Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

"She’ll be back," Nicholas said.

"I know," Callum agreed. "But not today. Not with the Guardians still here. She’s not stupid enough to attack while they’re present."

Nicholas absorbed this. Thalia was wounded and her forces were decimated. But she was not dead. Not captured. Not neutralized.

Just delayed.

"How’s Lilith?" Callum asked quietly.

Nicholas felt something crack in the numbness. "The same. Unconscious. Stabilized but not improving."

"And the curse?"

"Victoria says we have hours before it breaks through Selene’s containment and finishes what it started."

Callum was quiet for a moment. "I’m sorry, Nicholas. For all of this."

"Don’t," Nicholas said, his voice harder than he intended. "Don’t apologize for things that aren’t your fault."

"Then who do I blame?" Callum asked. "The Moon Goddess who cursed you? Thalia who attacked us? The prophecy that demands Lilith’s death? There’s too much blame to go around and nowhere useful to put it."

Nicholas had no answer for that.

They stood in silence watching the sun climb higher, painting the destroyed grounds in golden light that made the devastation look almost beautiful.

"The pack needs to see you," Callum said finally. "They need to know their Alpha is still standing. That we survived this."

"Did we?" Nicholas asked quietly. "Survive?"

"We’re still breathing," Callum said. "That’s all survival is sometimes."

Nicholas knew Callum was right. Knew he needed to address the pack. Needed to be strong and certain and everything an Alpha was supposed to be in the face of catastrophe.

But first he needed to see her.

"I’ll address everyone at noon," Nicholas said. "Give me a few hours."

Callum nodded and left without argument.

Nicholas turned and walked back toward the estate.

***

"Thirty minutes later"

Lilith’s room was too quiet.

Nicholas stood in the doorway and looked at her lying in the bed....pale and still and surrounded by the faint scent of blood and magic. Sebastian had cleaned her up as much as possible but traces of what had happened still lingered.

Someone had changed her into clean clothes. Had brushed the blood from her hair. Had arranged her hands folded peacefully on her stomach like she was already dead and they were preparing her for burial.

Nicholas hated it.

He moved to the bed and sat in the chair Sebastian had pulled up hours ago. His brother had left reluctantly when Lucian came to take over the watch, and Lucian had only left when Nicholas himself arrived.

They were taking shifts. Rotating through like soldiers on guard duty. Making sure she was never alone even when there was nothing they could do except sit and watch her die slowly.

Nicholas reached out and took Lilith’s hand.

It was cold. Too cold. Her skin had lost the warmth that came from living and moving and being present in the world.

But her chest still rose and fell with shallow breaths. Her heart still beat, he could see the faint pulse at her throat. And around her neck, the crystal necklace Elena Markov had given him glowed with faint silver light.

Nicholas had almost forgotten about the necklace.

Elena had given it to him when they delivered her to the safe house. Had pressed it into his palm and said it might help slow the curse’s progression. He had put it around Lilith’s neck the moment they returned to the estate and then forgotten about it in the chaos of Thalia’s attack.

But now, looking at the way it pulsed gently with each of Lilith’s breaths...

It was keeping her alive.

Not curing her. Not breaking the curse. But buying time. Holding her in this space between life and death long enough for them to find a solution.

Or long enough for her to slip away peacefully.

Nicholas did not know which anymore.

"I’m sorry," he said quietly to her unconscious form. "This is my fault. My family’s curse. My great-great-grandfather’s sins coming home to roost. And you’re paying the price for all of it."

Lilith didn’t respond. Could not respond. Just lay there breathing.

"Victoria says we have hours," Nicholas continued. "Maybe a day if we’re lucky. And I don’t know what to do. I’ve led this pack through wars and famines and challenges that should have destroyed us. But this..." His voice broke. "I don’t know how to fight a prophecy. Don’t know how to save you from something that’s literally woven into the fabric of fate."

He squeezed her hand gently.

"But I’m going to try," Nicholas said. "We all are. Victoria is researching. Selene and the Guardians are consulting their archives. Sebastian and Lucian are holding the pack together while I fall apart. Everyone is doing everything they can to find a way to save you."

Through the bond he could feel her...distant and fading but still there. Still tethered to him by threads that refused to break even when death was pulling at her.

"Don’t let go," Nicholas whispered. "Please, Lilith. Hold on just a little longer. We’ll find a way. We have to find a way."

But the words felt hollow even as he said them.

Because he had been to see Morgana. Had heard the complete prophecy. Had been told there were only three options and all of them ended in loss.

And Nicholas was starting to think maybe the Moon Goddess didn’t want them to find another way.

Maybe this was punishment. Maybe this was justice. Maybe this was what his bloodline deserved for destroying something sacred.

Maybe Lilith was always meant to be the sacrifice.

The thought made something crack inside Nicholas’s chest.

He stood abruptly and walked to the window, staring out at the grounds where people were still cleaning up the dead.

His pack. His responsibility. His failure.

And Lilith...

The tears came without warning.

One moment Nicholas was standing at the window composed and functional. The next he was doubled over with his forehead pressed against the glass and sobs tearing out of him that he had been holding back since the moment Lilith collapsed.

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