"Good morning," Leland's voice was the first thing Sophie heard when she opened her eyes. A big smile immediately curved up on her beautiful face.
"Good morning," she said. She looked up and found the man was sitting beside her, with a cup of tea in his hand.
He only wore shorts, showing his toned body, which was now filled with new scars from his last battle with Nicholas. They were now healed but still showed the scars. Sophie thought they only made him look more manly.
This made her wonder if Nicholas got similarly severe injuries as well from the fight. Had he recovered? Where was he now? Was he okay?
Sophie suddenly felt bad for worrying about another man, because he was her children's father. However, when she saw Leland's scars, she could only imagine how bad the fight was.
This was probably the first out of several fights to come. She didn't know if she would be able to handle the conflict between the two men going forward.
Sophie lowered her eyes and looked at the floor. She didn't want Leland to guess what she was thinking. The man seemed really good at understanding her mind.
"What time is it?" she asked without looking at Leland. She opened the blanket that covered her body and realized she was still naked under it. Her mind went back to their beautiful lovemaking the night before and a faint smile was back on her face.
Stop thinking about Nicholas, Sophie chided herself. She had chosen to be on Leland's side when shit hits the fan. So, she should get used to thinking that Nicholas and the royal family are the enemies and she must not care about them.
She couldn't have it all.
"It's ten," Leland replied. "Do you need to do something?"
Sophie sat up and shook her head. "No, not really. It's just that..."
"Yes?" Leland put down his cup and took a new one from the table. He poured tea into it and gave it to Sophie. She wrapped her body with the blanket, it felt so warm, and sat beside Leland. She accepted the teacup and started sipping her tea.
Sophie sighed. "Can we... go somewhere for a few days?"
"Sure."
Sophie turned to Leland and furrowed her brows. "You're not going to ask me why I suddenly want to go somewhere for a few days?"
"Why do you want to go somewhere for a few days?" Leland asked back.
Sophie pursed her lips. "I just feel like I need fresh air after... after what happened."
She wished they could all go back to Frisia and forget the life in Riga since she knew what awaited them here in the future. An open war.
She thought their life in Frisia for five years was peaceful and she was surrounded by fresh air and beautiful mountain nature. She was suddenly missing their peaceful life there.
"I am missing our old home in Frisia," Sophie said. "I know it's too far to go there just to visit."
"Hmm..." Leland touched her hand and played with her fingers. "Actually, there is a nice place that looks a bit like our home in Frisia, not too far from here."
"There is?"
"Yeah," Leland nodded. "If you missed Frisia and want to go there, I can take you to this mountain. I like it a lot."
"How far is it?" Sophie was interested in his offer.
"Two days journey with a carriage," Leland said. "But if you go with me, I can take you there in one night."
"Go with you how?"
"I'll transform and you can ride on my back. If we travel at night, nobody would see us. We will reach the place by morning."
"Whoaa..." Sophie pressed her lips in excitement. She rode her mate in his lycan form several times when they were living in Frisia and he wanted to take her somewhere private to have a picnic under the stars or watched the sunset on the top of the mountain.
She always loved those moments but they didn't do it often because she was sick. Now, she was healthy, it should be okay to travel all night to this place that Leland wanted to show her.
"But it's quite far," she thought it was a great idea to go out with him and calm her mind down. However, on second thought, she realized she would be leaving her two sons for days if they had to travel there back and forth and spend some days there.
"Are you worried about Luciel and Jan?" Leland asked her. Sophie bobbed her head. "They will be fine. They are six now. They can kill a bear if they want to."
"Ahaha... they can?"
"Yes." Leland took his teacup and downed his tea. Then, he poured more from the pot. "Lucas dan the others will be able to keep an eye on them, as usual."
"But... what about..." Sophie swallowed hard. "What if the king... send the Royal Lycan Hunter here?"
"I don't think that will happen," Leland replied. He remembered Nicholas urged him to escape when the Royal Lycan Hunter came during their fight. Nicholas also mentioned something about trying to free the two lycan cubs he met in the meadow.
Leland could deduce several things from that encounter with Nicholas. One, the king was only recently aware of his condition being a lycan.
Two, he was still confused and perhaps didn't immediately see lycans as the enemy since he was now one. And three, he also didn't know the two lycan pups he met in the meadow were his own sons.
Leland thought Nicholas wouldn't become a problem to them in such a short time. At this point, the man was probably trying to heal from his injuries, and then the next logical step would be to find out more about his lycan side.
That would take a long time since he didn't have the right source to ask. So, Leland thought he wouldn't need to worry about Nicholas right now.
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