Chapter 6: Two Hours Until Midnight

By the time I reached my apartment, the sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and blood red.

How fitting.

I climbed the three flights of stairs, unlocked my door, and stepped into the tiny studio that would stop being mine in a week if I didn't come up with rent money.

After tonight, that wouldn't be a problem.

After tonight, everything would change.

I dropped my bag on the floor and pulled out my phone. The screen was cracked....had been for months, couldn't afford to fix it....but it still worked well enough for what I needed.

I needed to know exactly what I was walking into.

Last night, I'd done surface research. Read a few posts, looked at their pictures, learned the basics about the curse. But that wasn't enough. I needed details. Real details from women who'd actually been through the Rite with the Cursed Alphas specifically.

I opened my browser and started searching.

"Cursed Alphas Rite experiences"

"Nicholas, Lucian and Sebastian Blackwood Rite reviews"

"What happens at the Rite with Blackwood Alphas"

The results flooded in....forum posts, anonymous testimonials, warning threads, detailed accounts that made my face burn and my stomach clench.

I clicked on the first one.

Title: I survived a night with the Cursed Alphas - AMA

Posted 4 months ago

"Throwaway account because I don't want this traced back to me. I participated in the Rite with Lucian, Sebastian, and Nicholas Blackwood three months ago. I'm still processing it. People keep asking me what it was like, so here's my answer: It was the most intense night of my life. They don't make love to you. They fuck you. Hard. In every position imaginable. All three of them, taking turns, sometimes together. There's no gentleness, no romance, no pretending this is anything but what it is....three Alphas using your body for their pleasure. But here's the thing: they're GOOD at it. They know exactly what they're doing. They'll make you come so many times you lose count. They'll push you past every limit you thought you had. And yes, it hurts. Your body will ache for days. But they pay exactly what they promise. The gold is real. Would I do it again? No. Do I regret it? Also no."

My hands shook as I scrolled through the comments.

"How rough are we talking?"

"Rough enough that I couldn't walk right for three days. Bruises everywhere. But nothing that didn't heal."

"Did they respect boundaries?"

"There are no boundaries in the Rite. You agree to everything when you walk through that door. But they're not cruel. They push hard, but they don't actually hurt you. If that makes sense."

"Which one was the most intense?"

"Nicholas. The eldest. He's... calculated. Knows exactly what to do to break you apart. Lucian is wild, unpredictable. Sebastian is dominant, commanding. All three are overwhelming."

I opened another thread.

Title: Warning - The Blackwood Alphas are NOT for beginners

"If you're considering the Rite with the Cursed Alphas, understand this: They will take EVERYTHING. Your mouth, your pussy, your ass. Sometimes all at once. They work together like they've done this a thousand times (they probably have). If you have any hesitation about anal, about deepthroating, about being used by multiple partners simultaneously....DO NOT GO. They don't ease you into it. They just take. That said, they're professionals. They know what they're doing. You'll survive. But you'll earn every piece of that gold."

My breath came faster. This was real. This was what I was agreeing to.

I kept reading.

Title: My experience with the Cursed Alphas - detailed account

"They started by making me strip for them. Slowly. All three of them watching with these predatory eyes. Then Nicholas took me first....he's the eldest, it's his right apparently. He was rough but controlled. Made me come twice before he finished. Then Sebastian.....bigger than Nicholas, I could barely take him. He's the dominant one, the one who likes control. Made me call him Alpha while he fucked me. Then Lucian....the wild one. He's unpredictable, playful almost, but no less intense. After they'd each had me once, they started getting creative. Different positions, making me do things I'd never done before. By the end of the night, I was completely destroyed. But in a good way? If that makes sense. They're not gentle. They're not romantic. But they're honest. And they're VERY good at what they do."

I clicked through more posts, each one more explicit than the last.

Stories of women being taken from behind while choking on another Alpha's cock.

Accounts of being held down, used, filled completely.

Descriptions of orgasms so intense they bordered on painful.

Warnings about the bruises, the soreness, the way you'd feel them for days afterward.

But also...consistently, in every single post....confirmation that the gold was real. That the Alphas paid exactly what they promised. That despite the intensity, despite the roughness, it was worth it.

I switched my search to the Alphas themselves.

Found their pictures again....those three devastating faces that would be the last thing I saw before I surrendered everything.

Lucian Blackwood: 25 years old. Youngest of the triplets. Known for being unpredictable, wild, the most likely to lose control. Golden eyes that glowed like fire. Multiple sources described him as "intense but playful....he'll wreck you while making you laugh."

Sebastian Blackwood: 25 years old. Middle triplet. Known for dominance and control. The most physically imposing. "He expects complete obedience. You do what he says, when he says it. But he takes care of his partners. Rough, yes, but not cruel."

Nicholas Blackwood: 25 years old. Eldest by minutes. Known for being calculating, precise, the most dangerous because he's the most controlled. Silver eyes that saw everything. "Nicholas is the one you have to watch out for. He reads your body like a book. Knows what you need before you do. He'll break you apart systematically and you'll thank him for it."

I stared at their pictures, trying to imagine those faces above me, those bodies pressing me down, those hands on my skin.

Tonight.

In a few hours.

This would be my reality.

****

I set my phone down and looked around my shitty apartment. At the bare walls where pictures used to hang before I sold them. At the empty spaces where furniture used to be. At the single mattress on the floor and the red eviction notice on the counter.

This was my life now.

This was what I'd been reduced to.

I thought about my father....what he would say if he could see me now. Would he understand? Would he forgive me?

I thought about my mother, lying in that hospital bed, slowly dying because I couldn't afford to keep her alive.

I thought about Derek and his perfect mate, about every wolf who'd ever looked at me with pity or disgust, about every door that had closed in my face because I was wolfless.

Fuck them all.

I was doing this.

I stood up and walked to the bathroom.

If I was going to sell my body to three Cursed Alphas, I was going to do it right.

I turned on the shower, let the water heat up while I stripped off my damp clothes. The mirror showed me everything I was....too thin, too pale, marked by struggle and grief.

But my body still worked. Still functioned. And for one night, it would be enough.

I stepped into the shower and began preparing myself.

Washed my hair thoroughly, conditioned it, scrubbed every inch of my skin until it was clean and soft. The hot water felt like absolution, washing away the grime of the day, the weight of my decisions.

When I stepped out, I grabbed my razor.

They'd want me smooth. I was sure of that.

I shaved my legs carefully, my underarms, then....hands shaking slightly....between my thighs. Made sure everything was bare, soft, exactly what I imagined they'd expect.

Dried off and looked at myself in the fogged mirror.

Clean. Smooth. As ready as I could be.

I walked back to my main room and looked at the clock: 9:47 PM.

Two hours and thirteen minutes until midnight.

I went to my closet....if you could call it that, just a few clothes hanging on a rod...and pulled out my only decent dress. Simple black, nothing fancy. It would have to do.

Put on clean underwear....plain cotton, nothing sexy, because it wasn't like they'd care. It would all be coming off anyway.

The dress slipped on easily, hung loose on my too-thin frame. I looked in the small mirror by the door.

Not beautiful. Not special. Just... clean. Presentable.

Good enough.

I found my only pair of shoes that weren't falling apart...black flats, worn but serviceable.

Brushed my hair until it was smooth and shiny, the only part of me that still looked healthy.

No makeup. I didn't have any worth wearing, and besides, what was the point? They weren't choosing me for my beauty.

9:58 PM.

I sat on my mattress and stared at the red flyer one more time.

THE RITE. One night. Five gold bars.

One night of my body in exchange for my mother's life.

One night of being used by three Alphas in exchange for survival.

The choice wasn't really a choice at all.

I folded the flyer carefully and tucked it into my small purse along with my phone and ID.

Stood up.

Looked around my apartment one final time.

When I came back tomorrow morning....if I could even walk....I'd be different. This version of me, the girl who'd never done anything like this, who'd only been with one man, who still had some shred of innocence left.....she'd be gone.

Tomorrow, I'd be the girl who sold herself to three Cursed Alphas.

The girl who survived the Rite.

The girl who chose gold over dignity.

But I'd also be the girl who saved her mother.

And that had to count for something.

10:15 PM.

Time to go.

I grabbed my purse, took one last breath of the stale air in my apartment, and walked out the door.

Locked it behind me.

Descended the three flights of stairs.

Stepped out into the night.