Page 62 of Beary In Love

The potion bubbled an electric blue, casting strange shadows across their faces. Serena stirred it three times counterclockwise, muttering an incantation under her breath.

"It's ready." She poured the mixture into several glass spheres, hands still shaking. "We need to throw these at the base of the flames."

Logan took half the spheres. "Together?"

She nodded, managing a wobbly smile. "Together."

They ran back outside, the heat even more intense now. Serena's lungs burned as she hurled the first sphere. It shattered against the ground, releasing a burst of icy blue mist that immediately began pushing back the flames.

"It's working!" She threw another, watching with relief as the fire retreated further.

Logan's spheres joined hers, and soon a wall of magical frost battled against the inferno. The flames hissed and sputtered where the potion touched them, gradually losing ground.

"You did it," Logan wrapped an arm around her waist, steadying her as relief made her knees weak. "You're amazing."

"We did it," she corrected, leaning into him as they watched the fire slowly recede. "I couldn't have done it without you."

Logan's muscles suddenly tensed beneath Serena's hand, and she followed his gaze through the dissipating smoke. Her stomach dropped as she spotted Silas standing at the edge of where her frost wall met the receding flames. The firelight cast sinister shadows across his face, highlighting his cruel smile.

"Well, well. Quite the little witch you've got there, Logan." Silas's voice carried over the crackling flames. The tattoos Beatrice had given him seemed to shimmer in the firelight, making Serena's skin crawl.

Heat flushed through Serena's body - and not from the fire. Pure rage bubbled up inside her as she thought of all the animalsthey'd just had to rescue, how close they'd come to losing everything. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides.

"You bastard," she snapped, taking a step forward. Logan's arm shot out to hold her back, but she was too angry to care. "Do you have any idea how many innocent animals you just endangered? What kind of monster tries to burn down a wildlife sanctuary?"

Silas's smile only widened. "The kind that wants to see everything Logan loves turn to ash." His gaze slid meaningfully to where Logan's hand rested on Serena's arm.

"Oh, that's real original," Serena rolled her eyes, her fury making her reckless. "Did you practice that line in the mirror today? Maybe wrote it down on your hand to make sure you got the wording just right?"

Logan made a strangled sound that might have been a suppressed laugh. Silas's smile faltered slightly.

"You think you're clever," Silas growled, taking a step forward. The tattoos on his arms pulsed with an eerie light. "But you have no idea what you've gotten yourself involved in, little witch."

"Actually, I think I do," Serena retorted, reaching into her pocket where she still had one frost potion sphere left. "I've gotten involved with a sad, pathetic man who can't move on from his own mistakes and has to resort to attacking innocent animals and people to feel powerful."

The sirens were getting closer now, their wailing cutting through the night air. Silas's eyes darted toward the sound, his confident smirk slipping just a fraction.

"Better run before you have to explain to the fire department why you're hanging around an arson scene," Serena called out.

Serena's satisfaction at putting Silas in his place evaporated as his features contorted with pure rage. The magical tattoos on his skin flared bright enough to hurt her eyes, and in the space ofa heartbeat, his human form exploded into the massive bulk of a Kodiak bear.

Time seemed to slow as Silas charged. His claws tore chunks from the earth, muscles rippling beneath his brown fur. The rational part of Serena's mind noted he was even larger than Logan in bear form, while the rest of her brain screamed at her legs to move. But fear had turned her muscles into stone.

All her clever words abandoned her as eight hundred pounds of enraged bear shifter barreled straight for her. The firelight caught his eyes, turning them into burning coals of hatred. And a distant part of her mind wondered if this was really how it would end.

27

LOGAN

Logan's blood ran cold as Silas's tattoos blazed with an unnatural bright blue light. The magical runes pulsed across his enemy's skin, distorting the air around them with their power. In that split second before Silas transformed, Logan saw the raw hatred twisting his former friend's features into something barely recognizable.

The change rippled through Silas's body, his human form erupting into the massive bulk of a Kodiak bear. Each muscle flexed with enhanced strength from Beatrice's magic as he charged straight for Serena.

Time seemed to crystallize. Logan's heart thundered in his chest as he watched Silas's massive paws tear up chunks of earth, closing the distance to Serena with frightening speed. The bear's eyes gleamed with murderous intent, fixed solely on the woman Logan had just found again.

Primal rage and protective instincts surged through Logan's body. His own transformation came naturally, fueled by the desperate need to protect what was his. His bones shifted and reformed, brown fur sprouting across his skin as he launched himself between Silas and Serena.

The familiar rush of power flooded his limbs as he took his bear form, planting his paws firmly in front of Serena. He towered over her smaller frame, muscles coiled and ready. A deep growl rumbled through his chest, the sound carrying a clear warning even as Silas bore down on them both.

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