This Coven Won't Break - Isabel Sterling Page 0,88

honestly believe that it’s his duty to protect Archer, but it’s pretty clear what he’s supposed to do with someone like me.

“Well?” I prompt when he still hasn’t come up with anything.

“You won’t like it,” he warns, rubbing the back of his neck. I cross my arms and glare at him until he continues. “I don’t want you to die,” he admits slowly, watching my reaction. “You deserve to be cured, but if I leave you here, they’ll just kill you.”

His obsession with curing something that isn’t broken or bad or wrong makes my skin crawl. Even after everything I’ve been through, even with the months of friendship in our past, he still can’t see my humanity, and that breaks my heart more than I thought it could.

“And you’re willing to risk yourself to help us?” I ask, unable to keep the emotion out of my voice.

Benton shrugs. “They already think I’m a witch sympathizer. At least, Riley does. Breaking the detective out is bad enough. They can’t exactly kill me twice if I break you out, too.”

If I don’t kill you, the Order will.

They’ll kill me for being too weak to do my job.

A strange feeling tugs at my heart. Kill or be killed. What kind of family raises their kids like that?

Before I can say anything, Benton’s thumbs are flying across his screen as he taps out a text. He hits send and slips the phone back into his pocket. He looks up and meets my eye. “Now we wait.”

24

IT FEELS LIKE FOREVER before Benton gets a response. His brows knit as he reads the text, which isn’t the encouraging sign I was hoping for.

“What did they say?” I ask, my heart lodged in my throat.

He glances up from his phone. “All she sent was an eye roll emoji. No, wait.” The phone buzzes again. “She’s on her way.”

I stand from the cold stone floor and stretch my legs in case this escape—or trap or whatever it actually is—involves more running. “And who is ‘she,’ exactly?”

“Someone likely to assume Riley was being an ass. She’ll let me out,” he says evasively. I want to push the issue, but I don’t want to give him any reason to leave me behind. Especially when there’s already a solid chance he’s only pretending to rescue us so I don’t freeze him to death.

If I thought the text took forever, that’s nothing compared to waiting for the mysterious sender to arrive. I jump at every tiny sound as I strain to hear the moment someone comes to the basement level. Finally, a door creaks open down the hall. I stop pacing, and I’m not even sure when I started walking the length of the small cell.

“Stand in the back with me,” Archer whispers urgently. “It’ll look more realistic if we keep our distance.”

I do as Archer says, anticipation making me jumpy. Footsteps approach and pause, metal sliding against stone, then the visitor approaches again. Paige, the third Hunter from Brooklyn, steps into view.

She raises a single eyebrow at Benton and leans her forearm against the horizontal bar in the door. “What happened, Hall?” She looks amused, and I take that as a good sign.

“Did Riley say anything?” Benton asks, sighing dramatically like this whole thing is nothing more than a ridiculous prank. Paige shakes her head, and Benton glances over his shoulder at us. “Ri thought it’d be funny to lock me in here with them.”

“Boys,” Paige grumbles, looking fully irritated with both Benton and Riley.

“Let me out?” Benton bats his lashes and gives her puppy eyes. I want to vomit and maybe punch him one more time.

Paige rolls her eyes again and slips the key into the lock. She looks past Benton to where Archer and I are standing at the back of the cell. “If either of you moves, you’ll regret it,” she says, and turns the key.

The door swings open, and my heart soars with the chance for freedom. Benton steps through the door, but Paige closes the cell again. My hopes sink, and I reach for my magic. If I can drop them both before she locks the door, then maybe—

Benton lunges forward and wraps his arm tight around Paige’s throat, pressing his forearm against the side of her neck. The keys fall with a clang to the floor. She braces her feet against the door and shoves. Both Hunters slam against the opposite wall, but Benton doesn’t relent. Paige scratches his face, and he only tightens his