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1)Boyd
After leaving Beacon Hills, Derek’s life had calmed down considerably. He had moved back to New York and finished his Masters. He had even managed to start his own Architecture firm that was finally starting to do well. He thought about the people he’d left a lot, particularly a certain mole-covered Spark, but he didn’t reach out. He knew he’d made the right decision in moving away, no matter how much it hurt to leave. He couldn’t handle weekly, sometimes daily battles, with strange creatures, enemy packs, or within his own pack. He didn’t exactly like being packless, but he was managing fairly well. All in all, Derek was almost happy, save for the Stiles shaped hole in his heart. Maybe one day he’d be able to reach out and check on Stiles without feeling guilty, but until then he went about his life as normal. He had just dropped off the latest plans for his current project and was walking back to his apartment. It was already dark out, but Derek wasn’t particularly worried about it, sure that he could handle any human that tried to mug him. He was walking through the park when he was suddenly grabbed from behind. He tried to struggle, but his attacker was stronger than him. “Stop struggling, and I won’t hurt you,” the wolf holding him growled.
“I’d like to see you try,” Derek snarled back, shifting into his beta form and breaking out of the hold. He spun to face his attacker. The wolf facing him looked remarkably like Boyd. His eyes were glowing gold in the dim light. He was taller than Derek and hadn’t shifted completely into his beta form. If he wanted to, Derek knew that the other wolf could take him down. But the wolf just stared at him.
“Shit,” he cursed. Another beta walked up behind him, also with golden eyes. He was shorter than both of them. Younger too. He had pale skin and a mess of pale blond hair that looked white in the dim light.
“Boyd, come on,” the younger beta said. Derek looked back at his former beta with a shocked frown. “We’re supposed to be hunting the omega. He’s clearly an omega. Let’s go.” Boyd glared at the younger man.
“He’s not the one we’re looking for,” Boyd said finally. Derek let his shift fade.
“Boyd,” the other whined. Boyd ignored Derek as he turned to the young beta and started dragging him away.
“Bobby,” Boyd snapped.
“What if you’re wrong?” Bobby snapped back.
“I’m not. That was Derek.”
“Derek? Like your old Alpha Derek?” Boyd nodded, continuing to drag Bobby away by his arm. “Our Alpha’s Derek?” Derek frowned when Boyd nodded again. Bobby suddenly stopped fighting the hold and started walking on his own. “He’s gonna be so pissed that I thought Derek was an omega.” Derek stared after them for a while even after they were out of hearing range. Derek only knew two Alphas and neither of them were in New York. Who the hell could the betas have been talking about?
2)Erica
After his run-in with Boyd, Derek had decided to learn more about the supernatural community in New York. When he’d lived here before with Laura, she had been the one to scope it out, ultimately finding out that as long as they didn’t cause trouble most packs would leave them alone. Derek figured that the same held true when he moved back. As he looked into it, though, it became clear that a lot had changed since then. It was still one of the most diverse supernatural communities in the world, but it seemed that there were now official territories for most of the packs divided among the burrows. Derek had found a supernatural bar near the Hudson run by a River Kitsune that served wolfsbane laced beer for their supernatural clientele. He finally made it there a week after he’d seen Boyd. He settled on a barstool and ordered a normal beer before looking around. He spotted at least three other wolves at the crowded bar. He saw a couple in the corner whose eyes seemed to look purple, hinting at their being fae. The bartender was the Kitsune and slammed his beer down in front of him. “We aren’t looking for trouble here. So, if you’re gonna start some kind of fight, go back to your own borrow,” he said bluntly. His eyes burned orange.
“Not here for trouble. Just trying to learn about the wolf packs in the area,” Derek said calmly.
The Kitsune frowned at him. “Scoping out a fight for your Alpha?” he hissed.
“I don’t have an Alpha.” Derek frowned back.
“You are Derek Hale, right?” The Kitsune arched an eyebrow. Derek stiffened. The Kitsune snorted. “Like I said, you’re Alpha better not be scoping out territory. The Spencer Pack controls these docks. And I don’t care how fucking powerful your Alpha is, if you start trouble in here, I’ll boot you out as quickly as any other pack that comes through here.” He walked off before Derek could say anything else. Derek didn’t stay long after that, able to tell the other werewolves viewed his presence as a threat. He was walking back to his apartment when he caught the scent of another wolf nearby. He heard someone laugh as they emerged from the bar in front of him. The two girls stopped mid-laugh when they caught sight of him.
“Derek?” the blonde said as she suddenly grabbed the arm of her companion. The redhead looked up at Derek with calculating green eyes.
“You look better,” Lydia declared with a small smile. The blonde stepped away from Lydia, getting close enough to get a good smell off Derek. Her eyes flared gold.
“Erica,” Derek breathed.
“Where have you been slumming it, my dear Alpha?” Erica said with a grin.
“I’m not an Alpha,” he said, but Erica ignored him already talking again.
“You smell like that piss-filled bar by the Hudson. If you really want a good bar for wolves, you should try a little closer to home. There’s a great place called Alicia’s just down the road. Better beer, and better company.” Erica winked. “I’ll see you around, Alpha.” She tugged on Lydia’s arm and started them walking again, heading the same way Derek had come from. For a moment he wondered how Erica knew where he lived. Then Derek frowned after them, trying to remember why the name Alicia sounded so familiar. It dawned on him when he finally made it back to his apartment that Boyd’s sister had been named Alicia.
3)Melody
Derek was late to his client meeting. He was meeting them at their apartment and had gotten distracted when he saw Boyd and Erica standing outside a strange-looking shop as he was walking to the client’s apartment. Now he was late. He quickly located the apartment labeled 7C and got buzzed in. He blamed his lateness for not noticing the smell of a wolf until the door was opened. The second she opened the door, her eyes flared blue. Derek felt his eyes flare in response. She had pale green eyes and olive skin. Her light brown hair was cropped short. The beta in front of him growled, but he didn’t flinch. Wolf or not, she was a foot shorter than him. “I’m looking for Melody Baxter,” Derek said calmly.
“You’re Derek Hale?” she asked. Derek nodded. “I should have known you were a wolf when he suggested you for the Pack House. Come on.” She disappeared into the apartment which had toys scattered around the living room. A pale, black-haired man was sitting on the floor playing with a small child with olive skin and black hair. The child giggled as the man in front of them blew a raspberry on their stomach. The man looked up and frowned at Derek. His eyes were nearly as dark as his hair.
“Everything okay, Mels?” he asked the woman.
“The architect’s a wolf,” Melody responded.
The man smirked. “Boyd told us he was. Red may not talk about him much, but Boyd and Erica both mentioned that Derek used to be their Alpha.” The man scooped up his child and propped them on his hip. He glanced expectantly at the beta. Melody glared at the man. “Manners, Mels.” She rolled her eyes.
“Fine,” she huffed. “This is my mate, Fang, and our son Zach. Fang’s also the emissary for our pack.”
“Fang?” Derek asked.
Fang grinned. “It’s a nickname from before I knew any wolves. Melody got bit and it turns out magic mixes pretty well with pack life. Plus, Zach’s a born wolf and he needs to be around other wolves, even if most of our pack was bitten. Red’s been great at helping all the betas get control and find anchors.”
“Red is your Alpha?” Derek raised an eyebrow. Fang nodded.
“Fang, why don’t you take Zach to the park?” Melody sighed. “If you’re here we’ll never get the plans for the Pack House started.” Fang nodded and grabbed a bag by the door before leaving Derek and Melody alone.
“Boyd and Erica are in your pack?”
“Red has six betas, not counting Zach and Peter. Boyd’s his second. We’ve finally got enough saved as in the pack accounts to start on a Pack House. We need at least nine bedrooms, one for each mated pair or lone beta, one for Red, and two guest rooms. Red wants a two-story library in there somewhere and a personal study near his room, so he and Fang have somewhere to work at the house. Red and the twins will probably be the only ones staying there full time. Maybe Lydia too, if she ever gets time off.” Melody rolled her eyes. “As if she’d take it.”
“What does she do?”
“Something with math. I don’t really know and every time it’s explained to me, I get lost.” Melody shrugged. “She’s the one who worked out the budget. I’ve got the papers over here.” Derek let himself be led to her kitchen table and started working on a design that would meet their needs. He kept himself from asking any more questions about her pack, though he was frustrated with the questions that kept popping up. Like who was Red? Why did he know about Derek? How did he know what Derek did? What did it mean?
4) Bobby and John
Derek spent a lot of time with Melody in the months after that, working with her to get everything set and the site picked. It was outside the city, still close enough for the pack to commute to the city without it being that long, but far enough that the house was secluded from its neighbors and the wolves would have space to run. He learned a little more about her pack when they met, even though Melody tended to be laser-focused on the plans. He learned that Red ran a supernatural consulting service while maintaining a legal firm. That Lydia was the recipient of the Fields medal for some kind of work in Cohomology, which Derek has no understanding of no matter how much he tried to google it. That Peter was a pack elder from Red’s previous pack who’d followed him after Red became an Alpha. That Red and most of his pack had moved to New York and met at Colombia while Red had been working on his undergrad degree. That there were three born wolves in his pack if they counted Zach, which Melody and Derek did. He learned that Erica and Boyd ran Alicia’s together and had been given the business by the owner of the previous bar who was a retired emissary for the Spencer Pack. He learned that Fang’s given name was Fredrick and that Red had adopted the twins, Bobby and John. That Bobby had been born a wolf and their previous Alpha had bitten John when he was only seven. But he had no idea who Red really was.
It was three months after he’d started working with Red’s pack and Derek was at the building site. He had been working with the survey team getting ready to break ground the next day, but they had left an hour ago. It was the full moon, so Derek had decided to stay in the secluded area and shift. He waited for the sun to set before discarding his clothes and shifting into his full wolf form. Derek shook out his fur and stretched out his paws before darting into the forest. It had been over a year since he’d been able to shift and run in his wolf form. He loved the feeling of the cool air running through his fur as he sped through the trees. He had been running for a while when he met the other werewolves. They were both in their beta shifts, darting through the trees just like him. One of them tackled him to the ground with a growl. He was the taller of the two wolves and had dark brown hair and sideburns. His eyes burned gold. Before Derek could snap back at the werewolf, the other was pulling them apart. The shorter wolf pulled back his shift and Derek recognized him as the beta that had been with Boyd all those months ago.
Bobby’s teeth were still too sharp as he held the other beta back. “John stop,” Bobby ordered. John snarled at Bobby. “He’s not an enemy.” John tried to get past Bobby, but there was a roar in the distance that had all three of them tense. John’s shift faded almost immediately, and he stepped away from his brother.
“Fuck,” John muttered. He looked back at Derek who was slowly backing up into the woods. “Wait.” Derek stopped moving, not wanting to pick a fight with Red’s betas or Red himself, even though he’d never met the Alpha. “Is that?” John asked Bobby.
The blond-haired beta nodded. “Yeah. Same smell as last time.” John glanced behind him where the roar had come from. “Red’s wards probably picked up the fight.” Red’s wards? But wolves couldn’t set wards. Maybe Red was a human Alpha. It had been known to happen, but they often didn’t have packs this big even if they had magic. Besides, he’d heard the Alpha roar just now. Derek tried to keep himself from growling. Every time he learned something new about Red, he got more confused.
John paled. “He’s gonna be pissed.”
“It’s the full moon, and you’ve never met Derek before. I’m sure he understands. He’s not like Max was. He wasn’t mad at me last time.” Bobby wrapped his arm around his brother. “He will probably be frustrated if we don’t head back now.” Bobby sent Derek a smile. “See you around Derek. You can run here whenever you want. It won’t happen again.” Then the two betas were taking off in the direction of their Alpha. Derek turned and went back to his clothes, more confused about Red and his pack than he had ever been.
5)Isaac and Cora
Cora came to visit a month after they broke ground on Red’s Pack House, and she brought Isaac with her. She and Isaac had become close friends after Isaac went to Argentina with her when Alison broke up with him. They weren’t dating, but they were as close as non-packmates could be. They were visiting together because they both missed Derek and they wanted to find a pack in New York before they moved in with him. Derek understood that, even though he himself had never sought out a pack after leaving Beacon Hills. So, Cora was sprawled on the couch and Isaac was in his kitchen when someone knocked on his door. Instantly, all three of them were on alert, since they hadn’t heard or smelled anyone coming. Derek relaxed when he looked through the peephole and opened the door for Fang and Boyd. Isaac dropped the bowl he’d been holding when he saw his former packmate. “Boyd?” Isaac asked quietly. Boyd scanned Isaac for a second before letting himself smirk.
“Should’ve known it was you,” Boyd muttered. He looked over at Cora with a raised eyebrow.
“Boyd, as in Vernon Boyd, one of Derek’s former betas?” Cora asked. Boyd nodded.
“Red and I sensed new wolves in the neighborhood, and he wanted Boyd and me to check it out,” Fang explained. “I guess these two are your guests?”
“Isaac was my first beta when I was an Alpha and Cora’s my sister,” Derek said with a frown. Why would these two get a welcoming committee when he hadn’t? Maybe Red’s pack hadn’t been as established when he moved back. Or maybe it was another thing that Red had done that connected back to how Red knew him.
“You never said you were in a Pack, Der,” Cora complained.
“I’m not.”
“He’s not,” Fang agreed. “Not officially anyway. He was the architect for our Pack House and our Alpha’s always been fond of him.”
“Your Alpha?” Isaac asked.
“Yeah.” Fang shrugged. “So, what brings you to New York? Just visiting?”
“We were actually looking for a pack to join since we’re planning on moving closer to Derek,” Cora said.
“Well, we’re not looking to grow our pack right now,” Fang started.
Boyd cut him off. “He’ll say yes to them,” Boyd said fiercely. He had sort of drifted closer to Isaac while they’d been talking, seeming to angle himself against Fang and with Isaac and Cora. Fang frowned at him.
“You sure? Red was pretty adamant about no new wolves, Boyd.”
“He’ll say yes to them,” Boyd repeated. Fang nodded in acquiescence.
“We never said yes,” Cora snapped. Boyd and Fang glared at her.
“What she means is we’d want to meet him before we made a decision,” Isaac corrected quickly. Boyd’s glare faded to a mischievous smirk.
“Then come with us.” Boyd started for the door that Fang had opened. Cora and Isaac followed them out of the apartment. “He’s a good Alpha,” Boyd said as they walked. Derek reluctantly closed the door. Isaac and Cora came back several hours later. Both of their scents had shifted, signaling they had joined Red’s pack. Derek was familiar with the pack scent after months of working with them. Though he didn’t understand how a three-hour meeting had been enough to convince either of them to join any pack. Derek had been watching TV when they crashed into the apartment, flopping down on the couch with him. Isaac pressed into his side and Cora laid across both of them, with her head in Derek’s lap.
“You’re an idiot, Der,” she said. Isaac let out a snort in agreement.
“How was Red?” Derek mumbled, ignoring his sister’s insult.
“The same as always, yet entirely different than I remember,” Isaac said lightly. Derek frowned at the cryptic answer. “Erica was there too. She literally pounced on me. So did Lydia, though I think she was more interested in Cora.” Cora’s ears turned bright red as she snarled at Isaac.
“What do you mean he’s different than you remember? You’ve met him before?” Derek asked. Isaac let out a startled laugh.
Cora rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Derek, you’re an idiot. You have been living under his pack’s protection since you moved back here. How can you not know who he is?”
“His scent is different, Cora,” Isaac offered.
“True, but it’s not like he’s been hiding. His office is right beside Boyd’s bar, which I know for a fact you’ve been to.” Cora jabbed Derek’s chest with her finger. “He put out the word to every other Alpha in the city that you were under his protection and he backed it up three times in the first year, while he was still in college. And that’s not even mentioning Peter.” Suddenly Cora was sitting up. “Honestly, how have you missed it?”
“Peter?” Derek frowned.
“Yes. Peter. Our uncle. Surely you know he’s a part of the pack you’ve been working with for the last three months.” Cora glared at him, but Derek didn’t reply, refusing to admit he’d missed his only uncle’s presence for the last few months. Then his brain caught up with what Cora was telling him. Peter Hale was a part of Red’s pack. Derek knew that Peter had followed Red from his old pack when Red became an Alpha. That meant Red was from Scott McCall’s pack. Derek had seen most of the McCall pack he’d known, and they were all still betas. He knew Allison was still in France and McCall had bitten a few new betas. But Red had to have known Isaac and Cora and McCall hadn’t bitten anyone while they were still in Beacon Hills. That only left one person. Derek was on his feet in an instant, following Cora’s scent back to the law firm beside Alicia’s Bar. The door was unlocked so Derek just pushed his way in, coming face to face with Stiles Stilinski.
+1) Stiles
Stiles’ whiskey-colored eyes flared red at Derek’s appearance. He had grown into his limbs, filled out some as he’d gotten older. His hair was still a short mess on his head. When he was younger, this had been a result of his habit of running his hands through it when he was stressed. The sleeves of his button-up shirt were rolled up past his elbows and his long fingers gripped the desk in front of him. A quick breath of air and Derek caught the other man’s scent, full of cinnamon and electricity like it always had been. But it was mixed with the wild scent of a wolf. Derek opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. Stiles seemed to be having the same issues, which was surprising on some level that Derek didn’t have the capacity to consider because Stiles was a wolf. An Alpha. Living in New York. Somewhere behind Stiles, someone cleared their throat. “I supposed I’ll head out for the day. I’m sure you both have plenty to discuss.” Peter walked past Stiles and Derek, but Derek didn’t even acknowledge the other Hale. Stiles nodded as his face flushed.
“Hey Sourwolf,” Stiles said finally, once Peter was out of hearing range.
“Hi,” Derek said numbly.
“So, I guess you figured it out.” Stiles shoved his hands in his pockets. “I knew you would eventually. I should’ve guessed that Cora would give me away.”
“You’re an Alpha.”
“Uh, yeah. I’ve got fangs and everything.” Stiles flashed a fanged grin.
“How.”
“You know, I’ve always wondered where your question marks go when you do that. Cause somehow you can make it clear that you’re asking a question even when your punctuation is wrong.”
“Stiles,” Derek huffed. He wanted to sound annoyed by the other man’s rambling, but it came out sounding more fond than anything.
“Yeah, yeah. Uh, well, after you left, crap kept happening, because it was Beacon Hills, and things there will never calm down. Scott and me started drifting apart, had been for a while really, and there was a new Alpha trying to take the territory since he thought that all the Hales were gone. Peter was the one who found out he was there, and Peter told me, so I told Scott who didn’t believe me. I was really trying to stay out of the Supernatural crap since I knew there wasn’t anybody left who’d answer my call when I stepped in it except for Creeperwolf, and he was out of town way too often for me to be really sure he’d be able to help. I guess it didn’t matter much in the end. The Alpha didn’t go after me. He went after Melissa and my Dad.” Stiles paused and took a deep breath like he was steadying himself. “Scott got there in time to save Melissa, but not my Dad. He ended up killing the Alpha and then blamed me for the fact he’d had to kill the guy. So, he sent me and Liam out to bury the body. Liam was still new. He’d only been through two full moons, so it really wasn’t his fault when he lost control on our way back. He chased me through the woods, but, well, wolves are faster than humans. Peter found us while Liam was still out of it and got Liam under control. They got me to Scott and Peter forced Scott to bite me. It was almost too late, but it took. I woke up an Alpha.”
“How?” Derek wondering again.
“Best guess? My magic mixed with the bite. If I was still human, I’d be called a Spark. And a werewolf with a spark is an Alpha.” Stiles shrugged. “After that, I tried to stay in Beacon Hills. Creeperwolf made sure I didn’t end up homeless when the bank took back the house and I somehow managed to finish high school. Peter’s the one who suggested I move to New York for school. I didn’t really mean to start a pack, but apparently, young alphas without a mate tend to attract attention. Boyd and Erica found me first and asked to join. Then you moved back here. I saw you moving in while I was establishing my territory. Most of the pack around here only have a few blocks, but it’s hard to keep the scent unless you’re a big pack. I didn’t know how to approach you, but I didn’t want you having to go through what Boyd and Erica did. So I passed on the message that you were under my pack’s protection. There were a few hiccups, but the other Alpha’s got the message.” Stiles rubbed his neck like he hadn’t just admitted to acts of violence and stalking.
“You should have just talked to me,” Derek whispered.
“And said what? Hey Derek, I know you’re trying to get your life back together but let me pull you back into the greek tragedy that is my life since apparently you're my mate and you never bothered to tell me. I had to find out when I almost died after I lost my dad and Scott had to bite me. Oh and by the way, I’m an Alpha now. Wanna join my pack that consists of your undead family member and two of your former betas?” Stiles snapped. His eyes flared red. Derek didn’t respond and Stiles took a deep breath. “You would have slammed me into a wall and told me to fuck off. It was easier to just keep you safe from a distance.” Stiles leaned over the desk in front of him, gripping the sides to keep himself upright.
“You know we’re mates?” Derek asked quietly.
Stiles let out a huff of air. “Kind of hard to miss, Sourwolf. The only anchor that’s ever worked for me is you. I knew the moment I woke up after my first full moon at your loft. Apparently, I’d broken out of the chains Peter had and gone and curled up in your bed. Peter was expecting to clean up a murder and all he got was a very confused Alpha burying their nose in his nephew’s sheets.”
“Then why would you think I’d ever send you away?”
Stiles looked up in shock. “What?”
“Why would I send you away?”
“You never said anything. You knew me for years. You had to have known I was your mate most of that time, if not the whole time. And you never said anything. In fact, you fucking left me behind. You just left. No note. No explanation. No contact for years. Of course, I didn’t reach out when I found you. I had only been an Alpha for nine months. I couldn’t have handled it if you rejected me, and everything I had to go on said you would,” Stiles growled.
“You were a kid, Stiles.”
“I haven’t been a kid for years, so why didn’t you come back? Why didn’t you call?”
“I couldn’t.”
“I haven’t changed my number, Derek.”
“I couldn’t, Stiles. Before I left, you’d already been through so much and I couldn’t add on to that by dragging you back in. I didn’t know what happened to your dad or with Scott. I couldn’t keep piling on crap.” Derek could see the tears in Stiles’ eyes, and he wanted to wipe them away, but he wasn’t sure his touch would be welcome.
“I see your mountain of guilt is still there,” the Alpha muttered. “What are you doing here, Derek?” Stiles shook his head. “You left. I gave you space. I gave you what you wanted. Why come here?”
“Because you’re here,” Derek huffed. The corners of his mouth twitched up. Stiles rolled his eyes. “And maybe I don’t want the things you think I want.”
“Yeah?” Stiles glared across the desk at him. “So what do you want?”
“You,” Derek smirked.
Stiles’ eyes flared red and stayed that way. “That’s not funny.”
“Since when have you known me to make a joke.” Derek stepped closer to the desk. Stiles kept eye contact as he stepped around the desk.
“If you think it’s that easy,” Stiles warned.
“You’ve never been easy, Stiles,” Derek snorted.
“If you go down this road it isn’t a temporary thing Derek. No more running away or vanishing off the map. I have a pack.”
“My sister and uncle are both already a part of the pack,” Derek pointed out.
“I’m serious.” Stiles stepped into his space.
“So am I.” Derek caged Stiles against the desk, inches away from his face. “I make no promises about shoving you against walls, but I will never leave or tell you to go away again.”
“Does this mean you want to join my pack?”
“I think I’ve been in your pack for months now,” Derek smirked.
“Shut and kiss me, Sourwolf,” Stiles breathed. Derek obeyed.