“You don’t know that.”
“No.” His jaw hardened. “But I know if you charge into the forest screaming, we both die before asking.”
She hated how often he ruined dramatic plans with logic.
The creature lowered its head and inhaled again, drawing scent from the cave mouth. Then, slowly, it smiled. Rows of pale teeth unfolded from the dark.
Camron stepped forward, white light flashing beneath his skin like a storm waking underground. “Stay behind me for five seconds,” he muttered.
Azaliyah lifted her chin and let power flood her palms. “You are getting three.”
The creature moved first.
It did not charge so much as vanish from one patch of darkness and appear at the cave mouth in the next. Stone exploded where one clawed hand struck, shards blasting inward like thrown knives. Azaliyah thre
