日韩一中文字暮2019

They arrived at the biggest inn in town and rested. The king intentionally went to Hastings without telling the mayor or any government officials because he didn\'t want them to ask questions. At this moment, he wanted to keep confidential the fact that there was a pack of lycans residing in Hastings.

People would be terrified or angry and it wouldn\'t be good for his peace talks. No matter how much he hated Leland and his pack, to Nicholas, Sophie\'s, and the children\'s safety was paramount. He would never endanger their lives by letting the townspeople know about their true identity.

Slowly, the people in the capital were starting to accept the fact that their king was a lycan and he was promoting peace between humans and lycans. However, the people in other regions were not that open-minded yet, especially those in the farther away locations because they were not easily controlled by the royal family.

As he told Lily Moonchester, it takes time.

"Now we wait," Nicholas said after they entered the inn and gathered for coordination. "I have sent a messenger to the Wolfstone Castle. Let\'s hope he will bring good news."

Lily Moonchester looked at the king attentively. She felt a bit curious to see Nicholas look a bit nervous. Was he afraid of Leland Salazar? It didn\'t seem like it. His expression was a mix of nervousness and impatience.

He was definitely not scared of whatever was coming their way. Now, Lily was looking forward to seeing how the meeting would go.

"What if Alpha Leland didn\'t want to see us?" Lily asked Nicholas. She didn\'t know what Nicholas told his messenger to relay to the Alpha of the Blood River Pack. However, she didn\'t want to be kept in the dark, so she tried to probe. "What exactly did you tell your messenger?"

Before today, Lily was involved in sending the messages to the Alphas of the packs they were planning to visit because Nicholas thought she knew them better than he did. And she was happy to do it. However, specifically for Blood River Pack, Nicholas didn\'t involve her.

Nicholas motioned the servant to come and bring them wine. He needed to calm down his frantic heart. Being in the same town as Sophie and the boys, he didn\'t expect to feel this giddy and nervous.

Uff... if only he was not undercover, he might have snuck out and transformed into a wolf and run toward the castle. He still knew some secret passages that he could use to enter the property. In fact, he remembered that the last time he was here, he used the same passage to investigate Duke Romanov, not knowing that Sophie was in there.

However, he held back and brushed off the idea. He came here to talk diplomacy and discuss a peace agreement. He didn\'t want to jeopardize the mission by making Leland angry. Nicholas was very hard on himself nowadays.

After the mistakes he committed when he was younger, he always tried to think things through and avoid making the same mistakes because he was too immature or emotional.

After the servant poured them wine, he sipped the red liquid solemnly and looked outside the window. He decided to be honest with Lily and told her the truth. So, she wouldn\'t feel blindsided. He needed her support in this mission.

"Miss Moonchester, the truth is, Leland Salazar hates me because he thinks my family is responsible for the deaths of two people he cared about," Nicholas explained. "It happened a long time ago and I only found out about it recently. So, I have done my own investigation and I can prove to him that my family is innocent."

He quickly added, "We are still holding so much grudge for what happened in the past. His pack kidnapped and tortured me, and his father turned me into a lycan, and we have killed so many of their pack members, but at least my family\'s hands are clean from the blood of Jack and Anne Hansley."

"Jack and Anne Hansley? Who are they?" Lily was now feeling more curious. She took a wine cup from the table and started sipping her wine as well.

Nicholas cleared his throat. "They are his mate\'s parents."

His mate is also my wife, he didn\'t say this aloud. Nicholas let out a sigh. If he could convince Leland that his family had nothing to do with Sophie\'s parents\' deaths, maybe there was a future for all of them.

If Nicholas could learn to forgive and forget the crimes of Leland\'s father for Sophie\'s sake, Leland should also learn to do the same.

At the end of the day, both men were connected by their love for Sophie and the boys. It was really not easy to let go of his anger and grudge, but Nicholas worked hard to manage his emotions and tried to think about Luciel and Jan and how he could make things better for them.

Ahhh... but he only did that because he was overcome by guilt. Leland had no guilt whatsoever. He had not done anything stupid or made any bad decisions like Nicholas. So, what could possibly change his heart?

"Oh, no wonder he is very vindictive toward the royal family." Lily Moonchester nodded in understanding. She cleared her throat. "That\'s how lycans are. We are fiercely loyal to our family and the people we care about. He must love his mate so deeply that his affection is extended toward her parents as well."

Lily\'s words actually made Nicholas feel bad about himself. He didn\'t have the same affection toward Sophie\'s parents. He barely knew them. He only heard about them a little bit from Sophie\'s stories.

Of course, he cared about them and the fact that they were killed when Sophie was so young. However, he didn\'t have the same connection with them as what Alpha Leland seemed to have.

This made Nicholas feel like a horrible husband compared to Leland. The other man seemed to always be two steps ahead of him. Leland loved Sophie\'s parents and he was also adored by her children. Now, he and Sophie also had their own children. The child or children must already be born by now.

Gosh.. Nicholas was so jealous. He didn\'t have anything. He didn\'t have any connection to Sophie\'s parents. He didn\'t have her. He didn\'t even have access to his own sons with her. They called another man as their father, while he could only watch from the sideline.

The change in his expression was noticed by Lily who suddenly realized there must be some deeper issues between King Nicholas and Alpha Leland.

"Anyway..." Nicholas brushed off his jealousy aside and tried to think about the future of Riga. "I have evidence that the murders are not done the Royal Lycan Hunters, but some lycans. I need to talk to him and find out how he could come up with the conclusion that the killers are humans. And then, I will offer to help him find the killers and punish them accordingly."

"Hm... sounds good. Hopefully, he will listen to you," said Lily. She downed her wine and put it on the table. "But... what if he doesn\'t? Will we go? Or will we force our way in?"

Nicholas replied firmly. "We will force our way in."

He had come so far. He would meet Leland, no matter what. And hopefully he could also see his sons.

He added, "but I will try to be polite and ask nicely. If he is too stubborn, I can be stubborn too."

Nicholas meant every word. He was ready to fight Leland again if needed, to make the man listen to what he had to say.

Fortunately, that didn\'t need to happen. Not long after, Lily\'s men came rushing and told them that Alpha Leland Salazar of Blood River Pack had arrived in the inn and demanded to see Nicholas.

Lily and Nicholas exchanged glances. They didn\'t expect Leland to come so soon.

Before Lily could say anything, Nicholas had got up from his chair and strode outside to meet Leland. The cold Alpha was standing at the entrance of the inn with three burly men behind him. He brought Lucas, Duncan, and Tre with him when he found out that Nicholas came to Hastings with several lycans from the Red Moon Pack.

"Welcome," Nicholas greeted the Alpha with a deep voice. There were no smiles nor pleasantries. Both men were standing firmly, facing each other with the expressions of two animals ready to fight to the death.

Lily who came behind Nicholas was dazed to witness the animosity between the two men. She could feel the air suddenly turn chilly. The woman batted her eyes and looked at Nicholas and Leland alternately.

"So, you prefer to come and meet me here because you don\'t want me to see Sophie and my sons," Nicholas said with a mocking tone. He regretted losing his cool this fast but he couldn\'t help it. "Very well."