KAEL'S POV
The blast didn't look like light.
It looked like the world was ripping open.
The machine's fractured lens shrieked as it discharged, a column of energy tearing across the cavern, white at its core and rimmed with jagged edges of crimson. It hit Ayla square in the chest, and for a heartbeat my wolf howled inside me, certain that I'd just watched her be erased.
But she didn't fall.
She caught it.
Her ribbons of silver convulsed, whipping wildly, then snapped tight around the beam like chains. Her body jerked backward, suspended midair, the glow from her skin so blinding it burned my eyes. She was screaming—I think she was screaming—but the sound was buried under the roar of power clashing with power.
The walls split open. Rocks fell in sheets, crashing into the cavern floor. The swarm shrieked and dissolved under the sheer force tearing through the air.
