This Coven Won't Break - Isabel Sterling Page 0,70

me.

A hand closes around my arm and squeezes tight. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Alice’s sudden appearance startles me, her voice quiet in my ear. “What the hell are they doing here?”

Around me, the coven grows restless as Archer speaks to the newcomers. The kids run off to play. Adults break into small groups to discuss schedules. Morgan’s parents wave her over, and Alice takes her place beside me. As soon as we’re alone, her magic tears through my body. “Well, Tree Hugger?” An ache spreads through my bones, and it’s hard to stay on my feet. “I’m waiting.”

“I’m sorry. I—”

“You knew?!” She releases my arm, but the pain only builds as her temper flares. My knees buckle, and her Blood Magic takes control of my body, forcing my legs to stay standing. “Why the fuck didn’t you say something? Why weren’t you at the meeting last night?”

At first, I don’t know what meeting she’s talking about, but then I remember where she heard about the drugged Blood Witch. I remember the voices in Archer’s kitchen. Alice must have been there with Ellen and Elder Keating before she escaped to Morgan’s house.

“Archer didn’t tell me you were meeting.”

“Bullshit.” Her magic makes the muscles around my ribs constrict. “He wouldn’t forget to invite you. The raid is in four fucking days, Snow Queen.”

“Alice,” I say, gasping for breath. “I can’t breathe.”

She scowls at me, then shuts her eyes. Her power leaks out of me, and though she doesn’t say anything, the way she forces herself to breathe more deeply makes me think the pain wasn’t intentional. Her eyes open slowly, and she trains her hard, blue gaze on me. In it, I see the fear she’s channeling into rage. The betrayal she must feel at Lexie and Coral’s unannounced arrival.

“He didn’t forget to invite me,” I admit when I can’t stand her intense glower a second longer. “I’m not part of the raid anymore.”

“Yes. You are,” Alice says, and it sounds more like a threat than a statement.

“I’m not, Alice. I can’t—”

“The hell you can’t.” She steps closer, and this time, the pain that travels down my spine feels very intentional. “I don’t know what kind of trap you’ve set by bringing those Casters here, but I am not waltzing into the Hunter headquarters alone. No fucking way. You want my help? You better get some skin in the game, Cyclone.”

“Alice—”

“Save it. If you’re not here for the meeting on Saturday, I’m calling my sponsors and going back on tour.” She squeezes her fists, and the pain flares bright. My knees buckle, and she grabs my arm, holding me upright. “And if those Casters do anything to hurt me,” she says, her whispered words curled around my brain like barbed wire, “I’ll stop your heart.”

18

ALICE’S THREATS FOLLOW ME home that night. Mom talks about how good it was to see everyone and then reviews the plans to keep me safe in the courthouse. I listen as best I can, but I don’t know how to tell her about Alice’s ultimatum: if I don’t go on the raid, it won’t happen at all.

It’s going to break Mom’s heart.

All night, I try to find a way out of this. But no one can force Alice to go through with the raid, not even Elder Keating. Her words from the night we met play on a loop in my head. We do not force our witches to do anything, Hannah. Not even when things are this desperate. It has to be their choice.

If I don’t agree to go with Alice, we’re fucked. I should have warned her about Lexie and Coral. I should have done something besides write and delete the same texts over and over.

At school, I’m reminded by painted banners that homecoming is tonight, which is . . . unfortunate. I don’t have anything to wear, but Morgan is so excited, and I’d like to keep at least one promise this year.

Thankfully, Gemma comes through for me. After she takes care of my hair and makeup, she lets me wriggle into the dress she wore last year. The flowing red fabric hit her at mid-thigh, but it falls to my knees. Her own dress, pale blue this year, goes all the way to her ankles. When she changed, I noticed the patchwork of angry scars on her right thigh.

“Not a word, Han,” she says when she sees me looking.

I mime zipping my lips and fight the urge to ask if she’s okay.