What A Witch Seeks: Magic and Mayhem Universe: What A Witch, #6

By Monette Michaels

Her life was destroyed.

At one time, witch Raisa Chekhov had a glowing future. The archaeology professor on a dig was falling in love—and then she was kidnapped. Tortured. And turned into a raven Shifter. But the worst blow was that her beloved never came for her. Finally escaping, she started a new life in Assjacket, West Virginia. And found acceptance. Friends. A new career. But Fate was simply biding her time.

A warlock searches for his lost mate.

When warlock Dr. Bran Maddocson's mate went missing, the anthropologist was devastated. Their soul mate bond should have led him directly to her. It didn't, and for five long years, he's tried to find her.

Fate, the whimsical beeotch, drops him a hint.

There, on the internet, is a picture of his mate. Living in some U.S. town with the name of Assjacket. He anticipates a heart-warming reunion. Instead, Raisa flies from him. And…flies? She has wings? It seems he'll have to win his mate all over again. If he can get her on the ground.

After that, they'll deal with who or whatever stole her.

Baba Yaga welcomes y'all back to Assjacket with an adorable raven Shifter, an Indiana Jones hero, and the cutest kitten familiars ever found on four paws.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Monette Michaels
• Release date: Oct 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215468609

Monette Michaels

A Hoosier born and raised, Monette still lives in the heartland near Indianapolis, Indiana. Married to her college sweetheart and soul mate, she has one son. After many years of practicing law, Monette found that all the clients, opposing counsel, and the problems she handled ignited the need to write fiction. So she started writing – first, romantic suspense/thrillers, then adding a touch of paranormal and scifi and, eventually, a sexier side (as Rae Morgan). Monette (and Rae) loves to hear from her fans. E-mail her at [e-mail]. Visit her web site: http://monettemichaels.com Follow her at: FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/authormonettemichaels Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MonetteMichaels Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/monettemichaels/

Book preview

What a Witch Seeks

What A Witch #6

A Magic and Mayhem Universe Novella

Monette Michaels

Copyright © 2022 by Monette Draper.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is coincidental.

This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.

The Author of this Book has been granted permission by Robyn Peterman to use the copyrighted characters and/or worlds created by Robyn Peterman in this book. All copyright protection to the original characters and/or worlds of the Magic and Mayhem series is retained by Robyn Peterman.

Her life was destroyed.

At one time, witch Raisa Chekhov had a glowing future. The archaeology professor on a dig was falling in love—and then she was kidnapped. Tortured. And turned into a raven Shifter. But the worst blow was that her beloved never came for her. Finally escaping, she started a new life in Assjacket, West Virginia. And found acceptance. Friends. A new career. But Fate was simply biding her time.

A warlock searches for his lost mate.

When warlock Dr. Bran Maddocson’s mate went missing, the anthropologist was devastated. Their soul mate bond should have led him directly to her. It didn’t, and for five long years, he’s tried to find her.

Fate, the whimsical beeotch, drops him a hint.

There, on the internet, is a picture of his mate. Living in some U.S. town with the name of Assjacket. He anticipates a heart-warming reunion. Instead, Raisa flies from him. And…flies? She has wings? It seems he’ll have to win his mate all over again. If he can get her on the ground.

After that, they’ll deal with who or whatever stole her.

Baba Yaga welcomes y’all back to Assjacket with an adorable raven Shifter, an Indiana Jones hero, and the cutest kitten familiars ever found on four paws.

Foreword

Blast Off with us into the Magic and Mayhem Universe!

I’m Robyn Peterman, the creator of the Magic and Mayhem Series and I’d like to invite you to my Magic and Mayhem Universe.

What is the Magic and Mayhem Universe, you may ask?

Well, let me explain…

It’s basically authorized fan fiction written by some amazing authors that I stalked and blackmailed! KIDDING! I was lucky and blessed to have some brilliant authors say yes! They have written brand new stories using my world and some of my characters. And let me tell you…the results are hilarious!

So here it is! Blast off with us into the hilarious Magic and Mayhem Universe. Side splitting books by fantabulous authors! Check out each and every one. You will laugh your way to a magical HEA!

For all the stories, go to https://magicandmayhemuniverse.com/. Grab your copy today!

And if you would like to read the book that started all the madness, Switching Hour is FREE!

https://robynpeterman.com/switching-hour/

Acknowledgments

First, I’d like to thank my critique partner, Cherise Sinclair, who always knows exactly what extras are needed to make my stories complete.

Thanks also go to my editor Marci Clark of Nerdy Kats, who helped tighten my prose and cleaned up my grammar and never complains about doing one more edit.

As always, my cover artist April McMillan née Martinez of Graphicfantastic did another fabulous job in taking my ideas and giving me the perfect cover.

And once again I’d like to thank Robyn Peterman for continuing to let me play in her sandbox with her and the other authors.

Author Note

The action in this book begins several hours earlier than the last scene in What A Witch Craves, Book 5 in the What A Witch Series. If you haven’t read the previous book, no worries, the scene is all there but written from a different point of view. Enjoy!

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 1

Morning, Raisa Chekhov’s home in the trees

Sipping her morning Pepsi, Raisa walked onto her deck and took in a deep breath of the late spring air. The sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky. The birds chirped greetings to one another. Nature in all her splendor was providing her a moment of calm before what promised to be a very busy day.

The soft opening of Finds, Designs, and Blooms was coming up more quickly than she would’ve liked. The business she and her friends and partners, Sheila Fitzgerald-Buckminster and Clio Fitzgerald-McCarthy, were opening would be one-stop shopping for unique home furnishings, interior design, and gardening. Of course, the store was meant to attract tourists, human tourists, but the locals were excited about it also.

Raisa still had a lot of work to do on the showroom floor and in organizing her office and Sheila’s sales office in the garden area. Raisa and Clio had been working on the last-minute preparations while Sheila and her new mate Bucky were in the midst of their mating period.

Mating period. The words were like a stab in the gut. Raisa had a mate once, though they’d never physically completed the bond. But the connection was still there, pushing her to touch the mind of the warlock with whom the Goddess had seen fit to pair her, urging her to call out to him to come to her.

Forget that shit. She forced the irritating twinge inside her to behave and ignored the ache in her heart. Her erstwhile soul mate had deserted her during a time of dire need. Baba Yaga had rescued her and brought her to Assjacket. Here she’d found good, trustworthy friends and a semblance of peace.

Walking back into her home, she stripped off her robe and didn’t bother to dress. Since she’d promised the fairies to help them move their belongings to their new homes located in the gardens of Finds, Designs, and Blooms, she planned to shift to her raven form, pick up the items she was assigned to carry, and fly them to the store. She’d change into the clothes she kept there and get an early start on her very full day.

After a final drink of Pepsi, she locked up her house nestled high in the trees, then shifted. Even after over five years of being a raven Shifter, she still hadn’t gotten used to the feeling of her body as it morphed from a two-legged witch to a very large bird with powerful wings, lethal claws, a sharp beak, and lots of blue-black feathers. Every part of her cracked and creaked as the transformation overtook her.

Balanced on the railing on her deck, she flapped her wings to warm them up and then let out a loud, deep gurgling kraa-kraa to let the fairies know she was on her way. Falling away from the deck, she swooped low, scaring a rodent who stood on its hind legs and squeaked his displeasure. She laughed, the sound being a series of trills. Spotting one of last year’s acorns in a crux of a tree, she picked it up in her beak and dropped it in front of the rodent she’d frightened. Then she flew swiftly to the fairies’ former homes, ones destroyed less than a week ago by a crazed vampire.

As she made her way, she relished in the freedom of flight. Of course, as a witch she could’ve transported, but there was something about the air flowing over her raven’s feathers that was satisfying, almost sensual like a lover’s touch.

Nope, not going there today. She shoved any thought of love, lovers, and especially a certain Goddess-blessed soul mate out of her head. She didn’t want to jinx herself.

****

Almost noon, Finds, Designs, and Blooms

Raisa worked in the garden area with Paul, a pooka and Clio’s mate. She and Paul were arranging supplies in the garden center building. Nearby, the fairies flittered about, organizing the fairy homes Sheila had built for them. In addition to giving the fairies a safer place to live, an extra benefit was the store’s human clientele would see the little houses and the plants around them and want a fairy garden of their own. Sans real fairies, of course.

Ready to eat? Clio stepped into the garden center. Ooh, looking good, you two. Sheila will love it.

Paul went to his mate, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. A long and very sexual kiss.

And, yes, Raisa’s damn bond twinged and the libido she usually saved for the valley’s quarterly Sabbat rituals roared to life. She placed a hand over her lower abdomen and practiced the yoga breathing she’d been taught by one of the local hippie witches. Namaste, y’all.

Flushed from her kiss, Clio came to Raisa and covered Raisa’s hand with hers. Are you okay?

Raisa sensed Clio was using some of her healing ability, one of her lesser magic abilities since her friend’s strongest magic was finding things, be it antiques, misplaced family heirlooms, or lost people.

Yes. Raisa patted Clio’s hand. I’m fine. Just hungry.

Paul joined them, his hand going to Clio’s waist. Their auras connected and she saw in them, a mixture of Paul’s green and Clio’s silver-blue. It was a strong connection, and yes, she felt a slight flicker of envy. Which she beat back just as she beat back any hint of her bond trying to reach out to her faithless mate.

Let’s go. Raisa headed toward the path that led to the town’s main street and the Assjacket Diner. Her friends joined her, and the three walked in silence. They must have sensed her need for to be in her own head for a bit.

If they only knew the fight she was waging with herself and the damn bond, they’d be shocked. They, and everyone else in the valley, didn’t know she was a witch. They definitely didn’t know she was a mate to a warlock because the bond was wispy, and quite frankly, they didn’t look. They only knew her as a raven Shifter, and that was fine with her.

The diner was housed in a cute cottage surrounded by a white picket fence and gardens that supplied many of the fresh ingredients used in the daily specials. It always amused Raisa that if any humans managed to get through the strong keep-away spell surrounding Assjacket, the only thing they would see would be ramshackle buildings around a neglected town square. Baba Yaga’s magic was strong and assured that no humans would stick around to learn Assjacket’s secrets.

Hey, Raisa. Hey, Paul. Hey, Clio. The greetings came from the pack rat Shifter triplets, Hisi, Maggie, and Loki. The siblings worked for Assjacket law enforcement as CSI techs. Sheila’s mate Bucky was their boss.

Hey, back. Raisa smiled and waved at them.

Hey, kids, Paul said as he seated, first, Raisa, then his mate.

What a gentleman. Clio was very lucky.

Hi. Clio gestured at the chalkboard which had the day’s specials on it and was hung over the kitchen pass-through. What did you guys order?

I got the shrimp and grits, Hisi piped up in her squeaky little voice. It’s lip-smackin’ good.

Maggie and I got the fried pork tenderloin with all the fixin’s and sides of truffle fries, said Loki. Love me some truffle fries.

Raisa’s mouth watered, and being a full-on carnivore, she decided on the pork tenderloin.

As Paul and Clio debated what to order, Raisa sipped the Pepsi the waitress had automatically brought and listened to the pack rat sibs chattering.

Sure hope Bucky comes back to work soon, Loki said. He needs to know about the forensic anthropologist. The warlock’s admin said he would come here as soon as he came back from a dig somewhere in Mongolia.

Raisa choked on her sip of Pepsi. No, it couldn’t be. It had to be a coincidence. There had to be more than one warlock forensic anthropologist in the world. She refused the urge to touch