My father entered the hall like he owned the floor under everyone’s feet.
The music did not stop, but it changed in my head anyway. Every part of me went stiff, even before I fully saw him. I knew his scent of dark cologne, smoke, leather, and the hard clean note that always sat under everything else when Rodrigo Castellanos walked into a room. My body reacted before my mind could catch up.
I missed another step, and Bastián felt the change in me.
His hand at my waist tightened just enough to steady me, but his face did not change. He kept moving with me through the dance, calm and controlled, while the room slowly shifted to make space for the Castellanos Alpha. I could not turn around, I could not run, especially not here, not in front of the Sangre Antigua elite with every eye alread
