"Scarlett, are you even listening to me?" Deucalion said in a stern voice as he followed his goddaughter into his estate. "What the hell are you doing here?" He said with a growl as he watched the young woman gracefully sit on throw pillows.

"I hear you god father, but I don't care to listen to your scolding." Scarlett said as she picked up the glass of wine offered to her by the werewolf serving in her godfather's estate.

"Well I'm sorry princess, but you know very well these lands are forbidden to you!" Deucalion said as he sat himself down opposite of the young woman. "Besides, what is a newly mated young woman doing far from her mate?" Deucalion said changing the subject momentarily.

Scarlett lowered her glass as she said, "Victor is dead."

"Dead? What happened?" Deucalion asked as his anger subsided and worry over took his being.

"Victor was conspiring against the Queen. He wanted me to help gain more followers to bring her down." Scarlett said as she waved the servant away deciding she had enough wine.

A smile slipped passed his lips at what his god daughter had said, "I see. Everyone was beginning to question your loyalty to her highness. It's good to see your loyalty still lies with the Queen."

"Of course my loyalty is forever lies with the Queen," Scarlett said as she flipped a lock of her long black hair back. "If I left her kingdom, it wasn't out of disloyalty. It's like I said to my father, I wanted to see the world my mother grew up in and get to meet the man who bounded his soul to my mother's. Victor just happen to offer that opportunity of escape, and I took it. It's rather unfortunate that he resulted in being an enemy."

"That's really sweet and all, but you shouldn't have done something as stupid as what you did. If you wanted to come here and see him, you could have…" Deucalion began to say but was interrupted by his goddaughter's words. "I could have what?! Asked mother to let me travel out of the safety of home to come see the man that brought her so much pain?" Scarlett asked as she stood up from the comfort of the pillows, "Yes, because that would have worked out so well."

"No, but you could have gone about this a different way! You killed your mate, and I get it, it was out of self-defense but do you have any idea what you caused?" Deucalion scolded as he stood up from his seat as well. "Scarlett, don't walk away from me. I'm talking to you." He said as his brows furrowed as he grabbed hold of his goddaughter before she could walk towards the door.

Scarlett looked at her godfather's hand on hers before pulling her hand free, "Of course I know what I did. I protected my family! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see about my own pack, and ensure none of them plan try to finish what my deceased mate left undone." She said before walking out of the common room of the estate.

Deucalion just let out a small sigh as he sat back on the throw pillows he had previously had been sitting down on. "Someone get me some parchment, I must send word to the Queen that Scarlett is here." Deucalion said as he looked around for the servants who still lingered in the room. He had to send word back to Stiles at the palace to let him know that his daughter had been found.

Ever since the rise of the Queen, everything in their world everything had changed. Communication no longer was as easy as making a phone call. She had every electric tower destroyed. She was a very paranoid creature who believed they were instruments that could be used against her. But lucky for her the war prior to her existence had left the whole planet nearly powerless, and returned them back to their savage days. So the destruction of the remaining towers had hardly been a task for the Queen.

Deucalion kind of missed the luxury of phones, but sixteen years is a long time for someone to get accustomed to the way life was now.

Derek had returned back to his home with Peter following right behind him. Since the moment the young woman and Deucalion had disappeared from the town, his people had been in an uproar. Word quickly reached the ears of all his people, that the intruder had been his daughter born from a union with the long thought dead son of the former sheriff.

If the young woman was his daughter or not he wasn't sure but it was a possibility. A possibility, that if it were true gave Deucalion an upper hand on Derek. However, he couldn't bring himself to worry about that at the moment. The young woman that Deucalion had so fondly called 'Scar', mentioned Stiles as he were alive and if that were true, he needed to find that girl. She could take him to Stiles.

"Derek, are you insane? This could be a trap." Peter said as he watched his nephew pack a few things in a hurry. "Even if she is your daughter, she was raised under Deucalion. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he is the enemy, what makes you think he didn't raise her to be as much of a threat to us as he is?" Peter tried to reason as he blocked his nephew from the exiting his own home.

Derek narrowed his eyes at his uncle's actions before pushing past him, "I don't care how Deucalion raised her. She's the only chance I've got to finding Stiles if he is alive."

"A long time ago I advised you against giving up your mother's claws and the wealth of the town for Stiles, look where that has left us!" Peter yelled out to his nephew making Derek come to a stop. "For once in your life, stop and think about what you are about to do! You can't afford to be selfish; you have to think about your people. If you go seeking her, you will be giving Deucalion and all other werewolves a perfect opportunity to take over the town, and for what? The words of a young woman claiming to be your daughter?"

Peter was right, what Deucalion had asked for was more than any man or werewolf would ever be willing to give. The claws, were more than just that. They were keys to their family line, secrets, and titles. The Hale's were a wealthy pack and rulers of Beacon Territory. Every clan had their own penmanship and trade mark that allowed them to make treaties and make trade with other territories. Unfortunately, Derek had given them up foolishly without known their complete worth. The Hale claws were lost to them as so was every possible way to ensure their survival and their peoples. Derek had reduced his town to feeding off whatever game caught on their lands as well as using whatever resource they had within it. Then there was the fortune Derek had so easily given to Deucalion. Not every town had $50,000, many barely held a fortune of $1,000, and even that was a lot. However, the Hale pack had been around for generations and that was all the money and hard work his family had saved up, and he had surrendered the mass fortune to save his mate.

Derek couldn't afford to further doom his people to deeper despair. "What do you suggest I do?" Derek asked as he turned back to look at his uncle.

"For one, double the guarding. If Deucalion is back, who knows what his true motives are." Peter said as he approached his nephew. Peter knew better than anyone how bad Derek had beat himself up since Deucalion had given Derek the urn of Stiles ashes. It had completely broken his nephew and forced a change, but if Peter was honest, what Deucalion had done was something good. He had brought the humans, hunters, and werewolves together.

Sixteen years ago, he would have thought of it as a joke. Human's and creatures co-existing with one another? What a terrible joke. That's what he had thought ever since Stiles, a human was brought into the pack by Scott. It had happened so suddenly, and no one had been prepared for it. Their cultural difference had clashed. While in every werewolves eyes, they were doing no wrong in treating Stiles as what he was in the pack the omega. Even when Allison, a human hunter, came into the picture Stiles was proven to be the omega. Traditionally, omegas are the weakest link and that's exactly what Stiles had proven to be. Werewolves would treat these omegas harshly to roughen them up and strengthen them both physically and emotionally, giving them a higher percentage rate of survival. However, their mistake was forgetting Stiles was indeed just human. Human's beliefs were different from a werewolf's, and that mistake had cost them dearly.

Scott shouldn't have felt compelled to befriend the human that had saved his life from a hunter's trap. He shouldn't have felt compelled to ensure him a place in the pack, and Derek shouldn't have ever allowed it to happen. It had been all their own fault for allowing Stiles existence to become as important as it had, but that was sixteen years ago. Now, Peter wasn't so sure if Stiles death really was a bad thing. Things amongst them had changed for the better but he only wished Derek didn't hold on to an impossible hope. "You have to let him go, Derek. Stiles is dead, whatever Deucalion and that girl said was only to get into your head. You held the proof of Stiles death, just let the boy rest in peace." Peter said as he squeezed his nephew's shoulder. Everyone had moved on, and it was about time Derek allowed himself to move on as well.

Derek couldn't bring himself to say anything, how could he? Stiles was more than just a pack mate. Stiles was his mate, and the loss of a mate was something they could never understand even if he were to tell them. He felt like an empty body wondering the earth. The only thing that got him out of bed every morning was his sense of duty. He was alpha after all, he could not simply abandon his people. "Double the guarding around the town, and if there is movement warn me at once. I'll take the second watch with the rest of the men." Derek said before returning towards his cottage.

"As you wish," Peter said before taking off in a sprint towards the town to give word to the men.

When Derek returned to his cottage, the young woman from before was standing there by the table looking around rather intrigued by the décor. "How did you get in here?" Derek said through a small growl as he retracted his claws.

Scarlett took her eyes away from the plain walls of the alpha's home and focused them on him. "The same way I got into town, with magic." She said as she lowered her eyes at his clawed hand, "I do not mean you any harm." She said as she sat herself down on one of the chairs.

"Werewolves do not use magic," Derek said as he cautiously approached the girl. There was no way that the girl was his daughter, right? Stiles was dead, and the many times they had shared bed, they had never conceived. He was more than sure of it. Also, magic? "What exactly are you?" Derek asked as he eyed the young woman.

Scarlett let a smile slip past her lips at her father's wariness. "You don't believe that I am your daughter, do you?" She asked as she watched the man sit himself down opposite from her.

"How could I? Stiles and I never conceived even with the many times we shared intimacy." Derek said as he watched the girl carefully as well as keeping his senses on high alert for any signs of movements coming from outside.

"That was something I didn't want to know, but I don't blame you nor them for not believing it. I can prove it." She said as she moved her hands up to collect her hair and hold it off to the side as she stood up and turning around to show the Hale birth mark on her back. "Mother said you once told her, that this mark meant you were a descendant of the Hale linage. Every pack has their own mark, but this one belongs to a Hales."

It was true every pack had their own mark that distinguished them from which pack they originated from. But this girl clearly had the Hale mark embedded on her back just like he had. Derek couldn't help but approach the girl and run his finger over the girl's birth mark as if trying to make sure it was real. "That's impossible, Stiles and I never..." Derek's voice trailed off as he backed away from the girl and sat himself back down on his chair. He couldn't believe that he really had a daughter, and with Stiles.

It was hard to believe, but looking at her, she surely was more him then Stiles. Everything about her resembled a Hale. She had the same shape of nose as he had, the same hair color even though her's was waist length and wavy, her lips were round and plumed like he remembered his mother's, Talia, to be, her cheek bones were high like his were, her frame was lean yet strong, and her stance read confidence just like every Hale woman held. Everything about her screamed his, except her eye color. The honey brown eyes, was something that resembled Stiles own eyes, and her brow's, they had the same arch as Stiles' had. She had also gotten her mother's paleness, but that just added to her beauty in his opinion.

Scarlett fixed her hair back in place, letting it cover her back and shoulders, "Apparently, you did father. You just never knew about it." She said as her eyes wondered around the small cottage with a hint of confusion in her eyes, "But what I don't understand is this, mother said your home was quite nice and large."

Upon hearing that he looked around the small cottage and sighed, "I gave my estate to your mom's dad, but he died a few years ago from a werewolf attack. The estate is being used as a hospital now, so I stay here when I am not making rounds of the town or in battle." Since, Stiles death, the guilt of baring the fault in his death drove him mad. He had abandon his home and searched for Deucalion for years in seek of revenge, but after losing his trail several times he had returned home and given the sheriff a more comfortable home and made him a promise to avenge his son. However, that promise had been dissolved by the sheriff when the pack grew more with humans and hunters. John wanted Derek to honor Stiles death with making everyone equal, and that's exactly what he had done. Everyone in his pack had their place and all was as equally respectable as the next.

Derek was pulled from his thoughts when he saw movement from the corner of his eyes. The young woman had stood up and walked towards the small fire by the chimney, she collected a small trinket that laid within a wooden music box. "Did this belong to her?" She asked as she brought it to her nose and smelled it before letting it rest in the palm of her hand.

He stood up and walked over to the girl with confusion written on his face. "Who?" He asked as he looked at what the girl held. "The trinket, did it belong to my mother?" The young woman said as she turned to look back at Derek as she showed him the trinket. It was a pretty little silver amulet in shape of a snowflake with a blue sapphire in the center of it.

Derek took it from her hand and gave a small nod,"Hm, Stiles' mom gave it to him. John said it's a family heirloom passed down on your grandmother's side." He placed the necklace back into its place in the box before looking at the young girl, "Why do you keep calling your mom a 'her'?"

Scarlett let a small pout form on her lips when the trinket was taken from her, but she could understand it was important and she probably shouldn't touch it. "Mother's done a few things in the past that earned her the right to be referred to as 'her'." She said as she looked back at her father, who was looking even more confused than he was.

"What do you mean?" Derek asked even more confused yet just as eager to know everything that his daughter was willing to tell. What had Stiles done to earn the title of 'her' more importantly, "Is Stiles alive?"

The sound in Derek's voice was so hopeful and filled with love for her that there was no doubt in her being that her father stilled loved her mother. "And if she were to be alive?" She asked, not really giving her father a clear answer. Her mother never hide the truth from her about her father and his pack, and at first she had hated her father for what he had done to her mother but then all she had wanted was to know the man.

"If I were to tell you that my mother was indeed alive, what difference would that make?" She asked as she sat herself back down.

"It would make a big difference," Derek said furrowing his brows at the girl's tone. "If he's alive, I need to find him and clear things out. We made a huge mistake a very long time ago, and I just want closure."

"So, it's just for closure?" Scarlett asked as her lips curled slightly into a frown. She didn't know what she was expecting to hear but it wasn't closure. "If that's all you want, then you will be wasting your time. Mother will never forgive you that much she has assured us. Perhaps you should do as your friend said and let her go." She said as she stood up from her seat and headed towards the door, much like she had with her god father moments ago.

What? Let him go? No, that was something Derek couldn't do, if he could have he would have let him go a long time ago just like everyone else had. But it wasn't as easily done as it was said. The aching in his heart and soul was something he couldn't escape nor did he want too. Stiles was his mate, werewolves mate for life and even when their mating had not been made official he had made claim on him. A claim he still felt and was the source of his hope.

"I can't let him go, Stiles is my mate. I have to get him back." Derek said as he stopped his daughter from leaving. "Tell me the truth, it's all I ask. Is Stiles alive?" Derek asked with much desperation in his voice.

Scarlett's eyes lowered to her father's hand stopping her from leaving. It felt odd feeling her father's warm of her father's hand on her arm. It felt like a small shock wave coursing through her body making her wolf whine internally like a pup seeking her father's attentions. She felt the urge to hug the man that brought her being great comfort and safety.

She had obsessed with this moment almost all her live that she couldn't help but feel like this was like everything she had anticipated it would be. Her wolf was being recognized by her father as his daughter even though words had not been said to make her think so, but she could feel it from just the simple touch. However, what her father was asking she was something she knew her mother had intended never to reveal to him. "Mother is alive. She has been all this time." Scarlett said with a small smile even though she had decided to go against her mother's wishes by telling her father the truth of his mother, "But you probably shouldn't call mother 'Stiles'. She doesn't take kindly to people who call her by that name."

"Right, you said that to Deucalion earlier," Derek said as he thought back to the conversation his daughter had with Deucalion, but he couldn't understand why. Stiles loved his name; he had once said it was something his mother used to call him. Nothing made sense to him and he couldn't help but keep asking the same question over and over in his head. Why?

"I know it might be hard to believe, but godfather isn't a bad man once you get to know him," Scarlett assured her father as she watched him seat himself back down by the fire.

"You're right, I find it hard to believe," Derek said with a sour tone. Deucalion had taken his mate from him, and for sixteen years he thought him dead, clinging to the impossibility that Stiles might be alive. "I don't want to talk about Deucalion though," Derek said honestly, he wanted to know more of Stiles. He needed to know more.

Scarlett smiled at what her father had said. She had learned to read between the lines ever since she was young, everyone seemed to leave the more important things unsaid, because she had been too young to know things. However, being her mother's daughter, she quickly caught on. "You would rather talk about mother." She said as she moved to sit back down.

"Hm, I want to know what his life has been like these past sixteen year." Derek said as he too sat himself back down on his seat. Perhaps, his daughter would slip a hint of where he could find him. Knowing Stiles was alive gave him the hope of reuniting with him but he knew it would not be easy. They had not parted in the most friendliest of ways. Things had been so screwed up, and he had just disappeared from town after sharing a night of intimacy.

"Sixteen years is a long time," Scarlett said with a small chuckle as she looked down at her hands that curled into one another, "It could take a while to tell you everything that happened to us in that time."

It was odd, the tone in her voice sounded distant and sad as she had said those words. It made his heart ache, and wonder just what hardships had they lived through, but before he could voice it the sounds of crashing pans came from the corner of the cottage with a small 'Oww~' following it.

Derek stood up and turned around searching for the intruder with his claws out ready to attach, but when his eyes landed on the familiar child form laying half inside a tipped over pot he retracted his claws. "Joey, what are you doing here?" Derek said in a scolding manner as he went to collect the child from the floor.

"Mommy was going to yell at me, and I don't like it when mommy yells. So I hide here." Joey said with a small pout as he snuggled into Derek's arms.

Derek couldn't help but let a smile slip past his lips, "Sorry to break it to you runt, but you're going to get yelled at worse than you were before when our mom finds you."

Scarlett watched her father interact with the child, and it was the same way a father interacted with his child. She had seen fathers interact with their children many times before and she had always seen it from the side lines, like she was now. It was strange but she felt her stomach sink and her heart cringed watching her father interact with the child in that way.

"Is that the same lady that was in town?" Joey whispered to Derek as if trying not to make it obvious that he was talking about her.

Derek looked at his daughter when Joey asked about her. She didn't seem to be comfortable under the sudden circumstances of being near a child. "Hm, this is…" Derek began to say but his voice trailed off. He didn't know his daughter's name, heck, he hardly knew anything about her other than the fact that she was indeed his daughter.

"Scarlett," Scarlett said finishing her father's sentence although she felt a little bitter. "My name is Scarlett," She repeated as she looked at her father who seemed at loss of how to introduce her.

"Scarlett," Derek repeated before looking at Joey who was clinging to Derek's neck when he had made an attempt to put him down. Joey did this to Derek, among other things when he tried to put him down or return him home. The kid had a strange attachment to him; he had once wished he had seen in his own kids, but this was Joey. Derek couldn't help but give up on even trying to get him to let go. Besides he would let go eventually. "She's my daughter," Derek said as he looked at Joey, who was keen on looking at Scarlett with unsure eyes as he leaned towards her trying to sniff her.

"Is she going to live here now too?" Joey asked as he looked back at Derek with a big smile, that almost made Derek want to chuckle at how easily the boy accepted his daughter. But even he wondered if his daughter would stick around for a while.

"No, I will have to leave soon before mother decides to come looking for me." Scarlett said knowing it would sound weird to her father that she did not want to be found. "I know it must sound odd that I do not want mother to find me, but I've waited all my life for an opportunity like this, and I am not ready to go home."

Derek couldn't help but want to make his daughter stay if it meant bringing Stiles here but that wouldn't be right. However, the determination in his daughter's voice was confusing yet admirable. He didn't know whether that was a good thing or bad. He knew more about human customs to know Stiles was probably worried sick about their missing daughter, but was it selfish of him to also want to keep her and get to know her, as well as possibly finding a way to get to Stiles?

"I've always envied my brothers and sisters for having something I never did, a father. But I don't blame her for doing what she did. She did her best on her own." Scarlett said with a longing in her voice that nearly broke his heart, but shocked what shocked him was her mentions of brothers and sisters. He wanted to ask for clarity. It could not be what he thought it was and what having other children enticed.

A howl came from the distance getting both their attentions. It wasn't from his back but his daughter seemed to stiffen at the sound of it. "I should go, my pack is calling me, but perhaps we can continue our talk another time. It seems you'll have company and I doubt they will be all too happy to find me here." She said before disappearing just as his door was being swung open.

"Derek!" Erica's voice came as the sound of her stomped her way towards them, not sounding too happy. Followed by the sound of Boyd's own footsteps as he tried to calm his angered mate.

He couldn't accept that Stiles had mated with another man and had other kids with this mate.

Just what exactly had Stiles done these past sixteen years?