"I think I've heard of this before," I told Scott, trying to keep my heartbeat controlled – now that his hearing was heightened I had to try to be more careful with these things. "It's called… lycanthropy," I told him, somewhat testing his reaction, and fake howling to make it sound like I was joking around a bit.
How was I going to tell him? He would never believe me, and how pissed would he be when he found out I'd been lying to him for as long as I had known him?
How did I tell him I was the Alpha of my pack?
I almost snorted. My 'pack.' I was my pack, everyone else was gone. I was alone. I just kept to myself, hid my scent as best as I could, and didn't tell anyone anything.
Scott shoved me after I made my seemingly smartass comment, and I laughed. He would eventually find out and I guess we would just have to deal with it when the time came. Scott would understand when I explained it, but I would have to explain it soon or-
Fuck. Oh fuck.
Werewolf. Close by. Don't look around. Don't make any movements that seem territorial or threatening. You don't know who it is or how they'll react. Just pretend to keep looking for the inhaler and then 'happen' to see him standing there.
He was being pretty creepy, just fucking standing there and making no move to say anything. Okay pal, this is definitely where the creepy, lurker, 'dangerous' stereotype comes from.
I turned, kicking at the leaves and casually looked up, making it seem natural. I jumped slightly, pretending to be startled by him like most humans would be. But I didn't have to pretend to speed my heart up because holy shit.
He was absolutely beautiful. My wolf was straining to demand he show me respect as an Alpha but my wolf also wanted to jump his beautiful bones. I was using all the control I had to, well, control myself. I smacked Scott, probably harder than I normally did, but he wouldn't really notice.
He started walking over to us, and that's when I heard it. His heart was racing, too. And I could smell his arousal – holy shit did this man smell ridiculously good. I might have thought he was attracted to me if he hadn't been staring at Scott and barely even acknowledging my presence.
My wolf was pissed, which was making it even harder to control everything. Even my Alpha control was stretched to breaking point. But I could do this, I just needed to anchor myself.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, sounding rude but I could hear the underlying defensiveness. I had to, again, squash down the impulse to roar and demand respect. I ran my hand over my hair, the way my mom used to when she was trying to calm me down. Everyone just thought it was a nervous habit by now, which was fine with me.
"This is private property," he added, and it almost seemed like he was trying to explain his hostility.
"Uh, sorry man," I tried to keep this civil, "We didn't know." What a lame excuse, but I needed to make sure Scott didn't get territorial and defiant. This was Hale Pack land. I knew that, but I had thought it was deserted, that Derek and Laura had left and had no intention of returning. But, I realized that they must have come back because of the new Alpha killing that girl. It was on their land, after all. It was likely they didn't know about another wolf having an eye on the situations here, and Laura was an Alpha, so it was her responsibility, just as much as mine. I should probably go see her some time to talk to her about us maybe working together.
Maybe it would be nice to not be so alone.
But now I realized that this was Derek Hale. And my goodness, he grew up well. I hadn't even recognized him – not that he would have remembered me at all. I looked nothing like I had the last time we had seen each other, either. I probably smelled really different, too.
For some reason that I couldn't explain, I was still disappointed that he didn't recognize me. Maybe because, though he looked very different than when I last saw him, I still recognized him. But then again, he wasn't hiding his scent, he wasn't hiding who he was.
"We were just looking for something," Scott began to explain, dragging me out of my thoughts again. "But, uh, forget it."
Scott's wolf was getting territorial, which was something I was trying to avoid. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My patience and stress levels were at it's limits, and I knew that my eyes were flashing behind my eyelids. Sometimes I had a hard time controlling them, despite the fact that I had been an Alpha for years now.
I opened my eyes to see Derek wordlessly tossing Scott the inhaler, giving no explanation as to how he had it, how he knew it was Scott's and that was what we had been looking for, nothing. Honestly, I wasn't surprised that he had it. He had probably seen us last night, maybe he picked it up because he figured we would be back for it. Or maybe he just knew how expensive they were.
He left then, again giving no explanation, and I turned to Scott, not hearing what he said to me.
"Dude, that was Derek Hale, you remember, right?" I whispered, pretending that I didn't think he could hear me. But I knew he could. "He's only, like, a few years older than us," I said. Four years, to be exact. But, there was no reason for me to know that.
"Remember what?" Scott asked. Sometimes he could be so dense, and now I felt terrible. Derek was still close enough to hear me. He was actually standing just far enough away that humans wouldn't know that he was there. And Scott had no idea what his abilities were or how to use them.
I dropped my voice some more, hoping he couldn't hear me and still knowing that it was no use. "His family? They all burned to death in a fire like ten years ago," I told him, my voice barely a whisper. It was only five years ago, I had been 11 when it had happened. Derek had been 15.
I heard Derek's heart stutter and his breath catch, and I had to stop myself from going over to him and comforting him. Or stop myself from crying.
"Wonder what he's doing back?" Scott asked. I just shrugged. I couldn't exactly tell him that I knew exactly what he was doing back. We walked out of the forest, towards the Jeep so that I could bring Scott to work.
I guess I knew what I was doing tonight.
"Hey dad," I greeted him when I walked into the Sheriff's Station. I tilted my head towards his office, signalling that I needed to speak privately with him. He nodded, and we moved into the room, closing the door behind us.
"Hey, what's up, how was your day?" My dad asked me, giving me a brief hug. He wasn't a wolf, but he knew that we liked physical contact and scenting. He had learned a lot from my mom for which I was grateful.
"It was good, Scott and I went into the Reserve to look for his inhaler," I told him.
"I still wish you hadn't brought Scott out," he cut in.
"I know dad, me too," I said sadly. "But I had to, you needed me out there, and it would have been easier if he was there and I could say we were just curious," I explained yet again. My dad had needed me to help him find the other half of the body, and if I hadn't invited Scott out he would have been suspicious if I told him about it and hadn't gone to look or invited him along.
But then the dogs had gotten too close and caught my scent and Scott hadn't just come forward when dad had called for him, so I had had to leave him and by the time I realized he had been bitten it had been too late to help.
"There's nothing to be done about it now," my dad said, touching my arm to comfort me slightly. It helped a little. "Anyways, what happened at the Reserve?" He asked me. I had given up trying to figure out how my dad knew when I wanted to tell him something a long time ago.
"I saw Derek Hale. I'm thinking him and his sister heard about the Alpha kill and, because it was on their pack's land, they came back to check it out. I'm going to go back when I leave here and go let them know who I am and offer to help them. They might be able to help us find the Alpha, too," I let it all out in a rush, like I usually did when telling my dad any werewolf stuff. I just always felt relieved to finally be able to tell someone that it all came falling out of me.
My dad took a second to respond, probably trying to let it all sink in, trying to understand what the rush of words were. Then he nodded slowly.
"Derek Hale… He was only a few years older than you right? And his sister was who took care of him right? Laura?" I nodded. "Okay, yeah, I remember them. All the Hales were good people, I remember your mom liked them quite a bit. Okay, so you're going to ask for help? Or see how everything goes first?" He asked me.
"I'm going to see how my introduction goes, and then maybe ask them for help? Or see if they offer? They may not want to work with me, considering I'm a very inexperienced Alpha and may be of no use to them," I explained to my dad.
"Well, you're always of great use to me, son," my dad told me, putting his hand on my cheek. I leaned into it slightly, my wolf was always happy when my last parent was around. Dad's presence was always very comforting and calming for me.
"Thanks dad," I smiled at him, earning myself a smile back. "Okay, I'm going to go see him now, Scott's at work so I won't have to worry about anything with him for now," I told him. He hugged me again.
"Be safe, I know the Hale's are good people, but we haven't seen them in five years. And a lot can happen in five years," he told me, his eyes growing dark. We both knew that all too much. My mom had been alive five years ago.
"I'll be careful dad," I promised him. "I'll see you tonight when you're done work and I'll let you know how everything works out." I left his office, smiled at the officers there, and went back out to my Jeep.
I could feel myself getting really nervous. I wish I could say it was just because I was revealing myself to someone for this first time in years, but that wasn't all, that was barely any of the problem. No, I was also nervous because I was going to see Derek again. And he was just ridiculously attractive. Like he had always been a good-looking kid, like he was adorable and sweet in that 15-year-old way, but now…
"Focus, Stiles!" I told myself, because I was getting far too worked up over him and I needed to get my feelings under control. I could not have my chemo-signals basically pointing to myself like a neon sign telling him how much I wanted to bone him. That would not be helpful to the situation at hand.
"Okay, just relax, this isn't that big of a deal, I remember Laura being really cool, and Derek hadn't seemed too bad today. Just sad, and a little defensive, but that's to be expected – his family had been murdered on that land…" I rambled to myself, trying to distract from my 'Derek is sexy' feelings until I got to the reserve.
I jumped out of the Jeep when I got there, getting excited. I got to run, and the woods was the only place I got to do it. I didn't do it much, just in case anyone saw, especially a hunter. And now I needed to be particularly careful about hunters because the Argent's were back in Beacon Hills and, though they had a code, they weren't exactly known for being friendly to any werewolves. Age didn't matter. Sometimes actions didn't either.
I began running, and all my worries were forgotten, if only for a moment. It felt so nice to just be again, it had been too long. I was just feeling the air rush past me, the leaves under my feet, smelling the trees and – fuck!
I felt something hard hit me, and suddenly I was under a dark mass of teeth, growls, and glowing blue eyes.
"Derek?" I wheezed. Getting hit by a wolf as solid as Derek would definitely knock the wind out of anyone, especially if that someone was a gangly, scrawny teenager, Alpha-status aside.
"Wait," Derek half-growled, sounding confused. "You're the kid from earlier, the friend of the kid that got bit," he moved off me and sat on the ground. He was back to being human again, and of course my heart picked up again.
I mean, it was already racing from being tackled. But still.
"Uh, yeah, hey," I said, eloquent as usual. "Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, Scott doesn't know… that I'm… y'know…" I tried to explain. I was off to a good start.
"Wait, he doesn't? How long have you been a werewolf?" He asked me, probably surprised that I had been able to keep this a secret from Scott.
"I was born, like you," I told him.
"You… know who I am?" He asked, seeming a little suspicious again.
"Oh, yeah! Fuck, sorry I forgot I still haven't told you my name! We've actually met before, our moms were good friends," I told him. "I'm Stiles, I don't know if you remember me all that much, you're four years older than me. But my-"
"Your mom is Claudia Stilinski," he cut in. I felt my heart drop. "Yeah, I remember, I'm surprised I didn't recognize you. You don't smell… the same," he told me.
"Yeah, I hide it now, because my mom, she uh-she," I always had a hard time telling people this. I flashed my eyes, he would understand.
"Oh," he breathed, realizing that she was dead and that's why I was an Alpha now. "Stiles I'm so sorry," he told me. I could hear that he meant it.
"Thanks, it's been a few years now," I replied, forcing myself to keep my grief in check. I could see he knew what was going on in me and he understood. Of course he did.
"I'm assuming you came to ask me what I was doing back here," he guessed, and I was grateful for the subject change. I nodded. "I came looking for Laura, actually," he told me.
"Looking for her? She isn't with you?" I had just assumed they had come back together, they were the only two left in their pack.
"She's dead."
I was frozen for a moment, the overwhelming scent of despair, loss, grief, was almost suffocating. I leaned forward to grab his hand before I had even thought about what I was doing. He looked taken aback but he didn't seem bothered by it – he actually squeezed my hand back.
"It was her… Oh Derek, I'm so sorry, I know you two were close," I told him. I knew there wasn't much I could do in way of comfort. "She came looking for the Alpha, right?" I asked him.
He just nodded. I could see he was doing everything he could to control his emotions, which was something I understood well. After my mom had died I had torn apart most of my house because I couldn't keep my temper in check.
"I'm going to help you find this Alpha. I've been looking already, my dad has been trying his best to help me, but he's human and can only do so much," I offered.
"Your dad?" He asked, and I realized why that might be confusing.
"Yeah, sorry, he's the Sheriff, so he'll let us know everything we need to know. I'm going to need to tell him that it was Laura that we found…" I trailed off. I wasn't sure how much Derek knew about his sister's murder and I didn't know how much he wanted to know.
"I have the other half of her body, buried beside my house. I'll need to tell him, won't I?" He asked me. He sounded so lost, I just wanted to do everything I could to help him.
"I can go with you, if that'll help?" I offered. And then another question came to mind. "Where are you staying?" I hadn't even thought about it, but I had only seen him in these woods.
"That would probably be much easier, having you there," he told me. I raised my eyebrow, waiting for an answer to the second question. "… And I'm staying in my house," he added quietly.
"Okay, not anymore," I told him. He raised his eyebrow at me, a mirror of what I had just done but I knew it looked much better on his face than mine. "You're staying with me."
"Stiles, I can't, I'll be fine," he argued.
I growled, flashing my eyes at him. I wasn't going to let him sleep in the burnt-out shell of the place where his family burned alive, in the forest where his sister had been torn apart.
He growled back, but more out of frustration than a challenge. I may not be his Alpha, but I was still an Alpha.
"Fine," he ground out between his teeth.
"Don't sound so pleased," I chuckled, jumping up, offering him my hand. He looked at it like he wasn't sure if he wanted to accept it, before taking it and letting me pull him to his feet.
"Thanks," he said grudgingly. I laughed again. He looked so grumpy, his eyebrows drawn together, and his mouth set in a scowl. It was pretty ridiculous that he was so annoyed that I was making him accept my hospitality.
We walked to my Jeep in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable, which for me was unusual because silence always made me uncomfortable. I got in the front seat and started her before I realized Derek hadn't gotten into the passenger seat.
"Derek, you might as well get in the Jeep, you know that if I really wanted to, I would be able to make you," I warned him, a slight smirk on my face and my eyes flashing red at him again as a reminder.
He growled again and climbed into the vehicle, slamming the door harder than necessary.
"Hey, watch yourself! She deserves to be treated with respect," I scolded him.
"'She'?" He asked me, and I could hear the amusement in his voice. I looked at him and could see the same amusement lighting up his already gorgeous eyes and I was momentarily stunned. My mind went blank and my other senses caught up with me and I realized how strong his scent was in this in such a small space. It smelled even better when it was this close, this concentrated.
I shook my head, clearing it and trying to regain my composure. It's a good thing I normally got distracted because it probably wasn't that weird for him to watch me pull myself back to the present. I really needed to get better control of myself because if I gave off any scents or chemo-signals that indicated my attraction to him… My being an Alpha wouldn't save me from him probably ripping me in half.
"Of course the Jeep is a 'she,'" I told him, my tone implying that it was the most obvious thing. "Look at her! She's gorgeous! Magnificent! If she was a woman, and if I was into women, I would probably go for the human-version of this Jeep," I was rambling, mostly trying to distract myself from showing any indication that I wanted to fuck Derek senseless and not really paying attention to what I was saying.
"That's... what the fuck?" He asked me, beginning to laugh more than I had seen him laugh ever – not that that was saying much. I couldn't help but smile, he looked so perfect when he laughed, it was my favourite expression that I had seen on his face so far.
"I'm just saying, she's gorgeous and she deserves to be treated gently," I told him, chuckling.
"Okay, I'll remember that next time, I apologize," he told me, a smile still spread over his face.
"Thank you," I told him, flashing him a smile of my own.
We drove in silence after that until we got to my place, and again, it wasn't as awkward as silence normally was for me. It was nice, very comfortable.
I pulled in the drive way, parking where there would be enough room for my dad when he got done work.
"Okay, so, my dad isn't home yet, but I'll make us dinner and he can reheat it when he gets done work," I told Derek, jumping out of the Jeep and going to unlock the door. I was glad it was dark outside at this point because that meant none of my neighbours could see me coming home with Derek Hale and assuming the worst. I just didn't want to deal with it when it got out that he came home just when his sister turned up dead. People were assholes and loved to gossip and it made my dad's life very difficult sometimes.
"Awesome, I'm starving," he told me, following me in the house and taking his shoes off, leaving them on the mat beside mine. "Wait, you can cook?" He asked me, seemingly surprised.
"Well, after mom died, Dad was working a lot and was never really that great at cooking, so I taught myself. I was getting very tired of eating takeout," I told him, laughing a bit. He smirked in a knowing way.
"Yeah, that was the same with Laura and me," he told me, sitting in the kitchen chair like he had been here a million time already. Which he may well have been, whenever Talia came over and brought him with her.
"Well, you let me know if my cooking is shit, because Dad might be lying just to appease me," I told him. I pulled out some pork chops, potatoes, green beans, and carrots. This was actually what I had been planning on making for tonight anyways. It was a lucky coincidence that I had pulled out enough food for leftovers when taking it out of the freezer yesterday.
"I'll be sure to let you know, it will probably be fine though," he assured me. "I haven't had a kitchen for a week, so I haven't been able to cook anything. I've been eating a lot of take out and I am also pretty tired of it," he told me, smirking a bit.
"Well, you won't find takeout here that often, so you will be well-fed while staying here," I told him, possibly a little more enthusiastically than necessary. I was just excited that I could help someone, that was all, I swear.
"I really appreciate you letting me stay here," he told me. His obvious sincerity caught me off guard for a minute, I was used to him being either grouchy or smirky.
"Uh, yeah, no problem," I stuttered. I turned around to the food, trying to hide the blush creeping up my neck and into my cheeks.
It was silent again while I was cutting up vegetables and cooking the pork chops, but I could tell he was thinking about something, so I didn't try to break the silence. Just waited until he felt like talking.
"So," he started, once I was done and we were just sitting at the table, drinking soda and waiting for everything to finish cooking.
"So," I prompted when he didn't continue his thought. He seemed to be struggling with how to start what he was trying to say. He took a deep breath, seeming to prepare himself.
"So, you're gay," he said.
I nearly choked on my soda. It wasn't exactly a secret, but I honestly hadn't been expecting that that was what he was trying to say.
"Oh my god," he said, sounding panicked – did he forget I was a werewolf and choking on soda wasn't going to kill me? His hand hovered over my back, maybe unsure of whether or not I needed help. I held my hand up to let him know I was fine.
"Y-yeah, I'm gay," I confirmed once I had finally stopped coughing.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to… upset you, or anything," he said awkwardly.
"No! No, it's fine, it isn't a secret or anything," I told him quickly. "No, it was just I wasn't expecting that. How did you know though?" I asked him.
"Earlier you said if your Jeep was a woman, and if you were interested in women, you would probably be interested in the human-version of your Jeep," he told me. He looked extremely confused at the fact that I did not remember saying that.
"Oh," I replied. "Okay, yeah, that sounds like something I would say. Sorry, sometimes I ramble when I'm nervous and don't even realize what I'm saying. Okay, yeah, I am gay, 100% like dudes," I began to ramble again before clamping my lips together to stop the words.
"You were nervous?" He asked. Fuck, I was not doing a good job controlling myself. I just nodded, not trusting myself to only say what was necessary.
"Why?" He asked, sounding slightly hurt. He definitely looked a little hurt. And I didn't want that. I really didn't want him to be hurt by me in any way.
"Because you're really hot!" I blurted, yelling way too loudly for him to be sitting three feet away from me. I slapped my hands over my mouth, my eyes widening in horror. I would have run for it if I wasn't frozen to the spot.
Derek's eyes were also slightly wider than usual, and his mouth was hanging open a little as well. He looked like he had just been punched and was still in shock. His eyes adopting a slightly blue glow was when I snapped out of it, jumping out of my chair and backing up against the counter.
"Holy fuck, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say that, please don't kill me," I was speaking much too fast and it was lucky that Derek wasn't human because I don't know if he would have been able to understand me if he was.
"Stiles, relax," Derek said, but I couldn't hear him over the sound of my absolute panic and embarrassment.
"I can't believe I just fucking said that out loud." Derek was getting out of his chair. I still wasn't paying attention and I was pacing now. "I have been trying to control myself all fucking day and I had been doing so well, but I guess I was focusing too much on masking my scent, so you couldn't smell how badly I wanted you." I didn't really notice the spike in Derek's heartbeat as he walked towards me. "But you just looked so sad that I might have been nervous around you or something and I didn't want to ever be the reason you were sad, ever, and I just couldn't hold the words in and now you're probably going to kill me or punch me or something, which I get, I totally get-"
"STILES!" Derek grabbed my shoulders and stopped my pacing, forcing me to look in his eyes. That was not helpful with my nerves and attraction to him.
"Oh god, please don't-"
"Stiles, I'm not going to kill you, I'm not upset," he told me very calmly, and he meant it.
"Wait, really?" I asked, totally stunned. He let go of my shoulders, going to the stove to turn it off because the food was done and was probably about to burn. He grabbed plates and dished out the food.
"Yeah, it's fine," he told me, going to sit down at the table with our plates. He looked at me and smirked. "Sit down and eat Stiles, it's delicious," he said after taking a bite.
I grinned, relieved that the food was good and that I wasn't going to die, throwing myself back into my chair.
"I'm sorry I kinda freaked out," I apologized, a little embarrassed. "I didn't say anything too bad, did I?"
He hesitated for half a second before saying, "No. Don't worry about it. And besides," he added, smirking at me again. I was beginning to think it was his permanent expression when he wasn't scowling.
"You aren't the first gay guy to be attracted to me."
Hello! Thank you for reading!
I will be continuing this story for sure, but I can't guarantee how quickly I will be updating so you will have to be patient with me. I'm in my second year of university so I try to write as much as I can but I don't always have time. I'm only writing this and posting it so that I have something that I love doing this much to look forward to.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter! I have no idea where this is going or how long it will be so I am looking forward to where this story take me.
Let me know what you think! Review/Favourite/Follow! Thanks again! I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as I possibly can!