Page 107 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“Fine. I kidnapped you but not in a creepy,want to wear your hair as a wigkind of way. You were doing something stupid that could’ve gotten you hurt or killed, per usual. I had to make sure that didn’t happen.”

“Aw… such sweet words,” I said sarcastically. “Keep talking like that and you might get lucky.” I tilted my head, smiling at him as I finished, muttering, “Or I’ll get lucky when I cut you while you sleep.” under my breath.

He reached out to grab my hand, tugging me against his solid, yet—I’d never tell him this but comforting—body and he just held me. Connor and I would get through this. The universe put us together for some reason. I still sort of thought it was aclerical error, but I the universewasthe universe for a reason. I held him back.

“What do you know about him?” my mate asked into my hair.

“Not much. I first heard about Detective Shift from Jeffery’s mother. He’d come to visit her about Jeffery’s case, but it never sat well with me because no Detective Shift had ever come to talk to me and I wondered why. My Spidey-sense told me something was off about it. But then so much happened, I never thought anything more about it until years later when I went to the police station to pick up Jeffery’s effects and I literally ran into the man.”

“Then what?”

“He was incredibly rude. Again, I sloughed it off because I wasn’t exactly looking forward to retrieving Jeffery’s things. But then, Detective Shift was the one who responded to the kidnapping call. And I thought I recognized his voice in the cemetery when Beetle’s men attacked.”

“He’s human. Why is a human working with demons?”

“I don’t know. He has to be expecting some kind of major payout, right?”

“When will humans learn? Demon deals never turn out like you expect them to.”

“Luc would keep his word.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Luc’s not a demon. His demons never strike deals. It’s not a job requirement. Plus, that whole pride thing—he’d never let one go back on a deal.”

Terror struck me as I realized that I’d set the grimoire down to storm out here and I tore myself from Connor’s arms to run back into the back bedroom. The grimoire sat on the hardwood floor exactly where I’d dropped it and I sighed all the relief.

Only seconds behind me, Connor entered the room in full-on hellhound mode. His red eyes glowed. “What happened?” he asked in my head.

“I dropped the grimoire to tackle Shift. While we were standing in the living room, it hit me that I’d left one of the two most important books in the world unattended. Stupid, I know,” I said before he could, then I turned to walk over to the pile of Connor’s clothing that had once been neatly folded in the drawers broken on the floor. I picked up a clean pair of boxer briefs, walking them back over to him as he shifted back to his man form.

He took the underwear from me without any negative comments for once, sliding them up over his powerful thighs. I paced the room, opening the grimoire again to the first pages where the names of all my cousins were written. I concentrated on the names, manifesting them to copy themselves onto paper that went directly into Karro’s hands, making sure to add a note explaining why the papers appeared in his hands. I wanted to send them to Lily Joy too, but I had no idea where she was at. Was she okay? Astral projection. It ended up being the only way I could think of to contact her and not risk her safety even more.

I turned my attention from the book to the destroyed room then back to the book. “What are we going to do?” I asked.

Being charged with saving the world sucked. Totally and completely. And being completely in my head, I missed Connor move until he reached me, grasping my arms in each hand, he walked me backward until my legs hit the bed and I fell onto the skewed mattress.

“Connor, there’s no sheet on the bed. The mattress is half on the floor.”

He shrugged. “You take care of the sheets. I got the mattress.”

Rather than get up and look for the sheets, I cheated, manifesting the fitted one under me. Connor used his brute strength to swivel the mattress back into place.

“We’re going to sleep in our own bed tonight,” he said.

“But the world?—”

“Won’t end tonight. They don’t have the grimoire.”

“But what about Shift and the demons? I don’t have wards. We need Luc for that.”

“I work around demons every night. They’ll think we’ve fled because of Shift’s visit. No one will expect us to stay. I promise. You need to rest. Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the world.”

Well, I had to admit that sounded pretty perfect about now. Sleeping in my own bed. I missed this bed. I missed this house, even in its current upturned state. At least that was something I could control.

The food that had been pulled from the refrigerator and freezer for no reason except to vandalize my home more had started rotting and smelled pretty bad. If bugs and rodents hadn’t found their way inside yet, they soon would.

I concentrated on the mess. I concentrated on the smell. I manifested them gone completely, leaving behind a squeaky clean kitchen. For good measure, I focused hard on any insects or rodents that might’ve been hiding in my home and manifested them gone too.

And to think, everyone could’ve had magic if Adam hadn’t been such a major tool.

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