I feel like I am constantly repeating myself, but THANK YOU for the AMAZING reviews! Is it too much to say that I love you guys? Because I do, haha :)

When I reached the beach that Bella and I usually swam near, I shifted back and climbed out of the water. I didn't even bother to put on my soaking wet dress though. I simply shifted into my wolf form and took off running through the woods.

I didn't get far.

I barely reached a comfortable, steady pace when I was forced to stop dead in my tracks. Standing in a line and blocking my path was none other than the entire clan—Geoff, Rebekka, Tanner, Brett, Bryn…Henry and Stephen.

Crap, crap, triple crap. If Henry and Stephen were back that meant…

"Is this the double shifter?" A deep, unfamiliar voice bounced off the trees. Emerging from the shadows behind Geoff and Brett was a man on horseback. He had long blonde but graying hair that was tied back in a ponytail and was flanked on either side by a mountain lion. The mountain lions seemed to be guarding the man on the horse. My dad was a mountain lion—had he been a guard for the chief before he faked his death and ran away from the tribe?

There was no doubt about it—this man was the chief I had feared so much. But now, actually getting to look at him didn't make him seem so terrifying. In fact, his hairstyle and attire made me want to burst out laughing—he looked like he'd just come from the set of some Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Geoff shifted back into his human form to answer the chief. "Yes sir," he responded. I quickly noticed how the tone of his voice and his back seemed to straighten when he addressed the chief. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't throw the "fearing-the-chief" thing out the window so quickly.

"What is your name?" the chief asked, staring me down with questioning, brown eyes that were anything but warm.

I shuddered under his gaze. Yeah, definitely don't forget the fear thing. This was the man who had driven my dad to fake his own death and for Jet's mom and Valerie to run away. Despite being afraid of the man, I didn't shift back.

"Marina, sir," Geoff answered for me quickly, glancing nervously in my direction.

The chief nodded once. "I can see that she can turn into a wolf, but what is the second animal she can turn into?"

"Rebekka has reported that she's seen the girl shift into a dolphin as well," Geoff said.

"Interesting," the chief said softly. He directed the horse forward, closer to me, never once taking his eyes off me. He looked at me like I was an early Christmas present or something—it creeped me out. "How old is she?"

"Sixteen," Geoff told him, "but she'll be seventeen soon. Her birthday is in January."

My eyes widened as I looked over in Geoff's direction. How did he know that?

"Henry told me she is Mark Keller's daughter. Is this true?" the chief asked, still studying me.

"Yes, sir," Geoff said again.

"So Mark Keller is alive," the chief said, his eyes narrowing at me slightly, "Interesting."

Something about the way the chief said the word "interesting" irked me.

"Where is Mark now?" the chief asked, finally managing to tear his attention away from me and over to Geoff instead.

"Right here."

Everyone's heads snapped to the space on my right. Out of the trees walked my dad in human form, followed by a black wolf, a tiger and finally an owl overhead. Jet—how could I have forgotten? I told him he could come bring a search party if I didn't return in two hours. The only thing was that I knew my two hours weren't up yet—at least not for another half an hour or so—but I didn't care, I had never been so thankful that he didn't listen to me.

Jet immediately came to stand on my left while Cole stationed himself on my right. My dad occupied the remaining space between me and the chief. The tension bounced from person to person like sound waves.

"Mark," the chief smiled with only half his mouth, "back from the dead."

"That was your assumption, Sebastian," my dad stated, his voice sounding as if someone had dunked it in an ice bucket.

The chief's calculating eyes stared down my dad for a minute. "Believe me. I won't make that mistake again," he said finally.

"I should hope not," my dad said simply, "some say that repetition of mistakes is a form of stupidity."

The chief's eyes widened slightly before narrowing at my dad once more. Beside him, the two mountain lion guards growled at us.

Wow. And I thought my dad and Geoff hated each other—that was nothing compared to the hatred seeping from both my dad and the chief.

"What are you doing here, Sebastian?" my dad asked.

"Don't ask useless questions, Mark," the chief said, "Some say ignorance is a form of stupidity." He smiled. "You know exactly why I'm here."

"The answer is no," my dad said immediately—it was almost as if his voice reached out and bit the chief.

"I wasn't asking you," the chief responded, his eyes moving past my dad and back to me.

"She's my daughter," my dad said firmly, "and I say she's not going anywhere."

Go? Go where? To the tribe? No way.

"True, but I'm afraid the decision isn't up to you, Mark," the chief said, his voice chillingly even. It was as if he knew he would get what he wanted one way or another.

"The hell it isn't up to me," my dad spat, his voice rising, "You are not taking my daughter."

The chief dismounted the horse so that he and my dad were at eye level. "Just because she is your daughter does not mean that you have a claim over her," the chief said, "as a double shapeshifter she belongs to the entire shapeshifter community—the largest gathering of which just so happens to be the tribe."

"Marina doesn't belong to anyone!" my dad shouted, "And you only have the largest gathering of shapeshifters because you invite people in but never let anyone leave!" My dad glared at the chief with something more than hatred in his eyes.

"Everyone living in the tribe is perfectly happy with their life!" the chief yelled back, his nostrils actually flaring.

Bang!

The sound echoed across the trees and was louder than anything I had ever heard before—well, everything except for gunshot my dad fired at me when I was nine.

In front of me, Brett let out a sickening roar. My full attention immediately snapped to him where I saw his paw was gripping his shoulder. When he pulled his paw away, I noticed a thick, dark liquid dripping from his brown fur—blood. Brett was shot.

I frantically looked around for the source of the bullet that was now lodged in Brett's flesh but I couldn't see anything. I sniffed the air.

Another bullet flew past us—narrowly missing Henry's head. My dad shifted into his mountain lion form and Geoff shifted into his black panther.

We had to get out of here—we had to run. I turned to do just that when I noticed several people step out of the trees—several people holding rifles—hunters. I turned the other way only to see more hunters emerging. They were everywhere.

Things got worse.

Behind the shifters of the clan, a group of ten or more hunter appeared and charged us. Everyone scattered.

The mountain lion guards, Geoff, and even Brett with a bullet still in him turned to fight the oncoming hunters. On my right, Cole and my dad were already fighting two hunters. I looked up just in time to see Rebekka flying away with a fox—Tanner—in her talons. I wanted to shout to Skye to go with them—to get out of here—but she didn't. I watched, fear gripping my heart, as my little sister swooped down to attack the hunter my dad was fighting with.

I frowned to myself. The only one not in animal form was the chief. He simply stood in the center of it all, surveying the fight.

Jet nudged my side, whining. I swung my head around. He jerked his head to an opening. We could get out of here. I glanced back at my family. I couldn't leave them.

But then, all of a sudden there was no way for me to get to my family because at least five hunters blocked my path and began closing in. I was about to turn and run with Jet when the chief—still in human form—threw himself between us and the hunters.

What?

The chief's form caused the hunters to pause for a second—clearly they were just as confused as I was—but then they continued forward. That was when I noticed the chief was smiling.

I never would have believed what happened in the next couple seconds had I not seen it with my own eyes. I watched in amazement as the chief assumed his animal form. I couldn't believe what stood in front of me was real.

The animal was taller than a horse, had thick, rough-looking skin like an iguana only it was a blackish-purple color, talons that had to be at least half a foot long, oh yeah and giant, leathery bat wings.

There was a reason he was the chief—a big, fat, gigantic, humongous reason.

The chief was a dragon.

When he roared, blue flames burst from his mouth.

The chief was a fire-breathing dragon.

No amount of "craps" was going to cover it this time—no, this one required something stronger.

Oh shit, I thought.

CelticH2O: Sorry to call you out again, but that was definitely the longest review I have ever received haha. Don't worry though, I definitely appreciated it. I just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only one who considered the possible brother connection between Marina and Brad. The way I think of it is if the prophecy was made 2,000 years ago then the first shapeshifters had to be at least 4,000 years ago, so it's not like they're actually related. Besides, since Marina and Jet are both shapeshifters then that means they are closer in heritage than Marina and Brad because they would have both descended from Luka's side. Anyway, I just wanted to ease your worries there a bit. I honestly love how you stop to consider these kinds of things. You are awesome (but actually). Thanks again for the super long review.