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“
No. Shopping
is a luxury when thinking of having to spend time with that
man.”

“
We just have
to play it as close to the truth as possible.” Jack
nodded.

“
Cora, you can
tell Alastair that you need to get to know him better. That things
have been crazy busy and you have bonded with the baby, that you’ve
accepted what has happened.” Ayden spread his arms out, like he’d
said the most brilliant thing in the world.

“
That is good!”
Ember hissed enthusiastically. “But you are still pissed at him.
Bri, she deserves whatever happens to Alastair.”

“
Yes, Alastair
is used to your temper.”

Cora nodded,
trying to remember everything.

“
With Tavish,
you need to convince Alastair you just want time alone with him,
the leader. Make him feel important,” Clay drawled. “Look at Tavish
with hate and touch your bump. Alastair won’t forget that Tavish
could have caused problems with your pregnancy. Once Tavish is
dismissed, us men will take him away to a bar or something, Ciaran
can give him a look that will silence him most of the
time.”

“
Clay, that is
a good idea... that is really good...” Tabitha murmured.

Clay shrugged.
“I have my moments.”

Cora smiled.
Clay had such a way with words and expressions.

“
So that leaves
me?” Jack asked.

“
Yes, you will
have to go to the coven meeting alone.”

“
The second
best leader... I’m sure they will join our cause,” Eli taunted
him.

“
I rank above
you, brother,” Jack teased.

“
How do we keep
tabs on him? We don’t know where he could be going.”

“
Now, that is
where I come in, Tab,” Eli boasted, whilst holding a small chip
between his finger and thumb.

“
Okay then,
let’s get started,” Jack said.

21

A SUDDEN FEAR OF HEIGHTS

The plan had
been delivered exceedingly well. So well, in fact, that Jack was on
his way to the meeting point at Cardiff central library. He’d never
been to Wales before, so he was relying on his phone’s GPS to get
him to the meeting point. Eli had tried to give him a good old
fashioned map. If he’d used that map, Jack would have still been
stood with them trying to figure out which way to go
next.

He almost
wished another member of their coven was with him, but it had taken
all the men to convince Tavish to go. Jack had feigned illness, so
had told them he was staying in the hotel. Alastair had been easily
persuaded. Cora had used her amazing skills to get him to go
shopping with her.

Jack wasn’t
afraid of what may lay ahead, but he just didn’t want to screw it
up. The pressure he felt was immense. How did Cora cope with this
every time they spoke to a coven? He blew out a breath and looked
back at his phone. It told him that he was nearly there.

Walking
alongside a glass building, he caught sight of a large ring, a
metal thing that looked out of place. It was the person standing in
the middle of it that Jack recognised. Jack headed that
way.

“
Hello,
Jack.”

As Jack
neared, the man’s eyes, the colour of autumn leaves flying in a
trapped pocket of air, smiled at him. “Hello, Dillon.”

“
No
Cora?”

“
No, she was
held up with something.”

“
Please, follow
me.”

Dillon took
the lead toward the library, the wind throwing his barley hair in
all directions. “I trust Cora’s pregnancy is going
well?”

“
Hmmm...” There
was no other way Jack could respond to such a question until the
right time. He had to put the feelers out and see where they stood
first.

They walked
out of the brisk February winds into the warm library. He found the
building to be a maze of floors, criss-crossing stairs and books.
Jack stood back, looked up and he whistled.

“
Impressive,
isn’t it?”

“
Yeah, Cora
would have an attack of the squeals if she was here.”

“
She likes to
read?”

“
Loves it. She
devours books when she isn’t busy stressing about every witch thing
going.”

They headed up
the first set of stairs. Dillon remained at the front. GPS wouldn’t
help Jack in here.

“
I can imagine
things will only get busier for the two of you.”

Jack sighed,
playing into Dillon’s hands. “It will. All because of a decision
made by that Scottish git.”

Jack waited.
If Dillon agreed with Jack, they had a hope of winning the coven’s
trust and help. On the other hand, if he agreed with Alastair, they
had a problem. Jack waited for a response. There wasn’t one. Damn
it.

Dillon
continued to lead him up the flights of stairs, past rows of
bookshelves, until they reached the top level.

“
Take a look
down,” Dillon said, “the view is amazing.”

Jack had faced
death in many forms, yet the thought of looking down, thinking
about the height, it made his head spin. He looked down anyway
because he didn’t want to appear weak in front of someone he needed
help from. He looked down whilst holding his breath. “That is
something else,” he puffed, as he blew out his breath.

It was. The
floors were oddly shaped from this vantage point. The stairs they’d
walked up branched off in all directions. It looked like something
out of
Harry Potter
. The windows allowed streams of light to touch segments of
the floor.

Dillon stepped
up off the floor and onto the ledge.

“
What the hell
are you doing?” Jack hissed, looking around them for any
witnesses.

“
You have to
get up here, too.”

“
No, I don’t.”
Jack stepped back, holding his hands out in surrender. He didn’t
care about looking weak anymore. It took someone who was really
crazy, or someone who had some serious balls, to stand on that
ledge and look down at that drop.

“
You will do it
if you want to go to the meeting.”

Jack looked up
at Dillon and then rather stupidly, he looked back down. What was
wrong with just a normal entrance into a coven room? Was everyone
so afraid of being breached? Blowing out a breath and pushing aside
his reservations, he climbed up alongside Dillon.

“
You are bloody
insane!” Jack muttered, he couldn’t quite keep the quiver out of
his voice.

Dillon
laughed. “Right, all you have to do is jump off.”

“
It’s that
easy,” Jack scoffed. “People aren’t meant to jump, we are meant to
stop them.”

“
It gets easier
after a few times,” Dillon laughed. “Live a little.”

“
I like living!
That is the problem! You don’t have another door to go
through?”

“
No. Firstly,
this keeps our coven room more secure. Secondly, we all quite like
the thrill of jumping from a great height.”

“
Okay, firstly,
you are all bloody crazy if you enjoy jumping from here. Secondly,
what would you do if someone committed suicide and ended up in your
coven room?”

“
Ahhh...if
someone wanted to commit suicide they would try it lower down.
We’ve found that most want to live, they just want the attention
from the act itself. Of course, if they are seriously considering
ending their lives, they wouldn’t go to a public place where they
are more likely to live, and a place where people could get them
immediate help.”

Jack looked
down. His stomach dropped to his feet. His element meant he flew in
the air, but he controlled it. This, this was one thing he couldn’t
control. He knew this was a moment where his element was
welcome.

“
And you are
just putting it off with all your questions.”

Dillon had a
point.

“
You first,
Jack.”

Jack clenched
his fists, sucked in a deep breath, and jumped.

*

Cora sighed as
Alastair picked up yet another item of clothing for the baby. Every
single scrap of material had linked back to Scotland, if that was
at all possible in Wales. A slight scrap of red material had
Alastair cooing. Firstly, that noise was rapidly becoming the most
hated noise ever to leave a mouth. Secondly, if he didn’t stop
making that noise, she wasn’t sure she could stop herself from
punching him in the face.

They’d been
shopping for less than an hour and she wanted to stand in the
middle of this shopping centre and scream. Loudly.

Cora made
agreeable noises and Alastair put the top back. She remembered the
advice. It was the only thing holding back her anger. This was a
good time to find out his weaknesses so they could use them against
him.

“
So, have you
picked out any baby outfits before?”

Alastair
glared at her suspiciously. What? She hadn’t sniggered at him
whilst she asked the question, although she wanted to. “Not that
you are good at it, you suck to be honest, but I just
wondered...”

That was a bad
recovery. Jesus, what the hell was wrong with her?

“
Nae, A
huvn’t.”

Cora nodded
and then picked up some socks and sighed like she wanted to buy
them.

“
Buy them,”
Alastair encouraged.

“
What? No, we
are waiting a little longer. I don’t want to jinx it.”

“
Yer won’t,”
Alastair sneered, so sure of his little miracle mix. One that
Tabitha had stopped. Alastair wasn’t as good as he
believed.

“
Well, you
never know. Did you every marry? Just wondered as this,” she rubbed
her hand over the bump, “will lead to marriage.”

Alastair
looked at her. She tried to ignore him as she looked through the
baby clothes.

“
What?” she
said sweetly, finally giving in to his glare.

“
Why do yer
want tae know?”

Think on your
feet
, Cora told herself.

“
If we are to
be united covens that communicate, what with the baby and things, I
think it would be good to know something about each
other.”

“
A know
everythin’aboot yer.”

“
Not
everything,” Cora responded quickly.

“
Well, now,
whit don’t A know?”

“
What
don’t
I
know?”
Cora retorted.

Alastair
inclined his head. Cora swore she saw a smirk touch his lips before
they pulled back into his trademark, ghostly sneer. “A don’t huv a
wife. Never huv, never will.”

Cora nodded.
“How did you become the leader of your coven?”

“
Ma father was
the leader. A hated him. A sat back for years waitin’ for him tae
die. He was too lenient, too kind with them...”

“
Okay.” There
wasn’t much she could say to that. It simply added weight to her
belief that this man was insane.

“
A didnae wait
long...” he grumbled.

Cora felt the
jolt run through her body. He’d killed his own father. He wanted
her to know about this. He wanted her to fear him. “You killed
him?”

“
Aye.”

“
Why?” She
tried to keep her voice calm.

“
He was rather
agreeable tae Commoners and witches being together.”

“
What is wrong
with that?” Cora failed to keep her disgust out of her question.
Good. At least he knew how she felt.

Alastair’s
face contorted. “It taints pure blood! Once he was dead A made sure
tae rid possible mixes.”

Cora gasped.
“You killed...” She couldn’t continue.

Alastair
inclined his head. “A did whit A could. Now, yer thing A don’t know
aboot yer?”

Shit
.

How was she
meant to think of something after everything he’d just revealed?
She hadn’t thought this through. His revelation had left her
feeling numb. Before she could respond, Alastair stopped in the
middle of the shop and glared at her. She stumbled back, caught
unaware.

Dread coursed
through her body as her head tried to think of excuses, any
reasoning to what may come out of his mouth. She couldn’t blow it
now.

“
A know yer
secret!” he spat.

Cora tried to
swallow but her mouth was so dry. If he lost his temper here, how
could she escape it? If he pushed her into his element, she wasn’t
sure she could face what was on the other side. “I...” Cora
stammered. She couldn’t find any words.

“
Quinn.”
Alastair snapped.

“
What?” Cora’s
heart thudded. She looked at him, confused.

“
A know... and
things will change when yer huv the baby.” Alastair walked on,
leaving her gaping at him.

Relief swept
over her. Alastair didn’t know about the pregnancy, he knew about
Quinn. That she could deal with. He’d all but threatened her that
once she dropped the fake bump, things would happen to them. Her
security blanket would soon be taken from them, and then what would
happen?