Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

He cried for her. For the impossible choice she would have to make. For the fact that loving him and his brothers had destroyed her life.

He cried for his pack members who died protecting her. For the allies who came when called and paid with their lives.

He cried for Sebastian and Lucian who were falling apart just as badly as he was but trying to hold it together for each other.

He cried for the future they would never have. For the life they could have built if fate had been kinder. For everything they were about to lose.

And when the tears finally stopped, when he had nothing left inside him except hollow exhaustion, Nicholas straightened and wiped his face and rebuilt the mask of control he needed to lead.

Because that was what Alphas did.

They broke down in private. And then they stood up and led.

Nicholas turned back to Lilith and crossed to the bed one more time.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, gentle and filled with everything he could not say out loud.

”I love you,” he whispered against her skin. ”I should have said it more. Should have made sure you knew. But I love you. All three of us do. And we’re going to save you or die trying.”

A knock at the door made Nicholas straighten.

He composed himself in the three seconds it took to cross to the door and open it.

Selene stood in the hallway, still in her silver armor, her moonlight eyes somber.

”Alpha Blackwood,” she said formally. ”I need to speak with you. Privately. It’s about the girl.”

Nicholas felt his stomach drop. ”What about her?”

”Not here,” Selene said, glancing past him at Lilith’s unconscious form. ”Somewhere we can talk without...” She stopped. ”Without her hearing. Even unconscious, she might be aware on some level. And what I need to tell you....is she shouldn’t hear it yet.”

Nicholas looked back at Lilith one more time. Then he stepped into the hallway and closed the door quietly behind him.

”What is it?” he asked.

Selene’s expression was grave. ”We need to talk about the bonds. About what they really are. Because Alpha Blackwood, what your mate has with you and your brothers isn’t a normal mate bond. And that changes everything.”

***

Victoria’s POV

Victoria’s room looked like a library had exploded.

Books covered every surface....stacked on the desk, piled on the floor, spread open across the bed. Scrolls unrolled across the dresser. Loose pages covered in notes written in three different languages scattered everywhere. Candles burned down to stubs, their wax pooling on the nightstand.

Victoria sat in the center of the chaos with her eyes burning from exhaustion and her hands shaking from too much caffeine and not enough sleep.

Twenty-four hours.

She had been awake for twenty-four hours straight, reading everything she could find about curses and prophecies and divine retribution. Searching for loopholes. Looking for precedents. Desperate to find something....anything that would give her a way to save Lilith that did not end in death or devastation.

And she had found nothing.

Every text said the same thing. Curses placed by the Moon Goddess were absolute. Prophecies spoken by true seers were immutable. And sacrifices demanded by divine entities could not be circumvented without catastrophic consequences.

Victoria wanted to scream.

Wanted to tear every book to shreds and burn the pages and curse the Moon Goddess herself for being so cruel and inflexible.

But screaming would not save Lilith.

So Victoria kept reading.

”In cases where a divine curse has transferred to a mate bond recipient, the curse adapts to the new host’s magical signature and becomes intrinsically linked to their life force. Severing the bond may theoretically remove the curse, but the trauma of such severance is typically fatal to....”

Victoria slammed the book shut.

She had read this passage five times already. It always said the same thing. Severing the bonds might break the curse but it would leave Lilith damaged in the process.

Not helpful.

Not acceptable.

There had to be another way.

Victoria reached for the next book....Bonds of Fate: A Comprehensive Study of Supernatural Connections, and was about to open it when a knock sounded at her door.

”Go away,” Victoria said without looking up.

The knock came again. More insistent.

”I said go away!” Victoria snapped. ”Unless you have a way to break an unbreakable curse, I don’t want to hear it!”

The door opened anyway.

Victoria’s head snapped up, ready to blast whoever had the audacity to ignore her, and stopped when she saw Selene standing in the doorway.

The Moon Temple Guardian looked exactly as composed as she had on the battlefield, silver armor gleaming, moonlight eyes steady, presence radiating quiet authority.

”We need to talk,” Selene said.

”I’m busy,” Victoria said.

”I know,” Selene said. ”You’ve been in here for over a day searching for a solution that your books can’t give you. I’m here to tell you why.”

Victoria felt something cold settle in her stomach. ”What do you mean?”

Selene stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. She looked at the chaos of research materials with an expression that might have been sympathy.

”You’re looking for information about standard mate bonds,” Selene said. ”Ways to sever them. Rituals to break the curse by breaking the connection. Yes?”

”Obviously,” Victoria said. ”If the bonds are what’s keeping the curse anchored to Lilith, then severing them should...”

”Kill her,” Selene interrupted. ”Immediately. With absolute certainty. No ritual in existence could sever what Lilith has with the Blackwood Alphas without killing everyone involved.”

Victoria felt ice slide down her spine. ”What are you talking about? I’ve researched bond severance extensively. Henrik is one of the best bond-breakers alive. If we perform the ritual carefully...”

”It won’t matter,” Selene said. Her voice was gentle but absolute. ”Because what Lilith has with the three Alphas isn’t a normal mate bond.”

Victoria stared at her. ”What?”