Page 97 of A Witch-ish Guide to Protectors and Pendulums

And then maybe twenty minutes passed before we found ourselves in front oftherow of cells. The ones where Kamaris held my mate prisoner. We’d found him. I moved us to the center cell, where my usually strong mate huddled in a corner. His ashen complexion made me worry we’d gotten to him too late. I couldn’t see him breathing in the low light. But I still felt him—or did I? Maybe it was my excitement. What if it wasn’t him, but my excitement to see him that I felt? No. I shook that thought off, throwing my hand out to manifest the cell door opening. The magic fizzled out. Damn the black salt. It shouldn’t stop me. I wasn’t a hellhound. But then again, I didn’t know all the properties of black salt. Connor tipped his head up just slightly and I sucked in a sharp breath. My Connor, still alive! I started to panic.

“What do I do? The magic won’t work.”

“I got this,” Karro answered. He had this? What could he do that I couldn’t? Karro reached up to fondle the headdress with the feather. The feather waved and shimmied while his hand roamed for something. Then, smiling big, he produced a hair pin. My mouth dropped open. Picking a lock wasn’t as easy as the movies made it look. Karro sauntered over to the cell and dropped to his knees. He inserted the pin into the lockmechanism and started twisting it. I watched in dumbfounded disbelief as the lock popped.

“You did it,” I said.

“Some of my foster moms didn’t much like finding out I was getting more action from their husbands than they were. Picking locks became a necessary skill.”

“You learned to pick locks because your foster mothers locked you in your room?” Shafira asked.

“I didn’t mind being locked in the room, but dick is dick—there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for dick, even back then.”

“You are more than that,” Shafira said. Karro stared at her. She repeated herself. “You are more than that.”

“Right.” My cousin cleared his throat. “Let’s do this.”

“Ready.” I told my friends.

The cell door clanked when I opened it, causing each of us to wince. It was comical the way we all stopped even breathing to listen for activity—footsteps or talking—heading our way. I ran to my mate, falling to my knees in front of him and set the pitcher on the floor to gather him in my arms. “Connor, baby… I’m here.”

“Took you… long… enough,” he whispered and more damn tears spilled from my eyes. The dark circles and bruising aged his face by thirty years or more. When the longing to kiss him overwhelmed me, I gave in, bending in to press my lips to his. He shivered in my arms. I turned myself to cradle his body against mine.

“We have to get him out,” Shafira said. Agreed. Even though I hesitated to let him go, I allowed Shafira and Karro to help me carry him out. The man weighed a ton. It seemed impossible. I’d seen that body naked. My mate was all streamlined muscle. He had the body of a god. We grunted as we moved him through the cell’s threshold, setting him down on the damp stone. Along with Karro’s power up fizzing in the tea, one had to believe that we’dget him back stronger than ever. I didn’t waste any more time, picking up the pitcher to get him to drink.

“Here,” I said, tipping it to his open mouth. “Take in as much as you can.”

So weak, he never even asked what was in the brew. A full-strength Connor would’ve ask if it was poisoned. I held back the tears. Tears later—or never. Never would work. I squared my shoulders, tipping the pitcher even more. As my mate drank, Shafira gasped causing my heart to sink.

“Crap,” Karro said.

“What are you doing?” someone shouted.

That would be when the shit hit the fan. The demons descended. Karro, whom I was pretty sure had neverfoughta demon in his life, started popping off defensive spells, bless his heart. The man had power. Why could Karro use spells but mine fizzled?

It hit me, we were connected, right? My magic started unbinding when we’d met. If I was right in my theory, that was some shit. I seriously hated the universe if my magic fizzled because my mate was sick and dying. Oh, the universe had an earful coming from me when this was over.

“Drink,” I ordered him. Connor must have read the situation and drank. As he healed, my magic tingled rather than fizzled. I threw out spells left and right, trying as hard as possible to miss my friends in the process. Oh yeah—the bitch was back!

I manifested the black salt to transform into black onyx. Connor stumbled back on his feet. Black onyx boosted strength, protection, and focus, among other things. The power inside me glittered over my skin as it built up like charging a battery and then I shot it into the room. Connor’s eyes grew huge—then heated.

Finally, Connor grabbed me. He kissed me, growled, and dropped into his hellhound form. Who let the mother-fucking dog out, indeed.Yes!

“Drink what’s left,” he ordered me in my mind. “You can help us once we get out of here.”

I lifted the pitcher to drink but had to stop to help Shafira. She screamed when the demon caught her in the shoulder. No—justno. Not Shafira. I gulped down the rest of that brew.

Anger roiled inside me. My power rippled in a golden glow over my skin and I rose off the ground. I shot my hand out and several of the demons disintegrated into ash before our eyes. Then I saw him, Kimaris. He scanned the scene and turned to run like a coward without the upper hand. I closed my hand into a fist, manifesting my magic to destroy him. Kimaris’s eyes began to bulge as he clawed at his neck to remove the invisible chokehold I held him in while his feet dangled off the floor. His face deepened to an ugly purple. I squeezed my hand tighter, ready to pop his head like a pimple.

“Simone,” Connor shouted, but it sounded far away, and like it came from underwater. I squeezed harder. “Simone,” he shouted again and I felt him move. He rammed his hard head into my arm, causing me to let go of the demon. Kamaris dropped to the ground, slumped into a heap on the stone. I snapped my glare to Connor, rubbing my arm. That shit hurt.

He mentally winced. “We can’t use him if he’s dead.”

“He’s a demon—he won’t die for good.”

I raised my hand again, but this time, instead of ramming me a second time, Connor moved back into his human form, yes, buck-ass naked because he’d torn his clothing to change. I’d have to manifest new ones. He moved in front of me, placing both hands on my face. “It’s done. Let him alone.”

“He hurt you. He tried to take you from me. He needs to be punished.”

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