Nobody dared to threaten Derek Hale like this…well, except for Laura.
And this...skinny, noisy, hyperactive, spaz was flashing Derek his yellow-gold eyes? Was he really asking for help or trying to bully him? Like, Derek would care if some Omega showed him his wolf-eyes, or fangs, or Claws or whatever he's got. Yes, Derek would definitely feel intimidated by his nonstop chatter, though. That was quite scary and unbearable. What was up with this guy? He was in pain, injured, not fully healed, lost, but the kid was just not ready to stop his angry jabber. How much energy had he stored to waste on useless babble. Given the chance, Derek wouldn't open his mouth for days, but this one here…God!
Derek scanned Stiles' face, which was just few inches apart from his. Derek didn't budge. He stood there like his legs were pinned to the road, he tried to block the unceasing ramble which now seemed like a bee's buzzing.
Stiles was shivering with pain, and fury.
Derek gazed into the Omega's yellow eyes, which were giving those soothing amber eyes quite a fierce effect, especially with surrounding clouds of rage.
More than angry, the boy smelled hurt, physically, of course; but emotionally, as well. Maybe from the blunt remarks from Derek, or maybe he was going crazy because he had just hit his head or something.
"Urgh."
Stiles made an exasperated sound right in Derek's face, but quickly squeezed his eyes, as if in an attempt to control his wolf. Finally, he took a step back. Eyes still shut tight. He ducked his head, panting heavily. His chest twitched with the ache in his ribs and Derek could wholeheartedly swear on it, that he physically felt the Omega's pain, Stiles' pain.
Well, he was a werewolf and could easily feel the signals coming from others. He would definitely sense the intensity of the injury and if the hurt person was from his close circle - like Laura or family…No…Laura was the only family he had left with. Talia Hale was no family, not anymore – the pain would also physically bother Derek. But this was different.
There was a difference in sensing others' pain and feeling others' pain like it was your own.
Yes. Derek felt that sudden twinge in his chest, shooting straight to his brain, like a knife was stabbing through his chest. Strange! Why would he feel the pain of some stranger werewolf? Or maybe he was just mixing his own pain with the Omega's.
"We are going to take a lift from…someone, and then…then we will follow the bus."
Stiles' shaky voice cut Derek's chain of thought. The Omega's eyes were human now, and staring straight at Derek. Something tugged at Derek's heart as he witnessed the confused, tense look in those amber eyes, again.
"Okay."
The words slipped from Derek's mouth, before he could stop them.
"NO! We will foll-…w-wait…what?" Stiles stammered, blinking his eyes, like he couldn't believe what he had just heard. Maybe the boy was expecting some more protest, some fight and absolute refusal from Derek. There was a sudden glitch in his heartbeat, which settled down immediately, when Derek's words actually processed through his brain.
Derek did not break eye contact, to convey that he really meant to help him.
Stiles finally closed his parted lips and soothed the stress-lines from his forehead. His heartbeat settled down after a while.
"Okay then," Stiles huffed out a choked sigh, in relief, nodding at Derek. His lips twitched a little, in a half smile.
All of the signals of worry, confusion and wariness which had been oozing out of the boy, evaporated into thin air within a second.
And Derek felt good. Calm.
What the fuck was Derek thinking when he agreed to this plan?
All the vehicles were zooming past them, as if they didn't exist. Nobody stopped, or even slowed down.
And why would they? It was just past two in the morning and stopping your car to offer a lift to some random strangers did not look like a logical option.
Stiles, though, somehow managed to ignore that fact.
He waved at them, yelled at them, ran after them (it looked like he had healed completely). He stumbled after them on a few occasions, and eventually, when they did not respond, he cursed at them, flailing his hands, kicking his legs.
Idiot -
Derek rolled his eyes, making exasperated sounds, looking at the boy. Of course he was supposed to help Stiles, but the Omega did not look like he needed any help.
"Hey what are you looking at?" Stiles walked towards Derek, in utter frustration. "You think this is easy?" he added, shoving his hands in the jeans pockets.
Derek shrugged, nonchalantly.
"Alright, then why don't you try, big guy? C'mon, let me see what you got," Stiles said it like a challenge. He made his way to the bench and sprawled over it relaxing his limbs, pointing a chin at Derek, to continue.
Okay!
Derek gave Stiles a death glare before moving ahead, a little, off from the side of the road. He focused his eyes at the far end of the road. He did not sense anyone, yet. He unbuttoned his sleeves cuffs and rolled it just over his elbows. He shook his hands to relax muscles there, as if preparing himself for some fight.
After a moment or two, he heard the first car approaching. He breathed in the thick gulp of air, to analyse.
Alpha…In his forties…Alone…Still had a strong effect of wolfs-bane laced alcohol.
Not safe!
Derek had an irresistibly sweet smelling under aged, unmated Omega with him and drunken, lonely, Alpha seemed like a dangerous option. Derek took a step back, letting the car pass by, without any interruptions.
He heard a snort from behind, which Derek ignored.
Soon, Derek watched the second car approaching.
Beta…In her thirties…No alcohol…But travelling with the speed of approximately 65-70 mph.
Derek moved forward, pointing his hand out to signal the driver. The car approached him, fast.
"Hey!" Derek called out, in an attempt to grab the attention of the driver.
The speed increased to 70 mph…80 mph…and more…
The car zoomed past him and Derek heard a thundering laughter from behind.
That little piece of shit!
Derek clenched his jaws, huffed out an irritated sigh, but did not turn back, focussing on the road ahead.
He did not have to wait for long. The third car came within a second.
A pack…three Alphas and two Omegas. All adults.
No place!
Derek still held his grounds. Maybe they were willing to make some space to accommodate the troubled werewolves.
The car dropped its speed. Finally. Derek smelled pretty mixed signals from all of them. Spicy smell of food, a tinge of alcohol, and sex.
They must be returning from some party.
The car suddenly took an inward turn towards Derek. Initially, Derek thought, they were actually stopping by, but no.
"Take him Ennis," a Lady Alpha from the back seat coldly hissed at the driver-Alpha and the driver wheeled the car in Derek's direction, without reducing its pace, almost ramming into Derek.
Derek quickly fell back to avoid the contact. His knees and palms scrapped badly against the rough surface of the road, before he crouched down on the grounds on all fours, in an instantaneous alert vehicle roared past him, honking. He heard delighted shout outs of teasing and excitement, coming from the car.
Yes, someone's pain was fun for someone else!
"Assholes!" Derek heard Stiles yell. Derek felt him marching a few meters after them, shouting out his full stock of curses. But Derek did not look back. He was not ready to face a teasing smirk, or a smug reply or anything else from the Omega.
He raised his body into a standing position, slowly, dusting off his clothes to clear the dirt and then quietly watched as another car approached, not long after.
It was a grey Toyota Camry. The model looked quite old, though, must be built around 2005. Derek got a whiff of driver's honeyed scent, mixed in a strong flowery perfume. Okay. Derek could live with that.
Alpha…Female Alpha…In her late fifties…Running at 25 mph.
Alright!
Derek felt some hope.
He was alert now, in case the lady was in a mood to follow the previous pack of jerks. But she smelled calm. And then, her car was right in front of Derek, just a few meters away and there was a sudden increase in her heart rate.
Derek knew that the lady was not going to halt.
Damn-
This time, Derek turned around to look back at Stiles. He had enough. They were losing time and even by some miracle, if some angel would decide to stop they still wouldn't make it to catch the bus on time and they would –
Derek's heart skipped a beat on the sight of empty bench behind.
Where the hell-
"NO!" Derek let out a yell from the pit of his stomach, when he tracked the Omega.
Stiles was standing in the middle of the road, just a few feet from the car and before Derek could blink, Derek lunged ahead to stand right between the line of the moving car and Omega, like some shield.
But Derek was no shield.
He was a werewolf, having some badass healing powers. But for a moment Derek seemed to forget that he could still get dashed by a speeding car, which could still break every single bone of his body, which would take days, maybe weeks to repair the damage.
The headlights of the car flashed in front of his vision, piercing through his eyes and Derek had to squeeze them shut. That was the only reaction he could manage, before the car's tyres screeched in his ears, too close. He tightened his muscles preparing himself for the impact, but instead, he heard the engine go silent, with a thud.
It was like someone hit pause.
Derek felt Stiles' heavy breath ruffling the tiny hairs on the back of his neck. He felt Stiles' firm grip on his bicep, scratching the skin under his shirt. Stiles' heartbeat was shooting sky high. He smelled scared.
The Omega had just jumped in front of the moving car and now he was scared to get hit by it. Great!
Derek whipped around to face Stiles.
"Have you lost your mind?"
Stiles took a step back, releasing Derek with a start. "I…I knew she wasn't going to stop."
"And still you stood there in the middle of the road, like some statue!" Derek covered the distance, barking at the Omega.
"DO YOU TWO MORONS HAVE A DEATHWISH OR SOMETHING?"
The Alpha's shout was violent, over and above the enraged yelling from Derek. They both jolted to look at the source.
The lady pulled out half of her body outside the window and screamed at them, flashing her red eyes. She immediately dragged her body in, before she sprang out of the car, striding towards them, in frustration.
"If you are planning on dying together, then go somewhere else and not in front of my car. Do you get it?"
Derek just nodded numbly in response, taken aback. The lady was scary, even more than Stiles' nonstop chatter.
"Ma'am," Stiles sprinted after the Alpha, who had turned to go back to her car. "Please, please, please help us," Stiles started, in his perfect shrieking voice. "We missed our bus to Beacon Hills and I have lost my entire luggage there. I don't even have enough money to reach home. Please help us to catch that bus, please?"
The alpha stopped. Her solid, scrutinizing gaze hovered over the two of them. She must be listening to their heartbeats and catching up senses.
"Alright," She approved, finally. "Hop in. You seem desperate to catch that bus, huh, enough to even jump in front of the car. I can follow it till a few stations ahead."
"Yes! Thank you so much." Stiles exclaimed in delight, clapping a hand on Derek's shoulder, unable to control his overwhelming happiness.
Derek growled, looking between Stiles and the hand, which was still resting on Derek's shoulder.
"I'm taking my hands off," Stiles removed his hand with a jerk. "Don't bite me," he added, smirking.
Derek followed the Alpha, pushing past Stiles, bumping their shoulders, on purpose. He still did not understand why he needed to accompany the Omega now that he had gotten help. But his wolf urged him to follow, at least till the boy reached some safe destination, like the stinking bus. Well, not like Derek had any other important plans to take care of, so it all felt…normal.
Derek tossed his bag in the back seat, and sat there. Stiles joined him saying, "You are a lifesaver. You have no idea, Ma'am -"
"Maggie. Call me Maggie," The lady provided. "And no need to thank me. My son is around your age. I can understand." She started the car, looking between the young werewolves from the rear view mirror, smiling. "You kids should really take a pity on your parents sometimes, before going on some adventure at this odd hour."
"We are not on an adventure," Derek protested, barging in between, leaning ahead, hands clamp on the back of the front seat. He felt the weight of Stiles' stare on him, but he ignored him like it was his second nature. "This is a mess. I…We are…Uh…it's a long story," he ended abruptly. It seemed easier to just agree with the woman than explain their inexplicable situation. Adventure? The word didn't even come close to the shitshow that was his life right now. He just watched as the smile on Maggie's face grew wider and he leaned back relaxing into his seat; to take in whatever this shitty night had to offer more.
And he wasn't disappointed.
The boys looked at the speedometer, like it had grown a horn or something.
The reading did not budge beyond twenty five miles per hour. Derek had to blink multiple times, because he couldn't believe his eyes. They were supposed to fucking chase the bus, which was at least thirty minutes ahead of them and currently roaring with a minimum speed of fifty mph.
Right –
And for the first time, the two werewolves in the backseat looked at each other in utter agreement, with the matching scrunch in the eyebrows.
This was not going to work, for sure!
There was a silent conversation, which took place between the two, deciding on how to start and who to start, before Derek clenched his teeth and threatened Stiles to continue, with his eyes.
"So Maggie, looks like you have been travelling for a long now." Stiles started.
"Oh yes, sweetie" Maggie agreed.
"I know. So now that you have given us a ride, we can definitely offer some time for you to relax, a bit, if you...if you letusdrive?"
"Huh?"
"If you let us drive. I mean, you seem tired and -"
"Not you. Do you even have a license?"
"What?" Stiles exclaimed, "I am eighteen. I mean, almost eighteen," Stiles provided totally feeling upset by lady's statement.
"Still no. But you can," She pointed at Derek. The Alpha must be really feeling exhausted and maybe needed a desperate break.
"Oh, he will totally drive," Stiles committed before Derek could open his mouth, like it was his second nature.
Derek shot a glare at him. But Stiles continued convincing the lady, who was already convinced.
"He is an awesome driver. His driving is smooth, like butter and he's got this classy red Ferrari at home -"
"Black Camaro," Derek grunted, in protest.
"Absolutely, Camaro it is, then, a Black one." Stiles winked at Derek, smiling with his typical smirk.
And Derek knew that this was going to be the very long drive.