The Great Hall of the Blackwood Estate felt less like a seat of power and more like an executioner’s block. The air was a suffocating blend of ancient dust, expensive incense, and the sharp, metallic tang of fear.
Huge obsidian basins sat atop the central dais, filled with the Catalyst, the silver-clear liquid that had verified the Blackwood lineage for a thousand years. It was a judge that could not be bribed, a mirror that reflected only the truth of the blood.
Cassian stood at the head of the hall, his presence vibrating with a terrifying, repressed energy. He wasn't the calm, calculated Alpha his council was used to; he was a man standing on the edge of a precipice, staring down into an abyss of his own making. His eyes, glowing with a restless golden hue, were locked on Leo and his
