"I don’t know," Nicholas said. And it was the first time Lucian had ever heard his eldest brother admit something 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 came at dawn.

Lilith was still half-asleep when the soft rap of knuckles against her door pulled her from the fragmented 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 something had shifted in the last few days. The brothers hadn’t come 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 calmed something in Lilith’s chest.

Now, as the knock came 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 frame backlit by the hallway light. She was a woman Lilith had come to recognize during her time here, the female warrior who sometimes spoke to her when the brothers weren’t present. There was something almost friendly about Sera, something 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 something had changed. Or something 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 somehow?

Sera led her through the hallway in silence. The estate felt different in the early morning light...colder somehow, 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 something that was half-fear and half-something else she didn’t have a name for.

She looked down immediately.

"How are you feeling?" Nicholas asked quietly, observing her like she was something 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 moment 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 moment, his dark eyes tracking her face, and then he asked quietly, "Are you scared of me?"

"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 came up to cup her face. His palm was warm against her cheek, and the moment 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 something." 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 something 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 me... since..."

She couldn’t finish. The words were too complicated, too tangled with shame and confusion. She looked down at her hands instead, unable to meet his eyes.

Sebastian’s head turned sharply. She saw the movement out of her peripheral vision...him looking at his brothers. Some silent communication passing between them. A conversation without words that made her feel like she was missing something crucial.

Sebastian released her face and stepped back.