Note:
Thank you, Despina dear, for gifting a castle to this book last week. Sorry I couldn't publish for days. So much was going on in real life.
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Sophie didn't know any witch at all, but Katherine. Did something happen to her? Katherine refused to join them in the capital when Sophie asked her to come with them, saying she had other things to do in her hometown. The last thing Sophie heard about Katherine was that she went to visit her nieces.
She turned to Leland and asked him with her eyes if he knew any other witches that might come to him in a dire situation.
Sophie's mind immediately went to Eloise, Leland's old friend which she never met before. He never talked about her and Sophie thought they were no longer friends.
The last time she asked him about Eloise, Leland said he wouldn't want to have any friendship with another Alpha's wife. However, maybe something happened and Eloise needed help?
"Where is the witch?" Leland asked Duncan.
"She is waiting for you in front of the gate," said Duncan politely. "Should I bring her in?"
"So, she is looking for you," Sophie said to Leland.
The man didn't reply. His gut told him this had something to do with Eloise as she was a grand witch and had a friendship with him in the past. He was wondering what she needed from him now that she felt the need to send someone.
Leland only touched Sophie's hand and squeezed it, motioning her to stay inside while he went outside with Duncan to meet the witch. He gripped the parchment in his hand tightly and strode with long steps to go out. Sophie could only watch him leave.
She didn't know why but suddenly she had a really bad feeling.
"Luciel, Jan, you should go and see who is coming," she immediately whispered to her sons and asked them to go after Leland. Her husband asked her to stay put, but he didn't say anything about the boys.
Luciel was quick to dash through the door and ran after Leland. Jan soon follow suit. The babies almost ran outside too but Sophie was quick to catch them.
"You guys should stay here," she told the two naughty ones.
***
When Leland arrived in front of their manor, he saw a middle-aged woman immediately dropped herself to the ground. He recognized her as Celia, Eloise's maid who had worked for her family since she was young.
This made him understand that the letter must really have come from Eloise. Now, Leland was wondering about what was going on with Eloise that she sent her trusted maid to come to Leland.
The witch cried to him and spoke with a very pitiful expression.
"Oh, Alpha Leland... please, you have to help our grand witch, Eloise. She is in danger."
Her words made Leland furrow his brows. He wanted to say he didn't have anything to do with Eloise, but it was not true. They were friends in the past. He just ended the friendship for numerous reasons.
However, he was not a heartless man who could let a woman be in danger without trying to do something to help.
"Why did you come to me?" Leland asked the woman. "Eloise has a husband."
Celia shook her head dejectedly. "Alpha Elias is the one who makes Eloise's life in danger. She has been trying to leave him for several years but it is really hard. He became worse and worse and finally he chained her and locked her up in the dungeon. He is especially mad because she still couldn't give him an heir."
She added, "Alpha Elias is a really cruel man. Eloise actually believes he had his first wife killed because he only married her for the Alpha position and once he secured his title, he no longer needed her."
Leland couldn't understand why a man could do such a thing to his wife. Even his cruel father treated Isolde well. So, it was hard to believe Celia's words.
Seeing the expression of disbelief on Leland's face, Celia moved closer to the man and cried more despondently.
"I am very scared for Eloise. You know I helped raise her as her nanny and it breaks my heart to see Eloise's life with him has been a living hell." The witch politely pointed at the parchment in his hand. "Please... please read her letter. I risked my life trying to get the letter to you."
Leland looked at the letter and then opened it. His heart ached for Eloise if she was really suffering under her cruel husband. He decided to read what she had to say before he made any conclusion.
"Dear Leland, this is Eloise. Please help me. You are the only one I know who could kill my husband. He has gone crazy and almost killed me several times. I still want to live. Please help... In return, I will give you whatever you want."
Leland didn't want anything from Eloise. He had his family and that was enough for him. Well... he did want to get his mother and the elders of the Blood River Pack who now joined the Obsidian Sand Pack, but in order to do that, he had to face Alpha Elias.
Sooner or later he would have to kill the man anyway. Maybe he could do it sooner?
Celia sobbed uncontrollably. "Alpha Elias locked her up and made people think that Eloise is away a lot from Armeria when in reality she is suffering his abuse. Please, Leland.... remember your friendship with her and help her."
Leland crumpled the letter and tossed it to the ground.
"Very well. I will plan an attack very soon to Armeria," he said calmly.
"No, don't come and attack openly," Celia begged Leland. "He is always very jealous of you and he will only torture Eloise more if you came."
"Huh?" Leland didn't understand what Celia meant. "Why is he jealous of me? I am a mated lycan."
He also had intentionally cut ties with Eloise for the specific reasons he told Sophie, that lycans were possessive and jealous creatures. That's why he didn't want to have any relationship with another Alpha's mate, not even friendship.
Celia let out a long sigh. "One day he found out that you and Eloise were once betrothed by your parents and that Eloise is in love with you. Alpha Elias became furious and thats' when the abuse started. It has been years of hell."
Leland suddenly felt his chest heavy. Elois was still in love with him even after she married Elias? This was really bad.
Now, everything made sense. No Alpha would accept being humiliated if his wife was in love with another man. Leland could now believe Eloise was in danger.
Ah... he really wanted to go to Armeria as soon as possible and teach Elias a lesson.
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From Missrealitybites:
Thank you, everyone, for being so patient and kind while waiting for me to continue updating my books. I've got things to sort out in real life and this left me exhausted and uninspired to write.
I had to read the last 40 chapters to remember the story so I can write again... ahaha, no I mean, I do know the story, but I didn't remember the events that happened so I needed to refresh my memory.
While reading, I actually thought to myself "Wow... these chapters are great. Did I really write them? It feels surreal." hahaha... just kidding.
Th𝓮 most uptodate nov𝑒ls are published on freew(e)bnove(l).𝓬𝓸𝓶