Charmed by the Fox's Heart Aria Winter Jade Waltz Copyright @ 2021 by Aria Winter & Jade Waltz Charmed by the Fox’s Heart. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the written permission of Aria Winter and Jade Waltz except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Published in the United States by Purple Fall Publishing. Purple Fall Publishing and the Purple Fall Publishing Logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Purple Fall Publishing LLC.- purplefallpublishing.com Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data Names: Winter, Aria, author. | Waltz, Jade, author. Title: Charmed by the fox’s heart / Aria Winter & Jade Waltz. Series: Cosmic Guardians Description: Purple Fall Publishing, 2021. Identifiers: ISBN: 978-1-64253-207-4 (pbk) 978-1-64253-207-4 (ebook) 978-1-64253-207-4 (audio) Subjects: LCSH Reincarnation--Fiction. | Magic--Fiction. | Man-woman relationships--Fiction. | Love stories. | Paranormal fiction. | Paranormal romance stories. | Science fiction. | BISAC FICTION / Romance / Paranormal | FICTION / Romance / Science Fiction Classification: PS3623 .I6675 C53 2021 | DDC 813.6--dc23 Cover Design: Kamayama Art & Design PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Dedication To my husband: Thank you for all your love and support. You are not just my husband, you are my best friend and my rock. I love you more than anything. -Aria Winter To My Husband, Thank you for being my support and rock during this writing journey. I love you! -Jade Waltz Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 1 Kyra I dream of fire and ruin… death and destruction. A man with teal eyes holds me in his arms as I lay dying. I do not know who he is. I only know his gaze holds such intense sadness, it tears at my heart. Ash falls around us like snow as dark clouds roll overhead. I touch his face and brush away the tears that fall from his lashes as I offer him my forgiveness. “It was not you,” I whisper. “I know it was not you.” I wake with a start and jerk up in bed. The fog of my nightmares retreats like tides from the shore. I clutch my chest, drawing in several deep breaths as I attempt to calm my rapidly beating heart. When I look down at my palms, I half expect to see blood on my skin, but there is nothing. It was only a nightmare. Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I place my head in my hands. Roughly running my fingers through my hair, I sigh heavily in frustration. I don’t understand why I keep having this horrible dream. What does it mean? I’ve always had an overactive imagination. That’s part of the reason I decided to pursue my dream of writing. At first, I thought this nightmare was a new story percolating in my head like so many others have done before. But now I’m beginning to wonder. This feels real, somehow—more like a memory than something I imagined. Some nights it’s so bad, I actually feel as if there is a wound in my side. I wake up panicked and immediately check my torso, expecting to find bleeding, but there is nothing there. I went to a therapist, and they said it’s my mind’s way of trying to resolve some issue or other, but I don’t believe it. Something happened to me—some kind of deep-rooted trauma—to make me relive this same dream almost every single night. I just have to figure out what it is. Maybe it has something to do with the death of my mother and sister. I went to a seer shortly after they died. She told me something strange about my recurring dreams. She said the man that holds me is my soulmate—the one I’m destined to find. But I’m not entirely sure I believe in such things. However, it would certainly make a compelling story for one of my books. A low rumble sounds as the building begins to shake, ripping me from my thoughts. I brace myself on the edge of the bed, waiting for it to stop. It’s over in less than a minute and I’m glad. I hate earthquakes. It seems like there have been more and more lately over the past few months here in Seattle. I guess we’re lucky that scientists figured out how to suppress the bigger ones that used to plague this part of the world less than one hundred years ago. But still… I’m always a little scared when they happen anyway. I glance up at my clock and immediately hit the panic button when I realize I’ve overslept. Somehow, it only takes me fifteen minutes to shower, brush my teeth, and dress. I take a quick glance in the hallway mirror to check that I look okay. My long, blond hair is twisted up in a clip on the back of my head, the best I could do on short notice. It’s my no-nonsense look for the day. Despite how tired I am, you’d never know it. My blue eyes don’t have even the slightest hint of redness or puffiness around my lids after a shower and a quick cup of coffee. I didn’t have time for makeup, so the several