Page 65 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

Great. Think, Simone. Think.I closed my eyes and concentrated on my brother’s body sleeping down below. Aslight shimmer moved over his pocket.Please, universe, let this have worked.

My energy started to fade. Not now. I wasn’t done. I wanted to stay with him. It felt wrong, too soon, to leave him behind. The floating door opened, drawing me to it again. “I have to go. Check your pocket. If it worked, I’ll see you soon.” Before the door shut on us completely, I shouted, “Remember, Guilford. Lily Joy.”

The door snapped shut and I felt myself being shaken violently. “Simone? Baby—goddammit, wake up.”

What? It felt as if every bit of energy had drained from my body. I ached. It was hard to open my eyes, but I managed. Connor leaned over me, fear coating his expression, emanating out of every pore.

His eyes glistened and when they landed on mine, he crushed me in a hug that made it hard to catch a breath. “What the fuck happened, Simone?” he sort of barked against my neck.

I lifted my hand weakly to brush loose hair from his forehead. “I’m here,” I whispered. “I’m here, Connor.”

He peppered my face with kisses. “Dammit… Don’t you ever do that to me again…” More kisses.

Lily Joy stood next to the bed wringing her hands and I sort of felt embarrassed, what with the way my mate wouldn’t let up on the PDAandI realized I was still as naked as a wee baby. “How do you feel?” she asked me.

“Tired. Weak.”

Thankfully, Connor had the presence of mind to pull the covers up over my exposed skin, and the way he positioned himself, shield me from Lily Joy’s view.

“I’ll bring you some tea.”

I didn’t see her leave, but I heard the door click shut.

“Where’d you go?” Connor asked. I shivered, even though I wasn’t cold. Connor’s body heat saw to that. Still, I couldn’t stop.

Connor held me like he never planned to let me go. About ten minutes later, Lily Joy showed back up with an Americanmugfull of tea—not a dainty English teacup. Connor helped me hold it because I lacked the strength. The tea smelled of peppermint along with other fragrant herbs.

As the tea started to take effect, I was able to talk without my teeth chattering. “What happened?” I asked Connor.

“I was sleeping. Then I sat up in bed, ripped from my dream by this horrible pain. It felt like half of me died. Then I turn to you and you’re hardly breathing. You won’t wake up. With all the things that have happened to us, I haveneverfelt that level of fear. You were just gone, Simone. I couldn’t feel the connection.”

“The door,” I mumbled. “It had to have been…”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, it looks like I’ve unlocked a new power. Astral projection.”

“Astral what?” Connor snapped.

“Could you reach for your T-shirt? I’m feeling a little exposed here.”

He sighed the kind of suffering sigh that could only come from a man unlucky enough to have been mated to me. But he still reached his long arm down to the floor to where I’d thrown his shirt after ripping it from his body in the heat of passion. The taut muscles straining along his ribs turned me on—no.Bad Simone. It’s not time to get turned on by your mate. In my defense, the universe did this to me. Jeffery and I had a wonderful sex life, but I’d never felt the need to ravish him anytime he got close to me, so it wasn’t like I was some crazed nympho who couldn’t keep her sexual urges in check.

The universe made me do it.

Once my little talk with myself ended and the T-shirt covered me, I went on to explain. “I was dreaming, or I thought I wasdreaming. I saw us sleeping in bed. You’re such a cuddler,” I threw in for good measure.

“Simone,” he admonished.

“Okay. Keep your—” I pulled up on the blanket to check if he wore any drawers and nope. I smiled. “We’ll change that to hold your horses.” The poor man rubbed his hand along the back of his neck while he looked to the heavens. “Right,” I went on. “A door appeared, just floating in the air. It opened and pulled me through it. I didn’t really have control. When I got to the other side, it snapped shut.”

“So you were no longer here with me.”

“You won’t believe where I was, Connor. I saw…” How did one go about telling their mate that they saw their missing sister? I guess the way I did everything. Right to the point. “I ended up in a cave. Babe, I saw your sister.”

His whole body went rigid. “Youwhat?”

I shook my head. “And I met my brother. He looks just like me, but you know, manly… and without my awesome lavender locks.”

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