"Lucas," Lily greeted the man with a smile.
"Are you ready?" Lucas asked Lily. The girl nodded. He helped her get on her horse and then got on his own mount. The guard opened the gate and let both people leave the castle.
Sophie watched until they disappeared from sight before she went back inside and met her husband and children for dinner.
"You look happy," Leland commented when he saw Sophie enter the dining room with a beaming face.
"I really like Lily," Sophie gushed. "I feel like we have so much in common."
"That's what I thought too," Leland replied. He motioned Luciel and Jan to sit down and they started to eat dinner.
"So, what will happen now?" Sophie asked Leland during the meal. "Will Lucas continue their courtship?"
"I believe that's what he is doing," Leland said. "I will let him go to accompany Miss Moonchester home to her pack. He will have to meet her father and express his intention."
"This is so exciting," Sophie said.
In the six years that she was mated to Leland they didn't have any close friends who found their mates. She was not that close to the other pack members and their love life didn't interest her as much as Lucas's or Duncan's or Max's, Leland's close confidantes.
She already considered Lucas like a brother-in-law since the man was quite close to Leland. Seeing Lucas find a mate and maybe start to build a family made Sophie feel happy. She hoped the process would be smooth and Lucas could be happy with Lily.
***
Lucas ate dinner with Lily, Nicholas, and her men in their accommodation. The Beta of the Blood River Pack was basically an easygoing man who could easily build rapport with new people. After a while, he started to warm up to Nicholas and forget about their last confrontation. The dinner went well and they were engaged in a warm conversation.
Nicholas used the opportunity to ask Lucas everything he knew about Alpha Elias from the Obsidian Sand Pack. Since Lucas often went to the tribe meeting in the Gazi Desert, he had met Alpha Elias several times and could tell Nicholas a little bit about the enemy.
"Well, he only stood out after his father-in-law, the previous Alpha of the Obsidian Sand Pack died," Lucas explained. "It was around five years ago. Before that, he was a nobody."
"Ah, is that so?" Nicholas furrowed his brows. "But I heard that his wife is a witch."
"Well, his mate is dead," Lucas explained. "His new wife is a witch and she is quite powerful. Many people believe Alpha Elias became more powerful because of her help."
Lucas halted his words. He didn't know if it was wise to explain who Eloise was. He knew her as Leland's old friend. He also knew of Eloise's feelings for Leland in the past. He was not sure anymore about it since they had not met Eloise for a long time.
Maybe this information would be useful for Nicholas. However, Lucas thought it was inappropriate for him to reveal his Alpha's private life.
So, he decided to not share that information. Besides, it didn't matter if Eloise and Leland were old friends. They were not friends anymore. Leland had intentionally avoided her after Sophie was poisoned and he suspected his mother had a hand in it.
It was all because Isolde wanted him to marry Eloise.
Nicholas noticed Lucas's hesitance. He wondered if Lucas kept things from him.
"When was the last time you met Elias?" Nicholas asked the man. "Have you ever met the witch?"
"It's been a long time," Lucas replied. He didn't elaborate. Nicholas was convinced that Lucas knew more than what he let on. However, he didn't want to force Lucas to speak. The king cleared his throat.
"I actually have some spies in Armeria," he said with a low voice. "They are collecting intel for me and they told me Armeria is preparing their force to attack Riga soon. I need everything I could use to defend my kingdom. They said the witch rarely stays in the Armeria royal palace. I am wondering where she is most of the time."
Nicholas added, "For a man, his wife is his weakness. If I could find out where that woman is, maybe I could capture her and use her to pressure Alpha Elias to back down. So, if you knew anything about the witch, I would be grateful."
Lucas shook his head and replied apologetically. "I am sorry. I don't know that much. I only know her name is Eloise."
"Hmm..." Nicholas nodded. "Very well."
They continued eating dinner in peace. Nicholas decided to change the subject and talk about the history of Blood River Pack, the tribe meeting, and other lycan's customs. He wanted to know as much as possible about them so he could understand their life more.
Having two children who were raised among the lycans in Blood River Pack, he wanted to know how he could fit in their lives more.
***
Things were peaceful after the king's visit to Hastings. He continued to see several more packs and met their Alphas to talk about peace. After word got out that Leland Salazar of Blood River Pack buried the hatchet and no longer stood as the enemy of Riga, all the other Alphas from smaller packs followed suit.
With Lily's help, Nicholas could finally accomplish his mission. This news didn't escape Alpha Elias' ears. He rethought his plans to attack Riga because now he realized he wouldn't get an easy victory with many lycan packs standing behind the royal family.
Nicholas was happy and relieved when he heard the reports from his spy that Alpha Elias decided to postpone his invasion until the foreseeable future. He was relieved that they could avoid bloodshed, at least temporarily.
This didn't make him complacent. He was still maintaining relationship with lycan packs in his kingdom and slowly started to launch some policies to introduce his people to the new era of humans and lycans living side by side as equals.
It was not easy in the beginning. Some clashes and protests occurred. Some people were already brainwashed to see lycans as monsters. They were mostly the older generations or the less educated ones.
It was the same with some lycans who considered humans as the enemy or lower than them in status just because humans were not as strong as the lycans. Both leaders, the king and the Alphas were working hard to instill the new mindset in their respective people.
It was a slow progress, but as long as they kept working on it, Nicholas believed someday they would see the desired result.
Suddenly, six months passed just like that. Time flew by when you were busy or happy. For Nicholas, it was probably because he was busy. For Leland, it was because he was happy.
His life with Sophie and their children was peaceful. His days were filled with laughter and babies' cries. After he found out that the Hannenberghs were innocent of Sophie's parents' deaths, his heart was half at peace.
He was still working on getting the elders from the Blood River Pack to question them about what happened in the past, but since most of them were now joining The Obsidian Sand Pack, he couldn't get to them without a confrontation with the other pack.
Alpha Elias was protecting them, including his mother, Isolde. This means, if Leland wanted to force them to be returned to him for questioning, he had to face Elias. Sophie had begged him to delay any dangerous confrontation while their children were really small.
She was worried that something would happen to them when Leland was away. Her reasoning touched Leland's heart. She said her parents were already dead. So, it didn't really matter if he uncovered their killers and avenged their deaths now or later.
Leland listened to Sophie and decided to focus on his family. He had never felt so much happiness when his mind was solely on his little family and pack, and not filled with revenge and painful memories.
***
"You are smiling," Sophie nudged her husband. She caught him smiling out of nowhere and was curious to know what he was thinking. "Care to share?"
Leland turned to her and shrugged. "There is nothing in particular. I am just feeling happy."
Sophie smiled too. She was feeling the same. They were enjoying their lives in Hastings. Luciel and Jan finally had started their school in Cow Dung and they made new friends. Anne and Jack were growing up so fast. Both were very healthy and had shown their big personalities.
Lucas and Lily were soon to be mated. Their relationship progressed really well. Lucas had met the Red Moon pack and talked to Alpha Rad about his desire to make Lily his mate. Alpha Rad was happy with him and immediately gave his blessings.
Leland would soon meet Alpha Rad to represent his pack to discuss the mating ritual. Everything seemed to be going well.
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