Leland looked up at Sophie and smiled. However, because of the hideous wound on his face, his smile looked contorted. This made Sophie feel so sad. She touched his cheek with tears forming in her eyes.
"Who did you get into a fight with?" she asked him earnestly. She could recognize claw marks on his body when she applied the ointment earlier, along with severe bite marks.
It seemed hard to believe that the Royal Lycan Hunter's weapons would look similar to Lycan's claws and fangs.
"The royal lycan hunters have a lycan with them," Leland said casually. "He was quite formidable and we got into an intense fight for hours. But I am fine, as you can see."
Sophie clenched her fists to the sides and her body started to tremble. Did Leland mean... Nicholas?
The only lycan she could imagine would work together with the Royal Lycan Hunter was someone from the royal family himself. He was the king.
Sophie was now convinced that Nicholas Hannenbergh the king, was her husband Nicholas Ferdinand whom she married six years ago.
He was turned into a lycan by some Alpha from a werewolf pack that waged war with the royal family. Nicholas hated his condition and Sophie could see him would do anything to fight the werewolves in Riga.
He never considered himself to be one of them. All he ever thought about the lycans was that they were monsters and needed to be eliminated.
So, did this mean, the Royal Lycan Hunter knew about their king being a werewolf?
If so, this would put Nicholas directly on the opposing side of Sophie and her children.
Sophie became distraught when she thought about how Nicholas didn't remember her and by extension wouldn't remember that he had children. He would see Luciel and Jan as part of the enemy.
What should she do? Should she pretend that what happened in the past never happened?
Should she bury her memory of Nicholas and stick to the present where she and Leland had a happy new family? The king was now their enemy and he didn't even remember Sophie.
Besides, Nicholas already had a fiancee, a beautiful princess called Karenina Verhoven. And Sophie already had Leland by her side.
She lowered her head and was deep in thoughts. No matter how she tried to look at this situation, Sophie realized that it was best to live her new life with Leland without looking back.
She had a little hope that her sons could meet their biological father and had a relationship with him.
However, after she thought about it again, Sophie was terrified that Nicholas would hate his children if he regained his memory and knew they were his sons, and found out the boys were lycans.
Leland was relieved to see Sophie didn't show any interest in the other Alpha. She didn't even ask Leland if his opponent was badly injured as well, or if he was still alive.
If Sophie asked those questions, he would think she still cared about Nicholas and was worried about him. Fortunately, Sophie only showed concern for Leland. This made the Alpha's heart filled with warmth.
"What are you thinking, my love?" Leland tugged Sophie's chin and made her look at him. "Please don't carry your burden alone. I am here to share it with you."
He thought it was time to address the elephant in the room. He didn't want to push her to talk about Nicholas, but he wanted to know if she now was ready to talk.
Sophie looked at Leland with gleaming eyes. She could see his sincerity. After being together for six years, she knew she could trust him with her feelings and secrets and he would never make her feel bad about anything.
"Leland..." Sophie touched his hands and gripped them. "You know that I was married before I met you, right?"
Leland nodded. He didn't show any emotion on his face even though deep inside he was nervous about what Sophie would say. "I do."
"I lost my husband after only being together for several months," Sophie spoke with a low but clear voice. "I told you he was turned into a lycan by his family's enemy."
Which was Alpha Leon, my father, Leland muttered inwardly.
He didn't say anything to Sophie. He wanted to wait until she share with him everything she knew, and then he would add what he knew. So, they could get the full picture of things.
"Yes, I remember that," Leland replied calmly.
"Well..." Sophie swallowed hard. "I was wrong about his death. For years, I thought he was killed in an attack that involved our pack, together with his grand uncle."
Leland furrowed his brows and was visibly surprised by Sophie's statement. So, did Sophie assume, all these years, that Blood River Pack was responsible for Nicholas' death but she didn't say anything?
This meant the world to him.
Sophie didn't hold a grudge for Nicholas' death and forgave the enemy when she joined the pack.. That must have been such a huge internal conflict on her side, but she managed it so well and didn't burden Leland with it.
"Sophia... I didn't know that," Leland said with a choked voice. "Did you ever hate me for it?"
Sophie bit her lip. Slowly she shook her head. "I can never hate you, Leland."
The man felt as if his body was poured really cold water, and he was washed away by the feeling of relief. Leland was so scared that Sophie had at some point hated him for 'killing' Nicholas and his grand uncle.
"If I didn't know that you are so kind to me, I might hate you for causing Nicholas' and his uncle's death," Sophie continued in her words. "However, when the realization came that Blood River Pack might have something to do with their deaths, I was already part of you and part of this pack. I couldn't hate you and blame you for his 'death'. Nothing would bring him back to life."
Leland squeezed Sophie's hands tenderly and kissed her cheek. He thought she was wise and had a good head on her shoulders.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢