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The sofas
faced the large fireplace which glowed. To her left was the wooden,
country kitchen, complete with the large American style fridge. It
didn’t look right in the kitchen, but Eli had insisted. Eli and
Clay were in that kitchen already. Cora headed towards the meeting
room which was situated directly in front of her down the corridor.
On this corridor were three other doors which led off into
bedrooms. Cora loved the simplicity of the bedrooms. They were
clean, modern and comfortable. Ember had been at work there, but
the best room by far was the meeting room.

Cora opened
the door and let the light filter in. The table, a very big one,
was positioned in the middle of the largest library Cora had ever
seen. From the outside, this room looked like it belonged with the
rest of the building. However, it wasn’t a standard room. Ember had
played with her gift. From the inside, there was a tall window that
towered high over the room, shining light onto the two tiered
library that rose into a peak. In that peak there was a seating
area and a small window that overlooked the whole of Millstepple
and the rolling hills surrounding them.

At the far end
of the room, nearest the window, Cora had placed another small sofa
area and a coffee table for those who wanted to appreciate the view
into the woods whilst a meeting wasn’t taking place. A coffee and
tea machine was also set up. Ember had added biscuits and cake for
their visitors.

“
Is everything
done?” Cora asked Tabitha who was perched on one of the sofas
reading a book.

“
As far as I
know, yes.”

“
Okay.” Cora
felt the nerves begin to flutter now. She couldn’t believe she was
the leader of the covens. That the threat of the Corenthio Coven,
the threat of Alastair had finally gone. But they still needed to
resolve the issue with Tavish. Tavish had disappeared. He hadn’t
been seen. He would show his face soon enough.

Ayden and Eli
had told her to stop being paranoid. There was nothing she could
do. It will happen. Clay had told her people wouldn’t want to go up
against her. She was harsh, but nice. People respected
that.

“
Wow!” Kayla
screeched from the front of the cottage.

“
Your guests
sound like they are arriving,” Jack said as he flashed her a grin,
pecked her cheek, before heading towards the noise.

“
Bloody hell!”
Flynn whistled. “I do love a woman who can cook.”

Cora rolled
her eyes as she walked out of the meeting room towards the sitting
room. Flynn was drooling over Ember in the kitchen.

“
I didn’t
cook,” Ember stated.

Flynn
shrugged, he was used to Ember’s cold shoulder. His grin was still
in place. Cora saw Ember smile. They were a good match, if Ember
was willing to see it.

“
Okay,” Cora
whispered to herself as more of them started walking through the
door and into the entrance, gawping at the room. “Please help
yourself to some pizza. Tea and coffee and desserts are set up in
the meeting room at the end of the corridor.”

“
This is
beautiful, Cora, you must be so proud,” Iona said as she hugged
her.

“
Thank you,
wait until you see the meeting room.”

Iona grabbed
Cian’s hand and dragged him down the corridor. “Sweet, Mary!” Iona
exclaimed.

Cora smiled
and turned to Ciaran. “She loves books, does my Ma,” he said,
pecking her on the cheek.

“
A woman after
my own heart.”

Ciaran smiled
at Jack and headed down to the meeting room with a slice of pizza
in each hand.

Everyone was
either congregated in the kitchen or gawping at the library.
Conversation was relaxed and happy. Cora felt herself relax. Things
were going to be fine. That’s what she told herself until the
Newcastle coven walked in, quickly followed by Alex. Conversation
died instantly.

“
Okay,
everyone, please make your way to the room.” She turned to the
Newcastle coven. “Please take a seat in the living room. Help
yourself to food and drink.”

The shorter
man nodded. She didn’t care to know their names. She just wanted
the coven to be sorted and then leave them alone.

Cora followed
everyone and noticed most were already seated at the table. The
head seat was vacant. Jack and Ayden were sat on either side. Cora
felt her mouth go dry. She had to remind herself that she was
speaking in front of friends. She wasn’t their leader, she was just
a friend whose decision was final. Her heart thudded as she closed
the door behind her, shutting out the Newcastle coven. At least
that coven wouldn’t be treated in the same manner her coven
had.

Cora turned
and saw everyone looking at her expectantly. She smiled and made
her way over to her chair, sucking in a deep, calming
breath.

4
5

First Meeting

“
Okay, so,
welcome,” she began. “I don’t want this to be like the other
meetings, you know where... so please feel free to stand, grab some
coffee and do what you want.”

Cora saw some
of their shoulders relax as people smiled.

The door
opened. “Sorry I’m late,” Adanna apologised.

A murmur rose
up through the room. Adanna hadn’t attended a meeting for some
time. Cora stood up and hugged Adanna. Adanna pulled back and
kissed both her cheeks.

“
Thank you for
coming,” Cora whispered.

“
You look well,
Cora.” Adanna nodded. “I’m happy to attend this meeting, I like
this leader!” she spoke loudly.

Laughter
circled the table as Adanna took a seat. Jack smiled at her,
pushing a whole biscuit into his mouth.

“
Okay, so do
any of you have any issues?” Cora asked as she took a
seat.

A boy, no
older than ten, stood up at the bottom of the table. “I just wanted
to introduce myself as we haven’t met. I’m Riley from the Chester
coven.”

Cora smiled.
“It is lovely to meet you, Riley.”

Riley nodded
and sat down as Evelyn stood up.

Cora smiled.
“Eve?”

“
We continue to
have the problems with Ben Patrick. I believe you’ve met him?”
Evelyn asked with a wry smile.

Cora laughed.
“I think we all met a little bit too much of him.”

“
I wouldn’t say
that. I would have liked to see more,” Ember mumbled.

Flynn looked
annoyed.

“
Well, we were
wondering what could be done?”

If it had been
Alastair, he would have said they would discuss it and get back to
them. Cora assumed he’d never discussed it and they never got back
to them.

“
This one is
tricky,” Cora sighed. “You can’t keep him locked away. You can’t
ban him from every pub. I’m sure he is the reason the majority of
them are still open.”

Flynn barked
with laughter. “Aye, he does that!”

“
Hmm...have you
tried giving him any responsibilities? Making him too busy to think
of alcohol or dancing?” Cora suggested.

Evelyn
considered it. “No, but we always assumed he’d be too drunk to do
it.”

“
Well, give it
a go. If it doesn’t work we can try something new.”

Evelyn smiled
and sat down. Cora waited.

“
So,” she said,
assuming no other matters needed discussing. “We need to discuss
the Newcastle coven. What does everyone want to do?”

This was
greeted with silence. Jack chomped down on another biscuit. He saw
her expression and offered her one. She shook her head. Her stomach
couldn’t face food at the moment. “Please, we all need to come to a
decision.”

Again, silence
followed.

Ayden looked
down the table and then back to Cora. “We could disband them?” he
suggested.

“
Okay, that is
one option.”

“
Yes, maybe,
but isn’t that something he would do?” Dillon asked.

Cora nodded.
“It is something he would have done. What would everyone think
about disbanding them to different covens instead, so we can
contain the issue?”

“
That is a good
idea,” Flynn agreed.

“
My thinking
is, a different coven may help them develop
individually.”

“
But who will
get Alex?” Tommy asked.

Wasn’t that
the key question? “I’m not going to force anyone to have Alex. I
only ask if it doesn’t work then we will consider something else. I
would rather not jump in with the extreme solution just
yet.”

She looked at
everyone and waited.

“
We will take
one,” Dillon offered. “We’ve been missing one since Evan
departed.”

“
Thank you,
Dillon.”

“
We will take
the woman,” Tommy said.

“
Thank
you.”

“
We will take
Alex,” Adanna said, much to James’s shock. “I’m the only person who
can keep his element under control.”

“
She has a
point,” Cathella told James.

James nodded.
“Okay, I will put him under your charge, Adanna, but that now means
you will have to stick around longer.”

Adanna
inclined her head and smiled.

“
So, there is
one more man,” Cora said. “We can’t have him, we have quite a large
coven as it is and we would be too big.”

“
What about the
Scottish coven?” Ryan asked.

“
Yes, whit
aboot the Scottish Coven?” Tavish asked as he suddenly appeared in
the room. The door opened and Alva strolled in and stepped beside
her brother.

The witches in
the room moved quickly. Cora found herself jumping to her feet,
heading towards Tavish. She was sick of him entering rooms like
this.

Clay would
obviously be the first to reach Tavish, he held a serious hatred
for that man, they all did but Clay’s was out of this world hatred.
It didn’t shock Cora that Clay reached him first. What shocked Cora
was Tavish’s lack of anger. He appeared deflated. He didn’t appear
to be his usual cocky self.

“
Wait!” Cora
called, halting everyone in their advances. This was wrong.
Something didn’t feel right. They couldn’t do this in their new
coven room.

Clay looked at
Cora, his fist already clenched. She saw the shock ripple across
his face at her instruction, but he held back his anger. He
respected her command. Alva stood beside her brother. She remained
quiet, but her eyes held something unknown. Cora had known they
would show, but this was strange, even for the twins.

“
Tavish, do you
really believe it is wise to pop up in a room where all the witches
are meeting? Witches that would happily kick your ass?” Cora asked
him.

Tavish
shrugged. “Why break the habit of a lifetime.”

Cora inclined
her head. He definitely sounded different. His attitude didn’t come
across as it usually did. “What have you been doing since we killed
your leader? Where have you been?”

“
We’ve been
livin’,” Alva responded. “Quietly.”

“
I can imagine
rule under Alastair ensured you did not have a life, or a quiet
life,” Tabitha offered. Ever the peace keeper.

“
Yes,” Alva
responded. “A’m thankful we can now live.” She looked at Tabitha
once and then refocused on Cora.

“
Only if Cora
let’s you live,” Flynn muttered.

Okay. This was
strange. She didn’t know how to handle this new quiet
Tavish.

“
We huv come
tae talk and we believe yer will listen,” Tavish stated.

“
You really
thought I wouldn’t punch you the second you showed up?” Clay
hissed.

“
A believed yer
would hit me, A expect it, but A was willing to take the risk tae
speak wi’ Cora anyway.”

Cora nodded.
“Okay. Speak.”

“
Cora?” Clay
asked, baffled.

“
No, Clay, we
will not act like him. We will give people a chance.”

Tavish nodded,
“The day you killed Alastair wasn’t the first time A’d started to
believe he was doin’ wrong.”

“
And you didn’t
have the balls to do anything about the way he ruled, am I right?”
Jack barked.

“
Yer right,
Jack,” Tavish admitted. “A couldn’t do anything. He was ma leader.
But A wasn’t there to protect you. A was there to protect ma
sister.”

“
A don’t need
protectin’,” Alva protested.

“
Yer ma little
sister. A’m meant tae protect yer.”

“
Had Alastair
made you cautious around your sister before?” Adanna
asked.

Tavish looked
at Adanna quickly and then looked away. “He had.”

“
What did he
do?” Evelyn asked.

“
A’ve had a few
issues wi’ broken bones and bruises...” Alva muttered.

“
So you didn’t
want to support us because you wanted to protect your sister. I can
understand that, but what made you believe we wouldn’t support you
if you had come to us?” Ember asked.