Crowned by Fate Chapter 90

Adrian's POV

The courtyard fell silent as the twelve wolves knelt before their Alpha. They knew what was coming. I could smell their fear, sharp and acrid in the night air.

Kane struggled against his restraints, his emerald eyes burning with hatred. "Kill me if you have the courage," he spat, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Your weakness disgusts me. You and your pathetic pack of broken misfits."

I looked at each face, memorizing their features. Some maintained defiance, chins lifted in pride despite their position. Others trembled, gazes fixed on the ground, unable to meet my eyes.

"Nadia was not just my Beta," I announced, my voice carrying across the silent courtyard. "She was my childhood friend. The first to follow me into exile. The backbone of everything we built at Oasisborn."

The first warrior was dragged forward. Marcus held him firmly in place as I positioned the blade against his neck.

"Do you have any last words?" I asked, more out of tradition than mercy.

"She screamed beautifully," he rasped, that smile never leaving his face. "Your Beta. She fought at first, but by the end—"

I didn't let him finish. My blade sliced through flesh and bone in one clean arc, severing his head from his shoulders. Blood sprayed across the stone courtyard as his body collapsed, head rolling to a stop at Kane's feet.

The remaining warriors began to struggle against their captors, panic overtaking their earlier bravado. But my pack held them firmly, ensuring none would escape the justice they had earned.

One by one, they were brought forward. Some begged for mercy. Others cursed my name, swearing vengeance even as they faced death. One young warrior, barely older than Ryder, sobbed that he'd had no choice—that refusing Kane's orders meant death for his sister.

I hesitated only once, when that young wolf pleaded his case. But Venus stepped forward, her face hard as stone.

"Did Nadia have a choice?" she asked him quietly. "When they violated her? When they broke her bones and left them to heal wrong, only to break them again?"

The young wolf's head dropped in shame, his shoulders slumping as he accepted his fate. My blade fell twelve times that night, each execution swift and clean—a mercy many of them hadn't shown Nadia.

When only Kane remained, I handed the bloodied blade to Garrett. Throughout the executions, he had stood silently, his face a rigid mask of contained rage. Now, as he took the weapon, his hands shook with emotion I'd never seen in our usually composed technology specialist.

"For what they did to her," I said softly.

He approached Kane with slow, deliberate steps, his usual limp more pronounced from exhaustion and grief. The blade trembled in his hand, but his voice was steady as he addressed the bound Alpha.

"You thought her nothing but a Beta. Replaceable. Forgettable." Garrett's eyes glistened with unshed tears. "But to me, she was everything."

Kane tried to maintain his sneer, but the fear in his scent betrayed him. "You crippled runt," he hissed. "You weren't even worthy to look at her, let alone—"

Garrett's first cut silenced him—not to the throat as expected, but lower. Kane's scream tore through the night as Garrett removed the very symbol of his Alpha dominance with brutal efficiency.

"This is for every violation," Garrett growled, his gentle nature completely transformed by grief and rage. "For every indignity she suffered at your hands."

Blood pooled at Kane's feet as Garrett completed his grim task. With cold precision, he forced Kane's severed member between the Alpha's lips, a final humiliation that reflected the degradation Nadia had endured.

"Now," Garrett said, stepping back, his voice empty of emotion. "Now you may end him."

I reclaimed the blade, positioning it at Kane's throat. His eyes, once so arrogant and cruel, now bulged with terror and pain. This creature before me—this monster who had ordered Nadia's torture, who had threatened my pack and murdered my Beta—suddenly seemed small, pathetic.

"For Nadia," I whispered, and brought the blade down in one final, decisive arc.

Kane's head joined those of his warriors, thirteen trophies of a justice long overdue. The assembled Gravestone wolves watched in horrified silence, many averting their eyes from the bloody scene.

I turned to address them, my voice carrying across the courtyard with Alpha authority. "The pack known as Gravestone is hereby dissolved. Its territory, resources, and infrastructure now belong to Oasisborn."

Murmurs of protest rippled through the crowd. A middle-aged warrior stepped forward cautiously.

"With all respect, Alpha Adrian," he began, choosing his words carefully, "only the Alpha King has the authority to dissolve an established pack. This is... unprecedented."

"Is it?" I challenged, gesturing to the bloody scene surrounding us. "If the Alpha King truly cared about the western territories—about justice in the packs under his rule—none of this would have happened. Where was his intervention when Kane poisoned our lake? When he took our Beta and tortured her?"

The warrior had no answer, his gaze dropping in tacit acknowledgment.

"If you wish to protest my decision," I continued, "you're welcome to petition the Alpha King directly. Perhaps he will finally turn his attention to the packs he's neglected for so long."

Several wolves stepped forward, their expressions hopeful as a young female spoke. "Alpha Adrian, may we join Oasisborn? Many of us had no part in Kane's cruelty. We only followed him out of necessity, out of fear."

I studied their earnest faces, seeing the genuine desire for a better life in their eyes. Under different circumstances, I might have welcomed them—after all, Oasisborn had been founded as a sanctuary for the displaced and broken.

But not this time. Not with Nadia's blood still fresh on my hands.

"No," I stated firmly. "No member of Gravestone will ever set foot in Oasisborn territory. Nadia's home remains sacred, untouched by those who served her killers, however unwillingly."

Their faces fell, disappointment and fear replacing hope. Some of the females clutched young pups closer, clearly wondering what would become of them now.

Seeing their distress, I felt a flicker of the compassion that had once defined Oasisborn's founding principles. Nadia would not want innocent children to suffer, regardless of their parents' allegiances.

"However," I added, my tone softening slightly, "I will allocate resources for the elderly, the women, and the children. Enough to establish yourselves elsewhere, to start anew. That is my final mercy."

Relief washed over many faces, gratitude replacing fear. The elderly woman who had first approached me stepped forward again, bowing her head respectfully.

"Thank you, Alpha Adrian," she said, her voice quavering. "Your compassion honors your Beta's memory more than vengeance ever could."

I turned to my companions, my pack, who had stood by me through this night of blood and justice.

"Let's go home," I said quietly. "Nadia is waiting for us."