Free The Witches of Glass Castle: Uprising (The Witches of the Glass Castle Series Book 2) by Gabriella Lepore Page A

can’t force me to stay here for your amusement!’
    ‘That’s the problem,’ Colt shouted with none of his usual composure. ‘I can . I can keep you here. And you have no desire to do anything about it.’
    ‘I think leaving counts as doing something about it,’ she shot back.
    Colt pounded his fist on the desktop, venting his frustration in any way he could. ‘And what happens when it’s not my chamber you’re leaving?’ he challenged. ‘What if someone less accommodating than me is holding you captive? Will you be so passive with them?’
    ‘Less accommodating?’ she echoed, folding her arms. ‘Is there such a thing? I hate to break it to you, but you’ve hardly been a welcoming host.’ 
    Colt scowled and his pupils began to engorge, darkening his eyes like coal. ‘I won’t indulge you, if that’s what you’re expecting. You need to learn to protect yourself, and I don’t mind being the one who drives you to do it.’
    ‘I can protect myself,’ Mia exclaimed. ‘And I certainly would never expect any kind of compassion or comfort from you! You’re a Hunter, after all.’ Her breath caught as her final words left her mouth.
    They both fell silent.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Mia murmured. ‘I didn’t mean that.’
    But Colt didn’t react. He did nothing but hold her gaze.
    ‘Light the candle,’ he said at last.
    With a sigh, she reached for the door once more. But as her hand enveloped the handle, again the air tore it from her grip, slamming it shut with such force that it made her jump.
    Colt made a noise somewhere akin to laughter.
    ‘It’s not funny!’ Mia cried.
    ‘I know,’ he said, soberly now. ‘It’s pitiful, really.’
    ‘I’m not pitiful!’
    ‘No,’ he agreed, ‘you aren’t. You’re complacent . And your complacency is what I find pitiful. You cannot...’ he trailed off, raking his hands through his dark hair. He took a deep breath before continuing. ‘You cannot afford to be complacent. There’s a witch out there who’s trying to kill you, Mia. This is not a game. And at this rate, you will die.’
    Mia swallowed a lump in her throat, looking beyond him and through the windows into the moonlit night. ‘The others will help me,’ she said weakly. ‘Even if you don’t want to—’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he interrupted. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘ Of course I’ll protect you. I would do anything for you! And I’d sooner die than see you harmed...’
    Mia’s heart thudded in her chest.
    ‘So if it comes to that,’ he went on calmly, ‘if I’m... not around ,’ he clarified, ‘I need to know that I’ve done all I can to prepare you. To give you a fighting chance. I need to be certain that you can protect yourself when I’m not there to do it for you.’
    Mia was stunned to silence.
    ‘I mean, when I’m dead,’ he elaborated, in case she had missed his point. ‘Completely dead.’
    She lifted her palm to stop him. ‘I get it.’
    Colt ran his hands over his face, weary now. His eyes had paled to their usual forest-green hue and he was subdued again.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ Mia told him.
    He shrugged. ‘Go, if you have to. I won’t stop you this time.’ He sat back in his chair and lifted a new blade from the desk, inspecting it under the moonlight’s glow. With his back to her, he lifted the silk cloth and slid the blade across it.
    Mia closed her eyes for a moment, processing their exchange. ‘I get it,’ she told him. ‘I understand what you’re trying to do.’
    He continued running the cloth along the blade.
    ‘I don’t like to think of you as...completely dead,’ Mia confessed.
    ‘It’s not ideal.’
    Mia sighed. ‘I suppose you can take a fish to water, but you can’t make it drink,’ she mused thoughtfully.
    Colt laughed. ‘Horse,’ he said.
    ‘What?’
    ‘You can take a horse to water.’
    ‘Oh.’
    He craned his neck to look at her. ‘Fish, one would imagine, are already there.’
    ‘I