Stiles felt his body buckle under the shock of the blow, his back arching and his stomach curling inward as Derek's fist felt its way deep into his gut, breaking a few bones in the process. Coughing hard, he felt all the breath shoot out of his mouth like a fountain and struggled to find it again.

Pulling his hand back, Derek smirked a bit as Stiles keeled over, barely able to stay on his feet. It was only the first blow and the boy was already wimping out. He wiped his hand against his sweaty brow before he started stalking in a circle around the recovering boy, like a vulture circling a dying prey.

Stiles winced as he felt his body pop into action, mending itself from the inside out. He was sure that if he wasn't a werewolf, that blow along would have landed him in the hospital for days. "Now, that wasn't nice," Stiles whispered, spitting a bit of blood onto the floor at his feet. Great, and now I have internal bleeding too, he thought, "What have you got in your fists, bricks?"

"Man up, Stilinski," Derek sneered, the corner of his mouth twirled a bit, hinting at his amusement.

"It's kind of hard to do that… when you're… beating the wolf outta me," Stiles gasped, finally able to breathe normally again. Standing up straight, unfolding from the now fully receded pain, he rolled his shoulders back, trying to regain his wolfie self-confidence. "Why are you going all Ike Turner on me anyway?"

"I told you," Derek groaned in irritation, rolling his eyes, "You need to control your anger. Control your anger and you can find your anchor. Find your anchor and you can control when you turn."

"Yeah, that all sounds well and good, but I'm not particularly angry right now… just trying to figure out if I have to poo now. No big deal," he shrugged.

"You need to take this seriously," Derek warned. Stopping, he narrowed his eyes and Derek could feel them bore into his very core.

"I am, okay demon wolf? Just… give me a second," Stiles huffed. Rolling his shoulders again, he lightly started to job in place, throwing a few uncoordinated practice punches at the empty air. Nodding in approval, he smiled tauntingly at Derek, "Okay… Hit—"

His words were cut short when Derek's brick of a fist came flying toward his face. Playing out like a movie, he could see it in his head before it happened: The moment when Derek's fist would collide with his jaw, snapping it to the side and off the hinge, teeth flying and blood spurting like he was a cartoon character. When it actually did happen, Stiles really only felt the tumble to the floor, his forehead smacking against the wood floor roughly before he rolled onto his back. He bent his legs at the knee, breathing hard and pinching his eyes shut as the force of the blow rippled through him over and over, "Fuck," he hissed, slamming a fist on the ground.

"Angry yet?"

"Fuck you, Hale," he muttered, blinking his eyes open to see Derek's face looming over his own, only inches away. Derek wasn't even deterred by the heavy puffs of hair leaving his mouth and nose.

"Are you angry?" Derek barked.

"A little…"

That was all the motivation Derek seemed to need. Reaching down, he wrapped his hand tightly around the boy's abused neck, lifting him off of his back and into the air like he weighed no more than a piece of paper.

Finding not even the courage to wiggle or fight, Stiles hung limply in his grasp, letting his body ache and groan as he struggled to breathe. Looking at Derek, the vision of him started to puddle as tears rimmed in his eyes.

"And now you're crying," Derek mocked him, squeezing harder until Stiles heard a loud crack and pop, his bones giving way to the immense pressure and bending awkwardly in different directions. He could feel his body trying to heal. Needing to heal, but Derek's hand prevented it, which meant Stiles couldn't breathe.

His head started to throb wildly as his heart whimpered through pumps. Letting out a soft squeak of pain and fear, Stiles mustered what little strength he had to bring his legs up. Bending them at the knees, he jack hammered them as hard as he could into Derek's bulky chest, knocking himself free of the vice like grip.

His body dribbled to the floor in one fluid motion and without even giving his body time to heal, Stiles leapt forward, driven by white hot rage, into Derek's stomach. Catching the older man's gut against his shoulder, he drove him hard into the wall, feeling the air around them crack as the stone splintered and then shattered in memory of the force. Pulling back sharply, Stiles put a few yards between them, his body finally starting to heal, and recognition of his new found strength flooding through his veins.

Derek coughed loudly, a laugh lazily slipping out after, "W-Where did that come from?" He said his body moving awkwardly, still in shock from the sudden blow. He pressed a hand against the damaged wall to steady himself, the smile still lingering over his lips as he looked at Stiles.

"I… don't know," Stiles said in all honesty. The pain was gone, like it'd never happened and he felt energized. But there was something off, but he couldn't pinpoint just what it was.

"Well… Now we know that anger makes you shift," Derek breathed slowly, pointing a finger at him.

Stiles furrowed his brow, confused and scooted toward the bathroom quickly. Slamming his hands down onto the sink, he stared at the grotesque creature in front of him. Skin pulled tight at the brow and his features tilted and amplified near his eyes and mouth, he looked like a monster. Teeth extended into fangs and his eyes, a gem like yellow, he recognized himself as the beast that he'd seen Isaac and Scott and Derek turn into a million times before. Swallowing, he shook his head, trying to pry the image from his head. He exhaled hard, slamming his hands down again in frustration before he felt a hand on the small of his back.

Looking at his reflection again, his eyes focused on Derek, standing behind him, the serious look on his face, "We will practice controlling your anger a bit more, later. And then, we'll have to find your anchor," he said simply before walking away, leaving Stiles to deal with the mortification of his new appearance, new found powers, and the new life that he was destined to lead.

Stiles knew that it was only a matter of time until his Dad started to worry. Convincing his Dad that he was staying at Scott's house, without letting him talk to Scott's mom, had been hard. But what was even harder, was getting Scott to play along with the charade. This was only because Scott found himself hard pressed to cover for Stiles when he actually had no idea where he was, what he was doing, or who he was with.

"Look, I promise I'm okay! I just… I needed to get away for a few days, okay?" Stiles all but begged as he spoke to Scott over the phone. He wished he could have done this face to face, to explain the subtext through his expressions, like he always did.

Scott sighed into the receiver, "And you're sure you're okay? Like, you're with someone that's cool, at least?"

"Yeah, yeah, I promise," Stiles said rapidly. His eyes flickered up as he stared at Derek, who was perched stoically on the desk, hovering over him. Stiles rolled back a bit in the desk chair, putting a bit of space between them.

"Okay. If you need anything, make sure you call me," Scott said slowly, clearly.

"Yeah, I will, don't worry," he laughed softly, Answer your damn phone next time, he thought, his eyes flickering away from Derek to find a random spot on the opposing wall to stare at. He could still see the damage he'd done to the wall when he'd slammed Derek and a false sense of pride caused him to smirk a bit as he hung up his phone, passing it back to Derek.

"Good job," Derek nodded and stood up straight, scooting past Stiles, shoving the phone, not so discretely, into his back pocket.

"Do I get a cookie?"

Derek's lip twitched, un-amused by the quirk.
"Sorry, I was just… kidding," Stiles puckered his lips awkwardly as his head cocked to the side, "But seriously… do I at least get a doggie biscuit?"

Derek growled low in his throat and glided over swiftly, smacking the boy hard on the back of the head, "That's the only thing you're getting.

"Ow!" Stiles laughed, not even recognizing the pain. He was more amused with himself for getting under Derek's skin. No matter how scared he'd been lately, about changing, he was still himself. It'd taken the entirety of the previous night to realize, but he was Stiles and he wasn't ever going to not be Stiles. "Not so rough, Derek," he cooed shyly, "At least buy me dinner first," he added coolly, throwing Derek a coy smile.

Stiles felt like he was awake, but common sense told him that he was asleep. His body was racked with sweat and his limbs were tight, unable to call to them in his unconscious state. He knew he was sleeping, so why the hell couldn't he wake?

His feet were light against the ground. The smell of blood still laced through the air, catching his nose and drawing him closer to the source. A man, wounded and calling for help, bleeding profusely out of his leg. The man was scared, Stiles could smell it on him, and panicked, heart slapping against his chest in such a rapid, sloppy rhythm that it almost made Stiles' head hurt. But the ragged beat was drawing him near, singing sweetly like a lullaby luring him into a dreamless sleep. And god damnit, he wanted to eat it; the stupid, erratic rhythm.

He lurched forward, more slowly and he could see the whites of the man's eyes round perfectly as his voice carried to a higher pitch, screaming in terror at the sight before him. Stiles came closer, slowly, slowly, and it was only moments before the man's neck was in his teeth. Snapping and crunching his jaw, he felt his fangs roughly gnaw on the dead man's spine, ripping until he was able to peel the flesh from his leaking throat like he'd been born to do it. It was so easy, and quick, and so damn delicious.

The screaming stopped; the drumming beat of the heart fell into silence. The man was dead and he was still chewing, and chewing, and his body was amped, ready to ravage something else alive. He needed someone else.

Snapping upward, Stiles felt himself pulled from the grim scene by two large, strong hands. Breathing heavily, he looked around frantically in the darkness, his hands shooting out blindly to grab on to whoever was holding him. Whoever it was that had rescued him.

"Stiles… Stiles!" Derek's voice was loud and drilled against his ears in its urgency.

Stiles, still shaking and racked with the terror of what he'd just done, fell against the larger man, his hands desperately grabbing at his shoulders before letting his fingers run down his chest. It was so hard to breathe, like someone had reached into his body, sucked out all the air, and then started to squeeze his lungs until they burst.

"Stiles!" Derek rested his hands on the boy's face, pulling it to arch upward, looking down into Stiles' deep brown eyes.

"W-What's h-happening to m-m-me?" Stiles shivered through the words, soft puppy-like whimpers falling over his lips unintentionally.

"Friday's a full moon, Stiles… You're going to have dreams. Sometimes they'll come every night for weeks on end," the man shook his head, "I'm sorry…" was all he could say, his eyes wandering away from the image of the wounded boy.

Stiles didn't wait for another word as he hugged the older man tightly; tears spilling from his eyes like the blood had spilled from the man's neck. He couldn't remember anymore if it was a dream, or if it had actually happened and his regular self had been watching from the inside, unable to stop or control himself. If this was what being a werewolf was like, he didn't want to have any part of it.

"I'll figure this out," Derek promised, hesitantly wrapping his arm around the trembling boy's torso, a comforting hand resting lightly against the back of his head, "I'll save you, Stiles. I promise."

A/N: Please leave comments and reviews! They are greatly appreciated and will help me figure out what direction I want to take the rest of the story in (depending on how you guys feel about the progression and your interest level!). This is my FIRST Sterek Fic, so all criticism is welcomed :D Hope you enjoy the story~