Natalie POV
The heavy leather ledger felt like a stone block in my hands as I sat alone in the quiet confines of the upper solar. The sun was dipping below the rugged western peaks, painting the sprawling Blackwood territory in shades of deep crimson and long, jagged shadows.
On the mahogany table before me lay three massive iron chests, their lids thrown back to reveal the ancient, dust-covered documents Marcus’s men had salvaged from the deep treasury. My fingers brushed over the brittle, yellowed parchment of the administrative scrolls, tracing the faded ink of the Moonlight Pack's core laws.
My breath caught as my eyes locked onto a dense, wax-sealed document hidden at the very bottom of the central chest. The crest stamped into the dark wax was one I recognized instantly—the multi-
