He approached her gently and spoke to her. "Please, Sophia. Just tell me what is bothering you… I did not expect that you would mourn the death of this Lord Ferdinand and nephew. I did not imagine that they were related to you or whatsoever."
"Of course," Sophie said.
"What?" Leland blinked in confusion.
"There is no way that you would have known about it, Leland." Sophie smiled at him and chose to be more logical. "You weren't there yet at that point in time…"
"Please speak more straightforwardly with me, Sophia," Leland begged. "How will I know what is truly disturbing you? I may be your mate but I cannot read your mind."
Sophie closed her eyes and took a deep shuddering breath. Her heart pounded hard and she tried her best to cover the emotions bursting through her chest. "I… I'm sorry, Leland. I want to go to our room."
It made sense to Sophie that Leland didn't know anything about Nicholas.
Leland on the other hand was at a loss because his attempts to communicate with his mate were hindered. However, he did not wish to push his wife and hurt her by forcing her to say something that she did not wish to say.
"Then I will not stop you, Sophia. It seems that I have done you wrong so I deeply apologize. Shall we talk at a better time?"
Leland looked hurt at her rejection so Sophie reached out and clutched his hand. She gave him a comforting smile. "It is not your fault, Leland. You didn't know… I will see you later."
"Okay." The Alpha sighed.
Sophie returned to their chamber and plopped down on her bed wearily. She hadn't been able to introduce or talk about Nicholas at all beyond what was necessary.
It was not intentional that Leland killed her husband because, at that time, Leland didn't know anything about Nicholas and how much he meant to Sophie… they haven't even met at that time yet because Sophie was in Hauntingen.
Now Sophie sat in her room alone with Leland giving her space.
"Ah… did I intentionally chase my husband out of our chamber?" Sophie rubbed her face and sighed sadly. "I need to explain things more clearly to him and let him know how Nicholas was Lord Ferdinand's nephew."
She was going to do it though when she was feeling a lot better. Right now, Sophie was still emotionally shaken when she thought about Nicholas.
Sophie lay back on her bed and wished she had the presence of her two lovely children. All it took was one cute pant and a happy lick from her boys and then Sophie started to feel a lot better.
"I suppose Dinah must be taking care of them… or one of the bodyguards," Sophie muttered. "But I'm quite relieved that they're starting to open up to my boys."
At this point in time, Luciel and Jan were already staying in their nursery room and actually enjoyed having some room for themselves. It was a little awkward for the two lycans to stay in a room with the Alpha and the Luna.
Mates deserved some time to be alone and to have privacy so the two young boys slept in another room. However, it made Sophie more lonely and alone because she wanted to talk to Luciel and Jan about their father.
Finally, Sophie got up and shook her head. Even though she was in pain after the reminder of Nicholas' death, she shouldn't have shut out her husband at all.
"I need to tell Leland everything."
***
When Sophie came out of her room to meet with Leland however, she would suddenly be met with the lack of his presence. Even when she headed over to his study, the Alpha was nowhere to be found.
She came across one of the bodyguards assigned to her. The lycan had noticed that their Luna seemed to be looking for their Alpha and quickly came forward to answer her inquiries.
"Excuse me, Luna. The Alpha went out with a small unit of lycans to head towards the forest of the capital." Max explained. "It seems like there is a human event there and he has come to participate."
Sophie blinked and felt a bit of disappointment wash over her, but swallowed it down. After everything that happened today, she couldn't blame it if Leland went out to relax with his men. "Ah, is that so? Thank you so much for informing me."
"Not a problem, Luna."
"Do you have any ideas as to when Leland will come home?" Sophie asked.
"He did not say anything, Luna."
"Ah, I see… thank you."
Max nodded and then stepped away without another word. One of the things that their Luna probably didn't assume right away when their Alpha went out was this… Leland didn't simply go out to socialize.
He was out to hunt.
***
< Royal Palace, Riga >
< Capital, Livstad >
"Must you really go out and go hunting tonight? It's too dangerous, William." Queen Marianne looked at her husband with a frown. "You're already old and you might break your back if you fall off your horse."
"Nonsense, Mary." King William rolled his eyes and looked at his son Nicholas who was eating dinner. "Are you sure that you don't want to accompany me, boy? Get your head out of those books."
Ever since Nicholas returned after breaking into Duke Romanov's castle, the man had poured his attention into watching and gathering intel about the dark duke's movements. He was still obsessed with the idea that he nearly found something.
"I am alright, father. Please have a nice hunting trip." Nicholas said and raised his head. He looked at his father in worry. "Will you be bringing the Royal Lycan Hunters with you?"
"Why would I?" King William snorted. "Those lads will start ruining the game if they participate. I know we raised them to be elite hunters, but they can make me and other nobles look bad."
Nicholas sighed at his father's pride. He decided to inform him once again of the recent events. "Across the borders of the kingdom, a great number of lycan pack raids have been happening, it happened before, but now it's more frequent."
"Ah, those no good lycans are harassing our people again." Queen Mary sighed and shook her head. "I'm relieved that we've taken Karenina out from Hauntingen. It's too close to the borders."
Nicholas said not a word about the woman who was currently down with a cold. He would have actually enjoyed it if she ended up seeing a lycan but he kept that thought to himself. The crown prince looked at his father in concern.
"Father? There is some news about lycans masquerading as humans and then killing off an entire village once they've assimilated." Nicholas frowned. "Yellow Fangs Tribe plastered across their names and such. I worry."
"Those are in the borders. It's impossible for a lycan pack to make their way here in the capital without getting caught." King William laughed and shook his head. "If I ever see one though, I'd split his head open with my crossbow bolt."
Those were one of the last words uttered by King William Hannenbergh when he went out to the forest to engage on a hunting trip with his old noble friends.
***
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