Chapter 314: I Can’t Just Let Them Die

"Use us for what?"

Victoria’s expression darkened. "Morvaine witches have a gift. We can manipulate bonds. Create them. Strengthen them. Sever them. It’s why we were hunted. Because wolves wanted us to forge mate bonds where none existed. To break bonds they no longer wanted. To control their packs through magical compulsion."

Lilith felt sick. "And you think the Alphas...."

"I think they may not have known what you were when they first met you," Victoria said. "But I guarantee they know now. Your power has been waking up with every bond that forms. And they’re using it whether they realize it or not."

"Using it for what?"

"To break their curse," Victoria said. "The bonds aren’t just transferring the curse to you, Lilith. They’re using your power, Morvaine power to try to neutralize it. You’re not just their sacrificial lamb. You’re their weapon. Their tool. Their way out."

The words made too much sense. Explained too much. The power surges when each bond completed. The way the curse felt alive inside her. The way the Alphas seemed so certain they could find another way when Victoria kept saying there was not one.

"Come with me," Victoria said again, her hand still extended. "Let me teach you what you are. What you’re capable of. Let me show you that you’re more than just a mate bond and a death sentence. You’re powerful, Lilith. More powerful than they could ever be. And you deserve to live long enough to understand that."

Lilith looked at Victoria’s outstretched hand and felt the bonds pulling at her, Nicholas’s steady presence back at the estate, Sebastian’s warmth, Lucian’s aching guilt. All three of them waiting for her to come back. All three of them believing she would choose them.

But Victoria was offering her something they could not.

Life.

Freedom.

A future that did not end with her death.

"If I go with you," Lilith said slowly, "if I let you sever the bonds and hide me, what happens to them?"

Victoria’s expression was hard. "They face their curse. The way they should have from the beginning instead of dragging an innocent girl into their mess."

"They’ll go feral."

"Eventually, yes."

"And they’ll die."

"Probably," Victoria agreed. "But that’s not your responsibility, Lilith. Their curse. Their consequences. Not yours."

Lilith felt tears streaming down her face again. "I can’t just let them die."

"Why not?" Victoria demanded. "They were willing to let YOU die. They completed the bonds knowing what it would cost. They don’t deserve your loyalty."

"Maybe not," Lilith admitted. "But I love them anyway. Even though I shouldn’t. Even though they lied to me. I still love them."

Victoria’s expression softened and she lowered her hand. "I know you do. And that’s what makes this so hard. But Lilith....love shouldn’t require you to die for it. Love shouldn’t ask you to sacrifice everything you are for people who weren’t honest with you from the start."

"I know."

"Then come with me," Victoria said. "Choose yourself. Choose life. Let them face the consequences of their own actions while you build a future that belongs to you."

Lilith looked at her aunt....this woman who had helped raise her, who had disappeared when she needed her most, who had come back now offering salvation and felt torn in two.

The bonds were screaming at her to go back. To choose the Alphas. To believe they would find another way.

But her mind was whispering that Victoria was right. That staying meant dying. That choosing them meant choosing a death sentence.

"I need time," Lilith said finally. "I need to think about this. Process everything. I can’t make a decision this big right now."

Victoria studied her for a long moment and then nodded slowly. "Three days. That’s what I gave the Alphas. That’s what I’ll give you. Three days to decide if you want to live or if you want to die for wolves who don’t deserve your sacrifice."

"And if I choose to stay with them?"

"Then I’ll come for you anyway," Victoria said, and her voice was absolute. "Because I won’t stand by and watch my niece die. Not when I can save her. So you can come with me willingly, Lilith. Or I can take you by force. But either way, you’re not dying for them."

The threat hung in the air between them and Lilith felt a spike of fear that had nothing to do with the curse.

"You would really take me against my will?"

"To save your life?" Victoria’s smile was sad. "In a heartbeat. I failed your mother. I wasn’t there when she needed me. But I’m here now. And I’m not failing you."

Lilith did not know what to say to that. Did not know how to reconcile the aunt who was offering her freedom with the aunt who was threatening to kidnap her if she did not agree.

"Three days," she repeated.

"Three days," Victoria confirmed. "And Lilith? When you’re making your decision, ask yourself this....do you really want to die for men who lied to you? Or do you want to live long enough to discover what you’re truly capable of?"

Before Lilith could respond, Victoria simply vanished...there one moment, gone the next, leaving only the faint scent of old magic and burnt ozone hanging in the air.

Lilith stood alone in the forest clearing and felt the weight of the choice pressing down on her.

Three days to decide.

Life or death.

Freedom or love.

Herself or them.

She turned and started walking back toward the estate, and with every step she felt the bonds pulling her home.

But she did not know anymore if home was a place she wanted to be.

Or a grave she was walking into willingly.

***

Nicholas POV

The office smelled like old paper and desperation.

Nicholas pressed his palms flat against his desk and stared down at the map of the Northern Territories spread across it....marked with locations of every witch, every magic user, every supernatural being his father had ever made contact with in his forty years as Alpha. Most of them were dead now. Some had disappeared. A handful remained, scattered across territories that would take days to reach.

Days they did not have.