Hope could see how Lana's expression became slightly uncomfortable. Although she tried to hide it with an awkward soft smile, then the hand that grabbed Hope's shoulder, loosened.
"I know, but…" Lana took a deep breath. She was trying to put her reason in words for Hope. "But, the fact that you are just a human, puts you in a higher chance of getting hurt. If the beast strikes you, there is a high chance you will die."
Despite Lana's remark that also made sense, but that was not her true reason. She knew it was wrong to be manipulative, but she wanted to take more roles in this situation. And her desires of proving herself, so that Kace could notice her effort and genuine feeling, was hard to suppress.
"He will not hurt me," Hope stated. Even she herself was shocked at the confidence in her voice. How did she know that the white beast wouldn't tear her body apart the moment she walked close to him?
Yet, just as weird as it sounded, Hope believed he wouldn't do anything that would harm her. She didn't know where she got this confidence from.Maybe, it was the bond between them? Or, the images that she had been seeing these past few days.
The white beast that turned into the fireflies, Kace who lost himself over his beast, the younger version of Kace who was crying out of his fear, and the white beast that looked into her eyes and seemed to want to say something as he growled at the crying boy in her arms.
Those things seemed not related to each other, but somehow Hope could feel there was something that either the beast or Kace wanted to say his deepest feeling to her.
"How do you know that? How can you be sure that he will not hurt you?" Lana squinted her eyes. It was clear that she was annoyed by Hope's sudden behavior. "Did he say it to you?" she sneered.
Even Ethan and Carina could feel this slightest hostility from the way Lana spoke to Hope this time.
Her desires to do something for Kace overwhelmed her. She had been feigning indifference since Kace and Hope's relationship escalated real fast.But only for this moment, she was unwilling to give the spotlight to Hope if she managed to tame the beast.Although oddly, she believed Hope would succeed.
"He didn't say it to me, but there is something that words couldn't explain that heart could feel." Hope put down Lana's hand from her shoulder. "Lana, I love you. You're a sister to me. Please, don't make things difficult for all of us."
There was another meaning behind Hope's words and it hit Lana deeply.
She knew it.
Hope knew her feelings for Kace, right?
If only Hope had a remarkable hearing ability, she would hear how frantic Lana's heart pounding in her chest right now. Unfortunately, she didn't have it in her.
Hope gave her a soft and harmless smile. She meant her words that she loved her, but she hoped Lana would stop to harbor that feeling for Kace. She would only hurt herself. Didn't she know that?
Of course, Lana knew that she would be the one who would get hurt in the end. But sometimes, people liked to deceive themselves for something that they couldn't get.Wallowing in their pain, instead of doing what they had to do, they still held that tiny shard of false hope.
"I will be fine," Hope shrugged her shoulder. "Beast or not, he is still Kace."
It was true, though his human's side and his beast were contradicting each other, but it was still him.
Hope turned around, and looked at the beast, which was still trying to get rid of all of the nuisances around him. She took steady steps, as if she was strolling through a courtyard filled with roses and lushes, instead of walking straight towards an angry beast that was hard to tame.
"Hope! Are you crazy?! Come back here!" Ian was about to pull Hope back, reasoned with her to stay. Because Lana let her go just like that. Why didn't Lana stop her? They were only exchanging a few words and Lana had back down?
"Let her," Ethan said as his arm around his dense twin's neck. "If she said she can, let her try."
"What do you mean let her try? Do you think she is able to stand one strike from the beast?" Ian glared at Ethan.
Ian didn't answer him, he just rolled his eyes incredulously, while Carina… the female centaur had her eyes glued on Hope's back.
Under Lana's indiscernible eyes, Hope walked closer to the commotion.
"What are you doing here!?" Chiron was shocked when he saw Hope was only a few meters away from them, while the beast was getting more and more aggravated by the rope that the centaurs threw at him in order to tie him down.
"It's going to be okay, let me talk to him," Hope replied to Chiron as she locked her eyes on the beast.
"It's dangerous!" Chiron warned her. "He doesn't know what he is doing now!"
Hope shook her head, but didn't slow her paces. "No, he knows what he wants, but because you are trying to get in his way, he is kind of upset."
Chiron scrutinized Hope's expression for a moment, wanting to make sure that the girl knew what she was doing, before he said hesitantly. "Are you sure? What do you think he wants?"
For now, Hope had already stood beside Chiron with the white beast locked his red bloody eyes at her.
The girl smiled when she tilted her head and looked at the chief of the centaurs. "Of course." She nodded to emphasize her words.
"So, what do you think he wants?" Chiron glanced at the beast, which had stopped struggling as his focus was on the girl beside him.
"Me." Hope's smile widened and then she shifted her attention towards the white beast, and opened both of her arms. "Right, Wolfie?"
It was the name that Hope always used when she was little to call the white beast.