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"Your parents are right, Daniel. There's no way you can tell this guy."
"This guy is my freaking boyfriend," Daniel says, waving his arms. "He's not some random dude of my school or whatever, okay? His name is Jonathan, by the way, and I know him. I know I can trust him."
"Yeah, well, I don't care if you trust him. It's not just you trusting him, it's your family and us... the whole pack would be trusting this... Jonathan. And that is obviously, not happening."
"So, I can't be honest with him. I have to keep lying to him. You know how fucked up that is? I know he wouldn't tell anyone," Daniel insists.
Derek snorts. "You don't know that. And, like I just said, you'd be putting the whole pack at risk, can't you see that?" Derek says, raising his voice more than he intended.
"Shit, Derek, give him a break," Kane says, handing Daniel a can of Coke Zero before sitting next Derek, "he's sixteen and he's in love, you remember how that was, right?"
"I'm almost seventeen," Daniel says, like if there's big difference.
"I don't care if you're sixteen or twenty, we need to be sure that this person is completely trustworthy and that he's going to be part of your life for a very long time, if not forever. How long have you even known this guy... sorry, this Jonathan?" Derek corrects himself.
"He came to my high school two years ago. We've been dating for six months now."
Derek snorts and shakes his head. "Six months..."
"Daniel," Kane says, "that's not too much time to get to know somebody."
And that's exactly what his parents told him the day before.
"How long did it take for you to find out?" Daniel asks Kane.
"I... Well," Kane hesitates, looking first at Derek before looking back at Daniel. "Around ten months, I guess."
"Just ten months!" Daniel waves his right arm. "And you're telling me--"
"Yes, but it was a completely different situation." Derek interrupts him "We were adults, which you aren't yet. I knew I could trust him. And I knew I wanted to marry him. It was serious."
"What he's trying to say is that you're too young and you aren't in that kind of relationship yet. We don't know if he can be trusted, we don't know how he would react to something like that, and if you broke up with him in a week or whenever, he could hold that secret over you."
"He'd never do anything to hurt me," Daniel says.
"Maybe not now. But things change. Relationships change. You can't be sure he wouldn't use it in the future," Derek says.
"I think you should tell him about Paige and Kate. He needs to know." Kane says looking at Derek. That's probably the only way Daniel is going to understand the risks and everything that could happen.
"Who are they?" Daniel asks before taking a sip of his Coke.
"Paige was my girlfriend. We went to high school together when we were fifteen."
If Daniel is shocked in any way that Derek used to have a girlfriend he doesn't let it show.
"We were in love and I told her my secret... and somehow Peter convinced me that she needed the bite if we wanted to be together forever. So, things happened and well, an alpha gave her the bite but it wouldn't take. She was suffering and she was going to die, so I... I had to kill her." Despite the nonchalant way in which Derek says the story, it's obvious to Daniel that it's all an act. There's a pain in his voice that totally betrays his expression.
"Really?" Daniel says raising his eyebrows.
"Yeah." Derek nods.
"I met Kate years later. She was older than me... and I thought she loved me. I was so stupid." Derek shakes his head. "I loved her and I trusted her. But she knew what I was from the start. She used me to get to my family and she burnt them alive in my own house. Only Cora and Peter survived."
"Holy shit," Daniel says. "She was a hunter."
"She was an Argent." Derek nods. "Chris's sister and Allison's aunt. She died years later."
"And she killed all your family," Daniel says as he tries to process all this new information. He's known the Argent family all his life and nobody had ever mentioned this woman who caused Derek so much pain.
"That's what hunters do. They find us and they kill us. And if you tell somebody your secret, there's always the chance of a hunter finding out. Not just about you. They'd know you're not alone. They'd look for your pack and they'd try to kill all of us. And believe me, you don't want that in your conscience," Derek says.
"Besides, if you told Jonathan, what if he wants the bite? What would you do then? Have you even thought about that?" Kane says.
"What do you think? Of course, I've thought about it. I'd tell him that it's not gonna happen. I'm not stupid."
"Nobody is saying you are," Kane says.
"But you don't know how some people are... Your father was a real pain in the ass when he found out." Derek reminds him. "He wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. As a result, he almost died. You know what happened."
"Sure, I know he turned into this kanima thing. They told me all about it and the Nogitsune years ago. They were trying to scare me for life..."
"That's not true." Derek shakes his head. "They wanted to be honest with you because they wanted you to know the risks. Their story wasn't some kind of fairytale, y'know? They were kidnapped by hunters and they could have died. You wouldn't be here right now if your grandfather and your pack hadn't found them in time."
"I know that." Daniel knows everything his parents went through when they got together and years later, with the car accident. "But the point is that they could be honest with each other when they were my age. I have to keep lying to his face every day, so if you ask me, I think they were lucky."
"You aren't just your wolf, y'know? It doesn't define who you are. And the fact is that you're half human, too. So, technically, you aren't lying," Derek says.
"There it is... I'm only half wolf, that's so convenient..." Daniel says. He's heard that too many times by now.
"You remind me so much of your dad when he was your age..." Derek smirks. "You have no idea."
"Must be my charming personality." Daniel grins.
"He didn't want anybody to tell him not to do something because he was human. He never cared how dangerous it was... he was as stubborn as you are." Derek smiles. "He got himself in trouble too many times, and he doesn't want that from you. He wants you to learn from his mistakes."
"The thing is... your human side is as strong as your werewolf side," Derek continues. "Your parents understand perfectly how you feel. You can't hold it against them."
"I know they do..." Daniel says.
"You're too young," Kane says. "When you find the right person at the right time. Nobody is going to stand in your way. Everybody wants you to be happy. You know that, right? You just need to be patient."
Daniel rolls his eyes dramatically. "Yeah, yeah. The right time... the right guy... be patient..." Daniel says, running his right hand through his hair in a way that automatically reminds Kane and Derek of Jackson.
"I can be patient. I've been doing it all my life," Daniel says with resignation.