Chapter One

"Fine. I'm going back to Beacon Hills for good if that's what you want, Derek. But cut any and every tie with Kate Argent's daughter," Cora said challengingly on the other end of the line. His sister has recently learned that he was dating Kate Argent's daughter, Ysobel.

He tried to pacify his sister. "Cora…"

"This is unthinkable, Derek! How could you! After what her mother did to ours? To our family?" Cora started sobbing. Derek couldn't bear hearing his only remaining sibling cry in pain from memories their family's demise years ago.

"I'm ending it with Ysobel, Cora. Just please come home." He was almost begging. Control isn't want he wants in this world anymore; it's to be with his sister and ensure that he could protect her from any and every harm. He just couldn't follow and live with Cora in South America. It is his mother's wish that the Hale family protects Beacon Hills, and that is yet another duty he intends to fulfil. Having Cora back in Beacon Hills is then the next logical thing to do.

"Expect my return soon, Derek. Once you've ended everything with that woman." Cora cut the line.

Derek sighed heavily. He knows dating Kate Argent's daughter is illogical, probably even stupid. Hell and damnation though as he had felt attraction toward Ysobel beyond the physical. He liked her for being so strong-willed, a young woman of conviction. Derek saw past the circumstances of her birth, and now, he kind of regrets it.

He greatly admires Ysobel, if he was to be honest. Life hasn't been easy on her, yet she continues to fight. Ysobel has never known that Kate Argent is her biological mother. She had lived with her parents until she was eighteen—until Gerard Argent ended their lives, and eighteen years prior to that, her entire pack's lives. He planned on ending Ysobel's as well, but he has failed several times.

Ysobel is Kate's daughter from a teenage pregnancy that was hidden even from Chris Argent. She is actually three years older than Allison. Apparently, he wasn't the first werewolf to be lured by Kate Argent in her scheming. La Loba has used Ysobel's father first in the attempt to get rid of a powerful pack. Things didn't go out as she (young that she may be at 16) and her father have planned as she accidentally got pregnant. Gerard Argent saw this as an opportunity though. He let Kate live with the pack. In the duration of her pregnancy, Kate had carefully plotted out with her father how to take down the pack as they had been well-aware of their way of life—practically their every move.

A few weeks into giving birth to Ysobel and the Argents carried out their plans. Gerard had intended to kill Ysobel and her father, but they were able to flee, along with another pack member who became Ysobel's adoptive mother. They started to build a life in Boston, and for years, they were successful. Ysobel has never known of her hunter roots until about half a year ago. She had hated herself for it—he witnessed the self-abhorrence, the anger toward the world. Yet Ysobel proved to be a strong woman.

They've been seeing each (and are actually being intimate) for about four months now. They'd tried not to, as they were both well-aware of the circumstances surrounding them, but the attraction was just so palpable. If it's any consolation though, Derek knows that Ysobel realizes that what they started off is destined to end sooner than later. He grabbed his phone again and sent a message to Ysobel.

-x-

"We should end this." Derek said in such a cold, distant voice.

Ysobel gaped at him for a few seconds. She wouldn't really say that she didn't see this coming. It's Derek's seeming ruthlessness though that made her speechless.

"We should end this—whatever we have." Derek shrugged. Whatever we have. Ysobel was partly relieved that he didn't call their whatever-we-have a 'relationship' as she would've feel insulted. Of course, theirs is barely a relationship. Even she would see herself as Derek's mere partner in bed.

"'Kay." She tried to keep her face and voice void of any emotion. Putting up a brave front though is quite difficult with her heart breaking—from one to a million pieces. Poetic, aren't you, Ysobel? A part of her taunted.

Derek sighed. "Cora's agreed to stay in Beacon Hills for good. It just won't sit well with her that you and I are acquainted in any way," Derek explained. He didn't dare look at her, his eyes still transfixed on the city lights as they sat on her car's hood.

The spot on the preserve overlooking the entire town has become her favorite place—and her and Derek's meeting spot in the months that they have been acquainted. He texted her in the afternoon that they needed to see each other, which apparently, was intended for breaking the news to her.

She smiled bitterly. "I clearly understand what you mean, Derek—both with what you're saying and what you're not saying." Ysobel really does. A few months ago, Derek's younger sister threw a fit when she learned they were seeing each other. Ysobel couldn't blame her though. She is Kate Argent's daughter, the woman who annihilated her family. She may be part werewolf, but she'll be forever marked as part hunter who shares the same bloodline as the woman who decided to go on a Hale family murder spree.

In the short period of time that she and Derek had been together, he's been quite vocal that his priority is to get his sister back in Beacon Hills for good. It would seem that Cora's agreeing to her brother's wish—but with a condition.

"Ysobel… Once Cora's back in Beacon Hills, she won't be particularly fond of…"

"Seeing me around?" It came out as almost a whisper. "I figured." She feigned a laugh. "Give me a week at most, Derek, and I'm off to Boston." Prior to coming to Beacon Hills to find the answers to her question, she had been living in Boston with her now late parents, and of recency, the new pack which 'adopted' her.

Derek nodded. He managed to look apologetic—if that's any consolation to her. "Thank you, Ysobel." Derek straightened his body. "I have to go." Hesitantly, he kissed her forehead, then walked to his car.

Ysobel didn't dare follow Derek with her stare. She couldn't trust herself that she could keep up putting a brave front if she would see Derek leave her. For good. In a few minutes, Ysobel was left alone in the preserve.

Only then did she continue to let her tears fall. She knew it could, no, would come to this, but she still let herself be involved with Derek Hale. He didn't offer her much, but she was quite fine with it. All her life, she believed she was a smart woman—but not in the matters of the heart or the Derek Hale, apparently. Ysobel's in so much pain emotionally at what had just happened between her and Derek, but she couldn't hurl insults at him, blame him. She let herself settle for whatever it is that he could give her, despite her knowing that it would never amount to anything much.

Ysobel wiped her tears. Everything did register to her brain, but for some reasons, she felt numb to the pain. How she wished it would hurt so bad so she would find it easier to accept things, and move on.

-x-

"You're going back to Boston? Why so sudden, Ysobel?" Her Uncle Chris was frowning. The two of them had met less than a year ago. It was also only then that they knew of each other's existence—and her learning that she is Kate Argent's daughter.

She tried to smile. "The semester's about to begin, Uncle Chris. I've decided to go back to school, in Boston that is, so I wouldn't have to go through the tedious process of transferring to another University here in California."

Her uncle didn't say anything for a while as he stared at her intently. "This has something to do with Derek." There was certainty in his voice.

Ysobel bit her lip. Chris knew there was something going on between her and Derek, only that he was too tactful to comment or say any word about it. "Well, yes. I'm sorry for the mess, Uncle. It's so stupid of me," she said apologetically. Once she leaves the town, her Uncle Chris would only have his friends who include Derek. She wouldn't want to cause a rift between the two of them.

Her Uncle Chris sighed. "You shouldn't be sorry, Ysobel. It isn't right that you'll have to suffer for my sister's mistakes." Chris had quite a worried look on his face. He witnessed her self-abhorrence upon learning that her biological mother is Kate Argent. More so, when she knew of how much blood there is on her mother's hand. Her mind's debating now though if she should feel more self-abhorrence due to the fact that she let herself be involved with Derek Hale despite knowing everything between him, his family, and her mother.

"I have to be honest that I'm not proud of what my biological mother is, Uncle Chris. But really, I'm so happy that I've come to known you," she said emotionally and sincerely.

Chris smiled, then stood from his chair. She stood, too, and let herself be enveloped in his embrace. "And I'm proud of you, too, Ysobel. I'll miss you, Ysobel. I'll visit you in Boston when I can." He kissed the top of her head.

In the months that they've known each other, Ysobel is truly grateful for having an uncle who truly cares for her. Though there technically more than two of them, as there's her grandfather and Kate, it felt like they were the only ones left of the Argent family.

"I'll miss you, too, Uncle Chris."

-x-

It's been only two days since Ysobel last talked with Derek, but she's already good to go. She just finished settling the matters that have to be settled before she leaves the town, as well as packing the stuff she decided to bring with her to Boston.

After saying her farewell to Uncle Chris yesterday, she suddenly felt so alone, much like what she felt when her parents (her biological father and adoptive mother) died. She now dreads saying goodbye to the friends she'd made in her short stay in Beacon Hills, particularly to Lydia who has become her best friend despite their four-year age difference.

Ysobel decided to take a short break as she closed her suitcase. She went to her apartment's kitchen and grabbed orange juice from her fridge. She chugged down the entire glass, and quickly regretted it as she came running to her kitchen sink. Ysobel threw up not only the juice, but seemingly what she had for today's breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well. After what seemed like an eternity, her stomach finally stopped acting up.

She picked up the juice box grudgingly, about to toss it to the bin until a possibility hit her brain. Ysobel realized that she'd missed her period for two months already. She started biting her nails in agitation. Good lord, you're not trying to play tricks on me now, are you?

She then grabbed her car keys to go to the store.