Chapter Text

Derek Hale pulled on his tie, trying to loosen its tight grip around his neck. Curse Laura for insisting on it. The din of the crowded restaurant assaulted his ears, a cacophony of pointless chatter, cutlery against white porcelain, clinking of glasses, and the clanging of pots and pans from the kitchen. They were seated much too close to the kitchen too, and the scents from all the dishes prepared therein blended together in a way that seemed to highlight all the worst part of every meal, and none of the delicious parts. The mess of smells were further reinforced by the strong artificial scents from the other guests around them, hints of sweat and grime from the day, and pheromones. And whose idea had it been to fill a dining room with lilies?

He took a deep breath to keep his wolf at bay and forced a smile to the man opposite. At least Derek wasn’t going to be the one to pay for this dining experience.

“It’s a generous offer,” he said. “But you know I haven’t graduated yet.”

The man waved his hands in the air in front of him. “That doesn’t matter. One of your teachers recommended you to us a year ago as someone to keep an eye on, and we would’ve called closer to graduation anyway, but when you won that award we thought we’d better make a move before anyone else flew in and scooped you up. So what do you say?”

“It’s a generous offer.”

“One you’ll take, I hope. There’ll be plenty of creative freedom, and if your work stays top-notch, a good chance at making junior partner before you’re thirty. Both my partner and I have full faith in you. So, why don’t you tell me what’s holding you back, and we’ll see what we can do to work something out?”

Derek sighed. The man was a human. He’d never have to explain this to another wolf. “The job is in San Francisco,” he started, trying to hide a flinch when a woman at the next table dropped her fork and it hit the plate with a loud clang. “It’s not that I wouldn’t like living there, but there are a lot of things going on with my family right now. I’m not sure I’d like to leave them. Your firm is a great one, don’t get me wrong, but there are other firms with offices a little closer to home.”

The man frowned. “I don’t think I know a lot of college graduates who’d mind moving that far. It’s less than a hundred miles. We might be able to open a second office in Sacramento one day, but of wouldn’t be in the near future.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to.”

“If you made partner it’d be a different story altogether of course. But you need a few years of experience before we can take that chance.”

Derek took the final bite out of his steak. It had been a delicious dinner, but the kitchen tried much harder to kick it up that extra notch whenever he came here with his family. They were usually seated by the window too, when the reservation was in the name Talia Hale. It was quieter by the window, and the scents from other people weren’t coming from all directions like they did at this table. Not that it would have mattered. Derek had never had any intention of taking his job.

“Of course. I am flattered by your interest, Mr. Drummond, but I don’t think there’s anything you could say to change my mind about this. I want to stay in Sacramento. I was born here, and my entire family lives here.”

“Your mother is on the city council, I understand.”

Derek wondered if that woman had something really the matter with her as she dropped her fork again, the sound penetrating his ears like a dagger and he fought to keep his attention on his companion.

“Yes, she is. She’s been doing that for over ten years now.”

“And your grandfather was the mayor at one point.”

“Yes, he was. So you see, my roots in this town run deep. I don’t want to be uprooted right now.”

“Oh?” Drummond raised an eyebrow. “Something the matter?”

Humans could be so nosy. “Private matters,” he said simply and left it at that.

“Well, Derek, I have to say you leave me rather disappointed.”

Derek let his drink glass serve as a mask to hide his expression as the fork hit the plate again. This time the woman apologized to her date who smiled sadly at her, and Derek felt ashamed. She really must have something wrong with her. Now all he could notice was the chemical smell of medication coming off of her, previously drowned in all the other scents from the dining room.

“I’m sorry to hear that. But I did warn you when we set this dinner up that I wasn’t interested in working in San Francisco.”

“It’s a great city.”

“So is this.”

Drummond leaned back in his chair and took a deep sip from his scotch. “And there’s nothing I can say to change your mind?”

“I’m afraid not. My mind is firmly made up. I appreciate your interest in my career, and I’m sure that teacher of mine has other names she could recommend.”

“She did. A couple of them, even. But I saw that design you did for the competition, and I couldn’t imagine hiring someone else.”

Derek managed another smile.

“Thank you, that means a lot to me coming from someone like yourself. I’ve always admired that hospital you designed in New York. Genius work.”

“Well, one day someone might say the same thing about one of your designs.” He stretched out his hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you Derek, and I wish you good luck with your future career. Do keep my card, will you? In case things change for you and you change your mind. Can’t promise you another deal like what I just offered you, but we’re always looking for new talents.”

“Thank you. I will.”

Drummond gave him a crooked smile before signaling the waiter for the check. “Your family must be very proud of you.”

“They are,” Derek lied.

He slammed the door close and let out a deep breath of relief. Finally alone. He only slept in his studio apartment right by campus when he had late nights or early mornings and thought the drive out to his family’s home on the outskirts of the city felt too long, and it didn’t hold much more than his bed, his desk and his drafting table, but it still smelled like his place. A book case with his textbooks and a couple of novels and a sparsely filled closet took care of his basic needs. His room back home was a different story. That was where Derek lived. This was where he slept and sometimes studied and occasionally met up with a lover. Or returned home exhausted not wanting to see or speak to another living soul.

It was, however, also where he kept his award. The crystal skyscraper with the silver decorations reflected the light from the streetlamp outside, and he still smiled proudly whenever he saw it. He did not polish it every night, no matter what his sisters liked to tease him of. It was just nice to be reminded of being good at something.

Speaking of sisters. Derek sighed as his phone rang in his pocket and answered without checking who the caller was. “Hello Laura.”

“Hey, number two! How did it go, tell me everything?!”

“It went fine. They offered a lot of money, moving costs, and the first two month’s rent paid on an apartment overlooking the bay, and a chance at making partner eventually.”

“But you didn’t take it?”

“Of course I didn’t. It’s in San Francisco. That’s too far, Laura.”

His sister sighed in his ear. “It’s not that far, Derek. We’d be fine if you wanted to make a go of it.”

“I can make a go of it here.”

“Derek…”

“I don’t want to leave, Laura. I don’t know why you keep trying to make me.”

“I don’t want you to leave either. You should be with the pack, of course you should. But if you took the job you might end up enjoying yourself, getting to focus on your career for a few years, and none of us wants to get in the way of that. I just don’t want you to look back on your life when we’re in our sixties and resent me.”

“By then, you’ll be alpha, and I’ll be your second. How could I possibly have any regrets then?”

Another sigh. Laura had been sighing more and more lately whenever she spoke to him. Derek thought she’d been picking it up from their mother. “I know. But there’s a long time until that will happen, and I want you to have the career you want to have until the pack needs you.”

Derek glanced at his drafting table. “The pack could need me now. Plenty of them still live in apartments, spread out all over town. We could do something about that, you know we could. If mom would listen. She’d listen to you.”

“Not on this she doesn’t, you know that. Derek, you know I love how hard you work on those ideas of yours, but for now, you’ll just have to sell them to humans, okay?”

Derek didn’t respond.

“Now tell me about the dinner. What was it like meeting this Drummer guy?”

“Drummond. That part was great. Man’s a legend. I still can’t believe he even wanted to meet with me. And he seemed really disappointed when I turned him down. A wolf would’ve understood. I hope he’ll remember me in the future though, he’d make a good professional contact.”

“You could’ve saved him the flight and the cost of dinner by turning him down on the phone, if you already knew you weren’t going to take it.”

“It’s polite to turn someone down in person,” Derek said firmly. “And mom insisted.”

“Oh, okay then. Speaking of mom, she knew I’d be talking to you tonight and wanted me to tell you to come home. Like, tomorrow or the day after. She needs your help with something.”

Derek’s heart started beating faster in his chest, and he rolled his eyes at himself. Pathetic.

“Calm down little brother, it’s not a big deal.”

“Easy for you to say, she asks things of you all the time.”

“Yeah, and wouldn’t I rather have become a doctor or something instead of going on errands all over California on her say-so?”

“She’s teaching you to be alpha.”

“Yeah, I guess. But you’ll come?”

“I’ll be home after classes tomorrow. What does she need?”

“Good. I don’t even know, but it’s nothing big or she wouldn’t be sending me south tomorrow morning to deal with those two packs that never learnt how to share.” He could practically see her in front of him, shaking her head indulgently, like she did whenever Cora and Malia wouldn’t get along, but ready to pull them apart by force if she had to.

“Alright, tomorrow then.”

“I have to go, but I still think you’re an idiot for not taking that job.”

“And your opinion has been noted. Bye Laura.”

“Goodnight number two,” she said and ended the call.

Derek sat down at his drafting table, trying to calm his nerves. He looked down at the drawings he’d made. They weren’t perfect yet, but they’d have to be as soon as he graduated and held his diploma in his hand. Talia hadn’t been interested when he first introduced the idea a year ago, but it would be harder to turn it down when she could see it all drawn up and he was officially an architect, he felt sure of that. Most of the families in their pack spent a lot of money fixing their human-built houses to be better suited for their needs, but why not start building them right from the start? Bigger kitchens, better soundproofing, larger living areas and fewer bedrooms since most wolves preferred sleeping together anyway. Changing existing houses was expensive, and even then it could be difficult to get it just right. The Hale pack deserved better.

His black Camaro purred like a kitten as Derek sped down the streets towards his family’s home the next afternoon. The Hales had lived in the city for generations, and back when they first moved there, their house had been a bit outside the city limits. Over the decades, the city had spread out and while their home still backed up against the woods without too many houses surrounding it, there were many luxury homes in the affluent neighborhood nearby. It wasn’t the most interesting commute even on a good day with low traffic, but Derek had good music in his car and a purpose.

He could imagine plenty of things for that purpose; he could need to deal with rogue hunters; he could be sent on a mission to fetch someone or something from another pack; his mother could ask for his advice on something. Frankly, Derek would be happy even if all she wanted was to help a pack member with something. She had asked for him.

The Hale pack was one of the largest packs in the country. Once, Sacramento used to have several packs, like most cities had, existing in peace by staying out of each other’s way, but over time, the Hale pack had grown to include the other ones. Alpha sparks could be lost in all manner of ways and hunters loved taking out an alpha werewolf without children of their own, who hadn’t passed their spark on to another pack member yet, and what was left was a pack without a leader. The Hales had been there, ready to take in anyone who wanted to join them. There were hundreds in their pack to keep track of by now, but everyone sounded happy, safe and prosperous, whenever Derek asked his mother or Laura about them.

He arrived at the house and parked outside next to a row of other cars. He recognized most of them, but his uncle changed vehicles so often there was no telling what he would show up in. The sprawling mansion was set against a dramatic backdrop of the woods and was big enough for a family of twenty, which wasn’t far from the truth. It housed, at the moment, Talia Hale’s immediate family, three of her siblings, two of them with mates and a bunch of children, and her nearest betas who slept over so often they might as well have moved in officially.

Cora met Derek at the door and flashed him a card. “Look what I’ve got.”

“Oh hey,” he hugged her. “You passed this time, huh?”

“Yep. And you know what you promised.”

“I did not promise.”

“Yes, you did.”

“No, you asked, and I said I’d think about it if you passed your driver’s test the next time, but that was two tries ago, and frankly, Cora, when someone needs three tries to get their license, you don’t want to lend them your car.”

“Oh, but please, Derek! I already know you won’t be here too long, so I won’t go far, I promise. I’ll go get a burger and then I’ll be back. And I’ll buy you some snacks for the road while I’m out.”

“I’m going on the road? What do you know?”

He held up his keys, just out of reach for her. Cora wasn’t short compared to other girls her age, but she was sixteen and Derek was tall.

“I know you and Peter are going somewhere and you’ll be gone until tomorrow. That’s all. Now gimme the keys or I’ll tell mom where you hide your porn stash.”

“You can have the keys, but not because of that last thing. I don’t keep porn in this house. But you’ll be back in thirty minutes, or I’m calling the cops and reporting the car as stolen.”

Cora looked outraged. “You’d do that to your own favorite sister?”

“Laura is obviously my favorite sister. And yes I would. Don’t you dare scratch it either, or you’ll be paying for a new paint job.”

“You’re so in love with your car I’m embarrassed for you. I’ll take care of your baby, I promise.”

“Good.” He handed her the keys, cringed at the way she cheered and skipped over to the Camaro. “Drive safely!” he called after her, but she was already out of the driveway, tires screeching.

“Derek,” his mother greeted him when he followed her scent into the east living room. “I’m glad you’re here. How did it go yesterday?”

He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “The dinner went fine, but I didn’t take the job. I’ll find something here in town, I’m not worried. I did win that award after all.”

He glanced over to the wide fire place where he hadn’t been asked to put his award, next to the photo of Laura and her supervisor from the internship she’d done with the UN, and his cousin’s judo trophy – he’d have made it to the Olympic tryouts if it weren’t for not being able to leave a blood sample for doping controls.

“I only hope you didn’t turn down a good opportunity in favor of a lesser one,” Talia said and patted his cheek. “As long as you’re happy.”

“I’ll be happier when I can be close to my pack.”

“Alright then. Come into the study and we can have a talk. I need you to help me with something important.”

“I’ll do anything to help you, mom, you know that.”

Talia smiled, but didn’t reply, and he followed her into her study at the back of the house. His uncle Peter was already seated in one of the two chairs in front of the desk, flipping through a manilla folder with only half-interest, but he nodded a greeting to Derek before going back to reading.

Derek sat down next to him and Talia took her place behind the desk. Derek had seen his mother sitting in that chair since he was a pup and had vague memories of once seeing his grandfather there too when he and Laura had gotten into trouble, but Derek had never sat in front of it like this. This was pack business. Family business was dealt with in the sun room on the west side of the house.

“I’ll make this as brief as I can, Derek. I’d like to get the ball rolling right away.”

Derek nodded, wondering if he should’ve brought something to take notes with. Peter watched him out of the corner of his eye with amusement.

“You remember the Stilinski pack, don’t you?”

“I… not really?”

Most of the packs in California would, sooner or later, find their way into Talia’s office, either to show their respects, or to ask her to mediate in various issues with other packs, and Derek had met plenty of alphas during his upbringing, or at least seen them come and go, but the name Stilinski meant nothing to him.

“Oh, you might have been a little young, and I think she was only here once. Alpha Stilinski that is, Claudia Stilinski.”

“I remember her well,” Peter interjected. “I think Derek might have been around five or six at the time. He thought she was beautiful and followed her around the house the entire visit. That was when she had just taken on the alpha role.”

Talia laughed and Derek felt his face heat up. Trust his uncle to always remember the embarrassing stuff.

“I don’t remember her.”

“She took over after Satomi Ito in Beacon Hills,” Talia explained.

“They didn’t keep the pack name?”

“For a while, they did, but everyone started calling it the Stilinski Pack, and I suppose we all just got used to the change. Anyway, I learnt yesterday that Claudia passed away.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Derek said. “Was she very old?”

“No, she was younger than me, even. It’s all kind of strange. There was a notice in the paper a couple of days ago about her death, and that was it. I didn’t even see it until one of the other alphas mentioned it to me yesterday. No one has called or left a message, and you know the newer alphas usually come here to introduce themselves or call on their closest alphas to visit, so we can all renew our alliances and such. But there’s been nothing. I assume they have a new alpha since I haven’t heard anything about an omega pack either.”

“Most likely,” Peter said, “she passed her spark along to someone in her pack before she passed, and that person simply doesn’t know what to do.”

“Have you tried contacting the pack?”

“I only have contact information for Claudia herself, and there’s no one answering the phone when I call. And their emissary isn’t answering Marin either. So. Derek, I’d like you to go to Beacon Hills this weekend and find out what has happened. I’d send Laura, but she’s needed with the dispute down south. This shouldn’t be too difficult for you. I don’t know exactly what you might expect, so I want Peter to go with you. Between the two of you, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

There was something uncertain in her eye, and Derek could hear the doubt in her voice.

“Why am I going at all? He’s your second.”

“He is,” Talia said and smiled indulgently at her brother. “And while Peter is a brilliant schemer, his diplomacy skills can be a little… erratic, that’s all.”

“But I don’t know much about diplomacy either. Not that I don’t look forward to doing this for you, mom.”

“I might have… flirted a little too hard with dear Claudia on her one and only visit here,” Peter confessed. “I’m afraid her husband did not appreciate it. So it’s better that I go as your backup should you need it, than I go and be chased out of town by an angry widower, don’t you think? Besides. Like we said, I’m sure it’s just a mistake or someone not knowing the proper protocol. You could even go alone if you wanted.”

“I want you there too, Peter, in case it becomes too much for him.” Talia insisted and turned to Derek. “You’ll go then?”

“Of course, mom. You can count on me!”

Peter chuckled. “You don’t need to sound so excited, Derek. It’s a three-hour drive, talking with some hillbilly werewolves in the middle of nowhere and then a drive back. We should pack a change of clothes in case it runs late though. I trust we can rely on the new alpha to put us up for the night, once we know who we’re dealing with.”

“Alright. Should we leave right away?”

“If you would,” Talia said and smiled. “I trust you to handle this, Derek. It’ll be good for you. Just try to keep a level head and be polite. Don’t be too shy. Claudia was a pleasant person, and we’ve never had any trouble with any of her wolves. They’re all good people.”

Derek nodded. “I won’t let you down, mom.”

“I’m sure you won’t, sweetie. Call me when you know what’s been going on.”

She patted his cheek again and he went upstairs to his bedroom to pack a bag. There wasn’t much to bring. Overnight stuff, just in case, and he made sure to bring a clean shirt, in case they’d be offered dinner by the new alpha. He took a book at random out of his bookcase and packed his phone charger and some toiletries and went downstairs where Peter waited for him.

His uncle clapped him on the shoulder. “You can do this,” he whispered in his ear. “Keep your cool, think over what you’re going to say before you speak and if someone wants information you’re not sure about, tell them your alpha would not wish you to divulge that information at this time, or something like that. Any wolf would respect that. And I’ll be right there to give you hints and help on what to do or say when you need it. She’ll be proud of you.”

“Thank you, Peter.”

“You’re welcome. I’m even going to let you drive this time. That is, if your sister has returned your car.”

Cora came bursting through the door right then, her face flushed but holding a bag that looked full of chips and cookies and other things Derek would not allow to be consumed in his car.

“There are no scratches on your precious baby,” she said with a look at his face. “You can stop making that face, she’s returned to you in perfect condition. Drive safe!”

He snatched his keys and the bag, and ten minutes later they were out on the highway going north to whatever kind of place Beacon Hills was.

“What’s that?” Derek asked as they drove into Beacon Hills a few hours later, nodding to the thin manilla folder on Peter’s lap.

“It’s the file we’ve kept on the Stilinski pack.”

“We keep files on other packs?”

“In a manner, yes. It’s always good to have as updated information as possible, and we keep notes on our past dealings with them, and other things that are good to know. Information.”

“I see. And what do we have on the Stilinski pack?”

Peter flipped to the first page. “There’s not that much to be frank. They’re a peaceful pack, and your mother hasn’t had to intervene on their behalf or against them in any disputes, and they haven’t asked her for help with anything either, so there’s not going to be a lot. We’ve simply haven’t needed much.”

“And this alpha didn’t keep mom updated on things?”

Peter shook his head. “Nephew, none of these pack owe your mother any updates. They don’t report to her. All the information we get is volunteered or collected through friendly observation. I think Alpha Stilinski sent your mother a Christmas card for some years. A generic one, not the kind with pictures.”

The Beacon Hills welcome sign promised them a pleasant stay and a stroll through the nature preserve. Derek rolled his eyes. Imagine living somewhere that didn’t have more to offer than this? He kept waiting for them to drive into a proper downtown area, but so far, nothing.

“So we don’t know anything about the size of the pack?”

“We had that information once. Satomi Ito had roughly ten wolves in her pack. When she got older, she chose Claudia Stilinski as her heir and passed the spark over to her. Lovely woman. She was bitten in her early twenties and joined the Ito pack then. I suppose Alpha Ito was impressed by her. I certainly was.”

Derek cut him a look. “I get it, you liked her. Move on.”

“Well, Claudia became the alpha. As far as we know, she never gave her husband the bite. They have one child, born human, last I heard.”

“Really?” Derek raised his eyebrows. “Just one human kid and they didn’t have more? That’s a little reckless, isn’t it?”

Alphas needed heirs, or there was no telling where the alpha spark would go when they died. So unless Claudia Stilinski had known she was going to die, the spark might simply have died out.

“Well it happens. Maybe the marriage wasn’t a very happy one. Her husband was a cop, I believe.”

“So, ten wolves and an alpha without a proper heir?”

“Ten wolves back then, remember. We don’t know anything about how many there are now. People do have children, mate, move around.” The last was said with a pointed glance in Derek’s direction, but Derek ignored it and looked for a sign of where to park, having realized that Beacon Hills wasn’t going to suddenly turn into an exciting place to be.

“What else do we know?”

“Not much money to speak of, and little influence among nearby packs but on good terms with everyone. They’re the only wolf pack in town. We don’t know if the address for the alpha’s widower is correct. I don’t know what to tell you, Derek, it’s a peaceful and unassuming pack with few wolves, that seem happy to live in this town, not bothering anyone or being bothered by anyone.”

Derek sighed. “I suppose that makes it more likely that you’re right. That it’s only a new alpha who doesn’t know it’s polite to let your neighbors know about the change in leadership.”

“I suppose.”

Derek pulled into the parking lot of a public library. “Let’s walk from here, shall we?”

“As you wish, nephew. Where are we walking?”

“Let’s just get a feel for the town. Keep an eye out for any wolves that might be able to tell us something useful?”

“Very well. Might be a good idea not to try too direct of an approach. I approve.”

Beacon Hills was, to put it mildly, a dump, in Derek’s eyes. It wasn’t particularly well-maintained; spring should be in full bloom, but no planters of flowers were out in the public areas, roads were in bad shape, a couple of street lights were out, and there was tons of graffiti on walls and benches along the main street. Something wasn’t right.

“You’d think a good alpha would care more about her community,” Derek pointed out with a nod to a street lamp that looked like it was about to fall over.

“Not all alphas are on their local city council, and not all of them look further than their own pack,” Peter said. “But maybe the next alpha will be in a better position to clean up this town a bit. Wouldn’t need that much in terms of an increased maintenance budget and town beautification policies. Something a few private donations could take care of.”

Derek could practically see Peter doing the math in his mind. He loved making private donations, and there were several park benches dedicated to him or Talia back home. Derek couldn’t see this town dedicating anything to Claudia Stilinski.

He realized suddenly that Peter had stopped in his tracks, looking at a flyer on a wall. Derek went back and stared too. It was a missing person’s flyer for a teenager. A boy with the last name Stilinski. And someone had slashed it in a pattern that looked very much like claw marks.

“Stilinski,” Peter said.

“How do you suppose you pronounce that first name?”

“I… I have no idea. But I recognize those eyes and if that’s not Claudia’s son it has to be at least her nephew.”

Derek looked at the kid in the photo but thought him completely unremarkable. He was just a kid.

“If seen, contact Beacon Hills sheriff’s station. Nice reward.”

“Not big enough to make anyone really look who doesn’t know him though,” Peter said. “Well, this certainly changes things. Claudia dies and her son, we can assume, goes missing?”

“We should start at the sheriff’s station then. If the alpha mate was a cop, he’ll know what’s going on over there, and we can get the address of the new alpha, if there is one.”

“Alright. Let’s go back to the car then. I think I saw a sign for the Sheriff’s station a couple of blocks away when we were driving in.”

After seeing the state of the Beacon Hills downtown area, Derek had expected the Sheriff’s station to be rundown and covered by vandalism, or even worse - empty, but it was a well-maintained building with a row of cruisers parked outside that didn’t look new by any means but were still in good repair. A dent here and there, but that was to be expected from a police vehicle.

“What was Claudia’s husband’s name?” Derek asked as he pulled into visitors’ parking.

“Oh I don’t know,” Peter said. “It’s not in the file. That’s strange. You’d think we’d have that information.”

“I thought you met him.”

“Yeah, decades ago! And frankly, I don’t think I bothered to learn his name then either. He was a cop, he was human, and he was standing next to his beautiful wife who was far more interesting.”

Derek rolled his eyes.

“We’ll ask.”

Inside, the station was neat and tidy. Some officers were working at desks, a couple of them were talking to civilians and a scowling officer was escorting an equally scowling teenager from somewhere further back to her waiting parents. A clean-shaven man around Derek’s age wearing a deputy’s uniform sat at the front desk, so that’s where they directed their steps.

“Hello,” Derek started. “We’re looking for someone, we think he might work here. Stilinski?”

The man’s eyes widened for a second before his face became a mask of casual curiosity. “John Stilinski? The sheriff?”

“Oh, he made sheriff?” Peter said. “Good for him, always knew he’d go far. Is he in?”

Derek flared his nostrils and gave the deputy a searching glance. Something was off with him. Not wolf. But something.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you,” the deputy said. “But the sheriff died a couple of weeks ago.”

He returned Derek’s look and Derek decided to risk it. He flashed his eyes at the deputy who took a step back, but with surprise, not fear. He quickly leaned forward and lowered his voice. “What do you want? Are you with Ennis? Come to rub it in, or what?”

“Ennis?” Peter repeated. “I have no idea who that is. The sheriff died? At the same time as his wife?”

“A couple of days later. Who are you?”

“I’m Derek Hale, and this is my uncle, Peter Hale.”

“Hale?”

“That’s right. Alpha Talia Hale of Sacramento is curious about why she wasn’t invited to Claudia Stilinski’s funeral, and we’ve come to see if everything is alright with her pack?”

“Haigh!” the deputy called out. “I need to take these men to talk to Graeme, will you take over?”

Another deputy approached, grumbled something about it not being his job and this never would’ve happened under the real sheriff, but the first deputy waved Derek and Peter forward. In passing, he tapped a female deputy on the shoulder, and that one they could easily identify by scent as a wolf. The sheriff’s office smelt strongly of wolf too, and the dark-skinned woman behind the desk rose to meet them.

“Tara, they’ve come from the Hale pack.”

There was relief written all over this woman’s face. “Oh finally, we’ve been wanting to get in contact with you, but we didn’t have any contact info, and when I tried officially contacting Talia Hale’s office, they kept giving me the runaround. I’m Tara Graeme. I’ve been acting sheriff since we lost John. This is Jordan Parrish and Valerie Clark, they’re both in our pack too.”

Deputy Parrish closed the door and sat down with Deputy Clark on the couch pushed against the wall while Peter and Derek took their seats in front of the desk.

“Alpha Hale is my mother,” Derek said. “I’m Derek. This is Peter Hale, my uncle.”

“Is it just the two of you?” Graeme said, peering out through the window as if she expected the entire Hale pack to have come with them.

“Didn’t know we’d need more,” Derek said. “My mother learnt Alpha Stilinski had died from a notice in the paper. She was astonished when no one contacted her to let her know who the new alpha was.”

“He wouldn’t let us.”

“Who wouldn’t?”

“Ennis.”

Peter leaned back in his chair. “Do you mind taking this from the beginning?”

“It started about a month ago,” Graeme started. “There were some signs of a rogue werewolf around the preserve outside of town. Some humans saw strange things, and they called the Sheriff, who figured out that this was werewolf business, and not human business. So Alpha took a couple of our strongest wolves out into the preserve, to track them down, thinking it was a new omega who needed help learning control. She thought that she and two others would be enough.”

“It was a trap,” Parrish interjected. “It wasn’t an omega at all. It was another alpha. He went on the attack right away. Claudia was a wonderful alpha and we all loved her, but violence wasn’t her thing. Setting traps and outsmarting someone was her style, if she could get it done that way. Kincaid and Tracy were both severely injured, and the alpha killed Claudia right away.”

“It was horrible,” Deputy Clark added, and Derek shuddered. He could remember the pain of losing his grandfather and alpha when he was just a little kid. Having the tie to the alpha severed like that, and so suddenly and without warning, was one of the worst things he had ever experienced.

“It was,” Graeme agreed. “The alpha’s name is Ennis. He came from north somewhere, and he’s a tyrant, and that’s putting it lightly. But he was the new alpha, and we didn’t have anyone else. We need an alpha.”

Peter nodded. “Of course you do. And I can’t imagine the Sheriff taking this calmly.”

“Of course not. But John was only human and while he always took his duties as alpha mate very seriously, and always did what was best for the pack, he had Stiles’ safety to think of.”

“What’s Stiles?” Derek asked.

“Stiles, it’s their son. He goes by that, I’m sorry, I should’ve been clearer.”

“He’s the one missing?”

“Yes, but I’m getting to that. John stayed quiet for a couple of days, but when Ennis wouldn’t let any of us contact other packs, John got mad. Ennis wanted him to bring his deputies to him so the entire station could be run by werewolves too, and he wouldn’t let John have Claudia’s body to bury properly and that was the last straw. They kept some wolfsbane in case of emergencies, and John went after Ennis with a gun.”

“That can’t have ended well,” Peter said.

“It didn’t. Ennis killed him too, and then he called a pack meeting demanding us all to submit or he’d… he’d…” Clark choked on her words and Parrish offered her a tissue.

“It all comes down to Stiles,” Graeme continued. “Claudia and John only had one child, and with him being human she couldn’t pass on the spark to him, so she always meant to pass it to whoever Stiles mated with. That was always the plan, and we all love Stiles. He was the first one to be born into the pack after Claudia took over after Satomi.”

“What happened?” Peter leaned forward and Derek could feel the anger coming off of him. Peter did not like it when people hurt children.

“Ennis took Stiles somewhere, to hold him hostage. He said if we didn’t all follow his orders from now on, he’d force a mating with Stiles or even kill him.”

“How old is he?”

“Sixteen.”

Derek flinched. He’d been sixteen once, with an adult wanting far more from him than he’d been prepared to give. And there was nothing about a forced mating that wouldn’t include a rather violent rape.

“Do you know where he is being kept?”

“Ennis moved into the Stilinski’s house after he killed John,” Parrish said. “And we know he has Stiles locked up in there, because we can catch his scent when we pass, but Ennis used his alpha voice on us all to stay away. It’s hard to fight it.”

Derek nodded. Talia rarely had cause to use an alpha command on her pack, but it did happen occasionally and fighting it was like fighting the sun.

“We need help getting rid of him,” said Graeme. “We just need a bit of help.”

“Who in your pack can you count on to help out?” Derek asked.

“We can count on everyone to want to help,” Deputy Clark said. “As for who will be able to… well, Ennis doesn’t want us to meet without him and he keeps tabs on our usual communication and we don’t dare disobey too much, because of Stiles. But a few of us can meet to make a plan and then get word to the others. Claudia would never want any of the kids to help of course.”

Graeme took out a folder from the top desk drawer and checked what looked like a printed schedule of work hours. “Melissa is free. She’ll be home around now too. Her house should be safe. Jordan, will you take them there please, and we’ll try to get as many of the pack as we can without attracting too much attention.”

“Alright.” Deputy Parrish rose and gestured to Derek and Peter. “Follow me.”

Melissa turned out to be a human member of the pack, with a teenaged werewolf for a son. Scott reminded Derek strongly of a little puppy, wide-eyed and inexperienced, and neither he nor his mother had ever heard of the Hale pack.

“Scott is our newest beta,” Jordan explained as they took their seats in Melissa’s comfortable living room. It smelled of all kinds of wolves and humans, and only the current stress coming from mother and son suggested that no one was ever unhappy in this house for long. “He’s known about the pack a little longer than that though, because he’s Stiles’ best friend. Ennis has been horrible to him since he only got the bite a couple of months ago.”

Scott visibly shuddered from his chair by the door. “He keeps threatening to rape Stiles! I’ve tried going by there every day after school, but last time he used his alpha voice on me to stay away.”

“Where you able to catch Stiles’ scent?” Derek asked.

“I could, faintly. He smelled like fear. And dirt. I’m pretty sure he’s kept in the basement.”

“That’s a good thing,” Peter suggested. “If you think about it. It’d be much worse if Stiles was kept in the bedroom.”

Scott shuddered again and Melissa frowned sadly. “Getting Stiles to safety is the most important thing here.”

“This is true,” Peter agreed. “If that’s the only hold Ennis has on the pack. None of you need to follow him. That’s not how werewolf packs work. At any time, a pack can turn their back on an alpha, and that’s it. He’d be powerless if you collectively cut the ties yourselves.”

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation and Scott let in three beta werewolves who introduced themselves as Kincaid, Tracy and Demarco. Kincaid, a tall and well-muscled man, had the distinct air of an alpha’s second, and Derek noticed him taking the only remaining seat on the couch while the other two, a woman in her early thirties with dirt-blonde hair, and a bearded, burly man about Peter’s age, remained standing.

“Alright,” Kincaid said immediately, “So the Hale pack is going to help us get rid of this asshole then?”

“We’re going to try,” Derek said and glanced at Peter.

“We’ll call Talia as soon as we’re done here. She’ll have her strongest betas here in a couple of hours and that should be enough backup. How many of you can do a decent job in a fight if it comes to that?”

“You’re looking at us,” Demarco said, scratching his beard. “We can call in some more if we need numbers, but if we’re talking good fighters only…”

“I see,” Peter mumbled. “We might need more, to keep Ennis from escaping. My sister will not go easy on a man who murders another alpha without provocation and imprisons a child to hold him hostage. Our priority right now should be keeping Ennis from hurting the boy more than he already has.”

“I’ll call the Rohrs and the Talbots,” Scott offered, hopping off of his chair.

“You make sure Brett and the girls all stay home,” Kincaid said fiercely. “I don’t care how much they care about Stiles. They’re not coming.”

“They’re Stiles’ friends,” Scott complained. “What should I tell them?”

“We don’t have a plan yet,” Derek pointed out.

“I think best bet is for my nephew and me to approach Ennis and carry out our original mission. In case he has already sniffed us out, it would be best if we appeared to want exactly what we came here for. We’ll just state our purpose and give Talia time to get here and then have all of you be ready when she arrives, and we’ll not give him any opportunity to come up with a plan. It’ll be quick.”

“And what exactly will the great and powerful Talia Hale do with our pack once she helps us get rid of our cruel alpha?” Tracy asked with an apprehensive look at the two of them. “We have no intention of joining her pack.”

“And you wouldn’t be asked to!” Derek snapped. These people would be damned lucky to be part of the Hale pack.

Peter tapped him lightly on the arm and Derek took a deep breath. “You do pose a relevant question. If we help you get rid of Ennis, who will take his place? I assume the child is still human?”

“He was born that way,” Demarco said.

“Alpha Stilinski must have had a plan though?” Derek asked. “Sheriff Graeme said something about the child’s mate? He doesn’t have one already, does he?”

“Of course not,” Kincaid snorted. “Claudia intended to rely on Stiles’ judgement on that, once he got older. He’d pick the next alpha. ”

“And you would all have been fine with that?” Peter said and everyone in the room nodded.

“He’s Claudia’s son,” Kincaid said simply, as if that explained anything. “We trusted her, and we’ll trust him. He’ll make the right choice.”

“Fascinating,” Peter said. “That’s a lot of faith to have in a teenage boy.”

“Either way,” Derek started, longing to talk this all over with his own alpha. “What about the next alpha? What’s your plan?”

He saw the three wolves in front of him exchange uneasy glances.

“You haven’t made a plan for that?” he asked incredulously.

“We just need Stiles safe, and then we can all turn our back on Ennis, and he won’t have any power over us anymore. It’s stolen power anyway.”

“Surprised he was an alpha when he arrived then,” Peter said. “Did he not bring any betas with him?”

“He’s been calling people,” Scott piped up. “Every time I went by to see if I could smell Stiles, he was on the phone. And it didn’t sound like he was talking to an equal. He was barking orders a lot.”

“So he might have another pack. You haven’t felt any other pack bonds?”

“None,” Kincaid said. “But if he’s the alpha he could conceal them from us, couldn’t he?”

“He could,” Peter said.

“We’re going around in circles here,” Deputy Parrish said, running his fingers over his short hair. “Even if we took a vote on who should be the alpha, there’s no way of guaranteeing that it was that person who killed Ennis. And Ennis already beat our strongest fighters.”

Kincaid flinched and pressed his hand against his ribs, and Derek wondered exactly what Ennis had done to him for it to still hurt weeks later. Sure, an alpha wound hurt much longer than any other wolf’s, but it had been a whole month.

“Excuse me,” Melissa interjected. “But if the alpha spark can be passed on anyway, do we really need to have this conversation now? We don’t know if Stiles needs medical attention, or if he’s starving, and he must be so lonely and scared. I know I’m still new to this stuff, and I'm not a werewolf like you, but surely pack politics can wait?”

Kincaid stood from his seat. “Melissa is right. Our main priority is getting Stiles away from Ennis and we shouldn’t wait any longer than we have to before getting that done. If you call Alpha Hale now, she can be here in a few hours, is that what you said?”

“It only took us two and a half hours to drive here, and even if she’d need to gather some people first, she’d drive faster than we did if she knows there’s a hurry.”

“Let’s carry out our errand then,” Peter suggested. “To buy her some extra time. We’ll head over there as soon as we can, Derek and I.”

“Make sure you get all of our scents off of you first,” Tracy said. “We didn’t even shake hands, but Ennis will be able to recognize Melissa and Scott’s scents on you from being in their house.”

“We’ll find a motel.”

“We can’t come too near the house,” Kincaid said. “So we can’t give you much backup. Some of our pack weren’t given an order that recently though. Scott?”

“Mr. and Mrs. Talbot, Mr. Rohr and Boyd?”

“Sounds good. Jordan?”

“I can stay close by to drive Stiles to the hospital, but I can’t come into the house. Not Tara or Valerie either.”

“Maybe you can try to come within hearing range,” Derek suggested. “In case you’re able to break the pack bonds yourselves. It's easier in a crisis.”

“I’ll show you a good motel,” Jordan said. “One that won’t smell like any of our pack.”

They all stood, and Derek nodded to the wolves and Melissa, and tried to imagine what a proper pack second would say. “We’ll do everything we can to help Stiles. I promise.”

His words didn’t seem to bring them all that much comfort.

Chapter Text

Stiles Stilinski was so done with tears. He had cried; of course he had cried. He was sixteen and had lost both his parents in brutal ways and in the span of only a few days, and their murderer was walking around upstairs in their home, eating their food and probably sleeping in their bed. Stiles was going to kill him, at least twice, and to do that, he couldn’t be crying.

Ennis was obviously a bit of an idiot. Only an idiot would throw Stiles Stilinski into his own basement without checking it properly first. It contained what could only be called a small arsenal of various things Stiles could use against him. Some were things that actually could harm a werewolf, like a few kinds of wolfsbane – securely stored of course – that his mom had occasionally used against trespassers of their territory when all other avenues had been explored, as well as teaching the pack how to identify them. That particular solution had not worked well against Ennis; Stiles didn’t have access to any of his dad’s guns. The shells were down here with him, but the guns themselves were in the gun safe in the study, and in the end, Stiles had resorted to powdering the wolfsbane up as well as he could and throwing it in Ennis’ face. The slash from the man’s claws had eventually stopped bleeding, and Stiles hadn’t tried it again.

Then there had been the aconite, a less poisonous type of wolfsbane. It had taken Ennis a few days to eat everything in the fridge and freezer upstairs and then come downstairs to see if there was more food. Which there was. An entire second freezer worth of food in fact, mostly filled with game and other meats, but Stiles had known that no one would ever be able to resist the look of his mom’s homemade cinnamon rolls, even in their frozen state. He’d thawed one bag enough to inject every single one of those rolls with enough aconite to put an alpha to sleep. That was the only reason Stiles hadn’t made his many circles of mountain ash include the freezer. A clever man would’ve been suspicious.

Ennis had slept for an entire day after that, but not before acting drunk out of his mind and Stiles was not looking forward to seeing what he’d done with their living room if the loud crashes coming from the living room upstairs were anything to go by. That was the last time Stiles had managed to hear the voices of Jordan and Tara. He hadn’t been able to call out to them. Pack members didn’t need to be wolves to have to obey an alpha command, and “be quiet!” was yelled at him at least twice a day in here. Ennis was an idiot of course, so he had soon forgotten that while his first alpha command of “stay down here!” had been obeyed, several weeks had passed – or maybe it was longer? Stiles couldn’t be entirely certain how long it was, and he was starting to feel certain that he could leave at any point now, as long as he could make it outside. At least he’d been able to make a lock pick. But it wouldn’t be of any use, would it, to run out of the basement and right into Ennis in the kitchen?

Things were starting to become rather urgent. There wasn’t that much left in that freezer that Stiles could eat now, definitely not without cooking it first, and those first bags of Doritos Ennis had thrown at him when he complained were long gone now.

The basement didn’t have any windows, and there was only one door out. Stiles’ best bet, he’d come to realize, was tricking Ennis into some sort of trap that would keep him in the basement with the door open long enough for Stiles to make a run for it. He took quick stock of what he had available to help him with that. There was plenty of rope, more mountain ash, a couple of bricks, and some knives and tools. By the washing machine was the tap that wouldn’t turn off properly – Stiles’ ability to tune out the sound of the dripping water hitting the metal bucket he’d been using to wash himself was running out faster than the batteries of his only flashlight. Water probably wouldn’t help – unless he could wet the mountain ash somehow? He was unsure of what that would do, or what damage clumps of mountain ash would do if he threw them at Ennis? He filed the idea away in his mind for later and continued his inventory.

The knives wouldn’t be useful against Ennis; Stiles doubted that he would have enough strength to push one far enough into the man’s flesh to cause any damage that wouldn’t take Ennis less than a minute to heal up.

The mountain ash might be used to create a trap. Dr Deaton always said using it was more a matter of belief than precise placement anyway. Belief was kind of the same as determination, wasn’t it? Stiles had plenty of the latter.

He grabbed his pillow – not his pillow, that was upstairs, and Ennis wouldn’t give it to him no matter how much Stiles begged and argued – and took off the pillow case. It might work as a bag. The mountain ash was kept in paper containers that once had held tea, and Stiles poured a bunch into the pillow case instead. He listened carefully for any signs of Ennis upstairs – or those betas he didn’t know and who Ennis kept yelling into the phone about keeping an eye on the pack – but if he had judged the time correctly, it was late afternoon, or maybe early evening, and Ennis would be either eating or sleeping off his meal, and he couldn’t hear anyone talking.

He snuck cautiously over to the rope and bricks stored by one of the walls of the basement and looked carefully at the beams of the ceiling. As quietly as he could, he threw the rope over one of them, and then looped it through another, standing on the camping bed so he could reach, and then another, until the rope ran from Stiles’ sanctuary all the way to the stairs. There, he tied the bag to one end of the rope after putting two bricks into it, so it’d make some kind of impact. A sound from upstairs made him freeze. It was Ennis voice, and he sounded angry – well, angrier than usual; he was a hotheaded man and his temper scared Stiles more than any coherently made threats ever could. He was just the type of person who’d kill Stiles in a fit of rage. And Stiles was just the type of person who’d accidentally provoke him to it. He hurried back to the ash circle, grabbed the other end of the rope and pulled on it, far enough to make the bag well-hidden among the ceiling beams. It was dark in the gloomy basement, and the pillow case had been brown.

The door to the basement opened and Ennis’ wide shoulders would only let in a sliver of light through the door frame.

“Hey! You listen to me, you little punk!”

“I can’t hear you from all over there. You haven’t fed me in days. And you haven’t given me my meds! I can’t focus on anything! Do you want me to die in here, seriously?”

Ennis took a couple of steps down the stairs, but Stiles needed him much, much closer than that. He made a stark silhouette against the bright light from the kitchen and it hurt Stiles’ eyes to look in that direction. He might be able to identify Ennis just by smell though – that man never seemed to clean himself properly.

“Someone is coming over here. And I don’t want you to get any ideas. So you be completely quiet. Don’t say anything, don’t bang on anything to draw attention to yourself. You sit still and do nothing.”

It was strangely specific for Ennis, Stiles thought. He was lazy and dumb, and he would often make commands so general that it wasn’t that hard for Stiles to do whatever he wanted within the confines of his prison. This one he would have to obey. He couldn’t even nod. Ennis had said to sit still. His hand clasped hard around the rope end, glad that he’d thought to hide it behind him. If his trap sprung too early and Ennis wasn’t in it, he’d never be able to do it again.

Ennis chuckled to himself. “That’s much better. You fucking brat. Can’t believe I might have to fuck you to get something out of this mess.”

There was a vicious glint in Ennis eyes when Stiles’s widened and only the beta command kept Stiles from crawling further away from the ash line. Ennis was just the type of man who’d get turned on by fear and pain.

Ennis spat towards the lines of ash. “This little trick of yours won’t last, you know. Once I’ve dealt with these damn meddlers, a couple of friends of mine are coming by. My friend has a nice little pet, that’s going to slither right over this line and ruin it, and then you’re mine. I don’t know why I didn’t just kill you from the start.”

“Because then you’d never get my pack,” Stiles thought but was compelled to remain quiet. Some commands lasted longer than others. He’d probably be able to move in an hour, or less. And the next time Ennis came down here, Stiles would show him who he was messing with. No one locked up the son of Claudia and John Stilinski and got away with it.

Jordan Parrish once again led the way through Beacon Hills, but when they reached a single-story motel with a barely functioning sign, they simply exchanged phone numbers and then he left.

“What do you suppose that one is?” Derek asked Peter as they got into a cramped room with two queen sized beds and very little else.

“Not sure,” Peter said with a frown. “And frankly, it seemed rude to ask. I had no idea the Stilinski pack had creatures other than werewolves in it, though.”

He opened the folder from before and scribbled something on a piece of paper.

A beep from Derek’s phone let him know he’d been added to a message group of seven names. “Let us know when you go over there” was the only message sent, along with an address that Derek plugged into his map app.

“Call our alpha while I shower,” Peter said. “If Ennis really has other betas hidden around town, we need to hurry and so does she. That boy could be in real danger otherwise.”

It was with great relief that Derek dialed his mother’s number. She answered on the second ring.

“Derek?”

“Mom,” he sighed into his phone. “Things are bad.”

“Tell me everything.”

“Alpha Stilinski was murdered. Her husband was murdered. Her son is locked up and threatened to keep the pack under control. They want to get rid of the new alpha, but he has a tight grip on them. We need you.” I need you.

“Who is the new alpha then?”

“His name is Ennis.”

Talia cursed. “I’ve heard of him. He’s not from nearby, but he was trying to take over packs in Mexico a few years ago.”

“Why?”

“To expand his own. Or to kill them. Supposedly it makes an alpha stronger.”

Derek shuddered. “Is that true?”

“I might be. I certainly don’t know anyone who has tried it.”

“But Ennis hasn’t tried to kill anyone here,” Derek said. “Other than the alpha pair. He’s threatened to kill or rape the kid, but he hasn’t killed off this pack.”

“I imagine their pack bonds aren’t strong enough then, not that soon. But we do need to deal with him. This can’t be allowed to continue. Who knows who he would target next?”

“We think he might have a few of his betas from other packs with him, but no one has seen them. So it’s fair to assume Ennis will know we’re in town soon. We’ve made plans to go to him and just introduce ourselves.”

“Derek, sweetie…” Talia said, “you know you’re not a skilled fighter. Be careful.”

“I know. But I won’t be alone, and if we can keep him busy long enough, that’ll give you time to get here, won’t it?”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Derek could hear her talking to someone else and felt calmer immediately. She was moving into action. She’d be here soon. She’d take care of it. His alpha was on her way. All he had to do was manage a little longer. His heart calmed down.

“Thank you, mom.”

“I had no idea this would turn into something risky, Derek. I wouldn’t have sent you if I’d known. This was supposed be something easy, something you could handle, not dangerous.”

“I know. It’s okay. You’ll be here soon.”

“I need to get my betas in order,” she said. “I’ll send you a text when we approach town. Send me the address to a rendezvous point then, alright?”

“I will. See you soon.”

He ended the call right as Peter came out of the shower, all scents of strange wolves gone.

“She on her way?”

“Yes.”

“Shower’s all yours.”

Derek scrubbed his skin as well as he could in the shower, opting for a scented soap in case it would help. He hated those, having grown up with his family and pack’s scents all over him and around him, and it never sat right with him to cover it up. Satisfied that Ennis would have to really try if he wanted to sniff out his own pack members, Derek dried himself off and went back out. Peter lounged on one of the queen beds, still flipping through the folder and making notes, occasionally tapping on his phone.

“Bringing down an alpha won’t be easy,” Peter said as Derek got dressed. “I’m not even sure it’s something we should be doing.”

Derek stared at him. “A murderer? And a kidnapper?”

“Yes, of course. He’s all those things. But we don’t make a habit out of ridding other packs of their alphas for a good reason. It’s interference. If any of them had enough strength and power to take out their alpha and take his place though… that’s the proper order of things.”

“Mom said we need to deal with him, so he won’t get any ideas about nearby packs. Apparently he has done this before.”

“Always so loyal to your mother,” Peter said with an indulgent smile.

“She’s my alpha. And yours.”

“No need to remind me. We’ll do what my dear sister wants, of course. And I would like to see anyone who dares threaten a child in this way dead and buried. That’s not how a civilized alpha controls his pack.”

“Let’s hope the kid is still alive when we get there.”

“Will you need me to do the talking?” Peter asked, bringing himself up to sitting position with a graceful roll, and Derek paused. Perhaps he should let Peter run point? But he could picture his mother’s proud and happy face if he, Derek, had handled this by himself. He could practically hear her praise already, like how she so often praised Laura, and this was a job typically assigned to the alpha’s second. It was a test, to see how he’d do, once Laura was alpha, he knew that. He couldn’t screw this up.

“I can manage. Jump in if you think I need you to, though.”

“And you’ve got your heartbeat under control? He’s an alpha, he’ll be able to lie much better than we can.”

“I can do this.”

Peter patted his shoulder and ran it down his back to scent him.

“What are we waiting for then?”

It was a surprise, but maybe not that much of a surprise, Derek thought, to see Scott hanging out at the corner of Stilinski’s street.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Peter said when they approached. “You’re a child. A brave child, but a child nonetheless, and your pack will be furious with you when they learn you’ve snuck over here.”

“I’m here for Stiles,” Scott said, and straightened his back. He still looked like a little kid. “He’s my best friend, my brother, and if it weren’t for him, I’d still be a weak human who could barely breathe half the time. Besides, you might need someone who can run in and free him if things go wrong.”

“Things won’t go wrong,” Derek said with conviction. “We’ll go introduce ourselves to Ennis, pretend to believe his version of events, and then our pack will be here to help soon. That’s all.”

“My pack doesn’t trust you,” Scott said with a glare.

“Are they here?”

“Some. As many as could fight the alpha orders. They’re all spread out, but they’ll be ready. More will be coming if they can.”

Derek checked his phone. Five wolves, Deputy Parrish had said. That wasn’t a whole lot, and there was no telling how good they’d be in a fight. Derek himself was physically strong and tall, and he could use that to his advantage in a fight, but Talia Hale didn’t raise child soldiers.

Children in the Hale pack learnt how to fight off an attack without using their claws or teeth, so as not to harm any humans if they were ever robbed or assaulted, but no one was taught to actually cause harm until they were adults. Real adults, graduated from college, not fake adults like Derek. Derek knew that in a fight he wouldn’t be much use, and he wished he’d been better prepared for things like this. He glanced at Peter. Peter knew how to fight and could be really vicious if it came down to it; he was always cunning and clever when dealing with an enemy. And maybe, Derek thought, Peter might take this opportunity to gain a pack for himself, as loyal as he had always been to his sister.

“You’re sixteen,” Derek told the kid. “I know you’re brave, Scott, and you want to help your friend and packmate, trust me, I understand that, but this is not a fight for you. Stay back and stay on your phone to whoever isn’t here. Keep them updated. And if you smell Ennis coming in your direction, you run as fast as you can away from here.”

Scott nodded, but Derek didn’t believe for one second that he wouldn’t try to come closer to the house. For now though, Scott slunk back into the shadows and Derek and Peter continued down the street. The streetlights were all out and the street looked deserted, with no lights on in any of the houses, no cars in driveways, and they continued on until the right house.

It was a modest house they reached, much smaller than Derek had expected for an alpha, even for a poor pack, but you could tell a lot about house from its roof; this house was taken care of. Or had been. There was plenty of damage now, but it all looked recent, claw marks on the door, cardboard over the windows, and garden plants uprooted from the ground and strewn about. There was a beat up old blue jeep parked in the driveway that someone seemed to have attacked with a tire iron and a baseball bat, and a shiny black SUV parked beside it.

There was very little time to notice much else, his attention drawn entirely to the veritable giant standing on the front porch with a snarling beta on each side of him.

Peter gave Derek a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but didn’t say anything.

“Ah,” Derek said and gave the giant what he hoped was a gracious smile. “You must be the new alpha of Beacon Hills.”

The giant nodded once and gave them both a hard glare. “I’m Ennis. You the son of the Hale bitch?”

Derek shifted immediately and growled. “I am Derek Hale. Alpha Talia Hale has sent us.”

Ennis shifted too, and the giant turned into a troll in his beta shift. “What happens with my pack does not concern Talia Hale. You have no right to meddle with this.”

“The murder of an alpha concerns everyone. Murder of entire packs do too. Do you deny it?”

Peter coughed next to him and Derek managed not to bite his own tongue off. That hadn’t been the plan at all.

Ennis laughed. “I have no reason to deny it. You think I don’t already know you’ve been running around town talking to my betas? I’m sure they had much to complain about, the weak, spineless…”

Peter tapped Derek lightly on the shoulder and nodded slightly towards the street.

“We only came to meet the new alpha,” Derek said, trying to keep himself calm and fighting the urge to run away, even though he knew he’d already messed this up. “We meant no offence. My alpha was curious about why she hadn’t been invited to the funeral of Alpha Stilinski. That’s all. If you wish to send her a message, you can do so through us, but if you don’t intend to show us any hospitality there’s no reason for us to stay, and we’ll leave town.”

“I have nothing to say to her!” Ennis spat. “And I know she’s on her way! This is my town now, you think I don’t know what’s going on in it?”

The betas on his side looked proud of themselves and Derek sniffed the air. There was some sort of magic going on. They had no scent. They could’ve been following him and Peter all afternoon, listening outside windows, and they wouldn’t have noticed.

“I’m not letting anyone take this pack away from me!” Ennis roared and Derek felt Peter tense up and shift next to him. So much for buying time for Talia. A series of growls came from all directions now, and for a terrifying moment Derek thought they’d been surrounded, but he recognized Kincaid among the wolves who were fast approaching, moving as one, closing in on the house. There were far more than five. In fact, there were more than ten. Some were further back than others, but it seemed to Derek as if the entire Stilinski pack had shown up, alpha command or not. They moved fast, but none so fast as the young wolf who suddenly darted past Derek, right up to Ennis, his claws extended to deliver a hard slash against Ennis’ mouth.

Ennis had been right in the process of yelling out a command the other wolves wouldn’t be able to fight, but Scott had sliced his tongue and lips open, and he was bleeding from the mouth. This didn’t keep him from roaring and with a hard but effortless grip on Scott’s neck, he slammed the boy onto the ground, banging his head twice, before throwing him into the wall of the house.

Peter roared at that and rushed forward, his claws ready to go for one of the betas, and Derek directed his attention to the other one. The Stilinski pack seemed somewhat uncoordinated now that the fighting had started, and Derek would bet anything that they weren’t more experienced fighters than he was himself. If there were more of Ennis’ betas around town, they’d all be in trouble. But no more showed up, and soon enough, the Stilinski pack had spread into three groups, one each for Ennis and his two betas, and everything became a blur of limbs, fur, teeth and claws and fire. Fire?

Jordan Parrish was on fire and fighting Ennis who was groaning with pain from every burn as he punched the young deputy, but Parrish wasn’t managing to get much damage in himself. Peter’s beta got loose and sliced at Parrish’s thigh and he went down with a yelp. Hellhound, Derek thought in passing, but there was no time to fully react to that news. The beta made a move as if to jump on Parrish’s head, but two wolves jumped him at once, going straight for his throat. In the confusion, Derek received a painful headbutt from the beta he was fighting, and he stumbled backwards into several wolves who were now attacking Ennis. He delivered a hard kick to the beta’s stomach which sent him flying back towards three other wolves – and a woman holding a shot gun? Derek was getting dizzy and he could hear several shouts and groans from the Stilinski pack, he could smell the scent of blood that wasn’t his or Peter’s and suddenly there was a snout and sharp teeth right by Derek’s throat and he acted on pure instinct. His claws reached for the throat of the werewolf in front of him, his inner wolf egging him on with words of Kill! Kill! Kill! Defend! Kill! and he had just enough time to register that this was Ennis and not one of his betas or someone from the Stilinski pack before his claws tore out the man’s esophagus.

Many things happened at once and Derek could barely notice half of them. The first was the intense pain and confusion in his lower back as all of his old pack bonds broke at once. The second thing was the even worse pain as Ennis’ claws slashed against his chest, leaving deep, wide marks on his skin as the man went down. The third was how all the noise suddenly stopped around him until the only thing he could hear was the wheezing sounds of Ennis the Giant’s last breaths and his own pounding heartbeat.

And then came the sound of Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf. It was Peter’s ringtone for Talia, and his uncle answered it. Derek could hear his mother’s panicked voice, but he couldn’t focus on it. He stared at the piece of Ennis’ blood-soaked fleshy tube still in Derek’s hand and then looked at Ennis. And back at the esophagus.

“No, no, calm down,” Peter said right next to him, his hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Derek is alive. He… Talia, he killed the alpha.”

Derek fell to his knees.

Chapter Text

Stiles had heard Ennis’ betas arrive. He’d heard them all yell at each other, but no one came down with a snake to destroy the lines of mountain ash that were keeping him safe. Typical really, that a man like Ennis wouldn’t know a single person who wasn’t a werewolf who would come and help him out with that line, it had been weeks by now.

Their house had decent soundproofing, but he couldn’t have missed the racket of fighting outside and his heart sank. He’d seen how badly injured Kincaid and Tracy had been after Ennis had killed his mother, and they were the best fighters in the pack. As much as he wanted to get out of the basement, he’d never wanted his pack to put themselves in danger for his sake – what would his mother think if she knew?

It was impossible to keep track of what was happening outside. It was also impossible to miss the bonds to the alpha snapping. It was the second time in only a fairly short time, but it hurt. It hurt so much that Stiles had wondered if maybe humans weren’t actually supposed to be part of packs that way, that maybe the pain was only suitable for wolves. But as soon as the bond snapped, he’d been able to move, and there was a part of him – a childish part, he could admit – that wanted to run to the door, bang on it until his pack heard him so they could let him out and hold him close and he could cry his heart out over how horrible everything was. Yes, he could imagine warm arms encircling him already, keeping him safe and promising they’d never let him go. But he paused, keeping his grip on the rope to the trap, staying still in the darkness of the basement. Maybe it wasn’t his pack out there? Maybe it was another alpha, an even worse one, who’d do more than make threats. Or maybe it was his pack, but it wasn’t one of them who’d killed Ennis? Maybe it was one of his betas, or one of those friends Ennis had mentioned? Maybe it was a trick to get him out of the ash circle?

So he stayed, and he stayed still and quiet. He would take no chances. It was quiet upstairs, and it didn’t sound like his pack coming to save him, celebrating their victory. The door to the basement flew open and someone ran down the stairs. Stiles couldn’t see who it was in the dark, but they were tall and looked male and Stiles waited until they had reached the bottom step before letting go of the rope.

He had timed it perfectly. The pillow case bag hit the werewolf on the shoulder a couple of steps later, and he yelped and attacked it with his claws, releasing the mountain ash. Stiles believed as hard as he could, the ash landed in an uneven ring around the werewolf, and Stiles ran. He ran as fast as he could, past the werewolf, not even bothering to look, and bolted up the stairs. At the kitchen door he ran right into a strong chest and someone – a stranger – grabbed hold of him.

“Let me go! Let me go!” Stiles screamed at the top of his lungs – or he tried to, but he hadn’t eaten in two days, and he was so, so tired. He stared into the face of the person who held him, seeing a man in his late thirties or early forties with brown hair, a neat beard and blue killer eyes.

“Calm down, Stiles,” the man said, and Stiles panicked when a hand started stroking his back. Oh hell no! He hadn’t survived Ennis to end up with another murderer who wanted to fondle him, and he brought his knee up into the man’s groin. As he’d expected, the man let go of him and Stiles continued to the front door. He only needed to make it to his car, and then he’d be out of here faster than they could follow.

At the door he stopped in his tracks to look at the scene in front of him. His pack was there, but lying on the ground, hardly anyone without wounds. Melissa and Dr Geyer were tending to the worst of it, but there were only two of them, and Mrs. Rohr stood there awkwardly saying, as she always did, that she wish she knew how to do more, but Stiles could see her hands gripping the shot gun. She hadn’t stayed at home. He’d thank her later.

Ennis was dead, his gigantic body unmoving on the ground with blood still coming out of a gaping hole where his throat should be. Next to him, a young man Stiles didn’t recognize was kneeling, holding on to something bloody and fleshy that Stiles didn’t want to think about too much. Two betas Stiles didn’t recognize either were dead next to Ennis.

“Stiles!” someone coughed next to him, and a hand reached out to touch his leg.

“Scott!” Stiles knelt by his friend, who was lying next to the wall, his other hand against a bleeding head wound. Two months ago, the smell would’ve made Stiles queasy. Now, it served as a reminder of what he owed to his pack.

“You’re okay!” Scott sobbed. “We were so worried about you, Stiles! We tried to get to you, I promise we did, I tried to make Ennis let you go, but he wouldn’t listen, and he kept ordering me away and–”

“It’s okay,” Stiles said and stroked his hair fondly. “You’ll heal in a little bit. I told you about the fast healing when mom bit you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t say it still hurt like hell.”

“What were you even doing here? We leave the fighting to the adults, dude. My mom would be so pissed at you!”

“Couldn’t keep him away,” said a voice from the doorway and Stiles looked up to see the man he’d just kneed in the groin. “Smart kid, too. He took care of Ennis’ voice, so he wouldn’t give any orders before anyone else thought that far.”

Stiles moved further away from the door. “Who are you?”

“He’s a Hale,” Scott said weakly, but the bleeding had stopped, and he was trying to sit up. “They came to help.”

“So they sent two people?”

Hale raised an eyebrow at that. “You’re not very grateful, are you? By the way, that was your pack mate you trapped in the basement. You might want to go and let him out. He could use some bandages too, but there was no telling him that. He just rushed in to get you, leaking blood everywhere. Gross.”

“Why were you trying to grab me like that?!” Stiles spat, but he did get up and went back inside the house.

“I was going to help you out of there. You’re forgiven for kicking me in the balls by the way.”

“I didn’t kick. I used my knee.”

The man chuckled. “You’re a charming young man, aren’t you?”

Stiles paused at the basement door. His heart pounded in his ears, and he had to take a calming breath before going back down. This was not the time for falling part, not with strange wolves around. He hadn’t taken stock of who he’d seen outside, but he knew he should’ve expected Kincaid to be the first to come save him.

“Sorry,” Stiles mumbled and broke the ash circle. “I didn’t know it was you.”

Kincaid grabbed him immediately and pulled him into a hug. “Are you okay?”

“Starving and in need a shower. And a warm bed. He only hurt me a little, and it’s mostly healed by now. You’re bleeding though. Why are you still bleeding?”

“Alphas cause a lot of damage,” Kincaid whispered in Stiles’ ear. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll heal in time. Plenty of worse injuries than mine, believe me. And we have bigger things to be concerned about.”

Stiles felt suddenly completely exhausted. “Like what?”

“Like our new alpha.”

They were all gone. His mother, his sisters. His uncle. His aunts, all his cousins. All his packmates. His friends. Derek had never lived a day in his life without the familiar sense of pack bonds connecting him to everyone he had ever loved.

And they were all gone. Emptiness slammed into his body like a whale in a frog pond, and he stared ahead, unseeing anything but the spots dancing in front of his eyes. He’d never been this alone. He might as well lie down and die.

But then, there was something else there. Something new, and tentative. A spark.

A firm hand landed on his shoulder, and someone leaned down next to him. It wasn’t Peter. It was a young man around Derek’s own age, with dark skin and bright, intelligent eyes. Derek’s brow furrowed from pain as a gash on the man’s outstretched arm healed by the second.

“Alpha?” he said gently, and Derek flinched at the word.

“Alpha, we need you. We’re all wounded.”

Derek shook out of his stupor. The pack was in pain. He took the offered hand, and the other man pulled him up. Derek finally let go of Ennis’ esophagus and it fell to the ground. He could help with pain. Yes, that was something he could do. He didn’t know what else he could do, or should do, but he could do that.

“Who needs me first?”

“This way,” the man said, and led him to where Melissa and another human were tending to a werewolf who was still on the ground. The other human offered his hand to Derek. “I’m Dr Geyer,” he said. “My wife and stepson are both betas in Claudia’s pack. This is Orric Rohr.”

Derek shook his hand. “Derek Hale. How bad is it?”

“He’ll live,” Melissa said. “We’ve dressed the wound, but it’ll take some time to heal. You can help him with the pain. And when that’s done, we have four others who need help healing.”

“The rest?” Derek asked even as he sat down next to Orric Rohr and put his hand carefully against the wound.

“They’re already healing,” said Dr Geyer. He wiped his forehead with a cloth and straightened his glasses. “They’re all ready to take the pain from their pack mates, but we need the alpha first.”

Derek was about to object that he didn’t know what he was doing, that he had no idea what an alpha did to make their pack heal faster, but he could tell his hand was already doing something different than what he was used to when stealing someone’s pain. Rohr’s eyes opened and fixed on Derek’s face. “You look terrible,” he said, and then closed them again.

“Sorry about that” said the young man who still hadn’t left Derek’s side. “He’ll make a better first impression when he’s more lucid.”

“What’s your name?” Derek asked.

“Vernon Boyd. Don’t call me Vernon though. It’s just Boyd.”

“Alright. Then don’t call me Alpha. My name’s Derek.”

“Derek. Got it.”

There was a tingling feeling in Derek’s lower back, that told him Orric’s wounds had started to close up, but he had no idea how exactly he knew that.

Melissa and Dr Geyer had moved inside the alpha’s house and some of the other pack members were busy moving their pack mates in there too, but a few people were gathered around a woman and Derek went there next.

“Here comes the new alpha, dear,” a man next to her whispered, holding her hand tightly and stroking her hair.

“Your wife?” Derek asked as he sat down and took her other hand.

The man nodded. “I’m William Talbot, this is Mary. That fucker Ennis almost ripped her arm off.”

Derek put his hand on her shoulder and started taking her pain. It was a strange sensation. Whenever he had done so for someone else before, it had always hurt afterwards, and he and his sisters would often take turns when they were called on to help someone out, but it barely affected him this time. He could feel his own arm going numb for a few seconds, but that tingling feeling at the back of his spine started again, and she opened her pale blue eyes to smile at him. “Thank you, Alpha.”

He tried to force a smile back. It came out a grimace. Melissa and Boyd, bless them, had given him something to do, and he moved onto the other three people who had been severely injured by Ennis. The eyes of the rest of the pack were burning his skin and he did his best to avoid their glances of equal amounts curiosity and caution.

Derek followed when they all started making their way inside and walked right into a human kid who smelled of pack, dirt, and dried blood, standing resolutely by the door, with his feet planted firmly on the porch, his arms crossed and his face in a scowl. He was a skinny kid, not as tall as Derek but definitely not short for that age, with a buzz cut that made him look like a twelve-year-old, and brown eyes fixed on Derek in an angry glare. Derek took a quick step back and couldn’t remember ever having someone look at him that disapprovingly before in his life.

“Stiles?” he asked, because it didn’t seem likely to be anyone else.

“Derek Hale? Is that your name?”

“It is. Are you okay?”

“I’ll live. You killed Ennis.”

“I did.”

“Thanks. You can stay in the guest room if you want. Alpha.”

Stiles turned his back on him and went to sit down on the couch, between Kincaid and Scott, who both put an arm around his shoulders. He was keeping his eyes on his pack, avoiding looking at the room itself.

It must’ve been a nice room at one point, Derek thought, but it had been ransacked and destroyed. Claw marks were everywhere, things from the shelves had been thrown to the floor and broken. This would take some time to clean up. Clean up the den, Derek’s wolf provided helpfully, making its own to do list, but Derek ignored it. That could come later.

Peter was seated on a chair brought in from the kitchen, and all other seats had been reserved for those who were still injured, which left Derek standing awkwardly by the door, with everyone looking at him, expectantly.

A memory flashed in his brain, of reading a report at school, standing at the front of the room, with everyone staring, and wishing he could disappear, fumbling words that were clear in his head only a minute before, and getting everything out in the wrong order and repeating himself.

“Those betas didn’t have a scent,” he started, hoping it was the right end of it all to start with. “Anyone know why?”

No one said anything.

“How can we find out?” Derek tried, and this time Boyd took out his phone.

“I’ve tried Deaton, but he still isn’t answering.”

“Deaton?”

“Mom’s emissary,” Stiles said. “He leaves town now and then, and we can’t get a hold of him. What about your emissary? I mean, your pack’s emissary, your old pack, your mother’s pack?”

“Talia should be here any minute,” Peter said. “I just texted her the address.”

“Great, more Hales,” someone muttered, but Derek didn’t know their name. He hardly knew any names; his senses were still trying to catalogue their scents. Names felt like another important starting point, but they needed to know if Ennis had other betas in town, or out of town, and that also felt like an important place to start. How was he supposed to know which was of higher importance?

“Alright then,” Derek said. His mother would know what to do. She’d solve this. All he’d have to do was try to keep the pack together until then.

Stiles let the weight of Kincaid’s heavy arm over his shoulder ground him, remind him that he was actually here, that he was safe, and that he wasn’t going to open his eyes in two seconds and find himself still in that basement. Scott’s arm felt lighter, and Stiles leaned into him and got a squeeze in response. His pack was here, all around him. They needed him strong, like his mother had been. She’d been the best alpha.

He gave this new one another glare. He was young. Handsome, definitely. Could probably get a part time job as a model if he wanted to, with chiseled features and styled hair. Strong, you’d have to be in order to tear out someone’s esophagus. Some packs might think some of those things made for a good alpha. But his face seemed stuck in a permanent scowl, his eyebrows drawn together in a way that would give Stiles a headache, and he was about as chatty as Link from The Legend of Zelda. And Stiles was less than impressed with what Derek Hale was actually saying.

“Could someone handle the funeral?” the alpha was saying now. Stiles’ mother might have asked for a volunteer, stressed how important it was, and there’d be a number of people offering to do it.

But Claudia’s pack looked at Stiles.

“Where are they?” Stiles asked of the room, suddenly realizing he didn’t know.

“They?” Melissa repeated.

“My parents? Where are their bodies?”

“I can smell them in the backyard,” Kincaid said, his lips tight and his face tense. Kincaid had loved Stiles’ mother very much. It was what made him such a loyal second and Stiles wondered if he’d become Alpha Derek’s second now. With the angry look Kincaid threw their new alpha, Stiles doubted it.

“I can sort out the funeral,” Valerie offered, smiling at Stiles.

“Thank you,” he said, and tried smiling back, but failed.

“Yes, thank you,” said Derek quickly. “Alpha Stilinski must be shown all proper respects, and her mate too, of course.”

“What about Ennis?” Stiles asked, looking at Derek now.

Derek shrugged. “I don’t care. Does anyone care?”

Stiles liked him a little better now.

“We should try to figure out who those betas were,” Peter Hale said from the chair he had rudely claimed, but Stiles agreed it was a good idea.

“We should probably move them,” Derek suggested. “In case of neighbors.”

“No one’s home,” Stiles said with firmly held conviction. “We have emergency protocols in place. You did activate them, didn’t you?”

He looked, with less confidence, at Kincaid, who nodded.

“What sort or protocols?” Peter asked, leaning forward.

“Our emissary put some things in place to cut power and electrics,” Jordan said. “In case we ever needed to isolate our alpha’s house for some reason. The neighbors are all human, and we didn’t want them to run into Ennis and get hurt. They’ve all vacated the street, and every attempt to fix the problem has failed. We can turn everything on now though.”

“Interesting solution,” Peter said. “Are the missing person’s posters part of these protocols?”

“Missing person?” Stiles repeated and looked quickly around the room. The other kids weren’t here – had Ennis done anything to any of them? If so, Stiles would personally resurrect him from the dead just so he could kill him at least three more times and –

“You,” Scott said next to him. “People were asking questions after your parents died so suddenly. We had to make something up to keep social services away from this house. So you’re officially a missing person, believed to have run away. But now you can come home.”

Stiles took one look around the room. It was home, and beneath all the destruction, he could still recognize it as such. But home was people, not a place and this place didn’t have the two people who would make it a home anymore.

Melissa sat down in front of him and took his hand. “We’ll all look after you,” she said kindly. “I promise. Okay?”

Stiles nodded, ignoring Derek who had started saying something about finding solutions, and repairs, and being sorry, and his mother had been so lovely.

All the wolves in the room tensed up suddenly and not long after, Stiles could hear the sound of cars coming down the street and stopping outside his house. Peter and Derek both calmed down as they sniffed the air, but Kincaid brought his arm around Stiles’ waist to pull him a bit closer. Stiles didn’t mind. There were few places safer for him in the entire world than next to his mother’s second.

Derek went outside, his feet moving quickly across the porch, and through the open door Stiles could see him embraced by an older woman who looked enough like him to make her most definitely Talia Hale, Derek’s mother. Derek’s shoulders shook against her, and he had his face buried in her neck. A sudden stab of pain hit Stiles in the chest, and he stood. “I’m going outside for air,” he said and walked, his back straight as a steel rod, through the kitchen, ignoring the mess and the basement door, and out into the backyard.

With how the insides had looked, he hadn’t expected Ennis to leave it alone, but the destruction was total. There was not a bush or flower that hadn’t been pulled out with the roots and stamped on, and the herb garden Stiles tended to as part of his chores was destroyed. Ennis seemed to have been determined to ruin every trace of happy and clean family life that had once belonged to Claudia.

But in the middle of the garden a tarp barely covered a pile of something that hadn’t been there before, and Stiles’ breath caught in his throat. Everything else was just… stuff. It was his stuff, his and his parents’, but in the end, all that didn’t matter. Here, not even buried, but dumped in the dirt as if it was trash, lay what Ennis had truly stolen from him, and there was nothing Stiles wanted more than to go and lie down there too, and come as close as he could to their bodies and will them back alive, and pretend they could hold him again and make things right. He’d been the alpha’s son all his life. Being the human son of the alpha wasn’t quite like being the alpha heir, but it was still an important job. What was he now? Another pack orphan, a burden on the pack, that was his world now. Future alpha’s mate, his mother had always said, when he met someone and fell in love. She’d always said Stiles would love the right person, and then that person would become alpha. But that wasn’t yet; that might be far into the future. She had said that.

He approached the tarp, slowly, and grabbed the edge of it, but he couldn’t bring himself to lift it up. His hands shook and he tried and failed to force them to be still. There was no time or space for his grief right now, there was a pack to take care of.

“I wouldn’t look if I were you,” a voice said behind him, and Stiles spun around to see Dr Deaton standing at the corner of the house, looking at him sadly.

“Where the hell have you been?!” Stiles yelled and stomped over to him; his fist raised. “We needed you! We called you and you didn’t answer! She needed you! You could’ve helped!”

Deaton grabbed Stiles’ shoulders, letting Stiles’ fists hit him in the chest and stomach with nary a wince. “I’m so sorry Stiles. I went to help a colleague. I told Claudia where she could reach me, but I suppose she didn’t tell anyone else. I am beyond sorry about what has taken place in my absence, you have no idea how much I regret not being here when the pack needed me.”

“You’re the worst emissary in the world, you know that? You didn’t even check in with us! It’s been a month!”

Deaton nodded, but he didn’t let go of Stiles. “That’s fair. I can see about finding another emissary for your new alpha if he wishes, but for now, there’s work to be done, you know that, don’t you?”

“I know that! You think I don’t know that?”

“They rely on you, you know. You’re her son, and you have their loyalty in a way that young Hale never will. They need you now, more than ever. You can do this. I know you can. You will always put pack first, just like Claudia and John always did.”

There was something in Deaton’s eye that Stiles didn’t understand at first. Some meaning he was trying to convey without using words. Stiles’ mother had always known what Deaton had meant when he did that, but it took Stiles several minutes.

“I don’t know him,” he said, trying for determined defiance but knowing it sounded weak.

“You might. Suppose we hear what he has to say before we discount him completely?”

“He’s too old for me.”

“I agree. But you’ll grow.”

“And he’s too young to be an alpha.”

“Your mother wasn’t much older.”

“That was different. Satomi trusted her. No one knows this guy.”

“Also true. But like I said, we should give him a chance, shouldn’t we? He is the alpha now, like it or not. We’re not wolves, either of us, so we don’t feel it like they do. But they need an alpha. We don’t have anyone else.”

Stiles glanced back at the house. Scott was in a window looking back out at him, smiling weakly. Stiles sighed. They needed an alpha. And it was always going to be Stiles’ duty to give them one. That much hadn’t changed.

Talia looked at her son with a sad frown and Derek felt the empty place where their pack bond once had been even stronger now that she was right in front of him, and the betas she had brought were holding back, as if he were a stranger to them now. They had started loading the dead wolves into body bags to be removed.

“Mom…” he started. “I don’t know what to do.”

She put her hand on his cheek in that familiar way she always did. “Yes you do. They’re your pack now, aren’t they?”

“I suppose. But I don’t think they want me.”

“We can talk about that, all of us, together.”

He looked into her eyes, hoping to find reassurance, but all he found was doubt. She didn’t think Derek would be good at this either.

“I hate talking.”

“I know, sweetheart, but you might have to force yourself a little bit. Let’s see what the pack has to say, shall we?”

She led him inside, and Derek saw Stiles coming in from the backyard with a human man he hadn’t seen before but who had the familiar scent of druid.

“This is my mother, Alpha Talia Hale,” he introduced her, and some of the wolves in the room nodded to her, but no one spoke up, except Peter, who offered her his seat.

“Sister. Quite the situation my nephew has gotten himself into.”

They shared a look Derek couldn’t interpret and Talia nodded tightly. “Quite.”

“We have no wish to join the Hale pack,” said Deputy Parrish firmly and then the shouting matches were off.

Several camps formed and reformed during what seemed to Derek to be several hours but was probably more like thirty minutes. He could feel Stiles giving him that same hard glare the entire time, and his wolf whined unhappily, torn between the instincts to stick to his mother and former alpha and those new instincts Derek could hardly name that called him to bring his pack together and make them submit to him.

The opinions of the pack went from not wanting Derek at all because he was too young, to acknowledging that he was the one who had killed Ennis, and a werewolf sometimes didn’t need more in their alpha than for them to win a fight and either defend or claim their alpha status that way. There were those that didn’t want anything to do with the Hales, for some reason that Derek couldn’t fathom, and some who thought any form of alliance with Talia Hale would be a good thing and help them in case other alphas like Ennis would make a move on their territory. There were some who were opposed to the mere idea of another alpha no one knew and then a lengthy discussion about who else could be their new alpha, and then there was Stiles. Stiles kept shifting between an appraising glance at Derek, and disapproval, and it seemed to affect everyone else in the room and it was daunting to Derek that apparently his fate lay in the hands of a sixteen year old boy and that everyone in the Stilinski pack seemed to be alright with that.

Talia had read the room and stayed quiet for the most part, and Derek had followed her example until now, but realized after yet another scrutinizing look from Stiles that it was his job to do… something. Anything. He cleared his throat and took a step forward. “I appreciate all the input,” he said, trying to sound as much like his mother did when she addressed her own pack as he could, or like Laura when she did so. “We don’t seem to be getting very far. I think the only fair thing is to take a vote. You’ll know far better what’s best for your pack than I will, so, let’s hear the options once again. Anyone want to start?”

He looked around the room at them all, but didn’t miss the flash of disappointment from Talia. This hadn’t been the right choice, and the pack looked at each other.

“Option one,” Kincaid said. “You pass the alpha spark to one of us, and then you leave.”

Derek simply nodded. He had expected that one.

“Option two,” the druid, Deaton, said. “You stay as alpha, and you mate with Stiles once he’s come off age.”

Kincaid growled at that, and he wasn’t the only one, and Derek looked at Stiles, who looked more resigned than surprised, and Derek remembered what Ennis had threatened him with.

“I will not force a mating on anyone,” he said, firmly and with determination. “I will not. It’s out of the question.”

“Option three,” said Peter, who of course could never be counted on to stay out of things. “Derek remains alpha until Stiles has found a suitable mate. If he hasn’t found one by, say the time he finishes college, perhaps? Then he will give Derek a chance and consider him properly, but if he does find a mate, Derek will pass the alpha spark over to them, give them the bite if necessary, of course, and then Derek will come home to his family’s pack, having learnt many things that I am sure will be of use to him as his sister’s future second. In the meantime, you get an alpha with connections and good relationships to all packs in the region, who I can assure you will do his best for you all, and your little princeling here gets the choice of alpha that his mother always intended for him to have.”

Six years, Derek thought. That would mean six years until he could go home again. But maybe Peter was right; maybe this would help him be a good second for Laura? This could be his chance of finally proving himself to his mother and the glint in Peter’s eye as he looked at him let him know that Peter knew that. And the chances of Stiles wanting Derek as his mate in the end were practically nil. Stiles would find someone good in college and that’d be it, Derek could take his leave by then and never come back to Beacon Hills.

“Very well, then,” Derek said. “Any other options? No one?”

Everyone remained quiet and Derek sighed. “Very well. Let’s vote. Raise your hand for option 1, I leave the spark to someone else?”

A few hands were in the air, but only a few. Kincaid was among them, and so were the wolves Derek had met at Melissa’s – Tracy and Demarco.

“I won’t agree to option 2, that’s out of the question. Option 3, as suggested by my uncle?”

No one raised their hand at first, but then Stiles’ hand shut up into the air. Kincaid looked at him in shock, but plenty of the pack nodded amongst themselves, and then raised their own. The majority was clear.

“Alright,” Derek said. “Thank you. That’s settled then. That’s good. I won’t let you down.” He said the last words with a glance at his mother, who was quietly watching him with a furrowed brow. “There are a few minor things yet to deal with. Obviously, Stiles cannot stay with me.”

“You’re not kicking him out of his own house,” Parrish complained.

“No, but someone needs to take care of him. He’s still a minor and I can’t be his guardian. I’m just a stranger.”

“I think that’s fair,” Melissa said, putting her arm around Stiles’ shoulders from behind the couch. “And Stiles can come and live with Scott and me. They’re best friends, and I’ve known him for almost as long as the rest of the pack has. He’d be more than welcome. Frankly, I think it’s the easiest thing to convince social services of too.”

“In that case,” Peter continued, “I suggest that Derek rents this house from Stiles for now. It’s already established as the alpha’s house after all, and the money can go to paying for Stiles’ living costs.”

“Yes, thank you, Uncle Peter,” Derek said quickly. It was a good idea, but he could sense the pack not wanting the input of an outsider. He was becoming exhausted from being the center of attention like this, and it was giving him a headache. Psychosomatic, he reminded himself. Werewolves didn’t actually get headaches.

“What about if Ennis had other betas?” Stiles reminded them.

“We can find that out easily,” Talia said then. “Their pack bonds would’ve transferred to Derek just as yours did. If there are any more of your pack, you can get them here and Derek will be able to know if there are any more bonds.”

“There’s the kids,” Orric Rohr said. “We put them all in a car and told Carrie to drive until she was called back. Scott was supposed to be there too. I’ll go and call them. But I think that’s all.” He looked around the room and then nodded. “Yes, it’s just the kids missing.”

“I’ll go see to my betas outside,” Talia said and then went outside, dragging Peter by his collar under loud protests, leaving Derek alone. With his new pack.

Derek tried smiling. Once again, it didn’t work. He looked at Stiles again. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Stiles shook his head, but Dr Geyer spoke up. “It’s not urgent, I just want to give him a few tests and get him on some extra fluids. We’ll take him there once we’re done here tonight, but he’s healthy for someone who hasn’t eaten much in a few weeks. Thank god you had water down there, Stiles.”

“Oh!” Derek felt like smacking himself. “We should order some food.”

He took out his phone but realized he had no idea where to call, and instead he handed it and his credit card to Sheriff Graeme.

Two dozen pizzas arrived right as a rusty old Volvo with a few teenagers and a little girl around the age of ten rolled up. The Hale pack had cleared away the bodies and the worst signs of the battle at that point, but Talia made her betas stay outside.

The kids were soon introduced to Derek as Lorilee Rohr, the Talbots’ son Brett, Dr Geyer’s step son Liam, Boyd’s little sister Alicia, and a girl Stiles’ age called Carrie, but Derek didn’t manage to catch who her parents were, and quickly realized it was because she didn’t have any.

Something at the base of his spine tingled pleasantly, and his inner wolf settled. Derek let out a sigh of relief. This was his whole pack now, no more mystery betas. He looked around the room. At his count, there were a little over twenty people. Seventeen werewolves, and besides Stiles, Melissa and Dr Geyer, there was Mrs. Rohr who was human. And then Parrish, the hellhound, and Deaton, the druid.

Alright, Derek thought to himself. This is it then. Six years.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4 – Failwolf

When Derek woke up for the first time in the guest room of the Stilinski home, he had a blissful moment of forgetfulness before the panic set in. He couldn’t feel his alpha and pack! His sisters, his aunts and uncles, his cousins! They were gone! They must be dead! And instead, the nagging feeling of a bunch of strangers filled him with dread before his wolf calmly identified them as pack and he could remember what had happened last night.

“So I’m an alpha now,” he said to the empty room. It was bare and old-fashioned, a daisy-chain pattern on the wallpaper and furniture pieces obviously from the 70s. Derek smiled weakly at the 80's poster of a full moon shining down onto a wolf and a fairy meeting by a lake at midnight. It had been the easiest room to get clean, having not been as ruined by Ennis or his betas as the others, other than being full of actual trash, and it hadn’t taken him that long to deal with that before bed.

Everything was quiet. He was alone in the house, and it was a Saturday morning. He could barely believe it had been less than two days ago since he’d had that meeting with Mr. Drummond. A car drove down the street and Derek listened carefully, but it passed the house. Neighbors seemed to be moving back in, and Derek had to come up with a good reason for his being there. Family friend maybe? He doubted they’d believe him a cousin of Stiles. He could claim to rent the house. It wouldn’t be false.

Staying in bed, staring up at the ceiling lamp and occasionally at the ugly wallpaper, he made a mental to-do list of all that needed to be accomplished. This was a new life for him, and one where he couldn’t fade into the background as the spare son of the alpha in a big pack. There’d be people keeping a close eye on him. Like Kincaid. And Stiles. Honestly, Derek didn’t know which of them unsettled him more, the imposingly tall former second, or the puny human teenager. He expected his mother to check in regularly, to see how he was doing. And probably Peter too. Maybe Laura?

Derek swore. There was a conversation he needed to get out of the way. It was early, but he didn’t think she’d be asleep. She must’ve felt the snapping of the pack bond too. He picked up his phone and dialed her number.

“Are you insane?” was her angry greeting. “Derek, you had no business going up against an alpha like that, you could have died!”

He sighed. “He attacked us. And I wasn’t alone. There were others, alright? And I was defending myself.”

“Still, Derek! What if you’d gotten hurt?”

Derek looked down at the marks on his body, still not healed. They’d take a few more days. “I was hurt. But at least we dealt with the asshole.”

“At what price?”

Her voice quivered on the other line, and Derek gripped his phone tighter.

“I’m sorry, Laura.”

“I know. Mom said this would be temporary?”

“Yeah, it’s just until the kid finds a mate, and then I’ll make the mate the alpha. Can’t take too long, can it?”

“Is he cute?”

“He’s sixteen, Laura. I didn’t exactly look.”

“Calm down, number two. I know you’re not a creepy creep who creeps creepily on under-aged boys. But there are ways of knowing if a kid is cute without looking at them like that. Come on, tell me!”

Derek hadn’t been able to look past the angry expression much, but he thought about it for a moment.

“I… I guess he wasn’t completely unattractive for a gangly kid. He’s got nice eyes, I suppose. But it’s the kind of face a kid grows into. He’ll be cuter when he’s older.”

“That’ll be good. Someone is sure to want him then. I hope we can have you back soon. I miss you already.”

“I miss you too.”

“Derek? You didn’t do this just so mom would be proud of you, did you?”

He rolled his eyes. “No. I told you, it was unintentional. And if I had done something for that reason, it didn’t work, because she wasn’t proud at all.”

“She’s worried. And she’s furious at Peter.”

“She doesn’t think I can do this.”

That might have been Laura’s cue to say that she, Laura, thought he could, but she didn’t answer.

“Will you…” he started but the words died on his tongue.

“What do you want?”

“Will you help me, when I need it?”

Laura’s voice became at once soft and fond. “Of course. As often as I can. I don’t know anything about the Stilinski pack though. Do you know what you’re going to do today?”

“Cleaning this mess of a house I think. Might as well start there.”

“That’s good. And then?”

“On Monday, I’ll go back to Sacramento. I need to sort out school and pack up my stuff.”

“You don’t have to pack. Mom already got someone else to do that. You only have to pick it all up.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. And by someone, I’m sure she meant Cora and Malia.”

“So my things will be thrown into boxes without any care at all, got it.”

“I’ll check on it when I get back. I’ll be heading home later today, this damn dispute is finally over.”

They talked a bit more about how her assignment had gone, and then Derek ended the call and decided to try out the shower.

It had poor water pressure. Of course. He added it to his list of things to fix. On the way to the kitchen, he stepped on a piece of glass and looked down. Some of the pack had made a weak attempt at clearing paths in the house among all the trash, but it had been late, and so much stuff was still strewn about on the floor. He picked this up though. It was a broken frame, but the family photo inside it was still intact. He recognized the little boy in the picture as Stiles, and he was sitting in the lap of a beautiful woman with his eyes and coloring, with a smiling stocky man standing next to them. Looking around, he saw several pictures much like it on the floor. A wedding photo had been slashed in half with a claw, but most of the pictures themselves were whole, and Derek collected them all in a cardboard box he found, not knowing what to do with them just yet.

In the kitchen he found some stale crackers and some moldy bread and by some miracle, half of a leftover pizza. Or maybe not a miracle? Derek imagined for an irrational moment that someone had deliberately saved that for him.

He added grocery shopping to his to-do list, and took out his phone again, finding Parrish’s number. “Will you add me to any relevant chat groups?” he sent and then asked for a list of everyone’s addresses and numbers. Parrish texted back that all that stuff should be in Claudia’s office, but to let him know if Ennis had ruined her filing cabinets too, and by the way, good morning alpha, they all hoped he had slept well.

Derek ignored that and peeked into a door on the ground floor that was most likely to be a home office. It was a mess, of course, but the contents of the filing cabinets seemed untouched; the cabinets had only been turned over. Derek shook his head over all this pointless destruction. It really didn’t seem as if Ennis had had any intention of actually staying in this house. Was he really this mad at Claudia? Or was this rage at the pack? Or Stiles?

Putting the cabinets upright again, he started flipping through some of the files. They were color-coded and better organized than anything he had ever seen in his entire life, and he wondered if maybe the woman had been a librarian or archivist of some sort. This kind of organization would be Peter’s idea of a wet dream. Derek purposefully avoided anything marked with a yellow dot on the cover folder as those was clearly private to Claudia and her family, but everything blue was related to the pack, green seemed to concern financial matters, and red was about outsiders it seemed, with a file each for all nearby packs. Derek was curious but he avoided the thin one labeled “Hale Pack”. He wasn’t ready to find out what Claudia had thought of them.

Pack members had a file each, and while Derek thought for sure that might be interesting to read up on, he could also recognize that perhaps they held personal and private information that the pack might want to share with him themselves. There was no file for the pack as a whole though, so Derek moved onto the desk, a beautiful piece of oak furniture, and had better luck. A contact list in the top drawer held names, numbers and addresses, for both home and work. At least he assumed it was work places; next to Dr Geyer and Melissa McCall was Beacon Hills Memorial, and the Sheriff’s Station was listed next to Parrish, Graeme and Clark. Most of the pack had SIC written next to it, and Derek couldn’t figure out what that could mean, but he copied the contacts into his phone, adding an asterisk before everyone’s names so they would end up first in his list of contacts. He had his family there too and he stared at his mother’s contact, wishing she’d call him soon to check in. He didn’t want to be the first to make contact, as if he needed her. As if he was a scared little boy out in the world for the first time without his mommy. Hesitating for the longest time, he went through his old pack contacts and changed the asterisk to a letter H. At least they were together.

A couple of hours later, Derek had gathered up most of the trash and the obviously broken stuff from the kitchen and living room into trash bags, got them to the landfill and returned home with a couple of bags of groceries from the store. A look at this phone told him that Parrish had indeed added him to a couple of messaging groups, but that no one had written anything in them. He wondered if there was another one they were all using that he hadn’t been invited to but tried to shake this thought off. He’d made it clear last night, he hoped, that if they wanted another alpha, he’d be fine transferring the spark to them. No need to plot his murder.

He made himself dinner in the quiet and empty house and then went looking around even more. He avoided the master bedroom, but the only other room in the house clearly belonged to Stiles. It was messy the way a teenager’s room really ought to be, but not dirty beyond a thin layer of dust. Posters from super hero movies on the wall, a 24’ TV and a couple of video game consoles, books on the shelves – lots of books. He’d noticed that in the living room and Claudia’s office too. The Stilinskis were readers, clearly. Lots of mysteries in Stiles’ room, and urban fantasy novels; not so surprising, Derek thought, with a cop dad and a werewolf mom. Stuff was ruined in here too, and the bed looked as if Ennis had had a special target for his anger. Derek sighed and got started on the trash.

By Sunday night, he hadn’t heard anything from anyone in the pack except for a short visit from Boyd, who’d dropped by with a container of homecooked food. He had stayed for about thirty minutes to help Derek clean up the backyard a bit and then took the trash with him. Derek didn’t mind being alone, and he’d worked his way through a couple of Stiles’ novels, but still, he was about to go crazy. Shouldn’t they be checking in? Shouldn’t they be coming over to offer to help with something? Shouldn’t they be trying to get to know him? They should be doing something for their alpha, shouldn’t they, whether they liked him or not? Maybe they were planning his murder after all. Derek shrugged at the thought. Maybe it’d be easier that way.

Monday morning came around and Derek had never been happier to get into his car. He got up early that morning and let the familiar scent of the seats, and the last lingering traces of Peter and Cora fill his nose as he beat the traffic coming into Sacramento. Things with his teachers were awkward. Peter had suggested a disease, and Derek did his best to sound depressed and weak as he told his professors about going to a special facility for experimental cancer treatments and that he wouldn’t be coming to class. His teachers had always liked him, and seemed obliging enough that he asked them for recorded lectures. In the end, he left school with a plan that would let him graduate as planned, as long as he showed up to take the finals and turned in that final project, and they’d send him the lectures. It was a solution, and this whole mess wouldn’t cost him his education. It made Derek feel marginally better, and he stopped along the way to his apartment to run some quick errands, and shortening his to-do list.

The good feeling ended when he reached his place to find it completely empty. He continued on home to find his things neatly boxed up and waiting for him in the hallway, along with a teary-eyed baby sister.

“Mom thought you’d want your things as soon as possible,” she said sullenly. “I don’t think we missed anything.”

He pulled her into a tight hug. There was her scent again, and Derek wondered if the pack bonds were actually able to cause phantom pains or if he was just imagining the feeling of having lost a limb. “Thanks. Might have wanted to pack myself. Would’ve meant I could stick around longer.”

“You should stay for dinner. We didn’t know our last family dinner was the last one with you.” She rubbed her wet face against his Henley.

“I’m not dying, Cora.”

“I know, but-”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll be back. You can help me put my stuff in the car.”

Derek could only fit about a third of his things in his Camaro and was secretly relieved at having to come back home again soon. When Talia came home thirty minutes later though, she saw his predicament and immediately said: “I’ll send Laura with the rest tomorrow.”

She greeted him like she always did, but there was sadness in her eyes when she patted his cheek. “Are you alright, Derek?”

“Absolutely,” Derek said. “The pack and I are getting along great. Couldn’t want a better one.”

“Surely you know better than to lie to me, sweetheart?”

Derek blushed. “It’s an uphill battle. We need some time.”

“Laura will be sad she missed you. I don’t expect her home until much later. But I expect you need to get back. Are they helping you bring all this inside?”

Derek’s wolf was suddenly on alert, not enjoying another alpha, his own mother or not, suggesting his pack was negligent. “I’ll call someone on the way there and they’ll show up,” he said as confidently as he could.

“Did you get school sorted?”

“Yep. I can graduate in time.”

“That’s good. It’d be a real shame if all your hard work was thrown away.”

“Thanks mom.”

Suddenly, it was awkward. She wasn’t his alpha anymore. He was a visiting alpha in her territory, and Derek wondered if he should treat this conversation as such.

Talia patted his cheek again. “You’ll remember to call me, won’t you?”

Derek nodded, and they parted. Cora hugged him again before he got into his car. “Call me every day,” she said, and Derek rolled his eyes at her before driving off. He tried not to think of comfortable family dinners when he went through the drive-through at McDonald’s.

Going back to school after an entire month’s absence was an experience, and not a particularly good one.

“You can do a makeup test at the end of the week,” Mr. Harris, ever the asshole, told Stiles when he asked about what he’d missed. Stiles assumed Harris might’ve believed the rumor about him going on a drug binge.

“How generous of you,” Stiles said, but didn’t argue.

Coach Finstock, sometimes an asshole, but surprisingly understanding at times, offered him a paper topic and said to have that done by the end of the term and to just jump in where the class was at. He seemed to believe the rumor about Stiles having been kidnapped by human traffickers.

Miss Blake, and many other teachers, offered to simply put him in summer school to lighten the load for the rest of the semester, but told him that the next time he ran off to Poland, he should consider telling someone, despite the circumstances. At least that had been the official lie that Melissa had suggested, but Stiles still had to groan, because summer school? Seriously? Though he had to admit to himself that it might be for the best. Under any circumstances, he wouldn’t doubt his ability to catch up, but he found his mind drifting all day, even with his meds adjusted for him by Dr Geyer.

“We’re here, Stiles,” Carrie whispered as she walked him down the hall to one of the classes they shared, shielding him from stares and attention as best she could.

Stiles squeezed her hand as a thank you. No one had been cruel to his face at least, and he pitied anyone who would try to with the entire younger contingent of his pack ready to defend him. Lydia Martin even offered Stiles a warm smile in class, and he was high on the way her eyes had brightened by it for an entire half hour before he remembered why she’d notice him today of all days, and then the day turned just as gray and dull as his entire weekend had been.

She surprised him again by taking the seat next to him in math.

“It’s not as hard as it might look,” she said when she saw him struggling. “There’s a trick, see here? You didn’t miss that much. If you spend this week working on chapter 13, you’ll be practically caught up already, because chapter 12 was just saying the same thing, but in simpler terms, and you don’t need that. I’ll lend you my notes from this week if you need them, so you don’t have to worry about that; my notes are perfect.”

Stiles almost fell off his chair. Lydia was talking to him, leaning over to his desk, and her hand was on his shoulder for two whole minutes and five seconds, and she seemed to assume Stiles was smart, which meant maybe he hadn’t been as much off her radar as he’d always thought.

“Thanks!” he managed to get out. “That’ll save me some time.”

He was searching for something else to say when she smiled at him again and his mind flashed suddenly and unexpectedly to Derek Hale. Right. Stiles had a duty to do, and an inept attempt at flirting with human girls had nothing to do with his duty to his pack.

Lydia went back to her own work and Stiles ignored the teacher to focus on chapter 13 instead. It worked for maybe fifteen minutes and then his mind strayed again. He wondered why there had been no word from their new alpha in the group chat. Sure, there were group chats Stiles wasn’t allowed to be in until he was an adult, but he had checked in with Kincaid at lunch, who told him the alpha hadn’t contacted anyone other than one or two messages to Parrish and Stiles sighed. This new alpha sucked.

Scott was doing his best to put his mind at ease on the way home by chatting about Lydia. “I can’t believe she actually talked to you, dude, how long has it been since she even acknowledged your presence?”

“Second grade,” Stiles said. “But it doesn’t matter, does it?”

Scott, dear Scott, looked so much like a puppy when he was confused. “Why not?”

“A number of reasons. First, she just helped me with math. Second, she’s still with Jackson. Third, she’s not a werewolf.”

“Okay to the second point, but the first one doesn’t matter. You could talk to her during next class, a few words each time and who knows, maybe you can be study buddies. And I have no idea what the third one has to do with anything.”

“I need to find someone who can be alpha, remember?”

Scott went quiet for exactly three seconds. “Maybe she could?”

“She’d make a magnificent alpha. But Lydia wouldn’t want to be a werewolf. So she’s not an option.”

“Hm. Maybe not. I’d be afraid of her if she was the alpha. She’s already… you know?”

“Powerful?”

“Yeah. We’d be the strongest pack in the country in a couple of weeks with her in charge.”

“We don’t need to be,” Stiles said. “We just need a good alpha, and I’m going to find one soon.”

“You don’t think we should give Derek Hale a chance?”

They reached the McCalls’ house, and Stiles was struck by how strange it felt not to go home after school, even though he’d often gone over to Scott’s in the afternoons before. But now that home didn’t really exist anymore, now that it wasn’t an option, going elsewhere felt odd and uncomfortable.

“Well, if he’d take some action and show us what kind of alpha he intends to be, maybe! But he’s not. He’s not doing anything! He’s just sitting in my broken down home. What’s he waiting for?”

“I don’t know,” Scott said. “It’s weird he hasn’t even checked in on you, mostly. You’d think if he wanted to be our alpha, he’d talk to you. You know all about that stuff.”

“I’ll find another one. Eventually. One that’s friendly, and clever, and knows what an alpha needs to do for their pack.”

Scott was pulling out stuff to make a snack and Stiles went to help him out. Armed with sandwiches and a salad ‘because coach said so’, they went up to Scott’s room to get started on homework.

“Stiles?” Scott said after a little while.

“Yeah?”

“What about finding someone you love?”

“What about it?”

“Your mom would’ve wanted you to be happy. That’s all she wanted, for you to fall in love and be happy.”

“I’ll be happy when I can give the pack the best alpha ever.”

Scott shrugged. “I don’t know why those couldn’t be the same thing.”

Stiles stared down at his hands. Scott wouldn’t understand. “They could. But they won’t be.”

Derek was beyond tired when he got back to Beacon Hills. It seemed even more hostile now than it had when he had arrived with Peter – had it really only been three days ago?

Turning onto the Stilinskis’ street, Derek saw to his surprise that a couple of trucks were packed outside the house. Stilinski-Ito Construction was printed on them both and Derek put it together with the contact sheet. SIC. Pack-run business, then. He knew some packs had those, and he could already see some of the pack working on fixing the external damage to the house. Several windows had been boarded up even before the fight, and the front wall was damaged from when Scott had been thrown into it.

They all stopped working when Derek parked his car in the driveway next to the old jeep.

Kincaid was the first to approach him. “Alpha,” He bowed his head slightly, and Derek nodded in greeting. “I hope you don’t mind. The idea of the house being ruined was making Stiles’ unhappy.”

“Of course. Thank you. I didn’t know you all worked in construction.”

“It was Alpha Satomi’s old business. She turned it over to Claudia when she became the alpha. I suppose Stiles should have it signed over to you.”

Derek didn’t miss the resentment in Kincaid’s voice.

“I don’t think that’s going to be necessary,” he said. “Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t know, Alpha, is there anything you can do?”

Derek held back an angry retort. “I can make you guys coffee.”

“That’d be much appreciated,” Orric Rohr called from the clawed door he was replacing with the help of Jenna Geyer.

Boyd helped Derek with his boxes and together they soon had everything moved inside. Boyd looked at Derek’s drafting table curiously, but didn’t say anything about it and went back outside. So far, he was Derek's favourite.

Derek filled up the coffee machine and sat down at the kitchen table with the box of family photos and the bag he’d filled at one of the shops he’d stopped at. The broken frames went back into the box and each photo went into a brand new frame. He’d had to guess at some of the sizes, but by the time the coffee was finished, and his pack had started coming inside, he had most of them replaced.

“What are you doing?” Jenna asked with a curious look at the pictures when she came inside.

“Just… giving them some new frames,” Derek said.

“Oh! Stiles is going to be thrilled about that!”

Derek blinked. Right. These were Stiles’ family pictures. He’d want to keep them. Derek had added new photo frames to his to-do list and that had been it. Stopping to buy the frames had been as much on autopilot as choosing to bring his draft table himself instead of waiting for Laura.

“Good to hear. I’ll bring them to him later this week.”

A couple of the photos were torn. Derek remembered Erin from his pa- from his old pack. She loved scrap booking. She’d know about what glue to use. He put the torn ones into an envelope and added another thing to his list. It was growing again.

Jenna grinned at him and handed Orric a cup. Orric was smiling too.

“How many of you work for the company?” Derek wondered.

“Melissa and Dr Geyer work at the hospital of course,” Orric counted on his fingers, “and then there’s the cops, who are, you know, cops, and my wife who is a teacher, but other than them, and the kids, it’s all of us.”

Derek counted in his head. That was about ten of them. Only half were here now. “Is it busy? I mean, since you had time to come here?”

“We got plenty of work,” Kincaid said. “No need to worry about us, Alpha.”

“Hush you,” Orric said and rolled his eyes. “It’s his job, isn’t it? You’re angry when he doesn’t do it, and you’re angry when he does it. Time to cool it, I say.”

Kincaid didn’t reply and took his coffee outside.

“What’s that thing?” Boyd asked and nodded to the drafting table.

“Drafting table. Needs to be put back together though.”

“Like what architects use?” Orric asked. “You an architect, Alpha?”

“In a couple of months,” Derek said. “Gotta graduate first.”

They all shared a look.

“So,” Jenna said, “our new alpha is an architect, and we run a construction company. Oh, Stiles is going to love this.”

Derek hadn’t thought of that connection, but he wasn’t willing to sit down and discuss how his skills could benefit the pack with them just yet. He was saving all his best ideas for his own pack, after all, and once all of this was over and he could come home, his mother would finally be willing to hear them.

“I suppose I should try to learn how the business is run,” he said. “Who is the best to talk to?”

“My mom, Agnes,” Boyd said. “She does the books for us, and she’ll be the one to talk to about pack finances too.”

“Oh, I hadn’t even thought of that,” Derek admitted and added yet another thing to his list. If it got any longer he would be crushed under the sheer weight.

Jenna patted his arm as she passed to rinse out her coffee cup, and he ignored the sensation at the back of his spine from the small bit of scenting. They all drank up and got back to work. Derek put away some of his clothes in the guest room closet and tried to make room for some of his other things. The drafting table went into the office, although it made it a little cramped. Then he found a tool box under the sink, picked up a hammer and went outside to help with the repairs.

Most of the trash cleared away or boxed, and the structural damage to the house fixed, Derek got down to making himself a little more at home. He knew that, eventually, he’d have to get Stiles over here to give him some guidance on what should be put in storage and what he could get rid of, but Stiles still hadn’t come home by Tuesday afternoon, and Derek had been busy with schoolwork all day. His inner wolf was restless, and he longed for a shift and a good long run in the dense preserve he could see from anywhere in town. It was weeks until the full moon though, and there had still only been a few words from the pack.

A knock on the door interrupted his reading and he was surprised to find Valerie Clark on the porch. She was an attractive woman, he’d noticed, only a couple of years older than himself, and she clasped a wooden crate in her arms.

“Alpha,” she said in greeting, and handed over the crate. “Some vegetables for you.”

Derek took it but looked down in confusion. “Oh? Thanks. Come in, will you?”

She smiled and followed Derek into the kitchen where he put the crate on the counter. It was full of vegetables and some fruits, most of them oranges.

“We grow them,” she explained. “And of course some always go to our alpha. They’re all in season right now, which means they’re at their most nutritious and delicious. I hope you like vegetables.”

“I do,” Derek said. “This is great, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Alpha.” She was fiddling with her shirt and not looking at him.

“What can I do for you, deputy Clark?”

“It’s Valerie, Alpha”

“Then it’s Derek.”

She smiled tentatively. “Derek. I’ve been getting the funeral for Claudia and John in order. Plenty of people have been asking, and I checked with Stiles this morning. It’s all set for Friday afternoon. Three o’clock.”

Derek had already forgotten he’d asked someone to deal with that. “That’s great. Thank you so much, Valerie. Is there something you need me to do?”

“Actually, there’s the invitations. I’ve put a notice in the paper, and there’ll be a post on the noticeboard at the station, so that takes care of the humans in town. Kincaid called all the family members who might want to show up. But it’d be appropriate if the invitations to nearby packs that we’re on good terms with came from our new alpha. And those should be made over the phone. Deaton says he’ll talk to their emissaries if you’d prefer, but we agreed it’s better if you do it.”

She was definitely avoiding his eyes now, her face flushed.

“I’ll call them tomorrow then. Anything else I should know about the funeral?”

“Stiles didn’t want a wake, so that’s what we’re going by officially, and I put in an order at the florist the funeral home recommends for white orchids for everyone in the pack, it was Claudia’s favorite. Closed casket, considering the damage. I had to get creative when I explained how it happened to the mortician, but I’ve been assured that they’ll do a good job on both of the bodies.”

“Officially?”

“Sorry?”

“There’ll be no wake, officially?”

“Oh, obviously we’ll all get together as a pack to say goodbye to our alpha pair. But that’s just for the pack, so don’t mention that to anyone else, please.”

Derek wondered if that meant he wasn’t invited either.

“Okay.”

“And in other circumstances, it would be appropriate for you to speak at the funeral, but you didn’t know either of them, so…”

“I won’t. I’m only going as an old family friend.”

She let out a breath she’d been holding.

“Thank you for understanding. You should sit in the same row as Stiles though. I’m sure he’d appreciate that.”

He nodded.

She was still fiddling with her shirt.

“What else is there?”

Her voice was so low now that it came out as a whisper.

“Well, Alpha, sorry, Derek, it’s about the cost.”

“Yes?”

“I wasn’t sure if I should bring this to you so it could be covered by the pack funds, or if I should bring it to Stiles, because you’re the alpha now and it’s up to you what should be covered by the pack accounts, and what shouldn’t, and there are definitely alphas who’d consider funerals a personal cost and-”

“No, no, of course the pack funds should cover it. We want it to be as nice a funeral as we can make it for Claudia. And the sheriff.”

She looked at him expectantly and Derek finally realized what she was after. “You don’t have a credit card?”

“Credit card? Well, I do of course, but…”

It was too much for her to cover and be reimbursed for later, he realized suddenly. The Stilinski pack was not wealthy, and he’d put her in an uncomfortable position by not making sure she could pay for everything. Damnit, but how was he supposed to stay on top of all of this?

“I’m sorry,” Derek said. “In my pack, I mean, in my old pack, plenty of pack members have cards tied to a pack expenditure account for stuff like this. It never occurred to me that you wouldn’t have them. Have you spent a lot of your own money?”

“Some,” she admitted. “I got invoices for some of it, and we’re being given a lot of discounts, because people liked them. I’ve saved all the receipts for the rest, and I gave them to Agnes. She’s just waiting on your word.”

“Agnes Boyd, right. I need to sit down with her.”

“That would be a good idea.”

Valerie had finally let go of her shirt and Derek was glad to see it.

“I appreciate everything you’ve been doing,” he said and was rewarded with a smile.

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry about the money. I didn’t think.”

“That’s okay, Derek.”

“Can I get you anything?” he said and gestured around the kitchen.

“No, no, I need to get going. I have the night shift tonight, but thank you”

“Okay. Thanks again. For the veggies too.”

Her smile was dazzling as she shrugged. “Better get used to those. There’ll be more coming.”

Chapter Text

Closed casket, Stiles reminded himself as he entered the funeral home, with Melissa on one side and Kincaid on the other. He was still going to look, and they’d arrived early for that very purpose.

The room was decorated with the white orchids that had always been his mother’s favorite, and soft music was playing from some cleverly disguised speakers. There were plenty of chairs in the hall, far more than Stiles had expected there to be. Apparently a lot of people had RSVP’d and even more had sent flowers. Stiles wondered if he would have to send thank you notes to all these people and how personal a thank you note really would need to be, and how soon would he have to send them out? Where would someone even get thank you notes? Did the bookstore sell them, maybe? Or the post office? And what if he forgot to send one to someone who heard about everyone else getting one?

They’d reached the two caskets on their stands at the front of the room, and Kincaid lifted the lid on one of them. Stiles had spent all morning preparing, and the entire car ride over there wondering what it would look like. But no preparation could ever be enough for seeing his father in a coffin. The wound across his throat was handled by the mortician’s tricks, but he could still see how his father had met his end. He’d been such a good man, and Stiles had loved and admired him very much for insisting on staying human in a pack almost entirely made up of werewolves. It was for Stiles’ sake, he knew that. John had stayed human so his son wouldn’t feel alone.

Stiles closed his hands into fists. He knew he’d cry today. But not yet. In front of the town and the visiting alphas that Stiles had pretty much never met, he’d keep it together. Later, when it was just the pack, then he could cry. He unclenched one of his hands to stroke his dad’s hair, like John had always done to him when Stiles needed comfort.

“Goodbye, Dad. I love you,” he said, and closed the lid again.

Looking at his mom was even harder. The mortician had had a lot more work to do with her body and face and it was such an odd thing to see his mother with wounds. Healing powers stopped at the moment of death, it seemed. She looked paler than he had ever seen her, but her thick brown hair had been nicely brushed, and she’d been put in her favorite sun dress that she always wore when they took family road trips and she wanted to be at her most comfortable. Stiles ran his fingers down her cheek, imagining that he could wipe away a tear that wasn’t there. He took her hand and squeezed it gently. “I won’t let you down,” he whispered to her, and he could feel Kincaid patting him on the back with a shaky hand. Stiles glanced over at him. He looked ready to follow his alpha down into the grave.

Stiles reached into his pocket to take out the head scarf he’d saved for this. It had seemed like such a silly thing to request of the undertakers, or even Valerie, but it had been a gift from his dad on their first wedding anniversary, a pretty, dark blue thing that his mother always wore on those road trips of theirs, along with a pair of retro sunglasses and John had always said it made her look like a movie star from the twenties. He tied it carefully around her dark hair and under her chin and touched her cheek again.

“She looks lovely,” Melissa whispered in his ear and rested her head against his.

“I know,” Stiles said. “She was the best mom.”

Kincaid let out a loud sob and excused himself to go find a bathroom. Stiles wondered if someone expected him to cry too. Would they think he was cold-hearted for not weeping? Should he be wailing and screaming out his grief for all of them to see?

“Do you want me to leave you for a while?” Melissa asked, and Stiles nodded.

“Just a little bit.”

“I’ll be right outside.”

She left and Stiles stared down into his mother’s face again. No. No one else had any right to demand a certain kind of grief for him. He could be a steel rod all he wanted. The only people whose opinion he cared about were his pack anyway, and they could all feel his true feelings through their bonds. He wondered if Derek Hale could too, fresh and new though the pack bonds were. It didn’t matter. Derek would forever pale as an alpha compared to Stiles’ mother anyway.

Sighing, Stiles reached for the lid of the coffin to close it, but he halted. Closing it would make everything absolute, in a way that nothing else could, knowing this was the last moment he would ever get to see her. His hand shook on the lid, but he couldn’t move it. A hand suddenly came up to land on his shoulder. Stiles expected it to be Kincaid again, but he turned his head to see Derek Hale standing there, looking awkward and misplaced. Damn werewolves moved too silently.

Derek looked at Claudia. “She’s beautiful.”

Stiles nodded.

“I only met her once. I barely remember it myself, but my family tells me apparently I had a little five year old crush on her, and I followed her around wanting her attention. Seems I talked her into reading me a story before she went back home.”

Despite himself, Stiles laughed. “That sounds like her.”

Derek squeezed his shoulder gently. “Your pack will be here for you.”

“I know that.”

“They love you.”

“I know that too.”

“I’m bad at these things. I’m sorry.”

Stiles looked at him carefully. He did seem completely lost, but he was trying.

“I appreciate it anyway, Alpha. Will you come to our wake after this?”

Derek looked down at his feet. “I wasn’t sure if I was welcome or not. I didn’t know her, or your dad.”

“You should be there.”

Derek smiled. “Then I will be. Are you ready to have everyone else come in now?”

Stiles nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

He moved again to close the lid, but it still felt difficult. Derek waited patiently, his hand still on Stiles’ shoulder, and Stiles could feel something so familiar and comforting that for a brief and horrible moment he thought it was coming from his mother, that maybe there had been a mistake and maybe she was still alive, only looking dead. But it was coming through the pack bond from the alpha. The comparison did not help.

“Could you help me close this?” he whispered, his voice failing him now. Derek put his other hand on top of Stiles’ and pushed down until the lid closed.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

It was obvious to Derek that there was a divide at this funeral. There were those who were part of or knew about the supernatural world, who were primarily there to grieve Claudia, and there were humans, who were primarily there to grieve John. The mayor was there to say a few words, and he barely mentioned Claudia as anything other than a devoted wife. An alpha Derek thought might be from the Green pack a bit north only spoke about Claudia and brought up John as an afterthought.

Derek was also starting to understand why Kincaid was so hostile towards him. Other than Stiles, Kincaid’s grief ran the deepest and it was overwhelming to feel all of it flowing through the pack bonds. Derek hadn’t learnt to block them out yet, and he couldn’t help being infected by all of that sadness. He just about managed to hold back tears; tears wouldn’t be appreciated coming from him, he felt sure of that. But he’d seen a weak smile from a few of the pack when he sat down next to Melissa, who herself was sitting next to Stiles, with Scott on the other side.

Derek was getting worried. Stiles hadn’t cried. Not a single tear had escaped him and instead he sat straight, staring blankly ahead and nodding gratefully to anyone who spoke about his parents as they passed him.

When the service was over, and the funeral party moved to the Beacon Hills cemetery, Derek made sure he was in the same car as Stiles, but he didn’t try to offer any more comfort than he already had. He was so bad at this, he knew, feeling wholly inadequate. His wolf was whining in his head, knowing their pack was hurting and there wasn’t much Derek could do about it.

At the graves that had been dug for Claudia and John, he finally heard a broken sob from Stiles next to him, and then another. After the third, Stiles turned to bury his face in Scott’s shoulder. Scott was, bless him, much better at this than Derek was.

The coffins were lowered into the ground, someone Derek didn’t know said something vaguely secular and that was it. Flowers thrown down on the caskets. More lovely words said, tears, and all that grief coming his way through the bonds was enough to make Derek want to fall to his needs. Suddenly he became aware of Peter standing next to him, everyone else around him gone.

“How are you, nephew?”

“Bad,” Derek managed to get out. “I can’t block them out.”

“That must not be pleasant at all, no.”

“Is mom here?”

“Of course she is. But we’re about to leave. Unless we’re going to be invited to a wake?”

“It’s pack only.”

“We understand. I wanted to check on you before we left.”

“It’s not my mother in the ground.”

“About that. Word has spread.”

Derek looked up. “About what?”

“About the little arrangement we all agreed upon.”

“Arrangement?”

Peter nodded with his head over to where Stiles was standing, surrounded by, not alphas from areas nearby, but their sons and daughters, some around Stiles’ age, some as old as thirty. They were all talking to him, shoving Scott out of the way so they could be closer. Derek looked around, and he could see Kincaid trying to catch his eye and then throw Stiles a look. Derek sighed. With other alpha’s closest kin, a mere beta wouldn’t have that much to say. Derek nodded to Kincaid, said goodbye to Peter and walked over there.

“My dad is letting me fix up his old Impala,” one of the younger guys said, “and it’s going to be sweet. I could swing around Beacon Hills some time and take you on a ride, show you what it can do.”

“Mhm,” Stiles said, looking involuntarily relieved when Derek showed up. “My new alpha is here now, so I need to go. That’s really interesting to hear about though. Just what I needed to talk about on the day of my parents’ funeral. Thank you so much.”

The guy smiled widely, and Derek rolled his eyes at his cluelessness.

“Stiles. I need to talk to you. Come with me?”

“I’ll be there. See you later, guys.”

There were sounds of disappointment coming from the group, but Derek didn’t think any of them sounded all that genuine. Scott followed them to Derek’s car.

“I don’t get what all of them wanted,” he said. “They’re not usually that nice, are they, Stiles?”

“Nope.”

“None of those people are alpha heirs,” Derek said. “They’ve been encouraged by their parents to make a play for Stiles, so they can replace me.”

Stiles stopped in his tracks. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Peter told me word has spread.”

“But that was always the plan,” Stiles objected.

“I understand that, and most of them probably would have approached you sooner or later as you got older. But now that your mother is gone, there’s a chance of soon, and they won’t want to miss their chance.”

“That’s dumb.” Scott said. “And their timing sucks.”

Derek nodded. “Some of them will be back.”

Stiles mumbled something in agreement. “Who even told them?”

Derek winced. “I think I did. I explained that I would not always remain as alpha when I called to invite the other packs to this funeral. I’m sorry.”

“Fine.” Stiles glared at him, but not as angrily as he glared at the gathered young prospective alphas.

“Do you want me to take you two to the wake?”

Scott perked up at that. “In your awesome car? Can I drive it?”

Derek pretended to consider that for a few seconds. “No,” he said then. “Only I may drive my Camaro.”

“Boo. Stiles is like that with his jeep.”

“That jeep is yours?”

“Yeah,” Stiles said. “It used to belong to my mom before she got a new car last year. But I think Ennis sold hers, and he trashed mine. I’m saving up to have it fixed.”

“You don’t need to save up,” Derek sighed. “Isn’t emergencies like that what the pack funds are for?”

Stiles stared. “No. It’s for real emergencies and college tuition. It’s for if one of us starves, or our house burns down or if a human pack member needs health care. It’s not for fixing my old jeep just because I’m the alpha’s son and-”

He stopped. “Was the alpha’s son. And I’m fine walking until I can afford to fix it myself!”

Derek sighed again. They’d been making progress today, but it seemed it was one step forwards, two steps back with Stiles.

Chapter Text

Once a week, someone would show up at Derek’s door with another crate of vegetables. It was a different person each time and Derek tried to show an interest in them and their lives, but they never volunteered any information and they never asked him for anything. They never stayed around for long. If he met anyone from the pack while out and running errands, they’d stop and talk, and they’d be polite, but never more than that, and by the end of April, Derek was prepared to admit defeat and beg Stiles to please pick one of them, anyone, and transfer the alpha spark and be done with it. He didn’t understand the pack any better now than he had on his first visit to Beacon Hills.

It was a Wednesday afternoon when an angry pounding on the door interrupted Derek’s zoom call with some of his classmates.

“Wow, Derek, got some pissed-off nurses?” one of his friends said and Derek faked a cough and did his best to look like moving about caused him pain.

“Yeah, he’s a real nurse Ratchett. I’d better go.”

He closed his laptop, and rose to answer the door, but it unlocked before Derek could reach it to reveal Stiles, his usual scowl and glare, holding the hand of little Alicia Boyd who was half-hiding behind him, peering out at Derek with a terrified expression on her little face. She was wearing a t-shirt with the girl from Frozen on it, a blue skirt that went to her knees and sneakers with plastic flowers on them, and Stiles, well, Derek wondered if Stiles ever wore something other than oversized flannel shirts over graphic tees. This one declared him a “stud muffin”.

“Hello Derek,” Stiles said in that hostile tone he always adopted when speaking to Derek. Not that they spoke often; Stiles hadn’t come back to the house until now, opting to send pack if he needed something from it.

“Stiles. Hi Alicia. How are you doing today?”

“Fine,” Alicia whispered and took a firm grip of the strap of the backpack she was wearing with her free hand.

“Alicia told me something very interesting yesterday, Derek,” Stiles said.

Derek raised his eyebrows and waited.

“She told me that she hasn’t been attending her werewolf classes since my mom died. I wouldn’t expect Ennis to have kept them up, but I expected you to. So I decided to bring her over here myself because she was feeling a bit shy about not being invited over for them.”

“Werewolf… classes?”

“Yes,” Stiles said, his eyes flashing dangerously and Derek took an involuntary step back. “Werewolf classes. She’s ten years old, she can’t control her shift very well and she has other things she needs to learn too. Don’t tell me the Hale pack lets little kids run around without anyone teaching them what they need to know?”

“Of course we- they don’t. But I assumed that was left to the parents.”

“Agnes is busy with work, and so is Boyd. And you know just as well as I do that if someone in your pack acts out in a way that might endanger humans, or expose us to them, that’s the alpha’s responsibility. She is your responsibility. My mom always taught the kids. But Alicia is the only one left, so here she is.”

He made a move as if to push her forward, but she held on tightly to his hand and planted her feet firmly on the porch.

“Honey, it’s okay,” Stiles said in a much gentler voice. “I’ll stay too. I can do my homework here while you have a lesson with Alpha Hale.”

“You won’t leave?” she whispered with a cautious glance at Derek.

Stiles shook his head. “I wouldn’t. And you’d be able to tell, wouldn’t you? With your wolfy little nose?”

He tickled her nose, and she laughed.

Stiles turned back to Derek. “Well? Are you going to do your job?”

It was a loaded question, but Derek moved aside to let them both inside, and Alicia went straight into the office, so Derek followed her in there.

“I’ll be in the kitchen,” Stiles called. “Let me know when you want a snack.”

“Okay,” Alicia called and looked around the office.

“So,” Derek started. “Where do you usually sit during these lessons?”

Alicia pointed to a corner where Derek had noticed a pair of fold out tables standing against the wall, so he took one out for her, and found some fold out chairs too, and she sat down and pulled out a notebook covered in glitter and stickers, and a yellow pencil from her backpack.

“That’s pretty,” Derek noted, and Alicia gave him a smile. “Where did you and Alpha Stilinski leave off then?”

“She kept her papers in there,” Alicia said and pointed to the file cabinets.

Sure enough, Derek looked under B for Boyd, and found a file called Boyd, Alicia – Lesson plans, and from there it went. Claudia was, as Derek had already noted, well-organized, and she had a fairly comprehensive list of plans that covered everything a young werewolf needed to know, complete with ideas of how Alicia could demonstrate what she had learned, and most of them had been checked off with a date next to it. The last one was only a few days before she had died.

“Okay, so we need to work on retracting your claws properly when they come out without you meaning to. Maybe you can show me how well you can do it right now, so I know where to help you with it?”

Alicia did as he told her and extended her claws quickly. “Sometimes they come out when I’m angry or upset.”

“Mine do too,” Derek told her calmly. “Let’s count the seconds then. Retract them.”

It only took Alicia a couple of seconds, but she shook her head. “I’m not angry right now.”

Derek frowned and Alicia looked down on her hands.

“Okay. What makes you angry?”

“That mean alpha hurting Stiles.”

“Stiles is safe right now, and we’re going to keep him that way. What else?”

Alicia looked around the room and then down at her clothes. “When Ana’s stupid boyfriend was mean to her and Elsa.”

“Ah, I see,” Derek said, confused. “Why don’t you think about that for a bit and we’ll see what happens.”

It took a little while. The little girl’s face contorted in anger and concentration and then, suddenly, the claws were out, digging into the table where Derek could see lots of similar marks in the cheap veneer.

“Good work. And now, how long does it take you to retract them?”

Alicia looked at her claws and concentrated, but it took much longer this time. Over a minute had gone by before they were gone completely. That was troubling and Derek frowned again.

“Please don’t be mad, Alpha,” Alicia whispered, and Derek’s eyes shot up to her face. She looked as terrified as she had when she arrived.

“I’m sorry,” Derek said and did his best to relax the muscles in his face. “I wasn’t angry. If I were, you’d be able to feel it through the pack bonds, wouldn’t you?”

“You looked angry,” the girl insisted.

“I do that sometimes, even when I’m not.” He crouched down next to her. “I don’t mean to make you think I’m angry all the time.”

Alicia looked suspiciously at him. “Why don’t you smile more then?”

“It’s hard for me to smile right now. I miss my family a lot. And they’re not here, but I have to be, and I don’t have any friends here.”

“Oh,” she said, and an immense wave of understanding passed through their bond. “You’re not angry, you’re sad.”

“You could say that.”

“I’d be sad too if I couldn’t live with my mom and my brother.”

Derek managed a smile this time. “I’m glad you understand. Now, let’s try again, and this time, I want you to try to picture something that makes you happy when you try to retract your claws, okay? Let’s think about Anna’s mean boyfriend first.”

She rolled her eyes at him now. “It’s Ana, not Anna!”

“I’m so sorry. Of course it’s Ana.”

Stiles spent about ten minutes on his homework before his attention wandered. He’d caught up in most of his subjects by now, and there were only a few gaps he’d missed that he’d have to do in summer school, but it’d be okay. He’d prefer to be busy during the summer anyway. It left less time for thinking.

He looked around the kitchen. Things had been repaired, repainted and replaced here, and he noted a fancy coffee maker that hadn’t been there before, the kind with pods. It looked expensive, but not new. The empty crates from their allotments were stacked by the back door, and Stiles made a mental note to remind Brett to bring the empty ones back when he made the weekly delivery later in the week. They were running out. Yet another thing Derek wasn’t considering, it seemed.

So far, being inconsiderate was definitely one of Derek’s worst qualities, of the ones Stiles had discovered. That wasn’t quite as bad as being selfish, he supposed. And he didn’t seem particularly power hungry. In fact, Stiles couldn’t find out that he had given a single alpha command so far, but that might be because the man also seemed completely uninterested in all of them and how they were doing. Personally, Stiles didn’t mind him staying away for now, but Stiles wasn’t a werewolf, and he could tell it was affecting the rest of the pack not to have their alpha care about them. Even Scott had started talking about maybe dragging Derek out of his – Stiles’ – house on the next full moon and make him go running with them. Stiles could imagine the look on Derek’s face if anyone did that. It was easy. Angry frowns and scowls were pretty much all of his facial expressions. There had been hints of a real and caring person somewhere in there at the funeral, but it hadn’t lasted longer than a few minutes.

Stiles sighed. This alpha was definitely a disappointment.

He went upstairs and into his room. Melissa’s guest room was nice and all, but it wasn’t Stiles’ room, and no amount of Stiles’ clothes in the closet and things on the shelves, and posters on the wall could make it so. He fell down onto his bed and buried his nose in his blankets. They smelled of him. His pillow had been torn apart by Ennis, but his blankets were here, including the one Grandmother Ito had made for him before he was even born, with only minor tears. He hadn’t taken it with him when he packed. He hadn’t taken a lot with him at all, partly because he didn’t want Derek to have too much room for his own things, and partly because he wasn’t really ready to truly move out of this place. If he moved all his blankets and his books and everything he owned, then he would officially not live here anymore. Stiles had never not lived in this house.

He went to the door of the master bedroom but couldn’t bring himself to go inside. Not yet. Maybe never. He did peek into the guest room to make sure that’s where Derek actually slept. The guest room did look very well occupied by now, the shelves occupied by textbooks and notebooks and a model of a building that Stiles would’ve liked to take a closer look at, but he didn’t really want to snoop too much. Derek wasn’t that interesting, he told himself, architect or not. Stiles’ parents had often talked idly about the construction business trying to align themselves with a good local architecture firm, for the sake of referrals and such, to allow the business to grow, but nothing had ever come out of it. He sighed to himself, and just as he was about to close the door, he noticed several full boxes of books that hadn’t fit into the bookshelf in the guestroom. Those didn’t look like textbooks. Stiles was always curious about what other people read for fun, and he dared a couple of steps into the room to peek into the open boxes.

No. Freaking. Way.

He picked up the box and carried it downstairs and then went back for a second one. It held the same type of books. He looked at the bookcases in the living room. There was a lot of stuff in it. His mother had liked reading, but she was an incorrigible pack rat, his dad had always said so, and she kept every book she ever bought, and the bookcase was overflowing by the time Stiles had started school, and definitely not any better now. He remembered vaguely that Ennis had thrown all the books on the floor in a fit of rage, but they had been returned to their rightful place. A few had been destroyed, but whoever had cleaned up in here had saved those in a box on the floor, next to Claudia’s painting that had always hung over the mantelpiece. Stiles deliberately kept his eyes away from that one.

Stiles found an empty cardboard box in the kitchen and started sorting out some books he knew his mother hadn’t been particularly attached to and that Stiles himself wasn’t interested in.

When he had an entire empty shelf, he moved his mom’s most beloved books to that one. She didn’t spend that much time or money on getting specific editions of book, but she had, through luck and hard work, managed to get hold of first editions of some of Agatha Christie’s novels. Three of them, to be exact. The ABC murders, The Witness for the Prosecution, and Evil under the sun, and Stiles stroked the cover of each reverentially. She’d been so proud of getting to own those and had always been so careful whenever she reread them.

Stiles jumped as the office door opened and Derek stepped out, looking around the room for him.

“What’s wrong?” he said. “I felt… you’re sad.”

“I’m okay,” Stiles replied, putting the books back on the shelf.

Derek looked at the boxes and frowned. “Are those mine?”

Stiles swallowed. “Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Derek said and threw his hands in the air in frustration. “I’m not. I was just asking.”

“Yeah. I noticed…” Stiles picked up a book from one of the boxes. “This is Peril at End House. That was one of my mom’s favorite Poirot novels. She liked the ones when the real crime was hidden in another one, you know. And, well…”

He trailed off with a nod to the shelf and Derek came to have a look.

“Oh,” Derek said. “That’s a coincidence. Mine aren’t first editions or anything. Well, one or two might be. I’ve been collecting older editions of them, and sometimes my uncle would buy me some. I think I have a second edition of ABC come to think of it. Why did you bring them down here?”

Stiles shuffled his feet. Derek still looked angry. “I thought they could sit on the same shelf. It was cool you had a lot of them, is all, and there’s not enough space upstairs. Would you rather I put them back, Alpha?”

Derek’s eyebrows came even closer together as his frown deepened. “No that’s fine. That’d be great actually. Do you need any help?”

“No, I’ve got it. Figure I could make some room for you. Or your books.”

“I appreciate that. By the way, I’ve got your family pictures in a box over there.”

Stiles blinked.

“Ennis destroyed those.”

“He ruined the frames. I got you some new ones. A couple of pictures were beyond saving, as far as I could tell. But a member of my pack, I mean, my old pack, is into scrapbooking and stuff like that, and I sent a couple of the photos to her to see if she knew a way to repair the photos. I haven’t heard back yet.”

Stiles blinked again.

“Thank you, Alpha,” he managed to get out and that frown deepened again.

“I didn’t want to start moving stuff around before talking to you,” he said. “But there’s a bunch of half-broken stuff in another box down in the basement. Some of it could maybe be fixed with enough super glue, but I didn’t think there’d be that much point if you don’t want to keep it.”

“I’ll clean out this mess a bit, and then we’ll see.”

“Good. Don’t worry about leaving it though, if you don’t feel up to it.”

Okay, so maybe Stiles had to revise his opinion of Derek. A little. Just a tiny bit.

At the end of another hour, Alicia had gotten a little bit better at retracting her claws, and Stiles came inside with a plate of fruit and a glass of milk for her.

“I’m done with the books,” he said and gave Derek a strange look.

Smile, Derek’s wolf whispered in his ear. Smile and make him feel better, he’s a pack orphan.

“Thank you, Stiles.”

“You’re welcome, Alpha.”

Derek groaned inwardly. It was an uphill battle getting this pack to call him by his name, but it felt more important with Stiles than with the others for some reason.

“There’s two boxes with books that can go to the thrift shop,” Stiles said.

“I can take those tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Alpha.”

The conversation felt stilted and formal, and Alicia looked back and forth between them, munching on a piece of apple.

“I was thinking,” Stiles said then. “We did agree that you would rent this place from me for now, so it’s only fair if I come by now and then to try to clean up some of it.”

“I don’t mind traces of your parents left in this house,” Derek tried. “But I wouldn’t mind some extra space for more of my things. Blend the old with the new.”

Stiles flinched and his gaze hardened. “It’s been two months. Hardly old.”

And with that he turned and left the room. Derek’s wolf growled a little at Derek.

“You made Stiles mad,” Alicia said in an uh-oh kind of tone, but she smiled now.

“I’m good at that,” Derek admitted to her.

“It’s nice to be good at something,” she said pensively. “I’m good at dancing. I want to be a ballerina when I grow up.”

“Are you taking classes?”

“No. Mom says they’re too expensive and no one has time to take me to them. But I’m saving all my allowance and maybe next year I can do it.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Derek said.

“Alicia?” Stiles called from the living room. “I think it’s time to go soon, if you’re done with your lesson.”

“I can drive you both home,” Derek offered and received grumbling from Stiles before he agreed.

They filed into Derek’s car, and he thanked his past self for looking up where most of the pack lived. Stiles would probably bite Derek’s head off if Derek didn’t know that by now.

The silence in the car was palpable, but Derek assumed that if either of them had something to say, they would say it.

“Did you learn anything, Alicia?” Stiles asked her, with a look towards the backseat.

“I’m still working on control.”

“She’s almost got it,” Derek added. “Good girl, she worked hard.”

She gave him a bright smile.

“Alpha Derek says I need to watch Frozen as homework. So I can get mad, so my claws come out. And then I need to think of something good and happy, so they’ll go away.”

“That sounds like such a hardship for you,” Stiles said. “Or maybe alpha wants to punish your brother for some reason?”

“He said to watch it next time you and Scott watch me.”

Derek smirked at the pissed off expression on Stiles’ face and pulled the car to a stop outside the McCalls’ house.

“You’ll take her straight home,” Stiles said and glared at him. It wasn’t a question.

“I wasn’t planning on kidnapping someone from my own pack.”

“Just checking.”

“Bye Stiles. Come back whenever you want to.”

“I know. I own the house, remember.”

“And you’re a lovely landlord.”

“Bye Stiles, I love you!” Alicia called to him and waved.

“Bye Alicia. Be good to alpha Derek.”

“Okay!”

The Boyd’s lived on the other side of town and it made Derek wonder about something.

“Alicia?”

“Yes?”

“How often does Stiles watch you after school?”

“Every Wednesday he took me home to Claudia for werewolf classes. And now that Scott is in the pack too, Stiles spends time with me on Monday at Scott and Melissa’s house. Scott has a Nintendo. It has Mario Kart. I’m not allowed to play on the Play Station with him and Stiles though, they say I’m too little.”

Her face scrunched up at the last part.

“And what about other days?”

Alicia counted on her fingers. “On Tuesdays, I go home with Brett. And on Thursdays, I go to Lorilee and Carrie. And on Fridays I spend time with Liam, but that’s not that long because my mom tries to get home earlier on Fridays.”

“They finish school at the same time as you?”

“No, they finish later, and sometimes they have practice.”

“Practice?”

“Lacrosse of course,” Alicia said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world and that Derek must be a little slow for not knowing that.

“Of course. Where do you go right after school then?”

“To mom’s office.”

“Okay. So, you go to the office first, and then the older kids pick you up from there?”

“Yeah. It’s so I can have something to eat after school. And the office is small, and mom is working, so she can’t help me with my homework.”

“Do you like it?”

“Like what?”

“Spending time with different families every day?”

“Yes!” Alicia smiled. “They’re all so nice, and they love me because I’m the littlest in the pack.”

Derek managed a smile. Such confidence and certainty.

“Are you feeling happier now, Derek?”

“I suppose so. Why?”

“Your bond felt warm.”

“Oh. Yes. I’m your alpha, and it makes me happy to hear that my pack takes such good of each other.”

“That make sense.”

He had to get directions from her about which building the Boyds lived in but managed to find an empty parking space for guests not far from the entrance. It was a boring block of concrete, but with heavily decorated balconies and window boxes everywhere.

“You don’t have to come in with me, I can go myself,” Alicia said, but Derek shook his head.

“I was hoping to talk to your mother, actually. Will she be home now?”

“Yeah. Vern won’t be home for a little while more though.”

“He works this late?”

“They’re busy building stuff.”

Derek checked his watch. It was past six. That was late for construction work, wasn’t it? He frowned, and Alicia led him by the hand to the door, past a broken elevator, and up four flights of stairs to the first door on the left.

“Mom!” she called as she entered the apartment, kicked off her shoes and threw her backpack on the floor. “Alpha came home with me, and I have to watch Frozen for homework on Monday when I go to Scott’s!”

Agnes Boyd came out from what smelled like the kitchen, wiping her hands on her flannel shirt. She was in her early forties with lines on her face from worry rather than age, and curly hair neatly collected into a braid down her back. She smiled at Derek.

“Welcome, Alpha. Will you stay for dinner?”

“I’d be happy to. I was hoping to get a chance to talk to you about pack finances. I should’ve done so a long time ago.”

“I’d be glad to answer any questions you have, Alpha. Dinner will be done soon.” She hesitated. “Why don’t you come and chop some vegetables for a salad?”

Derek couldn’t imagine anyone ever asking his mother to help make dinner. Not that she was lazy or too good to cook for others. She was often involved in making things for pack events, but not when she was a guest in a pack member’s private household. He swallowed that thought down, practically hearing Stiles’ voice in his head, calling him names for not helping out with a dinner he would be taking part of eating, and followed Agnes into the kitchen with Alicia who got out a coloring book and some crayons.

A pot of stew on the stove smelled deliciously of meat and potatoes a heap load of spices. They used fresh spices, if the many well-tended pots in the kitchen window was anything to go by, and Derek saw one of those crates he’d been receiving weekly in one corner.

“Our main income comes from the construction business,” Agnes started as she stirred the pot. “It’s not as prosperous as we’d like, but it helps pay for a lot of things for the pack. I do the books, and I helped Claudia out with the pack accounts too.”

“But it’s not the only income is it?”

Agnes smiled. “Well, no. We do pay tithes too, 10 percent of everything we make goes to the pack. And then there’s the farm.”

“Farm?”

“We own a bit of land just on the edge of the preserve, and we’ve set up some allotments there to grow things. It’s all organic of course, and we sell what we don’t use ourselves. The real money maker there though is the orchard.”

Derek had noticed that whatever else was in those crates, there were always oranges.

“That must cut down on grocery costs a bit.”

“It does. Some of us go hunting regularly too, so there’s meat coming in.”

“You go hunting in the preserve?”

“No, we go south. There’s quite a bit left of our territory before it starts to belong to the Wallace Pack. We’re on good terms with them, and part of that is sharing that area.”

Derek finished chopping the vegetables and Agnes put them all into a salad spinner with some walnuts.

“What does the pack money go to then?” Derek asked. “Stiles mentioned emergencies and education.”

“And Stiles is right. I can get you all the information you need to see the financial history of the pack accounts of course, but some of it has been put into a fund with good interest that we use for the kids’ college tuition. It doesn’t pay for everything, but it does help. I would never have been able to make it if we hadn’t had that money for Vernon.”

“And emergencies?”

“Aisha Rohr needed an operation a couple of years ago. It was expensive, even with all the favors Dr Geyer managed to pull at the hospital, but we were able to deal with it together. And not that many years ago, the Talbots had a fire in their home, and insurance wouldn’t cover enough, so the pack helped out to replace most of their things. We couldn’t afford to help them with a new house though, so they live in the next building over. William hates it. It was the first time he ever had to live in an apartment. Not that there’s anything wrong with apartments, but the concrete takes some time to get used to.”

“I know that feeling,” Derek nodded. His apartment back home had been right next to a park, and that was the only thing making it tolerable.

A sound at the door and quick sniff of the air told him Vernon Boyd had come home, and dinner was ready.

“Alicia, set the table, please.” Agnes said and Alicia put away her things to get plates and cutlery.

“Derek,” Boyd greeted him, moving to wash his hands. “This is a nice surprise.”

“Boyd,” Derek nodded. “I had some things to discuss with your mother.”

“I see. And how did the little dirt gremlin do at her lesson?”

Derek praised Alicia as much as he could, and she beamed at him.

Dinner was pleasant and comfortably quiet and calm. It made Derek miss his family more than ever though. Alicia kept up most of the conversation, talking about her earlier lesson, and school, and Stiles, and her friends, and Stiles again and Derek was starting to wonder if there might not be a little crush going on. Agnes and Boyd were both quiet people, Derek discovered, which suited him just fine.

He offered to help with the dishes when dinner was over, but Agnes shooed them out of the kitchen. “Go sit out on the balcony,” she said, “I’ll bring out some coffee in a bit.”

The balcony was full of plants; some decorative, some more kitchen herbs, and a big pot of spinach. There were a couple of chairs, and a table and Derek took the chair next to Boyd and looked over the little courtyard between the buildings. Children were kicking a ball back and forth on a patch of grass while a parent pushed a small laughing child on a creaky swingset.

“Do you like living here?” he wondered.

“No,” Boyd said. “But it’s where we live. Can’t do much about it.”

“That’s true.”

“Lots of other pack nearby, though. That’s good. Makes it safer.”

“I noticed a bunch of you lived in this area. Is that accidental or on purpose?”

“A bit of both. I’ve always lived here and so has Valerie, although her parents moved away a few years ago to be closer to her grandparents. I think a bunch of the others moved here whenever one of us heard of an empty apartment. Kincaid and Demarco lived somewhere much worse before they moved in together, and we’re still looking for a better place for Tracy.”

Boyd glanced at Derek. “Suppose Hale pack all have nicer digs?”

“They do,” Derek admitted. “It’s a matter of pride for my mother, that everyone in her pack does well in life.”

“We must be a disappointment to you.”

Derek cut him a quick look. “What makes you think that?”

Boyd shrugged. “We don’t have any way of improving things for ourselves, really. This is pretty much all we’re going to be. Manual laborers, low education, poor.”

“Nothing wrong with manual labor,” Derek said. “Hale pack isn’t exactly only lawyers and doctors.”

“And architects.”

“They don’t have any of those at all. I’m not done with school yet, and also I’m here now.”

Boyd took a deep breath and tapped his fingers against his thigh a couple of times before continuing.

“Derek, what are you planning to do?”

That came a bit out of left field. “Do?”

“Yeah. Are you planning on sticking around? Putting down roots?”

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to. You all want Stiles’ to pick an alpha, don’t you?”

“Yes we do. But until then, we need you to be here and do what you can.”

“I’m not convinced I know what to do,” Derek admitted, leaning forward on his elbows against his knees. “I don’t know what being the alpha of the Stilinski pack actually entails.”

“Yeah, we’ve noticed. You should talk to Stiles.”

Derek sighed. “Stiles hates me.”

“No he doesn’t. Stiles is just suspicious of new people. It takes him awhile to accept them. He wouldn’t speak to Dr Geyer for months when he first joined the pack. And if you can’t get Stiles on your side, you’re not going to get Kincaid. And without Kincaid, no Tracy or Demarco, and without any of them, everyone will still be on alert.”

Derek watched him curiously. “You’re clever, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am,” Boyd simply admitted.

“Do you like working in construction?” Derek asked.

“It’s a job, and it was guaranteed employment after graduation. We needed a new electrician for the business, so I did two years at the local community college to get certified.”

“What would you have done if you could’ve chosen for yourself? I mean, if your family and the pack were all taken care of, and all they wanted and needed from you was to find a job you enjoyed?”

“I would’ve been a baker.”

Agnes came in just then, with a tray of mugs and a sponge cake. “Don’t look so surprised, Alpha. My Vernon has a gift. Try this cake if you don’t believe me.”

“I’m perfectly willing to take your word for it,” Derek insisted, but he took a piece. It was soft and fluffy and absolutely delicious. “Oh my god, this is great!”

“Vernon does most of the baking for our pack events,” Agnes said proudly sitting down in the last chair, and Derek noticed Boyd puffing out his chest with a smile.

“Hm,” Derek managed to get out around the cake in his mouth. “Seems to me like you could’ve just as easily been useful to the pack as a baker. Didn’t the community college have classes for that?”

“They did,” Boyd replied. “I took one or two, just to learn something. But there was a whole apprentice thing and there wasn’t any time for that. I’m fine working for SIC though. It’s a good job. And I like being around my pack all day.”

“I do too,” Agnes said, reaching out to stroke Boyd’s arm. Her scent carried over to him and mingled with his own and Derek felt a stab in his heart with longing for being scented by pack. Or to scent them. No one in this pack smelled like him at all. Should he ask for it? Could he ask for it? Would they want him to?

“There are a lot of teens in the pack,” he said thoughtfully, forcing his mind in other directions. “How far will pack funds take them do you think?”

“They all do sports, and most of them have a good chance at scholarships. Claudia always encouraged them to work hard in school, and Stiles is smart and makes sure they all get help whenever they need it, so while all of them won’t get academic scholarships, there’s no risk of them losing out on the athletic ones because of low grades. And all the families do save up themselves of course. But if all of the kids want a four year college education, every one of us will have to chip in and work very hard at it. It’ll be some difficult years for everyone.”

Derek sighed and leaned back in his chair to sip on his coffee. “Did this bother Claudia?”

Agnes nodded sadly. “Very much. She wanted what was best for the pack, like any alpha would. Stiles will get scholarships of course. He’s bright, that boy. A bit of a troublemaker sometimes, but I don’t know anyone willing to work harder for his pack.”

She had a fond smile on her lips.

“Hey,” Derek said, the thought occurring to him suddenly. “How much are ballet classes?”

Both Boyds looked at him with surprise. “Ballet?” Agnes repeated.

“Alicia mentioned she wanted them. It’s summer soon. Is there a camp or something she’d want to go to?”

“We can’t afford it,” Boyd said. “But there is one, not far from here, yes. She has some friends at school who go there every summer. It’s three weeks, and it’s a sleep-away-camp.”

“If you sign her up, I’ll pay it,” Derek said. “She’s a good girl, she should get to do something she really wants.”

“That’s kind of you, Alpha,” Agnes started.

“Please call me Derek. I doubt you called Claudia Alpha all the time.”

“No, that’s true. But as nice as it is to offer, I don’t want my children to grow up not having to work for things. She really wants those lessons, and she’s perfectly willing to save up and work hard for it. She does chores for the pack now and then, and I think she will enjoy it much more if she gets to earn it.”

“That’s admirable,” Derek said and pondered it for a while. “How much more does she need?”

“For next fall semester, she’s about 70 short. That’ll take her a little while, but I’ve signed her up. Just don’t tell her that yet.”

“Alright. She’s your daughter. Suppose I rewarded her for doing well in her classes?”

Agnes smiled indulgently. “Learning is its own reward. But if you want to save your trash and recycling for the next time she comes over, or let her fold your laundry, then I have no objection.”

“I thought it’d make her happy. And the happiness of the youngest members of the pack is a matter of concern for the alpha. If you don’t want to let me pay for it, it could come out of the pack funds. It’s not that much, after all.”

“It’s a matter of fairness,” Boyd said. “We don’t use the pack funds for things like that.”

“Alright then. I’ll let her fold my laundry or something. But I decide how much that work is worth.”

“Very well, Alpha. Not too much, though. I want her to learn the lesson we’re trying to teach her.”

Derek simply nodded at that. Doing things for his pack was proving much harder than he thought it would be.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7 – Graduation

Stiles avoided the door to the master bedroom once again. He’d been taking Alicia to her classes every Wednesday, but sometimes he’d go to the house on Sundays too. It wasn’t bad. Derek was never rude to him, and simply asked if he needed help, and when Stiles turned him down – every single time – he’d disappear into the office or spend time on the sofa, watching Netflix or reading. He seemed to like reading, and Stiles had noticed occasionally books disappearing from his room and then reappearing by his next visit. Derek would deal with the trash for him, which Stiles appreciated. He wondered if his mother’s painting had been thrown out; he hadn’t seen it in a few weeks, and the thought of it in a landfill somewhere would never stop filling him with unease.

The kitchen didn’t need a lot of sorting out. There was no point in Stiles putting away his parent’s plates and kitchen utensils, not when Derek was living there. Stiles did save their favorite coffee mugs, stroking the mug he’d painted for his dad once in third grade with his thumb. “World’s greatest Dad”. John had been the greatest, Stiles was absolutely convinced of that. There could be no better. His mom’s favorite mug wasn’t one Stiles had made for her, but he had brought it back from a school trip in the fifth grade, to a wolf rescue, with the image of a wolf and her cub on it. It was weird to think that Derek might drink from either of them. In a cupboard he found the cookbook his grandmother had handwritten and illustrated, with little doodles and notes in the margin added by his mom, and he put that away for safekeeping too. He was about to go ask Derek if he wanted to keep the rest of the cookbooks his mom had bought but hardly ever used, when his eye fell on the paper recycling bin. At the top it all was something from University of California and he didn’t need to read it that closely to see that it was about graduation.

Stiles checked the date. It’d be in just a couple of days. But Derek hadn’t told anyone. Stiles had been added to the adult-only pack group chat, and no one had mentioned anything about it. He took a deep breath and stomped over to the office where Derek was hiding.

“Hey!” he said, throwing the door open. “What the hell? Why aren’t we invited to your graduation for?”

Derek looked up from his drafting table, blinking in confusion. “What? What are you talking about?”

Stiles glared at him. “I found that thing in the trash. Your graduation is this week, and yet not one of us have been told about it! We’re supposed to be a pack, Alpha! That means we need to know these things so we can be there and support you!”

Derek rolled his eyes, forcing his face out of his usual scowl for a couple of seconds before going back.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s your college graduation!”

“Why do you care?”

Stiles had to stop and think about that. Why did he even care? Because it was yet another sign that Derek didn’t really care about them? Because he’d thought they’d made some progress? Because he’d thought they were becoming something closer than strangers by now?

“Because you’re our alpha, and we’re your pack.”

“So?”

“So that gives us the right to celebrate you. Now, tell me what we need to do, and I’ll get a carpool thrown together so we can all go. Or as many as we can on this short notice.”

Derek’s eyebrows thought Stiles was being silly, he could tell. Derek’s eyebrows had a lot of opinions, Stiles had noticed.

“You don’t have to come. And it’s a college graduation, I couldn’t get more tickets even if I tried. Or are you suggesting you should be there instead of my closest family?”

“Oh.” Stiles had (momentarily) forgotten about the Hale pack. It wasn’t just that Derek was a former part of it, his entire family was in it. He rarely spoke about them - Derek didn’t talk a lot about himself at all, frankly. “I see. Are they throwing you a party?”

“I think we’re having a family dinner at my mom’s house. It’d be weird to throw a party with the pack since I’m not part of it anymore.”

“Well, I’m throwing you one.”

“Stiles…” The eyebrows pointed downwards again.

“Derek,” Stiles copied his tone of voice, perfectly if he’d say so himself.

“I don’t want a party. I don’t really like parties. Especially not if I’m the guest of honor. As your alpha, shouldn’t you listen to me?”

“Everybody loves parties!”

“Not. Me.”

Stiles crossed his arms over his chest and considered Derek intently. Boyd had been the first to suggest that maybe Derek was a little socially inept. Maybe he was a bit introverted. Maybe he was shy. Stiles had to admit that even Ennis the Menace would’ve done a better job of keeping in contact with his pack – if he had actually wanted to win them over. Maybe Derek truly didn’t know what he should be doing?

That was a terrifying thought! Derek had no idea he was letting them all down every time he didn’t check on them. Stiles had assumed it was disinterest in a pack that Derek was looking forward to leaving once Stiles had found them a better alpha.

Well, that wouldn’t do.

“What can we do then? Name the maximum amount of attention we, your pack, could show our alpha on one the most important moments of his life, that you could still find acceptable.”

Derek leaned back in his chair, his eyebrows knitting together again. “It’s the full moon next week. We could all go for a moonlight run and hunt. Pack event. And during said pack event, anyone who wanted to could say congratulations. I miss running with a pack.”

“Well if you missed it so much–” Stiles started, his temper rising, but stopped to calm himself down. “It’s generally the alpha who calls for pack events.”

“My mother used to. I assumed you’d all be mourning still.”

“We are!” Stiles snapped. “But we still need you to be a good alpha. I’m going to find another one, eventually, but until then, you’re here and it’s time you accept that, don’t you think?”

Derek shrugged. “So, I should invite the pack to go running more often?”

“Yes!”

It was like pulling teeth. Stiles knew it could take him awhile to find a mate. His pack deserved to be well taken care of in the meantime, and there seemed to be only way to get that done. He took a deep breath.

“Alright. You’re a terrible alpha. But you know that. You don’t know what this pack needs at all. You think everyone is going to come to you when they need you. But they’re not going to feel comfortable doing that until you reach out. And I’m going to tell you right now, that you might think throwing money at a problem is the way to go, but that just reminds us all that you’re a Hale, and we have no intention of being another Hale pack.”

Derek glared, but Stiles was unfazed by it. He could glare all he wanted.

“Any more of your alpha’s faults you’d like to point out, Stiles?”

“I can think of a few, actually. But right now, I’m more interested in how to move forward.”

“Feel free to share.” Derek kicked a chair over to him. “I’m listening, but first you need to answer a question.”

“What?” Stiles sat down and pulled the chair a little closer.

“What is this pack’s problem with my mother? What did she do? She liked your mom, had plenty of respect for her. And your pack were downright hostile to us when my uncle and I came here to help you. Would being part of the Hale pack actually be that fucking horrible?”

“We all respect Talia Hale just fine. But her way is not our way. You city packs, all you have is your territory, and wolves move in and out of it all the time. You’re not a family, like we are. The very fact that you think you need to be invited to pack’s homes show us that. Tell me, Alpha, did you even know the names of everyone in your old pack? Did you know what they wanted out of life? Did you know if they were happy or not?”

Derek grumbled something Stiles couldn’t hear. “What was that? Was that a ‘no, Stiles, I didn’t’?”

Stiles was getting more and more used to the death glares, and they didn’t affect him one bit.

“I didn’t. But I wasn’t the alpha.”

“And how often did Talia Hale, great and powerful alpha of the Sacramento territory, visit with her individual pack families? If you called her right now and asked about a random wolf, could she tell you everything about them?”

“Of course she could,” Derek said, but Stiles didn’t need super-hearing to know a lie. Not on Derek’s face. When Derek lied, he tried too hard to control his features and he otherwise only ever did that when Alicia was there.

Stiles smiled. “I’m sure she could. But that doesn’t change my point. We don’t need money and power from our alpha. We need caring, and attention, and someone who wants what’s best for us.”

He had expected Derek to throw back an angry retort, but instead the alpha slumped down in his seat with a defeated look. He looked like a little lost boy, with his pleading green eyes turned towards Stiles. Stiles might have thought it looked cute if it wasn’t Derek.

“How do I do that then? Tell me, Stiles. Please?”

“Do you really want my help?”

“I do. Just, help me get better?”

“I won’t pull any punches.”

“Oh, you’ve been pulling punches so far?”

“Very well,” Stiles shrugged, and got comfortable in his chair. “To start with, you need to go to dinner with the families.”

“What if they don’t want me to come over for dinner?”

“That doesn’t matter. We help each other out in this pack, and that means that everyone goes over to everyone all the time, and then we feed each other.”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest. “Wouldn’t it be better if I invited them over here?”

“Coward. Can you cook?”

“No, not that well,” Derek admitted.

“Perfect. We’ll use that. When we go hunting next week, you admit it to Orric Rohr, or Mary Talbot, or maybe Jenna Geyer, and one of them will take mercy on you, and that’s one invite done. And then a couple days after that, you need to just show up at one of the other’s in the afternoon, and then a couple of days after that whoever is left will invite you over, especially once they find out everyone had a good time.”

“That’s it? Have dinner?”

“And have a good time. Agnes likes you better now. You didn’t do more than eat at her house did you?” Stiles had thought it a good sign, when both Agnes and Alicia had told him how much they enjoyed having Derek over, that Derek would start to engage with the pack, but several weeks had passed now, and still there’d been nothing. He tried and failed to keep in his exasperated sigh.

“We talked a bit.”

“Yeah, you’re not that bad once you actually start talking. Except when you put your foot in your mouth, but you can apologize when that happens. Make sure you ask them how they’re doing. I feel like I shouldn’t have to explain common courtesy to you, Alpha, but here we are.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure to have dinner with the families. What about the others?”

“Some of them will be trickier.” Stiles counted them off on his fingers. “You might bring lunch to Tara, Val and Jordan some time if they’re all on shift at the same time. You could eat it together. No one will bat an eye at the station if you do that.”

Derek leaned forward and Stiles took that as a sign of encouragement.

“And what about Kincaid? He was your mother’s second, wasn’t he? He doesn’t seem interested in being mine.”

“He’s not. But second isn’t an inherited position anyway. When the alpha changes, the second does too. It’s about trust. You don’t have his, and he doesn’t have yours. You need to pick a new one. But that won’t be a problem.”

“No?”

Sometimes Stiles questioned Derek’s intelligence. “No. It’s Boyd.”

“It is?”

“It is, it’s obvious. And you’re kinda similar. You can sort that out later though. You need to win over the families. And talk to the kids too.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, Derek, there’s lots more. Lots and lots. But this comes first. I’ll tell you when you need to do something else.”

Derek nodded. “Deal. Dinner with the families.”

Stiles let out a sigh. Alright. They were on the right track. That was at least something.

“Good. And what are you going to do next week?”

“What?”

“You’ve graduated. What about work?”

“I’m going to be an architect,” Derek said matter-of-factually. “Or do you have opinions on that too?”

Stiles did have opinions, and plenty of them, but that wasn’t the point right now.

“No, I get that. I mean, are you going to open your own firm, or are you going to apply for one in town? You do plan on working from Beacon Hills, don’t you?”

“I have a plan.”

“Tell me the plan, so I can tell you if it’s a good one.”

Derek half-exhaled, and half-growled and Stiles didn’t miss it. He also didn’t care and waited for Derek to talk.

“I was going to start my own firm. It’ll make it easier for me when there’s a new alpha and I can go back to Sacramento. And I was going to talk to Agnes and have SIC put out a notice that if you hire them, you can get 20% off the cost of any architectural work needed for the build. It’ll give me some early business, and it’ll help the pack company.”

Alright, Stiles was surprised, and maybe a little impressed – but it wasn’t as if his mom hadn’t had that idea too a couple of times. “And you think that’ll help both you and the company?”

“I do. You don’t?”

“Maybe. We’ll see, I suppose.”

Derek rolled his eyes again and Stiles turned his back on him and returned to organizing the kitchen.

It turned out that Talia could in fact not say much about a random pack member when Derek asked her as he was peeling carrots for their dinner after his graduation. She knew everyone’s names of course, but Derek asked for someone he thought she wouldn’t know so well, and was disappointed to learn that Stiles had been right. Jake had gone to school with Derek, but he hadn’t had any reason to ask his alpha for help with anything for years; he had a good job and wasn’t involved with anyone, and Talia hadn’t talked to him alone for months, and didn’t have any reason to think that was odd.

“He knows he can come here whenever he needs anything,” Talia insisted, putting the roast in the oven, “Has he said anything to you to make you think something’s wrong?”

“No, not at all,” Derek said, shaking his head. “I was just curious. Claudia was very involved in her pack, it seems.”

“She could do that with less than twenty wolves, Derek. Do you know how big my pack is?”

“No, I understand that. I wasn’t criticizing you, mom.”

A glint in her eye told him that was a good thing.

“How are you coming along with the pack then?”

Derek sighed. “In some respects, well, and some others, not as well. I’ve bonded a little with some, and others barely want to talk to me.”

His inner wolf growled lowly at him, warning him against exposing his weaknesses to the alpha of another pack, and that Stiles wouldn’t like it. Damned Stiles, invading his brain and his wolf to yell at him in his head too, and not just to his face. This was Derek’s mother!

“You’ll figure it out,” Talia said kindly, but half-heartedly, patting him on the cheek. It would’ve felt comfortable to be scented by his mother if she hadn’t been replacing the few traces of Boyd and Alicia off of him with her own scent. “And you know you can always ask me for help if you need it. Or Laura.”

Derek did know that. But it wouldn’t be appropriate, would it? Besides, his challenges were different than what his mom had experience with.

“The house is coming along,” he said instead. “Stiles comes over to clean it up, but it goes slow. The kitchen and the guest room feel more like mine now. We’re working on the living room. We found a place on one of the book shelves for my award. One of my pack came by to install a light for it too. It looks nice.”

He’d hoped she might comment on his award, even in passing, but Talia had caught onto other things.

“Stiles hasn’t given you the master bedroom yet? You are the alpha.”

“It was his parents’. And the guest room is perfectly comfortable. He needs more time with that, and he can have it.”

“Have there been many suitors around? Peter mentioned he saw them trying to catch Stiles’ attention at the funeral.”

Derek took a surprised step back. “You think they’ll show up just like that?”

“No reason why they couldn’t. They should be approaching you asking for permission of course, since it’s your territory and he’s your pack human, but they’ll start coming soon, I expect.”

“I don’t want to give people permission to court Stiles! That’s creepy!”

Talia smiled indulgently at him. “Why is it creepy, Derek?”

“Because they shouldn’t be doing that at all! He’s sixteen! He has two whole years of high school left! And it’s not up to me!”

“I thought you wanted him to find someone as soon as possible, so you could come back home? We miss you, and there’s so much Peter and I have to teach you. We’ve barely started your training.”

“I do want him to find someone. But I don’t want him to feel forced to! Besides, just because these people are sons and daughters of other alphas doesn’t mean they’ll be good alphas themselves.”

Derek’s heart sank in his chest when he saw the look on his mother’s face, the restraint, and the words not said. Like him. He was the son of an alpha, but he was doing a terrible job at it. He tried shaking the thought away; Stiles would pick someone better. And Stiles wouldn’t be tricked by words and flattery.

“Well,” Talia said, checking on the potatoes. “I’m sure it will all work out in the end. I’ll send Cora to see him eventually, I suppose, to give it a try. You never know. They’re the same age.”

Derek shuddered. “Please, mom, keep Cora as far away from Stiles as you can. The two of them together would take over the world and then they’d set it on fire just for kicks. Save us all. Don’t send Cora.”

“Very well,” Talia smiled and patted him on the cheek again. “For now.”

Had the moon always had a sound?

Should Derek be feeling it pulsating in his veins like this?

On some level, yes, maybe, the moon could pull on the water in his body like a tide, making it feel like the moon had its own pulse, but Derek had never experienced anything quite like it before. It wasn’t his first full moon since becoming an alpha, but the first one had been spent alone.

His entire pack were there now. Everyone, even the humans. The humans had been running with them at first and Derek had fun chasing Stiles a bit, tackling him to the ground and some of the pack had laughed and then Alicia had climbed on top of him to tickle him relentlessly and transferring her scent onto Derek and everything had been good, but now-

Now the humans had stayed back at the camp fire, and it was just the wolves, with the scent of their prey in front of them, all following Derek but not quite. They weren’t a unit, not yet, but he could feel every heartbeat, he could hear every pant of their breaths, and it was completely different to full moon runs with his mother. Something was pulling on his skin and flesh, and his inner wolf was practically singing with joy at being let out like this, loping through the woods south of Beacon Hills.

The group of deer suddenly veered west, and Derek could feel some of his pack mates split off, without words, only instinct, to better bring their prey down.

And then suddenly, the back of a hoof was visible on a corner of the path not far ahead and Derek sped up, feeling the wolves close to him follow suit and then there was just his teeth and the flesh and the blood and claws and sounds of animals dying quickly. The moon was still, somehow, pounding in his head and veins, and he could sense his pack shifting around him, coming back to human far quicker than he was himself.

“You okay Derek?” Boyd asked next to him and Derek managed a nod. Something was different about him now, but this wasn’t the time or place to figure out exactly what it was. He shifted and looked around. Four kills. That wasn’t bad.

The fire was roaring when they made it back to their camp. Melissa was bundled up against the night cold, and Dr Geyer was sticking close to the fire, but Stiles and Aisha Rohr were dressed lightly, laying on a blanket in the clearing and basking in the moonlight. Stiles raised his head when they approached.

“Did you bring us food?” he shouted, and Derek dropped the biggest deer in front of him.

“There. Food. Weren’t you supposed to be cooking?”

“It’s ready to put the meat in, Alpha, I assume you know how to clean your part?”

Stiles gave him a pointed look and Derek obediently shook his head. “I’m really bad at that. Wouldn’t know where to begin, actually.”

“We can teach you,” Aisha Rohr offered. “Bring your share to our house tomorrow maybe? My husband will show you how to cook game the right way.”

“Tonight is more about sharing than stuffing ourselves full anyway,” Stiles said, took out a sharp knife and started taking off the skin with the skill and ease of someone who’d spent all his life on full moon hunts. One of the deer was quickly chopped up into pieces and went into a pot over the fire along with potatoes and some other vegetables, and the others were divided up and wrapped up with butcher paper in about twenty equal pieces. This was not how Hale Pack did their full moons, but Derek found he didn’t mind. A bottle of something was passed around between the adults and Derek pretended not to see the teenagers sneaking off with their own. The only one in danger of getting drunk would be Stiles anyway, and Stiles, Derek was starting to trust, could take care of himself.

“Congratulations on graduating, Alpha Hale,” Tara said as she sat down next to him. She smelled pleasantly of pack. “You’re a real adult now, huh?”

“Something like that,” Derek smiled and accepted a bowl of the stew from the fire. The delicious scents coming from the bowl made his mouth water and he wasted no time in put the spoon into the scrumptious meal.

“What’s the plan now then?” Boyd asked, sitting down on his other side and Derek explained his idea of offering a discount for his services for anyone hiring SIC.

“That could work,” Boyd nodded. “A lot of our clients could’ve benefited from that I think. Architect’s fees can get so expensive in the long run.”

“I can help you draw up a flyer!” Alicia said with enough excitement to spill her bowl.

“You can help me make one on my computer,” Derek offered. “Next week, after your lesson.”

“You’ll end up with a flyer with talking snowmen that way,” Parrish said and most of the people around them laughed. Derek leaned back against the tree where he was sitting and let the scents and sounds of his pack fill the air. His inner wolf curled up into a happy ball of fur and closed its eyes in contentment.

The Rohrs lived in a house and seemed to be among the few people in the pack who did so. It was small and unassuming, much like the Stilinski home, but it looked nice and was clearly well-kept. It also wasn’t far from Derek’s current residence, so he opted for a walk, his parcel of deer meat tucked underneath one arm. In the weeks that had passed since his accidental alpha spark acquisition, he’d seen more of Beacon Hills and had managed to conclude that he didn’t actually live in the poor part of town. There were definitely neighborhoods that told tales of higher affluency, but this one was safe and quiet, with people home in the middle of the day – and not for reasons having do to with drugs – and a neighborhood watch in place. Derek had been invited to attend a meeting by a well-meaning neighbor once it had been established that he was the Stilinskis’ new tenant, but Stiles had warned him that it was a chance for some people to set him up with their daughters.

The lights were on when Derek approached, and he knocked on the door.

Lorilee, a blonde girl of about fifteen, opened the door and waved him inside without much ceremony, tripping over her Lacrosse gear when she did so and cursing loudly. “Shit, sorry Alpha. Come in, come in.”

“Language!” Orric Rohr yelled from another room and then emerged by the hall. “Hello, Derek. Welcome to our home. Sorry about the mess. You know what teenagers are like.”

“I do,” Derek nodded. Cora was sixteen, and Malia was even worse. He missed them suddenly, and intensely.

“Well, come in, come in, and let’s get started on that meat. You brought all of it?”

Derek frowned. “Oh, I didn’t know how much I’d need.”

“That’s alright, it’ll keep.”

Orric led the way into the kitchen where Aisha was seated at the table working on some papers. Orric put the meat on a heavy wooden block and took out a long, sharp and imposing knife. “So, tell me, Alpha. Are you any handy in the kitchen at all?”

Derek shook his head. “I eat a lot of takeout.”

“We’ll try to take care of that then. Of course, one of the easiest ways to cook game is doing it much like we do after our runs, in a stew or casserole, but I thought we could try a venison roast tonight? It’s a good recipe for you, living alone like you do. You can use the leftovers for a few days, and put it in sandwiches for lunch etc.”

“Sounds good.”

He washed his hands and then tried to follow as Orric showed him how to prepare it, remembering that Agnes Boyd had liked it when he helped out, and did his best to follow the instructions. After a little while, Aisha rose from the table.

“I’ll peel the potatoes,” she said, reaching for a drawer.

“It’s Carrie’s turn,” Orric said with a nod to a chore wheel on the fridge door.

“I know, but she’s doing her homework still.”

Orric cocked his head to the side. “No, she’s not. They’re done now. They’re messing around on their phones.”

He called Carrie down and Aisha sighed and smiled at Derek. “She’s going to be in trouble for that later,” she said. “House rules means no taking advantage of the fact that a human lives here to avoid doing your chores. Or sneaking out.”

“That’s a good rule,” Derek said. “Can’t be easy for you.”

“It’s not a real hardship. But fair must be fair. And of course I’m used to all kinds of excuses kids will make.”

“You teach, right?”

“Yes. Seventh and eighth grade history. None of the pack’s kids are in my classes now, though.”

Carrie came into the kitchen and Derek glanced at her. Her blonde hair wasn’t exactly like Lorilee’s, but there was a resemblance between the girls. Or maybe it was just that they were two blonde, white girls of the same age? He hadn’t looked at Carrie’s file in Claudia’s cabinet despite his curiosity and he looked at Aisha who returned him a blank look.

He frowned and returned to what he was doing with the meat, while Carrie ignored him and Orric talked about all the wonderful things you could cook with venison. Derek knew all about that; he was a werewolf. But being a werewolf didn’t help him with how to cook it. There were too many chefs in his family for him to ever have been needed for potato peeling duty unless it was to talk to whoever was cooking.

The roast went into the oven and Orric handed him the recipe on a sheet of paper. “Now we have to wait, and it’ll be delicious, you’ll see.”

“Thank you.”

“There! Done!” Carrie said. “Nice to see you alpha, but one of my friends got dumped by her boyfriend and now she’s talking about dating his sister for revenge and I need to cheer her on, because Lori is trying to talk her out of it.”

She disappeared upstairs again, and Aisha shook her head with a smile.

Derek inspected his shoes. This is where he should talk. Stiles would be smacking him over the head by now and making him talk. “Are the girls doing well in school?” he managed eventually and Orric smiled.

“They do. Not the top of their classes, but Carrie especially works very hard. She wants to be a lawyer.”

“And Lorilee?”

“She hasn’t decided yet. I think she just wants to play lacrosse for now.”

“She is young,” Derek nodded.

“Yes,” Orric said, and then the conversation died again.

Dinner was ready and served not long thereafter and Derek was glad to notice that the two girls were able to keep up the dinner conversation very well by themselves with only occasional topics introduced by Orric or Aisha that Derek could answer with as few or as many words as he wished. He often chose the former.

When dinner was over and Derek and Aisha were seated in their living room with the girls upstairs again, he finally managed to learn about Carrie living with the Rohrs.

“It was a feral alpha,” Aisha started. “Carrie was only six years old, and the alpha attacked her family’s car. Her parents died right on impact with a tree, but Carrie made it, and the alpha bit her. Claudia and Kincaid dealt with the alpha and then we had a hell of a time getting the girl out of the hospital without anyone being suspicious!”

Derek smiled. “I can imagine.”

“In most ways it worked out fine, I suppose. But let’s just say, that’s how Dr Geyer learnt about werewolves. Jenna distracted him enough for us to get custody sorted. And that’s how the two of them met.”

“It was good you were able to take Carrie in. Claudia didn’t want to herself?”

Orric joined them, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. “I think she wanted to. But Stiles was going through a tough time back then, and John and Claudia were extra sensitive to him feeling replaced by a werewolf child. The Talbots offered too, but it made the most sense for Carrie to live with us, since we had a daughter already. And Aisha being a teacher worked out well for the social services people, but anyone would have stepped up if we hadn’t been able to. And she’s our daughter too now, you know?”

“You take care of each other,” Derek mumbled to himself. Not that he’d ever imagined that a pack orphan wouldn’t be well taken care of in his mother’s pack. “What was Stiles going through?”

“Sorry? What about Stiles?”

“You said Stiles was going through a tough time.”

Husband and wife exchanged a quick glance. “Well, he has ADHD, for one thing,” Aisha said, “and they were having some trouble figuring out exactly that’s what it was. He needed a lot of their time and attention, is all. He’s doing great these days. Takes his meds on time, and Dr Geyer keeps a good eye on him, and now he lives with Melissa too. You don’t have to worry about Stiles, Derek.”

But there was a tender smile on her lips and gentle pat on her husband’s arm, and Derek nodded. “It’s my job to care now, isn’t it?”

Orric nodded to. “Yes it is, Alpha Hale.”

When Derek came home that night, he took a moment to take in his own scent. He’d picked up the smells from the family home, but there had been a few tentative arm pats during the evening, and as he was leaving, he’d taken the plunge and scented them all properly. His pack bonds to the four of them felt stronger now.

He checked his to do list. One family dinner to cross over. Inviting himself over to the Talbots or the Geyers would be awkward, but he was determined to follow Stiles’ advice despite how uncomfortable it would make him.

Care. Consideration. That’s what it all meant. Derek didn’t doubt for one moment that his mother cared about her pack. She would, and often did, put the pack first. But the Stilinski pack needed him to care more. And show it more.

Derek went into the home office and turned on his laptop. Agnes had given him all access to the pack funds and while she had offered to help him stay on top of things, everything that was pack related was under his control now. The pack was registered as a members-only civic organization, like most smaller packs were, and while its finances were in order, with some low risk investments for what Derek could see were college costs and some money labelled emergency, there wasn’t a lot to it. The monthly income through ‘club fees’ was meagre, and the money from the construction business wasn’t much to write home about after expenses. He had always hoped to be a financial success as an architect. He’d bring in more than the average pack member would, he felt sure of that. And Derek could afford to give more than the regular tithe, if he wanted to.

He frowned as he looked at the college savings. He counted the kids currently in the pack. Stiles of course. Scott and Carrie would need money at the same time as him. Lorilee, Brett and Liam were only a year younger. They’d all be out of college by the time it was Alicia’s turn to go, but if Carrie needed money for law school… They were all good kids and they deserved to have their dreams come true.

It wouldn’t be enough. There wasn’t enough money, and he had to assume the pack knew that. His wolf whined inside of him at the thought of his pack being unhappy and worrying.

Derek had never in his life been hindered by a lack of funds. If he’d wanted summer camp, he’d get it. If he’d wanted after-school classes, he’d get them. He’d done well in school and played decent ball, but he’d never been made to feel that he needed those things to get scholarships so he could follow his dreams. Talia Hale did not spoil her children rotten like some rich parents did, but Derek and his sisters had never worried about money.

But Stiles had said money wasn’t what this pack needed, and he couldn’t just throw it at them, even if he could make enough money to put eight kids through college in only two years’ time, which seemed completely impossible.

He did some quick research on how much would be needed if the kids got all the scholarships they hoped to, and if they stayed in California, and then opened up his own finances. His money was their money now, wasn’t it? He was a member of this pack too, now, even if it wasn’t for that long. It wasn’t the same thing as a gift.

He swallowed and took out his phone. This wasn’t begging a favor from another pack. This was him asking advice from a family member. He dialed Peter’s number.

Chapter Text

“It’s absolute bullshit that we can’t work at the firm,” Brett sighed with a yawn. The creaking of his plastic seat cut straight through Stiles’ concentration and into his brain like a bread knife. “And they said I was too young at the movie theater.”

“I thought you asked too late, and all the jobs were full up?” Lorilee laughed and threw a fry at him. “Besides, isn’t this more fun on a summer afternoon? Don’t you agree, Stiles?”

Stiles nodded but didn’t take his head out of his book. Liam tapped him on the shoulder. “Stiles? Are you listening?”

He looked up. “I heard you. Hanging out and spending your allowance is more fun than earning money to spend. I agree. And you’re not too young to work at the movie theater, Brett. You were just late getting your applications in. Do better next year.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Brett smirked and got another fry thrown at him.

“How is summer school?” Carrie asked, leaning back and stretching out her long legs as well as she could under the table.

“Boring. Should’ve added another class.”

“You could have helped us out with the firm,” Liam said. “Mrs. Boyd would’ve listened to you if you’d suggested they hire us all over the summer.”

“No she wouldn’t,” Stiles said, shaking his head. “Mom’s rules. Seventeen and then you can start working for the construction firm. Not until then. Kincaid would’ve made sure.”

“Scott’s got a job,” Brett grumbled.

“He’s had that job for a while already. And he’s working with Deaton, he’s not getting his arm accidentally sawed off.”

“I’m just saying,” Brett continued, “that if they’d hired us all, they could’ve accepted more contracts. Which means money. Money is good.”

“Money is good,” Stiles nodded, “so stop throwing fries around.”

That earned him a fry to the head, and he returned his gaze to his book for a few minutes while the others talked about their plans of heading over to the lacrosse field once Scott got off work in a few hours.

The sound of a particular car engine could easily conquer the allure of a textbook, no matter what the topic, and he looked up again. They were seated on the outdoor area of Beacon Hill’s cheapest burger place and Lydia Martin’s car did not belong there. Lydia Martin, supreme goddess of everything, including Stiles’ heart, did not eat at Beacon Hills’ cheapest burger place. And yet, there she was, coming down the parking lot towards the entrance.

“Hi Lydia!” he called and was rewarded by a quick smile before she went inside.

“Hi Lydia,” Carrie mocked when she was out of hearing distance. “God, Stiles, why don’t you try asking her out?”

“She’s dating Jackson,” Stiles reminded her. “And she’s not interested. She barely acknowledges my existence. A smile and sometimes a hello, that’s all I get. And the point is moot anyway, because she is not a werewolf. Give it up. I have.”

He didn’t need to look to know they were all rolling their eyes around the table. It didn’t help. Lydia was never going to be an option for him anyway, his little crush not-withstanding. He saw her come out of the restaurant a couple of minutes later with a salad and put his nose back in the book. Summer classes kept him busy for a couple of hours every day, and three afternoons a week he helped out sorting files and doing other office work at the police station. If he could finish his school work earlier, he might be able to talk Tara into adding a few hours to his schedule so he could get his Jeep fixed faster. It was still in the driveway at his old home, covered with a tarp. No point in having it towed until he could afford to fix it.

Stiles noticed suddenly that all his friends had turned towards the parking lot again, eyes and ears alert, and he looked around. Oh.

“Hi Stiles,” waved the girl who’d just driven up in the cherry red convertible and hopped out. “Glad I found you.”

“Jessie Wallace. What are you doing in Beacon Hills?”

She was seventeen, he knew that, maybe almost eighteen, and her father was the alpha of the nearest territory to the south. Her long brown hair had touches of blonde in it, she was within an inch of Stiles’ own height, and he would be a liar if he didn’t admit that she was gorgeous with her bright blue eyes and that fit and firm body all born werewolves seemed to be blessed with.

She had also never paid much attention to Stiles before, at any event where they’d met as part of the neighboring packs. A year meant a lot at their age.

“I was hoping to run into you,” she smiled and leaned forward against the table. Her shirt had an open neck line and Stiles forced himself to look up at her face. She smelled like peaches; it might have been her shiny lip gloss.

“No one told us there’d be Wallace wolves on our territory,” Brett said, and Carrie’s arm snaked around Stiles waist, her eyes fixed on the new werewolf.

“It wasn’t planned.” Jessie shrugged. “I just wanted to see if Stiles wanted to hang out today. We haven’t talked in a while.”

“I can’t remember last time we talked,” Stiles agreed. Probably never, not beyond a casual greeting or being asked to pass food. Alpha Wallace had three children, and Jessie was the youngest. Stiles and Jeremy Wallace, the eldest child, could sometimes get into long debates about Batman comics, but none of the Wallace kids had actually been friends of his.

“Alpha Wallace should’ve notified Alpha Hale,” Brett insisted. “That’s protocol. Did he?”

“Or does Alpha Wallace not know you’re here?” Liam asked with genuine innocence.

“Of course my alpha knows I’m here,” Jessie said quickly, and Lorilee gave Stiles a nod behind her back. “This is just a social visit, kids. I can’t imagine why Alpha Hale would have a problem with it. Shall we go then?”

The puppies, all at once, shifted in their seats, moving just a little bit closer to Stiles and Carrie’s grip hardened around him to the point where it hurt and Stiles decided he’d had enough.

“Guys, it’s alright. She shouldn’t have come into the territory without letting Derek know, but it’s fine. It’s just Jessie. It is just you, right?”

She nodded. “Of course it’s just me. And I won’t keep him that long. He’ll be back in time to walk you all home later, I promise.”

She straightened, flashed Stiles a smile and turned to walk back to her car, not looking back.

“That’s some nerve on her!” Carrie growled. “You know she has no right to be here, and Alpha Wallace shouldn’t have let her come. We should tell our alpha, Stiles.”

“I’ll send Derek a text to let him know what’s up, now let me go. It’ll be fine.”

“Promise us you’ll tell Alpha,” Liam said, gripping Stiles’ wrist as he dislodged from the group to walk over to the car.

“Don’t stay out too late,” he called to them and shoved his book in his bag.

Jessie was leaning on the side of the car with a smile. “Overprotective little puppies, aren’t they?”

“They’re looking out for me. We’re family.” He let a harder edge slip into his tone and looked her in the eye. “We’re all family here.”

She threw up her hands. “Fine fine, I won’t say anything about your pack. Do you want to drive?”

He felt his jaw drop. “You’d let me?”

“Sure, why not? You’re a good driver, aren’t you? Sheriff’s son and all?” She tossed him the keys and he caught them.

“Yeah, of course.”

Stiles loved his jeep. It had belonged to his mother a long time ago and he took care of the rust bucket as well as he could, but it was nothing compared to the gentle purr of Jessie’s car as he started it.

“Your car is awesome!” he exclaimed five minutes later when they were flying down the road. “Where are we going?”

“I don’t care,” Jessie laughed. “Show me somewhere nice to have a picnic.”

“Picnic?”

She pointed to a basket and blanket in the backseat, and Stiles steered towards the preserve.

“This is cool,” she said when they parked not far from a bigger picnic spot. “I remember us going here for a pack event once and Jeremy threw some kid into the water.”

“That was Brett,” Stiles said, offering to carry the basket. “He never got over it. He’s not a good swimmer.”

“Aw, that’s so sad,” Jessie said, but she was still smiling. She looped her arm with Stiles’ and started pulling him forward. “Come on now. I am starving and there’s some really nice stuff in this basket.”

The most popular picnic place wasn’t empty, but the clearing had plenty of rocks and bushes to provide multiple spaces, and they found a semi-secluded place in view of the river to put down their blanket.

“I did just eat,” Stiles said as Jessie started taking out plastic containers and wraps.

“I keep forgetting you’re not a werewolf,” she laughed again. She had a nice laugh, happy and carefree and it made her eyes sparkle in the sunlight. He liked looking at her when she laughed. “Try some. You can have the leftovers if there’s something you want but don’t have room for right now. I don’t mind. I’m just here to spend time with you.”

Had she moved closer? Yes, she had definitely been sitting further away when she first sat down. Stiles took a bite from a delicious teriyaki chicken sandwich with a lot of sweet onion sauce on it and jumped when his phone rang.

“Crap, I forgot to text Derek,” he sighed and answered it.

“Stiles? Are you okay?” Derek said in an urgent tone. “Brett just called me and said you’re somewhere alone with a new werewolf.”

“Okay, first,” Stiles said, wiping the sauce from his mouth, “are you forty? Who uses their phone as a phone these days? You could’ve texted. And secondly, she’s not new to me. It’s Jessie Wallace, Alpha Wallace’s daughter, and she’s not a stranger. I’ve known her all my life. And third, we’re just having a picnic. I’m safe.”

Jessie was politely looking away, out over the water, but Stiles of course knew she was listening. It was second nature for werewolves to eavesdrop on phone conversations.

“So, she’s a friend, then?”

“Does it matter?”

“I just want to know you’re safe.”

“Well, I am, I just told you.”

“No one told me there’d be strange werewolves in town today.”

“Yeah, about that,” Stiles said with a guilty look at Jessie. “While everything is totally alright and I’m perfectly safe and nothing bad has occurred here, Alpha Wallace totally should’ve told you one of his pack would be coming to Beacon Hills.”

Jessie blushed in the corner of Stiles’ eye.

“I’ll give him a call then,” Derek said, and Stiles let out an involuntary sigh of relief. It might only be a minor breech in protocol, but Derek still needed to address it with Wallace.

“Good. If you call him today, tell him I said hi.”

“I’m out with Tara, Val and Jordan right now. I’ll call him tomorrow.”

Stiles grinned to himself. “You’re out with the cops? Are you bonding? Was it your own idea?”

Derek chuckled on the other end of the line. “It was my idea, yes, and I came up with it all without your help. We’re just having a drink. Their shifts ended an hour ago. And tomorrow I’m going into work for SCI, also something I decided without your help.”

“I am so proud of you,” Stiles joked, but only half. Since their little talk before Derek’s graduation, the alpha had done a much better job at socializing with the pack, but Stiles still wouldn’t have thought that he’d seek out the cops without some further prodding. A sound from Jessie’s throat reminded him of her presence. “I got to go now though.”

“You will call if there’s any problem,” Derek ordered him, and Stiles rolled his eyes at that. “And you will text me when you’re home at Melissa’s again. Got it?”

“I got it. Bye Derek.”

“Bye Stiles.”

He was still smiling when he hung up and Jessie gave him a curious look. “How is all that working out?”

Did she seriously expect him to sit and talk about his alpha, just like that?

“It’s great,” he said. “We’re thrilled to have Derek Hale as our new alpha even though of course everyone misses my mother.”

“I remember meeting Derek Hale once. He didn’t say much, and kind of glared at everyone and everything. Not much for company.”

Stiles reached for his sandwich again. “Maybe he had a tummy ache.”

Jessie laughed but gave him a look out of the corner of her eye. “He’s hot. Don’t you think?”

“I guess.”

“You guess? Not into guys, Stiles?”

He stopped chewing. Her gaze was fixed on his face. He shrugged. “I’m sixteen, and I’m not into guys who are 22.”

“You’ll be older soon. Would you like it better if it was a girl that age?”

“No, I would still technically be jail bait, and I wouldn’t be interested in someone who would enjoy that.”

He gave her as pointed a look as he could handle. “When’s your birthday by the way?”

Her smile died on her lips. “In two months. So dad thought I’d better hurry up.”

“You don’t even like me that way.”

The look on her face suggested that didn’t have anything to do with it and he sighed and put his sandwich down. This was just the Wallace pack sending their kid who was closest in age to him before they were on opposite sides of the age of consent. Most likely, Stiles guessed, to try and seal some sort of deal before anyone else tried it. Jessie was hot. No one would ever beat Lydia of course, but Jessie was nice, even though he didn’t know much about her. And already a werewolf, already knowing what would be needed of her, and what would be needed for the pack.

“I do like you,” she said then. “Never thought of you as much more than a kid, but we could be friends, you know. We could hang out. And maybe in a couple of years, we’d find we had a ton of things in common. We could be good for each other.”

Bottom line, Stiles supposed, was that either feelings mattered, or they didn’t. He should either be falling in love with her, or all that mattered would be if she’d make a good alpha.

“What about my pack?” he asked. “What would be good for them?”

“We already share the woods between our territories. We could be one big pack. The Wallace-Stilinski pack. We could grow it even more. And our kids, or my brother’s kids could be alpha over one of the largest packs in the area, second only to the Hales.”

Stiles wrapped up the sandwich again and put it back in the basket. He wiped the crumbs from his shirt, and then his mouth on the back of his hand. “That’s not what my pack needs. I have homework to do. Can we go back?”

Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded.

Scott was coming home from work as the car stopped outside the McCalls’, and he shifted instantly and jumped in front of Stiles, his claws out and a growl in his throat.

“Who’s this and why’s she in our territory?” he spat out, and Stiles rolled his eyes. Scott had been a werewolf for less than six months, but the whole ordeal with Ennis had been enough to make him more territorial and suspicious of other wolves than most born ones.

“It’s Alpha Wallace’s daughter,” Stiles said with his hand on Scott’s shoulder. “And it’s fine. We’ve just had a picnic, and she’ll be leaving our territory now. Going straight home, right Jessie?”

Jessie held up her hands in disarm but with an amused curl of her lips. “I wouldn’t dream of lingering. It was fun talking to you, Stiles. Hope to see more of you in the future.”

“Sure.”

“Does Alpha know she’s here?” Scott growled.

“He knows. It’s all okay. Relax, Scott.”

“Yes, Scott. Relax.” Jessie came forward to give Stiles a quick hug and Scott’s growls grew louder.

“Bye Jessie,” Stiles said and flicked Scott on the nose. “Down, boy. Come on, I want to play Uncharted.”

[Stiles]

Home now all’s well

[D. Hale]

Thank you.

Call later.

Derek put away his phone. And then he took it out again, read the text and put it away.

“Is that from Stiles?” Parrish asked taking a sip from his beer.

Derek nodded. “He’s back at Melissa’s now.”

Tara leaned forward and looked eyes with him over the table at what passed for a cop bar in Beacon Hills. Derek had expected that cops drinking in this place would at least keep trouble makers away, but the chairs and tables as well as a broken glass mirror behind the more expensive liquor spoke of more than one bar fight in recent history. “What Wallace tried to pull was completely unacceptable. No matter how innocent of an errand, he never would have sent one of his wolves to our territory without letting Claudia know first.”

Derek nodded. “I’ll tell him tomorrow.”

Valerie put a handful of peanuts in her mouth. “At least it was only his daughter.”

“One girl or three adult beta enforcers, it doesn’t matter,” Tara said.

“Yeah I know! I mean that he wouldn’t have sent only his daughter with no backup whatsoever if there had been any bad intentions.”

“She was still coming to talk to one of our pack humans, and she separated him from the other kids,” Jordan pointed out.

“I’ll talk to the kids,” Derek said. “Or I’ll talk to Stiles.”

“Stiles will love that,” Valerie laughed.

“We’ll just have to make sure the next time someone comes to court Stiles, there’ll be a chaperon,” Tara said, and Derek groaned.

“You make him sound like a princess.”

“I’m sorry alpha, but it’s true. If Jessie Wallace showed up, there’ll be others. And they’ll all be stronger than Stiles, and most will be older and more experienced, and some of them won’t be so used to the word no. I trust Stiles’ judgment as much as anyone else in this pack does, but he’s still only sixteen. He can be manipulated. And he can definitely be threatened.”

“He’s good at making things worse when people are already mad at him,” Jordan added. “I love the kid, but let’s not pretend he’s doesn’t have a smart mouth. If some of those wolves think he’s going to be easily won over and find out he’s not, things could go bad.”

“I know,” Derek said feeling a headache building behind his temple. “What do you want me to do about it? I can’t control who he goes out with, and I’m not going to vet suitors for him.” The thought made Derek deeply uncomfortable. He wanted as little to do with Stiles’ dating life as possible.

“Look, Derek, I get it. I do,” Tara said, gentler now. “But strange wolves visiting our territory need to talk to you anyway. Insist that Scott or Carrie goes with Stiles on a first meeting with someone who wants to spend time with him. That’s not unreasonable to ask of these werewolves, and it’s not unreasonable to ask it of Stiles. And Scott and Carrie will do what you tell them to. They’re loyal.”

He nodded and smiled. Tara was clever, and he hadn’t been surprised when the election for sheriff had gone in her favor a month prior.

It had been a stroke of luck that they’d all been working the same shift on the day Derek had reached out to Jordan to see if he wanted to get a drink. Unless they’d quickly rearranged their schedules and hadn’t told him. After a series of awkward but mostly successful dinners with the families of the pack, their scents slowly building up on Derek’s skin, he’d made an attempt to reach out to Jordan Parrish. Derek liked him so far; they were close in age, and he hoped they could be friends. Valerie, at just a couple of years older, was Jordan’s complete opposite, but Derek hadn’t missed the occasional flirtatious word or look between them and Tara had rolled her eyes at them every time.

“Any business yet?” Valerie asked and Derek shook his head.

“No, but no one knows me in this town. I need to get someone to take a chance on an unknown name, and after that things will pick up.”

“You should’ve included that fancy award in your ads,” Tara said. “Let the good people of Beacon Hills know who’s among us now.”

“I don’t like to seem like I’m bragging,” Derek said.

“We’re bragging though,” Tara said. “And Kincaid might not like it, but the crew is too. Something will show up soon.”

Ah yes. Kincaid. When Derek had told them he’d come help out with construction, Kincaid had been less than welcoming, and Derek didn’t look forward to being under that man’s scrutiny all day. With any luck, they’d ask him to simply carry stuff, maybe mix some cement. Not that Derek didn’t know how to build a house; he was an architect after all, but there was still, and likely would always be, a little bit of anxiety rolling around in his stomach at the thought of doing something wrong in front of this pack.

“I’m sure it will,” he said. “How are things at the station?”

“Minor vandalism, a couple of thefts. Community is still reeling after the sheriff dying. You’d think it’d cause a crime wave, but we’re not used to murders in this town. And especially not an officially unsolved double homicide. I think even the criminals got spooked.”

Jordan nodded. “Even some of our regulars in the drunk tank have been quieter than usual.”

“Beacon Hills doesn’t get a lot of criminals?”

He remembered the bad first impression the town had given him, but then, destruction and vandalism wasn’t quite the same thing as an unchecked crime spree.

“They happen. We usually deal with it,” Valerie said and touched her nose with a smile. “Tara and I have the highest arrest records in the history of the town. They say it’s almost like magic how we always manage to find the culprit.”

Derek laughed. He took out his phone again to reread Stiles’ message. Stiles safe, his wolf reminded him, home with pack. Protected. He put his phone away again.

“Alpha,” Kincaid greeted Derek around lunchtime the next day. The day had gone fairly well; Kincaid, who seemed to be some sort of unofficial foreman, had simply grunted in the direction of bricks that needed carrying up to William Talbot, who was finishing the chimney. Derek had grunted back and run up and down the scaffolds most of the morning. It wasn’t bad work and that pit of anxiety in his belly had started to loosen up a bit. It was hard to mess up carrying bricks. And then roof tiles. And then the owner of the house they were remodeling had asked him, on Boyd’s suggestion, to take a look at the blueprint for the interior and then he had spent an hour or so discussing how one of the rooms in the basement might be rebuilt to include a separate food cellar and wine cellar. And then he had sketched out a first draft of a new blueprint leaning over the hood of his Camaro.

He expected Kincaid was pissed about that.

“Yes?”

Kincaid had his arms crossed over his chest and leaned heavily on the corner of the house.

“I heard about yesterday.”

Derek looked up from his sketch and frowned. “You heard about… what exactly?”

Had Kincaid wanted to join them for a drink? They hadn’t gone out that late, it had still been in the afternoon, and Derek knew at least Boyd worked later than that. He’d assumed they all did.

“That Wallace girl coming here unannounced.”

“Oh. Yes.”

Kincaid’s eyes were hard, and his mouth was drawn into a tight line, his hands clenched into fists.

“I wanted to know what you’re going to do about it.”

“I have left a message for Alpha Wallace that I will be calling him today to discuss it.”

The hands unclenched.

“And what will you tell him?”

Derek had a mind to tell Kincaid that wasn’t his business, but the man already didn’t like him and that was still a problem, but really? Would anyone ever doubt Talia Hale this way? Would Kincaid have doubted Claudia?

“She shouldn’t have come. He shouldn’t have let her. They shouldn’t be talking to Stiles without wolves of his pack there too. That’s what I intend to tell him.”

Kincaid grunted something Derek couldn’t quite make out and turned his head to look over at the rest of the crew. He turned back to Derek.

“I promised Claudia I’d look after that boy.”

Derek simply nodded. That didn’t surprise him one bit.

“We’re all devoted to protecting Stiles. It makes us nervous when strange wolves come and try to take him away like that.”

“Me too. But wolves coming to our territory to get Stiles to pick them as his mate aren’t looking to take him away. They’re looking to join this pack.”

Kincaid uncrossed his arms, looked over at the crew again and then back to Derek.

“I still don’t like him being alone with any of these strangers.”

“Neither do I. And next time a strange wolf comes, he won’t be.”

Kincaid nodded and then pointed to Derek’s sketch. “What’s that?”

“Client had some new ideas about the basement.”

“She didn’t want anything done in the basement.”

“She changed her mind.”

The sketchbook was snatched out of Derek’s hand and Kincaid inspected it. “This won’t work.”

“No? Why not?”

“The old blueprints were incorrect. That support beam isn’t where they say it is. You’d need to measure it again or the dimensions won’t be right for the room. Wine cellar?”

“And a food cellar. But alright, I’ll take a look.”

He was about to pass Kincaid, and the man jumped out of the way when Derek almost brushed against him. Derek pretended not to have noticed, but his wolf bristled at not getting to scent a packmate, even one as antagonistic as Kincaid.

The basement was old and Mary Talbot and Orric Rohr were busy painting the wall on one side. Orric sighed when he saw Derek coming down the stairs.

“Oh no. Don’t tell me she changed her mind again?”

“She did. Might want to hold off on the rest of the walls.”

He took out his measuring tape from his pocket and added the new dimensions to the sketch and compared them to the existing blueprint. Kincaid had been right. The difference was only two or three inches, but the beam wasn’t where the blueprint said it was. They’d need to be creative about bringing in electricity for lights if they added new walls.

Derek smiled. He’d have to spend half a day on creating new blueprints and talking to the planning office. The prospect of doing actual drafting made him forget for a full five minutes that he had an uncomfortable call to make to Alpha Wallace.

Derek had known the man most of his life, which, it turned out, wasn’t an advantage. It was hard to be firm with a man who’d seen him spill cranberry juice all over himself – and Laura’s white dress - at the age of ten.

“Jessie didn’t mean anything bad,” Wallace insisted.

“I’m sure she didn’t, but-”

“We have a good relationship with the Stilinski pack, Derek, always had.”

“I’ve always known that, but-”

“It was just a little visit.”

“That’s not the point!”

Derek could feel himself heating up and he knew Orric and Mary were listening, as much as they pretended not to. “I have it on good authority from my betas that the Wallace pack and the Stilinski pack always offer each other the common courtesy of announcing whenever they cross into each other’s territory. And I see no reason why that should change. She shouldn’t have been here, and I was made to understand that you were aware of her coming, which is surprising to me. It might have seemed like an innocent social visit, but we know what she was doing here, and it was not appreciated!”

His head had started to pound again, and he was getting tired. Conversations like this always left him drained.

Wallace was quiet on the other end for a moment, before speaking again. “Did Stiles not appreciate it? My daughter is a lovely girl, and he could do a lot worse than her, you know.”

“I remember your daughter. There’s nothing wrong with her.”

“I was a good friend of Claudia’s too. I don’t think she would’ve minded her son marrying my daughter.”

“Stiles is sixteen,” Derek sighed. “And if he told me he wanted to date her, we would be having a completely different conversation, but until he does, your daughter is a stranger who approached my pack human without anyone informing me, and I will not have that happen again. Is that clear?”

Wallace grumbled on the other end of the line. “Very well. It will not happen again.”

“Thank you, Alpha Wallace. I appreciate that. And I hope we can continue being on good terms.”

“Well, I see no reason why not, Derek. I will speak to Jessie. And we both apologize for the transgression. I assure you, no harm was meant.”

“Then let us move past it.”

“Indeed. I wish you a good day, Alpha Hale, and I hope we will meet again soon.”

“You too, Alpha Wallace.”

He ended the call and leaned his head against the wall behind him. He wanted to go home. Have lunch. Read a book. Draw another building that would never get built. And he wanted to go to his real home, where his family would be waiting for him, ready to pull him into a hug pile so he could take a long nap surrounded by their scents. Orric patted him on the shoulder as he passed. It wasn’t the same, but it was all there was.

Chapter Text

Stiles really had no idea what his type in guys was. He could accurately point to his type in girls; just find him Lydia Martin and he’d point right at her. But for guys, he had no idea, and he’d always assumed it was part lack of exposure to openly gay or bi guys. There was Danny from school of course, who’d been out since forever, and who Stiles could admit was attractive, but having a slight crush on the only gay guy he knew in real life wasn’t the same thing as that guy being his type.

So far, as far as his private fantasies were concerned, he was into guys who played superheroes in movies.

This kid who’d been sent with his older brother to come see him did not look like that. David was his name, and he was fifteen and pretty in an androgynous sort of way that wasn’t unappealing but also not something he felt drawn to. He had wavy dark hair and enormous dark blue eyes and peered a lot at Brett, especially when it was Brett’s turn to bowl.

At least these guys had followed Derek’s orders; their mother had made a phone call beforehand, and they’d shown up at Derek’s house first – Stiles’ houses to be exact, even though he didn’t live there – and then Brett was the one who’d volunteered to go bowling with Stiles and his suitor, the word the other teens had jokingly started to use for both the guys and the girls who kept showing up for a first date with Stiles. So far, there had never been a second date. Stiles could always find something lacking in them, sometimes many things. But often it was the same one; they were sent to combine Stiles’ pack with their family’s pack somehow, and not there for the Stilinski pack or for Stiles himself.

David clapped excitedly when Brett picked up the spare and the older brother looked up from his phone for two seconds before getting back to texting. A second later, David’s own phone chirped, and he looked at it before blushing and turning to Stiles. “You’re both so good at this.”

“Brett’s the one who’s good. I’m decent, at best.”

“You got that strike, didn’t you, Stiles?”

Stiles scoffed but went up to pick up his ball. “Yeah. Once.”

“You can do it again. I believe in you!”

It sounded more insincere than anything he’d ever heard anyone say in his life, and Stiles had been in the same class as Jackson Whittemore since he was eight. David wasn’t any more interested in Stiles than Stiles was in him. This was pointless. He hit 7 pins and then another one and David cheered as if it had been a strike. The brother got up for his turn and Stiles sat down next to Brett and took a sip from his coke, earning him a jab on the shoulder.

“This is fun,” David said. “Do you guys have other weekend plans? Because my dad said we could stay until Sunday if your alpha agreed.”

“It’s harvest weekend,” Brett said, and that was that.

Autumn had snuck up on them, school had started a month ago and Mrs. Geyer had notified them all that it was time for the pack to get together and do the fall harvest this weekend. It would be the first year without Stiles’ parents there, but he still looked forward to it.

It would also be the first year with Derek as their alpha. He had been doing alright lately, Stiles thought. Building friendships with Boyd and the cops, and he’d been friendly with the rest of the pack. Stiles had caught a glance at a list on Derek’s desk that seemed to show when he had last interacted with his pack, and he’d appreciated that Derek finally seemed to understand one of the most important parts of his job.

If Stiles thought he could teach David the same, he might have been trying harder, but David would be too guided by his alpha mother.

“Sorry,” he said instead. “We’ll all be busy. Maybe we’ll run into each other another time.”

David’s face fell a bit, and the brother frowned and fell back into his seat. “You heard them, Dave. Now play your ball so we can finish this and go home.”

He looked at Stiles. “Sorry, Stiles. You know mom made him try.”

Stiles simply nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

Stiles’ mother had loved the farm; it’d been her idea once upon a time when Satomi had still been the alpha. The pack had purchased a bit of land backing up to the preserve and had divided it into three parts; the orchard, the shared plot, and the third divided up per pack member to use for growing what they wanted. At least it had been meant to be divided up per pack member, but as was typical of their pack, Stiles thought, there were a lot of overlap and people using whatever space was available when they wanted to grow something new. It was perhaps more accurate to say that everyone was responsible for their share. Mrs. Geyer had picked up the slack on making a schedule for everyone to do some work on the shared plots.

The Stilinski plot wasn’t the largest; that was the Rohrs’ since they had the biggest family, but it was big enough and Stiles had been going on Saturdays to take care of the vegetables growing there. It was a warm and sunny day, and he was gathering up the broccoli, keeping count so he wouldn’t take too much. Some of the smaller ones would be better off harvested in a couple of weeks, and he’d already filled his basket with tomatoes. There wasn’t a lot of weeding to do, and he suspected someone else from the pack had done that at some point during the past week. He smiled to himself. The land they shared like this was the best example of why his pack was the greatest in the world. They worked together. It didn’t matter who someone was; Dr Geyer was bent over his beloved pumpkins checking them for pests, Kincaid was carrying sacks of potatoes over to the shed where they would be divided up later and Orric was covered in mud from having followed a stubborn root of a weed further down than he’d anticipated. His mother would’ve loved to be here. She would’ve loved to see Stiles there. It made him feel a little bit closer to her.

Finishing with his own plot, he went over to the shared ones. Potatoes were one of the main things being harvested today, but they also had a rather expansive pumpkin field and some fields that hadn’t been replanted yet after the summer harvests. Most of the pack were busy pulling potatoes out of the ground and he looked over at them, counting heads.

“Hey!” he called over to Boyd who was tying up the end of a sack. “Is Derek not here yet?”

Boyd hesitated for a short moment but then shook his head. “He had a morning meeting with a new client. Some business wanting to build a new branch.”

Stiles checked his watch. It was half past eleven.

“Should that be taking this long?”

Boyd didn’t often squirm when spoken to, but Stiles knew him well enough to know when he was uncomfortable. “What is it?”

“I don’t think he’s coming today.”

Alicia ran by Stiles then, her arms full of heads of lettuce. “Look, Stiles, we had some left to harvest! Do you think I could help make a salad? We’ve got lots of tomatoes and we brought some cucumber from home.”

“Sound great, Alicia. Don’t make it quite yet though, Derek isn’t here yet. He’ll want to see how good you are at making salads.”

He turned around and ignored Boyd calling after him on his way to Melissa’s car. It was, of course, entirely possible that the meeting had run late. It was possible that Derek had overslept. It was possible that he’d been in an accident. It was possible even that someone had come to hurt him and that he was in trouble. Stiles sped up at that thought. Derek could be in trouble. What if someone had come by to steal his alpha spark, and what if Stiles was about to get thrown into the basement again, and he’d have to start all this all over again. He’d even miss Derek if he died. A bit. Now that they were getting along, Derek wasn’t that bad.

Ten minutes later he was banging on Derek’s office door at the house. It opened to reveal a perfectly unharmed, awake and healthy-looking Derek wearing a fancy-looking suit, and Stiles felt like slapping him in the face from the relief. It wasn’t the first time. Instead, he pulled out his phone and opened the group chat conversation and shoved it in Derek’s face.

“What does it say?” he spat.

Derek took a step back with a confused frown on his face. “What?”

“What does the message from Mrs. Geyer say?”

Derek took the phone. “Remember, Saturday is harvest. We’ll start early, 7 am at the latest. No excuses,” he read. “So?”

“So?” Stiles straightened his back, which he knew made him a little taller than he usually looked. “So?!”

Derek held up his hands in defense. “I don’t know why you’re mad and yelling at me. I don’t have an allotment there.”

“Where the hell do you think all the produce we’ve been bringing you is coming from? The store? We share what we grow, and that means we share in the work! And our alpha, of all people, should be helping out too! It’s faster and easier when we help each other out. Even Alicia is there picking vegetables and cooking it. Everyone helps. NO EXCUSES! You selfish piece of-”

He was about to poke Derek in the chest, but quickly, so fast that he didn’t have time to react (not that he could’ve done anything about it had he had time), he was turned around and shoved against the wall with Derek holding him by his shirt collar. That frown of confusion had turned into an angry scowl and Derek was waving his finger in Stiles’ face.

“Hey! I thought we had a deal, you and I! You were supposed to let me know about these things! How was I supposed to know that text meant me too?”

Stiles stared wide-eyed into the alpha red eyes and waited for the slash of the claws to come, his chest heaving quickly and his heart pounding like a jackhammer. Derek hadn’t displayed much of a temper before; he wasn’t like Ennis, but sometimes it was the quiet ones who’d snap and do something they hadn’t intended. Stiles was human. He wouldn’t heal quickly from a serious slash, and it certainly wouldn’t heal faster just because Derek hadn’t really meant to hurt him.

The red in Derek’s eyes receded and the green returned as Derek blinked.

“Let me go,” Stiles said, grabbing Derek’s arms and pushing on them, needing his freedom and needing it now. Derek released him and took a step back, but Stiles’ heart was still pounding away so hard that it hurt. “Control yourself! You’d be in big trouble with the pack if they knew you were acting this way! That’s not a threat by the way. I need you to control yourself or they’ll never fully accept you as their alpha, and I need them to accept someone as their alpha for now.”

“I…” Derek started, and Stiles glared at him, his fear diminishing but not disappearing. Not yet. If Derek could do that once, he could do it again.

“You what?”

“I didn’t mean to scare you. I wouldn’t-”

There was so much shame in Derek’s voice that Stiles relaxed a little. “You wouldn’t what?”

“I wouldn’t have hurt you. I’d never hurt you. Stiles, you’re a member of my pack. A young member of my pack even. I couldn’t hurt you.”

Stiles smoothed down the fabric of his shirt and willed his pulse to go down.

“The text meant you too. Of course it did. We bring you produce all the time; didn’t you wonder where it all came from?” He shook his head. “City wolf, seriously. The farm belongs to all of us, and we have a lot of work to do today. Boyd said you had a meeting, but you should’ve come afterwards. Even if you’re not interested in growing stuff. You haven’t had a problem eating the stuff, have you, Derek?”

“I thought you’d be done by now,” Derek said. “I promise, Stiles, I didn’t avoid going because I was being lazy. I had a meeting with a client and then I assumed you’d all be done, so there was no point in me coming too. I didn’t know I was supposed to.”

“You should have realized you were supposed to!”

“And you promised you’d help with this stuff!”

Derek was raising his voice again, but Stiles didn’t stand down. He could deal with a shouty Derek.

“I said I would let you know when there was something you should do that you weren’t doing, but I’d never imagined you wouldn’t get that a group text was meant for the whole group! That’s what it’s for!”

Derek’s lips tightened and he took a deep breath and then let it out. “I’m sorry. It was a mistake, but I’m sorry. And I’m sorry for grabbing you like that. Should I come now?”

Stiles sighed in exasperation. “Yes, Derek. You should come now. We’re about to make lunch. And bring the wooden crates we’ve been bringing you. We need them back.”

“Alright.”

“And change out of that suit.”

“Fine.”

Derek turned to go upstairs and Stiles sunk against the wall behind him, trying to catch his breath. Damn alpha.

Derek arrived at the pack land immediately after Stiles did and felt deeply ashamed of himself right away. The whole pack really was there, including Dr Deaton, and they looked dirty and tired but in a good mood. He’d felt the cheerfulness through the pack bonds all day so far, actually. Even Kincaid, Tracy and Demarco were laughing with the others, surrounding a pot over a fire pit next to what looked like a shed. Vegetable soup was brewing in the pot, and Alicia was offering everyone plates of salad and bread. Derek recognized that loaf; it was Boyd’s handiwork.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said when he and Stiles joined them, receiving a plate from Alicia.

“Derek had a meeting this morning,” Stiles said to the group. “He came as soon as he could.”

He was sure some of them would hear the surprise in Derek’s pulse, but no one commented on it.

“We’re making good time, Derek” Jenna Geyer said. “Almost done with the potatoes. I think after lunch we can split up and half of us can get started on the oranges. We should be done in a couple of hours.”

Derek smiled as warmly as he could at her. “That’s great. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here until now.”

“How did the meeting go?” Boyd asked.

“They want to think it over for a couple of days, but they seemed to like the drawings, and they seemed to like the idea of using a local company for both the architect work and the construction, so fingers crossed.”

The potential new client had seemed interested, and Derek had been excited to work up a design for something new. As much as he liked the work he’d done in the past months, it had all been renovations and remodels, not a brand new build. Word was spreading though, and Orric had told him about a couple people who’d expressed an interest in building something unique for their new home. It seemed most people in Beacon Hills went for turnkey projects in housing, which meant plenty of construction work for the firm, but not much for Derek to do except help put it all together.

Orric tasted the soup and hummed in delight. “I think it’s done now. Lori, get the bowls, will you?”

Derek turned his attention to the salad on his plate. His family had never had any problem affording good produce when he was growing up, but there was something special about eating vegetables that had just been harvested. It was delicious even though it was fairly simply put together. The soup didn’t disappoint either. Plenty of root vegetables and then lots and lots of fresh herbs to bring out the flavors, and Derek took his cue from Stiles and used the bread to scoop it up.

“This tastes great, Mr. Rohr,” Stiles said, his mouth full of food. “It gets better and better every year.”

Orric beamed at him and offered him another ladle full of soup.

They ate mostly in silence, a comment here and there about the crops they’d plant next, and the yield of pumpkins from the patch that Derek understood would be harvested in a couple of weeks for Halloween. The sense of community from the pack bonds was overwhelming, and Derek could’ve kicked himself for not being here. He could’ve had the meeting on Monday. He could’ve had the meeting yesterday. He could’ve had it this evening, once the work here was done. And he could’ve come here as soon as it was over, without needing Stiles to come and get him as if he was a teenager who’d overslept.

He looked over at Stiles who had moved over to the other teens. He hadn’t meant to scare him earlier and his inner wolf was still mad at him, growling at Derek for not treating the pack orphan better, but being with the whole pack was doing a lot for calming it down.

Meal finished, Derek asked Jenna Geyer to put him to work and she gave him a basket and directed him towards the orchard.

“These ones are in season right now,” said Aisha Rohr, pointing to the rows in the middle. “These ones to the left are for early spring, and these ones to the right are for summer. Make sure you pick the ones that aren’t quite ripe yet, because they’ll mature a bit in the crates, and we want them to be at their best when we sell them. Any fruit that’s too ripe you can put down on the ground and the kids will gather those up so we can juice them later. Don’t toss them down; be gentle. Don’t pick the ones that don’t seem ripe at all, we’ll get those later in the year when we run out of these.”

“Alright,” Derek nodded and got to work.

Stiles joined him a little bit later and collected the riper oranges from the ground.

“These are clementines,” he said without prompting. “They’re the best kinds. Sweeter than some other types of oranges. That makes them good for juicing since you don’t need to add sugar to them. Technically, they’re tangors.”

“Tangors?”

“Hybrid between sweet orange and mandarin oranges.”

“Like a Tangerine?”

“Tangerines have pomelo in them.”

And Stiles kept talking. That boy could talk. Derek had no idea when he found time to read up on the history of orange breeds or how he could remember it all to repeat in a steady stream of information, but he appreciated it. Stiles could talk for hours without needing any input, Derek had noticed, but he didn’t like it when people let him talk without listening, so Derek tried to ask questions when he could think of them – or get a word in – and hmm and oh really? whenever it seemed appropriate. He’d had no idea there were so many things to know about oranges. At least Stiles didn’t seem afraid of him anymore. All in all, this felt nice. The scents from the orchard were mixed with the scent of pack and the trees of the preserve and – other than Stiles’ voice – it was quiet and peaceful, with the rustling from the orange trees as the fruit was picked and a fair away bird chirping – probably to warn its friends that there were dangerous wolves nearby. Derek wished he’d come here before; this would’ve been a good place to bring a book during the summer months and just relax. Another missed opportunity, it seemed. And he could’ve read up on oranges beforehand and impressed Stiles.

“I always thought clementines were their own breeds, separate from oranges,” he confessed when Stiles reached a rare break.

“Plenty of people do, it’s because they’re small and so sweet.”

“Hm. How often do you harvest them?”

“These ones? This is the first for the year, so this will be the big harvest. And then we go back about every other week or so to pick whatever has matured enough. Gotta make sure there’s plenty left to harvest around Christmas though.”

“Who do you sell them to?”

“Some people make private orders, and we deliver to them as much as we can. And one of the grocery stores in town like to buy them, since a lot of people want to eat locally grown fruit.”

Derek remembered seeing the income on the bank statements and cursed himself yet again for not realizing that money came from hard work that he’d been perfectly willing to ignore. He squeezed an orange to check on it, but didn’t like the color. He was up on a ladder now that Stiles was there to catch the ones that were ready to be picked, and it gave him a good view over the land. A tall fence surrounded it and then there were long rows of trees. The preserve spread out on one side, and on the other a copse of younger trees and beyond those he could spot an open area.

“What’s over there?” he asked and pointed in that direction. Stiles’ face darkened and he scowled at it.

“Oh that. Yeah, we fought that with tooth and nail. Would’ve tried claws too but I doubt those work against bureaucracy.”

“What is it?”

“It used to be more of these woods,” Agnes said from a couple of trees over. “Some developer got their hands on it and tore it down so they could build a housing development.”

“Did you…?” Derek started but Agnes shook his head.

“Absolutely not. We were very much against that. We tried for years to get the boundaries of the preserve expanded, we even offered to donate this land so it could be all one thing, but we weren’t successful. We could’ve replanted our trees. Only about fifty feet now that separates us from that development.”

“And they didn’t even build!” Stiles exclaimed. “They tore down all those trees, dug everything up, destroyed lots of ecosystems and ruined our view from here and then they just, ran out of money and didn’t build anything. So the land is just there, unused. They could’ve replanted when they left it!”

Derek scratched his beard. “What’s going on with it then? I mean, who owns it?”

“It’s been for up sale now and then for two years, but all the permits have lapsed, so no one wants it.” Agnes shook her head again. “It’s not the best place for housing since it’s a bit out of the way and not everyone wants to live this close to the preserve.”

“There’s a rumor there are wolves in there, you see,” Stiles said and smiled cheekily at Derek. “They’ve heard howling. Of course the local vet says that’s just people imagining things on the full moon, and that there are no wolves in California.”

Derek laughed. “Is that so?”

“Yep. Doesn’t change the fact that we’re mad about that land being treated like that. There used to be rabbits living among those trees. They never came near our veg of course, they can smell us. But they didn’t move into the preserve instead. Most of them were killed.”

Derek frowned and climbed down the ladder. “I think this tree has given us all it can.”

Stiles led the way past other pack to one closer to the fence and Derek noticed Dr Deaton walking the perimeter. He was mumbling to himself, carrying a wooden bowl of what looked like blue-tinted water and dipping his hand into it now and then. Pulling it back out, he shook it, and water drops flew all around him.

“What is he doing?” Derek whispered to Stiles.

“Duh, he’s a druid. He’s blessing the land to keep away most of the pests. He usually does a regular spell to keep away thieves too, and he’ll bless the land to get us a better yield. Doesn’t your mom have an emissary?”

“She does,” Derek said and climbed up the ladder again to reach the higher branches. “Marin. But Marin doesn’t do stuff like that.”

“Isn’t she a druid too?”

“She is.”

“They’re supposed to work with nature. But I suppose you don’t have that much nature in the city, huh?”

Derek found an unripe orange and made sure to drop it on Stiles’ head, laughing to himself at the angry cursing that followed.

“That’s just wasteful,” Stiles spat at him. “We could’ve picked this one in a month.”

“I’m sorry, Stiles. Next time I throw an orange at you, I’ll make sure it’s as soft and wet as it can be.”

Chapter Text

Stiles sighed happily around the turkey sandwich and a drop of the cranberry sauce ran down his chin, standing out against his pale skin. Derek already regretted letting him have some and threw him a paper towel.

“Clean yourself up, you literal child.”

Stiles laughed, wiped the sauce of his face and then threw the used paper towel back at Derek. “It’s delicious, sue me.”

“Of course it’s delicious, it came all the way from home. I never should’ve let you have any.”

“There’s like a whole plate full. You’re never gonna be able to eat all of those by yourself anyway.”

Derek glared. It had very little effect. “They’re still mine.”

“Hope you had a good time,” Stiles said, obviously pretending Derek hadn’t said anything. “You’d been welcome at Melissa’s too.”

“It was good to be home for dinner. They liked the fruits and veg I brought. They liked the mashed potatoes I made even more though.”

Derek managed to restrain himself and not puff out his chest with pride at the memory of how Laura’s eyes had closed in delight when she’d tasted them. Talia had gone back for seconds. He didn’t tell Stiles that part. Stiles probably had never had to fight hard for Claudia’s approval. Claudia probably never let Stiles go to bed a single night of his life without telling him she was proud of him. At least on this visit, Derek had felt less like a visiting alpha, and more like family.

“Orric’s recipes will do that,” Stiles shrugged. “Someone in your family sure knows how to cook a turkey though. Can I have another one?”

Derek wasn’t falling for the big brown eyes that reminded him of a cuddly bunny or a puppy. Stiles and Scott made a good pair. No, Derek wasn’t falling for it at all.

He handed Stiles another of the sandwiches with leftovers he’d been encouraged to bring home. Just one. His wolf was wagging his tail happily, the way it always did when Derek fed the pack orphan.

Stiles came over weekly, usually when Alicia did, slowly but surely clearing out his parents’ things, but he still hadn’t touched the master bedroom. Derek didn’t mind. He’d made himself well at home in the guest room and the office, but it was a relief when Stiles finally cleared out the last in the living room so Derek could put up some more of his own things and feel less like an intruder. He was starting to imagine that the pack actually had accepted him. Most of them anyway.

“It’s been over six months,” he said, chewing on his own sandwich. “I thought Kincaid and them would’ve come around by now. What should I do?”

“Kincaid just doesn’t like you,” Stiles said, unsurprisingly unhelpfully. “I don’t think you can make him change his mind there. Tracy and Demarco are different.”

“I only see Tracy and Demarco when they’re with Kincaid, and he usually speaks for them.”

“He’s used to being the second. And they’re used to listen to him a lot.”

“Did they like your mother?”

Stiles’ eyes narrowed. “Everyone loved my mother.”

“Sorry. Of course they did. But did they listen to Kincaid over her is what I meant?”

“No, but Kincaid would never ask them to do anything that my mother wouldn’t agree with. He was devoted to her.”

Derek chewed slowly, thinking about what he’d wanted to ask for a long time, and then swallowed. “Was he in love with her?”

He expected Stiles to be surprised by the question, affronted even, on behalf of the sheriff, but Stiles just shrugged. “Yeah. It wasn’t much of a secret. He’s the reason she even became a werewolf.”

“Oh? How did that happen?”

“They were friends in college. Kincaid was a member of Satomi’s pack, but he had some family money to help him pay for school, unlike most of the rest. He wanted to become an architect actually. That’s part of why he doesn’t like you, of course. But he studied construction and stuff like that and when he met my mom he fell in love with her. He never did anything about it, because he wanted to tell her he was a werewolf first. And then she got sick.”

“Sick?”

“Yeah, she had frontotemporal dementia. They caught it early, but it would’ve killed her for sure. So Kincaid introduced her to Satomi, and Satomi really liked my mom. She thought she was a real fighter, and she gave her the bite. And of course, becoming a werewolf stopped the degeneration in her brain and then she was well again. She struggled with her short term memory a bit, but that was it. And not long after that, she met my dad.”

Stiles looked down at his hands and Derek couldn’t help wondering if such an illness was congenital. But if Stiles was meant to be a werewolf, he’d been born as one. What would Derek do if Stiles got sick and couldn’t be given the bite? He’d never heard of a human child of a wolf surviving the bite. He tried to shake the thought from his mind.

“Kincaid must’ve been heart-broken.”

Stiles smiled faintly and shook his head.

“No, I don’t think so. I can’t imagine he was happy about it, but he was happy for her. He’s not the jealous type. He never made a move on her, and they were close friends all their lives, and I think he’d rather have been with her as a friend than not at all. But no, he’s never going to like you. He might become less hostile over time, and he might accept you – technically he has, or you would’ve felt the pack bonds snap, wouldn’t you?”

Derek thought that over for a bit. “So there’s nothing I can do, because I’m not Claudia.”

“You are not.” Stiles looked down again, and Derek squeezed his shoulder. Stiles’ grief ran deep, and Derek knew that. He hadn’t ever lost someone as close as a parent himself though, and it was hard for him to truly relate. Yet. He shuddered at the thought of not even knowing through pack bonds if any of his family would die.

“What about the rest of them?”

Stiles straightened and gave Derek a pensive look. “Well, Tracy and Demarco like finding faults with you. And you do have a lot.”

“Of course I do. Continue.”

“They’re not being fair a lot of the time though. I mean, they’re choosing to misinterpret a lot of things. Like you coming and going a lot on the build sites.”

“I’m doing my job as an architect.” Derek ran a hand through his hair and down his stubble. He was trying so hard already.

“I know that, and technically they do too. But I think it might be better if you chose to spend entire days at the sites, but not as many, rather than taking half days. It makes them think you’re lazy and that you like sleeping in. But they do know that you’re working. It’s just that they don’t see it that much.”

“Alright, so pick a day or two for drafting and meetings and the rest for construction. Got it.”

“When Tracey and Demarco are won over, Kincaid will have to be nicer to you, and more respectful. And when he changes, the rest of the pack will accept you completely.”

“And how do I win them over other than changing my work schedule?”

Stiles tapped his finger against his chin. “Christmas.”

“Christmas?” He moved the sandwich plate out of Stiles’ grabby hands. They were Derek’s Thanksgiving leftovers.

“Yeah. You should invite all the single people in the pack over for Christmas dinner. You could do it on Christmas Eve if you wanted to go to Sacramento the day after, but if you pick a time and invite the pack who don’t have anyone else to go to, that’ll make an impression. They won’t say no. And then you get them just the right Christmas presents.”

“Damn it, am I supposed to give gifts for everyone in the pack? Christmas is in just a few weeks, and I’m going to be busy until then.”

Stiles shook his head and stole the last piece of Derek’s sandwich and shoved it into his mouth so quickly that the more moist parts of it sprayed over the table. Derek scowled at him as a piece of bread landed right next to his glass of water.

“No, we don’t do that. But you could buy the ones who come over something minor. I’d suggest making something yourself, but you don’t look like you’re a secret knitter and I haven’t found any signs of you being a wood carver. Got any skills?”

“Not really. The only one I have a gift for is you, and it’s not really like that.”

Stiles stopped chewing and stared at him. “You have a gift for me?”

Derek felt his face heat up. “Yeah, I… there was something that I thought you should have. That’s all. It’s not a big deal. And it didn’t cost me anything. You don’t have to get me something in return.”

Stiles swallowed hard and kept his eyes on Derek. “I’m going to, now. Something you’ll love.”

“You don’t have to. But if you want to do something for me, you could help me find something for those three. Should I invite the cops too?”

“Tara often visits some family in San Francisco over the holidays, and Jordan and Val will be working, I think. They usually do so the cops with families don’t have to, but they’d be happy if you bring them some Christmas food during their shift. Mom used to do that. I can help you with the presents. But I’m still getting you something. And I’m coming too. For Christmas.”

He lowered his voice and looked away. “I kinda want to spend Christmas here at the house. Unless you mind?”

Derek smiled. “Of course I don’t. I’ll be glad to have you here. Melissa won’t miss you?”

“No, not if she knows I’m here with lots of pack. This way she can take Scott to see his grandmother instead.”

“It’s her and Scott’s first year in the pack too isn’t it?”

Stiles, seemingly having given up on stealing more of the delicious sandwiches, got up to get them both some fruit instead. “Yes and no. Scott accidentally saw Carrie and Brett shift, about a year ago, and he told his mom about it before I could explain it away, and Melissa was concerned about him being on drugs or something. Mom didn’t want any rumors to spread about Carrie and Brett as a result, and she told Melissa the truth. Melissa already knew Dr Geyer from work, and I guess she’d always worried we were all in a cult or something, so I think she was relieved. So last year they were kinda both in the pack as honorary humans, you know?”

Derek nodded but unlike certain other people, he had table manners and didn’t talk with his mouth full. The oranges had been extra delicious the past few weeks.

“So a little after new year’s, Scott kept having a lot of asthma attacks. A couple of them almost killed him. And then mom offered to turn him. She made sure they had all the information, that they knew it might not work and that the bite might kill him too, but they agreed. And now Scott’s a beta.”

“He’s a good kid.”

Stiles nodded. “That he is. You should consider making some betas too, you know. Help grow the pack a bit. And it might be good for you to have some betas who won’t always compare you to my mom.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “You’re always so nice to me, Stiles.”

Once, Stiles had had two parents and a whole pack who loved him. He had never been left to doubt the love of any of them.

Now, he was an orphan, and the pack had turned from pack mates who loved him as packs love their alpha’s child, to a pack full of pseudo-parents, all of them trying as hard as they could to give him all the love he was no longer receiving elsewhere, and as such, it had become a veritable war as to who he should spend the holidays with.

There were many people who insisted he come over to theirs, even though he kept repeating that he did live with Scott and Melissa, who were perfectly capable of providing plenty of holiday spirit themselves. But then Melissa’s mother had become sick, and she and Scott had left early on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day morning, and the war had started again.

The Geyers insisted Stiles should come to them for Christmas Eve since he was spending Christmas Day at Derek’s, and Liam had been sending him lots of pictures of himself making puppy eyes talking about how lonely he’d be without Stiles, whom he loved as a brother, there, to keep him company while his parents tried to cook Christmas dinner, which they were notoriously bad at. Boyd had suggested Stiles come to them for the day, because Alicia wanted to show him her latest progress from her dance class, and that had been hard to say no to. If it was up to Stiles, he’d be over at his house on Christmas Eve too, but Derek had looked forward to spending the day with his sisters, so he didn’t want to impose. Eventually it was decided that the Talbots could have him over lunch, and then he would go to the Rohrs for dinner and sleep over there and then Demarco would pick him up to go over to the house in the morning.

His parents would’ve been happy to know that Stiles wasn’t allowed to spend one minute of the Christmas holidays alone, down to Scott or Brett or Carrie following him around all the time in the days leading up to it.

So there he was, his stomach full of Mr. Rohr’s delicious food – seriously that man should’ve been a chef and not a builder and Stiles told him so.

“Making a meal is a bit like building a house,” Orric said to that. “Gotta have the right materials and know what to do with them, and you can’t forget anything or the meal, the house, will get ruined. You’ll see what I mean when you taste Carrie’s cookies later.”

“Hey!” Carrie exclaimed and threw her napkin at him. “My cookies are just fine, and Stiles will love them. It’s just that no one else in this house likes saffron.”

“They’re hard,” Lorilee whispered over the table to Stiles. “Make sure you don’t crack your human teeth. She forgot to add a thing or two.”

“They still taste fine,” Carrie insisted. “I used your mom’s recipe.”

Of course she did, Stiles thought. He could see the line of reasoning here. Remind Stiles he has plenty of people who love him, show him that he hasn’t really lost the things he used to enjoy, give him the familiar things as much as possible. He loved these people as much as they loved him, but the Rohrs’ house was not Stiles’ house, and something tasting like his mom’s cookies would not change that.

He wanted to go home. He wondered if Derek had thought about putting up decorations. Stiles had casually mentioned where they were stored in the basement, but he hadn’t pushed for it. It was Derek’s home now. Stiles’ house, but Derek’s home, and Stiles still wanted it so badly his heart ached at the idea of spending the evening and a whole night here. The Rohrs were great, and Carrie and Lorilee were both wonderful friends that he was lucky to have, but he didn’t want to be there, where he needed to be happy and grateful at how hard they all tried for his sake.

Ungrateful little brat, he said to himself. If they knew how you felt, they’d be so hurt.

So he smiled as wide as he could. “I’m sure I’ll love them, Carrie. But we get dessert first, right? I believe I was promised pie.”

“Oh, yes we do,” Orric said and rose to get it out of the fridge. “It’s szarlotka, Stiles!”

Stiles kept his smile on his face even as his heart sank in his chest. That was made just for him too.

It tasted just fine. Orric had clearly tried as hard as he could, but it was too sweet to be like Stiles’ mother’s, and it made him miss her and his dad even more. They’d all tried to replicate a photo by looking at it in a mirror and copying the reflection. All the pieces of Christmas was there, but in the wrong order and slightly distorted. And it was his duty to be delighted by it and let them smother him with it.

When dessert was over, they moved on to a Rohr family Christmas Eve tradition, one the Stilinskis had never engaged in, and went caroling around the neighborhood.

“Should we knock on Alpha’s door?” Aisha wondered as they reached Stiles’ street, but Stiles shook his head.

“His sisters are visiting him today, and I think he wanted alone time with them. Let’s not bother Derek.”

“He has more than one?” Lorilee asked. “I thought it was just the older one?”

“No, there’s a second one. Our age. Her name is Cora. I don’t think he wants any of us to meet her. Which means she’s either an embarrassment or he’s afraid we’ll like her more than we like him.”

Carrie and Lorilee both laughed. “You’re so mean to him.”

“I am very nice to him, thank you very much,” Stiles objected. “Got him that gift, didn’t I?”

“Still not sure it was the right one,” Carrie said. “Don’t be surprised if he eats it.”

“He’s not going to eat my Christmas gift,” Stiles said with more confidence than he felt. “He’s going to love it. And it’ll love him back.”

A piece of tape got stuck to Derek’s finger and he tried to get it off with his other hand. It got stuck there instead, and he tried to wipe it off on a piece of discarded wrapping paper, but it took him several tries before it finally came off. Cora laughed and snapped a picture with her phone.

“My brother the alpha,” she said. “How is it you do construction these days, when you’re the least handy person I know?”

“I’m not that bad,” Derek objected. “I can fix some things with cars, and I know how to build stuff. You don’t know. Just because things never needed fixing at home doesn’t mean I don’t know how to do it.”

“Clearly,” Laura said with a nod to the gift Derek had wrapped. The paper had gone wrinkly, and the seam was crooked. He had tried to put on a bow, but it was already hanging lopsided and about to fall off.

“You could have wrapped it at home,” he said, and gave her a glare. “But just because I’m not good at wrapping gifts doesn’t mean I’m not handy. I cook these days and everything. Every day, unless I’m having dinner with other people.”

“Yes. Mashed potatoes and venison stew. I remember. How are you going to handle Christmas dinner tomorrow all by yourself?”

Derek felt his cheeks getting a little red. “We agreed to help out, all of us. And apparently Demarco is decent in the kitchen.”

“Which one is he?” Cora asked.

“Big guy with a beard,” Laura said, and Derek shot her a suspicious glance. He hadn’t introduced Laura to his pack, and he hadn’t offered her any of their names. He wondered how much information was in that file his mother kept on the Stilinski pack now that Derek was their alpha.

“Is he nice?”

“Not really,” Derek said. “None of them are. None of the ones who are coming tomorrow, anyway.”

“Except for Stiles.”

“Stiles isn’t nice. Stiles is rude. And kinda mean.”

“And yet you went through all this trouble?” Cora gestured to the wrapped gift. “And the dinner, and letting him stay over tomorrow and all?”

“He’s Claudia’s son,” Laura said as if that explained everything. “It’s how a new alpha would’ve treated us if that bitch…”

She trailed off and took a sip from her eggnog instead, avoiding Derek’s eyes.

“He’s the pack orphan,” Derek said, ignoring the lump in his throat. “And he’s been trying to help out. He should get the Christmas he wants. Even if that means I have to have dinner with the three people in my pack who like me the least.”

“Did you get them gifts too?” Cora asked

“I did. But not big ones. They wouldn’t like that.”

“Why not? Getting gifts is the best part of Christmas! Peter got me a car.”

“Cora,” Laura said with a sigh, “you don’t know it’s for you. He could’ve gotten it for himself.”

“He could, but I overheard him talking to mom. It’s for Malia and me to share. Once she passes her driving test.”

“How’s that going?” Derek asked. “I haven’t spoken to Malia for months.”

“She failed again two weeks ago, but she’s sure she’ll make it next time. I think Peter would offer to bribe the instructor if he didn’t secretly want her to not to be driving. Not that he’s worried about her. It’s the other drivers.”

Derek smiled. He had missed his family. Even if it was only his sisters today, it had been fun. They’d spent most of the day decorating the tree and the rest of the house with the Stilinskis’ Christmas decorations and a few they’d brought from home for Derek. Even though it was the first Christmas holiday Derek had ever spent away from his real home, the place had livened up a bit and it looked warm and cozy. He hoped Stiles would he happy with it.

“Speaking of Peter, he wanted to come today too, but we told him this was sibling only time. And Malia went off with her new boyfriend.”

“I think he wanted to introduce Malia to a certain someone,” Laura said with a wink at Derek.

“They’d be worse together than Stiles would be with Cora. No, thank you. Let’s keep the boy away from anyone named Hale, please.”

“I think Peter’s going to try it himself eventually,” Cora said and smiled. “When Stiles is older of course. I’ve heard him muttering that it could just as easily have been him who was an alpha now.”

“You eavesdrop too much,” Derek told her and rose to refill the plate of cookies. His sisters both ate far too much sugar, but it wasn’t as if he’d baked them himself. Five different pack members had shown up with Christmas cookies for him in the past week.

“You’ll like these,” he said and put the plate down. “Boyd made them.”

“Boyd’s the hot one,” Cora smiled and grabbed a gingerbread cookie shaped liked a dog’s head.

“How do you even know what Boyd looks like?”

“I stalk your pack on social media,” she replied with a shrug. “Still haven’t seen a picture of Stiles though, except the ones in this house. Which tells me nothing except he was a cute kid. Is he hot?”

“No. He is not,” Derek said and took the cookie plate back, but not after taking a couple for himself. “And no more cookies for you. Stop spying on my pack.”

“You’re not the boss of me.”

“I’m not, but I will tell on you.”

“You know he will, Cora,” Laura laughed. “And mom won’t approve, but Peter will ask you about anything you found out and mom will pretend like she doesn’t need to know all the names of the members of Derek’s pack and is too proud to ask.”

“I’d tell her if she asked,” Derek said but his wolf growled softly inside of him, and he felt for sure that he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t not introduce them to her if they were in the same room, but if she did ask, he would try to avoid the question. It simply wasn’t another alpha’s business. Besides, she and Peter probably had a good list already after Ennis had died.

“Oh, I just remembered,” Cora said then and grinned while digging around in her bag. “I brought Hale Family Fun Time. We haven’t played it in forever, and now we’re all here!”

Derek and Laura both groaned. “Cora,” Laura said, “I don’t want to play that. I’d rather play fucking Monopoly than Hale Family Fun Time. Do the Stilinskis have Monopoly, Derek?”

“Yes, I’ve seen it in the basement. But it’s in Polish. Stiles said his grandfather sent it to him to help him learn to speak it when he was younger. I don’t want to play Hale Family Fun Time either, Cora.”

“It’s not fair,” she said and pouted. “When you were the age you wanted to play board games, I was too little and wouldn’t get it.” She made air quotes with her fingers. “And when I got old enough to play, you were too old for kid’s games. It’s not my fault I was born six years after Derek and neither of you ever wanted to play with me.”

Derek was too used to his sister to allow himself to be manipulated like this, but her eyes had gotten wide, and she looked so much like their mom when she was upset, that he saw Laura sigh and weaken too.

“Fine. But only one game, and you have to do any cleanup. And we’re moving into the kitchen.”

They did so and Cora set it up. Hale Family Fun Time was a game Derek and Laura had invented on a boring family vacation to a cabin in Canada. At least, it was supposed to have been a vacation. Instead, Talia had gotten involved in some local werewolf drama, and the kids had been confined to a cabin that had promised “lots of fun games for the kids” but had only delivered on a handful of board games, none of which was complete. Derek and Laura had combined them all into a new game and played it over and over for three days, making the rules more and more complicated each time.

The board was from a Ludo game that didn’t have any tokens left, it had some tokens and money from Monopoly that hadn’t had a board or cards, and they’d used the spinner from a game of Twister that hadn’t had the plastic mat, as well as three dice from a box of Yahtzee.

“I’m the hat,” Derek said quickly. “I’m always the hat.”

“I’m the Iron,” Laura said and grabbing it quickly before Cora could. They always argued over that one. No one wanted to be the boot and there were no other tokens left.

“Fine”, Cora sighed and produced the Notes from her bag. Derek sighed too when he realized that she had taken their old handwritten notes and typed them up on a computer. It made it look like there were fewer challenges, but the list was five pages long in a small font. Twelve year old Laura and ten year old Derek had had a lot of fun coming up with dumb challenges for each other.

Even though he hadn’t wanted to play, Derek quickly found himself enjoying it very much. Like this, when it was just the three of them together, he could pretend nothing had changed and they were still in the same pack and saw each other every other day. And watching Laura spin for red and then roll a twelve with three fours and having to run around the table twice while drinking a glass of milk without spilling it had him laughing more than he had laughed in a long time. He was getting lucky too and had managed to avoid most of the worst ones. He rolled another six and ended up in the red area, and hoped the spinner would give him red too so he could avoid a challenge altogether, but instead it showed him yellow. Rolling the three dice gave him 9 and Cora squealed when she read off what challenge that would be.

“Ha ha, Derek, you’ll never manage this one! You need to make us both laugh!”

She grinned widely and Laura smiled affectionately at him. “Don’t worry Der-bear, I know you can do it.”

Derek sighed. He racked his brain for a joke, but he knew that wouldn’t work. They would have heard every joke he could tell them before, and they’d be doing their best not to move a muscle. If he couldn’t do the challenge, he’d be forced to go back to the beginning and his lead would be lost. Had something funny happened lately that he could tell them about? Stiles had literally walked into a trash can when he dragged Derek to the mall the other week, and fallen right over it, but he doubted that would do it either. Then he had an idea.

They were both sitting opposite him, watching him expectantly and he leaned forward on his elbows, put his palms against his cheeks and batted his eyelashes at them and wrinkled his nose.

It worked. It wasn’t an outright laugh, but it was silly enough to get a giggle out of Cora and an amused pft! out of Laura, and it counted. He leaned back in his chair with a sense of triumph. “You’ll never beat me; you’re just two girls.”

That got an honest laugh out of Laura. “Oh yeah? You want to take me on little brother?”

“No, because I’d win. You might have been stronger than me before, but I’m an alpha now, big sister, and you’re just a little alpha heir.”

She lunged at him over the table and Cora cried out as Laura’s glass tipped over and emptied onto Cora’s lap.

“You’re the ones who are supposed to be adults!” she yelled as her siblings wrestled on the ground and stood up to wipe the liquid off.

Derek was stronger now, he knew that, but Laura was trained, and it didn’t take her long to get him pinned to the ground.

“Take it back, number two,” she growled playfully and jammed one of her claws into his hand.

“Fine,” Derek laughed. “I’ll take back what I said. Sisters rule, brothers drool.”

“Thank you,” she said and let him go.

“I’m not spending the rest of the day like this!” Cora growled and gestured her dress. “I’m borrowing some of your clothes.”

She stomped towards the stairs and Laura and Derek put the table right again.

“We messed up the board,” Laura said but Derek shook his head.

“I think Cora is done playing anyway. It was fun though.”

“Yeah, it was. We both miss you.”

She sounded serious now, and he reached out to take her hand. “I miss you too.”

“Things aren’t the same back home.”

“Imagine how I feel, this far away and I can’t even feel my family anymore.”

“You have a new pack, Derek! What if Stiles never finds someone new and you end up staying here forever? You’re supposed to be my second, and we were supposed to learn how to lead together now that you’re done with school too.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. Except your new pack who don’t have single one among them who could’ve taken on the alpha role, even temporarily.”

“That’s not their fault either. They were really set on their next alpha being Stiles’ mate. I’m just the temp.”

She took a deep breath and Derek wondered what she had been about to say.

“Does mom ever talk about me?” he asked instead.

“Of course she does. She’s worried.”

“Worried?”

“Well, she’s concerned that- never mind.”

“Laura. I want to know.”

Laura took another breath and let it out again. “She thinks that you’re not doing enough to make things better for them.”

Derek frowned. “And what does she know about that?”

“You asked Peter for help, Derek. And of course all those alphas who come to you about setting up their sons and daughters and second cousins with Stiles, they do talk to her. She’s worried that eventually, someone will try to take the spark away from you.”

“They wouldn’t do that.” Kincaid might. For all Derek knew, tomorrow would be an ambush and he’d be dead before dinner time. But he doubted it. He and Stiles were getting along, and Stiles’ word was important, especially to Kincaid. He didn’t know enough about the other two.

“You’re not meant for this,” Laura said then. “You know you were never meant for this. And mom is worried that it’ll take too much out of you.”

Derek swallowed. This wasn’t news to him. It wouldn’t matter to his mother that Derek had dinner with someone from his pack every week. It wouldn’t matter to his mother that Derek had completed all the things Claudia had prepared to teach Alicia and now she was just coming over so he could help her with her homework. And it wouldn’t matter to his mother that Derek had spent every Saturday this fall on the farm and the pack land to help with the harvests and weeding and watering. He still wasn’t doing it right.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11 – Holly, Jolly, Ollie

When Stiles arrived at his old house with Demarco on Christmas Day, his attention was immediately grabbed by two very different things causing very different emotions.

The first thing was that Derek stood on the porch wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and a nose that lit up, that he somehow managed to make look good. The second thing was that on the driveway, next to Derek’s sleek Camaro, Kincaid and Tracey stood by Stiles’ blue jeep. It wasn’t under a tarp anymore, the hood wasn’t buckled up and the windows weren’t broken. His jeep looked whole. It looked fixed.

“What…” he started as he climbed out of Demarco’s truck and Kincaid wrapped him up in a tight hug.

“Merry Christmas, kiddo! We all thought you could use something to get around in again.”

Stiles looked from smiling face to smiling face but still struggled with processing it.

“You got my jeep fixed?”

“We did. Everyone in the pack chipped in.”

“Here are the keys,” Tracey said and tossed them over to him. “Now don’t make a big deal out if it.”

Stiles nodded but hugged her all the same. “Thank you! Thank you so much! I was saving up for it though.”

“Yeah, we know. Scott stole your savings and put them towards a couple of the parts, but we covered the rest. Alpha helped too.”

Stiles threw a glance at Derek, who was still on the porch, with his hands shoved into his pockets.

“Your sweater looks silly,” he said but threw his arms around him too. “But thanks. You know I said you didn’t have to get me anything.”

“This wasn’t your gift from me,” Derek said, squeezing back. “I’ve got something else for you. I just helped with some of the work.”

Yeah, Stiles thought. Derek definitely deserved the awesome gift Stiles had gotten him.

As much as he wanted to hop into the Jeep and drive somewhere else where he could be alone for a little bit, it was Christmas and there was food to cook. Not that he expected Demarco to let anyone do anything other than chopping and maybe stirring things. Demarco, an unambitious cook at best under normal circumstances, loved making Christmas dinner. But Stiles could chop. And stir. And he had wanted to be home today.

Inside the house, he stopped and looked around the living room. Derek had put up decorations. He’d put them in the wrong places, obviously, and the tree was too far into the corner, but it only took Stiles fifteen minutes or so to put the tree right and swap a few things around to their proper places. He noticed some things he didn’t recognize too and smiled at the figurine of the wolf wearing a Santa hat next to Derek’s fancy award on the bookshelf. He recognized all the gifts under the tree except for a large, flat, square one and helped the others put theirs there too. The stacking of gifts was an art; if you did it right, you could make a mountain out of a molehill of gifts.

Tracey poked hers from Derek and whispered, “It’s a book. I know Alpha is a reader, but he didn’t get everyone books, did he? Kincaid will not read for fun and if your mom couldn’t get him to, no one can.”

Stiles laughed. “No, he didn’t get everyone books. And stop trying to guess what you’re gonna get.”

“Like that’s not what you’re doing.”

It wasn’t. Stiles had only shoved Derek’s gift to himself a little bit to make room in front of it.

“Alright, lazy bums,” Demarco called from the kitchen. “I need one person to chop some onions and another to keep an eye on the potatoes.”

Derek was pouring them all drinks and handed Stiles a soda. He volunteered for potato duty, and Tracy started on the onions. Stiles sat down at the kitchen table across from Kincaid and watched.

“It’s so relaxing celebrating Christmas, isn’t it?” he said to Kincaid. “No work that needs to be done. We can just sit back, and dinner will serve itself. Like magic!”

Kincaid smirked. “Yeah, I don’t know why people say Christmas is such a stressful time, honestly.”

Demarco smacked him on the back of the head as he passed on his way to the fridge.

“You watch it, Kay, or I’m putting you on stuffing duty, and then we’ll all die of food poisoning, and you’ll have to explain to the rest of the pack how you killed Stiles.”

Kincaid held up his hands. “Oh I wouldn’t dare touch anything in here until you’ve cooked it.”

Stiles heard Derek snicker softly from the stove, but he didn’t say anything. Stiles had managed to get Derek to talk more sometimes, but rarely when there were this many people around without much prompting.

“Did you have a good time with your sisters, Derek?” he asked, and Derek nodded without taking his eye from the pot.

“Yeah, we had fun. They’re having a pack Christmas party today. I might be over by now; they have lunch together.”

“We’ve done that a few times,” Demarco said. “When the pack was smaller. It’s hard to find somewhere to cook enough for everyone. Unless we’re outside, that is. And unless it’s something simple.”

The kitchen was on the small side, that was true, but like this, even if they kept walking into each other, Stiles thought it was cozy to be this close. It made it easier to forget there was something missing.

“Satomi didn’t celebrate Christmas at all,” Kincaid said. “She used to throw a party anyway, to get together.”

Derek frowned. “Should I have-”

“No,” Stiles said firmly. “I told you, no one expected anything more than this. Although I promised Jordan and Val someone would bring them dinner. That’s all. You didn’t forget anything, and you didn’t mess up.”

Tracey wiped her hands on a towel and bit her lip. “I wasn’t in the pack back then, but I always thought those parties sounded like fun. If you wanted a pack Christmas lunch, Alpha, you could always start a new tradition next year.”

She looked at Derek quickly but then turned her eye to Stiles, and he gave her a smile. She was trying to be friendlier to him, he could tell.

“Sure,” Derek said. “We can do that next year.”

“Are you missing them?” Stiles asked, fiddling with his fingers.

Derek shrugged. “Yeah. But I’ve been looking forward to this too. Orric told me Demarco cooks a great bird.”

“I do,” Demarco said and puffed out his chest a bit.

“Let’s not inflate the man’s ego more than we already do,” Kincaid yawned, and Demarco hit him on the head with a wooden spoon.

After a delicious dinner, Stiles did the dishes, alone, having chased the adults out of the kitchen. He could hear them chatting in the living room, and even Derek sounded like he was enjoying himself and saying more than a few words at a time. In fact, Stiles noted as he washed out a pot, he could hear the other three laughing. Which meant Derek must have said something funny.

Stiles wondered if it had been on purpose. He hoped it had.

He checked the clock on the wall. Deaton would be here soon. Stiles was starting to get nervous. He had come up with the perfect Christmas present for Derek, but maybe Derek wouldn’t see it that way? Maybe he’d be annoyed.

The plate in his hand slipped out of his grip and hit the counter with a loud bang, but thankfully didn’t break.

“Stiles? Are you okay?” Derek called from the living room and Stiles gripped the counter hard and tried to get control of his racing pulse and his quick, shallow breaths.

“I’m fine!” he called back and tried to force the thoughts away but they were loud and sharp and stabbing at his brain like awls. He’d almost broken a plate from his parents’ wedding China. They probably didn’t even make that pattern anymore; he wouldn’t have been able to replace it. They only used it during the holidays, and his mom would’ve been devastated if Stiles had broken a plate.

“Hey,” Kincaid said behind him, placing both hands on Stiles’ shoulders. “Deaton just texted me. He’ll be here in ten. Leave the rest of the dishes. We’ll get to them after we do gifts.”

Stiles nodded and wiped his face on a dry dish towel. He hadn’t started to cry, but his eyes were a little wet.

He joined them in the living room. The TV was on, playing some sort of Christmas show no one was paying attention to.

“Ready for gifts?” Derek asked when Stiles sat down next to him.

“Soon,” Stiles said. “We just need to wait for yours to arrive. But you can give the others theirs if you want.”

Derek gave him a curious look, but reached down under the tree to pull out the gifts Stiles had helped him come up with.

“It’s not much,” he said, handing them out. “Just thought I’d get you something now that we’re spending the day and all. It’s okay if you don’t like them.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “They’ll like them.”

They did of course. Tracey unwrapped the latest John Grisham novel Derek had managed to get signed especially for her through a friend of his mom’s and squealed with delight at something new to read from her favorite writer, and Demarco opened the bottle of good scotch right away to offer everyone – except Stiles – a taste. But only a sip, he said. It was far too good to share. Kincaid looked very restrained when he opened the box of his favorite cigar brand, but he didn’t fool Stiles; Kincaid hadn’t expected that.

Stiles was human, and he didn’t feel the pack bonds the way the wolves did, but Derek looked pleased with it all.

“And this is for you,” Derek said then and handed over the square gift to Stiles. It looked as if it had been wrapped by a ten year old, but Stiles grinned and was about to rip off the wrapping paper when there was a knock on the door.

“Oh, this will be your gift from me, Derek” he said, and rose quickly before Derek could. He took a step out onto the porch and closed the door behind him. Deaton smiled and handed over the leash.

“He peed out here, and I fed him less than an hour ago, so you can let him roam around a bit and make himself at home before you need to take care of those things. I suggest getting his basket sorted as soon as possible though, so he can learn right away where he’s supposed to sleep.”

“Thanks, doc. You want to come in? We’re doing presents right now, but after that I was hoping I could talk them into watching a movie, and we’ve got lots of candy and cookies.”

“Thank you for the invitation, Stiles,” Deaton said. “But I have plans for the rest of the evening. Take care of the pup, and let Alpha Hale know he can call me if he has any questions.”

“Alright. Thanks again.”

Stiles picked up the little ball of fluff and laughed as it licked him in the face. Dogs were walking endorphin dispensers.

He threw open the door as Deaton drove away and stepped inside. “Merry Christmas, Derek!”

The dog yelped and struggled in Stiles’ arms and Derek got to his feet and stared, his eyes wide and his mouth open.

“You got me a dog?” he asked after an entire minute had passed.

Stiles nodded and tried to hand the pup over, but it kept trying to burrow closer into his chest.

“Yes I did. Because I thought you would enjoy having some company. And well…”

Maybe it had been a stupid idea. Maybe Derek didn’t even like dogs. Just because he was a werewolf didn’t mean he’d automatically like animals.

“Dogs don’t typically like werewolves,” Derek said, keeping his distance.

“This one likes Scott. And Deaton and I both smell like you guys all the time, plus I stole one of your shirts to let him get used to your scent, and he doesn’t have any problem with that. Maybe you could just show him that you’re a decent person? Animals are good judges of character, you know?”

“Maybe you could do the alpha eyes at it?” Kincaid suggested, stroking one of his new cigars, bringing it up to his nose to smell it.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Stiles said. “But don’t scare him, he’s a puppy.”

“Puppies need a lot of care,” Derek said, and Stiles felt himself deflate. This had been a mistake.

“He’s not that young,” Demarco said. “Deaton said he thought he was about six months old.”

“He was found in a dumpster,” Stiles said, holding the dog up at eye level so they could both make puppy eyes at Derek. “Poor little thing, he needs a home and someone to love him. And it should be you, Derek. But if you don’t want him, I understand. Although how anyone could not instantly fall in love with this fluffy wuffy wittle doggie I don’t know.”

Derek sighed and finally came up to Stiles and reached out his hand to pet the dog’s head.

“It’s not that I’m not grateful, Stiles.”

“But you don’t like dogs.”

“I like dogs fine. But I’ve never taken care of one before.”

“I’ve already planned that out!” Stiles hurried. “First of all, these guys got you all the stuff he needs for now for your Christmas presents, so you don’t have to worry about that. And he’s tagged and registered and all, and Deaton made sure he’s healthy, but a he’s little underweight. And Alicia loves dogs, and whenever you need someone to watch him during the day you can leave him with Agnes in her office and Alicia will walk him in the afternoon and you can pick him up there. And he’s house-trained. Mostly.” He added the last word in a voice just above a whisper.

“Mostly?” Derek raised his eyebrow as the dog gave out a low bark and growled at him.

“Well, he has some accidents now and then, but that’s because no one bothered to train him. He’s been doing well at the clinic.”

Derek’s eyes bled red, and he looked into the dog’s little face. “Behave,” he said in a deep and low voice and the dog yipped and dug further into Stiles’ arms. Derek picked him up and looked at him again. “Behave.”

This time the dog went still for a moment and then started to sniff him.

Stiles smiled. This was going to work. It was actually going to work, and Derek was going to have company and not be lonely and a cute dog was going to get love and care and snuggles. Stiles made the best matchmaker, really.

“He’s a cutie,” Tracey said, looking up from the book she had already started to read, sipping her drink. “We got him a bunch of toys to play with. And a bowl with his name on it.”

“You already named my dog?”

Stiles blushed. “Yes. And he already answers to Ollie, so you can’t change it now or it’ll confuse him.”

“Ollie?”

“Yeah, cause you know. It’s Christmas. And it’s a time for holly. And to be jolly-“

“And other things ending in -olly?” Derek finished, his face split open in a rare, wide grin. It sent a comfortable wave of butterflies through Stiles’ stomach. Derek should smile more.

Stiles clapped his hands. “You’ve read Hogfather!”

“Nerds,” Kincaid mock-whispered to the others.

“Shut up or I’ll make you watch the movie again.”

Derek smiled at Ollie now. “So you’re Ollie. I guess I can live with that. But I won’t let you sleep in my bed, just so you know. Beds are for humans and werewolves. Dog baskets are for dogs. Got it?”

Stiles didn’t believe that would be the case for a moment, because Derek – Derek of all people! – laughed as Ollie played with his fingers and gave him as many licks as he could get in. That dog would be sleeping by Derek’s side before the week was over.

“What kind is he?” Derek asked.

“Deaton thinks he’s a mix of Yorkie and Schipperke, but he can’t be absolutely sure. His face looks a bit like a yorkie, doesn’t he? But of course he’s all black and look how fluffy his fur is! There were some puppies like that for sale a few of months ago, and they looked like that. Isn’t he cute?”

Derek nodded and put Ollie down on the floor.

“Don’t pee in here,” he told him. “This is Stiles’ house.”

“Come on then, open your gifts, Alpha,” Demarco said, and Derek did. Stiles kept half of his attention on Ollie who was exploring his new home, and half on Derek being gifted gift after gift that was actually for the dog, but he didn’t seem to mind that one bit. When Ollie’s new basket was in its right place next to the TV and his food and water bowl were both filled in the kitchen, Stiles remembered his own gift from Derek.

“The car was enough,” he said, starting to unwrap it quickly, eager to see what Derek had gotten him. It wouldn’t be as good as a dog, of course, but what could Derek had bought? “You didn’t need to get me anything.” Still, not like Stiles was going to refuse a gift.

“Just open it,” Derek said with an exasperated sight. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll open it. I was just saying.”

He didn’t need to get all the paper off to know it was a wall hanging of some sort. It was wide enough that he struggled to turn it over by himself, but it wasn’t until he did so and unwrapped the last part that he realized exactly what it was.

The frame was new, or he would’ve recognized it right away. It was his mom’s painting. Ennis had run his claws across it several times and had broken the frame in a fit of rage, and Stiles had been too afraid to ask Derek what had happened to it. But there it was. Claudia had liked painting when she was younger and had more time for it. This one had been hanging over the mantlepiece for as long as Stiles could remember and featured the view over the preserve from his parents’ favorite spot. She’d told Stiles once that she’d painted it while she was pregnant with him, and of all the material things Ennis had ruined, this had hurt the most.

He looked up at Derek, his mouth open, unable to say anything.

“One of my old pack mates works for a museum. He does restorations and stuff like that. It took him a while to fix it, and he had to take some liberties in a couple of spots, but at least you have it back?”

There was a frown on his face, but not his usual angry one. Stiles looked down at the painting again.

“They’re dead,” He managed to get out. “They’re not here. It’s Christmas and they’re gone.”

He blinked away a tear and his hands were shaking. They were really gone. He could spend all the time he wanted in this house – their home – and decorate it like he used to, and eat Demarco’s food like he used to, and he could pretend that they were only gone for the day, or in another room, but the fact was, his parents were dead and gone and they would never come back. This was Christmas without his family, and this was what every Christmas would be like – without his mom and dad there.

“Should I not have-“ he heard Derek say but it drowned in the sound of the sob coming out of Stiles’ chest.

There were arms around him suddenly and Stiles could recognize them as Kincaid’s without needing to look. He buried his face in Kincaid’s shoulder and sobbed. His parents were gone. Derek could give him back their family photos, and the painting could be fixed, Christmas decorations could be hung up, but there was a gaping hole in his chest where they were supposed to be, and just as much of a gaping hole in this entire holiday. Tracey sat down on his other side and hugged him from behind and he guessed Demarco was the one kneeling in front of the couch with a hand on Stiles’ knee.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles sobbed, fighting for control. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Derek said from right behind Demarco. “I shouldn’t have given you the painting like this. I should’ve told you I was getting someone to fix it, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up if it couldn’t be repaired. And I wanted it to be a surprise for you, I thought it’d be a good surprise, I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

“I don’t think Stiles is upset you got the painting fixed, Derek,” Kincaid said, stroking Stiles’ hair. “I’m sure he’s happy to have it back. Claudia loved that one.”

Stiles forced his sobs to stop and looked up from Kincaid’s shoulder at Derek. The alpha was standing there looking lost and helpless.

“Sorry,” he said and wiped his tears. “Thank you, very much, Derek. Do you think we could put it back where it used to hang? I don’t think I’d want it hanging at the McCalls, that’s not where it belongs.”

“Oh, sure,” Derek said quickly and picked it up. There wasn’t anything new hanging over the mantel piece, and when it was back where it was supposed to be, Stiles did feel a little better. But only a little. He felt suddenly exhausted and tried to smile at the other three.

“Guys, you don’t have to cling.”

Tracey squeezed harder and Kincaid’s arm didn’t leave him. Ollie was yapping by the couch, confused by the sudden shift in mood in the room and Stiles tried to laugh at him.

“Maybe he needs to go outside for a little bit?” Derek said, holding out the leash. “Stiles? Do you mind?”

“No, I’ll go!” Stiles said quickly. It wasn’t alone time in his old home, but it was a chance to get away from all these well-meaning people who wouldn’t stop hugging him and would spend the rest of the evening looking at him as if he was about to fall apart, and who he needed to be brave and strong for. Before anyone could object, he’d dug out the poo bags from the dog supplies and put his jacket on.

“Maybe I should go with you?” Kincaid said and rose from the couch.

“No, I’m fine. Really. Can’t wait to show this little guy where all the good flowerbeds are to pee in. You stay here. Enjoy the rest of the cookies. And the candy. There’s a lot left.”

“I’ve got Boyd’s gingerbread,” Derek said. “Have fun, Stiles. Don’t be gone too long.”

Stiles sent what he hoped was a thankful smile his way and left.

The air was crisp outside, but it wasn’t cold, and it made him feel better right away. Ollie pulled on the leash and Stiles let him. It could be Derek’s job to teach him to walk nicely and to heel. Stiles was gonna be the fun uncle, not the stern one.

It was a relief to be alone except for the puppy. Ollie didn’t expect anything from him at all, except one of the treats Stiles had hidden in his jacket pocket for a job well done at peeing and pooping.

They hadn’t planned on Kincaid, Tracey and Demarco staying all evening, Derek told himself as he continued with the dishes in the kitchen. It hadn’t been rude to suggest they leave, he told himself as he dried the cutlery. They had understood, he told himself as he put all the clean dishes away. He’d given them food containers to bring by the sheriff’s station for Jordan and Valerie, and then they had all left. And there’d been some scenting. Not a lot, but after over six months as their alpha, a little went a long way, and it felt good to know his pack mates were walking around in the world with a little bit of his scent of them. And he’d picked up some of theirs, and it was already mingling with the rest of the pack on his skin, creating a collective pack scent that should be on every member of a pack, and even more so on their alpha. With more time, the scent would be stronger. Maybe he should’ve asked them to stay longer after all?

A bit of quiet wasn’t bad, Derek thought. They’d been there for hours already, which was far too long to be social and friendly and talk to people, according to Derek. They’d all seemed pleased with the day. Other than the breakdown over the painting, Stiles had seemed happy too, and Derek smiled at the thought that apparently he was a dog owner now. Owner of a cute dog too.

Derek, on the few times in his life when he had ever pictured himself owning a pet, had pictured himself with a big dog. Like a Labrador. Or a German Shepherd. Maybe even a Saint Bernard or a Great Dane. Ollie was small. He’d looked up the two breeds Deaton thought he was mixed with, and they were both lightweight breeds. At six months, Ollie could still fit very comfortably in Derek’s arms, and he wondered if he’d ever grow much larger. Yorkies were tiny. Schipperkes were only a little bigger.

He still couldn’t actually believe this was what Stiles had gotten him for Christmas. And the pack had known too, and apparently agreed that Derek should get a dog. He wondered if they all thought he was lonely and needed some company.

He heard two individuals approach outside, one on two feet and the other on four, and not long after, Stiles’ steps on the porch and then the front door opening. Ollie barked and ran into the kitchen and jumped up on Derek’s legs for attention and Derek picked him up to look him in the eye. This time Ollie looked back. It felt good. It felt like being seen and instantly accepted.

“You’re my dog now,” Derek told him. “You don’t pee indoors, and I don’t yell at you for things you do wrong but that you can’t understand, okay?”

Ollie yipped and started licking Derek’s face.

“Well at least someone likes me.”

“Lots of people like you,” Stiles said coming into the room. “I was going to clean up.”

“Now you don’t have to, it’s done.”

“Where is everyone else?”

“They left. They wished you a merry Christmas though.”

Stiles’ shoulders sagged, but he didn’t look upset.

“Thank you. I love them and all, but…”

“I know. And so do they. Don’t worry about it. There’s been a lot of people around these past few days, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s been a lot.”

Derek held out Ollie to him, and the dog jumped into Stiles’ arms.

“Someone’s the favorite here and it’s not me.”

Stiles smiled. “He’ll love you once he gets to know you. I’ve been visiting him at the vet clinic every day for a month now, so he knows I’m good for ear scratches and cuddles.”

They went into the living room and settled on opposite sides of the couch to turn the TV back on. An old Christmas movie was playing and Derek watched it with half-attention, his eyes straying from the screen to the puppy who was going back and forth between them for scratches and strokes, and sometimes to the painting that was now hanging over the mantelpiece. It was gorgeous. He could understand why Stiles had loved it so much just by that fact alone. First Christmas without his parents was bound to be emotional.

He glanced over at him to find Stiles’ eyes blankly staring at the screen, not really watching.

“Do you want to turn this off?” Derek asked softly and Stiles whipped his head around.

“Huh? What?”

“Do you want me to turn it off? Or we could watch something else if you wanted to.”

“No, no, I’m fine watching this if you want to finish it. I’ve seen it before.”

“I’d hope so. It’s Miracle on 34th street. But I don’t mind turning it off. I’ve been thinking about reading the Hogfather anyway since you told me about Ollie’s name.”

Stiles grinned. “Christmas reading beats Christmas movies, unless it’s Die Hard.” He turned the TV off and curled up in the corner with Ollie starting to snooze off in his lap and Derek went to get his copy of the book. It was tattered and dog-eared, and he was surprised it was still intact.

He’d expected Stiles to get himself something to read too, but Stiles looked at him expectantly when Derek sat down, and Derek opened the first page.

“Everything starts somewhere,” he started, “although many physicists disagree…”

Stiles reached over for the warm bundle of fluff that had gone to sleep next to him but found nothing but air. He forced his eyes open and frowned. Boxing day. Would this holiday ever end?

Sleeping in his old bed hadn’t felt as comforting as he had expected it to after waking up every morning for nine months in the McCalls’ guest room. It should feel like home. It should feel like a relief, like the sigh of contentment after coming home after a long and hard journey, or like a hug, shouldn’t it?

It felt odd, and uncomfortable; a pair of old shoes you used to love but that didn’t quite fit you anymore.

He checked his watch, and it was still early, so he rolled around and tried to force himself to go back to sleep.

Five minutes later he rolled over on his back again. This was pointless.

He got up and grabbed his pillow and a blanket and went in search of Ollie.

The door to Derek’s room was open at a crack and Stiles peeked inside. Yep. Derek had been adamant that Ollie should sleep in his basket downstairs, and Stiles felt sure that Derek had heard Stiles sneak down to get the pup. But Derek’s door had been closed by then. Ollie hadn’t made his way inside Derek’s room all by himself. Alpha werewolf was curled around the black little fluff ball, both asleep.

Stiles wondered at Derek not waking up at the sounds he was sure he was making, tiptoeing across the floor, or at the sound his phone made when he snapped a picture of them both, but Ollie lifted his head and yipped at him and then hopped down from the bed to try to climb up into Stiles’ arms.

“Down,” he whispered. “I can’t carry you right now. And you’ve got legs, don’t you?”

Derek reached out in his sleep, but got hold of his pillow instead and cradled it to his chest. Stiles took another picture, in case he’d ever need blackmail material, but then left, Ollie’s at his heels.

“Careful down the stairs,” he cautioned the pup, but despite the short legs, Ollie managed well. That was a relief. He’d been worried about the steps.

He made sure Ollie had food and water and took him into the backyard to do his business, and then went in search of the leftover cookies and candy. He needed to finish it before his dad woke up and came down to find it and –

He needed to finish it, because that’s what Stiles always did on Boxing day.

Grabbing another pillow from the sofa, and Hogfather, he climbed into the little space in the corner behind the Christmas tree. Traditions were traditions after all. Usually, he’d have something new to read, courtesy of his mother who always knew what books to choose for him, but Hogfather would do fine. He settled with one pillow underneath him, and one at his back and wrapped himself up in the blanket and spent a few minutes looking at the lights from the tree. From here it was all he could see really. It was like being surrounded by nothing but pure Christmas.

Ollie lay down next to him, sniffing the cookie platter curiously, but Stiles moved it out of reach for him before he could steal one. He’d brought dog treats too anyway.

“There you go little guy,” he said and petted his head. “Those are for you. I’m not sure about gingerbread for dogs, but these other ones are chocolate and that’s not good for you at all.”

Ollie yipped and settled down, and Stiles continued reading.

It was over an hour later when he heard Derek coming down the stairs, and then it took Derek a few minutes to peek behind the tree.

“What are you doing back there?”

“Reading” Stiles said holding up the book. “I kept our place from yesterday, though, so you can continue later.”

“Why back there?”

Stiles shrugged, feeling as if he couldn’t really explain why that spot behind the Christmas tree was such a comforting place. “Just nice here.”

Derek watched at him curiously for a moment and then nodded. “I was thinking I’d take Ollie for a walk around the preserve. Might be gone an hour or so. When do you need to be back with the McCalls?”

“I don’t really. Me and Scott were going to have leftovers for lunch, so I was gonna leave before that. Melissa works day today, so we were gonna play video games or watch something dumb.”

“Why don’t you invite him over here then? If you want to of course.” Derek drew in a tired breath and let it out again. “I’ll show you a board game Laura and I came up with when we were kids. It’s dumb and silly and you’re going to love humiliating me at it.”

Stiles smiled. “Sure. I’ll text him in a bit. He’ll still be asleep.”

“Great. Come on Ollie, we’re going out.”

Ollie clearly knew what the word “out” meant, because he sprung up right away and soon Stiles was alone, just like he would’ve been if his parents still would’ve been alive. They’d still be sleeping, upstairs, and Stiles would be here, behind the tree, reading something good and having cookies for breakfast, for hours sometimes. He closed his eyes and snuggled deeper into the blanket. He could pretend they were going to come down soon as if no one had ever hurt them, and as if they were still a happy little alpha family.

And Derek would be home with his own family.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12 – Lacrosse

“Stop complaining.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Your eyebrows did.”

Derek took his usual need-to-deal-with-Stiles-so-take-a-deep-breath-so-you-don’t-rip-his-throat-out-with-your-teeth-breath and followed Stiles to the lacrosse field.

“Don’t you need to go change? Or listen to a pre-game pep talk from your coach?”

Stiles snorted. “Coach doesn’t do pep talks until last minute. And I don’t need long to get ready. I wanted to make sure you got to your seat.”

“You wanted to make sure I didn’t leave before the game started.”

“Now why would you do that, Derek? Every single person in your pack under the age of 18 who isn’t an adorable Frozen fan plays on this team. Of course you’re going to stay through the game, and once we win, you’ll take us all out for ice cream.”

Stiles took Derek by the arm and dragged him over to the bleachers and pushed him down on the lowest row.

“There. You sit here in front, and we can chat while I’m on the bench.”

“You don’t think they’ll let you play?”

“They never let me play, I’m not good. And there’s way too many werewolves on this team to compete with.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I’m on the team whether I get to play or not, and I’m there for every practice.”

“That’s a healthy attitude,” Derek smiled and unzipped his jacket so Ollie could poke his head out from underneath it. “Say bye to Stiles, Ollie. We’ll see him in a bit.”

Stiles rubbed Ollie’s head and let him lick his fingers before running off to the changing rooms.

Derek looked around. He knew very little about lacrosse, it not having been a big sport at his high school at all. And he was early too; Stiles clearly hadn’t trusted Derek to come unless Stiles came and made him, and no other spectators had arrived yet. This was going to be a long evening.

An hour later he was dying to go home. Ollie was behaving well sitting at Derek’s feet and sometimes jumping up into his lap, and more often than not straining on the leash to get to Stiles who was a few feet away. He didn’t like the loud noises though, and Derek fed him roasted radishes to distract him when it got too bad. There had been a lot of radishes in his veggie boxes lately.

He saw Carrie make a long pass over to Scott who made his way to the goal for a score just as Brett tackled someone to the ground. He’d seen both Brett and Liam do a lot of hard tackles during the game, but it looked balanced and restrained. Frankly, Derek was impressed. He hadn’t been allowed team sports other than basketball as a teenager. His parents were afraid of him accidentally hurting someone, and he’d always suspected that if he’d gotten to play football or another sport, the energy from the game would have led him to do just that. But Liam and Brett seemed used to applying the right amount of strength and they simply came off as two strong human boys. Even Scott was doing well. He kept reaching up to touch his arm several times, and Derek whistled to Stiles who left the bench to come sit down next to him for a little bit, to Ollie’s great delight.

“What’s up with Scott’s arm?”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Oh that. Yeah, coach needed to teach Jackson a lesson, so he made Scott co-captain. So Scott’s just patting his patch. I’m sure he thinks it’s going to disappear any day now.”

“Which one is Jackson?”

Stiles pointed to a tall kid that had been scoring more than once, his face hidden by his helmet.

“Scott is doing well with his self-control.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Stiles said cheerfully and with more than just a hint of pride. “I’m so proud of him. He learnt fast for a bitten wolf. My mom was very pleased. You never know with bitten ones, you know?”

Derek was about to reply when a girl came down from a higher row to sit next to Stiles. Her red hair was immaculately curled, and her clothes made her look like she’d be more at home at a country club than a high school lacrosse game, but she smiled at Stiles and gave Ollie a little pat on the head. Stiles’ posture changed and he turned completely towards her, giving her his full focus.

“Who’s your friend?” the girl asked.

“This is Ollie.”

She laughed and nodded towards Derek. The look she gave him wasn’t entirely without interest, and Stiles gave him a worried glance.

“Derek Hale. He’s an old friend of my family, and he’s the one renting my house.”

The girl held out her hand for Derek to shake, and he did, keeping their contact as short as possible.

“Derek, this is Lydia Martin, a classmate of mine. Jackson out there is her boyfriend.”

“Nice to meet you, Derek. You’re the new architect in town, aren’t you?”

“Mhm.”

“Is this your little pup?”

“Yep.”

Stiles relaxed a little next to him and Derek could put two and two together.

“Stiles, do you want a drink? I’m going to get myself something now that you’re here with Ollie.”

“Not while they’re playing,” Lydia smiled. “Coach won’t call him out on the field if he sees him eating or drinking instead of watching the game. I’d love a coke though.”

“Right.” Apparently he was buying this girl a soda now.

Stiles threw Derek a grateful look when he left, and Ollie yipped but stayed happily in Stiles’ lap – one of his favorite places in the world.

Derek looked back at them when he’d made it some distance from the bleacher. They were chatting now, friendly and sociably, it seemed, and Derek smiled. Good. Stiles should get to talk to all the girls he liked if that’s what he wanted.

On the way back to his seat with two cokes, he passed a woman with a rottweiler standing by the side of the bleachers. The dog growled a little at Derek when he passed, but didn’t make any move to attack, like some dogs did when they could smell human-smelling-like-predator, and the woman bopped it on the nose. She gave Derek a tentative smile.

Lydia was still sitting by Stiles, talking about something having to do with school but thanked Derek for the coke before going back to sitting next to some other girls higher up.

“Your crush is very obvious,” he said as he sat down.

“Alphas without girlfriends don’t get to comment on other people’s love lives.”

Ollie yipped at the rottweiler, and Derek picked him up before he forgot how small he was and decided to defend Stiles from a threat, and exchanged a look with the woman again, hoping she couldn’t hear them.

“She likes you.”

Derek’s head spun around so he could stare at Stiles. He stared ahead at the game, and Derek picked up on hints of jealousy coming from him. He didn’t like it. “What?”

“Lydia. She likes you. Older guy and all that.”

“I’m not into teenagers. And didn’t you say she had a boyfriend?”

“She does. But she kinda… ignores that sometimes.”

“Charming.”

Stiles looked like he was about to defend her to his dying breath, but instead he pointed to one of the players coming off the field with his helmet off. He was tall and thin with blonde hair and a sort of elfish appearance.

“See him? That’s Isaac Lahey.”

“Oh?”

“And over there,” Stiles pointed to a mousy girl at the other end of the first row, “that’s Erica Reyes.”

“And?”

“I’ll tell you later. Just keep an eye on them for now will you? But you know, don’t look like you’re keeping an eye on them.”

And with that Stiles went back to the bench. It didn’t look like anyone had missed him.

Derek lost interest in the game after that, but he did keep an eye on the two teenagers Stiles had pointed out. And if, in order to look inconspicuous, he had to turn his head the other way to look at the woman with the large dog now and then, that was just accidental. He noted her shifting her weight from one foot to the other and scooted over one seat and gestured to her to. He was on the first row at the far end, and it would let her keep her dog where it was.

She smiled and sat down.

“Thank you. I didn’t want to bring Pilot up on the higher rows. He’s well-behaved but he gets overwhelmed sometimes.”

“No problem,” Derek nodded and smiled at Ollie hiding behind Derek’s leg but sticking out his nose to sniff the other dog. Pilot had simply sat down at the woman’s feet and was ignoring him, obviously having deemed a pup a quarter of his weight as being of no consequence to him.

“Who’s this little cutie then?”

She let Ollie sniff her hand and he started licking her excitedly. The woman was tall, with dark hair and a sweet smile on her attractive face. She smelled like rosemary. Derek had been cooking with rosemary a lot lately.

“Ollie.”

“Adorable. Mix?”

“Yeah. Schipperke and Yorkie, we think. He’s a rescue.”

“Pilot was too. Most pounds don’t have room for big dogs like this, so we got lucky to find each other before they had to put him down.”

Derek nodded, wondering why she was trying to talk to him. He’d never been good at talking to people he didn’t know. It wasn’t shyness, it was just hard to know what to say.

“I’m Derek Hale,” he tried in order to be polite and held out his hand.

“Jennifer Blake,” she said and took it. “I teach English here. I saw you talking to Stiles Stilinski. Are you a relative?”

Well that was starting to make more sense. If Derek saw a strange adult talking to a sixteen year old he knew, he’d be on the alert too.

“No, but our families knew each other.”

“Are you the one renting his house?”

Derek nodded.

“Keeping an eye on him too, I bet.”

“I try. He’s got his foster mother too, and lots of other family friends.”

“Oh yes. Nurse McCall. I like her.”

Derek smiled at that. Only people with bad taste, or who were bad judges of character, wouldn’t like Melissa.

“Stiles is doing great in school. I know he got behind a bit after his parents died so suddenly, but he worked his way back very quickly. He’s one of my favorite students.”

Derek straightened at that and realized too late that he was puffing out his chest with pride. Of course Stiles did great, hadn’t everyone in the pack told him that? Naturally he’d be a good teacher’s favorite student. And not for being a kiss-ass, either. No, Derek couldn’t ever picture Stiles as someone who would butter up a teacher for good grades or even succeed if he tried. He also couldn’t picture Stiles succeeding at it.

“I’m glad to hear it. His parents would’ve been happy to know that too.”

“Oh, I’m sure they did know.”

Beacon Hills scored and everyone around them cheered loudly. It was hard on Derek’s sensitive hearing, and he was starting to worry about Ollie who had jumped up into his lap, standing on his hind legs and pawing at Derek’s jacket. It was one of his favorite places to be when they were outside but not walking, and Derek quickly let him inside. Ollie kept his head out though, peering at Jennifer and the field and yipping a hello at any of the pack who came close to the bleachers.

Jennifer patted his head and smiled fondly.

“Such a charmer.”

“Thanks.”

“Pilot and I go walking in the preserve every Sunday, Derek, would you and Ollie like to join us sometime? Puppy like that might benefit from some socializing with other dogs. And Pilot is always looking for a new friend.”

Pilot still stared straight ahead as if making new friends was the last thing he wanted out of life.

“Sure.”

They exchanged phone numbers and Derek offered her a roasted radish from the bag in his pocket. She declined but kept smiling whenever she looked over at him. Derek patted Ollie’s head and was rewarded with kisses on his chin. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it yet, but he had a feeling that his dog had gotten him a date.

Carrie and Brett were busy arguing about a foul they didn’t think had been judged fairly, and Scott and Liam were tasting each other’s ice creams while Lorilee was telling Derek about how much she wished Beacon Hills had an all-girl Lacrosse team as it would let her shine more out on the field, and Stiles snuck his spoon into Derek’s praline pecan to steal a taste without him noticing. They’d gone to the new ice cream parlor not far from the highway to celebrate the team winning their game and Stiles had a rule when it came to new ice cream places; the first visit was to make sure they had good chocolate. If they couldn’t nail the basics, there was no reason to give them a chance on other flavors.

So he had ordered chocolate chocolate chocolate with chocolate sprinkles, and it was some of the richest and most delicious chocolate ice cream he had ever tasted; he was regretting not getting something more advanced. He wasn’t that big of a fan of pecan, but Derek was too busy listening to Lorilee’s plans for her future to notice him stealing another spoon, and Scott had already moved his strawberry mango sherbet out of Stiles’ reach. Scott knew him too well.

“And Carrie, you wanted to be a lawyer?” Derek asked when Lorilee had told him about wanting to be a writer.

Carrie nodded, her mouth full of salted caramel. “Yeah, I think the pack could really use a lawyer. College is expensive though. Plus law school.”

“We don’t all have rich parents,” Stiles said with an eye roll.

He regretted it two seconds later when Derek didn’t continue talking, but really, Derek had had his entire education served to him on a silver platter; what did he know about paying for school? He probably didn’t even know how much tuition cost for a full year at the school he had attended. Derek was looking down into his cup and looked back up at Stiles. “Did you eat my ice cream?”

“Of course I did, don’t change the subject.”

“There’s aid for people whose families don’t make a lot,” Carrie offered. “There’s got to be more for people who don’t have families at all.”

“Hey!” Lorilee snapped and punched Carrie in the arm. “You have a family. A big one.”

Carrie punched her back. “I know that, but I’m not legally adopted, so I count as a poor little orphan in the eyes of the state and I’m going to milk that for all that it’s worth if I can afford pre-law somewhere good.”

Derek let out a deep breath. “Just don’t… lose hope, you guys. It’s a year and a half until we need to start worrying about where you go and how we’re going to pay for it. Anything can happen between now and then. You’re still kids. I want you to have dreams.”

Stiles smiled. “Dreams are good.”

“I want to build houses,” Brett said then. “It’s good enough for my pack, and it’ll be good enough for me. And I think it looks fun. Plus the house will be there for decades after you finish it, and you can pass it all the time and point it out to your kids and say ‘hey, look, I built that chimney!’”

“I’d like to be a vet, like Deaton,” Scott added. “Not as expensive as law school, but mom is still worried about it.”

“And Liam wants to play lacrosse professionally,” Brett continued and poked his friend in his side and Liam let out a surprised laugh and smacked Brett so hard that he almost fell over into Stiles’ lap.

“Come on, Alpha, control your puppies,” he complained but Derek picked up his spoon with the remains of half-melted ice cream and directed it towards Stiles.

“This is for eating my ice cream.”

The cold and wet sludge hit Stiles in the face and he spluttered out a long litany of curses and was about to reach across the table to – well he wasn’t sure what he would do that would be sufficient punishment for Derek, but he’d think of something – when Isaac and coach Lahey came in through the doors.

Stiles didn’t hate a lot of people. He could be petty, he could be vindictive, and he could hold a grudge like few others could, but he didn’t usually hate people – murderers of beloved parents not included of course. Coach Lahey was an exception. He remembered the very first time he’d caught sight of bruises on Isaac. They’d been ten, or eleven, and Stiles was used to bruises; he’d grown up around werewolf kids who often forgot he wasn’t as durable as they were, and bruises happened. They happened while playing with Scott too. They happened when falling off the bike or tripping on tree roots. Bruises just happened to Stiles. Isaac’s bruises were different and even Stiles could see that. He’d done what he always did when things bothered him; he told his parents, and while he knew his dad had tried to contact the right people, there hadn’t been any real attempts from those people at getting Isaac away from his dad, and Isaac had soon started to avoid Stiles after that.

Stiles kicked Derek’s foot under the table and nodded in their direction just as Mr. Lahey started to berate Isaac for messing up a bodycheck. He wasn’t physically abusive in public, but Stiles knew Derek could hear and smell a lot better than he could, and Derek’s eyes narrowed at the sight.

“That’s Isaac Lahey?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me why-”

“Later. I’m driving you home later, remember? I’ll tell you then.”

Lorilee cocked her head to the side and made her eyes wide and pleading. “Deerek? You know how mom and dad are watching Ollie right now? Maybe you don’t need to pick him up tonight? Maybe he can spend the night with us? And he can sleep in my bed with me. I promise I’ll bring him to your house tomorrow morning.”

“Oh yes,” Carrie said and copied Lorilee’s facial expression and pose. “Pleeease Derek?”

“He’s supposed to sleep in a basket, not in beds,” Derek objected, and Stiles rolled his eyes.

“Please, as if Ollie doesn’t sleep next to you every single night, all cuddled up in your alpha arms. Would you even be okay without him for a night?”

Maybe the others couldn’t see it, but Stiles could, and Derek was not going to be okay.

“He’s going to miss his blanket.”

“Maybe the girls can borrow Ollie another night then?” Stiles suggested. “Maybe some time when you’re in Sacramento. Or god forbid, go on a date.”

He gave the girls a firm look, and they dropped the subject.

Ollie was perfect for Derek, Stiles thought as he watched his alpha rummage around the kitchen for the pup’s dinner, keeping up a frankly adorable conversation with the dog. He knew, realistically, that dogs didn’t speak human. They didn’t really understand words as such – although he had read some interesting stuff about dogs’ abilities to figure out what some words meant and – never mind that now. He knew Ollie didn’t actually understand that Derek was asking which can of dog food he wanted tonight, but much like babies he could read tones and reactions to when he did that yip he used instead of barking most of the time, and Stiles wondered if maybe there was something in Derek being an alpha werewolf and Ollie a canine who had been accepted into the pack, that let Ollie understand more than another dog would.

“Alright,” Derek said when Ollie had attacked his food bowl, “what’s with the Lahey kid? And the girl?”

“Erica Reyes.”

“Right. What about them?”

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “I thought that’d be obvious.”

Derek raised an eyebrow too and leaned against the sofa. He was much better at conveying things with his face than Stiles was, and Stiles gave up.

“It’s been a year since you took over, Derek.”

“Not for three months or so.”

“That’s close enough. And there’s not that many chances of the pack growing anytime soon, because no one is going to be having kids. Unless you know more about what Jordan and Val have been up to lately than I do.”

“Maybe I do. But no, I don’t think they’re headed down the aisle or will be skipping condoms in the near future. So?”

“New pack mates are important for an alpha. Especially a new alpha. And it matters a lot to the older pack too. Some of them remember Satomi too! They’ve gone through a lot of alphas.”

“And they’ll go through one more, won’t they? When you find my replacement?”

Stiles’ words died on his lips at that. Right. He tended to forget about that. He didn’t forget it all the time – the so called suitors dropping by wouldn’t let him forget – but they’d all been having such a good night, it was easy to forget that Derek was going to leave eventually. He sunk down on the sofa and grabbed a pillow to fiddle with.

“Yeah,” he said slowly, forcing his mind back to what he was going to say. “My point is, when a pack has a new alpha, it’s good for the pack to grow, in any way that it can. It’s good for the pack to welcome new betas that only know the new alpha as their alpha. It brings them all together. You know this, right?”

It occurred to Stiles that he had no idea how long Talia Hale had been the alpha of the Sacramento pack. Maybe Derek had never had any other alpha than her?

But Derek nodded. “Sure.”

“And it’s not like you’re growing the pack yourself by finding a mate and having babies, are you? So I think you should turn someone.”

Derek straightened at that. “And what makes you think those two kids-”

“Here me out,” Stiles said quickly. “Erica Reyes is sick. She has epilepsy and seizures all the time. A couple of months ago she missed school because she had a seizure in the bathtub. Only didn’t drown because her mom was able to pull her out of the water in time. She’s like Scott that way. She should become a werewolf because it could make her healthier. And she’s a nice person. You wouldn’t regret having her in the pack. She wouldn’t be a burden on the pack either. Her family’s not loaded or anything, but she doesn’t need us financially.”

“That’s a reason to make her a werewolf is it? She might decide she won’t like this pack and then she’s an omega we might have to put down. And you know not everyone survives the bite.”

“I think she deserves the chance. And I think she’ll stay with us.”

“You know her well?”

“Not that well, but well enough to know she’d like a found family. Most teens would.”

Derek rubbed his temples. “I don’t know Stiles… her parents might become a problem if she starts to hang out with a bunch of adults at night. I think people already think we’re a cult.”

“They do, but they think we’re a super peaceful hippie cult who worship the moon, grow delicious organic oranges, and stick to ourselves.”

“They won’t be happy.”

“They will when their daughter stops almost dying because of something they can’t cure.”

Stiles crossed his arms over his chest and stared firmly at Derek. It was usually enough, and Derek put his palms up in surrender. “Fine. We can talk about this. What about the Lahey kid?”

“Isaac’s being abused by his dad. His mom is gone and so’s his big brother. He’s not a werewolf, but he’s a lone wolf without a pack. He needs us. And he’s cool. He’ll be a loyal beta. And I think Scott is sort of into him, but that’s beside the point. The point is you should turn both of them because I know them well enough to know they’d be good werewolves.”

And because I said so, he suggested, but kept that silent. His mom would’ve listened to him. She would’ve known what he meant. Sometimes you could tell, and Stiles didn’t need to be a werewolf himself to be able to. Derek would be able to tell too, if he gave them a chance.

Derek’s brows were closely knitted together and Stiles sighed. “Look, Alpha. Will you trust me please? Haven’t I earned a little bit of trust?”

That earned him a look. “All I ever do is trust you.”

“And I haven’t been wrong yet, have I?”

“If I get angry parents on my hands after this…”

“You won’t,” Stiles hurried to say. “Anyway, you can give them a chance, right? Take a look at them and you’ll see they’ll make good wolves, both of them.”

“I will talk it over with Boyd.”

Stiles grinned at that. “Told you he was your second. See, I’m always right!”

Chapter Text

“I don’t know anything about Isaac Laney or Erica Reyes,” Boyd said, sipping on his beer. “But I think Stiles has a point about making betas. We’re fine with you, Derek, but it’d be good for you. And growing the pack is always a good sign of a healthy pack.”

Derek shrugged. “Doesn’t mean it’s the right choice to turn them, is it? I don’t know anything about either of them except what Stiles has told me.”

“Stiles has good instincts when it comes to the pack.”

Months ago, Derek might have suspected that that was a dig at himself. He waved at Jordan and Valerie when he saw them enter the bar and gave them a quick rundown of Stiles’ suggestion.

“Turning teenagers can be tricky,” Valerie said. “Most parents aren’t like Melissa, who knew Claudia and John for years before Claudia talked to her about Scott.”

“We could tell them afterwards,” Jordan pointed out.

“Perhaps,” Derek sighed. “And the point is moot anyway, if Erica and Isaac don’t want to.”

“I wouldn’t tell that Coach Lahey anything,” Valerie said. “The man is a brute. Nothing good could come of that. Are you settled on those two then, Derek?”

Derek wished he could say he was, and while watching them both for a few days, he could see Stiles’ point about Isaac clearly. Erica was harder. She faded into the background easily around the school, but there was something about her. Like she’d get her claws out if someone pushed her too far into a corner. Sometimes the furry little animal turns out to be a mongoose, he thought and texted the reference to Stiles who immediately dragged him into a discussion about comparing Pratchett’s witches. Well, discussion was hardly the word to use when describing a conversation with Stiles, who could talk nonstop for five or ten minutes, ask a question needing an answer in ten words or less and then talk for another quarter of an hour.

Derek wished he could be more like Stiles the next Sunday morning when he took Ollie to the preserve to meet Jennifer Blake and her Pilot for what might be a date. Even if it wasn’t a date, he’d still be expected to carry part of the conversation. Jennifer was not Stiles. He couldn’t count on her to start blabbing and him only needing to occasionally contribute.

Ten months in Stiles’ regular company had given Derek a bunch of topics he could bring up whenever things grew too silent.

“I think the main benefit of a mix is how cute they look,” he told Jennifer, despite feeling that such words were more appropriate for a sixteen year old – almost seventeen now, Derek needed to start thinking about a birthday present – than an adult man.

Jennifer laughed, a clear laugh that he realized he liked very much and wouldn’t mind hearing more. “For me it’s the reduced risk of inbreeding. Not so much a problem for rottweilers of course, since it’s not a rare breed at all, but I could imagine there can’t be so many… what was Ollie again, other than yorkie?”

“Schipperke.”

“Right. Can’t be so many of those nearby that there wouldn’t have to be a lot of inbreeding, no matter how hard you try to avoid that, if you wanted a full-bred dog.”

“But of course, with a mix, you have to read up on all the involved breeds. For health, for example. And behaviors.”

“You think the breed matters that much then, Derek?”

“No, of course not.” Derek frowned. He had just said it to have something to say. What would Stiles have said right now? “I thought Pilot was full-bred?”

“He is, but I did go to the shelter looking for a mix, since I know those have a harder time getting adopted. It just so happened we had love at first sight.”

She patted her dog’s head affectionately and Ollie yipped and demanded attention too, so Derek scratched his ears so he wouldn’t feel left out.

“How is Ollie handling being left alone while you’re at work?”

“I work a lot from home. And when I don’t, well, John and Claudia had a big support network.”

“Right. That little club of yours.”

“Mhm. What about Pilot?”

“When I’m at work? He doesn’t like it, but I have a neighbor who will let him out to do his business around lunchtime. And if my neighbor is busy, I simply hurry home during lunch.”

“You must work long hours.”

Jennifer sighed.

“I do. I miss him a lot during the day of course, but he’s used to it. And I’m usually too busy with the kids at work to worry too much about him, and then of course I feel guilty about that.”

“Seeing as I know a bunch of those kids, I can see how they’d keep you too busy to think about anything else.”

She laughed at that. “Young Mr. Stilinski especially.”

It occurred to Derek that Jennifer might know more about Isaac and Erica. Despite everyone’s assurances, he still wasn’t sure about whether turning them was the right choice.

“Is Isaac Lahey in your class?”

“Isaac? Yes.” She gave him a look. “Is he in your little… club, too? Or are you recruiting?”

Derek managed not to blush, but it was a close call. Of course he’d look like a creep being curious about teenagers he didn’t know. “Stiles was a little worried about him. He says Isaac doesn’t have the best home life.”

“That’s probably true,” Jennifer sighed again. “Not much we can do though. Teachers, I mean. I wasn’t sure about what was wrong there yet, but it’s clear he’s not happy where he is. I was going to ask some of the other teachers about it actually. Thank you, you reminded me. Although it’s harder with his father on school payroll too.”

“He’s on the lacrosse team, so I hope that means he has friends?”

She shrugged. “That doesn’t mean much. A lot of kids on these teams can’t stand each other. Take your Stiles and kids like Jackson Whittemore. I made the mistake of pairing them up for an assignment once. Never again, I can tell you that.”

“Ah. Shittemore. I’ve heard about him.”

Jennifer laughed. “Stiles would call him that.”

“How about Erica Reyes?”

She started at that. “Erica? Has Stiles said anything about her parents?”

“Not really that. He just seemed concerned about her and wouldn’t tell me why.”

“There’s plenty to be concerned about, but I don’t think it’s about the parents. She’s not healthy, but her parents are devoted to her. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any signs of abuse. The odd bruise of course, but that’s to be expected, given her… issues.”

He had to respect her for not sharing any details about Erica, but this information did nothing to help him make a decision. For Isaac, he was prepared to trust in Stiles’ judgment, but was it not Erica’s parents’ business too, if their daughter became a werewolf? Giving someone the bite for health reasons wasn’t something an alpha usually sought someone out for.

“We’ve been walking here for quite a while,” Jennifer said suddenly. “I’m getting hungry. There’s this new Mexican place I’ve been meaning to try that supposedly makes great quesadillas.”

Even Derek knew that was an invitation. “Lunch then?”

“I’d love to, Derek. And maybe while we eat, you can actually tell me more about you? I feel like we’ve talked about everything and anything else but each other.”

“That sounds nice,” he replied, wondering what in the world he could tell her that was true as well as something she didn’t already know.

“It’s gross.”

“It is not gross.”

“It’s like, incestuous.”

“How is it incestuous? We’re not related.”

“Yeah but I’m connected to both of you, and you’re mixing two worlds that God honestly never meant to be mixed, Derek. You don’t want to anger God, Derek. Don’t you know what that guy is like when he’s pissed?”

Derek threw a carrot at Stiles.

“You are the one who said I should get a girlfriend.”

Stiles snorted. “I said no such thing. I made fun of you for not having one, that’s not the same. And I didn’t think you’d be taking long romantic walks with Ms. Blake.”

Derek peered at him from across the dinner table. “You don’t like her?”

“Sure I do. She let us skip John Steinbeck and gave us Out of Darkness instead. Someone complained to the school board, but she dealt with it herself. But is she right for you? What do you even talk about other than dogs and how hard it is to live with pretty privilege?”

“Sometimes we complain about you.”

Stiles grinned. “No you don’t.”

“Sometimes it’s all we talk about. But I asked her about Isaac and Erica.”

Stiles put down his fork, loudly. “You did what? You don’t think that’s going to look super suspicious when they both start hanging out with us?”

“I haven’t agreed yet, Stiles,” Derek warned him. “And I want to make sure I do my homework properly.”

“But you don’t need to do the homework, because I already have. They’re perfect for the bite. Why can’t you just trust me on this?”

It was hard to explain. Derek did trust Stiles, that was the problem. If he didn’t, he could listen to that uncomfortable feeling deep in his belly that didn’t want to turn Erica without her parents’ consent, and say no. But if he hadn’t trusted Stiles, he wouldn’t have made nearly the progress he had made with the betas he already had.

“I agree about Isaac. And his father clearly can’t be trusted with this information. I want to help that kid as much as you do. But Erica… Stiles, the bite isn’t some panacea against everything that can be wrong with a human body. And you know it doesn’t always work. Someone with epilepsy might not survive it. It takes its toll, you know. We don’t have the right to do that to someone’s child.”

“I know that. But shouldn’t that be up to her to decide, just as well as Isaac?”

“What if she dies?”

“What if he does? I know Coach Lahey is a grade-A asshole, but he’s not going to take the death of his only remaining son lying down, even if it isn’t because he’ll miss him.”

Derek had no answer to that. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that turning Erica would be a mistake.

“Alright. We can talk to the kids. How do you propose we do that?”

Stiles handled it all swiftly, and it was less than a week later that he showed up with Isaac, Erica and Scott on Derek’s doorstep an afternoon after school, having given them a convincing presentation about the existence of the supernatural. They smelled very lightly of fear when Derek shifted, but excitement and anticipation quickly took over as Derek answered their many questions. Good.

The next day, Erica was back, again with Stiles, but this time with her parents as well. It had taken a long time to explain everything, and Derek had to call in both Dr Geyer and Melissa McCall. But in the end, Mr. and Mrs. Reyes agreed, for Erica’s sake, they said. Derek did not bring up the possibility of the two of them joining his pack too, as humans. Not yet.

New wolves should be turned in the first week after the full moon, everyone always said so, to give new wolves a chance to adapt before the next one. And so it was done, and Derek felt the two new pack bonds forming. They felt strong too, and it was good. He’d grown the pack.

It had been fast, and easy.

Chemistry was Stiles’ nemesis, and it had a lot to do with that fucker Harris, who gave out complicated work sheets like he personally wanted to punish his students for one day graduating and getting away from high school while he would be stuck there until the day he prematurely died of boredom.

He glanced up when Erica clapped her hands and then swore loudly as the claws she had just learnt to bring out scratched her skin. Isaac stared as it quickly healed up.

“It’s still freaky,” he said, shaking his head.

“You get used to it,” Stiles said. “You can ask Scott about that when you see him next.”

Derek sent him a look at that, which Stiles promptly ignored. Scott had never dated anyone, and if he and Isaac were into each other, as they clearly were, then where was the harm? Or Scott could date Erica, if Isaac wasn’t interested. Only a blind man would’ve missed Erica’s new style choices. With her hair and skin looking better, she’d shyly asked Carrie for some makeup tips, and then she and Lori had taken Erica shopping for new clothes, and the new Erica was… well, Stiles couldn’t think of the right word, but plenty of guys and some of the girls at school had noticed. On the inside though, she was still the same Erica that Stiles had always kind of known.

Except chattier. And more physically affectionate, but the last bit Stiles could account to be a werewolf now. Except whenever Derek gave them a break from the werewolf lessons, she’d be right there next to Stiles, twirling her newly curled hair around her finger.

“Derek says that after the full moon run, we all go to sleep together.”

“That’s true. It’s great, one of my favorite things. Not every full moon of course, but when there’s new pack it’s important. You’ll be close to Derek, both of you. Are you feeling the pack bonds to everyone?”

Erica nodded. “To you too.”

“Great. Have you done this worksheet from Chem yet?”

She shook her head. “No, not yet. I’m not smart like you, you know.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Isaac roll his eyes. Stiles frowned. “School is important. Part of being in a pack is to try to do well in life, so we all can benefit from it.”

“I know, I just haven’t gotten started yet.” She yawned and stretched. “These werewolf lessons are taking a lot of time, you know. Hey, maybe we could study together some time?”

Isaac coughed.

“All of us, I mean,” Erica added quickly. “It feels so great to be part of this pack, Stiles, and there’s so many of us at the same age!”

Stiles nodded and smiled. “Being a pack is the best. We’ll get something set up when you’re done with the werewolf lessons. They need to come first for now, but if you’re falling behind at school because of them, you need to let me and Derek know so we can work out a better schedule.”

“You’ll be my tutor?” Her smile was dazzling, and Stiles felt, as he often had in the past two weeks, that making Erica Reyes a werewolf was the best thing he ever could have done. She seemed so happy these days. Everything had gone so well. Just as it had when Scott was turned.

The next full moon felt different again.

There was that feeling again just as Derek was about to shift. Like the moon had become liquid and was mixing with his blood and vibrating with every beat of his heart. The entire pack wasn’t able to make it this time, but Isaac and Erica had been among the first to arrive at their little camp site and were running around trying to be helpful and not succeeding very well until Stiles had to snap at them to let him start the damn fire in peace. Scott dragged Isaac away to remind him of basic pack hunting etiquette, but Erica stayed around Stiles, sometimes offering to fetch him things and sometimes fetching them whether he needed them or not.

Derek couldn’t help but notice her scent. She liked Stiles. She liked Stiles a lot. He could pick of a light mutual interest between Scott and Isaac, but it was nothing compared to Erica, who hadn’t learned to hide it from others yet, and it was also growing stronger by the minute.

“Are you used to new wolves, Alpha?” Kincaid asked when he arrived and threw one look at the girl who was now helping Stiles cut up some sweet potatoes he’d brought over from the pack lands.

“We had a few in my mother’s pack not that long ago,” Derek replied. “Why?”

“Her control is hanging on by a thread, that one.”

“She’s been learning well. We’ve had classes every day this week.”

“It’s her first full moon shift. And she’ll be strong. And full of instincts from the moon. And hormones.”

Derek looked at Kincaid’s concerned face. This was the danger of being on better terms with the man, he realized; Kincaid would be less inclined to tell Derek when he was making a mistake. Even now, Kincaid was skirting around the issue. The moon wasn’t full yet. It would be soon, and the light from it would make things worse and worse for Erica and Isaac. Isaac was still doing okay over there, with Scott, who could be solid as a rock when he needed to be, but there was no one else near Stiles and Erica.

More of the pack had started to arrive and Derek felt consumed by premature shame. This had been a bad decision. New betas needed to be locked up for their first full moon! He’d grown up in a house with a heavily reinforced cell in the basement for that very reason! How could he have been so stupid? And no one had reminded him either! He wondered how many wolves Claudia had turned when she was alpha, and stories from his childhood were rising to the surface of his memory. The stronger the alpha, the better the new wolf would control themselves. Talia and Claudia had both been strong. Derek was not. Physically he might be, but as an alpha he was abysmal. And Stiles had mentioned Scott having been great at learning self-control, and he’d been such a close friend of Stiles’ before being bitten. The pack was strong, with solid pack bonds and a close-knit community. Erica and Isaac were new to them all. The pack wouldn’t have been prepared for the risks either. For all Derek knew, it had been decades since anyone of his pack had ever seen a new wolf go out of control.

“Hey, stop that,” Stiles shouted suddenly, pushing Erica off him. “What’s wrong with you?”

Erica’s claws were out and she shoved Stiles down to the ground, trying to climb on top of him despite his flailing legs to – Derek wasn’t sure what. Rub her scent all over Stiles, probably, before human hormones took over and she’d forget there were other people around.

Derek let his wolf instincts take over and shifted just before she did, and jumped. He had her by the throat and down on the ground, smelling Stiles’ blood, but not daring to look around to see how bad the damage was. This was all his fault. He let the red of his eyes glow stronger as he forced her to stare into them. “Don’t hurt Stiles,” he snarled, pushing as much of his alpha power into the command as he could. He’d never used the alpha commands before, and Erica didn’t stop struggling.

“I wasn’t… I didn’t… That’s not what I was…” Her voice was coming out strained and snarling, and he pushed harder down on her throat.

“Don’t touch Stiles.” The struggling stopped and she managed a nod, but her eyes were wide and confused. “And don’t move from this spot until I let you.”

“Derek!” Scott shouted, running towards them. “Isaac smelled a deer, and he ran off before I could stop him!”

“What’s going on, Derek?” Stiles asked, his face dirty and one hand clasping his arm where Erica’s claws had dug into his skin. “I thought you had lessons on self-control with them!”

“I did,” Derek growled. “Boyd!”

“Here, Alpha.”

Yes, there he was. Derek’s head was swimming. The moon felt so, so strong, and he was getting uncomfortable even in his shifted skin. But there was his second. And the rest of the construction crew were strong too. Not strong enough for Ennis, but strong enough to hunt down a new beta before he could hurt anyone. His wolves would do what their alpha asked and they wouldn’t fail. Amidst all of Derek’s inner turmoil, that assurance stood out like a beacon; his wolves would not fail him.

“Take Kincaid, and Demarco and go after Isaac. Bring him back here as soon as you can. Orric, call our cops, tell them to be on the lookout and be prepared for a cover-up if he hurts anyone!”

He looked around to see Jenna Geyer running towards Stiles with a first aid kit in her hands.

“Protect him and tell the other humans to go home.” he snapped and waved over Tracy who had just shown up. Together they set off after the others.

Isaac’s scent was strong and leading away from town.

“He just – wanted the deer!” Scott panted next to Derek,. “He isn’t trying – to hurt anyone!”

“He’s out of control!” Derek growled. “We need to catch him before he runs into something that smells better than deer.”

Derek could have kicked himself when he picked up a whiff of human a little bit to the east and Isaac’s scent moving towards it.

Through his pack bond he picked up on an intention, coming from Boyd. Intentions were hard to parse, even for his mother, but Derek got the picture well enough. Get near the humans before Isaac did and intercept him before the humans could spot anything. He barked orders to Scott and Tracy and sped up. Boyd was already nearby, which meant Kincaid was too, and there was no way they’d let the pack down. But if they were to avoid being seen by humans, Derek had to be there to calm Isaac down.

He burst into a clearing right as Isaac did and to his surprise, Isaac ran right into his chest.

“Alpha, help me,” he whined against Derek’s chest. It looked truly pitiful since Isaac was an inch taller than Derek. “I want to… I want to kill but-”

“I know.” Derek grabbed his wrists. “I know you do, it’s the wolf instinct, but I need you to calm down, Isaac, okay?”

A laughter could be heard not far away and then a moan and Derek rolled his eyes. Typical humans going for a bit of a canoodling in the woods on a full moon. They probably thought it was romantic.

Isaac tore himself from Derek’s grip, but Scott had caught up to Derek and tackled him to the ground.

“No, Isaac,” Derek said, putting as much force into the command as he could, “stay by me.”

It was almost comical, to see relief and anger fight each other on Isaac’s face, but he did calm down. The fight never ended and Isaac growled at every animal he could pick a scent off on their way back to their campsite while Derek kept a tight grip on his arm, but the alpha commands had worked. Both betas were under control.

Melissa hurried over from work and was busy treating the claw mark on Stiles’ arm. Derek paced anxiously in front of the sofa, his ears picking up on every sound from the boiler room in the basement.

“They’re not ruining the boiler are they?” Stiles asked, wincing when Melissa pressed a bandage against the wound. Derek could smell the blood again and his inner wolf was still furiously growling at him.

“They’ll be fine.”

“You need to fix it if they do. I expect this house returned to me in good condition, you know.”

“I’m sorry,” Derek got out. “I was so stupid! I didn’t even call my mom to see if there was anything I needed to know, I-”

“Calm down,” Boyd said from the kitchen where he was making something to eat for them all. “We got both Erica and Isaac before they could cause any real harm.”

Derek hunched in front of the sofa and took Stiles’ pain. “Is it deep?”

“Not worse than what Ennis did,” Melissa said. “A little worse than what Ollie can accomplish.”

Ollie lay next to Stiles, occasionally whimpering unhappily and licking Stiles hand whenever he would pet him. His misery sipped out into the room, and it was driving Derek crazy.

“I don’t understand what happened,” Stiles said with a look at Derek that might have been accusatory, and he didn’t blame him.

“You said Scott learned self-control quickly. He was the first wolf Claudia made in a long time, wasn’t he?”

Boyd placed a plate with some thick and over-loaded sandwiches on the coffee table.

“Scott learned faster than any new wolf I’ve ever seen. Claudia was prepared to lock him up the first full moon, but she didn’t and everything went fine. I should’ve warned you, Alpha, but I didn’t think of it. None of us did. Claudia just sort of handled it. I think the newest one before Scott was Tracey and that was over a decade ago.”

“Strong alphas can control their betas through their bond,” Derek explained to Stiles and Melissa. “My mom always handled that. And sounds like Claudia did too. But because no one in this pack had experienced a new beta out of control for a long time, including me, no one thought about it. I didn’t think about it. I’m sorry, Stiles.”

Stiles shrugged. “If no one thought about it, no one thought about it. But what happened to Erica? One second she seemed to want to make out and then she tried to take a bite out of me.”

“She likes you,” Boyd said. “In that way. But the moon messed her up, and different urges got mixed up. So she tried to hurt you instead. And, well, sometimes when we’re shifted on a full moon, humans smell like prey.”

Derek caught the sound of loud banging from downstairs and threw a look at Boyd, who moved towards the basement door without a word. Good second, his wolf nodded.

“I’m so sorry.”

Stiles looked down on his hands. “Did you think this might happen, Derek? Is that why you didn’t want to give her the bite?”

Derek shook his head. “I didn’t think this would happen. And it won’t happen again. We won’t let them out on full moons until their control is better. I promise.”

Melissa threw her arm around Stiles’ shoulders. “Maybe I should take Stiles home? It’s late, and I assume you won’t go out for another run tonight?”

The moon was still calling to Derek, pulling on him to shift and run in the soft early spring grass of the preserve, hunt something down, and kill it. Maybe it was better for Stiles and Melissa to leave? Derek had already failed as an alpha tonight, he wouldn’t want his own self-control to fail too.

Ollie whined when Stiles stood up and made a move to follow him, but Derek caught him in his arms.

“It’s okay, Derek,” Stiles said as he was about to walk out. “Take care of them. Too bad about our pack sleepover, but don’t beat yourself up about it. It could’ve happened to anyone.”

Derek remembered considering calling his mother before he’d turned the two teenagers. He had known she would’ve been able to tell him things he might need to know but… she would’ve known Derek had been hesitating. She would’ve known he was a failure, who couldn’t even handle the introduction of new betas to his pack properly. And they’d paid for it. Isaac had been so close to hurting someone, and Erica had hurt Stiles. Not badly; he would heal, and it would be fine, but her claws could so easily have reached other parts of him, like his guts, or throat.

It was Derek’s fault. It had been his responsibility. And he had failed.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14 – Veronica

Derek ended up locking Erica and Isaac up in the basement every full moon for three months before they settled down a bit, and in the stress of it all he completely missed the anniversary of becoming an alpha until the day he picked up on Ollie being upset at Stiles smelling sad and he checked the calendar.

Stiles had insisted that he wanted to be alone at the cemetery, and Derek had been fine with that, and then sulked when he’d learned that apparently, Scott had been welcome to join him.

Derek had seen a lot of Scott lately; he would often show up when Erica and Isaac did and offered what advice he could, and by the time summer rolled around, Derek felt sure of two things. One, Scott was a valuable beta that Derek was lucky to have. Two, there was definitely something brewing between Scott and Isaac, though nothing had happened yet.

“Scott hasn’t wrapped his mind around the whole bisexuality thing yet,” Stiles said, handing Derek the tomatoes he’d sliced for him. “I’ve dropped some hints that he can talk to me if he wants to, but Scott can be… well I don’t want to call him a moron since he’s my best friend, so I’m going to go with dense. Like fudge. Thick and dense, but sweet and lovable.”

Derek chuckled. “I talked to Isaac, and he says the same.”

“We should probably stay out of it.”

“You’re not going to stay out of it,” Derek grinned, and Stiles shrugged.

“I stay out of things if it seems like it’s better that way. Not my fault that’s rarely the case. Who are you cooking all this for by the way?” he gestured to the meal Derek was prepping in the slow cooker Jennifer had bought for him recently. His most recent box from the pack plot had a lot of eggplant, and they would work well with the fresh tomatoes. He had plans for the strawberries for dessert too. Jennifer liked strawberries.

“My girlfriend is coming over tonight.”

Stiles grimaced, but there was a smile on his lips as well. “I do not want to run into her in the middle of my summer vacation. It’s bad enough she brings you lunch to the build site sometimes. I’m totally regretting coming to work there.”

“I thought you liked Jennifer?”

“I like her fine. But she’s a teacher, and this is summer, and I’d like to pretend school doesn’t exist until I have to go back to it.”

Derek shook his head. “Then you’d better be gone in a couple of hours, because that’s when she’ll be here.”

Stiles held up his hand. “Fine, I know when I’m not welcome. I’ll leave soon.”

“You don’t have to go now,” Derek said quickly. “And you haven’t told me how it went with Erica.”

Stiles shrugged. “She said no.”

“No? But she was so into you?”

He shrugged again. “She said she appreciated me asking her out since she’d always had a crush on me, but now that she knows what being a werewolf is all about, she doesn’t want to be an alpha. Also, she says what she really needs right now is friends, and I’m cool with that. But we made a deal about giving it a go if we’re both single when we’re 25, you know?”

Derek nodded and held back a look of sympathy. They would’ve made a nice couple, and maybe Erica wouldn’t be a good alpha as she was right now, but Stiles could probably teach anyone how to be.

Stiles shrugged, yet again. “I’m going to get something from my room, and then I will leave you to your cooking.”

Ollie trailed after Stiles upstairs and Derek got the slow cooker set up as he heard a car stop outside. His nose smelled them long before they arrived at the door. Wolf. Strange wolf. Strange wolves, plural.

“Stiles!” he called right away. “Stay upstairs and don’t come down!”

“Aw,” Stiles shouted back. “Do I have to do both?”

“Don’t sass me.”

He opened the door before they could knock.

An elderly werewolf stood there, her hair grey and long and her dress a pinkish floral pattern, and boots heavy and muddy. It should’ve been disarming, but Derek could sense her as an alpha long before she flashed her red eyes at him. He returned the gesture and kept his eyes on her while sniffing the air. The other wolf was young and nervous, and he dismissed her as a source of danger. Derek could handle one elderly alpha quick enough if it came to that.

“Alpha Stilinski?”

“My name is Hale.”

“Ah, right. I’m Lobelia June.”

Derek relaxed. The June Pack were from the southern parts of the state, and while he’d never met anyone from there himself, his mother knew them, of course. Who didn’t Talia Hale know?

“Derek. What can I do for you, Alpha June?”

“Call me Lobelia. May we come inside?”

Derek stepped aside to let her in and picked up on the annoyance of the girl who followed. She was short and skinny, with blonde short hair and wearing torn jeans and a faded black band t-shirt, and she met Derek’s gaze defiantly as she passed him. He rolled his eyes. There were too many teenagers in his life already.

Lobelia sat down on the sofa and patted the seat next to her for the girl to sit.

“Something smells good. Do you cook, Derek?”

“Some.”

“I’ll come right to the point. It’s summer.”

“Mhm.”

“And my niece here, her name is Veronica, is on vacation from school. She goes to Devenford Prep, not far from here.”

“Nice to meet you,” Derek nodded, and the girl nodded back, occasionally glancing around the room. He was sure they could both smell Stiles upstairs, and he had no doubt that Stiles was doing everything he could to eavesdrop. He was also sure Stiles was as certain of where this was going as Derek was. It had been two months since the last wolf had come to try to court Stiles. They were due for another one. At least this one was of an appropriate age.

“I hoped you would accept my niece spending some time with your… ward.”

Derek sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I won’t disallow it, but Stiles decides who he goes out with, not me. Are there more of your pack nearby?”

“No, we came alone. We heard this was your preferred way, and I had no desire to cause offence.”

“I have rules. These rules must be followed, or I will kick her out of town, and then you and I are going to have a problem. I don’t say these things to be rude, Lobelia, but so that I can be very clear, and so that no one can complain later on that there was any confusion. Is that alright with you, Veronica?”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “Fine. What are the rules?”

“Rule number one is that Stiles is always going to be picked up or dropped off at this house until he says otherwise. He’s not to be followed home to where he lives. Rule two is that he may not be approached outside, out on the town, or through any other channels, without first giving his consent to that.”

“He’s quite the protected little princess, isn’t he?”

“Rule number three,” Derek continued, letting a harder edge slip into his voice and noticed with some satisfaction that Lobelia elbowed the girl in her side, “is that until Stiles says otherwise, you two will never be alone. I will call over one of his friends. This friend will stay until Stiles says otherwise, and you may not make any attempts to get Stiles away from this friend. And the last one – if Stiles says he’s not interested in you, that word is final and you may not try to contact him again, either by yourself or through another member of your pack.”

“I think this sounds reasonable,” Lobelia said. “Don’t you agree Veronica?”

“And how many times do I have see this guy before I can say I’m not into him and can go back home?”

Derek rolled his eyes. Awesome. This one wasn’t even interested in meeting Stiles. This was such a waste of everyone’s time. He expected Stiles to reject her after the first meeting.

“I’m still waiting to hear that Veronica accepts my rules.”

“Fine. I accept your rules.”

“Good. Stiles? Can you come down?”

He heard Stiles’ steps on the stairs right away, and Lobelia stood up, pulling on Veronica’s arm. Derek would’ve missed it if he hadn’t kept his eyes on the girl, but Veronica was about to roll her eyes again when Stiles came around the corner and into full view. It was hilarious. Derek supposed Stiles was an attractive kid. Some moles here and there didn’t change that fact, and he was in the process of growing out his hair. He was still a skinny scrawny teenager who most girls his age would look past without giving a second glance. Veronica clearly wasn’t one of them. She made an obvious top-to-bottom assessment and then her ears went red.

“Stiles, this is Lobelia June, of the June pack, and this is Veronica, her niece. This is Stiles.”

Stiles returned Veronica’s glance and smiled. He held out his hand to Lobelia and then to Veronica. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you both.”

They shook hands and Derek picked up his phone to call Scott over so he could get rid of them all before Jennifer got there. He’d have a hard time explaining this to her, he felt sure of that.

Scott was a good friend. A bit dense at times, just as Stiles had told Derek, but he was also the kind of friend who could tell when Stiles wanted him to stay part of a conversation, when to help run interference with an over-confident werewolf (who of course thought that they and they alone would be the best alpha Stiles’ pack could ever hope to get, and clearly Stiles would see that himself very soon), and when Stiles actually liked someone.

He hadn’t like anyone so far. Plenty of his so called suitors had been friendly, and some of them had even been interesting to talk to, but Stiles hadn’t actually liked them.

Veronica was cute. She wasn’t anywhere near the goddess that was Lydia Martin, but that was never going to happen for Stiles anyway, and Veronica was adorable and pretty with a symmetrical face and upbeat attitude. She hadn’t been like that with her aunt and Derek around, but once they’d got to the coffee shop she’d brightened up a lot, made him laugh, and then she’d started talking.

Stiles had never met anyone who could talk that much.

“Other than yourself?” Scott chuckled when Stiles mentioned this to him during a short moment alone when Veronica went to the bathroom. Stiles threw his leftover cinnamon roll at him and then instantly regretted it. It had been a good roll.

Veronica came back, smacked her hand on the table and pointed her finger at Stiles.

“Quick question, and the answer is more important than anything else in the world right now. Nick and Nora Charles. Fan or nah?”

“Who?” Scott said, looking up from his phone when Stiles knocked into his arm from bouncing in his seat.

“Big fan! And Asta is so great. Damn, I should’ve named Derek’s dog Asta.”

“I always wanted to be a sleuth,” Veronica said, one careful eye on Stiles’ face.

“Me too! My dad was the sheriff here in town. He never would’ve let me on the force in any way that could’ve put me in danger of course, but I still always wanted to work in law enforcement somehow.”

“I was thinking about big picture stuff. Like, FBI or something. They need more women for one thing.”

“Who doesn’t?” He quickly blushed. “I didn’t mean it like that, I mean…”

She shrugged. “I get it. And yes, I’m glad you agree. A lot of guys I know don’t.”

“I think women are great too,” Scott mumbled next to Stiles, and was summarily ignored in favor of a conversation of which Thin Man movie was the best.

“We could watch them some time,” Veronica said, with her eyes on her empty coffee cup. “If your alpha approves, that is.”

“That’s not up to Derek,” Stiles said. It truly wasn’t. Derek had set convenient rules that Stiles could use to get rid of someone if he wanted, but Stiles decided who he spent time with, and no one else. “How long are you and your aunt staying around?”

“She’s going home tomorrow. I’m staying with a friend near school, actually, until… well until you tell me I’m not welcome back I guess? That’s how it works, right?”

Stiles squirmed a little. He did like the rules, but he also liked this girl so far. He didn’t know if she’d make a good alpha yet of course, but she hadn’t brought that up at all. She didn’t even seem that interested in that, and that made it easy to forget that’s why he was even going all these pointless first dates with werewolves. But she’d reminded him that’s what this was, and he felt that this would be easier if they were just normal, no rules needed.

Scott kicked his foot, and Stiles made up his mind. He could spend time with someone just because he liked them, couldn’t he?

“Is your friend a wolf too?”

“No, she thinks I’m weirdly religious, and she thinks you’re the son of someone my parents know and that I was going on a blind date.”

“You could bring her if you want to, and we could have a movie marathon? On Friday? Scott has never seen the Thin Man movies, but what movies he hasn’t seen would shock you. We could invite some of our other pack too. You’d get along with Carrie.”

Veronica’s smile was wide and showed two rows of perfect teeth. He hadn’t noticed how pretty her eyes were before now. Blue, with plenty of green in them.

Yeah. Maybe expecting someone to feel like good alpha material on first sight was unfair. He could put the search on hold for a little bit, couldn’t he, to get to know a cute girl? Right?

Derek could admit to himself that he was completely unused to adult dating. It wasn’t like being at college where you studied together, had coffee dates between classes and went to parties and then maybe you had sex that made you late for class the next day and maybe you’d curse what happened, but you’d still do it again.

Adult dating was a little different. Or rather, dating Jennifer was. Jennifer was busy. Sure, they did their weekly walk in the preserve every Sunday, but she had papers to grade and lessons to plan and she preferred getting that done by herself and then devoting their shared time to just them. Derek wouldn’t have minded working alongside each other. She liked meeting for dinner. She never had time for coffee, and above all, things needed to be planned in a completely different way than Derek was used to.

Like their dogs.

The first couple of times Derek had gone over to her place for dinner, he’d had to go home at the end of the evening to take care of Ollie. The first couple of times Jennifer had come over to his place, she’d brought Pilot with her. Derek had thought that was a little strange at first. He’d mentioned it to Boyd who, bless him, had managed not to laugh before suggesting that maybe it was easier for Jennifer to spend the night if she had her dog with her. Things had gone a little easier after that, and he’d been called boyfriend enough times to start calling her his girlfriend too.

Jennifer was great to have as a girlfriend, despite her busy life. She never complained when Derek was busy with pack stuff. Or, she used to not complain.

“You’re checking your phone again,” she said, taking a sip out of her wine. “This is the twentieth time. Is something wrong?”

“No,” Derek answered, putting the phone down. Still no message. “I’m waiting for a text is all. It’s getting late.”

“It’s just eight o’clock.”

“No, yeah, I know, but…”

She’d think it was strange if he told her what was going on. He wasn’t Stiles’ parent. But Stiles was supposed to let him know when the unknown wolf left, and there still hadn’t been a message. Maybe something was wrong with either of their phones? Derek’s wolf was unhappy and worried, and it was making human Derek uncomfortable in his own skin. Everything was starting to irriate him, from Jennifer’s flowery perfume to the way she put down her cutlery when taking a drink. He just needed to know Stiles was fine and then he could work on tuning those things out.

“But?”

“It’s nothing to worry about. How is the food?”

Jennifer frowned for a second, but then it was gone, and she smiled. “It was delicious. Are all of the vegetables from that… little farm of yours?”

Derek nodded.

“I’d love to come and help out some time, you know.”

“Maybe.”

“When’s your next meeting with that.. club? For harvesting, I mean?”

“In a couple of weeks we’re picking one of the orange types again.”

“Well, this eggplant was delicious. You eat a lot of vegetables for someone who hunts a lot.”

“You don’t like that? I can cook some venison next time if you’d prefer. I have some in the freezer and-”

“No, no,” she put her hand over his. “It’s okay. I like everything you make for me. I was just making an observation. You don’t talk much about that part of your life.”

That was probably true. It was hard to lie when you were used to being surrounded by walking lie detectors, and Derek didn’t particularly like lying to Jennifer. But clearly the spell of the strong silent type had worn off, and now she wanted to know all about him.

“It’s a civics organization. We like to keep to ourselves a bit. We’re not harming anyone, are we?”

“Of course not,” she said quickly. “It’s hard not to be curious though. Sometimes I feel like I don’t know you all that well, and we’ve been together for what? Three months? Four?”

Derek didn’t miss the look in her eye there. She wanted something from him, and he was sure it wasn’t just an answer to her question.

His phone beeped once, and he checked it right away to see a message.

[Scott]

Both home now

Went well

Think he likes her

She coming back on Friday

Bunch of us together

Cool?

He texted a thumbs up in return and then put his phone down to see her disappointed face.

There was a way these things were done. If you wanted a long term relationship, you could try to give some hints, talk about the topic of secrets in a general way, and eventually you could tell your new partner you were a werewolf and hope for the best. But did he want that with Jennifer? She was great, there was no doubt about that, and Derek liked being a boyfriend. He had always felt he was decent at it. She’d make a good werewolf too if it came to that. Another teacher in their pack might be beneficial. Even when he ended up going back to Sacramento in a few years, he felt sure his mother would like Jennifer. And Ollie liked her a lot. That was important.

Derek’s wolf didn’t have an opinion. It neither hated her company, nor did it long for her when she was gone. It didn’t like Pilot who spread his scent all over Derek’s living room. Pilot in a wolf pack might be a problem, now that he thought about it. Ollie was raised that way, but Pilot was five years old, and he’d already decided he didn’t care all that much for Derek if what he did to Derek’s shoes was any indication.

“Some of the people in my group, they’ve met a lot of prejudice in their lives,” he said before he’d been quiet for so long that it became weird. “They wouldn’t like it if I went into detail about it.”

She kept her eyes on him, expectant, but more relaxed now.

“It’s not a religion, per se. It’s more of a shared belief in a way of life. Using the earth is part of it. Working together is too. I could probably have you come to our main harvest if you wanted to help out, and you could meet some people. But the rest isn’t up to me. It’s not that I don’t trust you, Jennifer, I just can’t tell you more right now.”

A smile played on Jennifer’s lips. “That was more words than I’ve ever heard you say all at once. Except for when you’re pretending you’re not quoting my favourite student.”

He laughed. “I suppose so.”

“I don’t mind that you’re a little quiet, you know.”

No, he thought. But you will eventually.

Chapter Text

Veronica’s hand was warm on Stiles’ cheek, and she smiled as they broke their kiss.

“You’ll be okay?”

“I think so.”

“You don’t want me to come and help?”

“No, I… I think I want to do it on my own. Might call you later.”

She grinned and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Okay. I’ll be up late if you need me. Gotta cram for that Biology test of mine that you were supposed to help me study for.”

Stiles forced an innocent look on his face. “I don’t know what you’re trying to imply. I did nothing to tempt you away from your books. Not my fault I’m irresistible to you.”

Veronica punched his arm and then had to apologize when Stiles yelped. She forgot she was much stronger than him, sometimes.

“Call me if you find out something new about that case.”

“I will. Bye Stiles.”

He waved goodbye to her as he drove off, throwing a look behind him. She always stayed by the gate of the school when he left her, always. Devenford Prep was too far away for comfort, he thought, as he drove back towards Beacon Hills. It took too long. And saying goodbye to Veronica after dropping her at school always took a long time too, although he didn’t mind that part very much. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him, really.

Her current obsession was a series of robberies happening in the nearby area, and they’d been spending their day together going over the unofficial police reports that Stiles had managed to talk Jordan into letting him copy – that man was too much of a softie for a cop, honestly – and they’d spent the drive back to her school going over what their next steps would be, and Stiles had completely forgotten that he’d had a box of veggies for Derek in his warm car. They’d probably be okay. It was potatoes, carrots and cauliflower this time, and those tended to keep well. And oranges, of course. There were always oranges. Stiles would have to ask his pack to send him some when he went to college; he’d be in danger of getting scurvy if left to his own devices and under the spell of vending machine candy.

He drove into town not long before six and parked in the driveway outside his house. Derek’s house. The house. He brought the veggie box in through the back door and allowed himself to be attacked by a four-legged little fur ball demanding some love.

“Calm down Ollie, let me put this stuff down.”

“Oh, you’re here.”

“Wow, Der, you sound really happy to see me.”

“I thought you’d be here earlier is all.”

“I was driving Veronica back to school.”

He put the vegetables away and turned. And then he did a double take, because Derek Hale, wearer of nothing but Henleys was in a dark blazer and a green tie that complimented his eyes very well and he was looking fine.

“Woah. I thought you were having dinner with the Rohrs? Isn’t that why you wanted me to dog sit?”

“I do, but I’m not going over there, I’m taking them out. What’s that?”

Derek pointed to some of the other things Stiles had brought.

“It’s just some cardboard boxes. I was… well, I’m going to clean out the master bedroom. So you can move in there and have sex with your girlfriend. But please don’t. It’s my parents’ room.”

Derek leaned against the door frame. “I can’t really cancel tonight. But maybe you could call Scott over? Or why didn’t you ask Veronica to help you?”

Stiles tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach and smiled. “I wanted to do it alone. Except for a little help from Ollie of course!”

He picked the dog up and gave him a snuggle. Ollie was getting heavier. Not actually heavy – he would always be a tiny dog – but he must be close to his full size by now. It was becoming harder for him to ride around inside people’s shirts, as much as he tried to do so whenever he got a chance.

“Just make sure you keep him out if he tries to destroy something. He’s been acting up lately. Tried to bite into Jennifer’s shoe the other day. She wasn’t happy. Pilot never does that sort of thing.”

“Pilot is an old fart.”

Derek made a face that suggested he agreed but didn’t want to say anything about his girlfriend’s dog, and Stiles remembered his clothes again. “Why are you taking the Rohrs out for dinner?”

“My mother is joining us, and I didn’t want her to know where they live.” He froze. “Is that silly? She’s my mom. She’s not going to hurt anyone.”

“It’s a little silly maybe,” Stiles nodded. “But my mom would get like that sometimes too. It’s the alpha instincts messing with your brain.”

He couldn’t help but smile. Derek being overprotective was a good thing. “Why are the Rohrs having dinner with your mom?”

Derek squirmed a little, and Stiles recognized it as Derek having had an idea of his own and wondering if Stiles would yell at him and tell him it was wrong.

“I think my mom would really like Carrie if she got to know her, and frankly, help her get into a good school. For pre-law. And it wouldn’t hurt to make the connection. My mother was a skilled litigator before she ran for office. It could open some doors for Carrie.”

“Huh.”

“You don’t think it’s a good idea?”

“I do. Carrie’s smart. She’ll impress anyone who’ll give her a chance to. Does your mom know that’s why she’s here for dinner?”

“She does. But you don’t think this is letting another alpha too much into our affairs?”

Stiles scratched Ollie’s left ear, in that special place he loved, and considered Derek’s question. Claudia wouldn’t have done that, but Claudia’s family weren’t werewolves. And they definitely didn’t have connections like Talia Hale. But Claudia wouldn’t be trusting her pack with another alpha, not without knowing what she was getting into.

“Is your mom going to ask for a favor in return? Or hold it over us in any way?”

Derek shook his head. “I don’t think so, but she’ll definitely draw any advantage she can from having met some of my pack and gotten to know them. She and my uncle love having information, however pointless. If she figures out Aisha’s favorite color it will go in a file somewhere.”

Stiles nodded. “So don’t let her know too much. But Carrie’s education is important. We can probably afford not to be paranoid for one evening.”

The words were only just out of his mouth when Stiles was suddenly struck with worry. Maybe he should be coming along and keep an eye on things. Derek might be blinded by this being his mother. He might let down his guard too much. And Carrie might be awestruck by an alpha so much more powerful than their own, and one with her dream job too, and she might say too much. Maybe he should call Orric or Aisha and give them a warning? Derek was doing an okay job as an alpha these days, that was true, but he was temporary, and until Stiles could bring in his own mate and partner, it was up to him, and not Derek, to see to the well-being of his pack.

But no. He unclenched his fists, unsure of when he closed them. Derek could handle this. Stiles had a master bedroom to pack up.

There weren’t that many good restaurants in Beacon Hills, and Derek wondered, as he walked through the foyer of the one he had managed to find, if he ought to have suggested they meet in Sacramento instead. Despite being Hale territory, it was more neutral ground and would’ve offered better dining than what Beacon Hills could offer an alpha and her second. But it was too late to change his mind now. The restaurant claimed it was Greek; Derek thought they must have been inspired more by pictures of ancient rome than any genuine cultural connection, and it reminded him of entering a tiny theme park. White plaster columns and several identical David statues lined the walls. He wondered if they’d give way if he stuck his keys into them. But the smells from the kitchen were already kick-starting his apetite, and he wondered if they’d have good lamb. Stiles liked lamb; Derek could bring him some home.

“Hale, reservation for six,” he told the hostess, and his heart sank into his chest when he was told that some of his party had already arrived. The Rorhs, he felt sure, would’ve waited for him if they’d come first.

To top it all off, Talia had chosen the seat that faced the door, and Derek was already regretting every decision he ever made. He was also feeling more than a little annoyed. This was his territory, and she’d taken the power seat, leaving him with his back to the door? It’s what he would’ve done if he’d ever get the opportunity when visiting another alpha, but he hadn’t expected it from his own mother. Maybe he should have. Stiles probably would have.

“Mom, you’re here already. Hi Peter.”

“Nephew. I’m glad you called us.”

Talia stood to give Derek a hug. “Don’t you look handsome tonight? Is your girlfriend coming too? I’d like to meet her.”

“Who told you I had a girlfriend?” Derek groaned.

“Malia did. But I’m sure Cora didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret.”

Derek resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Typical. Sisters were the worst. Derek’s sisters in particular.

“I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” he said and sat down next to his uncle. “Maybe another time.”

“Maybe you could bring her home some weekend?” Talia asked. “I’d love to introduce her to the family, and some of the rest of the pack. Unless you already know she isn’t going to be a permanent fixture?”

“Not sure yet, mom.”

“Well. Alright then. I won’t push.”

“Good. The Rohrs will be here soon.”

“We’re delighted to finally get to meet some of your pack, Derek.”

Peter hummed. “I can’t quite place them, but… human wife, I think it was? Impressive lady. Came to that fight with a shotgun, and she sure looked ready to use it. Lucky she didn’t or it might have hit you or me. Or someone in her pack. Husband smelled of sawdust and food.”

“Can’t place them huh?”

Peter grinned and winked. “Polite fictions, nephew, only work if we all play along with them.”

Derek sighed but bit his tongue. “They’re good people. There’s no reason to play games.”

He caught the scent of his pack and rose to greet Orric and Aisha who had just entered with Carrie.

“We’re not late, are we?” Aisha said, tugging on the cardigan she wore over her dark green dress. They all looked dressed up compared to what they usually wore, but next to everyone else in this room, they were underdressed, and Derek hoped his mother and uncle wouldn’t mention it.

“You’re just in time,” Derek assured them. “Relax, enjoy the food, and don’t worry. My mom is in a good mood, and she’ll like Carrie.”

He got a nervous smile from the girl, who was hugging a brown paper folder to her chest, containing, Derek assumed, her grades. Talia might want to take a look at if she was going to be convinced to write a letter of recommendation. Derek smiled back, hoping to put her more at ease, but he knew that rarely worked. He wasn’t good at that. Maybe he should have brought Stiles after all?

Introductions were made and they ordered their food.

“This is so fancy,” Carrie whispered to Derek when her food arrived. He’d steered her to the seat next to him to keep her away from the one next to his mother. “And there’s so little food on the plate!”

“They’re not used to serving werewolves it seems,” Talia said. “We have a woman in our pack who runs a restaurant in Sacramento, and she always makes sure the portions are huge whenever we come. You remember, Derek?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s handy having a chef in the pack,” Peter said with a pleasant smile to Orric and Aisha. “Make sure Derek gives you the name of the place should you ever be in town.”

“You’ll have to bring your girlfriend there sometime, Derek. Have you met Derek’s girlfriend?”

Talia turned to Aisha and Orric with that last comment.

“In passing,” Aisha said. “As Derek’s girlfriend that is. We’re both teachers, so I know her a bit through school. She’s good, very devoted to her students.”

“Derek won’t tell me anything about her.”

“We’re not here to talk about that tonight, mom. We’re here so you could meet Carrie.”

“Ah yes.” Talia put down her fork. “I see you’ve brought me something, young lady.”

Carrie blushed. “I thought maybe you’d want to see…”

Tale held out her hand across the table, and Carrie handed her the folder.

“Carrie works hard in school,” Derek said. “And she’s on the lacrosse team too, so there’s more to her than just brains. I know schools look for that too.”

“I can see that. Plenty of other recommendations too. And you want to go to Stanford?”

“It’s a good school, but I know it’s expensive.”

“That’s what scholarships are for. Have you started to apply to any?”

“We’ve been looking,” Aisha said, “but most of them aren’t due yet.”

“No of course not. It’s a little early.”

Talia read through the documents in Carrie’s folder carefully, and, Derek thought, maybe a little too slowly. Every time she turned a page, she handed it over to Peter, who read it much faster and with an amused look at Derek’s scowl. It shouldn’t take that long to see that Carrie deserved to go to the school she wanted, should it? All of his young pack did. He could picture both their brains right now, cataloguing every single bit of information Carrie had willingly given up about herself, at Derek’s suggestion. They’d compare notes later, and then make actual, physical notes. Pointless things, probably. Lacrosse practice schedule. Names of teachers. But what if there was something important in there, that another alpha shouldn’t know, however good her intentions?

Derek focused on his meal but glanced over at Aisha and Orric. They were such good people, taking in an orphan like that, and working so hard to provide for her, and being this concerned about her future. They all deserved to get what they wanted, and Derek hated how happy Talia was to make up for her son’s shortcomings. Derek wasn’t sure a recommendation from him would get anyone into community college.

“Well,” Talia said, finally, closing the folder, “you’re quite talented aren’t you, Carrie?”

“I… thank you? I like to think it’s mostly hard work though, and not just talent.”

“Talent will only take you so far,” Peter smiled.

Talia smiled too, at Carrie and then at Derek. “Of course I have many young high school seniors in my own pack, and thus plenty of recommendations to write.”

“What do you want in return?” Derek said before he could hold back his words.

Talia was too self-controlled to flinch, but the table went completely quiet, and Peter’s grin grew wider as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair.

If Derek had still been in his mother’s pack, this would be the part where he would immediately bare his throat and ask for forgiveness for speaking so rudely to her. But he wasn’t in her pack anymore, so he straightened up and looked her in the eye. “Well?”

“I’m not asking for anything in return, Alpha Hale. I was about to say that I will gladly write Carrie a recommendation.”

“Thank you, Alpha Hale. I very much appreciate that. I apologize for my tone.”

He looked down at his neglected food again but had no wish to eat it and instead waved down the waiter and asked for the dessert menu.

“That’s alright Derek. Let’s celebrate with something decadently unhealthy, shall we?”

“Thank you, Alpha Hale,” Carrie said, bouncing in her seat. “I won’t make you regret it, I promise!”

“We should clear some time to go look at the campus soon then,” Derek said, forcing a smile her way. “And schedule an interview and all that.”

“I’m taking Cora at the end of next month,” Talia said. “Maybe we can make a day out of it together?”

“Oh, can we, Derek?” Carrie said. “I’d love to meet your sister.”

“If you’d like to.”

“And maybe young Stiles would like to come too?” Peter asked then, and Derek put down his menu.

“Absolutely not. Not if Cora is coming. They’re both chaos demons and I wouldn’t survive it.”

“Well then,” Talia said, looking straight at him. “Perhaps your girlfriend would like to come along instead?”

Derek swallowed. Well. If that was the price.

With Ollie fed and walked and lying in his little basket in the living room playing with one of his favorite toys – he had so many, but the T-rex with the ribbed tail convenient for chewing went with him everywhere – and the cardboard boxes put together, Stiles couldn’t avoid it anymore. Not that he didn’t try. He called Veronica and chatted with her for a little bit and then texted with Scott who was having trouble with his homework – Stiles sent out a text to their pack teen group for a study session in a couple days so he could make sure they were all caught up to where they needed to be – but everyone else was busy and after doing Derek’s dishes for him, he had run out of excuses.

He still stopped outside the door to his parents’ bedroom. He had so many memories of that room, from getting to sleep in there when he was sick, to running in with the Sunday paper when he was a kid and cuddling down between the two of them while they passed different sections back and forth, until he learnt to read himself and would make a point out of asking them about every word he didn’t understand. John had kept a dictionary by the side of his bed for years, just in case. Stiles wondered if it was still there. It had been a long time since he last read the morning paper with his parents. Sleeping late had been more and more of a priority in his teenaged life.

He sighed and turned the door handle. It felt cold, and the door got stuck at first. After a little push, it slid open.

If he’d had any doubt that Derek wouldn’t have stayed out of there like he promised, it would’ve disappeared at the first look around the room. No one had been in here for over a year, that much was clear.

A thick layer of dust covered most of the room, and it was dirty. Stiles wondered, yet again, why Ennis had hated them so much that he’d done this. He knew Ennis had slept in here, and he seemed to like to live in filth and disorder. The bedding had been shredded; feathers from the pillows strewn about everywhere. The closet doors were wide open and lots of clothes had been pulled out and thrown around the floor. Stiles wondered if Ennis had peed on them; it was too late to see spots or smell it by now. How ruined would all those things be?

Photos and items from the top of the dresser had been thrown down on the floor, some of them smashed and-

Stiles dropped the cardboard boxes.

There’d been a picture of him over their bed, and it’d been viciously attacked with claws.

This rage hadn’t been about his mother. It hadn’t been about his father. It had been about him. This was a message to Stiles. You might be able to keep me away by hiding behind mountain ash in the basement, but look what I can do?

His hands were shaking, and then his shoulders. Ollie came running into the room, barking angrily at whatever invisible danger Stiles must be reacting too, and Stiles sunk down to the floor, pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. And he cried.

The chemosignals that hit Derek as he walked in through the door later that night were thick and dense like a brick wall, and only the fact that he could still smell both Stiles and Ollie in the house with no scent of blood or other people kept him from panicking. He still rushed up the stairs, and found Stiles in a corner in the master bedroom, not sobbing, but his face wet with shod tears and staring blankly in front of him. Ollie was pacing anxiously in front of him and barely yipped at Derek when he entered the room.

“Oh, Stiles.” He sat down next to him and put one arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer. Stiles tensed for a minute but then he relaxed against Derek, and some of those scents of distress lessened just a little bit. “I’m so sorry about this. Maybe I should’ve cleaned up in here a long time ago?”

“No,” Stiles mumbled against Derek’s shoulder. “I needed to do it. It’s the master bedroom and you’re the alpha, and you should get to use it. You rent the house after all. I still have my crap in my old room too.”

“It’s still your room. And I’m good in the other bedroom. You don’t have to make room here for me. And especially not if it makes you feel like this.”

“It was because I pissed him off.”

“What?”

“He ruined this room because I pissed him off. Ennis. I kept him away with the ash, and then I tried to poison him. More than once. And he did this to their bedroom. Look at what he did to their stuff! This is where they slept, it’s where they felt safe, it’s where they did the things I’d like to pretend they only ever did once because they only had one kid, and that kid is me, and I don’t want to think about that stuff too hard. I could’ve just…”

Derek squeezed his shoulder tighter. “Just what? You did what your parents would’ve wanted you to. You kept yourself safe. You stayed smart.”

He gestured around the room. “End of the day, this is just stuff. They wouldn’t have cared about that. They cared about you.”

A sniff escaped Stiles’ nose and Ollie padded closer and nosed his hand. Stiles petted his head.

“Thanks Ollie.” He raised his head to look at Derek. “And you.”

“No problem. It’s my job, isn’t it?”

“Maybe. I don’t know how often my mom did emotional support for the pack. I probably wouldn’t have been around much for that, if it happened.”

Derek gave his shoulder another squeeze and then got to his feet. He looked around the room.

“I have an idea. Let’s put a pin in the plans to pack away their things for now. Let’s just tidy up. I’ll get the vacuum and a mop, and we can make the bed and put the stuff back where they belong, and see what we can fix, and then we can deal with the rest another time. Or not. Really Stiles, I don’t mind staying in the guestroom until you come back from college if that’s how long it takes. But let’s just get this room clean for now. Okay? And afterwards, you can have the leftovers I brought back. It’s stuff you like.”

He was rewarded with a faint smile, as Stiles rose too. He already smelled better.

“Alright.”

Considering how long it had taken to get the downstairs back in order, the master bedroom could actually be cleaned up in just a couple of hours. Stiles had trouble throwing out some of the clothes that had been ruined, so Derek put those in a bag to see if he would find a good professional cleaner, but the more they cleaned, the easier it seemed to become.

“It’s a shame about the mattress,” Derek said, looking at the ruined box spring.

“It was getting old. They’d had it for a while. Dad was complaining they needed a new one. But mattresses are expensive, and they weren’t the type of people to prioritize their beds.”

Derek covered the damage as much as he could with the duvet and what pillows and blankets that were still relatively intact. It made the bed look comfortable, and the room lived in. This must have been a homey space at one point, and Stiles looked around with something that Derek dared to interpret as another smile.

“It looks much better now. Thank you Derek. I know this can’t have been how you wanted to spend this evening. How did dinner go?”

Derek filled him in on what happened as they took out the trash and then heated up the food. He’d bought extra, as well as his own leftovers, and was happy for that now. The kitchen was a much nicer place to eat anyway.

Stiles laughed when Derek told him how he’d insulted his own mom.

“But you’re like that. And she knows that, doesn’t she? And so do the Rohrs. We talk about how awkward you are sometimes. It’s how you are. It’s not that bad. But she’ll definitely write the recommendation?”

“She will. And Carrie and I will drive down to take a look at the campus once we get a date for an interview. Knowing my mother, she’ll have no problem making that happen on the same day Cora’s is.”

“Carrie is so prepared for that. She’s been practicing for the past six months.”

“She’ll do great,” Derek nodded and poured two cups of tea. “What are your plans then?”

“Veronica and I found a lead on that robber and we’re going to see if we can sniff him out.”

That wasn’t what Derek had meant. He didn’t doubt Stiles knew that.

“Just… please don’t make me have to come and pick you up from jail again. They’re only going to cut you so much slack, you know, no matter how much they knew your dad.”

“We’ll be careful. And they shouldn’t have arrested us that time, I told you, we weren’t trespassing! We were just close to trespassing! They can’t arrest you for almost breaking the law.”

“You had the tools with you, and they caught you on camera scouting the place.”

“Still! They were completely unreasonable. But no, it won’t happen again.” Stiles tried to put a piece of meat into his mouth that was far too large, forcing a cough, and Derek laughed at him, which earned him a scowl. “What are you and Ms. Blake getting up to tomorrow then?”

“Walk through the preserve, hoping she won’t ask why she couldn’t meet my parents.”

“Why couldn’t she?”

Derek groaned. “Not you too. It just isn’t time, is all.”

Stiles rolled his eyes.

“She’s invited to come to Stanford when we go. I think I have to bring her.”

“You sound so excited.”

Derek hesitated. “I don’t want to give her the wrong idea.”

“And by her you mean Ms. Blake or your mother?”

“Both?”

Stiles laughed and shook his head. “That sounds like a fun trip. Can I come?”

“On a road trip with Jennifer and Carrie, yes. To meet Cora and my mother, no, and the longer I can keep you away from them, the better.

“Whatever you say, Alpha Hale.”

Chapter Text

“Alright,” Lydia said, tapping her pen against her notepad. “You’ll do the first part, and I’ll do the second, and then we can meet up and write the introduction and conclusion together.”

Stiles nodded and stacked his books. They’d ended up spread out all over his floor during their study session. They always tended to do that when he studied, his mind remembering things he’d read that was always, somehow, not in the book he was holding.

“How long do you think you’ll need?”

He rolled his eyes at that. “How long do you need?”

Lydia checked her planner. “I could be done tomorrow, but I don’t have time tomorrow afternoon to get together.”

“I can’t the day after tomorrow. Friday?”

She jotted it down.

“Friday. After school. You have plans with your girlfriend after?”

“I never told you I had a girlfriend.”

“But you do.” She smiled knowingly at him. “Your bedroom is clean for a boy’s, you’re not looking as much as you used to, and you’ve been taking better care of your personal scent. You could buy a nicer cologne though.”

“Looking?”

She raised a well-plucked eyebrow. “You know what I mean. It makes you more tolerable to be around, you know.”

“Alright, fine, there’s a girl. We don’t have plans for Friday, but we might make some. Usually do. Plans with Jackson?”

“Yes, so if we could be done by six that would be good.”

“Got it.”

Lydia leaned against his desk and smiled. “So… tell me about her.”

Stiles closed his book. No, maybe he wasn’t looking as much at her anymore. She was still the most perfect girl he had ever met, but Veronica felt a lot realer to him. Lydia was a goddess, and Veronica was human, well, werewolf, and he’d realized in the past months that worship wasn’t love.

“Her name is Veronica. She goes to Devenford.”

“Fancy. Was she girl you caught that robber with?”

“Yeah.” He smiled at the thought. They’d gotten into a bit of trouble, but nothing they couldn’t handle. It wasn’t the only crime they’d solved together either. Nothing along the lines of murder, but there had been a close call with organized crime where they’d needed interference from Stiles’ pack, and he was still living that one down. Kincaid loved to remind him, and Derek had given him disapproving looks for an entire week. It had been quite an ordeal; Derek’s eyebrows could disapprove like nothing else could.

Lydia rolled her eyes. “God, you look positively smitten, that’s disgusting.”

“I’ve seen you look at Jackson when he wins a game, you’re no better.”

“Whatever. Got any acceptance letters yet?”

Stiles shook his head. “Not yet. But I also haven’t gotten any rejection letters.”

Lydia scoffed. “Can you believe MIT turned me down?”

“Are you shitting me?!”

“No! And for no good reason either.”

“Did they give you a reason?”

“No, but clearly no good reason to turn me down could ever exist.”

“But you’re gonna be valedictorian.”

“Obviously. I’m really pissed about it.”

“What about your backups?”

“Still waiting. I guess some will be the same as yours.”

It was odd to realize it, all out of nowhere, that Stiles was Lydia’s friend now. That he was someone she’d agree to do a school project with, that she’d want to know about his girlfriend, and that she cared, as much as Lydia would show care for things, about where he’d go to school. That it was even on her radar that they might end up in the same place.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Lydia got up from her seat. “I’m heading out. We’ll make definite plans on Friday, okay?”

“Sure. Good luck on that math test tomorrow.”

Lydia laughed and flipped her hair. “As if I need luck.”

He followed her down the stairs to the door and was about to close it after her when the familiar sound of Veronica’s car came down the street. She drove onto the driveway to park behind Melissa’s car right as Lydia backed out.

Veronica waved at Lydia who waved back and in the next moment Stiles had his arms full of girlfriend.

“Hi!” she exclaimed. “Who’s your friend?”

“That was Lydia, we were studying together.”

He noticed the intake of breath from Veronica as she sniffed him, but there was nothing to worry about. Werewolves were territorial by nature, but he wouldn’t smell like Lydia just by being in the same room as her.

“I didn’t know you’d come over today,” Stiles said and held the door open for her.

“Just missed you. And I had a hunch some girl was trying to steal you away, so I rushed right over.”

“Ha!”

Veronica searched his face. “I was only half-joking, you know. At my school some girls call you ‘that cute guy Veronica is dating’. Why wouldn’t the one that just left here try to steal you from me?”

He pulled her close and kissed her. “They can try. But Lydia wouldn’t. You believe me, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. I can hear it in your heartbeat when you’re lying.”

Stiles frowned. “And if you couldn’t hear it, you wouldn’t trust me?”

“Does it matter? I can hear it. And I can smell the lack of other girls on you. I can’t make my senses not work. And that’s not the point I was making. My point was, many girls might want to steal you away, even if you say that one won’t.”

“You’re so good for my ego, do you know that?”

She beamed at him and took his hand. “She made me forget why I came! I got a call from back home.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, one of my early letters came, and I got in!”

“Hey that’s awesome. Which one?”

“Northeastern!”

He followed her up the stairs to his room, far too many thoughts spinning in his head.

“In Boston?”

“No, Stiles, Northeastern University of Southern California!”

She flopped down on his bed and he lay down next to her.

“I didn’t even know you had applied there.”

“It’s one of the best criminal justice programs in the country, Stiles. Of course I applied there. Didn’t you?”

He shook his head. Hadn’t they talked about college? He felt sure they had. “Where else did you apply?”

“Oh, NYU, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Georgetown. Chances are going to be slim on those though. Why? Where did you apply, Stiles?”

“Here, in California. I haven’t decided where I want to go yet, so I applied to any school that wasn’t too far away.”

“Only in California? Nowhere else?”

“Nope. Didn’t you apply to any school closer to home?”

She shook her head and sat up. “Why would I?”

“To be near your pack!”

“I can find a new pack. And you know I want to go to the FBI Academy eventually, so it’s not like I wasn’t going to leave one day. That’s what I want to do! Why would I stick around here longer than I need to in that case?”

Stiles frowned. “It’s that easy for you to leave them?”

Veronica bit her lip. “I thought you wanted the same things as me.”

“I… I do, but, I can’t. You know I can’t.”

She sighed in exasperation. “Why not? It’s college, Stiles. It’s your future. Why can’t you pick a school you want to go to, and live your life the way you want to?”

“Because it’s selfish!”

Her eyes flashed yellow for a second. “Are you saying that I am selfish?”

He sat up too, holding up his hands. “No, that’s not what I mean. But my pack needs me-”

“No they don’t. You’re human Stiles. They love you and they want you to stay, but at the end of the day, they don’t need you. If you left and never came back, Derek would manage.”

“That’s not the deal I have with him. The deal is that I find the right mate and that mate becomes the alpha. And my pack does need me.”

“They’d adjust. And if you told them you wanted to leave, they wouldn’t want you to stay just for them. They’d want you to be happy. Don’t you think so?”

Deep down, Stiles knew that was probably true. Most of his pack would feel horrible if they thought Stiles was staying even if it made him unhappy. But that wasn’t really the point. He wanted to stay. Staying didn’t make him unhappy. This was his parents’ home town. His mother’s pack. This was where he belonged. He knew what his duty was, but it wasn’t just about duty. Stiles would always want to put the pack first; they deserved that much from him. And he wanted to find them the very best alpha there was. He looked at his girlfriend. Lately, he’d been thinking that he loved her. She made him happy, and she made him forget every bad thing that had ever happened to him when they were together, and kissing her was heavenly, and it was just what being in love should be like, but-

“Well?” she asked.

But Veronica wouldn’t make a good alpha. She didn’t even want to be one. She was a wonderful person, smart and resourceful, and she’d fight to the death for her pack if she had to, but she wouldn’t really make sacrifices for them other than that. She’d pick the school she wanted, and the job she wanted, and she’d live where she wanted, and she’d pick her pack based on location. Like the Hales in Sacramento. Territory, not family.

Even someone who wasn’t a werewolf or who had never met Erica before could tell that she was deeply unhappy, her arms tightly wrapped around herself as if trying to hold back a spasm that hadn’t plagued her in over nine months now.

“It’s not that they’re mean,” she told him quickly. “They love me, I know they do.”

Derek nodded.

“It’s just how they look at me.”

He waited.

“Like they don’t know me. Like I’ve changed.”

“You’re a werewolf now.”

Her grip on herself grew tighter. “But I’m still me. Just a healthier me. One who has friends. Who doesn’t need to go to the hospital all the time.”

“They seemed happy about that when I spoke to them last,” he tried. Where was Stiles when Derek needed him? Why had Erica come here? He couldn’t remember anyone else in his pack coming to him for emotional support. Help, sure. Advice, certainly, as much as it seemed like a courtesy, but not for their emotional needs.

“I guess they are?” Erica nodded, but her grip still seemed unbearably painful. “But I think they also miss me relying on them so much. I hate that I have to be sick for them to feel close to me.”

Did Talia do this when Derek wasn’t looking? Had Claudia done this? Sure, Derek had to admit, Erica wouldn’t know anything about that. She’d never known another alpha than Derek. Poor thing.

“Do you want me to speak to them?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t know what to do.”

He ran his hand down her back to scent her, and she relaxed a little.

“What if I invite them to a pack event?”

Erica smiled. “That might be nice. A low-key one, maybe something where we don’t shift.”

Derek smiled back. There. That was a little better, wasn’t it? She smelled much better now, and their bond vibrated pleasantly.

He heard the sound of feet on the driveway coming up towards the house but relaxed when Ollie started barking excitedly and there was a key in the lock.

“You won’t tell Stiles, right?”

“You don’t want me to?”

Erica shook her head. “I don’t want him to think it’s his fault. Since he’s the one who convinced me, and them.”

“Okay.”

“Seems like Stiles could use some alpha care too today. I’ll go. Thanks for listening, Derek.”

“Anytime.”

Stiles was on the sofa with Ollie in his arms when they came out from the study.

“Hey Erica, I didn’t know you were here. Should I go?”

She scented him with a hug, but it didn’t seem to help the waves of sadness wafting over the room. There were so many distressed teenagers in Derek’s life. He half expected a call from Malia or Cora any minute to talk about whatever they were going through – Derek realized he had no idea and made a mental note to take a trip to Sacramento soon to check in.

“You smell sad again.”

“Very astute, Derek.”

“What happened?”

“I had a fight with Veronica.”

“Oh.”

Erica’s hand staid on Stiles’ shoulder. “Do you want me to stay?”

He shook his head.

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah. Call me if you need help with studying for that test.”

“Sure.” Erica threw a last look at Derek that told him Erica would not be bothering Stiles for anything for several days, and then they were alone.

“Everything okay with her?” Stiles asked.

“Not everything, but I’ve got it handled.”

Yes, his wolf said, it’s handled. We did good. Keep going.

“Need me to do anything?”

“If you’re gonna study with Erica at any point in the coming weeks, it’d be good if you could do it at her house and then stay for dinner if given the choice. But that’s it.”

That also felt like the right thing to do. Derek was on a roll, it seemed. He pressed his luck.

“Tea?”

“Yes, please.”

Derek fetched two mugs for them, put one on the coffee table in front of Stiles and then took his seat in the old chair to wait. It was good tea. That coffee machine was a marvel. Water at the perfect temperature, ready for steeping, every time, and he didn’t need to wait for it to cool before he could drink it.

“She got into Northeastern,” Stiles said after several minutes.

“Good for Veronica.”

“She didn’t apply to any school in California! Not a single one!”

“And you did?”

“That’s all I did!”

“Okay.”

It was usually better to let Stiles talk, but it took him a while to get it all out, and Derek waited until he seemed to be done.

“What should I do, Derek?”

Stiles really did have huge eyes, Derek thought to himself. It was usually fine, when he was happy, but when he was sad, it was unsettling and always left Derek with a deep sense of inadequacy and of having failed him somehow. He swallowed.

“Are you really asking me?”

“You are my alpha, even if I’m not a werewolf.”

“Okay, but what is it exactly you need advice on? Where to go to college? How to make up with her?”

Stiles looked down into his cup. “I think maybe I should break up with her.”

“Because you’re going to different schools in eight months? Sorry, Stiles, but that seems kinda stupid. You’re not leaving now.”

“But I’m stringing her along, right? If I know we don’t have a future, I mean?”

Derek shook his head. Stiles could be so mature sometimes, but in many ways, he was still a kid. “I don’t think most relationships your age have much of a future. No offense I actually don’t think most relationships my age have much of a future.”

“Does your girlfriend know that?”

“I don’t know. She should.” He hesitated, but then decided he might as well share something about himself, in case that helped. “But Jennifer’s not exactly my first girlfriend. And when I was in high school, I dated a girl named Paige. She was a talented musician, and she applied to go Julliard. I wanted to go with her. Not to her school, but to a school nearby so we could still be together. But I didn’t want to leave my pack, and my mom wouldn’t let me tell her about werewolves and give her the bite, and then Paige left.”

“What’s your point?”

“I got over her. She’s married now, I heard. And she’s happy. She can get me tickets to the New York Philharmonics if I ever want to go to something like that, and honestly, I think I would have held her back.”

“I’ll get over Veronica if she leaves?”

Derek shrugged. “You might. Or maybe she’ll come back to California one day and you can get back together then. Her priorities might be different then.”

“That’s the problem,” Stiles said. “It’s her priorities! You just said you wouldn’t leave your pack. But she’s fine with that! What kind of alpha would she be?”

“Oh. I see.”

Derek collected their empty mugs and brought out the ice cream instead. Chocolate. It was Stiles’ favorite. It was also Jennifer’s favorite, but Derek felt sure Jennifer wouldn’t mind Derek using her ice cream to cheer Stiles up.

“I know it’s the plan, Stiles,” he said, sitting down next to him and offering him one of the spoons. “But I don’t think your mom ever would’ve wanted you to not be happy, and neither does anyone in this pack.”

“That’s what Veronica said too!” Stiles exclaimed, his mouth already full of ice cream. “But I need to find a good one! Why is no one understanding how important this is?”

Derek stole a spoonful and put it in his mouth to buy himself some time. “I know it’s important. Hell, if you found a new alpha tomorrow, then I could go home to my family’s pack instead, but I want you to be happy too. You deserve that, and I don’t know why you’d think someone you would love would be anything but the perfect person for this pack?”

Stiles stared at him. “I… I almost forgot about that part. You leaving, I mean. You must be missing your family all the time, and here I am, taking my sweet time, barely giving the willing prospects a fair chance and now I’m going to break up with her, and there haven’t even been any one else coming by lately and-”

His heartbeat was too fast, his breathing was too quick, and he dropped the spoon from his shaking hand. Ollie barked at Derek as if it was his fault – and maybe it was – and Derek quickly went to his knees in front of Stiles to try and catch his eye. Melissa had taught him about this.

“It’s okay, Stiles, it’s okay, just keep breathing. How can I help?”

“I don’t- I can’t-“

“Yes you can, just breathe when I do, okay. Let’s count to four as we breathe in… good, now we hold for four, and now out for four… good. Excellent.”

Stiles was staring at him with wild eyes, and Derek helped him count and breathe. It felt like it took forever, but eventually, Stiles’ breathing calmed down enough for Derek to feel sure that he’d be okay.

“I’m sorry,” Stiles whispered when Derek sat down next to him again.

“It’s okay. Eat your ice cream.”

Stiles did. After ten minutes or so, he sighed and leaned his head against Derek’s shoulder.

“Chocolate is awesome. I know she’s a terrible human being, but J.K Rowling was right about chocolate. It’s magic.”

“Oh? I never read those books.”

“Might as well not. I feel better now. Thank you.”

“It’s okay, Stiles. Panic attacks happen.”

Stiles nodded. “I guess it’s just… a lot of pressure. I don’t want to talk about it. Can we change the subject?”

Derek leaned in Stiles’ direction, so the side of their heads bonked together. “Tell me what you want to do in college.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t know what the pack needs the most. We don’t need another doctor, because we don’t have enough human members, and Scott is already going to be a vet, so he’ll take over after Deaton there. And it’s not like I can go to college and learn to be a druid.”

Derek shook his head. “Stiles. I asked what you want to do, not what you think the pack needs.”

“I suppose I could do political science and run for local office or something,” Stiles continued. “Like your mom. That must be useful sometimes.”

“It is. But that’s still not what you want to do, is it?”

“No. I had a lot of fun solving crimes with Veronica. I want to do that.”

“Be a cop, or a detective?” Derek threw a glance at the overstuffed shelf of Agatha Christie books. They’d both added to it over the past eighteen months, and they might need to do some reorganizing soon, or some of the older editions might get damaged.

“Cop. I think. Maybe not like my dad. Computers. It’s the future of crime fighting. Actually, it’s the present, even though dad didn’t like to think about it like that. He was old-school. And the department is behind in that area. There’s lots of things that could help solve crimes better, and faster.”

Derek smiled. “There we go. Computer science then? Or is it information science? Or will it be criminology?”

“Or both, maybe. USC could be good for that. There might be some closer of course too.”

“USC is not that far. It won’t let you come home every weekend, but you’ll be near enough if we need you. And phones exist. Forget about the pack for a moment, Stiles. Pick a school you like. The pack will always be there anyway. And maybe you need a break from getting prospective suitors too?”

“There haven’t been any lately.”

“That’s because whenever one calls, I tell them you have a girlfriend right now and are uninterested in seeing someone else. I can keep telling them that until you’re in college. Even if you break up with her.”

Stiles sighed. “Maybe I should?”

Derek took a last spoonful of ice cream. It was nearly melted but it still tasted well. Jennifer had good taste; she bought the expensive stuff. Derek would have to remember to replace it so she wouldn’t notice. “Do you love her?”

“I thought maybe I did.”

“But?”

“But I don’t think our values are the same. She’s a good person, but that’s not enough for me. I need her to think her pack is important if it’s going to be this one, and she just doesn’t.”

He patted Stiles’ hand. His wolf was pleased at having helped; Derek wasn’t sure he’d done much more than listen and let Stiles reach the conclusion he needed to reach. “Okay. But I won’t tell anyone you’re single if you do, as long as you promise you’ll pick the school you want to go to and not the one you think we want you to go to.”

“Deal.”

It was late when Stiles drove back to Devenford Prep. Too late. The dormitory had rules, and he wasn’t allowed inside, but Veronica came outside quickly when he texted her. She looked good, fresh from a shower with her short, blond hair a little damp and no makeup on. But he’d decided. This was for the best.

“Hey.” She had her arms crossed but kept a steady eye-contact with him, clearly still upset about their fight earlier. “What’s up?”

“I want to be honest with you,” Stiles started, and she shifted her weight to the other foot.

“Okay. Well get it over with then.”

“I want to stay with my pack. I understand that I need to go away for college, because this is Beacon Hills and the community college is not going to be enough for me, but I need to stay close. I need to be able to visit. And I think I need to be with someone who understands that.”

Her eyes were shiny. “You’re breaking up with me.”

“I think so. I don’t really want to, but I think that’s how it needs to be. It’s… it’s probably inevitable.”

“I thought we’d go to the same school, and then we’d apply to the academy together. And I’d make special agent before you of course, but we’d be in different departments so it wouldn’t matter that we were together. Stiles…”

“I’m sorry.”

He heard his voice break and his chest was aching. He’d never had a girlfriend before, so he hadn’t been dumped, and he’d never thought he’d ever do the dumping. Not with her. Brilliant Veronica who liked the same old movies he did and who could quote Sherlock Holmes beyond “Elementary” at the drop of a hat, and liked to solve crimes, and riddles, and who sent him random memes in the middle of the school day just because they’d make him laugh and-

“I guess if that’s how you feel… then I’m going back inside. Goodbye Stiles.”

He stared down at his hands not knowing what to do with them. “Goodbye Veronica.”

She left and Stiles drove back to Beacon Hills.

Scott was waiting for him when he got back to the McCalls’ house. “Derek texted me. I ordered pizza.”

“Cool.”

Scott shuffled his feet. “And I…” he sighed deeply. “I got Star Wars from Isaac. Please don’t make me watch more than one. One is enough.”

Stiles grinned. “You say that now, but when you’ve seen the first one, you’ll want to see the next one, and then the next one, and then the prequels, and then-”

“Stiles… please.”

Scott put the DVD into the player and Stiles quickly shut his mouth so Scott wouldn’t change his mind. Scott sat down at the other end of the couch. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nah. I talked to Derek.”

“Did that help?”

“Yes,” Stiles said, a little surprised. “It did.”

Chapter Text

“Sell Huntington and Fall.”

It took Derek a good half-minute to wrap his mind around the words, and the voice on the other end of the line. He put down the book he was reading and frowned. “Peter?”

“Yes, nephew. Sell Huntington and Fall. Sell now. All of it. Go.”

He made his way to the office and opened up his laptop to log on to the investment account he’d set up for the pack. “You’re the one who told me to buy these.”

“I know. And wasn’t that so clever of me, but only if you sell it all right now.”

“It was just a week ago.”

The account opened and he had to make a tighter grip on his phone to keep from dropping it. “What the hell happened?”

“That, dear nephew, would take me several days to explain to you and even then you might need to go back to school. Have you sold?”

“You’re sure?”

There was a low growl at the bottom of Peter’s deep and slow breath. “You used to trust me.”

“Very well. I’m selling now. What next?”

“No idea right now. You could up your stake somewhere else if you wanted. But I’m waiting. Nothing wrong with keeping things liquid for a little bit.”

Derek stared at the number on the screen. “That’s quite a sum.”

“Isn’t it just?”

“Thank you. But it’s going up right now and I just sold.”

“It’s about to bust. Check it tomorrow and you’ll see. Better to sell too soon than too late.”

“Okay.”

Derek made a note to keep track. He had no idea how Peter knew where to put his money and when to get it out, but he kept hoping Peter would one day be wrong, just to shake things up. Not that Derek would’ve been right in any such situation, but it would feel good to know Peter wasn’t financially omniscient.

“Well, nephew, how is the pack?”

“We’re doing fine. You?”

“Very well. You’re coming to Cora and Malia’s graduations aren’t you?”

Derek threw a glance at the pile of graduation gifts he’d managed to wrap himself. He’d bought the kids in his pack decent laptops for college, but had something more sentimental picked out for Cora, and for Malia. “I am. Some of the other kids graduate the day after though, so I won’t spend the night. Are you proud of her?”

Peter laughed. “Proud, surprised she managed, wondering if she didn’t bribe or threaten a teacher or two, all things parents go through.”

“Wouldn’t put it past her.”

“I’ll tell her you said so. We look forward to seeing you there.”

“Me too.”

A beep in his ear told him he had an incoming call, and the screen said it was Kincaid. “Peter, I have to go, something has come up.”

“Very well, take care of yourself, nephew.”

He ended the call and answered Kincaid. “Yeah?”

“Alpha, there’s trouble. We’re on our way to yours.”

Stiles woke up from a much needed afternoon nap to a heavy weight all over him, and it took him a moment to realize it was only Scott. All Stiles’ puppies, as he sometimes affectionately called them, were prone to lie down next to him if they caught him napping. And sometimes even climb in through the window in the middle of the night if they needed it. But Scott would always be the worst, draping himself over Stiles at least twice a week. It seemed to Stiles that he’d wake up with Scott all over him anytime Scott as much as needed to go to the bathroom in the middle night.

Scott didn’t use to be a cuddler like this before he became a werewolf, but he hadn’t gone longer than a week after the bite before showing up at Stiles’ window back home, abashedly looking at the empty spot on Stiles’ bed and stuttering out something about wanting to be near someone in the pack. Since Stiles had moved in with the McCalls’, Scott’s instincts had been on overdrive.

Stiles poked him. “Hey. Scottie, dude. Get up.”

Scott grumbled and snuggled his face closer into Stiles’ stomach, and Stiles punched him much harder. He had to hit him three times before Scott finally opened his eyes and lifted his head.

“Huh?”

“You’re on top of me. Again. I don’t mind the pack piles, Scott, but you could lie down next to me instead, and that way I don’t have to wake you up when I get up.”

“But then you could leave, and you wouldn’t be here when I woke up.”

Damn Scotty and his puppy eyes. It wasn’t fair. Stiles told him so.

“I just came in here to ask you how it went today, and you were asleep. It looked comfortable.”

“How what went?”

“With Erica.”

“Oh that.” Stiles lifted himself up on his elbows. “She said yes to prom.”

“Of course she did. Did you think she wouldn’t?”

“You never know. We’re going as just friends, of course, but I think we’ll have fun.”

“I can’t believe you have a prom date before I do. I thought we had a deal to go stag together.”

Stiles cocked his head to the side. “You could have a date too.”

“Carrie was asked out by someone on the team.”

“I know, but that wasn’t who I was talking about.”

“Then who?”

“Seriously? Were you not in here only yesterday complaining that Isaac had been flirting with Brett?”

Scott blushed and Stiles shook his head at him. Scott was a good guy, and a great friend, but he could be so dense sometimes it was embarrassing. How long had he and Isaac danced around each other now? A year. At least.

“I didn’t used to like guys,” Scott said. “Not before the bite. I know you said werewolves didn’t discriminate, but I didn’t think that would count if I already was completely straight.”

“You were never completely straight,” Stiles said. “And you weren’t even sixteen when you were bitten. How could you have known for sure what your sexuality was?”

Scott opened his mouth to say something, but Stiles held up a hand. “No, dude, listen up. If you really weren’t into Isaac at all, you wouldn’t been acting like you do around him. And you wouldn’t have been bothered by him flirting with Brett. And I wouldn’t be pushing this issue, but you’re here all miserable when you could be happy hanging out with a guy who’s into you. And going to prom with someone who actually likes you, and who’s going to the same college as you in the fall. It’s gone on too long, Scott. Come on.”

“You could’ve set me up with that girl you know at Veronica’s school.”

“Allison? I’m not sure you’re each other’s type. And that doesn’t change things with Isaac. Just ask him to prom and see how it feels.”

“Maybe.”

Stiles waited and soon enough, Scott opened his mouth again. “What’s it like making out with a guy?”

Stiles shrugged. “I only ever made out with one. And it wasn’t that different from making out with a girl. Fewer things to accidentally put your hands on, I guess?”

Scott blushed again.

“See?” Stiles said with triumph. “Why don’t you sit with that thought for a bit?”

His phone rang and he answered it right away when he saw it was Kincaid. Kincaid rarely made phone calls to anyone; this would be urgent, or important, and most likely both.

“Yeah?”

“We’ve got a problem. At Alpha’s house. You need to come quick.”

“Crap. I’ll be right there.” He closed the call and gestured to Scott who was already on his feet.

Derek would know that smell anywhere. He’d spent several months of his life as a sixteen year old boy longing for anything that came even close to it before realizing how stupid he’d been.

This wasn’t exactly that smell. But they all had something like it. It was gun oil, shiny metal SUVs, leather boots, and a hint of lingering paranoia. Argent. He wondered if he’d ever be able to have normal reaction to that particular combination of scents and forced his pulse to calm down with little success.

Kincaid and Tracey had brought them here and Derek had already slipped into rage. His betas had let an Argent enter into their territory. Derek’s territory. Even if it was just Chris and two of his men, this was completely unacceptable and Derek would... he would...

“Get out,” he growled as Chris got out of his car. “Leave this town and leave it now.”

“Derek Hale. I heard you took over this pack.”

“Get out!”

“Alpha,” Kincaid said, surprise written all over his face. “We have good relations with the Argents these days. They don’t hunt us.”

“I don’t care!” Derek spat so fiercely that the terrified human woman standing behind Chris jumped back. She was young, short, and looked unarmed – but how could anyone know for sure when she arrived with Argents? There was something else tickling his nose too. They had a wolf. In the trunk maybe? Whatever. There was an Argent in Derek’s territory and Chris needed to leave. Now. And never come back.

“I always got along well with Claudia,” Chris tried. “And especially in cases like this, we often worked together. Look, the girl doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but you know just as well as I do that she needs an alpha to avoid doing that. She’s young.”

Tracey approached Derek and he was half aware that Kincaid had picked up his phone, but he couldn’t focus on anything other than the Argent. In his territory.

“Derek,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but maybe we could just sit down and talk about it? The girl needs help.”

“Be quiet!” Derek roared. How dare she, one of his own betas, act like he needed to be mollified like this? And in front of outsiders too. In front of an Argent! Tracey flinched. Derek had felt it too. The alpha command had slipped out of him unintentionally, but it was still strong, and her mouth stayed shut.

Ollie ran out of the house to position himself in front of Derek, angrily barking at the intruders, and Derek longed to go down on all four and just do the same; canines didn’t need words to communicate, and Derek could show this Argent that he had a bite that was much worse than his bark.

“We could take her to Wallace” one of the men next to Chris whispered. “Especially if Beacon Hills isn’t safe anymore.”

“Beacon Hills is perfectly safe! You are the ones who are the problem here, so why don’t you let your victim go and then leave. We don’t need you.”

“She’s half-feral already,” Chris said with a sigh. “Hale, please let us discuss this calmly, and then we’ll go, like you want. We don’t go where we’re not wanted.”

Derek managed to scoff and growl at the same time. “Right. That’s not quite how I remember it.”

A car was speeding down the street and Derek turned to Kincaid. “You called Stiles? You called a human here, with Argents here?”

Kincaid shrugged and Derek made a mental note to plan an excruciating punishment for him later, the disloyal, untrustworthy–

The jeep screeched to a halt and Stiles hopped out with Scott in tow and threw his arms up when he looked at the scene in front of him.

“What the hell? I thought something bad had happened!”

“They need to leave!” Derek growled. Stiles took a quick step back and stared at him.

“Derek? What’s going on?”

“No Argents in my territory.”

“But it’s just Chris.”

“No Argents in my territory!”

Stiles put his hands on his hips and fixed Derek with his gaze. “It’s just Chris. He was a friend of my parents. I know his dad was a creep, but Chris is cool. I’ve known him all my life.”

“They tried to murder my entire family! And that’s not even all!”

“Chris did?” Stiles looked at the other man in complete confusion. “Seriously?”

“My father and sister,” Chris said, as if that wasn’t a big deal at all, as if he was talking about strangers and not his own flesh and blood, as if he hadn’t known, as if he wasn’t every bit as much an Argent as Kate and Gerard.

“And what do you mean by ‘not even all’?” Stiles asked, turning back to Derek.

Derek almost said it. Out loud. In front of Kincaid and Tracey, and Chris’ men who probably didn’t know what Kate had done. And in front of Stiles. Derek hadn’t had half the backbone Stiles at sixteen. Stiles wouldn’t understand ever being that vulnerable and easily taken advantage of. Stiles would never have been that easily fooled. Stiles would never have put his family and pack at risk like that. Stiles, Derek felt, would never understand. Stiles would think less of him.

And sure, Chris hadn’t been involved. But he had known what Kate had been doing, Derek knew that. Chris had known Derek was only in high school. Chris hadn’t been innocent, and he hadn’t turned his back on his family until after Gerard and Kate had tried to murder the Hales. Derek knew that too.

“I won’t have Argents in my territory,” he repeated. “Stiles, come over here.”

Not only where there Argents in his territory, but there were Argents standing far too close to Stiles. Ollie had opinions about that too, and failed at trying to herd Stiles closer to safety.

Stiles ignored him and pointed to the trunk of the car. “Is that what I think it is?”

“If what you think is a feral werewolf in need of an alpha, yes,” Chris said. “But I’m not letting her out without Alpha Hale’s cooperation.”

“You said this would be safe for her,” the young woman behind him said. “It doesn’t seem that safe. And who’s that kid?”

“I’m Stiles.” He held out his hand to shake. “Is it your kid in there?”

“Phoebe Romero. That’s my sister. We were attacked by… a werewolf, they tell me? And afterward Hayden started acting really weird and then yesterday she tried to killed me!”

“We’d hunted down the rogue alpha,” Chris said, his attention fully on Stiles now. “And we kept an eye on the girl, in case. No one was hurt. She hasn’t harmed anyone. And I’m sure we’d all like to keep it like that.”

“Yeah of course,” Stiles said and glared over at Derek, who was feeling his anger grow for every word Stiles exchanged with Chris. An Argent. Stiles was chatting with an Argent.

“Stiles!” he shouted. “Come over here!”

He controlled his voice that time, but Stiles stomped over anyway, and Scott and Kincaid came closer too.

“What the hell is going on?” Stiles exclaimed in something that failed at being a whisper. “You’re being really rude to Chris, and he’s a good ally to have. He keeps other, less reasonable hunters away. And there’s a werewolf in that trunk and she needs you. What the hell, Derek?!”

“I want them gone,” Derek spat. “And I don’t want you to be near them.”

“I’ve known Chris for years.”

“So have I. And you don’t know them like I do.”

“Derek…” Scott started, throwing a glance at the car. “I don’t know any of these people, and if you say we can’t trust them then I won’t, but that girl in there…”

“We can trust Chris,” Stiles insisted. “And if you ruin this relationship we have with him, Derek, we run the risk of his hunters not giving us the benefit of the doubt if they come across one of us.”

Derek could, deep down, understand the truth in that, but he couldn’t help it. Staying away from Argents and keeping Argents away from himself and anyone it was his duty to protect was more important than anything else, and despite himself, he couldn’t see past it.

“No,” he said. “I won’t trust them.”

“Alright,” Kincaid said, throwing his hands in the air. “We’ll stop trusting the Argents. But could you let Tracey talk now please?”

“But-” Stiles started. “It’s just Chris! I get it, his family tried to hurt yours, but Derek-”.

“Stiles,” Scott said, a hand on his arm. “Alpha said.”

“Alpha is wrong.”

Derek decided to ignore him and looked at Tracey. He didn’t actually know how to withdraw an alpha command, but he searched for their pack bond, finding it as strong as it had been ever since last Christmas, and tugged on it until she relaxed.

“Thank you,” she said. “Are we letting the girl stay?”

“Maybe she’s a spy?” Stiles said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Or maybe it’s a hoax, perpetrated by the mean hunters who want to kill anyone and everyone who isn’t pure human, because all hunters are like that.”

“You don’t know what they did,” Derek repeated.

“Then tell me, and then I will know, and maybe I’ll agree with you.”

“I don’t need your agreement. Go get the mountain ash in the basement ready. We’ll put the girl in there until she calms down.”

The scratches and angry roaring from the trunk of the car had been increasing as they were speaking. Whatever she’d been dosed with on the journey to Beacon Hills was clearly wearing off.

“I remember when I was turned,” Tracey said with a pensive look at the car. “And how relieved I was when Claudia used her alpha voice on me to get me to control myself. And that’s happened with Erica too, right?”

Derek nodded. Stiles gave him one last glare and stomped off into the house, and Derek approached the car again. Chris’ men backed away from the trunk, but the young woman, Phoebe, rushed forward.

“What are you going to do to her? She’s only seventeen, you won’t hurt her, will you?”

“There’s no reason to harm her,” Derek said, his words coming out in clipped syllables. The Argents were still there and he didn’t like turning his back on them. “But I will make sure she won’t hurt anyone. You need to stay back.”

Kincaid and Tracey flanked the car, and Derek gestured to Scott to stay back a bit.

Chris cocked his gun, but Derek glared until he put it down again, and then he banged once on the trunk.

“Hey! I’m going to let you out, and you’re going to behave. If you behave, we’re not going to have a problem.”

There was only a growl in response, but Derek popped the trunk open anyway. A young werewolf immediately sprung from it, but Derek was prepared for her and had her down on the ground by the throat before her sister could object. Kincaid and Tracey each got a hold on one of her arms, and Derek bore his red eyes into her beta yellow. “Stop fighting,” he growled but she still struggled in their grip.

“Stop fighting me,” he commanded again and this time she calmed down, and he relaxed his grip on her just enough to let her turn her head to the side in submission. He could feel the pack bond, weak, but sufficient, and he got to his feet.

“What happened?” Phoebe asked as her sister was led inside the house, her head turned to look at Derek until Kincaid forced her to look forward.

“She’s in my pack now,” Derek said. “Go inside you too and we’ll talk about what that means.”

Phoebe threw one last look at Chris, who nodded and then let Scott show her the way.

Derek pointed at Argent’s men and then to their car. “There. Done. Now leave. And don’t come back. And stay away from Stiles!”

Chris’ men got in the car, but Chris stopped to look at Derek. “I haven’t told them what happened with my sister. And I wouldn’t tell your pack either.”

“Too ashamed of your own blood?” Derek spat. Chris didn’t answer.

Derek shoved his hands into his pockets as the car drove away and gritted his teeth. Crap. He hadn’t thought about Kate in a long time – living in Beacon Hills seemed to have a way of keeping his mind occupied with other things – and he hadn’t enjoyed this sudden reminder one bit. And Stiles would never let this go, he knew that.

Inside, Stiles and Tracey were talking to Phoebe, but they stopped when Derek entered.

“She’s been given the basic rundown,” Stiles said. “Hayden will be in our pack until she decides otherwise, and Phoebe can join too if she wants to. Tracey and Kincaid will give them a place to sleep when we can let Hayden out safely, and Phoebe can sleep in my old room until then. Good with you, Alpha?” He spat out the last word and Phoebe flinched.

“Stiles, a word with you?” Derek said and gestured upstairs. Tracey would still be able to hear them, and so would the wolves down in the basement, but not Phoebe, and she was the only real outsider.

“Do you mind telling me what was going on out there?” Stiles said as soon as they were alone in Derek’s bedroom.

“Oh, you want me to tell you? What the hell were you doing?”

“Me?!”

“Yes, you. Those men are not pack. When it comes to strangers, you can’t defy me like that. If you have another opinion, that’s fine, I don’t control you, but in the end, I’m the alpha, and if I say someone isn’t welcome in our territory, that’s what goes, and you can argue with me all you want in private. But not in front of strangers. Not on pack matters. And especially not in front of hunters! Argents too!”

“Seriously, dude, what happened? It wasn’t just about them trying to murder your family, you said so yourself.”

“It’s none of your business, Stiles,” Derek growled and poked a hard finger into Stiles’ chest. “Not everything is for you to know!”

“Like hell it isn’t! Not when you destroy our relationship with the closest hunters, who, by the way, have left us alone for years. They only ever come here when they need an alpha to do something, or if they’re hunting something we can help with. But we won’t have that relationship anymore, will we, just because you’re hung up on something petty-”

Derek stopped himself, his hand halfway raised for a slap. Fucking brat had no idea what Derek had gone through during those months, and the ones that followed, with the shame and the guilt and the thinly veiled blame from all around him, and the confused feelings whenever someone mentioned Kate’s name.

“Get out.”

Stiles took a step back and stared at Derek’s raised hand with his mouth open in shock.

“What?”

“Get out of this house. Now. For your own good. We can talk about this another time, but not now. Get out before I do something I know I will regret.”

Derek could hear someone coming up the stairs and already knew it would be Kincaid before the door even flew open. “Come on Stiles,” he said. “Alpha Hale, Tracey, and Scott can handle this. Let’s get you home to Melissa’s.”

Kincaid threw Derek a hateful look before he left.

Derek let out a breath and ran his hands through his hair. Crap, crap, crap. This would cost him, this would cost him so much. The pack bonds were still there, and they didn’t feel weaker, but still. He wasn’t about to apologize. Stiles had no right to push for information that personal, he wasn’t entitled to everything Derek had to give for fuck’s sake. His heart was beating fast and he checked his watch and cursed. Jennifer would be coming over soon.

He took out his phone and dialed her number.

“Hey sweetie, I was just about to leave,” she answered on the second ring.

“Don’t. Something has come up.”

He could hear her sigh. “Of course. What is it this time then?”

“You don’t need to put it like that. You cancel on me far more than I cancel on you. Something has just come up and I’m not feeling much like company at all.”

“When I cancel on you I give you a good reason, Derek.”

“I just gave you a reason! I’m not feeling well. I… I need to deal with some things, okay?”

“If you told me, I could help.”

“No, you can’t!”

Great, now he was yelling at his girlfriend too. Crap, crap, crap.

“Derek?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? I’ll feel better then. This isn’t that bad. It’s just old stuff?”

“I still wish you’d let me come over and be there for you. You never do.”

“Please don’t. I’ll call you.”

He hung up and sighed. Angry Stiles. Angry girlfriend. Angry Kincaid. New out of control beta down in the basement. And a surprise human house guest in Phoebe. His life couldn’t get any worse.

[FullPack]

D.Hale added Phoebe Romero to the chat

D.Hale added Hayden Romero to the chat

[D.Hale]

Morning everyone. You might have heard we have new pack members, and I’d like you all to meet them. There’s something else we should talk about too, and I need as many as possible to come. Pack gathering tomorrow evening, at six, at the pack land?

read by everyone

Stiles glanced down at the text every time they had to stop for traffic. And he read it again. It had been a week since Derek had told him to get out of the house – Stiles’ house! - and there hadn’t been a single word from him since then. Stiles had expected an apology by now, or an outstretched hand so they could move on. Fighting with Derek didn’t sit right in his stomach at all, he hated it, but Stiles had been right, damnit! Stiles was always right and hadn’t Derek realized that by now? Chris Argent and his hunters were important allies. Who knew where this pack could’ve been if only Chris had been called when Ennis first arrived to cause trouble?

And Derek wouldn’t even give him a real reason as to why he didn’t want to work with them! Completely unreasonable behavior from an alpha. And Stiles had started thinking lately that Derek was becoming a decent one. With Stiles’ help of course. Without Stiles’ help, Derek would still be hiding in the house and ignoring everyone and making them all think their alpha didn’t care. Frankly, without Stiles’ help there was a good chance Kincaid, Demarco and Tracey would’ve killed Derek a long time ago. Stiles knew what this pack needed, not Derek!

He was working himself up to anger again and Scott poked his shoulder.

“Calm down, dude, or you’ll run us both off the road. And stop reading texts while driving. You’re not going to fight with him again, are you?”

“I think that’s up to him. And I still can’t believe you took his side!”

“I know. But he’s the alpha. We kinda have to trust him, don’t we? And I do. I know he wasn’t that great in the beginning, but he’s gotten a lot better.”

“He’s not anywhere near as good as he needs to be!”

Scott sighed and looked out of the window of the jeep. “Just don’t provoke a fight if he doesn’t mention anything about that again.”

“What else would the other thing we need to talk about be? He’s going to order us all never to talk to a hunter ever, just you wait.”

“That would be impossible. First of all, alpha commands don’t work for that long. And even Derek would realize that we might need to be able to talk to hunters if we run into one at some point.”

“Would he? He was completely out of line!”

“Well you can stop yelling at me about it, I’m not the one you’re angry at!”

Stiles swallowed, his hands tight around the steering wheel. “Sorry. I’ll sort things out with Derek tonight, I promise.”

“Alright then. So you think Phoebe and Hayden might stick around in town then?”

“I guess so, if they decided to join the pack for real.”

Scott was silent for a moment and then turned to look at Stiles.

“I didn’t know we could choose like that. Not that I would’ve wanted to join another pack after your mom gave me the bite, but I didn’t know we could just leave and find another alpha. Why didn’t we do that with Ennis?”

“Because it’s harder if you don’t have an alternative in place. If you find an alpha you like better than Derek, you can just sort of want to be in their pack instead, and if they accept you, that’s it. It’s harder for an entire pack to collectively get rid of an alpha like that, because it involves severing the pack bonds to each other too. Also, we humans have a harder time forming those bonds, but when they’re there, they’re much harder for us to break, since we don’t feel them as much. So if all the werewolves would’ve left, then me, your mom, Dr Geyer and Mrs. Rohr all would’ve been left in the pack for several days before we could get it all settled.”

“Huh. Okay.”

Stiles cast him a look. “Do you want to find another alpha?”

“That’s your job, isn’t it, dude? I don’t think I’ll need another one except for your future wife or husband. As long as you pick a good one.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

They arrived at the pack land, and Stiles parked next to Tara’s cruiser.

Most of the pack had already arrived and they were gathered around Phoebe and Hayden, who was smiling, relaxed and at ease with her new pack around her. Derek seemed in a good mood too, but Stiles didn’t miss the tension in the alpha’s shoulders. He wondered if it was because of him.

The big pot was bubbling with something as usual, and Alicia was handing out glasses of orange juice to everyone. Stiles sought out Isaac, Erica and Carrie and avoided looking at Derek. Scott wanted to properly introduce himself without all the chaos, he said, but Stiles wondered if maybe he just didn’t want to talk to Isaac right now. He rolled his eyes. They were being so silly.

“Everyone’s here who’s going to come,” Derek said, and the pack quieted down. “We’re only missing Melissa and Valerie. I’m glad so many made it.”

Stiles thought he sounded stressed and maybe a little nervous, which wasn’t like him. Derek might not like talking in large groups – or any – but he usually did alright with the pack these days. Unless he was nervous about the reactions to what he was going to say tonight, and he had all reason to be, because Stiles was going to–

“I wanted to give everyone a chance to meet Hayden and Phoebe Romero. They’re going to move to Beacon Hills during the summer so they can be nearer our pack.”

Phoebe gave Derek a glowing smile, and Stiles hoped someone would tell her Derek already had a girlfriend soon.

“And there was another matter I wanted us all to discuss. As you know, I won’t be your alpha forever,” Derek gave Stiles a quick look but didn’t linger there, “and this affects the pack’s future in the long term, so it should be up to us all to decide.”

Stiles straightened. That didn’t exactly sound like Derek was about to tell them all to go attack Chris Argent, but he was still on the alert. It could be a trick. Several of the others shifted uncomfortably and Boyd raised his hand before he spoke:

“What’s going on, Derek?”

Derek brought up his laptop and handed it over to Agnes. “Take a look at this, will you?” He turned back to the group. “I asked a guy from the city planning office to keep me updated on the land beyond the grove. The one they wanted to turn into a housing development but didn’t? As of two days ago, it’s for sale again. At a good price even. I think it might be a good idea for the pack to buy it. I asked around and we could even buy the grove between our land and that plot too.”

Agnes gave out a surprised sound looking at the screen and Stiles frowned. The others looked at each other and then over to him. “What would we do with it?” he asked, and Derek tugged on the bottom his Henley.

“Lots of things. We could expand the orchard if we wanted to, or we could replant the trees. We could even donate it to the preserve. But the point is, this is probably the only chance we get to move on the land. And it’d be safer for us for our land not to be so close to a human neighborhood too.”

“Oh, there it is,” Stiles said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Are you so fucking scared of hunters that you want to segregate us from society completely?”

Derek’s brows furrowed, and Stiles drew himself up to his full height, which he was glad to say was a lot taller than it had been when he’d first met Derek. “Seriously, Derek! If you had any kind of leadership instincts at all-”

“I’m trying to do what’s best for this pack!”

“You mean what’s best for you!”

Derek’s eyes flashed red, but Scott stepped in and put a hand on Stiles’ chest. “That’s enough, Stiles. You and Derek can sort this out later. Let’s hear him out for now, okay?”

Since when did Scott become the voice of reason? That was Stiles’ job! But a quick look around the group suggested that maybe he was out of line.

“We can’t afford it,” Kincaid said. “Not with the kiddies’ college expenses to pay for.”

Derek gave Stiles one last long look and then turned to Agnes. “What do you think?”

Agnes looked from the screen to Derek. “Alpha, where did all this money come from?”

That caught not only Stiles’ attention, and they were all crowding around Agnes to look at the laptop. She had the pack account open on one half of the screen, and what looked like a rough draft for a budget in an excel file on the other half. Stiles’ eyes widened when he saw the account balance.

“I was thinking about the college costs last year,” Derek said, slowly, eyes moving from one to the next. “And I didn’t think there was enough money, since there are so many to pay for. I lent the pack fifty thousand of my own money and then I asked my uncle for some advice on investments. My uncle is very clever. And the business has been doing well in the past couple of years too. We’ve all worked hard, and these are the results. It doesn’t mean everyone can go to super expensive schools, and we’ll still need to make sure to get as many scholarships as possible to make it last, but it should be enough without forcing anyone to work themselves to the bone to pay for it. Education is important, and I think it’s for the good of the pack for everyone to get it if they want it. And then I paid myself back the initial loan, so that’s all pack money there. No gifts or charity from the evil Hale pack.”

“You asked another alpha’s second for advice on pack matters?” Stiles managed to say, but this time even he knew he was going too far. That was a lot of money Derek had managed to get for them all. It almost made up for his other bad decisions recently. Almost.

“There could even be enough if someone wanted to take some courses at the community college,” Derek continued, sounding surer of himself now and casting a look in Boyd’s direction.

“Cool,” Scott said. “Thanks Derek.”

“Yeah,” Stiles agreed. “Thanks.”

He still wasn’t going to be forgiven for the thing with Chris until he apologized.

“So?” Derek said. “The land? Shall we take a vote? We can decide what to do with it later.”

It was a unanimous assent, and Derek smiled.

“Great. Now let’s eat.”

He looked over at Stiles and jerked his head over to where the cars were parked, and Stiles followed him over there. He was ready to be apologized to, after all. Fighting with Derek wasn’t fun; he hadn’t been scented by his alpha in a whole week and that was so long to go without that it was just silly.

But Derek didn’t start with an apology. He crossed his arms over his chest and took a deep breath. “Look Stiles, the thing about Argent.”

“Yes?”

“Something happened. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it with Chris, or with you, or with anyone else in the pack, but something happened, and frankly, it’s personal. You don’t get to know every single thing about me. I don’t get to know every single thing about you either. I don’t push you for confidences, and it’s not right for you to push me. Alright?”

Stiles copied his body language. “If something having to do with me affected the pack I’d tell you anything.”

“And I appreciate that. But that doesn’t mean you’re entitled to information from other pack members, does it? If Kincaid, or Melissa, or even Alicia told something private to me, as the alpha, that doesn’t mean you should get to know it too. If they wanted you to know, they’d tell you themselves. And I know you’re the future alpha mate of this pack and when you’re mated to whoever your mate will be, you can be as involved as you want, but right now, I am the alpha, and if I know things that makes me distrust someone, it shouldn’t matter if it’s my secret or someone else’s. Can we agree on that?”

Stiles considered that and begrudgingly had to admit Derek had a point. He nodded.

“Good. And I meant it when I said you shouldn’t have been talking that openly around people who were not pack. That could be risky, friends or not. Will you promise not to do that again?”

“Fine.”

Derek relaxed his stance.

“Thank you. I am sorry that we had a fight though. I don’t like fighting with you. I like it much better when you and I are a team for this pack. That’s what they need from us both.”

“It is,” Stiles mumbled. “I don’t like fighting with you either. But I’m not going to say I’m sorry.”

“Neither am I.”

“Good. Then we’re agreed. We’re neither of us sorry. But we can move on. So you can scent me now and we can go back to the others.”

Derek smiled at that and ran his hand down Stiles’ shoulder and arm. It was silly really; Stiles couldn’t smell the other wolves on his skin and clothes when they did that, but the slight tingling in the back of his spine felt good. It felt even better when Derek threw his arm over his shoulder and led him back to the dinner they were all going to share.

Chapter Text

Chapter 18 – Home it is

“This is just sad,” Stiles said, kicking a stone across the empty area. It landed in a tire track filled with rain water with a satisfying ’plop’. “Why even tear down all those trees if you’re not going to do anything with the space?”

“It’s the first step in most development projects.” Derek shrugged. “Gotta clear things out first. I don’t like it much either. You can easily plan things beforehand and navigate around some trees, even with big machines. But the original plan for this place was a boring suburban street, according to the city planner, and I assume trees would be banned here unless they were fruit trees. They drop leaves, you know. ”

The area hadn’t looked that large on the map, Stiles thought, and it certainly hadn’t felt that big when he’d run around here as a kid, playing with the other children in the pack. But now there was a vast empty space of gravel and dry dirt. “What are we even going to do with all of it?”

Derek shrugged again.

“We could throw a party,” Stiles continued. “If it wasn’t so sad. It’s just dirt. Hey, we could organize a county fair. Or a werewolf fair? My mom used to go to some big alpha meetings sometimes. Feel up to it?”

Derek’s eyebrows sternly communicated that he was not. Stiles shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts and grinned at him. Not fighting with Derek was the best.

“It’s ours now at least,” Derek said, puffing out his chest and Stiles laughed.

“I bet our alpha is happy about the territory growing bigger.”

“I am. It’s only a bit of land of course, but I like that this is ours, since it’s so close to the orchard. It’ll feel better when we spend time there now.”

Stiles looked down over to the grove that separated this sad and depressing former build site from their lush green land with all the things they grew. “You’ll still go there, right? When I’m gone?”

“I will. And I asked Jenna to remind me if I forget. We’ll send you fruit when we can. If we can figure out how to do that without it spoiling.”

“Can’t believe I’m leaving in a week,” Stiles said, uselessly trying to keep his nerves under control so Derek wouldn’t pick up on the chemosignals. He’d been getting annoyingly good at doing that, and yes, there it was, a hand on Stiles’ arm, the concern no lighter for being predictable.

“I’ll miss all of you. The pack is going to be quiet without you.”

“You’ll still have Brett, Liam, and Lori. And Hayden too. And Alicia. I’ll tell them to go bug you extra often.”

Stiles was headed South, Carrie to Stanford, and Isaac, Erica and Scott to schools not far from her. At least those four would be relatively close, Stiles thought. Not like him, all alone in Southern California of all places. Derek, Stiles had gathered, had been a little disappointed that none of them had chosen US Davis, as that would’ve kept them all a little bit closer, but most of the teenagers were going to be close enough for frequent visits. Stiles would be the one furthest away.

“It’ll be fine, Stiles.”

“I guess. I mean, I do trust you, Derek.”

“Appreciate that.”

They walked back to the edge of the empty land where they’d parked Derek’s car.

“Where should I drop you?”

“At the house.”

“Again?”

“Yeah, I’m working on something for you. It’s a surprise, so don’t go looking.”

Derek chuckled. “Whatever you say. Home it is.”

Derek had thought about it for a while now. It wasn’t working anymore. The thought had occurred to him that he should wait until after all the kids had left for school, so he’d have someone to help him through the separation anxiety, but that was when he knew it was time. The day before all the recent high school graduates of his pack were set to leave for their different schools, he put all the things Jennifer had left at his place in a box but left it in his car as he walked up to her building. There hadn’t been that much stuff, and he wondered, as he rang the doorbell, if that shouldn’t have been a clue.

Jennifer opened the door to let him in and kissed him on the cheek. “Hi there. I didn’t know you were going to come by today.”

“Maybe I should’ve called. I wasn’t sure if you’d be home.”

“Back at school starting yesterday, but I’m keeping the days short if I can since classes hasn’t started yet.”

She searched his face. “Oh. I see,” she said, and Derek let out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah. Well.”

“Can’t say I’m that surprised. Not sure I expected it, but… well.”

“It was good. I mean, we were good. I liked being with you. But it’s been well over a year and I… don’t feel like we’re much closer than we were in the beginning, you know?”

“And whose fault is that do you think?”

Derek ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He had hoped this would go better. In an ideal world, she’d dumped him when finding the love of her life on that vacation she went on with her friends, but that hadn’t happened, and here they were.

“I know I have issues,” he tried, and Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot against the hard wood floor of her apartment. “But I also know I’d have worked harder if we’d be meant for something more.”

Ouch. That came out wrong.

Jennifer shook her head. “I guess I knew that. You’re hard to get close to, Derek. I’m not going to make a big deal out of this, but you might want to look into that. Before someone else starts to care about you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too. But I’ll survive.”

Derek hadn’t deserved her.

“I’ll get your stuff for you.”

“I have yours in the car.”

“Oh, of course you do.”

And that was it.

They exchanged boxes – Derek had left a t-shirt, a book and an extra toothbrush – and then he drove home as the ex-boyfriend of Jennifer Blake.

Stiles was busy upstairs when Derek arrived, so he let Ollie announce that he was home and then went into his office. He’d been having ideas again, and they needed to be put down on paper. He worked at his draft table for an hour or so before there was a knock on his door and Stiles came in.

“Hey. How did it go?”

“Relatively painless.”

“Huh. I thought you really liked her.”

“I did. I do. She’s great. But something wasn’t right. I never would’ve told her what I am, so it was best to end it before it got even more complicated.”

“You okay then?”

Derek shrugged. “What have you been up to?”

Stiles sat down at the desk and put his palms down flat on the surface. “I’m done.”

“Done?”

“With this place. Upstairs. I packed up all their stuff, got a bunch of boxes for donating, some clothes I saved in case someone might like to have in the pack, and the rest is ready to go into storage until… well, until I move back here, and might want to unpack it again?”

“Oh.” Derek had thought Stiles had been working on his old bedroom in preparation for college. “And it… felt okay?”

Stiles sighed. “Yeah. It’s a bit of a relief actually. Somehow. Like, I can move on now? I don’t think it would’ve felt that good going away tomorrow and not have it done. I moved in your stuff too. Master bedroom is all yours now. As is the master bathroom, which has the bigger shower. There’s more closet space too. I didn’t move in your books, but you can move the bookshelf yourself, right?”

Derek nodded. “Yeah, of course. Thank you Stiles. But you know you didn’t have to.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “I know. How many times have you told me that?”

“Things don’t become less true by being repeated.”

“No but they do get unnecessary.”

“Alright.”

Stiles got up from his seat and came over to the draft table. “What are you working on? New assignment?”

“No, just an idea I had.”

Stiles inspected the rough drawing. “It looks like a regular house. Why does it have so many entrances?”

“I was just sketching.”

“Yeah, but what is it?”

Derek tugged on his shirt sleeve. “I was thinking about all you kids coming back from college in a couple years, needing somewhere to live. Finding apartments won’t be hard, but werewolves do better with more space around. And more soundproofing than human homes usually provide. Boyd gets really annoyed by their neighbors being loud at night.”

Stiles looked at him curiously. “So this is…”

“Technically, a small apartment building, four two-bedroom units, two per floor, each with its own entrance and a shared garden out back, with bigger kitchens than apartments of that size would usually provide-”

“You guys do like to eat,” Stiles interjected.

“We do. But above all, more soundproofing. There’s all kinds of newer methods out there. They’re too expensive for people to put them in regular apartment buildings, and humans don’t need it on the same level that werewolves do. We’d still be able to hear if there was a loud argument, or someone calling loudly for help, but not private activities, or the TV being on, or conversations.”

Stiles stared at him and Derek shifted uncomfortable. “It was just a thought I had.”

“You didn’t just have this thought, did you?”

“This particular one, of werewolf-appropriate multi-housing, yes. The thoughts about soundproofing and space allocation, no. I’ve been thinking about that for a long time. It could even be marketable to other packs. Improve relations.”

Stiles looked at the sketch again. “Do you have other plans? Like of single family houses?”

Derek nodded and grabbed his ideas folder from a shelf nearby. He picked out a few of them to show Stiles, who was jumping up and down in his seat.

“These are gorgeous, Derek. I assume. I don’t really know how to read an architect’s drawing.” He looked up at him again, his eyes shining. “We could do this.”

“What?”

“We could do this. This is why you really wanted us to buy that piece of land isn’t it?”

Derek thought about that. “No. I don’t think that was why. Might have been somewhere in the back of my mind that if anyone should live that close to the preserve and our land, it should be us, but that’s it.”

Stiles stood suddenly. “Let’s… talk it over, okay? I’ll go get us a snack, and we can just… brainstorm a bit. We have the land, it has plumbing and electricity ready to be hooked up already, doesn’t it? And a road leading to it and everything. Maybe we could do this!”

He ran off and Derek put a new sheet of paper on his table. He thought about it and then took out the plan for the area they had just purchased too. It wasn’t that large in the grand scheme of things. There hadn’t exactly been plans for a huge housing estate, but he drew up a copy of what was there now on the new sheet so they could have something to work on.

Stiles came in with some slices of watermelon and a couple of sandwiches and put the plate at the edge of the draft table.

“What are we working with here?” he said, all business-like and Derek looked down at the paper, pen at the ready.

“It depends. Are we going to build just for the pack that don’t have actual houses right now, or are we thinking long-term?”

“Long-term. We’re just talking about it right now aren’t we?”

“Sure,” Derek replied, but he wasn’t so sure. He could see it so well already, the entire pack living close by, together. Like a proper pack should. A glance at Stiles told him he wasn’t alone in that. “So, the Boyds, the Rohrs, The Talbots, and the Geyers. And the McCalls. That’s five houses for the families in our pack.”

“And then we need a few more, to let the pack grow. Lots of single people in our pack who might get kids eventually.”

“Right,” Derek brought up his house sketches again. “I have ten different blueprints here. Clearly, we should let people choose what they want, but maybe we could assume, ten houses, and for now we can draw up one of each on the map.”

“Yeah,” Stiles said, digging into a melon slice. “And two of these multi-unit houses of yours would do. That’s 8 units, so up to 16 people.”

“That’s a lot of room for our pack to grow into.”

“It is! But we’re going to! And we forgot the Romero sisters.”

“So 6 houses at start, and 4 extra for the future.”

“Can we fit it all on the land?”

Derek drew up a quick overview, but he didn’t like it and scrapped it and tried it again. Stiles grabbed a piece of paper too and started sketching. Derek had at first pictured a residential street, each house with a backyard big enough for parties and maybe even a pool; some of his old pack in Sacramento occupied an entire street at one part of the city, and he’d always liked that idea, but Stiles drew up something more like a cul-de-sac, and Derek took that idea and ran with it, leaving a wide area in the middle. They could have pack gatherings over there.

“What if we need to expand in fifty years or so?” Stiles asked, and Derek made another new sketch, placing some of the houses a little further apart so they could add a longer driveway or street reaching other houses further back if they needed do. He was happily adding trees and bushes to the drawing until Stiles made him take his sandwich and they took a look at the map. It was a good plan. A little rough around the edges, but not bad for – oh – three hours of work. That had just flown by. Time often did when Stiles was around.

Stiles had taken out a notepad and was taking down notes on it. “Boyd might want to live alone if he could still be near his family,” he said. “But that’s not the most urgent. Kincaid was complaining that they’re raising the rent where he, Demarco and Tracey live. And they’re so cramped too. These multi-unit houses will look and feel like living in a house, won’t they? Or a duplex.”

“I think so, yeah. And everyone would get plenty of input into how the interior would look.” The watermelon had dried a bit while they’d been working, but Derek ate it anyway.

“So, we could start with one of those.”

“Alright, then we’d better move it.” Watermelon in one hand, he made arrows to move the apartments closer to the entrance to the area.

“Why?”

“It’s easier to build the first house closest to the existing road.”

“Would we have to build them all at once?”

Derek considered that. “Not since we have our construction crew already. In a conventional housing project, it’s easier for one crew to do all the foundations basically at once and then have a second crew move onto framing as soon as the foundation is done in one house etc. so houses would be in different stages but work would always be going on, but we’d have a lot of freedom there.”

Stiles sighed. “We’re never going to be able to afford this, are we?”

Derek shook his head. “Don’t say that. I’ve adopted a less aggressive investment strategy since the college funds were all safe and covered, but there’s still things Peter can give me tips on. Without jeopardizing the funds we already have.”

He did some notes for himself. “Besides, no architect’s fee, we already own the land, and we also need to consider what everyone will be saving on mortgage or rent. The pack might even be able to get a loan from the bank if we did some restructuring. Make it out like we’re building houses to sell etc. It’s not impossible.”

Stiles leaned against him to get a better look at the drawing. “We could add a playground. Near the grove that leads to the orchard.”

“Oh, good idea. Alicia’s getting a bit old for that, but there might be little kids in the future. Not top priority yet of course.”

“We could make a path through the grove too.”

Derek sketched that out, adding a spot for the playground. “And we could replant some of the trees that were cut down anywhere we could get away with it all around here. There’s some laws to follow, but in fifteen years, less with Deaton’s help, it could feel a little bit like living in a forest.”

Stiles laughed. “They’re really going to think we’re hippies if we do that. What about this house here? You made a question mark on top of it.”

“Oh that one. Yeah. I know you love this house, and you don’t want to get rid of it, but if we’re going to encourage everyone else to move to this area, the alpha pair should live there too.”

Stiles looked surprised, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to him. “Oh. Of course. Me and my future mate would live there, not here.”

“You wouldn’t need to sell your own house you know. You could rent it out still. It’s in good shape. But by then, you might want a fresh start with someone. Besides, there is nothing that says we’d need to build that house during the first stage.”

Yes, Derek was already planning different development stages, and his to do list was getting longer and longer – but this was so much fun, and his inner wolf was excited and enjoying itself very much at all of these ideas of bringing the pack closer together.

Ollie appeared suddenly, whining and Derek checked his watch again.

“Crap, we’ve been at this for hours, he needs to be let out.”

Stiles stretched and groaned at the pain in his neck. “Yeah, ouch. Let’s move this to the couch.”

After letting Ollie into the backyard to do his thing, Derek made some tea for Stiles and him, and they settled on the couch to keep talking about their project. Somehow they had moved from pure hypotheticals to making definite plans, and there was plenty left to discuss.

“As for the houses, first priority is getting people out of renting,” Derek said, going down his list of required housing. “The Talbots first?”

Stiles nodded. “And then Agnes. She deserves to finally get out of that apartment.”

“Should we make sure people want to move before we start talking about this?”

“Nah,” Stiles said. “Obviously we won’t force anyone, but when we show them the sketches, everyone is going to get excited. You’re sure we can afford it though?”

“I think we’ll be able to, yes. Do you think we should wait until we’re surer of that before telling the pack? We should bring in Agnes on the plan early on though, she can help with the financing bit.”

“What about the planning office?”

“That won’t be a problem,” Derek said. “I’ve met lots of people there already, and they’re all reasonable people. As long as we come at this with the right plan, it won’t be a problem.”

Stiles smiled at that and picked up his notepad again. “Alright. Let’s do this then.”

Several hours later their plan had taken even more concrete form, complete with a time frame for getting the money together and when to start the first building phase. Derek’s stomach was starting to growl again and he went to pick up takeout.

Returning to the house with pizza, he found Stiles asleep on the couch, Ollie happily snoozing next to him. That dog loved Stiles so much, Derek thought, as he looked down on them. He took one of the many blankets from the love seat, put it over them and tucked it in around Stiles’ form. It had gotten late after all, and Stiles had been busy all day. He patted him on the head, and hoped Stiles would arrive at his new school smelling as strong of pack as he possibly could.

Derek ate half the pizza and put the rest in the fridge before going back to his draft table. The house plans he had drawn had been generic, done for maximal sale value, but if he was going to build for his own pack, people he knew well, he had a chance of giving them a more personal touch on a floor plan level. He smiled to himself as he thought about making sure Alicia’s room would have enough empty wall space to put up a mirror and a ballet barre against one of the walls. Agnes and Boyd would like a large walk-in pantry, since they liked cooking. Three bedrooms would do well for them, it would give them a spare when Boyd moved into his own place, and a home office so Agnes could work from home sometimes much easier if she wanted to than she could in their cramped apartment. Aisha could use a home office too, he thought, as he started on what he imagined would the Rohr’s new house.

He pictured the alpha’s house. Maybe Stiles and his future partner would let Derek draw it up for them? Derek could imagine exactly the kind of house that would make Stiles happy, and he gave himself a half-hour on making a sketch of it. A yip from the living room told him Ollie was awake again, and not much later, Stiles appeared in the door.

“I fell asleep.”

“You did. Pizza is in the fridge.”

“I think I’m going to head back to Melissa’s. I’m beat.”

“Alright. Thanks for today Stiles. This is going to be great for the pack.”

Stiles smiled warmly. “I know. Great work. They’re going to love it, I know. I’m glad I can leave the pack with you while I’m away, you know. That you’re not going to mess it up.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “And we were having such a nice moment.”

“Sorry. I’m tired. Don’t forget to go to bed in the right room tonight, okay?” He rubbed his eyes.

“I won’t. Be careful, okay? And remember to call Alpha June when you get to school. It’s considered a courtesy, even for human pack members. But don’t let her scent you.”

“Ah, yes, Veronica’s aunt. That’ll be a fun conversation.”

Derek laughed. “She knows you’re coming; I called ahead to inform her. Just don’t let her bully you into going on dates with anymore of her relatives.”

“I won’t. I’m off now. Send me lots of pictures of Ollie, will you?”

“I will.”

He wondered if he should offer a hug, and when Stiles just stood there, Derek rose and held out his arms. It was a quick hug, but long enough for a thorough scenting. Derek’s wolf was happy, but then, Derek wasn’t sure his wolf understood it would be the last time in a long time.

A little later, Derek went to bed in the master bedroom for the first time. It was his things, his bed sheets, and Stiles had moved the good mattress in here since the old one had been ruined. The room had a warm, homey feel. It was the bedroom of an adult couple though. Derek was only 24, but he supposed he should have an adult-looking bedroom by now.

But something was wrong. His wolf wouldn’t settle, and Ollie could tell and started whining next to Derek.

After an hour or so of staring up at the ceiling and tossing and turning, he gave up and went downstairs, Ollie padding behind him. He flopped down onto the sofa and buried his nose in the blanket there. His wolf liked that much better and within minutes, Derek was asleep.

Chapter Text

[Pack in absentia]

Stiles Stilinski has created a group chat

Stiles Stilinski has added D.Hale, Scott McCall, Isaac Lahey, Carrie Hudson and Erica Reyes to chat.

[Stiles Stilinski]

Hey

thought we needed a chat

to coordinate stuff

and to make sure you guys let me or alpha know if you need anything

also its Dereks job to let us know if something happens in BH that we all should know

so if you hear anything from your parents that he hasn’t told us let me kno so I can call and yell at him

[D.Hale]

Nice, Stiles.

Who decides what you should know?

[Scott McCall]

Clearly Stiles does

[Carrie Hudson]

So you better just tell him everything just in case

[D.Hale]

Alright.

This morning I had two cups of coffee before work.

Jordan and Valerie are fighting about something that somehow have to do with pie.

Ollie dug up something gross in the backyard.

There’s a bird out there now and I’m considering wolfing out to scare it away.

And there’s some lint stuck in my navel.

[Stiles]

Okay we get it

[Isaac Lahey]

I dont tell me more about the lint in your navel alpha

[Erica Reyes]

Are you sure its lint? Sometimes I find crumbs in there

[Carrie Hudson]

That’s because you eat in bed

[Stiles]

Eating in bed is the best Erica I approve

[D.Hale]

Shall I restrict myself to things that are actually important about the pack?

[Stiles]

As long as you understand that what Ollie does is also important news about the pack

[D.Hale]

Already sent you pics. Check your e-mail.

How is everyone settling in?

[Scott McCall]

My roommate smelled like a stranger and I accidentally tried to scent him so he’d smell better and now he thinks I’m weird

[Isaac Lahey]

My roomate is super cute and he smells like waffles

I dont know where he got the waffles but Im hoping hell tell me if I treat him well

[Stiles]

Isaac they probably serve waffles at the cafeteria and if you got up in the morning youd get some too

[D.Hale]

All of your spellings are horrible. Are you sure you guys didn’t cheat your way into college?

[Stiles]

Were just texting dude

Guess who dropped by my room earlier

[Scott]

Veronica visiting her aunt nearby

[Erica]

How could we even know your campus is huge

[Stiles]

Ouch Scott not cool

No it was Lydia

She didn’t go to harvrad afterall

Hravard

Damn Harvard*

[Carrie]

Oh I can hear the wedding bells already

[Stiles]

Shutup

She said the girls in her dorm are all boring so she came to find me instead :)

[Scott]

Careful Stiles

[Stiles]

Nothing to be careful about

[D.Hale]

Ollie scared the bird away. Thus concludes the daily pack update. Study, make friends, and have fun.

[Stiles]

You heard the alpha go party

[D. Hale & Stiles]

[Stiles]

What is this thing I found in my bags that I dont recall packing and probably never would?

[D. Hale]

Just thought you needed some other forms of entertainment than getting drunk, rewatching Star Wars and reading comedy fantasy.

[Stiles]

Comedy fantasy is our thing Derek. But why this? Like whats the thought process here?

[D. Hale]

I like it. You’ll like the animatronics, Henson made them.

[Stiles]

The Muppet guy?

[D. Hale]

Close enough. Yes. And you’ll love Aeryn, I know you will.

[Stiles]

Is she the hot girl on the cover?

[D. Hale]

Yes.

[Stiles]

Fine. Im not saying Ill watch it, but if I end up sick or something maaaaybe

[D. Hale]

:)

[Stiles]

GASP! Derek Ignatius Hale was that an emoticon? From YOU?

[D. Hale]

My middle name is NOT Ignatius. Goodbye ungrateful child. Call me when you’ve become a Farscape fan.

The sun was shining down on him and Stiles closed his eyes to enjoy it for a moment. There was a perfect tree not far from his dorm, and his back molded itself to the trunk perfectly, and the sound level was perfect – not as loud like the dorm but not too quiet like the library. He’d made his way here more often than not in the afternoons this past month.

He sipped his coffee and looked down on the page. This was easy stuff for the most part. He’d taken a look at Lydia’s course load, and it had made him appreciate his own schedule so much more. But then, she was a genius and Stiles was just regular run-of-the-mill smart.

“There you are,” said genius exclaimed showing up in front to him. “You too cool to answer your phone these days?”

“Did you call?”

He took out his phone to check it. A text from Scott about panicking over English Lit, and a new pic of Ollie from Derek, but no – oh there it was.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t hear it. What’s up?”

“I got invited to a party tonight at one of the frats. You have to come with me.”

He patted the ground next to him, but Lydia would never deign to sit down in the dirt.

“I have to?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Did you have anything better to do? You have to come with me so I can have an excuse to leave if guys get too handsy. Pick you up around eight?”

Stiles shook his head. “I’m not falling for that one again. Last time we took your car, you hooked up with some dude and left me stranded. I had to walk home because it was too late for the campus bus.”

Lydia sighed. “I don’t want to show up in your rust bucket. What will people think?”

“That your friend is poor, but you’re clearly not, so they’ll get over it. And if you drive, you need to stay sober. This way you can drink. Isn’t that much more fun?”

Her eyes narrowed. “So why are you offering to be sober?”

Stiles packed up his book bag. “I have a blind date tomorrow morning.”

“Again?” she laughed. “Where are all these blind dates coming from?”

“Oh, I never told you? I’m secretly the crown prince of Poland and I have a date with my potential future queen.”

She blinked at him. “Poland’s a republic.”

“Drat, my throne is forever gone then. I wish someone’d told me. I’ve been practicing my hand waving for nothing.”

He let her lead him towards her dorm, ignoring the curious looks she was giving him. To be fair, it was hard to explain to a complete outsider why so many random people would show up wanting to date Stiles, of all people. At least this one hadn’t been an awkward meeting with an alpha. Having moved away from Derek’s watchful eye meant Stiles had to meet alphas themselves when they showed up to introduce their children, cousins, nephews and nieces, or second cousin’s best friend’s hairdresser’s daughter and just a couple of months into the semester he was already tired of it. How did all these people even know where he lived? Lobelia June knew of course, as she was the alpha of the closest pack, but Lobelia had also dealt with him long enough to know to call him on the phone.

A cousin from a pack in Louisiana had a daughter attending a school nearby, who’d be showing up tomorrow. Stiles wasn’t really that keen, but he felt that maybe he owed the Junes something after his breakup with Veronica, so go he would. If Lydia would let go of his arm that was, as she was currently dragging him to her room, catching looks from the other girls on her floor.

Lydia had a single room, and Stiles envied her. His roommate snored. A lot. He also envied her the nice view towards a wooded area behind the dorm building, but Lydia drew her curtains closed.

“What are we up to?” Stiles said, smiling. “If you wanted me alone so you could have your wicked way with me, I have to tell you, Lyds, you could have had that a long time ago.”

“Shush you.” She opened her closet doors, and he sighed as she held up a fancy dress in deep purple that still had the tags on it. “What do you think?”

***

[Scott]

How was the party?

[Stiles]

Dull coz I was driving

and someone from my dorm found out and then my poor baby ended up full of drunk assholes and one of them barfed on the seat

[Scott]

Poor Roscoe

Made out with Lydia yet?

[Stiles]

I think Im her platonic girlfriend now

Not sure how that happend

[Scott]

Well if you find out let me kno cause theres a girl in my class I like and I dont want to make same mistake

[Stiles]

Got it

That girl is here now

Call you later bud

[Scott]

Have fun with your new suitor

Suitress?

[Stiles]

Shut up

***

Stiles had expected Lobelia’s relative to be another Veronica, a short peppy blonde that he’d have lots in common with but who’d he’d have to dump one day for not wanting the things he’d need from her.

Sabrina Jenkins – please call me Bree, I’m not a teenaged witch – was neither short, nor blonde, and she wasn’t particularly peppy either. She had a wild mess of brown hair, a wide nose covered in freckles and a couple of moles on her face and neck. If they had kids, they’d be completely covered in them, Stiles thought as he glanced over at her in the driver’s seat.

“So where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” she grinned, “but I think you’ll like it.”

“Cool. Are you related to Veronica too?”

“Nah, different side of the family. I know her though. But no, I haven’t talked to her to learn everything about you so I could trick you into liking me.”

“I didn’t think so,” Stiles said. “Not sure what you could’ve learnt from that, honestly, if you had.”

Bree shrugged. “I guess not.”

She wasn’t that talkative, neither bragging about herself or her pack, or trying to pretend to be interested in him, but Stiles didn’t mind that. He’d take quiet over a rehearsed salespitch anyday. Besides, there would be plenty of time to talk once they got to where they were going.

There was not plenty of time to talk once they got to where they were going, and Stiles grimaced when Bree pulled her car into the parking lot of a climbing gym. He’d never done this before, except at a gym class here and there growing up, and he hadn’t been good at it.

“You do this often?” he asked when they were changing into climbing shoes.

“Yeah, I think it’s fun. And a first date should be fun, shouldn’t it? Unless you’re worried you won’t be able to keep up?”

There was something in her eye there, some sort of challenge, but not the one she was talking about. Of course he wouldn’t be able to keep up; Stiles had accepted at a very young age that werewolves were always going to outclass him physically and there was nothing he could do about that except control how he felt about it and tell them off if they tried to make him feel bad about something he couldn’t help, but no, Bree seemed rather as if she was daring him to object to the activity altogether and demand to go home or go do something else.

“Maybe we could start with an easy route?”

She shrugged. “Alright. Are you afraid of heights at all?”

“Not really.”

“We should try bouldering.”

Stiles froze. “The kind without the safety lines?”

Bree smiled widely, showing off two lines of perfect teeth. “You’ll like it. It’s more about solving problems than climbing high. We’ll start easy, and I’ll show you how it’s done.”

He swallowed. “Alright. My alpha will murder you if I die though, fair warning.”

An hour later he had fallen down about a hundred times, his fingers were aching, but Bree hadn’t been laughing too much at him, and she’d been giving him plenty of tips on how to navigate the different types of holds and he’d reached the top of four of the easier routes and it was fun! It was so much fun, and as much as he didn’t like falling on his ass in front of complete strangers including werewolf girl, bouldering was like a vertical obstacle course, and once he started looking at it like that, he could definitely see why people liked doing this.

Bree was outclassing him of course, never falling due to her strong wolf grip on even the tiniest or the most slippery holds on the wall. It was a joy to watch her too, taking a one handed break while hanging upside down with her one knee propped up on a hold. He’d been concerned at first that people would notice her supernatural strength, but a glance around the room told him that was a climbing technique, not being a werewolf.

He wiped the chalk off his hand on a rag as she gracefully landed beside him having reached another top hold.

“Thirsty?”

“I could drink something, yeah. My treat.”

“Sure,” she said, “but after that I want to see you try one of the traditional walls.”

The gym served smoothies and sandwiches and Stiles got them both something to eat and drink. The cafeteria overlooked the main hall and Bree could give him plenty of pointers from looking at the other climbers. Stiles was about to think that maybe he should invite her out on another date when he caught her looking at one of the female climbers. Most werewolves didn’t care about gender, but Stiles would bet anything this girl wasn’t even a little bi. He put down his smoothie.

“Lobelia is making you come here, wasn’t she?”

Bree’s eyes widened a bit in surprise. “No, but my mom wanted me to try.”

“She alpha too?”

“Yeah, she is. We think it’s going to be my sister after her though. And you’re nice and all; I’d think you were cute if I was into that, but…”

“That’s okay. You can tell your mom and Lobelia that I didn’t seem interested, and then it’s my fault. Most alphas nearby think I’m being completely unreasonable as it is. As long as we can finish our time here, because I’m actually having fun.”

Bree’s lips spread out into another one of her wide grins. “Alright. You should consider becoming a member, then we could go climbing together again! If you learn to get a little bit better that is. I was hoping to scare you off with forcing you to come climbing, but if you like it you should keep doing it.”

Stiles laughed. He had been meaning to try to get into better shape, and this seemed more fun than Derek’s suggested method of going -ugh- running. “Maybe I will.”

***

(Pack in absentia)

[Isaac]

Stiles I need to know what these pictures are that your suddenly posting on Insta?

[Stiles]

If only Insta had comment sections amirite?

[Erica]

Srsly what R you doing?

[Stiles]

I am completing all the beginner level boulders at my gym in less than an hour

also known as a personal challenge

[Isaac]

You got weird not that you live in south cali Stilinski

[D.Hale]

I applaud it, Stiles.

And this is the daily update from back home

As of today, December 1st, we have secured the funding to form a corporation to handle bureaucracy around building the houses. Agnes and I have a final meeting with the bank on Monday to sign everything.

[Stiles]

Already?

Uncle Peter again?

[D.Hale]

I am actually capable of making some investments myself.

But yes, a bit.

[Stiles]

Thats awesome!

So proud of you

Or I would if youd kept up your promise

[D.Hale]

I am telling you now!

[Stiles]

And yet I had to learn from Jordan that you went on a date last week?

[D.Hale]

That’s not pack business.

That’s personal.

[Stiles]

Its pack business if its personal to our alpha.

[D.Hale]

I disagree.

[Stiles]

Im sure you do but that doesnt make me wrong

[D.Hale]

The fact that I can spell and text at the same time means you are kind of wrong

[Stiles]

Thats an ad hominem argument

[D.Hale]

I’m with some of the pack right now, I’ll ask them if my personal life concerns the pack.

[Stiles]

Guys back me up here

[Scott]

I think Derek has a point

[Erica]

Brown noser Scott

I want to know about the date

Who was it with?

[Isaac]

I dont want details pls because Derek is an old

But yes pack business

[Carrie]

Pack business yes of course it is

And Derek you know you would insist on knowing if it was one of us who dated someone outside of pack

[Stiles]

There you go Derek

Other than Scott we all agree

And you know better than to listen to him

[D.Hale]

Scott is a responsible, reasonable person and I’ve always thought so.

[Stiles]

What did the others say?

[D. Hale]

They said you should shut up.

[Stiles]

Ha

Knew it

Who was the date with?

[D.Hale]

A guy from the city planner’s office. No big deal. Won’t lead anywhere.

[Isaac]

Is it because he doesnt read all the time like you do?

[D.Hale]

No.

Just didn’t hit it off that well.

And that’s all we need to say about that.

Are you doing your homework?

[Carrie]

Its all I do.

Cora wants us to go to a party later

[Stiles]

I cant believe you get to hang out with Dereks sister!

So unfair!

[D. Hale]

Be nicer to me and maybe I’ll let you meet her too.

[Stiles]

Is she cute?

[Derek]

On second thought, no.

Never gonna happen.

Sorry, Stiles.

***

Derek knew that, technically, Ollie had no concept of time. He didn’t understand things like soon, or tomorrow and while dogs could be taught the direct connection between some words and objects or people, which Stiles had explained at least twice, there was no way Ollie really would’ve understood things like “Stiles is coming home for Christmas today”. And yet, he’d been excitedly yapping at the door all day. Of course he might be picking up on Derek’s own feelings – Stiles was coming home for the first time all semester and Derek had been cleaning the house for a week to make him feel as comfortable and welcome as possible. He hadn’t decorated the tree yet, but he’d queued the third season of Farscape because Stiles had, despite his many protestations that Sci-Fi was silly and Star Wars was mostly fantasy, liked it. Of course, Derek had also strategically bought Thief of Time and placed it on the coffee table, in case they’d have time for their Christmas tradition. Was something you’d done two years in a row a tradition? How often did you have to do something for it to be a tradition?

Pack Christmas Eve party was called a tradition by plenty of them by now, and this would only be the second year. Stiles and Derek reading Pratchett would be happening for the third time. If it happened at all; Derek was never the one to suggest it after all. He just put the books in convenient places. The party wasn’t going to be for another two days, and before that, Stiles and Derek had lots to do and if Derek was a little excited, who could blame him, really?

The rest of the college kids had returned yesterday, and honestly, Stiles should’ve been here by now, shouldn’t he? Derek checked his watch again, and Ollie yipped at the door. Yeah, the dog was definitely picking up on Derek’s feelings.

He could hear the pained stuttering of the jeep engine before it even turned onto the street, and Derek had Ollie on his leash and was outside before Stiles had come to a full stop on the driveway.

“You’re late,” he said as a greeting.

“You’re always so good at making me feel welcome, Alpha.”

Stiles climbed out of his car and Derek got a good look at him. A few months wasn’t enough time to make much of a difference to a person’s looks, but while both Scott and Carrie had come back a few pounds heavier, Stiles looked leaner. In a healthy way. He’d been getting more sun too, that was obvious.

“You look well. You want to get your bags upstairs first or leave right away?”

“Where are we going?”

“To the pack lands of course. Everyone’s been working hard this past week.”

Stiles bent down to pick up Ollie who immediately covered his entire face in puppy kisses, and he smiled broadly. “I thought we weren’t supposed to break ground until after new year’s? Some kerfuffle with permits?”

“Kerfuffle has been solved, and you should see what we’ve done so far.”

“Let’s go then. Want me to drive?”

Derek gave him a look. “No. I never want you to drive. You can hold on to Ollie.”

“Dogs should have doggy seat belts,” Stiles complained but climbed into the passenger seat of the Camaro with Ollie in his lap.

“Ollie is too well behaved to need a seat belt. Besides,” he looked over at them, “he’s far too happy sitting there with you to cause any trouble.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “The seat belt is for his protection. In case you end up in an accident or something.”

Derek straightened in his seat and rolled out of the driveway. “Werewolves have too quick reflexes to end up in car accidents.”

“No you don’t. Accidents can happen to anyone, and they’re sometimes going to be caused by other people, and if Ollie dies because you’ve been careless I will poison you with wolfsbane and you’ll never know which kind so there’ll be no way to cure it.”

Derek cut him a quick look. “Always so good to see you Stiles, no one tells me everything I do is wrong quite like you do.”

“I’m just saying-”

“I will get a doggy seat belt, I promise. And until then, you hold on for dear life if someone crashes into us.”

Stiles nodded, clearly pleased, and hugged Ollie closer.

They parked by the orchard and Derek unclasped Ollie’s leash. He knew the way too well by now to get into any trouble and – yes, of course. Ollie walked politely next to Stiles. Derek could never get Ollie to heel properly, and Stiles didn’t even need to ask him. It was unfair; Ollie was Derek’s dog. Derek had given him at least 90 percent of all the treats and headpats he’d ever received in his life.

Stiles stopped at the edge of the tree grove.

“This was just ugly mounds of dirt,” he said, gesturing with his arm.

“Yep. We got the first few houses all marked out, so we added the main road five days ago. Took some wining and dining but it’ll help with moving the trucks around. But come on, I’m going to show you the foundation!”

He pulled on Stiles’ jacket sleeve to get him over to the first lot.

The foundation had been poured for the first apartment building yesterday. It wasn’t the first house Derek had drawn that he had seen get built, but this one was special. This one was for his pack.

Suddenly Derek felt silly over his childish excitement. He was an architect, and all parts of the building process intrigued him, but this was just a concrete foundation so far. He’d dragged Stiles over here as if there was something special to see. In a couple of weeks there would be; there was a short Christmas break for the construction crew coming up, and they had paid work to do too when they got back, but werewolves worked fast when no humans were around to hide their strength from and Derek didn’t expect it to take that long before they’d have the framing up, and that would make it much easier to picture the end result for someone who had seen the plans.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and glanced at Stiles.

Stiles was grinning. “We’re really doing this huh?”

Derek relaxed. He should’ve known Stiles would be able to see it. “We are.”

“Estimate?”

“Two or three months to full completion unless the construction team gets way too busy.”

“Not likely to happen until closer to spring.”

“Exactly.”

“Awesome. I’m really happy about this, Derek. You’ve done well.”

Derek couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “Thanks.”

“Is there anything else you want to show me here, or can we go home to have Boyd’s cookies and talk about wormholes now?”

“Cookie time it is.”

[Pack in absentia]

[D.Hale]

You might have already heard, but today is the day Jordan and Valerie move into the third unit of the new building on the pack land.

[Carrie]

Well that only took years and years in the making

They mates yet?

[Scott]

Who gets the fourth one?

[Isaac]

I want it

It has the nice view

[D.Hale]

You need to finish college, then you can have an apartment.

And you might need to share with a friend, like Kincaid and Tracey.

[Stiles]

Scott asked a question

[D.Hale]

We took a vote and Phoebe and Hayden gets it.

They’ve been stuck in that dingy little place all year and the rent is outrageous for Beacon Hills.

[Scott]

Cool

Liam will like Hayden living a little closer to them

[Stiles]

Um

Excuse me?

Whats that supposed to mean?

[Erica]

That Liam and Hayden have been dating for several months?

[Stiles]

DEREK!

Your supposed to keep me informed about these things!

[D.Hale]

No

We agreed that personal updates need to be told to you if they are about me, the alpha.

Liam’s and Hayden’s business is their own.

If they didn’t tell you, I’m sure they have a reason to.

[Stiles]

Scott Erica how did you know?

[Scott]

Sorry bud

They both came to visit campus a couple months ago and I smelled it one them

Thought you already knew

[Stiles]

This is bad!

Where did I go wrong?

Liam used to tell me everything

[Carrie]

I didnt know either Stiles

But they make a nice couple dont they?

So cute

[Isaac]

Theyre not puppies

[D.Hale]

You all are to me

[Stiles]

Stop pretending like your ancient compared to us

Were all adults now

Having wild sex and everything

[Erica]

Something to share Stiles?

[D.Hale]

Please don’t.

[Stiles]

There may or may not be a handsome young warlock who has made his interest known on more than one occasion

There may or may not have already been a date or two

There may or may not have been some very awesome fucking

[D.Hale]

How do you even know what awesome sex is like?

You’ve been with like two people.

[Stiles]

Shut up Derek

Also why did you not tell me there is no season five of this show?!

How dare you get me into this and not give me closure?!

SHAME ON YOU DEREK

[Erica]

Are you talking about that nerd show your watching?

[D. Hale]

I’m sorry Stiles. But I have other suggestions for you if you like?

[Stiles]

Oh I see how it is.

Youve got me on the gateway drug and now comes the hard stuff?

Alright give it to me.

But I will NOT become a Trekkie. WARS 4EVA!

[Erica]

Dirty talk

[D. Hale]

Battlestar Galactica. End of discussion

[Erica]

Im here right?

Can the rest of you see my messages?

I feel ignored.

[D. Hale]

Has anyone heard from Erica lately?

***

Stiles narrowed his eyes at the wick of the candle.

“You’ll focus better on what you’re doing if you keep your eyes open.”

“Yeah but I feel more like I’m focusing if I’m squinting.”

Cool fingers poked his brow. “I like your face better when you’re not squinting.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and went back to the candle. Matt kept saying magic was easy, and that it was just a matter of having the right mindset. Still, there seemed to be a trick to it, and Stiles hadn’t found the one for fire. He’d made a pencil float in air so far, and he’d closed a window without touching it, but telekinesis wasn’t that difficult, Matt kept saying. Elements was harder, but Matt also kept saying Stiles had picked up the first few things he’d been shown quickly. He had no idea why fire was this difficult.

He gave up and leaned back on the bed, landing comfortably on Matt’s outstretched arm.

“I’ll practice more.”

“Maybe there’s something else blocking you,” Matt suggested. He flicked his fingers, and the candle lit up. “We could move onto plant magic instead if you’d like.”

“Like druid magic?”

Matt shrugged. “I guess. I never met a druid. Lots of roads lead to the same place when it comes to magic.”

Stiles considered that. Once upon a time, back when his parents still hoped they would have more children, a very young Stiles had spent a lot of time with Deaton, with the intention that maybe Stiles would be an emissary one day. Once it became clear that he’d be the alpha mate instead, that thought had been abandoned and Deaton had never gotten around to teaching Stiles any actual magic. Alpha mates were busy as it was, but really, Stiles thought, there could be no harm in learning a few practical things.

Matt could do all kinds of stuff that Deaton couldn’t. He was a lot less informed on many other things. Stiles hadn’t told him werewolves were real, yet, but Matt knew about some other creatures, so that’d be an easy conversation.

These days, Stiles had a list. Technically, he had two. One for what he was looking for in a werewolf, and one for what he was looking for in a non-werewolf. Matt was human, but a warlock, and checked off a lot of boxes on this second list.

He was decently good looking, which wasn’t important for the pack, but Stiles should get something nice to look at every morning too, shouldn’t he? He was easily the most attractive guy that had ever been interested in Stiles. He was also smart and made Stiles laugh a lot. So on a personal level, he was good.

Not going to freak out over werewolves was a huge plus. Stiles had heard many stories over the course of his life about wolves falling deeply in love with humans and then being rejected out of fear once said human learnt the truth. It would really and truly suck to actually fall in love and then have them refuse the bite and not want to be a werewolf.

Sure, there were things on the list of good alpha qualities that he hadn’t seen Matt demonstrate yet, but he was a good guy, and he needed to be given a chance to prove himself, and well, who knew? Maybe Stiles had struck gold and found his mate in his freshman year of college? That was when his parents had met, and it had worked out for them.

“Not everyone can learn elemental magic,” Matt said then, his fingers combing through Stiles’ hair. It felt nice, and Stiles felt himself relax.

“No reason I shouldn’t be able to.”

“I’d kinda like it if you don’t learn. The telekinesis stuff, and the plants and all is one thing, but you’ve gotta let me have some things left I can amaze you with, right?”

Stiles laughed. “You can amaze me with that apparition spell instead. I’d be too scared of turning up in two different places at once.”

Matt’s fingers ran down his neck to his arm and then further down.

That was another thing in the plus column. The sex was damn good. Stiles was sure Matt would want him to top sometimes too, soon.

***

[Pack in absentia]

[Scott]

I hate finals

[Erica]

Just be happy you dont have three of them on the same day like I do

[Isaac]

Does that matter

Your not gonna be able to learn anything new between them anyway

Do them all at once and hope for the best is what I say

[Erica]

Your an art major

Whats your final anyway?

Beginner finger painting?

[Isaac]

F

U

[Stiles]

Kids, behave

I have my last one tomorrow morning and then Ill start heading north right away.

You losers better have a party lined up

Plus you get to meet Matt <3

[Carrie]

Ooooh is he gonna be our new daddy?

[Stiles]

Excuz me?

[Carrie]

That came out wrong

Just sometimes you act like your our parent

So if you marry someone theyll be like our new daddy

[D.Hale]

I’m going to have to ask you both to stop this conversation immediaely or I’m leaving it, and you can get your pack news from Boyd in the future.

[Scott

Boyd talks less than you do

[D.Hale]

Exactly.

Is Matt coming to the pack gathering too or are you dropping him off in SF?

[Stiles]

Hes coming

But hell only be around for one night and then he needs to head back to SF

Starting summer job on Monday

[Carrie]

Oh speaking of

Will we get to work on the Boyds new house Derek?

[D.Hale]

Not up to me.

But probably not.

SIC is fully booked for the summer with all of you coming home.

Everyone is more than welcome to help in their free time of course.

[Isaac]

Without getting paid

Sounds fun

[Stiles]

Dont help out

Dont get the benefits

Which in this case is free rent after college

[Isaac]

Right

That

Well be there alpha dont worry

[Stiles]

I think you and I need to have a chat about pack loyalty again Isaac.

[Erica]

Can I watch?

***

They had moved their pack gathering.

It was the first time in over a decade, Orric informed Derek when they moved their fresh harvest through the grove to the new housing development.

“New pack lands, new traditions,” Derek said simply. He’d gone over earlier that day to mow the grass in the center patch of the development, and he and Boyd had dragged over some logs from the grove so everyone could have somewhere to sit, and they’d carried the pack pot over and made a fire pit. In a couple of years, when Stiles and the rest of the college kids were home for good, they’d start talking about exactly what to do in this particular space, but it was ready to start being used for pack gatherings.

All four front doors to the little apartment building were wide open, with music playing from the Romero sisters’ unit. It was loud, and Derek made a mental note to remind Phoebe of werewolf hearing soon.

“Did you talk to Stiles today?” Orric asked and got the fire started.

“A text this morning. He said he thought they’d be here around six.”

Orric hecked his watch. “Sounds perfect. Not everyone is going to be here by then, but close. Can’t believe they’re already done with their first year. Time flies huh?”

Derek actually felt that time had moved too slowly. He’d been bored, with only the construction of the new houses to keep him interested in the day to day of life, and he was happy to have the older kids home for the entire summer, and Stiles staying at the house too. Ollie would like that.

“I’m not looking forward to Lori being so far away come fall too, I can tell you that. It’s bad enough without Carrie around. I prefer both my girls where I can see them, or at least hear them.”

“Pack will be quiet with all of them gone.”

“About time someone went ahead and got busy with the baby making.” Orric nodded towards the apartment building. “I heard Jordan and Valerie talk about maybe tying the knot the other day.”

Derek smiled. “I think they will eventually. They’re not in any hurry though. But there should always be children in a thriving pack. At least we still have Alicia.”

“For a few more years at least.”

“Alpha!”

Derek looked over to the road, where Agnes and Alicia were arriving on bikes. Alicia threw her bike to the side of the road and ran towards them, jumping into his outstretched arms.

“Hey there, you’re in a good mood.” Derek scented her carefully and enjoyed the feeling of her scenting him back.

“We went to pick out wallpaper! I’m getting a purple one with a bunch of music notes on it, it’s super pretty!”

“Sounds like it. We’re not going to be able to put it up yet though. Plenty left to build on your new house.”

“I know, but we bought it anyway because the shop guy said it was popular, and we didn’t want them to run out.”

“Thinking ahead. I like it.”

“Where’s Ollie?” she asked when Derek put her down on the ground again. Soon she’d be too old for long hugs and Derek was going to miss it.

“He’s at the farm with Brett and Liam. Go ahead and get him if you want, there’s some dog food in my car. He might be hungry.”

“He’s not gonna be hungry if he’s at the farm,” Alicia said as if Derek had just said something incredibly stupid. “They give him carrots there. Ollie likes carrots.”

“Yeah, he’s a real vegetarian, isn’t he?”

Agnes reached them and kissed Derek’s cheek in greeting. “Hello Derek. Orric. Are we ready to start cooking?”

“I think we are,” Orric said. “How was the ride?”

“Twenty minutes from our old place. I think it’ll be about the same from school. I don’t like her going alone on the road though, but I think we can find a safer, but slightly longer route for her to take.”

“Maybe we can look into the costs of paying for the road edge to be improved eventually,” Derek said. “It won’t help Alicia by the time that gets done, but in the long term a bike path might be of use.”

Agnes smiled. “We can’t fix every problem in this town. She won’t have to bike her way alone every day after all.”

Erica’s red Toyota drove up and parked by the apartment building, and shortly thereafter, the blue jeep arrived too.

Derek took a deep breath. Alright. Meeting Stiles’ new boyfriend, the warlock. That was the plan. Stiles would introduce them all tonight, and then he’d tell him the truth about what the gathering was about once they got back to school, and then maybe Derek would give him the bite if Matt agreed. Derek had thought it was a little soon; they hadn’t even been together for six months yet, but in the end, this was entirely up to Stiles and Derek had not been asked for his opinion. Derek’s wolf already had one and it wasn’t favourable.

But out of the jeep jumped only Stiles, Scott and Carrie. Isaac had been riding with Erica, but no sixth college kid Derek would have to remember to smile around.

Something else was up too. The pack bond could tell him lots of things about how various members of his pack were feeling, but with long distances it wasn’t easy to notice ones that weren’t that strong, and he hadn’t noticed the quiet unease that surrounded the young wolves until now.

“Where’s the boyfriend?” he asked when Stiles came up to him and slapped him on the arm in greeting.

“Change of plans.”

“Oh? What happened?”

“You don’t have to worry about it,” was all the response he got, but Stiles smelled unhappy, and the others kept giving him concerned looks.

So there had been some sort of fight, Derek guessed. Stiles might tell him later when they were alone, but now more and more of the pack were arriving one by one and the fire was started so they could start cooking.

There were smiles all around the pack, and Carrie told them all a funny story involving one of her classmates who had an unusual way of memorizing dates for finals, that apparently involved MnMs and body shots. She seemed happy at Stanford.

Stiles was laughing loudly, the way he always did, and pushed up the sleeves of his usual flannel and that’s when Derek saw it. He was across the crowd in less than a second, grabbing Stiles’ wrist to hold it closer to his red eyes with a snarl on his lips. “Who did this?! Who hurt you?!”

“Right now you are, you crazy werewolf, let me go!”

But Derek wasn’t the only one who had noticed the colorful bruises on Stiles’ arm now and Carrie had clearly lost her audience.

“Who!? Was it that Matt guy?”

“You don’t have to worry about it.” Stiles pulled on his wrist. “Now let me go, you’re making it worse.”

Derek let go but he didn’t move away.

“Was it him?”

“I said,” Stiles started, with a hard look into Derek’s eyes, “that you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Did you know about his?” Kincaid growled at Scott. “Did this happen on your watch?”

Scott shook his head. “It was there when he arrived at my room yesterday. Matt wasn’t with him.”

“Stiles!” Derek exclaimed. “What the hell!”

“I said,” Stiles repeated, “That you don’t have to worry about it. There’s nothing for you to do. It’ll heal. I’m not being abused or anything.”

“There are bruises on your skin, Stiles!” Alicia said. “There’s not supposed to be bruises!”

Stiles took a deep breath in. “And I get that bruises are scary to you since you heal in seconds, honey, but I’m fine. It’s not a big deal, I promise. There isn’t anything for anyone to worry about.”

“Of course we’re going to worry about it, if your boyfriend does that to you,” Derek said. His wolf was surprisingly quiet about this. Derek would’ve expected it to be roaring to track that asshole down and make sure he got as much pain as he’d given, but the voice of his primal instincts remained very quiet.

“And if my boyfriend was doing that, I wouldn’t mind you being worried, any of you, but if a guy has already been dumped, he’s not my boyfriend is he, and he’s not coming near me again, so there.”

Derek blinked. “He did this because you dumped him?”

“No.” Stiles took another deep breath. “This happened during some very consensual sex, Okay? Sometimes, sex gets a bit rough, and I don’t mind that really, but I don’t like bruises. And I’d been fine with this happening by accident, I would, but when I pointed out what he’d done, he got, like, weirdly self-defensive, and started blaming me for it. Which, hell no, that shit gets a guy dumped so fast it’ll make his head spin. So when I say there’s nothing for you to worry about, it’s because I’ve already fucking dealt with it, because I can take care of myself. Crap, sorry Agnes.”

Agnes had her hands over Alicia’s ears, which of course wouldn’t have helped. Alicia didn’t look happy. In fact, most of the pack were mirroring Derek’s own expression.

“If he tries to come near you again-”

“I’ll tell him I have twenty werewolves looking after my safety who’ll rip him to shreds if he doesn’t stay away. Alright? Can we drop it now? I’d rather sit and hear about what’s been going on since Christmas.”

“There were some red flags,” Stiles said later that night when he and Derek had returned to the house with Ollie. “Like, he wanted to teach me some magic, but once I started getting better than him at some things, he could get really pissed. And he never once let me top. I get that not everyone likes to bottom, but we were in a freaking relationship. There’s gotta be some give and take, right?”

Derek nodded and sipped on his tea. His wolf agreed too. It was proud, Derek realized, proud of Stiles for handling it himself. That’s why he’s good, it said, and Derek was about to ask for what, when Stiles continued.

“Do you like bottoming? I mean, I assume you’ve tried it.”

“I don’t mind it. If I’m with a guy I don’t know so well, I usually prefer being on top, but I know what you mean about relationships. In a relationship with someone, I like to switch. Not with a hard schedule, but roughly every other time.”

Stiles nodded. “I think I’d prefer that too. But Matt acted like him bottoming would be a huge sacrifice that he’d be basically forcing himself through and I didn’t want that. Both people should enjoy sex, right, or there’s no point to it?”

“You’re right. I was serious about if he ever tries to get back together with you, though. You know I’ll hop on a plane right away to come deal with it.”

“You don’t need to. I’ve got new tricks to deal with unwanted people.”

Derek smiled. “Right, magic. What have you learnt?”

The fireplace was suddenly ablaze and Derek jumped. “Shit!”

“Mostly that, and some telekinesis. I can push people away if I need to. Pretty hard if I get scared enough, too. Not much else. Matt didn’t want to teach me too much. I hoped Deaton might teach me something more.”

“My mother’s emissary might be able to as well, once you’re a little older. She’s talented.”

“Cool. I don’t think I’m going to make a career out of it or anything, but it’s fun to learn a couple of tricks.”

“I’m glad you’re learning how to defend yourself. Just please don’t burn down the house. Practice outside.”

Stiles laughed. “So the neighbors can see me, sure.”

Derek shook his head at him. It was good to have Stiles home again.

Chapter Text

“You know, you’re lucky,” Derek said looking at the dorm room in front of him. “My freshman year at this place I had a much smaller room, and I didn’t get along with my roommate at all. And it was far from the library.”

“Oh no,” Brett said, punching Liam’s arm. “Not far from the library!”

“Whatever would we do if we were far from the library?”

“You’re so funny. You’re here to study, don’t forget it.”

They both laughed.

“We’ll study hard,” Brett promised. “But we’re also going to enjoy ourselves, and not in the ways you call fun, Alpha. Sorry.”

Derek shook his head. At least some of the kids in his pack would be within a comfortable driving distance and could come home over weekends often. Showing them around the campus had been fun too.

Liam checked his phone when it chirped and smiled. “Hayden says Scott, Isaac and Erica are taking her and Lorilee out for ice cream. Their room is smaller than ours.”

Derek straightened a little. He hoped that maybe his own letters of recommendation had done something for Brett and Liam here at Davis after all, even if it had only been to get them a bigger room. “Ice cream?”

“Yes, Derek,” Liam replied. “Innocent ice cream. They’re absolutely not going to give the girls alcohol laced with aconite on their first day in San Francisco.”

“Whatever. Tell them to keep an eye on each other from me?”

“Will do.” Liam texted and then put his phone away. “Are you leaving now, Derek? Mom said Mrs Boyd hoped you’d be back early so they could get the final inspection done so they could move into their house this weekend.”

“I’m having dinner with my family, but I think we’ll still get everything done tomorrow.”

“And then you can start on our house!” Brett said. “Dad’s excited about that. And I am too, even if I won’t live there much.”

“Next summer and it’ll be done. Maybe even Christmas, if we can spare the man hours. I gotta go now, boys.”

“Yes, to see your scary mother.”

“She’s not that… yeah okay. Make sure you text or call if she scares you too much. Or you tries to poach you to her pack.”

Laura met Derek by the door at the house.

“Don’t mention Cora to mom,” she whispered in his ear when she hugged him. Derek’s first impulse was to pull away so her scent wouldn’t replace Liam’s and Brett’s (who knew when he’d see them again next?), but that would only make things awkward and there was no one around to smooth things over for him (he should’ve brought Stiles, but Stiles had already left for L.A.). He let her continue. Maybe he could ask the boys’ parents if he could have some of the boys’ laundry when he got back to Beacon Hills?

“What’s up with Cora?”

“Cora’s just being Cora. She dropped out.”

Derek took a step back.

“She dropped out of college?”

“She said she didn’t want to go to Stanford anymore, that it had been a mistake and mom got mad because she thought Cora meant she didn’t want to go to school at all, and then Cora got mad at mom for yelling and they’ve been communicating through Malia for a week, so you can guess how that’s going. She wants to go somewhere else instead.”

“Where is she then?”

“Staying with a friend in San Francisco. A boyfriend apparently, which makes mom even angrier because she hasn’t been introduced to him properly.”

“Mom knows Cora is an adult now, right?”

“As if you’re not bothered by Cora living with someone we don’t know.”

Derek had to admit that was true. “You think they’ll make up soon?”

“Probably will as soon as Cora picks another school.”

“Bit late to get a transfer. Classes start in a couple of days everywhere.”

Laura rubbed her fingers and thumb together. “Money talks, number two. Besides, maybe Cora could use a year off to get some actual life experience.”

“Maybe.”

“Ah, Derek, how good to have you home!” Peter came down the stairs holding a bunch of file folders. They hugged and Derek regretted how it was becoming even harder to smell Brett and Liam on him.

“Peter. Busy today?”

“I am a very important man, and I am always busy. But maybe you should be told about this particular busy day. It concerns your pack to some degree.”

That had Derek’s attention. “What’s wrong?”

“Come into your mother’s office and we’ll talk. Laura, she’ll want you too.”

“I thought we agreed there would be no reason to worry Derek about this yet?”

“And when you’re the alpha, dear niece, you can make all those decisions yourself, but until then we do what your mother says, and your mother will listen to me in this case. Tell me, did all go well with your puppies?”

“Liam and Brett are settling in. I don’t expect they’ll dare to come by here themselves, but they’ll be willing to meet mom if she asks them to. But they’re hardly the only werewolves from another pack going to college here, and I don’t want them to be given any special treatment. In either direction.”

Peter smiled his usual calculating smile. “We’ll see.”

He led the way to Talia’s office, and Talia rose from her desk.

“Derek.” She ran her hand down his back and put another on his cheek. “You look good today.”

“What’s going on that concerns my pack?”

Talia shot Peter a look. “We agreed, Peter.”

“Must have let something slip. Sorry.”

“I’m sure you’re very sorry. Very well. Sit down Derek.”

He sat down in the chair at the middle in front of the desk, and knocked into Laura on the way. Oh right. Well, Derek was a visiting alpha now, as much as he’d never get used to outranking both his sister and his uncle, and the best seat was his.

Talia took the files Peter had been carrying and flipped one of them open.

“It’s about Ennis.”

Derek’s eyes grew wide. “Ennis?” It had been a long time since he’d even thought about that man.

“It’s not technically about Ennis. But you remember when he had killed Claudia, and I told you about packs having been taken over and killed off before?”

“Yes?”

“It happened again.”

Derek gripped the armrest of the chair tightly. “Where?”

“In Nevada. We don’t know who it was, but a pack of fifteen adults and five children were completely taken out. The nearby packs are having a hard time keeping it out of the press.”

“And you think whoever that alpha is, was in league with Ennis?”

“Can’t know for sure,” Peter said. “No survivors, not even their emissary, and no reliable witnesses. The local law enforcement think it’s an animal attack, but they’re a little confused by the fact that a group of known friends and associates all got torn to shreds at different places and times. They still don’t have any reason to assume there was foul play involved. And no signs of hunting activity.”

“Derek, if this is someone with ties to Ennis, then I’m worried about you,” Talia said. “They might want to retaliate. You should start making a plan of defense in case of an emergency for your pack. We’ll come back you up if we need us to.”

Derek nodded slowly. He’d been slacking in the fighting department, not being a great fighter himself, and he still hadn’t done anything to make sure the pack got better. The fight with Ennis and his betas had been messy and it had been a real miracle that they hadn’t lost anyone.

He could ask for advice. Here they were, his mother, his uncle, and his sister, all with more experience of leadership, and they’d help if he asked, he knew that. But as always, there might be a price, and Derek’s wolf was growling at the idea of having to ask another alpha for help, or to admit a weakness before them, family or not. They knew far too many of his weaknesses as it was.

“Thank you for letting me know.”

Maybe there was a look of disappointment on his mother’s face, but Derek steeled himself. He would handle this with his pack and show them all he didn’t need his mommy to protect his own.

“How are those boys of yours doing?”

“They’re excited to be at college, and I think they’ll enjoy the campus, and Sacramento as a whole. I think I saw Amanda Wells at campus, but I don’t think she recognized me.”

“It has been a while since you were home,” Laura said with a pat on his arm. “She didn’t smell you?”

“I was downwind, and it was far away. I hope she makes friends with Liam and Brett.”

“I put them on my list.” Talia closed the folder in front of her. “Going by the campus at some point next week to meet all the visiting wolves. They don’t usually give us problems, but it’s always good to have met them once.”

“You’ll barely notice my boys. They’re not troublemakers.”

“Well, that’s good to hear. Still, they’re welcome to come running with us on full moons. By the way, we’re expecting Malia home soon, Derek, are you staying for dinner?”

“Sure, sounds good.”

No one mentioned Cora during the entire dinner except for Malia, who texted her several times during the meal, until she yelped and glared at Peter. Derek stayed out of it. He’d call Carrie later and see what she knew.

His first call when he came home was to Stiles.

“So in this scenario what we’re seeing is more alphas being murdered?”

“Seems that way. Along with their packs. Mom thinks our pack might become a target if it turns out Ennis was working with these people somehow.”

He could practically hear the cogs in Stiles’ brain turning.

“What can we do then?”

Derek sunk into the couch and ran his hand through his hair.

“We can ignore it and hope for the best. Be vigilant of new wolves. Patrol the area more than we do.”

“We don’t patrol as it is.”

“I do, sometimes. There’s enough good hiking paths around town for me and Ollie. I walk or run a perimeter twice a week to check for scents. But we can make a schedule.”

“But that means one of our pack will be out there alone, Derek, if a dangerous wolf comes into the territory. And it still might not be enough of a warning.”

“No, I agree. Maybe Deaton can set up something?”

“He has a perimeter spell up already,” Stiles said. “He taught me how to do it, but mine aren’t that strong yet. I have one around campus, but there’s plenty of supernatural creatures here that I don’t know, and they come and go all the time. Perimeters are tricky that way. I have a second one around my new dorm building though, and that’s more useful.”

“That doesn’t give you enough of a heads-up though, does it?”

“Who would be coming for me? And it actually does, because I timed it. At any given point, I have two minutes to throw up a hiding spell and send an SOS to the pack and to Lobelia, and she has wolves on campus who can reach me long before my hiding spell wears down. And that’s if something evil is coming to look for me to hurt me specifically. They’ll wander around looking for my room for at least 20 minutes. And in that time they might even give up.”

Derek didn’t trust Stiles’ magic that well yet, but he supposed if a vengeful alpha came from the north to try to get to Derek, it wouldn’t be through Stiles safely tucked away in Southern California.

“We can do patrols if more packs end up attacked,” he said as Ollie jumped up into his lap and yipped at the phone to demand attention.

“Hi baby!” Stiles called to him. “I miss you so much, Ollie!”

“He’s missing you too, I promise.”

“Alright, so what else can we do now then?”

“We can train. Become better fighters.”

“Kincaid and Tracey are the only ones with any real experience with that. And you, I guess. Demarco isn’t half-bad, but he fights like a tank, just barges in hoping someone can patch him up later.”

“I’m not much of a fighter.”

“Tell that to Ennis’ esophagus.”

“That was in the heat of the moment, and self-defense. I don’t have any real technique. In my mom’s pack, we don’t learn that stuff until after college, when we’re actual adults.”

“I wouldn’t want the other kids to have to be killers either. They’re too young.”

They, Derek thought with a smile. “Just the adults then.”

“They won’t all want to. It’s not our style. Satomi was staunchly pacifist.”

“I understand that, Stiles, but when push came to shove, they all showed up to fight for you, you know that. We might end up in that position again. And you’re…”

More attractive these days, Derek’s wolf supplied but Derek ignored it. So what if he was?

“I’m easier to take control over.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, but don’t force anyone.”

“I won’t.”

“Who can teach you all then? Alpha Wallace maybe?”

That was the tricky question, wasn’t it?

“My sister would, if I asked. But that’s the same as asking my mother and uncle Peter, and I know you don’t want to owe the Hale pack anything.” And Derek didn’t want them to think he was weak.

“Would you be asking Laura as a member of the Hale pack or as your sister?”

“As my sister.”

Stiles was quiet for a moment.

“We need to learn to better defend ourselves. That’s what matters the most. So I think we can take the risk of having to owe something to your mother. She’s not the freaking godfather after all.”

“No she is not. And Laura knows a lot about fighting. Plus, it’s not like she’d use it against us. Laura isn’t my mom. She doesn’t care about collecting favors like that.”

“And I’d know that, if you’d ever let me meet your sisters.”

“I don’t mind you meeting Laura. It’s Cora I want you to stay away from.”

“But I’m not going to be home again until Christmas, and that’s too long to wait for a training session.”

“You’ll just have to wait then, won’t you?”

“One day, Derek. One day I’ll meet both of them.”

Derek shuddered. “I’ll call her tomorrow and see if we can set something up soon.”

“Cool. Keep me posted, okay? It’s what the group chat is for.”

“I will. Take care, Stiles.”

“You too. And give Ollie lots of hugs and kisses from me.”

Ollie yipped at the sound of his name and stood on his back legs against Derek’s lap and his front paws against his chest so he could reach the phone and sniff it.

“Ollie says to study hard and party harder.”

Stiles laughed and ended the call.

The knock on Stiles’ door was loud and forceful and it woke him up from his post-class nap. He opened the door to find a dark-haired girl he’d never seen before but who looked familiar to him nonetheless.

“Stiles?”

“Yeah?”

“Awesome. Move and let me in.”

She pushed him aside and threw herself down on his unmade bed.

“Thank god I found you. It took me forever to remember what your last name was – you have to teach me how to pronounce your real first name, I bet Derek doesn’t know how.”

Oh. Ooh. He looked at her more carefully, and now he could see the resemblance clearly. No wonder she looked familiar.

“Cora Hale?”

She beamed at him. “That’s me!”

“Don’t you go to Stanford?”

“I did. Got bored there. I liked your pack-mate Carrie though. But lord does she study a lot. I think I was a bad influence on her. Clearly the other way around didn’t happen.”

She laughed and Stiles liked her instantly.

He sat down in his desk chair and swiveled it around to face her. “You go here now?”

“Yep, transferred in, so I’m super behind, but you can help me catch up, right? I got Carrie to tell me what classes you’re taking, and I signed up for all of them so I’d have a friend.”

“Okay? Didn’t see you in class today though?”

“Nooo, I was way too hungover to go to class. Why, did I miss anything important?”

“Yes. Of course you did, especially if you’re already behind.”

He liked her a little less.

“Huh. Well, if I fail everything I’ll just sign up for something else. But now it’s time for us to finally get to know each other! Derek won’t tell us anything about you, and it’s driving mom mad. But I like driving mom mad, so it’s fine. Can you believe he didn’t want us to meet?”

“He said something about us ruining the world together.”

“Which is frankly insulting!” She sat up again and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and looked at him. “You know, you’re cute.”

“Thank you?”

“I think you’re more Malia’s type though. That’s my cousin. Have you met Malia?”

“I haven’t met any of your family, except for Peter, and I guess your mom, but that was in passing and I didn’t talk to her.”

“Right, right. You know, Malia would be all over you. No offence, you’re super cute and all, I’m just saying, she could be your future wife so there’s no reason why I should get in the way of that. Do you want to go get dinner?”

“I was going to eat at the cafeteria.”

“What if I paid?”

“It’s not about the money,” he sighed. “It’s because I have a lot of studying to do and going to eat elsewhere takes longer. Midterms are approaching.”

“I have a deferral on those. But sure, I get it. What if I go get us some Thai food, and then you can explain what you’re reading to me while you study, and we eat? That’s a learning method, isn’t it? Don’t people say you don’t know something until you can explain it to someone else?”

“I can do that, I suppose. Today. Tomorrow you’re on your own and then we can study together after midterms if you still need help then.”

Cora beamed again and handed over her phone, open to a menu from a local place Stiles went to sometimes.

“Pick what you want. So, hey, Derek didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.”

Stiles frowned. “I don’t.”

“Boyfriend or roommate with a love of women’s perfumes?”

“No?”

“Who is it I’m smelling then? Citrus shampoo and cherry lip gloss too?”

She gestured around the room as if the scents were tangibly visible.

“Oh, that’s Lydia. She’s a friend of mine from high school. We hang out a lot.”

“She into you?”

“Definitely not.”

“You into her, aren’t you?”

“I was. Got over it.”

“If you say so. I’ll be back in twenty with the food, okay?”

“Okay.”

And with that Cora was gone and Stiles stood in his dorm room blinking. What the hell just happened?

***

[Stiles]

I met Cora a couple of weeks ago.

[D.Hale]

You have my sympathies.

Did she convince you to drop everything and drive to Tijuana yet?

[Stiles]

No but I talked her into dropping one class so she can focus on the other ones

[D.Hale]

Impressive.

Don’t let her distract you, okay?

[Stiles]

Not any more than anything else does.

ADHD remember?

[D.Hale]

If she gets to be too much just let me know

And I’ll talk to her.

[Stiles]

I can take care of distractions myself you know

[D.Hale]

I know that.

But I can tell her off without things getting awkward, because she’s my little sister.

Might be harder for you.

[Stiles]

Sorry?

Have you met me?

[D.Hale]

Fair.

Does she seem like she’s doing well?

[Stiles]

You could probably ask her that yourself, but yeah. She seems good. I introduced her to Lydia and now theyre best friends. Rich girls.

[D.Hale]

Lydia has my sympathies too.

[Stiles]

This leaves even less time for me of course coz Lydia got back together with Jackson not that long ago.

So instead of being friends with two girls, I’m all alone

[D.Hale]

No more suitors come by?

[Stiles]

A couple have called, but we havent been able to set up plans.

[D. Hale]

Just don’t marry my sister.

[Stiles]

This one?

Can you imagine her as alpha?

[D.Hale]

Exactly.

It was the end of November before Laura was able to fit a trip to Beacon Hills into her schedule. Talia kept Laura busy these days, but Derek couldn’t help wondering if some of this urgent business had only become so pressing after Talia found out Derek hadn’t asked her first.

By then, there had been news of another pack killed. The only ones who hadn’t been found dead had disappeared, and Peter was keeping Derek appraised of the situation.

“We think the alpha took the rest of the pack with them this time. Ennis had those two other betas, didn’t he? It could be a pattern. Some people do choose cooperation over death.”

“Where was this one?”

“Oregon. So they’re not moving closer, but it could also be because most packs in Nevada have been on their guard. No reason to relax yet.”

“Who could be doing this over and over though?”

“Wish I knew, nephew. If I did we could do something about it. Have fun with Laura.”

“Bye Peter. Thanks.”

He was sitting on the porch, throwing a ball back and forth for Ollie to fetch. It was a good Saturday for fighting practice, with warm weather but not too sunny, and they had finished the harvest of most of the bigger vegetable crops for the year already. If the fighting didn’t go well, they’d still have a nice pack gathering together. And Laura was coming too and would be spending the night before going back to Sacramento the next day. He missed his big sister. They had always been close growing up, and while things had changed after their mother had started Laura’s alpha training properly, Derek had always looked forward to the day when they would be alpha and second, like Talia and Peter.

He still looked forward to it. Actually, he realised, he was more than halfway through the six years he’d be spending in Beacon Hills by now, assuming Stiles found his replacement relatively soon after college graduation. And Derek didn’t doubt Stiles would be able to, because as much as he annoyed and bugged Derek, Stiles was a great person, and anyone would be lucky to have him. And most people would be a better alpha than Derek, who couldn’t even teach his own pack to fight without help from outside, and he didn’t have the wide web of contacts his mother did either. She was powerful and Laura would be just as powerful. Derek was just trying to keep his little group alive and happy.

Laura’s car finally came down the street and stopped at the curb. He had his arms around her and scenting her before he even realized she wasn’t alone.

“Braeden?”

His former pack-mate stepped out of Laura’s car and waved to him with a wide grin on her face.

“Hi there, Derek. Good to see you again.”

“You too. It’s been a while.”

“Four years, right? When you ditched me at that frat party.”

Derek smiled. “That’s not how I remember it.”

“Oh?” She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one side. “And just how do you remember it, pretty boy?”

“I think you told me you wanted to break up because you found one of the girls in your class super cute and you wanted to see where that went. And then you told me to leave and that you’d get a cab home because my Camaro smelt weird.”

Damn she looked good. She’d always looked good of course – Derek had always had a thing for dark hair – but a few years of adulthood had brought on tighter muscles and more mature features. The new scar on her throat and chest didn’t change how attractive she was.

“What is she doing here?” he asked Laura out of the corner of his mouth.

“Braeden is a US Marshall these days, and she was in town with a weekend off, so I suggested she come and help us out. You don’t mind, do you, number two?”

Derek shook his head. “Of course not, but you could’ve warned me you’d be bringing my ex-girlfriend.”

Laura patted his shoulder. “I hardly think of her as your ex these days. She’s a human in my pack, that’s all.”

Derek shrugged. “Alright. We should be heading over to the pack lands then.”

“I’ll drive. Braeden is right about your Camaro having a weird smell.”

“Actual leather seats?”

“No, I think you forgot something in the glove compartment at some point, and it’s stinking it up. Come on. You can bring your adorable little doggie with you.”

The crew had been busy with the business side of things during the fall and progress on the Talbot house had halted. They’d been able to pour the foundation for the Geyers, and with both the first apartment building and Agnes’ house in place, it had done a lot to make the area start to feel more lived in. Bushes were planted in front of the houses, a few flower beds, and as Stiles and Derek had talked about, they’d planted a couple of trees behind, in front and between the houses, which would add a lot to the overall look and feel in ten years or so when they were grown in. Alicia had gotten the apple tree she had asked for. The middle area was still only a plot of grass and a fire pit for cooking, but today, that was a good thing.

Every werewolf of the pack had shown up, including Brett and Liam who were home for the weekend, but Derek sent them on a patrol round to make sure no humans approached when they would all be shifted. They were too young for this lesson. Another time he might teach them something himself, but not yet.

“Alright,” he said to the pack. “You’ve heard me talk about my sister Laura, she’s my mother’s heir, and this is our friend Braeden. I think we can jump right into it, right Laura?”

“Sure thing.” She smiled at the group. “I’m sure you know how to handle a human coming at you and taking them down without causing them injuries, but fighting a werewolf who wants to kill you isn’t quite the same, and you need to not be afraid of doing some real damage. I’ll show you.”

It took less than a second before Derek was on his back with Laura on top of him and her claws dangerously close to his throat.

“It’s not that easy to kill another wolf with just your claws, but the throat will get it done, as you will remember, because it’s easy to cause enough incapacitation that your opponent won’t be able to heal. So we’ll start with that, both how to get close enough to get a good hit in, and how to keep someone else from getting too close. Another area is the gut, but we’ll cover that later. Can you split up in pairs?”

“Don’t pair with your spouse, please,” Derek coughed as he got back on his feet. “Pick someone else.”

He watched his pack pair up with each other, and Laura beamed at him. “Well, little brother, alpha strength or no alpha strength, you’re about to get your ass handed to you.”

Laura was a good teacher, and she had Derek’s pack doing both offensive and defensive moves much better than before in a very short time. Then they all got to try them on him. That part was less fun. Alpha claws would hurt a lot and take longer to heal, so he would have to be careful, while they could try as hard as they could to hurt him. Kincaid, especially, seemed more than happy to beat Derek up.

They practiced those moves for another hour, and then Braeden talked them through some less obvious places to attack if they got a chance to, including trying to rip out the hamstrings and other muscles on the legs, and attacking the groin. Then she had a go at Derek too.

The two of them used to wrestle a lot when they were dating, Braeden always looking to improve her self-defense skills and Derek, frankly, not missing a chance to put his hands on her body, but she’d picked up a lot of tricks in the years that had passed since they broke up, and one of those tricks was to carry far more knives hidden in various pockets and sleeves than logic and modern garment-making should’ve allowed for. He felt the hard stab just below his knee before he managed to get both her hands under control. It healed quickly, but he let out a surprised cry of surprise from the pain.

“Look at that,” Laura said with a smug smile. “Derek might be stronger, but he wasn’t fast enough. With a good grip with your claws that would’ve meant him not being able to walk again. We might heal quickly, but we don’t regrow missing torn out muscles.”

“He could’ve put both her arms over her head, or over her shoulders if he wanted to keep her down,” Valerie pointed out, “but that would’ve put his throat near her teeth.”

“Excellent point. What else did my dear brother do wrong?”

“She could’ve kneed him in the balls!” Brett called out from the grove.

“Brett, you’re supposed to be on patrol!” Derek growled. “Don’t make me alpha order you around.”

Brett shrugged and dove back into the trees.

“He’s got a point though,” Orric said. “Got to watch the family jewels, Alpha.”

Derek let go of Braeden, but as soon as she got back on her feet, he tackled her again. This time he made sure he got her on her stomach, sitting on her thighs and pressing down on her wrists against the ground. “Do your worst.”

“Much better, Derek,” Laura chuckled. “But honestly, you run the risk of looking like a rapist this way. Why don’t we all try that move though? And see if you can figure out a way to get out of that hold?”

Derek let Braeden up and tried it with Laura instead. With more evenly matched strength, Derek had to use most of his weight to hold down her arms, and Laura was able to move her hands against the ground causing Derek to lose his balance. Before he knew it, she had them both rolled over, with him on the ground, and her above him, ready for an attack.

“If I’d put your hands against your back instead, you wouldn’t have been able to do that,” he pointed out when she helped him up off the ground.

“It’s in the knee movement,” she said. “I could still do it. We’ll try it again and I’ll show you.”

Derek sighed. He was getting tired of having his ass kicked by his sister, but the pack was watching them between their own attempts, and it was for their sake more than anything else.

And she was right. It made a little difference to how well he could hold her down, but not enough and she still beat him. It was a little more satisfying when they reversed the roles, and he got to topple her over.

“Okay, that’s good, everyone,” Laura said. “I think we can end the lesson there. Derek, your pack should practice now and then to keep up their skills and try to come up with even more ways of getting out of the different holds and how to avoid claws especially. You never know what moves your opponent might have encountered before, after all.”

“Great work,” Derek agreed. “Practice at home now and then, and we’ll get some work in during our regular pack gatherings, okay?”

He looked around at his pack. Smiling, exhausted and sweaty, but better prepared for an attack, if one would come.

It was late when they got back to the house, so Derek made them all tea and they took it out on the back porch.

“You haven’t done much with the garden I see,” Laura said as she sipped her cup, one hand buried in Ollie’s fur and scratching his ear.

“Don’t spend a lot of time here. We’ve got the entire preserve at our fingertips. Who needs a garden? And we grow things on the pack lands, so there’s no point in growing stuff here too. Stiles’ might get something going in the summers I suppose.”

“Ah. Stiles.” Laura smiled.

“What?”

“Cora says he’s cute. And clearly the world didn’t implode from them meeting after all. Would it really be so bad if they got together? They’d have adorable kids. And from what I’ve gathered, he is doing a good job keeping her in class.”

“So he’s her baby sitter. How romantic.”

Braeden grinned at them both. “Derek, is there a reason you don’t want Cora and Stiles to get together?”

Derek choked on his tea. “What? No. Ew. Stiles is… well he’s not a child anymore, sure, but he’s still a kid.”

“He won’t be a kid forever. Almost half-way done with college. But then, you’d have to stay here of course, and I’d miss you too much if I had to be alpha without you there as my second.”

“I will be your second,” he promised and patted her hand. “Does mom hope I’ll come back soon too?”

Laura flushed. “We don’t talk about it that much. She’s still worried about you. Killing Ennis was a stroke of luck. Who knows who this new killer alpha is or how hard they’ll be to beat? Mom would never forgive herself for sending you to Beacon Hills in the first place if that’s what led to you getting killed. You’ve done good here though. Those houses are a cute idea, she said so.”

Derek looked down into his cup. Cute idea. His mom still had no faith in him. What did he have to do? Stiles hadn’t yelled at him for being a bad alpha in months, so he must be doing something correctly these days. Right?

Laura went to bed in the guest room, but Braeden and Derek stayed up chatting in the living room, with Ollie possessively guarding Derek’s lap against these strangers that were suddenly in their den.

“Your pack seems to like you,” Braeden said.

“I think they do, most of the time. Some of them still compare me to Claudia, but they’re trying not to show it as much.”

“New alphas can be a hard transition.”

He chuckled at that. “You sound like you have more experience with it than I do, but you’ve been in the Hale pack since we were kids.”

She moved her hand to the scar on her throat. “I know what it can do to a beta if they don’t handle it well.”

He wanted to ask what had happened. They’d dated for a year in college, and back then they’d talked about everything. He didn’t ask, but she saw him looking.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay.”

She smiled.

“You’ve changed a bit, Derek.”

“I have?”

“Yes. You’re still you, but you’re talking more. I remember when we had to threaten you with burning your favorite books to get you to talk to more than two people at once.”

“Book burning is a horrible crime, and both you and Laura should be ashamed of yourselves for even suggesting it.”

“Still.”

“I’ve always been good with talking with people I know and that I feel comfortable with. I know these people. Trust me, I’m still as awkward with new people as I’ve always been.”

“You never had a problem talking with me.”

It was his turn to smile. “Because you always made me feel comfortable.”

“We were good together, weren’t we?”

“Yep. Too bad you travel all over the country these days. We could’ve given it a second go.”

Braeden ran a hand through her thick, dark hair and her eyes were shining with the reflection from the lights in the room.

“I’m in Sacramento often enough. It’s not that far. And I’m here now, aren’t I? Missed you a bit, you know. It’s been weird going to Alpha Hale’s house without you there.”

Well. It had been awhile since Derek had last been with someone by now. Over a year actually. He stood and held out his hand.

“Want to go upstairs?”

Braeden beamed and accepted his hand.

Making plants grow was hard. Creating wind wasn’t as difficult as Stiles had first thought, and he’d been practicing with powders so he could get mountain ash to spread perfectly when he needed it somewhere else than in a circle around himself; that was the first idea he’d had when he read about wind magic.

Fire was easy now; Stiles was not a laid-back person by nature, and fire was very much about emotions. Remember Ennis and there it was, right at his fingertips. Well not actually at his fingertips, that would just end up burning his skin. No, creating fire was about pulling it out of the air where you needed it to be, and then sort of moving it through the air. He’d been experimenting, and he could also move the air to move fire if he needed to. With magic, there was always another route to take to the same result, and that’s what Stiles liked about it.

Not that he was particularly powerful. Matt’s few skills were laughable to him now, but Stiles had joined a club on campus and met some truly potent practitioners whom Matt couldn’t match at all, and there was still so much he had to learn.

Like water.

You could do all kinds of things with water. It was in the air too if you knew where to look for it. Which he kind of didn’t. Or rather, he knew it was there, in theory, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t capture the molecules and bring them out. And without water, he’d never be able to make plants grow.

But Stiles Stilinski did not give up on things because they were hard, and he put out his hand like he did when he worked with fire, and focused. He didn’t usually practice magic in his dorm room; the magic club had a room reserved every weekend he could use, and it was much safer. His roommate was gone for the weekend though, and he was getting sick of people who were better than him giving him sympathetic looks just because he couldn’t master water. Water was supposed to be easy.

“Come on,” he muttered under his breath and cheered when he felt… something. Something in the air was shifting for him and it wasn’t quite like – no, it was just fire again.

Stiles sighed and let the little fire ball hop back and forth in the air in front of him. At least he could make fire do some cool things.

The door suddenly flew open, and he quickly directed the fire ball to the sink, but Cora’s eyes had grown large and wide, and she stared at him.

“Holy shit, Stiles, you can do magic?! Why didn’t you tell me that?”

Stiles pulled on his shirt sleeve. “Well… Derek told me not to. I don’t think he wants your mom to know, because it isn’t her business, and if you’re actually my friend and not a just friendly spy for Talia Hale, you won’t tell her. Right?”

Her mouth was still open, but she closed both it and the door and sat down on his roommate’s bed.

“I thought you were like, Sokka, you know?”

“Sokka is the best. He’s smart and resourceful, and he doesn’t let not being a bender get him down.”

“Sure, but clearly you’re more like Zuko.”

Stiles sat down on his own bed and sighed. “I know. As cool as Zuko is, I always thought I was Water tribe. I have a sweatshirt, Cora. How am I supposed to wear it if I do fire magic?”

She laughed. “You can give it to me of course. Katara and I are kindred souls. We both have older brothers who are so much less cool than we are.”

“As I’ve already stated though, Sokka is the best. Anyone can be cool if they can do magic.”

“Case in point,” she said and pointed at him.

“You thought I was cool before today, I know it.”

She shrugged. “I guess so. I think you’re way cooler now though. What else can you do?”

Stiles shook his head. “Not without you promising not to tell your mom.”

“Does that really matter?”

“Derek says it does, and when it comes to your mom, I listen to him.”

Cora exhaled in exasperation. “Fine. I will not tell my mom that the Stilinski pack heir knows magic.”

“Or anyone else who might tell your mom.”

“Fine, I will not tell anyone who does not already know that you know how to do magic. Now will you tell me?”

“Okay. Well, fire, as you saw. I can do some things with air, but I haven’t figured out water yet. So that’s the main elements. I can sort of make some things grow, not like druids can, but I’m learning. It’s hard though. And I can do telekinesis. That’s what I’m the best at actually. After I learn water, I’m going into some healing magic. Not that useful for the pack since we’ve already have a doctor and a nurse and a vet, but you never know, do you?”

Cora nodded. “You could use it for other stuff too. Not everything you do has to do with your pack, you know?”

Stiles shrugged. “That’s your opinion.”

She rolled her eyes. No, even if he had briefly entertained the idea of dating Cora, there was no risk of actually falling for her. This was Veronica all over again.

“So, in all this excitement I totally forgot why I came here,” she said and sat up straight. “We’re meeting Lydia and Jackson downtown for a shopping spree in a couple of hours.”

“I’m broke, Cora.”

“So? You can still come, and I’ll buy you a present.”

“I was planning on heading to the gym soon, and frankly I don’t feel like hanging out with Jackson and watch him and Lyds make goo goo eyes at each other while you max out your credit card.”

Cora stood and put her hands on her hips. “Stiles. You’ve been studying all week. You went to that club of yours that I’m now realizing isn’t actually a role-playing club, and you went climbing. That’s all you’ve done all week. I know your little friends from Beacon Hills aren’t here, but I am. And Lydia is. And Jackson likes you better and better now that you’re not being creepy at Lydia, he said so himself. You two could be actual friends. All I ask for is a couple of hours of walking around in the lovely spring sunshine, a little bit of time spent in a couple of shops – and yes, we can go to one geek shop for every fashion boutique, and then we have something to eat together. Maybe even see a movie. And then I won’t drag you to anything social for at least two weeks.”

“You make it sound like I have no social life, but I do. I have lots of friends. From class, from climbing, from my magic club, and I keep in touch with my pack literally every day. And what do you need me for anyway? You can do all those things just the three of you.”

“But I want you to be there, because I like you, and because you know what I am, and I like being around people I don’t have to pretend to be weak with and who gets it if smells are too strong. And Lydia wants you to be there too. And remember last time you dragged us to that comic book store?”

“What about it?”

“Jackson bought a comic, and I think he liked it, but he thinks he’s too cool to go to a place like that, so he needs to pretend he’s being forced to. You know what he’s like.”

Stiles did know what Jackson was like, and he hadn’t missed Jackson paying for something at the comic book store Stiles liked to go to, but he hadn’t asked about it. Frankly, the fact that he was now hanging out with Jackson now and then never stopped being a surprise.

He sighed dejectedly and Cora laughed and clapped her hands. “Yes! You’re coming!”

“Fine. But you don’t drag me off campus for two weeks, like you promised.”

“You act like it’s a burden to spend an afternoon with three attractive people, Stiles.”

***

[Pack in Absentia]

[D.Hale]

One of the neighbors have a new poodle and Ollie has fallen in love with her.

He whines constantly about going to see her.

At least he’s fixed.

You guys need to come home soon so you can distract him.

[Carrie]

It’s only a month left.

[Scott]

Dont you have Alicia to distract him?

Let him sleep over there for a couple of nights and hell forget about the poodle.

[Stiles]

Letting Ollie sleep away from home?

Alphas head will explode

And hell be awake all night missing his little cuddle buddy

[Brett]

Alpha has a new cuddle buddy, havent you heard?

[Stiles]

What?

DEREK!

We’ve had this discussion!

[D.Hale]

It’s nothing serious

[Liam]

Its that hot girl

Braeden

The one with the wicked scar

[D.Hale]

This absolutely falls into no one’s business but mine.

She’s only in the area once or twice a month.

That’s not a real relationship.

[Stiles]

But do you want it to be?

Frankly Der-bear you could use some love in your life.

[D.Hale]

This works just fine.

[Scott]

Mom told me the Talbots house is done now

[D.Hale]

That is correct. The plan is to build the Geyers’ next, and then the Rohrs. And then it’s you and your mom’s turn.

[Scott]

Do me and mom really need a house?

[Carrie]

Yeah, like, were making all these houses for families, but no one except Agnes has kids at home still.

[Stiles]

Maybe no one does, but we agreed wed build them anyway

They’ll be there when we need them. Wish we could speed it up though, so we could have more housing when we graduate

[D.Hale]

That’s not for two years. And when you’re back we can build faster.

[Stiles]

Jippie

Nothing I love more than to be used as free labor.

[Isaac]

Stiles

Sweetie

Pretty baby

It’s not *your* labor Derek wants.

Weakling.

[Carrie]

Isaac havent you seen Stiles newest climbing photos?

Our boi is getting ripped.

Me like.

[Erica]

Me always liked :)

[Stiles]

Shush both of you.

Got to go now

Im heading to the library w Jackson

Where I will study for finals and he’ll pretend hes just keeping me company because the cool kids dont do school apparently

[Scott]

I will never get over you being friends with Jackson.

[Stiles]

I know

Its super weird.

Chapter Text

By the end of summer, Dr and Mrs. Geyer were ready to move into their new house, and Stiles got to be there when they walked through it for the first time.

Jenna had tears in her eyes when she looked around her new home, at the bay window she had asked for in the living room facing what Stiles was sure she would turn into a gorgeous garden, and Derek looked about ready to explode with pride.

“You did this well, Alpha,” Stiles told him and ran his hand down Derek’s shoulders to scent him.

“We did this well.”

“I barely did anything on this one.”

“Maybe not, but we wouldn’t be standing here if we hadn’t planned it all out together.”

Stiles grinned. “Alright. We did well. So what about the Rohrs?”

“Bit of a hiccup in the plans there,” Derek said and led Stiles over to the kitchen counter where his area plans were laid out.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’ve run out of money.”

Stiles took a step back in surprise. With everyone’s tuition safely set aside for the next few years, it had been a long time now since he’d actually worried about money like that. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, really. We agreed, right, that if we built homes for everyone, those who could sell their old one would pay their profit back into the project.”

“Because wolves are communists, yes.”

“Well, the Geyers are the first who will have something to sell. And we can’t move on with the next building until that’s been cleared. And I expect the same thing will go for the Rohrs. So things will slow down for a bit now. But we’ll finish in time.”

Stiles looked hard at his face. “So there’s nothing to worry about?”

“Not really.”

“What about Uncle Peter and his wonderful stock tips?”

“Some of his own sources have dried up I think, and while he can afford to take some risks, I don’t like to. Not when it’s not only my own money. So I’ve stopped most of the investments right now, except a few smaller ones that we can afford to lose if it goes bad.”

“The college money is safe, right?”

Derek gave him a fond look. “Yes, Stiles, the college money is completely safe. I’m on top of this. You can trust me.”

“I do,” Stiles said before he could even think about it. “Of course I do.”

Derek leaned against the counter. “So when are you leaving?”

“Picking up Lydia tomorrow morning.”

“What about Jackson?”

“He went back last week for… some reason or other. Lydia isn’t happy about me driving, but I need to take my baby with me of course.”

“Of course.” Derek grinned. “Let’s go over the jeep tonight then, and make sure it’s working as well as it can. I don’t want you two stranded half way down the highway.”

“Aw, quality time with my alpha. Aren’t I lucky?”

“You lived in my house all summer, we get plenty of quality time.”

“Technically, you live in my house.”

[Pack in Absentia]

[Stiles]

Happy halloweeen!

Watch out for monsters out there!

You know

Evil warlocks, vampires, werewolves

All those villains.

[D.Hale]

Very funny.

Don’t drink too much guys

And by guys I mean you Stiles

Since you’re the only one who’ll be getting drunk

[Stiles]

I only rarely drink too much

But Im not driving tonight, so tonight be the time.

Dont worry

Got Cora there to hold my hair back when I barf.

[D.Hale]

I’m sure she was looking forward to that

But mom called her home this weekend

Sorry :)

[Stiles]

What!

Okay now I see a text from her

You dont have to sounds so happy about it

[D.Hale]

These are text messages, Stiles, not sure how you can hear my tone.

[Stiles]

You tihnk I dont know you well enough to know exactly what kind of faces you make when you text?

Puh-lease

[Scott]

Hey werewolves arent monsters!

[Stiles]

Whoosh

***

“Kinda rude of Hale to ditch us like that,” Jackson grumbled as he sped through the woods. “She’s good to have around, never gets drunk. I don’t know how she does it.”

“Magic,” Stiles smiled from the backseat. “And I promised you, I’ll drive next weekend, okay? Or we could’ve taken the bus.”

“Jackson Whittemore does not take the bus.”

“Jackson Whittemore will have to stay sober all evening then. Not like you even wore a costume.”

“He has a costume,” Lydia objected. “He’s dressed as Prince Harry, can’t you see?”

“Huh. Which I assume would make you…”

“That’s right.” She grinned in the rearview mirror.

“So you’re two rich and attractive people going as two other rich and attractive people?”

“Glad you agree. And what are you supposed to be?”

Stiles gestured his outfit with its many, many pockets. “I’m an explorer. Don’t you see my hat?”

“Maybe if it wasn’t home made.”

“The best costumes always are.”

He leaned back in his seat and looked out through the window at the trees they were passing through. “Where is this party anyway?”

“Some abandoned factory I think,” Jackson said. “Pics online look super creepy. And it’s far away from everything else too. And it’s a full moon tonight. It’s going to be extra spooky!”

In some of Stiles’ pockets, he had hidden things. Things that would scare some of these party goers enough to make them shit their pants. Magic was good that way. You could use it to play tricks on people.

He thought at first that someone was playing a trick on him when Jackson’s Porsche stuttered to a halt and stopped.

“What the-” Jackson started.

“What happened?” Lydia asked, her hand already in her purse to take out her lip gloss.

“Engine just stopped.”

Lydia rolled her eyes. “I told you to the check engine light was on like a week ago.”

“Well, I didn’t check it, did I? Stiles, help me outside, will you?”

Stiles climbed out of the car and popped the hood open. It was dark out already but the way Jackson leaned over the engine and the way he was randomly poking things told Stiles in about two seconds that this guy had never worked on a car in his life before.

“What do you think?”

“I think I don’t know how to fix a Porsche in a way that won’t waive your service warranty in some way.”

“So… what do we do?”

Stiles pointed to Jackson’s pocket and the outline of his phone. “You call for road assistance, and then maybe if we work together we can keep Lydia occupied enough not to murder you.”

He closed the hood right as he heard the first howl.

Jackson wheeled round quickly. “What the hell was that?”

Stiles felt his insides grow cold. There were no wolves in California. Howls would always, always, mean werewolf. In fact, a howl this close to a major city could mean a werewolf out of control.

“Get back in the car. Jackson, now.”

Stiles didn’t actually expect Jackson to obey that quickly, but he did. He took out the pouch of mountain ash he kept with him at all times and threw it into the air. He’d practiced plenty, and with a bit of air magic, it landed in a perfect circle around the car.

He got back in just as he heard the second howl. It sounded closer. Crap. Jackson and Lydia were staring at him too.

“What did you just do, Stiles?” Lydia said, with her eyes wide.

“Uhm… magic. Yep. Magic. It’s a real thing. Completely real. And we might be about to get attacked by a werewolf, but my magic will keep us safe enough for a while, as long as you stay inside the circle. Okay? I know it sounds weird but trust me on this today and I’ll prove it later. Jackson, you didn’t call road assistance already, right?”

Jackson shook his head, still staring at Stiles.

“Good. Don’t. No reason to get more people out here.”

He took out his phone and thought hard. The June pack were to the south, but that howl had been coming from the east. It was a full moon, so they’d be out running right now too. He still tried Lobelia.

No answer. He left her a message and then went through his contact list. His own pack were far too far away to reach him quickly, and actually, most werewolves he had contact info for nearby would be out, just like Lobelia. That only left one other option.

Thankfully, Chris Argent answered on the second ring.

“Stiles?”

“Chris, I need the name and number of a hunter in L.A. Any hunter, but preferably a decent one who won’t kill a wolf on sight. And I need it fast.”

“Are you okay? Where are you?”

“East, right now. Empty road, but I heard the howls, and you know what that means as well as I do. Who can I call to help?”

“I’m in town. Text me the coordinates.”

Stiles let out a breath of relief.

“Thanks, Chris. Whoever it is, they’re not that close. I have an ash line up. But please hurry anyway.”

“I’m on my way.”

They hung up and Stiles sent off a text with directions to their location. He thought about it for about three seconds before sending a text to the group chat too so Derek could know. No one would read it before the situation was resolved, that was true, but he could imagine Derek’s eyebrows of absolute doom if he found out afterwards that Stiles had contacted Chris Argent and not Derek.

The third howl was even closer, too close. and Lydia and Jackson finally stopped staring at him so they could look outside.

“There aren’t any wolves in California,” Lydia insisted. “But if you expect me to believe that that’s a werewolf because you say so, Stiles Stilinski-”

“Cora is a werewolf. You ever wonder why she’s so strong and fast and can eat like a sumo wrestler? Besides, you don’t have to take my word for it, because that wolf has picked up our scent and they’ll be here in just a couple of minutes.”

“Cora can’t be a werewolf, she’s a hot girl.” Jackson ran his hand over his face as the fourth howl rang out through the air. “Anyway how do you know about this? Are you a werewolf too?”

“No but-”

“Oh my god!” Lydia exclaimed and pointed to a figure appearing out on the road. The werewolf was feral, Stiles could tell right away, and her eyes shone bright blue. She looked dirty and her clothes were torn in far too many places for a human not to fix. She must have been stuck in her shift for days. It was a miracle a killing spree hadn’t been on the news.

“We’re safe inside the circle,” Stiles repeated. “She can’t cross it.”

The werewolf rushed towards the car and slammed into the invisible boundary. Jackson jumped in his seat, but the werewolf mostly looked confused. She tried it again. And again. Then she howled again and roared at them.

“What does she want?” Lydia shouted.

“She doesn’t know that herself, I think,” Stiles said. “My mom always said ferals are mostly confused. Instincts are telling her to hurt us, but there’s no reason behind it.”

He fired off a text to Chris to let him know the werewolf was right there so he wouldn’t be surprised. and got a reply back very quickly:

[Chris Argent]

We’re prepared. Don’t leave the circle!

As if Stiles would. He wasn’t stupid. But, he thought, what if someone else came driving down this road before Chris got there? They were headed to a party after all and likely weren’t going to be the last to arrive.

“I’m going to step outside.”

“What?” Jackson exclaimed. “But you said-”

“I know. I’m not leaving the ash circle. I want to see if I can force her off the road. I know what I’m doing. Stay inside.”

“Stiles,” Lydia started, her eyes wet with terror. “What can we do?”

“Not much, except stay safe so I don’t have to worry about you too.”

Stiles opened the car door and took a step outside. The ash circle was large enough to leave him room to move around the car, but just barely.

He considered his options carefully. If he kept the wolf’s attention on himself, he could use her reactions to her enhanced hearing to tell if someone else approached. And then he could… Well, a car would need to drive right past them. She might chase it, and then he wouldn’t be able to help anyone at all. He could maybe do his air push. He’d been practicing that one. It was a combination of telekinesis and air magic and if he gathered enough strength then he could punch even a werewolf, maybe even off the road long enough for another car to drive past. And then maybe he could piss her off enough to stay with them and not chase the others. That wasn’t going to work more than once though, and it would only work if she stayed where she was, or he wouldn’t be able to direct his magic well enough to shove her aside.

He heard the car door open behind him but didn’t turn around.

“I said stay inside.”

“I want to help.”

“Lydia…”

The werewolf did another lunge at the ash barrier and quickly Lydia was behind Stiles, holding on to his shoulder.

“Maybe you can tell me what you’re doing, and I can try it too.”

“Me too,” Jackson said on Stiles other side. “Or do you need to be born with magic to learn it?”

“No, but this is neither the time nor place for a crash course, so stay behind me so I don’t accidentally hurt you.”

He pulled some fire out of the air and let it build between the palms of his hands. You needed to be careful with fire or you’d get burned, but once he had a fire ball the size of a tennis ball he aimed it at the ground next to the werewolf. She jumped away from it, closer to the side of the road, but not backwards.

He could feel Jackson’s hand grip his one shoulder while Lydia clung to the other. He shook them off. “Guys, I need my arms free.”

“But-”

“Go back into the car if you’re scared.”

“What if the circle doesn’t hold?” Lydia whispered. “It isn’t exactly solid.”

She pointed down on the ground. Stiles hadn’t been carrying that much ash with him, and the line was blotchy in some places.

“That doesn’t matter,” he hissed. “It’s a magic line, and as long as I mean for it to be whole, it’s whole.”

The werewolf made yet another attack on the boundary and roared as she was held back once again. Stiles threw another little fire ball near her feet to get her to move off the road.

She got down on all fours, growled menacingly and walked as close to the border as she could, her eyes never leaving him.

That was good. The angrier she stayed with him, the easier it would be to keep her here. Stiles squatted so they could be eye-level. He flicked some fire at her, and she growled even deeper. He looked into her eyes, and could see the hatred in them, but also the pain and confusion from the human mind that was still inside of her.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “I’ve called for help. Not help for me, help for you, alright? They’ll put you somewhere you can’t hurt anyone, and then you’ll get an alpha who’ll help you keep control and not hurt anyone. I really wish you’d change back before Chris gets here though. He’s a good guy, but he’s going to look into why your eyes are blue like that before he lets you go.”

Maybe he imagined it, but he thought her shoulders sloped a little as he spoke to her, and her hands straightened out of their clenched fists.

“You’re new, aren’t you? Can’t have been bitten long. What kind of an irresponsible alpha bites someone and leaves them to fend for themselves like this?”

“You’re not seriously pitying that monster?” Jackson said behind him and Stiles turned his head to look at him and Lydia, huddled together.

“She’s not a monster. She’s a person. Someone turned her into this and didn’t teach her self-control. They’re the monster.”

“If she bites us, will we turn too?” Lydia asked and Stiles shook his head.

“No, not her. She’s just a beta. Or an omega, or her pack would’ve chased her down by now. The full moon makes them act crazy sometimes, you should’ve seen what Erica did on her first full moon.”

“Erica?”

“Erica Reyes. From high school?”

“Shit,” Jackson said, “is every one of your little cult buddies a werewolf?”

“We’re not a cult. We’re a pack. But yes, almost. We can talk about that later though.” At least answering their questions kept them from panicking.

The werewolf suddenly stood up and her head snapped to the side to stare attentively down the road behind the car, and Stiles got prepared. “This might hurt you. I won’t overdo it,” he said, “but I also can’t let you hurt someone else.”

He pulled on as much magic as he could from deep within him and imagined it wrapping itself around her torso like a closed fist he could use to drag her off the road and try to keep her still. He too could hear the sound of a car approaching now, and prayed it was Argent, as he tried to divide his magic into two. It was painful, but he needed to do more. She was strong and struggling against the invisible hold. Beads of sweat formed on Stiles’ forehead, and he had to take a few breaths to calm himself before gathering the heat from the air again; not to throw another fire ball at her, but to let it form into a line of fire between her and the road. He could make it grow quickly if that car wasn’t Chris’ and his hold broke. He let out a breath. Alright. He was ready. Backup-plan in place.

“Jackson, go turn off the headlights. Leave the rear lights on.”

It wouldn’t do much to hide the werewolf, but every little bit helped at this point.

The headlights of the approaching car turned around the bend just as Stiles felt his strength start to leave him. He focused all his energy on the fire, and it flamed up again, high and quickly, and the werewolf, who was about to leap into the air and set off towards the other car, stumbled back.

He tried to gather enough magic to try another hold, but he couldn’t. He felt empty, and drained, and even the fire was starting to vane, but the new car had stopped and two people were running towards them, and that could really only mean one thing, so he let go of all the magic he had left and sunk down to the ground.

“Stiles!” he heard a familiar voice shout and then the sounds of a quick fight, but there were dark spots dancing before his eyes and Stiles just wanted to go to sleep. He heard an unhappy growling from the werewolf and then felt someone pull on his shoulders so he could lie down with his head in someone’s lap.

“Is he okay?” Jackson asked somewhere near his head, “he was fine just a little while ago, doing magic and everything. It was really cool. But what did you do to her?”

“I didn’t know Stiles could do magic,” Chris said somewhere further away, “he’s probably burned out. Let him rest and he’ll be okay soon. The werewolf has been sedated.”

“I’m Alison by the way,” said that familiar voice. Oh right. Of course. It had been a while since they spoke last.

“Hi Ally,” Stiles managed to croak out. “Good to see you again.”

The moon was doing that thing again, except it was so much stronger. It was just in Derek’s blood this time, it was in his brain and his gut, and in his bones. He was shifted already, but it didn’t feel like it, and he had to look down on his hands to check for claws, and to touch his face to make sure the ridges of his brow were his usual shifted ones.

His instincts were all over the place too. It wasn’t the full pack this run, and he kept having to hold himself back from setting off to check on the rest of them, on foot. That would take a while. But something didn’t sit right with him. Alicia cut in front of him on the path through the preserve and laughed.

“Slowpoke, Derek!”

At least Alicia was where he could see her. He looked over his shoulder, and there was William and Mary Talbot, and on the other side was Orric Rohr. Boyd and Agnes weren’t far behind, and Jenna Geyer was somewhere ahead of them but off to the east.

That still left so many away from their territory! No, this wouldn’t do, he’d have to make sure they were all okay! They were just puppies for god’s sake! They should be home, with their families and with their alpha to watch over them. Something was wrong!

He turned quickly and ran past the confused looks of his pack, towards the pack land where they’d parked.

“I gotta-” make sure the kids are all safe? Make sure no alpha like Ennis shows up to hurt them? - “I gotta check on Stiles!” There. No one would think that was weird of him, right? Besides, as soon as he said those words, he felt how true they were. That’s what it had been all the time; there was something in the pack bond between him and Stiles, a strong emotion and it wasn’t a good one. Stiles needed him.

He got back to pack land in no time, vaguely aware of the pack following him, rushed past a surprised Phoebe and a barking Ollie, and got to his car, and his phone.

[Stiles]

So dont freak out or anything, but the car I was in stopped in the middle of a backroad outside LA and theres a wolf howling so Im pretty sure were about to get attacked by a feral ww

But I called a hunter to help me deal with it and it’s going to be fine.

Ill text you as soon as the situation is solved

[Stiles]

All good.

Couple of scrapes but feral dealt with.

All good? All good? Was Stiles freaking kidding him!?

“Someone tried to attack Stiles!” he growled at no one in particular, his head admittedly a little dizzy from the full moon.

“Attack?” Kincaid was next to him in less than a second. “Who?!”

“Some feral. He doesn’t say more, only that he’s okay now! Damn it! Who leaves a message this short?”

He pressed the second number on his speed dial, but it went straight to voicemail, so Stiles’ phone was turned off. Derek texted Lobelia to call him as soon as she could even as he was climbing into the car. “I’ll deal with this. Boyd’s in charge while I’m gone.”

He was halfway to LA when the pull of the moon finally let go of him and he could think clearly.

So, Stiles had been attacked. But he was fine. And by the time Derek made it to Stiles’ dorm the entire situation would be completely over and there would be nothing Stiles needed Derek to do. In fact, Stiles might get mad at him. He shrugged. Stiles often got mad at him, what else was new? Derek could have waited until morning to see if Stiles would answer his phone then, that was true perhaps.

But Derek needed to know. He needed to see Stiles, to check that he wasn’t hurt, to smell him properly and scent him and he needed to be scented in return, or he was going to go crazy. This wasn’t just one of the puppies; this was Stiles.

His phone chirped and he checked it, with one eye still on the road

[Pack in Absentia]

[Scott]

I borrowed a car from a buddy. Im coming, Stiles!

[Isaac]

He said it was fine now

And he’s asleep by now anyway

Scott its like 5am

No stopping alpha, but come on

[Scott]

I

Am

Coming

[Derek]

It’s not necessary, Scott

But I approve.

Just bring your homework and e-mail your professors about tomorrow’s classes.

They’ll be more understanding of family emergencies if you talk to them beforehand.

The phone chirped a few more times, but Derek ignored it. There was nothing anyone could say to him that would matter at this point anyway.

It had been a long time since he’d last been to L.A but finding Stiles’ campus wasn’t as hard as he’d been worried it would. It was around seven when he parked his car and went to find Stiles’ dormitory.

Thanks to a bit of luck, someone was leaving that building right as Derek arrived and he let his nose take him to Stiles’ room. He was RA for his floor this year, which meant he had a single room, and it was easy to find, and Derek banged on his door with his clenched fist.

“Stiles! Wake up!”

Some passers-by stared at him, but he ignored them and banged again. He could hear movement from inside now and waited. The door opened to a bleary-eyed Stiles holding his phone and blinking sleepily at him.

“Derek? What are you-”

Derek pushed inside and pulled Stiles into a hug. His wolf was whining unhappily at the leftover scent of a strange wolf on his pack mate.

“It touched you,” he growled and ran his hands over every part of Stiles he could reach. Stiles patted him on the pack, but didn’t try to pull away.

“I’m okay, big guy. Take your time, but I’m okay, and she didn’t touch me, she just got near. I didn’t get hurt, I’m just exhausted. I used too much magic at once.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“If I promise I will, will you let me go so I can go shower first?”

Derek hesitated, then squeezed him closer.

“No.”

Stiles sighed. He still didn’t push himself free.

Derek wasn’t sure how long they were standing there but after a while he became aware of Stiles typing on his phone behind Derek’s back and Derek’s own phone chirping with repeated messages. He finally let go.

“Great, you’re done. I’ll take a quick shower and get dressed and then we can go out and have breakfast, alright? You really didn’t need to come, you know, but now that you’re here I’ve got five food places I want to show you, so I hope you’re hungry!”

“I’m not staying that long.”

“Sure you aren’t. Cora is coming back later this afternoon, and you wouldn’t want to miss out on dinner with her would you? She already knows you’re here.”

Derek groaned, but mostly for show. It would be nice to see Cora again.

An hour later they were hanging out outside with some delicious breakfast foods and Stiles was telling him the story of what had happened the night before, while simultaneously typing it into his phone to update the pack.

“I didn’t think you’d grown that strong,” Derek said, and Stiles shook his head.

“I burn out quickly actually, considering. Maybe if I practiced more I could improve, and I would like to get at least a little bit better, so I can be more prepared to defend myself, you know? But also, while magic is cool, practicing takes up a lot of my time. And I have school, and friends, and my climbing and I don’t know that I care enough about this to be some powerful witch, you know? Alpha’s mates don’t need to be able to do a lot of magic.”

Derek shrugged. “Can’t hurt. But school should come first.”

“Sure, dad.”

Derek gave him an evil glare for that and threw a piece of waffle at him. Stiles was about to retaliate when they were interrupted by Lydia Martin and Jackson Whittemore.

“There you are, Stiles,” Lydia said with a wide smile. “We went looking for you at your room. I see you have a visitor. Derek, was it?”

“Lydia,” Derek nodded. Both Lydia and Jackson, who’d been attractive kids back in Beacon Hills, had grown into two gorgeous college students. So had Stiles, and Derek thought he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed, if some glances from Lydia and Jackson were anything to go by. Stiles hadn’t mentioned anything about that, but Derek supposed this could be a new thing. Stiles did save them all the night before by being his amazing self after all.

“Derek is the alpha of Beacon Hills,” Stiles said in a low voice.

“Oh right.” Jackson sat down and pulled Lydia down too next to him. “Until crown prince here picks a new king, right?”

“Or a queen.” Lydia flashed a smile in Stiles’ direction, and he laughed.

“That’s right. But for now, Derek’s in charge. As long as he does what I want him to of course.”

“He seems obedient,” Jackson said.

Derek let out a low growl and Jackson froze. There. Much better. Stiles slapped him on the arm though. “Be nice. A werewolf tried to murder us yesterday.”

“What happened to her?”

“Chris took her to Lobelia June. I haven’t heard anything yet because I got woken up at the crack of dawn by my crazy alpha banging on my door.”

Chris. Derek would have a conversation with Stiles later about calling on Argents when Derek had been very clear about how he felt about that. “Did Lobelia recognize her at all?”

“Again, I don’t know. I was going to call her this morning and check. You want to save me the call, Alpha?”

“Fine.” Derek rose and took out his phone to call Lobelia.

“She’s not local,” Lobelia could tell him, “and she was bitten just a couple of days ago. She’s been hiding out confused not that far from town because she couldn’t shift back to full human, and when the full moon rose, she couldn’t control herself anymore. She knows she killed someone but doesn’t remember who. You’ve heard about the troubles up north, I trust?”

“With the murdered packs? Yes.”

“I think this could have been the same alpha. It might have been intended as a diversion of some sort, and there can’t be that many insane alphas at the same time.”

Derek felt a chill down his back. Maybe this attack had been meant for Stiles?

“Given where the attack happened, and where we’ve been able to trace her back to, I don’t think your boy was the target though. The object might have been destruction and negative attention that might force my hand in some direction or other. Hard to tell for sure. The alpha didn’t say much to the girl, and she never saw him properly out of his shift, so she can’t describe him. Older guy, she thinks. I’m still gathering information, and I was planning on sending it to Talia Hale when it was done, but I will share it with you too if you’d like.”

“I would appreciate that. And I would be thankful if you’d let Stiles spend the next couple of full moons with you and your pack, Lobelia. I don’t like him being so far away with no backup.”

“Hey!” Stiles objected next to Derek, “I heard that, and I don’t need a babysitter.”

“You need to be safe!”

Lobelia chuckled in his ear. “Stiles will be welcome at any time, of course.”

“Thank you, Alpha June.”

“Have a good day, Alpha Stilinski.”

“Is that McCall?” he heard Lydia ask as he ended the call and looked over to where she was looking.

That was indeed Scott, and he was running far too fast to pass as a human. There weren’t that many people around, but they were noticing. “Calm down, Scott,” Stiles managed to get out before he was basically attacked by his best friend. Derek rolled his eyes. There was no reason for that hard a hug. He was sure that he had been much more restrained.

Scott demanded another retelling of what had happened, and with the help of Lydia and Jackson it sounded like a much bigger deal than Stiles had made it out to be, especially the part where he had passed out from exhaustion.

“You need to be careful,” Derek cautioned him. “More practice in safe environments before you try something like that again.”

“Excuse me? Didn’t we already have this conversation today? It feels really familiar.”

“Can anyone learn magic?” Lydia asked with her chin in her hand.

“Some magic, yes,” Stiles said. “I can teach you a couple of things if you’d like.”

“That’s what you took from yesterday?” Jackson said and looked at Derek, “Dude, can anyone become a werewolf? That chick looked strong!”

“The bite can kill you,” Derek replied. “And I don’t know you.”

“I’ll ask Stiles’ future husband or wife then.”

“The word is mate,” Scott mumbled and threw Derek a look that told him all about how Scott would feel about having Jackson Whittemore as a packmate.

Neither Scott nor Derek coming by had been surprises to Stiles, not really. He scolded them for making a fuss and for overreacting since the whole thing was over even before they’d left home, but he didn’t actually mind it. Derek was grumpier than usual, but showing Scott around was fun, and Jackson and Lydia hung around too, even coming out to eat with them once Cora arrived, despite never wanting to eat at Stiles’ favorite Indian place before.

It felt good to have both pack mates and friends there. The adrenaline crash had been substantial, and when Stiles had been brought home and the fear and horror of another werewolf trying to kill him had caught up with him, he had been close to a panic attack, and was prepared to drop out of college altogether so he could go home and be near people who loved him and would protect him, like when he was a little kid. But here was his strong alpha, and his best friend, both willing to drive through the night to come be with him, and Stiles felt safe and cared for with them there. Watching Derek with Cora was fun too. He could be a silly person with his sisters, and while Derek still rolled his eyes at both her and Stiles at about every third or fourth sentence they said, he’d laughed out loud several times too, and Derek laughing was always a treat.

When the evening was over, they laid blankets on Stiles’ floor and slept cuddled up together in a pile. He woke up wedged between Scott and Derek. It wasn’t a bad place to be; Stiles could appreciate the male form, and both of them were warm against him. Hot enough to function as furnaces, actually, and he was sweating all over his blankets and duvet, and he’d drooled all over Derek’s shoulder. Scott had a hard-on, and it was pressing against Stiles’ leg, and that was not something Stiles was willing to explore with his best friend.

A knock at the door had both Derek and Scott jerk awake and Stiles flinched as a claw dug into his arm before Scott realized what he was doing.

“This is the second morning in a row that people wake me up by demanding I open my door in a world where phones exist,” Stiles grumbled as he got to his feet.

He expected Cora. Maybe Jackson or Lydia, who’d both been a little clingy yesterday. He expected some student on his floor who’d needed to cry about a professor or something personal or complain about their roommate.

He hadn’t expected Allison Argent as he opened the door at a crack.

Stiles had known her for years through their parents, and she’d gone to Davenford Prep with Veronica, but they hadn’t kept in touch.

“Hi Stiles,” she smiled and held out a take away cup of coffee to him. “I found your room.”

“Hey. Thanks. How did it go with your dad and Lobelia?”

The door was wrenched open fully and Derek, already dressed in a rumpled backwards t-shirt, stood with one hand on Stiles’ shoulder and the other gripping the door.

“Who’s she?”

Stiles sighed. This again.

“This is Allison Argent, Chris’ daughter. And she’s a friend of mine.”

“What is she doing here? You didn’t say she went to school with you.”

“I don’t,” Allison said, her eyes firm on Derek but her hand clasped around something in her pocket. “I go here in L.A though. I was coming over to tell Stiles what happened with the werewolf we caught, but I suppose you already have all the information by now if your alpha is here.”

“No, we don’t, come inside, please. Derek, behave.”

He bopped the alpha on the nose and let Allison in. Scott had gotten his pants on but was struggling with his shirt and even tripped over his feet and fell when he saw her.

Allison laughed. “So much for the natural grace of werewolves, huh?”

Scott looked up at her through the collar of his t-shirt, and his face was red. Stiles rolled his eyes. Sure, Allison was a pretty girl, but there was no need for Scott to make a fool of himself.

“Well? What’s new?”

“She’s dead.”

Stiles could see Scott flinch, but Derek’s reaction was imperceptible. Stiles just stared. Allison sat down, her hand still in her pocket.

“Dead?”

“Yeah, as of this morning. She saw the news. Apparently a little kid got killed on Halloween, mauled by an animal, they said, and the June pack traced it back to her. Alpha June called my dad, and he gave the girl a gun. She did it herself. Wolfsbane bullet through the head. The June pack is burying her right, though. Poor thing.”

“She wasn’t a thing,” Derek said quietly next to Stiles. “She was a person.”

“I know that.” Allison crossed one leg over the other. “It’s an expression. She didn’t deserve what she got. Lobelia seemed to have ideas on who was responsible for her turning, and why, but she wasn’t very forthcoming with us.”

Stiles kept silent on that. He guessed Derek knew something, in fact Stiles could make a few guesses himself, but he didn’t know if involving hunters was a good idea at this point or not. Eventually, he could get Derek to include Chris if he had to, but not yet.

“I should go to her funeral.”

Derek nodded. “I’ll stay for it too.”

“Me and dad are going too. Stiles, maybe we could hang out sometime soon? Catch up?”

“Sure, that’d be great. Hey, you’d like my friend Lydia, the girl from yesterday. And Co-”

A look from Derek made him stop in the middle of the name, but Allison laughed. “I’ve met Cora Hale. We didn’t hit it off that well. No Hales like Argents.”

“Can you blame us?” Derek spat and Allison flinched.

“I guess not.”

“Damn, is it ten already?” Scott hurriedly gathered all of his things. “I promised I’d have the car back by the afternoon, shit, Stiles, I’ve gotta go. It was great seeing you dude. I feel bad rushing out like this.”

“Oh, you’re headed north? Can I hitch a ride with you for a little bit then?”

Scott stared at Allison again. “You want a ride? With me?”

“Sure. If you don’t mind, that is? We can share horror stories about what Stiles was like when he was twelve.”

“Hey!” Stiles exclaimed. “I was a delight, and you’re both better off from having known me, right Derek?”

“You’re the worst thing to ever happen to me. Drive carefully Scott. And watch out.”

“Watch out for what?”

Derek gave Allison a meaningful look and she rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. “I’m not my aunt, you know. You don’t have to like me, Alpha Hale, but you don’t need to try to prejudice other people against me either. That’s just rude. I’m a perfectly nice person.”

“Who walks around with poison in her pocket.”

Allison’s hand went to her pocket again. “That’s for self-defense. Can’t bring my crossbow into a crowded campus, now can I?”

“Scott.”

“I’ll watch out. Won’t give her a reason to hurt me.”

Stiles hugged him and ran his hand down Scott’s back to scent him. “Thanks for coming, Scott. I was fine, really, but…”

“I know, dude. We’ll see each other at Christmas, right?”

“Yeah of course.”

“Bye Derek.”

“Bye Scott. Take care of the others, okay?”

“Always do.”

“Come on, wolf boy,” Allison smiled. “Show me where you’re parked.”

Stiles watched them walk down the hall and right as they were about to turn the corner to the stairwell, he had to hold back a call to them to beg Scott to stay longer. He found Derek’s hand back on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “It’s not the same, leaving the pack behind to go to school, is it, as having them here and then leaving?”

Stiles shook his head quickly. “It’s not. I miss them. All of them.”

“Of course you do. They’re your pack.”

“Yeah but I’m not, you know… so I don’t feel the pack bonds like you guys do.”

“They’re still your pack. And we miss you too. Half the pack wanted to come down here when I left.”

“I was fine, Derek. You didn’t need to come.”

“For my sake, yes I did.”

There wasn’t really anything Stiles could say to that, so he closed his door and started rummaging around for a clean shirt.

“Are you ever going to tell me what your deal is with the Argents?”

He got changed and then looked at Derek, holding Stiles’ old shirt, looking as if he wanted to steal it. Stiles was sure some of his dirty laundry had followed Scott back to school too. Oh well, he had more clothes. Derek’s grip looked tight.

Stiles sat down on the bed. “Are you?”

Derek took several deep breaths and then sat down by Stiles’ desk, looking out of the window to the courtyard outside.

“She raped me.”

Did that feeling had a name, where you’re stepping over what you think is solid ground and then there’s just a hole under one of your feet? It should have a name, Stiles felt. The closest he could think of was a full bodied glottal stop.

“What?”

“Kate Argent.”

“I thought… you said she tried to kill your family. She and old man Argent.”

“They did, I… It was my fault.”

Stiles’ shirt had claw holes in them now, he could see it even from across the room.

“Okay.” He didn’t know what to say – Stiles always knew what to say.

Derek turned to look at him.

“I was sixteen. She and Gerard kept hanging around for different reasons, and mom didn’t have any reason to be suspicious. She was on good terms with them, like your mother was with Chris. She wouldn’t bring them home of course, but still, I met them when I was a kid a couple of times, and then one day…”

“When you were sixteen?”

“I was closer to fifteen when it started. I ran into Kate, she recognized me, I recognized her, and we started talking. Eventually, she started flirting.”

“Gross.”

Derek gave him a weak smile. “Yes. I knew you’d think so. But I didn’t. She was attractive, she made me laugh, she made me feel good about myself. At first. And after a little time, I was in love with her. I was crazy about her in fact. I pictured us having a real future together. I thought I was lucky to find my mate at sixteen. But then she started to change. Well, not actually. It felt that way to me at a time, but really, she was just exposing more sides of herself to me.”

“What happened?”

“She wanted to have sex of course. I didn’t feel ready. I told her that, and she didn’t take it well. And she was so pushy and aggressive that it made me even more uncomfortable, but eventually I gave in. I felt like I was killing the mood with her and if I didn’t give her what she wanted I didn’t get any intimacy at all from her, and I wanted that. But I was a minor, so statutory rape.”

“Sounds like it’d been rape even if you weren’t a minor!” Stiles interjected. “What a colossal bitch!”

Derek’s eyes looked suspiciously wet, and Stiles looked down on his hand to give Derek a chance to wipe his face on Stiles’ shirt. From the corner of his eye, he saw Derek keep his nose buried in it for a few minutes before he continued, with a raspy voice.

“It was a trick. She never cared about me. I told her one day I’d be home alone, and she came by. I was worried about her scent being all over the place and my mom would know, but Kate insisted. So I let her in, we had sex again, and then she left. Only she left something behind.”

“What was it?”

“A bomb. She was going to blow up our house with my entire family in it.”

That was enough for Stiles, and he was on his feet and wrapping his arms around Derek within seconds, holding Derek’s head to his chest.

“My mom found it in time, and I realized how dumb I’d been. I told her what had happened, and she took our pack’s best fighters to go after Kate. To bring her to justice, you know? But Kate, and Gerard, and some of their men fought back. They were killed. So was Peter’s wife and another one of my uncles. It was my fault.”

“No it wasn’t.” Stiles gave him his most determined face. It was not, and he wasn’t about to let Derek keep thinking that. Why would anyone let him think that? Stiles wanted to have a serious talk with Talia.

“You don’t have to do that, Stiles, plenty of people have been telling me that for years, but I know it was, despite what she did, and I also know a lot of my pack still blame me for it. I think mom does too, on some level. I don’t want to hear some platitude from you too. I know the truth.”

“You know you wouldn’t blame your sisters if it had been one of them.”

Derek shook his head. “But it wasn’t. And that’s it. That’s why I don’t like Argents, and why I don’t trust them, any of them. Even your friend Allison. And not Chris. I don’t want them near our pack, or you, or on our territory. Chris has respected that for the past two years.”

Without Chris, Stiles didn’t know how many people could’ve gotten hurt the other day, he thought, running his fingers through Derek’s hair. “He’s always been good to us.”

He paused but then continued. “But I won’t… I won’t call Chris again unless it’s life or death, okay? Are you sure he knew?”

Derek lifted his head to look him in the eye. “He did, I know it. He admitted that he’d known to my mom. Not about the bomb, but the rest.”

Stiles remembered Chris and Victoria bringing Alison to a barbeque to celebrate his dad’s birthday one year. Chris had been smiling and laughing with Stiles’ parents, and had helped Stiles, Carrie and Alison at the dessert table when they’d gone back for seconds. He did the quick math in his head. Stiles had been ten. It must have been around the same time. It felt impossible to reconcile the image of the friendly hunter with a man who could stand by while his sister raped a teenager and not act, and then… to come into their territory as if nothing was wrong between him and Derek, as if it was Derek’s job to just forgive and forget, without even an apology.

“I am sorry for what I said and did that day when they showed up with Hayden.”

“I don’t like people knowing this about me.”

Stiles nodded. Confidences came so easily without saying between them these days.

“I won’t talk to Chris again.”

“And Allison?”

He sighed. “She’s not even a hunter yet, and she can’t have known, but… no. I simply don’t need to be friends with her. I’m not going to go out of my way to avoid her, or be rude when I see her, but if it makes you feel better to not have any of them around our pack, Derek, I won’t seek her out.”

“Maybe she’s not like her family but please be careful? And tell Scott to be? Don’t let Scott fall too hard. And don’t let him bring her near any of the others.”

Stiles nodded. “I’ll tell him to be careful.”

He let go of Derek. “Thank you for telling me.”

Derek nodded too. “Thanks for listening. Finally, of course.”

“You’re so annoying, Alpha, you know that?”

Derek smiled. “And you’re an annoying brat. I guess that makes us even, huh?”

Stiles threw a shoe at him.

[Pack in Absentia]

[Carrie]

Scott who’s the babe in the photos with you?

[Isaac]

Her name is clearly tagged.

[Erica]

Scooooott

Whos the girlfriend?

[D.Hale]

Please don’t tell me.

[Scott]

Her names Allison!

Derek doesnt like her

But I do

And shes Stiles friend from Devenford so he likes her

And do we really listen to Derek more than we listen to Stiles?

[Isaac]

We should

Derek is alpha

[Stiles]

Sometimes you should listen to alpha

[Erica]

No we dont

[Carrie]

Thats Alison? I havent seen her in forever! She cut her hair!

Also speaking of Stiles

[Stiles]

Scott wants to keep her to himself

Don’t you Scott?

[Scott]

Shes coming up for a visit in a couple or weeks

Her dad wont let her visit me during fullmoons

[D.Hale]

Scott, no.

Don’t make me come over there

[Stiles]

And speaking of me what?

[Carrie]

Why are you kissing Lydia in that pic you posted?

[Stiles]

Thats not a text conversation.

[Erica]

OMG Are you fucking kidding me?

You and Lydia Martin?

Wth happen to Shitmore?

[Isaac]

Lydia was always way meaner than Shitmore

[Stiles]

Were sort of

Doing a thing

Together

Get with the times people

[D. Hale]

Are you happy or are you just getting laid?

[Stiles]

Thank you for asking Derek

I am both happy and getting laid.

Frequently

And thoroughly

Jackson has a big dick for someone who drives a Porsche.

[Carrie]

Well I am jealous. Here I am busting my ass off in school, too busy to date and Stiles gets both a girlfriend and a boyfriend

And Scott has a girlfriend all of a sudden

Sorry about that Isaac.

[Scott]

What?

[Isaac]

I have no idea what you mean.

[D. Hale]

Not that anyone asked

But we’re breaking ground on the Rohrs’ house next month

[Stiles]

High five!

[Carrie]

You’re such a looser

How did you get two partners that hot?

[Stiles]

Magic

Ollie met Derek at the door when he stumbled inside one night in late spring, but for once he wasn’t greeted with happy yapping and barking.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you don’t like it when I drink, but I was celebrating, okay? And you’re a big boy now, you can handle a night home alone. I’ll get your food.”

Ollie padded his feet in front of himself a couple of times and then lay down without a sound.

“You can stop judging me anytime.”

The dog blinked.

“You’re just like your other daddy, you know that?”

There might have been a bit too much aconite in those last couple of drinks. Not that Derek drank often, but Boyd and Jordan and Valerie had insisted on celebrating Derek’s five year anniversary as alpha of the Stilinski pack, and he hadn’t wanted to say no. Probably should have rejected at least some of the aconite. He’d have a headache tomorrow, for sure.

With Ollie fed, Derek flopped down on the sofa and turned on the TV to watch whatever stupid thing was on. Not that much later, tiny feet hopped up onto his belly and Ollie made himself comfortable on Derek’s chest with his nose buried into his armpit.

“Is that really comfortable?” Derek asked, scratching his ear. “Sorry I was out so late. Don’t tell Stiles.”

His phone chirped and he dug it out of his pocket, careful not to disturb Ollie. It was some pictures from Cora. Right. Stiles had a climbing competition that day, and Cora had gone to cheer him on. Derek frowned at the picture of Lydia and Jackson both kissing him on the cheeks though. He didn’t mind them, not really. Stiles had sounded cheerful on the phone for months now, and Stiles deserved to be happy. He didn’t have any objection to the throuple thing either; he’d seen stranger relationship combinations before, and he was happy that Stiles seemed to be with someone he liked, not just someone he thought would make a good alpha.

Maybe it was that Lydia and Jackson were in no way actually good enough for Stiles, in Derek’s opinion. At least Stiles wasn’t dating an Argent, unlike other pack. As soon as Scott came home for the summer, he and Derek were going to have words. As it was, he could only send Scott the emoji with the disapproving eyebrows Stiles downloaded for him regularly (“You say you won’t use it, Derek, but I bet you’ll find use for it in less than a week” – Derek hated when Stiles was right about dumb shit)

He chuckled at a picture of Stiles showing Cora how to grip one of the holds on the climbing wall and then scrolled to the next which turned out to be a short video.

It was Stiles up on the wall. The short one, the one he kept explaining was the boulder wall in one of the many conversations Derek had had with Stiles about climbing types and competition events. He was shirtless and hanging one-handed on the top hold, swinging back and forth a bit while the audience cheered. He somehow managed to get his foot on something Derek could barely see, and then finally got his other hand on the top hold too. The cheering grew louder, and Stiles jumped down and threw his arms up in the air in what seemed like victory.

Derek hit replay on the video. A comfortable and simultaneously deeply uncomfortable feeling was starting to spread through his stomach as he watched Stiles do those last moves again, seeing those new, firm muscles on his back and shoulders move underneath his lightly but evenly tanned skin. He jumped and there were the abs. Derek swallowed. He replayed the video again. He wondered if those muscles were part of the reason for Jackson and Lydia’s interest – not that there weren’t many, many reasons for someone to like Stiles. Did they like to caress his skin? Maybe trace the lines of his muscles with their tongues going further down and–

Stronger now, his wolf provided unhelpfully. More attractive. Better now.

No, Derek whispered back to it. We don’t want Stiles that way. That’s not what he needs from us.

He needs strong alpha. We’re strong alpha. Strongest alpha gets best mate.

Derek recoiled. He wasn’t supposed to become Stiles’ mate. That wasn’t the plan! And Stiles wouldn’t want him.

He hadn’t expected the feeling of despair in the pit of his stomach from that thought and his wolf whined inside him. It came as such a surprise that he flinched and sat up so quickly that Ollie had to dig his claws into Derek’s shirt to stay where he was; some of them dug into his skin too. He caught the pup before he could ruin Derek’s clothes completely on his slide downwards and stared at his phone as if it had bitten him. He clutched Ollie closer and picked it up to close the video.

Fine. Stiles was attractive. That wasn’t a surprise, Derek had always admitted Stiles was cute, hadn’t he? And he knew Stiles had been working hard at that climbing gym and climbing required muscles. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that he’d grown stronger. Muscles were attractive on a person. On most people. Braeden had muscles too; Derek liked those.

It didn’t mean anything. And, he reminded himself, despite how often he’d refer to them as the puppies of the pack, Stiles, and Scott and the rest of them weren’t children anymore. Stiles had turned 21; he was clearly an adult now. An attractive adult. Derek could admit that. It didn’t mean anything more than that. He hadn’t been attracted to a teenaged Stiles. Derek was not Kate.

Besides. He had Braeden now. Sure, she wasn’t his girlfriend, and she hadn’t been by in five weeks, working a job somewhere east, but she’d be back soon, and then they’d be together again.

But best mate, the wolf whined.

No, Derek told it. Just, no.

Chapter Text

[Best Buds Forever]

[Scott]

Stiles?

[Stiles]

What’s up?

[Scott]

About Alison

And Derek

He didnt tell me to break up but it feels weird now when I talk to him

[Stiles]

You know how he feels. And I know the story and I get it. I know its unfair to you bud. But hes the alpha. In the end you gotta make a choice, you know?

[Scott]

The girl or the pack?

[Stiles]

Nah

We’ll survive if you want to keep dating her

But things are gonna be weird

If you think shes worth it then shes worth it

Just dont bring her around BH

[Scott]

Alright.

I dont want things to be weird

[Stiles]

Yeah?

[Scott]

Yeah. Pack first. As long as you promise D has a very good reason.

[Stiles]

Promise.

Proud of you.

[Scott]

She was probably too cool for me anyway

[Stiles]

Youre too cool for her, buddy

Stiles put his phone into his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest trying to look everywhere but the clothing racks around him. Ha! Clothes. Little bit of lace strung together with tinier bits of silk. Not that he’d never looked at lingerie catalogues as a teenager, but that had been in private. Places like these had conventions to follow, and one of those was that you didn’t ogle the merchandise too openly. Or, the ladies trying them on.

Of course, he was there, specifically, to look at one, and Lydia came out of the dressing room in a sinfully sheer black teddy that hugged all her curves in all the right places.

“Well?”

“It looks fine, I guess.”

Her hands snapped to her hips, she cocked her head and clicked her tongue in her mouth. “Fine?”

“Alright, you look gorgeous. But what else is new? You always do. You look gorgeous when you’re asleep too, in case you were wondering. Even when you drool.”

“I do not drool in my sleep.”

“Okay then. Must have been snot.”

Lydia flipped her hair and Stiles caught more than one other woman nearby give her an admiring look – she was the most beautiful girl in the room after all, as with most rooms.

“Tell me what you think, Stiles.”

“I think it’s a little unfair that I have to help you pick it out and Jackson gets to be surprised with it.”

“I don’t trust his taste in lingerie. He bought me a yellow bra once.”

Stiles shrugged. “I’m not that great either. I just know I like it. Still. Unfair. Girls in sexy clothes should be a nice surprise.”

Lydia – and Stiles still woke up in the middle of the night wondering if he was dreaming at the thought that she was actually his girlfriend – came closer and leant against him, placing a kiss on his forehead. “Just because Jackson is the one to get the surprise doesn’t mean he’s the only one I’m planning on being nice to. It might be our anniversary, just the two of us, but you’re a part of this too now, and we want you there.”

Stiles swallowed and looked up into her eyes. Lydia Martin did not play fair and never had. “I’ll be there. But I don’t like you guys paying for me all the time. Can’t we eat somewhere affordable?”

Lydia pursed her lips slightly. “Not tonight. Jackson is paying and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make a big deal about it.”

“Fine. But I make the plans for our next date, and it’ll be the comic book store and hot dogs.”

Lydia shrugged. “I don’t mind doing the things you love, sweetie. Occasionally. Speaking of things people love, I also need you to be nice to Jackson.”

Stiles frowned. “Am I not nice to Jackson? I was very nice to his dick, just this morning.”

“You’re decent, but you’re both a little bit of an asshole, and today especially he wants to do something nice for you. But he’s gonna do it in his own way, and you know how he is, so can’t you please just go along with it and then you can bitch all you want to whatever werewolf will listen to you about your horrible and drop dead gorgeous boyfriend and girlfriend who like to spoil you. And we do, because we weren’t that nice to you when we were kids and now that you’re all grown up hot maybe we feel a little bad. We could have had such a fun threesome for popping your cherry.”

Stiles blushed despite himself and caught a snigger from somewhere behind him. Damn nosy people.

“Fine. I won’t complain, whatever it is. When are we meeting him?”

“We’re not. I’m getting my nails done and then my hair, and he’ll meet you at the food court in five minutes. But don’t eat, the place we’re going tonight is known for its chocolate desserts and I don’t want you to fill up on mall pretzels, okay?”

Sometimes, Stiles thought, dating Lydia and Jackson was like taking care of two glamorous and high-strung show animals. Sometimes it was like being herded around like one, but he obediently made his way to meet Jackson, hoping that whatever his plans were, they wouldn’t be too draining of his patience.

Jackson would never deign to eat at the mall food court, but he was holding two coffees from the nearby coffee shop and offered one to Stiles who accepted it and greedily stuck it under his nose to breathe it in.

“Thanks, the stench of perfume in that shop was intense.”

“You wouldn’t catch me dead in one of those places.”

“Lucky she won’t ask you. Apparently you have terrible taste.”

Jackson grinned. “Yeah. Real terrible, huh? Funny how that works, isn’t it?”

Stiles punched him in the arm. “Asshole.”

The grin widened. “It’s a nice asshole though.” He grabbed Stiles hand and pulled him along to – and Stiles tried not to sigh audibly, remembering what he’d promised Lydia – another boutique. Mannequins that looked like they could be background extras on an award show displayed not only men’s clothes Stiles would never buy even if he could – and he couldn’t – but also fancy watches and jewelry.

“Excuse me,” a nervous-looking shop clerk started on their way over to them, “you can’t have drinks in here!”

Stiles couldn’t help but notice that had been directed only at himself, but Jackson tugged on his hand and flashed the clerk a smile. “He’s with me, Sean.”

Oh, of course Jackson would be on first name basis with people who worked in a place like this.

“I’m sorry Mr. Whittemore, I didn’t see-“

“It’s cool. We’re cool, aren’t we, Stiles?”

Stiles shrugged. It wasn’t really, but if this was how Jackson wanted to spend their time, he wasn’t going to complain to his face. He’d promised Lydia.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Whittemore?”

Jackson sighed as if he was about to take on a very tiring and exhausting task. He gestured towards one of the mannequins. It was wearing tight jeans and a button-down shirt and a ridiculous scarf around its neck. “See that?”

He pointed to Stiles and tugged on his flannel shirt. “And see this? It’s my boyfriend, okay, but I mean, look?”

Sean the Shop Jerk looked like he was about to say exactly what he thought of Stiles’ clothes, but Jackson didn’t wait before he continued:

“Is there anyway, anyway at all, that we can find something that is at least halfway between these things? He doesn’t like his clothes being tight, but come on, right? Can we meet in the middle?”

Sean the Shop Jerk swallowed the words that undoubtedly had been about to come out of his mouth and plastered on a smile. “I’ll see what we can do.”

Stiles finished his coffee quickly and demonstrably put his empty cup on a table of dark wood nearby, hoping it would stain. Jackson wasn’t looking at him, but Stiles snaked an arm around his waist and kissed the back of his ear. “You are such an asshole.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t. You’re the biggest asshole.”

“I’m an asshole who’ll be fucking yours later so just try something on, will you?”

Stiles laughed and accepted the four pairs of jeans Sean the Shop Jerk was handing over. “It’s Lydia’s turn to top, sorry buddy.”

[Pack in Absentia]

[Stiles]

I made it back!

My poor baby broke down on the highway and it took forever to get help. This is going to be expensive to fix

[D. Hale]

Need help?

[Stiles]

No, I think itll be fine.

I got word back on that part time job.

[D. Hale]

As long as you don’t forget to study

[Stiles]

Who do you think I am?

Am I not Stiles Stilinski the unconquerable with the near perfect GPA?

[D.Hale]

My mistake

[Erica]

If pretty Lydia and hot Shitmore dont make him forget to do his homework nothing will

In case anyone is wondering me and the girls have also arrived safely

It was a nice Christmas though

[Stiles]

Last time going back after it!

[Carrie]

Except for those of us with higher expectations

[Erica]

I dont envy you one bit

Im taking my degree and then I’m running back home

Ive decided to seduce Boyd so I can share his apartment when its finished

[D.Hale]

Excuse me?

Does he know about this?

[Stiles]

That Erica is going to seduce him?

I assume she told him she would

[Erica]

I did

He said: Cool.

I didnt tell him well be getting married though. I figure he should get at least some surprises that dont include my piercings and where they are

[D.Hale]

…

Okay.

Have a good first week back in school then.

Pack misses you all already.

Derek put his phone away in his pocket and lifted up one end of the beam as Kincaid took the other.

“Last house then. That’ll be good, won’t it?”

Derek nodded. “Nice to get some of our free time back. We can start building some extra houses next year if we want to, once we have a clearer view of what else we need to prepare for.”

They carried the beam over to the last plot. All of the individual houses were finished, circling the middle lawn, and there was only the last apartment building left. For now. He looked around the area. It was starting to look like a neighborhood, and a nice neighborhood at that. They had joggers every morning, coming in from the main road, jogging around the circle of lawn and then back out, and Derek wasn’t the only one who’d been getting compliments on how well the place looked. There was another plot of land for sale on the other side of town, and he was in talks with interested land developers about building something similar over there to what they had created on the pack lands. Derek hadn’t ever thought of himself as having any other role than drawing individual buildings, but it had been fun getting to see the entire thing grow from that first conversation with Stiles into a comfortable place for families to raise their children. For their pack.

Almost everyone lived here now that Melissa had gotten her house sold. Boyd was looking forward to having a place of his own in the new apartment building, and Tara was still waiting on hers, after far too many years in an old high-rise downtown. And then there was Derek, and, when he was home for summer and Christmas, Stiles, who still lived in the old Stilinski home. Stiles still hadn’t expressed any wish for building a new alpha house.

Derek supposed he could move into one of the empty apartments if Stiles wanted the house to himself when he graduated in a few months, but realized with a start that the clock running out on Stiles’ college experience also meant the clock running out on Derek’s time as alpha. Soon he could be going home to Sacramento and his old pack. To be ignored and undervalued by his family like he always had been. He shoved that thought aside for now. It was his job to fill the role of second, and that was it.

But first he had to finish the pack neighborhood. It’d be his gift to them, a legacy to ensure they’d remember him when he was gone.

The library was supposed to be quiet, Stiles grumbled to himself as he shoved some books aside to make room for the latest returns. People tended to think that because they were talking in low voices, it wouldn’t bother anyone, but when hundreds of people whispered, creaked in their chairs and received constant notifications on their phones, it was becoming harder and harder for him to tune it out.

He sighed as his phone buzzed in his pocket. Again. At least his was muted – like it was supposed to be in a goddamn library.

The thing about having both a girlfriend and a boyfriend, that frankly no one had warned Stiles about, was that while there was always one other person to help do the emotional work, there was also twice as much emotional work to do.

Well. There would be twice as much if Lydia and Jackson were normal people instead of demanding super models who needed him all the time. Sometimes, Stiles felt like the emotional support for an entire harem.

He didn’t mind being needed. He minded somewhat when they needed him in the middle of a class, or his job at the library, or when he was about to start a new boulder at the gym, or when he was hanging out with one of his other friends. But being needed was frankly what Stiles, far away from his pack, craved now and then too.

But he was at work right now, and Jackson could text him all he wanted freaking out over his course load; Stiles would not check his phone until his break in seventy-five minutes.

He was shelving books on engineering when he noticed them. They were hard to miss for a number of reasons.

They were hot, there were two of them and they were identical. And they were looking directly at him, with varying degrees of interest.

Stiles pretended he hadn’t noticed them but did his best to flex his muscles just a little bit while lifting books to the top shelf, and to give them a nice view when he bent down to the lowest one. Couldn’t hurt to flaunt it, right?

Far too quickly to be entirely human, one of the handsome twins was next to him, holding out a book.

“Hi. You’re Stiles, right?”

“I am. Can I help you find something?”

The twin was cute, and tall, and very much Stiles’ type, but not the kind of guy who’d hit on him like this, unless… the guy blinked alpha red eyes at him quickly and Stiles turned away.

“Does Alpha June know there’s another alpha in her territory?”

“Two.” The other twin was on Stiles’ other side now and flashed his red eyes too.

“Oh?” That did have Stiles a little stumped. “Both of you? How did that happen?”

“That’s not important.”

“It is, actually. What do you want then?”

The first twin smiled. “You?”

“That’s not really how these things work.”

“No?” the other twin said. “Do we need permission from someone else? We understood that was only when you were still a minor. And you’re clearly no longer a minor.”

Stiles smiled to himself at the thought of sending these two guys to Jackson and Lydia to obtain permission to date Stiles. That wasn’t their deal though; the deal was he could go on three dates with a prospective alpha without telling them, but after the third they needed to have a chat. He shrugged. It wasn’t like that relationship didn’t have an expiration date anyway.

“We start with your names. Then you ask politely for a date which I grant you once I’ve checked who you are and if you’re safe. We then go on a date somewhere public where you act respectfully and actually answer my questions, and I tend to have a lot of them, and if I then decide I never want to see you again, you disappear. And in none of that do I agree to date two brothers. That’s practically incestuous, and gross. Who does that?”

The first twin smiled wider. “Aiden here is just backup in case you didn’t like me. I’m the one asking you out. And I’m fine following your rules, Stiles. My name is Ethan.”

Stiles gave him a careful look. He didn’t usually turn the prospective alphas down at first sight, but this wasn’t a prospective alpha, this was already an alpha. And somehow, his brother was one too. Stiles had dealt with far too many people who wanted to combine packs, and he wasn’t interested in that. Alphas had big egos too. They could get dangerous if they didn’t get what they wanted.

“I don’t think so.”

Ethan still smiled. “Alright. Well, Aiden and I will be around for a few weeks. Let me give you my number and you can call or text if you change your mind.”

Stiles sighed. “Fine. But I won’t. I hardly ever do.”

He was handed a card – who had freaking cards these days – with Ethan’s full name and number, and put it in his pocket. Then he nodded meaningfully to his book cart and the twins left.

The second apartment building was finished and ready at the end of march, and Boyd wasted no time picking one of the units on the top floor and moving his things in.

“I’ve never lived anywhere without my mom and Alicia,” he told Derek one day when Derek was helping him move a couch up the stairs to the apartment.

“I remember it feeling weird too,” Derek said. “At least you’re only moving across the street, right?”

“Yeah, and I’m told I have to come home every other day or Alicia will come force me. She insisted on having her own key too.”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound good, for all you know she’ll be bringing dates over when you’re not home.”

“Don’t remind me of her age, please. And in any case, she’s still waiting for Stiles to notice her.”

Derek laughed. “He wouldn’t. She’s too young for him.”

Boyd lowered his end of the couch to the floor. “Yeah?”

“Six years is a lot.”

“At that age, yes, of course. But six years isn’t that much, really, is it? I mean, not if they were both adults, right?”

Derek put down his end of the couch too. In forbidden moments, he’d been thinking about a different six year age gap lately, but realized that, maybe, so had Boyd.

“I wasn’t talking about you and Erica. That’s very different. For one thing, you haven’t known Erica since she was a little kid.”

Boyd shrugged. “Nothing’s happened.”

“Except for her telling you it will. Doesn’t sound like she’s planning on giving you much choice there.”

“She will. She’s got a lot of self-esteem issues buried inside her still. I can tell. So she hides it behind confidence and provocative clothing. She’s special though. I wouldn’t mind if something happened there. Or I didn’t, until I learnt my alpha thought six years was robbing the cradle even when both parties are in their twenties.”

“I can see you together,” Derek offered. “But I can’t really see Stiles and Alicia.”

“No, I can’t either,” Boyd admitted, but he gave Derek a slow and careful look. “Thanks for the help by the way. Everyone else is helping Tara move her things. We should go too, now that this is done.”

“They’ll be here soon,” Derek said, checking his phone. For Boyd’s things they’d just carried them across the street, but Tara had rented a truck. There had been an update a little while ago in their group chat about it being full, and they’d be arriving soon to unload it.

“It’s nice getting the whole pack in the same place,” Boyd said on the way out. “When are we building Stiles’ house?”

“When he decides on one. I don’t think he’s ready to get rid of his parents’ old place yet. And I won’t rush him. I can always come back and build him a house later on.”

“Come back?”

“Yeah, when I’m not alpha anymore. When you’ve got a new one. Sacramento isn’t that far away.”

Boyd stopped in the middle of a step, right as the truck came rolling down the street. “Oh. Right. Of course.”

Tara and Tracey hopped out of the truck and the rest followed in their cars.

“Did you get everything?” Derek called and waved.

“We did, but had to use some of our cars. Agnes and Alicia got started on cleaning. Let’s get this stuff in, and then we can order some food. Moving makes me hungry.”

Tara had chosen the bottom unit on the opposite side of the building from Boyd, and she looked beyond pleased to see her furniture and things moved in one by one into her new home.

This was the last. No one was paying rent anymore, no one was paying a mortgage, and in a couple of years, a decade at the most, they’d have the loan their little corporation had been granted paid off in full. This would be so good for the pack. Derek wished Stiles was there to see it.

No, he shook that thought from his head. He wished his mother was there to see it. He could do this for them too. Lobelia had expressed an interest in him coming for a visit to take a look at her pack’s neighborhoods to see if something like it would be suitable for the June pack too. Yeah, he could invite Talia at the same time, so she’d see how useful Derek could be. And she’d finally, actually, be proud of him.

They got everything inside in less than an hour, and Derek offered to go get Alicia and Agnes and then pick up pizza for everyone who stayed to help Tara unpack. She only had one day off from work to get this done, and it was already late in the day.

Tara used to live in a high-rise downtown, on the tenth floor, and Derek had heard her complain many times of how much she hated it. She was far too high above ground, and the entire building was surrounded by concrete and brick buildings and asphalt. The nearest patch of grass was half a mile away. Derek shook his head as he drove down the streets of Beacon Hills. It was still a dirty town, frequently vandalized and with many empty storefronts downtown. He could accept that there wasn’t much a werewolf pack could do about the last thing, but they ought to do more for their territory. The town could be such a nice place if more people helped clean it up.

His brain was busy planning how to convince his pack to donate their free time for something that wouldn’t directly benefit them, when he cast an eye on the darkening sky in front of him.

It was tinted red and full of smoke. And it was coming from Tara’s old place. The middle of the tall building was on fire, and people were streaming out of it carrying their children and pets and stupid possessions, but screaming and crying wafted down from the higher floors. Someone was even trying to climb down going from balcony to balcony.

Derek tried to remember if Tara’s apartment had a balcony, but he didn’t think so, it was just a studio. He looked around and searched for his pack bond to Agnes and Alicia and found them both alive and nearby, but the terror from Alicia’s bond overwhelmed his senses to the point where he could barely hear the sound of sirens in the background as he forced his way into the building through the throngs of people leaving it.

The first few floors were okay, but around the fourth the stairwell started filling with smoke. Derek pulled the collar of his Henley up over his mouth to keep from inhaling too much smoke and kept climbing the stairs. His heart ached from the screams he could hear on the floors he passed, but he needed to find his pack mates, nothing else could matter right now. He burst out of the stairwell on what he hoped was the right floor and called out their names. The floor was ruptured here and there and a passing thought told Derek there must have been an explosion of some sort; he couldn’t imagine Agnes and Alicia not being out already if it had been an apartment fire; they’d have been able to smell it and react before it got too bad, or they’d be busy helping other people out. Tara had mentioned trying to help some of her neighbors who she’d suspected of cooking meth in their apartment, so that could explain the sudden damage. And this building was old. The fire was spreading fast. He called their names again.

“Derek,” he heard a faint cough from far down the hallway and made his way there. He could barely see through the smoke and the smell filled most of his sense of smell, but he found her anyway. Tara’s apartment was empty now, but Alicia seemed to have been thrown through a wall into another unit.

“I’m here,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her thin frame. Her hair and some of her clothes had burnt off already and she was coughing terribly. “You need to shift. You need to shift so your healing can start. Come on, Alicia, I know you can do it.”

“I don’t know where mom is. She was right next to me, but then…”

“I’ll find her, I promise. She’s still alive, I know, but she’d kill me if I didn’t get you out of here first. But you need to shift now, Alicia, because we might have to pass humans further down, and I need you to try and heal a little bit. Smoke will kill you otherwise.”

She coughed again but scrunched up her face and shifted. Some of the burns on her arms and face healed up right away, but the heat in the room was oppressive now and he pulled off his shirt. It had burns too, but he hadn’t even noticed them.

“Put your face into this and try to breathe through the fabric as much as you can. Come on now, let’s go.”

“Mom…”

“I will find her. You first.”

She leaned on him on their way back to the stairwell and Derek felt his heart sink in his chest when he saw that the fire from the lower levels had spread further. They’d have to jump through that. It would hurt, but he needed to get Alicia further down.

The stairwell was a sea of fire when they reached the seventh floor.

“You have to climb up on my back,” he told her and helped her up. “Hold on tight and try not to choke me, okay?”

Derek waited until he felt the grip of her knees around his waist and her arms around his neck and then got a running start. He jumped down one staircase into the raging fire and turned to jump down the next one as fast as he could, and then two more. If he’d counted correctly, they’d be on the fifth floor now. That might still not be low enough, so he sprinted down one more level. There was plenty of smoke, but no fire here – not yet. Determined to do this fast, Derek burst through an apartment door – who locked their door when the building was on fire seriously – and found a window to the back of the building. He broke the window glass and swung Alicia down.

“Honey, I need you to jump here, okay. Just get down. I don’t know how the lower floors are doing. It’s just four floors; you can handle that. Try to use your claws against the building to slow yourself down and then get as far away as you can to heal and then get to my car. My phone is in there. Call the pack. Don’t show yourself or people will ask questions we can’t answer. Got it?”

Alicia nodded, shifted back to human, but brought her claws out.

“You’ll find mom?”

“I will. I promise I’ll find her.”

His heart swelled with pride when she followed his instructions directly, but he didn’t stay to make sure she got down. He had to go through the fire and the smoke again to get back to the tenth floor. It was possible Agnes was on a different level, but Derek had to assume she was injured somewhere and hadn’t been able to heal properly by herself.

Still, he called her name and checked in with their pack bond as he climbed up the stairs again. It was there, but faint, and growing fainter by the second. There were considerably fewer screams and cries this time, and he tried not to think too hard about why that was, but no response from Agnes. The fire leapt up at him several times and he had to force himself to keep going, to get to his pack mate and get her out of this.

“Agnes!” he called when he reached what he thought was the tenth floor, but he was even less sure this time. The smoke was thick and without the shirt this time he could feel it all the way into his lungs. Derek shifted, just in case it would help him, and he could feel his body’s healing kick in. He doubted it would be enough though, if he couldn’t find Agnes fast enough. A werewolf could heal from most things, but if his body didn’t have time to heal from the damage to his lungs before he inhaled more of it, it would still kill him.

“Agnes!” he shouted again, his eyes wet from irritation and his throat dry. He needed water. He needed air. Damnit, he needed help. He needed to find Agnes. She’d been so good to him in the beginning when he hadn’t known what to do, supportive and encouraging. And Alicia was still just sixteen; she needed her mother. And Boyd too, though he might not admit it. Derek needed to find Agnes for them as well as for her own sake.

There was a loud rumble from the floor above.

It came crashing down.

He became aware of the crackling sounds of fire raging around him.

He was aware of meat cooking. It smelt a little like bacon. It’s you, a voice whispered in the back of his brain. It didn’t sound like his wolf’s voice.

His wolf screamed. It didn’t often vocalize things; it was the voice of Derek’s instincts and subconscious after all, and it didn’t need to say things in words for Derek to perceive the message, but right now, it was screaming in agony and Derek felt confused.

Derek smelled delicious. A little overdone perhaps?

Fire was everywhere. There was so much heat in the air, he could feel every bit of oxygen be full of fire.

His lungs were on fire. And then they healed. And then they’d burn again. Over and over, more and more damaged each time.

He blinked. Good. His eyelids hadn’t melted. He was on his stomach. Somewhere. Rubble and flames were everything he could see in front of him – no there was something else. It was a shape, also on the floor, its head turned towards him, eyes dead and unseeing.

“Agnes” he tried to say, but maybe his tongue was on fire. Maybe he didn’t have enough air left to breathe out and form sounds. Maybe he was dead already too and his brain just hadn’t caught up yet? That would explain the shouting he could hear now too – surely there was too much fire for anyone else to be alive here? The building would fall down soon, if it hadn’t already. But no, there was someone. It was a familiar voice, and it was calling for him. He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see the dead body, in case it was her.

Maybe it was his grandfather. They always said, didn’t they, that your first alpha was who would wait for you when you died, to help you find your way to the afterlife? Derek hadn’t believed in any afterlife. It was a nice thing to be proven wrong about.

A hand was suddenly at his neck, fingers looking for his throat.

“Derek,” a voice said, and some of the heat disappeared from Derek’s skin. “I’ll get you out of here.”

“Agnes,” Derek tried to get out again, and this time a gurgling noise made it past his lips.

“She’s gone, Derek. But you’re not. Come on.”

The hands gripped him but quickly let go after a litany of courses, and then he was picked up bridal style instead. Whoever this was, was strong, and Derek’s wolf sighed in relief. Pack.

In this grip, the heat grew less and less, and he dared to open his eyes again. Oh. Of course. Hell hound. Jordan. Derek passed out.

The wall was a bland, blank sea of taupe. A suspiciously red and small stain near the alarm button told tales of how other people had felt sitting in this chair, and Stiles stared straight ahead at it from his position against the opposite wall. Next to him on one side, Cora clutched his hand, and Scott slept with his head against Stiles’ shoulder on the other. He’d owe Cora money for plane tickets, but he owed her even more for offering as soon as Stiles had felt the bond snap. They’d made it to the airport before they learnt Cora should be going too. He glanced over to where Boyd sat with Alicia curled up next to him. He’d been her age when he lost his mom too. At least he could offer empathy and understanding. Later. When they knew what was going on with Derek.

“Do they know what happened?” Carrie asked a little further down the hallway, cuddled up in one seat with Lorilee, and their parents on either side of them.

“Meth lab exploded,” Tara said. “I knew I should’ve done something about that, I could smell it every time they passed me in the lobby. This was my fault.”

“We never should’ve left Agnes and Alicia there,” Tracey said. “Why did we? We all should’ve helped with the cleaning and then left the building together. We’d have been done before the explosion in that case.”

“We don’t know that”, Jordan added. “Anything could’ve have changed. Or we’d all been killed.”

“And it’s better that it’s just Agnes?” Tracey snapped. “She was a wonderful woman and a good friend to us all. And she always did all the paperwork, even though that’s the worst part of any job.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Jordan continued but Stiles had had enough.

“It’s no one’s fault. There was no way any one of us could’ve known what would happen, and there’s no use in considering what-ifs. It’s a sad, sad thing that happened, but I won’t have you all trying to beat each other at feeling sad, alright, because that game has no winners.”

Cora straightened next to him. “Mom is here.”

“Already? Didn’t you say she was in New York?”

“She was. But she’s here now.”

And that she was; Talia Hale walked past the waiting room with Peter in tow, and a young woman Stiles had no problem guessing the name of rushed in to hug Cora.

“I can’t believe this happened, have you heard anything? Is he alright?”

“He’ll be okay,” Stiles answered instead. “Jordan got him out, and he said the healing had already started by the time they got out of the building.”

“You’re Stiles.”

“And you’re Laura. And somewhere in this hospital, Derek’s head is imploding because I met more of his family members.”

Laura laughed. It came out a hollow echo of her brother’s. Derek had a nice laugh. Would he be too hurt to laugh again? Oh, Laura was talking.

“Mom will want to talk to you. Who was Jordan again?”

“I am.” Jordan raised his hand.

“Right. You’re the hell hound. Was anyone else hurt?”

“We lost my mother,” Boyd said in a low voice. “Derek was trying to save her.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I remember her. She was nice.”

“They have people working here in the hospital,” Cora told her sister. “Some humans, they’ve been able to keep the damage under wraps for now. We need to get him out of this place though, or humans are going to notice how Derek is healing way too fast.”

“Mom will take care of that. We can take him home with us. He’ll be closer to family, that’ll help him heal.”

“Take him home?” Stiles repeated. “What? He needs to be with his pack.”

“We were his pack first. And we’re blood, that’s more important than pack bonds.”

“No it’s not, not at all. He’s our alpha, and he needs to be with us. And we need him here too.”

There were nods and assents from the pack in the waiting room and Laura looked suddenly unsure. “Mom said…”

“I’ll talk to her,” Stiles interrupted and went to look for Alpha Hale. He found Talia in a conversation with Dr. Geyer, and didn’t hesitate to walk up to them.

“Any news?”

“Stiles, there you are. I was just telling Alpha Hale here that I think Derek will wake up soon, but that will look suspicious to the rest of the staff, so decisions need to be made right away.”

“We’ll take him back to the house,” Stiles said. “And we’ll all sleep over and take turns being by his side so he has pack around him all the time, and the wolves can steal his pain whenever he needs to. There, that’s the plan. We need a Hale to sign him out and you and Melissa can help cover the paperwork, right?”

Dr. Geyer glanced at Talia and Stiles fought the urge to roll his eyes. Geyer did that sometimes; deferring to who would be in charge of an entirely human situation. But this wasn’t a human situation and Derek’s mother or not, when it came to werewolves, she was another alpha, not a pack mate.

“Stiles, it’s good to meet you properly,” Talia said turning her attention to him. It was a little intimidating, but Stiles could also tell she’d spent so much time having others think she was intimidating that she’d started to automatically bank on it. He wasn’t having it, and pulled himself up to his full height. It made him half an inch taller than her.

“Alpha Hale.”

“You’ve grown a lot since last I caught a look at you.”

“It’s been a while, yes.”

“Stiles, I want to take my son home with me. He was supposed to be here until you graduated college, and you only have this term left now, correct?”

“That wasn’t exactly the deal we made, but yes.”

“Well, there’s not that much left for Derek to do then, is there? He can handle his alpha duties from our home in Sacramento, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find a mate soon to replace him, a handsome and clever young man like you. And I also know that Derek very much wants to come home to us as soon as he can. You can understand that, can’t you? I want what’s best for him.”

Stiles swallowed the words on his lips. Of course he could understand. And Derek had said as much himself, hadn’t he? That he wanted to go home? And there Stiles was, rejecting candidates left and right, dating people he knew for sure wouldn’t be good alphas instead. He was being selfish. And Derek had been suffering from it. He blinked at Talia and tried to get his heart beat under control, but her sad smile let him know that hadn’t worked at all.

“I.. of course I don’t want to keep Derek from his family, Alpha Hale. But can’t we at the very least wait until he wakes up so he can decide for himself?”

And what if Derek wanted to go home? What if he admitted that Stiles was the one whose pickiness and selfishness kept Derek from doing what he really wanted; becoming a hot shot architect in Sacramento and helping his old pack. He was never even supposed to have been here in the first place!

“Stiles,” Peter said, “I think we both know that Derek has a strong sense of duty. He would never abandon this pack without a new alpha in place.”

“Which isn’t a bad thing.”

“True, that’s not a bad thing at all. But it also means that letting Derek choose for himself when you know he won’t choose his own happiness isn’t fair to him.”

“And neither is not listening to him and not respecting his choices.”

Stiles crossed his arms over his chest and looked them in the eye, one after the other. He couldn’t budge on this. He needed Derek to stay, but if Derek said he wanted to leave, he’d live with it and find a way to fall in love with the next werewolf he met, even if they were really unsuitable as the alpha of the Stilinski pack. If, and only if, Derek said so.

“Very well,” Talia said. “We’ll let Derek decide. Dr. Geyer?”

“You need to move Derek in either case. If you can get someone in here to pretend to be some sort of specialist, Melissa and I can handle the rest, but we might need to get our hands on an ambulance to make it look real.”

Stiles did not like the look Talia sent him one bit. So what if he needed her to arrange those things? That didn’t make her right.

“It’s already on the way” Peter said with a look at his phone. “An hour, tops.”

“You’d better come in then, to sit by him and make sure he looks unconscious until it arrives.”

“Perhaps just the family for now?” Talia asked, and Stiles didn’t like that look either and simply walked to the room he thought Derek would be in without a look back. She could play whatever games she wanted to; Stiles was going to see Derek and hear it from his own lips if he wanted to leave them.

He could’ve been asleep for an hour. Or maybe a year. It must have been close to a year, because he was starving and parched and everywhere was hurting. He couldn’t open his eyes properly; something was in the way.

“Stay still,” a voice said to his right and he recognized it as Stiles. Stiles was here. Good. Stiles would tell him what to do. Stiles always told him what to do.

“Alpha Hale has arranged transport back to the house,” a voice that sounded like Melissa said on his other side.

Alpha Hale? But Derek was Alpha Hale. Maybe he had died, and his spark had passed to Cora. Maybe she was the alpha of the pack now. He searched for the pack bonds, but didn’t find Cora. He could find everyone else though – or was there someone missing? – and they were all of them close. Stiles was close. Good. Stiles would tell him what to do.

“Alpha Hale is being very useful,” Stiles said, but he sounded mad. What had Derek done now?

Right. Agnes. He couldn’t save Agnes. No wonder Stiles was angry. Claudia probably could’ve found both Alicia and Agnes and got them out of there safely. Claudia probably could’ve done it standing on her head, or backwards and in heels.

“Alpha Hale?” he whispered.

“Your mom is here. You’re in the hospital. There’s a bandage over your face, that’s why you can’t open your eyes. They had to cover you up as much as possible. You’re going to be fine though, Derek.” A hand squeezed Derek’s, but he couldn’t feel the skin-to-skin contact. Either Derek’s skin was destroyed, or there were bandages there too.

A door opened in the room, and he heard steps approaching fast. He’d know both his mom’s and Peter’s footsteps anywhere, and he could smell them too. And then there were hands on his other side, but he couldn’t feel that properly either.

“Derek, sweetheart,” Talia said on his right. “I’m so happy you’re awake. Can you speak properly?”

“Derek, I know you’re hurt and all, but you’re going to heal real soon. Your mom is insisting she wants to take you home, but I need you to let us know what you want. You’re an adult after all, but she’s listed as your emergency contact, and she’s the closest kin. We’re going back to the house first though, so you can think it over on the way and then decide later.”

“It will be easier for him to heal with us around.”

“No, because he’s not in your pack anymore. It’ll be easier for him to heal with his current pack around. But it doesn’t matter what you or I say, Alpha Hale, because it’s up to Derek.”

Stiles sounded tired, and annoyed, and patted Derek’s hand. “No one is going to take Derek away without his permission.”

“I think Stiles is right,” Laura said somewhere to Derek’s left. When had she come inside? He’d missed it. His senses must be off from the fire. Maybe he could smell Cora if he tried hard enough?

God the fire. It had been so unbearably hot. Had his skin melted?

“Alicia?” he managed to get out.

“She’s fine now, physically, and Erica has already found a shop that can get her a wig for a while.” Stiles squeezed his hand. “She’s happy you made it. But you know she’s going to feel weird about it for a while.”

Derek tried to nod, but it was hard to move. He hoped his spine was intact.

“Jordan?”

“Not a scratch or burn, which caused some questions when he got you out of there, but the pack managed to cover for it.”

“I can barely move, Stiles.” The words escaped him cracked and broken by a sob Derek hadn’t realized had been hiding in his throat.

“Don’t worry about that right now, it’s mostly the bandages being tight, but you need to heal a lot of nerve endings and muscles, and your body is more concerned about other things right now.”

“My lungs don’t feel right.”

“Like that, yeah.”

“Alright then,” Talia said, and she sounded mad too. Everyone was mad at him today. “We’ve got the ambulance here, and Marin is using her credentials to get you out of here. Let’s hope no one checks them too closely and finds out she’s a psychologist and not a burn specialist.”

“We’ll get you home now, Derek, and you can shift and start to heal properly,” Stiles said. “Pretend like you’re unconscious and don’t make a sound.”

“Okay.”

Derek didn’t think Stiles had ever given him an instruction that was easier to follow than that. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to be wheeled out of the hospital and into an ambulance, and not that much later, helped inside the house.

The entire pack was there, he could feel that, and he could smell his family. And Stiles was next to him the entire time. He couldn’t verbalize why that was important, but it felt easier having him there. Backup, in case decisions needed to be made, he guessed.

And finally, Dr Geyer carefully took off some of the bandages around his head.

Derek could admit he’d been concerned about his eyes. It had been so hot, and they’d been open for a while. But he blinked a couple of times, and they seemed fine. At first. He realized quickly that things weren’t as sharp as they had always been.

“From everything I’ve learnt about werewolf healing,” Dr Geyer said with a smile, “your senses might not be as heightened for a little while. Congratulations, Derek, you’re about to find out what it’s like to be human. Or as close as you’re ever likely to get.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Stiles said. “I often thank my lucky stars that I can’t smell sweaty shoes like you can, for one thing. And then there’s how rice smells when it cooks. Wouldn’t want to have that amplified. And you can sleep much better now too with weaker hearing.”

“That’s something. Can we get the rest of these bandages off?”

Ollie nudged his bandaged hand and gave it a tentative lick and a whine before settling down with his head on Derek’s lap. Petting him would feel so nice right now, burying his fingers in the soft fur around Ollie’s neck, scenting him and getting the dog’s scent back on Derek’s skin. He didn’t smell like anyone at all right now, and it was deeply unsettling.

“Not yet,” Melissa said. “The burns on your head haven’t healed as well as we thought they would by now, and we might need to change them all before you go to bed, so let’s wait as long as we can with that.”

“I’m tired,” Derek confessed. “What time is it even? It was late when the fire started.”

“It’s about lunchtime,” Boyd said. “I’ll get something started.”

“No, no,” Orric said with a hand raised. “I’ll do it. You sit.”

“Maybe we’d better settle things first,” Talia said and sat down next to Derek. “Derek, sweetie, don’t you think it would be best if you came home now? Stiles is almost done with school, after all, and it might be good for you to be home from now on.”

“We don’t want you to go, Derek,” Stiles said. “But if that’s what you think is best for you, given what just happened, then we’ll understand. I’ll try to have a new alpha picked out in a few months, and then you can cut ties completely. But that’s only if that’s what you want.”

Derek looked at Stiles carefully. He was running his hands through his hair and down the back of his neck, fiddling with his clothes and kept awkwardly gripping his hands.

“I promised I’d stay until you fell in love with the right person, Stiles.”

“Yes, but…”

“No, I promised. If you already had someone here and ready it’d be different perhaps, but I promised. That was our deal. I’m not going back on our deal. Sorry mom.”

Talia’s lips curled in disappointed and she immediately rose to her feet. “I’m sorry to hear that Derek. I think Laura and Cora would like to stay with you a couple of days, if they may, but Peter and I should be going back to Sacramento. We had a meeting we had to cut short, and we have some bruised egos to stroke as a result.”

She kissed him on the cheek and patted the other to scent him, and suddenly Derek felt like he was five years old, wanting his mommy to stay with him when he was sick. Talia had been a busy woman then too.

“Derek,” Peter scented him too. “I’m glad you survived, nephew. Let us know if you need anything at all.”

And Peter. When Derek was very little and his werewolf immune system hadn’t developed as much, and before Peter had married and had Malia, Peter would come into his room on the rare occasions that Derek was sick or hurt, and do one-man theatre shows to make him feel better and read stories and do all the voices, and Derek had loved it, and he didn’t know how to ask for it now, at the age of 28 and with a pack of his own, whom he felt probably wouldn’t laugh outright if they found their alpha acting childish and needy, but definitely would think less of him and he didn’t want that.

At least Laura and Cora would stick around. And the pack would. His pack. Derek’s pack. He let himself sink back into the sofa cushions and just dwell on the pack bonds, feeling their energy feeding into his, helping him heal. He didn’t need to think much about it, but with a quick shift he could feel his body starting to fix something deep inside of him that didn’t feel quite right yet. Stiles ran his hand down Derek’s bandaged arm and that made it even better.

“More,” he said, and despite Melissa and Dr Geyer’s protests, pried the bandages off of his hands so he could scent Stiles back, and then everyone’s hands were on him, one after the other, his pack, and then his sisters, and even Deaton was there.

“Alright,” Dr. Geyer said. “We’ll get him upstairs, change the bandages, and then I think we can let Alpha here get sleep.”

“I’m glad you’re staying,” Stiles whispered later, when Derek was in bed with various members of the pack getting ready to nap around him. “I won’t take too long, I promise, but I’m glad you didn’t leave right away now. We need to grieve Agnes together first, I think.”

Derek nodded and glanced at Alicia and Boyd who were getting comfortable on the bed next to him. They needed their alpha now, more than ever.

Maybe he should call Veronica? Stiles got news of her now and then from Lobelia, and he knew she still wasn’t planning on coming back to California anytime soon, but maybe he could convince her?

Who else was there? He went through the list of alpha candidates he’d been on dates with over the past few years, but despite the added pressure, it was hard to muster up any excitement for spending the rest of his life with any of them, or to have them as his alpha. They simply weren’t good enough.

But who was? People kept telling Stiles that his mom would’ve wanted him to simply pick someone he loved and then help them become the kind of leader he needed them to be, but Stiles wasn’t so sure. Not everyone would be a good alpha, and his pack deserved the very best he could find for them.

He took out his phone and texted Lydia and Jackson to see if they had thought about becoming werewolves. At least they hit it off.

The response he got was a hard no from Lydia and a maybe from Jackson. That wasn’t good. Lydia could lead, Stiles had always thought so. Jackson though… they’d been dating for over a year and Stiles had found many things about Jackson he liked, but Jackson was a hard shell with a soft gooey center you could find if you sucked on the outside long enough. At his core, Jackson was not a leader. An alpha would need to be strong in more ways than physical, but they shouldn’t be worried about allowing themselves to be vulnerable with their pack. Stiles had a hard time seeing Jackson ever letting this pack of lower middle class people know any side of him that wasn’t a jerk.

Hesitatingly he opened up a new conversation and scrolled through his contacts.

[Stiles]

Hey. This is Stiles.

Stiles Stilinski.

[Ethan]

Hey!

Happy to hear from you

[Stiles]

Sorry it took so long to get back to you

We just had a death in my pack

Do you know what thats like?

[Ethan]

I do. Me and Aid lost most of our pack when we were kids.

I’m sorry.

Id ask if you were close but its pack so of course you were.

[Stiles]

Yeah. Packs important. How big is yours?

[Ethan]

Woah Stiles thats a bit forward, isnt it?

[Stiles]

V funny. You keep avoiding important questions.

[Ethan]

Currently my pack is just me and my brother. Has been for a decade.

[Stiles]

So your looking for a pack to join?

[Ethan]

Hey Im just looking for a cute guy. Just so happens youve also got a pack.

[Stiles]

I guess.

Tell me a joke.

We cant date if you cant tell me a joke.

[Ethan]

Why dont oysters donate to charity? Because theyre shellfish.

Stiles chuckled, despite himself. That was so bad, and he told Ethan so, but that only urged him to send him more equally stupid jokes.

“Laura?” he asked when she came in to sit next to her brother. “Do you know anything about two twin alphas? Ethan and Aiden Steiner?”

Laura ran her hand through her hair in a move that was so like Derek that Stiles felt like snapping a picture of it. “Yeah, I think so. Most of their pack was killed by hunters when I was in high school, and their alpha’s spark transferred to the both of them. The wolves left in their pack didn’t like taking orders from little kids, so they tried to take the spark, and the twins had to fight back. They haven’t grown their pack since then, and they don’t have a territory. They move around a lot, but always inform alphas if they’re travelling through someone else’s land. Actually, I think they went to college in Sacramento for a while. Why?”

He shrugged. “My regular gentlemen callers.”

“Oh? Which one of them?”

“Ethan.”

“You could do worse. At least I don’t know anything against them.”

His phone chirped with another bad joke and Stiles shot one right back. He’d ask Ethan how he felt about Star Wars later.

Derek grumbled in his sleep, and Stiles ran his hand over Derek’s bald head. He used to have such nice hair. Stiles hoped it would grow out quickly. And the eyebrows. Derek looked weird without his eyebrows. His beta shift didn’t have eyebrows for some reason, but sleeping Derek looked human, and the no eyebrow thing was odd.

Under his hand, Derek settled again and started to snore.

“I’m so glad you survived,” Stiles whispered. “This would be so much harder if you weren’t here.”

Cora came in with a plate of food for him and sat down next to her sister.

“I’m sorry mom was so rude,” Cora said. “I don’t know what got into her, honestly. She’s been wanting to meet you properly for years. To set you up with me I think. Or Malia.

“Cora, watch your tongue,” Laura whispered.

“What?”

“I think Laura means that you shouldn’t be apologizing for your alpha,” Stiles suggested, and Laura nodded.

“It’s just us here. Pack politics is the worst sometimes. I have no idea how you manage to date werewolves like this, Stiles.”

“Me neither actually. Helps that they’re all desperate to win me over I suppose.”

“I suppose. Mr. Rohr is a good cook by the way. This stuff is delicious.”

She stole a piece of potato from Stiles’ plate, and he slapped her fingers.

“Mine. But yeah, he is.”

“He’s not Carrie’s real dad, is he?”

“Nope. She never told you?”

“She didn’t go into detail. And we haven’t talked in a while, what with me not going to the same school anymore.”

“Guys,” Laura said, “we should keep it down, for Derek’s sake.”

“Derek’s out like a light. He’ll sleep through the night probably. And he’ll feel better in the morning. I don’t know what mom was thinking taking him away from his pack.”

“Cora… Mom has a hard time not thinking of him as her baby.”

“He’s not a baby,” Stiles said. “He’s a grown man and our alpha.”

“Stiles, please,” Laura pleaded, “I don’t want to argue with you about my mom. Can we drop it?”

“Fine. We can drop it.”

Derek stirred in his sleep, and Stiles scented him again, his heart tightening in his chest when he found Derek’s nose chasing his hand when he tried to pull it back.

“I’m so happy you made it,” he said again, a little louder this time.

***

[Ethan]

Youre wrong. The best way to watch is the release order as its the order Lucas made them.

[Stiles]

Excuse me? Im wrong? Have you ever even tried chopping up the originals? You watch 4+5 then you learn Vader is Lukes dad and then you treat the prequels as a loooong flashback. Thats the best order.

[Ethan]

I am willing to be convinced, but only if youre next to me when I watch. Are you ever coming back to LA?

[Stiles]

Im in Beacon Hills for another week. Dereks doing better.

[Ethan]

Dinner?

[Stiles]

Fine.

But I dont date brothers so bring a date for him or leave him at home.

And no sitcom twin drama please

I cant tell you apart and I wont think its funny to learn Ive been dating both of you against my knowledge okay?

[Ethan]

You wont regret this. Text me when youre back and I’ll rent the movies. Although we might need to make it two dates if were to make it through all six movies.

[Stiles]

Someone should tell you theyve made more of them now.

[Ethan]

They can make as many SW movies as they want as long as I can watch them with you.

Stiles shook his head but couldn’t resist smiling at his phone. Ethan was nice, that was the thing. Nice and handsome, and while it was somewhat concerning that he hadn’t made a new pack, and the whole shared alpha spark thing was weird, it was something Stiles could work with. It could work. He could make it work.

“Stiles?” Derek called from the master bathroom, and Stiles put away his phone.

It had taken Derek four days of constant supervision before he started feeling better. He still had superficial damage to heal, but that wouldn’t take long once he was out of danger.

The pack started a rumor that Derek had made a remarkable recovery thanks to the fire blanket he’d been wrapped up in that somehow had mysteriously disappeared by the time Jordan had gotten him out, and Stiles happily read him an article on the fire from the local newspaper where he was reported as one of the people who had made it through without serious injury. Out of the thirty-seven people who had been in the building when the meth lab on the top floor exploded, 12 had died and 11 had to be brought to the hospital with anything ranging from serious injuries to minor smoke inhalation.

This didn’t seem to make Derek feel any better.

But Stiles made sure that their pack never left Derek’s side. After a couple of days, he sent the other college students back to school, and Cora and Laura went home, but Stiles stayed longer, and the rest of the pack took turns to stay close. Derek hadn’t slept alone in his bed during his entire time convalescing. By the end of the week, Derek had sent the rest of them home. His healing had kicked in well by then.

And now he’d made it to the bathroom by himself for the first time in days and was staring at his reflection in the mirror.

“At least you can be certain that you wouldn’t look that bad if you ever actually lost your hair,” Stiles said.

“What do you call this if not having my lost hair?”

“Burning it off isn’t the same thing as bad genes. My grandpa started to bald in his mid-thirties so that’s what I have to look forward to.”

He ran his hair through his thick mop of dark hair. “I’ll miss these guys.”

“Is that why you used to keep it buzzed when you were younger? Trying to get used to a cue ball?”

“Ouch, Derek, cold. No, my mom made me keep it that way because I played a trick on Lori when we were younger that included chewing gum. She forgave me eventually, but mom wouldn’t let me grow it out until Lori could get hers cut three times.”

“I’m sure Lorilee would never have gone longer between trims to punish you.”

“Of course not, not Lori. But I didn’t mind the buzz cut. It was easy to maintain. And Lyds won’t let me buy the cheap hair gel anymore.”

“You miss her? Looking forward to going back? I’ll be fine if you want to leave early.”

Did he miss her? A bit, yes. He missed being wrapped up with Jackson and Lydia post-threesome, that was true. But he had a date planned – no, two – with Ethan too. He’d better make sure to keep his schedule clear otherwise, or they’d be mad.

“I have another four days off from school, so nah. And I’m still not convinced you can take care of yourself properly.”

“I am an adult Stiles.”

“Tell that to your Superman underwear. I approve by the way. You’d make a good Superman. Running into burning houses, saving people, plus you do have supernatural strength.”

Derek put his hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “I’m serious. I can take care of myself if you want to go.”

“Well, I don’t want to go, so there. It’s dinner time. Want to order in or make something?”

Derek hesitated visibly and Stiles remembered how Derek had been about the smell of cooking meat in the house since the fire. “Let’s just order a pizza.”

“Got it. Extra cheese.”

“Of course.”

About half an hour later, pizza had arrived, and they were seated in their usual spots in the living room, with Ollie curled up next to Stiles, and the first season of Andromeda playing.

“Aren’t you falling behind in school being here?” Derek asked.

“Maybe a bit, but I’m dating Lydia, remember, and she is a genius, and bullies people into sharing their notes with her and has been sending them to me every day. And once I explained a version of what happened, most of my professors understood. Don’t worry about it, it’s under control. I’ll have to work harder for the next couple of weeks, but that’s it.”

“Reminds me of my last few weeks in college. Not the same situation, but still.”

“Yeah, it’s not entirely dissimilar. Didn’t have to pretend to get a near-terminal disease of course. And I’ll be back soon.”

He fed Ollie a piece of the crust of his pizza and nodded to the book on the table next to Derek.

“Is that Equal Rites? Is there a reason it’s out here and not in your book shelf?”

Derek blushed. “Maybe I thought we’d take advantage of the pack being gone and it was just the two us?”

“Awesome, I haven’t read that one in forever! Andromeda will have to wait until after graduation.”

Derek hesitated before handing it over. “I think it’s your turn to do the honors.”

Stiles face lit up. “Yeah? But you usually do the reading. I can’t voice the wizards as well.”

“I do the reading because you’re usually the one who needs the comfort. But now I’m the poor injured werewolf and you’re the one taking care of me, so you read.”

Stiles smiled. “Okay. I’ll do my best then.”

He opened it on the first page and started reading. Derek gave Ollie a light shove to get out of the way enough for Derek to be able to lie down with his head in Stiles’ lap. He closed his eyes as Ollie got himself settled on top of him and listened to the sound of Stiles’ voice.

This was a wonderful way to heal.

They were maybe fifty pages into the book when the doorbell rang, and pulled Derek roughly out of his gentle sleep.

Stiles untangled himself and went to answer it.

“Braeden, hi. Come in.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Derek sat up and ran his hand over his bald head.

“Hey.”

“Hey? Is that all you can say to me? You almost died, Derek, and you didn’t even call me.”

Braeden had clearly come straight from work. Derek could see she was still armed, her badge was attached to her belt, and she smelled of air plane. She also smelled tired.

“You were working. I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Letting me know something had happened isn’t bothering me. That’s keeping me in the loop. Laura is pissed at me now, she thinks I’ve ignored you.”

“No, she doesn’t, she knows I didn’t call you.”

“Well then she’s mad about something else and she’s taking it out on me, because it sure as hell sounded personal.”

Stiles shuffled his feet. “I’ll take Ollie upstairs, shall I? Let you two talk?”

Braeden shook her head. “No, don’t. I’m a little annoyed I didn’t get to come take care of Derek is all. There’s not that much left to talk about. Let’s move on from here. Hi Derek, your eyebrows look so weird.”

Derek smiled. “I’m glad you’re here. I mostly needed my pack though. And Stiles was here.”

“”I have two weeks off from work.”

“Oh that’s great,” Stiles said. “I was worried he’d be alone when I left in a couple of days. He doesn’t need a lot of help, because, you know, werewolf, but he has nightmares about the fire, and pretends he doesn’t, and someone should be here to keep him company.”

“I don’t have nightmares,” Derek objected. Just because he’d been waking up every night in cold sweats and Stiles had to come and be his pillow so he could fall back asleep was no reason to accuse him of having nightmares.

“See?” Stiles gestured in his general direction. “Denial.”

Braeden grinned. “I won’t let him out of my sight, I promise. We practically lived together for a few months during college, and I remember the Derek with the many, many limbs trying to squeeze the air out of you when you slept. Kinda miss it sometimes.”

“Right,” Stiles said. “I forget you’re in the Hale pack too. I guess Talia isn’t the only one waiting for him to come back home huh?”

“We’ve gotten by without him, but yes, he has been missed a lot. It’ll be good to have him back for good. But we know it might still take a little while longer.”

“Right.” Derek looked over at Stiles. He smelled off. Stressed, or was it sad? Derek’s wolf was suggesting Derek go and hug him, but it felt wrong to do that with Braeden there – but wasn’t that even stranger? He’d hugged Stiles before, plenty of times, and it was only ever meant for comfort. He put the book away though. Pratchett was their thing.

Chapter Text

It was a Sunday morning about a month before Stiles was set to graduate from college that he woke up in his bed in his dorm room with Ethan’s arms tightly wrapped around him and his mouth on the back of his neck for the first time.

Stiles liked Ethan. He could fall in love with Ethan, it’d be easy. He didn’t agree with Stiles on the Star Wars franchise being terrible for android rights, but he’d taken some general book recommendations and Stiles had confirmed that he had started reading them too. Sure, maybe in an ideal world, Stiles would have natural book worm on his wish list of qualities for a partner, but he’d take a willingness to care about things Stiles cared about. Also, Ethan was hot.

And already an alpha. That was a plus. His and Aiden’s old pack had been small, just like the Stilinski pack, and Ethan had been impressed when Stiles told him about how they did things back home and shared a few ideas Stiles thought could be good to consider. So when it came to alpha material, Ethan at least passed the lowest bar Stiles had set. The fact that they’d be getting two alphas could become a little complicated, that was true, but the twins seemed used to sharing the responsibility. Or, Ethan had said, Aiden would transfer his half of the spark to Ethan. They both just wanted to belong to a pack.

All that was good.

Ethan was also a good guy. He made Stiles laugh, and laughed in turn at Stiles’ jokes – Stiles was funny, he knew this to be true, and someone who didn’t appreciate that was not someone he could be with.

All that was good too.

The sex was phenomenal. And Stiles had been involved in a throuple for eighteen months – he knew what good sex really was now, and fuck you Matt Daehler!

Things were looking up.

He could date Ethan until the end of school, and then Ethan was perfectly willing to move up to Beacon Hills over the summer so they could keep seeing each other and get used to each other, and Ethan could start making Stiles’ pack like him, and then… Then Stiles could let Derek go home, so he could be happy with his real pack, his family’s pack, and with Braeden, and Stiles could be semi-content with Ethan and their pack as alpha and alpha mate, just as it was always planned. And his pack would be happy, and cared for, just like they deserved, and if Stiles felt a moment of panic at the thought of spending the rest of his life with someone he wasn’t sure he loved yet, then he could learn to squash that deep down, couldn’t he? He could learn to care for Aiden too, he supposed, even though Aiden wasn’t nearly as good of a guy as Ethan was. That was fine. Stiles’ pack had Kincaid, and he was proof that someone could be a real jerk but still a decent person. And Derek could be an asshole sometimes too. Although Derek usually had a good reason.

Ethan was stirring next to him when Stiles’ door suddenly unlocked, and Jackson pulled it open. He stopped in the doorway and stared.

“So this is why you’re not answering your phone?”

“Hi Jackson. This is Ethan.”

“Hi Ethan. What are you doing with my boyfriend there?”

“Cuddling,” Ethan said and propped himself up on his elbow. “You’re cute. Boyfriend?”

“Sort of,” Stiles said. “We have an understanding though. Jackson isn’t jealous.”

Non-jealous Jackson crossed his arms over his chest and his eyebrow twitched.

“Jackson was also under the impression that the ‘I need to sometimes date other people for the sake of pack politics’ didn’t stretch as far as sex.”

“Then Jackson wasn’t paying attention. Besides, Jackson has a girlfriend.”

“We both have a girlfriend. And she’s going to be pissed about this.”

Stiles sighed. “I told you I was seeing someone else too, Jackson.”

Jackson gestured around the room, to clothes strewn all over and the general mess; they’d started on the floor last night. “Not cool, Stiles.”

A tingle of shame burrowed itself deep into Stiles’ gut.

“I can solve this,” Ethan said. “Maybe your boyfriend would like to join us, Stiles?”

Stiles turned around to stare at him. “What?”

“I said, maybe your boyfriend would-”

“I heard you. You want to have a threesome with Jackson?”

“Why not? He could go in the middle.”

Stiles looked at Jackson, who looked just as surprised, but also didn’t seem entirely turned off by the idea. The tingle of shame shrunk a fraction.

In fact, he was looking at Ethan with decided interest now, but Stiles shook his head.

“I don’t think so. In fact, Ethan has to leave now, because I have a session scheduled at the gym, and if I miss it, I don’t get to try the last of the old routes before they take them down to build new ones next week.”

“That’s a shame,” Ethan said. “Will I see you tonight then?”

“I don’t know. I’ll call you?”

“Okay.” Obediently, Ethan started gathering his clothes and got dressed. Jackson still stood there looking between the two of them.

“Stiles?”

“Yes, Jackson?”

“Do we need to have a little conversation about this?”

No, that wasn’t shame at all, it was his old friend the anxiety attack!

“I don’t think so. I’m leaving now.”

Jackson nodded but when Ethan went to pass him, Ethan stopped.

“You want to grab some breakfast? Jackson, was it?”

The anxiety spread further in Stiles’ stomach as Jackson shrugged and the two of them left together.

His heart was beating fast as he made it to his car, but he didn’t pull out of the parking lot. Instead he took his phone out and called Scott.

“Stiles? It’s early, is everything okay?”

“I forgot an important part!” he burst out.

“What?”

“He doesn’t love me. It’s fine if I don’t love him as long as he’ll be a good alpha, but Ethan doesn’t love me. He hit on Jackson in front of me!”

“He did what?” Scott growled. “What the hell?”

“I don’t know what to do now, Scott, he was my last shot! But he doesn’t really want to be with me, how can he, if he also wants to go and have threesomes?”

“But… you have threesomes all the time. With Jackson and Lydia. Don’t you? Did I misunderstand that whole thing?”

“That’s different!”

“How?”

“Because we all know we’re not going to be together after college. Jackson wants to stay in LA, Lydia is going to grad school somewhere east, and I’m going back to Beacon Hills. This is just for fun, but I thought Ethan wanted something real, that I’d eventually want too. I feel so stupid, Scott. I didn’t even check if he liked me for me.”

“Stiles, calm down. Of course Ethan likes you, he wouldn’t want to be your mate if he didn’t.”

“You know that’s not true, Scott. He wants a pack, he said so. Him and Aiden.”

“But anyone who spends time with you will like you, and I’m sure he’ll care about you very much if you pick him as your mate. You’re the one with the power there, you know that. You say yes or no, and they have to accept it either way. That’s what they agree to when they try to approach you.”

“But-”

“Look, dude, if Ethan being interested in Jackson is a dealbreaker for you, that’s one thing. But did you even talk to him about this? Did you try to tell him what your expectations were? I mean, you do already have a boyfriend and a girlfriend. Is it wrong of him to assume that means you wanted an open relationship?”

Stiles could feel his breaths slow down. Alright, that was true. And they had just started dating. Clearly he was overreacting.

“Are you sure he’s going to be a good alpha for us?”

“I… I think so. I’ll know more when I see him with the pack.”

“I was going to come down and surprise you next week, actually. I can meet him then, okay?”

“Okay. I’ll talk to Ethan about this. I guess I can understand someone wanting to sleep with Jackson on first sight.”

Scott chuckled. “Yeah, you would. Somehow. It’s weird to the rest of us though, and the rest of us think you stink whenever we can still smell him on you. Just so you know.”

Stiles swallowed down the panic again. “Thanks, Scott. I gotta go. I need to think about something else for a bit before I call Ethan, so I’m going to go climb. And then I should make sure me and Jackson are cool. And me and Lydia. And all of us, I guess? Damn it, it’s a lot of work!”

“Yeah, poor Stiles with the three hot people interested in him. Cry me a river while you’re at it. But let me know how it goes, okay?”

“I will. Bye Scott.”

He hung up and took a deep breath. It wasn’t the end of the world. Ethan could still prove to be the right choice. And then Derek could be free.

During the week before everyone was set to graduate from college, Derek was busy.

He cleaned the driveway and got used to parking to the side of it to better accommodate two cars. He cleaned out half his closet and drawers to create space, and he packed off a bunch of books for the thrift shop. Stiles might bring home new ones. He tended to do that.

He also cooked. He filled the fridge and freezer with a bunch of meals and did several rounds of inspection around the house to get things in order.

“You’re nesting,” Braeden said on her visit. “I think it means we’re about to break up, because this doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

This made Derek stop what he was doing (rearranging the pillows on the love seat for optimal reading and chatting comfort).

“I’m breaking up with you?”

“Aren’t you?”

“I don’t know. We’re not even dating.”

“No, and neither of us wants more. And maybe this has to do with a certain someone, or maybe it doesn’t, but in any case, I can tell. We’re done. Maybe we can get back together if you come back to Sacramento eventually, but until then, we should go back to being friends.”

Derek noted to the last part of her words, and shoved the first part away from his mind.

“We’re good friends.”

“We are. But I’ve got other friends too.”

She picked up her bag – Derek hadn’t even noticed that she’d never made a move to put it in the bedroom like she used to – patted Ollie on the head and then she left, and Derek was single again. Or he had been this entire time, really, but now he was completely single.

Maybe it was for the best. Stiles had seemed stressed about Braeden being around for some reason, and he didn’t want that.

It was time for Stiles to come home, finally. The entire pack was waiting for that, Derek knew. He’d been given weird looks for a while though, and he thought it was them thinking about who their next alpha was going to be. Stiles had told him a bit about this Ethan and Derek had gotten the full story from his mother. There was nothing Derek could legitimately complain about when it came to Ethan Steiner. Nothing at all.

The doorbell rang once and the door opened for Alicia.

“Hi Derek.”

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Came to walk Ollie.”

“Great, he’s been wanting to get out for a while.”

“Cool.”

She’d changed in the months that had passed since her mother died. Gone were all the pink and purple for one thing, and instead were black baggy clothes and dark makeup. Erica had taken her shopping, and while this new Alicia seemed just as comfortable in her skin as the old one, she was more subdued and quieter. Derek hadn’t smelled her old friends on her in weeks. She’d stopped wearing the wig she’d got after the fire, and her hair was growing out in short dark curls all over her head. She looked tougher now. Less approachable. But she still smiled at Derek the same way she’d always done.

“Are you okay?”

“I guess.”

“Looking forward to summer?”

“Vernon says I can help with painting for the firm this year.”

“That’ll be fun, won’t it?”

“Maybe. He just acts like he’s the boss now, and I don’t like it.”

“Your mom did a lot of that stuff before. He feels like he has to fill in for her everywhere. And he is my second.”

Her smile vanished in an instant.

“Yeah but he’s not leaving enough for himself! He needs time to sit down and be sad too, Derek. And he’s not good with the numbers. He pretends to, for your sake, and my sake, but he’s not good with it. You need to hire someone else to do the books.”

Derek sighed. This was true. He’d been dragging his feet on it because Boyd had seemed like he needed to be kept busy.

“Any ideas?”

“No. I can get a degree in that. But not yet, obviously. I’m just sixteen.”

“I’ll figure it out, I promise.”

“I saw Braeden leave. I thought she was going to stay for the rest of the week?”

“We broke up.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

Derek raised an eyebrow. She was smiling wider than he’d seen her do in weeks.

“Are you?”

“Well, for you, sure. She was cool. Would’ve been cooler if she’d taught me to fight with her knives, but I liked her. Better than that teacher you were seeing. At least this one knew what we are.”

“I suppose. But we’re hardly ever in the same place. Makes it hard to have a relationship, even a casual one.”

“Right. If only there was someone else for you.”

That smile was still there, and she was giving him an expectant look.

“What?”

Alicia rolled her eyes in that whole body kind of way that Stiles always used to do. “We love you, Derek, but sometimes you’re kinda dense.”

“Okay?”

She shrugged and picked up the leash and waved it at Ollie, who was on his feet and by the door within seconds. Walkies with Alicia could only be topped by walkies with Stiles if that dog was any judge.

When the two of them had left, Derek went back to his list of chores. Stiles would expect a rundown on pack finances, and how the construction business was doing, so he should get that prepared. Stiles might have an idea of who could start doing the books for the firm too. Boyd had moved right back into Agnes’ house to take care of Alicia, so there were three empty apartments, but more than three people who might want them, so he and Stiles would need to decide who could move where. And they could discuss whether they wanted to start building some more houses in preparation for the future or hold off for now. And Derek should go buy the rest of the Witches series, because if Stiles was going to be home all the time now, they’d go through them quickly. They still had half of Equal Rites left, but that wouldn’t last them long, knowing them.

He could picture it already, coming home from work every day, not to an empty house, but to another person, cooking together, taking Ollie for his walk, reading together, watching TV, dealing with the pack things.

Yeah, having Stiles home, really home, was going to be great, and Derek couldn’t wait. Even if he might come accompanied by Ethan Steiner, and even if Ethan Steiner would never in a million years be good enough for Stiles.

“It’s not that I don’t like you,” Ethan said, his grip tight on his coffee cup. Jackson put a hand on Ethan’s shoulder and Stiles looked down into his own cup.

Lydia had been complaining about Jackson spending all his time with someone else and Stiles hadn’t seen much of Ethan in the past few weeks. It wasn’t like he hadn’t guessed this was coming.

“We always kinda agreed we’d break up when school ended,” Jackson said. “And now it is. Graduation tomorrow.”

Stiles could make a scene. Jackson would’ve made a scene. Stiles was being dumped by his sort-of future boyfriend for his other, long-term boyfriend, it would be completely valid to make some sort of scene.

“Okay,” he said simply. “What are you going to do now?”

“Do?”

“For a pack?”

“Lobelia says she doesn’t mind me and Aiden staying here. The city is too big for only one territory anyway. We might be able to grow our pack a bit here. Wouldn’t mind a beach house. We’ve got some money.”

Jackson gave Ethan a glowing look that made Stiles fear he was going to choke. They were both too attractive for him anyway. Of course they’d want to be with each other and not him.

“I’m really sorry, Stiles,” Ethan continued.

“Okay.”

“I know you hoped-”

“I said, okay.”

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-

“Hey,” Jackson started. “We’ll still be buds right?”

Stiles managed a nod. As strange as it was, considering how much they’d hated each other in high school, they’d still be friends. And Jackson looked earnest. How about that.

“Have you talked to Lydia?”

“I did. She kind of… well, she likes Aiden.”

“Lovely.”

Fuck fuck fuck, he needed to get out of there, so he could have another panic attack in peace and quiet. This was a horrible breakup. And Lydia hadn’t even been upfront about it. As if it didn’t matter. As if Stiles didn’t matter.

He made it out of the coffee shop, but sunk down onto a bench, wrapping his arms around his body, slowly rocking back and forth. People were staring at him.

He was set to graduate tomorrow. Some of his pack mates were coming down with Derek to celebrate him, and Cora, and then he was going to go home.

And he’d stupidly imagined coming home hand-in-hand with Ethan, a man he barely knew because that was the best Stiles Stilinski could do apparently. He’d failed. He’d had one job to do for his pack and he hadn’t done it, and he’d failed Derek who deserved to get whatever he wanted in life, and he’d failed his mom. And he’d have to tell his pack that there was no new alpha coming home with him after all. At this point, Stiles was starting to wonder if there ever would be. Clearly something was deeply wrong with him. He considered calling Cora to see if she would set him up with that Malia girl, but didn’t. The less Talia Hale knew about what failure Stiles was, after all, the better. Poor Derek.

**

[Stiles]

Sorry, no Alpha Steiner for the Stilinski pack. Can you let people know at home so I dont have to talk about it please?

[Derek]

Are you okay?

[Stiles]

Honestly?

No.

Im so sorry I failed you, Derek.

[Derek]

You’re twenty-two. There’s plenty of time to find someone, Stiles.

[Stiles]

But I promised you.

[Derek]

We’ll talk more when you come home.

But I’m fine.

I look forward to you coming home.

And so does Ollie

[Stiles]

Just dont tell your mom about it tomorrow, okay?

I dont want her to gloat about it being my fault you cant go home yet.

[Derek]

It’s not her business anyway

But I should warn you that she bought you a thoughtful present and you’re going to love it, and I know that because I told her what to get.

[Stiles]

Oh, so a book?

[Derek]

Shut up Stiles.

Chapter Text

Who was it that came up with the concept of day jobs? Stiles wondered as he sorted through the paperwork on his desk. He’d leave it for two minutes just to get coffee, and then as soon as he came back, his inbox was full again, and his computer screen full of post it notes with requests for information on various cases. Day jobs suuuuucked. But Tara had already had the contract ready for him as soon as he came home, and Stiles Stilinski was now employed by the county as a police analyst. That’s what it said on paper. So far, he felt like a filing clerk.

Sure, it was work that needed doing, and Stiles wasn’t afraid of work. And finally getting to officially handle actual case files himself after looking over his father’s shoulder for years was exhilarating. Or it would be, if Beacon Hills got more exciting cases than burglary and vandalism. Murders were rare. People were still talking about his parents’ deaths as an event that had shaken the town to its core. The station had received some extra funding to digitize lately, and Stiles was looking forward to that. It would mean taking old case files and reading them carefully, and maybe – hopefully – he’d find a cold case he could solve himself, on the side, using some modern technology. Yes, Stiles watched a lot of TV.

“Stiles, did you see my-” Jordan passed by his desk and gestured towards a new postit note on Stiles’ screen.

“I did, you’re the only one who uses blue ones. Also, I know I already complained about this, but we do have a messaging system in place on all of our computers, you know. You guys could send me your requests through that.”

Jordan shrugged. “And miss getting to come by for a chat with the station baby?”

“I’m twenty-two.”

“And most people in here remember you from when you were eight. And, I’m told, set fire to the break room.”

Stiles shook his head. “I didn’t set fire to the break room. I swear I didn’t even touch the microwave, and I have no idea how that spoon got in there. Although the sparks were cool.”

Jordan laughed. “You’re still the station baby, get used to it.”

“At least I got a job.”

“You think Tara would have hired anyone for this job knowing you wanted it? We’ve needed someone for it for years, it’s been in the budget and everything.”

“But Tara wouldn’t even hear of posting a job listing,” Valerie said, stopping by Stiles desk on her way from the bathroom. She patted Stiles on the cheek. “Not with the promise of our Stiles coming to work here. We’re so happy to have you home, you know.”

“I’ve been told. Four times a week. For two months.”

“Oh has it been two months? Feels like a week. Which, by the way, is how long I’ve been waiting for that report from the next county.”

“I called them this morning. They can’t find the file. Seems like they need to be digitized too.”

“Well, don’t get any ideas,” Jordan said. “We need you here.”

Stiles smiled. “Thanks. Glad someone wants me around.”

Valerie lowered her voice. “I’m so sorry things didn’t work out with that Ethan guy, Stiles.”

Stiles shrugged. “It is what it is. Jackson seems happy though. They make a nice couple. Ethan would’ve made a decent alpha is all.”

“No new prospects?”

The ball of stress in his stomach would be conquered in due time, he was sure of it, but today it rumbled and roared as much as it ever had, his ever-present anxiety tiger. No one had come calling, and he hadn’t been in the mood to start trying to find a partner in the local bars. Jordan gave Valerie a light shove.

“We’re fine, Stiles. We’ve still got Derek, haven’t we?”

Stiles nodded, but that didn’t really help him. Derek was as much a problem that needed to be solved.

Tara came out of her office and waved them over. Stiles pointed to himself in question, and she nodded.

“I just got the news. It’s the Green pack.”

Stiles sat down in the chair in front of her desk. The Green pack’s territory was just across the border to Nevada. “What about them?”

“They’re dead. Murdered. It’ll be on the news tonight. It looked like an animal attack. You know what that might mean, don’t you?”

“You think it’s that alpha again?”

Tara nodded. Stiles swallowed. The Greens... He’d known them most of his life. They were close, with only a few territories between them and the Stilinski pack. They weren’t a huge pack, but their territory was bigger than Beacon Hills.

“Any traces?”

“Not that I know yet, but I let the sheriff there know I was interested in the case due to a possible connection to another one, so he’ll let me know. Derek might have already heard through his other channels, and he could have more information. Will you tell him about this when you get home? He can call me for the details if he needs them.”

Stiles nodded.

“I don’t like this,” Valerie said. “That’s closer than anyone else has been.”

“We’re prepared if we should be next,” Jordan said. “We’ve been training.”

“Maybe...” Valerie gave him a look, “maybe we should postpone that trip of ours?”

“You’re going away?” Stiles said. “Where are you going?”

Jordan flushed. “We’re going to see Valerie’s family. It’s her grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary, and she wants to introduce me to them. We were planning on being gone for a week. We leave in two. Unless you think we should stay? I’d feel horrible if something happened while we were gone.”

Stiles thought about that. Jordan was always good to have around, being strong and not hindered by mountain ash like the werewolves. But Jordan deserved to live his life just like everyone else in his pack.

“You should go. Val’s family isn’t that far away. Honestly, they might be in danger too, and I don’t know how well-connected they are. We really only know about this whole thing at all because the Hales keep Derek informed, don’t we? And we can call you back if we need to, right?”

Valerie nodded. “Of course. It’s just a few hours away.”

“I think we should continue as normal but be on our guard. Maybe increase our patrols. I’ll talk to Derek later. Keep an eye out in the chat?”

Tara nodded and smiled at him. “We’re so happy to have you home again, Stiles. It hasn’t been the same without you, and Derek’s in a better mood too.”

“He could’ve fooled me. This morning he chewed me out for eating the last of his chocolate. I don’t know what he expected, leaving it out on the counter. It had salt caramel filling! I had to eat it. There was no other choice.”

“Stiles!” Jordan exclaimed in mock horror. “That’s Derek’s favorite! How could you?”

“Very easily, it was really delicious. I’m only human. I’ll buy him a new one. There was no need to yell at me like that, it upsets Ollie.”

It was around six when Stiles made it to the vet clinic, just in time not to have to go around back and knock instead of using the front door. He made his way to the back room where he found Scott in the process of trimming the claws of a cat.

“Hey, how was work?”

“Well, as of this afternoon I am officially 1% done with case files from before 1999.”

Scott chuckled. “Taking a lot of time, huh?”

“It’d take less if that was my only task. It’s not technically what I’m hired for, but it’s okay. I don’t mind doing grunt work.”

“I do. This is the fifth kitty today.”

He put the reluctant cat into her cage and picked up another one. It hissed at him and scratched his hands. Scott didn’t seem to notice, his werewolf healing taking care of the shallow cuts almost as quickly as the cat could create them.

“Could’ve gotten your next degree, then you’d be doing proper vet work.”

“Maybe in a few years. Kinda want to earn some money for now, you know? And I am so done with school.”

“I hear ya on that one. Is our eminent emissary imminent?”

“What?”

“Deaton around?”

“He got called away a couple of hours ago, but said he’d be back by now. Asked you to wait. You don’t mind hanging out with me for a bit do you?”

“Of course not.”

Scott finished with the claws and locked up the second cat. “It’s just that we haven’t been spending a lot of time together since we got back. You’re with Derek so much.”

Stiles frowned at that. “I am? Well, we live together, so…”

“Yeah, but last week me and Isaac wanted to go out drinking and you couldn’t because Derek was already cooking, and you didn’t want to disappoint him. And the week before, you were busy reading a book, with Derek. Reading. Stiles. That’s why you didn’t want to go to the movies.”

“I like reading.” Stiles’ anxiety tiger was coming out to play again. He wasn’t spending that much time with Derek, was he? Besides, they were finishing Maskerade! It was an exciting part of the book! Scott couldn’t seriously expect Stiles to just stop listening to Derek voicing Granny Weatherwax could he? Not like it was even a good movie Scott had wanted to see. “We can do a movie this weekend if you want?”

Scott shrugged. “Okay. Not like I have anyone else to go with.”

“Still no luck on the dating scene?”

“It’s my damn work schedule! I was going to go on a date with the hot girl from the coffee shop, but I got called in to work and you know I can’t say no to Deaton, and then when I called her to reschedule, she’d gone to that event or whatever it was with someone else, and she met a guy there. I swear, no one has liked me since Allison.”

“Scotty, Scotty, I promise, next week, okay? We’ll go to all the clubs and bars you want to, and we’ll find you a girl and get you laid, okay? Hey, maybe both of us could get laid. That’d be awesome.”

Scott straightened up and turned his head towards the door in what Stiles would always think of as a very canine way, and not long after, Deaton came in.

“Stiles. I’m glad you waited.”

“Of course. Won’t miss my magic classes for anything, you know that.”

Deaton grinned. “Not even for cuddling on the sofa with our alpha? How are things going between the two of you?”

Stiles blinked. “Going? It’s… going fine. And we don’t cuddle. Okay, sometimes, but that’s mostly because we want to cuddle with Ollie at the same time.”

“You’re getting along? Working together is going fine? And living together too?”

“We’ve always worked well together.”

“Indeed you do.”

Deaton was still smiling, and Stiles frowned. “Am I missing something?”

Deaton sighed. “I suppose you are. But never mind that now. Scott, will you clean out the rodent cages? Stiles and I will go into the other room. We might need you to test something out for us before you leave for the night.”

“Will do.”

Stiles followed Deaton into another room they often used for practice, and one Stiles had never even known existed until very recently. It had plenty of space for moving around, and the best part, according to Stiles, was the wall full of bookshelves. Deaton had an impressive collection of books on magic – and it was all kinds of magic, not just his own druid magic – but he wouldn’t let Stiles go through it on his own. No, Deaton seemed to have an entire curriculum planned out for Stiles. He wouldn’t deviate from it except when absolutely necessary, and no reading ahead was allowed. It was a little frustrating, Stiles thought. He was done with college now, and he had time for some real magic studies. Still, Deaton did allow him some input into what he wanted to be taught.

“I don’t want to be a liability,” Stiles had said. “In case of an attack, I don’t want to have to be the human everyone has to worry about protecting to the point where they don’t keep their eyes on the fight. I can still be helpful, with the fire and the rest I can do, but I want my pack to know I’m safe where I am, and they don’t have to be concerned about me. The mountain ash circle is a neat trick, but that won’t stop everything that might want to harm me.”

Deaton had suggested cloaking and that’s where they had started. A month ago. Stiles still hadn’t managed it yet.

Cloaking was a combination of ways to hide himself from various senses, like sight, smell, and hearing, to allow him to run away without being followed, or move closer to something or someone without them noticing. It wasn’t technically about making himself invisible – that sounded a bit too scary to Stiles; what if he couldn’t turn himself visible again? It was about not being noticed. Not being smelled was easier, although Derek had freaked out the first time Stiles came home and could be heard and seen but not smelled, and Ollie had seemed scared of Stiles for hours even after he stopped it.

“Do you think is what Ennis’ betas did?” Stiles had asked, and Deaton had nodded.

“Most likely, or something similar. Or someone did it for them. I doubt Ennis had any magic skills or things would’ve ended much differently for everyone.”

Stiles had shuddered and tried to not think about that, and instead focused on being able to do the same in case anyone ever came to Beacon Hills looking for their pack again.

Not being heard meant wrapping a bubble around himself so that all the sounds he made stayed with him and never travelled. That had been easy, and Stiles had mastered it relatively quickly.

“Picture the area behind you,” Deaton said. “This is a mind trick, essentially, and you need to be aware of what you want them to see. Picture the entire room as well as you can and then erase yourself from it. Hold that image in your mind and then cast it at me.”

Stiles knew this room well by now, but he had trouble seeing it without himself in it. Even picturing the room empty included a point of view. He tried to pretend he was standing where Deaton was instead and then cast that mental image at him.

“Is it working?”

Deaton shook his head. “No, I can still see you. You should be able to read it on my face when you disappear.”

Stiles snorted. “You hardly ever make any expressions as it is. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you look surprised.”

“Try again.”

“Maybe you could give me some hints?”

“You’ve already learnt plenty of magic, Stiles, and as a son of a werewolf, it should run in your blood. It shouldn’t be any trick to it. You just need to do it, like flicking a switch. Just keep trying.”

“Alright. I’ll try again.”

He focused on the room again, and this time, something happened. It was like the space snapped around him and the image in his mind became much firmer than it had before. This time he could actually see himself in it, but it was like looking at an old movie with bad special effects. He was a ghost, added in post-production. And he could take himself out. He did.

Deaton’s eyes widened.

“Did I do it?”

“You did something. I can still see you, but only a faint outline. I expect this is about the strength of the casting, rather than what you mean to cast.”

They tried it again. And again. And again, and finally, Deaton laughed and clapped his hands. “Great work, Stiles. Now, cloak yourself properly and we’ll call Scott in here.”

Stiles did and moved over to the book shelf. The corners would be too obvious as a hiding place, but he could stand close to a wall.

Scott came in, and Deaton asked him to find Stiles. Scott’s face scrunched up and he started searching. With no sight, sound or smell of Stiles, they spent twenty minutes dancing around each other as Scott tried to find Stiles by running into him. It wasn’t until Stiles accidentally knocked into Deaton that Scott could catch him, and they tumbled to the floor laughing as Stiles let go of the cloaking spells.

“Children.” Deaton shook his head. “I think that’s enough for today, Stiles, and I’m sure Scott wants to go home too. But we need to practice so you can do it faster. Most monsters won’t stand still and wait like I do.”

Stiles nodded. “I’ll get Derek to help me.”

“Hey!” Scott said affronted next to him. “I can help too!”

“It’s not surprising for Stiles to get Derek to help him,” Deaton said, with that grin again. “Derek is concerned for Stiles’ safety, naturally.”

“We all are,” Scott pointed out. “He’s my best friend.”

Deaton kept looking at Stiles, and Stiles shrugged. “I’ll get whoever’s available to help me, I guess? What’s the next lesson?”

“When you’ve mastered this one properly, I want to see if we can’t improve your use of water magic. It’s good to know all the elements, and not just two.”

“I can do earth magic too, you know.”

“I know you can. But not like I can, there’s still room for improvement. Don’t argue. Just practice.”

“No reading assignment?” He glanced hungrily at the bookshelf.

“Not today. One thing at a time.”

“Fine. I’ll be off then. Thanks for today.”

“You’re welcome. Give my regards to our alpha.”

Derek sipped on his tea and let his hand idly rest on Ollie’s belly, giving him a rub now and then, but for the most part the dog was still and quiet.

“I want a dog too,” Erica said, taking a big gulp of her coffee and smiling at Boyd. “Can we get one?”

“Alicia would like that too,” Boyd replied. “But no offence to pack mascot over there, I want a big one.”

“Tiny dogs like these are so convenient though,” Derek pointed out. “You can pick him up and growl at him when he’s been bad.”

“I can’t imagine Ollie ever being bad.” Erica smiled into her cup. It was her third. Derek wondered if she wouldn’t explode into a ball of energy soon. “And I remember when he used to ride around inside your shirt, Derek.”

Derek looked fondly at his dog. “Good times, yes. Not that he’s not perfect no matter what size he is, of course.”

“Adorable.” Boyd rolled his eyes. “Still. Labrador. Come on, Erica, Golden retriever?”

“Alicia will want one from the pound, and we’ll take what needs saving. Soon though?”

“Maybe we should get you moved in properly first?”

“I thought you already had?” Derek asked. “I was over at your place last week, and Erica’s stuff was everywhere. I didn’t need to know the color of her underwear by the way.”

Erica laughed. “You’ve seen me change before a full moon shift.”

“That’s different. That’s not realizing I’ve been sitting on a pair of hot pink lacy thongs for an hour. Please spare me. Do you need more closet space? We can make some changes to the upstairs if you need it, you know.”

Boyd shook his head. “It’s not the closet space that’s the problem, it’s that someone doesn’t pick up after herself. And no, she hasn’t fully moved in yet. Still back at her parents a few nights a week. But me and Alicia can’t wait to have Erica with us full time. It’s been empty without mom.”

Erica squeezed his hand and gave him a peck on the nose. Derek smiled. They were so good together, and even though it had only been a couple of months, they fit together as if they’d been together for years. Total opposites, true, but it worked. Erica brought out Boyd’s less serious side, and Boyd calmed Erica down. They worked.

He felt a twinge of jealousy that they’d found each other. Soon they’d be getting married, he could tell, and then there’d be cubs in the pack, and wouldn’t that be something? First cubs born! Maybe Derek could even get to be godfather. Unless they wanted Stiles. Yeah, come to think of it, Derek might be Boyd’s closest friend these days, but they’d probably want Stiles. Maybe Derek could be an honorary uncle?

He knew he was getting ahead of himself though. They hadn’t been together that long, really, and as far as he knew, they’d only been sleeping together since Erica came back from school. Weddings and babies probably weren’t on the table yet.

“So,” he started, “you might be wondering why I asked you over here?”

“Not really,” Erica said. “I already talked to Stiles two days ago.”

“Well?”

“You have to ask nicely.”

Derek sighed. “Erica, I know you took some business classes and whatnot in college-”

“But I didn’t major in it. I took a few classes because me and Isaac talked about opening up a fashion boutique and I figured one of us should know something about money.”

“Right, but that still puts you ahead of everyone else in the pack. And you’ve been enjoying the construction work, haven't you?”

“I certainly like having my girlfriend with me all day,” Boyd added

“And the rest of the crew is thrilled to watch you two flirt all day long, I know,” Derek continued. “But what we need is someone to man the office properly. It’s not really working the way Boyd’s been doing it, with just one day a week, and he’s spreading himself too thin, and I’m not that good at it either.”

“So you want to offer me a job?”

“I do.”

“You still have to ask me nicely.”

“Will you please take over the administration for the construction firm? I know you might need some classes, but you can take those down at the community college, can’t you? Pack will pay for it of course.”

Erica opened her mouth to speak, but the sound of the approaching jeep made her stop. “Oh, he’s home late today, isn’t he?”

“He does magic classes with Deaton on Thursdays.”

Ollie ran off to the door to bark at it until Stiles walked in. He dropped to the floor right away to let Ollie lick his face to his heart’s content and then threw off his shoes and bag.

“Hey. Is there more?”

He pointed to Derek’s mug and Derek nodded. “On the stove. It’s the kind I like though.”

“Ugh,” Stiles grimaced. “Who decided blueberry was a tea flavor?”

“Same people who came up with forest fruits obviously, and you love that one, so don’t complain.”

“I will complain as much as I damn well like, but alright. I can survive blueberry for one night.”

He returned with a cup a minute later and sat down next to Derek, Ollie climbing up between them, laying down with his front paws on Stiles’ lap and his tail whacking against Derek’s thigh.

“What’s up?”

“I was just begging Erica to take the job.”

“Oh, great, I thought that might be it. Are you going to?”

“I have a condition,” Erica said with a look at Boyd who squirmed in his seat.

“Shoot.”

“When Alicia is off to college, Boyd gets to go back to school and study to become a chef, or a baker, or whatever he wants to, and then the pack helps him open up his own place. And by then, I’ll divide my time between both those businesses. Agreed?”

“Okay,” Derek nodded. Boyd relaxed in his seat and Erica beamed at him.

“Thank you Derek, but you might not still be the alpha by then, so I need Stiles to agree too.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “You say this as if either of us would have a problem with it. The business is doing well. We can afford to hire someone new if we need to when it comes down to it. Boyd should totally open up a bakery or a restaurant or a cafe, or whatever he wants to. As long as he serves the lemon squares I like so much. Right Derek?”

“Yeah, of course. You sure you don’t want to sign up for classes now though?”

This would be good for Boyd, and Derek was happy to see that he was looking forward to things and wanting to improve his own life, and not just working to cover for the loss of his mother.

“I’m good for now. Alicia needs to come first. But thank you, both of you.”

“And when are you moving in then?” Stiles asked then and Erica laughed.

“Everyone is asking me about that! I think next month. I haven’t exactly mentioned it to my parents yet, they’re enjoying having me home. But they like Boyd. They just think the pack is weird.”

“Most people do. It’s too bad they never wanted to become closer with us than they are.” Stiles shrugged. “Looking forward to it?”

“Oh yes. We’re gonna cuddle all the time, and I’m going to help Alicia with her homework, and we’ll walk the dog we’re going to get, and make dinner together-”

“By which she means I cook, and she’ll steal bites all the time by chatting nonstop.”

Erica slapped Boyd playfully on the arm. “Hey, it’s our bonding time and we’re adorable together, so hush you.”

Stiles laughed. “You are adorable.”

Derek gave him a quick glance. He hadn’t missed the uptick in Stiles’ pulse or the twinge of pain in their pack bond. He reached out to squeeze Stiles’ knee. He’d find love too. Soon, probably. He deserved it.

Erica and Boyd finished their cups and left so they could get dinner started for Alicia, and Derek took out some chicken and started slicing it up to cook in the pan.

“Do we have garlic?” Stiles asked and rummaged around in the fridge.

“Yes, but not in the fridge anymore,” Derek shook his head at him. “Garlic does not belong in the fridge. Neither does onions by the way, stop putting them there.”

“They last longer in there.”

“No they don’t, it’s too cold for them.”

“Who told you these lies?”

“Orric.”

“Oh. Okay then.”

Derek shook his head again. Of course Stiles would believe it if Orric said it.

“Derek? Tara told me something today.”

“About the Green Pack?”

“You know?”

“Peter called me to let me know. I’m sending out a new patrol schedule tonight. We’ll up it to twice daily checking for scents around the perimeter, and I’ll ask Deaton for some reinforcements on the wards. It should be enough. No unknown wolves will be able to enter without our knowing about it.”

Stiles let out a relieved sigh. “So you’re on top of it?”

“I am.”

“I don’t have to do anything?”

“You don’t.”

“That feels odd and weird.”

Derek laughed. He did involve Stiles in all pack decisions these days, so he could see his point. But this would probably come down to just the werewolves, and it was safer this way.

“How did magic class go?”

Stiles told him about it while he prepped the potatoes and the vegetables, and Derek shuddered at the thought that someone could move about unseen like that. It was bad enough when Stiles hid his scent.

“What’s the plans for tonight then?” Stiles asked while they were eating.

“Ollie hasn’t had a good walk all day, so we should do that. And after, well I ordered The Watch books, but they haven’t arrived yet. I do have Color of magic if you want to do that next.”

“Nah, never really liked those. Maybe after The Watch?”

“Got it. We could start watching Babylon 5. How about two episodes before you decide you don’t want to? It’s one of Peter’s favorites, and he has good taste.”

“Alright. Since it’s Peter’s favorite, I’ll give it three episodes. But never Star Trek, okay?”

Ollie yipped in assent and Derek scowled at Stiles for sneaking him a piece of chicken.

Chapter Text

Derek’s face slowly grew redder and redder, and Stiles didn’t know if the man had ever been likelier to wolf out in public and rip Stiles’ throat out.

“It’s not my fault,” Stiles said, hiding one bag of Doritos under the head of lettuce. “They’re on special, Derek! So I have to get several of them.”

Derek dropped the bag of flour on top of the other bags and pressed it down, never breaking eye contact with Stiles. “They’ve been on special offer for three weeks, Stiles. And they keep going on offer. This is no reason to get more than one.”

“I know you think you ruined them for me,” Stiles insisted and rolled the cart down the next aisle, “but I like them like that, and now you just made sure we can’t put them back.”

“You’re not in college anymore”

“Boo freaking hoo. Three bags is not that much. I won’t have to get more for a week.”

“They weren’t on the list.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Not everything that’s good can fit on lists.”

Derek waved the grocery list at him. “We make the list when we’re at home and we’ve eaten so we don’t make dumb decisions at the store. Doritos weren’t on the list.”

“They should be.”

“Then I’ll put them on the list next time.”

“What kind of salsa do we want?” Stiles said, ignoring him. “What does the list say?”

“It just says salsa. Get the hot kind.”

“Excuse you, as much as I like the spice in life, I’m not getting the hot one. Last time you cooked with it, you used way too much and my tongue still feels weird. We’re getting the medium, and we’re getting the pineapple.”

“Pineapple is gross. Put it back.”

“Pineapple is delicious, I’m getting it, and you can’t stop me. I don’t want the hot kind.”

Derek grabbed the hot and put it in the cart. “There. We both get the one we want. Happy?”

Stiles agreed that he was, in fact, very happy. And he was even happier when they turned the corner on the hunt for rice to find free food. Even more when the smiling lady offered the sausage covered in some kind of white mush to Derek and he accepted it. A speck of it ended up on his chin.

Stiles wiped it off with his thumb and was about to put it in his mouth.

“Hey, that’s mine!” Derek exclaimed and grabbed his hand. “You’ve had yours!”

“You’re so selfish, Derek, it’s only a… little… bit...” he trailed off as Derek’s long pink tongue wrapped itself around Stiles’s thumb, only for a second, and disappeared back between his lips.

“Mine.” Derek said, simply, and let go of his hand. “Now let’s see if we can find the wholegrain rice. I don’t want you eating all that processed stuff if we can avoid it, especially considering all those bags of Doritos I know you’re gonna binge on before the end of the day.”

“Hey, I don’t mind the wholegrain rice!” Stiles complained, coming out of his stupor, and followed him with the cart. He still had every intention of bringing them by the ice cream aisle next.

After Derek, with mixed successes, had gotten Stiles out of the grocery store without filling their cart completely with refined sugar, they made it home to see a car parked on the street outside their house.

“Derek? Are we expecting anyone?”

“No. Do you recognize that car?”

“I don’t. Looks fancy. Something your uncle might drive.”

The car was a sleek vintage Aston Martin in grey, and a tall man was leaning against it, inspecting his finger nails. They pulled into the driveway and the man straightened. He was nicely dressed, and it wasn’t until Derek got out of the car that he recognized him.

“Deucalion. Hello.”

“Derek Hale. Haven’t seen you in a long time. You were still in high school I think.”

“I think so. How have you been?”

“Up and down. Was blind for a bit. You might have heard?”

“You seem fine now.”

“Magic, you know how it is,” He shrugged. “Is this the boy?”

He nodded to Stiles who had come out of the car too and stopped by Derek. Good. That made Derek feel better. Stiles was safe next to him. Not that Deucalion was a threat; he was an old friend of Derek’s family after all.

“Stiles, this is Deucalion, a friend of my mother’s. Stiles Stilinski.”

Deucalion held out his hand and Stiles shook it. Their contact lasted an entire six seconds – not that Derek was counting.

“It’s good to meet you, Stiles. I thought your name was Mieczysław?”

“Wow,” Stiles said, “that was an almost perfect pronunciation.”

“Of course. Names are important.”

“I go by Stiles. Mostly because most people don’t bother with the right pronunciation, but you know how habits are.”

Deucalion made a show of bowing deeply to them both.

“Then Stiles it is. Stiles, I, an alpha werewolf, sadly without a pack of my own since it has dwindled down to nothing over the years, have come to offer myself to you as a mate. I understand that’s how these things go?”

Derek froze. Deucalion had come to court Stiles? There hadn’t been anyone around in the three months that had passed since Stiles came home, but he should’ve known that wouldn’t last. Stiles was an adult now, and anyone he chose wouldn’t have to wait before they could take over the Stilinski pack. But Deucalion? He had to be in his forties, at least. He wasn’t unattractive by any means, but Derek had a hard time seeing Stiles with someone like this.

Stiles didn’t look convinced either.

“I see. You’re here to ask me out?”

“If that’s what it’s called these days. I’ve brought you a present by the way, to show my good intentions.”

He reached into his car and took out a black flat gift box. Derek could see the YSL logo on the box and Stiles accepted it hesitatingly and opened it. Inside was a dark knitted sweater. It looked simple enough, but wasn’t something Stiles would usually wear. He checked the tag.

“Huh. It’s my size too. Thank you.”

“Lucky guess I suppose? So? Do you have plans tonight, Stiles? I can make reservations somewhere in town if you’d like?”

Stiles shrugged. “That’s fine.”

“I’ll be back to pick you up in two hours then? Will that give you enough time?”

Stiles laughed at that, and Derek grinned. Stiles wouldn’t spend more than ten minutes on getting ready for a date. Not for an alpha candidate coming out of the blue like this.

“Two hours is definitely enough time.”

“Excellent.” Deucalion’s smile was too wide for Derek’s taste, but he still shook the man’s hand when offered. His nostrils flared and he just about managed not to flinch. Deucalion wore an artificial scent, but there was something underneath it. Derek’s senses had come back as he had healed, but they weren’t perfect anymore. He cursed that fact as he tried to identify the scent. It was familiar to him, somehow, but he couldn’t place it.

He was so busy wondering about it as they put their groceries away that he missed Stiles getting into the shower an hour later until he came down with a towel wrapped around his waist holding the sweater. Derek kept his eyes firmly on his face; he didn’t need Stiles’ body in his mind more than it already had been lately.

“Do you think I should wear this on the date? It’s so expensive! I looked it up online, Derek, and it’s over a thousand bucks!”

“It’s a nice sweater.”

“What if I spill on it and ruin it? You think he’d be mad?”

“Stiles,” Derek said and grabbed his shoulders. “Why are you so worried about this? You never cared this much before.”

“No but…”

“But?”

“But what if this is my last chance? I’ve run out of people my own age, and there aren’t exactly a line of people beating down my door wanting to mate with me if you haven’t noticed. And you know this guy, so he can’t be bad, can he?”

Stiles’ eyes were big and wide, and Derek fought the urge to hug him. Then he shook his head at his own stupidity. Why wouldn’t he hug Stiles? It was okay for him to hug Stiles, it was Stiles! Just because he’d slipped up in the grocery store earlier didn’t mean hugs weren’t okay between pack. He pulled Stiles into his arms and ran his hand down his back in an attempt to soothe him (and scent him properly).

“I don’t know him that well. He’s an old friend of my mom. Decent guy for all I know.”

“How did his pack die?”

“I know a lot of them abandoned him when he lost his sight. And I suppose if only the older ones stayed, they might have died from natural causes by now. It happens. You can ask him at dinner.”

“Right. Dinner. This sweater is something Jackson would wear, not me. It’s a little tight-fitting.”

“You’d look good in it. Not a skinny, scrawny little kid anymore. But if you want him to get to know you, you should go looking like you.”

“But he looks like he eats at fancy places, like you do! And I don’t own anything that will work for that.”

“Sure you do,” Derek said. “I’ve seen you in proper button down shirts. The ones Lydia picked out for you, right?”

“Right. But they’re not that comfortable either, so I might as well wear this sweater.”

“I doubt he came because he heard you had a wonderful fashion sense, Stiles.”

That was the wrong thing to say, clearly, and Stiles’ heart pounded away in his chest.

“Right. He’s not here for me. He’s here for the pack.”

“Stiles… I didn’t mean-”

“No you’re right. This isn’t about finding a romantic partner, it’s about finding a new alpha. He’s a little old for me, but I should give him a proper chance, right? I should give anyone a proper chance who comes asking for one.”

“Stiles…”

“I’ll wear the sweater. He might like that. I assume he wouldn’t have picked it out if he didn’t like it.”

He shrugged himself free from Derek’s grip and went back upstairs. He came down some twenty minutes later, in the new sweater and dark jeans and his hair gelled to perfection and Derek had to hide his face in the book he was reading. It was a good look for Stiles. Most looks were, frankly.

Stiles sat down in his usual seat but pushed Ollie away.

“No, pup. I don’t want your hair on me right now. We’ll cuddle later.”

Ollie whined and Derek patted the cushion next to him. He wasn’t surprised when Ollie looked longingly at Stiles for several minutes before coming to join Derek. He laid his head on Derek’s lap and looked up at him with sad eyes.

“Sorry Ollie. Stiles will be back home soon again though, and then he’ll let you sleep in his bed tonight. You love that, don’t you?”

The knock on the door made Stiles jump and Derek grimaced an apology.

“Dude, what’s superhearing even for if you’re not going to warn me?”

“He can hear you, Stiles.”

“Yes, I can”, Deucalion said from the other side of the door, and Stiles quickly opened it to let him in.

Deucalion had brought more gifts, and Derek had to roll his eyes at roses and chocolate. It was a little cheesy. In fact, come to think of it, cheese. If Derek was dating Stiles, he’d bring him cheese. Stiles liked cheese. He also liked chocolate, but not the fancy chocolate boxes filled with liqueurs and nuts. No, Stiles liked stealing Derek’s salty caramel chocolate and stuffing his belly full of chocolate ice cream. The flowers were a bit over the top, but Stiles accepted them politely and put them in water before leaving with Deucalion.

Derek made himself some pasta and sausages and fed one of them to Ollie under the table. The house hadn’t felt this empty when he’d been alone for months on end, but with Stiles gone for a full evening, well, Derek didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit. This is why pack should live together.

Sure, he could’ve called Boyd. Or Jordan – oh wait, Jordan and Valerie were still out of town. Or literally anyone else in the pack, and had dinner with them. It wasn’t like six years ago when he’d felt awkward and lost. They were all family at this point. They barely even knocked when visiting him and Stiles. But maybe Stiles would quickly regret going on that date, and maybe Derek would need to go and get him, and maybe he’d be home early and would need to talk it through or something. Clearly, Derek couldn’t just leave.

His phone rang and he jumped at it, but it wasn’t Stiles.

“Derek,” his mother said, “you’re on speaker with Peter and me.”

“Hi. What’s up?”

“It’s nothing urgent, but we wanted you to know there’s been some developments in the recent murders.”

“Oh?” He put down his fork and shooed Ollie off of his feet. “It hasn’t been that long since the last one. Don’t tell me there’s been another one?”

“No, not a new one, but Derek, there was a survivor from the Green pack.”

“A survivor?”

“Yes, someone the police believed had been killed too, because they couldn’t find him, but a couple of days ago he was found walking around in the wilderness. Human, so they took him to the hospital, and it was a while before he was lucid enough to tell them anything.”

“But?”

“Have you heard of an alpha called Kali?”

“She’s about my age,” Peter said. “We met a few times when we were younger, before she became the alpha of her pack out east. No one has heard much about her since then. Not like we keep track of packs that far away but-”

“Derek, Kali is the alpha who murdered the Green pack. She came to them in the guise of friendship and then killed their alpha. And once she had subjugated the pack enough, she killed them too.”

Derek picked up his fork and put some more food in his mouth. “So now that we know who it was, we can just track her down and capture her, right?”

“We could. But we don’t know how to find her. Although with a name we know who to warn other packs about. We’re sending messages out to everyone we know and tell them to do the same. South to Mexico too, just in case. She must be powerful by now if she’s been taking over and killing this many packs over the past few years.”

“There has to be someone who might know where she is.”

“We’re trying to get hold of a mutual old friend of ours,” Peter said. “Do you remember Deucalion, Derek?”

Stiles wondered, as he picked at a piece of asparagus that was way too small for the size of the plate, what his parents would think if they saw him here, in the fanciest restaurant in Beacon Hills, in a thousand dollar swater having dinner with a man their own age. Maybe they’d be concerned. Was there a reason for concern? Clearly Stiles had run out of people his own age to date. That was concerning.

“Some clever investments back in the day keep me comfortable these days,” Deucalion continued but Stiles was only half-listening. He wasn’t going to be impressed by money.

Many alpha candidates had tried to impress him with money; even Ethan had flashed a nice watch at him on their first date, but money could run out at any time, especially investments. Hard work was reliable. A willingness to help the pack. These were things that mattered.

At least Deucalion was already an alpha, and if Talia Hale liked him enough to call him a friend, he couldn’t be bad, could he, no matter how Stiles felt about Talia personally? He wouldn’t need to teach Deucalion anything, except maybe to stop sliding his foot up Stiles’ leg.

He moved it to the side a bit to get away from the foot, and Deucalion winked at him.

“What do you do for actual work then?” Stiles asked.

“Stiles, now, you must be aware that being an alpha can be a full time job.”

“It is. But as it’s not a paid position, most alphas do have another job too. Talia Hale is a city councilwoman. My mom worked in construction. Derek is an architect. They’re all alphas. And Talia’s pack is much bigger than ours.”

“Perhaps I should work in construction too. Or run for mayor. Whatever my mate desires of course. Is that acceptable to you, Stiles?”

Stiles sipped on his glass of wine – ugh, wine, Deucalion had insisted beer wouldn't go with the food. “Are you handy at all?”

“I could go into politics.”

“Not in Beacon Hills. Most people think our pack is some sort of hippie cult.”

“About time we change their minds on that isn’t it then?”

“Maybe. Them thinking we’re a little odd often mean less questions when we behave strangely, like midnight runs, so it has its benefits.”

Alright, he thought, Deucalion’s not quite what you would’ve wanted in a mate, but he’s already an alpha, that’s a plus. He’s a little creepy, that’s a minus. He seems eager and he doesn’t come with pack baggage of his own, just like Ethan, so that’s a plus. And you can teach him whatever else you need from him. After all, you taught Derek, and he’s perfect now and-

And the glass was suddenly very slippery in Stiles’ hand when he put it down with a loud clank as it collided with the plate and the many knives and forks that were apparently very important for eating a single meal.

Derek.

Derek was an alpha. And after the rocky start, Derek was a good alpha now, who cared about Stiles’ pack and-

- and Derek was kind. He could be a real asshole sometimes, but bottom line, Derek was kind, and smart, and Stiles always felt safe with him around and-

- and they read books together, and loved their dog, and wasn’t Derek extremely handsome now that Stiles really thought about it, and-

- and Derek’s tongue around Stiles’ thumb earlier that day- and-

- and wasn’t it Stiles favorite part of the day to come home to find Derek there every evening?

“Everything okay, Stiles?” Deucalion’s hand landed on Stiles’ arm and caressed it far too intimately for Stiles’ comfort, but he didn’t pull away.

“I… I’m not feeling that well. I’m sorry Deucalion, but maybe a raincheck for another night? I’d like to go home.”

He needed to think this over, struggling to grasp all the confused feelings that were crashing into him all at once until they all pointed in the same very clear direction; Derek would be the very best mate for Stiles, and he didn’t know why he hadn’t realized that a long time ago.

“No, of course I don’t think Deucalion could have anything to do with this, Derek.”

“Really, Derek, he’s a good friend of Talia’s, and of mine. And your grandfather was close with his father once upon a time. I’m certain he hasn’t spoken to Kali for a long time.”

“But, are you sure?”

“Of course we are, sweetheart. You know you can trust me.”

Yes. Derek should trust his mom. He had always trusted his mom, hadn’t he, and when had she steered him wrong? Never, that was when. She was always right.

“Alright mom. I’ll trust you.”

“Good. Maybe when Deucalion comes back with Stiles, you can ask him about Kali just to make sure he doesn’t know where she is? He would’ve told us if he’d thought she was involved in the pack murders, but perhaps they’ve spoken about other things recently. She might have mentioned something to him about plans or whereabouts that wouldn’t have made him suspicious at the time.”

“I will.”

“And don’t forget to call and let us know either way.”

“Okay.”

“Bye Derek.”

“Bye Mom. Peter.”

“Take care of yourself, nephew.”

She was always right. And Derek had bad alpha instincts, he’d known that from the start.

But the odd feeling in his stomach didn’t leave him, and Ollie whined at Derek’s feet and went back and forth between him and the door.

“I don’t know where they are, pup,” Derek told him. “And Stiles wouldn’t like it if I interrupted his date. He needs it to go well.”

Not really though, he thought. Stiles thought he was in a hurry to find a mate, but Derek didn’t mind staying where he was for now, and he kept telling Stiles that. Not that there was any chance of convincing Stiles of something once he got an idea like that in his head; his stubbornness could be annoying sometimes. Sometimes it was cute, and Derek chased that thought from his mind as soon as his wolf suggested it. Would Stiles trust Talia? To an extent, yes. He’d trust her not to have bad intentions, but Stiles hardly ever trusted anyone’s judgement other than his own, did he?

But damnit, Derek could! Derek could trust his own mom. He scratched the back of his neck. He could trust his mother. He could. He could, he could, he could. What would she think if she found out Derek didn’t – not that he didn’t – he did trust her! He trusted his mother completely.

Ollie whined again and Derek picked up his phone. “Okay, but only because you asked.”

He dialed Tara’s number, and she answered on the second ring, like she usually did.

“Hello Derek, what can I do for you?”

“Are you working?”

“Yes, I am. Is something wrong?”

“Well… maybe.”

“Go ahead.”

He still hesitated. Once he asked Tara to look into it, it would be like admitting he thought he knew better than his mom. But... but Stiles.

“There’s a werewolf named Kali, and another named Deucalion. Do you think you can do some of your cop magic and find out if they had anything to do with each other recently?”

“That’s all you have to go on?”

“Afraid so, you know how some wolves can be.”

He heard the scratch of a pencil against paper.

“Is it a rush?”

“Sort of.”

“Which means yes, coming from you.”

Derek scratched Ollie behind the ear as the dog stood on his back legs with his front paws on his lap. “Please, Tara?”

“I’ll do my best. Could do better with my favorite analyst on the case though.”

“He’s on a date.”

“I bet you’re just loving that, aren’t you?”

“Tara…”

“Alright, alright, I’ll get going. But I was about to go home, so I want extra watermelon in my vegetable box this week.”

“Thank you.”

“There,” he said when the call had been ended. “I’ve done what I could. Stiles is going to be fine. Let’s finish our meal, then, okay? No more whining.”

He took a deep breath to control himself, and Ollie settled down a little bit by his food bowl. Derek’s food went down slowly now though, and he kept looking over at his phone. Maybe he could text Stiles to make sure he was okay?

[D. Hale]

Hey, just checking in. No spilling on the sweater?

[Stiles]

omwh

Derek let out a slow breath. Stiles was coming home, he’d be here soon, and then Derek could ask Deucalion about Kali and that would be it, and Derek had been irrational, and his mother had been right, and Derek had been wrong and silly, like always.

He checked his watch and frowned. Short date, it seemed. Deucalion had better not have gotten handsy or Derek would… he would… he would try his hardest not to kill him.

“Stiles is on his way,” he told Ollie, who immediately ran to the door to sit down and stare at it. Derek chuckled. Ollie was never shy about who his favorite person was.

His phone rang and he answered.

“Tara?”

“Derek. Well, turns out it wasn’t that hard after all, but Derek…”

“Yes?”

“Why do you want to know about these two?”

She sounded stressed and Derek straightened. “What’s wrong?”

“They have the same last known address, a place in Oregon about seven years ago.”

“Nothing since then?”

“No, but Derek, that place…”

“Tara, what is it?”

“That place was owned by Ennis, Derek, so why do you ask about them now?”

His heart dropped into his stomach. Or maybe it flew out of his throat? Whatever happened to it, Derek was sure it wasn’t in his chest anymore or he’d still be able to hear it.

“Tara, get the pack, Deucalion has Stiles. Meet me… no, you know what, I’m turning on the tracking on my phone, tell them to meet me wherever I am when you get hold of them, okay?”

He hung up before she could say something, and started dialing for his mother, but changed his mind. She might not believe him. Laura would.

Stiles wondered idly what it was in the evening so far, and his sudden demand to be taken back home, that had made Deucalion think a hand on his knee would be appropriate during the drive, but his mind was only half-aware of it because holy shit Derek. Stiles wanted him. He wanted him, not so sit in this car with someone who wasn’t Derek, he didn’t want to plan a future for his pack with someone who wasn’t Derek, he didn’t want to be given the mate bite by someone who wasn’t Derek, right now he didn’t even want to be touched by someone who wasn’t Derek, and he unceremoniously shoved Deucalion’s hand off of him. He wanted Derek to be there instead, he wanted to be coming back from a first date with Derek, and not go home early because of stupid reasons but because they lived together and they wanted to go home and make out, for hours, and Stiles wanted Derek’s lips on his, Derek’s hands in his hair, running down his sides, cupping-

Wait.

“Where are we?” he asked when the car drove past a loading dock and into a warehouse. He thought maybe they were on the East side of town, which didn’t make any sense at all.

“Not that that isn’t a delicious scent on you, that I’d love to explore further, Stiles, but we have an appointment to keep.”

“What?”

“There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

The door on the passenger side was thrown open and someone grabbed Stiles’ arm and pulled him out, hard.

“Stiles, meet Kali. Kali, this is the boy.”

Stiles caught a glimpse of wild hair, red eyes, and teeth as the woman snarled at him.

“What the hell is going on here?” Stiles tore himself free from her grip with the strong suspicion that she’d let him, but he only walked straight into Deucalion instead who grabbed him by both elbows and handed him over to Kali again. All semblance of good humor was gone from his face, and his words came out in hard, jerked sentences between his fangs.

“I’m going to tell you a story, Stiles. The story of a good friend of mine, and of Kali’s. He was one of the best men you could’ve imagined. Not that clever, granted, but he had ambition. He had dreams. And he had the drive necessary to go for his dreams. And together, the three of us made a plan.”

“Nice villain monologue,” Stiles snorted. “What does this have to do with me?”

“We’re getting to that, little boy,” Kali said behind him, far too close and Stiles shivered at the thought of her teeth so near but out of sight; he was already having trouble with her claws digging into the skin of his arms.

“Our friend,” Deucalion continued, ignoring the interruption, “knew that for this plan to work, we all needed to become stronger. And we made a plan for that as well. And it worked. And it worked several times, and we were happy, the three of us. But then one day, Ennis had his sights set on a worthless little town with a defenseless little pack and a weak alpha bitch with no proper heir-”

“Fuck you!” Stiles spit in his face, “My mother wasn’t weak!”

“She sure died like a weak bitch, didn’t she?” Kali said into his ear, one of her clawed hands now close to Stiles’ throat. “Barely even put up a fight, from what Ennis told us.”

Deucalion wiped off his face with a napkin from his suit pocket.

“Don’t hurt the boy, Kali. We have need of him yet.”

His eyes were cold now, boring into Stiles’ as Kali eased her grip.

“What do you want?”

“I think you already know what I want, a clever boy like you, but you interrupted my tale. You see, then we learnt that taking over as alpha over this pitiful little pack of cabbage munchers and manual laborers apparently isn’t enough, and the pack won’t follow along and be obedient. Whoever heard something so stupid? And the reason, we hear, is because the pack would rather have a little, annoying, human boy as their leader, and they’re just refusing to fall in line properly.”

“And then, that Hale bitch’s son goes and kills our friend,” Kali snarled into Stiles’ ear again. “But him you accept.”

“So here’s what’s going to happen, Stiles,” Deucalion said and after a gesture at Kali they both took a step away from him and he could finally keep his eye on both of them. He tried not to show his relief, but Kali’s smirk at his long exhale told him he wasn’t succeeding that well. “You’re going to call Derek Hale and tell him where you are, or we will kill you. You’re going to tell him to come alone, or we will kill you. Then we will kill him. You and I will mate, and I will let your pack live. We’ve taken care of enough packs between us, so one left alive won’t matter-”

“They helped killed Ennis!” Kali growled, but another gesture from Deucalion silenced her.

“We will let them live if Stiles cooperates, Kali. And if he doesn’t, I’m sure he knows what’s happened to the other packs who got in our way.”

Stiles’ thoughts were running wild in his head. Ennis. He’d thought he’d never have to hear that cursed name ever again. And knowing these were his friends… no, he wouldn’t assume anything they were saying were empty threats. But… Derek. Stiles had literally just realized he had feelings for the guy of the romantic, sexual, warm, fluffy and dirty type, and he couldn’t just… let Deucalion and Kali kill him, even if it was for the safety of his pack. Killing Ennis hadn’t even been Derek’s fault.

“It was an accident,” he tried, taking what he hoped was an imperceptible step backwards. He didn’t know this room as well as the training room at the vet clinic, but it would have to do. There wasn’t that much in it. “Derek didn’t mean to kill him. And Ennis was trying to kill him too. People who go around murdering other people don’t get to be mad when they get murdered themselves, and frankly, only a sociopath would think so. You a sociopath, Duke?”

“Careful, Stiles,” came a low growl from Deucalion. “I was going to treat you nicely as my mate, but it’s best not to push me too far, sweetheart.”

The endearment made Stiles’ skin crawl, but he kept his mind on what he needed to do. What did he need to do? He needed to get out of there and make sure his pack knew to prepare for an attack and call on their allies. The other packs had been taken mostly by surprise by a friendly alpha visitor. His wouldn’t be. They’d been training, and they’d talked over many a contingency plan. Besides, Deucalion had no real reason to harm the pack members individually. He’d need to be their alpha to become stronger by killing them, and he’d only be their alpha by killing Derek and Stiles would never let that happen. If only he could warn them in time, they should be fine. He hoped. And they’d fight better if he wasn’t held hostage. He really hated people holding him hostage.

Stiles pushed the image of the room without himself out, hoping it would work, but didn’t stay to find out. Their claws would soon tell him it if didn’t. After a quick look around the room, he assessed the situation. It wasn’t a warehouse like he had thought but what looked like a rundown old indoor train yard. Two train cars still stood at different angles in the vast space, with a third toppled over further off, and they’d be good places to hide behind while he plotted how to get out of there without being noticed. That meant it was the first place they’d look. He cloaked his sound and scent and ran to an empty wall instead to press himself flat against it while he took in the exits.

There were two. The landing dock where they had driven in was now closed and he couldn’t see how to open the pull-down gate quickly enough. There was a door next to it, and on the other end of the room an emergency exit sign blinked.

He knew he didn’t need to be quiet, his sound cloak was strong, and not even a strong alpha would be able to hear him move around, but there were garbage and other stuff on the floor, and he wouldn’t be able to control any noise those things made if he stepped on them. That was the next step in his training, but he and Deacon had assumed Stiles would mostly need these skills in a battle situation, where no one would notice that sort of thing.

“Stiles, you’re far too old to play hide and seek, and while I admit I find your youth surprisingly appealing, this is all going to be so much easier if you accept your fate. Don’t forget, I know what you’ve done. I know all about druid cloaking tricks. Now, come out.”

Oh right. Ennis had those two betas without scent, didn’t he? Stiles cursed silently. They never did find out if it was Ennis doing, or the betas themselves. Did this mean Deucalion knew how to see through it too? Stiles hadn’t asked Deaton about that.

Deucalion was sniffing the air, and Stiles mentally pulled his cloaking spell tighter around him and took a hesitant step forward. If he could keep his eye on the two of them across the room where they were making wild movements with their arms around the train cars, his best bet was to cross in the middle of the floor, where there was less debris than by the walls.

“The doors,” Kali said then and Stiles cursed as they split up and positioned themselves by the two exits.

“You can’t get out, Stiles,” Deucalion said with a cheerful smirk. “I assume you haven’t learnt how to walk through walls?”

Stiles had, in fact, not. But he kept walking, slowly and carefully as to not give his position away across the room. He felt around in his pockets as he did so, but he hadn’t brought a jacket, this fancy sweater didn’t have any pockets, and his jeans just had his wallet, phone and keys, all of which were too large. They’d see it flying through the air and know where it came from if he tossed one of those. But no, no there was something else there. His fingers curled around something small, thin and hard. It felt like a cracker.

When he pulled it out, he smiled to himself. God, he loved that dog so much. Deucalion was the one by the emergency exit, and Stiles positioned himself out of his arm’s reach but as much to the side as he dared. The red eyes were scanning the room, but they went right past him several times. Stiles took a deep breath and lifted his arm, prayed quickly for his parents to protect him from the afterlife just in case that was a thing, and threw Ollie’s dog biscuit over by the nearest train car. Deucalion just missed him as he jumped forward, in full shift and with a loud roar, and Stiles threw himself at the door, and burst into the chilly night air outside right as a loud crash sounded somewhere far behind him. He didn’t stop to check what it was. He needed to find Derek.

Chapter Text

He should’ve waited. The rest of the pack were on their way, and only Tara, Kincaid and Boyd had caught up to Derek on his way to where Stiles’ scent was leading him, and he should’ve waited. He should’ve sent someone to the other exits for a better attack. He should’ve tried to investigate why Deucalion had roared like that. He should’ve remembered Stiles’ new cloaking spells and how good he was getting with them.

But he hadn’t. Instead, Derek heard a roar, he couldn’t pick up either sound or smell of Stiles anymore, and he panicked and rushed through the door so he could find him. Nothing could matter except finding Stiles and making sure he was okay.

But Stiles wasn’t there. Instead, an enraged Deucalion jumped at him and punched him square in the jaw before either of his packmates had time to react. Shit, Deucalion was strong, Derek had time to think before he crashed into the wall behind him. Ennis had been strong too, but not nearly as strong as this. Ennis had been stupid. Deucalion wasn’t, and Derek realized far too late that his landing spot had been carefully calculated when mountain ash came crashing down around him, separating him from his packmates, but not from Deucalion and Kali. Boyd was in the middle of a leap, his claws out, when he smashed into the barrier and was sent barreling back.

“Where is Stiles?” Derek growled, moving into his most threatening shift.

Deucalion chuckled. “Dead already. Such a sweet boy. It was a real shame. You’ll join him soon, though, Derek, don’t worry.”

“Enough talk.” Kali had her claws out and was looking at him with such hatred as Derek was sure no one had ever felt against him before. “Let’s kill him.”

Derek sniffed the air, but he already knew Stiles, dead or alive, was not there. Or at least not there to be sensed. But now he could smell Kali, and he realized why Deucalion had smelt familiar earlier. Ennis had had her scent on him too, six years ago. He guessed she must have been sleeping with, or near, both Deucalion and Ennis at different times.

“Stiles isn’t in here.” He said it as much for them as for himself and his pack mates. “You don’t have him.”

Deucalion smiled, showing all his sharp teeth. “Not right now. But we have you. And I’m going to take that spark you stole from my friend if it’s the last thing I do.”

“You won’t make it out of this circle alive, you know,” Kali sneered. “Your hellhound isn’t in town and there’s no one else to break this line for you.”

Derek crouched to make himself ready for the attack, but even with all the extra practice time lately, he knew there was little chance of surviving. Kali and Deucalion must have been taking over and murdering packs for years, and they had to have become incredibly strong by now. No wonder Deucalion’s eyesight had healed.

Derek was just one alpha werewolf, with pathetic fighting skills when it came down to it. He’d never killed anyone intentionally; Ennis had been an accident.

Kali made her first move. Derek roared as her claws dug into his stomach.

The second roar was different. It was much further away as Stiles had made it far down the street, but it wasn’t the angry roar Deucalion had made. No, this sounded in pain. It also sounded familiar.

Not that Derek roared a lot at Stiles. It happened, sure, now and then, but they did live in a human neighborhood after all, and no matter how much Stiles could piss the man off, Derek managed to restrain himself most of the time. And this roar wasn’t angry.

But it was Derek’s roar, which meant that Stiles couldn’t go and warn him about an impending attack, because Derek had already been attacked.

He kept his cloaking spells up but turned on his heel to run back. He couldn’t let Derek get hurt, not now, not when Derek didn’t even know how Stiles felt about him, no, Derek needed to live so Stiles could tell him and then kiss his stupidly handsome face.

Turning around a corner he crashed right into someone and prepared to blast them with fire before realizing that it was Scott. Another pained roar sounded in the distance, and Stiles’ heart beat faster. Derek could NOT die. Stiles wouldn’t allow it. He refused. Scott’s eyes searched blankly in front of him before snarling and taking his claws out.

“All right, if that’s you, Stiles, you’d better show yourself because if this is someone who hurt my best friend I’m gonna-!”

“Damnit, sorry,” Stiles said and lowered his spells. “Did you hear that roar? Is that-?”

“Yeah, it’s Derek. It’s some old dude and a woman with really creepy feet, they’ve got him trapped in mountain ash, and they’re torturing him. I caught a glance through the window before coming to find you, Stiles, it doesn’t look good at all. Mountain ash, Stiles, what do we do?”

Scott’s eyes were big and puppy-like, like always, but Stiles could see the determined set of his mouth and brow and smiled faintly. “We’re gonna save him of course. But I don’t have any mountain ash on me. Did you drive?”

“Right. I might still have that cache you left in my glove compartment?”

“Unless you cleaned it out.”

“Not likely. I don’t touch your stuff. But Derek would kill me if I put you in danger, Stiles!”

Stiles’ shoulders were too tense to shrug. “I’m the only one who can do it. He can kill me instead.”

“But–”

“We’re not arguing about this,” Stiles cut him off. “We’re saving Derek, and that’s that.”

“You did all that work with Deaton so no one would have to worry about you in a fight.”

“We’re not arguing about this.”

They ran closer to the train yard where Scott’s beat-up car was parked. Stiles quickly got the spare magic supplies from the glove compartment and thought hard.

“Maybe I can cloak us both?” he whispered but flinched from the sound of another one of Derek’s pained screams and then the angry roars from his pack mates. “No, we don’t have enough time. Tell me where they have him trapped and we’ll work it out. Just gotta move fast, okay? I’ll try to push them back and then you can trap them again without Derek?”

Scott took the bag of ash and gave Stiles a quick rundown of where he remembered the mountain ash lines being drawn, and at the sound of another pained roar, they rushed inside.

Stiles died in agony at the sight of a bloody and beaten Derek on the dirty floor, but he didn’t waste time on being upset about it. Scott was by his side and Boyd quickly joined on his other as Stiles flew forward towards the ash line, his hands already full of fire and he threw it forward at Kali and Deucalion. Kincaid jumped clean over him as soon as Stiles kicked at the ash line to break it, and managed to get one slice across Kali’s chest between Stiles’ fire balls that were pushing the two alphas back. Scott struggled with the new ash line between them and Derek, but right as he was about to close it, Deucalion jumped forward, aiming for Stiles. A weak roar from Derek made Stiles jump ahead too, to cover him, just in case. He felt the sharp claws slice into his back – far preferable to chest or stomach but before another attack could come, Tara was there with a well-aimed kick into Deucalion’s chest that made him stumble back and finally, finally, the mountain ash line was in place and both Kali and Deucalion pushed against the barrier in anger.

Stiles kept himself plastered to Derek, tears filling his eyes from the pain in his back but not willing to move. He could feel Derek’s arms circle around him and sagged against him in relief. If Derek could do that, he must already be healing. Derek’s chest felt broken and wet, but his arms were still working, so he must be healing, and Stiles would turn that hope into a truth by demanding it of the universe with all his magical might.

“Stiles…” he could hear Derek murmur against his hair, “you’re bleeding.”

“It’s okay,” Stiles managed to choke out between two sobs. “I’ll be okay. Did they hurt you?”

He lifted his head enough to look at Derek’s face. His damn hormones were all over the place, and Derek’s lips looked very kissable right now, his green eyes gorgeous and focused solely on Stiles’ and it was making his head feel heavy and slow. If Derek was his, if Stiles was Derek’s, this would be the right time for a kiss. He was about to go for it when someone placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and pushed him down a bit. It put his face into the crook of Derek’s neck instead, and he inhaled the scent of him, letting it soothe his nerves and calm him down.

“I’ve got the first aid kit,” Deacon said somewhere behind him. “We need to stop the bleeding right away. Stiles, can you move your toes?”

Right. Back injury. That meant his spine. He wiggled his toes experimentally and could feel them move inside his shoes. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Good. I’ll have to cut open this shirt.”

“Good,” Stiles said. “That asshole gave it to me. I don’t ever want to see it again.”

Most of the rest of his pack had arrived, one by one, and Derek felt the wounds close up. It would take him a couple of days to heal up the scars; alpha damage did that. Boyd, Scott, Kincaid and Tara all had minor wounds, but he could feel through their pack bonds that they’d be alright. That only left Stiles who was acting a little… weird.

“How much blood has he lost?” he asked Deaton who was cleaning the wound on Stiles’ back.

“Quite a bit. Might need to take him to the hospital for a transfusion. Dr Geyer is on his way, and Melissa. They’ll know better. Most of my patients walk on four legs, you know.”

Stiles’ arms tightened around Derek’s neck and Derek squeezed him back. They were safe, and that’s what mattered. His wolf was teetering on the edge of his subconscious, coming up with wilder and wilder plans for how Deucalion and Kali should be punished for daring to touch Stiles. He looked over at them both. All fight seemed to have left them, trapped as they were in a circle of mountain ash, but they were glaring over at him and Stiles, eyes still glowing red. Deucalion made a low whistle, twice, and Derek frowned. It sounded like a signal. But there was no one else around.

“What should we do with them?” Scott asked.

Derek considered it. At least none of his betas had killed one of the alphas. They wouldn’t need to deal with that on top of everything else.

“Let’s kill them.” Kincaid bared his teeth at the alphas and his fists closed and opened several times.

“Derek, they were going to kill you. You’re the alpha,” Boyd said. “You’re the one who can do it.”

Assent came from most of the others in the pack. Derek’s wolf wasn’t the only one who was fiercely protective of Stiles.

“My mother is on her way. I think we can rely on her to give them whatever punishment they deserve. She’ll have the resources to hold them until we can hold a hearing.”

He expected an argument, but the others nodded, and that was it.

“How were they planning on making it out of the ash circle themselves?” he wondered out loud, and Stiles stirred against him.

“Snake,” he said, looking around the room on high alert. “Ennis said one of his friends had a snake!”

Derek quickly made it to his feet, Stiles still clinging on to him. Among the debris on the floor by the mountain ash line, something was moving. Something silent, long and thin, and it seemed like such a strange plan, Derek thought, until he realized that the snake was going to ruin the line. He made a move as to catch it, but Stiles’ magic was faster. The snake flew back across the room and slammed into the back wall in a quick gust of air.

“I think that’s an endangered species,” Deaton said slowly, already on his way to put the snake back into the sack it had crawled out of on Deucalion’s signal. Scott helped him, and Kincaid and Boyd put down a second line of mountain ash in front of the other one. And then a third.

“Stiles,” Derek said as gently as he could, feeling him sag against him. “I want you to go to the hospital. I can hear Melissa’s car coming.”

Stiles’ took a steady grip of Derek’s shirt and there was an odd look on his face as he looked into Derek’s. “What if they have helpers? I won’t leave you until we’re all safe.”

“Derek,” Boyd started, “I think the entire pack would feel a little better if you and Stiles both came and stayed with the rest of us tonight. This entire situation was a breach in our defenses, and we need to work out how to keep it from happening again. We can do that better from the pack land than from your place.”

Derek nodded. “Alright, hear that Stiles? You’ll go home with Melissa, and I’ll be there in a little bit. None of us will be alone, and I won’t make you go to the hospital tonight if it isn’t absolutely necessary. It’s getting late anyway.”

Stiles nodded too but didn’t let go of Derek. Good, his wolf agreed. Keep him close, keep him safe. Kill anyone who tries to harm him.

“Hey,” he said, stroking back Stiles’ hair from his face and smiling at him. “You totally saved my life just now.”

Stiles smiled back, but he still looked loopy. Those magic spells must’ve taken a lot out of him, along with the wound on his back.

“Alpha, someone else is coming too.” Kincaid jerked his head towards the door. “It’s not one of our cars.”

“It’ll be my sister.”

He moved to hand Stiles off to Kincaid, but Stiles was still clinging on when the door opened to let in the other Hales. Derek found that he didn’t mind.

“We’ll be able to hold them both,” Talia said, as Derek lead her and Peter around the perimeter surrounding the pack neighborhood. “Honestly though, who could keep them locked up forever?”

“You want to execute them?”

“We have twelve dead packs, Derek. Murdered. Slaughtered. And they came after you. My son.”

“I wasn’t objecting.”

“This situation is unprecedented,” Peter said. “Frankly, I’m wondering if we shouldn’t turn them over to hunters.”

Derek thought about Chris Argent, living only an hour away, but didn’t bring it up. He had other things on his mind. His personal vengeance wasn’t that important. The safety of his pack was.

“Are we looking into any accomplices? We didn’t after Ennis, and look where that lead us.”

He wasn’t trying to blame them, he really wasn’t. There was no way they could’ve known Deucalion and Kali was involved with Ennis, and Derek knew that. But his mom had said there was no chance of Deucalion being involved, and Derek had trusted her. She had asked him to trust her, and he had. And he’d almost lost Stiles because of it, in fact would have, if he hadn't ignored her. His wolf whined inside of him at the thought of it, and he struggled to fight the urge to run over to Melissa’s to check that he was still safe. Laura had overseen some of the Hale pack getting Kali and Deucalion moved to Sacramento, but Talia and Peter had come with them to the new neighborhood. Derek had been alpha for a little too long to need her like he once had, but she was still his mother, and there would always be comfort to be gained from her presence, no matter how old he became.

“I’ll go and look in on Stiles,” Peter said. “And say hello to the lovely Melissa.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “He’d better not…”

“He’s just teasing you.”

It was late, very late, but Talia’s eyes shone brightly, reflecting the light from the lamp posts they had put up.

“Mom…”

“No, let me speak. I should have reacted. It was strange that Deucalion showed up like that, a veritable stranger to you, when we were waiting for an attack. I am sorry, Derek. They almost killed you, and they would have, if your pack hadn’t intervened. And I am so happy you were all able to solve it without anyone getting seriously hurt. Stiles will be okay, won’t he?”

“Melissa said so. Deaton thought he did the cloaking spells a bit too well, so he’s a bit burned out.”

Derek should go and check on him. Make sure Stiles was still okay. Most of the pack were either hanging out in the McCall’s living room or out on patrol. Stiles was fine, and technically, Derek knew that, but did he really know that, if Stiles wasn’t in Derek’s direct line of sight? He’d been so clingy tonight too. Derek should make sure he was still okay.

“This turned out well,” Talia said then and gestured to the neighborhood. “Really Derek, the houses all look lovely. And I like how they’re situated like this too. A real community. How many more are you building?”

“We have locations planned for four more, including the alpha house when Stiles needs a new one, but we’re not in any rush right now. It’ll be some time until someone else will want to move into their own house.”

Talia watched him with a smile. “I’m impressed. I know you wanted to build something like this back home too. I should have listened better. It was some good instincts on your part.”

Derek felt suddenly warm. She was a good mother, really, but when was the last time she had complimented him like this?

“Thank you, mom.”

“I’m proud of you, sweetheart. You’ve turned into a good alpha, and I’m sure that our own pack will be better off for having you as the second in command one day when I turn things over to your sister, and we will all be better off when you come back home to us again. We can build something like this in Sacramento too. Obviously we won’t be able to put our whole pack there, but it could be a start. See how it goes. What do you think?”

Derek beamed. “That’s great mom. These houses are great too, you know, they’re perfect for werewolves, I’ve got all kinds of plans to show you, and I know my pack gladly will show you around their homes tomorrow. We’re all proud of what we’ve done here.”

She patted him on the cheek. “I’m glad to hear it. Shall we go back to the house then? I believe Peter and I were promised beds for the night.”

“There’s plenty of space.”

He led the way to the McCalls, elated by her words. His mother’s pride and appreciation was all he had ever really wanted, and finally, she was willing to give it to him, and give him an actual chance as an architect, and believe in him. He wouldn’t be the constant disappointment, the one who couldn’t live up to filling his uncle’s shoes one day, the one who couldn’t be counted on to actually be a support and comfort for Laura.

And really, he thought as they walked into the living room, he owed it all to Stiles. Stiles had told him what to do, yelled at him, coaxed him, bullied him occasionally, little by little, into making the right decisions, and being there for this pack, and putting them first. And in the past few years when Stiles was away, he had trusted Derek, and Derek hadn’t disappointed him. Stiles had made Derek who he was today, because Stiles was amazing, and fearless, to run right back into danger only to save Derek.

His mother’s praise quickly paled in importance. Derek’s wolf had been right, so very right, this whole time. Stiles was the best. The very best mate Derek could ever want. And oh, how he wanted.

Chapter Text

Stiles.

Derek opened his eyes when he became aware of the sounds. He could tell Stiles’ footsteps from everyone else’s so easily. Stiles headed to the bathroom upstairs and then back to Scott’s room.

Stiles, his wolf reminded him, just in case. Stiles. Mate.

Yeah, yeah, he told it and breathed in. Stiles was still upstairs, and his scent was partly lost among all the others currently in the house, but Derek could still identify it. He smelled good. Really good. Derek would have to be careful about sniffing him too close with this many sensitive noses around. Stiles, his wolf insisted. It wasn’t shy about what it wanted Derek to do about this recent new discovery, and the images it was filling Derek’s head with were frankly making him blush. He squirmed and then winced from the wounds on his stomach. They’d take another few days to heal, even with all of his pack around.

Melissa appeared by the sofa where Derek had been sleeping, fully dressed and with a cup of coffee in her hand. He’d missed the sounds and smells of her, too focused on… our mate. Not yet, Derek reminded it.

“I need to head off to work. Are we going to be safe?”

Derek nodded. “Safe enough. Keep your phone on though, okay?”

She smiled. “Always do. I checked on Stiles a little while ago, I think he’s going to be fine, but he needs to rest today, or those stitches I gave him are going to open up and then he really will need to go to the hospital, so I’m leaving that responsibility up to you. Tie him to the bed if you have to.”

Derek blushed hard this time and Melissa laughed. “I didn’t mean that literally. There’s coffee. Boyd texted me, and he’ll be over to make breakfast for our guests in a few minutes.”

“Thank you.”

There were steps on the stairs, but it wasn’t Stiles. Stiles? Shut up. Not that Derek minded thinking about Stiles. No, thinking about Stiles was definitely one of his new top ways of spending the time, only competing with activities like talking to Stiles, reading with Stiles, maybe eventually making out with Stiles. But people were communicating with him, and his uncle Peter would notice Derek being distracted, and make special definitely why, unless Derek focused. Peter wasn’t wearing a shirt. Of course he wasn’t. He also stretched in a revealing way and then winked at Melissa when he caught her looking. Melissa shook her head. “Werewolves. No shame. I’m heading out, Derek, give my best to your mother, please.”

“She’d want me to thank you again for your hospitality,” Peter said, “and allow me to say, Melissa, that should you ever require anywhere to spend the night in Sacramento, or indeed anywhere else where I own property, such as Paris, perhaps, you’ll be more than welcome to. In fact, I’m headed there for business in a few weeks if you’d like to-”

“Thank you, Peter, but I don’t think so. Have a good day.”

Derek got up from the couch, and threw on a shirt, to set a better example. Stiles would be waking up soon. Not that Peter was a threat – no need to growl, wolf – or at least Derek hoped as much.

“So, I just got a message from our pack,” Peter said. “Deucalion and Kali are both safely in custody. They won’t be able to escape. We’ve already been contacted by relatives of some of the packs they murdered, and they’re all asking for an official tribunal.”

Derek nodded. “Understandable. But rather unnecessary, don’t you think? We both know how that will go.”

“Execution, yes. Do you mind that?”

“No,” he shook his head. “They’ll remain a threat as long as they live. Even if they could have their alpha sparks taken away from them, there’s no way of knowing what they would do if released. And who could hold them if we don’t let them go? We don’t have prisons.”

Peter watched him carefully. “Do you want to be the one to do it? You’re the one most recently harmed by them.”

Derek touched the wounds on his stomach. Maybe he needed to get tied to a bed too. Stiles. Mate. He felt his face going red at that thought and quickly replaced it with the idea of him and Stiles, both injured, and healing together, resting in each other’s arms for days, touching and loving and making each other feel safe and loved. His wolf would be happy with that image, but it wasn’t enough to betray his feelings to Peter. Peter, who was looking at him expectantly. Oh right. He’d asked a question.

“I don’t know. I’ll talk it over with Stiles, I suppose. See how he feels about it.”

“Ah, yes, Stiles.” Peter grinned. “You know, I like that boy more and more the more time I spend with him. It’s too bad he and Cora never tried a relationship. I wouldn’t mind having him in the family. Malia said no too, I don’t know what’s with that girl sometimes. But then she’d have to live here so she could be with this pack instead of ours, and then I’d lose her, wouldn’t I? So I suppose it’s all for the best.”

Derek froze. He’d completely forgotten that part. Sure, it had only been about 8 hours since he’d realized how he really felt for Stiles beyond a base level of attraction, and most of those hours had been spent sleeping. But he hadn’t thought this through. Yes, Stiles should absolutely be Derek’s mate. Derek didn’t want anyone else, he felt more sure of that than he’d ever felt about anything else in his life, and his wolf was definitely set on it. And there was no arguing with the wolf when the wolf chose a mate. If the wolf said Stiles was the one, then he was. And while, maybe, Stiles could do better than Derek, he wouldn’t find anyone willing to work harder to make him happy than Derek would.

But Stiles would never come to Sacramento with Derek and be part of the Hale pack. He belonged where he was, in Beacon Hills. And Derek belonged as Laura’s second. Didn’t he?

Boyd came in through the door, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and waved before heading to the kitchen. Derek joined him while Peter settled back with a cup of coffee and watched them work.

Stiles, his wolf informed him when Stiles came down with Talia and Scott a little later. Stiles is pretty. Smells good. Mate. Make happy.

“Something smells good,” Talia smiled.

Derek looked at her in confusion before realizing she meant the food, not Stiles walking in looking sleepy and comfortable and frankly, adorable and perfect and what Derek wanted to see every morning for as long as he lived if he could.

Stiles’ eyes. Yes, they were beautiful with the deep whiskey brown and hints of soft honey, and Derek didn’t know how he had ever managed not to be attracted to him years ago, and they were lit up by the warm smile he was giving Derek in particular. At least, Derek could imagine that smile was for him. And he didn’t smell of blood at all.

Mate. Claim.

Not now.

Derek was smiling a lot. It was a good look for him, and Stiles definitely enjoyed it very much; Derek had a nice smile, and he much preferred a happy smiling Derek to a grumpy miserable one. But in a perfect world, Derek would be smiling because of Stiles, and not because they finally caught the murderous alphas.

Talia went home as soon as they could confirm no other strange werewolves lurked about, and Deaton upped the defenses on Beacon Hills. Their protection wards hadn’t worked, because it was set to alert them to strangers. Deucalion hadn’t been a stranger to Derek, and once he was in side, Kali wasn’t a stranger to Deucalion.

Stiles got to help Deaton making the protection wards. In the end, they managed to find a phrasing to the spells that would warn them of the presence of anyone coming to harm the pack specifically, but Deaton claimed it wasn’t possibly to keep out everyone. Stiles suspected maybe Deaton didn’t know how and didn’t want to say so, and remained determined to look for a better solution. No one got between Stiles Stilinski and a solution to a problem.

He’d never let anyone use him as bait again, and the thought of how close he’d come to losing Derek forced a painful stab through his chest whenever he thought about it. He’d never let that happen again either. Derek would die of old age, safe and happy in his bed, not a second before Stiles, or Derek would not die at all, Stiles had decided.

Peter had expressed an interest in the housing development and had decided to hang around for a few days. Stiles didn’t like it. He liked Peter Hale fine; he was smart and had a good sense of humor but having him around the house was cutting into Stiles’ alone-time with Derek.

And Stiles so so much wanted alone-time with Derek. Good, long, stretches of time with just the two of them, so they could talk properly, and Stiles could maybe put some feelers out on whether Derek might possibly like him back, and if he did, they could get to the dating part, and especially the kissing. And sex, God, Stiles hadn’t had sex in months. He and Derek should definitely have sex. It’d be amazing.

“There you are,” Peter said interrupting Stiles’ thoughts. “You smell like you’re reading something raunchy.”

Stiles looked at the book he was holding. It was an old magic book. “No, that wasn’t… you know what, Peter, it isn’t really your business. Stop smelling my chemosignals, it’s rude.”

Peter sat down on the sofa opposite. He had a habit of looming over you if you didn’t tell him to stop, so Stiles was happy to find that he was at least capable of learning about concepts like personal space.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay?”

“Why haven’t you asked Derek to draw you a proper alpha house yet?”

“We have this place.”

“Yes, I know that, but this house is the same size as the ones you’ve built on the pack land. But older. Less comfortable, especially for a werewolf, with human neighbors so close.”

Stiles looked at him. “I thought I’d get to that when it was time. You know, when I had my mate.”

When he had Derek as his mate.

“Ah. And any news on when that will be? I don’t mean to be rude, Stiles, but when I suggested Derek stay to be alpha of this pack, I really did expect you to be done by now. Handsome, clever, young man like you.”

Stiles fiddled with his shirt sleeve. “Right… I forgot that was your idea.”

He suddenly remembered Deaton’s suggestion at the time, that Derek be Stiles’ mate too. And he remembered the utterly disgusted look on Derek’s face at that suggestion, and his heart dropped out of his stomach.

Derek had never done or said anything that would suggest he was interested, in fact he’d done the opposite, hadn’t he? He’d insisted he wouldn’t ever be Stiles’ mate. And Stiles could be really annoying, he knew that, and few people knew that as well as Derek did. He rolled his eyes at Stiles all the time, and Stiles wasn’t always that nice to Derek either; that didn’t exactly point to a happy relationship, did it? No, how could Stiles even have thought that Derek would feel that way about him too?

And he remembered, again, how much Derek had always said he wanted to go home. Derek wasn’t waiting around for Stiles to fall in love with him. Derek was waiting for Stiles to do what he promised he would; find a mate to be the alpha so Derek could go home to his family. Nothing mattered more to Derek than family. They were alike in that way, weren’t they? It was a key part of why Derek had become a good alpha in the end, wasn’t it? Derek deserved to get what he wanted, and Stiles knew, had always known, that Derek wanted to go home.

Even if that was the opposite of what Stiles wanted.

“Stiles?” Peter said, suddenly on Stiles’ left with a hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Stiles managed to get out. “I’m sorry, it’s been a rough few days. I guess some things take a while to hit you?”

It wasn’t a lie, and Peter didn’t react to it, but he searched Stiles’ face.

“Is there something you want to talk about?”

“No. Not really. I’m finding a mate soon, and then you can have Derek back. You must have missed him a lot.”

Peter nodded. “Of course. I miss having my nephew around. I’m closer to his age than my sister’s, you know. Was still in high school when our father died, and I had to step up to be her second. I’m glad Derek has had the opportunity to evolve separately from the family for a few years, it’s been good for him. And a lot of that is because of you, you know. We’ll always be grateful for that. Even Talia.”

Stiles scoffed at that. “She hates me.” And that didn’t use to bother him. But she was Derek’s mother and she’d never want Stiles as a son-in-law, even if Derek had wanted him to be.

Peter laughed. “She doesn’t hate you. She’s not used to having people question her like you did after that fire is all. She’s grateful that you were there to help Derek with Deucalion and Kali, even if she won’t say that to your face. That’s an alpha thing.”

“Derek can admit he’s wrong.”

“I suppose.”

His heart was beating fast and Stiles tried to get it under control.

“I need to go walk Ollie,” he said and stood. “How much longer are you staying, Peter?”

“I managed to convince Melissa to have a drink with me, and Laura is coming over to see Derek tonight, so I’ll go back with her after that. It’s been good spending some time with you both though.”

Stiles nodded and whistled for the dog.

The problem, he thought, when he and Ollie had made it a bit down the street, was that Derek would protest wanting to leave if Stiles told him he wanted to find an alpha quickly. In the past, he’d claimed there was no rush for his sake, because, and Stiles knew this to be a fact, Derek did care about them all, including Stiles. He wouldn’t want Stiles to be unhappy. He wasn’t a selfless saint, but he’d tell Stiles to take his time and find the right mate. But Stiles had already found the right one. He’d spent most of his life since his mother died putting the pack first, and when he’d finally realized who would be best for them, it just so happened to be the perfect person for Stiles too. But that wasn’t enough, was it? He couldn’t take from Derek like that. Derek deserved happiness, perfect happiness, and it wasn’t going to come from Stiles – it was going to come from going home. Maybe get back together with Braeden? Whatever would happen to Derek, it would happen to him in Sacramento and Stiles wouldn’t stand in the way of that even if Derek could love him back. There was really no option. Stiles had to produce a mate, and now, before he revealed himself to Derek through some accident of uncontrolled longing.

Ollie whined next to him and Stiles paused. He’d been walking quickly, and had ended up by the new development, and Ollie always knew when Stiles was unhappy.

“I’m sorry, bud, I’m not being good company today.”

He crouched down to let Ollie lick his hands and face. “At least you’ll always love me.”

That made him think. There were, frankly, many people who would always love him, and they were all in his pack. Stiles could teach anyone to be a decent alpha, as long as that person actually meant to be the alpha of the Stilinski pack, and not just wanting to join two packs together. He could, technically, decide that one of his pack mates should be the new alpha, and everyone else would agree.

And sure, he wasn’t looking forward to mating with Kincaid or Demarco, but they weren’t the only options in the pack.

No, in fact there was someone, now that he thought about it, who would make a decent alpha, and who Stiles knew he’d always get along with.

Stiles stood up. “Well, Ollie. I guess this is how it has to be. For Derek’s sake. I’ll miss you like crazy when he takes you with him to Sacramento though.”

His heart stung as he walked purposefully passed the orchard and through the copse of trees towards the McCalls’ house. It chafed as he waved at Melissa who was driving away and tried the door handle. It crashed around like a raft lost in troubled waters when he found it unlocked. Scott was sitting in his underwear on the couch eating cereal with one hand while the other was steering Mario through Wario Stadium.

“Hey. I can restart if you want.” He gestured the other controller, but Stiles shook his head.

“I need to talk to you, Scott. It’s important.”

Scott paused the game and looked at him seriously as Stiles sat down. “What’s up?”

“Look, this is going to suck. Or you know, not suck, because it’s you and me, but the whole situation sucks, and I’m just so fucking tired, Scotty, I really am, I am so sick and tired of the whole thing, and I need it to be over, so can you just… Can you just help me make it over and done with?”

Scott’s warm hand against his arm should’ve been comforting, but all Stiles could think about was how Derek’s hands were even warmer, and larger and-

“What’s going on? Are you about to have a panic attack? I can call mom back, I don’t really know how-”

“No, that’s not it, dude, just listen. Derek needs to go back to Sacramento.”

“He does?” The surprise in Scott’s voice would’ve made Stiles laugh in any other circumstances. He wondered if he’d ever laugh again. Derek would think that was over-dramatic, and childish. Derek probably still thought of Stiles as a little kid, come to think of it.

“Are you sure he needs to? Actually needs to?”

“Yes, he does. And we need to let him, so I need a mate, and I need one now.”

“I thought Ethan-”.

“I’m not talking about Ethan. Scott, I need someone I know and trust, and who will listen to me. That’s it. And who fits that description better than you?”

Scott’s jaw dropped. “You want me to be your mate?”

“Yeah. I can’t think of anyone else. You’re my last resort, because Derek won’t go until I have one, and we need to let him go, he’s been here long enough already.”

“But we’re not… I mean…”

Stiles looked him square in the eye, as intently as he could manage. “I know that. I’m not asking for us to be romantically involved. We don’t have to be. We need to do… well, something, to consummate a mate bond, but that’s it. And you can see other people if you want to. I’m not going to get in the way of you having a healthy sex life. And plenty of mates don’t even get human married, so that’s not even what I’m asking for. I just need you to be the alpha of this pack, Scott; I literally can’t think of anyone else to do it and I ran out of time months ago and I can’t keep doing this to Derek, he deserves so much better and I…”

Damnit, he’d said he wasn’t going to have a panic attack.

Scott ran his hand down his back reassuringly and it helped somewhat. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? Sure, Stiles was setting them both up for a loveless mating, but they had another kind of love, and another kind of bond already, and nothing really had to change, did it? They could keep being just like this, and it would be fine.

“I don’t mean to pressure you, Scott,” he managed to get out. “But it’s been over six years, and I still don’t have an alpha to replace Derek. Will you help me?”

Scott would do. Scott would do, and Derek would agree, because Derek liked Scott. Scott had proved himself plenty already. Derek would feel good about leaving the pack to Scott, and he wouldn’t ever need to know about Stiles’ pathetic feelings, and then he would leave, and Stiles wouldn’t have to see his stupid face every day, and maybe, in a decade or so, Stiles’ heart wouldn’t feel completely cracked in half. If Scott agreed.

“And where is Stiles then?”

“I don’t know.”

“When will he be back?”

“I don’t know, Laura.”

“Have you texted him?”

“Yes. Twice. He says he’ll be home later.”

“Damned rude of him to deprive me of Ollie cuddles when I came all this way.”

“Sacramento isn’t that far.”

“You’d think it was the other end of the planet with how rarely you visit.”

“Road goes both ways, doesn’t it?”

“And here I am. And I brought you food and everything.”

Derek took his plate out of the microwave. His favorite BBQ place, and Laura had remembered all his favorites. He wondered what Stiles would think of it – but that man would eat anything as long as it was hot and especially if it was free.

“You smell weird.”

“Weird?” He sat down with his food, rolling his eyes at all the food Laura had on her own plate. “You sure that’s going to be enough for you?”

“Ha ha, number two, very funny. And yeah. You smell weird. Like, one second you’re happy and the next you’re all miserable. What’s going on?”

Derek put some food in his mouth to buy himself some time while he considered his words. He and Stiles hadn’t had any time together alone with Peter staying there, but even if they had, Derek wasn’t sure what the right move was. He wanted Stiles, he wanted to be with him, in every single way he could, but he didn’t want to make any kind of move until he knew they’d be able to be together for real. For always. Like real mates.

Mates were serious business.

“Come on, Derek, spill. What’s eating you?”

“Laura…”

“Yes?”

“What if I didn’t come home?”

She put down her fork, already half-way to her mouth, and stared at him. “Excuse me? Why wouldn’t you- what do you mean not come home?”

“What if, for example, I wanted to stay here?”

“But you were only supposed to be here for a little while. It’s been over six years, Derek. I know Stiles isn’t exactly ready to walk down the aisle with someone, but of course you’re going to come home. That was the deal!”

“I know that.”

“Is this about him?”

He nodded and Laura put her hand on his. “Oh, I see. When did this happen?”

“Just the other day. Or it’s been going on for a while. Both?”

“Have you told him?”

“No. I wanted to talk to you first.”

Laura's dakr hair fell into her face as she looked down onto her plate.

“I thought you were looking forward to coming back. And mom is so proud of you these days, Derek. I was hoping we’d have you back for Christmas. There’s plenty of things for you to do back at home now. But you want to stay here?”

“I do want to come home. I miss you all so much, and mom’s finally being nice to me and listening, and you know that’s all I thought I really wanted, but… Stiles would never come with me, and Laura, I don’t know that I can leave him behind. But I was supposed to be your second, that’s my real job, isn’t it? I don’t want to abandon you.”

Laura smiled. “And I’m happy to hear that, Derek. I’d miss you. I have missed you. But you’ve made up your mind? You’re picking Stiles?”

Had he? He wanted to go home. He wanted to be with Stiles. In a perfect world he’d get both.

“It isn’t just about Stiles. I like this town. I have plans for how we can make it better. And I like this pack, I love this pack. I want to see Alicia grow up, and Boyd and Erica will be getting married soon, or Jordan and Valerie, and the pack will grow, and I want to be here to see it. I think I want to be part of it. With Stiles.”

“So you have made up your mind?”

He looked down at his untouched food and then back up at her. “I suppose I have. I’m staying.”

Laura was still smiling, but her eyes looked wet. “I want you to be happy, Derek, I’ve always wanted that. And if Stiles is what you need to be happy, then I will be happy for you both. We’ll be fine. Peter won’t mind staying as my second for a little longer after mom retires.”

“There’s Cora. Or Malia. Or someone else in the pack. I know it’s how we’ve always done it in the Hale pack, but the second in command doesn’t always have to be a relative you know. Mine’s Boyd.”

She wiped a tear from her cheek. “I know. So, tell me. Do you think Stiles will want you too?”

“I don’t know. We argue a lot. Not as much lately, but over the years I think he’s spent more time angry with me than happy with me. But…”

“But?”

“There are also moments, and so many of them, when we just… fit. You know? Together. We work. I know he’s not a perfect person, but he’s perfect for me. I love him. And I’m willing to do what I need to, to have him love me back.”

Laura came round the table to pull him into her arms. “I’m happy to hear that, Derek. He’d be a fool not to accept you. And Stiles is no fool.”

Stiles smart. Good mate. Best mate. Yes, Derek agreed. The best possible mate. He just had to figure out how to tell him.

Stiles came home late, carrying a sleeping and drooling Ollie in his arms, and Derek’s wolf, tired of waiting for Stiles to be theirs, wanted to grab him and take him up to their den the bedroom and kiss him and cuddle him and make love and-

“Hi. Where have you been?”

“Out walking. Stopped at Scott’s for a little bit.”

Right, Derek could smell that on him. A lot actually. That was fine, his wolf said, because Scott was pack.

“Everything okay?”

“It’s going to be.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Stiles, is this a good time to talk about something? Something important?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

Stiles smelled of misery, and Derek couldn’t help himself. He went over to put his hands on his shoulders. Stiles had good shoulders, muscles honed from all that climbing he was still doing, and he was almost Derek’s height. Derek hadn’t realized before what an attractive quality that was, having mostly dated women in his life. He longed to be able to discover what the rest of Stiles’ body would feel like under his fingers, next to him, under him, over him, everywhere – but they needed to talk first.

“You don’t smell like everything is okay.”

“Stop smelling my chemo signals.”

“Can’t help it.”

Stiles shrugged himself free of Derek’s hands, and they already missed him. He pushed forward anyway.

“There’s something I want to tell you.”

Stiles sat down, in the chair, which was odd. They usually took the sofa when they talked, to let Ollie pick a good spot between them. Derek picked his usual seat anyway and leaned forward on his elbows, his hands clasped.

“Stiles, I’ve been thinking about this whole mate thing. I’m just going to come right out and say it.”

“Oh?”

“I should be your mate. I should stay here and be your mate, and that way you don’t need to look for another alpha. I really want to. I care about you a lot, and we get along, don’t we?”

Stiles stared at him. Maybe Derek should’ve practiced this speech, or run it by Laura before she left? The shocked expression quickly turned to anger and disgust.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Derek’s face fell. “No?”

“I don’t want you to stay here, Derek. I want you to go home. I’ve found someone to take your place. You could start packing tonight if you want to. It’s what’s best for you, and for me, and for my pack.”

Stiles had been calling it our pack for years now. It had been a long time since he’d said my pack, and that wasn’t even the most painful part of what he had said. He’d found a mate?

“Who is it?” Derek’s wolf was already howling to go kill whoever it was for daring to court their mate, but he managed to keep himself calm.

“It’s Scott. Scott is going to be the alpha. And he’ll be a good alpha. He’s made plenty of good decisions over the years, and he’s a good fighter. He’ll do a good job.”

Unlike Derek? He’d thought Stiles had been happy with the work he’d been doing lately. Had he done something wrong again and not realized it?

“Are you in love with him?”

Stiles shrugged. “That’s not important. He’s my best friend and I love him. We’ll be as happy together as two people could. I needed to find an alpha, and I found one. By the way, I’m heading to L.A to visit Jackson for a few days. Scott will come over tomorrow, and you can transfer the alpha spark to him then, so he can get used to it as soon as possible. I’m not a werewolf. My pack bond will get transferred with the rest of the pack when the spark transfers. I don’t need to be here for it. And then you can go home. I know you miss them. Cora misses you. This is for the best, Derek.”

How could it be for the best if they weren’t together? Derek couldn’t speak. Stiles was going to mate with Scott? Stiles... didn’t want Derek. He didn’t want him. He watched Stiles go upstairs, listened while he packed a bag and then came back down, unable to move, or speak. Stiles didn’t want him.

“Goodbye Derek. I hope you’re still here when I come back so we can say goodbye properly. And divide up our books, I guess. And so I can say goodbye to Ollie. I’m really going to miss him, but he is your dog.”

He’s our dog, and he knows it, Derek thought.

“Drive safe.” How the hell was his voice this steady?

He searched for signs of a mating bite on Stiles but couldn’t see one. That didn’t mean much though. Mating bites could be put anywhere. Derek would want his to be visible, to let the world know Stiles was taken – but Stiles was taken, and not by Derek.

Stiles closed the door behind him and Derek felt a cramped sob grow in his throat and escape. Stiles didn’t want him. He was everything Derek wanted in the world, and he didn’t want him back. His wolf whined on the inside. Derek whined on the outside too.

Chapter Text

Jackson was a werewolf now. It was some sort of remnant from his mother’s werewolf blood that Stiles could tell whenever someone had been turned, and he knew it the minute Jackson opened the door for him.

“What the hell, Jack? Ethan gave you the bite?”

Jackson rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Why are you here so early?”

“I arrived in town four hours ago. Found a place to park my car to get some sleep, but it didn’t last. So now I’m here. I brought coffees.” He held out the cardboard tray with the three cups. “I had to guess what Ethan likes, because I don’t remember, but yours is the way you want it.”

Jackson grabbed one and glared at him. “You’re still not forgiven.”

“And you didn’t answer my question,” Stiles said and followed Jackson into the fancy apartment. “Ethan bit you?”

“So what if he did?”

“It’s generally frowned upon. To turn someone you’re in a relationship with.”

“That’s what Ethan said, which is why we asked that Lobelia lady to do it.”

“You could’ve told me.”

“Oh?” Jackson turned and raised an eyebrow. “Does it matter to you?”

“No, but…”

“Not everything werewolf related is your business, Stiles.”

“Okay, fair. Did he give you the mate bite?”

Jackson shrugged. “Maybe. Not showing you.”

Okay, so the Jackson who was open for threesomes was gone. That was fine, not like that was why Stiles had come. He needed a break from all the drama. And he didn’t want to be in Beacon Hills when the alpha switch happened and the pack bond to Derek disappeared forever. He could still feel it, like he always sort of could, just faintly in the background, like a trusted person standing behind you in case you’d fall.

“You’re an asshole.”

“This news to you somehow?”

“I guess not.”

Ethan came out of a room, clothes and hair neatly ordered. “Stiles. Hello. Wasn’t expecting you this early.”

“I had to leave late last night.”

“You did not have to,” Jackson grunted over his coffee, turning the second one over to Ethan.

“Yes I did,” Stiles said quietly. Jackson cocked his head at him and his face softened, as much as Jackson’s face could.

“I need to head to work,” Ethan said. “But maybe tonight we’ll go out to eat? I’d love to catch up, Stiles.”

“Sure. Aiden and Lydia joining us?”

Ethan laughed. “Oh that didn’t last. She’s moved on already. Said she was tired of the supernatural. Bit bigoted if you ask me. One werewolf and she’s done with all?”

“She’d make a formidable werewolf herself, I always thought so.”

“She would, but I pity the alpha who’d think he could control her. Have a good day you two.”

Jackson dragged Stiles over to the living room and down on the sofa next to him, and threw an arm over the back rest, and Stiles took the silent invitation to lean into him.

“Do you like living here?”

“Not really. Ethan wants us to move to London. We have a lead on a place with fewer packs around. Ethan doesn’t like being in June territory, after all.”

“Lobelia giving you problems?”

“Nah, she’s cool. Why’d you dump that niece of hers? She’s a babe. I met her a while ago.”

“Veronica? She didn’t want to be an alpha.”

“You’re an idiot little werewolf prince, you know that?”

“Do you want to move to London?”

Jackson shrugged. “I like being with Ethan. Don’t have anything to tie me here, really. Is it weird that I want a bigger pack too?”

Stiles glanced up at him. “Why would that be weird?”

“I’ve been a werewolf for two months, and it’s not like I’m used to having a pack or anything. I’m not like you.”

“Wolves want lots of pack members, they just do. Not too many, or it’s hard to keep track of everyone, but a pack with just an alpha and an alpha mate would be… well, that’s barely a pack, and your instincts are telling you so.”

“We got Aiden too.”

“Okay, so two alphas and an alpha mate. Still no betas.”

He noticed Jackson wasn’t protesting the alpha mate part, and he wondered where that mate bite was, if it had already happened. There was no doubt in his mind that it would, and soon, if it hadn’t.

“Are you going to make me guess what happened?” Jackson asked.

Stiles sighed.

“I’m mating with Scott.”

“And you seem really excited about it.”

“Scott will do just fine.”

“Ethan loves it when I describe him as just fine too, makes him swoon. Didn’t know you felt that way about McCall.”

“I don’t. I mean, I’m not sexually attracted to Scott, and Scott isn’t interested in me that way. But we love each other in our own way.”

“Dude…”

“There are ways of having a good relationship without sex, you know. We need to consummate things for the sake of the bite mark, but what matters is the bond.”

“Stiles…”

Stiles tried to straighten up, but Jackson pulled him back close.

“Scott will be fine,” he insisted. “And he’ll listen to me, and I can steer him right if I need to, like I did with Derek.”

His voice broke at the name, but Jackson didn’t say anything about that.

“I thought you didn’t want a relationship with sharing? In the real, lasting one at least.”

“I don’t,” Stiles whispered. “But we need an alpha and Scott is it.”

“You have an alpha. What’s wrong with Hale?”

“Nothing. Not a single thing.”

“Ah.”

“I’ll get over him eventually, okay?”

“Yeah the pain reeking out of you right now is agreeing with you.”

Talking to Jackson could be so frustrating! He wouldn’t offer advice or opinions other than to tell people they were being stupid. Of course, Stiles hadn’t come to hear advice. He already knew he was doing the right thing for Derek.

“Can you believe that asshole tried to get me to be his mate just so he could stay as the alpha? I mean, what the hell? Should’ve known he’d try something like that.”

“I thought he wanted to go home? So now he wants to stay in Beacon Hills?”

“It’s not that surprising,” Stiles continued. “Anyone who’s been alpha for a while would find it hard to step down to be a beta again. I should’ve expected Derek to want to stay as alpha. Everyone who’s wanted to court me over the past few years just wanted the alpha spot too. It’s never me. No one wants me.”

He knew he should’ve been too used to it by now to be surprised by it. But Stiles knew that what Derek really wanted was to go home. Peter had said to. Talia had said so, Cora had said so, hell, Derek had said so himself. So how dare he go and tempt Stiles like that?

Because it was tempting, it was so, so tempting, to drive back to Beacon Hills, run to him and say yes, Derek, I’ll be with you and let you keep the pack, and do my damn best to make you happy even though I know you’ll be miserable without your family, as long as I can selfishly love you.

Jackson squeezed him. “Me and Lyds wanted you. We were a lot happier together when we were with you too than we were before. But you always had one foot out the door, seeing other people. I know you think we both dumped you for Ethan and Aiden, Stiles, but really, you’d already dumped us, you just hadn’t gotten around to telling us. And Veronica wanted you. She asked about you. I don’t know anyone else you dated, sorry.”

Stiles’ damn nose wouldn’t stop running and he sniffed. “I needed an alpha.”

“Oh for fuck's sake, Stiles, shut up!”

Jackson pushed him off and stood up. “You’re driving me crazy with that shit. I need an alpha, I need to find an alpha, I need a good alpha, and that one’s not good enough for my pack, and that one could be good, but it’ll take too much work, and Scott will be fine if I put in the work, shut up! Who cares about you finding a good alpha? What about you? What about what’s good for you?”

Stiles crossed his arms over his chest. “My pack cares. They’re counting on me to find someone good. They have always counted on me to do that.”

“But you found one! Seriously, I talked to Cora not that long ago, and it seems like your pack is fine with Derek. They like him. Carrie Hudson freaking loves Derek. You’re not turning him down because he’s not a good alpha. And if he says he wants to stay, then you can’t use that as an excuse either.”

“He doesn’t mean it!” Stiles said, willing Jackson to understand. Derek was off limits! “I know he wants to go home, and I need to let him.”

Jackson took a deep breath. “No you don’t. Guess what, Stiles? You get to be selfish sometimes, but that’s not even my point. You don’t know what’s best for everyone all the time! Especially if they tell you they want something different. And if you seriously think Hale can do better than you, then you’re an idiot and I don’t have any patience left with you. Now, you’re back in LA for the first time in months, so I assume you want to go to that boring comic book store, and it opens in an hour, so why don’t you settle down with the TV remote while I get ready and just... get over yourself.”

He gave Stiles another not so gentle shove and stomped over to the bedroom.

Stiles checked his phone. There were no messages. No pack who had texted to ask about Scott being the new alpha. And he could still feel his pack bond to Derek, as healthy as it had been a day ago. There was unhappiness in it though. That was odd. He’d never been able to tell what his mother had been feeling like this, especially not at this distance. Why was he picking up on Derek's feelings?

He texted Scott and got a reply to say that Derek had asked Scott to come over for lunch. Stiles checked his watch. Okay, so another few hours, and then Scott would be the alpha, and Stiles could stop stressing out over it. It’d be done, and Derek would be gone, and Stiles could start on getting over him. He’d know the moment it happened.

The moment didn’t come. Lunch came and went. So did the rest of the day. And the next.

“What the hell, Derek?”

It was two days later, and Stiles stood in the doorway to the study. It ached in him to see Derek looking disheveled and as if he hadn’t slept that well, but he was a little too mad to be truly concerned.

Derek was hunched over his drafting table. He rolled up the thing he was working on. “You’re back.”

“Yeah, I’m back. And you’re still the alpha.”

“Still, yes. This is for you.”

He held out the blueprint and Stiles took it in confusion. “What is this?”

“It’s for you and your mate. You need your own house by the rest of the pack. I think you’ll like it. Consider it a gift on the occasion of your mating, which I assume is going to happen soon now that you’re back.”

Stiles couldn’t read the look on his face. Bitterness, perhaps? Yes, Derek was angry. He held out the blueprint. It was a big house. It had the words ‘kids’ written with a question mark on some of the bedrooms upstairs and “alpha study” and “Stiles’ study” on two downstairs rooms on opposite sides of the house, as well as a kitchen and a living room huge enough for the whole pack to be there at once. It looked amazing.

“I can make any changes you want, of course,” Derek said tersely. “And the blueprints should have no problem getting approved by the planning office. The crew will be able to follow them with no problem.”

“Thank you,” Stiles said, his voice a little dry. “But that doesn’t answer my question. Why haven’t you transferred the alpha spark yet? If you’re trying to hold onto it, I’m warning you, the pack will do what I ask them to, and if I ask them to turn their backs on you, they will. And they can, you know they can.”

Derek’s expression became pained. “You have such a low opinion of me, Stiles, I don’t know what I did to deserve that.”

Stiles actually had very high opinions of Derek. Gah, he couldn’t wait for Derek to leave so Stiles wouldn’t have to look at him anymore. “Then why?”

“You should ask your mate that question. Surprised you didn’t stop there first. Didn’t you miss him while you were gone?”

“Fine, I’ll go ask Scott. Where’s Ollie?”

“He’s with Alicia. She had a bad day at school yesterday and wanted to keep him with her for a few days. I said she could.”

“And you didn’t die?”

Derek shrugged.

“Clearly not. Are you going to Scott’s now? He has the day off, so he’ll be home. But you probably already knew that, him being your mate and all.”

Stiles thought that he’d feel a lot better if he could make Derek into a bad guy. It would make things so much easier than this angry, contained Derek that wasn’t technically saying anything that wasn’t true, but still infuriated him.

“Fine. But he’d better have a good explanation or I’m coming back to demand one from you. That’s my mother’s spark, and you have no right to keep it without my say-so.”

“And I have no intention to. Goodbye Stiles. Say hi to Scott from me.”

An unfamiliar car stood parked outside Melissa’s house when Stiles made it over there, and Stiles had time to be concerned before he could hear girlish laughter from behind the house. He walked round to find Scott sitting in a lounge chair with a gorgeous girl with long black hair on his lap.

“Scott?”

Scott immediately straightened. “Stiles. Look, we said we wouldn’t go and be jealous if one of us wanted to pursue something with someone else, right? And I wasn’t sneaking around behind your back or anything, I was going to tell you as soon as you got back. And you’re back now.”

“Who is this?”

“Stiles, this is Kira. She and her family just moved to town. And she’s a… what was it called again?”

“A kitsune,” Kira said, and held out her hand to Stiles. “Don’t worry, we’re not dangerous to wolves or humans or anything and we don’t get involved in pack stuff. Scott has told me a lot about you, Stiles. And about what’s been going on. I admit I don’t really get it.”

“There's stuff I don’t get either,” Stiles said, “Scott, I thought Derek was going to transfer the spark to you days ago? What happened?”

“Well”, Scott started, scratching the back of his neck and looking as sheepishly lost as only Scott McCall could. “I went over there, and then Derek said he was willing to do it right away, but…”

“But what? We agreed, didn’t we?”

“We did. But you didn’t give me a lot of time to think it over, Stiles, and then Derek said he wasn’t going to leave.”

Stiles stumbled backwards in search of something to hold onto and found another chair. He sat down.

“Not leaving?”

“No. He said that if I was willing to have him, he wanted to stay in Beacon Hills. As my beta. As long as he was allowed to stay, then he was willing to do whatever it took. And then I asked him why, and he told me. And then I thought I’d better wait for you to come back before rushing into things.”

“I don’t understand,” Stiles said, his heart thumping hard in his chest. Derek was staying? Even without the alpha role? “Why”?

Stiles cocked his head to the side. “Stiles… I know you just got back, but I’m not the one you should be talking to. You have a mate, and I think we both know it isn’t me.”

Kira smiled at him. “It was nice meeting you, Stiles. I hope to meet Derek soon too, he sounds great, and Scott says everyone thinks you’re cute together.”

“But…”

Scott groaned.

“Just stop it, Stiles. You want him, he wants you, the pack likes him. Just, please, go and get what you want. I will forcibly drag you over there if I have to, and you know I can because I’m stronger than you and you won’t use magic on your best friend. So, go.”

Stiles nodded and moved, almost dizzily back to his car. Derek wasn’t going home. Stiles was going to let him, despite how much it hurt, but Derek wasn’t going. Derek was going to stay. And Stiles didn't plan on wasting any more time.

Derek wondered if he should be packing. There was still an empty apartment in the pack neighborhood. He could move into that one. He’d need to buy furniture of course; most of the stuff in here had belonged to Claudia and John and now belonged to Stiles. And he wouldn’t take anything belonging to Stiles. Except for the blanket he had already stolen from Stiles’ bed and hidden in his bag. He was never relinquishing that, he needed something of Stiles to get him through. Maybe when it stopped smelling of Stiles, Derek could ask for a new one and pretend it was for Ollie?

Stiles wouldn’t begrudge Ollie something that smelled of him, even if he wanted nothing to do with Derek anymore. He had no idea what he had done to Stiles lately. Hadn’t they become friends, good, close friends? Who worked well together, and who practically cuddled on the sofa every other night reading from the same books? Yeah, Derek should’ve realized what his feelings were much sooner than he'd thought. Maybe he’d been making Stiles uncomfortable all this time. Maybe Stiles had chosen Scott just so he could get Derek away from him?

The sound of the approaching engine caught his attention. It was driving fast, very fast, but Derek was on his feet and out the front door before Stiles could reach the driveway. Stiles threw himself out of the driver’s seat and stopped when he saw Derek standing there.

“You’re going to stay with us?”

Derek nodded.

“Even if I say you can’t be the alpha?”

“I love… this pack.”

“The pack?”

Derek shook his head. “Not just the pack.”

He held out his arms and Stiles was in them within a fraction of a second, with Derek’s nose buried in the crook of his neck so he could breathe him in properly and smell the misery turning to joy and feel Stiles’ arms around him. Stiles had strong arms for a human, and Derek released his own grip a little so he wouldn’t crush him, but the disappointed sound coming from… from his mate made him squeeze him tighter.

“I love you,” Stiles mumbled against Derek’s shoulder, and Derek pulled himself off just long enough so he could search out Stiles’ mouth.

Oh god, Stiles’ mouth. How had Derek ever managed a single conversation with Stiles without thinking about that mouth? His lips were full and soft, and he tasted like… like himself. Like Derek’s mate, and Derek made a note of every single sensation from kissing Stiles, committing them to memory so he would never forget this moment, ever, the very first moment of feeling like Stiles was his – his, his, his, his – that he could have this, that they could have each other.

His hands searched out Stiles’ face, learning how it felt underneath his fingertips, caressing his cheeks with his fingers and then burying them in Stiles’ hair. He never wanted to stop kissing him, ever. So he didn’t. An hour could’ve passed. Two. A day. A week? All that existed was Derek and Stiles together, finally, and Derek’s wolf was chasing its own tail with happiness inside of him. Eventually, when Derek was exploring Stiles’ tongue with his, he felt a hand come up to his chest and give him a gentle push. They broke apart and Derek had the pleasure of Stiles looking absolutely ravished with his lips red and bruised, his eyes dark and his skin flushed. How had Derek ever thought Stiles was cute despite the moles? They made him perfect. Derek loved the moles, every single one, and he was going to count them one by one for the rest of their lives. Stiles was out of breath. We did that, Derek’s wolf supplied, we made him feel that way. Take him inside and make him feel other things too.

Neighbors were peeking at them from gardens and from behind curtains, so going inside seemed like a good idea, Derek agreed and held out his hand. Stiles took it, and Derek swore he could feel their skin crackle with electricity where they touched.

He was about to go for Stiles’ lips again as soon as they were indoors, but Stiles stopped him. “Maybe we should talk?”

Right, talking. He focused on Stiles’ face. There was his mouth again. It was moving.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Stiles laughed. “I was saying, I guess this means we’ll… be together? I’m sorry I don’t know how else to say that.”

“We should absolutely be together,” Derek agreed quickly. “Always, frankly, if it was up to me. I tried to tell you that the other day, but I know I made a mess of how I said it and it didn’t come out right. I’m not that good with words.”

Stiles coched his head to the side with a smile.

“I know you’re not. I mean, I should’ve remembered that. I promise to hear you out next time I think you’re saying something that sounds really wrong to me. I’m sorry that I didn’t.”

“I really missed you while you were gone,” Derek confessed.

“Me too. Let’s not be apart for more than a workday for the foreseeable future, okay?”

“Deal.” He scooted closer to Stiles and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Stiles was there, and he’d finally belong to Derek, like he should. Derek’s wolf, unsurprisingly, agreed.

Chapter Text

“I wasn’t trying to put pressure on you about kids.”

Stiles opened one eye to peer at Derek. His cheek rested against Derek’s naked chest, his fingers gently toying with the dark hairs there while Derek’s hands drew circles on Stiles' back. Sunlight streamed through the windows in the master bedroom. Stiles supposed he’d pack up his stuff and move in here as soon as possible.

“Kids?”

“On the blueprint. I don’t even know if you want kids.”

“Oh, the many bedrooms.” He placed a kiss on Derek’s warm skin.

“Yeah. But if you don’t want any, I’ll be happy just being with you. Just so you don’t think I was demanding some.”

Stiles smiled and moved his lips to Derek’s chin this time. “I wouldn’t mind us having kids. How would you want us to do that? Because I gotta tell you, Derek, last I checked we’re not that compatible that way.”

Derek scoffed. “We are compatible in every single way that matters. But there’s plenty of ways. We could ask Cora to donate eggs for one. Then our kids would be Stilinskis, but we’d both be related to them. They’d be our kids. I mean, that’s a way. And there’s adoption. And even if only one of us is biologically related to the kid, it’s still going to be our kid.”

Stiles liked the sound of that. It was way too soon to plan for it, but Stiles had always wanted to be a dad. And he wanted his parents to have grandkids, even if they weren’t around for it.

“So, that means you’ll be my proper mate? Not just boyfriend?”

Derek turned towards him, so they were face to face. “I’m sorry? Are you proposing to me right now?”

Stiles laughed. “I think so. I know technically you already asked me to be your mate, but I think the question ought to come from me too, shouldn’t it?”

Derek smiled, that warm smile of his that was just for Stiles and not for anyone else and Stiles loved that he knew that now. “Yes, Stiles. I want to be your mate. We can still let Scott be alpha though, if he wants to.”

“I really don’t.”

Stiles flinched and looked up. Scott was standing in the doorway, fiddling with his jacket. “I knocked, no one answered.”

Stiles looked at Derek who shook his head. “What? I got distracted by a naked Stiles in my bed. And Scott’s pack, so my wolf didn’t react to him.”

“Well, I won’t force you.” Stiles smiled at his friend.

“Good.” Scott let out a breath of deep relief. “I’m going to leave you alone then. You could lock your front door if you’re gonna be doing stuff, though. Just saying. I did knock.”

Stiles blushed.

“Get out, Scott,” Derek said, but without any bite in his voice. “Do us a favor and let the pack know so we don’t have to?”

Scott laughed and ran when Derek threw a pillow at him.

“They’ll be able to smell it anyway,” Derek continued to Stiles. “Tonight’s the full moon. I think the whole pack is going to make it this time.”

Stiles sighed happily against him. “We might as well get the news over with then. But were you serious, right now? You’d really want to stay here even if you weren’t the alpha?”

Derek kissed him, long and hard. “Yes. There are so many things that are more important to me. Do you want me to call Scott back?”

Stiles shook his head. “No. He’d be fine. But you’re the best, and I’m going to make sure you and everyone knows it, including your scary mother.”

Derek laughed and Stiles dove in for another kiss. They had hours before they had to go meet the pack and Stiles had plans for every single minute of them.

“Congratulations to Stiles and Derek!”

The rest of the pack cheered and joined Boyd in raising their glasses. Stiles beamed at Derek, and Derek couldn’t stop staring at him, illuminated by the moonlight and the strings of lights they’d put up around the fire pit on the green in the middle of the pack neighborhood. He smelled so happy too, and Derek was going to work his ass off to keep him smelling that way.

Everyone else smelled cheerful too and Derek looked around at them all.

“I hope no one minds.”

“Why would we mind?” Alicia asked.

“Derek doesn’t want people to think he groomed me or something,” Stiles chuckled.

Derek’s mouth quirked into a grin. “I suppose if anything, you’re the one who groomed me.”

Stiles laughed. “That’s true. You’re my perfect alpha werewolf now.”

“Glad you’ll be staying, Derek,” said Kincaid of all people, and through their pack bond Derek could tell he really was. Imagine that.

“Oh, guess what?” Stiles exclaimed and bounced next to him. “Derek drew us a house to build, right here on the pack land! And it’s gorgeous, and no offence, much better than anyone else’s because there’ll be room for all of us to sleep indoors when we want to do a pack pile and-”

“We’re not building that house,” Derek interrupted. “It’s no good.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

Derek squirmed. “It’s just that it’s the house I drew for you and Scott, and while I may have tried to give you a nice house, I was definitely being petty because I thought you didn’t love me, and I didn’t give you nearly enough room for book cases. And the two studies should be next to each other, and a door connecting them. And I didn’t give you a fireplace because I didn’t want you to have sex with Scott in front of one, sorry. But we should absolutely have one. For… reading purposes.”

There were some snickering from around the pack, and Stiles blushed. It was incredibly cute, and Derek’s wolf agreed wholeheartedly. “I’ll draw us a new one. A better one. One where my drafting table fits too.”

Stiles mouth was against Derek’s in a quick peck, and if the moon hadn’t been as high, he’d have suggested they go somewhere private for a while. But the moon was high, softly singing to Derek’s blood, and new mate or no new mate, they needed to shift.

“I think we should get started if we want to go for a run. Everyone this time, humans too!”

The pull of the moon was strong, round and full in the sky, and Derek longed to shift and chase Stiles for a bit. He could tackle him to the ground and kiss him underneath the moon and let it bathe them both in its blessing. The moon really was so kind to all wolves; it was Derek’s best friend and-

He prepared for his usual shift, it came over him, but something was different. It was as if he didn’t so much shift from human to werewolf, but rather burst out from his human skin and–

He looked up at Stiles, surprised by the shocked look on his face. Also, Stiles looked tall. Very tall. Derek was taller than Stiles; just about, but he was, and now Derek’s face barely reached past Stiles' waist. And that wasn’t everything that was strange. While that was Stiles, and Stiles was every bit as attractive right now as he had been five minutes ago, Derek no longer wanted to get him naked. It was as if that entire aspect of their relationship had vanished and all Derek wanted to do now was get Stiles’ long fingers through his fur, and nuzzle him with his nose and-

Fur?

Everyone was staring at him, and they were all weirdly tall too. Derek looked down at his hands. They were covered in thick dark fur and firmly placed on the ground.

“Derek?” Stiles half-whispered. “Derek, since when can you turn into a wolf?”

Derek couldn’t do that at all, he tried to say, but no words came out of his mouth. Instead, a bark. A loud bark, and Ollie quickly came running up to him to bark back. Derek ignored him. So he was a wolf. Big deal. It felt wonderful. He felt sure he’d want to get Stiles naked as soon as he shifted back to human form.

He shrugged and sought out Stiles’ hands with his head, demanding pets and ear scratches before letting out a soft howl.

His pack responded, and they took off together through the preserve.

“My mom could always do it,” Derek told Stiles hours and hours later when they’d at last made it back home. “And my grandfather. In fact, most Hale alphas. Peter has managed it once or twice I think, but not since his wife died.”

“But you couldn’t! Unless you’ve been keeping something from us all.”

Derek wrapped his arms around him and pulled them both down onto the bed. “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to. The moon has felt strange since I became an alpha, but I guess since I always assumed I was going to leave here…”

Stiles ran his hands through Derek’s hair. His fur had been soft, and the wolf had been gorgeous, but Stiles ultimately preferred the Derek who could kiss him and touch him with human hands. “And now?”

“The last piece of the puzzle fell into place. I’ve got my mate, got my pack, got our land. Found my true place in life. But it was weird. As the wolf, I didn’t want to sleep with you.”

Stiles pushed away from him. “Excuse me?”

Derek pulled him back; Stiles should always be as close as he could be. “As the wolf, it was like I knew you were my mate, but I didn’t want to… mate with you. Because I was the wolf, and you’re human. But now, I’m in human form too, so now all the physical attraction is back.”

“Yeah?” Stiles had an eyebrow raised. “You promise I’m fuckable now?”

“Mhm. Very fuckable.” He started pulling off Stiles’ clothing, but Stiles pushed his hands off.

“That’s great and all, but we never got around to talk about the actual mating. The mark I mean.”

“Oh, right. You should come with me to Sacramento and meet the rest of my family, I suppose, beforehand. Just to be polite. And then, if it’s okay with you, I can give you the mate bite when we come back.”

“At the orchard. That’s where my parents did it.”

Derek nodded. “Anything you want.”

“Good. But I want to clarify something from earlier, Derek.” He looked into Derek's green eyes with all the earnestness he felt. “You haven't changed. I didn't change you, I mean. I know we've been half-joking that I taught you and trained you to be alpha, but I didn't. You already knew all that, I just...”

“You brought it out in me,” Derek smiled. “You made me understand that this pack was a family.”

“I love our family.”

“Me too.”

“Good. Then you can put your hands back on me.”

He let Derek’s hands travel along his sides, all the way down and then all the way up again and then Stiles caught them in his own to raise them above Derek’s head on the bed. “Before all that though, I’m going to mark you as mine. Everywhere.”

Derek chuckled. “Fine by me. After all, you are the real alpha.”