Wild Heart – Chapter 3
Derek was born more wolf than human. His instincts and his ferocity were alarming (actually, it was a euphemism for 'worrying') especially during his puberty. He could shift whenever he wanted, it was never a problem, but he always preferred to spend his time as a wolf than walking on two legs. When he was a child, his mother and siblings always said he was a beautiful puppy, and so he came to spend weeks without returning to his human form. It was nicer to be a puppy all the time. It was fun.
But then he started to grow and his wild side became worse. He had no control, not like his brothers, not like Laura. In every full moon there was a disaster waiting to happen.
Every time they took Derek to the city, something wrong happened. He had no sense of his own power and always ended up scaring someone or breaking something. More than once his siblings had to give lame excuses to explain the odd things that happened whenever Derek Hale was around. When the time came, Derek's parents came to the conclusion that he could no longer attend to school like a normal kid. He could not get along with other children, it could be dangerous for him and especially for them.
He was sad at first. Derek really wanted to go to school with his brothers and sisters, he wanted to be a good boy and be able to behave, but he had no control. It was not his fault.
Laura began home schooling him. She was the one who Derek would listen when he was in bad mood, she was the only one that could more or less control him and convince him to return to his human form. But that was until she show up.
Kate Argent.
Derek was eighteen when he met her. She seduced him, she deceived him, she betrayed him. She was a Hunter. She pretended that she loved him, that she understood him. For the first time in his life he thought he could be normal. She made him believe he wasn't a monster. Derek had wanted it so bad, someone to tell him the words that Kate had told him. He was fooled by her, a human. While he was intoxicated by what he thought was love, his family was being burned alive.
Only he and Laura survived unharmed because they were not in the house at the moment of the fire. They and ... Peter, that in the end... well, Peter was also dead by now. That didn't matter anymore.
Derek was crazy. Guilt and hatred devoured him like a disease. He hunted Kate, and he would have hunted her to the ends of the earth if it was needed. He killed her. He avenged his pack, but that would not bring them back nor would diminish the pain in his heart. It was then that he decided to shift and embrace the beast he was.
The pain in Derek was too big and he could not accept the fact that he had brought death to his pack. He went to the deeps of the forest and tried to forget what was like to be a human.
However, Laura was always there. She could not stay in that house in ruins, so she rented a loft in the city, but every day she came to the Preserve to talk to Derek. Laura tried to make him shift back to his human form, but all her efforts were in vain. She tempted him bringing food he could only open with opposable thumbs, nice clothes she insisted that he had to wear, but Derek just ignored her. He did not deserve Laura and her love. He saw that she didn't hate him for what had happened and he couldn't understand why. It would be better if he had died in the fire. But then, Laura died and...
He was alone then, a wolf without a pack, condemned to live the rest of his days in solitude and agony.
But he would not think about Laura and what had happened to her a year ago. Derek had to take care of his mate now, but he was completely lost. He had no idea how to deal with humans, especially a wounded human.
Carefully, he carried the boy through the forest. He could not run, he was afraid that any sudden movement could hurt him even more, but he walked fast and with purpose toward the shelter. All the time Derek was aware of the breathing and the heartbeat of the boy, happy to note that both were strong. However his wound was in the head, and he was unconscious, and even though Derek was a wild creature he knew it was not a good sign. The burned house was not far away and it was there that Derek was taking his unconscious mate.
One day that had been a very beautiful house, two story, a porch, windows with white curtains, comfortable rooms full of laughter, but now everything were ashes and the smell of burnt wood, smoke and memories was a scent he hated and loved at the same time. He normally avoided to get back into that house, choosing to sleep in clearings or in a cave, but sometimes he needed to get back to that place because it was the only home he had known. Moreover, his mate needed a safe place to spend the night. Not that a ramshackle burnt house was safe, but it was still better than a cave.
He walked around the house reaching to the back door, that door was always ajar for Derek to enter whenever he wanted. Derek opened the door with his shoulder and carefully stepped inside, holding the boy tight against his chest. The moment he set foot inside the house, the rain started pouring outside.
He took the boy to the living room downstairs. He didn't want to take him upstairs because the ceiling had fallen in some places and he definitely didn't trust that stairs. The living room that once was so warm now was depressing. He remembered, he could see his father sitting in his armchair reading a book, his sisters on the couch painting their nails, his brother sitting on the floor doing his homework. All so familiar and yet so distant. Everything was black and smoke and vanished in thin air.
In the middle of the room there was a pile of clothes thrown haphazardly, the clothes that Laura had brought him over the years and for some reason - even though he refused to return to his human form to use them - she never took back. Derek gently laid the boy on the pile of clothes, cause that was the closest he had to a mattress or something soft to lie someone hurt. Derek noted that he was not comfortable because of the backpack still attached to his shoulders. Shifting just his hand, Derek used his claws to cut the straps of the backpack so that his mate could rest more comfortably. He threw the backpack aside and looked at the boy.
He was so young. He was a pup. What the hell was he doing in the forest alone? Again, the thought that the boy could be a hunter hit him, causing him to pull away from the kid and stand up, looking away from the boy. Derek began to pacing in the living room. He was his mate, he had no doubt of it, but what were the chances of his mate, his soulmate, the one whom he had waited his whole life without knowing it, was also a hunter? Derek was so unlucky that he didn't doubt that fate would play with him like that. That would be ironic, really. Derek looked again at the boy who began to stir and groan. The wave of protectiveness hit him again and all the suspicion he had were blurred by the extreme eagerness to protect and care.
Without thinking twice, Derek knelt beside the boy and held his head. He turned him aside to look at the wound and saw that the wound was not bleeding anymore and it was not very deep, but it was enough to knock him out. If the kid was a wolf, Derek would just lick the wound to clean it, but the boy was human. He looked at the bag and reluctantly turned away from the boy. If he was carrying a backpack, he might have something there that Derek could use to clean the wound.
Derek was nothing gentle while opening the backpack, he was so impatient. Actually he tore it in pieces. A few packets of 'Pop Tarts' fell on the floor and Derek was not sure if it was food, a sleeping bag also fell and - thank God - two bottles of water.
Derek grabbed one of the bottles of water and approached his mate again. He knelt next to the boy and turned him, making him lay on his side, so that the boy was with his back to Derek. Carefully he lifted the boy's head and he brought him close, so that the boy would use Derek's lap as a pillow. He searched in the pile of clothes for the cleanest one and ripped it to shreds. He soaked a peice with clean water from bottle and began to clean the wound.
"Nnnnn" the boy muttered, but he did not seem to be awake.
"Sshhh" That was all Derek said.
When Derek thought the wound was clean enough, he grabbed another piece of the shirt he had torn and wrapped around the boy's head, covering the wound. The bottle was still half full and Derek thought it best to try to make the boy drink a little. He held the head of his mate carefully and approached the bottle to his lips. He used his thumb - thank God for opposable thumbs - and parted the boy's lips (soft pink lips) and poured a little water. The boy drank two sips before he start coughing. Derek put the bottle aside, making a mental note to try to make him drink some more later.
The rain was pouring outside. Every few minutes the sky was brightened and a thunder followed it. Derek held his mate tight against his chest and rocked him back and forth. The boy in his arms was so helpless, so fragile. Suddenly a fear came upon him. what if his wound was more serious than it seemed? What he did not wake up? what if ...
He would not lose his mate. He would take care of him and keep him safe.
"Wake up, please, wake up." Derek whispered in silence.