Chapter 5 - Something's Burinung
By the time they made it back to camp, the sun was bleeding out behind the trees, casting everything in red-gold and shadow.
No one spoke. Because they all knew. This wasn’t just a rogue nest. It was a ritual site. A blood rite. And the warriors they’d seen weren’t untrained. They were Iztac’s ghosts, walking in daylight.
The camp moved with quiet urgency—gear checked, sectors marked, maps updated. The team didn’t joke. Didn’t relax.
They’d all seen it. And no one wanted to be the first to say it out loud.
But Tlacaelel sat apart, back against a tree, knees bent, fingers steepled near his mouth.
He could still feel her.
The pressure of Renata’s body against his in the ferns. The heat of her breath on his neck. The flicker of her lips meeting his—not
