Chapter 362: I Can’t Feel Her Heartbeat!

"We don’t have time to wait!" Sebastian shouted. "Look at the necklace! Look at Lilith! She’s dying RIGHT NOW and your witch contact might show up tomorrow or next week or never!"

"She’ll come," Victoria said, but Nicholas could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

The room fell into tense silence.

Nicholas looked at the necklace again. At how faint the glow had become. At how little time they had left.

"We need a backup plan," Nicholas said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"What kind of backup plan?" Victoria asked.

"If Elena doesn’t arrive in time," Nicholas said. "If the necklace fails before she gets here. What do we do?"

"We push power through the bonds," Sebastian said immediately. "All three of us. Everything we have. Keep her alive with sheer force of will until help arrives."

"And if that’s not enough?" Nicholas challenged.

Sebastian’s jaw clenched. "Then we find another way."

"There is no other way," Lucian said flatly. "Victoria’s been researching for three days. Selene and the Moon Temple Guardians couldn’t help. The only person who might have answers is a witch we’ve never met who may or may not show up before Lilith dies. We’re out of options."

"We’re not out of options until she stops breathing," Sebastian said.

"She will stop breathing!" Lucian shouted. "That’s what everyone keeps saying! The necklace fails, the curse wins, Lilith dies! That’s the reality we’re facing!"

"Then we change reality!" Sebastian shouted back.

"HOW?!" Lucian demanded.

The question hung in the air unanswered.

Because none of them knew how.

Nicholas felt something crack inside his chest. The careful control he had been maintaining for three days. The Alpha mask that let him function. The numbness that kept the grief at bay.

All of it shattered at once.

"I don’t know," Nicholas said, and his voice came out broken. "I don’t know how to save her. I don’t know when Elena is coming. I don’t know if pushing power through the bonds will be enough. I don’t know anything except that my mate is dying and I’m standing here helpless."

He looked at Sebastian and Lucian....at his brothers who were falling apart just as badly as he was.

"We’re supposed to be Alphas," Nicholas continued. "Supposed to be strong and certain and capable of protecting the people we love. But we can’t even save one girl. Can’t even figure out how to break a curse that’s been killing us for generations. We’re failures. All of us."

"Don’t," Sebastian said immediately. "Don’t do that. Don’t give up on her."

"I’m not giving up," Nicholas said. "I’m being realistic. We have hours left. Maybe less. And our only hope is a witch who might not arrive in time."

Victoria made a sound like she had been punched.

Nicholas looked at her and saw tears streaming down her face.

"I’m sorry," Victoria said. "I thought...I thought if I could just reach Elena...if I could get her to respond....then everything would be okay. But I don’t know when she’s coming. And I don’t have any other solutions. And I...." Her voice broke. "I’m going to have to watch my niece die."

The admission hung in the room like a death sentence.

Lucian turned and slammed his fist into the wall hard enough to crack the plaster.

Sebastian pressed his forehead against Lilith’s hand and his shoulders shook with silent sobs.

And Nicholas stood frozen watching his entire world fall apart.

The necklace flickered.

Once.

Twice.

The glow dimmed even further....so faint now it was barely visible at all.

"No," Victoria breathed. "No no no..."

Lilith’s body suddenly convulsed.

Not gently. Not slowly. Her entire body arched off the bed, muscles seizing, breath catching in her throat.

"LILITH!" Sebastian grabbed her shoulders trying to hold her still.

The necklace flickered again.

And went completely dark.

"THE NECKLACE!" Lucian shouted. "IT’S DEAD!"

Victoria’s hands were already glowing with green magic, pushing power into Lilith, desperately trying to stabilize her.

But Lilith kept seizing.

Kept convulsing.

Her body was shutting down. The curse was finishing what it started. And the necklace....the one thing that had been keeping her alive...was gone.

"WE’RE LOSING HER!" Victoria screamed.

Nicholas grabbed Lilith’s hand and pushed everything he had through the bond. Silver light blazing. Alpha power pouring into her.

Sebastian did the same from the other side. Golden light joining his brother’s.

Lucian pressed his hand to her chest and Zev’s power surged through the connection.

Three Alphas. Three bonds. All of them desperately trying to keep their mate alive.

But it was not enough.

Through the bond Nicholas felt her slipping away. Felt her consciousness fading. Felt death pulling at her with claws they could not fight.

"ELENA!" Victoria screamed at the ceiling. "IF YOU’RE COMING, COME NOW! WE’RE OUT OF TIME!"

Nothing happened.

Lilith convulsed harder.

Blood started seeping from her nose and ears....the curse tearing her apart from the inside.

"NO!" Sebastian was crying now, his power blazing brighter, trying desperately to hold her together.

"Please," Nicholas whispered. "Please don’t leave us. Please...."

Lilith’s body went still.

Her breathing stopped.

And Nicholas felt the bond between them start to dissolve.

Lilith was dying.

Not slowly. Not gradually. Right now. Right this second. In front of all of them.

Victoria pushed more magic into her niece...every technique she knew for stabilizing a dying body, every healing spell she had learned in fifteen years of study, every drop of power she possessed.

None of it was working.

The curse was too strong. The necklace was dead. And without that magical anchor holding Lilith to life, her body was simply giving up.

"Her heart stopped!" Sebastian screamed. "I can’t feel her heartbeat!"

"PUSH HARDER!" Victoria shouted at the three Alphas. "Through the bonds! Everything you have! NOW!"

Silver, gold, and bronze light blazed from Nicholas, Sebastian, and Lucian....pack magic and Alpha power and desperate love all pouring through the soul bond into Lilith’s failing body.

For a moment....just a moment....Victoria felt Lilith’s heart stutter back to life.

One beat. Two.

Then nothing.