Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

She sat frozen in her chair, staring at the closed door, her chest tight and her throat burning. Nicholas set his fork down carefully and looked at her, his expression softening just slightly. ”He doesn’t hate you.”

”He wouldn’t even look at me.” said, her voice breaking.

”Because if he looks at you, he will lose control. so staying away from you is the right decision right now” Nicholas looked at her and replied.

Lilith turned to him and Nicholas leaned back in his chair, his fingers drumming once against the table before going still. ”Lucian is struggling. The incomplete bond is torture for him, especially after feeling what happened last night through the link.”

Her face went hot. ”He felt....” she started saying.

”Everything,” Nicholas said bluntly. ”Every second of it. Sebastian and Rhen claiming you in the woods while he was stuck in his room trying to keep Zev from tearing the door down to get to you. He felt your pleasure, your fear, your surrender. He felt Sebastian mark you from the inside and he felt the bond flare between you and it was not his bond. It was not his mark. And now he has to sit here and watch Sebastian be satisfied and possessive while he is still unmarked and barely holding on.”

Lilith’s hands were shaking. She pressed them flat against the table. ”I did not mean to hurt him.”

”You did not hurt him. The situation is hurting him. The curse is hurting him. The waiting is hurting him.” Nicholas’s voice was steady but she could hear the edge underneath it. ”We are giving it one week for the wolves to settle after the full moon. Then Sebastian will mark you properly. Then another week or two, and Lucian can mark you. But right now? Lucian is watching Sebastian have you, smelling him all over you, feeling the incomplete bond pulling at him like a hook in his chest, and knowing he has to wait at least two more weeks minimum while his wolf is screaming to claim you. He is barely holding on.”

”Then why does he not just do it?” The words came out sharper than she intended and she saw Nicholas’s jaw tighten. ”Why are we waiting if it is killing him?”

”Because you would not survive it.” Nicholas said

The certainty in his voice made her stop. Nicholas leaned forward and his eyes were hard. ”You barely survived Kael’s marking and I was in complete control. Sebastian is less controlled than I am. Lucian is barely controlled at all. If he marks you right now while Zev is this unstable, while the full moon is still affecting him, while he is wound this tight with jealousy and desperation...he will kill you. Not on purpose. Not because he wants to. But because Zev will not be able to stop himself once he starts.”

Lilith felt the words settle over her like ice. ”So we wait.”

”So we wait,” Nicholas agreed. ”And Lucian suffers through it because the alternative is losing you forever and that is not an option any of us are willing to consider.”

She looked down at her hands. ”Does he hate you? You and Sebastian?”

Nicholas was quiet for a long moment. When he finally spoke his voice was softer. ”He could never hate you. But he might hate us for having what he does not. At least until he has it too.”

”That is not fair.” Lilith said with a broken voice.

”No,” Nicholas said. ”It is not. But it is necessary.”

Lilith pushed her chair back and stood, her legs protesting but holding her weight this time. Nicholas watched her carefully. ”Where are you going?”

”To talk to him.” she replied.

”That is a bad idea.” Nicholas said, his voice rising.

”I do not care.” She said and started moving towards the door.

”Lilith.” Nicholas stood and moved around the table, his hand catching her wrist gently but firmly. ”Sebastian told you to give him a few days. You smell like Sebastian and Rhen and sex and if you walk up to Lucian right now, Zev will see it as a challenge. You will make it worse.”

”I cannot just leave him like this.”

”You can and you will,” Nicholas said, and his voice was commanding now, Alpha and absolute. ”You will give him space to stabilize. You will let Sebastian handle it. And when Lucian is ready, he will come to you. But right now you pushing him will only break what little control he has left.”

She wanted to argue but she could see the logic even if she hated it. She pulled her wrist free and Nicholas let her go. ”How long?”

”A few days. Maybe less if he settles faster than expected.”

”And if he does not settle?” she asked.

Nicholas’s expression darkened. ”Then we will deal with it.”

Lilith turned and walked toward the door, every step making her wince but she refused to stop. Nicholas called after her. ”Where are you going?”

”To my room. To wait. Like everyone keeps telling me to do.”

She did not wait for his response, just walked out into the hallway where wolves were still lingering and staring and pretending they were not. She ignored all of them and climbed the stairs slowly, her body screaming at her but her mind screaming louder.

Lucian was suffering and she could not do anything about it.

Sebastian had marked her but not completed it and she had to wait.

Nicholas was holding everything together by force of will alone.

Lilith reached her room and closed the door behind her, leaning against it and sliding down to sit on the floor. Her legs gave out and she did not care. She wrapped her arms around her knees and let herself feel the weight of it all....the fear, the frustration, the desperate need to fix something she had no control over.

She sat there until her breathing evened out and her hands stopped shaking.

Then she stood up, walked to her bed, and made a decision.

She was going to talk to Lucian whether Nicholas liked it or not.

Just not today.