“Ximena…”
The word barely sounded human coming from him.
Smoke drifted between us while the ruined chapel burned behind the hill, stone collapsing inward beneath orange firelight. Somewhere in the distance, Castellanos’ wolves still shouted through the chaos, but for one suspended second, the world narrowed down to Bastián staring at the Mark on my thigh like it had reached into his chest and split something open.
I pushed myself upright slowly; my pulse hammered painfully. “Bastián…”
He cut me off instantly. “Don’t.”
The harshness in his voice cut straight through me.
He stood first; his movements were abrupt now, rougher than before. The shock on his face had vanished almost instantly beneath something colder and harder than the terrifying stillness I first saw the day I entered Va
