Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

The medical wing was silent by the time Lilith finally made it there, the Summit’s noise long faded behind her. It was well past midnight. Her feet ached from hours of standing, her mind still spinning from everything that had happened in the main hall, but none of that mattered now. She’d promised herself this visit, and she wasn’t leaving until she’d kept it.

The healer on night duty gave her a small nod as she passed, used to seeing her slip in at odd hours. Lilith moved down the quiet corridor, past the rows of sleeping patients, until she reached the room at the very end.

Her mother lay exactly as she always did. Still. Peaceful. Untouched by everything happening beyond these walls.

Lilith pulled the chair closer to the bed, the same way she did every time, and sat down. She reached for her mother’s hand, holding it gently between both of hers. The skin was thin, cool, familiar.

”Hi, Mama,” she whispered.

The machines beside the bed beeped softly, steady and unbothered. Cassandra’s chest rose and fell in slow, even breaths. Four months now. Four months since that meeting. Four months since everything had fallen apart.

Lilith brushed a strand of hair back from her mother’s forehead, the way her used to do for her when she was small and couldn’t sleep. ”I don’t even know where to start,” she said quietly. ”So much has happened, Mama. So much.”

She was quiet for a moment, gathering herself.

”Do you remember when I used to complain about beta duties feeling boring?” She laughed softly, though there was no humor in it. ”I would give anything to have that boring life back. To have Papa yelling about ledgers and you scolding me for tracking mud into the house.” Her throat tightened. ”I miss you yelling at me, Mama. I miss you being awake enough to yell at me.”

The room stayed silent except for the machines.

”I don’t know if you can hear me,” Lilith continued. ”The healers say maybe. That some part of you might still understand, even like this. I hope that’s true. I hope you can hear at least some of what I’m about to say, because I don’t think I can say it to anyone else.”

She squeezed her mother’s hand.

”I’m their mate, Mama.” The words came out fast, like she needed to say them before she lost the courage. ”Nicholas, Sebastian, and Lucian. All three of them. They told me few hours ago.” She let out a shaky breath. ”I know how that sounds. I know what you’d say if you were awake right now. You’d tell me it doesn’t make sense. That the Moon Goddess wouldn’t do something so cruel, pairing the traitor’s daughter with the sons of the alpha Papa supposedly killed.”

Her eyes burned, but she kept going.

”They want me to go with them. Back to Blackwood. They’re leaving in three days, and they’ve made it very clear I don’t have a choice in the matter. Not really. They dressed it up like a choice, gave me until tomorrow morning to give them my answer, but Alpha Nicholas already told me the decision’s made either way.” She shook her head slowly. ”I don’t know what to do, Mama. I don’t know how to feel about any of it.”

She paused, staring down at her mother’s still face, searching for some flicker of response that never came.

”Emma’s scared for me. She told me all the stories she’s heard about them, how ruthless they are, how they’ve destroyed entire packs over insults smaller than what they think Papa did. And then in the same breath she told me mates don’t get hurt. That the bond doesn’t let it happen. I want to believe her. I want to believe that so badly.” Her voice cracked. ”But I keep thinking about how easily they’ve already taken every choice away from me. If that’s what loving me looks like, I don’t know if I can survive it.”

The silence stretched between them, filled only by the steady rhythm of the machines.

”They made me a promise,” Lilith said after a moment, quieter now. ”They said they’d investigate what really happened during the alliance meeting. That they’d try to clear Papa’s name.” She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. ”I want it to be true so much it scares me. I’ve spent four months being looked at like I’m something dirty. Like Papa’s crime is stitched into my skin where everyone can see it. If there’s even a chance they could fix that....Mama, I don’t know if I can afford not to hope.”

She fell quiet, watching her mother breathe.

”But what if it’s a lie?” she whispered. ”What if it’s just something they said to make me easier to take? I keep going back and forth. One minute I believe them completely, and the next I think I’m being the same kind of fool Papa probably was, trusting the wrong people at the wrong time.”

She thought of her father then, really let herself think of him, for the first time in what felt like ages. The way he used to hum while he worked. The way he’d always saved her the last piece of bread even when there wasn’t much to go around. He hadn’t been a traitor. She knew that in her bones, even if she couldn’t prove it, even if the entire pack had decided otherwise the moment Alpha Alaric Blackwood turned up dead and someone needed to be blamed.

She thought of her eighteenth birthday.

The whole pack had gathered that night, the way they always did for the new set of wolves coming of age. A bonfire had been lit in the central courtyard, the flames climbing high against the dark sky, the full moon hanging heavy and silver above them. She remembered the way the air had buzzed with anticipation, the other eighteen-year-olds trembling with excitement beside her, waiting for the moment their wolves would finally rise and claim them.

She remembered waiting for hers too.

She remembered the first pull of the moon’s light against her skin, the way the others had gasped and cried out around her as their bones began to shift, as fur broke through skin and paws replaced feet. She remembered closing her eyes, waiting for that same fire to ignite in her chest.