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“
I know it’s
here...somewhere...” she muttered.

“
What is
where?” Jack asked.

“
Ha!” The
fireplace moved back into place. Now the darkness descended on
them.

“
Tab?” Cora
asked into the quiet.

A ball of fire
grew on Tabitha’s hand. Cora instructed her element to brush up
against it. It took the fire and pushed the glow down the entire
corridor.

“
Neat trick,”
Evelyn grinned.

“
Thanks, but I
have to ask, where are we going?”

“
Oooo, you are
going to love the answer,” Evelyn responded as she walked
ahead.

“
And an answer
would be good,” Clay retorted.

Evelyn led
them down two more corridors. They were going deeper into the
castle, Cora knew this. The deeper they went, the darker and colder
it became. Even her element dimmed with Tabitha’s. The pressure of
the rock above them acted like an invisible weight. They finally
stopped at a door. Cora didn’t want to hazard a guess as to where
the door led.

“
Okay, we are
safe for now. Are you sure you want to continue?”

“
We never said
we wanted to begin,” Tabitha muttered.

“
Well, we are
now in the Scottish coven, so you have to decide.”

“
We are...how?”
Ember asked.

“
I dated
someone and then Alastair got rid of him.” Evelyn shrugged, like it
was the simplest thing.

“
So, are we
going in? And if we do, what will we do?” Eli asked.

Tabitha looked
at Cora and then looked at Evelyn. “Are you sure you want the
backlash from this, Eve?”

Determination
sparked in Evelyn’s eyes. “With everything that has happened, we
are more determined than ever.”

“
Okay, what do
we do?” Tabitha nodded.

“
Alastair
didn’t like the phone idea, so I say it is down to Cora. She is
very good with these kind of ideas.”

“
You mean I’m
good at annoying people...”

“
I would not
word it in the same way, but yes,” Tabitha’s leaf green eyes
smiled.

Great. Nothing
like feeling a bit of pressure. “I...okay...” She had to think.
They needed to play a game. Something fun and loud. Cora grinned.
“I haven’t played a good game of charades in a while.”

Jack grinned.
“Okay, let’s find a room.”

*

Fifteen
minutes. That was all the fun they got before Alastair stormed in.
The door shook on the hinges as it crashed into the wall. Clay was
angry as it was his go, and for a while he even continued, ignoring
Alastair.

“
Whit is the
meanin’ of this?”

“
Well, you to
have to guess the book, film or title of something from the clue
your team member gives you,” Clay responded smartly.

The look on
Alastair’s face gave Cora a warm feeling. Evelyn had been correct
to sneak them in. This felt good. They had to remember Alastair
could be shaken. He wasn’t invincible.

“
Whit are yer
doing in ma coven quarters?”

“
Whilst we are
still visiting Edinburgh, we are your guests. I believed we were
welcome here?” Tabitha responded.

“
Yer...Yer
o’course welcome, but yer should huv told me first.”

“
Where’s the
fun in that?” Ayden challenged.

Alastair
exhaled, ready to speak but Cora sensed he couldn’t find the right
words.

“
Right, we will
leave,” Cora said, feeling like they’d done what they’d needed to
do.

“
How did yer
get in?”

“
We have our
methods,” Evelyn smiled.

“
Allow me,”
Ember spoke and held Evelyn’s hand. One Ember remained in the room
and the other had disappeared with Evelyn.

“
Be sure yer
all leave,” Alastair snapped.

“
Oh, we will,
and I will let other covens know how welcoming you were,” Cora
called to Alastair’s retreating back.

Ember came for
Cora last. She was the least at risk from Alastair’s
wrath.

“
How will you
get back?” Cora asked, looking at a sleeping Ember on the
sofa.

“
I have my
ways,” Ember assured her. She hugged Cora and her hotel room
greeted her seconds later.

“
Well, that was
fun,” Eli chuckled as Cora sat on the bed, grinning.

The room door
thumped under what could only be a heavy fist. Cora looked at her
coven in surprise. If Alastair had sent Tavish, she was going to
kick his ass. Also, he’d moved pretty quickly to get people here.
Where was Ember if Alastair had done that? Cora opened the door and
was shocked at who stood there with wide eyes and a flushed
face.

“
What do we do
to stop him?” Tommy panted.

18

LEEDS COVEN

Cora stood
back, allowing Tommy to step into their room. They couldn’t discuss
any of this out in the open.

“
Why now?”
Ayden asked as the door shut and Tommy stood where he was, near the
exit if he needed it. “You’ve had all this time. You caved and
started dating Cora, as successful as that was.”

Tommy blushed,
looking sheepish. “It isn’t as simple as that.”

“
It is simple.
We knew we wanted to stand against Alastair from day one, you stood
back,” Eli added.

Cora watched
her coven for reactions. Tabitha was deep in thought. Jack hadn’t
spoken, although, he stood closer to her. Cora knew what he was
thinking. Was this another plot? Another trick?

“
If we take
your word that you have had enough, how do we know? How can you
prove it?” Tabitha questioned.

“
I’m willing to
do anything to bring him down,” Tommy urged.

“
Why now?” Cora
repeated. “Alastair imposed the marriage and the pregnancy rules on
me from day one. You were okay with it then.”

“
That was a
mistake,” Tommy interjected.

“
Damn right,”
Jack muttered.

“
I told you
about your mother. I came with the message at
Christmas.”

He was right.
He had come to them. They did need every witch to help them fight
against Alastair. But it was hard to trust those who hadn’t helped
them. Those who chose to go ahead with the whole dating business.
Ciaran had never liked it from day one. Their friendship was proof
of this.

Cora sighed.
“We need Ember.”

“
I’m here,”
Ember said as the hotel door opened and she nearly hit Tommy with
it as she walked in. She didn’t apologise.

Cora
approached Ember, whispering in her ear what she wanted Ember to
do. Ember nodded and disappeared. Ayden caught Ember, lying her on
to the bed with ease. Cora had never noticed before how much Ember
used her gift. Ember had always used it, but she’d never used it as
much as they needed her to now. Ember was their spy, she was their
Tavish. Cora had probably spoken with Ember’s projection more than
Ember herself.

Ember returned
with a man Cora recognised from the first meeting. He hadn’t been
present at the last one.

“
Ryan?” Tommy
asked.

Deep green
eyes looked at Cora before they turned to Tommy. “I was asked to
come. They needed me for something, I came.”

Ryan pushed
his hands into his pockets. Cora noticed that his hair had grown.
The dark stands were no longer manageable. He seemed annoyed by
this, constantly flicking at it.

“
Okay? What
next?” Tommy asked.

“
Tommy has told
us he wishes to help,” Cora began.

“
Do you not
want our covens help?” Ryan asked. “I thought after Alastair’s
latest offense, you would need as much help as
possible.”

“
Did you know
of Alastair’s plan?” Eli asked.

Ryan shook his
head as Tommy responded. “No. We didn’t know. You know what
Alastair is like. He keeps his cards close to his
chest.”

“
Yes, we know
what he is like, and by the sound of it, you also know what he is
like. So why did you support him all this time? Why did you not say
anything?” Tabitha interrogated.

“
Fear,” Tommy
murmured. “We feared the consequences of going up against
him.”

They were
quiet as they let this sink in. Cora could understand their fear.
She’d felt it often enough. She still feels the fear. What she
couldn’t understand was their weakness. They hadn’t bothered to try
to push past the fear. They’d allowed it to win, and look where
that had got them.

“
But it wasn’t
normal for Alastair to call on everyone the way he did. You must
have known something was amiss?” Ayden argued.

“
We believed he
wanted to bring Cora to Edinburgh, to parade the bump like some
proud father.”

“
Which he tried
to do...I would have broken his hand if it had moved any
closer.”

Ryan laughed
whilst Tommy smiled.

“
I still think
you should have spoken. You should have told Alastair,” Ember
informed them.

Ryan nodded.
“I agree, but only now do we feel we can speak our
minds.”

“
Why?” Cora
asked dumbfounded.

Tommy looked
at her, eyes so intense she nearly looked away. “You are the
reason. Your strength. Your power. I still feel the fear, but hope
pushes the fear back. Every time you push at Alastair, I see
cracks. This makes me hopeful.”

“
Well, I’m glad
someone is,” Cora muttered.

Chuckles
sounded behind her as she looked at Jack and saw approval in his
eyes. “Okay, let’s get started then.”

“
I think I need
my entire coven here,” Tommy told her. He pulled his phone from his
pocket and dialled, speaking to several people. Ending the
conversation, he held his phone up to Ember so she could see
everything. “This is where you can collect them.”

Ember
nodded.

“
Well, I don’t
know about anyone else but I need food. Anyone up for
pizza?”

“
I could always
eat,” Jack agreed.

Cora smiled.
Jack could always eat but she didn’t know where he put it. “We
can’t expect Ember to go get pizza every time we are
hungry.”

Two more
people appeared in the room, Ember left immediately after. The
people made their introductions. Kayleigh Phillips was average in
height with light brown hair, but her slender frame was misleading.
Cora saw the lean muscle, the straight back, the golden eyes that
studied the room before they came to rest on Cora. This woman was a
warrior. Her element was dream leaping, meaning she could project
into people’s dreams and manipulate them. Cora liked
her.

Adam Smith was
tall, taller than most of her coven, including Ayden. His short
crop of dark hair was styled in such a way that it was easily
managed. Deep blue eyes smiled as he introduced himself.

Ember returned
with pizza. How had she known? “You didn’t have to...”

Ember touched
her arm. “I wanted to. Now eat.”

“
Okay,” Tommy
said, chewing his pizza, “What do we need to know?”

In between
bites of her own pizza, Cora updated the Leeds coven on everything
that had happened. She told them of her fake pregnancy, about their
plan depending on a particular witch that had been brought up in
conversation, but a witch no one had seen for many
years.

“
What happened
with Quinn?” Ryan asked as he polished off his slice.

“
Oh, I want to
take this one,” Jack announced proudly.

As Jack told
them, Cora ate another slice. At this moment she believed her plan
might be possible. If the Leeds coven were willing to help them,
then every coven may be willing. They already had so much support
from the Irish coven. Thinking of the Irish coven, she missed
Ciaran’s presence in the room, in her coven, in her
life.

Since
returning to his coven in Dublin, Cora had noticed how much he’d
become a part of her life.

“
So, what the
hell happened when Alastair used his element on you back at the
coven meeting? From what Tommy has told us, you got out in good
time,” Adam asked.

“
No one has
ever done that before,” Kayleigh whispered.

“
I didn’t get
out quick enough... or maybe we should have gone in quicker... if
we could have saved Bri...”

“
We didn’t
know, Jack,” Cora leant over holding his hand.

Jack nodded.
“I know... As for his gift, I think I’ve mastered it and that
really gets to him. I make him nervous. No one has got through
before, whatever he sends their way, it has killed them. Fear takes
over and they can’t think straight. I don’t allow fear to use me
like that. Alastair will continue to do it just to get me out of
the room for a while.”

“
Our problem
is, he kills now. He’s past the point of no return,” Eli
added.