Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

Arms crossed. Dark hair loose today. Amber eyes moving between Lilith and the women around her with an expression that was almost....surprised. Like she had not expected to find Lilith here. Like this was not what she thought Lilith would be doing on a Tuesday morning.

Lilith excused herself, stood up and walked over to where Sera was.

”I was looking for you,” Sera said when Lilith reached her.

”Were you?” Lilith asked.

”Agnes said you had gone outside.” Sera looked at the wildflowers still in Lilith’s hand. The corner of her mouth moved slightly. ”Did a five year old give you those?”

”She was very serious about it,” Lilith said.

Sera smiled.

They fell into step together without deciding to. Moving along the eastern wall away from the group. The compound busy around them.

”I wanted to thank you,” Lilith said. ”Agnes told me you were there. During the heat night. That you helped.”

Sera was quiet for a moment.

”It was nothing,” she said.

”It was not nothing.” Lilith replied.

”You were in a bad way,” Sera said carefully. ”Someone needed to be there.” She glanced at Lilith. ”I am glad you are okay.”

They walked in silence for a moment.

”What is happening today,” Lilith said. ”I have been watching since this morning. The wood. The clearing. Something is being prepared.”

Sera looked at her.

”Tonight is the full moon,” she said.

Lilith looked out at the compound. At the warriors stacking wood. At the gathering center being cleared and decorated.

”This happens every full moon?” she asked.

”Every one,” Sera said. ”The pack gathers. The wolves shift and run together. Young wolves who have come of age shift for the first time and get welcomed by the pack. Sometimes people find their mates.” She paused. ”It is one of the most important nights in the pack calendar.”

Lilith thought about this.

”You shift too.” she said. ”Tonight?”

”Yes.” Sera replied and then turn to look at Lilith ”Why have you never shifted?” she asked.

She didn’t unkindly. Just direct. The way Sera said everything.

Lilith looked at the wood pile in the distance.

”I am wolfless,” she said. ”I was born without a wolf.” She kept her voice even. ”Or that is what I was told.”

Sera was quiet for a moment then looked at Lilith like she was trying to understand what that meant ”Or that is what you were told?” she repeated.

Lilith looked at her and nodded.

Sera held her gaze for a while ”Have you seen the alphas today?” she asked.

The subject change was deliberate. Lilith felt it.

”No,” she said. ”Agnes said they were handling pack duties.”

Sera made a sound that sounded more like a smirk.

”What?” Lilith asked.

”Pack duties,” Sera said. Like she was tasting the words and finding them lacking.

”Agnes is lying?” Lilith asked.

Sera looked at her carefully.

”Tonight is the full moon,” she said. ”Their curse sits heaviest on full moon nights. The wolves push harder. The control gets thinner.” She paused. ”And given that Alpha Nicholas has already marked you....”

Lilith went still.

Sera looked at her with those amber eyes.

”Before you ask how I know,” she said. ”The entire pack knows Lilith. Every wolf in this territory felt it through the mind-link the moment the bond snapped into place.” The corner of her mouth moved again. ”And we all heard your voice that night.”

Lilith opened her mouth.

Closed it.

Opened it again.

”I....” She stopped.

”You do not need to say anything,” Sera said. Not unkindly. ”I am just telling you. The alphas avoiding you today is not about pack duties. It is about the full moon. About their wolves. About what tonight is going to mean for all three of them.” She held Lilith’s gaze. ”And probably for you too.”

Lilith stood in the middle of the compound with crushed wildflowers in her hand. she looked around at the pack members moving around, each one busy with one task or the other.

***

She went back to her room shortly after, she told Sera she wanted to go back to rest.

She got back to her room and sat at the window.

The compound below had shifted while she was in it. The wood pile was larger now. The gathering centre was almost finished....lanterns strung between posts, the ground cleared in a wide circle, something that looked like a ceremonial arrangement at the centre. Warriors moving with more urgency than the morning.

The sun was lower than she expected.

She had lost track of time outside.

Lilith sat with the wildflowers in her lap and watched the pack prepare for something she had never witnessed before and felt the bond warm in her chest.....Nicholas at the other end of it, somewhere in this estate, deliberately staying away....and thought about what Sera had said.

Their curse sits heaviest on full moon nights.

The wolves push harder.

The control gets thinner.

She pressed her fingers to her mark.

Felt it pulse faintly under her fingertips.

Outside the window the light was turning gold the way it did in the last hour before evening. The pack moving faster now. More voices. The sound of a community moving toward something together.

Someone knocked at her door and Lilith turned her face ”Come in.” she called out.

The door opened.

A young maid. Seventeen maybe. Dark eyes. Slightly out of breath like she had been running.

She dipped her head.

”Alpha Nicholas requests your presence in his office,” she said.

Lilith looked at her for a moment.

Then she looked at the window.

At the golden light on the compound below.

At the lanterns being lit one by one in the gathering centre.

At the full moon that was coming.

She stood up.

Put the wildflowers carefully on the window seat.

”Tell him I am on my way,” she said.

The servant bowed and she walked out of the room and pulled the door shut behind her.