A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums (Lilith and Co. #1)

Chapter 6

Chapter

Six

W hy did my parents have to die before having a chance to explain about my magic and supers, for that matter? I hated not knowing. One thing was certain: Connor might have locked me up in here, but he clearly forgot about Jeffery’s phone.

My life’s ambition was never to be Nancy Drew, but a man dying took precedence over any other life choices. Especially when that man meant something to me. When I turned on the phone this time, an image appeared in my mind. It took me so off guard that I dropped the phone onto the rug. The image of a woman with long, dark hair, dark eyes and mediterranean skin filled my inner vision. She opened her mouth and I’d swear in a court of law that I heard her say, “ Simone .”

My legs buckled underneath me, sending me down to the carpet along with the phone while I tried to slow my racing heartbeat. What in all magic was going on here? I’d never had a vision before. Never . I had taser fingers once a month. The month should’ve reset. Not fair for the universe to change things up on me now. We had a system. I (mostly) held back from touching people one day a month then went on with my life all the other days. But visions?

Visions?

A person really needed to be mentally prepared to deal with this revelation and clearly, I was not .

Since Connor really happened to be the only one who knew about the mess my life had become, I wanted—like, really wanted—to talk to him. The problem being, he’d neglected to leave his number and he never told me his last name for me to look it up. Even if I tried google searching every Connor with a phone in the Tri-County area, I’d be here till next Thursday making phone calls.

I walked to the kitchen, rummaging through cabinets. This was a coffee moment. Coffee: the delicious elixir to ease the cruelty of life. Where did he keep the stuff? I needed it stat . He had a refrigerator filled with fresh fruit and vegetables. In his pantry: oatmeal? Protein shakes? What exactly did he expect me to eat? Where were the snack cakes or processed food? I thought Connor might’ve been trying to torture me. How about bread? Or mayo? Some cheese and olive loaf… Was that too much to ask for?

Heathen—the man was a complete heathen.

Now I wanted to eat more than ever because he didn’t have any real good food. I paced the floor of the kitchen like a caged animal, getting more and more irritated. Too restrictive. I needed more room to roam. I needed freedom. I needed?—

Finally, I found myself in front of the door again, more frustrated than I’d been in forever and I screamed out that frustration, kicking at the door. I grabbed the handle again, jiggling it, and screamed once more, “Open already!”

Then the craziest thing happened. It popped open. He supposedly had wards keeping me locked inside like a freaking prisoner. I tried the door. It’d refused to open for me. I was far from crazy. It would not open. Now, just like that, it opened?

Whoa. I walked outside into the fresh, clean air. It felt like I’d been locked up for fifteen years. Okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit. Still, it felt good to be out. My beautiful jeep sat parked where he’d left it, but my hopes for escape were dashed when I realized that he never gave me back my keys.

“Universe,” I said to the sky, “How do you expect me to drive without my keys?” Again, with the angry reflex actions, I threw my hand out, bringing it down on the hood, yelling at my jeep. “Why can’t you just start?” I cried out, only to have the engine turn over.

It did.

At first, I thought I might be cracking up. To test it, I climbed inside, then pressed the brake to shift into drive. I expected it to stall when I pressed the brake, like when I pressed the brake on my old car after engaging the remote start, but I’d forgotten to put the key in the ignition. It didn’t stall. Good jeep. Another hurtle down. So I drove.

To Raven.

To Connor.

He’d be pissed to see me, of course. But what could I do? This was huge. Huger than huge.

When I parked in front of the cemetery, I sighed, relieved that the jeep never stalled on my way. “Thanks for getting me here safe,” I said to my car. “You can shut off now.” The magic twitched under my skin in more than just my hands and the jeep shut off. “Wait here,” I told the car like an idiot.

The padlock unhooked before I reached it tonight. The path lit up for me, even though I remembered the way. The burning footprints led me back to the mausoleum, where the darkness seemed both darker and not nearly as dark simultaneously.

Once I reached the wrought-iron fence, I told the air, “Don’t let him know I’m here just yet.” Nothing happened when I reached the door except that the footprints disappeared and— poof! The door popped open. I waited, set off to the side of the mausoleum in the darkness, for Connor to come charging at me. The only light in the cemetery came from the stars and a slightly less-full moon. I gave it a few minutes to make sure he wasn’t going to get the jump on me. When the coast seemed clear, I entered the stairwell, glowing red, with no shadows this time. It actually felt like I’d been invited inside. It would’ve been rude not to go. I wasn’t rude—I mean, unless I landed in the unfortunate circumstance of dealing with Connor. At least when he talked.

If we were really meant to be together, the universe messed up. I did a quick check to make sure I was alone and then slipped down the stone staircase. The red light shone up from the bottom of the ancient building. The wall had metal plates with images of demons and other magical creatures all along the spiraling stones.

It looked like I’d walked into a real-life version of Dante’s Inferno meets The Goblin Market . And it was warm, but not overly hot. Considering the red light, I figured it would be boiling. My feet should have made noise against the stone steps, but every step remained silent. And I finally saw where the red light came from: a wall of fire. As soon as I reached the bottom, I became surrounded by those walls of fire on three sides.

The space opened up wide—no place to hide. I watched silently while scantily-clad women hung all over each other and the men in the room. It appeared I’d entered a waiting room. There was a hallway off the waiting room where the bottom half of the walls were made of fire, but the tops had windows showing the inside of offices, where people milled about working. I thought I might’ve stumbled into a supernatural office building.

And no one noticed me. No one. I moved through the waiting room to the hallway, completely carefree. This was amazing. The door at the very end of the hall opened and I stopped short—sucking in a sharp breath because Connor emerged from the office with Luc’s hand pressed in a friendly manner to his back. They were both laughing. Connor laughing was a thing of beauty.

Luc suddenly looked over to where I stood and we locked eyes—or I thought we locked eyes until he twisted his head left and right like he was looking for something, but he didn’t call me out. He leaned in to say something to Connor, who stuck his nose up and sniffed the air.

I mean, come on, it wasn’t my fault. He stuck his nose in the air and sniffed like a bloodhound. How could I not laugh? But I kept it down to a low snicker. Well, I kept it to a low snicker until he picked up the trail heading straight for me. He stopped abruptly only inches from my face, reaching his hand out too. I managed to dodge it, stepping to the side.

“It’s not possible,” he grumbled to Luc, who followed him.

“You sure it’s her?”

Connor directed a “ Please ” glare at the man.

“Right.” Luc laughed. “I’m not sure if you’re the luckiest or unluckiest SOB in the world.”

“Pity me,” Connor said.

Luc folded his arms over his rather large chest. “She’s hot. How bad can it be?”

“Yeah, she’s gorgeous,” he said and I stood a little taller. “But then she speaks,” he finished and I deflated, accidentally letting out a small harrumph of annoyance.

Both men whipped their heads in my direction. Connor looked to the ceiling for apparent deliverance. “Please tell me no ,” he said to no one. Then when I thought he was going to grab for me, he fooled me by stepping on my foot. We all watched his boot hover above the ground. Or well, that was what it had to look like to them. I saw my shoe trapped under his massive boot. Connor had seriously large feet, although completely proportional to his size. I should’ve kept vigilant. But his foot was trapping my foot… and then, out of nowhere, he grabbed my arms.

“Show yourself,” he barked.

“Didn’t you use the wards?” Luc asked.

“Of course I did. She couldn’t get the door open.”

As there was nowhere for me to run, I whispered, “Let them see me now.” But then because I was me, I tacked on, “But give it some flair.” And just like that, I shimmered into view. Yes, a full-on shimmer. It was so cool if I did say so myself. Every eye landed on me. Not just Connor’s. Not just Luc’s. There were unloquacious gasps and shouts of, “What the?—”

A couple of the men gave long, slow whistles. I stood straighter and smiled in the direction of the whistlers.

“Do that again, and I’ll rip your throat out, Egyn,” Connor threatened.

There were snickers from the others before Luc asked bizarrely, “How’d you do it?” At first, I thought he was asking Connor how he did it, as in put up with me , and I waited for Connor to give a snarky answer. Then I realized he’d actually been talking to me.

I shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“I gave him witch wards,” Luc said.

“I’m not a witch,” I replied.

“Clearly,” he chuckled.

“This isn’t funny,” Connor bit out.

“Oh, no—it is,” Luc answered. “But I also gave him demon wards, too.”

“You thought I was a demon?” I asked, aghast.

“Truthfully, I don’t know what you are. It’s been ambiguous from the first time Connor here”—Luc patted Connor on the back—“got a good look at you.”

“Leave it to the universe to stick me with an unrecognizable thing,” Connor said.

Thing? Thing?

Instead of screeching in his ear and kneeing him in the gonads, I turned to Luc. “Is there a vet nearby? I want to get him debarked.”

Connor, predictably, growled at me, baring his teeth.

“Oh, no!” I gasped. “Old Yeller’s got the hydrophoby.”

Luc threw his head back, laughing. It was a sexy, melodic laugh. I liked it. I bet it got him a lot of booty. “If you don’t want her,” he said to my other half and I was wholly unsure if Connor would agree that Luc should have taken me, or if Luc was taking his life in his hands.

Connor spun, stepping in front of me just like last night. “Back off,” he said, and then he turned back to me, “What are you doing here?”

Hmm… I supposed Luc was taking his life in his hands after all. I really couldn’t call it.

“I needed to talk to you, but I don’t have your number.”

“Connor.” Luc admonished the man-dog that I was becoming very fond of. “You didn’t give your woman your phone number?”

It was Connor’s turn to shrug. “I forgot.”

“You’re a terrible boyfriend,” he said.

“Don’t I know it,” I replied.

Luc turned that killer smile on me again. Then my boyfriend sighed, shifting to reach up to cup my cheeks. He looked deeply into my eyes. And oh, lordy… I could get used to that look. This Connor. “What do you need?” he asked.

“I got a vision.”

“A vision?” Apparently, he didn’t expect those words to come out of my mouth. What? He expected me to say I was lonely or something? His brows drew together in confusion, though. That was fun. “Of what?” he asked.

“A woman. I’ve never seen her before but she knew my name. It weirded me out—like really weirded me out, and for some reason you were the first person I thought to talk to about this. Now that I hear myself say it out loud, it sounds incredibly stupid.”

“Simone, of course you wanted to talk with me. Mated remember? So what happened next?”

“Well, I said I needed to tell you—I kicked the door and it opened, then my jeep started without keys. And when I got here, I casually said I didn’t want you to see me, and you didn’t. The door to the mausoleum opened and here I am.”

“I take it these aren’t normal occurrences for you?” Luc asked, leaning in close to our little huddle.

“Nope.” I shook my head. “Not at all.”

“If we can narrow down your origins, then we can figure out what you are. We figure that out, we can figure out why this is happening.”

“You don’t think it’s—” Connor pointed up.

Luc shook his head.

“No. I still play cards once a week with Mike. When he starts winning, he gets chatty. So whenever I need a heads-up on what they’re doing, I let him start winning.”

“What is he talking about?” I asked.

“I’ll fill you in when we get home.”

“Why are these powers coming now?”

“I wish I knew,” Connor said. He rested his forehead against mine. The magic twitched under my skin. When he kissed me, it felt like we lit up the whole room. “Maybe it has to do with whatever you are. Like Luc said.”

“Does magic usually change?”

“I’ve never heard of it doing so. Powers develop, get stronger. But what I know about it, you get your powers at puberty. That’s when I started shifting.”

“But my taser didn’t work on you.” I tried it out yesterday when he kidnapped me. The first time.

“Maybe because I’m your mate,” Connor said. “Try it on Luc.”

“ Hey ,” Luc argued. “I thought we were friends.”

“We are, but Simone needs to see if she’s still got it. And you know, she’s my mate. I have to side with her.”

“You just want to touch her fun bags,” Luc said.

“I mean, you’re not wrong,” Connor answered. “But it’s more than that. Hos before bros. Sorry, dude.”

Luc huffed. “Fine. But you owe me.”

I stepped around Connor, my belly all aflutter. I wanted it to work, but at the same time, I liked Luc. “Okay,” I told the man. “I’ll go easy on you.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Sucking in a breath, I called up my taser fingers, pressing them to Luc’s shoulder. He screamed, dropping to his knees and breaking contact. He rubbed at his arm. “I thought you said you’d go easy.” Was it bad that I kind of felt powerful knowing my taser fingers brought Lucifer himself—the morning star—down to his knees? Yes, bad Simone. You like Luc.

“I did .”

“I don’t want to consider what full force might feel like.” The fine man continued rubbing at his arm. Watching him, those feelings of power fled leaving me simply feeling bad, well, until he spoke again. “But warning, Simone,” he said in a tone that had gone a little hard. “I don’t care that you’re our boy Connor’s mate. Try that again, I won’t be responsible for what I do.”

“That sounds ominous,” I said, swallowing hard, at the same time Connor barked, “ Luc .”

“What?” Luc asked innocently. “I was kidding…” And now my fingers itched to show him full force. “Simone, help me out here. Try it on Connor.”

If one thing could help me forget about zapping Luc, it was the idea of zapping Connor. “My pleasure.”

“Seriously?” Connor asked with a tone dripping incredulity. It really was the little things that brought the most happiness.

Cracking my knuckles, I called up the power again. Still not snapping as much as on the full moon, it fizzed and popped from my fingertips more than when I touched Luc. A big smile spread across my face. “Ready?” I whispered.

“You don’t have to look so excited.”

“It’s like Christmas ,” I gushed.

He laughed, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe that I’d just said that and I struck, pressing my whole hand to his shoulder in a sneak attack.

Nothing.

“Wait—let me try again,” I pleaded as I moved my fingers to his neck.

Nothing.

My face dropped. Excitement gone.

“Aw, Simone—you look like someone kicked your puppy,” he said, obviously getting enjoyment from this.

“Not yet,” I answered, then I surprised him by kicking his shin. Not enough to hurt, of course. I wasn’t sadistic. I mean, the man was still my mate. “There. Now I do.”

“Woman,” he sighed, pulling me in for a hug. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I’ve got some ideas,” Luc cut in.

Connor growled, pressing his fingers to his eyes, trying to rein in his temper. So, what did I do? Why, teased him, of course. “Luc is pretty hot. I think I might want to hear his ideas.”

“ Simone ,” Connor snapped. “Luc, I warned you.”

I rolled my eyes at the man. “Settle down, hothead. You know I only have eyes for you,” I said then once he had himself under control, I pinched his cheek, speaking to him indulgently. “Now, be a good puppy and give mama some sugar.”

Connor would either end up loving me or killing me. The jury was still out in my opinion, but I’d certainly have my fun along the way.

He looked to Luc. “When does this shift end?”

“Not for several more hours.”

Okay, wait… when did Connor get to sleep? He went from guard duty to the store. That really didn’t sit right with me. “When do you sleep?” I asked softly so he knew I wasn’t kidding.

He tilted his head to look at me, and when he did, I mean, he looked at me. He saw through all the bullshit and he brought his finger up, swiping it under my eye. “I don’t sleep much.”

“ Connor ,” I said, feeling that word to my core.

He cleared his throat then whipped his head in Luc’s direction. “Can I clock out early?” Connor’s sweet turned to heat behind his every word. Sexy heat. Dripping with it.

“Sorry, man. I’m all for young love, but I can’t bend the rules,” Luc answered.

“Why not?” I asked.

“You know how it goes… if I do it for one, then I’ve got all my employees whining to go home early. Things would never get done. It’d be a mess.”

Something about his answer didn’t quite fit. I knew he wasn’t telling me the truth… or the whole truth. I hated not knowing things.

“Do you want me to go home?” I asked both the men, really. I mean, I didn’t actually want to because—though I’d never tell them this—I enjoyed our banter. I’d never had this even with Jeffery. We were always that gaggy-sweet couple. The type people made fun of behind their backs.

This somehow felt more… me .

“No,” Connor said, giving me another nugget of sweetness from him. He held me from behind, nuzzling my neck with his nose. “Something’s happening with your magic. We need to figure out what or more to the point, why.”

“You can’t talk to me in that voice and expect me not to, like, strip myself naked and tackle you right here.”

“ Keep up the voice, mate ,” one of the other men in the room shouted.

“Better join me in my office.” Luc placed his hand on my shoulder. “We can try our hand at research because as much as I’d like to see you strip naked and mount my boy here, I don’t want him ripping out the throat of anyone who might get a look at you, including mine.”

Connor’s arms squeezed harder around me as he pulled me in tighter against his body. His very strong, solid… whoa ! “You really need to let me go,” I whispered to him. “I’m so turned on with you this close that I could probably orgasm without you doing much more than this.”

“Simone,” he whispered, pressing another kiss to the skin right below my ear.

“What? I haven’t had sex in two years and you’re hot. You smell so good, it’s making me light-headed.” I closed my eyes, pressing my butt against his groin, and I maybe sort of began to grind against him. I couldn’t help it. Like it was literally beyond my control.

He growled in my ear. “Simone, baby, you’ve got to stop that.”

“Not gonna lie, Con,” Luc said, cutting in. “This is really hot.”

“That’s it,” Connor returned. “She’s staying with me.” No matter how forcefully he wanted me to stop, he refused to let me go, keeping my body exactly where I was, pressed against him.

“Obviously she can’t,” said Luc. “She’s coming with me into my office.”

“I’m really not comfortable with that,” Connor snapped.

Luc turned his impatient eyes to me. “Will you put us all out of our misery and bed him already? This overly protective bit won’t end until you play a couple rounds of slap and tickle.”

“Are you trying to pimp me out, Luc?”

“It’s not me. The universe pimped you before you were even born.”

“Would you two stop talking about pimping my mate?” Connor got that sexy, low growl to his voice and I officially hated the universe. Who did the universe think it was, giving me a mate with a low, sexy growl and a job he couldn’t leave for several more hours?

I snickered as a deliciously wicked thought popped in my head. “Is there a coat closet around?”

“Say, that’s not a bad idea,” Luc agreed.

“The first time I sleep with my mate is not going to be in a coat closet at work.”

“Connor, Connor, Connor, no one said anything about sleep…” I said. “Then I’m sure Luc will let us use his office.”

“Only if I can watch,” Luc countered.

“No—you will not watch,” Connor yelled.

Too easy. Way too easy.

“Listen.” I twisted in his arms to put my hand on Connor’s chest. “I promise to pick a fight with you when you get off shift so we can have incredibly hot make-up sex in a bed. Deal?”

He smirked, and wow—that shot him up from ridiculously attractive to phenomenally attractive. “Why do I get the feeling any sex with you will blow both our minds?”

“Have you seen me?” I teased. “The universe must really love you, seriously. As hot as I am, I’m a hundred times that as a lover.”

But instead of giving in to my compromise, Connor flipped me the rest of the way to face him, still keeping his arms tight around me, my body pressed to his. His mouth descended, pressing against mine, covering it, and I lost myself. He filled me with his warmth soul deep. My heart rate sped up, my breathing intensified, and I moaned . Like that deep, guttural, well on my way to the big O kind of moan. I had to give the man credit. He could kiss. Next-level lip-locking technique.

“Connor,” I whispered against his lips. He sifted his fingers through my hair. Keeping his eyes closed, he pressed his forehead to mine, breathing heavily himself.

“I can’t take this anymore. Simone, you’re in my bed tonight.”

“No,” I replied, too caught up in all that was Connor to register his reaction.

“Why?”

Why? Too easy. “You have no food at your place.”

“My fridge and pantry are full, baby.” He snickered.

“With oatmeal and protein bars. I didn’t see one bag of potato chips.” I pushed up to kiss him again. “Or one pint of ice cream. I need sustenance, Connor. Feed me and I will rock your world.”

“We’re stopping at the store.” Then he set me back from him. “But not until I’m off the clock.” He sighed, gritting his teeth, and we both dipped our heads to take in the tent he sported in his jeans.

“Sure you don’t want a closet?” I asked.

“Fuck it—I want the closet,” he said and he started for Luc’s office, grabbing my hand, dragging me along with him. “You’re not watching,” he warned Luc. “I will rip your throat out.”

And I realized just how real things had gotten once we were in Luc’s office and Connor had locked the door. He pushed me up against it, taking my lips in a hard, punishing kiss. It lit me up inside and I returned it just as hard, just as punishing, letting my hands roam.

He growled.