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

Chapter 8

Chapter

Eight

T his whole work thing put a crimp in my ability to keep looking into Jeffery’s death and how Beetle was related. But at the same time, I loved my house and my jeep and didn’t want to lose them because I lacked the funds to continue payments. Payments only got made when I worked.

I owned a shop specializing in crystals and other valuable rocks, plus special plants: herbs, bark, roots and flowers for making teas, tinctures or potions. I employed a reiki specialist and a past life regressionist. Some people didn’t believe in such practices, but some people didn’t believe in supers, either, and I was living proof they existed.

Most people were surprised to find out that someone my age owned their own business. To my good fortune, as it turned out, supers liked to help other supers succeed in this world. We’d come a long way since the “Grab your torches and pitchforks” days, but that was only because we’d found ways to assimilate into the normal human world. Such as open businesses. And once humans began to open themselves up to the idea of alternative medicines and new age lifestyles, we got to come out from the dirty underground market completely. They might not have believed in supers, but they believed in the power of crystals.

Two counter girls worked the weekends for me. They got Monday and Tuesday off and I had to remind myself that my shop was worth getting up for as I reached over to shut off the alarm.

At the same time, Connor rolled over in his sleep, draping his arm across my belly. Now that we’d consummated the mating, he refused to leave my side or my bed. Well, his bed would’ve been preferred—by him. But I loved my home and my bed. Not that his was bad by any means. I simply liked mine better.

If I didn’t like the feel of him next to me so well, we’d have to have a serious talk about boundaries. Although I’d planned to cohabitate with Jeffery, I’d never actually lived with anyone since the days when I had a legal guardian, and I’d tried my hardest not to people in those homes. That tended to be my safest option when fireworks sparked from my fingertips every full moon.

What did he, Connor, expect from me? From this situation? Did he think we were just going to live together? Were we going to live together?

Okay, being this close to Connor muddled my mind. It might’ve been a good thing that I had work to occupy my time. Gently, so as not to wake him, I lifted his arm, moving it back onto his side of the bed.

His side.

He already had a side?

We’d so naturally shuffled into our spots without even talking about it.

Whoa! I crawled out of bed and since I’d lost every stitch of clothing last night before we’d ever tumbled into that bed, I didn’t have anything to take off once I reached the shower.

He slept the whole time I showered, dressed, and walked out to the kitchen to toast myself a couple of Pop Tarts. I put a full pot of coffee on so that Connor could have a cup or two before leaving for work.

Then I headed for my shop.

I loved my shop. Located at the end of a strip mall, it appeared very unassuming from the outside. The inside smelled of sandalwood and lavender for a very calming vibe.

Regular old humans expected calming vibes. Supers needed it. People had no idea how draining it was to keep our powers hidden throughout the day because powers had minds of their own and wanted to be seen, to be acknowledged.

I felt very at home here and owning a shop allowed me to keep up with the latest super-related gossip from the ones who came in for my crystals or tea blends that they loved to use in casting spells or rituals.

At about 9:00 a.m. , Connor strode through the door looking his normal Connor irate. “You left without telling me.”

“I’m an adult. I’m allowed. But I left you a pot of coffee, so really, you should be in here thanking me. Plus, how do you keep finding me? I don’t remember telling you about my shop.”

“The bond. Your scent.”

“Uh, I showered this morning, buddy. I don’t have a scent .”

“Simone, this isn’t funny.”

“ Connor , I wasn’t trying to be.”

“I told you to stay put unless I’m with you.”

“You should get used to disappointment.”

He ran his hand through his hair and growled. Connor and his growling.

“Go to work, Connor.”

“Are you dismissing me?”

“How astute of you.”

“I’d prefer you come to work for me at the store.” Rather than try to strongarm me, he leaned against the counter, putting weight on his arm to lean in close to me. Man, Connor this close did stuff to me. All the stuff. All the good stuff and that was bad because it made it hard to do what needed to be done. Then, with his voice dripping with sensuality, he said, “That way, I can keep an eye on you.”

So caught up in his hotness bubble, it took a second for me to realize what he’d said. I blinked a couple of times before the bubble popped and it hit me. I straightened right up. “ I’d prefer you never say that to me again. Guess which one of us is getting what she wants?”

He actually thought weaponizing his hotness would work? I kicked him out, though not before giving him a proper sendoff. What? No one was in the shop and we locked the door. And let me just say, up against the wall, storeroom sex made for a fantastic start to my workday.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

The problem with giving him his proper sendoff was that he’d worn me right out, and once he left, I had a parade of customers, mostly witches, in and out all day long.

By the time I locked the door at the end of the day, I was ready for—I’d decided earlier that day on Mexican takeout, my comfies, and a movie.

Before leaving, I called ahead and since I couldn’t decide on what I wanted, I bought several dishes. A Mexican smorgasbord.

In my softest, gray jersey shorts and a pink razorback tank, I had the bounty of food spread out over the coffee table with my plate in hand, a tall glass of iced tea sitting on the lamp table next to my elbow, Practical Magic cued up when the door opened. I turned to watch Connor stride in.

“Connor. My door was locked. How did you get in?”

“I took your extra key this morning before I left. Which, seriously, baby, you should’ve left it set out for me. I had to take extra time hunting it down in those wasteland of junk drawers you have.”

Shoot. I never even thought about leaving him a key.

What did that say about me?

“Smells like Mexican.”

“Yeah.” Thank all the tarot cards in the world that I’d been particularly indecisive today and bought extra. Man, I was rusty at this girlfriend gig. I needed to get with the program here. Solo Simone had a partner in crime again. “Get a plate. I didn’t know when you’d be um… home.”

He smiled. Phew! And the Oscar goes to…

“Let me change out of my work clothes first.”

I stared at him. “Do you have clothes to change into?”

He shrugged. “You didn’t want to sleep at my place last night. So I stopped off there before going to your store this morning.”

“Oh… okay.” This… this… situation with Connor suddenly started to feel a bit too domestic for my liking. Aside from the whole him being my mate thing, our relationship was moving at lightspeed. The last time I’d gotten loved up, well, it ended up sucking big time. Did I have it in me to go through that again? Knowing what could happen?

Because the feelings starting to develop for Connor weren’t all negative. In fact, I’d venture to say the opposite.

Before I had the chance to get out of my own head, Connor walked out of my room in a pair of low-hanging shorts and nothing else. We were so getting naked again. No. Bad Simone. You are eating dinner and watching a movie .

My mouth salivated at his nearness, and my heart skittered a wonky rhythm when he reached up into the cupboard to grab a plate. His muscles bunched under his skin. I cleared my throat. “The, um, forks are?—”

“I know where the forks are, baby.”

He knew where to find my forks?

I watched him pour himself a tall glass of iced tea and continued to hold his gaze as he dropped down onto the sofa next to me.

“What are we watching?” he asked.

I blinked. “Sex.”

He broke into a wide smile. “We’re watching sex?”

“What? No. It’s Practical Magic .”

Connor snickered as he bent to pile food on his plate. While moving back into a comfortable position, he stopped to press a kiss to my lips. “Since Sandra Bullock doesn’t star in porn, I’m going to guess that’s not what you meant. If you want sex, Simone, just say the word.”

I opened my mouth and somehow got “food first” to fall out.

Whoa . I totally needed to figure out how to turn the dial down on this connection. It seemed a bit too unhealthy for my liking because being with him simply felt better than anything else in my life. I wasn’t ready for that level of intensity. We’d only just met. Okay, well, we didn’t exactly just meet. I’d known him long enough to get the business at least ten times in three different locations. Still my point held validity—even if only to me.

Today was a good, easy day. Connor joined me in bed and we slept. Like actual sleep. He held me throughout the night.

When my alarm went off the next morning I tried to be quiet for him again, but as it turned out, he woke up right along with me.

“I can’t have sex right now, Connor. I need to get ready for work.”

“I wasn’t actually thinking about sex, but good job. Now I am.” He rolled over to pin me down and he kissed me. “As it turns out, I don’t have time this morning, either.”

“Did Luc give you the night off? I just realized that you slept here.”

He eyed me like I’d gone around the bend again. “You just realized that?”

“No. I knew you slept here, I meant that it just hit me you were here all night.”

Connor shrugged. “Luc got called away on business. Usually I join him unless he’s working with upper management.”

I furrowed my brows. “You mean Lucifer is middle management?”

My mate smiled indulgently, pointing up. “No. Upper management.” Ah… okay. I got it now. That seemed reasonable.

“What are your plans?” I asked.

“Calling a realtor.”

“What are you selling?”

He chuckled. “This is a nice pad. You should get a good price for it.”

“I know it’s nice. That’s why I bought it. I have no intention of selling. Why would you say that?”

“Because you’re moving in with me,” he said with as much nonchalance as one might say the bed had pillows.

“What a silly boy you are.” I reached up to scratch behind his ear. “ I’m not moving. But feel free to stay here anytime you like. When you aren’t moving your mouth, I actually enjoy your company.”

“Stay anytime I like? Simone, we’re mates. The universe wants you in my bed every night and waking up next to me every morning for like… ever .”

“So you want to move in together, like, officially ?”

“Don’t blame me. Blame the universe.”

“I mean, it’s fast… It’s not as if I haven’t clued in from the universe, but that’s a big step.”

He pulled out one of his what in the hell is wrong with you? faces from his repertoire of faces that I knew he kept just for me. “Bigger than mating?” he asked on the verge of shouting. “We’ve mated. It’s the supernatural equivalent of getting married with the universe officiating. It’s a done deal, baby. We started down the path the moment we locked eyes. But when you let me take you on Luc’s sofa, you said ‘ I do .’ No going back now.”

“That’s a lot to take in.”

“We have forever, Simone.”

“Okay… but I’m still not selling my home.”

“Did your dead guy live here?”

That was quite the brusque, uncalled-for way to ask if Jeffery and I lived together. “His name was Jeffery. And not that it’s your business, but no . We never lived together because he didn’t know about my condition. I planned to tell him after we’d married.”

“Condition? You’re a super, not arthritic. And it is my business because I’m not living in his house.”

I got it. He didn’t like that I’d been engaged before him. Tough turkey. He needed to get over it and stop being so hurtful. I loved Jeffery. Even if I was meant to be with Connor, I loved Jeffery. A tear fell from my eye, and I turned my head away to keep him from seeing it. “Well, it’s never been his house. It’s my house.”

“Good, baby,” he whispered softly. Good? Good ? I prepared to let him have it, but Connor rolled into me, nuzzling my cheek with his nose and I lost all my aggression. “I’m sorry, Simone. I know you cared for him but it goes against every instinct I have in me to think about you being with another man. You’re mine.”

His nuzzling along with his sweet apology, something that I instinctually knew Connor never gave out before now, caught me so off guard that I freaking sighed.

Since when did I, Simone Lamia, sigh like some girly girl because a hot guy nuzzled my cheek? I mean, okay, I’d sighed a time or two with Jeffery, but that was years ago. His death forced a new Simone to emerge. A stronger, badass Simone. Strong, badass Simones didn’t sigh all girly-like.

“Then I’ll move in here. Not sleeping in a bed that you’re not in.”

“You’re not?” I whispered because he pressed his lips to my throat and I got lost in the feel of him.

“No.” He dragged his mouth up to my jaw.

And I was officially screwed.

“Now I’ve got plenty of time for sex,” he said through his kisses.

Then I was literally screwed.

The more time I spent with Connor, the harder I found it to be away from Connor. Maybe we needed to take a honeymoon.

While I sold crystals, Connor officially moved into my place. Or I guessed it was now our place. He wasn’t messing around. He closed his store while he lugged things over from his apartment, and texted me pics throughout the day of where he’d put his things. Secretly, it excited me to get those texts, to see him moving his things in with me as my mind and heart began to sync with this whole idea of being his mate. He said it. I’d never be alone again. The thought thrilled me now. Funny how fast that happened. When I arrived home, Mrs. Hildebrandt stood outside on my front lawn as if she’d been waiting for me to get here.

“Hey, Mrs. Hildebrandt, what are you doing out here?”

“There’s a man in your house. He moved boxes inside. Are you moving?”

“No, Mrs. Hildebrandt, that’s Connor. He’s living here now, too.”

“What about your fine young man, Jeffery? Is he okay with another man moving in?”

“Mrs. Hildebrandt, Jeffery is?—”

“Don’t tell me you broke up. He was such a nice young man. And handsome, too.”

She wasn’t wrong. Jeffery had been nice and incredibly handsome. But hello! Mrs. Hildebrandt needed to open her eyes because Connor—he beat out the sun for hotness. It radiated off him in waves.

“It’s going to get dark soon, Mrs. Hildebrandt. Why don’t you head home? I don’t want you hurting yourself.”

She looked around as if just noticing where she was and turned to walk home. I waited to go inside until I saw Mrs. Hildebrandt step through her front door. Then I got to step through mine… right into a wall of wondrous smells.

“Connor?” I called out.

“In the kitchen,” he answered. I followed my nose to where I found him pulling a roasting pan out of the oven.

“You cooked?”

“Been single a long time, baby. I like to eat.”

“No, you don’t.”

He stared at me, head cocked. “I don’t?”

“Oatmeal and protein bars? Kale? Speaking of—” I tried to peek at the roasting pan to figure out what he’d cooked. “You aren’t trying to feed me anything… healthy , are you?”

Connor snickered. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Good. Then you get a kiss.” I did exactly as promised, walking the few steps over to the man, dropping a kiss to his lips. “Thank you for doing this,” I added and when he smiled— whoosh! Air evacuated my lungs.

“Why don’t you get comfortable? I’ll get this to the table,” he said. I nodded, walking to the bedroom, where I changed into comfy shorts and a T-shirt. Then, after washing my hands, I joined him at the table.

“Eating at the table today? Who’s fancy?”

“It seemed like an eat at the table kind of day, the first meal with us officially moved in together.”

I sat down.

After my first bite of succulent roast, two things about Connor became fact. First, he was the best bed partner a woman could ask for. Second, the man could cook. Really cook.

That night, after a full belly and a highly pleasant evening doing nothing in particular with Connor, I went to bed and that was where the weirdness started. I lay down next to my what amounted to a universal common law husband, snuggling against him with my head on his chest and my arm draped over his stomach. I seriously couldn’t think of a more comfortable spot.

“No Luc tonight?” I yawned.

“He’ll be back tomorrow. I’ll have the graveyard shift again.”

I laughed lightly at his little quip. Graveyard shift, indeed.

Sleep came easier with Connor here, too. I could only assume that it had something to do with the connection we shared as mates. But the easy ended there. From the moment I felt myself fall into a sleep state—and yes, I felt it—the dark-haired woman showed up again. All I got from her before was “ Simone .” Tonight, however, I got a total Chatty Cathy .

“Simone,” she started off the conversation again, and I waited for her to continue. “You’ve connected with your mate?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, thank the darkness,” she replied.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Why?”

“He is your key—you must use him.”

“My key? Use him?”

She wasn’t making any sense.

“The brooch presented itself to you?”

“Brooch?”

“A symbol. A snake.”

“Yes. It was at Connor’s secondhand store. He let me have it.”

“Use it, Simone… let it guide you.”

“Guide me?”

She whipped her head around left and right as if she’d heard someone enter the room with her, or wherever she was at, but it was a dream, so I didn’t see how it could be possible.

“I have to go. Stick with your mate… He is your key…”

“Where are you?”

“Be safe.” She disappeared.

Connor is my key? Use him? Let the brooch guide me? It seemed too real to just let go, but at the same time, dreams for regular, old humans had to do with their subconscious thoughts and feelings. What did talking to a person in a dream mean for a super?

To tell Connor or not to tell Connor, that was definitely the question. In the end, I moved away from him so as not to wake him up and accidentally did just that. The moment he felt me leave my spot, his eyes popped open.

“You okay, baby?” His hand sifted through my hair, then ran down my arm to relax me.

“I was actually trying not to wake you up.”

“Simone, I feel it whenever you aren’t next to me.”

“Well, that’s bordering on supernatural creepy stalker.”

He laughed and it tickled as he continued to run his hand up and down the skin of my arm.

“What woke you? Bad dream?”

“Not bad , per se—more odd. I saw that woman again.”

“Woman?”

I nodded. “Do you remember the day I came to find you at the cemetery because I heard a woman call my name in my sleep?”

“ Yeah… ” He suddenly became very tentative about how casual to react to my news.

“She talked to me this time.”

In a flash, he sat up straight, silky, groggy sleep-voice gone. “What did she say?”

“She asked if I’d connected with my mate yet. And when I told her yes , she visibly relaxed. She told me that you’re my key.”

“Key to what, untold carnal pleasures?” The idiot laughed.

“Um… she wouldn’t be wrong.”

My mate smiled a super-cocky smile, but I couldn’t lie. He rocked my world. Rocked my universe. Rocked my dimension. “But,” I went on, “I got the feeling that wasn’t what she meant. She said you’re my key. I’m supposed to use you.”

“Any way you want, baby.”

“Mind out of the gutter, stud. She asked me about the brooch—the one you let me take from the shop the other day.”

The way he squished his face, it appeared he was trying to recall the brooch in question and simply couldn’t. I crawled from the bed over to my dresser where I kept my jewelry box. Flipping the box open, I picked up the fine piece of jewelry. It felt like its power tried to burrow under my skin, to meld with me. The next thing I knew, Connor was at my side.

“What’s wrong?”

“This is the brooch.” I held it up. He took it from my hand, looking it over.

“I never checked it in. I’d recognize this. It has magic.”

“That’s curious because I picked it up from a box that held jewelry odds and ends sitting on one of your shelves. When I picked it up just now, it felt like it tried to meld with me.”

“Meld?”

I shook my head.

“Maybe you should get rid of it.”

“I can’t. The woman made it seem like I was supposed to find it. She said it ‘presented itself to me.’ Then she said I’m supposed to let it guide me.”

“To where?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Don’t you do business with witches?”

I felt the need to hug him. “I do.”

With his arms wrapped protectively around me, I felt better. He kissed the top of my head. “Maybe we can talk to a witch to help us figure out what this thing is.” He flipped the bauble in the air then caught it. “Maybe you can get your cards read. They might be able to point us in the right direction to figure out who this woman is and why she’s contacting you.”

“So you don’t think it’s just my subconscious?”

“No. I have a bad feeling she’s trying to warn you about something that’s on the horizon. As protection is sort of my gig, it’s rare that I’m wrong.”

“One witch, Agatha, comes in every Wednesday. She feels powerful. Maybe she might be willing to help me.”

“I’m coming with you to the store.”

“What about your store?”

“I like my store. My store is in no way as important as my mate, Simone. I’m coming with you.”

“You said ‘ in you ’ wrong.”

He laughed. “If that’s what you need… it’ll be a sacrifice, but for you, I’ll make it.”