The third seam was already widening when they reached it.
Four of the larger scaled creatures stood along the violet edge. Two more crouched in the black pines, waiting. The air smelled sharper—more ozone, more blood.
Selene didn't wait. She drove the first binding rod into the ground and the blue light flared. The nearest beast screamed and charged. Aiden met it head-on, pure incubus strength flooding his arms.
He caught the thing by the throat and crushed inward until bone and scale cracked. The second came low; he turned and drove his boot into its skull hard enough to drop it.
"Behind you!" Selene barked.
Aiden spun. A third one had slipped past the rods. He grabbed it by the horns, yanked hard, and slammed its face into the dirt. The thing twitched once and went still. Selene's second rod sank home. The violet glow stuttered but did not die.
