"Please do not feel burdened or anything at all," Leland said flatly. "I haven't got the chance to speak about this with you before, but what are their names?"
The Alpha thought that perhaps making light conversation would help Sophie sleep better because the instant that Leland started carrying the two babies in his arms, his own heartbeat seemed to lull them to sleep along with his swaying.
"Ah, their names…" Sophie had thought long and hard about it before. Since she hadn't known the gender of the baby and only expected one, she had actually wanted to name it 'Annabeth' after her mother.
If Nicholas had been around, perhaps he would have wanted to name them after him or his father? Sophie smiled a little gloomily and knew that she could not find any answers from her former husband.
"Luciel and Jan," she said shyly. She didn't have any particular reason why she chose those names. She just liked them.
Leland seemed to agree.
"Luciel and Jan..." he repeated their names as if trying to engrave them in his heart. "Luciel... and Jan."
***
<One month later>
"I brought something to eat for your children." Duke Romanov cleared his throat as he entered the room. Leland came across Sophie sitting on her bed with the two lycan puppies on the bed.
Each one of them could already walk and had already opened their eyes. One of them had Nicholas' beautiful amber eyes and the other one had Sophie's blue eyes.
Right now, the two babies were already puttering about and sniffing Sophie's hand and smelling one another. Both of them looked up when the Alpha entered the room and instinctively, they stopped moving around.
The aura of a great lycan appeared. It was impossible for them not to feel in awe of him.
Sophie's eyes bulged when she saw how the Duke arrived with Dinah who wheeled in a lot of grilled meat. The scent of sandalwood was present in the air as she sniffed.
"Meat?" Sophie asked.
It was a heavenly scent that made Sophie hungry herself, but then her two babies started making some sounds. It seemed like they were begging for scraps and she was a bit worried if they could already eat meat.
She had been nursing them diligently and also gave them the moon tonic on the side, just to respect the lycan's tradition. Now, the babies were so fat and healthy. Both looked like two balls of fur when they slept in her embrace.
"I think you've already noticed how they're quick to walk and see, right?" Leland chuckled. "They can also already eat meat as long as it is properly chopped up."
"Ah, I didn't know that." Sophie glanced at her babies. She realized she had so much to learn about the lycan species.
She did see how their teeth started growing fast. Compared to a human baby, their growth was incredible. Maybe it was true, they were ready for other food.
"Indeed, us lycans are quick to learn how to adapt fast in our environment. A female lycan takes care of her babies for a short while only because even baby lycans grow up so fast and can immediately adjust to their environment."
As Leland's father always once said, even a small lycan cub could kill a deer by itself if they wanted to. It reminded the Alpha of the time where his father, Leon, threw him in a herd of deer.
The stags had rammed their antlers before Leland got away from them, and then realized that his father would only take him back after he defeated the entire herd.
However, that wouldn't be the case here. He was not his ruthless father.
"If you'll excuse me," Leland grabbed a chair and placed it close to Sophie's bed.
He sat down and opened the tray filled with grilled meat and then the man would swiftly slice them into small strips and chunks. Each one of them was bite sized.
Sophie was surprised as Dinah left the room, but not as surprised when Duke Romanov himself picked up one strip of meat with his bare hands.
"My lord?" Sophie asked, a bit bewildered. "I can do it, you don't have to slice them yourself."
***
Once Dinah left the room, she felt like her heart was wildly beating out of her chest and then hurried back into her quarters. Many other female lycans were around waiting for her.
"So you fed those… those lycan puppies?" A woman scrunched up her nose when she saw Dinah enter the servant's headquarters.
Not everyone was happy when they figured out that the children weren't their Alpha's. Who was going to be the next Alpha then? Lycans from a complete stranger?
"No, not me." Dinah shook her head. "I only delivered the meat. I think… the Alpha and she will be feeding them."
"The Alpha will feed them?!"
It was a surprising change to see that the reclusive, distant, and cold Alpha showed a side that nobody would even dare imagine. Leland was always intimidating, aggressive and ferocious when it came to those within his pack.
The people in Blood River Pack knew that the Alpha was more than capable of going toe-in-toe with numerous lycans at the same time and there was a reason why their pack was called Blood River.
Their Alphas could make an entire river turn red from blood by how much death and carnage was created by those who became the leader of their pack. Numerous lycans died just to have a strong Alpha. It was how they coined the term.
Leland was the one who conquered and dominated his father's beta and also succeeded against countless challenges from the Elders and other powerful and ambitious lycans eyeing the position as the alpha of their pack..
Sophie didn't even know the full story of that and neither did she completely understand why people like Dinah were all so nervous and subservient to the Duke.
***
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From Missrealitybites:
Thank you so much for supporting this book with your power stones, comments, and golden tickets.
I am overwhelmed with work (again) this week and will be very slow in responding. I will get back to you and your comments tomorrow. I hope you are still having a nice holiday time with your family.
I especially love today's chapters because... BABIES!!
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