Fated to the Alpha–And His Triplet Brothers

Chapter 87: Gone

*~Lilith’s POV~*

As soon as I handed Caspian the map, I watched him shift into motion his limbs tense, his mind already racing toward the children. The others followed like wolves on command. They would do anything to bring those babies back.

And that was exactly what I wanted.

Because while they ran off to play hero... I needed to prepare.

I wasn’t just planning a rescue. I was preparing a resurrection.

The original Crescent pack...my people, my blood, my legacy will walk again. And the key to their rebirth? That child’s blood. A single drop from the child born of crescent lineage, carrying the power of light and shadow in one fragile body.

Once I had it, nothing would stop me from reclaiming New Orleans. Not the High House, not the wolves, not even Hazel because she will be on my side.

I left before the dust settled behind them and made my way to the place where our dead were kept or what was left of them.

The doors creaked open on my arrival. The scent of ash still lingered. Not decay, not rot. Just... ash. Burned flesh. Crushed bones. The remains of warriors, not victims. I dropped to my knees and let my fingers run through them—through them. All of them.

My people...My Crescents.

Even in this form, I could still feel their presence humming through my veins like static. My skin prickled. My eyes burned. I didn’t cry. No. I hadn’t cried in a century. But a piece of my heart shattered anyway as my hands trembled through the sacred ruin of what once was ours.

"I’ll bring you back," I whispered. "Not just in memory. In body."

I got to work. Leaves. Salt. Bloodroot. Crushed serpent’s tongue. Moon herb. I drew the sigils in ash and bone. The sacred runes of return. The incantation must only be completed once I add the final piece: the baby’s blood.

That would be the most difficult. And yet... somehow, I knew I’d find a way.

Dawn was curling its golden fingers across the sky by the time I arrived at the High House. I wore my calmest face, my kindest expression, the one they’d learned to trust.

But the gates were shut...Shut...That place was never shut.

I tilted my head and listened. Screams. Wailing. The sound of a mother breaking. The sound of death. Again.

"Oh..." I murmured, blinking as the iron doors shivered and slowly parted.

chaos disguised in silence. A heavy, terrifying stillness. Eyes swollen with grief. Faces stained with disbelief.

Hazel.

but not the usual that comes from

One that peeled straight from the void in her

looked empty...Just like the

worse..I knew that look. I crafted that

No.No, no, no.

I’m so close. I can’t lose access to her. If she turns off everything inside her again, there’ll be no

eyes—my cursed, cursed eyes—landed on what

Two dead babies..

of my neck. And then it hit me. Oh, Gods. I felt it. I had felt it hours ago...a sudden gust of wind, the herbs on my altar scattering, the candles snuffing themselves out in protest. A silence in the spirit world

ignored it...Dismissed it....But

"No," I whispered. My throat burned as the

how it

only key. Their blood would’ve brought

Crescent. My family. Not just soldiers but mothers, children, brothers,

to raise the

supposed to be my

child, my Crescent, ruling over

I saw was

I choked again. I turned sharply, almost violently, toward the one man who

my voice laced with venom. "Alive! You promised me,

He looked like a shell of himself. "It wasn’t my fault," he muttered, his voice fraying. "The one who had them—he’s dead. Gone. You want to blame someone? Blame

a

the floor beside him. A corpse, cloaked in blue. Cyrius. I blinked..Dead? He

dropped like iron on my chest. Of course it was

pointing at the dead?" I

them," he growled. "They were already

closed at

skin was faint, tinged in frosted blue, lips pale as moonlight. They didn’t look