Above him, he could see Eloise was looking at her worriedly. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him wake up.
"Gosh.. that coward," she scoffed to the side and then looked at Leland again. Her expression was filled with worry. "I am glad you woke up. It's been one week."
One week?
Leland gritted his teeth. It was days too long. What happened to him that he couldn't wake up for one week? He was really worried about Sophie and their children.
She must be really worried because he didn't come home as he promised. Leland told her that his mission would take three to four days max. Even one extra day was too long.
He didn't like leaving his family at the Riga royal palace for obvious reasons. All he thought about after he left for Armeria was how he could return as soon as possible.
"Can you speak?" Eloise asked Leland. "Can you move your body?"
Leland felt so weak that he couldn't move his body, but he could speak with a low voice. "Where... am I?"
"You are in the Armeria palace," said Eloise. "You were poisoned by Elias, that coward."
"What poison?" Leland was so mad at hearing Eloise's explanation. Never in the history of their tribe, was an Alpha so cowardly that he used such a lowly method to subdue his opponent. Lycans were creatures who used physical strength and they dealt with matters using power, not sneaky ways like poison.
However, since Elias was involved with Eloise who was a witch, and used to using these backhanded methods, he became corrupted and used her poison to try and kill Leland since he was aware of his own physical strength. He was no match to Leland.
"I... I think he stole my poison and used it on you," said Eloise. Her voice sounded apologetic. "From the symptoms... I think it's the poison that attacks the nerves."
Leland's heart skipped a beat. He remembered experiencing such an excruciating headache after he killed Elias. He didn't remember anything else after that. The only thing he knew was he woke up one week later, in the enemy's den.
"Don't worry, the pack respected the duel and they now consider you their new Alpha," said Eloise as if reading Leland's mind.
Leland couldn't care less about the Obsidian Sand Pack. He did challenge Elias in a formal duel but the real reason he did that was to avoid the pack members meddling between his and Elias' fight.
He was not interested to take over the pack from Elias. Though after he won he did plan to kill all his former members who betrayed him and moved to Obsidian Sand Pack.
However, now that worked in his favor too. When he passed out after Elias' poison took him out, the lycans in Armeria didn't dare touch him. He was now their new Alpha. He didn't want to imagine if he passed out here surrounded by enemies. He would have been dead now and he couldn't go home to Sophie.
"Give me the antidote," said Leland coldly. He looked at Eloise with a piercing gaze. "It's your poison. so you have to fix it."
Eloise looked at Leland with pursed lips. "I am not the one who poisoned you. So, I am not guilty of the crime. You have killed the culprit."
She got up and looked at Leland from above. Her arms were crossed on her chest. "Since you need my help, shouldn't you try to be nicer to me?"
"I came here because you begged me to help you," Leland said. He was angry but tried to keep his tone low and emotionless. "Shouldn't you be treating the person who came here to help you better?"
"Oh, I am," said Eloise. "I have been treating you day in and day out. I have never left your bed and made sure you don't die from the poison. I forgive you for not knowing that because you were unconscious."
Leland was silent when Eloise retorted like that. He still couldn't move his body so he was suspicious that the witch didn't really help him get better. She might only do the bare minimum just to keep him alive. He needed to talk to his men to find out from them whatever happened while he was unconscious.
"Where are Max and the others?" Leland changed the subject. "I have to talk to them."
"Oh, they went home to Riga to notify your pack that you are injured and need to recover before you could return," Eloise said.
"All of them?" Leland didn't believe her. Max was not stupid. He would bring Leland with him back to Riga, even if the Alpha was already dead.
"All of them," said Eloise. She approached Leland and sat by the bed. Her hand touched the man's arm. "Why don't you believe me?"
Leland gritted his teeth. He wanted to brush Eloise's hand away from his arm, but he still couldn't move his body. He felt so angry and, in his mind, he killed Elias again, over and over.
"Because I don't," Leland looked at Eloise coldly. "I know you."
"Aww... I am flattered that you think you still know me," Eloise chuckled. She moved her face closer to Leland's and now their faces were only inches apart. She touched his chin and smirked. "We were so good together. Why did you have to choose that lowly human to be your mate? You hurt my feelings."
Leland closed his eyes. He didn't want to lock eyes with Eloise. He remembered the last meeting he had with her. He told her that he planned to go to Riga and prepared his pack to attack the capital and kill the royal family of Riga.
Leland didn't expect to meet Sophie all of a sudden and got the chance to marry her when she came to him for protection. Because he knew Eloise's feelings for him, he didn't want to take risks by keeping their friendship, out of respect for Sophie.
He sent her a letter that he had found his mate and he wished her the best to lead her covenant of witches. He couldn't be her friend anymore. Eloise never replied to his letter.
.
.
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From Missrealitybites:
I am sorry for the delay in opening the privilege. I didn't realize I added a new tier. So I just published one chapter yesterday since I thought it would be immediately accessible to you. Apparently not.
Apologies. I think I might be sleepwalking or something and didn't remember stuff, including adding the privilege tier. I am happy that I updated three books today, "The Cursed Prince", "The King's Wife Is The Alpha's Mate" and "The Mafia's Secret Wife". I hope I can keep it up.
Btw, I made more pictures with AI (Midjourney) and I really like one in particular. I think it looks like Leland. See the picture in the comment. What do you think?
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on fre ew𝒆bnovel.com