Page 32 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“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?”

“Notbad, 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 heryes, 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.”

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