The Alpha went into action. He took a thick coat from the closet and wore it, then reached out for his mask. Finally, he leaped out from the balcony and into the walls of the late baron's castle.
Multiple werewolves stationed to watch over the castle would notice their Alpha make a move.
These werewolves were told to restrain their powers and not reveal they were not human, but their Alpha was naturally above the rule that he dictated for them. However, all of them were curious as to where Leland was going.
Duke Ariam Romanov was still not forming friendships with local nobilities just yet, so who was their Alpha going to meet out in a rush?
Leland's movements were fast despite the winter's gale. He did not change into his wolf form, but he darted through the snowy hills like it was nothing. Only the mark he carved on Sophie led him a path to her.
Leland remembered that Sophie's father, Jack Hansley actually came from this idyllic town before he had met Anne and the two of them became a married couple.
It was such a well-known story that most of those in his tribe refused to acknowledge because of how disgraceful it was.
Out of all the werewolves who were tasked to head into the human kingdom and kill noteworthy individuals by seducing them and bringing them down little by little without arousing suspicion, Anne had volunteered for the role of assassinating them.
She was a great and powerful werewolf. Alpha Leon, Leland's father was madly in love with Anne at that time. The current Alpha at that time was Anne's father, who was also acknowledged as their king by the tribe. So, she was allowed to head into the human kingdom to get rid of their enemies.
Unfortunately, at least in the eyes of their clan, Anne would encounter a man named Jack Hansley who would discover that Anne was a werewolf while he was out hunting in the woods because he encountered the woman transform.
Anne would have killed Jack then and there, but the human proved to be competent and there were other stories, but all of it was only a precursor to how the two would then eventually fall madly in love with each other.
This was another reason why Leland needed to become the Alpha and consolidate his powers, it was in order to protect Sophie from the other tribes and elders who would think of her as nothing more but a bad sign because her mother, Anne, was a traitor.
For now, though, Leland rushed and headed for the town's area and would do it while keeping himself undetected by the humans who acted as guards for the small town. Jack Hansley's relatives were undoubtedly still living here in Hastings.
It was where Sophie was bound to be.
***
ll of Lucia and Valerie's classmates soon left after the confrontation between the cousins, not only because they were intimidated by Sophie's fearsome demeanor, but also because of the winter storm that drew upon them.
The weather was terrible and all of them returned safely to their homes while Sophie was locked inside of the cellar once again.
It was the same thing all over again and Sophie herself did not actually sit any longer inside to think that her cousins would become less despicable.
"They all hate me here and… I didn't want to think about it before because I thought we were of the same blood, but I have every reason to believe that aunt Helga only wants me to stay here because I am my father's daughter."
When Sophie was in Cawden Academy, she remembered the rules and laws of succession and, in this society, it was still the man who received all of the inheritance from their parents and not the woman.
In the situation that the father did not have any sons, it was only then did the right of inheritance be given to the daughter. So in this scenario of the Hansely family's wealth, Aunt Helga was not supposed to receive anything but only Sophie.
She fit the bill, but Aunt Helga did not.
However, Sophie was not interested in battling her relatives for wealth. She did not want to fight tooth and nail for money. If anything, she only wanted enough money to take care of her child. Instead, a thought came to Sophie's mind and she hoped that she was right.
It was crazy, but Sophie didn't want to stay here any longer and instead, all that she wanted to do was leave and go back to Hauntingen and live peacefully while giving birth to her child.
Sophie needed money though or something else valuable to pay for her expenses and make it back to Hauntingen.
"I… Nic's ring, the one that belonged to his grandmother. I do not think that Aunt Helga would have found the need to sell it," Sophie muttered to herself. She was going to retrieve the ring and perhaps even take some of the jewelry on her aunt's cabinet?
It felt a bit wrong to take anything else except for Nicholas's grandmother's ring, but if Sophie was going to survive with her child, she needed to do it. Everything that Aunt Helga bought was technically because of the wealth that was supposed to be Sophie's.
"If it really feels wrong, then I will just compensate her in the future," she said to herself and walked up to the basement's door. She tried to see if there were any servants who might help her open the door because Sophie was pregnant. "Hello? Is anyone there?"
There was no answer.
"Well, I can always try lockpicking? It's supposed to not be all that hard, right?" Sophie bent down a little and peeked through the keyhole. "What if it's not actually locked and was forgotten by the servants since they were rushing earlier?"
It was a small hope, but Sophie reached out and touched the doorknob. Once again, the unnatural strength that Sophie found for herself helped her this time again.
Sophie actually wanted to try picking the lock, but when she touched the handle of the door and gave it a pull, the wooden door would give in to her strength and come out.
".…" For a moment, Sophie was dumbfounded.
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