Offered to the Triplet Alphas

[Xanthea]

All the information about the generational curses in my mother's knowledge and memories flooded my mind.

My eyes leafed through the pages of the books and diaries.

"Generational curses feed on the existence of the affected immortal. The stronger the immortal it consumes, the more malignant and deadlier it gets." I thought out loud. "Spreading through the bloodline, it spares no direct legitimate lineage..."

I looked at Asher, no longer plagued by questions, but haunted by the answers and an unsettling realization.

'Your demon husbands are going down very soon, and I'll make sure it happens faster.' Nikolai's threat wasn't empty.

Did he know about the demon lord's curse?

"Your pack knows about your curse?" I asked hesitantly.

Asher shook his head.

"No. Only a few people know about it - our family and a handful of celestials," he said gravely. "But the celestials have planned to use mortals to catalyze the curse and end us sooner. And the mortal they've chosen to execute their plan is your brother, Nikolai."

I widened my eyes, shaking my head. "No... why him?"

"I don't know... yet..." he said.

"No. No. No!" I looked around the fog frantically. "There has to be more. I need more of her memories. After everything she did, she can't do this to you! To Ezra! No!"

I reached out, my fingers trembling as I tried to touch the clouds, desperately searching for fragments of memories that could guide me - anything to show me the path to cure the curse. But no matter how hard I clawed at the haze, there was nothing. Just an endless expanse of white, blank fog that swallowed every flicker of hope.

"There has to be more..."

Asher's hands held mine in a firm yet achingly gentle grip as he lowered them.

"Xanthea," he said, his voice low, almost pleading. "Stop."

"No!" I thrashed against his grip, but he didn't let go. His thumbs slowly caressed my knuckles to calm me.

"This is the end of her memories for you," he murmured, leaning closer until I could feel the heat of his breath against my skin.

"It can't be!" My voice broke as I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. "S-she can't do this! She can't-" I gritted my teeth, hatred and anger flowing in my veins like venom. "I need more - I have to fix this!"

"Xanthea..." His tone softened, and he stepped closer, closing the space between us. "We'll fix this... together."

I took back my hands from him. "How can you be so calm? Why are you so gentle with me when I don't even deserve it?"

"I will not allow you to hate yourself." Asher's tone turned grim as he glared at the self-loathing and guilt that disgusted me from within.

Asher contemplated me, his eyes gleaming with emotions I failed to fathom amidst my own.

I frowned, lowering my gaze, my heart pounding painfully as waves of shame and confusion crashed over me.

"Don't you?" I asked, holding his gaze.

Asher lowered his head, a strange mixture of a sigh and a smile playing on his lips.

He gave me enough time to settle myself down before he changed the subject.

"Unlike you, your mother was a coward. Since she couldn't find a direct way to end her creation, whom she feared so intensely, she chose an indirect method, which was sure to work," he said. Staying out of my mind was the best thing I could do for the sake of my sanity, and Asher knew it. So he helped me focus on the actual problem.

"The curse consumed my father, becoming a lot more malignant when it passed down to us. A curse that remained hidden for years and even now, my brothers know nothing about its origin." "Then how did you..."

"I was there when she cursed my father," Asher said, and a million new questions assaulted my mind.

Why was Asher there?

Where was he until now?

But pushing all those questions aside, I asked the one that had occupied my mind the most. "Is-is there a way to stop the curse?"

"You tell me. You have your mother's knowledge and now her memories... is there a way?"

Asher looked at me with his unreadable eyes. I couldn't tell if he genuinely wanted me to answer or if he was testing me.

Taking a nervous gulp, I blinked fast, lowering my gaze.

I knew the answer, but I didn't want to put it into words. Clenching my clammy palms into fists, I said.

"We can... we can avoid its spread by..." my throat closed up, but I pushed through "... by s-stopping the bloodline. N-Not producing kids."

His gaze locked onto mine with an intensity that made the air between us feel unbearably heavy.

"You know all the right answers, still you choose the one that's convenient for you," he said with a chuckle.

My nails dug into my palm, biting into my skin as I tightened my fists.

"Unfortunately, I can't choose what's convenient for me, love. And I can't let you, my wife, choose what's less painful for you. Do you know why?" he asked, his voice a chilling blend of tenderness and dominance.

I nodded, trying to bite back my tears.

"Because as an Alpha, you cannot not have heirs," I said, my voice trembling as I looked into his eyes through my misty gaze. "You need strong heirs for the throne."

His expression remained stoic, the weight of his silence pressing down on me like a judgment I wasn't prepared to face.

"The Obsidian throne chose our family to rule the Prime pack ever since the Infernal Realm came into existence," Asher said, his gaze falling to his hand as if it carried the weight of that legacy.

He flexed his fingers slightly, a shadow of tension crossing his face.

"The throne runs on our blood, keeping evil in check. And I provide it with just enough of myself to maintain that balance. But there are some things I can't gamble with."

His eyes met mine, sharp and cold.

"The throne will not accept anyone else as Alpha. And a pack without an Alpha turns rogue. In Hell, a rogue pack doesn't just mean disorder. It means disorder on a scale that can tear the three realms apart - unleashing the worst of all evils, even into paradise."

The gravity of his words hung between us, a truth too heavy to ignore.

I peered at him, my thoughts staggering on the edge of my tongue, but I hesitated.

"I know what you're thinking," he said, his eyes narrowing as if he could see right through me. "Illegitimate children won't work either. I've tested it with Cedric."

Something flickered in his eyes. I couldn't tell if it was exhaustion or something darker. But for the first time, I truly felt the weight of the burdens Asher had been carrying alone all this time.

"Though I've been preparing him as a spare Alpha, the throne rejects him. Every time he tries to sit on it, the throne nearly tears him apart - even with me present." His words slowed as he drew in a deep breath. "I can't imagine what will happen once I'm gone."

From heaven to hell, everything would fall apart.

"So..." My voice cracked as the words I dreaded clawed their way out of me. "The only way left... is to block the curse. Offspring from the forbidden union of a mortal and an immortal carry blockers in their genes - preventing the curse from spreading."

I paused, the next words slipping out as a shaky whisper.

"O-our kids..."

I searched his eyes desperately - for denial, for reassurance, for anything that might undo the horror of my own words.

"Our kids," he said, and a horrifying chill ran down my spine.

The words settled like an excruciating knot in my chest, so heavy I could barely breathe.

Bear children... only to lose them to the curse.

A sob clawed its way up my throat, but I choked it down, my hands trembling as they clenched into fists.

"Our kids who'd be born to die..." I said, holding his gaze.

"Yes..." he said.

The thought made my stomach churn violently, a wave of nausea rising in my throat.

"Creating life only to destroy it?" I questioned him, tilting my head as I stepped closer to him.

"Yes," he said. "Just like your mother created you, only to be destroyed by us, for us. She created a fate for you... no mother would ever want her daughter to endure."

I averted my gaze, clenching my jaws.

"Just so you wouldn't turn out the way she did. She thought raising you in an atmosphere of hatred would humble you. Maybe that's why she conceived you from an affair with your father - to make sure you bore the weight of her choices." 'Your mother was a horrible woman!' Luna Meesa's words rang in my head again and again.

I gritted my teeth, quickly wiping off my tears, but Asher continued.

"She believed you didn't deserve love simply because you were her daughter. In trying to heal her victims, she created her biggest victim - you. She probably only realized this when she understood motherhood. I hope she resented herself, repented day and night for forgiveness and peace in her final days, and I hope she never found it - not even from herself."

I looked at him, tears burning in my eyes.

"How is that any different from what you want to do to our kids?" I begged.

"Our kids are the backups to stop the curse. Even if it doesn't end with us, it'll end with them," he said matter-of-factly, his tone devoid of the gravity his words carried.

"But that still doesn't solve anything," I said.

"I know," he said. "The kids will be weak. While they wouldn't feed the curse, they wouldn't be heirs strong enough to feed the throne."

The cold detachment in his voice made me shudder. It was as though he spoke of a mere strategy, not the lives we might bring into this world.

Both of us remained silent for a while, gathering ourselves, our thoughts, and then Asher spoke with a subtle sigh.

"Your mother lost her immortality to create this curse. Of course, it's complex and powerful. So potent that it weakened my father instantly. But when all was said and done, your mother regretted many things, Xanthea. This curse was one of them."

A heavy knot twisted in my stomach, my body growing colder and slick with sweat.

"Your mother might have fallen, but everything important to her, everyone she so dearly loved, remained in paradise. And if the curse consumes my brothers. Before hell, paradise will fall..."

Asher's tone hid a warning that made my stomach churn with foreboding as though his words weren't a speculation of the future, but a prediction.This content is © NôvelDrama.Org.

"How... can... p-paradise... fall?" I stammered, my voice barely a whisper.

Asher stared at me blankly, before a small, unsettling smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. His fingers trailed lightly across my cheek, a touch that was both tender and terrifying.

"That's only going to happen if the curse consumes my brothers. But now you are here, and you won't let that happen."

The hope in Asher's words translated into a callous warmth in his eyes, a warmth that did nothing but fuel the dread building inside me. Dread of what might happen - dread of what he might do if I... failed...

"You won't fail," he murmured, his voice low.

I widened my eyes.

Can he read my thoughts?

He stepped closer to me and I unconsciously stepped back, my heart racing erratically. It was as if I stood before a being that was both savior and destroyer. A god and a demon.

The longer I looked at him, the more I could feel the pull between the light and the dark, as if he could tear the very fabric of reality with a single breath.

Asher's breath brushed against mine as he leaned closer, his eyes dropping to my lips.

"I can't read your thoughts," he whispered. "But I can feel them."

"Wh-what?" I squinted my eyes.

"I know you're scared, confused," he said, closing the distance between our bodies. His body was so near I could feel the danger. "Terrified... reluctant to bear our children..."

I stepped back, my breaths turning shallow and my throat dry. But before I could withdraw any further, my back collided with the soft yet firm expanse of his angelic wings. Their feathery edges grazed against my skin, igniting a tremor that rooted me in my place.

My heart skipped a few beats when his wings possessively curled around me, pulling me closer to him, enveloping me in a cocoon of their heat and strength.

"Asher?" I whispered, confused, struggling against his wings as they tightened around me.

But it was no use. Panting slowly, I swallowed down a whimper, shutting my eyes as his wings ran down my back, sending a tantalizing sensitivity through my soul.

"You need to understand why it's important that you get pregnant..."

My body tensed up, unable to cope with the intensity of his deep voice.

"Why? To ensure that I don't fail... because if I do... my kids will pay the price?" I retorted.

Asher just stared at me for a few seconds and then he said, "I don't think you are ready for this conversation. You still have a lot to process. So for the time being, stop thinking and let me help you relax..." "No. I need - uh!"

His wings engulfed me, forming a prison charged with an intoxicating lust that seeped through my skin like a fever, compelling me to submit to the relentless thrum of their power.

I grunted as the wings' musky, seductive scent overpowered my breaths, drugging my body with heat sizzling up my back, clouding my mind.

The sensation was overwhelming, making my heart race with a strange mix of anticipation and fear.

My eyes widened, the haze of delirium shattering as his hands grabbed onto my hips and yanked me against him. His wings closed around us, locking the sparks between us like a wave, a storm, a carnage.