Lilith woke up in Nicholas’s bed with sunlight streaming through the windows and her entire body aching in the best possible way. She was alone, the sheets cool where Nicholas had been, and when she sat up slowly she found a note on the pillow beside her written in his precise handwriting.
Pack meeting this morning. Stay in bed as long as you need. I’ll send breakfast up.
- N
She smiled despite herself and set the note aside, then immediately regretted moving when every muscle in her body protested. Nicholas had been thorough last night. Possessive and claiming and absolutely relentless, and she could feel the evidence of it in every step she took as she made her way to the bathroom.
The hot shower helped, and by the time she was dressed and downstairs the estate was already buzzing with activity. Wolves moving through the halls with purpose, voices echoing from different rooms, the organized chaos of a pack in motion.
Lilith wandered toward the kitchens following the smell of food and found Agnes already there, sleeves rolled up and hands covered in flour as she worked dough on the counter.
"There you are," Agnes said without looking up, a small smile playing at her lips. "I was wondering when you’d surface."
Lilith’s face went hot. "Is it that obvious?"
"Child, the entire estate knows what happened in that office last night." Agnes shaped the dough into rolls with practiced efficiency. "Alpha Nicholas wasn’t exactly quiet about it."
"Oh god," Lilith muttered, covering her face with her hands.
Agnes laughed, warm and knowing. "Don’t be embarrassed. You’re their mate. It’s natural. And honestly, the pack needed the reminder that the bond is real and strong. Settles nerves."
Lilith dropped her hands and looked at her. "What do you mean?"
Agnes glanced up, her expression softening. "You’re wolfless, dear. That makes some of the pack nervous. They don’t understand how you can be mated to three Alphas when you can’t shift. But when they feel the bond through the mindlink, when they hear the way the Alphas claim you..." She shrugged. "It helps them believe."
"I didn’t know they could feel it through the mindlink."
"Not the details. Just the... intensity. The certainty." Agnes went back to her dough. "It’s good for them to feel it. Reminds them their Alphas are strong and stable. That the curse is breaking."
Lilith absorbed that silently, watching Agnes work. After a moment she asked, "Can I help?"
Agnes looked up in surprise. "You want to help in the kitchens?"
"I need something to do with my hands. And I want to..." She trailed off, not sure how to explain it. "I want to be part of this. The pack. Not just the Alphas’ mate but... part of the community."
Agnes studied her for a long moment and then nodded slowly. "All right then. Wash your hands and start chopping those vegetables over there. We’re preparing for tonight’s meal and I can use the extra hands."
Lilith smiled and moved to the sink, rolling up her sleeves. For the next two hours she worked alongside Agnes and three other omegas who filtered in and out of the kitchen, and it was exactly what she needed. Simple, grounding work that kept her hands busy and her mind focused on something other than bonds and curses and anonymous posts.
The other omegas were cautiously friendly. One of them, a woman named Cara with kind eyes and greying hair, showed her how to properly season the meat. Another younger omega named Beth watched her with open curiosity but said nothing until finally she blurted out, "Is it true you survived the heat with all three of them at once?"
"Beth!" Cara hissed.
"What? I’m just asking!" Beth screamed back at her.
Lilith felt her face heat but she nodded. "Yes. It’s true."
Beth’s eyes went wide. "And you’re still walking?"
"Barely," Lilith admitted, and all three omegas laughed.
The tension broke after that and they started talking more freely.....about pack gossip, about the upcoming full moon next month, about Beth’s younger brother who was convinced he was going to be the next head warrior even though he could barely hold a training sword.
It felt normal. Easy. Like she was just another member of the pack working alongside her packmates.
But then she heard it.
Two voices drifting in from the hallway just outside the kitchen, low and intentionally quiet but not quiet enough.
"...wolfless mate is a sign of weakness..."
"...curse should have taken them by now if she was really their true mate..."
"...how long before the Alphas realize they made a mistake..."
Lilith’s hands stilled on the knife she was holding, her whole body going tense. The omegas around her had gone quiet too, their expressions carefully neutral in the way that meant they had heard it but were pretending they had not.
Agnes set down her rolling pin with a sharp crack against the counter. "Excuse me for a moment."
She walked out of the kitchen and Lilith heard her voice ring out clear and cold in the hallway. "If you have concerns about your Luna, you bring them to the Alphas directly. You do not whisper in corners like cowards. Is that understood?"
The omegas were silent, looking at the floor.
"I asked you a question." Agnes said, her voice already rising now.
"Yes, ma’am," two voices mumbled.
"Good. Now get back to work before I tell Alpha Nicholas you were gossiping about his mate."
Footsteps hurried away and Agnes came back into the kitchen, her expression thunderous. She caught Lilith’s eye and her face softened slightly. "Ignore them. They’re fools."
"They’re right though," Lilith said quietly. "I am wolfless. I don’t understand how I can be their mate either."
"Being wolfless doesn’t make you weak," Cara said firmly, stepping up beside her. "My daughter is wolfless and she’s one of the strongest people I know."
"And the bond doesn’t lie," Beth added. "The whole pack felt it when Alpha Nicholas marked you. We all heard your voice through the mindlink that night. You’re their mate whether you have a wolf or not."
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