Chapter 89
Adrian’s POV
For a moment, I thought Reyes might rest. Then his shoulders slumped subtly–the posture of
acknowledging a superior predelni.
“The underground banket,” he said, stepping aside. “Behind the main building. He went there when mur systems hegen falling.”
I nodded once in acknowledgment. “Smart choice, Reyes, keep your prople out of our way, and no mor blood red he thed.”
As we moved past the surrendered warriors, I caught the scent of relief mingling with their fear.
Not all of Kane’s pack had shared bis erwelty, it ressed. Some had followed him mut of obligation rather than conviction.
The underground bunker was exactly where Reyes had indicated–n reinforced structure hidden beneath an innominus storage building. The entrance was garded by Kane’s most loyal followers, wolves whs fought with the desperate ferocity of those who knew defeat meant death.
We lost two cations in that final push young fighters barely established in our pack, but no less mourned for their brief time with os. Their sacrifice allowed us to breach the banker’s defenses, pouring into the mamme corridor that led in Kane’s final refuge.
He waited for us in a circular chamber at the heart of the structure, no longer the smug confident Alpha who had tainted us during negotiations. His emerald eyes darted frantically between escape routes already cut off by our warriors. Six of his elite guards formed a protective circle around him, their partially shifted forms hunched and ready.
“So,” Kane drawled, feigning a calm his scent betrayed as false, the peaceful Alpha of Oasisborn Finally shows his true nature. What would your precious Nadia think of this bloodbath, I wonder?”
A growl numbled through my chest. ‘You don’t speak her name,” I wamed, my voice harely human through elongated fangs.
“Why not?” Kanes lips curled into a cruel smile, “She cried it often enough when we were getting to know each other better.”
The taunt hit its mark. With a roar that seemed to shake the very walls, I launched myself at Kane, my wolf taking fall control. His guards moved to intercept me, but my pack was faster. Venus took down two with consecutive strikes of her blade, while Marcus and Ryder engaged the others.
Skye darted past the melee, her silver form wearing between combatants to reach Kane just as I did. Together, we crashed into him, driving him backward against the concrete wall with enough force to crack the reinforced surface.
Kane shifted fully, his rust–colored wolf snarling and snapping as he fought to break free from our combined grip. His jaws found my forearm, teeth sinking deep into flesh, but I barely felt the pain through the haze of battle,rage,
Skyes dagger flashed, finding the vulnerable spot at the base of his throat. Not deep enough to kill, but precisely placed to deliver Lydia’s wolf poison Kane’s body stiffened as the toxin took effect, his struggles growing weaker as paralysis spread through his system.
“Hold him,” I ordered Skye, shifting back to human form as I drew a silver blade from my belt. The same blade I had intended to use in a formal dus repurposed for a more immediate Justice.
With Venus and Marcus’s help, we dragged Kane’s paralyzed form from the bunker, through the compound, and into the central courtyard where the remaining Gravestone wohres had gathered. Some watched with undisguised relief, others with fear of anger, as we bound their Alpha to a stone pillar at the center of the space..
Kane’s emerald eyes burned with hatred as the paralysis receded enough for him to speak. “You think this makes you powerful he spat, blood trickling from his mouth where I’d struck him. “Attacking without warning, using poison like cowarda?”
“Poison,” I repeated softly, crouching to meet his gaze. Like what you implanted in Nadia’s body? Like what you used to ensure she died eve her?
en if we rescued
His lips curled into a sneer. She was just a Beta. Replaceable Forgettable.”
Venus stepped forward, her dark eyes blazing with Eury. Without warning, she spat directly into Kane’s face, the glob landing squarely on his cheek and sliding down to his jaw
1/2
Chapter 89
Sybare nothing but a coward who preys on women, the blued, her normally
“molar to Jetl powerful!
Kane snarled, straining against his beds. “Kill me then, if you have the spine for it. Dr are you too
His gaze shifted to his park members who had surrendered, some now kneeling with heads bowed in submission. “Look at you,” he ineered it then. Spineless curs, bowing to the first stiger well who comes along. No loyalty, no hackbone?
A movement at the edge of the gathering caught my attention. A group of women and elderly wolves approached cautiously, terror evident in their postures. One elderly female, her gray hair pulled back in a tight braid, stepped forward with visible effort.
“Please, Alpha Adrian,” she pleaded, her voice trembling. “Many of us had no part in what happened to your Beta. We have children, innocents who don’t deserve to suffer for Kane’s crimes.”
I studied het weathered face, then looked around at the others–the mothers clutching children to their sides, the elderly supporting each other, the ordinary pack members who had been caught in their Alpha’y madarts..
“We are not butchers. declared, my voice carrying across the silent courtyard, “We do not slaughter the innocent or punish children for the sins of their leaders.”
Relief washed over their faces, shoulders slumping as the tension eased. The warriors who had surrendered exchanged glances, their expressions lightening with cautious hope.
I turned back to Kane, still bound to the pillar, and let my voice drop to a deadly whisper. “I can spare the innocent. My hand tightened around the silver Blade. “But every single person who participated in Nadia’s torture… every hand that caused her pain, every woll who violated her dignity.
My voice rose as I addressed the entire gathering. “Every one of them will die screaming, their suffering a pale shadow of what they inflicted on our Beta!”
Fear rippled through the crowd, several wolves backing away instinctively.
ify them. You memorized their scents from Nadia’s body.”
“Marcus,” I called, “identify t
Marcus moved through the gathering with terrible purpose, his blind eyes somehow more intimidating than any sighted glare.
One by one, he selected wolves from the crowd–twelve in total, each bearing the distinctive scent markers of those who had direct contact with Nadia during her captivity.
They were brought forward and forced to kneel before Kane, their Alpha unable to help them as justice prepared to fall,
The night had only just begun.
