Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

Nicholas stood from his chair, his movement fluid but deliberate. His posture straightened, and his jaw tightened slightly.

”Brother, I don’t think...”

”Before you say no,” Sebastian cut him off, his voice sharp and commanding, ”listen to me.”

He leaned forward, his entire body language shifting to something more intense.

”We’ve been here for five days,” Sebastian said, each word landing with weight. ”The Summit ends in two days. And before you forget, the full moon is in less than two weeks.”

The words hung in the air like a death knell.

Both Nicholas and Lucian understood immediately what that meant. The full moon. The curse that came with it. The way the Blackwood brothers went partially feral during the full moon cycle. The way they had to be extremely careful about control during that time.

”We cannot have the Blackwood brothers going feral on another pack’s soil,” Sebastian continued, his voice dropping. ”It would be disastrous. It would be a political catastrophe. It would destroy everything we’ve built. Everything we’ve worked for.”

He stood, moving closer to Nicholas.

”We need to get her to come back with us as early as possible,” Sebastian said, his voice carrying the full weight of urgency and desperation. ”Or we will regret it, brother. We will all regret it. Because if the full moon hits while we’re still here, if our control slips while she’s still on Shadowmere territory, we could hurt her. We could scare her permanently. We could lose her in ways we can’t recover from. And I won’t accept that possibility. None of us can afford that.”

The realization of that possibility hung heavy.

Nicholas turned away and walked to the window, his hands gripping the sill so hard his knuckles turned white with tension. His entire body became rigid as the weight of Sebastian’s words sank in.

He stood there in silence for a long moment, looking out at the compound below. The morning sun was casting long shadows across the courtyards. Warriors were moving about their duties. Staff members were preparing for the day. Everything was proceeding as normal in Shadowmere.

But in his room, everything was spiraling toward a crisis.

When Nicholas finally spoke, his voice was quieter than it had been. Vulnerable in a way that neither of his brothers had heard in a very long time.

”I just don’t want her to reject us when we tell her.”

The words seemed to cost him something to say.

”I can feel it,” Nicholas continued, his eyes fixed on the compound below but his focus clearly turned inward. ”Through the bond. She’s not yet ready to accept us. Not in the way we need her to accept us. And when we tell her, when we make it clear what she is to us and what that means, I’m afraid she’ll reject us.”

His jaw clenched.

”And when we tell her,” he said quietly, his voice carrying a depth of fear that neither brother had heard before, ”when we make it clear what she is to us and what that means, I’m afraid she’ll reject us. I’m afraid she’ll try to run. I’m afraid she’ll see us as predators instead of protectors.”

He paused, his grip on the windowsill loosening slightly as he continued.

”And if she rejects us,” he said, his voice almost breaking with the weight of the implications, ”then we’ll have to do things that will hurt her. We’ll have to use coercion. We’ll have to use force. We’ll have to do things that will make her fear us. And I can’t...”

He stopped, unable to finish the sentence because the implications were too heavy, too dark, too real.

But his brothers understood perfectly.

It wasn’t that Nicholas didn’t want to claim her. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t use force if necessary. It was that using force, coercing her, hurting her in the process, that would damage the bond in ways they might not be able to repair. That would create a future where she resented them instead of accepted them. That would turn their mate into a prisoner instead of a willing partner.

That was what Nicholas feared most.

Not rejection itself, but what rejection would force them to do.

Lucian stood slowly, understanding flooding his features with sudden clarity and painful comprehension.

”Oh,” he said quietly, the single syllable carrying deep understanding that cut through the desperation and frustration of the past moments.

Sebastian nodded, his expression becoming serious and resigned.

Sebastian nodded, understanding as well.

”Well, we wouldn’t know if we don’t try, brother,” Sebastian said, his voice gentle now. ”Because if we continue like this, playing this seduction game, waiting for her to come to understanding on her own....I fear what would happen.”

He moved closer to the window where Nicholas stood.

”She’s wolfless, and that makes matters even worse,” Sebastian continued. ”There’s no expected mate bond snapping into place when her wolf finally accepts us. There’s no biological imperative that will push her toward acceptance. There’s no instinct that will force her to recognize us as hers. So now it’s just us. Our wolves. And what we can make her feel.”

He paused, letting his words settle into the heavy air between them.

”So I suggest we try at least,” Sebastian said firmly, his voice becoming harder, more resolved. ”Tell her. Make her understand. Give her the choice to come willingly. But understand that if she refuses, if she tries to reject us.... he stopped and let the words sink then he continued ”But i don’t think we have to worry about that happening because we have the resources to make her come anyway. We have the power to ensure she comes with us regardless of her initial resistance. And we have the means to take care of her mother, which is the only thing in this realm she truly cares about.”

His voice hardened.

”We’ll use what leverage we have,” Sebastian said. ”We’ll coerce her if necessary. We’ll make her understand that she doesn’t have a choice. Not really. Not in any way that matters. But she comes with us, Nicholas. We don’t leave Shadowmere without her.”

Nicholas was silent for a long time, his shoulders tense, his mind clearly wrestling with the implications of what Sebastian was proposing.

When he finally turned from the window, his expression had changed. The uncertainty was gone. The fear was still there, but it had been locked away behind something harder. Something colder.

Something ruthless.

”And then we can promise her that we will look into what actually happened during the alliance meeting,” Nicholas said, his voice measured and controlled in a way that suggested the decision had been made.