Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

”Which do you think.”

Something shifted in the woman’s face. Not warmth exactly. But the hostility pulled back a degree.

”Jury’s still out,” she said.

She looked back at the grounds.

Below, Sebastian had stopped moving.

He was standing in the middle of the training ground looking directly up at the terrace. At her. His chest rising and falling from exertion, sweat on his skin, wrapped hands at his sides.

Even from this distance she could see his eyes.

Dark and fixed and fixed on her.

He’d known she was there. She realised that now. He’d probably known the moment the glass door opened.

He raised one hand. Not beckoning. Just,,,,acknowledging her presence. Like he was checking she was real.

She raised hers back.

The woman beside her made a sound and Lilith glanced at her.

She was looking between Sebastian and Lilith with an expression that had shifted entirely from what it had been thirty seconds ago.

”Definitely something else,” she said quietly.

She found out later that the woman’s name was Lyra.

Finn told her at dinner, with the amused expression of someone delivering information they found genuinely entertaining.

”Lyra’s been here eight years,” he said. ”She’s never voluntarily spoken to anyone the Alphas brought to the estate. Not once.” He pointed at Lilith with his fork. ”She spoke to you for ten minutes.”

”She told me I was in her spot.”

”That’s basically a declaration of friendship from Lyra.”

Lucian snorted.

”She said some pack members think it’s strange,” Lilith said. ”That I’m here.”

The table went quiet immediately.

”Some do,” Sebastian replied her ”But they’ll adjust.”

”And if they don’t.”

Nicholas looked up from his plate. Those silver eyes steady on hers.

”They don’t have a choice,” he said as a matter of fact.

She looked at him for a moment.

Then she picked up her fork and went back to eating and didn’t say anything else.

But underneath the table the warmth that had been sitting in her skin all day pressed in a little closer.

A little more insistent.

She ignored it. because she doesn’t even know what it meant and she was getting very good at ignoring it.

***

It was Lucian who noticed first.

After dinner, in the corridor outside the dining room, he fell into step beside her without being asked. Walked with her toward the east staircase. Said nothing for a full minute.

Then: ”How long has it been like this.”

She didn’t look at him. ”Like what.”

”Don’t.” His voice was mild but underneath it was something more serious. ”You’ve been flushed since you got back from the hospital. You were gripping the terrace railing with both hands watching Sebastian move.” He paused. ”And right now your scent is doing something I can’t name but my wolf absolutely can.”

She stopped walking.

Lucian stopped beside her.

She stared at the wall in front of her.

”I don’t know what’s happening to me,” she said. Quiet and plain.

Lucian was quiet for a moment.

”How long,” he said again, his voice was gentler this time.

”A few days.” She finally looked at him. His golden eyes were serious in that way that sat strangely on his face....Lucian serious was always more alarming than Lucian dangerous. ”I keep thinking it’ll pass. It’s not getting better.”

He looked at her for a long moment.

”You should tell Nicholas,” he said.

”I’m telling you.”

”I know.” He held her gaze. ”But still you have to tell Nicholas.”

She looked back at the tapestry.

”I’ll tell him tomorrow,” she said.

Lucian said nothing, he just stared at her.

But when she started walking again he stayed beside her all the way to her door and waited until she was inside before he left.

She stood in the middle of her suite and pressed both hands flat against her sternum.

Her heart was beating too fast.

The warmth under her skin had teeth now.

She managed to drag herself to the bathroom to take her bath and she crashed on the bed immediately after.

She didn’t sleep for a long time that night and only managed to fall asleep around four in the morning.

***

*The Next Morning*

She didn’t tell Nicholas when she woke up the next morning.

She wanted to. She woke up with the intention fully formed...find Nicholas, tell him about the warmth, Tell him that something was happening to her body that she didn’t understand and was tired of pretending she did.

Then she sat up in bed and the warmth hit her like a wall and she couldn’t think clearly for a full minute.

Just sat there on the edge of the bed with both hands pressed to her thighs and waited for her head to clear.

After what felt like hours, It cleared, at least mostly.

She showered. Got dressed And went down to breakfast.

Nicholas was already at the table with his reports. Sebastian was pouring coffee. Lucian looked at her the moment she walked in...those golden eyes moving straight to her face, checking, assessing.....and she looked back at him with an expression she hoped communicated I’m fine, stop it.

His expression communicated that he did not find this convincing.

She sat down. Ate. Answered questions when they were asked. And tried to Function like a normal person.

She told herself she’d tell Nicholas after breakfast.

But after breakfast Nicholas had a pack meeting. After the pack meeting he had calls. By afternoon the window had somehow closed without her walking through it and she was in the library pretending to read with the warmth pressing in from every direction and the words on the page refusing to stay still.

She’d tell him tomorrow.

***

The dreams started that night.

She knew they were dreams. Even inside them she knew...

Sebastian. Nicholas. Lucian.

All three of them, in configurations that made her wake up gasping with her heart slamming and her body slick with sweat and aching in ways that had nothing to do with the night before. She lay in the dark staring at the ceiling and her hands were shaking.