Work Text:
Please read part 1 first - Especially Derek, who still scares me
“Cora! I can't find my sock,” Derek bellowed marching into the living room where his sister’s floral perfume was irritatingly dense. “Will you just stop spoiling my socks for your silly puppet dol-”
He froze on the spot, taking in the sight of the two boys in the room. His eyes were fixated on the pale one with gleaming amber eyes.
“Stiles,” he breathed out as he listened to the boy's fluttering heartbeat. “...and Scott,” he added after a pathetically long moment. Well, he didn't want to be completely obvious, but heard Cora chuckle anyways.
Stiles immediately gulped down the giant bite of burger he was chewing, sitting straight on the couch, quickly closing his sprawled out legs. He gave Derek an awkward wave, huffing out a soft - “Hey, Derek.”
It’d been a few weeks since Scott McCall had become an inseparable part of the Hale pack. After continuous pressure from Deucalion’s Demon pack for an alliance, Talia had started gathering her forces. She’d contacted every single wolf in the town, but was still fighting to get answers.
Scott’s case though, was definitely a favour from Stiles.
After receiving Talia’s offer, the way Scott had thrown wary glances at his best friend instead of his own mother, it was quite evident that Stiles must have been the one to bug the wolf to join the Hale pack. Stiles was the town’s favorite dragon and for days, Scott had been telling stories about how Stiles was pushing his father, Sheriff Stilinski, and the other natives to consider meeting the Hale Alpha.
An alliance with the non-wolves of the town would certainly provide a solid boost to the pack’s strength. But Derek was doubtful if the sheriff was mentally prepared to consider the option as of now, especially not after he’d shot Derek the day Stiles had first shifted into his dragon form.
It was a misunderstanding, Derek was sure.
The sheriff had been misinformed and was feeling vulnerable when he’d come running to the market that day. Shooting Derek had been a reflexive response to seeing his only son wrapped up dangerously close to the vicious wolf. He’d acted like a protective father terrified for his son's safety. It wasn't exactly anything personal against Derek.
Having said that, Derek couldn’t blame his own mother for wolfing out on the sheriff for hurting her pup like that.
Overall, that day, both the boys had struggled to control their respective parents and consequently the day had declared the end of Derek’s pretty short love saga. It had ended even before it could properly start. He wished he’d, at least, gotten a chance to kiss Stiles. Damn! He’d definitely wanted that.
The sheriff wasn't quite comfortable with Stiles breathing the same air as the Hales. Derek was actually relieved that at least Talia hadn’t banned Stiles from visiting the Hale house - probably in consideration of his contribution to retaining Scott in the pack.
And Stiles… he followed Derek around like a lost puppy.
Stiles visited them everyday, without fail. He either accompanied Scott to pack meetings as if he was on babysitting duty, or to deliver some irrelevant message from their lacrosse coach.
“Don't forget to wear your shoulder pads and uh… cup,” Stiles had said, awkwardly rocking on his heels. “Coach said, safety is more important than the actual game, y’know?”
“And Stiles, don't forget to use condoms.” Jace had teased them from nowhere.
“And Derek, use some lube, okay?” Alec had slapped his back, both breaking down into hysterical laughter.
Jesus! Derek hated his big brothers.
Stiles never mentioned the coach or safety after that. Though he’d found some books to borrow and then return to Derek. Derek definitely didn’t own a copy of Love story , but he’d accepted it from Stiles without batting an eye, only to suffer that night from the gentle memory of Stiles’ slender fingers brushing against his.
Derek’s heart crumpled in his chest seeing the efforts the boy had been putting into winning every Hale’s heart, probably it was his way of saying sorry on behalf of his father for upsetting the Hales like that.
Little Ren and Mike adored their storytime with Uncle Tiles . He’d even helped grandpa Hale with gardening, discussing some rare herbal plants and their effectiveness for treating kidney stones and prostate problems. Right!
Derek’s aunts cherished Stiles’ secret recipes which he regularly texted on their whatsapp group and his uncles loved his easy ramble on economy and taxation, which was way beyond the capabilities of Derek’s history loving brain.
When Talia had endlessly ranted about decoding a bestiary book, the very next day, Scott had found her an ancient thesaurus.
Derek knew it wasn’t Scott who had turned the local library upside down to find the thesaurus for Talia’s ready reference. If his mother had realized this fact - when Scott couldn’t even pronounce the book’s title - she chose to keep quiet.
Stiles never minded a quick ping pong game with grandma Hale or excruciatingly long shopping trips with the Hale sisters. No matter how worn out he was after his busy school schedule, Stiles always had time for Xbox encounters with the Hale brothers, unlike Derek, who ran straight to the comfort of his room, quietly sulking somewhere in a gloomy corner, listening to the calming rhythm of Stiles’ heartbeat.
“But mom, it hurts to ignore him like this,” he had tried to argue a few days back while laying on a bed, his head resting on his Alpha’s lap. “He could be my…my friend.”
“Not when your friend's father has his gun ready to kick your ass,” Talia had countered, dragging her warm fingers through Derek’s hair. She’d scratched his skull in an attempt to offer mute sympathy. “No one’s yet ready to accept us as we are, Derek. It'll hurt more, if you get attached.”
I am attached , Derek had wanted to yell, but he wondered if his mother already knew that.
The way Stiles was always around, he seriously doubted if the sheriff was aware of his son’s daily routine with the Hales. Derek’s doubts had soon been confirmed when the man caught Stiles, red handed.
It was a pretty awkward situation when the sheriff had turned up at the pool for a swimming competition only to witness Stiles standing on a bench, cheering madly for the half-naked Derek.
Stiles hadn’t been to the Hale house for three days after that.
Stiles’ absence hadn’t gone unnoticed and every single Hale inquired of Scott about him. Stiles had apparently been grounded for attending Derek's competition while he was running a high fever.
It was sad, but Derek couldn’t help it when his heart fluttered pathetically after hearing that.
Stiles’ dragon shift was a whole separate story altogether. His high temperature had bust around fifty thermometers already and he was still struggling to cope with the effects his transformation was having on his developing body. There wasn't much information available on young dragons but he’d been closely training under the watchful eyes of Deaton and trying to find an anchor.
Even though she’d never admit it, Derek knew, it was Talia who had asked their emissary to help the boy.
“Oh hello, big bro,” Cora snapped her fingers in front of Derek’s face, bringing him back to reality.
Right. Socks.
He tore his eyes away from Stiles. He’d been stupidly staring at him for so long.
“I didn't use your socks… this time,” Cora added the last two words under her breath. Derek scowled at her. “Ask Stiles,” she said in her defense, pointing at the boy. “Yesterday he was sniffing at your stranded sock for two hours .”
There was a loud thud as Stiles somehow slipped onto the floor. Derek’s eyebrows furrowed deeper, this time, directed at Stiles. “Did you take my sock?”
“Well, I kinda… might have…” the boy stuttered, scrambling to get back on his seat. “I just borrowed it for a while.” Stiles blurted out, nervously scratching the back of his neck, not quite meeting Derek’s eyes. “I only took one though,” he tried to justify himself.
Derek rolled his eyes, dangling his single, useless sock in front of Stiles. Before he could blink, the boy tugged it out from his grip.
“Ha! Thank you,” he said, teasing Derek with his signature wink, clutching the sock to his chest. “From here on, your socks will be part of my precious hoard.”
“A hoard?”
“I’m a dragon. Remember?”
Of course, Derek had heard stories about dragons and their hoards of treasure and their crazy possessiveness of their hoard. A dragon would attack a city to protect its beloved possessions, just so it could lounge in the hoard the whole day.
Derek watched between the sock and Stiles’ wiggling eyebrows. “You want my socks as a part of your hoard?”
“Actually, I was looking for your shiny red boxers.” Someone, probably Scott, let out a strangled noise.
Derek’s ears burned. He knew they must be flushing a deep shade of pink. And the way Stiles’ eyes had been drifting past his chin, he knew, it must be spreading down his neck.
Stiles shot him a smug smile. “But, I'll settle for the socks… for now.”
“P-lease, stop,” Cora shrieked, covering her ears. “Get a room.”
And Derek quietly retreated to his room, alone, not able to handle Stiles’ fond gazes anymore. He wasn't sure how the hell he was supposed to deal with his unresolved feelings for Stiles, especially when the boy was always right there to make it even worse. He couldn't give it much thought. He had to rush to accompany his Alpha for a meeting with the Demon pack emissary. Yeah , this was his life nowadays.
******
Derek tried to block Laura’s heated argument with the foreign Emissary, Julia Baccari. The lady was well known as a schemer and was a super creepy maniac.
He gaped at the two brunettes in front of him who were shouting their lungs out, minutes away from pulling each others hair out. Emissary Deaton stood there like a museum statue, trying to control the situation without twitching a single muscle of his face. With concern, Derek looked at his mother.
Talia was calm and composed, as usual. Infact, she was uncharacteristically silent and was busy writing on the pact documents. She must be scanning them for tricky loopholes, finding a way out, Derek thought.
Since the Hales had returned to Beacon Hills, the Demon pack had been sitting on Talia's head to get her to agree to alliance talks. Derek was turning seventeen in a month’s time and Talia always dragged him to all the political discourses along with all the other young Hales. Their mother wanted them to observe and learn, but, for Derek, these meetings were the epitome of pure boredom and felt as overly dramatic as soap operas.
Derek knew he wasn’t meant for this.
He’d a whole army of family ahead of him who were most certainly capable and interested in leading the Hale pack. Derek was pretty satisfied with his future position as an Alpha’s third (probably fourth) in command. He wasn’t going to be an Alpha himself anytime, right?
This was their third meeting with the emissary. Ms Baccari had been quite insistent (pushy, as Laura had described it) with Deucalion’s proposal. But, Talia was smart. She was aware of their reputation and had been tossing the alliance proposal around in her mind for quite a while now.
After her mate's death two years ago and with a few incidents of Peter’s feral rage, Talia was already struggling to maintain the Hale pack’s status. She knew the Demon pack was trying to take advantage of the situation. They had tested Talia’s patience by spreading false rumors about the Hale pack’s sanity. It was no secret that Deucalion’s plan was to pressure the Hales and eventually, take over their territory. Looking at the way everyone loathed the Hales in their own town, the Demon Alpha had almost succeeded in achieving his goals. There was no way Talia would accept a proposal from such a power hungry hypocrite.
For Derek, the meeting was a simple waste of time. He would much prefer burying himself in the familiar scent of some worn out book from the library or the sweet, minty scent of some… Stiles.
“Here. Check this out.” Derek flinched as Talia shoved the stack of agreement papers in front of his nose.
The moment his crossed eyes settled on the white paper, he muffled a choked laugh by pressing a fist on his mouth. With wide eyes he gaped at the awkward cartoon figures scribbled on the neatly printed page.
The Demon Pack
Derek’s lips twitched in a full smile as he took in the title of his mother’s art. He looked at Talia, lightly shaking his head, thoroughly amused. She passed him a pen with a mischievous wink and instantly regained her solid Alpha composure.
Derek shrugged, roughly elaborating on his mother’s drawing. He shaded Deucalion’s glasses dark, adding tiny cracks on each lens. He wrote down Deucalion’s introductory speech from their first meeting in capitals.
“ I am the Alpha of Alphas. I am the apex of apex predators. I am death… blah blah blah. ”
Seriously? Who talks like that!
He lengthened Kali’s toenails by a few centimeters and added four strands of hair sticking up from Ennis’ smooth head. As far as Derek remembered the man wasn’t completely bald, or was he?
“Perfect,” Talia snorted as Derek returned the thoroughly spoiled documents back to her. She raised a glass of juice to her lips in a desperate attempt to hide her wide grin.
Their shenanigans were soon interrupted by loud voices and a flying paper weight that only missed hitting Deaton’s head by a few inches. Damn!
“The last time we spoke, your Alpha was quite okay with the plan,” Julia complained, crazily waving her hands everywhere.
Laura thumped her palm on the table, twice, strongly objecting to the emissary’s point. “My Alpha was never okay with whatever your Alpha had planned. The last time we spoke, your Alpha did nothing but hit on my Alpha .”
Talia almost choked on her juice.
“Enough!” She commanded and the room fell into pin-drop silence. She took a moment to set her glass aside, before pinning the foreign emissary with a sharp Alpha glare. “Miss Baccari, I personally appreciate your efforts. However, to form an alliance between two packs, the beliefs of those packs should match,” she waited, taking a dramatic pause, her eyes hovering over her pack members, quickly checking for their approval, before settling them back on Julia. “Our packs are certainly lacking in that department.” She raised from her seat. Everyone scrambled to get up from their chairs. “Give my regards to Alpha Deucalion. I believe, this is our last conversation on this matter.”
Julia lowered her eyes against the keen scrutiny from the Alpha. She nodded, without uttering a single word of protest. That indicated the end of all the last two hours of wasted discussion.
Derek immediately fled the room after Deaton. They all had a weekly training session scheduled with their emissary and Derek had missed the last one because his emotions had gone all haywire after the chat he’d had with his mother.
*******
“Hey Derek, need a ride?”
Derek jumped at suddenly hearing the voice, dropping the Camaro’s keys on the ground. “ Jesus! Stiles, were you lurking in the bushes or something?” he hastily looked around, making sure his Alpha was nowhere near.
Stiles chuckled, looking thoroughly delighted at catching Derek off guard. “What can I say, just practising a few tricks I learned from a certain, grumpy wolf.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be on the field?” Derek waved off his comments, which sounded more flirtatious than anything else. “Don’t tell me, you’re planning to skip it already.” Derek bent down, picking up his keys.
“Says the one who’d skipped his last training session.” Stiles’ tone became serious, his forehead creased as if he was hurt for some reason. The last session had been Stiles’ first and everyone had been there, except Derek. “By the way, I’m waiting for you, Derek. Just checking if you're planning to skip today as well. I thought you may need a quick ride.”
“Quick ride?” Derek scanned the surroundings, expecting to see an ancient blue jeep parked somewhere. But he couldn’t see one.
Stiles retreated with a smirk on his lips, his eyes never leaving Derek's until he disappeared behind a tree. The next thing Derek knew he was being thrown backwards by a sudden gust of heavy air, falling on his ass. He blinked up at the giant red dragon who had lunged out from nowhere. Derek was sure he even heard a chuckle. A Stiles’ chuckle.
‘Whatcha looking at? C’mon hop on.’ The dragon’s sturdy feet thumped on the ground with overflowing excitement, his huge wings flapping dangerously close to Derek.
Derek's eyebrows touched his hairline, eyes bulging wide. “You can talk ?” No no. Nope. This was a dream, Derek started freaking out.
‘No, you doofus. I'm using our bond to pass my thoughts.’
Our bond?
This was definitely a fucking dream.
Derek had been trying to convince his mother forever that he had a connection to Stiles.
“I bet he’s with Scott right now,” Derek had declared one day, his dreamy eyes fixed on the patches on the white ceiling above. He’d closed his eyes, concentrating for a moment, lightly tugging on the bond he felt. “He feels happy and uh… relaxed. It's lil’ different than when he's around his father. He's a bit tired though.”
“Scott should be here in two minutes, Derek. He's never late.” Talia had objected from beside him. They had been chilling in Derek's room before their daily pack meeting. “By the way, you're too young to form that kind of bond with anyone yet. A bond takes time to evolve. The strongest bond I know about is between your grandma and grandpa and they were in their thirties before they actually started to feel these details. You aren't even seventeen, kiddo.”
“I don't know, Mom,” Derek had sighed. “I can tell when he's jerking off in his shower.”
“O-Kay. That's kinda too much information to digest right now.” Talia had struggled to come up with a quick retort. But a bleep on her mobile had saved her the trouble.
Derek hadn’t missed Scott’s name on the screen and couldn't help but peek over his mother's shoulder.
Sorry Alpha. Can't make it for today’s meet. Deaton’s going overboard with Stiles’ training. Gotta help the poor dragon :)
Talia couldn't meet Derek's eyes, before leaving the room with a hurried - “Let's go. We're late.”
And here Derek was, standing in front of a dragon, who was casually mentioning their bond as if it was the most normal thing in the whole damn world.
’ God! Don't you know anything about dragons?’ The dragon literally rolled his golden, amber eyes. ‘Ever heard of the term Google?’ He let out a disappointed huff through his wet, flaring nostrils. He settled down on the ground, inviting Derek to ride on his back.
Derek warily looked at the enormous figure in front him, still hesitant to take a step forward.
‘Don't be scared, little wolf. I won't let you fall. I promise.’
“Ha ha,” Derek let out a fake laugh. “I’m not sca-”
‘Oh yes, you are,’ the dragon cut him off in mid sentence. ‘I bet you hate flying. I can feel it through the bond,’ he explained, bobbing his crested head in just-believe-me fashion, his claws impatiently drumming on the solid ground. ‘Actually, I can feel the whole pack. But with you… it’s different. It's more clear and… easy and -’
“Let's go. We're late.” This time, Derek cut him off, using his mother’s patent excuse for avoiding a matter altogether. He couldn't deal with Stiles feeling the exact same connection with him. He certainly couldn't deal with Stiles calling the Hales his pack.
Quickly, Derek hopped on the dragon’s back, easily settling into the crook near his shoulder blades. His skin tickled as he lightly rubbed against the scales there. The dragon let out an approving noise of contentment.
‘Hang on.’ The dragon bounced on his feet, once, before pushing his body forward, launching high into the sky.
“H-oly shit,” Derek almost slipped off as he was jerked with the sudden forward momentum. Immediately, he ducked his head, folding his body closer to Stiles’. As he was hit by the full force of the wind, he dug his fingers in deeper, clutching at the dragon for dear life. He chanced a quick glance down and watched as everything around him quickly turned into tiny dots.
Yep , he definitely hated flying.
******
Derek was sweating buckets after four hours straight of Deaton’s brutal mojo combat training, two hours more than usual as punishment for missing the last one. He was sure he’d broken a few bones. His body felt limp, muscles still knitting together slowly, trying to heal whilst Deaton had already started with his Archery lessons that were meant to improve focus, patience and concentration and all that bullshit.
“Deaton’s gonna kill you today,” Laura said, an expression of genuine sympathy plastered on her face. She rubbed her warm palm gently over Derek’s sore arm and Derek purred in total appreciation.
“Whatcha doing?” They were interrupted by Stiles’ curious question, his eyes on Laura’s hand.
Stiles had just finished his turn at archery and Derek had to admit he was quite impressive, considering how fidgety and flailing he usually was. His mouth parted as his eyes skittered over Derek’s face. Wasn’t Derek shamelessly purring a minute before? Derek felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment.
“It’s a wolf thing,” Laura explained, thankfully catching Stiles’ attention. She continued to rub at Derek’s neck and then shoulders, trying to relieve some of the strain from there. “The contact helps.”
“Wanna try on Derek?” Cora teased from behind him. Stiles wrinkled his nose, sticking his tongue out at her, but he dropped beside Derek anyways, their shoulders touching. That helped too.
Derek settled there for a moment, smiling dopily like a love sick bird, enjoying the steady drumming of Stiles’ heart and his warmth against the skin. He’d hardly gotten a chance to rest his aching bum before Deaton called him, again.
“You’re next, Derek.”
His hands were shaking when he stretched his bow and centered his aim on the target, somewhere, straining his tired eyes. Sweat trickled down his forehead, seeping into his thick eyebrows. Who said his eyebrows were evil? They were the most precious part of his existence. Yeah! His brain was dead.
As expected, Derek tried but failed to hit the target for a full fifteen minutes. Everyone cheered him on, in a futile attempt to boost his confidence. Stiles was the loudest. Gradually, all quieted down as fifteen minutes stretched to thirty. Derek was seconds away from shaming the Hale name by crying like a five year old baby and begging Deaton for mercy.
“As you were so comfortable with skipping a session…” Deaton started in a flat tone, adjusting Derek’s bow with his fingertips, seemingly unfazed by Derek’s current condition. “...I was expecting a better performance from you, Derek.”
God! Derek always knew their emissary was a sarcastic douchebag. Before Derek could open his mouth, probably to apologize again for the hundredth time, Stiles suddenly barged in, his eyes flashing gold. He looked pissed.
“It must be difficult on such a scorching summer afternoon, don’t you think Mr Deaton. Especially when the shine from your head is blinding him so much.”
Derek literally dropped his bow on the ground to cover his choked laugh. All the others though, didn’t bother to be so subtle and guffawed until their eyes filled with tears. From this close, Derek could see Deaton’s usual stoic mask crumple for quite a few moments, before he declared an extra session, this time, for Stiles.
“... And Derek, I'd appreciate it if you would join us.” Derek’s smile faltered on that sudden request, his heart skipping a beat. His entire body was still aching and he desperately wanted to crash on his bed and sleep for a whole year.
Deaton must have noticed his confusion as he quickly added - “For Stiles” - as if that was enough to convince Derek somehow. “We’re working on his shift control and he is… better , when you are around.”
Derek couldn’t utter a single word, completely taken aback by this brand new information. This was definitely not aligned with his keep-away-from-Stiles plan.
“Yeah, he almost burned down the entire field last time,” Laura seconded Deaton. Which was, hello , not helping.
With Stiles looking at him with wide, expectant eyes, Derek couldn’t do much but to swallow and nod. Derek was absolutely positive, he was doomed.
******
Derek settled on the roof of Stiles’ house, gulping in the thick scent of the boy from the familiar surroundings.
It was tough, okay? Knowing that there was a solid chain linking them together and you were supposed to walk around as if it didn’t exist, but you weren’t supposed to completely overlook it, so you didn’t stumble over it and fall flat on your face. It was tough.
He tried to block the sounds coming from the house, not meaning to eavesdrop. The sheriff was home. Derek knew it was the sheriff's weekly day off. The man must be getting ready for his trip to the supermarket. For some reason, Derek also knew that.
“Were you with the Hale kid again?” Derek’s ears pricked up on hearing his name.
“I was with Deaton.” As usual, Stiles hid the truth without exactly lying to his father. He was smart.
“Deaton ensured me that your training slots will be different than the Hales.”
“Derek’s not gonna hurt me, Dad. Ever. Will you even try to understand for one sec?”
“It’s not about him, ” the sheriff bellowed, on the verge of losing it. Stiles could be infuriating sometimes.
“Then what is it about, Dad?” Stiles should stop talking, Derek thought. “Are you gonna try and convince me how he’s a born animal and how he’s a monster -”
“Stiles!”
Stiles should definitely stop talking.
Silence spread over the room and Derek huffed in relief. He heard their combined frustrated panting. He felt a strong jolt of anger seep through his bond, coming from Stiles.
“It’s not - I don’t-” the sheriff struggled for words. He sucked in a long breath before continuing, his heartbeat steadying.
“Do you really think, I don’t know how that boy’s presence calms you down? Do you think, I don’t know how he follows me around like a lost pup, hoping to initiate some conversation?”
Derek’s heart dropped to his stomach.
“Do you think I haven’t noticed how every single person has withdrawn their complaints against him since the market incident? Do you think I can ignore my friends from the nursing home when they tell me how they prefer Derek Hale to read to them? Do you think, I don’t know how that kid comes to the supermarket, every damn Thursday and crashes his cart into mine just so he can get a chance to say sorry ?”
Oh boy!
“Do you think my heart doesn’t twist thinking how wrong I was to shoot that kid and how I am supposed to be the one, saying sorry?”
Stiles didn’t utter a single word. He must have frozen, the same way Derek had.
“I know, okay? I know how difficult it is for you to stay away from him. And how equally tough it is for him . I know, he’s, right now, sitting on my roof so he could get a grip on his agitated heartbeat.”
Derek slipped off the roof.
“Derek!” He heard Stiles’ concerned shout, as he slowly gathered his ass from the ground. “Dad, you scared him,” Stiles complained, throwing worrying looks from the window.
“You alright? C’mon, kid,” the sheriff called him inside.
Fuck!
Derek climbed in through the window.
“You could have used the door, y’know?” the sheriff prompted, a hint of amusement in his voice.
“I, uh,” Derek couldn’t meet the sheriff’s eyes, so he fixed them on the wooden floor, so mortified that his whole face was heating up. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Stiles fidgeting on the spot, looking ready to launch himself at Derek any second, twitching for a touch.
“I’m okay.” Derek reassured him, before the boy could do something stupid in front of his father.
“Let me apologize to you first, Derek,” the sheriff’s words broke the tension. “What I did that day was… terrible. I’m sorry.”
Derek was dumbfounded with what was suddenly happening around him, or had he hit his head back there? He managed to nod, silently accepting the offered apology.
“So, uh, you okay with… us ?” Stiles asked his father, pointing between him and Derek, sounding so innocent and hopeful. It did things to Derek’s heart. He raised his head, finally looking straight at the man, his face filled with the same innocence and hope.
“I never said that.”
“ What ?”
“Look...” the sheriff prepared himself for another long talk. “I said, I don’t have anything against him. But you can’t just expect me to forget the last four years of my job, especially when I’ve spent most of my time investigating the Hales.”
“They’re rumors!”
“Not all, Stiles. Not all ,” the sheriff retorted. “I’ve seen the dead bodies of Peter’s victims and I had no appetite for weeks after that.”
“The Jaguars killed his mate. It’s no wonder, Peter went feral.” Stiles looked at Derek, expecting him to say something, may be object to his father’s allegations. But, Derek knew Peter’s stories were, infact, true. He tore his gaze away from Stiles’, not having enough courage to face the look of surprise and disappointment in them.
“O-kay.” Stiles dragged his fingers through his already messy hair, breathing heavily in an attempt to catch a hold of his temper. “Okay, Dad. Just… watch.” Quickly, he moved to his closet with newly found determination.
The moment he slid its door open, all types of books, clothes, mugs, shoes and bags tumbled out, landing on the floor in a disordered heap.
“Just look at this.”
The sheriff raised his eyebrows, looking completely confused. “You told me this new closet was to hide your treasure in.”
Derek’s eyes hovered over the various items scattered in front of him. They all looked distinctly familiar, because they all were his . A sudden knot twisted in his chest.
“I know this looks creepy,” Stiles nervously scratched his upturned nose, his eyes fixed on Derek’s. “Please don’t hate me for this. In my defense, Laura gave most of these to me.”
Derek would never hate Stiles. He couldn’t. It wasn’t like Derek needed these items anymore. Derek had recently hit a growth spurt and most of them were tee shirts that had gotten too tight, shoes that wouldn’t fit, some mugs with broken handles and in general, trash. Still, Derek was going to kill Laura.
“Is that your treasure?” the sheriff’s question brought Derek back to reality. He watched as the man threw wary glances at the shiny red boxer shorts that lay comfortably on top of the pile.
“Yes,” Stiles shrieked, sounding frustrated and helpless. “It all belongs to him ,” he said, pointing at Derek. “Don’t you get it, Dad? He is my treasure.”
A look of stunned bewilderment spread over the sheriff’s face, which quickly vanished as his face heated with doubts and denial.
“Stiles enough!” the sheriff raised his voice, not looking in any mood for compromise. “You’re too young to identify something like that,” Yes, Derek had heard that before. “It’s dangerous to get involved with the Hales. They’re invincible. They don’t follow any law. They are the law.”
He moved his gaze to Derek, looking genuinely sorry for having this conversation right in front of him, and then, looking resolute. “You can’t seriously ask me to risk my only son’s life while he drifts along with yours. He’s still struggling with his own shift.”
Derek couldn’t move a muscle, feeling dead on the inside.
“Dad, tell me one thing...” Stiles’ eyes flashed with a wild gleam. “What if I don’t learn control. I mean, not a single creature has turned into a dragon in like - a hundred years. What if I go feral? Are you gonna abandon me like you all have fucking abandoned them?”
“Stiles!” the sheriff roared, shutting off Stiles’ further accusation.
No one spoke for a disturbingly long stretch of time.
“I should... leave,” It was Derek who broke the silence, his voice lower than a whisper with his throat going achingly tight.
When Stiles took a step forward, Derek pinned him with a solid glare. “Don’t” was the last thing he said, before barging out the window.
******
He ran till his legs went limp, his heart exploding in his chest. His wolf crawled close beneath his skin, ready to pounce. He didn’t shift though, Dangerous - Animal - Monster words still ringing in his ears. He wasn't going to shift and go berserk and prove them all right. He would live.
But, he cried.
He cried till his tears dried in his eyes and howled till entire forest shivered with the agony of his heartache, not sure if it was his or Stiles’, their feelings were all mingled up, packed tightly as one.
He was so numb, he completely missed the approaching footsteps.
“You must be Talia’s pup.”
Derek jumped at the sudden noise.
“We've been looking for you. It’s good that we've found you here. All alone.”
He scanned his surroundings, finally registering the four figures moving around him, circling him, as if he was their prey.
The Demon pack. As he recognized them, Derek’s heartbeat suddenly spiked. He couldn't recollect them asking his Alpha’s permission to enter the Hale territory.
“You scared pup?” Ennis smirked, taking a careless step closer, his eyes flashing red.
“What do you want?”
“ You ,” Kali replied, coming straight to the point, shooting him a cold smile.
Derek growled, crouching down on alert, immediately sensing the danger. He dropped his fangs, his claws ready to strike.
“This is a Hale territory. You're not allowed here,” he warned, calculating their next move, his eyes cautiously tracking their every single twitch. “You better leave or my Alpha’s gonna kick your asses.”
“Oh, we want your Alpha to come at us, Derek. That's the plan.” Alpha Aiden gloated with a wide grin.
“Will you just keep your bragging mouth shut?” Ethan bickered, giving his brother a flat look. “We don't need to tell him that.”
Derek furrowed his eyebrows. He understood the foreign pack wasn’t here for an alliance talk. They meant to cause serious damage this time, to his Alpha, to… him. They had come to capture a beta so his Alpha would have to challenge his captors to reclaim him.
It was some traditional wolf bullshit that remained over and above modern day law, but was an easy and sure way to dethrone an Alpha and take over their territory. It was even easier when the Alpha hardly had any allies to help them to save their honor and life.
“Ethan, Aiden, get him!” Before Derek could blink, Ennis barged at him, the twins right behind.
Derek moved with lightning speed, promptly kneeing the elder Alpha in the balls, sending him to the ground, yipping like a dog. Derek effectively dodged Aiden, using his agility against their strength, clawing his chest open with a single swipe of his hand. He threw his leg up, striking Ethan’s mouth with a solid kick.
“What the hell!” the twin yelped, covering his mouth to collect his broken teeth. “ Ennis!” he shrieked in terror. “ Are my teeth gonna grow back?”
“I don’t fucking know, Ethan,” Ennis bellowed, still struggling to catch a hold of Derek. “Can you just fucking concentrate and grab this little shit?”
Fifteen minutes in and the Alphas hadn’t even scratched his skin. He might have cursed Deaton day and night, but now, Derek was so ready to kiss his bald crown.
“That’s enough!” Derek heard Kali’s frustrated shout.
Derek moved to take on the lady next, but before he could turn a circle to face the Alpha, his arm prickled with a sharp pain.
A wolfsbane-laced needle was the last thing he noticed, before passing out on the forest floor.
******
Derek’s consciousness drifted between on and off. Each time he gained his senses, for whatever tiny period of time, a violent spasm ripped through his body. It wasn’t physical though. He’d been hardly touched, other than the single prick of the needle and was currently drowning in a wolfsbane induced daze. He knew all these knots in the stomach and burns in the throat, all this mental meltdown and uncontrolled fury was all Stiles .
It was painful, as if several blades were ripping through his insides and his brain was bursting like a volcano.
He passed out again after the dreadful realization that Stiles’ dragon was going feral.
Stiles’ dragon was going feral, without him.
******
Derek woke up to the noise of a senseless banter.
“You idiot! You’ve given him a dose which is enough to put down an elephant.” He immediately recognized the rough, husky voice of Deucalion.
“Ask Ennis, he filled the syringe.”
“Hey hey, Kali. It was you who asked me to put some more in.”
“Quiet!” Deucalion roared, cutting into the stupid fight like some frustrated, agitated mother. Derek almost missed it when the fighting Alphas stuck their tongues out at each other behind their Momma’s back. It was weird.
“I don't care,” The leading Alpha bellowed again. “Julia’s getting news from the Hales and I want that pup awake.”
They all failed to register Derek's presence as an angry woman entered the room kicking the door out of her way.
“Deucalion!”
The lady looked like an overly burned chicken dish, her face covered in a layer of a black ash, her clothes torn and disheveled, her hair striking out everywhere as if she’d been electrocuted, her expression pissed, ready to kill.
“Who the hell are you?” Deucalion looked as confused as Derek.
“I’m your emissary, you asshole!”
“Julia?” Deucalion barked out a laugh. “Go wash your face.”
“I came here running to save my ass and you’re telling me to wash my face ?”
“The Hales can't attack an emissary. It's against the rules.”
“It was the dragon!” she yelled, pushing back a half burned lock of hair from her face.
“There are no d-dragons,” Deucalion stuttered.
“Yes, there is ,” Julia barged forward, probably to slap someone. “I work so hard to plan some perfect shit for you dumbasses and out of the whole army of Hale kids you manage to kidnap him ?” she asked, pointing a questioning finger at the now sitting Derek.
“There are no dragons.” Deucalion repeated, like a broken record. It was quite evident that he’d not heard a single word after dragon and the macho Alpha was now visibly shaking. Julia actually slapped his face, bringing him back to his senses.
“Have you seen the Hale kids? They are no less than demons, especially the girls,” Aiden murmured in their defense. “Derek was the most harmless of all of them.”
“Harmless my ass,” Ethan lisped, opening his mouth wide to show off his still missing teeth, shooting heated gazes in Derek’s direction.
“Goddamn it! His mate is a dragon.” Julia said, completely exasperated. She started pacing the length of the room, her mouth erupting with a continuous stream of words. “That dragon’s going crazy and burning everything down searching for him. The whole town has turned up at Talia’s doorsteps, to help her find her pup. And the dragon… he tried to kill me the moment he smelled the wolf on me.” She paused, throwing nervous glances at Deucalion.
Deucalion’s forehead creased in suspicion. “Is there anything else we need to know?”
“Well...” She hesitated for a fraction of a second, before blurting out in a single breath. “The dragon may have come here, tracking him.”
“What?”
“And the entire Beacon Hills may have been following the dragon.”
“What the fuc-”
A thundering roar broke into the Alpha’s burgeoning breakdown.
It was Stiles’ roar. He was close, Derek could feel it in every drop of his blood and he knew Stiles was using their bond to find him.
The next moment, the entire front side of the Demon mansion collapsed like a pack of cards and a ferocious, growling dragon made his entry through the thick clouds of smoke, dirt and fire.
My hero , Derek wanted to squeal. Of course, he didn’t.
The dragon stretched its neck, straining it up at the damaged roof. It roared out a painful, heartwrenching cry, which directly hit at Derek’s very core. It flared its nostrils, huffing out a mad breath of blistering fire.
When the dragon’s angry, golden gaze caught a glimpse of Derek, they immediately softened, whining at the sight of his precious treasure.
Derek couldn’t move his gaze away from Stiles. His agitated heartbeat settled into a peaceful rhythm after seeing his mate heading straight towards him.
The dragon spread its huge leathered wings. He flew, sailing through the air, thrashing at everything that got in his way.
There was an excruciatingly long moment, during which cries of terror and pleas of mercy could be heard, but it passed in a blur because all Derek could focus on was Stiles, now shifting to all his human naked glory, right within Derek’s reach.
Stiles jumped on Derek, wrapping his long, lanky legs around Derek’s hips. His arms circled around Derek’s neck, crushing the wolf in a breath choking hug. Derek almost stumbled backwards from the force of Stiles’ embrace, but quickly regained his balance, his fingers curling around the back of the boy’s thighs, for support, just missing his ass.
“You’re alright,” Stiles breathed in relief, burying his nose in Derek’s neck, taking in his thick scent.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” Derek copied his mate, tilting his neck to allow for better access, rubbing his cheek over Stiles’ bare shoulder.
They remained tangled around each other for several minutes, before Stiles moved back a little and looked at Derek. His glassy eyes skittered over Derek’s face as if he was seeing him in a new light.
"Stiles, I -"
Stiles’ crashing lips sucked the words right out of Derek’s mouth as he launched himself forward, not caring that it was clumsy and all teeth. It was his first kiss.
It was their first kiss.
Derek’s heart swelled with an overwhelming feeling of how he was, finally, with his mate, and with his pack and how, this time, the whole damn town had turned up to save his sorry ass.