"I can't believe you're letting Derek get away with this shit," Scott said over the thumping music. "Tell him to stay out of your personal life."

"I have, like a million times," Stiles replied, leaning back in his seat and surveying the dance floor. "It doesn't seem to sink in! Shelby Lamb keeps passing me pamphlets on abusive relationships and shaking her head sadly, and her friend Jess glares at me judgmentally. Fucking Derek."

"Fucking Derek," Scott commiserates. "She was really cute, too."

"And a runner!" Stiles said. "She totally could have outrun any shenanigans coming our way. She also loved horror movies; she probably would have fit right in with a werewolf pack. Derek's a dirty overreacter."

"Does he know we were coming here tonight?"

Stiles grinned. "Nope. I told him I was helping you with physics. Why it's his business how I spend every single evening I'll never know. Is he this invasive with the rest of you?"

"Not to that extent," Scott said, smiling and shaking his head at a guy who was trying to make eyes across the room. Stiles snorted. Every single time. Scott was way more popular at Jungle than he was; it used to annoy him, but now he was resigned. Objectively, Scott was pretty adorable. Not his type, of course, but Stiles could see the appeal. Besides the fact that they were best friends, Scott wasn't nearly rude enough for Stiles' tastes. Shelby probably wouldn't have lasted, come to think of it. She was awfully nice. "I guess he just thinks you need more protection or something. It's Derek, he's weird." Scott made dismissive hand gestures; even though they were mostly a cohesive pack now, and even though Scott and Derek really did act like wolfy brothers-in-arms, Scott would always be just slightly annoyed and perplexed by Derek. In his mind, Derek did creepy, weirdo stuff on the reg; this was just one more of Derek's idiosyncrasies. Usually Stiles was a Derek apologist, but in this case he really could not figure out Derek's motivation beyond being a massive pain in the ass, and he could do that without all the cockblocking.

"Yeah, he's going to turn me into a bubble boy in the very near future. I've lasted this long, the chances I'll get killed, or get someone else killed before graduation is only like, forty percent."

"Those are good odds," Scott agreed, nodding solemnly.

"Seriously, why do I have to be the asexual sidekick?" Stiles asked, getting back on subject. "Wait, do you think he just means dating? I mean, I can probably have anonymous sex with strangers, right?"

"You can do whatever you want, dude!" Scott said, clapping him on his shoulder. "Derek's not the boss of your penis!"

Stiles choked on air; Derek was the boss of his penis in many (many, many) fantasy scenarios, but in this case, Scott was right. He knew Derek really was worried about him and any potential romantic partners, but the bottom line was, he could take care of himself. He was not any more of a magnet for trouble than anyone else, no matter what Derek thought, and he was not relegating himself to a life of frustrating jerk-off sessions and lonely dinners with his dad. He was eighteen years old, dammit, and he was going to get some.

"That's why you're my best friend, Scott," Stiles grinned at him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go dance up on some dudes."

Stiles did that for awhile; he got some appreciative glances for his sweet dance moves (that was his story, and he was sticking to it), but no one really caught his eye. Maybe he should just drag Scott out to dance with him. If he was being truthful, he didn't really feel like hooking up with some random. He was just mad at Derek and wanted to prove to himself that the alpha didn't influence his every move. He made his way back over to his table, chuckling to himself when he saw Scott in conversation with someone. Every freaking time.

As he got closer, he noticed the subtle scenting of the air that signaled werewolf before the man turned around, a seductive smile on his face. Oh.

"Stiles," he said, all warm tones and glinting eyes. "It's so good to see you again."

Theodore Wolfe, a super hot, super rich werewolf actually named Wolfe. He was a beta in the Wolfe Pack (no shit) out of L.A.; they'd visited last year and Stiles vividly remembered Theo flirting outrageously with him at the time. Derek, surprise, surprise, hadn't been a fan. Apparently handsome and charming just didn't make good impressions on Derek. Maybe if Theo had been draped in gray and misery he and Derek could have bonded. As it was, he reminded Stiles of an even more predatory Chuck Bass and Stiles was caught feeling feeling both turned on and terrified.

"Hey Theo," he said, careful not to allow his voice to break. "Fancy meeting you here. Derek didn't mention you were visiting."

"It was a last minute thing," Theo said, patting the seat next to him. Stiles sat down, ignoring Scott's raised eyebrows. "I have to travel for pack business and I thought I'd drop by to say hello. I left a message for Derek. I was heading over there when I drove past Jungle and caught some familiar scents."

"You could not seriously smell me and Scott in all this mess," Stiles pshawed.

"You're right," Theo admitted. "I ran into your pretty redhead friend at that coffee shop you all took us to last year and she said you'd be here, and I quote, 'pretending that plaid was appropriate clubwear.' I don't mind it. It suits you. And I can smell you now, you know. I wouldn't forget that scent." Again with the eyes and the smile! He was seriously turning the flirt up to eleven, and Stiles couldn't help feeling flattered.

"Hey guys," Scott said, clearly uncomfortable with the amount of eye-fucking going on. "I think I'm going to head home. You okay here?"

"We're peachy," Theo said, sliding his chair closer to Stiles.

Fuck it. Theo was hot, Theo was obviously into him, and Theo was decidedly not a human. So there, Derek Hale.

"Yeah, I'll call you tomorrow," Stiles said, smiling at Scott as he grabbed his jacket and prepared to leave. "Thanks for coming out with me. That's fifteen minutes of interrupted Allison talk that I owe you now."

"I'm holding you to that," Scott said. "Bye, Theo, nice to see you again!"

"Alone at last," Theo said when he was gone, putting his hand on Stiles' denim-clad leg.

Stiles burst out laughing. "Theo, we're in the middle of a club, surrounded by people. Also you're being ridiculous."

Theo smiled back, but didn't move his hand. "Maybe I am, a little bit, but I've been wanting to get you all to myself since we met last year. I had to wait for an excuse to come into the territory again. Let's get out of here."

Stiles flushed; he could feel the heat radiating off of his face. No one had ever been that blatant in their interest, let alone someone as good-looking as Theo. Theo wasn't really Stiles' type; he was a little too slick, too superficial, and his interest in Stiles was clearly one hundred percent sexual, but Stiles decided that right now, he could work with that.

"Okay," Stiles said, licking his lips and watching as Theo's eyes locked onto his mouth. Shit, this was doing wonders for his ego. "Yeah, we can go."

"You two heading out? I got your message, Theo. Lydia said I'd find you here."

All of Stiles' Theo-built confidence fled as he flailed away from the table, turning to gape uncomprehendingly at Derek, who was apparently a fucking sorcerer as well as a werewolf. He'd literally just melted out of the crowd, dressed in his customary leather jacket and scowl.

"Derek, really?"

"Can I talk to you for a second, Theo?" Derek asked, not really giving him an out. Derek was the Alpha, Theo a visiting beta. He had to defer to Derek as long as he was in Beacon Hills.

Stiles turned incredulous eyes to Theo and watched as his shoulders slumped, all seductiveness draining out of him. He grimaced at Stiles and gave him an apologetic shrug. Stiles already knew how this was going to go. He sank back into his chair.

"Of course," Theo tried to smile at Derek. "I'm glad you got my message."

Derek led Theo out of Stiles' human earshot, but they were close enough that Stiles could tell it was not a friendly conversation. Derek gestured and looked angry while Theo tried to respond, shrinking under the irritation of an alpha. Finally Theo left, without even a backward glance at Stiles. Derek stalked back to the table, standing over Stiles and crossing his arms like he was disappointed in him, like Stiles had forgotten to take out the trash or something.

"Honestly, Stiles, Theo?" Derek asked, a world of judgment in his tone. "That guy is a gross scumbag. He looks like he buys stock in roofies!"

"No, he looks like hot, consensual sex, Derek," Stiles retorted. "So what, they have to pass a personality test now, too? What the hell is the problem with Theo? He's not a human, he's a supernatural creature, and its not like he's some strange omega I met in the woods."

"You can't date a wolf from another pack, are you insane?" Derek demanded, dropping into the chair across from Stiles. The fact that they were having this argument at Jungle just made everything even more surreal to Stiles. Derek was getting a lot of appreciative glances but Stiles definitely didn't want people thinking he was here with him, even if it would boost his profile. Stiles just wanted Derek to take a super dramatic flying leap off a cliff.

"Why the hell not?" Stiles threw up his hands. "This is getting out of hand, Derek."

"You're in my pack, Stiles," Derek said. "What if things got serious with him? Would you leave our pack for L.A.? You have to think about this stuff!"

"Okay, seriously, Derek, Theo and I were not going to start dating, we were going to have no-doubt extremely satisfying sex." Derek wrinkled his nose at that statement, but stayed silent. "Fine, I assume Danny, Lydia and Allison can't date other werewolves either, right?"

"Of course they can't, not right now," Derek smiled, obviously pleased that Stiles wasn't going to fight him. "It'll be different when you all go to college next fall. I mean, obviously people have to date outside their packs, both humans and werewolves, or it would lead to inbreeding."

"Derek, gross."

"But for now, it's best not to rock the boat," Derek went on. "We're a relatively young pack. I don't want the Wolfes to get any ideas about poaching."

"I am not a deer, I cannot be poached, Derek," Stiles protested. "Still, I guess a werewolf named Wolfe is kind of stupid."

"Exactly," Derek grinned again. "I told him last time to lay off; frankly he had a lot of nerve trying to get past me again. If he hadn't left the message I probably could have made a complaint, but he did follow protocol, even if he was being sneaky about it."

"Wait, you told Theo to leave me alone when they were here last year?" This was new information.

"You think he would have otherwise?" Derek raised his eyebrows. "He practically started panting when he met you, remember? It was disgusting. I was afraid he was going to fight me on it, but I reminded both him and his alpha that you were only seventeen. Did you send him a reminder about your birthday or something? I'm surprised he didn't show up at your party."

"Oh, that's really touching, Derek, you fighting for my honor," Stiles rolled his eyes. "However, as I've mentioned several times before, I am not a kid, and I am capable of making my own decisions. It's yucky that you all had that conversation behind my back."

"Its a good thing we did," Derek said, "as you were obviously ready to jump him, and seemed pretty keen last year, too. You saved Theo from a statutory rape charge and a probable gunshot from your father. Again, he is nasty, and I am seriously questioning your taste."

"Oh, shut up," Stiles said crossly. Maybe Theo was a tiny bit sleazy, despite being scorching hot, and maybe losing his virginity to him wouldn't have been the best idea Stiles ever had. So, adding in Stiles' appreciation of Derek and his everything, he was seriously questioning his own taste right then.