Chapter 132: Something’s Happening With The Blackwood Alphas
Lilith found Emma in the omega quarters’ common area, sitting alone with a cup of tea that had long gone cold.
The evening had settled over Shadowmere like a heavy blanket. The formal ceremony had concluded hours ago. The alphas had dispersed to their various quarters. The compound had settled into the quieter rhythms of night preparation.
Emma looked up when Lilith approached, and her kind eyes immediately showed concern.
"Lilith," Emma said, setting down her tea cup. "Come. Sit with me."
Lilith sank into the chair across from her friend. She needed to talk to someone. She needed to say the things out loud that had been spinning in her mind since everything had become so confusing and overwhelming that she couldn’t process it alone anymore.
Emma studied her face for a long moment, her expression shifting from concern to understanding.
"Something’s happening with the Blackwood alphas," Emma said. It wasn’t a question.
Lilith’s face flushed immediately, and that was answer enough.
"Talk to me," Emma said gently. "Tell me what’s going on."
Lilith struggled to find the words. How could she explain what she didn’t fully understand herself? How could she describe the way her body responded to them? How could she admit the confusion of fear mixed with something that felt dangerously like desire?
"They’re... they’re just being kind," Lilith said finally, the words sounding weak even to her own ears. "They’re asking me to help them with things. And they’re interested in how I’m doing. That’s all."
Emma’s expression hardened slightly.
"Lilith," she said, her voice becoming sharper. "Look at me."
Lilith raised her eyes to meet Emma’s gaze.
"I need you to listen to me very carefully," Emma said, leaning forward. "Because what I’m about to tell you is important. It’s more important than your comfort or your confusion or whatever you’re feeling right now."
Lilith swallowed hard, sensing the shift in Emma’s tone.
"Do you remember why you were sent to the Blackwood estate?" Emma asked quietly.
"The blood debt," Lilith said. "My father...."
"Your father was responsible for the death of the Blackwoods’ father," Emma interrupted, her voice firm. "That’s why they held you responsible. That’s why they made you pay with your own body. You weren’t there because of anything you did, Lilith. You were there because of who your father was. You were there because they decided you would be the payment for his crime."
Lilith felt her chest tighten.
"During those sixteen days at their estate, they used you," Emma continued, her voice carrying the weight of someone who understood exactly what she was saying. "They had the legal right to do so. The blood debt gave them that right. But what you need to understand is this: they saw you as payment. They saw you as a traitor’s daughter."
"But they released me," Lilith said, her voice small. "The contract was fulfilled. They let me go."
"Did they?" Emma asked, her eyes sharp. "Or are they just playing a longer game? Because Lilith, the way they’re looking at you now, that’s not the look of alphas who are done with you. That’s the look of alphas who are just beginning."
Lilith felt the words hit like physical blows.
"Whatever you’re feeling for them," Emma said slowly, "whatever is happening when they look at you or touch you or speak to you, you need to be careful. You need to think carefully about what’s really happening here. Because the Blackwoods don’t do anything without strategy. They don’t show interest without intention. And they certainly don’t come to a Summit just to be polite to an omega from another pack."
"What are you saying?" Lilith asked, though she already knew. She already understood the implication beneath Emma’s words.
"I’m saying that you need to remember what you are to them," Emma said gently but firmly. "You’re not a person they care about. You’re a debt that was paid. You’re the daughter of the man responsible for their father’s death. Whatever is happening now, the attention, the kindness, the seduction....it’s all strategy. It’s all manipulation. It’s all part of a game you don’t fully understand."
Lilith felt tears burning at the back of her eyes.
"Once they claim you, Lilith," Emma continued, her voice dropping lower, "you’re theirs in ways you can’t undo. You’re theirs forever. And they won’t let you go. Not for anything. Not for anyone. You’ll belong to them completely. Your body. Your mind. Your future. Everything."
"But...." Lilith started to protest, but Emma reached across the table and gripped her hand.
"Just be careful," Emma said, her kind eyes now filled with worry and understanding. "Be very careful about what you let them do to you. Because once you cross certain lines, you can’t go back."
Lilith sat there in the quiet of the common area, her friend’s warning echoing in her mind. Emma’s words had cut through the confusion and the desire and the overwhelming sensations, forcing her to confront something she’d been avoiding.
Were they really seducing her? Or were they just manipulating a girl they’d already decided belonged to them?
"Thank you," Lilith whispered finally.
Emma squeezed her hand and released it.
"Just be careful," Emma said one more time. "That’s all I’m asking. Be careful and be aware."
Lilith made her way back to her room in the Blackwood quarters in a daze.
Emma’s words kept replaying in her mind. The blood debt. The payment. The strategy. The claim that couldn’t be undone.
She closed her door and collapsed onto her bed, her mind spinning with conflicting thoughts and emotions.
She tried to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come. Her body was restless. Her skin felt too tight. Her mind wouldn’t settle.
Hours passed.
Eventually, exhaustion won out over her spinning thoughts. She drifted into sleep still fully clothed in her simple black gown, her dreams coming quickly and intensely.
***
The dream started with sensations rather than images.
Hands touching her. Multiple hands. Coming from different directions, moving across her skin with deliberate intent. She couldn’t see faces. She couldn’t tell who was who. There was just the blur of sensation and need and overwhelming pleasure.
Gold eyes. Silver eyes. Dark eyes. All watching her. All focused entirely on her.
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