Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

She said it the way someone might comment on the weather....casual, conversational and absolutely serious and Nicholas felt every wolf behind him tense.

"You can’t have her," Nicholas said, and his voice did not waver.

Victoria tilted her head slightly, studying him. "Can’t? Or won’t?"

"Both." Nicholas responded.

"Interesting." Victoria stood slowly and the chair beneath her simply dissolved, the spider webs unraveling and disappearing into nothing. "You know what I’m capable of Nicholas. You know I could reduce this entire territory to ash with a thought. And yet you stand there and tell me I can’t have my own blood?"

"She’s our mate," Nicholas said.

"She’s MY NIECE!" Victoria’s composure cracked for just a moment, her voice rising, and the air around her shimmered with power. "She’s the last family I have. The last piece of my sister. And you’ve CLAIMED her like she’s property to be owned!"

"She chose us," Sebastian said from beside Nicholas, his voice hard. "She had every opportunity to leave and she stayed."

Victoria’s laugh cut through the clearing like a whip....high and cold and absolutely wrong. Every wolf within earshot flinched, even the ones in formation behind Nicholas. Even Sebastian, though he hid it well. The sound raised the hair on Nicholas’s arms and made his wolf press against his skin trying to get out.

"She chose you?" Victoria repeated, still laughing. "She chose you BEFORE she knew you killed her father. Before she knew what you really are. What you’re really using her for."

"We didn’t kill Victor," Nicholas said, his jaw tight. "And you know that."

"Do I?" Victoria took a step toward him and the ground beneath her feet cracked, small fissures spreading outward like a spiderweb. "Then explain to me, Alpha Nicholas, how Victor ended up dead after your pack abandoned him to hunters. Explain how my sister ended up catatonic after losing her mate. Explain how Lilith ended up alone and vulnerable enough to walk into your trap."

"The circumstances of Victor’s death are complicated..." Nicholas started saying.

"Complicated," Victoria repeated, and her voice dropped to something dangerous. "What a lovely word to use for betrayal. For cowardice. For choosing pack politics over doing what was right."

Nicholas felt Kael pushing at his control, demanding to be let out, demanding to defend their territory and their mate from this threat. But he held firm because Victoria was right about one thing, she could burn them all to ash if she wanted to. Starting a fight here would only end in bloodshed.

"Maybe you didn’t deliver the blow that killed him," Victoria continued, moving closer. "But your father gave the order to retreat. Your father chose to leave Victor to die rather than risk pack warriors to save him. And you, all three of you were there. You watched it happen. And you did NOTHING."

The accusation hung in the air and Nicholas could not deny it because it was true.

"So tell me," Victoria said, stopping directly in front of him now, close enough that he could see the power crackling in her eyes, "how are you not responsible for his death?"

"We were under orders," Sebastian said, his voice strained. "Our father was Alpha. Going against him would have meant...."

"Would have meant being brave," Victoria cut him off. "Would have meant standing up for what was right instead of what was convenient. But you didn’t. You chose safety over honor. And Victor paid the price."

Nicholas forced himself to meet her gaze. "We’ve carried the guilt of that night for months. We’ve spent every day since trying to make amends. Trying to find the hunters responsible."

"How noble," Victoria said, and her tone was mocking. "And did you tell Lilith any of this before you marked her? Before you claimed her? Before you tied her to you permanently?"

Nicholas said nothing.

"That’s what I thought." Victoria’s smile was cold. "You kept her in the dark. Let her think you were investigating out of kindness. Let her fall for you before she knew the truth. And now you’re holding her prisoner with bonds she can’t break."

"She’s not a prisoner...."

"ISN’T SHE?" Victoria’s power surged and the trees around the clearing shook, leaves scattering everywhere in a violent wind. "You marked her. All three of you. You completed bonds she didn’t fully understand. You claimed her body and soul and magic without telling her what it would cost. And now you stand here and tell me she CHOSE this?"

"Yes," Nicholas said, even though the word tasted like ash.

Victoria stared at him for a long moment and then shook her head slowly. "You really don’t see it, do you? You really believe the bonds make this consensual. That claiming her makes her yours."

"The bonds are fated...."

"The bonds are a TRAP," Victoria interrupted. "And I won’t let my niece die for you. Not in this world or another."

The words hit Nicholas like a physical blow.

The air went completely still.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Nicholas said, and his voice was barely above a whisper. "We would never let Lilith get hurt. She’s our mate. She BELONGS to us."

His eyes were bleeding gold now, Kael rising to the surface, barely controlled.

Victoria looked at him and then she started laughing again.....that same terrible sound that made every wolf present want to run.

"How DARE you," she said through her laughter, and her voice was shaking with fury. "How DARE you stand there and pretend you don’t know. How DARE you pretend the prophecy is anything but what it is."

"What prophecy?" Sebastian demanded. "What the fuck are you trying to say?"

Victoria’s laughter cut off abruptly and she looked between them with something like shock on her face. "You really don’t know," she breathed. "Oh goddess. You really don’t know what the curse requires."

"We know we need three bonds before the end of the third month of finding our mate," Nicholas said, his blood running cold. "We know completing the bonds will break the curse. That’s what the witch told our father...."

"Told your father PART of it," Victoria interrupted. "The part she could see. The part that was safe to tell you." She took a step back and her expression shifted into something that looked almost like pity. "But the prophecy doesn’t end there, does it? There’s always a price. Always a sacrifice. And you stupid, selfish boys never thought to ask what it would cost."