Sacrificed To The Triplet Alpha Kings

Chapter 177: The Impossible Decision

When she’d arrived two months ago as a payment and all three of them had been quieter than they’d been in years. The feral edge that had been sharpening day by day and year by year, the constant pull of the curse pressing against their control like a living thing trying to break free, it had settled. Not disappeared, but calmed. Held back by something they couldn’t name or explain or understand.

His wolve had rested for few days when she had just arrived two months ago before they sent her back.

And now that they had just gotten her back, Sebastian had kissed her, and through their bond, Nicholas felt his brother’s desperation, his need, his nearly-completed transformation into something feral and possessive and absolutely claiming.

Nicholas leaned back in his chair, his silver eyes fixed on the blank pages of the oldest records, and he allowed himself to confront the situation with brutal honesty.

The four-day observation period had made sense when they’d decided on it. Give her time to adjust. Observe her readiness. Determine if marking her before the full moon was advisable or if they needed to wait until the next one, a full month away.

But with each passing day, the curse was building pressure again. Not because Lilith was failing to affect them, she was affecting them perfectly, too perfectly, her presence calming them in ways that made it impossible to imagine being without her. But because proximity to her without claiming her, without completing the bond and making it official, was becoming unbearable.

Sebastian had already crossed a line tonight. He’d kissed her. He’d nearly marked her in that library before forcing himself to stop. Nicholas could feel the effort that had cost him through their bond, could sense the tremendous restraint it had taken.

How long before Lucian reached his breaking point? His youngest brother had always been the least controlled, the most feral, the one most likely to let impulse override judgment.

How long before Nicholas’s own control fractured?

The full moon was eight days away. The four-day observation period would end in four days. But could they actually wait that long? Could they survive four more days knowing she was somewhere in this estate, close enough to touch but not yet theirs, not yet officially claimed?

He already knew the answer was no.

But more importantly, he knew what that meant.

He understood, in a way that few people ever could, the weight of decisions that affected not just himself but also his brothers The responsibility of leadership wasn’t something that could be shared equally among three brothers, it filtered down to him, to his shoulders.

Sebastian and Lucian would follow his lead. They always did. It was the way of their bloodline, the way of the pack, the way of the bond between three brothers who’d been born in tandem and raised to understand that Nicholas’s clarity was what kept them all functional.

But this decision, whether to accelerate the marking, whether to push through the four-day timeline, whether to complete the bond before the full moon made them lose all control entirely, this was a decision that would reshape all their futures.

And he wasn’t certain he could make it without destroying something in the process.

If he told them to wait, to maintain the observation period, to give Lilith the full four days to adjust and settle, and if one of them lost control before they could mark her, before they could anchor themselves to her through the bond, the consequences would be catastrophic. He’d seen what happened when Sebastian lost control. He’d felt what it was like when Lucian’s feral nature won. He knew intimately what happened when the curse won.

He’d lost four hours to Kael once.

Four hours of his life, completely erased, his body covered in blood and destruction, no memory of what he’d done or how he’d done it.

But if he told them to mark her now, before the four days were complete, before she was truly ready and truly willing, he risked breaking her again. And this time, he wasn’t certain she would come back from it.

There was no good choice. Only the least terrible one.

***

Nicholas rose from his desk and moved to the drink cabinet positioned against the far wall. He pulled out a crystal glass and a bottle of whiskey.

He poured a measure of the amber liquid with deliberate care, watching it catch the lamplight, watching the color shift as he tilted the glass. He took a slow drink, letting the burn settle in his chest, letting the warmth of it anchor him to the moment.

Then he walked to the window.

The office window overlooked the estate gates, the physical boundary between Blackwood territory and the world beyond. From this vantage point, he could see the stone pillars that marked the entrance, the carefully maintained drive that led toward the main road, the wrought-iron gates that were both welcoming and absolute in their declaration of boundary.

Somewhere beyond those gates was Shadowmere. Somewhere beyond those gates was the life Lilith had left behind. Somewhere beyond those gates was the safety she’d traded for the impossible situation of being three alphas’ mate.

Nicholas stood at the window, whiskey in hand, watching the darkness settle over the grounds, and he allowed himself to acknowledge what he already knew.

He already knew what he was going to say when his brothers came to him tomorrow.

He already knew the decision he was going to make.

And he already knew they weren’t going to like it.

But it was the only choice that might actually protect her. The only choice that might give her genuine agency in what was about to happen to her. The only choice that might prevent them from repeating the mistakes that had shattered her before.

The weight of it settled on his shoulders like a mantle he’d never asked for but had always known, on some fundamental level, that he would eventually have to wear.

He took another slow drink of whiskey, letting the burn ground him, and he waited for dawn. He waited for his brothers to seek him out, as they inevitably would. He waited for the conversation that would determine everything that came next.

The estate settled into the quiet of full night around him, and Nicholas Blackwood, eldest of the triplet alphas, stood at his window and made peace with a decision that would change all their lives.