Bastián dropped to one knee.
The sight should have terrified me less than it did.
This was the Alpha of Valdemar, the man whose entire territories stepped around carefully. A wolf raised on violence, dominance, and absolute control. I had seen him walk through ambushes without blinking, seen him stare down rivals or just any other Alpha until they folded under the sheer weight of his presence alone.
And right now, he looked like the Bond itself had cracked him open from the inside.
One hand braced hard against the broken pew beside him. The other still gripped the side of his head as if he could physically stop the flood of memories forcing their way through him.
But he could not.
I felt every second of it through the pull. From the feast, the border estate, the stolen pastries.
My
