Lydia's List 2

Derek waited patiently as Lydia looked over her list, seemingly deciding what topic to pick up first. She had taken quick notes while they played truth or dare earlier, but had been writing most of the evening, probably filling in little details or coming up with more questions, so it surprised Derek when she leveled another glare at him, pursed her lips and put the notebook aside.

"Don't think you're getting off easy. It seems another line of questioning concerning recent events might be in order." Derek furrowed his brow but nodded none the less. He wasn't sure how much information he could lend on this subject, having just figured it out for himself and still being confused and worried as to his actions in the last few hours. "How is being your mate going to affect Stiles? Is it typical for werewolves to mate with humans or is this going to be dangerous for him?"

Stiles straightened up next to him, apparently more invested since he was the topic. "Affe… affect me?" His heart beat picked up and Derek draped an arm over his shoulders, hoping the touch would have the same calming effect on his mate as it had on him moments before.

"There are probably some differences between wolves and human mates that we're going to have to look into, but from what I've seen we become more aware of each other and-"

"What do you mean?" Stiles was asking, and Derek couldn't help moving all of his attention to him.

"I think it's already been happening. I haven't scared you when I come to your house in months-" Derek is cut off by Stiles laughing.

"Come to my house! You mean crawl in through my window at 3am or hide in the shadows until I turn on a light and have a heart attack!"

"But that's what I mean. You haven't been turning on the lights. You just start talking." Stiles stared at him as he spoke and for a minute Derek forgot they had an audience. "I have been more aware of your scent and just knowing where you would be for a while now."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I thought I was going crazy. You were driving me crazy. I couldn't do anything without thinking about you."

"Do I still drive you crazy?" Stiles said with a grin that lit up his eyes. He was reading into what Derek was saying, but the alpha didn't mind because after that kiss, it was so true.

Derek pressed their foreheads together and returned the smile, though he knew his was a bit more predatory by the way Stiles throat clicked when he swallowed. "I think you're going to be driving me crazy for the rest of my life."

Scott was barking out a laugh across the room, "Who knew you could be so cheesy Derek!" Scott teased, but Stiles eyes were still locked with his and he couldn't turn away.

"I like cheesy. Cheesy makes everything better." Stiles brushed their noses together. He wanted to close the distance between them, that static electricity pulling him in and he knew once they touched there would be that spark again. But Lydia was speaking and Stiles was pulling back.

"This is all very touching, but I think we need to finish going over the details before you two maul each other again. There has to be more side effects. Look at your reactions tonight. What are we going to do about that? What is going to set you off and how do we handle it?"

Derek looked between Stiles and Lydia for a moment, before he pulled back too, putting the arm around Stiles back into his lap again as he thought about his control tonight. "I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"I don't… It's more than the full moon. It just feels territorial. Instinct. Biology. I don't know. I think we're all going to have to just tread carefully until we figure it out. I have control. Something inside me just snaps when he's hurting or panicking. I don't think I could have hurt you or anyone else, but until I'm sure I can handle it, I don't really want to test that out."

"Fine. But how are you going to regain that control? How long do we have to walk on eggshells around the big bad alpha? Oh, and Stiles - He's not your territory."

Allison was pitching in too, neither giving him a chance to respond, "Does he even have a say in any of this, or are you going to command him like another beta?"

Stiles tensed next to him again, and Derek clamped a hand around his arm unthinkingly. Lydia noticed the movement and raised her brow as if to say 'I just said that wasn't going to fly'.

Derek felt is hackles rise at the onslaught of questions and the accusation in their eyes. He took a deep breath. "One question at a time please." He was able to pull his hand back, but he moved it to rest between them, still soaking in Stiles' warmth as he tried to answer their worries. "Stiles is not my property but you are all my territory." Lydia huffed and opened her mouth to talk but he just kept going over her, "We are all each other's territory. We are pack. Family. We stand up for and protect each other. That's all I meant." Lydia settled back into her seat, looking ready to listen again so he continued. "Stiles does have a choice. I would never make him do anything he didn't want to do, but he is it for me. Now that I know, he's all I would ever want and if he decides to move on I will fight for him to stay but not against his happiness. He can do whatever he wants, he probably has more control over me than I do myself right now. As far as-"

"Woah woah woah, I have control over you?" Derek felt both Stiles hands grip his shoulders as his mate's eyes darted to his again. He couldn't help the slow smile that spread across his face at Stiles' confusion and the feeling of his wolf's frustration with Lydia and Allison melting away again.

"Yes." He said hesitently. Stiles brows shot up and he chuckled for a moment before Derek continued. "I'm still the alpha of this pack, but we are equals in it now. The pack will look to you to lead when I'm not there and will feel compelled to follow direct orders from you and I…" This was the important part and Stiles was suddenly more interested in giving Jackson the most evil smile he had ever seen, "Stiles, don't abuse the privilege." Stiles looked like he was trying to put on a guilty face under his excitement. Derek lowered his voice. "You're my alpha now. I'm not just going to want to protect you, I'm going to want to do anything you ask me to, anything that will make you happy and I don't know why I'm telling you this because I know I'm going to regret it but you're smart. You would have figured it out anyway."

Stiles has that stunned look again so Derek decides to let the bomb he just dropped lay and continue with Lydia's vetting. "You should never have to feel like you need to walk on egg shells around me." Erica, Boyd, Scott and Jackson all let out eerily similar huffs of laughter. Derek whipped his head to glare at them and saw Isaac looking down. "I know I have a few anger management issues but you should never feel afraid of me unless you have done something to harm the safety of the pack. The next few days are probably going to be rough but after that, having a mate present is always a source of calm for the alpha and pack members. Stiles and I should be able to hone in on each other's emotions. With two wolves, this helps maintain control and stability. I don't know how this will differ with a human, but I'm sure it will work itself out soon. Until then I think we're going to be focusing on more control tactics during training sessions again."

"What type of control tactics?" Lydia is asking, bringing his attention back from the betas. "I'd like to know in case Jackson has an issue." Jackson raises a brow at her but is ignored as Lydia picks up her notebook again and clicks her pen, wide eyes blinking at him.

"Everyone has an anchor they've developed. Mine just shifted. It could be why my control is having a delayed reaction when I go to reach for it, because I'm still reaching for my old one out of habit. I think it would be a good idea for us to try developing a secondary anchor to have in place."

Stiles elbow is poking into his ribs through the bed spread, "What was your anchor?" Derek just shakes his head. He doesn't want to bring up his family now. Especially when he can't fall back on the memory to control his emotions anymore.

"Later." He says against Stiles' ear before pressing a kiss to his temple. He can tell his mate is disappointed but he can't think about that right now.


Stiles listens to the volley of questions and Derek's answers as best he can without interrupting. He hears Derek talk about how they're going to be connected, how they are going to sense where the other is and feel each other's emotions.

It sounds incredible and powerful and typically Stiles would be jumping around full of energy and asking his own questions right now but Derek is also talking about instinct and biology and he can't help the little seed of self-deprecation he carries around under his bravado bloom into full on doubt.

Is that all this is? Does Derek not have a choice because for some reason his inner wolf sensed Stiles would be the best person to balance him out and released a ton of endorphins or whatever? Did Derek even really like him, or was this just some werewolf spell?

He obviously still had trust issues if he wouldn't open up to Stiles about his anchor. And sure, maybe he was overreacting because Derek did say later but isn't everything always later with Derek? And then later never really comes because of monsters or hunters or god only knows what else. And didn't he just finish saying he wouldn't be able to deny Stiles what he wanted, that Stiles was his alpha? Which was a power tip and way too much responsibility in itself, but still. Couldn't he feel Stiles' disappointment? Wouldn't that make him want, hell need, to open up? He bet the betas knew what Derek's anchor was. Stiles pulled the bed spread of heaven tighter around him and shifted against the pillows. He tried not to notice when Derek shifted too so their sides stayed touching.

Allison was talking again so Stiles tried to focus. He was surprised Lydia was letting her have the floor, but when he looked over at the girl, she was still taking notes and questioning Jackson about his anchor. Jackson looked like he was holding back tears as he buried his face into Lydia's hair. Stiles would take the opportunity to poke fun if he wasn't almost positive it was about his parents.

"Where do you draw the line between Jekyll and Hyde? Do you feel like two different people when you change and are there personality traits or something we should look out for in the next few days?" Stiles was surprised to hear Scott jump on the question instead of Derek.

"It's not like that. It's not two different personalities, we're not crazy," Scott was saying, looking at Allison a little desperate that she understand. Stiles felt for the guy, he was so wrapped up in not being a monster. Allison probably didn't mean to call him crazy but it must have hurt more coming from her. "It's just like this force inside you that claws its way up and out and brings all of your emotions with it. Like an animal, but it's still me."

"Like the Hulk." Stiles said without really thinking. It was a better analogy than Dr Jekyll , Mr Hyde if you asked him. "Same person, more strength, emotion based change."

"Yeah." Derek said. Stiles looked back at him and that was a mistake. He was supposed to be mad that Derek wasn't telling him everything, that he might not actually feel about Stiles the way Stiles feels about him without all the werewolf biology stuff. He's not supposed to be drooling over his stupidly attractive face. Mayday, mayday! Humor! Put up that defense.

"That makes me Tony Stark." He tore his eyes away from Derek's to look back to his pining best friend. "That makes us science bros dude."

Lydia rejoined the discussion with an amused hum, "I'm Tony Stark."

This was exactly what Stiles needed, a little change of subject to get some of the pressure off, but he still gaped at Lydia. "No no no. You're Pepper Potts my pretty strawberry blonde!"

"I don't think so. Not only are you not a billionaire playboy, but I'm the brilliant mathematician who is far more likely to come up with the first design for a functioning flight suit and arc reactor. You can be my assistant."

Jackson was laughing again and Stiles would be mad if his eyes weren't still a little watery from tears he was sure weren't from the giggle fit. "How's that burn Stilinski? Oh, but I'm going to have to disagree. You're not pretty enough to be Pepper. You're Coulson. Little fanboy who gets in over his head with no super powers to save him." Stiles barely has time to let the truth of that sink in before Derek is leaning forward and whispering dangerously.

"That's enough." His hand finds Stiles' and Stiles can't be mad anymore. They would talk later. He'd make sure of it, but he can't believe that Derek doesn't care way way deep down under what might be tons of werewolfie endorphins.

"So let's talk meal plan. Can you be a vegetarian or will it affect your wolf side?"

Jackson scoffs. "What is this, werewolf wiki or Seventeen? I'm not trying your vegan crap!"

"Then you don't get to have my vegan anything. Unless Derek says it will affect you physically. Derek?"

Stiles couldn't help laughing at the pleading look Jackson threw his alpha's way.

"I've never tried it. As long as you keep up your calorie intake I don't think it would be a problem. But if it starts to affect your mood or if you have trouble focusing you need to stop. Eliminating meat might help control blood lust or it might make it worse. I don't know."

Jackson looked smug as he leaned back into the couch. "Better safe than sorry, don't you think?"

"I don't know, I think we should experiment. Maybe cut out just red meat first." Lydia pat his leg as she took notes. "Okay…next."


chapter edited on 11 January 2014.
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Thank you - WT