Chapter 540 - THE HUNTER

"No, of course not." He shook his head. "No matter how incapable my human side is, he's still and would always be a part of me." With the tip of his fingers he caressed Hope's cheeks lightly. "I just want you to know my point of view."

The beast had been shutting out for a very long time, which his voice and his instinct were being neglected.

Hence, since he came to the surface, he wanted his mate to know this side of him.

Shapeshifters were indeed a complicated being, but shapeshifters who were not in a good term with their beast was arduous.

"You are confusing me." Hope frowned. It was Kace in front of her, but for some reason, she felt different. It almost like she was facing someone new with different personality.

However, no matter how insane it all seemed; she liked both of them.

Kace was warm and a teaser with his goofy smile, but his beast's side was nothing like that. The beast was more frank and he was steadfast with what he wanted, he didn't care about whatever reason that was thrown to him, if that meant opposing his desire.

"I have a complex personality Hope, because both of our sides are not getting along quite well." Kace blinked his eyes when sun ray fell on his face. "But, aside from my human's ridiculous and stupid decisions, we both equally love you and want nothing but to see you happy."

Hope gulped hard, she could feel her face heated because of his words. Well, at least they had something common. Both of them were such a smooth talker.

When they were in the middle of their conversation, there was a noise coming from the entrance of the bar and blocking the sunlight behind them, as they walked in.

There were five men in their travel robe, which color had worn out. They looked like travelers, but there was something in them that gave off a sinister vibe.

Their build were bulky and tall, as if there was nothing beneath their clothes except muscles.

Hope wanted to say something, but stopped herself when she caught a sight of them, and when one of the men was staring back at her, she could feel the chills ran down her spine as she crept closer towards Kace.

"Who are they?" Hope mumbled. Their entrance drew people's inside the bar attention.

Kace closed his eyes and his nose scrunched in disgust. "Human." He said in a low growl.

"Human?" Hope was about to turn her head again to take a better look when Kace held her jaw to prevent her to take the second glance. "What are they doing here?"

Instead of staring at those five men, Hope fixed her eyes on Kace.

"I don't know," he said nonchalantly. "But, maybe your witch's friend know." The beast nodded at Lidya, who was approaching them.

At the same time, two more people came to the bar, this time women.

The two of them placed themselves between the bulky men and started to talk in a low voice, but Hope could feel their eyes were staring at the back of her head secretively.

"It's time for us to go," Lidya said rigidly.

The beast could see the urgency on her eyes as he held Hope's arms and stood up. "We are leaving." He declared, loud enough for the other two to hear.

Ian and Ethan acquiesced in his command while Lana had carried her backpack and walked to approach Kace.

"I want to go with you too!" Abby exclaimed, she stood up hurriedly. "Leon, let's go!"

However, her brother didn't move an inch as he drank from his mug. "Didn't you hear her before? She didn't want us to come," He spoke casually. "We will rent an inn here until the next ship come."

"No!" of course the young witch refused the idea immediately. "We don't know this place and the danger here. It will be safer for us to go with them."

"First of all, you are the one who brings this upon us," Leon reprimanded her. "Second of all, you have rubbed Kace and Lidya the wrong way. I don't want to make the situation worse than it is now."

Ignoring Leon's words, Abby walked forward. However, before she could take the third step, Lidya had lifted an admonitory finger and there was an invisible barrier forced her to stop in her track, preventing her to go further.

Abby glanced at Leon, but he did nothing to help her.

"Coward!" Abby hissed, yet she didn't dare to go to Kace's group alone without the protection of his brother.

In Kace's current state. He would claw her heart out without a second thought. No matter what, Abby didn't have a plan to be killed by the hand of someone that she loved.

Despite knowing Kace was not like his usual self, also Leon and Lidya's warning, she stubbornly wanted to be close to him.

"This place is so strange. You can feel it too, right?" Abby plopped down on her seat again.

Leon didn't answer her, but he agreed with her.

In the distance, they watched Kace's group walked out of the door with Hope walked so close to Kace. The beast seemed like he wanted to hide the little girl from the eyes of the other people here.

Meanwhile, Hope glanced at those strange people for the last time before Kace ushered her out of the bar, because they kept looking at her.

"What are they?" Hope asked Lidya, who walked beside her.

"The hunter." Lidya mentioned it almost like she was cursing. "How lucky we are… the first thing that happened when we arrived, is running into them."

"Why? Are they dangerous? What do they hunt?" Hope kept asking.

Now, they were walking on the bustling street again with the sun above their head, fortunately for Hope, she could take a shelter under Kace's shadow.

"Everything." Lidya scanned her surroundings, "But, one thing for sure, our kind is not in a good term with them."

"Your kind is not getting along with many creatures," Hope mumbled.