"Did you find out anything?" Asked Raphael, who had his leg crossed over the other against Asher's desk.

"It was difficult to infiltrate Daniel's pack but I did find something interesting"

Raphael took his leg off the desk, pushed the seat closer, and asked Ozark curiously, "What did you find out?"

"There's a spy in Daniel's pack whose working closely with Tristan"

" Interesting"

"I captured him and got to hear what transpired from his mouth" Ozark narrated.

Raphael was giddy, he was finally going to learn the truth. It had taken everything in him not to grab Dan earlier and force him to narrate what happened to Lia.

Dan had only told him that Asher's mate, no, his mate, caused some trouble. But what did she do? He couldn't tell and the curiosity had been eating at him ever since till now.

"It turned out that Tristan is Lia's sire," his faithful subordinate disclosed.

"Oh," Raphael said before he burst into maniacal laughter. So that was it, that fool was the one who created the girl's wolf side.

His brother Asher thought he would never find out the fact that his mate was a made-hybrid. A human who had mysteriously gained a wolf side and a vampire side all at once.

A hybrid could only be born to parents from two different species, not a human.

Others might claim that her creation went against nature but he called it achieving impossible feet. They had no idea how much power that girl held.

Thinking about it made him wonder if another supernatural creature turned her, would she gain another side? Possible or not, it was definitely interesting to try out.

If Lia would stay by his side, together they would do so many things - even conquer this world; his imagination was his limitation.

Raphael has been thinking of a way to seek out the dark witches or Burning Eaglets- whatever they called themselves- he wanted in on this plan of theirs. He had no idea what they wanted Lia for, but it was obvious they needed her help in ridding the council, that would be fun to watch.

"He demanded that Lia returned to his pack with him where she belonged - "

"Which didn't sit well with the werewolf Daniel " Raphael filled in.

Of course, why would Daniel let him take his mate away, that has never been heard of. Those dogs were overprotective of whatever they owned.

But then, why was it now? Raphael debated. Tristan turned Lia months ago, why would he come to claim his price now?

He snorted, it seems that the fool found out something special about his mate and wanted to convert what doesn't belong to him - his death would be announced soon.

"Daniel refused to believe him without evidence until Tristan suggested they test the sire bond but that was where everything went downhill"

"The bond didn't work on her?"

"It worked at first but she broke out of it"

"That was expected. What was he thinking trying to tame a hybrid"

At least that assured Raphael that whatever Tristan knew about Lia, he was still ignorant of the girl being a hybrid else he wouldn't have suggested such a ludicrous idea.

Since that was not it, then there was one obvious reason left: The egoistic fool wanted a fair lady who would warm his bed.

Lia was beautiful to the extent she could make head turn, but not to the point of being called a goddess yet she had this intoxicating scent that drew supernaturals to her like a bee to honey.

Though his stupid brother did something that toned down her scent but it was noticeable upon a closer whiff.

Werewolves aka dogs were horny creatures but the Ranger pack were known for their extreme lustful indulgence; Tristan has fallen for a fair lady that would bring his doom.

"From what I heard, Tristan ordered the girl to call him ' Daddy' "

"That bastard!" Raphael sprang up to his feet and rammed his hand into the wooden desk which broke and collapsed under the powerful impact.

Great, he did not control his strength. But the vampire was still pissed off, he wanted to rip that animal apart.

"Raphael, your hand" Ozark let out a sharp gasp.

Raphael looked down and saw his flaming fists which left him shocked. Lately, he had been trying to work out Asher's ability but it was little to no progress.

Just because they exchanged souls doesn't mean they were left with an instructional handbook that taught them their counterpart's powers; he had to learn from scratch.

Just as everyone was not the same, their powers were distinct too and each had their special way of manifesting for the first time.

But all was closely linked to their emotions and it looks like anger was the emotion that summons the fire part of Asher's ability- at least for beginners.

Once they had mastery over it, they would not necessarily need their emotions to call forth their powers.

Raphael lifted the burning fist to his face, staring at it with a captivated fascination. His hands were on fire yet he wasn't being burned, fantastic! Though his shirt which didn't reach the burning area still smells of smoke.

Raphael had the duplication ability but it wasn't exactly suitable for combat. He used his ability most times to escape danger or evade an attack instead of facing it head-on.

He knew he could never defeat Asher which was why he resorted to trickery; played Asher's ego and struck him when he least expected it. His wits were compensation for his not-so-cool powers.

Raphael kept staring at his fist like a kid who was obsessed with a new gadget. How marvelous was this scene, he would look so cool throwing flames at his enemies?

"Ozark, can you see this?"

" Yes, I can"

"I feel powerful," said Raphael as he stooped and touched a pile of paper that began to burn.

Raphael suddenly thrust out his burning hand to Ozark, "Perhaps, you would like a handshake"

Ozark gulped, it looked like he was given an option but he alone knew there was nothing like that in Raphael's dictionary, it was an order.

"Of course" He had no choice but to envelope Raphael's flaming hand. At first, when it scalded him, he assumed an indifferent face but when the temperature kept heating up and only when he was close to bursting into smithereens did he pull his hand away.

Raphael cackled upon seeing Ozark's reflexive reaction, this was the kind of ability he needed. Vampires hated fire because it was one of the weapons that ended them permanently. Yet here he was, welding that great weapon like it was nothing.

Ozark watched his hand heal but not thoroughly, there were still burn scars that would remind him of the day Raphael achieved his lifelong dream for eternity.

Raphael willed the fire to go away, and it was doused at once as if with an extinguisher. He now had an idea of how that one worked.

"So, continue from where you stopped" Raphael sat back down, crossing his leg in a businesslike fashion while propping up his chin with his palm resting against the armrest.

"Tristan told her to call- "

"Yeah, I've heard about the bastard's shenanigans, what happened next ?" Raphael interrupted.

"She attacked him, almost to the point of death if Daniel and his men had not rescued Tristan from her hands"

"Atta girl" Raphael praised his mate, "Though I would have wanted if she killed him" he opined.

"That was pretty much what happened, "Ozark summarized.

"So, my mate attacked an alpha. That is a huge transgression against the Ranger pack and would have resorted to her death if Daniel wasn't defensive of her" Raphael reasoned out loud.

Ozark's head whipped up when he heard Raphael refer to Asher's mate's as his. Does he want the girl too? Wasn't he here to occupy Asher's position for a while as a form of revenge for what Antonio did to his father? Would he really claim the girl ?

"The atmosphere in Moonlight pack must be tense, they're expecting a war" Raphael mumbled to himself. No wonder, the first thing Daniel did was to send the students back.

"Reach out to Tristan"

"Huh?"

"Contact Tristan"

"You want to help him out "

"Tristan might have a large population but Daniel has the best warriors"

"But if you support Tristan, that means you're against Daniel and he's her other mate too"

"Ever since I occupied this body, I have never thought of sharing Lia with another male - soul mate or not " He declared.

"But Tristan desires the girl too"

"Compared to Daniel, Tristan is a lesser enemy. If he finishes Daniel off during their feud - with my support- I won't be implicated and I can end him eventually in the name of avenging Daniel for Lia "

"You're killing two birds with a stone"

"Bingo"

"Alright"

Raphael added, "Also, be careful how you hang around me from now on, the vampire would be back in a few hours"

Of course, they all knew who that vampire was - Dan.