~

“Oh!” Ava said, surprised by what was happening, and the tug on her magic. But she was on board with Frankie’s decision. Anything was better than doing nothing at all or letting Ray go off half cocked without a plan.

“Oh?” Ray demanded to know what was going on.

“Hush, I’m busy,” Ava hissed back.

“Doing what?”

“Calling the Morrigan.”

“I thought you couldn’t…”

“Busy,” she snapped back.

It was hard enough to concentrate on keeping her mind off of her mate and on the magic at hand. It wasn’t helping when he wouldn’t shut up.

‘Alpha, they’re calling the Morrigan.’

 

~

~

 

“What are you doing, witch?” Lance sneered. She looked to calm, to in control of herself to be overly worried by his presence, or the situation that she was in and that worried him.

What did she have up her sleeve? He knew that there were other supernatural elements at work around him, but what were they planning on doing?

“I’m giving you what you wanted,” Frankie bit out.

“Are you?” If she was prepared to hand over the amulet, then he saw no sign of that from her.

“I’d say be careful what you wish for,” Sister Mary Kate offered up to the man with a small chuckle, momentarily distracting him from the witch.

She didn’t know what the witch had in store, but she was eager to find out, and if she could help in some small way — so much the better. She’d trust a witch over a vampire any day of the week.

“Never trust a witch,” Lance said and started toward Frankie.

That was his first mistake.

 

~

~

 

Lance’s first mistake had been to turn his back on Sister Mary Kate. For an elderly nun, she was sprightly on her feet.

Frankie lifted her hands and distracted the vampire from the nun’s movements, as Sister Mary Kate snapped the large cross from where it hung around her waist, fisted one end and unsheathed a small dagger that she plunged deep into the middle of his back.

Lance roared in pain. The silver blade burned like lava, and he tried to reach behind him to yank out the dagger, but he couldn’t reach it.

In the blink of an eye, the alpha’s wolf had broken cover and was heading right for the vampire. Sister Mary Kate was fast enough on her feet to backtrack to where Audrey was starting to come around, she wouldn’t leave the woman unprotected with the demon around, and she’d done all that she could to help the witch out.

Frankie released Ava and Lana’s magic from her mental grasp so that she could better concentrate on aiming her own magic at the vampire, but there was no time to act.

With three wolves now in the clearing and two vampires swooping in, the alpha was aiming to attack Lance. The beast was about to launch its body through the air, but the wolf never got the chance.

In the blink of an eye, a large black mist filled the sky, and a solitary Raven swooped out of the mist. It shifted just before it landed, and there was the Morrigan.

The goddess was beautiful, with gleaming armor, and Raven’s feathers adorning her body, she was a sight to behold.

Spellbound, nobody moved, except for the Morrigan. Her justice was swift as she took the vampire out with one swipe of her razor-sharp talons across his throat.

Then, in the blink of an eye, she shifted back into her Raven and was gone.

“Not much for conversation, was she?” River said.

“That’s definitely something you don’t see every day of the week,” Sister Mary Kate said and brought everyone’s attention toward her. She shrugged. “What? You didn’t think I knew about your pack?” She scowled at the alpha wolf.

“He’s kind of at a disadvantage, don’t you think?” Ava said. “If he shifts back then he’s naked in front of a nun.”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Sister Mary Kate said. “I might be a nun but I’m not blind.”

“Good to know,” River said.

“Vampires,” Sister Mary Kate huffed in his direction.

“Nuns,” River huffed back.

“If you’re not man enough to show yourself, Rock, we’ll discuss this another time,” Sister Mary Kate said, and she didn’t give him the chance to decide because she turned on her heels and stalked away.

Rock’s beast made a pitiful sound in the back of its throat as it twisted its head on its neck, and watched the nun go.

“That told you,” Frankie chuckled as the wolf offered a small growl of annoyance.

“I heard that, Rock.” The nun’s voice carried from the other side of the chapel’s walls. “And take your mess home with you. Dead vampire on my grass.”

It was a Scooby Doo moment, as Rock’s beast reacted before it grumbled another growl.

“Nuns,” River said with a shake of his head. “You can’t live with them, because who would want to? And you can’t kill them, because that would be wrong.”