"Where are you going?" Kace asked when he watched Serefina was about to go with her small suitcase.
"To meet your brother," Serefina replied curtly as she put on her sunglasses. "I want to see the guardian angel that he found."
"Wait, wait…" Kace raised his hands up to prevent the witch from walking out of the bedroom. "Do say you will be away from this village? For how long?"
"I don't know," Serefina shrugged her shoulder. "It depends on how the situation there. Maybe a week, two weeks, a month… I don't know."
"How about here?" Kace didn't like this arrangement. "There will be a festival along with the gathering in the northern coven in two weeks."
"I am aware of that." Serefina nodded and walked back to sit on the edge of her bed as she contemplated.
The previous festival Serefina was here to strengthen the protection spell around the house to prevent unnecessary trouble from happening from other creatures.
"I think it will be fine as long Hope stays inside the house," Serefina was contemplating her answer. "It is not necessary for me to stay here."
"Are you sure?" Kace still has his doubt with Serefina's decision. "What if those wretch creatures find this place?"
"They shouldn't be able to find this place." Serefina frowned. "Do you starting to doubt my ability?" there was an accusation laced in her voice.
"What if I say 'yes'?" Kace rolled his eyes at the witch. "I will take Hope away from this village." He declared.
"And risk exposing her to the greater danger out there?" Serefina challenge him. "Stay inside the house and she will be fine. My spell will protect her."
"Are you sure?" Kace narrowed his eyes.
"You and Lana will be here, what else you have to worry about?" Serefina started to show her temper and became impatient because of Kace's endless anxiety. "Your little mate will be fine, those creatures will only pass through this village before they reach the forest and go to the northern coven realm."
Kace crossed his arms and contemplated. "Somehow the upcoming festival makes my beast restless."
"Speaking about your beast." Serefina's expression turned very serious. "You can't let your spirit condition in its current state for too long."
Kace didn't response to that.
==============
"Impossible…" Hope murmured, her eyebrows scrunched up as she stared at Lana in disbelieve. "It is impossible for them to do something horrible like that, right?"
Hope refused to believe Kace had done that together with his two other brothers. She could feel her body shaking from the news that Lana just told her.
"That's the truth. I don't believe it too when the first time I heard about it." Lana looked at Hope worriedly, apparently the revelation was too much for her to handle.
Hope always saw Kace as a perfect figure and to have that kind of sin was something that could destroy his image in the girl's mind.
"It's impossible the three of them killed theirs' mates?!" Hope's breathe hitched as her mind was trying to discern the information.
Hope held her head with both of her hands, she felt like it was going to explode soon. She gulped hard and blinked her eyes in disbelieve.
Lana just told her about what had happened in the past, about what sin that the three Donovan brothers had committed that caused the curse upon them.
There was a time when the Donovan's brothers hunted every shifters' mates and killed them all, caused many uproar in the supernatural realm.
The reason was because; as the leader and royal family of the Lycanthropes, they wanted more territory for their kind.
Fought in bloody battle was a second nature for their beast, especially to those beasts, which was still feral and had strong animal instinct.
They wouldn't stop until they got what they wanted. The Donovan wouldn't stop until they got what they wanted.
Hope just knew now that shape shifter was not only werewolf and Lycanthropes, but there were a lot more out there, which now too afraid to go into the light. They chose to live under the shadow because of what was happening centuries ago.
"You will not see them often or maybe you will never see them in your entire life. Me myself had just seen two of them. Bear shifter and serpent shifter." Lana explained.
"Why they did that? I meant… why they kill other creatures' mates?" Hope bit her lips as shiver ran down her spine when she imagined it.
"Maybe Kace had told you about this, but mate is the essence of our kind existence. It wouldn't be a big problem if you have not yet met your mate, but once you met them, your soul becomes complete and there is nothing you want except to be near your mate." Lana spoke with rigid expression. "Your mate is the gravity of your life and for losing something as important as that, it will drive them crazy and the pain is too great to bear."
Hope gritted her teeth. That's why the moon goddess cursed them as such. The karma for the deed that they had done.
"The Donovan not only targeted their mate, but also the children and even the unborn child. Therefore they are on the verge of extinction now." Lana said it sadly. "I am telling you this not because I want to change the way you see Kace, but this history has something to do with the pain, the burden and regret that Kace has been suffering."
"They killed the children and unborn child?" Hope's voice was barely a whisper as she felt a stung in her eyes and a drop of tear fell on her cheek. "How they could do something so cruel like that?"
"Hope…" Lana stretched out her hand to give her a comfort, but Hope refused it. "Kace is having a hard time accepting that part of himself too. He hurts himself and this kind of pain is a torture for his spirit, his beast."