The next day,

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The Blackwood family had been preparing for church since dawn.

Silas stood before the full-length mirror in his private chambers, adjusting the collar of his ceremonial robes with the nervous precision of a man who understood that appearances at the Cathedral of the Moon Goddess were not merely religious observances—they were political statements. The Twelve Alpha Lords rotated attendance at the capital's highest holy site, and this month, it was the Blackwood Pack's turn to kneel before the altar and remind the congregation that they still mattered.

Kaelen checked his ceremonial blade for the third time. Elias and Ezra, still smarting from their encounter with Aria...