Chapter 88
Han’s POV
Night fell over Dasisborn territory, bringing with it a silence any Til known in my years an A
Alpha.
No muste played from the com
common areas, no laughter echoed between buildings, Even the desert wind seemed to hold its breath, as if the land latit
mourned Nadia’s passing.
1 stood at the edge of our gathering, watching as my pack prepared for was.
Venus moved with lethal grace through the ranks, distributing weapons with her single arm more efficiently than most could manage with Her normally compassionate expression had hardened into something primal and unforgiving Beside her, Marrus checked each warrior’s readiness with scanny prechám despite his blindness, his heightened senses detecting even the slightest flase in their equipment or stance.
Lydia worked silently nearby, her masked face revealing nothing as she coated arrowheads and daggers with her specialized wolf poison. The same poison that had coursed through Nadia’s veins now gleamed on our blades–a fitting symmetry that didn’t escape my notice.
Garrett hunched over multiple screens, his fingers flying cross keyboards as he disabled Gravestones security systems remotely. The usual tremor in his injured leg seemed absent, his movements fueled by a cold rage that transcended physical limitations.
ed by grief in
into something harder, older. The guitar that rarely
And Ryder–young, impetuous Ryder–stood motionless for once, his boyish features transformed by left his side had been replaced by twin daggers strapped to his thighs
I felt Skye’s presence before I saw her. She approached silently, her silver hair bound tightly back, her small frame encased in combat gear that couldn’t disguise the predatory grace of her movements. The bruises from her captivity had begun to fade, but something in her eyes had changed–a hardness that hadn’t been there before, a shadow 1 recognized all too well.
“The team is ready,” she reported, her voice steady despite the weight of what lay ahead.
I nodded, studying her face. “You don’t have to come. You’ve already endured enough at Kane’s hands,”
Her green eyes flashed with determination. I drank coffee with Nadia. 1 made her laugh. I watched her sacrifice herself for me.” She checked the silver dagger at her waist–Tick, her weapon of choice. “Im going.”
There was no arguing with that resolve. I turned to address the assembled warriors–forty of our strongest, each wearing the black armbands that signified a pack in mourning.
*Tonight, we bring justice to those who have taken our Beta from I began, my voice carrying across the silent gathering. “Not revenge–justice. There a
I let my gare travel over each face, meeting their eyes one by one. “We are not Kane. We do not slaughter the innocent or torture the defenseless. Our target is specific: Kane and any who participated in Nadia’s torture.” I raised my voice, letting my Alpha influence color my words. “But make no mistake–for those responsible, there will be no mercy.”
A low growl of agreement rumbled through the assembled wolves.
“Move cut,” I ordered, and like a single organism, we melted into the desert night.
We approached Gravestone territory from thier directions–a pincer movement designed to overwhelm their defenses before they could organize a response. Gament’s technological sabotage had disabled their security cameras and communication systems, leasing them blind to our advance
The first guards we encountered never had a chance to sound an alarm. Marcus’s team neutralized them with silent efficiency, Lydia’s wolf poison ensuring they fell without a sound, paralyzed but conscigus–able to witness what came next but powerless to interve
My team, with Skye moving like a silver shadow at my side, penetrated deeper into their territory. Unlike our previous rescue mission, we made no attempt
at stealth now.
The first real resistance came at the compound’s outer wall. A dozen warnes rushed to defend the breach, fangs bared and partially shifted. I felt the
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Chapter 88
familiar surge of power as my own wolf rose to the surface, bones tracking and reforming as 1 embraced
My vision sharpened, colors bleeding away into the heightened contrast of wolf sight, Scents intensified–fest, adrenaline, the metantie fami drawn in baste
I collided with the fast defender in mid air, my lawn closing around his throat before he could complete his own shift. The taste of blood filled my mouth – I tore through flesh and stew, dropping his lifeless body before moving in the next apponènt.
Around me, my pack fought with cold precision. Verus whitled through the enemy tanks, her single arm wielding a blade with deadly grace, each strie finding vulnerable points with surgical accuracy.
Marcus moved like a sraith among them, his blindness in hindrance as he tracked his opponents by sound and scent, delivering paralytic data with unerring aim.
Ryder fought with uncharacterise silence, his oual exuberance replaced by methodical lethality. Two opponents fell beneath his daggers before they could even register his presence
And Skye–my silver woll–moved with a fluid grace that belied her recent injuries.
As we pushed deeper into the compound, the resistance grew more organized. Kane’s Beta, Reyes, led a counter–attack, rallying the remaining warriors into a defensive formation that momentarily halted our advance.
“Stand down, Reyes,” I called, shifting partially back to human form to speak. “Dur quarrel is with Kane, not with you.”
“You invade our territory and slaughter our warriors, then claim you want only Kane?” Reyes snarled, his body tensed to spring. “Your mate is dead. Accept it and go home, Adrian.”
“She wasn’t my mate,” I corrected him, my voice dropping dangerously low, “She was my Beta. My right hand. My friend,” Each word carried the weight of my grief, my rage. “And Kane tortured her. Violated her. Murdered her
Something flickered in Reyes’s eyes–doubt, perhaps, or even shame. “Kane is our Alpha,” he said, though with less conviction. “We are bound to defend him.”
“Are you bound to defend a torturer? A rapist? Venus stepped forward, her scarred face terrible in its fury. “Is that the Alpha you choose to follow?”
Reyes hesitated, his gaze darting between his warriors and our advancing force. I could see the calculation in his eyes–weighing loyalty against survival, duty against morality.
“Where is Kane?” I demanded, letting my partial shift progress further, claws extending from my fingertips. “Give him to us, and the rest of you may live.”
