Page 37 of Bearly Bewitched

That’s when Kaine noticed the artifacts. The shadows were draining their energy.

A sickening crack split the air. Kaine spun toward the sound, his enhanced vision catching the moment in horrifying detail. One shadow had wrapped itself around a centuries-old protection amulet, its crystalline form pulsing with stolen energy. The artifact’s golden glow flickered once, twice—then shattered. The shards scattered across the floor like deadly stars, each piece trailing tendrils of malevolent power.

Where the fragments landed, nearby relics began to change. Their magical signatures warped, ancient protections twisting into something wrong. The toxin spread like poison through water, leaving dull gray husks in its wake.

“Contain it!” Kaine commanded, his voice roughened by his bear form. They scrambled to create barriers, using everything at hand. Burke overturned massive display cases while Xabir darted between shelves, knocking specific artifacts out of the corruption’s path. Kaine placed himself directly in front of their most powerful relics, using his own body as a shield against the creeping darkness.

The remaining shadows retreated like oil through water, flowing into cracks in the ancient stone. The three shifters held position, muscles coiled tightly, waiting to ensure the threat had truly passed. Only then did another scent drift down from above.

Vail.

The scent hit him like a physical blow. His bear surged forward, every instinct screaming to check on her, to ensure she was safe. But he trusted her strength.

As they examined the destruction, a pattern emerged in the scattered crystal shards. Someone had been methodically collecting them after each attack. Recent scuff marks showed where pieces had been carefully gathered, leaving deliberate gaps in the destruction.

“Smart money’s on Ledger,” Xabir growled, his wolf form bristling as he sniffed the scattered fragments. “These marks are fresh—he’s been down here between attacks, harvesting corrupted artifacts.”

A haunting howl echoed through the passages, the sound bouncing off stone until it seemed to come from everywhere at once. Xabir’s ears shot forward. “That’s Reed—warning signal.”

THIRTY-SEVEN

They raced toward the sound, paws thundering against ancient stone. The passages blurred past, Kaine’s enhanced night vision picking out details his human form would have missed—old spell marks carved into corners, the faint shimmer of protective enchantments, places where the corruption had begun eating into the very foundations of the academy.

They burst into a hidden annex near the main ward. The sight hit Kaine. Ames stood beneath the central anchor point, but something was horribly wrong. Dark energy crackled around him like lightning, stemming from a crystal that pulsed against his throat. The magical discharge painted his face in sickly shadows, highlighting the agony twisting his features.

“The wards,” Ames gasped, fighting visibly for control. His hands clawed at the crystal, but the corruption had already begun spreading across his skin in crystalline patterns. “He’s going to—during the eclipse—“ Light flared, cutting off his words. “Protect Daisy. He wants?—“

The crystal blazed like a dark star. Ames threw his head back in a scream that shattered several smaller protection stones. His magic exploded outward in a wave of corrupt energy that setKaine’s fur standing on end. Cracks spiderwebbed across the ancient anchor points, spitting dark sparks.

“Burke! Shore up that corner!” Kaine roared, his bear form moving instinctively to block the worst of the magical backlash. The power felt wrong—dirty and cold where magic should be clean and warm. This was different from previous attacks. The precision, the timing... this had been planned.

A new scent cut through the chaos—honeysuckle and sunshine, now sharp with fear.

Daisy.

Horror froze Kaine’s blood as Ames turned toward that scent, his movements jerky and wrong. The crystal’s corruption had spread across half his face, his eyes glowing with unholy fire. Whatever consciousness remained of the man they’d known was drowning in Ledger’s dark magic.

But even as protective fury surged through Kaine’s blood, another magical signature blazed above—cinnamon and woodsmoke, fierce and familiar. Vail’s power flared like a beacon, fighting to stabilize the failing defenses. His bear’s responding surge of need nearly brought him to his knees.

His mate. His niece. Both in danger.

Dark power poured from growing fissures in the foundations. The very air crackled with unstable energy. Burke and Xabir looked to him, waiting for direction, but Kaine’s enhanced senses were overwhelmed with competing instincts.

Trust in Vail’s considerable strength while protecting Daisy? Or leave his niece with his most trusted warriors while supporting his mate? The choice tore at him like physical pain. His bear thrashed against his control, desperate to move, to act, to protect.

The malevolent radiance intensified until it hurt his eyes. Overhead, something massive cracked with the sound ofbreaking stone. A child’s frightened whimper drifted from one direction while Vail’s magic blazed like a wildfire in the other.

Time crystallized into a single, eternal moment. In his mind, he saw Vail’s fierce smile, remembered the steel in her spine when she faced down threats to her students. Then Daisy’s face floated before him—so young, so determined to be brave despite the curse that plagued her.

The choice loomed. And whatever he decided would change everything.

“Burke, Xabir—with me!” The command ripped from Kaine’s throat as he charged toward Daisy’s scent. His bear howled in anguish at turning away from Vail, but she was the strongest witch he’d ever known. Right now, Daisy needed him more.

They found her backed against a carved stone column, her small frame dwarfed by the ancient architecture. But there was no fear in her stance. Her hands were raised, magic crackling from her fingertips in controlled bursts. Her diary lay open at her feet, its pages ruffling in the magical wind, and Kaine caught a glimpse of the intricate diagrams she’d been tracking.

Ames advanced on her with that terrible, broken grace. The crystal’s corruption left trails of darkness in the air behind him like ink dissolving in water. His human face had transformed into a mask of crystalline shadows.

“Stay back!” Daisy’s voice carried that same steel Kaine had heard in her father’s. Her magic swirled around her, but something had changed. Instead of the usual chaotic storm, it formed distinct patterns that pulsed in perfect time with the failing anchor points.

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