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“Because I love you?”
“Really?” Derek raised his eyebrows. “That’s your reasoning?”
Stiles rolled onto his side and propped himself on his elbow. “Or because you love me?”
“Both of those are true,” Derek said, “but neither of them explain why I would give up my Saturday to go to a hunter’s convention.”
“They’re cool!” Stiles said.
“They want to kill me,” Derek reminded him.
“Not these hunters,” Stiles said, “and before you start, yes, I know how most of them are. But Allison and I have been going to this particular convention for three years just to test the waters. Virtually all the hunters there have accepted the new Argent motto, and most of them have very nasty things to say about Gerard and Kate.”
Derek couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “And you really think bringing werewolves to that convention is a good idea?”
“Dude, we’ve spent ten years building bridges and alliances in and around Beacon Hills.” Stiles looked at him seriously. “And you know our alliance with the Argents has been invaluable.”
Derek sighed. Stiles wasn’t wrong there; it really had been invaluable having hunters on their side, and it was one of the reasons their territory in Beacon Hills was some of the most secure in the country, even with the myriad supernatural threats they still faced.
But that alliance had been brokered between Stiles and Scott and Allison, none of whom had been raised in the supernatural world. They hadn’t grown up seeing hunters as the villains, or seeing werewolves as–
“Hey.” Stiles stood up and took his hands. “If you really don’t want to go, I won’t make you. But I swear, I’ve been vetting these people for years. They want change as much as we do. And I feel like with you and Scott there, we could start that.”
“You’re asking for a lot of change,” Derek said.
“I know.”
“And it doesn’t happen overnight, especially not with hunters.”
Stiles nodded. “Believe me, I know.” He rubbed his thumbs over Derek’s hands. “Do you trust me to protect you?”
Derek leaned forward and rested his forehead against Stiles’s. “I know you will. But it’s a convention, Stiles. You can’t be by my side every second.”
“Between Allison and me, we sure as hell can,” Stiles muttered.
“And what if they come after one of you, for bringing your werewolf boyfriends?”
“They won’t,” Stiles said darkly.
Derek blinked and backed away. “And how are you so sure about that?”
Stiles’s smile was both terrifying and a bit of a turn-on. “Because you’d better believe they know how powerful we both are. And if anyone tries to come after any of us, they’re going to get a very painful and violent reminder.” He squeezed Derek’s hands. “If anyone so much as touches a hair in your beard, there won’t be enough of them left to fit inside a shoebox.”
Derek believed it. And even if he still wasn’t sure about the idea, he did trust Stiles. “Do you really think it’s that important to have Scott and me come?”
Stiles nodded. “I do.”
Derek was pretty sure he was going to regret this, but the bottom line was that he did trust Stiles. With everything. And if Stiles said this was important, then Derek would do it. “Then I’ll go.”
Stiles’s amber eyes widened. “Really? You will?”
“No, I just said that to get your hopes up,” Derek said flatly.
“Hey!” Stiles swatted his shoulder. “That’s not cool. I really didn’t think you’d say yes without a lot more discussion.”
Derek shrugged. “Well, you did promise to protect me. And I trust your judgement. If you say it’s important to do this, then I’ll do it.”
Stiles threw his arms around Derek’s neck and hugged him hard. “Thanks, big guy.”
Derek hugged him back and buried his nose in Stiles’s neck. “Anytime.”