Chapter 1

One

The midwinter solstice snuck up on me… But I have four very convenient excuses.

Even if they aren't here now, as I tuck a cedar bow onto the mantle, I'm distracted.

And not just by the ghostly spirits of the wolves they used to turn into on the full moon.

Waiting for them is always more difficult than I anticipate.

It doesn't matter that I woke up in Thomas's bed this morning, and Chase's the day before that…

Being away from them for long leaves me itching in my skin. That ever present need to keep them safe has burrowed inside me and I don't want to push it out.

I haven't seen any of them in ten hours and it's making me nervous.

It hasn't been long enough since another witch tried to kill them. Though, in truth, she would have only killed me and thereby stolen them from me.

The skittering feeling isn't helped by the fact that this is the first Yule I've felt excited for in a very long time and I don't quite know what to do with myself.

Moving the hand-carved figurine of a bear to one side of this mantle, I catch sight of the ring on my finger and smile at the warmth it suffuses through me.

Such a small thing, but far from insignificant.

I've gotten so used to the ghostly wolves moving about the house, their sudden absence is always disturbing. It's the only warning I have before the front door opens, and the newly familiar sound of the four men I've fallen in love with fills the house.

I turn my back on the cold fireplace and walk to the warmth I've grown to crave.

"Blessed Yule." Chase says, twisting to the side before he kisses me. The only thing keeping him from doing more is the stack of wood in his arms.

"You know I have enough of that outside, right?"

" This is special wood."

I manage to refrain from making a comment about their wood as he moves to set it by the kitchen fireplace.

Thomas catches me around the waist and spins me in a tight circle. "I have the next two weeks off, so, you get me as often and as long as you want me."

"The rest of us are a little jealous." Joshua sets a grocery bag on the counter. "But we've all taken as much time off as we can get."

"Don't feel too left out," I tell him before tapping Thomas on the nose. "I'll definitely be putting you to work."

When he hands me off to Joshua, I notice one glaring omission.

"Where's Johnny?"

"He said something about a surprise and to keep you in here." Joshua brushes his lips across mine. "We're always happy to distract, sweetness."

"Not too distracting though. We have plans tonight."

"We do?" Chase pops up from the kitchen hearth.

"Yes, but you don't get to hear about them until Johnny's here."

"Johnny is here," he says, shutting the door behind him and shrugging out of his coat.

He crosses to me quickly enough I can't even begin to explain and when he kisses me, I almost forget I need to.

But he pulls away and seems to be the first to notice I've rearranged furniture.

"The living room looks interesting." Johnny says, scratching his stomach and looking at it with his otherworldly light green eyes. "Prep for tonight? Or something else entirely."

I didn't tell them why I wanted them here all night, just that they needed to be here before sunset and they wouldn't be allowed to leave until after dawn.

"Tonight, we sit vigil around the Yule log. With five of us… that's going to take a little more space than usual."

"A more important question would be ‘What's that amazing smell?'" Johnny lifts his head, sniffing at the air in a manner more befitting his wolfy counterpart at his hip instead.

"Coffee."

"Okay, witchy woman. But what kind of coffee."

"It's a mix of dark roast, chicory, sugar beets, cinnamon, clove… all the fun stuff."

"You really do want us to stay up all night, don't you?"

"I'll be real sad if I'm watching the fire while the rest of you are passed out."

"Don't worry." Johnny whispers loudly. "The old man took a nap."

Chase throws a whole bunch of green onions at his head.

"What? You did." Johnny scoops it up off the rug and heads into the kitchen.

"It was weird," Joshua says quietly against my hair. "Not having you at home when I got off work."

"It was weird not being there."

"What do you need from us to make tonight work?" Thomas asks, emptying a grocery bag and handing the contents over to Johnny at the fridge.

"Having you here is more than enough."

"Okay, but what's going to happen? We don't want to mess it up." Thomas wads up the bag and watches me carefully.

"We'll light it right before sunset and have to keep it going until dawn."

"That is a long night." Johnny says.

I murmur an agreement as I nod. "But it will feel shorter with you here."

He doesn't look convinced. "Do you usually do it alone?"

"No. Since leaving the coven, I've gone up to my parents' or they've come down here… Elaria came down last year."

"I imagine the two of you got up to all sorts of trouble." Chase laughs, and I have to too.

"Only the good kind."

"We can all get behind the good kind."

Chase and Joshua helped me move the last of the furniture around and get the copious amounts of blankets and pillows back out of the guest room they'd been stored in since last time.

Johnny put Thomas to work in the kitchen, and by the time the three of us were done in the living room, they had created something even more spectacular than what I had asked Johnny for.

"When I said we'd need to be nourished through the whole night, I hadn't expected you to set up a practical feast."

He's covered the entirety of the coffee table with what some might call a charcuterie board, but it's a complete masterpiece and he's kindly separated all of the meat with walls of crackers… like little fences.

"Everything," Johnny says as he places a small plate over a bowl filled with ice and moves a small stack of mushrooms to the side, "will last until morning… assuming we don't plow through it first."

He cuffs Chase on the shoulder and dodges when Chase swings to hit him back.

"Hey!" I hold up a finger. "None of that."

"Yeah," Thomas says, snapping a tiny carrot and tossing each piece to hit them both in the face. "Where's your Yuletide spirit?"

I'm not the only one who rolls my eyes at him.

But the light out the window catches my eye and I say, "Food will have to wait just a little while guys."

We have to get the fire going before the sun sets.

I drag away the screen and Joshua very kindly takes it from me before I snatch the small silver box from the mantle and drop down to sit in front of the cold hearth.

"Are you going to light this one with a snap of your fingers? Or are there matches in there?"

I smile and pretend to ignore them as they move to stand behind me.

When I flip open the silver box, I hear one of them move closer.

"What's that?" Johnny asks.

I hold it up and show them the charred wood, stained red and gold. "It's a piece of last year's Yule log. It's the only right way to light one, unless it is your first and then… the traditions vary from family to family."

This year's log is already perched on the andirons.

Joshua collected it with me last week. Chase helped me drill the holes along its back. Thomas helped me fill them again with herbs and tinder. And Johnny is the one who knows exactly in the elixir I'm about to pour over the top. They all played their part in its creation.

There are no words that need to be recited as I pour the honey-like liquid overtop. No spell to cast as I set flame to the small chunk of the log that carried me through the longest night of last year.

The room is filled with that strange stillness. Even the wolves are gathered near, as though they know that something incredible is about to begin… as if they can feel this strange wellspring of hope that's taken over me. We're about to end the year in which we met and set foot into the first year of the rest of our lives.

I lay the starter on top of the elixir and it catches flame in a rose gold sparkle, crackling to light as the dim light outside grows ever darker.

"What now?" Thomas asks as he helps me up.

"Now, you're trapped with me."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Thomas turns me back to the food.

"We can move around the house however much we want, but we can't go outside, and someone has to always be with it."

"That's just good fire safety." Joshua hands me a plate.

"Let's eat and I'll tell you scary stories about the witches foolish enough to abandon their vigil, or unlucky enough to fall asleep during it." I open my eyes wide and have to laugh when Johnny honestly looks freaked out. "I promise, nothing bad will happen tonight."

"Love and light only?" Chase guesses and pops a grape in his mouth.

"The log has the light part handled, I thought the five of us could supply the love."