him.
They didn’t give him any words of advice on how to approach this.
They were leaving him to it. His gaze drifted to Tabitha and he was
sure he saw some sort of shrug. Jack would have thought that
gesture was impossible for Tabitha.

Cora was too
busy looking at Quinn to see this exchange. Seeing that worried
look on her face sealed the deal for him. They had to do something
to help her and no one was going to object or give him advice on
how to deal with this situation.

Good. For the
first time in a long time he was free to approach it in his own
unique way. “I just felt like doing it.” Jack shrugged, the smile
spreading across his face.

Alastair
glared at him with his nose stuck high in the air. That had been
the wrong choice of words. Jack knew that Alastair didn’t like the
fact that he didn’t care for their authority. Well, tough. Jack
didn’t like the way they controlled Cora and the coven.

“
Yer dae know
that yer actions huv consequences, Mr Whittle.”

Jack
purposefully laughed, his body shivering like he was afraid. “Yeah,
so what?”

Jack’s obvious
lack of respect really grated on Alastair. He could see the effect
of his words ripple across Alastair’s ugly face. Jack sensed the
three men behind him shift their bodies into a defensive stance.
Okay, that was his first signal that it was going to come to
this.

“
Yer dae know
how A will solve this situation,” Alastair remarked.

Jack shrugged
again, adding fuel to the already mounting fire.

“
You’re just a
small coven in Scotland. What makes you think we can’t defeat
you?”

Alastair
cackled with laughter and lifted his hands. Jack took a deep breath
and turned his attention from Alastair and flung his energy at
Quinn who flew back hitting the cobbles with a hard thud. It was
game time.