Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

He laid it out clean to them.

The sixth post. Someone had uploaded a direct claim that Victor Thorne had been false-fully accused.

Callum had seen it within forty minutes of it going up and had it scrubbed from every platform it appeared on within three hours. Fast enough that the spread was minimal. But not fast enough that nobody saw it.

"How many people saw it," Sebastian said.

"Enough," Nicholas said. "Callum estimates maybe sixty accounts across three forums before it came down. Most of them pack members from smaller territories. Nobody with direct connection to us."

"But someone will talk," Lucian said.

"Someone always talks," Nicholas agreed. "Which is why we need to move faster on identifying the source." He looked at both brothers. "Eli traced the account that posted it. Brand new. Created forty eight hours before the post went up. No history. No other activity." He paused. "But the IP address puts it inside Shadowmere territory."

Sebastian’s jaw tightened.

"Shadowmere," he said.

"Yes."

Lucian leaned forward now. The smile gone. Something sharper replacing it. "Someone inside Shadowmere is building this deliberately. Post by post. Each one closer to the truth than the last."

"Yes," Nicholas said.

"Do we have a name."

"Not yet. Finn is inside Shadowmere territory now through back channels. He will have something for us by tonight or tomorrow morning." Nicholas closed the file. "Until then nobody says anything to Lilith. She already knows the post claimed her father was false-fully accused and murdered. She came to me few hours ago."

Both brothers looked at him.

"What did you tell her?" Sebastian asked carefully.

"That we are investigating. That I will tell her the truth when we have the full picture." He held Sebastian’s gaze. "She accepted that."

"For now," Lucian said quietly.

"For now," Nicholas agreed.

The room was quiet for a moment.

Then Nicholas looked up from the desk.

"Now," he said. "The training room situation."

Neither brother moved.

Sebastian’s expression did not change.

Lucian’s almost-smile came back to his face.

Nicholas looked between them.

"The entire pack is talking," he said. His voice was completely even. "Every member who used the training ground yesterday afternoon heard everything. And what they heard is now the primary topic of conversation across the entire estate."

Sebastian shrugged with one shoulder, looking completely unbothered.

"Nobody was in there," he said.

"That is not the point," Nicholas said.

"Then what is the point?," Lucian asked.

Nicholas looked at his youngest brother.

Then at Sebastian.

Then he set down his pen and leaned back in his chair.

"She is our mate," he said. "Not a she-wolf we brought in to fuck for fun. Not pack entertainment. Our mate." He held both their gazes. "What you do with her is your business. I have nothing to say about that. But where you do it is mine." He paused. "The training ground is used by every pack member. The walls are not thick. And our mate deserves better than a training room floor."

Sebastian was quiet for a moment.

Something moved across his face.

Not defensiveness.

Something more like recognition.

"You’re right," he said.

Nicholas looked at him.

That was not the response he had expected.

"She deserved better than that," Sebastian said again. Quieter this time. Looking at his hands. "I know that. I just...." He stopped. "I wasn’t thinking."

"None of us were," Lucian said. He was not smiling now. His golden eyes were honest. "We have been holding back for so long that when it finally...." He exhaled. "We were not thinking about where we were."

Nicholas looked at both brothers.

At Sebastian sitting with his forearms on his knees looking at the floor.

At Lucian sitting back with something genuine and slightly ashamed on his face.

He exhaled.

"Find somewhere appropriate next time," he said. "She is your mate. Treat her like one."

Sebastian looked up at Nicholas and then nodded once.

Then Lucian said, "I am already planning it."

Sebastian made a sound that was almost a laugh.

Nicholas just shook his head.

The meeting should have ended there.

But Sebastian looked up.

"The curse, how is it this morning?" he asked.

Nicholas looked at him but chose to stay quite.

"I felt it this morning," Sebastian said. "The same weight. Exactly the same." His dark eyes were direct. "I thought....after yesterday....I thought something might have shifted."

"It shifted," Nicholas said carefully.

Sebastian frowned.

"The bond," Nicholas said. "The threads. They are closer than they were yesterday. I felt them move." He paused. "But the curse itself will not lift until all three bonds are complete. Marked and sealed." He looked at his brother. "You know that."

Sebastian held his gaze.

"I know," he said.

"Then you know what needs to happen."

"Yes," Sebastian said. "I know."

Lucian was looking at the window, at the estate grounds outside. The morning light on the training field. The forest beyond it dark and still.

"What about Victoria?" he asked.

"Finn will have something tonight," Nicholas said. "Until then we keep her close. We keep her comfortable. We give her no reason to feel like something is wrong." He looked at both brothers. "She is already asking questions. She is already suspecting things. We have to make sure we do not give her any reason to doubt us."

Both brothers nodded.

"One more thing," Nicholas said.

They both looked at him.

"She is happy," he said. Simply. "For the first time since she arrived....she is actually happy. I can feel it through the bond." He held their gazes. "Don’t take that from her. Not yet. Let her have it for a little while before everything gets complicated."

Sebastian looked at him for a long moment.

And Nicholas saw something in his face that he did not see often.

Gratitude maybe, or something close to it.

"Okay," he said.

Lucian nodded, they he stood up and started walking toward the door then he stopped with his hand on the frame.

Looked back at Nicholas.

"You felt it too," he said quietly. "Yesterday. When the threads moved closer." He tilted his head. "How did it feel?"

Nicholas looked at him and thought about how he felt that morning.

"Like something is finally going the right way," he said.

Lucian nodded then walked out of the office.

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