Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

Callum came through the door first, then Eli came in behind him.

Finn was last, he entered the room and stood with the other two betas.

”We have approximately twenty minutes before the moon is fully risen,” Nicholas said immediately.

”Tonight is different from every other full moon we have experienced, Kael has marked our mate. The bond is incomplete...Sebastian and Lucian have not yet marked her, which means the curse is still active. Still pulling.” He paused. ”We do not know what that combination will do to us when the moon peaks. We do not know if the partial bond will help or make things worse.”

Finn looked at Lucian again.

”What we do know,” Nicholas continued, ”is that our mate is in this building. Asleep upstairs. And if any one of us loses control tonight, if any of our wolves goes under fully and gets to her, she will not survive it.” He said it plainly. ”She will die. That is not speculation. That is the reality we are facing tonight.”

The room was completely silent.

”So here is what is going to happen,” Nicholas said. ”All three of us will go to the lower level before the moon peaks. As you all know that there are chains already installed there from previous full moons.” He looked at Callum. ”I want them checked. All six sets. I want them checked personally by you in the next ten minutes, and I want to know if any of them have any weakness.”

”Already done,” Callum said. ”I checked them this afternoon. All six sets are solid.”

Nicholas looked at him.

”This afternoon?” he asked.

”Yes, Alpha.” Callum replied. ”I anticipated this might be the plan.”

Nicholas held his gaze for a while.

Callum had been his beta long before he took over the pack, and there was not a single time in those years that Nicholas had needed to explain something to him that he had not already understood.

”Good,” Nicholas said. ”Then you know what comes next.”

”One beta per Alpha,” Callum said. ”Inside the room. Armed with wolfsbane if necessary. Authorized to use it without waiting for permission if an Alpha goes under and the chains do not hold.”

”Yes,” Nicholas said.

Sebastian made a sound that sounded like a laugh.

”Wolfsbane,” he said. ”My own beta is authorised to use wolfsbane on me?”

”Your beta is authorised to do whatever is necessary to keep our mate alive,” Nicholas said. He looked at Sebastian directly. ”Including you.”

Sebastian held his gaze for a while. ”Fine,” he said.

”Finn,” Nicholas called out.

Finn looked at him.

”You stay with Lucian tonight,” Nicholas said.

Finn nodded immediately.

”I want the mindlink open between all six of us throughout,” Nicholas continued. ”The moment anything changes, the moment any one of us feels control slipping past the point of return, you call it. Immediately. You do not wait. You do not give us a chance to pull back on our own, You call it and you act.” Are we clear? Nicholas asked looking at all three of them.

”Yes, Alpha.” the responded.

”There is one more thing,” Nicholas said.

He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out three lengths of heavy chain. Not the reinforced ones downstairs. These looked smaller wrist chains. The kind that would not hold a fully shifted wolf but would slow one down long enough for the larger chains to engage.

He set them on the desk.

His brothers looked at them.

”We put these on before we go down,” Nicholas said. ”Voluntarily. Now. While we are still fully ourselves.” He looked at Sebastian. Then Lucian. ”Not because I do not trust you. But because I want Callum and Eli and Finn to have every possible second of advantage if something goes wrong.”

The room was quiet.

Sebastian looked at the chains on the desk then he looked at Nicholas.

”Are you are going to chain yourself too?” he asked.

”Yes,” Nicholas replied.

Sebastian reached forward, picked up one of the sets, and turned it over in his hands.

”For her,” he said quietly.

”For her,” Nicholas replied.

Sebastian nodded, held his wrists out toward Eli without another word.

Lucian stood up from the sofa. He crossed to the desk, picked up the second set of chains. His golden eyes were fully gold now, Zev completely at the surface. He moved to Finn.

Finn stepped forward to fasten the chain on him.

Nicholas picked up the third set himself and held his wrists out to Callum.

Callum took them and fastened them on him.

When all three were done, the betas stepped back.

Six of them in the office. The moon outside the windows not yet fully risen but close enough that Nicholas could feel it in his teeth. Kael turning slow heavy circles in his chest. The scent of Lilith still in the air around all of them like something that had been placed there deliberately to make this harder.

And it was working.

”We go down in five minutes,” Nicholas said. ”The pack gathering has already started outside. The ceremony will run until midnight. Nobody comes inside this building except Callum’s man outside her door.” He stood up. ”If she wakes up and tries to leave her room, he is to tell her everything is fine and that we will come to her at dawn. He is not to let her downstairs. He is not to let her anywhere near the lower level.”

”Understood,” Callum said.

Nicholas looked at his brothers one last time.

At Sebastian sitting with his wrists chained.

He looked at Lucian standing with Finn beside him, his golden eyes watching the window, looking at the moon that was almost there.

”Whatever happens tonight,” Nicholas said, ”we chose this. We put the chains on ourselves. We made the choice.” He held both their gazes. ”She is safe because of that choice. Remember that. Whatever your wolf tells you tonight, whatever Rhen or Zev says to you about going to her, remember that you chose this. For her.”