#Chapter 194: Tribunal

DEREK The Alpha Council chambers in Solmire were colder than I remembered. I'd been here twice before—once when I was confirmed as Alpha at twenty-three, and once three years ago for a territorial dispute that nearly started a war. Both times, I'd walked in confident, untouchable, certain of my place in the world. Today, I walked in knowing I'd been complicit in everything we were about to judge. Cassandra Laurent sat in the defendant's chair with perfect posture and a calm expression. She wore a tailored black suit, her hair swept back, and she looked like she was attending a board meeting rather than a trial that would determine whether she'd spend the rest of her life as a rogue. Her co-conspirator wouldn't be joining her. Logan had been found dead at the edge of the Blightwood six months ago—no visible injuries, no clear cause—swallowed by the same darkness he'd courted when he went to the dark priestess to break our bond. The Council had closed his file. The wolves who'd