Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

They were all silent for a moment, looking down at their mate lying unconscious between them with the fresh bond mark on her throat and power still crackling faintly beneath her skin.

"We need to talk to Dr. Aldric," Sebastian said finally. "Make sure she’s really okay. And then we need to figure out what the fuck we’re going to say to her when she wakes up."

"And we need to prepare for Victoria," Nicholas added. "Because when she feels these bonds complete.....and she will feel them.....she’s going to come for Lilith. And she’s not going to ask nicely anymore."

As if summoned by his words, a massive surge of magic exploded at the edge of the territory, powerful enough that all three brothers felt it through their connection to the pack.

"Alpha!" Eli’s panicked voice came through the mindlink. "We have a situation at the northern border. There’s a witch here. She’s demanding to see you immediately. And she’s threatening to burn the entire pack to the ground if you don’t come to her right now."

Nicholas closed his eyes. "Victoria."

"What do we do?" Sebastian asked.

Nicholas looked down at Lilith one more time and then stood, his expression hardening into something cold and unyielding.

"Sebastian, you come with me. Lucian, you stay here with Lilith. Don’t leave her alone for any reason. If Victoria is at the border distracting us, she might try to take Lilith while we’re gone."

"If she wants to take her, I can’t stop her," Lucian said honestly. "Not Victoria. She’s too powerful."

"I know," Nicholas said. "But try anyway. Because if we lose her now, after everything...."

He did not finish the sentence. He did not need to.

They all knew what was at stake.

Nicholas and Sebastian dressed quickly and headed for the door. Lucian stayed on the bed beside Lilith, his hand resting on her shoulder, feeling the bond pulse steady and strong beneath his fingers.

All three bonds complete.

The curse should be breaking any moment now. They should be feeling the pressure lift, the wolves settling, freedom finally within reach.

But all Lucian could think about was the fact that when Lilith woke up, she was going to hate them all over again.

And this time, they might not be able to convince her to stay.

***

Nicholas POV

The northern border was chaos when Nicholas and Sebastian arrived.

Pack warriors stood in tight formation....some in wolf form with hackles raised and teeth bared, others in human form with weapons drawn, all of them positioned in a defensive line blocking something Nicholas could not yet see. The air crackled with tension and the sharp acrid smell of fear, and even from a distance Nicholas could feel the wrongness pressing against his skin like static electricity.

Magic. Old magic. Powerful magic.

Victoria.

"What’s the situation?" Nicholas pushed through the mindlink to Eli.

"She just appeared, Alpha. One moment the border was clear, the next she was sitting there like she’d been waiting for hours. She hasn’t moved. Hasn’t attacked. Just keeps saying she wants to speak with you. But the power coming off her....." Eli’s mental voice was strained. ".....it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt. We can’t get close to her. Every time we try, the air gets too heavy to breathe."

Nicholas exchanged a glance with Sebastian and saw his own tension reflected back. They had known Victoria would come. Had been counting on three days to prepare, to figure out what to say to Lilith when she woke, to shore up their defenses.

But Victoria had felt the bonds complete. Had felt Lilith’s power surge when all three marks snapped into place.

And she had come immediately.

Nicholas pushed through the formation of warriors, Sebastian at his side, and the wolves parted for them with visible relief. Callum stood at the front with Finn and Eli flanking him, all three of them tense and ready to fight despite the fear Nicholas could smell rolling off them.

"Alpha," Callum said quietly. "She’s been waiting for you."

Nicholas looked past him and felt his breath catch.

Victoria Morvaine sat on a chair in the middle of the clearing, a chair that shouldn’t exist, that could not exist, made entirely of spider webs woven together in impossibly intricate patterns that glowed faintly silver in the moonlight. She sat with perfect posture, her hands folded in her lap, her dark hair falling loose around her shoulders. She wore black...always black....and her eyes were the same shade as Lilith’s but colder, harder, absolutely merciless.

She looked like she was waiting for tea.

Like she had not just threatened to burn an entire pack to the ground.

Nicholas walked forward slowly, each step measured and deliberate, until he was standing ten feet away from her. Close enough to speak. Far enough to react if she attacked.

"Victoria," he said, and kept his voice cold and neutral.

Victoria’s gaze slid to him and something that might have been amusement flickered across her face. "Nicholas Blackwood. How long has it been? Two hours? Three hours?"

"Three hours," Nicholas confirmed.

’’And you decided to mark my niece within those few hours?’’ Victoria asked, her eyes looked straight at Nicholas and he could see the anger in her eyes.

Nicholas cleared his throat and said ’’It happened, There was nothing we could do to stop it’’

Victoria laughed ’’How convenient, it happened barely four hours after i demanded that you hand her over to me and you are standing there and telling me that it JUST happened?’’

Nicholas didn’t reply, he just stood there, his eyes tracking all her movement.

’’When was the time you saw me get angry Alpha Nicholas?’’ Victoria looked at him, then back to her nails. ’’Because it seems you have forgotten how deadly i can become when i am angry’’

"The last time I saw you was at the territory council meeting before you disappeared."

"Before I went into hiding, you mean." Victoria’s smile was sharp. "Before your father decided the Morvaine coven was too dangerous to allow within pack territories and started hunting us like animals."

"That wasn’t...."

"Spare me the excuses," Victoria interrupted, her voice still eerily calm. "I didn’t come here to discuss ancient history. I came here for my niece."

She paused and let the words hang in the air like a threat.

"Hand her over. Right now. Or I burn your pack to the ground."