The demon broke through the wards in four minutes which was honestly impressive in a terrifying way, and when it materialized in the courtyard I got my first good look at it fully manifested without the chaos of active battle.
It was massive. Easily twelve feet tall with skin that looked like charred bone and eyes that were pure void—not red like the corruption, just empty nothingness that seed to absorb light.
And it was looking directly at .
"Hybrid Queen." The voice ca out layered with gravel and rage. "You broke my binding. Ended three hundred years of carefully cultivated power. For that, you die."
For that I die. Right. Because breaking a demon binding apparently ant making a very powerful enemy.
"Get behind ." Kael moved to block but I stepped around him because hiding behind my mate while a demon promised to kill seed counterproductive.
"I’m the one who broke your binding." The words ca out steadier than I expected. "You want to kill soone, kill . Leave them out of it."
The demon laughed—this horrible scraping sound like rocks grinding together. "Oh, I’ll kill you. But first I’ll make you watch them die. Starting with—"
I didn’t let it finish.
Just reached for the temporal magic and pushed every ounce of intent I had at one goal: freeze.
Ti stuttered. Slowed. The demon’s movent beca sluggish, like it was moving through water instead of air.
"Now!" The word tore out of and all four alphas moved at once.
Kael in wolf form hit it from the front with Alpha power that made the air crack.
Riven attacked from the side with coordinated strikes through the mind-link network.
Thorne went feral and absolutely massive, tearing at demon flesh with claws that shouldn’t be able to damage sothing that ancient.
Draven used shadows and blood control in combinations I’d never seen, like being free from the corruption had unlocked sothing.
And I held the temporal freeze with everything I had while my nose started bleeding and my vision started tunneling.
Thirty seconds. I could hold this for thirty seconds and then—
The freeze shattered.
Not because I couldn’t maintain it. Because the demon broke through it with sheer power, and when ti snapped back to normal speed I went to my knees from the backlash.
"Clever." The demon’s voice held grudging respect. "But insufficient. You cannot freeze what exists outside ti."
Exists outside ti. Right. Of course the demon was immune to temporal magic. Why would anything be simple?
It lunged for and Thorne intercepted—got hit so hard he flew backward into a building—and my brain was screaming that we couldn’t win this, we needed backup, we needed—
"Alliance incoming!" Riven’s voice cut through the chaos. "Sixty seconds!"
Sixty seconds. We just had to survive sixty more seconds and then—
The demon’s claws caught Draven across the chest and he went down, and I watched blood spread across his shirt too fast and through the bond I felt his pain spike.
No. Not after everything. Not after we’d freed him from the corruption.
I reached for the hybrid magic again but different this ti—not trying to freeze the demon but trying to understand it, occupy the space between what it was and what it could be destroyed by.
And suddenly I saw it. The weakness. The fracture in its form where Cassia’s binding had been anchoring it for three hundred years.
Breaking the binding hadn’t killed it. But it had left a wound. A gap in its defenses.
"There!" I was screaming and pointing. "Right side, below the ribs! The binding scar!"
Kael didn’t hesitate. Just drove straight for that spot with claws extended and when he hit it the demon actually scread.
Not the layered voice. Just pure pain.
And then the alliance arrived.
Two hundred wolves pouring into the courtyard from every direction. Vampires dropping from rooftops with inhuman speed. Witches establishing a periter with magic that made the air crackle.
Marcus coordinated the formations. Lysander led the vampire assault. Morgana directed the magical bombardnt.
The demon was surrounded. Outnumbered. Wounded.
But it was still fighting.
"Fall back!" Kael’s Alpha command cut across the battlefield. "Establish the circle! Contain it!"
The alliance moved like they’d been practicing this for months—which they had, all those training sessions, all those drills—and within seconds the demon was trapped in a circle of two hundred fighters all attacking simultaneously.
It couldn’t defend against that many. Couldn’t heal fast enough. Couldn’t escape.
"Selene!" Morgana appeared at my side. "The binding scar. You opened it. You need to finish it."
Finish it. Right. Because of course the final blow had to co from .
I reached for the hybrid magic one more ti—that space between life and death, between contradictions, between everything the demon was and everything it feared.
And I pushed.
Not temporal magic this ti. Not shadows or blood or any single aspect. Just pure hybrid power, pure contradiction, pure I shouldn’t exist but I do anyway.
The magic hit the binding scar and the demon shattered.
Actually shattered. Like glass breaking into a million pieces that dissolved into smoke and then nothing.
Silence.
Complete and total silence as two hundred fighters processed what had just happened.
We’d won.
Actually won. Not survived. Not wounded it. Destroyed it.
The demon was dead.
I collapsed.
Just completely gave out because apparently dying temporarily and breaking a three-hundred-year-old binding and freezing ti and channeling pure hybrid power was exhausting.
Kael caught before I hit the ground and I just let him hold because standing seed impossible and thinking seed harder.
"It’s over." His voice was rough. Broken. "You did it. It’s over."
Over. The demon was dead. Draven was free. The binding was broken.
We’d actually survived.
Through the bonds I felt all four alphas—battered and bleeding but alive, all alive—and the relief hit so hard I started crying.
Just full-on sobbing against Kael’s chest while he held and Riven pressed against my back and Thorne’s hand found my ankle and Draven’s fingers tangled with mine.
All five of us. Alive. Together.
"What now?" The question ca out muffled against Kael’s shirt.
"Now?" His voice held sothing that might have been humor. "Now we rest. We heal. We figure out how to actually be mates instead of just surviving constant demon attacks."
Rest. Heal. Actually be mates.
That sounded—that sounded perfect actually.
But first there were injured fighters to tend. Casualties to count. Alliance mbers to thank.
First there was work.
Later there would be rest.
Later there would be us.
And honestly? Later couldn’t co soon enough.
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