And here it is! The story I have been waiting for, for a long time. This one actually came from a dream and it's going to be very different from Praecantatrix, for those who have read that one. It's a darker, more solemn story with its happy moments. It's kind of AU, though it will stick with the plot a little.

This story is actually on my tumblr as well, and if you would like you can check it out. I actually run four blogs, but the one this story will be on is imaginecorps. I also run a blog focused mainly on Derek, with other teen wolf characters thrown in alphawithgreeneyes.

I really hope you like this one, and, as always, I don't own anything you recognize.

I was born into a powerful pack. My father was a well respected Alpha, and my mother was well respected as his mate. We were based in Colorado, but my father spent much of his time in California on business. Sometimes we went with him, but most of the time my mother had to stay and look after the pack in my father's absence.

I was fourteen when it happened, just barely having developed my werewolf abilities. My father was blinded by rage and power. My mother and I ran, travelling all over the country, looking for a new pack. But once word spread of what my father had done, no one wanted us. So we spent the next year and a half wandering as Omegas, trying to keep ourselves as hidden as possible.

We managed until we were found outside of Las Vegas. My mother was killed by the hunters, but I got away, wandering North through the desert and eventually the forest, unknowingly heading towards the same town my father lost himself in.

Talia Hale was the one who found me. Dirty, exhausted, grief stricken. I was dying and she took me back to her home, to her pack. She nursed me back to health, treating me like one of her own. She allowed me to join her pack and her family, becoming a mother to me in the absence of my own. Offering me something I hadn't had in a long time.

A home.

And that's when I met Derek. Talia said there was a reason I was drawn here, and she quickly found out that reason when I met Derek.

I knew he didn't like me from the start. I was just some Omega his parents take in because she had a feeling about me. I had ruined his life. He wanted freedom. He wanted to do whatever he wanted, not to be tied down by the laws of nature.

You see, mates are a rare thing. Two people, perfectly crafted for one another. Sounds like heaven right? Wrong. Derek and I were mates, and he hated me. Talia told me to give him time, let him mature. He'd figure it out soon enough. And she told me about Paige. What Derek had done. I recognized his problem immediately. He was grieving still. It had been months, but you can't get over someone's death that fast. Especially not someone you love.

So I tried to be nice to him, his mother putting us together as much as possible. I still had little to no control over my powers, and Talia took it upon herself to appoint Derek as my teacher. She had younger werewolves to take care of, so it was perfect. At least to her anyways. Derek didn't have that much control either, so Peter wound up babysitting the two of us. We didn't spend much time bonding, just trying not to tear each other apart.

But then, something about Derek changed. He was gone almost all the time, barely at home, always disappearing right after school. I didn't think much about it, as I spent most of my time away from him, at least until the night when everything changed.

"Come on, Derek. It'll be fun." I said as I passed him the basketball on the court, watching as he made a perfect shot.

"What's so fun about a band concert?" He asked, passing me the ball.

"I'm playing in it. You should come and support me. Besides, your parents are going."

"Because they feel obligated."

I dribbled the basketball, shooting from the free-throw line. "You should feel obligated too." I passed the basketball back to him. "I'm gonna head home. You coming?"

"Nah. I'll catch you later."

"Okay."

I grabbed my backpack, leaving the school. It was getting dark fast, winter coming quickly. I ran out to the car that was waiting, climbing in the passenger seat beside Peter.

"Derek coming?"

"No. He said he'd be home later."

Peter sighed before heading out towards the Hale house. I looked through the English book in my lap, trying to distract myself. I knew Derek hated me, but that didn't mean I hated him too. I cared about him. It hurt me a little, the way he pushed me away so easily.

Peter pulled up outside the house, voices floating out, many of them children. Peter and I walked into the house, greeted by several children running down the stairs. I could smell dinner wafting from the kitchen, and went upstairs to put my stuff in my bedroom. Cora ran out of her room, nearly bumping into me as I left mine, everyone in a haste to get downstairs for dinner.

I sat in my usual spot, across from Peter, Derek's spot empty next to him. Laura's spot was empty next to me as well. I could feel Talia's questioning glance on me, but I had already told her what I knew. I left Derek at the school and that was that.

After dinner, everyone had spread out, most of us older kids on our own doing homework. I was laid out on my bed, fast asleep on my Science book when I smelled it. It roused me from my sleep, the smell of smoke. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, my hearing picking up the sounds of screams. I could see the smoke now, billowing in under my bedroom door. I shot up off my bed, running to the door. The metal handle burned my skin, but it healed quickly. Flames had engulfed the backside of the house, quickly making their way towards the front. I covered my face and ran towards the staircase, but a beam fell right in front of me, blocking my path. I coughed, inhaling smoke as I desperately looked for a way around the beam.

"Aurora?" I heard a voice call.

"Peter?" I called back, coughing as more smoke traveled into my lungs.

A figure came out of the smoke on the other side of the beam.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, Aurora." He shouted.

"Peter, no!"

But he didn't listen. He grabbed the beam, his skin sizzling as it touched the fire. He lifted the beam enough so I could slip beneath it. I wrapped my arm around Peter, pulling him down the stairs, out into the cool air. Both of us collapsed on the dirt, my lungs constricting as they breathed in clear air. I coughed, my body healing itself. I looked down at Peter, not seeing his chest moving.

"Peter?"

The whole right side of his body was burned from where he'd held the beam up. Tears trailed down my face as the house grew eerily silent. I laid on the front lawn, my head against Peter's chest as sirens grew closer to the burning house. They were dead. All of them.

They found eight bodies. I was the only one still conscious that had come from the house. Peter was alive, but in a comatose state from his burns. I was sitting on a hospital bed in the ER, being questioned as the staff tried to help any one of my adopted family that they could, but most of them were too far gone.

I used the phone at the desk to call Laura, telling her to find Derek and bring him to the hospital. I didn't tell her what happened, leaving that for the police. I stayed on my hospital bed, waiting for them to clear me so I could go. The smell of sickness and death in the hospital, as well as the burned flesh from my family was making me sick. I knew Derek and Laura wouldn't want to see me, so I slipped out after they let me go, breathing in the fresh, rain soaked air.

I didn't know where I was going, but I just needed to walk. Twice now I had lost my family. It was becoming a worrisome pattern, one I didn't want to continue. I was soaked to the bone, but I kept walking, not worrying about the cold because I was too numb to feel it anyways.

The rain had stopped for the moment, but the air was still chilled. I barely noticed the car pull up next to me, the door opening, warm hand grabbing mine, stopping my movements. I spun around, surprised that someone had snuck up on me.

"Hey. We've been looking everywhere for you." Derek said, taking in my soaking wet appearance.

"Why? Your family's at the hospital. You should be there with them."

"You're family too. You're pack." He squeezed my hand. "You, me, Laura. We're all that's left." I could hear his voice break on the last word.

I stared at him, watching as he blinked back tears. I pushed aside any hurt I had felt, any anger I held towards the way he treated me, and I hugged him. I held him as he cried in my arms, in the middle of a street. Maybe things would change after all.