Archive of Our Own

"Okay, let's get this party started!" Stiles clapped his hands. "The first official post-college-graduate pack meeting is about to begin!"

The pack clapped excitedly. Well, Allison, Erica, Kira, and Scott clapped excitedly. Lydia examined her nails, Isaac rolled his eyes, Boyd leaned back in his chair with a flat look, and Derek crossed his arms and scowled.

Really, Stiles should have expected as much. He narrowed his eyes at the less supportive pack members. "Okay, fifty points to Gryffindor and Slytherin for the enthusiasm, thirty points from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for the glaring."

Boyd scoffed. "I'm not a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw."

Erica patted his shoulder. "Babe, you are totally a Ravenclaw."

Isaac sank lower in his chair and grumbled, "I'm not a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw."

"Fine, you're a Slytherin, but the only reason your house gets any points is because Erica," Stiles said.

Derek groaned. "Can we please get to the point?"

"I like how nobody's arguing that you're a Hufflepuff," Stiles said.

"That's because Derek's the 'Puffiest 'Puff ever to 'Puff," Boyd said.

Derek's scowl got deeper. "You know, I can rescind the invitation to hold these meetings at my house."

Stiles gasped theatrically. "You wouldn't. You're the Alpha!"

"He's also not wrong," Lydia cut in. "I love you all dearly, but I've got an appointment at four and I cannot be here all day while you all argue about what fictional magic houses you're in."

Stiles really wanted to let the bickering go on longer—it had been nearly a year since they'd all been together and he'd missed this—but Lydia was right. If they wasted too much more time she'd probably throw her stiletto at him.

He cleared his throat. "Anyway! Since we're all officially college graduates now—"

That got a more robust cheer from everybody.

"—Scott and I were thinking we should commemorate the occasion," Stiles finished. "You know, since this is the last summer before we all filter out into the world to start our master's degrees and/or look for real jobs. And that means...pack vacation!"

Once again, most of the enthusiastic cheering came from Scott, Allison, Erica, and Kira, but Lydia looked intrigued and Boyd and Isaac both sat up straighter. Even Derek's scowl looked less scowl-y, which made Stiles think he was really just putting it on for show.

"A vacation sounds great," Allison said.

Kira bumped her shoulder. "I can't remember the last time we all took one together."

"Have we even taken one together?" Lydia asked.

"Well, there was that time we all went out camping in the Preserve for Labor Day," Scott said.

Erica reached over and poked him in the shoulder. "That does not count. It only took us fifteen minutes to get out there. It's not an actual vacation. Vacation means beaches."

"It means shopping," Lydia said, with a dreamy look in her eye.

Stiles resisted the urge to fist pump there in front of everyone. He'd thought he and Scott would have to talk everybody into going, but apparently the girls, at least, were already on board. If Erica was going, Boyd would go, and Isaac would follow Scott basically wherever. The only one Stiles wasn't sure about was Derek, but if they pitched it as pack bonding, he was pretty sure Derek would come with only minimal bitching.

"I happen to agree with Erica," Stiles said. "Vacation means beaches. So we were thinking pack beach trip. We'll rent a giant house and spend two weeks lying on the beach, celebrating our graduations, and having one last big blowout before we all have to give in and become actual adults."

"Oh yes, because being an adult is so awful," Derek said dryly.

Stiles jabbed a finger in his direction. "Hey, man, it's a rite of passage, okay?"

"Sounds like it could be fun." Boyd leaned back and linked his hands behind his head. "When are you thinking?"

"Well, that's part of why we're having this meeting," Stiles said. "Figuring out everybody's schedule for the summer, so we can find what's going to work for all of us."

"I'm leaving at the beginning of August for France," Allison said. "So it'll have to be before that."

Erica jerked her thumb between her and Boyd. "We can't get off work before the end of June."

"So, I'm hearing July," Stiles said.

Derek stood and started toward the kitchen. "I'll be gone most of July."

Oh, for the love of... Stiles threw his hands up. "What, are you serious? Where are you going?"

Derek gave him a steady look. "The same place I go every summer."

"The same place you...what 'same place'?" This was the first freaking time Stiles had heard anything about it. "Are you telling me you've been wandering off somewhere every summer without telling any of us?"

Derek seemed remarkably unperturbed. "I told Boyd."

"You—" Stiles trailed off and gave Boyd the most betrayed look he could muster. "Seriously? Not a word?"

Boyd lifted a shoulder. "Seemed like kind of a private thing. Everyone else was busy, with summer school and vacations, so it wasn't like it was a big deal."

Stiles jabbed his finger at Boyd, and then at Derek. "We're going to have a long talk about information that is important for the rest of the pack to know. Like where you've been going every summer, apparently?"

Derek sighed and crossed his arms. "It's a summer camp. For born werewolves."

Scott spun around so fast he nearly fell off his stool and careened into Allison. "There's a summer camp for born werewolves?"

"My family used to go every year," Derek said. "When things calmed down here, I started going again."

"Why the hell didn't you ever tell us about it?" Scott demanded.

"A summer camp for born werewolves," Boyd said dryly. "Gee, I wonder why."

Stiles opened his mouth to argue, and then closed it again. Of the pack, Derek was the only born werewolf; Boyd, Erica, Isaac, and Scott were all bitten. Kira and Lydia were born supernatural, but they were a kitsune and banshee, respectively. And Stiles and Allison were the resident humans of the group.

Plus, Stiles hadn't missed that little tidbit about how Derek's family used to go to this camp. He could see why Derek had perhaps wanted to keep this particular vacation private.

Scott glared, but he was really out of his depth trying that look on Derek. "I still say you should've told us. We could actually meet other born werewolves!"

And...okay, Scott had a point about that, Stiles had to admit.

"Do you think any of them would have information about kitsunes?" Kira asked eagerly.

Lydia had a gleam in her eye. "Or maybe banshees?"

Derek's shoulders slowly climbed toward his ears, and with the crossed arms, it looked like he was trying to physically build a wall around himself. "I don't know."

Stiles cut in before anyone else could ask another question. "You said you used to go with your family. Do they allow full packs to come?"

Derek hesitated. "They do, but they don't really make any concessions for anyone who isn't a born werewolf. It's basically three solid weeks of tent camping, and that's only if you bring your own tent."

"But you had humans in your family, right?" Stiles asked. "And they went?"

Derek nodded.

Stiles spread his hands. "So why don't we go with you? Pack vacation to the born werewolf summer camp?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Derek hedged.

"It would be a really good pack bonding experience," Boyd said casually.

Erica examined her claws. "Be fun to have some other wolves to play with. That might be worth giving up the beach."

"I love camping," Allison said, and Kira nodded excitedly.

Lydia huffed. "All I can say is that they'd better have toilets. I am not going to the bathroom in the woods."

Derek still didn't look convinced.

"Are you ashamed of us?" Isaac asked. "Is that why you don't want us to go?"

Stiles sucked in a breath and swiveled his head to Derek. From the way the room went quiet, he wasn't the only one.

Derek looked utterly stricken. "Of course not. I want you to go, it's just...hard to explain. It's not something people really enjoy if they haven't grown up with it."

And I need you all to enjoy it, Stiles heard.

Well, he could fix that particular concern. "So you're worried we won't like it? Dude, have you seen what we went through in the past six years?" Stiles gestured wildly at the general everything-ness of Beacon Hills. "After all of that, three weeks in the woods with a bunch of born werewolves? Piece of cake!"

Derek sighed. "You all really want to do this?"

"Yes!" Stiles said, and he was gratified to hear the rest of the pack echo his enthusiasm. Even Lydia.

Derek held up his hands in surrender. "Fine. I'll update my registration to let them know I'm bringing my whole pack."

***

They hashed out the rest of the travel details and finished the meeting before Lydia had to leave, and one by one, the rest of the pack filtered out of Derek's house.

Stiles stayed behind and helped clean up the remnants of the pack meeting, putting away cups and plates in the dishwasher and wiping up the counter and coffee table. Yes, he was hesitating with leaving, dammit, and it was only partly because he didn't like leaving Derek alone.

Derek walked back into the kitchen when Stiles was going over the counter one more time. "That counter isn't going to get any cleaner."

"You never know," Stiles said, and tossed the rag into the pile going into the laundry room. "Dude, do you really not want us to go to the wolf camp with you?"

Derek stilled, and didn't respond for so long that Stiles wondered if he'd even heard him.

"I never said that," Derek finally said.

Stiles rolled his eyes so hard he nearly gave himself a headache. "Oh, come on. You didn't exactly look thrilled with the idea and we pretty much badgered you into it. Do you really not want us to go?"

"It's just..." Derek sighed and sat on one of the barstools at the counter. "It's just always something I've done by myself. Or with my family, before...everything. Some of these packs have seen me grow up."

It's always been private, Stiles heard, and immediately felt like shit for pushing so hard. He scrubbed his hand through his hair. "Look, man, we don't have to go. We can just do the beach thing."

Derek raised an eyebrow. "What, you don't want the Alpha at the beach so you can break all the rules?"

Stiles grabbed the nearest item—a semi-wet rag—and threw it at him. "Come on, you know you'd let us get away with anything. We want you there, yeah, but you don't have to give up your special werewolf bonding time for it."

Derek shook his head. "No, you're right. Boyd's right. It will be a good bonding experience, and the other werewolves, especially, can learn a lot from being around born wolves from other packs. And humans do go. You and Allison won't be alone. I just...it's selfish."

"It's not selfish," Stiles said automatically. "You want to keep it private. That's not selfish, that's..."

"No, it is selfish." Derek sighed. "I should've taken you all years ago."

"I don't think we were ready years ago," Stiles admitted. "Well, maybe your betas were. But it's only in the past couple of years that Scott's really accepted the whole 'I am a werewolf for now and forever' thing."

Derek snorted. "About time."

Stiles walked over so he could kick Derek's leg. "Okay, yes, it took him some time, but my whole point is that we weren't really ready. Don't beat yourself up about it."

Derek smiled—okay, it wasn't really a smile; it was more like he ducked his head, but not quite far enough to hide the way the edges of his lips curled up just a bit. The sight of it always made Stiles's heart do something stupid and unhealthy, and he just had to pray that Derek didn't actually hear it.

"I should have taken you all sooner," Derek said. "But...better late than never, right?"

Stiles nodded. "And you're sure you're okay with this?"

Derek raised his head. The smile was smaller, but it was still there, making his pale eyes crinkle at the corners. "I'm okay with it."

There his heart went with the unhealthy gymnastics again. Stiles resisted the urge to rub his chest. "Well, good. Because one of us is going to have to deal with Lydia being miles from civilization for weeks on end, and it's not going to be me."

Derek threw back his head and laughed. "I think she'll live."

***

Stiles wasn't entirely sure when he'd fallen for Derek. Oh, sure, Derek had been responsible for the sexuality crisis that had Stiles realizing he was most definitely bisexual by high school graduation, but that was purely because Derek was hot as the morning sun. Stiles was self-aware enough to know when he was being shallow, and in that particular situation he had been shallow as a puddle.

And it wasn't like the intervening years had done anything to diminish Derek's attractiveness. If anything, he was hotter now than he had been when he'd thrown an inhaler at Scott and Stiles and told them to get off his property. He'd grown out his hair, just enough that it curled up a bit at the ends. His beard was fuller, black with just a few streaks of gray. Stiles had spent a lot of time staring at that beard. He'd also spent a lot of time staring at Derek's broad shoulders and powerful biceps, which had bulked up with his Alpha power and then never really gone away.

Yeah, Derek was definitely hot. But...

But then Stiles started noticing things like how he ducked his head before he smiled, how he so rarely smiled, but when he did, it was almost always because of the pack. He noticed how no one in the pack ever had to ask for money because Derek made sure every single one of them got a monthly stipend the entire time they were at college. The one time Stiles had asked about it, Derek had said it was his duty as Alpha to ensure his pack was provided for.

He'd noticed how Derek always had Erica's favorite drink on hand, or Boyd's favorite cereal, or Stiles's favorite flavor of Hot Pockets. He kept rooms for each of them at the rebuilt Hale house, a place where any one of them could stay whenever they needed it, no questions asked. He went shopping with Lydia with minimal complaining, had regular training sessions with Allison, brought Melissa and Stiles's dad meals while they were at work. He volunteered at the animal shelter on weekends and fostered cats and dogs, and Stiles had walked in on him more than once absolutely covered by kittens.

Derek wasn't just hot; he was kind and generous and protective and humble, and at some point in the last few years, Stiles had finally seen the whole package and fallen head over heels.

Unfortunately, there was absolutely no way Derek reciprocated.

Stiles had asked him a couple of years ago if he'd ever considered another relationship, testing the waters for maybe pursuing something if Derek sounded amenable. Derek's response had been a wide-eyed look of horror, and it was like Stiles could see his walls slamming down. It was impossible to get a clearer answer.

Teenager Stiles would have taken it personally. College student Stiles, who was well aware just how badly Derek's past relationships had gone, knew that Derek's decision probably had very little to do with him and everything to do with Derek wanting to protect himself and his pack.

Still, it had stung.

Stiles had tried to date people at college, but his problem was that when he fell, he fell hard. He might have found someone else before he realized he was in love with Derek, but after? It was impossible.

Spending three weeks on vacation with the object of his affections probably wasn't the smartest decision Stiles had ever made, but there was nothing for it. At least the rest of the pack would be there as a bit of a buffer, as well as a bunch of other born werewolves. It might also be a good chance for Stiles to get to know some other humans living with werewolf packs.

And maybe, by the end of it, he'd finally be able to get over Derek.

***

The rest of May and June passed in a flurry of planning and work (and more than a few pack movie nights), and the next thing Stiles knew, they were carpooling north to the Willamette National Forest in Oregon. He and Scott had bought walkie-talkies for everyone (much to Lydia's annoyance and Erica's delight), which Stiles and Erica had proceeded to use to shout bad pick-up lines at each other until Derek had threatened to leave both of them at the next gas station.

(That hadn't stopped Isaac and Scott from doing the same thing an hour and a half later.)

Fortunately, they reached the park without anyone getting lost or abandoned, and they wove their way down one of the ranger trails until they reached a handful of other vehicles—mostly Jeeps and SUVs—in what could charitably be called a dirt lot.

Stiles pulled his Jeep into the nearest spot and hopped out. He'd never seen so many evergreens, soaring up to the sky. Every breath smelled like fresh air and pine, and he'd caught a glimpse of mountains on their way up. Derek had said they were near a lake, but he wasn't entirely sure where it was from here.

It wasn't a beach, but it didn't matter. It was gorgeous.

Scott came around the other side of the Jeep and clapped Stiles on the shoulder, a huge grin on his face. Stiles returned the grin. It felt a bit like a weight had slid off his back, coming up here.

"It's beautiful up here," Allison said, and Stiles turned to see her, Lydia, and Kira walking over. "Very rustic."

Lydia crossed her arms and frowned around at it. "Rustic is a very charitable term."

Kira swatted her on the shoulder. "Lydia."

"What?" Lydia waved around. "Rustic is a nice log cabin with running water. I'm not sure I'll be able to shower for three weeks."

Derek walked up, a bag slung over one shoulder. "You'll be able to shower." He nodded to the right, and Stiles saw a small green building that looked like it might have been new fifty years before. "Right over there, showers and toilets."

Lydia visibly shuddered. "I can't believe I let you all talk me into this."

"It'll be fun!" Kira said brightly. "How often do you get a chance to appreciate nature like this?"

"I can appreciate nature just fine from inside a cabin with a real toilet and a private shower," Lydia said.

Isaac walked up and dropped his gym bag to the ground. "I hate to say this, but I have to agree with Lydia."

Allison whacked him in the shoulder. "Not you, too."

Stiles chanced a look at Derek. This place meant a lot to him, and it couldn't be great to hear Lydia and Isaac say stuff like that. But Derek looked as inscrutable as ever, and maybe even faintly amused. He jerked his thumb back toward the cars. "You knew what you were getting into," he said. "You can always head back whenever you want."

Lydia narrowed her eyes at him. "I never said I was leaving. Where do we set up the tents, anyway?"

Stiles coughed to cover his laugh. Lydia liked the finer things, but she had a competitive streak a mile wide. As long as the rest of the pack was here, she'd stay.

Isaac's eyes doubled in size, and he took a step back. "Holy..."

Stiles whipped around to see what had caused that reaction, only to see a gigantic grey wolf trotting up to them. The wolf had to be even bigger than Derek was when he was shifted, and Derek was pretty fucking big.

The wolf's eyes flashed red. Allison stepped in front of Lydia, and Kira put her hand at her belt.

"It's fine," Derek said, and he sounded remarkably unconcerned. He smiled at the wolf. "Alpha Traeger."

The wolf shifted, and two seconds later, there was a very tall, very naked woman standing in front of them. "Alpha Hale."

To Stiles's absolute shock, Derek walked forward and hugged the tall, naked (did Stiles mention naked?) Alpha without blinking an eye.

Stiles gaped.

After a moment, the other Alpha stepped back and raised an eyebrow at Allison and Kira.

"We've had some bad run-ins with alphas," Derek said. "Deucalion, you know."

"Ah. That would explain it." The other alpha—Traeger, Stiles guessed—stared at all of them one by one. Stiles fidgeted under her gaze. "I see you brought your whole pack this year."

"It was time," Derek said.

Traeger looked them all over again. "Kitsune, banshee, bitten, and human. Quite a variety."

Stiles was about to ask just what the hell she meant by that, but Derek put a hand on his shoulder, a silent warning. "It works for us," Derek said.

"Hm." Traeger turned her cool gaze from Stiles and smiled warmly at Derek. "Our offer still stands, you know."

Derek returned the smile. "I know. Does Elaine have the campground assignments?"

Traeger nodded. "She does. I will see you around the camp, then."

With that, she shifted back into a wolf and trotted off.

"Wow, that was—" Stiles started to say.

Derek clamped his hand over Stiles's mouth and shook his head. Stiles resisted the urge to lick his palm, and instead glared at Derek, trying to convey his annoyance and question with his eyes.

Derek mouthed, "Ears."

Oh. Okay, yeah, admittedly, Stiles had a tendency to forget how far and how much wolves could hear, given that Derek was pretty silent about it and none of the others were very good at it. Alpha Traeger's "out of earshot" was probably a lot fucking farther than Stiles realized.

He pulled Derek's hand down from his mouth and decided to ask a different question instead. "So just how many packs are there going to be at this camp?"

"At least three others," Derek said. "A few more might come for a week or two. The camp's open from now until August."

Stiles looked around the forest and tried to conceive staying out here for two whole months. He wasn't sure he could survive quite that long outside of civilization. "Don't the rangers put a cap on how long you can be out here?"

"For most campers, yeah." Derek grinned. "Not for us, though. I'm going to find Alpha Ramirez so we can get our tents set up."

"How will you even—" Stiles hadn't even finished his sentence before Derek was striding off like he knew exactly where he was going.

He sagged back against the Jeep and groaned.

"Three other packs?" Scott asked.

Stiles nodded. "Apparently."

Allison's brow pinched together, and she gnawed on her lower lip. "Think they're all going to be like that?"

Isaac wound the strap of his bag through his fingers. "God, I hope not."

Scott slid a sideways glance at Stiles. "Think we're in a bit over our heads?"

Stiles scoffed with way more confidence than he felt. "What? Nah. We're fine. Totally fine."

***

By the time they got set up at their campsite two hours later, Stiles had seen six more wolves and five more naked people—most of them wandering up to say hi to Derek and to give the rest of the pack a long look—and he was forced to admit that Scott might have had a point. Derek was the only born werewolf they had had any significant interaction with—well, there was Cora, but she'd gone back to Argentina after a year, and the less said about Peter, the better—and so all of their knowledge and experience with born werewolves came from one source.

A good source, but it was also a source who had lost most of his family to hunters at age sixteen and then proceeded to ride that grief train for the better part of the next decade. Which, you know, Stiles understood, but still, Derek hadn't exactly known how to be an Alpha and none of them had known how to be a pack. They'd clawed it together from trial and error and sheer boneheaded stubbornness (and no small amount of luck).

But now they were around established packs, born werewolves for whom this was a way of life. This was how they'd grown up. They hadn't stumbled into it by accident when they were in high school. These were Derek's people, and for the first time, Stiles felt like he was the outsider.

After yet another naked person came by to say hi to Derek (this time bearing an armful of firewood, which said naked person deposited by their fire pit), Stiles stomped away from the tent he'd just finished putting up to confront their fearless leader.

"Naked people," Stiles said. Really, he didn't need any more explanation.

Derek raised an eyebrow. "Naked people?"

"I've been here half an hour and I've seen more naked people than I've ever seen in my life," Stiles said. "And I spent half of high school in the boy's locker room, okay, and absolutely no one in there was what you'd call 'modest.'"

Derek's lips twitched, and he pressed them together, like he was fighting a smile. "And?"

"Why are there so many naked people?" Stiles burst out. "Do born werewolves have an allergy to clothes?"

"No, but born werewolves often have a full shift that makes wearing clothes annoying." Derek sounded like he was trying really, really hard not to laugh. "We spend a lot of time as wolves out here, so some don't even bring clothes."

Stiles had a sudden, painful flash of Derek walking around wearing nothing but a smile, and it was a miracle he didn't pass out right there. "Please tell me you brought clothes."

Derek laughed. "Relax, I'll stay dressed. Wouldn't want to offend your delicate sensibilities."

"I'm not offended—" Damn it, that hadn't gone well. Stiles dragged his hand through his hair. "I don't want you to do things differently just because we're here."

Derek poked him with a stick from the pile of firewood. "I have to do a little bit differently just because you're here," he said, "but don't worry. I don't usually walk around naked when I come here. You can end up with dirt in some very uncomfortable places."

And that was something Stiles definitely never needed to know. "I will take your word for it."

***

The rest of the pack slowly got their tents up while Derek got a fire going. Boyd and Erica had one tent, Allison, Lydia, and Kira were cramming into another, and Scott and Isaac were sharing a third, for which Stiles was privately grateful. He loved Scott, he did, but he'd woken up with Scott's heel in his kidney enough times, thank you very much. If Isaac wanted to horn in on his best friend, he could take the crappy things that came with it.

Stiles had a single tent, as did Derek, which was probably for the best. Stiles knew how he would smell in a small, enclosed space, and the only people who wouldn't be able to smell it were Allison, Lydia, and Kira. He'd like to maintain a little bit of dignity, if possible.

Dinner was hot dogs and s'mores that they heated over the campfire, which were pretty freaking delicious, if Stiles did say so himself. Then again, they'd been driving most of the day and hauling tents and coolers, so maybe he was just starving.

After they'd eaten and put away the leftovers, Boyd kicked back next to the fire and turned to Derek. "So what do we actually do, now that we're here?"

Derek shrugged. "There's no set schedule for each day, if that's what you're asking. The lake's a five- or ten-minute walk that way," he pointed off into the trees, "for fishing and swimming, and there are a lot of hiking and running trails."

"We won't gather around a bonfire every night with all the other packs and sing campfire songs?" Stiles asked.

Derek snorted. "There's only one multi-pack bonfire, and that's usually the night of the full moon. We'll all run together then, but other than that, it's whatever you want to do. I'll introduce you all to more of the others tomorrow."

"Like Alpha Traeger?" Stiles asked before he could stop himself.

Across the fire, he saw Allison tense, and both Scott and Isaac shifted their weight uneasily.

"Some Alphas have...old ideas about how packs should be formed," Derek admitted. "But there are just as many here who welcome packs of all kinds. Alpha Ramirez is one of them, and so is Alpha Ito. Alpha Traeger's a bit old-fashioned, but she will respect you...once you earn it."

"Are we in any danger here?" Allison asked bluntly.

She'd asked the question Stiles had had on his mind since they'd first run into Alpha Traeger.

Derek shook his head. "From the other packs? No, of course not. This camp couldn't exist if anyone just attacked another pack. Some might not be civil, but they won't hurt you."

Are you sure about that? Stiles wanted to ask, but for once he managed to keep his mouth shut. However, he saw that he wasn't the only one with some uncertainty with regards to the benevolence of the other packs around here.

A flicker of hurt crossed Derek's face. "Do you really think I'd bring you somewhere you'd be in danger?"

"Of course not!" Kira said quickly, and she looked appalled at the thought of it. "I guess...I thought there might be some other packs like us?"

Derek smiled ruefully. "There are no other packs like us."

Stiles looked off into the woods, where he now had the creepy feeling they were being watched, or at the very least, listened to. "Yeah, I'm getting that feeling."

***

Sleep that night wasn't what Stiles would have called "great." He wasn't a deep sleeper anyway, but his sleeping bag was uncomfortable and there were weird noises in the woods and he was pretty sure he heard some animal right outside his tent, breathing, for at least part of the night.

It was close to dawn when he finally dozed off out of sheer exhaustion, but he woke up later to the sound of voices just outside his tent. And he only recognized one of the voices.

Stiles unzipped the tent door and poked his head out. An unfamiliar woman with a dark, gray-streaked braid sat near their campfire, and Stiles thanked every deity he could think of that she was not naked.

Derek sat across the fire from her, a soft smile on his face. He looked so relaxed and happy that it made Stiles's heart ache. How many of these people had known Derek before the tragedy of the fire? How many of them had known his family, had seen him grow up?

As if he'd heard Stiles's thoughts, Derek turned to him and motioned him to join them. "Stiles, come meet Alpha Ramirez."

His first instinct was to dive back into the tent, but Stiles had to remind himself that this was part of why they were here. He grabbed a pair of shoes and stumbled over to the fire, waving awkwardly before sitting on a tree stump. "Uh, hi. I'm Stiles. Stilinski."

Ramirez inclined her head in his direction. "Alpha Ramirez, but you may call me Elaine." She smiled and propped her head on her chin. "So you're Stiles."

"Uh." He glanced between her and Derek, trying to figure out what that tone meant. "Yes? We just established this?"

He half-expected another Alpha to get irritated with him, but instead, Elaine smiled wider, like she knew something he didn't. "Derek's told me a lot about you. It's rare to have a human in your role."

Stiles did the back-and-forth look again. He had no idea what she was talking about. "Role? I have a role?"

"In the pack," Derek explained. "As an advisor to the Alpha."

"There's a name for telling you what to do?" Stiles blurted out.

Elaine threw back her head and laughed.

Derek rolled his eyes, and a flash of his old grumpiness came back. "You don't tell me what to do. You help strategize with the pack, help us figure out next steps when we're facing problems."

"Still sounds an awful lot like telling you what to do, Alpha Hale," Elaine said, her eyes sparkling with mirth.

Derek's cheeks turned pink under his beard, and he stood up. "I'm getting breakfast. Do either of you want anything?"

"Ooo, bacon?" Stiles tipped his head back to look up at Derek and batted his eyelashes. "Lots of bacon?"

Derek raised a judging eyebrow. "Really?"

"Hey, I am not the Stilinski who needs to watch his cholesterol, and since my dad's ten hours south of here, I don't feel guilty begging for some." Stiles clasped his hands to his chest. "Please? Please please please?"

Derek scoffed and walked away, but it was the scoff of victory, Stiles knew. He was totally getting bacon.

Elaine looked like she was trying very, very hard not to laugh. "So, how long have you been part of Derek's pack?"

Stiles scratched the back of his neck, trying to think. "Uh, it's been awhile? Since high school, at least. My friend Scott was bitten our sophomore year, and, well, a lot of shit went down then and Derek was kind of an asshole at the time, but by the end of junior year, we were pretty well a pack. And, uh..." He looked around the tents, but they all remained closed. "I'm not entirely sure where they are right now, though."

"Some went to the lake, others went running with a few of mine," Elaine said. "You and Derek haven't been together very long, have you?"

Stiles choked on absolutely nothing. "What?"

Elaine blinked. "My apologies. I thought...you aren't together?"

Stiles glanced over his shoulder, but Derek looked like he was out of earshot. Still, he kept his voice lower. "No," he said. "We're not together. Why would you think we're together?"

Elaine frowned. "Then you might want to be careful about how you bare your neck. For most wolves, that's something you only do with a partner or when you're, ah, flirting with someone."

Stiles felt the back of his neck heat like someone had set it on fire, and he resisted the urge to pull his T-shirt up to his chin. "I didn't...bare my neck!"

"Then what was that display when you asked for bacon?" Elaine asked.

"I..." He raised his shoulders, like he could physically block his neck off from being seen. "That wasn't what it meant."

Elaine nodded. "Well, be careful about it, and be especially aware around the others here. Derek understands because he's spent so much time around you, but others will take it as an invitation."

Stiles wanted to disappear into the ground. "You're kidding me."

She shook her head and stood. "There are many aspects of body language wolves tend to be aware of that humans really aren't. It can be difficult to understand if you haven't grown up with it."

Stiles self-consciously rubbed his neck, and then yanked his hand away.

"Anyway, I've got to get back," Elaine said. "Please, feel free to come by and visit us. We're two campsites over, closer to the lake."

"Uh, sure," Stiles said. "I'll talk to the others about it."

Elaine smiled. "Nice to meet you, Stiles."

With that, she was trotting off before Stiles could even say his own farewell.

Derek walked back up with a package of bacon and a cast iron skillet. "Did you scare her away?"

"Excuse you, I did not," Stiles said. "Guess she had to get back to her own puppies."

"Betas," Derek corrected. "And don't let any of the others hear you say that."

Normally he'd have argued against the rebuke, but Stiles remembered where he was. Crap. "Uh, yeah, sorry."

Derek frowned at him.

Stiles didn't want to decipher the look, so he hurried on. "She invited us to come over and visit."

Derek hmmed thoughtfully and set the skillet on a grate over the fire, then ripped open the package of bacon. "Might be nice to do dinner with them this week. There are a few humans in the Ramirez pack, it'll be good for you to meet them. I can talk to Satomi, as well."

"Satomi?"

"Satomi Ito, Alpha of the Ito pack." Derek set the bacon on the hot skillet, and it snapped and sizzled. "Her territory's just north of ours, still in California but a lot closer to the Oregon border. She's got bitten wolves, too."

God, that bacon smelled heavenly. It took everything in Stiles not to moan right there. "So that's two Alphas who won't hate us on sight?"

"Traeger doesn't hate you," Derek said. "She's just...wary. Give her a few days to warm up to you all." He elbowed Stiles gently. "You are a bit of an acquired taste."

"Excuse the hell out of you, I am an awesome taste," Stiles said, mock-offended.

Derek chuckled. "You are. But still, acquired."

Stiles made a face at him, but Derek just grinned wider. The smile did things to Stiles's heart, and he remembered Elaine's words.

He scooted a little further from Derek and crossed his arms, hoping against hope that Derek hadn't noticed what his heart had done. "You're lucky you're making me bacon," he grumbled.

Derek just laughed again.

***

After eating and putting away the food ("The bears usually stay away, but that's no reason to go inviting trouble," Derek said, freaking Boy Scout that he was), they headed down to the lake, since at least some of the pack was there.

They walked together companionably, close enough that their arms occasionally brushed and Stiles's heart skipped a beat every damn time. And every time, Elaine's comments skipped merrily through his head.

This whole time, Stiles had been operating under the idea that Derek didn't want to be with him because Derek didn't really want a relationship with anybody. But what if he was wrong? What if he'd been blatantly broadcasting how stupidly gone he was in werewolf body language for years? What if Derek had picked up on that, and that was why he'd been so appalled at the idea?

Logically, he knew Derek had to know that there was no way Stiles knew what he was doing. It wasn't like they'd ever been given a crash course on werewolf body language or anything. But that did nothing to assuage the anxiety part of his brain, which was currently running around with its pants on its head and screaming.

"Hey." Derek elbowed him gently. "You okay?"

Stiles jerked himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

Derek's eyes flicked to his chest, and Stiles just knew his traitorous heart had skipped a beat. "You look really serious for a walk to the lake," Derek said, with a slight smile. "It's going to be okay, you know. They will like you."

Oh, man, if only that was all he was worried about. Stiles forced a smile. "Of course they will. We've been over this. I am awesome."

Derek's smile grew slightly, and Stiles felt his own become a little more genuine.

Shit. He was so far gone.

But it didn't change anything. Derek had never given any indication that he even wanted to be in a relationship, and Stiles had no intention of pushing it. At least they were still friends. That was something he couldn't handle, if his stupid feelings had made Derek pull away or hurt the pack.

As it was, well, he'd just have to be an adult about the whole thing and deal with it. Maybe in a slightly healthier and more useful way than his favored option of ignoring a problem and hoping that it went away, but yes. He'd have to deal with it.

Preferably sooner rather than later.

***

The lake was gorgeous, surrounded by forests and mountains on all sides, with an old wooden dock leading out into the water. Some people were canoeing and kayaking, two others were fishing off the dock, and Stiles spotted several swimmers, including Boyd and Erica. The lakeshore wasn't terribly wide, but it was apparently enough to set up a game of beach volleyball, as he spotted another half-dozen people playing that.

It looked just like any other camp, if one ignored how many people were 1) naked, or 2) occasionally shifting into giant wolves.

Derek told Stiles he'd be back shortly and trotted off toward the picnic tables further down the shore, and Stiles looked around for the rest of his pack. He spotted Lydia and Kira sitting on a towel a bit apart from the other packs, Kira rubbing sunscreen into Lydia's back.

Stiles tossed his towel next to them. "Think that's something I can get in on?"

"Get your own girlfriend, Stilinski," Lydia said.

Kira gently swatted her shoulder. "You can share my sunscreen-applying abilities."

Lydia pouted. "I can, but I don't want to."

Stiles grinned and hauled out the bottle of SPF 50 he'd brought, curse his pale skin. "That's okay, I'm talented enough to put it on myself." He nodded toward the beach volleyball game going on. "I'm surprised you didn't hop in on that, Kira."

She shrugged. "They said they were full up. Maybe the next game."

He looked back to the game—it certainly didn't look full—and then he heard Derek calling his name.

He whipped his head around and saw Derek motioning to him, clearly indicating that he needed to head over that way when he'd just gotten comfortable.

"Our Alpha summons," Lydia said.

Stiles groaned and stood, taking the sunscreen with him. At least he hadn't already taken his shirt off. "Watch my stuff?"

Kira tugged his bag closer to them. "Of course."

He jogged over to where Derek waited. "So what do you want with me? I thought you had some Alpha bonding thing."

"Not Alpha bonding," Derek said. "Alphas and their seconds."

Stiles frowned. That wasn't a phrase he'd heard before. "Alphas and their whats?"

Derek sighed. "The Alphas and their seconds are meeting to kick off the camp and discuss the bonfire we'll have on the full moon at the end of the month. That means I need you with me."

"You need me?!" Stiles couldn't help the way his voice squeaked.

Derek nodded patiently. "Yes. Because you are the Alpha's second."

"I am?"

Derek grabbed his arm. "Just come on."

Stiles followed, because there really wasn't much point in fighting Derek's grip. "What's the Alpha's second?"

"We literally just went over this with Elaine," Derek said.

"No, you said I was an advisor," Stiles pointed out. "Advisor, telling you what to do, I remember that conversation. Nothing in there about an Alpha's second. I feel like I would've remembered that."

Derek sighed again, sounding more put-upon. "It means you're the second-in-command of the pack."

Stiles stopped still. "Wait, I'm...me? What, are you serious?"

"You've been showing up and acting like a second since we started really becoming a pack," Derek said. "It wasn't ever formalized, but that's what you are and that's what you do. That's your role."

Stiles gaped at him for all of five seconds before he shook himself out of his shock and asked another very important question. "How many other Alphas have humans for their seconds?"

"None of them," Derek admitted.

Stiles's heartbeat kicked up a notch, and not for a good reason. "Oh, goody."

He could see six other werewolves sitting around one of the picnic tables, and recognized both Elaine and Alpha Traeger. This was going to be a great conversation.

"It'll be fine," Derek said, but Stiles had no idea whose benefit it was for.

Derek led him to the table, and kept one hand at the small of Stiles's back. "This is Stiles Stilinski, my second," he said.

Stiles waved awkwardly at the group with his bottle of sunscreen.

"A human is your second?" Alpha Traeger asked.

Stiles couldn't figure out if that was surprise or disdain or both.

"He is," Derek said firmly.

"Stiles, so good of you to join us," Elaine said before Alpha Traeger could utter another word. "Please, sit down. Have you met Alpha Ito?"

Stiles shook his head, and Elaine made the brief introductions. Satomi Ito was the Alpha sitting to his left, and her second, Brett, was a blond guy with cheekbones to rival Isaac's; Elaine's second, Lewis, was at least six inches taller than Stiles and had dreadlocks; and Alpha Traeger's second was Haley, a severe-looking woman with short black hair. None of them looked particularly impressed to see a human sitting with them.

Stiles was sufficiently intimidated. He really hoped they couldn't tell, but hell, they could probably smell it on him. God, he wished there was some way he could block his scent...

He looked down at the sunscreen he still held. He'd completely forgotten it was there.

He squirted it into his palm and started rubbing it into his arms.

Alpha Traeger wrinkled her nose. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Really?" Stiles held up his arms. "Do you see this skin? Oh, who am I kidding, you guys have probably never had a sunburn in your lives. So, when your skin looks like this, what it actually means is that you had better be prepared to invest at least half your life savings into sunscreen every summer, or else at best you're going to turn into a tomato every time you walk outside. A very painful tomato, by the way. At worst, you'll end up having to have some scary-ass moles removed so that your skin doesn't actually kill you. Since I really hate needles and blood and I do not want another sunburn so bad that I can't sit down for a week after," Stiles held up his bottle of sunscreen, "I am going to slather my delicate human skin in this every day for the next month."

Everybody at the table gaped at him, except Derek and Elaine, both of whom looked like they were trying really hard not to laugh.

Alpha Ito turned to Derek. "Does he always talk this much?"

"That was actually less than usual," Derek said.

Elaine snorted. "I find myself unsurprised."

"Don't mind me," Stiles said, and made sure to get his face and neck with the sunscreen. "You can move forward with the meeting."

He half-expected them to decline to—or for Alpha Traeger to actually leave, given the look on her face—but instead Elaine flipped open a notebook and started talking about the full moon bonfire.

The meeting didn't last terribly long, and Stiles managed to keep his mouth mostly shut throughout the entire thing. The only thing he did was promise to bring along the things for s'mores, which had Elaine looking pleased and Alpha Traeger looking inscrutable. Stiles did his best to ignore her.

"You put the sunscreen on to keep them from smelling you," Derek said quietly once the meeting had adjourned.

"I put the sunscreen on because I am a delicate flower who will burn if I'm not careful," Stiles corrected. "That it makes it difficult for Alpha werewolves to smell my every emotion is only a bonus."

Derek shook his head and smiled. "I think Elaine's going to try to steal you."

Stiles elbowed him. "Good luck with that. You guys are stuck with me."

Derek smiled wider and ducked his head. "Look, I've got to head back to the campsite for a bit. Will you be okay here?"

"Me? Psh, I'll be totally fine." Stiles waved over at Lydia and Kira, who were both lying on towels now. "I'm going to go back and crash their beach date again. Lake date? Whatever, it'll be great."

Derek rolled his eyes and started back toward the campsite. "I'll have Scott deliver what's left of you back to the Jeep."

***

Miraculously, Lydia did not eviscerate him for plopping down next to them again, and about half an hour later, Scott, Allison, and Isaac came out of the woods and joined them. Boyd and Erica came up long enough to share lunch with them, and then plunged back into the water with the other wolves.

Stiles didn't know enough about who was in what pack to see if people were split along those lines, but it definitely felt...well, a little bit awkward. He was used to it, for the most part—he'd spent most of his grade school years with only Scott for a friend—but dammit, this was Derek's camp and he wanted everybody to have a good time. And that probably meant they should get to know the other packs who'd been coming here for longer.

However, those packs seemed to have their own little cliques already, and Stiles wasn't entirely sure how to break in.

He sighed and went back to annoying Isaac. They'd be here for nearly three weeks; he could figure it out later.

By the time everyone made their way back to the campsite late in the afternoon, Derek was standing by the dead fire pit with his arms crossed, like he was preparing to make a statement.

"We've been invited to have dinner tonight with the Ramirez pack," he said, in a tone that sounded way more serious than it should have.

Stiles flashed to Elaine and their pre-breakfast conversation that morning. "The whole pack?"

"Yes, that's kind of the point," Derek said. "Alpha Ramirez has allowed me to stay with her pack several times over the years. I'd like you all to get to know them, and I'd like them to get to know you."

Kira lit up. "That sounds great! Wait, do we need to bring anything? Do we even have enough food to share?"

"We could take marshmallows," Scott offered.

Lydia put her hands her hips and raised her eyebrows. "Really? Marshmallows?"

Stiles flung out his arms. "It’s not like we can just run over to the grocery store and pick up a freaking bottle of wine."

"Not that it'd be appreciated by werewolves, considering we can't get drunk," Boyd said dryly.

Derek rolled his eyes. "We don't have to take anything. As hosts, they're responsible for providing for us. We'll reciprocate later, probably early next week. And they will have wolfsbane beer."

"Wait, wait, wait." Erica held up her hands. "Wait. You mean to tell me there's such a thing as wolfsbane beer and you never told us about it?"

"Yeah, it's almost like none of you were legally old enough to drink alcohol until this last year," Derek deadpanned.

Stiles opened his mouth to argue—he and Allison had been legal for over a year, thank you very much—and then immediately remembered that he and Allison didn't need special booze to get drunk.

From the smirk Allison was sending his way, Stiles guessed that particular revelation had been written all over his face.

"We'll head over there in about an hour," Derek said.

Lydia went straight for her tent. "I need to shower, then."

"Dude, shouldn't we take something?" Scott asked Derek. "I mean, at least as a thank you, you know?"

Derek shook his head. "They'll see it as an insult."

Stiles frowned at him. "What, really? Because we brought a host gift?"

"Because it's not a host gift," Derek said. "It's implying they aren't able to provide enough food to feed their guests. It's an insult."

Scott made a face. "Is this another one of those weird werewolf things?"

Derek gave him a flat look. "Yes."

With that, he turned on his heel and stormed back to his tent.

Scott looked at Stiles in disbelief. "What did I say?"

Stiles stared at him for a full five seconds before he slapped Scott upside the back of the head. "Seriously?" He kept his voice down, though it wouldn't do any good, with Derek just in his tent. "This is the place he used to come with his family every year and you're calling it 'weird'?"

Scott balked. "I'm not calling it weird, I'm saying it's weird we can't bring any food to dinner!"

"Do you really think Derek's making that not-at-all obvious distinction right now?"

Scott opened his mouth, paused, and then closed it again. "Crap."

Stiles sighed. "Yeah. Crap."

***

The Ramirez camp was just far enough from theirs to be almost out of werewolf hearing range—a feature Stiles had noticed applied to most of the other campsites—and they already had a roaring fire going with a frankly staggering amount of meat set up on a picnic table not far off. Stiles counted six other people there, not counting Elaine, who walked up to them with a huge smile.

She and Derek embraced tightly, and then Derek stepped back and gestured to the pack. "Alpha Ramirez, this is my pack. Everyone, this is Elaine Ramirez, Alpha of the Ramirez pack."

Elaine smiled at all of them. "It's good to finally meet all of you. Derek's told us a lot about you."

Since everyone else still looked vaguely uncomfortable at the sight of another Alpha, Stiles stepped forward and held out his hand. "Elaine, good to see you again."

There was something knowing and amused about her smile when she shook Stiles's hand. "Stiles. Glad you all could join us for dinner."

Stiles hesitated. There had to be some kind of etiquette here that he was missing, but as it was, he couldn't see it. He launched forward with the introductions himself. "So this is Scott, my brother, and then that's Boyd, Erica, and Isaac—they were Derek's first betas—and then Lydia—she's a banshee—Allison, who's a member of Team Human like me, and then Kira is the most recent addition to our pack, meaning she didn't join until senior year of high school. She's a kitsune."

Elaine's expression hadn't changed much through Stiles's recitation, except maybe to get even more amused.

Stiles dragged his hand through his hair. "Hey, I've never had to do official inter-pack introductions before. Give me a break."

"You did quite well for your first time," Elaine said. "Allow me to introduce my pack."

She gestured to the others scattered around the camp, and they all ambled over. Lewis was the first one to step forward, though he didn't extend his hand. He only nodded when Elaine introduced him as her second-in-command, so Stiles nodded back as well.

Elaine finished her introductions with much more solemnity than Stiles had had. There was some general awkward hand-shaking, some less-awkward smiles, and a lot more sniffing than Stiles was comfortable with as they made their way through the introductions. Still, scent was important to werewolves, so he would deal with it.

"The food's just about ready," Elaine said. "Grab a drink, have a seat, make yourselves comfortable."

"We heard you had wolfsbane beer?" Erica piped up, her eyes gleaming.

Lewis slung his arm around her shoulder and winked. "We've got a lot more than that."

He led Erica off toward the picnic table and cooler, and Boyd and Isaac followed close behind.

Stiles wondered how high the chances were that he'd have to deal with four werewolves tonight who had literally never been drunk before. He had a feeling this was going to end poorly.

Another one of the Ramirez wolves—Kimberley, Stiles thought her name was—clapped him on the shoulder. "Oh, don't look so worried. They'll be fine. Lewis won't let anything happen to them."

Stiles raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, I just met Lewis about eight hours ago. Sorry I'm not trusting him with the safety of my friends just yet."

Kimberley's eyes glinted yellow. "Oh really? And just how is a human like you going to handle a born werewolf? I'm curious."

She was two inches taller than him—which was saying something, because Stiles had finally topped out at just under six feet, dammit—but he squared his shoulders and met her eyes unflinchingly. "Lady, I've stared down born wolves, Alphas, and hunters with really big guns. You'd be surprised at what I can handle."

To his surprise, she threw back her head and laughed, and then hugged him. "Oh my God, Elaine, can we keep this one?"

Well, that wasn't the reaction he'd expected. Stiles shoved ineffectually, trying to get out of her grip. "No, you can't keep 'this one.' 'This one' is not for keeping."

Someone cleared their throat, and Kimberley immediately let him go. Stiles turned to see Derek there, a small smile on his face. He rested his hand on Stiles's shoulder. "Not a chance, Kim."

She shrugged and winked. "Worth a try. Don't be slow, or you'll miss all the booze!"

Stiles waited until she'd walked far enough away and was engaged with a couple of others before he risked speaking. "So how worried do I have to be that she's going to try to kidnap me in the middle of the night?"

Derek snorted. "She was kidding, I promise."

"You were pretty quick to lay your own claim," Stiles pointed out.

Derek lifted a shoulder. "She was kidding, but it always helps to know when an Alpha will be really displeased if you come after one of their pack."

Stiles's heart tripped, and he hid it with a goofy grin. "Aw, you do care."

Derek rolled his eyes and pushed him toward the food table. "Go get something to eat before the wolves descend."

Stiles laughed. "Okay, I know you didn't mean it as a joke, but that's how I'm taking it."

Derek nudged him again. "You think I'm joking? They're not going to leave anything behind for you."

A small smile played on his face, though, and it warmed Stiles to see it.

He grabbed a plate and packed it with food while most of the wolves were getting drinks; Erica and Isaac looked like they'd died and gone to heaven with the wolfsbane beer. Stiles really, really hoped the Ramirez pack had brought enough drinks, and he also really hoped his pack wasn't expected to reciprocate in kind later. He didn't know where the hell to even get wolfsbane beer.

He sat down on one of the logs to eat, far enough from the fire that he wouldn't get his skin cooked. A moment later, Lydia joined him and dropped a fistful of carrots on his plate.

"Hey—" Stiles started.

"Don't," Lydia cut in. "You bitch about your dad's health enough, you're going to eat at least one vegetable while we're here."

He made a face at her, but he grabbed one of the carrots and made a show of taking a gigantic bite.

Lydia sat next to him with a pleased huff. "What kind of meat is this?"

Stiles poked at it. "Red?"

She rolled her eyes and elbowed him. "Helpful."

Kimberley dropped down on his other side. "It's deer."

"Which is red meat!" Stiles pointed out. "See, I wasn't wrong."

"You might not have been wrong, but you still didn't answer my question," Lydia said.

Stiles waved his fork. "Technicalities."

Kira walked up to them, balancing her plate, fork, and beer. "Mind if I join you guys?"

Stiles started to move to make room, when Kimberley said, "We don't really have space."

"What are you talking about?" Stiles asked, gesturing to the log they were sitting on. "If we get a little closer, we totally have space."

Kimberley gestured vaguely around the fire. "There are other places with more space."

Stiles looked. As far as he could see, the other logs and stumps around the fire were just as full as theirs was. "No, there aren't."

"Just scoot," Lydia said imperiously. "I'd like to sit by my girlfriend, if you don't mind."

Kimberley frowned, but she did scoot one minute inch closer to the end of the log. Stiles moved over as far as he could, until they were pressed thigh-to-thigh, and Lydia patted the newly open space for Kira.

"You're not nervous sitting so close to a wolf?" Kimberley asked.

Stiles snorted. "Please, you're one of the least scary werewolves I've ever sat next to."

"I wasn't talking to you." Kimberley nodded to Kira. "I was talking to her."

Kira glanced between Stiles and Lydia, confused, and Stiles shrugged his shoulders in answer to her unasked question. "No?" Kira said. "Why, should I be?"

"Foxes and wolves don't usually get along," Kimberley said.

Kira shrugged and smiled. "Well, I used to date a werewolf, so we never really had that problem."

Kimberley choked so hard Stiles thought he was going to have to perform the Heimlich. "You what?"

"Dated a werewolf?" Kira repeated tentatively, and pointed her fork across the fire, where Scott was sitting next to Isaac and Lewis. "Scott and I were together for most of our senior year."

Kimberley stared at her for a long minute, and then went back to her food. "Well, there's no accounting for taste," she muttered.

Not quietly enough that Stiles missed it, though. He dropped his fork in shock. "What the hell, Kimberley?"

"Excuse me?" Lydia said with a voice that could frost warm beer.

"Lydia," Kira said gently.

"No," Lydia snapped. "I want to know what she meant by 'there's no accounting for taste.'"

"Nothing," Kimberley said.

It was such a blatant lie, Stiles wondered why she even bothered. "Please, I can't even hear your heartbeat and I know that's a lie. Why are you being a dick about Kira?"

Kimberley heaved a sigh, like being asked to explain her comment was something on par with a parent asking her to clean her room. "Look, foxes are tricksters. Everyone knows they can't be trusted. I'm surprised you'd even consider having one in your pack."

Something snapped, and Stiles looked over to see Lydia's fork in two pieces. Her hazel eyes glinted dangerously. "You know nothing about Kira, you know nothing about our pack, and I suggest you apologize immediately for such an utterly ignorant statement."

Kimberley blinked at Lydia, and then at Stiles. "You're going to let her talk to another pack like this?"

"Uh, yes?" Stiles stood up. "Actually, I'm going to move about five feet that way so she can talk to you like that without me standing between you."

Kira's face was bright red. "Oh my God, you guys, stop."

"I'm not going to stop!" Lydia said. "That was rude and completely uncalled for, and you deserve an apology. And you," she whirled on Kimberley, "need to learn some manners."

Kimberley looked askance at Stiles. He shook his head again. Hell, no, he wasn't helping her with this, especially not when she'd insulted Kira, of all the people in the pack.

With an angry growl, she whirled around to Derek, sitting on a nearby log with Elaine and eating his dinner in such a way that it looked like he was pointedly ignoring the proceedings.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Kimberley demanded.

"No." Derek raised an eyebrow. "Because she's not wrong."

Kimberley gaped at him, mouth moving like she was trying to find some kind of response, but nothing was coming.

"Kira helped us out with a very dangerous situation when she first joined our pack," Derek said, and went back to his dinner. "She's been with us ever since, and I trust her with my life."

Kimberley narrowed her eyes. "What kind of a dangerous situation?"

Stiles's heart beat faster. Derek wouldn't—surely he wouldn't—

Derek looked up from his food. "A dangerous one," he repeated, in that tone Stiles recognized as meaning the conversation was done.

He let out a slow, relieved breath. That really wasn't an incident he wanted to relive with people he'd only just met.

Kimberley looked from Derek back to Lydia, who was standing now, arms crossed and one toe tapping in the dirt.

"Kimberley," Elaine said, and flashed her eyes red.

Kimberley turned to Kira and Lydia and bared her neck. "I'm sorry," she said. "You're right, I don't know you or your pack. And that was uncalled for."

"It's okay," Kira said quickly. "Really. I know there's bad blood between kitsune and werewolves."

Lydia whipped around to her. "That's no excuse—"

Kira smiled. "I said it's okay."

Lydia still didn't look happy, but she sat back down and picked up her plate.

After another awkward moment of silence, everyone else went back to eating and talking. Lydia and Kira sat far to one side of the log, while Kimberley stayed on the other.

Stiles stood there for another moment before he went back to his spot between Lydia and Kimberley. "So, we're all cool?"

Kimberley nodded. On his other side, after a brief bit of hesitation, Lydia nodded as well.

"Cool." He took a bite of food and turned to Kimberley. "So, how about them Mets?"

***

After the rocky start, the rest of the dinner went smoothly, to Stiles's immense relief. Kimberley and Kira got to talking about mythology and the various depictions of the underworld, which apparently they both got really excited about, and Kimberley's comments were completely forgotten. The rest of the packs mingled easily (and Lewis's wolfsbane booze sure as hell helped with that).

Sometime after they'd finished eating, Stiles ended up talking to Anamaria, the only human among the Ramirez pack.

"Well, the only human here," she corrected him. "My sister and her husband normally come, but she just had twins, and their oldest isn't quite three yet."

Stiles gestured to the camp. "So, what, is there an age limit to come hang out with all the born wolves?"

Anamaria laughed. "There's not, but most packs don't bring kids until they're at least five or six years old. It can be a little difficult with babies and toddlers, particularly if they're human."

"So...are there lots packs with human members?" Stiles asked.

She hesitated, tucking a dark curl behind her ear. "Not really? The werewolf gene is dominant, so even if a human marries into the pack, chances are their kids are going to be werewolves. I mean, it's not totally unheard of, but most packs are...you know..."

From the way she trailed off, Stiles could take a stab at how that sentence was going to end. "They're family."

Anamaria shifted and quickly looked out into the forest. "Yeah."

Stiles leaned back on his hands and stared up at the branches high above them, leaves reflecting the orange glow of the bonfire. "How many packs even have non-family members?"

How many packs are like us, was what he really wanted to ask.

"I don't know," Anamaria said. "I mean, most packs have some, but usually the core group is a family. It's...not really typical to have so many unrelated people in a pack."

"Yeah, well." Stiles sighed and dug his heel into the ground. "I don't think we've ever been even remotely typical."

He searched the crowd for Derek, and spotted him standing with Lewis and Carlos, another one of Elaine's betas. Derek had a plastic cup in one hand and was smiling, laughing, his shoulders relaxed in a way Stiles had only rarely ever seen. He just seemed...comfortable around the other wolves, in a way he hadn't ever really been comfortable around them. Some of it Stiles could chalk up to the shitshow that Beacon Hills had been for the last few years of high school, but at least some of it had to be because they weren't born werewolves. They didn't know what it was like.

They weren't family.

Anamaria elbowed him. "Hey, you okay?"

Stiles shook himself out of his maudlin thoughts. "Yeah, fine. Sorry. Just kind of got lost in my own thoughts there for a bit."

"Well, snap out of it." She jerked her head toward the fire. "Kimberley's getting the toasting sticks, which means it's time for s'mores."

"Awesome!" Stiles hopped up. "Scott's going to be thrilled."

***

He wasn't sure how late they stayed, eating s'mores and drinking with the Ramirez pack, but it felt pretty damn late when they finally stumbled through the woods back to their campsite. And "stumbled" was exactly the right word for it; Stiles was pretty sure the only reason Scott, Isaac, Boyd, and Erica were upright was because they were all leaning on each other. Derek walked half a step behind them, hands twitching at his sides like he was ready to dart forward to keep any one of them from falling face-planting onto the path.

Stiles picked up his pace to get closer to Derek and poked his side. "Eh, let 'em fall. It'll show them how to handle being drunk."

Derek huffed. "I wouldn't be a very good Alpha if I let them eat dirt the first time they got drunk."

"That is completely untrue," Stiles said. "It just shows that you're willing to let them make their own mistakes and learn from it."

Derek rolled his eyes skyward and elbowed Stiles, not hard enough to be painful but enough that he stumbled off the path and back on again.

"Jerk," Stiles said, with absolutely no heat to his voice whatsoever.

Derek's response was another soft huff, and he ducked his head. It was too dark for Stiles to see his face, but the familiarity of the gesture made him think Derek was smiling his shy smile.

They made it back to the campsite without anyone falling and breaking anything, and the pack broke off and staggered to their separate tents. Erica demanded hugs from literally everyone else and gave them all a smacking kiss on the cheek before Boyd could pry her away long enough to usher her to their tent.

Stiles sat next to their cold fire pit, listening to the sound of animals in the forest and the rustle of the wind in the trees. He should probably grab a toothbrush and go to the restrooms to brush his teeth, but he wasn't terribly tired and he didn't feel much like moving. His eyes had somewhat adjusted to the dark, since the light of the waning moon was mostly blocked by the trees and none of the wolves carried a light.

Derek stepped up next to him and crouched by the fire pit. "Want a light?"

Stiles rubbed his arms. "Nah, you don't have to. I probably won't be up that much longer."

"It's not a bother." Derek put kindling in the pit. "I'll probably be up for a while."

"Keeping watch over us?" Stiles joked.

"I'm the Alpha," Derek said. "It's kind of my job."

He lit a match and the kindling burst to life, and soon Derek had a small fire crackling in the pit.

"That was impressive," Stiles said. "Last time my dad and I went camping, it took us the better part of an hour to get a fire going every time."

Derek snorted and stood, then joined Stiles on the log by the fire. "I've been building fires here since I was nine years old. Grandpa Hale would rise up from the grave and slap me himself if I couldn't do it quickly and properly."

That wasn't a family member Stiles had heard Derek mention before, but then again, Derek didn't talk much about his family, with maybe the exception of his mother and Laura. "Did you used to come here with him?" Stiles asked.

Derek nodded. "My parents, my grandparents, Peter and Aunt Grace, Laura, Cora...we'd all be out here every summer to meet the other packs. I remember the year Elaine became Alpha of the Ramirez pack. I was ten or eleven, and we all got the chance to watch the transfer of power."

Stiles balked. "Wait, did she—"

Derek shook his head. "She didn't kill the previous Alpha. He was old—older than any wolf I've ever met—and he gave the power away. He passed about a month or so later, if I remember right."

Stiles stared at the dancing flames, trying to figure out what it meant that Derek was telling him this, trying to figure out how he felt about Derek telling him this. "You've known them a long time, huh."

"Yeah."

He thought about what Anamaria had said, about how so many of the packs were family. "You really...click with them, you know?"

Derek turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "Like you said, I've known them for years. I stayed with Elaine and her pack when I came here by myself. Of course I click with them."

"You seemed more comfortable with them than with us," Stiles blurted out, and instantly wished he could take it back.

A flash of hurt flickered across Derek's face, and he schooled it into something neutral. "What makes you say that?"

He hated putting that look on Derek's face. "Just..." Stiles shrugged and bounced his knee, wishing the whole time he'd just kept his mouth shut. "I don't know. Just the way you were with Elaine and Lewis, I guess. You just looked more...relaxed with them."

Derek stared into the fire. "It's...strange, being here with a pack of my own again after so many years of staying with others. I'm just not sure how to handle it, yet."

"Do you regret bringing us?" Stiles asked. "Do you wish you were staying with them again?"

Derek shook his head. "No, of course not. To both questions. Tonight, at dinner...that's how it's supposed to be. Sitting around, getting to know other packs, being able to be who we are without hiding it..." He spread his hands. "That's what this whole camp is supposed to be about. That's why I should've brought you sooner."

Stiles fidgeted a bit. "We aren't...really like the other packs. Even the ones with human members."

Derek laughed softly. "No, we really aren't. But that's okay." He turned to Stiles, the fire casting a hard shadow on his face. "Do you like it? The camp, that is?"

Stiles scrubbed his hands through his hair. "I haven't even been here two days. I have no idea if I like it yet. I like Elaine, and most of her pack seems cool—hell, even Kimberley was after Lydia reamed her for that stupid comment."

Derek smiled, the white of his teeth glinting in the firelight. "I was worried someone might say something, but Lydia handled it beautifully. None of the other wolves will dare to say a word."

Stiles raised his eyebrows. "What, really?"

"Oh, yeah." Derek nodded. "Banshees are fairly rare, and most werewolves haven't ever seen one. Absolutely no one wants to piss them off, for obvious reasons. And the fact that Lydia didn't smell of fear, not for a second...well, let's just say they'll have a very healthy respect for her by tomorrow morning."

"Lydia will be pleased to hear that," Stiles said. "I think sometimes she misses being high enough in the high school food chain inspire fear with just a glare."

They fell silent, and Stiles went back to staring at the fire and trying not to think about how close he and Derek were sitting, how he could practically feel Derek thinking. If he had any hope of getting over his crush, situations like this weren't really going to help.

"It's different, being here with you all," Derek finally said. "It's not like it was with my family, or like it's been the past few years, when I stayed with the Ramirez pack. But that doesn't mean I don't like it, or that one is better than the other. It's just...different." He sighed. "I know that doesn't make any sense."

Stiles shook his head. "No, I get it. It's like...you know, my dad. I love him, but my relationship with him isn't the same as the one I had with my mom. It's not like I love him more or loved her more, it's the same but it's also not the same, you know?"

Derek nodded. "I know."

The fire crackled and popped, sending a spray of sparks into the air, carried upward briefly before winking out. Though Stiles knew, logically, the others were in tents only a few steps away, it still felt like he and Derek were the only two people in the world right now.

Yeah, this was definitely not helping his crush.

He should get up and go to bed, really. But Derek didn't show any sign of going to bed himself, and while Stiles had matured a lot in the past several years, but he wasn't quite able to walk away when he could have a few more minutes with Derek alone.

So he stayed put, and watched the fire.

***

The next morning, Stiles woke up inside his tent. This shouldn't have been strange, but he honestly didn't remember going into his tent. The last thing he remembered was nodding off next to Derek, who'd been humming a song Stiles had never heard before, one that made him think of bright moons and sad stories.

That meant Derek was the one who'd put him back in his tent.

Stiles wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wasn't sure how he should feel about that.

He sat up in his sleeping bag and rubbed his eyes, and then stumbled his way out of the tent with the intention of hitting the bathroom and then tracking down some breakfast.

He froze when he saw Boyd and Erica sitting by the fire, roasting hot dogs. Naked.

Fucking hell, that was more than he'd ever wanted to see from any of his pack mates.

Erica grinned and waved her hot dog stick in the air. "Morning, Stiles! Want a wiener?"

"No." Stiles shook his head. "No, no, no. All the no. So much no. Why are you naked?"

Boyd shrugged one very beefy shoulder. "No one else wears clothes, why should we?"

"It's really nice," Erica said. "Freeing. You should try it."

Stiles resisted the urge to go back to his tent and layer on every piece of clothing he'd brought. "Oh, hell no."

Another tent flap unzipped, and then Kira crawled out, rubbing her eyes. "Do I smell hot dogs?"

Erica turned and pointed hers at Kira. "Yeah! Want one?"

Even from across the campsite, Stiles could see Kira's eyes widen and her face turn bright red. "Oh! Uh. Um. Yes? Why are you naked?"

"They've gone native," Stiles said.

Kira was slowly turning even redder. "Oh, I see. Well, uh, you both look very nice?"

Erica threw back her head and cackled. "Come on, Kira, join us! It's great to have the wind in your hair, the breeze on your skin...on all your skin."

"She's going to try to get all of you naked before the week is out," Boyd said, and thoughtfully took a bite of his hot dog.

"Normally that reminds me of fun sexy times," Stiles said with a sigh. "Now I know it'll just end with me taking a spray of hot coals to my dick."

Boyd's eyes went wide, and he cautiously crossed his legs.

Erica whacked him on the shoulder. "Oh, come on. You'll heal."

Stiles heard footsteps outside the camp, and a moment later, Lewis, Carlos, and Anamaria walked up. All of them, thankfully, were clothed, because that was way more than Stiles could handle right now.

"Hey!" Lewis grinned. "You guys are cool with the nudity now?"

"Yes!" Erica said.

Stiles shook his head. "No."

Kira let out a squeak and covered her eyes.

Lewis laughed. "I see."

Anamaria jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "We're about to go running with the Ito pack. You all want to join us?"

Erica swallowed the last bit of her hot dog and hopped to her feet. "Sounds great!"

Anamaria turned to Kira. "Do you want to come?"

"Oh." Kira crossed her arms. "I'm not sure..."

Erica walked to her and touched her shoulder. "It'll be fine. And fun!" She turned to Lewis and the other wolves with a sweet, sharp smile. "Won't it?"

"Totally fine," Lewis said quickly. "I promise."

Kira smiled shyly. "Well, let me grab my running shoes, then."

Boyd stood up and stretched. "Running sounds fun. I'll get Scott and Isaac."

"Awesome!" Lewis said, and then pulled down his shorts. "We'll meet you on the trail."

Stiles clapped his hand over his eyes and groaned. "Fuck everything, I'm going back to bed."

"You can't handle this hotness, Stilinski!" Erica called after him.

"Not before breakfast, I can't !"

***

Despite there not being any set routine at the camp, they fell into something resembling one, anyway. Members of the other packs would drift over around breakfast time to eat with them, and they'd take Scott, Erica, Boyd, Isaac, and Kira and go running.

Usually, Stiles, Allison, and Lydia would hit the lake or the hiking trails at that point, but other times, Stiles and Allison would get roped into playing "prey," which meant they would run around the woods and climb up trees and generally try to hide their scent and confuse the wolves. (Anamaria had gathered the courage to ask Lydia if she wanted to join them only once. Lydia had given her a withering look and flatly refused.)

Stiles could think of better ways to spend his time, but every time one of his pack was the first to find him, they looked so damn pleased with themselves that Stiles couldn't be too upset. They were all getting better with tracking, with learning to move swiftly and quietly, with learning to really rely on scent and hearing instead of just what they could see.

And, okay, yeah, Stiles was proud of them. They were finally learning how to werewolf, how to really werewolf, in a situation that wasn't life or death.

Sometimes Derek or the other Alphas joined them, and he almost always found Stiles first. Most of the time he'd just smile and walk right by, but other times, he'd climb the tree and sit on a branch near Stiles for a bit.

"How long has this camp been here?" Stiles asked one morning, when Allison was off leading most of the wolves on a merry chase.

Derek shrugged and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. "Decades, at least. My mom had been coming since she was a little girl."

Stiles looked out over the trees, at the glimpse of mountains in the distance. "It's a beautiful place."

"It is," Derek agreed. "I used to spend hours sitting by the bank of the lake and just looking at all of it, smelling everything."

Stiles nodded. He could picture a smaller Derek sitting down by the lake, eyes wide in wonder, and it made his heart hurt to think about. He was supposed to be getting over Derek, dammit, not sitting in trees having heart-to-hearts with him.

For a moment, they said nothing, and Stiles listened to the birds chirping and the faint rustle of people moving through the underbrush. If he concentrated, he thought he could hear shrieks and laughter from the lake.

"I'm really glad you all came," Derek said quietly.

Stiles jerked in surprise, and thought for a moment that he'd misheard. But Derek was looking at him with a small, genuine smile, and hell, Stiles was never going to be able to get over him, was he?

"Yeah," Stiles said. "Me, too."

***

Before Stiles knew it, nearly three weeks had passed and they were just a few days away from the full moon bonfire. To his surprise, he was disappointed at the thought of leaving. Sure, he hadn't gotten along well with everybody, but they'd made a lot of friends within the Ito and Ramirez packs, and Lydia and Kira had made plans to visit Satomi later that fall.

Plus, Stiles felt like they were closer, as a pack. They'd already been close, of course—three solid years of death-defying terror would do that—but something about this trip had solidified it. Scott, Erica, Boyd, and Isaac all seemed to be much more at home in their skins, and Kira was far stronger than she had been when they'd arrived. Stiles honestly hadn't expected much for him and Allison, being the two humans of the group, but even he'd learned loads about how other packs worked.

Including, for example, that none of the other Alphas had a human even close to his role, let alone as an actual second-in-command. It made him feel...he wasn't sure if special was the right word for it, but something warm and weightless filled his chest every time he realized how much trust Derek put in him. And given all the betrayal Derek had endured, that trust was a precious thing.

Two nights before the bonfire, Stiles swung by Elaine's camp to pick up some wolfsbane beer (Lewis had promised to hook him up with a distributor once they all left the camp, but for now he was Stiles's only source for werewolf-friendly booze) and started back to his own campsite with two six-packs that he was positive would last them for the rest of their trip. None of the werewolves could hold their liquor yet, except Derek, who never had more than a single beer anyway. It made them all very cheap drunks, for which Stiles was grateful.

He strolled down the path, humming to himself, and was almost back to their campsite when he heard voices around the fire. Or rather, one voice, which didn't belong to anyone he recognized quickly.

Stiles stopped humming and started moving much more quietly. Spending two weeks playing "prey" had made him pretty good at sneaking around werewolves without being smelled, and he used those lessons now to see who the hell was at his campsite.

He got close enough outside the tents to see Derek and Alpha Traeger sitting by the fire. Well, Derek was sitting. Alpha Traeger was standing, arms crossed over her chest.

"You know, you can come over while my pack's here," Derek said.

"I know," she said, "but this is a conversation between Alphas. More specifically, between you and my pack."

Stiles flashed back to the first day they'd gotten here, the offer Alpha Traeger had mentioned when she'd met them all.

Derek sighed, like he knew what was coming. "Leslie—"

"Your pack has grown, but they aren't worthy of the Hale name," Alpha Traeger said, low and urgent. "Join mine, officially, and you can be so much more and so much greater."

Stiles felt like someone had punched him in the chest. She wanted Derek for her pack? How the hell would that even work?

Derek wasn't facing him, so all Stiles could see was the stiff line of his shoulders, highlighted against the fire. "They're still young," Derek said. "I can't leave them without any guidance, especially not in Beacon Hills."

"But they aren't like us." Alpha Traeger sat beside him. "You've known us so long, you're practically pack already. Don't you want to be around other born werewolves? Others like you?"

Derek didn't respond, or if he did, it was too quiet for Stiles to hear.

Alpha Traeger put an arm around it. "You know Talia would have wanted it."

Stiles's heart clenched, and he had to bite his lip to keep from making a noise. He should leave. He shouldn't have been eavesdropping in the first place, and he was pretty freaking sure Alpha Traeger would be very unhappy if she caught him.

He moved away as quietly as he could, considering he was still holding a six-pack of beer in each hand. He'd just go back to Elaine's campsite for the time being. If no one was there, he'd head on down to the lake. Even though the sun had nearly set, people were usually playing in the water until well into the night.

He had to be around people right now, because he really didn't want to think about what he'd overheard. He didn't want to think about Derek leaving them.

He was halfway to the lake, lost in thought, when someone stopped him. "Hey, Stiles!"

Allison's voice startled him, and Stiles flailed and nearly dropped the beer. Allison caught his arm, steadying him. "Are you okay? You looked really out of it."

Stiles shook his head. He couldn't say anything. He shouldn't say anything, because he didn't even know what Derek was going to choose. "I'm fine. Just...thinking."

Allison raised an eyebrow. "You were pretty deep in thought, then."

He really couldn't argue with that. "Yeah, I was. Sorry, I totally didn't see you."

"It's okay." Allison shrugged her swim bag higher on her shoulder. "I was just going to head back to the campsite to change clothes before dinner."

Stiles forced a smile. "What, you're not going to shower?"

Allison snorted. "What's the point? I'll be back at the lake first thing tomorrow, anyway. Besides, those showers are..." She shuddered. "I'm looking forward to my own bathroom again."

Stiles laughed. The showers were only a little worse than he'd expected for a camp in the middle of nowhere.

Allison frowned at him. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Stiles shook off the worst of his melancholy. "Yeah, I'm fine. Come on, let's go back."

***

Alpha Traeger was gone by the time they returned to the campsite, and Derek didn't look upset, so Stiles did his best to ignore the memory of the conversation he shouldn't have overheard.

How would that even work, anyway? Traeger was an Alpha, and so was Derek, and Stiles knew from past experience that more than one Alpha in a pack tended to lead to bad things. Would Derek have to give up his Alpha powers? Would he have to choose one of them to lead the pack?

Stiles tried to picture anyone else leading the pack, but he was coming up blank. Boyd? Maybe, but he was a better lieutenant. Scott possibly could, but his outlook on people was still a little too rosy for him to be effective. Erica and Isaac were just a big ball of no.

Lydia would be a good candidate, but could a banshee be the Alpha for a werewolf pack? Stiles had to admit, if anyone could do it, Lydia could and their pack would roll with it, but he had a feeling they would be bucking tradition even more than normal in that case. Besides, Lydia had no intention of sticking around Beacon Hills.

Stop it, he scolded himself. He didn't even know what Derek had said in response, and no matter what Alpha Traeger said, Stiles really couldn't picture Derek up and leaving them. Even if they weren't a traditional pack.

But what if? a niggling voice in the back of his head whispered.

Stiles continued to ignore it. He ignored it through dinner, he ignored it through cleanup, he ignored it while they passed a flashlight around and told stories of the dumbest stuff they'd ever done on a camping trip. ("Going on one in the first place," Lydia said dryly, and everybody laughed.)

He ignored it up until everyone else had gone to bed and it was once again just him and Derek by the fire, Derek watching the embers like a hawk, and Stiles just couldn't take it anymore.

"I heard your conversation with Alpha Traeger," he blurted out.

Derek poked at the fire with a long stick, but didn't raise an eyebrow or glare or otherwise react. "I thought I heard someone on the trail."

"You're not going to tell me I shouldn't eavesdrop on private conversations?" Stiles asked, and really? That was the first question that popped out of his mouth?

Derek huffed. It might have been a laugh. "I would, but one, it's already done, and two, you're at a camp with professional eavesdroppers. It's a safe bet that no conversation is private, here."

"Oh."

Derek set the stick down and sat back on the log beside Stiles. "So what do you really want to ask me?"

His heart hammered in his chest, and Stiles chewed on his lower lip. "Is that what you want?" he asked. "I mean...to be in a real pack?"

"This is a real pack," Derek said.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. I mean a pack where you aren't the only born werewolf, where you actually have people like you to hang out with, where you aren't stuck with a bunch of kids that you just got thrown together with because of an act of fate, or an act of the supernatural freak show that is Beacon Hills."

"Technically, you're all adults now."

Stiles groaned rubbed his face in frustration. "That's not the point! Look, I don't want you to go, but more than that, I want you to be happy. Don't stay with us because you feel obligated, stay with us because it's what you actually want to do. I'm sick and tired of watching you martyr yourself. If going to another pack will make you happy," he swallowed the lump in his throat at the thought, "then—"

"It won't," Derek cut in quietly.

Stiles snapped his mouth shut.

Derek was looking at him, in that soft, open way of his that Stiles had so rarely seen. The first time had been after the pool, when he'd called the kanima an abomination, and Derek had looked so utterly shocked and vulnerable and hopeful that someone didn't see him as a monster. Since then, Stiles could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen this look. He'd catalogued each time, filing the incidents away in his mind, holding onto them like precious jewels.

Jeez, how had it taken him so long to realize how fucking gone he was on Derek?

"Leslie's been trying to get me to join her pack for years." Derek rested his elbows on his knees and letting his hands hang loose between. "At first, I didn't want to because it felt like a betrayal to Laura, and then I became an Alpha myself and felt like I had something to prove." He nodded out to the camp. "To myself, but to all of them as well. They all knew I was never supposed to be Alpha. And maybe at the beginning, I shouldn't have been."

Stiles's throat got tighter. "Derek—"

Derek shook his head. "I wasn't ready for it. I wasn't ready for any of it. I just..." He put his hand over his heart. "It was my mother's. It was my sister's. It's one of the last connections I have to them. I didn't want to give it up."

Stiles could only nod. He understood that with a visceral twist in his stomach.

"I wasn't ready to be an Alpha." Derek raised his eyes to Stiles. "But you all made me one. Every time you pushed back, fought me, made us work together, made us stronger... I don't want any other pack. I want this one. This is my pack. And nothing anyone can say will make me leave."

Stiles's eyes stung with tears, and he wiped them surreptitiously. Maybe he could claim it was the smoke. "Thank God," he said. "I was willing to be noble, but I really fucking hate doing that."

Derek snorted. "Willing to be noble?"

Stiles kept his focus on the fire. Everything felt too close to the surface, and he was afraid that if he looked at Derek for any length of time, Derek would see...everything. "Well, yeah. Like I said, you should be happy. You deserve to be happy. And I...want that for you, you know?"

It was too much. It felt like he'd said too much, and Derek would know.

"After the fire, and after Laura..." Derek cleared his throat. "I thought I would always be angry. I thought there would always be this...hole inside me. But...it's gotten better. You've helped make it better. I might not be happy all the time, but sometimes I actually am, and that's..." He shook his head. "That's a lot more than I thought I'd have."

And what the hell was Stiles supposed to say to that? He wanted to hold Derek's hand, or hug him, or something, but he could only sit there, utterly speechless.

"I'm glad," he finally croaked out. "I'm glad you're staying, and I'm glad that you're...well, not always happy, but that you can be. Around us."

Derek knocked his knee against Stiles's. "Does that mean you'd have missed me?"

Stiles bumped him back. "Of course I'd have missed you, dumbass. Nobody else could handle this pack like you."

"Uh-huh." Derek had a knowing smile. "Is that the only reason?"

The way he said it made Stiles's heart stumble over itself and start beating like a snare drum. Not for the first time, Stiles felt like Derek could see right through him and into the feelings he'd been trying (and probably failing) to hide for all these years.

He stared intently at the fire, trying to get his voice to work. He never had any trouble talking, never had any trouble rambling about anything, but faced with the prospect of admitting the truth to Derek, his words dried up.

"You know it's not," he finally croaked out. "I already miss you when you're not around. I'd hate to think what would happen if you actually left. Probably I'd turn into a shell of a human and adopt about twenty cats."

"Stiles—" Derek started, voice gentle.

And no. That was a rejection voice, and Stiles couldn't handle that right now. He stood up and cleared his throat. "Look, you don't have to do it again, okay?"

Derek blinked up at him, brow furrowed. "Do what again?"

"Tell me no," Stiles said. "I promise, I got the message the first time and I've tried really hard not to be obvious about the fact that I'm gone on you—although apparently I haven't even done a good job about that because I guess I'm just constantly sending out 'please fuck me' signals in werewolf body language—"

Derek choked. "What?"

Stiles waved the comment away. "Elaine told me about it. Anyway, my point is, I got the 'I don't want to date you' message the first time, and I'm okay with that, because you're my friend and that's important to me, okay? But I also can't really pretend that you don't mean a lot to me, or that just thinking about you being with some other pack makes me feel like somebody took a melon baller to my gut. But you don't have to reject me again, okay?"

Derek jumped to his feet. "Stiles! What the hell are you talking about? When did I reject you?"

Stiles couldn't handle this right now. "Seriously? You don't remember? I asked you if you'd ever consider another relationship and I might as well have asked if you'd ever considered selling your own kidneys for fun and profit. You looked less horrified to deal with the Alpha pack."

Derek still looked bewildered. "When the hell was that?"

Stiles dragged his hand through his hair. "I don't know, two years ago? It was pretty clear you hated the idea—which, dude, I understand, I really do—so that's why—"

Derek grabbed him by the shoulders and stared right in his eyes. "Stiles."

Stiles snapped his mouth shut.

"I was barely a year into therapy at that point," Derek said, "and I thought you and the pack were thinking of setting me up on a blind date. I wasn't even remotely ready for that. But...that's not what you were asking?"

Stiles toed at the ground, watching the divot his sneaker made in the dirt. He couldn't look back up to Derek. "I might have had slightly more...uh...self-serving motivations at that point."

Derek didn't move, didn't say anything. His hands weighed heavily on Stiles's shoulders.

"I'm glad I didn't know," Derek finally said quietly. "Because I wasn't ready, and I would have asked you to wait."

Stiles snapped his head up, because what. "What?"

Derek's eyes were serious. "I would have asked you to wait, and that wouldn't have been fair to you."

Stiles felt like someone had smacked him over the head. Of all the responses he'd expected from Derek, this wasn't one of them. "You would've wanted me to wait. For you."

Derek nodded. "I didn't think I deserved good things, then. I still don't, some days, but—"

"You do," Stiles said earnestly.

That got him a smile and half a laugh. "I'm getting better about it," Derek said. "It's hard, but I'm getting better."

Stiles's heart was beating hard enough that he was pretty sure it was going to leap out of his chest. "So, just to be clear. You're saying that you would be interested in a potential romantic relationship? A potential romantic relationship in which I'm the other party?"

Derek leaned in closer, so their faces were just inches apart. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

"Okay," Stiles whispered. His throat had gone dry, and he swallowed. "Just so we're clear on it."

"Clarity is good," Derek agreed.

Stiles wasn't entirely sure which of them moved, if he closed the gap between them or if Derek did, but the next thing he knew, his hand was clenched in Derek's shirt and they were kissing. It was achingly slow, gentle, just a soft brush of lips, but Stiles felt no need to hurry it along. This was something delicate, something precious, and he was terrified of breaking it by pushing too hard.

Derek pulled back, just a fraction, and it was gratifying to hear that his breathing was as shaky as Stiles's. "Was that okay?"

"So very okay," Stiles confirmed. "In fact, more than okay."

Derek's eyes crinkled with his smile. "That's good."

Stiles leaned back in and kissed him again, because he could, and his whole body buzzed with the awareness that he could do this, that he was allowed, that Derek made a pleased and happy grumble when he did.

"You, uh," Stiles cleared his throat and nodded his chin toward his tent, "you want to come over to my place?"

Derek stiffened. "I do, but—you should know, I'm not quite...there...with sex yet, and—"

"Dude." Stiles let go of Derek's shirt to cup his face. "I meant just to talk, but we could literally hold hands and kiss on the cheek for the rest of our lives and I would be okay with that."

Derek raised an eyebrow, his lips twitching. "The rest of our lives? You're thinking pretty far ahead."

"Uh." Stiles winced. "Forget I said it. I mean, the rest of our lives part. Not the first part. I'm a-okay with intimacy being non-sexual."

Derek laughed. "I don't know, I kind of liked it. That you...think about us, being together that long."

Stiles's heart soared. "Yeah? You thinking about it, too, big guy?"

Derek pressed his forehead to Stiles's. "Yeah, I kind of am."

***

The front of his tent unzipped shortly after the crack of dawn, and Stiles barely had time to lift his head and glare at the intruder when Erica popped her head in.

"Stiles, have you seen—" Her eyes went huge. "Oh, uh, never mind!"

The tent door zipped back up.

Stiles dropped his head back to where it had been pillowed on Derek's arm. "What the hell did she want?"

Derek nuzzled the back of his neck. "Wanted to know where I was."

"Ah." Stiles closed his eyes. "Think we should tell the pack?"

Derek tightened his arm around Stiles. "Erica's taking care of it. Gleefully."

Stiles laughed. "Want to go back to sleep?"

The only response was a deep, even breathing against the back of his neck.

***

The next two days passed quickly, and the next thing Stiles knew, they were all hiking down to the lake at dusk for the full moon bonfire and the wolves' run. The biggest difference between this time and every other time he'd walked down to the lake this month was that this time, he was holding Derek's hand.

And two bags full of graham crackers and marshmallows in the other hand, but hey. The Derek bit was definitely more important.

As soon as they got within view of the lake, Erica let out a whoop and yelled, "Cannonball!"

She sped past Stiles and Derek, a pale blond streak, with Boyd and Isaac hot on her heels. A moment later, Stiles heard shrieks and splashes.

"She jumped on Kimberley and Anamaria," Derek explained.

Stiles grinned at the thought. "And the first inter-pack war in a hundred years was started because Erica dunked someone in the lake."

"It'll last until Kimberley and Anamaria get revenge," Derek said sagely.

Another shriek and a splash echoed from the lake.

"So, two minutes?" Stiles said.

Derek laughed.

Most of the other packs were already at the lake, a mix of humans and fully shifted wolves running up and down the bank. Lewis and James, from the Ramirez pack, and Brett and Angel, from the Ito pack, were getting the bonfire going, while someone else had set up the volleyball net and they'd started a game in the fading daylight. Still others were running down the dock and jumping into the lake, the thuds of footfalls against the wood echoing in the air, coupled with shouts and splashes.

The rest of the pack dispersed to the lake (Scott and Lydia) and the volleyball net (Kira and Allison), but Stiles followed Derek over to the massive picnic tables where people were setting up food and cooking on a few smaller fires. He waved at Satomi Ito, who was talking to Alpha Matthews, whose pack had just come in the week before.

Derek squeezed his hand, and then walked over to Satomi and Alpha Matthews, and Stiles started unloading the s'mores stuff onto the first available table space.

He didn't realize anyone was standing behind him until someone cleared their throat.

Stiles nearly jumped halfway out of his skin, and spun to see Alpha Traeger standing there, regarding him wordlessly.

Stiles waited through thirty seconds of awkward silence before he blurted out, "So what do you want?"

She rolled her eyes. "I simply wanted to congratulate you. Derek is a good Alpha, and he will make a very good mate."

That was why she was here? Stiles rubbed the back of his neck and willed his heart to calm down. "Yeah, I know. Believe me."

Alpha Traeger raised her eyebrows. "You know how rare it is for an Alpha to choose a human, don't you?"

That bullshit again. Stiles shrugged. "Maybe for other packs. But we've got two humans, four bitten wolves, a kitsune, and a banshee. An Alpha dating a human? That's nothing."

She seemed to consider his words. "Fair point." She inclined her head toward him. "I wish you both the best."

With that, she shifted into a wolf and trotted off down the shore.

Stiles stared after her. That was definitely one of the stranger conversations he'd had in the past month, and that was saying something.

Derek came up to him, looking concerned. "Everything okay?"

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, fine. I think she was just...conceding defeat? Admitting that our pack is, in fact, the best with the best Alpha?"

Derek snorted, but he was smiling, and he kissed Stiles's temple. "I agree about the first, but I'm not sure about the second."

"What, you aren't sure we have the best Alpha?" Stiles swatted his chest. "You're not an unbiased source. That's okay, I am, and I can vouch for it." He looked up at Derek. "Seriously, you are the best Alpha, and there's no one else I'd rather have in charge of our pack."

Derek ducked his head and pressed his face into Stiles's neck. "Elaine's been asking me to bring you all here for the past three years. I should've listened to her sooner."

Stiles reached up and carded his fingers through Derek's thick hair. "Well, you got us here now. And you know? It's been a really good month. I'm glad we came."

Derek's smile curved against the side of his neck. "Me, too."