What happened that night became the talk of everybody within the pack and also the Blue Moon pack members who came for the wedding. It was very rare for lycans to abandon their mates. They were creatures who were fiercely loyal to their packs and mates.
Unless something was really, really wrong, breaking of mate bond, an Alpha rejecting his Luna was almost unheard of. After two lycans mated they would be partners for life. The bond between mates would only be separated by death.
After this incident, Sophie would definitely be the object of ridicule by the lycans even more so now that there was no Leland to protect her. She was not liked by some of their pack members from the beginning because she was married to another man before she was mated to Leland, and she even had children from that other man.
However, seeing Leland would rather lose hundreds of lycans who disliked his mate than break up with Sophie, the pack members already learned to accept her being his mate and their Luna. They didn't dare speak up to express their displeasure of having a wolfless woman as their Luna. They were scared of their Alpha.
Sophie also didn't take for granted her position by Leland's side. She tried her hardest to be a good wife to him and a luna to them. She built a relationship with the female lycans in the pack and helped them with educating their children.
Things were slowly getting better for her in this pack. However... now, the seeds of resentment would grow again because Leland was not here to defend her.
Right now every lycan in the manor and the settlements in its surrounding was talking about Leland's two very sudden decisions that shocked and confused them. He no longer wanted to be the Alpha of Blood River Pack and he also left his mate, the woman that everyone thought he loved deeply.
Ignoring everyone who was staring at her in whispers, Sophie continued walking blankly. Leland's words echoed in her head and made her heart feel like it was being slashed into a million little pieces.
"Because of you, people ridicule me as a garbage-picking dog for taking up another man's female like you...."
"... apart from being a burden and troublesome for me, you also can't do anything. You and your children are just parasites that keep gnawing at me..."
Sophie opened her bedroom door and walked towards Anne and Jack with tears in her eyes. Lucas was hugging the sobbing Anne and rubbed Jack's little head, trying to calm them down.
He looked at Sophie with an apologetic look, as if he was responsible for Leland's actions, being his Beta, and he wanted to ask forgiveness on the Alpha's behalf.
No... no longer his Alpha.
Leland had rejected his pack by abandoning them and tossing them to Lucas. He wanted Lucas to rise up and replace him as the Alpha of Blood River Pack.
Meanwhile, Sophie's tears streamed down harder. She still heard Leland's cruel words echoing in her mind.
"...I've cut ties with you. So if you still have any shame, get out of my manor and take your children too...."
Lily who was still holding her shoulders to make sure Sophie didn't fall to the ground, exchanged glances with Lucas. Both didn't know how to console this broken woman.
What she experienced was so cruel and unnecessary. They remembered her pain and worry in the past weeks, waiting for Leland to come home, worrying about him, and then worrying about her babies who were sick.
It was too much.
Sophie's body staggered and she sat limply on the floor with his sobs broken.
"Why Leland? What did I do wrong? Why are you hurting me like this? WHY?!" Her tears fell like rain. She squeezed her chest because hse felt so much pain in there. Leland's words completely broke her heart.
Before long Sophie was wailing. Jan and Luciel dashed through the open door, with Max and Duncan were chasing after them from behind.
"Mother!" Luciel exclaimed.
He and Jan came to meet Leland because they heard people talking that Leland had returned home. However, they didn't see him anywhere.
Instead, they heard their mother's heartbreaking cries. Their hearts skipped a beat and they both thought something happened to their siblings.
Did Anne and Jack not make it?
"Mother! What's wrong?"
"What happened? Why are you crying, Mom?"
They were very surprised when they found their mother sobbing. Sophie didn't answer and just hugged the two boys as they continued to cry.
She recalled Leland's words again referring to her and his children as parasites. It made her cry even more.
Jan and Luciel became very worried. They kept asking what was wrong but Sophie didn't answer their questions and continued to cry.
The boys could only return their mother's hug with confusion mixed with fear.
***
Meanwhile, Leland who just got out of the manor was now in the woods, not far from the manor. He was with Eloise and he immediately demanded to get Jack's soul stone because he had done what Eloise wanted.
"Sure, I won't break my promise," said Eloise. She took out the blue stone from her robe pocket and handed it to Leland. Right now she felt very satisfied with the outcome of her plan. After a long time, she finally managed to separate Leland from Sophie.
She stepped closer and put her arm around Leland's arm.
"Let's go home," she said.
This time Leland did not refuse. He should have kept quiet and sped away from the place. The thing on his mind right now was Sophie. He treated Eloise like air.
"Come on," said Eloise smiling. Leland didn't say anything and sped away from the place according to Eloise's words.
When they arrived in Armeria, Celia and the lycans who had recognized Leland as the new Alpha of the Obsidian Sand Pack welcomed them. However, the lycans who were previously traitors to the Blood River Pack and decided to join the Obsidian Sand Pack were hesitant to welcome Leland for fear that Leland would kill them.
"Welcome back Alpha, Luna," said Celia looking at Leland and Eloise alternately. She instinctively shrank in her spot when Leland looked at her very sharply.
Leland also stared intently at all the lycans based in front of him as if he wanted to kill them all.
After silencing all the lycans, he walked to enter the palace. The line of lycans in front of him was instantly separated into two rows like a show curtain and Eloise just smiled at him.
In Eloise's eyes, right now Leland was an injured beast. So, it was better if she gave him space and not approached him for a while. After all, as long as she had the stone that held Anne's soul, she didn't have to worry about Leland going away from her. Right now Leland was already under her control.
***
Leland entered the room where he was previously treated. He closed the door and searched the room, looking for a container to safely store Jack's soul stone.
When he searched the cupboard, he remembered that Eloise kept the potion that had neutralized the remaining poison in his body in a small box.
Leland walked quickly to the table by the bed and opened the drawer there and found the box he was looking for. The potion was very valuable because Eloise stored it so well. He took out the bottle of potion and sat on the bed staring sadly at Jack's soul stone.
He didn't have time to feed the soul stone to Jack, but at least the medicine given to the babies must have helped their health to recover. To make sure Jack wouldn't get sick again, he would have to find the opportunity to give it to him.
That would wait. Leland would find out later where Sophie and the babies were. If she truly went to Riga Royal Palace, then Leland would sneak in there to see them.
His mind was busy thinking of ways to find out where Eloise hid Anne's soul stone, stealing that, killing Eloise, and then going back to Sophie and begging for forgiveness. He would explain everything.
"Sorry." He kissed the soul stone and wept again in silence as he remembered Sophie pleading with him not to leave him.
"....What did I do wrong? If I'm wrong you can scold me or you can even hit me, but please don't leave me..."
"You didn't do anything wrong, Sophia. Please forgive me." Leland sobbed softly. He knew that he had hurt Sophie a lot with his words but he had to do it for the good of Sophie and the children.
He wanted Sophie to hate him so that Sophie wouldn't wait for him and he wanted her to leave his manor and seek protection from Nicholas.
He knew that in his absence, Sophie and her children would not be safe if they remained among the pack. He felt that the safest place for Sophie and the children was the Riga Palace.
After a while, he put the soul stone very carefully into the box.
"I will definitely free you both, this is my promise as your father," Leland said, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes and closing the box tightly. He would find ways to immediately return it to Jack.
***
At the manor, Sophie was currently packing her things. She was preparing to leave the place. She also asked Jan and Luciel to pack their things too.
Luciel and Jan already knew about Leland who resigned as the Alpha and cut ties with their mother from the lycans' chatters around them. They just obeyed their mother and didn't say anything.
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