Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

”The curse began with your great-great-grandfather, Alaric Blackwood.”

Morgana’s voice was steady, but Nicholas could hear the weight behind every word. The kind of weight that came from carrying terrible knowledge for too long.

”He was Alpha of the Blackwood pack at a time when supernatural politics were even more brutal than they are now,” Morgana continued. ”And he made a decision that doomed every generation that came after him.”

”What decision?” Nicholas asked.

”He betrayed the Moon Goddess.” Morgana’s ancient eyes were sad. ”There was a sacred grove in your territory. A place of worship. A place where the veil between the mortal world and the divine was thin. Alaric destroyed it. Tore down the sacred trees. Built a fortress on the ruins. He did it to consolidate his power, to send a message that he answered to no one. not even the gods.”

Sebastian’s jaw tightened. ”And the Moon Goddess cursed him for it.”

”Not just him,” Morgana corrected. ”His entire bloodline. Every Alpha born from his line would carry the curse. A ticking clock that would drive them feral before they reached their prime unless they found redemption.”

”Redemption how?” Nicholas demanded.

Morgana took a slow sip of her tea before answering. ”The Moon Goddess is not cruel for cruelty’s sake. She offers every cursed Alpha the same choice, find your true mate, complete the sacred bonds, and in doing so, prove that your bloodline is worthy of forgiveness.”

”But that’s not what the curse does,” Sebastian said. ”The curse doesn’t break when we find our mate. It transfers to her. Victoria was right about that, wasn’t she?”

”Yes,” Morgana said quietly. ”Victoria was right.”

Nicholas felt ice slide down his spine. ”So Lilith has to die.”

”Let me finish,” Morgana said, holding up one gnarled hand. ”When I came to see your father years ago, I told him only part of the prophecy. I told him that you needed to find your mate. I told him that the bonds might break the curse. I made it sound hopeful because your father was desperate, and desperate men do desperate things when they’re told there’s no hope at all.”

”What didn’t you tell him?” Nicholas asked.

Morgana set down her teacup and looked at him with eyes that had seen too much.

”The complete prophecy goes like this: Three brothers bound by blood and curse. Three bonds forged with one soul. The curse will transfer from wolves to witch, from alpha to mate, from death to life. Only through willing sacrifice can the curse be broken. Only through love proven stronger than death can redemption be found.”

The words hung in the air like a death sentence.

”Willing sacrifice,” Sebastian repeated. ”That means Lilith has to choose to die. Willingly.”

”Yes.”

”And if she doesn’t?” Nicholas’s voice was hard. ”If we refuse to let her make that choice?”

Morgana’s expression was grave. ”Then the curse remains inside her. It will grow stronger with each passing day. Within a year....perhaps less, it will consume her from the inside out. She will die slowly and painfully, and there will be nothing you can do to stop it.”

”That’s not a choice,” Nicholas said, his voice rising. ”That’s a death sentence with extra steps.”

”I know.” Morgana’s voice was infinitely sad. ”That’s why I didn’t tell your father the full truth. Because what parent wants to hear that their children are doomed no matter what they do?”

Nicholas pushed back from the table and stood, pacing to the window. Through the glass he could see the dense forest stretching for miles, wild and untamed and completely indifferent to his rage.

”There has to be another way,” he said. ”A loophole. Something.”

”There is,” Morgana said.

Nicholas spun around. ”What?”

Morgana stood slowly, her ancient body moving with the careful precision of someone who had lived too long and seen too much.

”The prophecy says only through willing sacrifice can the curse be broken,” she said. ”It does not specify what kind of sacrifice. It does not say the sacrifice must be death.”

Sebastian was on his feet now too. ”What are you saying?”

”I’m saying that death is one form of sacrifice, yes. But it is not the only form.” Morgana walked to one of her shelves and pulled down a book so old the leather binding was cracking. ”The Moon Goddess demands that something of equal value be given in exchange for breaking the curse. A life for a life. Power for power. Love proven through loss.”

”Speak plainly,” Nicholas demanded.

Morgana opened the book and ran her finger down a page covered in writing so ancient Nicholas could not read it. ”If Lilith chooses to die willingly, the curse will break immediately. Clean. Final. You will be free and she will be gone.”

”Not acceptable,” Nicholas said immediately.

”I know. Which is why there is another option.” Morgana looked up from the book. ”Instead of giving her life, she can give something else of equal value. Her power.”

Nicholas felt Kael surge forward. ”Her magic?”

”All of it,” Morgana confirmed. ”Every drop of power in her blood. The Morvaine magic she inherited from her mother. The latent abilities she has not even discovered yet. If she willingly surrenders all of it.....burns it out of herself completely and offers it to the Moon Goddess as payment, the curse will accept that sacrifice instead of her death.”

”And she would survive?” Sebastian asked.

”Yes. She would live. But she would be completely human. No magic. No supernatural abilities. No connection to the power that makes her a Morvaine witch.”

Nicholas tried to process this. Lilith giving up her magic permanently. Burning it out of herself to save them.

”Would it hurt her?” he asked.

”Yes,” Morgana said bluntly. ”The process of surrendering that much power would be excruciating. It would feel like burning alive from the inside out. And when it was over, she would be diminished. Vulnerable. Human in a world full of supernatural predators.”

”But alive,” Nicholas said.

”But alive,” Morgana agreed.

Sebastian moved to stand beside Nicholas. ”How do we do it? The ritual to surrender her power, how does it work?”

”I can guide you through it,” Morgana said. ”But it must be done willingly. Lilith must choose this path herself. You cannot force her. You cannot manipulate her. The Moon Goddess will know if the sacrifice is not freely given, and she will reject it.”

Nicholas felt something loosen in his chest for the first time since Victoria had dropped the bombshell about the curse at the border.

There was another way. A way that did not end with Lilith dead.

”There’s a cost, though,” Morgana said, and Nicholas felt the hope freeze in his veins. ”There’s always a cost.”

”What cost?” Nicholas asked.

Morgana closed the book and set it back on the shelf. ”If Lilith surrenders her power to break your curse, she will live. But she will be human. And humans do not survive supernatural bonds for long.”