Derek Hale liked to be alone. It wasn't that he was anti-social, he just preferred his own company over anyone else's. Which was why one June evening found Derek walking alone through the woods surrounding his home.
It had still been light out when he had left. He glanced up at the traces of sunlight passing through the dense trees overhead and thought of how much his family would have enjoyed this. Walking with him, joking around, playing, smiling, laughing. Living. Since the fire two years before, Derek had spent countless hours thinking on each of their smiles, trying to remember the sounds of each one's laughter.
He pulled his weathered leather jacket tighter around himself. He should probably turn back soon. There had been recent reports of wild animal attacks in the area, but Derek had always been taught that those types of creatures were more afraid of humans than humans were of them.
He glanced at the now-setting sun and gave a dejected sigh before turning back toward home. He listened to the sounds of twilight encompassing him. An owl hooting, a chorus of crickets chirping, a twig snapping, a tree cracking and thudding to the ground. The resounding boom of the felled tree stopped Derek in his tracks. He turned toward the sound, listening again. A muffled scream made itself distinct among the clamor of sunset and Derek began sprinting toward it. He considered the wild animal attacks for a moment, but no wolf could knock down a tree on its own.
He had nearly reached the source of the noise when he heard a male voice shouting.
"GET DOWN!"
Derek fell to the ground, instinctively covering his head with his hands. He heard and felt the whistle of a large object flying by only a foot or two above him. What the hell was going on?
Hands gripped him by the sides and threw him roughly across a small clearing, where his shoulder connected with the trunk of a fallen tree. Derek slumped against the trunk and attempted to watch the events unfolding before him.
Sometime in all the commotion, the sun had set entirely, a narrow crescent moon taking its place in the sky. Derek squinted. Nearest to him stood a figure, probably male, teens-to-early-twenties, in a wide fighting stance, feet spread, arms ready to lash out, and were those… claws? It was so hard to see! Beyond the boy, there was another figure. Dark and huge, Derek might have said it was some sort of bear, but it was too big. It was engaged in some sort of fight with something that it already had pinned to the ground. Its opponent let out a scream, weaker, much weaker than the one Derek had first heard. The cry cut off abruptly with a movement from the hulking creature. The boy seemed to relax, walking up to the creature and whispering something to it. It turned, advancing toward Derek.
Derek stood up and steeled himself. That thing had just killed someone, and Derek was not about to go the same way without a fight.
Its glowing blood red eyes met Derek's icy blue, and suddenly it was shrinking, changing and then abruptly it wasn't a creature anymore. It was a teenaged boy, naked, covered in blood, and giving Derek a shy smile. He covered himself up with one hand and gave a small wave with the other.
"Hi. I'm Stiles. And you wouldn't happen to have any extra clothes on you, would you?"