Chapter Two

Derek frowned at the bowl of batter as though it had deeply offended him, whisking it like he was pulverizing something.

"Do you always gotta be so aggressive?" Stiles wondered aloud from his place on the couch.

A pointed glare from the Sourwolf worked its trick.

"Never mind," the teen replied quickly. "You know what? Forget I said anything."

Derek returned to the batter, scowl fixing back into place, but he was a little gentler this time.

"Suppose I could've let you cook," Derek grumbled. "Even I like doing things besides ripping people's throats out."

That last bit was said with ironic amusement, and Derek's expression actually twisted into something resembling a smirk.

"What you making anyway Sourwolf?"

"Its a surprise," he said quietly. "And don't call me Sourwolf!"

"You know you like it," Stiles joked playfully.

Derek wasn't going to dignify that with a comment, rather he did or not. Some part of him enjoyed poking fun at the younger. They'd definitely started as enemies, but over time their relationship had changed.

Just last week Stiles had been under the control of a devious fox spirit, and Derek had felt like they were enemies again. He found it so easy to fall back into the same old routine. Hadn't life taught him you couldn't trust anyone?

Then it happened just like that- Stiles was free again. He was weak, fragile, human Stiles again, and reluctantly Derek admitted to himself that all was forgiven. Its not like it had been the boy's fault. Besides, hadn't he- Derek killed people?

His mind flashed to Paige immediately, experiencing an old wash of emotions for the only person he'd ever fell for at first sight, and for some reason his gaze shifted immediately to Stiles. Why was he looking at him and thinking about what he'd had with Paige?

Derek gulped, swallowing down the bile that rose in his throat. This emotion was too strong, whatever it was. Strong emotions weren't to be entertained, but ignored.

Stiles must have noticed his gaze because he was looking back now, just like he'd looked back in the locker room a few days ago when Derek had told everything. He'd finally confessed that Stiles was a friend, and that this Nogitsune episode had been crazy for him too. The two of them had actually hugged, but that wasn't likely to be repeated anytime soon.

Yet why did Derek find himself wanting just that?

oooOooo

"I told you I didn't put him up to it," Scott insisted for the second time now.

John continued standing in the McCall living room, hands on his hips as a light scowl played across his features.

"Yeah well I don't like it," the Sherriff said somewhat snappily. "There's a list of people I try not to envision my son being with more than necessary, and Derek Hale is pretty damn high on that list."

"You know he cares," Scott pointed out, giving John that pouty face that covered most every pleading emotion. "You know Derek just wants to protect him. To make sure something like the Nogitsune doesn't happen again."

"Why Derek Hale?" John asked skeptically. "When did Derek start caring about Stiles so much?"

Scott wished he knew the answer to that himself. The possibilities had bothered him for some time, but now it seemed deeper. He wasn't as stupid as Stiles played him for, even though he allowed his human best friend to think so at times. He could smell Derek's scent coming out of the locker room like he could smell a dead bird over a mile away. How many times had Stiles made some excuse to go- to seek Derek out?

He just wished that someone would be upfront with him for a change. He was the alpha after all.

oooOooo

Kate watched her partner work, scowling as she grew ever more impatient. What was he fiddling around with, and what good could some children's toys do?

"Any reason why we're fiddling around in a toy shop?" Kate asked, unable to stay silent any longer.

"All in good time," her male accomplice assured her, returning to the figure he was working on. "Soon we will punish Derek and his friends, and I will gather what I need."

"I still don't know what's in this for me," Kate pointed out with slight annoyance. "I didn't come back to take back seat to anybody."

"I thought you wanted Derek to suffer?" he asked, feigning mock surprise. "Wouldn't that get you what you want? Trust me. I know a far better way to inflict suffering on him than you could ever come up with. The way to hurt a man isn't through force, but through love, and taking it away."

Kate hated to agree that her partner had a point. Who had Derek loved that he still had left? She knew it wasn't her for damn sure. They'd never been anything...

Yet even as she thought it that evening years ago flooded back. His hands on her arms, caressing her body, sending shivers down her spine. She'd never been able to wipe herself of that day long ago when she'd taken a teenage werewolf's virginity, but he hadn't been like a virgin. She'd never known such pleasure with another man.

Yet what good did it do her to think about these thoughts now?