She did not think.
She reached.
The Light responded instantly, not as a blast but as compression. It surged outward from her palm in a concentrated wave that struck the creature mid leap and drove it sideways into a bank of dented freezer doors. The impact rattled glass. The thing shrieked.
Ivan finished it before it could recover.
When the store fell quiet again, dust floated lazily through fractured sunlight.
Her breathing came faster now.
Damien stepped in front of her without looking at the bodies. His attention remained entirely on her face. "You are shaking."
"I'm fine."
His tail brushed her wrist. "You are."
She glanced down and realized her hands trembled faintly. Not fear. Adrenaline. The reminder that this world did not pause for soft moments.
Victor approached last, scanning the perimeter one final time before his gaze settled on her. It was not worried.
It was assessing.
"Good control," he said evenly.
