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"Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!" Derek whips his head around to see none other than his young Mate, Stiles Stilinski, bounding as gracefully as a baby deer towards him. His awkward and too-big-for-him limbs tripping him up slightly as he hurries over. Stiles small body crashes into him and it shouldn't have made Derek topple over, but he knows what joy it brings to Stiles when he pretends Stiles is stronger than him. Derek falls on to the grass with a thud, Stiles landing directly on top of him, giggling in a way only a five year old wolf could. "Alpha." Stiles hums, rubbing his small face into Derek's neck.
Derek rumbles in response, his arms immediately wrapping around the slender child and hold him as he rubs his scent into the boy's hair. It's been much too long since they'd last seen each other and he can't help but want to erase everyone else's scent from the boy. Stiles giggles as Derek flips them over, caging in Stiles small frame and rubbing up against his body. "Mine." Derek growls as he continues his scenting. "My Mate."
"Alpha." Stiles coos and smacks his lips against Derek cheek, leaving a trail of wetness behind. Derek can feel himself start to respond to that small touch, his body singing above Stiles, the smell of Mate in his nose and heat of the body below him is making his wolf go a little crazy and it wouldn't be so bad except he's hit the peak of his puberty and Stiles does things to him.
Derek has to force himself to get up, before he does something he regrets and possibly ruins his relationship with his Omega Mate and that is not something he would ever subject himself to. He pulls Stiles to his feet after the boy lays there with his arms extended like he's broken or something. Derek tries not to find it endearing that his Omega relies on him so much, even for such a simple task, but he can’t help it. Ever since he smelt the little cub from inside Claudia Stilinski, he knew, Derek just knew that little wolf was his.
Stiles presses up against Derek’s side, taking in big lungfuls of his scent. Stiles eyes glow bright yellow as he looks up at Derek with a lopsided smile, “You smell so amazing Der!” he exclaims, pushing his nose into Derek’s sternum as he continues to breathe deeply, “so good,” he hums out while his eyes flutter shut. Derek can’t help the needy sound that comes from the back of his throat, just the thought of Stiles losing control because of the way Derek smells is enough to send his already hormonal brain into overload. He grabs Stiles face, none too gently, and hauls the smaller boy’s lips to his own and kisses him hard. Stiles makes a pained noise and Derek wastes half a second wondering if he's hurt his Mate before Stiles soft mouth opens and he is able to slide his tongue in Stiles hot, wet mouth and every other thought falls away. Stiles tastes more amazing than he smells and Derek doesn’t know why he’s never done this before; sure Stiles and him have kissed before, but never, never like this. Derek feels desperate for Stiles touch and his body is on fire as he feels himself moving Stiles against the side of the house so he can hike the boy up and Stiles can wrap his legs around Derek’s waist.
And then Derek is being ripped, literally ripped away from Stiles and he watches as the boy falls on his butt on the green grass below him, staring up at Derek with a dazed look, his eyes are glowing still and his little fangs have dropped down, his lips are puffy and red and wet from Derek and he wants to howl in victory because he, Derek Hale, made his Mate look like that. Derek wants nothing more than to go back to Stiles and kiss him some more, but his arms are locked behind his back and his struggles are useless. He can vaguely hear people talking, but he can’t really make out what's actually being said and then someone is picking Stiles up, someone is touching his Mate and all he can see is red before his world is swallowed up by darkness and he can hear Stiles whimpering and he so badly wants to comfort the boy, but his limbs are heavy and he can’t feel his legs, much less make them move forward. Derek lets go of everything and prays to every God there is that Stiles is okay.
Derek wakes groggily and with a pounding against his skull, he feels bad for humans if this is how they feel, his healing hasn’t kicked in and that worries him. He tries to recall what happened before he passed out and all he can hear is Stiles whimpering. Derek squeezes his eyes shut in hopes to remember something, but nothing is coming to his mind and he wonders briefly if something bad has happened to his Mate, he whines in distress and then he can hear someone laughing quietly behind him. He jumps around, claws out, eyes blazing red and baring his teeth threateningly. Laura is standing in the corner of the room, hands on her hips, head cocked to the side and the most unimpressed look on her face he’s ever seen. Derek rolls his eyes, but shifts back, hoping Laura knows something useful.
“Where’s Stiles?” He asks, his voice rough even to his own ears, like he’s been sleeping for months.
Laura regards him carefully, and chooses her words the same way. “John and Claudia took him home.”
Derek visibly relaxes, Stiles is safe, he is with family, with pack. “What the fuck happened!?” he demands once he has knowledge that Stiles is fine and at home.
Laura snorts, “You mean before you tried to ravish your five year old Mate or afterwards when you almost took his father's head off?” Derek winces, he doesn’t remember any of that. “Yeah well we all heard your growls and moans from in the house, not something I ever wanted to hear, just so you know, and when we went out and saw you had freaking pinned Stiles against the side of the house, John pulled you off and I guess your Mating instincts took over and you went crazy for a bit, then after we had you contained, you freaked out again and began roaring and thrashing around and totally freaked Stiles out, by the way, and then mom knocked you out.” Laura grins like a maniac, like seeing her brother out cold is a dream come true, and for Laura that may as well be Christmas come early.
“Stiles is fine though right..and erm, John too?” Derek pinches the bridge of his nose, Gods, how do humans deal with headaches! “I mean we didn’t, Gods I, didn’t do anything did I?”
“Besides confuse a five year old and possibly make him sad for a bit, nah.” Laura opens the door she had been guarding, “He’ll be fine, you both will, though mom and dad want to have a very serious talk about you being alone with Stiles from now on.”
Derek graons, “Fuck!”
“Derek Hale! Do not curse in my house, young man! You are in enough trouble!” Derek groans again at the sound of his mother’s voice yelling at him. Laura claps him on the back as he passes her in the hall.
“Good luck with that,” she snickers as she walks away to her room.
Derek resigns himself to the fact that the sooner he get this talk out of the way, the better. His mother and father and waiting in the kitchen for him, his mother looking very frazzled and his dad looking like the poster child for calm and collected, only his scent giving anything away and it is not a particularly good scent. Derek hops on the counter opposite of where his parents are standing and places his head in his hands and groans again, how did he let himself get so out of control? “I’m sorry!” he moans pitifully into his hands, moving them to pull at his hair. “I don’t know what happened, one moment we were there and walking towards the house and then he was sniffing me and his eyes shined and something overtook me and then I guess we were against the side of the house and I’m so sorry!” Derek feels on the verge of crying when he feels his mother wrap her arms around him, he lets out a small pained whine before he’s curling into her touch and breathing in her calming scent.
“Oh sweetheart, we know you didn’t intentionally mean for this to happen, but it did,” she pulls away so she is able to look him in the eyes, “and I don’t know how hard it must be for you to be ten years older than your Mate, but you have to understand Stiles is just a cub and Mate or no you can not go clogging up his scenes with your pheromones.” Derek hangs his head, if he had never let Stiles push him down this would have never happened. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, frankly, your father and I are surprised it’s taken this long for something to happen, you have excellent control Derek, you just need to be more cautious. No more alone time with him, no more staying over at each others houses, no more until you learn how to fully control your urges towards your Mate.”
Derek nods solemnly, there was no arguing with his mother. “Does - John doesn’t hate me, right?” his father chuckles softly, still leaning up against the cabinets, watching his son and Mate carefully.
“No, no he doesn’t hate you Derek. We all know what it feels like to be a teenager and have your Mate close to you. He might be wary of you and Stiles together for a while, but after a while things will go back to normal.” Derek nods, Gods, how could he let this happen!
“Why don’t you go sleep today off, I’m sure Claudia and John will bring Stiles over tomorrow.” his mother tells him in a voice that holds no room for arguments. He trudges slowly up to his room, trying to recall anything from earlier, but it’s still all just a blur of Stiles whimpering and the most amazing feeling he’s ever had, coupled with the still lingering taste of Stiles on his lips.
Derek groans, licking his lips slowly to try and get more of a taste of Stiles on him, there isn’t much, but what he does taste has him instantly hard inside his tight pants. Derek grunts as he opens his pants, hissing as the cold air hits his hot dick and then moans once he gets a spit slicked hand around himself. He comes to a picture of Stiles bruised red, puffy lips.
* * *
True to his mother’s word, Claudia brings Stiles over the next day. Stiles immediately rubs his face in the crook of Derek’s neck letting out little distressed noises as he rubs his scent into Derek’s skin with vigor. Derek looks around the room, silently asking for help from anyone because Stiles has now migrated from his side to sitting in his lap and he is one of the most active kids and Derek is starting to feel his control slip away. Derek’s head feels cloudy and Stiles scent mixed with his hits him full force, but before he can grab Stiles and pin him down, someone is talking and pulling Stiles away so he is sitting next to Derek again. Derek blinks away the clouds in his head and smiles down at his Mate.
“Alpha.” Stiles says happily, a big smile taking over his face. “Missed you.” Stiles says as he takes Derek’s hand and begins to play with his fingers. “Kindergarten is so stupid Derek.” Stiles says, all of his concentration of Derek’s fingers as he moves them around, Derek hums, prompting Stiles to continue, “Yeah, there’s this boy Jackson who thinks he’s so much better than everyone else and then there’s this kid Matt, who creeps me out,” he stops playing with Derek’s fingers to stare up at his Alpha, “really creepy Derek. And then there’s this girl Lydia, who wouldn’t even talk to me because she said I smelt funny.” Stiles scrunches his nose at that. “I don’t smell weird, do I Alpha?”
Derek leans down and takes a huge breath of Stiles. He smells like he always does, vanilla and mint with just a hint of cinnamon to wrap it all up, it’s practically mouth watering. “You smell amazing as always pup.”
Stiles beams at Derek before returning to Derek’s fingers. “I made a friend though. Scott, he’s awesome, we built sand castles together!”
“Sounds fun,” Derek mused, picturing himself and Stiles at the beach making sandcastles. Maybe he should take Stiles one day, the beach isn’t that far of a drive. Derek gets lost in the sound of Stiles voice, its comforting and grounding and he could hear Stiles talk all day, his soothing voice is like a lullaby and soon enough Derek is asleep.
Little fingers tangle through his hair, scratching at his scalp and pulling lightly, Derek pushes into the touch, it feels amazing and he almost wants to purr from the feeling, but he realizes how embarrassing that would be and at the last second reigns it in. Derek sits up, looking around the living room slowly, he can see nobody else and when he turns to look at who had the magic fingers he sees Stiles sitting next to him, a small, shy smile on his face as he watches Derek with huge eyes.
“Omega.” Derek greets and moves down to place a kiss on Stiles cheek.
“Alpha,” Stiles replies, doing the same. Derek stands up to stretch and can feel Stiles eyes on him. “My mommy and your mommy are making dinner.” the boy says.
Derek nods and yawns a bit, he hates sleeping during the day, it always makes him more tired and then he has problems sleeping later in the night because of it, his body’s weird. Derek just blames it on the wolf. “Wanna go for a run before they finish?”
Derek turns around to to see Stiles already halfway naked and beginning on his pants zipper and rushing towards the back door as he struggles to take his socks off at the same time. Derek rolls his eyes, the kid moves way too fast for his own body. Stiles is out the door before Derek even has his shirt off, but he comes bounding back, glaring at Derek suspiciously. “Well,” Stiles says after a moment of staring, “Are you coming or not slowpoke?”
Derek rolls his eyes, but strips off his shirt as he walks towards the huge glass back door. "Stiles and I are going for a run in our wolf forms!" He hollers over his shoulder, vaguely in the direction of the kitchen. "We'll be back in time for dinner!" He doesn't wait to hear a response, already stepping out of his pants and feeling the first crack of power surge through his body as the shift begins to take over.
Derek hits the ground with four paws, and he's breathing heavily, the shift comes naturally to him, but that doesn't mean it's easy to have your bones rearranged and shifted around. Stiles whimpers beside him, shaking his head back and forth and limping his first few paces. The shift doesn't come easy to Stiles and the first time he shifted it had been a struggle to get him to shift back to his human form and then after that he had refused to shift at all. Derek has been working with him on it, but all the boy can focus on is the pain. Derek rubs his snout near Stiles neck, letting out a pleased sound so Stiles knows he did well. Stiles yips at him, pain already forgotten and then he's bounding away and into the forest. They spend sometime chasing each other, snapping their jaws at each other, and play fighting together. Derek enjoys being in his wolf form, everything seems to flow better when he's in it, everything comes more naturally when he's a wolf.
After a while Derek lays by the river that runs through the Hale property, Stiles takes to splashing around in the water, getting his fur all muddy. Stiles growls playfully, trying to get Derek to play with him, but the older wolf is content to watch his young Mate play around. Stiles growls again, this time with a little heat behind it, as he nudges Derek in the side with his snout. Derek gives a warning growl, not even bothering to snap at the boy. Stiles pulls away for a moment, but then he’s there again, growling and headbutting Derek’s side, his wolf does not like that. Derek growls and snaps his jaws towards the boy, just barely missing the kids scruff, Stiles yelps, but doesn’t give up. He’s back again and butting him in the side harder when Derek’s wolf decides enough is enough. Derek is the Alpha and Stiles is the Omega and he will submit. Derek growls and pushes himself up, his eyes burning red as he stares down his Mate. Stiles curls in on himself, pressing low to the ground and baring his neck. Derek takes a sniff at the exposed fur, huffing a little when he can smell Stiles fear. Derek closes his jaw around Stiles scruff, hauling him up easily as he begins walking through the forest and back to the house. Stiles whines and struggles a bit before Derek growls again, then his body becomes pliant and he lets Derek carry him like a cub.
Stiles shifts back to human the moment Derek sets him down. “Derek!” he whines pitifully, “Why’d you do that? Only momma and poppa ever do that to me!” He hits his little fists on the soft grass before crossing them over his chest and glaring at Derek, who is still in his wolf form. “I’m mad at you.” he decides and begins to get up and walk into the house. Derek lets him go, knowing the boy can’t stay mad too long.
They make it in time for dinner to be served and Derek walks into the dinning room as Talia and Claudia are placing food on the table. His mother gives him a withering look and moves her eye towards Stiles, who is hunched in on himself, death glaring at the mashed potatoes sitting in front of him. Derek shrugs his shoulders and sits in his chair next to the boy. Stiles lets out a put upon sigh and gets up to sit where Cora would usually sit. Laura, who has just walked into the room, laughs and ruffles Stiles hair a bit.
"What's up buttercup?" Laura asks Stiles before taking a seat next to him.
Stiles huffs, a little breath out of his cute button nose and glares at Derek for a second before looking back at Laura. "Derek thinks I'm a baby." Laura snorts and immediately tries to cover it as a cough, if Stiles notices he doesn't say anything. "He carried me home by my scruff."
Laura gives him a look as to say how disappointed she is in him before looking back at his Mate with a soft smile. "I'm sure Derek didn't mean to."
"He was -!" Derek cuts himself off and takes in a deep calming breath, he would not yell in front of his Omega, that might scare him. "He challenged my wolf, at least that's how he took it and then I carried him home by the scruff." He says as calmly as possible.
"You should have just played with me!" Stiles yells.
"You should have stopped head butting me when I warned you!" Derek flashes his red eyes at his Mate, willing him to challenge his Alpha again. "I warned you and you kept going!"
Stiles whimpers high in the back of his throat and gives Derek the most sorrowful expression he's ever seen. That's when Derek realizes he's been scratching at the table with his claws, he can feel his fangs puncturing his lips and can taste the blood from the wounds. He carefully draws his claws and fangs away, but he can still feel his eyes burning red. No one says anything as he stands up and walks away into his room, the door slams shut and he belly flops into his king sized bed and groans into his sheets. Why did Stiles have to act like such a child!? Oh right, he reminds himself, Stiles is a child. His Mate is a child who challenges his authority. Awesome.
Derek can hear the awkward conversations downstairs, nobody really wants to talk about what just happened, but at the same time they're all curious as to what went on. Derek and Stiles aren't the first wolves to have such a big age gap between them, but they are one of the few who have actually met before they were old enough to be Mated. If only he hadn't met Stiles when he was just a little blip in his mother stomach, if only he had met him when they boy was in high school, everything would be different if Stiles was older. Derek groans into his pillow just as a knock sounds on his door, he muffles out a 'come in' because they'd do it anyways, even if he said go away.
He looks up to see Stiles walk in, hands clasped behind his back and face bowed down, the perfect picture of submission, Derek can't help the little growl of approval his wolf lets out and he can see the way Stiles body involuntarily shivers at the sound, answering to his Alpha.
"Der, Alpha, I didn't - I mean I knew I was - but I didn't mean to - you took it all - I'm sorry." His voice is quiet and withdrawn and Derek wants to whine for his Mate, he should sound strong and powerful like an Alphas Mate should be.
"Come here." Derek says as he sits up on his bed, his feet planted firmly on the floor. Stiles sits next to him and keeps his head down. "I'm sorry I got mad at you." He places his palm on the boys thigh. Stiles looks at him for a second before moving his gaze down to Derek's hand on his thigh. "I shouldn't have yelled, you are just a cub and I have to understand that you want to play, but you have to be careful about what you do, you challenge me and sometimes my wolf doesn't get that you just want to play."
"I didn't mean -"
Derek cuts him off, "I know you didn't baby, I know but my wolf, sometimes he sees you as trying to challenge me and I can't help what I do sometimes, but I am sorry and I'll try not to yell next time."
Stiles nods and turns his body to face Derek. "So you're not mad anymore Alpha?"
Derek shakes his head, "No, no, I'm not mad not anymore."
"Good." Stiles smiles and stretches up so he can place a firm kiss on Derek's lips. When he pulls away he's breathing a little heavily, "I like what we did yesterday Der." And then Stiles is climbing into Derek's lap and placing soft, but sure kisses against his neck.
Derek should stop this before it goes too far, he really should after what happened yesterday, but Stiles lips feel so good against his, so soft, and his smell is even better, it's warm and inviting, and Derek can't stop him or himself for that matter. He holds Stiles by the back of his neck, urging the boy on before he flips them on the bed so that Stiles is under him, still kissing every part of Derek's skin he can get to. Derek leans down to sniff at his Mates neck and he smells so good, so - Derek takes a long deep breath before he lightly trails his teeth down the boys neck, enjoying the whimper that comes from the boy. Then he's moving up and away from the boy and this time Stiles whimpers is not something he enjoys.
"Alpha." He whines, eyes shining gold and making grabby hands at Derek from where he's standing. "Come back."
Derek closes his eyes and tries to breathe evenly. "No more baby, later okay?"
"Fine." He sighs out before sitting up and running his finger across his lips. "I like that," he whispers softly, "I like that a lot."
"Me too Stiles." Derek says and sits next to him, Stiles burrows into his side humming contentedly.
"I love you Derek."
"I love you too Stiles." Derek says easily, kissing the top of Stiles head. "I love you so much."
* * *
Derek gets five more amazing years with Stiles. Five more years of happiness and love and secret make outs when no one is around. It's the best five years of his life, but that was before - before Stiles life went to hell and back.
Stiles wasn't the same anymore and it's not like Derek could ever blame him for it, he doesn't know exactly how Stiles feels - apart from the lingering sadness stench that follows him around - and Derek doesn't ever think he will know how Stiles feels right now. The loss of a family member, your Alpha noless, is a great loss and just because Stiles calls Derek his Alpha doesn't mean they have that bond yet, they won't until they Mate and Derek questions if they ever will, now that this has happened.
Derek's wolf whines for Stiles, craves to be close to the boy, to comfort him in any small way that he can, but Stiles yells at him, forces him away with cruel words. Stiles doesn't come over after that, hardly talks to Derek, barely sees Derek, just a few times when their packs get together and even then Stiles hardly looks in his direction and never touches him, Stiles is very careful not to touch him. Johns eyes are red now, burning bright when they go on runs as a merged pack, it's hard to look at and Stiles tries not to look, Derek can see that, can see the pain that still lingers from it. Maybe that's why he doesn't touch Derek anymore.
Derek keeps his distance, tries to at least, he gets as close to Stiles as he can every time they are near each other, the closest he can get is them sitting on opposite sides of the couch and that's after three years. If Derek tries to get any closer Stiles just walks away and it hurts, it hurts so bad and Derek just wants to pin him to the nearest wall and will him to talk to Derek again, to make him say anything to make him feel anything towards Derek again, but he doesn't and he doesn't chase after him when he leaves, just watches Stiles walk away.
After Stiles turns fifteen and it seems like nothing is getting better between the two of them, Derek goes into the Police Academy, he had spent so many years waiting for Stiles to be ready for a relationship that he just gave up on the idea of college and he decided that he was too old to go now and he really didn’t want to be away from his pack for long periods of time. After a year in the Academy Derek graduated top of his class, his whole pack was there to see him graduate, he even caught a glimpse of Stiles before he watched the kid’s buzzed head walk out of the room, at least he showed up.
At 26 Derek is a Deputy at the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Department and he could honestly be better, but this is better than nothing, at least now he’s doing something, now he has something to distract him, albeit only a little bit, from all of his thoughts.
“Derek.” John Stilinski claps a hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Good to see you, son.” his eyes still hold sadness, but he can no longer smell the stench that used to follow the Stilinski men around. “Have you talked to Stiles.”
Derek tries not to let his hurt show, “He, uh, we did,” Derek clears his throat, “It was uhm last full moon.” Three weeks ago, Derek doesn’t miss the wince that shows on the Sheriff’s face. “It’s fine, honestly,” Derek can hear the lie in his own voice, “He just needs time, you know? I understand. I’m - I uh, I’m keeping busy.”
John smiles sadly at him, but Derek doesn’t want his pity, “He’ll come around.” he says before squeezing Derek’s shoulder and then walking away. Derek lets out a breath, just being around the Sheriff is like torture, he has so much of Stiles scent mixed with his that it might as well be the boy’s and he has to keep himself in check just so he doesn’t go crazy from it.
“Derek, ready to go on patrol?” Jordan Parrish, his partner, stands in front of him.
“Yeah, yeah, lets go.” the sooner he’s out of the office the sooner Stiles scent leaves his nose. Well, at least, that would be the case if he didn’t literally run into Stiles while walking out the door, he had turned back to say something to Margret, the lady who sits at the front desk taking calls, he hadn’t realized someone was in front of him before he bounced back from the force of running into the figure. What was the point of werewolf scenes if they did him no good?
Stiles had landed on his ass, the boy who was standing next to him, crouched down fussing over him. Derek growled, no one else should be touching his Mate, especially now that he was so close to being of age to have a Mating Ceremony. The tanned skin boy lifts his head up with a snarl, Beta Blue eyes shining bright at him, Derek can feel his own red ones starring the boy down. This little cub would be easy to take down if he were to challenge him properly.
“Down boy, both of you.” Stiles snaps, moving his body in between the boy and Derek. “Stop it Scott, Jesus, Derek could rip you to shreds easily.” Derek’s name falling from Stiles lips is the most amazing sound he’s ever heard.
Scott stops his growling, but his eyes are still blue, “This is Derek, this is your Ma-”
Stiles cuts his friend off with an elbow to the ribs. “Yes Scott, this is Derek, now stop talking.” he glares over his shoulder at the boy and he wisely doesn’t say anything more. Stiles turns his look back to Derek, “Hey Derek.”
“Stiles.” Derek replies a little cautiously. Scott snorts from his position behind Stiles. Derek wants to growl at him, or rip his throat out, but the look Stiles gives him tells him just what a bad idea that would be. “How are you?”
Stiles hums, still staring, a little unnervingly at Derek. “Fine.” he says after a while. “See you in a week Derek.” and then he’s beginning to walk away and into the station.
“But!” Stiles step falters, but he doesn’t turn around. “Why won’t you talk to me anymore?” he doesn’t mean for his voice to sound as broken as it comes out, but Stiles is his Mate dammit! Has been since he caught a whiff of his scent in his mother's belly and he will be damned if he doesn’t have Stiles, or worse someone takes him.
“I’ll see you next full moon Derek.” Stiles says again and this time walks inside the building before Derek can say anything else.
Stiles doesn’t talk to him the next full moon either, he stays clear away from Derek and when Derek does manage to get close enough to talk to him the boy races off before he can get a word out. Derek just wants him to know that he loves him, that he will always love him no matter what and nothing will ever change that, but Siles won’t listen. Fate is such an evil little bitch, why would she give him a Mate that no longer loves him, why must the world be so cruel.
* * *
Derek doesn’t want to say he gives up on Stiles, but he feels so hopeless that he just stops trying, stops trying to corner him during full moons to talk, stops trying to catch him entering or leaving the Sheriff’s department and if he does see him he doesn’t talk to the boy, he just stops everything. Derek begins to expand his pack, humans that have family problems, or health issues often talk with packs about possibly being turned for the sake of their humanity. Derek’s mother gets dozens of letters every week asking and sometimes begging, to be brought into their pack, and since Derek is an Alpha and is technically part of the Hale pack, his mother has let him go through the letters and recruit a few Betas of his own.
The first is Isaac, a scrawny, but unreasonably tall boy who his father has locked away in a freezer in their basement when he feels that Isaac deserved it, as soon as Derek read the letter he knew he would take the boy in. Isaac stays at his loft, where he is safe and goes to school, the boy is quiet at first, but as they spend more time together and bond Isaac opens up, the boy is snarky and a bit rude sometimes, but he is loyal and listens to Derek without hesitance. The next one he turns is a girl named Erica who has epilepsy and wants the bite to cure it. She stays and lives with her family, the bite giving her a new found confidence and even though she is a little rough around the edges Derek manages to keep her in check, though, just barely. Boyd is the last, Derek doesn’t want a small pack so he figures three is a good place to start. Boyd is quiet and stoic, much like himself, but he is smart and a quick thinker and an asset to the pack and he also, somehow, manages to keep Erica in line when Derek can not.
Derek enjoys having his own pack, enjoys it more than he thought he ever would. They get together on Saturday nights to ‘Pack Bond’ as Isaac calls it and basically all snuggle up on Derek’s couch and watch stupid movies together and eat pizza until they are close to exploding. Afterwards they all crawl up stairs and into Derek’s bed where they have a puppy pile and sleep until noon the next day. Derek loves it, a piece of himself isn’t quite so damaged when his Betas are around.
“Derbear,” Erica calls out one day from the kitchen.
“Don’t call me that.” he replies rolling his eyes and taking a sip of his beer, not that he can get drunk, but well, you know.
“But Laura calls you that,” she pouts walking into the room with a plate of pizza rolls.
“And I hate when Laura calls me that.” he grabs a few pizza rolls and eats them quickly before she can tell him off for it. Only one person can call him that, but, well...
Erica just rolls her eyes and throws one at Boyd who catches it perfectly in his mouth and then munches on it happily. “Laura says you only allow her to call you that because you know she can beat you up.”
Derek rolls his eyes again, “Laura is a liar.”
She opens her mouth to protest, but Isaac shushes her as the movie is beginning. Isaac hates when people talk during movies, it’s actually kind of adorable the way he gets upset if someone so much as moves a muscle while the movie is playing, Derek can never take him to the movies, they tried that once. Isaac had to be dragged out of the theater because he threatened a few people for making too much noise. Derek blames the super hearing for that one.
It gets easier being away from Stiles once he had things to focus on, work and being an actual Alpha with a pack keeps him pretty busy and he likes it that way, he still hurts, he still feels like a part of him is missing, but it's not so bad.
* * *
Stiles' eighteenth birthday has Derek drowning himself in alcohol that can actually get him drunk. He snaps at his Betas to leave him alone and they wisely split for the day. Derek thinks back to all those years ago when he actually had the boy, when Stiles was so full of life and happiness poured out of the little boy's body. Stiles was always such a merry child, always so carefree and just so perfect.
Derek wishes he could have that Stiles back, the one who loved Derek, the one who cares for him and didn't want to hack off an arm and a leg to just get away from him, Derek downs another wolfsbane laced beer and gets another, a pile of empty bottles sits on the floor next to him and they clank together when he drops the empty bottle on the ground. Derek has half a mind to stop drinking, but then he thinks of Stiles with that other wolf he's always around and what they must be doing for Stiles birthday and he grabs three more beers from his fridge before he sits on his couch and drinks them while staring blankly at his wall.
Yeah, he's not pathetic at all.
Derek doesn't remember falling asleep but he must have because the next thing he sees is Stiles face and another one of Stiles faces and another one. Three of stiles' face and they are all beautiful. "Am I dreaming?" All of Stiles' faces snort. "I'm dead aren't I? I'm dead and you're an angel who looks like my Mate. Oh god unless you're dead too. How did you die? You're pretty as an angel."
"I'm not an angel dumbass and you're not dead or dreaming. This is real. Christ, Derek, how much alcohol did you drink?"
"All of it." He slurs out and shakes his head a bit to try and regain a semblance amount of control over the situation, but that only makes it worse when all of Stiles faces start to spin around. Jesus fucking Christ! "What's going on?"
"Well Derek Hale since you decided to get shit faced drunk last night, I'm going to assume you're hungover right now. What did you think would happen when you willingly put wolfsbane in your body?" Derek closes his eyes and basks in Stiles voice, this is probably the first time in ten years the kid has said more than 10 words to him at a time. If he's having an alcohol induced hallucination he's going to be so pissed. "Fuck Derek, why did you get drunk?"
"You." He mumbles, it's really pathetic.
"Me?" He asks incredulously, "how was I the reason? We haven't talked in - oh."
"Yeah. Oh." Derek opens his eyes again and there is only one Stiles looking at him and he's not quite sure if that's a good thing or not, maybe if there was more than one Stiles, one of them would want to be with Derek. Derek thinks he might have to talk to a witch about that one. Could he have another Stiles? A Stiles that would love him.
"Look Derek, I came over to tell you -"
Derek really doesn't want to know what Stiles has to tell him because he knows it won't be good, whatever it is. "If you're here to tell me that you've picked that guy as your Mate please don't. Just let me live in hopelessness that one day you'll love me." He sits up now and places his head in his hands. He doesn't think he's ever be able to hear Stiles say he's chosen someone else, hell, he's never even thought about choosing anyone but Stiles. Stiles is - Stiles is everything and no one could ever compare to him, even after all this time where Stiles has essentially hated him for whatever reason Derek's never ever thought about taking someone else as his Mate, how could he when Stiles was still out there.
"I've picked - Derek what the fuck are you talking about? Are you talking about - about Scott? Because first off eww he's my best friend and second off what the fuck did you drink to think I'd come here to personally tell you I've chosen someone else as my Mate do you think I'm that cruel or what?"
"Well I wouldn't exactly know Stiles! You haven't spoken to me properly since you were ten!" He doesn't mean to yell, really he doesn't but goddamit! He's tired of this, tired of not knowing if Stiles loves him, if he will ever love him again, if he's moved on or what, it drives him and his wolf crazy and it's like the wall he's built up has come crumbling down just by Stiles talking to him.
"You have a right to be mad at that." Stiles says slowly and sits down next to him. "I don't blame you for being mad. I just, when my mom died -" he stops and shakes his head. "I saw what it was like to lose your Mate, I watched my father's eyes bleed red and I watched him fall apart and I just thought what if that happened to me?"
"Stiles that -"
"No let me finish all right?" He waits for Derek to nod his head before beginning again. "I thought what if that happened to me and you were left without me, how could I - how could I do that to you? How could I make you feel that pain, my father almost died after my mother passed, it wasn't pretty and just how could I subject you to that? So I pushed you away, I wanted you to find someone else, it would have been hell for me to see, but I wanted you to, but you didn't. And I thought you would just be better off without me, without a Mate."
"You are so stupid." Derek says once Stiles has stopped talking. "You are so stupid and so perfect and so beautiful and I love you and I always will and I don't care if you die," Stiles glares at him, "not what I meant. I mean I would care, obviously, but I don't care what it would do to me because I know from first hand experience what's it's like to live without you and even if I only get a few years with you it's worth it. It's worth the pain that will come after you pass, if you ever do." Derek turns his body so he's facing Stiles and grabs his face in his hands gently, stroking his cheeks as he continues to talk. "I love you Stiles, I have never stopped loving you and I never will.
I first knew you were mine when I smelt you in your mothers belly, your scent was so delicious and I knew then that you were mine. I used to put my head on your mothers belly and coo at you, tell you what a perfect Omega you would be for me because I knew you were mine. Mine to have, to hold, to protect, and to love. I think I made your mom mad once because she said there was no way of knowing what rank you were, but I would always tell her you were an Omega. My Omega. My beautiful Omega."
Stiles has small tears rolling down his cheeks, "you never told me that, about - about my mother."
"You never gave me the chance, you left me right when she did." Stiles whines a little and pushes his head under Derek's chin and let's the older wolf wrap his arms around him. "Your mother loved us together, she always had this look of awe when she saw us together. She called us True Mates. Anyone can have a Mate, but not like us, we are different, we are special and she always knew we would be together. She always thought it was funny when she walked in on us making out in the closet because I was going through puberty and you were still stumbling over words." Stiles chuckles a little, burrowing his head in Derek's neck and taking deep breaths. "She said you'd cry at night about not having me there, my scent next to you, so I had to start giving you my tee shirts. I remember I came over one day and you had my shirt on this stuffed bear and you picked it up and shoved it into my face and said 'look Alpha, it's Derbear' and you laughed so hard you cried and I couldn't even be mad that you gave me that stupid nickname because seeing you laugh like that made my heart soar and I vowed to always make you laugh like that."
"I still have that bear." Stiles says quietly and a little muffled since he still had his face in Derek's neck. "He sits on my desk and watches over me while I sleep." Derek holds the boy tighter to him, not wanting to ever let him go now that he's had a little bit of him again. "I'm sorry Derek. I'm so sorry."
"Hush little Omega, it's okay." Derek says softly rocking them a little even though Stiles is clearly too old to be rocked.
"Alpha," he sighs out, content lay and falls asleep in Derek's arms.
* * *
Derek wishes he could say that things get easier after that, that Stiles and he get together and everything is perfect and they are happy and nothing is ever wrong in their relationship, he wishes he could say that. But he can't. Their relationship is far from perfect, Derek would even go as far to say it's the most imperfect thing in his life, but he loves it. He loves every second he spends with Stiles.
They stay unmated, for now, Stiles still has some issues to work out and he's just getting over not pushing Derek away the second he sees him. 'Natural Instinct babe' he says, 'it's a habit.' Derek just sighs and scents him, Derek's wolf understands he and Stiles are Mates and on a deeper level so does Stiles' wolf, but he's also been telling his wolf that Derek is someone they don't associate with and his wolf needs to be retaught how not to think like that.
Stiles and Derek work into each others lives slowly and gradually, they start by have a weekly date and then move up to having weekly dates and family dinners every other night, Stiles spends time with Derek's pack and gets to know them better, he knew them from school, but they never talked. They seem to get along well and Derek's happy for it. His Mate and his pack are together at last and he finally feels complete. The missing hole is gone and he can breath easy now.
"DerBear!" He hears Stiles singsong from downstairs. "Come on babe, were gonna be late and you know how much my father will frown upon that. He thinks we will have been doing things." He can picture Stiles scrunching up his cute button nose at the thought of his father knowing what they do when they are alone together. "Come on Hale I can hear you up there brooding, hurry up!"
Derek rolls his eyes and he descends the stairs. "Will you calm down, if anything we are going to be early."
"Well excuse me for being a little nervous, Derek Hale. This is the first time in a long time out packs will eat together as one and on top of that we have the big news to share with everyone. I - I may be freaking out a little."
Derek's eyebrows raise, "just a little, Omega?" Derek places his hands on his Mates hips, "I can hear your heart beating rapidly, like a little bunny."
Stiles rolls his eyes a smirk forming on his lips. "Yeah, yeah let's just get this over with so we can come home and you can Mate my ass properly." Derek can't help the growl that rips out of his throat and he grabs Stiles arm and drags him out to the car, Stiles laughing the whole way like the little shit he is. But he's Derek's perfect little Mate.