Chapter 150

Adrian's POV When the guards led Nicole away from the defendant's table, her wrists bound with the silver restraints reserved for those who had violated the most sacred laws of werewolf society, I felt something fundamental die inside my chest. The Great Hall was emptying slowly, Elders conferring in low voices about implementation timelines for the sentences they'd just imposed, pack representatives discussing the precedents this case would set for future corporate crimes. But the buzz of official business felt distant, muffled, as if I were experiencing everything through layers of cotton that separated me from the reality unfolding around me. Nicole stood near the exit, flanked by guards whose grim expressions suggested they understood exactly what kind of criminal they were escorting to werewolf prison. Her perfect posture remained intact despite the silver restraints, her composed facade still in place even as her entire world crumbled around her. Even now, facing years of impriso