"We're not in vacation!" Kace knocked Ian's head causing the boy wailed in pain.
"Why did you hit me? It was Hope who said that we're in a vacation!" he felt unfairly wronged. He just told Ethan to shut up, but why did he get hit?
Yet, Kace didn't feel what he did was wrong, the lycan wrapped his arms around Hope's shoulder as they walked along the streets.
Seeing how frustrated Ian was, Hope chuckled, she also wrapped her arms around his h.i.p.s as she knew Kace would treat her no less than this.
See? Wasn't this like how a perfect vacation would be? Hope got Kace beside her and aside from Lidya, she was happy to have people that she cared aboutbeing around her. Having the twins there in the journey was like having a mood booster every time, they could be funny but also annoying at the same time.
This street was too packed from people going around. It was hard for the group to come through, but Kace managed to shove those few people around away, from any possibility of getting Hope squeezed inside the crowd.
The lycan became overly protective over his mate and Hope liked it when he showed concern for her. She loved the way Kace showed his feeling and affection.
There was a blush staining her cheeks and she kept glancing over the man beside her shyly every few seconds.
"Does your back still hurt?" Hope asked softly while glancing through all the pretty necklaces hanging from a string on one of the stands.
"I am fine. You don't need to worry." Kace gave her a dashing smile to assure her.
"I had this vision, it was a dream about you but felt real…" Hope said as she recalled the strange dream where she saw the white lycan.
"Hmm," Kace hummed. "The fireflies."
"You know that too?" Hope turned her head and looked at Kace with her wide eyes. "You had the same dream too?"
Kace gave some thought when he answered her. "You can say so… it was the candlemaiden doing."
"Christal? What did she do exactly?" her guess was right, there was some meaning behind it. "What is that mean?"
Kace glanced at the curious girl and smirked naughtily. "To relay my message that I missed you." He winked at her and earned a slap across his arms and some of her giggles.
They continued to walk until they reached the ship that waited patiently in the water. A ship with this size could board on no less than three hundred passengers and it would take at least a day voyage to the sacred place.
Hope and Ian were madly excited to embark in their journey with this ship, even though Ethan didn't show it on his face, but he also felt the same energy as the other two, his eyes flickered with enthusiasm.
"This is amazing…" Hope murmured, wandered her eyes around her surroundings.
"Don't move carelessly or you will get lost." Kace tightened his grip on her shoulder, to keep the overly excited girl stayed in her place.
The six of them climbed the ship's aisle in two lines, Lidya and Lana walked ahead with Kace and Hope behind them, while the twin right behind the couple.
==============
"I will be in the room next to yours." Kace patted Hope's head, as they turned towards the door halfway down the ship's second level. There were three in total.
The first, being the upper deck, the second, was traveler quarters and the third, was for the ship's workers and food storage.
Once they arrived at their room, Lana pushed the door opened and walked in, followed by Lidya. Probably, both of them were too tired to even give the men a 'goodbye'. They chucked their backpack and bag a swung across the small room before Lidya closed the door with a flick from her wrist, even though Hope was still right outside.
"Get some sleep, you need it." Kace nudged open the small door with his large shoulder. "Don't be alone with Lidya," he said, barely a whisper.
Hope didn't ask why because she knew the reason of Kace's warning. Only if Kace knew that Hope had made a deal with the witch, Hope was certain the lycan would be incensed.
"Okay," Hope nodded obediently. "But, I just woke up, I can't fall asleep again." she had been sleeping on their way to the harbor.
"Are you hungry?" Kace's eyes softened when he saw Hope was pouting her lips.
"Extremely!" hope said exaggeratedly while rubbing her flat tummy.
Kace leaned over and kissed her temple. "Let's have a breakfast, but give me ten minutes to take a quick bath."
Hope grinned from ear to ear, "Okay! I will wait for you inside the room."
See? This vacation is absolutely perfect! Hope closed the door while humming a song that she knew.
Inside the room there were two bunk beds which the lower bed had been occupied by the two women, thus, the only option left for Hope was to take the bed above Lidya or Lana.
Hope walked towards Lana's bed and saw how exhausted she was. The young female werewolf had curled her body into a shrimp and closed her eyes as her breathe became even.
She must be so tired and as Hope remembered, it seemed that Lana didn't take a single wink of sleep at all when they were inside the carriage.
No matter how jealous Hope was to her, she always consider and think of Lana as her big sister. She took a blanket from the second cabinet near her and put it on her.
Hope was about to take off her cloak when suddenly a warning voice rang from Lidya.
"Don't take off your cloak."
"You scared me!" Hope hissed. "Why?"
"For your own safety," she said simply.
"Why do you think I'd be in danger? The festival is over and nothing happened last night." Hope didn't see or couldn't seeanything that was potentially a dangerous threat to her.
"The festival is over, but instead of in your human realm, you are here, in this realm." Lidya shifted in her bed and stared at Hope. "Just because you are able to see the shifters in their beast form, it doesn't mean you could see 'everything', not many eyes could see 'them', you know."