Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

Lilith.

She was there.

Curled up on the moss-covered ground in the center of the clearing, her nightgown torn and dirty, her hair tangled around her face, her bare feet scratched and bleeding. She was lying on her side with her knees pulled up to her chest, perfectly still except for the slow rise and fall of her breathing.

Asleep.

Just sleeping.

And completely alone.

Kael shifted before he consciously decided to do it. The transformation ripped through him fast and brutal, and then Nicholas was standing naked in the clearing with his heart slamming against his ribs. He ran to her and dropped to his knees beside her, his hands immediately going to her face, her throat, checking for injuries, checking her pulse.

"Lilith," he said, his voice rough. "Lilith, wake up."

She didn’t respond.

Sebastian and Lucian shifted behind him and were at his side in seconds, both of them just as naked and just as frantic.

"Is she hurt?" Sebastian demanded, his hands hovering over her like he was afraid to touch her.

"I don’t know." Nicholas tilted her face toward him and checked her pupils....even and responsive even though her eyes were closed. Her pulse was steady under his fingers. Her breathing was normal. But her skin was cold. Too cold. "Lilith. Can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Lucian was already scanning the clearing, his eyes wild and his hands clenched into fists. "Where is she? Where the fuck is Victoria?"

Nicholas looked around properly for the first time and felt his blood run cold.

The clearing was empty except for Lilith. But it was not natural. The standing stones arranged in a perfect circle around them were ancient...older than the Blackwood pack, older than any pack he knew of. And they were still glowing faintly with residual magic, a pale silver light that pulsed in time with something Nicholas could not see.

The air smelled wrong. Not just forest and earth and moss. There was something underneath it, something sharp and metallic and old. Ancient magic. The kind that left traces long after the caster was gone.

Nicholas inhaled deeply, trying to catch a specific scent, trying to identify who had been here. But there was nothing distinct. Just that overwhelming presence of power that made his skin crawl.

Victoria must have been here. She had to have been. Lilith could not have walked six miles through the forest and found this exact spot on her own. Someone had called her here. Someone had brought her to this clearing and laid her down on the moss and then...

Left.

Just left her here alone.

Why?

"Nicholas." Sebastian’s voice was tight. "She’s not waking up."

Nicholas looked down at Lilith and felt panic claw at his chest. Sebastian was shaking her gently, then harder, calling her name, but she did not stir. Did not open her eyes. Just kept breathing slowly and evenly like she was caught in the deepest sleep imaginable.

"What did she do to her?" Lucian was pacing now, his whole body vibrating with barely contained violence. "What the fuck did Victoria do?"

"I don’t know," Nicholas said, and the admission tasted like failure. "But we need to get her back to the estate. Now."

He slid his arms under Lilith carefully and lifted her, cradling her against his chest. She was limp and cold and completely unresponsive, and the bond was still blank and empty like something was blocking it from the inside.

Sebastian moved closer, his hand going to her face, brushing her hair back. "Lilith. Please. Wake up."

Nothing.

"We need to move," Nicholas said. "Callum...."

"Already signaling the estate," Callum said from the edge of the clearing, still in wolf form. "Dr. Aldric will be ready when we arrive."

Nicholas nodded and turned to carry Lilith back toward the trees when she moved.

Just slightly.

Her head shifted against his chest and her lips parted and she whispered one word so quietly he almost missed it.

"Morvaine."

Nicholas froze.

Sebastian and Lucian both heard it too. They went completely still, their eyes locked on Lilith’s face.

She didn’t wake up. Did not open her eyes. Just whispered that single word and then went limp again, her breathing evening out into that same deep unnatural sleep.

"She knows," Lucian said quietly. "Fuck. She knows."

Nicholas felt something cold settle in his chest. Victoria had not just called Lilith here. She had shown her something. Told her something. And now Lilith knew her real name, knew what bloodline she came from, knew at least part of the truth they had been keeping from her.

"We need to go," Nicholas said again, and this time there was no argument.

Sebastian shifted back into Rhen immediately. Lucian shifted into Zev. The three Betas flanked them as Nicholas started running with Lilith in his arms, and he did not look back at the clearing or the standing stones or the residual magic still hanging in the air.

They ran.

Nicholas pushed himself faster than he ever had before, his bare feet pounding against the forest floor, branches whipping past his face, his entire focus on getting Lilith home and safe and away from whatever Victoria had done to her.

The bond was still blank. Still blocked. And Nicholas did not know if that was Victoria’s doing or if something inside Lilith had changed, had woken up, had locked him out.

Either way, they were running out of time.

***

Nicholas burst through the front doors of the estate with Lilith limp and cold in his arms, and Agnes was already there waiting with blankets and fear written across her face.

"Upstairs," Nicholas said before she could ask. "My room. Get Dr. Aldric."

"He’s already on his way, Alpha."

Nicholas didn’t slow down. He took the stairs three at a time with Sebastian and Lucian right behind him, both of them had shifted back to human form and they were naked now but none of them seem to care about it. The only thing that mattered was the girl in his arms who would not wake up, whose skin was too cold, whose whispered word still echoed in his head.

Morvaine.

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