Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

”Stable,” Lilith repeated. ”Healing.”

”Good,” Lucian said.

Nicholas appeared a moment later, entering the room with the same measured composure he always carried, but there was something different in the way he looked at her.

”Welcome back,” he said simply, and the simplicity of it somehow meant more than elaborate words would have.

***

Lilith excused herself eventually, exhaustion pulling at her bones, and made her way back to her room.

Her room was exactly as she’d left it, the flowers still fresh in their vase, the books waiting on the shelves, everything arranged with the kind of careful attention that suggested someone had been maintaining it in her absence.

Agnes appeared shortly after, carrying fresh flowers and a pot of tea. She moved through the room, setting the flowers on the vanity, the tea on the small table by the window.

”How is your Mother?.” Agnes asked ”Is she responding well to treatment?.”

Lilith’s chest tightened with relief and gratitude. ”Thank you for asking, and yes she is stable now”

”Of course,” Agnes said simply. ”She matters to you, so she matters to us.”

Agnes moved toward the door, then paused in the threshold, looking back at Lilith with an expression that was almost knowing.

”Get some rest,” she said. ”You’ve been away for two days, and I bet Sera cannot wait to see you tomorrow morning. Just be prepared, she’ll likely come knock at your door early. That girl has no concept of reasonable wake-up times.”

Lilith laughed at that, a small sound of genuine amusement, and Agnes smiled before closing the door softly behind her, leaving Lilith alone with her thoughts.

She changed out of her travel clothes and into her sleeping gown, moving through the familiar motions of preparing for bed. But instead of the restless, anxious sleep she’d been managing in the hospital chair, instead of the shallow drifting that had characterized her nights for weeks, Lilith sank into her comfortable bed and felt her entire body relax.

The mattress was soft. The pillows were pillows, not hospital plastic. The sheets were clean and cool against her skin. And for the first time in days, Lilith slept deeply.

***

Two days after returning from the hospital, Lilith found herself in the library again.

It had become something of a refuge, a place where the weight of everything happening around her felt manageable, where she could lose herself in stories and forget for a while that her entire life had shifted on its axis. The afternoon light filtered through the tall windows, painting the shelves in soft gold, and the quiet of the space felt like a held breath.

She was deep in a book about ancient wolf-witch alliances, not by design, but simply because her hand had found it when she was browsing....when Sebastian appeared at the edge of the reading alcove.

”Mind if I join you?” he asked, and the question itself was different from how he might have asked it weeks ago. There was genuine inquiry in it, genuine willingness to accept a no if that’s what she wanted.

”Of course,” Lilith said, setting her book aside slightly to make room.

He settled into the chair beside hers, He didn’t sit too close. He didn’t demand her attention. He simply existed beside her in the quiet space of the library.

They sat like that for a while, not speaking, Then Lilith picked her book back up, but she wasn’t entirely focused on reading. Part of her was aware of Sebastian’s presence, of the way his dark eyes occasionally moved toward her, of the kind of peace that seemed to radiate from him now that hadn’t been there before.

”What are you reading?” he asked eventually, his voice low in the quiet of the library.

”Wolf-witch alliances,” Lilith said. ”Ancient history. It’s fascinating, actually.

Sebastian was quiet for a moment. ”That’s not a coincidence, you know. That you’re reading that.”

Lilith set her book down and turned to look at him. ”What do you mean?”

He took a slow breath, choosing his words carefully. ”There’s something you should understand about us. About what we are.”

”Okay,” Lilith said, and she was surprised by how steady her voice sounded. She’d been preparing for this conversation without quite realizing it, had been thinking about it since Sera had mentioned something about the full moons and curses.

”Sera mentioned something the second night I was here,” Lilith said, deciding to guide them toward the subject rather than waiting. ”About the full moons being harder for you. Because of a curse.”

She looked at him directly, meeting his dark eyes with her own. ”I don’t understand what she meant. Can you explain it to me?”

Sebastian was quiet for a long moment, and she could see him wrestling with how much to share, When he finally spoke, his voice was careful but honest.

”The Blackwood line carries a curse,” he said. ”It’s generational. Has been for more than a hundred years. It makes us more feral than normal wolves, more aggressive, harder to control.” He paused, and she could see the weight of admitting this. ”During full moons, it gets worse. The feral instincts override everything else, and we have to fight constantly just to maintain any semblance of control every full moon.”

”How bad is it?” Lilith asked, not looking away from his face.

”Bad enough that our father had to manage it with herbal suppressants and absolute discipline,” Sebastian said. ”Bad enough that previous alphas in our family lost years to it, lost the ability to distinguish between human and wolf.” He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture of frustration.

Lilith looked at him, at his face. Then she folded her hands on her laps.

”Was that why you sent me to the hospital?” she asked. ”During the full moon?”

”Yes,” Sebastian said simply. ”The curse during the full moon makes us dangerous. We didn’t want you anywhere near us when we couldn’t guarantee your safety.”