Page 65 of Of Fate & Forbidden Desire

“What about our stuff?” Ally shouted.

“It’ll be fine here.” I threw over my shoulder, already making my way to the deserted street. With the bite in the air and the early hour, the humans were thankfully still asleep as I made my way to my silver audi.

“But my car…" Jacin whined from behind me as I pressed the button on my keyfob, unlocking the car doors.

"You can retrieve it when you come back this way, I'll help you shift your boxes into the house so we can get going." I offered, placing Charleene in the back seat and putting the pillow beneath her head.

"Fine," he begrudgingly agreed, not like I was giving him much choice in the matter. Jace agreed, passing me his bag and unlocking his car.

Shifting their stuff inside took longer than I wanted; they had so much stuff crammed into that beat up excuse for a car. However once it was done, I locked up as they each got it to my car and we set off for Glasgow.

I didn't speak to either of them as I drove, concentrating on which exits to take and eventually Ally’s soft snores filled the car. I drank in the near silence as Jacin stared fixedly out the window.

Jacin’s voice finally broke the silence as I drove past a sign declaring Glasgow was only five miles away.

“Ally needs to train.” He declared, raising my hackles.

"Absolutely not!" I yelled, surprised that he would even suggest such a thing.

"What the hell are you two arguing about now?" Ally’s sleep filled voice interrupted us.

"Brainiac here wants to train your magic." I couldn’t help but spit at her, meeting her surprised eyes in the rear-view mirror, before returning them to the road ahead.

"She needs to learn how to control it." He said and I know that he’s right however with her track record of using magic, I didn’t want her using it anywhere near me or Charleene ever again.

"Yeah, like that turned out so well last time." She scoffed in return, glancing over at Charleene as if to hammer home her point.

"You'll never get any better if you don't face it Ally." Jacin said, turning in his seat to meet her eyes.

"Hmmm," she mumbled non-committedly.

"We're almost at Glasgow, you can't have her letting off powerful magic in its limits," I mumbled, knowing I was fighting a losing battle.

"As soon as we reach a more remote place, I'm beginning her training." Jace begrudgingly agreed.

"Well, I'm so glad that's sorted," Charleene's calm voice made me freeze for a second as it filled the car like the sweetest music I’d ever heard.

Without thinking or even checking the other cars around me, my foot slammed down on the brake pedal and we lurch to a stop. Angry car horns blare as I couldn’t believe that she was awake and swivelled in my seat to stare at her open eyes.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

It’s nice to know you’ve been missed, but I never want to cause anyone to worry over me… - Charleene

Iyanked forward, protected by the seat belt cutting into me as my head flicked towards the seat in front of me. "What?" I asked as they all turned to stare at me, their eyes wide enough I'm scared their eyeballs would fall out.

"You're awake?" Dina asked, barely above a whisper.

"Yes, I believe so." I answered with a little uncertainty, thinking,why are they behaving like I'd died?"So what was all that racket for?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Charleene, do you know what happened?" Ally tentatively asked.

"Yes," I stated, meeting each of their eyes in turn.I'm not stupid, I know what happened to me.

"Are you going to elaborate?" Jace asked carefully, making me frown as more car horns began to blare.

"I will, but not here. We're blocking traffic," I said, glancing behind us at the angry driver who's shaking his closed fist in the air as we stop his journey. "Where are we anyway?"

"We're almost at Glasgow," Ally answered, before turning to Dina and making me snort a laugh when she asks, "Dina, do you need someone else to drive?"

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