Hours or maybe days had passed with Kace stared silently to his motionless mate, who was laying on the bed.
The horrendous and terrifying feeling about losing his mate still lingered in every inch of Kace's memories, reminding him about the kind of agony and pain that he had to endure if he lost her.
Kace refused to talk, to eat, to sleep for days.
If it was not because of Serefina's stubbornness, the lycan probably would have died before his mate would.
The only thing that he did was staring at Hope, holding her hand while looking for any possible signs of her that would indicate if she would wake up any time soon. He did all that, only to be disappointed again and again.
Yet, it didn't stop his unbreakable hope.
Occasionally, Kace would put his finger under Hope's nose, just to make sure she was still breathing.From time to time, he would rest his ears gently on top of her chest, just to hear Hope's faint beating heart.
No matter how faint it was, the sound was the only thing that could assure the lycan that he had not lost her just yet.
Serefina entered the room, carrying a tray that filled with food and fruits, behind her, Lana followed suit.
It had been four days since Kace placed his mark on his mate and brought her back from the spirit world. Magically retained Hope's life.
The witch couldn't understand how the lycan did that, and Chiron's explanation didn't help her much to understand the situation as the centaur's reason involved many subjects that Serefina had no interest in hearing. It involved things such as, the stars, and prophecy.
Serefina had had enough with everything that involved prophecy.
The last prophecy that the witch heard was this thing that had put her in a bunch of messed up situations between those Donovans and their mates.
"She is healing," Serefina said in a low voice as she put the tray on the table near the bed. But, like usual, Kace didn't respond to that as he resumed staring at Hope.
Apparently, the marking process did not only bring back Hope from her death, but also healed Kace's wound, though it still left some scars behind his back, but the scar was healing gradually as the result was visible over the time.
Serefina witnessed it herself, how the wounds on his back, his opened skin slowly closed, melding into itself. The deep tear skin was one of the evidence of battles. Although the damaged tissue was all repaired, it still left behind some dark purple scars, where the openings had sealed shut.
Kace would have those horrendous scars for the rest of his life, but he's healed and that's what's important now.
"You just need to give her some time to wake up," Serefina spoke again as she sat down on the edge of the bed, opposite from Kace.
Serefina too, her complexion looked well now, after she teleported all of them to the village, she passed out for a day.
Fortunately, at the same time, Lana had recovered and awakened, only to find herself having an obligation to care for Serefina and Kace. While Serefina was easy to handle, it was different for Kace. He didn't even budge to whatever words Lana said to him.
"This village won't be a safe place for long," said Serafina, despite the silent treatment that Kace gave to her, she still updated him with the information. "Chiron and Delta have a plan to move all of the villagers."
Losing one or two underlings was not a problem for Beelzebub.But for Kace, it was him who had killed half of them, and that gave a great impact to The Gluttony's plan.
The attack on this village faced a setback, because of the white lycan's enraged that killed most of the witches and vampires.
But, that didn't mean Beelzebub wouldn't try something more any time soon.
"It's either we follow them to the safety place, or we return," Serefina continued. "With my current strength, I can't teleport all of us straight to Mystic River Village.Therefore, we could still go with the other option we have. Which is, taking the same path you took to get here."
The problem was that Hope's condition was very concerning. The journey back would take days.But to follow the centaurs and the hunters was not a good option either.
There was no guarantee if there would be no danger on their way to the safety place.
"They will abandon this village tomorrow," Serefina finished her sentence as she stared at Kace. The lycan needed to make a quick decision, because this concerned his mate.
"We will return," Kace said tersely.
Serefina waved her hand at Lana, who silently walked out of the room.She would inform Chiron that they wouldn't join them.
However, before Lana could close the door, Kace spoke clearly. "I need to talk to Chiron, tell him to come here when you meet him."
"Alright," Lana nodded and closed the door behind her.
When it was only the three of them inside the room, Serefina sighed deeply when she had to face Kace's silence.
"I think I need to go now," Serefina rose from her seat and walked out of the room, leaving Kace alone with Hope. "Don't forget to eat your meal, you need all the strength for our journey back."
Once it was only the two of them, Kace stretched out his hands and caressed Hope's pale cheeks silently.
He traced his fingers along her jawline to her soft lips and felt her warm breath under his finger. Kace was afraid if Hope suddenly stopped breathing. Only the thought of it alone would send chills down his spine.
He couldn't lose her again.
Carefully, Kace leaned over and kissed Hope's soft lips carefully, the kiss lastedfor a long time as it carried the beast's nervousness, sadness and his yearning to see her smile and hear her voice again.
Kace was aware that he had sapped some of Hope's energy when he marked her.That was why his wounds were healed, to the point where he managed to stay awake until this moment, despite the tiredness and exhaustion for everything that he had been through.
Kace despised himself for doing that. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Hope still had not yet woke up.