Bearly Bewitched (Mystic Hollow #4)

Chapter 37

THIRTY-SEVEN

T hey 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 set Kaine’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 of breaking 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.

Kaine launched himself between them, his bear form filling the corridor with muscle and fury. The stone floor cracked under the force of his landing. Behind him, Burke and Xabir moved with practiced efficiency to cut off Ames’s escape routes.

But the corrupted wizard didn’t retreat. If anything, he smiled—a terrible expression made worse by the crystal formations creeping across his face. His magic, twisted by Ledger’s influence, lashed out with devastating force.

“The eclipse comes,” Ames spoke in a voice that echoed with evil as if multiple people spoke through him. “She’s the key—the catalyst—“ Another surge of energy burst from the crystal at his throat, and the temperature in the corridor plummeted.

The blast caught Kaine full in the chest. Pain seared through him like liquid nitrogen in his veins. This wasn’t like normal magical attacks that his bear form could shrug off. This felt ancient. Powerful. Like it was trying to corrupt his very essence. His bear roared in defiance, fighting the foreign magic trying to take root in their shared soul.

“Uncle Kaine!” Daisy’s shout held more fury than fear. Her magic surged forward in familiar tendrils. But instead of causing harm, it wrapped around him like a warm blanket, neutralizing the corruption attempting to spread through his system.

Above them, the academy shuddered violently. A wave of Vail’s fire magic swept through the hallways—he’d know that signature anywhere, would recognize it in his sleep. His bear whined, clawing at his control. But Daisy’s next words snapped his focus back.

“The crystal,” she gasped, dropping to her knees beside her diary. Pages flipped rapidly under her fingers until she found what she wanted. “It’s like my curse—but twisted. Look!”

She thrust the book toward him, and even in bear form, Kaine could see what she meant. The diagrams showed magical patterns he’d seen her magic create dozens of times. As he watched, her magic continued weaving protective barriers around them, working in harmony with the ancient stones instead of fighting them.

The similarity to how Ledger’s corruption spread was undeniable.

“He’s been studying you,” Kaine growled, his deep voice echoing off the stone walls. Rage burned in his chest, hot enough to combat the lingering chill from Ames’s attack. “Using your magic as a template for something darker.”

Another blast of corrupted magic crackled through the air. Kaine spun, shoving Daisy behind a fallen column. The strange, frozen energy caught him in the shoulder, spreading crystalline patterns across his fur. His bear snarled at the foreign sensation.

Burke and Xabir pressed forward in perfect tandem, herding Ames away from Daisy. The corrupted wizard fought with unnatural strength, lightning crackling from his hands in deadly arcs. But something fascinating happened wherever those bolts met Daisy’s magic—the corruption fizzled out, creating pockets of safety in the chaos.

“The anchor points,” Daisy’s eyes went wide with sudden understanding. She clutched her diary to her chest, energy dancing around her small form. “They’re not failing—they’re transforming. Like my magic did when I stopped fighting it!”