Eloise spoke so calmly. "They've been dead for a long time."
"Are you trying to play me?" Leland stared at Eloise coldly. Even though he already suspected that Anne and Jack were truly dead, this confirmation still broke his heart.
"You haven't changed at all, have you? Always quick to anger." Eloise smiled more broadly. Then she continued her words, "They are indeed dead but they actually died a few weeks after the massacre in the forest which made Sophie think that it was her parents who died and were buried by the villagers."
Leland was stunned to hear that. So... The bodies found by the villagers back then were truly not Sophie's parents? How... ? How did Jack and Anne leave Sophie for weeks and then died?
"Do you know... what happened?" Leland asked Eloise with a hoarse voice.
"I do," Eloise replied. "The person responsible for their deaths is Isolde. Your mother."
Leland looked at Eloise intently, asking her with his eyes to continue her explanation. "Go on."
"I know this for a fact," said Eloise. She took a seat across from Leland and put her hands on her lap as she started to recount her story. "Isolde hated and envied Anne. Her jealousy grew even more when she accidentally saw Anne with her family in Blackwoods. Anne looked so damn happy."
Eloise shrugged. "Isolde thought it was not fair that Anne was blessed with a happy life and happy family, while she and her own family were not at all happy. You know how much your father despised your mother. She thought that Anne had no right to be happy, especially after betraying her tribe for a mere human. So, she planned to kill Anne."
Eloise continued by telling Leland everything she had heard from her mother about what happened. Even though Alpha Leon had forbidden all pack members from disturbing Anne and her family, Isolde didn't care and quietly disobeyed her mate's orders.
She sent out ten of her trusted lycans to kidnap Jack while he was hunting in the forest and then lured Anne to come to the place she had decided to be where Anne breathed her last.
When Anne came, Isolde vented all her anger by beating and torturing Anne without the slightest mercy. Anne could not fight back because Jack was being held, hostage. They were kept as prisoners for weeks and were tortured endlessly whenever Isolde felt venting her anger toward Anne.
Leland fell silent hearing what Eloise had just said. He didn't feel like believing it but when he recalled his mother's character, he knew that Isolde was very capable of doing that.
"So... that's the truth," said Eloise to end her story. "They were dead and your mother hid the truth for a long time. Not even your father ever found out because she put the blame on the Royal Lycan Hunters."
For a few moments, there was silence in the room. It was so quiet that even the sound of a needle falling on the floor could be heard.
Leland didn't understand how to explain his current feelings. Although he had expected his mother to do such a cruel thing to Sophie's parents, when he heard the truth in person, he couldn't hide his shock.
His chest tightened and he held his breath, as the figures of Anne and Jack flashed through his mind.
"Watching his wife being tortured, Jack finally decided to kill himself by stabbing his own heart," said Eloise, snapping Leland out of his thoughts.
"At that time Jack screamed in despair. He even cried because he couldn't bear to see Anne being tortured, but your mother had absolutely no compassion for them. When I saw her, I felt your mother was a real devil." Eloise added.
"What do you mean you 'saw'?" Leland looked at Eloise suspiciously. He was surprised that Eloise spoke as if she was there and saw firsthand what happened to Anne and Jack.
Eloise took out a purple crystal in the shape of a triangular prism from her pocket. "Because I did."
"What's that?" Leland furrowed his brows.
"Toneglyph. This is one of the magical artifacts that my mother gave to your mother. It can record events happening around her when activated using certain spells."
Leland looked closely at the thing.
"This thing recorded the murder of Sophie's parents. When she's bored, your mother will look back on the scene when she tortured Anne and Jack to death and then laughed out loud. For her it was entertainment to fix a bad mood," explained Eloise, making Leland surprised and opened his eyes wide.
"Would you like to see it?" Eloise asked. Leland silently watched the crystal. His face turned pale. There was fear in his heart. Would he be able to watch the incident when Jack and Anne died?
Unbeknownst to him, memories of Anne and Jack filled his mind.
"Hey, Lee look what I got for you!" Jack stood in front of little Leland, carrying a big deer on his shoulder.
"Ah yes, it turns out you're here."
When Leland was watching the deer on Jack's shoulder, Anne suddenly came from behind and carried him in her arms. He was a wolf pup who came to this hut looking so thin and wounded everywhere.
They nursed him back to health and had been showering him with so much love and warmth that he had never experienced his whole life. Now, he was chubby and healthy, and being in Anne's arms was his happy place.
"You've run around enough all morning. Now it's time to shower, then eat, after that you can take a nap," Anne said.
"Hey, Anne, I've been running all morning too. I want to be picked up and bathed too." Jack smiled broadly.
"Jeez, Jack..." Anne turned back into the hut. Leland turned his head, looking back from Anne's shoulder, and saw Jack who had a disappointed face behind him. It was the first time Leland felt like laughing.
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From Missrealitybites:
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