Derek's POV

"What do you think you're doing?" he snarled baring his teeth at me.

I frowned and looked at Lily behind him who looked confused; I looked down closing my eyes not believing I had lost control like that. I took in a deep breath and faced Kellen, our gazes met and when he saw I had gained back control of my actions, he relaxed releasing the breath he was holding.

"You can't let that happen again, I know it's hard to control but you'll have to be strong." Kellen was surprised me by how calm he was. I thought he might cut my head off.

I couldn't take my eyes of off Lily, her stare was normal again, no hunger, no lust for me and I wondered how long it would take for her to want me in that way again, I wondered if I'd be able to control myself if it happened again.

It has been a few hours after the incident, and we were sitting around the dinner table with a hot turkey Kellen had cooked. We had all taken showers and cleaned up after cleaning the mess we made in the mansion. Lily and I hadn't said a word to each other, she was avoiding me all night, and when Kellen talked to her, she didn't even care to listen to him or answer him. Every once in a while she would look up at him and say "you're a murderer, you killed my father".

I could see how painful it was for Kellen to hear those words coming out of his own daughter's mouth, and I kept feeling that he was going to tell her what really happened that day at any moment, but he never did.

When we finished our meal Kellen cleared the table and Lily went to sit on a couch in the living room, I followed her and was about to sit next to her when Kellen came into the room.

"I'm going to bed, I suggest you both do the same." He gave me a warning look "Derek, please sleep in your own bedroom, not in Lily's" he said gravely before adding "If anything happens, wake me up. Good night" he retreated to his room leaving us both alone.

I didn't waste any more time before sitting next to her, we were so close I could feel the heat radiating from her body.

"Lily...I'm sorry" I whispered taking her hand in mine.

"What are you sorry for?" she wasn't looking at me and it was frustrating me.

"I'm sorry this happened to you before I could explain everything, and I'm sorry we almost...you know...about earlier."

She looked up at me and I wasn't sure but I spotted a hint of hurt in her eyes as she spoke, "really? You're sorry about earlier?" she shrugged off my hand and sighed looking away "Well that's a shame considering I wasn't sorry at all. I actually enjoyed it."

Her retort took me aback and I cupped her face making her look at me.

"You mean...you were aware of your actions?"

She nodded shyly as a blush crept on her cheeks "I can finally feel it; the bond we have I mean" she watched me closely "I now know what you mean when you say we are soul mates. We've only met a couple of weeks ago but I feel like I've known you my whole life, I feel like you complete me, you're actually a part of me now" she took in a deep breath. "I don't know what 'the claiming' is or how it works, but there's a voice inside of me that is begging me to let you claim me. And my instincts tell me to listen to that voice."

I couldn't believe what she was saying, she wanted me to claim her, she wanted to be mine! Sure she didn't know I'd have to bite her but she wanted it and that was enough for making me grin like an idiot. I was leaning in to kiss her when I felt a presence in the room. I instantly pulled away and looked in front of us to see the young hunter standing before us with crossed arms.

"Oh no, don't mind me lovebirds, keep going," he said sarcastically.

Lily jumped on her feet and rushed over to him and hugged him tightly which took me aback and refrained me from attacking him. I didn't know she knew him, and they must be close for the hunter to let her be this close to him and for his glare to soften even though he didn't hug her back.

"Mark, oh my dear brother I missed you so much! But wait a minute, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Europe?" she said the last part pulling away from him just a bit to see his face. She didn't even notice the weapons he was holding.

Brother? What the hell!

Mark smiled softly "I have things to do here. I knew you were in trouble and came for you."

What a liar! I rolled my eyes

"Me? No no I'm fine, I'm not in trouble, I'm perfectly fine."

"Yes you are and I need you to go outside and wait in the car while I burn this house down and those monsters."

I saw Lily panic and come stand in front of me protectively which impressed me, "you can't do that Mark!"

"Yes I can, and I will!"

The room went silent for a moment and Lily took a step forward and crossed her arms showing her brother he didn't intimidate her or scare her.

"Then you'll have to burn me with them, I'm a monster too, Mark".

Mark's POV:

I let my weapons fall to the floor which was probably the most stupid move I ever done. Blinking a few times I took a step back and held my sister's gaze "come again?" I said rather calmly.

Lily cleared her throat and bit her lip before speaking again.

"You said you needed to kill them, they are monsters. But if you mean that being a dragon makes them monsters, then I'm a monster too."

"Don't be ridiculous Lily, you're not a dragon you can't be. You're my baby sister" I said pleadingly wanting my words to be true.

"I am your sister and that will never change, but I'm also one of them. I don't understand it myself, it's still new to me but it's the truth. You can't kill them without killing me."

I didn't hear him come in, I just saw him appear in front of Lily "what lies did you feed her up with?"

Kellen shook his head "I never lied to her. I didn't know for sure myself until she went through her transition. She is still going through it, she can't control herself nor her strength. Getting her angry would just make things worse"

I looked at my sister "do you know who this man really is?"

"He killed our father," she said softly.

"Damn it, Lily! You know it and yet here you are trying to protect them!"

"I'm not! I'm protecting Derek, he didn't kill dad!"

Running a hand through my hair I glared at Derek "your kind took my father away from me. I'm not letting you take my sister too. Let her leave with me now."

It was Kellen who spoke up "I certainly cannot let you take her away from me"

I saw Lily frown and look up at Derek questioningly but he avoided her gaze and looked at me. If Lily wasn't defending those monsters I would have shot them already.

"Why? She's nothing to you and she means the world to me."

"Nothing? She's my heir. She's my only child; I can't let you take her!"

What the hell is he talking about! How can she be his daughter? She's my sister! I launched myself at him tackling him to the ground and groaned "Don't you dare say that again! She's my sister!"

Kellen held my gaze and made no move to shove me off him which was odd I threw a punch at him and still, he didn't move a muscle. Even Derek didn't meddle and try to shove me off.

"Why aren't you defending yourself?"

"Because as you said; she's your sister, and I couldn't hurt my daughter that way, I couldn't hurt Viviane again".

"She's not your daughter! How do you know my mother?"

"I know Viviane because she's my mate!" Kellen snapped at me earning another punch to the nose before pulling away and getting on my feet. I took a step back and looked at Lily. She must have learned it now as well since she was looking at Derek with tears in her eyes.

Derek just nodded "he's your father. But he had no idea, your mother never told him."

Lily glared at Kellen as he got on his feet and took a step toward him "you're my..."

"Yes, I'm your father. I didn't see the resemblance at first, but you are my daughter Lillian, and your mother knows it."

Lily chuckled shaking her head before walking to the window "I'm a dragon, my own brother hunts dragons, and my adoptive father was killed by my biological father who is actually my mate's guardian! Did I leave anything out?" her voice broke at the end and shattered my world. I hated seeing Lily like that.

"Lily just, calm down or you'll shift in this room, we can't let that happen there's not enough room for" Derek approached her and tried to take her hand but she shoved him away.

I raised an eyebrow "He's your mate? Lily, do you even know what that means?"

"I do," she said sadly and looked up at me "Don't tell your team we're here please, they won't spare me just because I'm your sister. They'll see the dragon in me and just kill me as well."

"I won't" I whispered taking my phone out and dialing mom's number. I would never let anyone hurt Lily, even if it meant giving up on my father's revenge. I couldn't hurt her by killing her biological father, she's been through too much already.

"Hey mom, I'm coming over with Lily". When I hung up I noticed Lily was panicking "What's wrong?"

"I can't go see mom, what if I shift in front of her? Or my eyes turn violet again?"

"If she knows you're his daughter it means she knows what you are. And we're all going to see her" I said pointedly before walking out to my car knowing they'll be following me.

Lily was in the back with Derek, Kellen was in the passenger seat while I was driving silently. Kellen wanted to take his own car but I didn't let him. I wasn't going to give him a chance to take my sister and disappear. He was good at disappearing, we've been tracking him for years.

"Do I have a stone?" Lily broke the deafening silence. I didn't know what she was talking about but I saw her playing with a stone around her neck.

Kellen glanced at her from the mirror and back at the road, "you probably do. But it has to find you like Derek's stone found him."

"Derek said you found the stone in his parents' house garden?"

"Yes. His father and I were friends, and this stone was his. He probably buried it so no one would find out about him."

Lily nodded and looked out of the window, she stopped asking questions for a few minutes, but couldn't last long.

"Will you take me away from my mom?"

"Never!" I answered glaring at Kellen before he could even reply. He rolled his eyes at me.

"No Lily I wouldn't do that. You need to understand that I would have never killed your father if I knew who he was. But all I was doing was protecting myself from a ruthless hunter who wanted me dead at any cost."

"My dad was a hunter? So that's why he trained Mark all the time. So it was self-defense?"

"It was Lily. Your mother is my mate; I wouldn't hurt her like that. And even though I killed your father, she can't stop being my mate, she can't control her feelings for me."

"Why did you leave then? She needed you. You killed her husband, the least you could do was be there for her."

"Lily are you crazy? It's a good thing he left!" I snapped at her feeling the rage inside me.

"Calm down Marc! I just need to understand!"

Kellen ignored us and answered her "How would I do that? She would hate herself for still loving me Lily. It wouldn't be fair to her, I had to leave."

When we got to my mom's house, we walked in to find her mom tied up and a tall man was standing next to her, he looked familiar, he looked like...

"How?" Lily and I said together.

I shook my head I've been seeking vengeance for him and he was alive all these years? He didn't reach out?

"I visit your grave every day! You can't be here!" Lily was horrified.

"That grave is empty. And I am here"

"How?" I looked at my dad with hurt in my eyes.

Kellen followed us inside and froze when he saw him, he looked at my mom and anger flashed in his eyes before turning violet. He looked scary and menacing.

"Surprise Kellen looks like you didn't kill me after all. You did something worse, you changed me into one of you" he spat out.