"I don’t know," Nicholas said. And it was the first ti Lucian had ever heard his eldest brother admit sothing like that. "I don’t know. But I do know that we can’t sustain this. We’re falling apart. All three of us. And if we’re falling apart, we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to break the rules we set. We’re going to hurt her more."
Lucian felt the truth of that land in his chest.
"So what do we do?" he asked again.
"I don’t know," Nicholas repeated. "But we’re going to have to figure it out. Because this...." He gestured vaguely, encompassing the situation, the torture, the impossible bind they were all caught in, "....this isn’t sustainable."
Lucian nodded slowly.
He understood. He understood that they were trapped. That his wolf had decided Lilith was essential. That no amount of fighting, fucking, or training was going to change that.
And he understood, with a clarity that was almost painful, that the next ten days were going to be the most difficult of his entire life.
***
The knock ca at dawn.
Lilith was still half-asleep when the soft rap of knuckles against her door pulled her from the fragnted dreams that had plagued her night. She’d been restless all week, her body healing, her mind slowly surfacing from the dark place it had retreated to. But sothing had shifted in the last few days. The brothers hadn’t co to her. Agnes had told her it was because they wanted her to recover, to heal completely before anything else happened. The gentleness in Agnes’s voice when she’d explained it had cald sothing in Lilith’s chest.
Now, as the knock ca again, slightly more insistent, Lilith’s first instinct was fear.
She sat up slowly, careful of her still-tender muscles. The healing process had been gradual....each day a little more strength, each day a little less pain. But there was a quality to that knock that made her stomach tighten.
The door opened without her permission.
Sera stood in the doorway, her warrior’s fra backlit by the hallway light. She was a woman Lilith had co to recognize during her ti here, the female warrior who sotis spoke to her when the brothers weren’t present. There was sothing almost friendly about Sera, sothing that didn’t carry the weight of dominance.
But this morning, Sera’s expression was carefully neutral.
"Alpha Nicholas has requested your presence in his office," Sera said formally. "When you’re ready."
Lilith’s heart stuttered. The office. All three of them never summoned her to the office unless sothing had changed. Or sothing was about to happen.
She dressed quickly, her hands trembling as she fastened each button on her dress. The fabric felt too thin, too vulnerable against her skin. She braided her hair with shaking fingers, trying to calm the spiraling panic that threatened to overtake her.
What had she done wrong? Her body was nearly healed. She was stronger every day. Was it not enough? Had she failed them sohow?
Sera led her through the hallway in silence. The estate felt different in the early morning light...colder sohow, even though the sun was just beginning to climb above the horizon. The walk to Nicholas’s office felt both too short and impossibly long.
When they reached the door, Sera knocked once and then stepped away, leaving Lilith standing alone in the hallway.
"Enter," Nicholas’s voice commanded from inside.
Lilith’s hand was shaking when she reached for the handle. She stepped into the office and closed the door behind her as instructed, and when she turned to face the three brothers, her breath caught in her throat.
They were all there. Nicholas sitting behind his desk. Sebastian by the window. Lucian near the fireplace.
And the expression on their faces...hunger. Raw, barely contained hunger that made her stomach clench with sothing that was half-fear and half-sothing else she didn’t have a na for.
She looked down imdiately.
"How are you feeling?" Nicholas asked quietly, observing her like she was sothing to be analyzed rather than addressed. There was no cruelty in his tone, but there was that edge of power that made her nervous.
Lilith shook her head, trying to steady her breathing. "I’m feeling better," she said, her voice small. "I’m much better now."
Sebastian stood abruptly and walked toward her.
The mont he moved, Lilith stepped back. Two steps. Instinctive. Protective. Her body moving before her mind could catch up.
Sebastian stopped. He looked at her for a long mont, his dark eyes tracking her face, and then he asked quietly, "Are you scared of ?"
"No," Lilith whispered, shaking her head.
But it was a lie and they both knew it.
He walked to where she stood anyway, and when he reached her, his hand ca up to cup her face. His palm was warm against her cheek, and the mont he touched her skin, he growled. Actually growled, a sound that rumbled from deep in his chest and made her breath hitch.
"I can see it in your eyes," Sebastian said softly, his thumb brushing against her cheekbone. "You’re scared of us. Which is expected given the circumstances. But I want you to know sothing." He paused, his golden eyes holding hers captive. "We won’t hurt you."
She wanted to believe him. The gentleness in his voice almost made her believe him.
Then he smiled, and there was sothing dangerous in it.
"At least not intentionally," he added.
Lilith looked up at him, fear flickering across her face. The question that had been building in her for days finally tumbled out. "Is that why... is that why... you haven’t touched ... since..."
She couldn’t finish. The words were too complicated, too tangled with sha and confusion. She looked down at her hands instead, unable to et his eyes.
Sebastian’s head turned sharply. She saw the movent out of her peripheral vision...him looking at his brothers. So silent communication passing between them. A conversation without words that made her feel like she was missing sothing crucial.
Sebastian released her face and stepped back.
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