Just as I was enjoying talking to Rio's mother, I felt a sharp pain in my chest making me furrow my brows. Quickly looking down on my body, I was quite relieved to see none of the marks missing.

"Sera? What's wrong?" Rio looked at me worriedly. "I don't know, I just suddenly felt a sharp pain in my chest. None of my mating marks are missing so I don't know what's wrong" my lips quivered as tears began to pool at the corner of my eyes.

Then, there was another sharp pain that made me hiss. This time, it was more direct in my shoulder where Kei's mark was.

I quickly looked at his mark and felt relief wash over me to see that it was still there. "Your mate might be in trouble" Serenity said making me nod.

"I'm sorry to cut it conversation but I need to leave now" I stood up and practically ran outside. "Sera wait! It might be dangerous" he scooped me up and ran towards the center.

Soon, we saw a couple of foxes ganking up on Kei. "Stop them!" I yelled and that was all it took for Tora and the others to interfere.

The foxes were quickly sent flying in the trees as Tora and Archie stood besides Kei who looked like he was about to pass out any minute.

"Put me down, now!" I ordered to Rio who reluctantly did so. "Who's mate are they?! Answer me!" I yelled as I marched at the center with a scowl on my face.

"Well if no ones gonna answer, then I'll just see for myself" I turned to Tora and the foxes who were now trying their best to stand up. "Kill them" I said and Tora looked at me a bit shock, the foxes also looked at me with fear as their ears flattened and tails tucked in between their legs.

"If you won't shift and tell me who the fuck ordered you to mess with my mate. Then say goodbye to your life" I snapped before turning to Kei.

"Are you okay? Can you shift? Where does it hurt" I hurriedly kneeled down besides him and cupped his furry face in my hands.

His body was full of scratches and bites, that thankfully weren't that deep. But it still would take some time before they heal.

"What is happening here?!" A all to familiar voice and and I whipped my head to the same female earlier. "What happened to my mates?!" She screeched as she looked around.

"Just look what your males did to my mate! If you won't apologize then say goodbye to them because I will not stop my mate from killing them! How dare you try to mess with my mates!" I snarled as I glared at her.

She flinched a bit but tried to cover it up. "You wouldn't" she smirked making me scoff. "Tora" I called out, and Tora didn't think twice before jumping at one of the foxes and snapping his neck.

The female watched in shocked as one of the marks in her hips slowly fade away. "Apologize!" I said as I stood up, which cause Kei to finally fall down.

"Kei!" I yelled making Lucas pick him up gently and flew somewhere, probably to the healer.

"If my mate dies expect to be kicked out of this village without any mates protecting you" I snapped as Rio scooped me up again and walked out.

The other males quickly made way for us while Archie and Tora followed after us, still in their beastform.

Once we were away from the crowd, I couldn't help it anymore and let my tears fall down. "Shhh, it'll be okay. His mark is still there so don't worry about it" Rio rubbed my back as I buried my head in his neck.

"His right Sera, Kei is a strong male. I'm sure he'll heal quickly in no time" Tora shifted making me look at him. "But now I feel bad for killing someone who was only ordered to do so. I wasn't thinking straight!" I wailed out and buried my face in Rio's neck again.

"That isn't true. Females here order their males to do that sometimes, which will surely cost a males life if they get caught. Don't worry about it, the villagers won't judge you since they will only think its the males fault and not yours" Archie also shifted and explained this to me.

"But still" my voice was a bit muffled when I said that.

{3rd POV... }

Tora and Archie looked helpless as they watch their mate cry in the peacock male's shoulder. They can feel through the mark what she was feeling now. Anger, regret and sadness.

"Sera, please don't cry anymore. We're going the village healer now to check on him" Tora said, trying to make her stop crying.

Her sobs soon turned into small sniffles when they arrived at the healer's hut. Lucas was already waiting there, also looking helpless as he saw his mate crying like that.

They all waited outside, comforting and trying their best to make Sera calm down. Soon, the healer came out.

As much as he didn't want to treat the male since he knew that he can easily recover with those wounds, he wasn't willing to risk his life.

Especially seeing that the female was here along with her other mates and the village chief. He was just a two star beast while the female had two three star beast, a four star and a five star as her strongest.

"He'll be alright. That fight cause him to gain another star, he'll probably wake up by tomorrow" he said making the female look at him with relief and thankfulness.

"That's great to hear" she sighed softly and layed her head on the village chiefs chest. He felt a sudden pang of envy as he watch.

Oh how he wish he had a female like that, a female that would care and cry for her males if they were badly hurt.

"Let's go home for now, you need some rest after what happened" The female's tiger mate said making him snap out of his thoughts and he walked back inside.

"I'll go hunt her some meat" Lucas said and before shifting to his beastform and flew off. "Take her back, I'll talk to the healer about the payment" he said and nodded to Archie.

Archie got the signal and went home with Rio.

{ Back to Sera's POV.... }

"See? You heard the healer. He'll be okay and he just gained another star, that cause him to pass out" Archie said as we arrived back Rio's house.

"You can take a nap if you want. I'll wake you up when Lucas is here with the meat" He added making me nod. I then went down stairs and went to the biggest room.

I layed down on the bed and just stared at the ceiling. "Ha, I'm glad his okay" I mumbled to myself as I continued to stare at the ceiling.

"From what Cassie describe it in the novel, losing a mate will hurt. It feels like there's a burning sensation inside of your skin where the location of the mark is. I can't even imagine how it'll feel to lose your mate who's mark in on your chest" I blinked and shaked the thoughts away.

'Think of positive things Sera, like Kei. Yeah, he gained another star so that's good news isn't it?' I smiled at the thought.

Now I have no two star beast and my weakest is a three star beast. Wow that's actually a good thing, although I'm still gonna need a couple of two stars.

'Cassie and 29 mates in total, now that I remember it correctly, while the original Sera had more than 30' I blinked at how many mates Sera had taken but so did Cassie.

'Her strongest was an eight star, a king to be excact then almost half of her mates are village chief and princes, or village chief's cubs. And she had a king as a mate's I groaned at this information.

"Damn plot and the stupid plotline. Why the fuck did Cassie even had so many important mates?" I grumbled and sighed.

"Although I stole two of her original mates and one of her suitors, the plot might just try and find another suitor to replace them" I mumbled and thought that it wasn't entirely impossible.

'Oh well, no matter what comes next I'll be prepared!' I silently cheered before I was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Sera? Do you want to go to the bonfire later? We're hailing it as a celebration for the new females who arrived at the village" Rio said as he entered the room.

"Hm, alright" I nodded and sat up. "Is the meat ready? I'm hungry" I said making him nod. "Well, it's almost done, Tora is cooking it right now" he said making me nod.

"Alright, take me down stairs" I reached out and open my arms to him, letting him scoop me up and walked downstairs.

'Heh, I'm really used to getting carried around now' I silently laughed as Rio descended down the stairs.

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