Page 56 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

“Because I’m selfish,” he said, completely straight-faced. “I only care about keeping you safe. That’s my job. I lose you, I lose everything. You stay safe, the world stays safe, but to me, that’sneither here nor there. It’s you, Simone. For me, it all comes down to you.”

I bit my bottom lip to keep from attacking him with kisses and to keep from breaking down in tears. Man, we’d come a long way.

“So what can I do for you?” Victoria asked.

“This might sound odd,” Connor started, “but no other mated protectors have visited you, right?”

“Arethere other mated protectors?” she asked.

“Okay, so that’s a no. I just had to ask.”

“I need you to test my DNA,” I said, just putting it out there because a.) she asked and b.) the time for niceties passed us when she read us that note. “I need to see if I have any living relatives. This is so important.”

“Of course,” she said. “Is that it?”

“How fast can we get the results? It’s kind of a matter of world-ending importance.”

“With the use of magic, we have technologies that the non-supers can only dream of. Let’s go down to the lab. They’ll take some blood and we’ll get this process going. A few hours at most.”

For the first time in a while, I felt a sense of hope.

Fingers crossed it wasn’t premature.

Chapter

Fourteen

“Can she have the letter?” Connor asked as we stood from the chairs.

“I’m sorry?” Victoria asked in return.

“The letter. Can Simone have it? We’re here, so you’ve fulfilled your contract. I’d like my mate to have the letter. We believe it was written by her…ancestor.”

“Oh, well…” I read the shock on her face. “It’s, um…” The thought of parting with that letter never crossed her mind. The woman was an open book. And Connor saidIshould never play poker.

“It’s okay, Connor,” I said. “Thanks for thinking of me.”

“I’ll always think of you. And it’s not okay. That was written by your grandmother.”

Victoria whipped her head up to look—no, she didn’t simply look. Her gaze felt heavy. Sheglaredat me.

Before she could ask, I held my hand up to stop her. “Get me the test and I get the information I’m looking for, I will tell you. We’llneedallies in this. All of us. We live together or we die apart. There is no in-between.”

She handed me the letter. “Here,” she said. “It’s been in my family for so long, but it belongs to you.”

“Thank you.”

“Right,” she said. “If you two will follow me, we’ll get that testing done.”

I slid the letter inside the backpack and then replaced it on my back as I stood to follow her, Connor at my side. She led us back to the bank of elevators, this time taking us down to the lowest level.

Now, when the doors opened at the bottom, we were met with the exact image of a laboratory I had in my head. The exact. Bright, overhead white lights illuminated the entire floor. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows rather than walls. Glass doors that slid open. People in lab coats wearing latex gloves and goggles. Computers and machines. I had no idea what they did or how they were used.

She led us to the closest room and the doors automatically opened for her. We followed her inside, where we were met by a woman who introduced herself as Margaret who wore a pleasant enough smile but was otherwise covered by a white jumpsuit and goggles. “What can I help you with today?”

“These are very important clients, Margaret,” Victoria said. “She needs a blood draw and her results need to take precedence over all others waiting in the queue.”

“Really?” Margaret eyed me up and down. “That’s an unusual request for DNA testing.”

---