Enchanted By Her Guardian (Yuletide Shifters #5)

Chapter 1

The frigid air of the Smoky Mountains in December settled deep into Emberlin’s bones as she walked alongside her sister Talia through the dense forest. The air was heavy with mist that swirled around their feet like wraiths, but she wasn’t affected by the cold or even the icy fog that clung to their clothes.

They’d been tasked by the head of their coven and the most powerful witch in the world—Mother Nature—to repair an enchanted waterfall. It was just outside the coven’s territory and had been tainted by dark magic, disrupting the flow of energy in the surrounding area.

Emberlin picked up the sound of rushing water ahead. “We’re getting closer.”

“Yeah, I can feel it. It’s…off.”

Emberlin was two years older than her only sister, but the two were as different as night and day. Emberlin had raven black hair and heterochromia eyes thanks to her dual magic natures of fire and healing. Talia was blonde haired and blue eyed, with power over water.

They couldn’t have been closer though.

Ever since their mother died six years ago during a battle with Jack Frost’s evil followers and their father, a fire dragon, had abandoned them in his grief, Emberlin had become fill-in mom for Talia as well as big sister and best friend.

They approached the clearing where the waterfall was located and Emberlin brought her mind to the present. She could sense that the waterfall’s energy was off, and it was affecting the entire area, slowly spreading the negative imbalance.

What should have been a sanctuary, a place of peace with water pouring over the rocks and bubbling in a crystal-clear pool that fed the lush and dense foliage, instead was stagnant, dull, and gray.

Even the ice that had formed from the winter cold was yellowed, like it had been poisoned.

The shimmer of life in the water was dull, and the trees that soared overhead looked sickly.

The air was tainted with the imbalance as if there was a crack in the foundation of the world around the waterfall.

Talia knelt next to the spring and dipped her hands into the water. “It’s a weird mix of dark magic and something else I can’t place. It’s just rot and death and destruction. Almost like the waterfall is wounded in some way.”

Emberlin crouched beside her sister and surveyed the scene. “Mother Nature sent us to fix this, so we will. However this imbalance came to be, the two of us can repair it, otherwise, the sickness that’s plaguing it will continue to spread and weaken everything around it.”

Talia nodded. “Let’s get started. You should go first.”

Talia stepped back so Emberlin could work.

She called forth her fire magic and rested her hands on the rocks that surrounded the pool.

As her hands heated with her magic, glowing gold and red, she closed her eyes and sent her magic into the rocks, the water, and the ground underneath.

Fire was a purifier and could burn away anything.

The ground vibrated as her magic warmed it, sending waves of magical fire deep into the earth and up through the rocks and trees. The water heated, steam rising from the surface, and the rotted smell that had invaded their senses was replaced by something akin to brimstone.

As the corruption was removed, she pulled her magic back with a sigh, feeling depleted but grateful she was powerful enough to do something like this.

“Your turn, sis.”

Scooting away from the edge, she leaned against a towering pine and yawned as Talia worked, her magic causing her hands to glow with a pale blue light as she summoned fresh, pure water from deep within the earth.

The waterfall responded, the dull gray water replaced by pure, clear mountain water, pouring over the rocks and bubbling into the pool.

Once the waterfall itself was fully healed, Emberlin used her healing magic to repair the land itself, cleansing and strengthening the ground and trees.

Whatever had corrupted the water and land retreated fully, leaving behind the restored waterfall and clearing.

The rocks glittered in the morning light like glistening jewels, and the air smelled of pine and sweet magic.

Talia smiled and put her arm around Emberlin. “I’m so glad you were here with me. I couldn’t have healed the water without your fire.”

Her heart swelled with affection for her sister. “We make a great team.”

They stood in silence, watching the waterfall and pool as they sparkled in the sunlight, feeling the connection to the earth that all witches had as the balance of nature and magic was restored.

They turned and left, heading back to their coven’s territory nestled in the mountains and the home she and her sister shared.

Emberlin felt hollow after the exertion of magic and knew her sister must be feeling the same.

Normally, they would have gone to Northernmost—at the North Pole—to replenish their magic at the Well in November, but they’d been busy helping Mother Nature and the coven and had both kept putting it off.

Now it was the middle of December, and they positively couldn’t wait any longer.

“It’s weird,” she said as they maneuvered through the trees toward home, “but I always feel closer to Mom when I’m using healing magic.”

“Why is that weird? She was a powerful healer. I wish I’d gotten some of that kind of magic. I love being a water magic wielder, but healing is so wonderful.”

Their mom had been the coven’s most powerful healer and had taught Emberlin everything she knew about healing. Her death had left a hole not only in their lives but in the coven as well. Emberlin had stepped up to help heal when needed, but her fire magic was far more powerful.

And she kind of hated that the part of her tied to her dad was stronger than the part of her that was tied to her mom because of how he’d betrayed them, forcing her to fully grow up and take over care of her sister when she felt like she’d still been a child too.

Imagine grieving but also being the parent to a younger sibling?

If she ever saw her dad again, she’d probably give him a good punch in the face or maybe blast him with her magic to prove a point.

“Yeah,” Emberlin said. “I think whenever I heal, I miss her more.”

“I miss her too.”

They walked in silence to the cabin that had been their childhood home. Talia, who didn’t have the luxury of fire magic in her veins, was shivering from head to toe by the time they got into the house and went straight to the bathroom to run a hot bath.

“I’ll make tea,” Emberlin called.

“Oh yes, please!”

Emberlin loved tea, and her favorite was made from the fireblossom plant that had been cultivated from a plant her mother had kept on her kitchen windowsill for years.

Emberlin had made it the first plant in her tea garden and loved to pluck the purple leaves and dry them for tea.

She filled a kettle with water and placed it on the stove, then opened the metal tin of dried leaves and inhaled slowly over the opening.

The sweet, warm scent reminded her of happier times and her mom’s warm hugs.

By the time the kettle whistled and the tea leaves had steeped in the large mugs, Talia was in the kitchen wearing fleece pajamas and a thick robe, her cheeks pink from the hot bath.

“Just wait until Frost hits us with his magic on the first day of winter,” Emberlin said.

She might not feel as bothered by the cold as her sister because of her fire magic, but she could still get cold.

The twenty-first was a week away, and the evil, magic wielding warlock who controlled winter liked to focus his energy on their part of the world because he was an asshat and liked to mess with good magic wielders.

It was well known that if a coven lived in a certain area, they would often be targeted for harsh winters.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I wish I wasn’t single.”

“What?” Emberlin asked, setting a plate of banana walnut muffins on the small kitchen table between them and taking a seat.

“You know, so I could have a guy to snuggle up with? One of those big, burly lumberjack types would be great. He could keep me warm all winter.”

“The walls aren’t that thick in our house,” Emberlin reminded her.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get you some noise canceling headphones. Maybe this coming year will be the year I find my truemate. And you too.”

“I’m not looking.”

“That’s when love hits you, or so I’ve heard.”

“So you’re not going to find your forever guy because you’re looking?”

“Ah, damn it.”

They both laughed and picked up their mugs, clinking them together in a toast as they always did, before taking a sip of the sweet, hot brew.

“We need to check in with Mother Nature now that you’re all thawed out,” Emberlin said.

“Yep and then head up to Northernmost to replenish our magic.”

They’d made an appointment to replenish their magic before dinner and then were intending to head to New Orleans through the Portal to grab dinner before returning home.

“Do you feel like something is going to happen?” Emberlin asked as she picked up a muffin and peeled off the paper wrapper.

“You mean replenishing our magic or me finding my forever guy?”

Emberlin chuckled. “I don’t know. I just kind of feel like a change is coming.”

“A good one, I hope.”

“I hope so too.” Witches weren’t prophetic, so whatever weirdness was plaguing her had come on suddenly and given her some strange vibes about the future.

Maybe it was Talia’s mention of finding her Mr. Right and how that would change things between them, or maybe it was feeling so close to her mom as she’d healed the waterfall that had made her nostalgic.

Whatever was going on, she felt like this wasn’t just any old day in December but a day that might change them both forever.