Chapter Eight: Monitor My Heart

Author's note: Here is another chapter, I love reviews and thank you for reading!

Derek grabbed Scott around the throat, tightening his claws just enough to make the kid bleed and dragged him onto the hood of the car, "You're dead!"

Scott stared up at him, the tension seeping out of his body at the knowledge that it was Derek and not the alpha, the beta could feel it and sense it, as he came down from the adrenaline rush. He got down off the car and walked away, Scott following behind him as he shouted, "What the hell was that?"

"I said I would try to teach you, I didn't say when. This is a part of that. You can never depend on werewolves to attack when you know about it. He's going to come for you when you least expect it, so you need to expect it always."

"You scared the crap out of me!" Scott whined and Derek looked him over, sniffed with a grimace and snorted, his bowels were in perfect working condition though the teen could do with another shower, though it was mostly normal teenage boy hormones and body odor and Allisson and he hated that scent because she was carting around a shade of Kate's scent so the sweat was better anyway. He would never admit to anyone except in the privacy of his mind (or maybe to Stiles) that he would run Scott through the wringer just to get him sweating so the scent of her would start to fade.

"Not yet."

Scott then proceeded to tell Derek all the ways he was better but Derek just kept shutting him down, "Do you really think the Alpha is going to care that you had an inopportune phone call from her? He's going to find you and get you to kill under the full moon. Maybe her, probably Stiles and honestly anyone that pulls you back to your human side. Do you want that?"

"No," he paused and took a deep breath, starting again, "No, what happened the other night with Stiles's dad, that was my fault! I should have been there!"

"Well then you need to get rid of distractions, get rid of her!"

"Just because of her family," Scott demanded and wasn't he the king of wishy-washy decision making, Derek thought trying not to face palm at the conversation.

"Its more than that Scott! The only way I know how to teach you is by tapping into an animal rage, you have to get angry and you won't ever get angry enough when she's around. It's going to be hard for me anyway, I was born like this and you were bitten. I have been learning this since I was born, I don't have to fight part of my mind every time I try to rationalize or logic this. You, are different and this is the only way I know. It gives you power and control!"

"I can get angry!" Scott said desperately and Derek paused for a moment to give him a judging look mostly with his eyebrows, trying not to think about the time Stiles walked Derek through a whole paper's worth of evidence about the chattiness of his eyebrows, before he continued.

"Do you want to live? Do you want to protect your friends and family?"

"Yes!"

"Then stay away from her at least until after the full moon! Can you do that?"

"I can!"

With that Derek watched as Scott flounced away. Derek followed for a minute and watched as he grabbed all the groceries from the ground and got into his mother's car. Derek's car was still being moved around town every couple of days at the moment, to try to keep the Argents' away from his place. He knew that Scott was going to go right to Allison but that was to be expected, so Derek headed back towards Scott's house and continued but then took a deep breath through his nose. He did it again and his eyes flashed blue as he caught the scent and groaned.

The alpha was here, waiting for something, he was waiting for Scott so Derek headed for Allison's house to see if the Alpha was there but he didn't sense the other wolf, instead he headed back to Scott's house and settled into the chair in the teen's bedroom and tugged the phone out of his pocket and opening the old conversations he'd had with Stiles, and wondered again if he should just talk to the human. He hadn't heard from him since his dad got hurt, though Scott had told Derek that Stiles hadn't been talking to his best friend either, the blame that Scott heaped on himself Stiles felt as well. Derek didn't think that Stiles really believed Scott was to blame but he was scared of losing his father and Derek had no idea if he knew about Derek telling the Sheriff about the other night when he'd smelled like drugs, and not Adderall.

He tapped out a quick message and stared down at it for a few more minutes than deleted it again, groaned because seriously when had he ever acted like this? He hadn't been like this with crushes in high school before the fire, even her. There hadn't been anyone since the fire, to wedge themselves under his skin and into his heart like the scrawny floppy teen had done. If Stiles had been willing to give up their growing friendship for Derek's sake, then he would just have to be willing to do the same.

He picked the most neutral topic that he really wanted an answer to and hoped that Stiles would talk to him, 'How's your dad?'

'Does this mean that I am welcome in the pack again, after what I did? Your texting me and calling me? Or is this just about getting the information you want and keep on keeping on without me?'

Derek sighed, thinking back to the things he'd said, that Stiles wasn't a werewolf and he wasn't a part of this, that he shouldn't be a part of this. He sighed as he tapped out a message slowly because he was sure Stiles was pissed and he had every right to be, 'I just want to be sure that he is doing well.'

A few minutes skittered by and he wondered if he was going to get an answer when his phone buzzed and he opened the message, 'He's doing fine, better if he didn't have to deal with this supernatural shit with his eyes closed and his hands tied behind his back but there you go.'

Derek didn't know what to say to that, then he phone buzzed again and he looked down to see another message from Stiles because mostly this was how the teen talked, message after message because he'd forgotten to say something he needed to in his rush to tap out his texts, 'Jackson was sent home with antibiotics. I will keep an eye out for Scott-like symptoms of werewolf-hood because Scott's apparently too busy at the Hale Werewolf Academy for beginners and his absolute LOVE FOR ALLISON campaign.'

Wow, the dramatic teenager was swimming in anger and resentment at the moment and Derek could almost feel it in his chest. He didn't know what else to say because he didn't think he could have that conversation right now so he stuck to simple, 'Thanks.'

Derek tucked the phone back in his bag since it seemed that right now all his messages were doing was pissing Stiles off at the moment but he knew that he needed to see him and figure this out. He went back to waiting, snorting at the description of 'Scott-like symptoms', that was Stiles and he was pleased that despite the teen's anger he wasn't treating Derek any different really, inviting him into the news but there was something else. After learning the truth, Stiles had never started treated Derek like a victim and he didn't even think he'd ever been so grateful for anything in his life. Stiles deserved better than the silence and space, he was a good guy, someone that was just trying to show Derek that he could be trusted. Derek shrugged, he would just keep trying. God he hated trying, that's why he'd been fine for years with just Laura because he'd had literally zero interest in working at any kind of friendships or relationships.

It wasn't long before Scott came tearing into the dark bedroom, closing the shade and checking outside again before flicking on the light and jumping at the sight of Derek sitting there. "You have got to stop doing that!" he exclaimed.

Derek raised an eyebrow though he couldn't help the little thrill of scaring him but it was just another thing they would have to work on, "Why didn't you already know I was here?" It was ridiculous that this kid had werewolf abilities and he was so easily surprised sometimes. Scott apparently didn't need to just control the shift and the animal-ness of who he was now but he desperately needed to be retrained to notice his surroundings. For now he would have to just stick to why he was here.

"What happened? Did he say anything to you?" Derek asked after a moment of silence.

"How did you even know?" Scott demanded, throwing his hands in the air then continued, sarcasm dripping from each word. "Sure, we have a lovely conversation about the weather," Derek noticed that it really wasn't as good as Stiles' sarcasm, Scott was too wholesome and puppy-like though the voice of his best friend was in there under the whining. Stiles had bite to him, the same way Derek's brooding anger was a cover from the pain. Scott continued and Derek tried to shake of the conflicting thoughts he had about everything involving Stiles Stilinski, "No he didn't talk!"

"Did you get anything from him, an impression?"

"What?"

"Remember you have other senses other than hearing, you can get impressions and feelings. Was there anything that we've talked about before? The bond is there, just try and find it, listen to it."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I sensed anger."

"At you?" Derek asked.

"No, I felt it when he drew the spiral."

Derek's gaze sharpened and focused at that, thinking of the last time he'd seen a spiral, "What did you say?"

"A spiral, he drew it in the condensation on the window, why? You have this look on your face, like you know what it means."

Derek sighed, wondering who would be here in Beacon Hills with a vendetta and thought of Stiles and his theories that weren't as wild as the beta originally believed, "Don't worry about it."

"Don't do that," Scott demanded and Derek glared at him, "No you can't continue to say 'trust me' then keep stuff back from me. Now tell me what it means! You say Pack and that we're brothers so let me in!"

Derek sighed, it was the same thing Stiles had asked of him and he hated that they kept throwing his words back at him. It was awful. He took a deep breath and opened the door a little too trusting this other beta. He thought about the spiral when he'd seen it ripped into the side of the building out in the middle of nowhere, a place that he found when he'd been wandering after everything that happened before the fire and Kate. The event that changed the color of his eyes. He thought about Ennis and the other alphas and everything that his mother told him later. He asked her about the spiral but there were things that most werewolves knew about and the spiral was one of them.

"It's a symbol for a vendetta for when one of our kind seeks revenge. That means that the murders weren't random, there was a reason for them and I need to find out what it is and if it was why my sister was here. The Hales know most of the nearby werewolves and if there was someone here seeking revenge maybe they called her and it all went wrong somehow. I don't know how yet but I do know one thing: he's not going to stop until someone stops him. And as he kills more, the more his humanity is going to slip away and then it will just become about the kill, it's how werewolves become feral. And I cannot describe the kind of terror you should fear at the idea of a feral alpha."

"Fear, check! What werewolves would have a vendetta here in Beacon Hills? I thought the Hales have had this territory for a long time." Scott asked, swinging his arms in expressive gestures while Derek walked around Scott and towards the door.

"Scott, I will see you after work tomorrow. We can keep practicing but this isn't your problem right now. Just go be a normal kid and we will get you your control."

The teen nodded and watched as Derek left, heading back towards Stiles house, stopping in front and waited a few minutes, the jeep wasn't here and neither was the sheriff cruiser. So Stiles wasn't here, Derek would just have to message him again when he was done have a minor internal freak-out. He hated the idea that Uncle Peter could have something to do with this though it seemed that it was more than likely though Derek didn't know how it was possible that he'd pulled it off from his catatonic state. It was painfully obvious that he'd shut down what Stiles had been telling him because he'd been desperate to not lose the last remaining family member he had but there were so few things that werewolves set out for revenge and the biggest was losing a pack-mate. They'd lost most of them that night and if he wasn't the Alpha (because he wasn't) and Laura was dead the only answer had to be Peter and Derek hated those odds and the chance that he was going to lose someone else before the end.

Stiles tucked his cell phone in his pocket as he sat down in front of Peter Hale, clutching the papers in his hand and wondered again what the hell he was doing here. Why did he have to be so smart and stubborn about said intelligence? Why was he here without some supernatural backup?

"Hello my name is Stiles Stilinski," Stiles started and watched, waiting to see if he would move but he didn't. The scarred man just sat there and Stiles continued on before he freaked himself out of doing what he came here to do. "So I know Derek, your nephew, I know that he came here because someone killed his sister and took her alpha abilities which should have gone to him. Someone stole that from her in the most vicious way possible and it's killing Derek to have lost another family member, the last family member he had besides you," Stiles sneered the final statement then took a deep breath because he needed to stay calm and not attack like he wanted to. When had fighting for Derek become second nature to him anyway? He moved in a little closer, hissing out between clenched teeth, "How dare you do that to him!" then opened up the file with a snap.

Peter still hadn't moved but he hadn't really expected it yet. Stiles was here for the long haul and he knew that the nurse wasn't set to 'check' on him for another hour or so. He scanned the page of information he'd retrieved from the hospital records as well as what he found from the sheriff's station and proceeded to tell the man what he'd found. He described what the police had found and more importantly what hadn't been found, "It had to have been miserable when you found out that they were going to get away with it. Did Derek and Laura come to you, to visit and tell you about everything? I know they couldn't leave town until the insurance claim on the family members came through and the investigation was over. They would have been here every second they could be, because that's Derek. I know you lost everything; your family, including your wife and unborn children but this… I just don't understand how you could do that to your nephew and niece. They were family—pack, they should've been more important than revenge." Stiles paused and took a deep breath because as he was speaking the words had started to speed up until he was tripping over his tongue trying to get them out. He needed to be as calm about this as possible because the most important part was still coming, "But you must be interested in how I know any of this."

Peter still didn't move so Stiles just continued.

"I looked into your records, the tests those nice lovely nurses take happen on a schedule, they were showing healing, slow and steady healing then there was a couple of points where you started to deteriorate, seizing a couple of times then you started improving again. Then something even more interesting started happening. Everything just stopped and remained static for the last couple of months and even before that things changed. Someone was doctoring the results and what would do that? What would that do for you? If you were getting worse then the doctors and your family would need to know that and why would anyone want to hide that you were getting better? Unless you somehow convinced someone to keep your secret. I looked into when your main nurse changed and it was around the same time, so did you seduce her? Did you threaten her or promise her the Bite? I just want to know what kind of person would do that to your nephew, someone you claimed to care for. Were the deaths more important than Laura and Derek, the living members of your family? How can you possibly live with what you are doing to him? He's sinking into himself even more, the only reason he is still even here is because he couldn't stand the idea of losing anyone else. I know it's you killing people Peter, and your started with your niece so you don't need to pretend anymore. This is revenge and it's going to cost you everything, including Derek. How can you possibly want that?"

Then it was there, a single solitary twitch in the corner of Peter's lip like he was going to growl or smile and Stiles smirked, "See now I don't know what your exact plan is, I don't know any of the other victims because I don't know enough about the fire but I do know that she's here, the one who started it. And you know what else? No matter what happens, Scott's not going to fight with you and neither is Derek. Not after what you did."

Then in a move straight out of a horror film, Peter's gaze focused, that hazy mud brown turning into something of sharp intelligence and then shifted to Stiles and he jerked back, not really realizing how close he'd gotten to the supposedly injured werewolf, he could feel the air wafting over his face from Peter's slightly accelerated breathing pattern at being caught out. He'd been that close the Peter Hale.

Peter: the psycho alpha werewolf.

Stiles reached into his pocket and palmed his phone but Peter's gaze followed his movement but said nothing so far. He seemed to be content with the silent terrifying routine which Stiles could understand since it was terrifying! The teen didn't know if he should try to stand or if that would just bring a swift death and thought rather belatedly that this was a stupid plan. Why was he always choosing the stupid solitary fight these days? Where the hell was Scott anyway? Were things with his best friend so bad that he was desperate for some pain or was he just plain suicidal? Or maybe it was just his cleverness and hubris (yes he knew what hubris was and this could totally be considered hubris) making him act like this, it would be a question for another time.

Peter's gaze flared red then faded back to ordinary brown, the wolf said nothing so Stiles just stood and backed away slowly, "I know about you now Peter and I will tell Derek and Scott. I am going to keep them safe, even if it's just with forewarning. Don't underestimate me just because I'm a human, like they want to."

As he was moving, he flicked his finger across the screen of his phone, making the call that he'd planned to make in case things went bad and though they weren't 'bad' yet, it was edging towards it rather quickly and he knew how fast werewolves were. He couldn't save himself if Peter decided to take him down. The person on the other end was aware of the situation and standing at the ready and though it had been a backup plan, it wasn't the best and would have just put both of them at higher risk. They were puny humans standing between Mothra and Godzilla pinging tiny bullets from pea shooters off of the monsters' legs.

Melissa appeared a few seconds later looking like the affronted nurse that she was playing, undoubtedly drawing on all the times she wanted to say that to Stiles in the past, "Excuse me! What are you doing in here young man, you didn't sign in at the nurse's station. Come with me now!"

Stiles watched as Peter's eyes stayed on him for a second longer then glazed over as Melissa looked over and he stared grudgingly amazed that Peter had the kind of mental and physical strength to pull of the catatonic state for so long. It took more self-control that Stiles would ever be capable of, "I am so sorry sir, he won't be bothering you again."

Stiles mumbled under his breath even as Melissa grabbed him roughly for show and dragged him away from the room, "Wanna bet!" he shouted just to play the part of the teenage menace and also as a promise. Nothing that Melissa needed to know at the moment. She kept dragging him forcibly away until they were down the hall and well away from the hospital room. He wanted as far away from the monster in damaged sheep's clothing. He slowed as they made it out the door, the nurses didn't catch on to the extra visitors, Melissa had done her part well, the only person who knew he had been in there was Peter and him.

"Thanks for the quick save," Stiles said as he walked towards the parking lot but Melissa stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, the stopping momentum pulled Stiles around to face her.

"Are you sure that was him?" Melissa whispered and Stiles didn't know if she was doing it because of fears about supernatural hearing or boring normal ones but he didn't follow her lead as he answered, even if Peter was listening they were too far for the hearing to work. Scott and Derek had done a lot of fooling around on the distance for the werewolf hearing. It was better on and around the full moon but right now, they should be fine.

"Yes, I got visual proof, I don't know if that will be enough for Derek but I had to try."

"Stiles," Melissa chided and his heart hurt at the sound of her annoyed but understanding 'mom voice'. Melissa had always been a mom to him and that wasn't going to change now. He swallowed with a hard click in his throat and looked at her as she spoke. "What are you doing this for? I don't want Scott to be involved but if that man did what you are saying then he's dangerous and clearly unhinged, you are painting a target on your back and if you get hurt in all this mess, a lot of people are not going to take it well and that includes me. Think of your father and Scott before you do something like this again without the appropriate back up."

He nodded, scrubbing a hand over his head, "Yes Ma'am." She leaned in close and pressed a kiss to his head and he swallowed painfully again, god he missed his mom these days—a lot. And remembering things about his mother's friend, Talia Hale, made it feel even worse sometimes. Like he lost two moms.

Stiles climbed into the jeep while Melissa walked back over to the hospital and Stiles was glad that they had made a plan to not let the alpha know that he was connected to her but he still didn't like how close she was to that long-term facility. To Peter she was just the pretty nurse coming to save the invalid from the curious teenager. He drove back to the house and parked, walking inside and closing the door behind him. He knew he had to talk to Derek, because the longer he was quiet about what he found out the easier it would be for Peter to come for him. Hopefully the alpha wouldn't realize where he lived, the Stilinski's hadn't been involved with Peter as far as Stiles knew but who knew. He shouldn't have a problem but he had said his name and it would be easy to find out who he was, "Idiot," he thought at that realization. Everyone knew where the Sheriff lived through or at least have a sense of it because of his title in town. Peter had been in the hospital for the last six years so maybe it would at least take a day or two before the alpha came for him.

He tugged his phone out of his pocket as he walked up the stairs and dialed as he walked into his room, just in time to hear the answering ringtone and turned to find Derek sitting at his desk, looking at the other information he had about not just Peter but about the fire. Stiles hung up quickly, "Derek?"

"Stiles, I need to talk to you about what you asked me a couple days ago, your suspicions?"

He walked over to the table and tossed down the rest of the paperwork, "I was calling you because I went to see Peter."

"Stiles," Derek started clearly exasperated but the teen just rushed on and over what the werewolf was starting to say.

"No listen, I pushed him, talked to him about the fire and what was happening recently with the animal attacks/murders, I asked him how he could possibly live with what he did to you and Laura, after all that you've lost it shouldn't have been your fucking uncle that took her from you! He looked at me, his eyes glowed red. He's pretending and someone there is covering for him for who knows why. I didn't get any answers from him but he's lying and his eyes glowed red, I haven't seen you do that or Scott. What does it mean?"

Derek stared at the teen in surprise though Stiles didn't know what it was in response to then the werewolf slumped down on the edge of the bed and rubbed a hand over his face, "He killed her, I wondered but I wasn't willing to believe it until Scott told me about the spiral. He's seeking revenge and he's not going to stop until it's all over. The Argents are undoubtedly on that vengeance list, though I don't know who else. I don't understand why he would kill Laura though."

"So Peter is the Alpha then?" Stiles asked, just for clarity sake especially because Derek was taking this better than he ever imagined though the man did look more than a little devastated while maintaining a level of neutrality, probably because they had to find a way to survive this before he would have a chance to work it through.

Derek nodded, "Alphas have red eyes, he showed you who he was which means that you are going to be in danger. He's going to find you; turn you or kill you. Why would you go there and call him out? Why would you do something so stupid?"

Stiles rolled his eyes, "I did it because you wouldn't take my word for it, you wouldn't believe me. You didn't think I was enough for the pack! I am weak and breakable! I had to find evidence and honestly I didn't think he would cave so quickly."

"He's insane Stiles!" Derek growled, "That's why he couldn't hold back, you are getting in the way of him avenging his family which means that you could very well be next or you're going to be used to get to Scott. I thought you were going to stay out of this," Derek demanded, clearly pissed that they were having this conversation to begin with. Stiles started pacing, wishing he could take another Adderall but he'd only had one right before he headed into the long-term care facility which meant his dad was going to find out because he needed a refill but he wished he could get that chemical boost to calm him down so he could deal with this.

"I was but this shit has infiltrated my life and I have to do something about it otherwise I am going to lose all the people I care about and I am not willing to see that happen without fighting to my last breath."

"You're an idiot," Derek growled, Stiles didn't know what the werewolf was feeling besides pissed but it didn't really matter at this point. The teenager had always been a believer in asking for forgiveness instead of permission. And right now he wasn't even willing to ask forgiveness because he'd done the right thing though he knew his planning could have gone better.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Stiles just shrugged and shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to stay moving because he was an idiot and several people had already pointed that out and it probably wouldn't be the last time either. When it came to the people he loved, apparently, he was capable of anything.

"I know you hate it but you are human and breakable, not even Scott and I can survive everything. Right now because the alpha doesn't have a pack, he's weak but he's still tougher than I am going to be on my own. It's going to take both Scott and I, I know he hates that and I hate it but that's the situation we have but it's not going to be you fighting him!"

"I was never planning to fight, just force the truth out. And maybe if you were teaching me how to take care of myself, fight against werewolves, then this stupid town wouldn't suddenly be so dangerous! Or maybe I should just let him bite me and turn me. Then I wouldn't be the sidekick in this Batman story."

Derek looked up at Stiles even while he continued to pace and though the spastic teen didn't believe what he was saying, he was jealous that in this world they were learning about, Scott had this power and all he could do with it was fall in love with a pretty girl who was out of his geeky league and started playing lacrosse better. Being strong meant something more than the selfish desire to have a better life, Scott had a responsibility and it was one that he had proven more than once that he was okay with shirking since this all started.

"You're not a sidekick," Derek finally whispered "You're not Robin."

Stiles shrugged and replied sheepishly even as his cheeks pinked a little bit, "I don't know how not to find it endearing that you know who Batman and Robin are so knock it off. What are we going to do about the target I painted on my back?"

"Can you stay with Scott?" Derek asked with a weary sigh and Stiles tried not to notice the slight flush on the beta's cheekbones.

He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at the older man, "That's not going to happen tonight. I haven't forgiven him for leaving me alone and then my dad got hurt because he was out there doing what you and Scott should be dealing with."

Derek sighed, stood up and started taking off his jacket then scrunched it up and dropped the pile on the floor next to the bed, "Then I guess I am staying here tonight. The Alpha…"

"Peter," Stiles interjected sullenly.

"What?"

"You are going to have to say that he's the alpha at some point, you're going to have to deal with the fact that he's the one who killed your sister and those people, he brought the hunters here and brought you here to find her without coming to you like family."

Derek glared at him and his green eyes flashed to the brilliant blue. Stiles wondered why Scott's were gold and Derek's were blue anyway? Maybe it was a Turned/Born werewolf thing. Derek spoke after a minute of ineffectual glaring at the standing teenager, "Yeah I completely grasp the fact of what you told me Stiles, but you don't get to tell me when that happens. I am having a difficult time dealing with the fact that I am going to lose both of them within weeks of each other. Can you really blame me for my choosing ignorance?"

"No I guess not but don't wait too long otherwise the rest of us are going down with him," Stiles said and held up his hands when Derek glared at him again then pointed out what Derek was doing, "So what's with the getting comfortable thing?"

"I am not going anywhere while he's out there and he knows that you know. I can't deal with you dying or getting hurt either and though I truly believe that the Bite is a gift, it should be one that you get to choose unlike Scott or Jackson. I won't let him touch you as long as I can."

"What if I want the Bite?" the teen asked.

Derek stared up at him for several seconds and Stiles started to squirm where he was standing until he exclaimed, "Okay, I'm jealous of Scott. Like 'Shrek' green with it, seriously but I don't want to be a werewolf. I don't want to lose myself like he has."

Derek's eyebrows waggled a little though he wasn't smiling with anything more than a little crinkle around his eyes, and the teen couldn't help but grin at the prideful response, as if knowing that Stiles wasn't sharing the whole story because he knew Stiles is pleasing to him. Stiles shook his head but said nothing, figuring he would just get started getting ready for bed. He could feel the itchiness under his skin but refused to touch the area, he knew it was because of Derek's proximity, not the other x-factors. He didn't know how to deal with seeing him after the kiss that they still weren't talking about. As of right now, he didn't really know what he would say anyway. He'd kept up with his new contacts on the LGBT sites, continued to do reading to find out what he was and so far, he still didn't know. He did know that there was something about Lydia that called to him, her beauty and her intelligence and there was something about Derek Hale that was integral to who he was that drew Stiles in. There wasn't much in common between the two crushes, the few being: unattainable, beautiful but that's where it stopped. Derek was so different from anything he'd ever known before and he was a dude. Clearly that meant that Stiles was at least bisexual or whatever but he was okay with not putting a new label on himself for a while. Stiles did know that he didn't look at Jackson or Scott, or most of the guys in his class or on the lacrosse team and think 'Oh baby, I'd hit that' but when he was close to Derek there was something there. It was the start of something and if he was honest, it wasn't a something that he wanted to give up even if it was just friendship for now.

"You going to go to sleep?" Derek grumbled as Stiles twisted and turned on the bed, thinking all these thoughts and he didn't know what to do. If he opened his mouth now he was going to say something ridiculous. So he didn't say anything and waited for Derek to leave him alone.

"Thank you," the werewolf whispered after several anxiety-ridden moments of silence and his voice was gruff, shuddering at the end. Stiles leaned over the side of the bed, caught sight of the shimmer of tears reflected from the growing moon through the window in the man's eyes. Stiles tucked his chin into his hand and watched as Derek ignored his gaze and kept his eyes on the window.

"For what? Breaking the trust you decided to give me? Kissing you? Telling you something you didn't want to know, throwing your only remaining family member under a bus, even if what I said was true?"

Derek shifted his gaze and locked onto Stiles, the green eyes always a strange surprise to Stiles, "Thank you for caring enough about me and my family to find out the truth and tell me about it. I hate the idea of you putting yourself in harm's way because of this but there isn't anything I can do to change the past so I am going to do what I have to now."

Stiles nodded, the pressure of his chin driving into his hand shifting the tendons under the skin keeping him present and keeping his heart rate steady instead of hammering at the content of the conversation. He swallowed, his throat dry and clicking with anxiety, "And the rest?" Because he needed to know.

Derek shrugged, his shoulders digging into the leather jacket that was under his head before he resettled, "You didn't break my trust Stiles, and you're pack. That's all I need to know. The rest is over and in the past."

Stiles sighed, trying not to face up to the disappointment that was riding him and wondered for a second what it smelled like to Derek, was there a distinctive scent to all emotions or were they like colors, with the main ones like red, blue and yellow? And as you added emotions then it was like red and blue making purple. He wondered at what point the scent was just so convoluted that it was indescribable, like a mucky muddy brown. Scott had been learning about them but he hadn't been able to tell Stiles about it. He wondered what it was like for Derek. Stiles settled back on the bed and sighed, "Okay." He relaxed to sleep knowing that Derek was there, and wondered for the seconds before he fell asleep that he hoped Derek left before his dad got home and he wondered where the Camaro was.

When the teen woke up the next day, it was to a scrawled note on his pillow which said, 'Left when your father came home, I will be around. I am training with Scott after he gets off work at the clinic. Come? Don't be alone, especially at night.'

Stiles nodded, like Derek could see him and chuckled when he realized what he was doing. So maybe there was never going to be anything there, he didn't think he was so attracted and deep into the feelings he had that he couldn't pull himself back out of them with some force and discomfort, though being in close proximity probably wasn't going to make matters any better but it was a start. He got out of bed and got dressed for school, heading downstairs and found his dad sitting at the table with a bunch of paperwork laid out. He passed by the sheriff, pressing a hand to his shoulder in passing as the contact was comforting to him, "Can I make you something to eat Dad?" he asked.

He wasn't the greatest cook but he'd started to learn because without his mom they had been living out of take-out bags and the only slightly better diner food not to mention donuts. Lots and lots of donuts. Stiles' desire to protect his father had got him looking into cholesterol and heart attacks, what food was better for him and so sometimes he cooked to make sure his dad got something healthy every once in a while, but it was already starting to be more of a hobby that he looked forward to sometimes. Cooking could be something soothing for him when finding comfort in the Adderall or his friends became harder, not to mention the fact that his dad took his extra doses of Adderall. Not to mention when it came to research nonsensical things, food always seemed to come up sooner or later and Stiles enjoyed the comfort and science of cooking, plus it tasted good at the end—most of the time. Though he hadn't been able to do much since Scott was turned, there was just too much going on since then.

The sheriff shook his head, "I'll get something on the way out, you eat though."

Stiles went about making some scrambled eggs and toast, before sitting down across from his dad, "How's it going Dad?"

Stilinski shook his head, "Just looking over all the notes from the animal attacks, wanted to get all my ducks in a row and close the case now that Argent gunned down the mountain lion, though from what I understand there are some inconsistences which I am keeping my eyes on."

The teen listened to his father, his heart beat picking up to an uncomfortable pace because Peter was still out there and the case wasn't closed and it wasn't an animal only, if the sheriff and the deputies all believed that it was over it would be even more dangerous for them. All of them.

Peter wasn't done yet, of that Stiles was sure. Derek didn't recognize any of the names of the victims so far which meant that their involvement was cursory at best and there was no way he was going to kill those people and not go for the main event, Allison would be in danger right along with her aunt and father, though Stiles didn't think anyone besides Kate deserved a brilliant and fiery demise, Allison had been nothing but sweet and naïve. Stiles would pin all of his hopes and dreams on the fact that Allison didn't know what her family was up to but to Peter, killing someone so innocent would be harmful for the family, it would destroy all of them if Allison died so she was in just as much danger.

"You have that face," his dad said, startling Stiles back to the present.

He laughed when the sheriff frowned at him, "Sorry, my mind was wandering. It's been a weird semester so far."

His dad nodded, looking back down at his paperwork even as he spoke and it was that calming 'dad voice' that meant nothing good was about to come out of his mouth, "Stiles I know this has been hard, getting through this and now you aren't getting to use some of your old methods of being okay. I know that you hate to slow down and think about anything but I am going to need you to do something for me. I need you to keep your fingers out of this. Just go to school, hang out with Scott and do your homework."

Stiles nodded thought he wanted to shrug, "Dad I have to tell you that I am almost out of pills."

The Sheriff glared at his son for a minute, "I'll make the call but I know how many pills you get and they better last that many days this time otherwise we are going to find another option that isn't meds."

Stiles nodded quickly, he didn't know what else to do really. He needed the meds, they helped him and kept him sane so he was going to do what he needed to do to keep it. He still had a few of the other pills he took from Lydia but he was going to use them in dire circumstances though he didn't think he could get any more of them anywhere. He was glad that his Dad hadn't gotten madder about it. He continued eating his breakfast, sitting down across from his dad, chewing slowly because he found himself wondering if he should try again with his dad. He had to know that there was something he could share but he didn't want to be laughed at again but he had to try. Maybe some of the personal stuff was a good place to start at least, maybe this one his dad could help him understand at some point in the future but only if he could tell him the truth.

"Listen I know you kind of know this already but Scott and I have befriended someone. This someone isn't someone you would imagine either of us having anything in common with but we do."

"Oh?" the sheriff's tone was stuck somewhere between excitement and apprehension; they hadn't had other friends since before Stiles' mom died, it was like the only person he had the energy to maintain a relationship with was Scott and his Dad, not even connecting with Mrs. McCall in a way that Stiles might have wanted when he was younger.

"Derek Hale?" he asked, though he didn't know exactly what the question was.

His dad frowned, "Stiles?"

"Dad?" he returned innocently.

"Stiles," the sheriff groaned, "He was suspected of murder, your best friend called me to report a crime not to mention he's several years older. He's old enough to buy things for you! What could you possibly have in common?"

The teenager nodded and frowned. His dad had a point, "I know Dad, trust me I know. There is a lot more that we need to talk about but maybe a few minutes before you are going to be leaving isn't a good time. I told you when Scott called that Derek wasn't guilty. After his sister was killed, he needed help and I gave it to him. It was just some information about places around town that he might be able to stay and since he hadn't been in Beacon Hills for a while I helped him. We kind of clicked and have been friends, getting to be friends anyway. It's not the bro-team like Scott and I have but Dad, he gets it and I need that I think."

The sheriff sighs and looks at his son speculatively, "You found someone to talk to then?"

Stiles was glad he doesn't ask for an explanation of what 'it' is, because he didn't need to. It was alive in both of them and the sheriff knew better than most about what Derek suffered when the fire happened. Stiles and his dad had both read the files and the news clippings but the sheriff had been there when it happened. He'd seen Derek when it was all over and he was left standing in the cold burned out husk of his own life.

"It seems like sometimes fate is a real-life force that cannot be bargained with," Stilinski said with a weary sigh.

Stiles stared at him in surprise, "Well that was a tad more dramatic than I was expecting," he snorted. He kept eating though there wasn't much left, adding some salt and pepper just for the sake of something to do while he waited for his father to keep talking.

"As you already know, your mother and Talia Hale were friends. They were very important to each other, to the point I thought there was something going on but I hope that there wasn't."

"There wasn't Dad."

"You can't know that," the Sheriff returned quickly, though he was shaking a little. It really was too early for this kind of conversation.

"Mom would never cheat on you and whether you believe it or not, Talia Hale wouldn't never step out on her husband. It wouldn't have happened."

"Stiles I want to believe that and I mostly do but you were too young to even know what was going on there and you're just distracting me. I saw Derek when you were in the hospital, I have seen him since and I understand that you are friends or something. Don't think you are going to get away with buying anything he could possibly provide."

Stiles rolled his eyes, "That guy is not fun enough to try and buy booze, drugs or cigarettes for underage teens. Trust me." Though he was going to be teaching them to fight, how to survive in Beacon Hills and so on, maybe that's not exactly what his father meant but he wouldn't be buying Stiles any illicit substances for sure. Who had time for that right now anyway?

"Not the point Stiles," his dad barked, frustrated to the max. Stiles nodded and started cleaning up the table. Then his Dad started talking and Stiles didn't know why he was speaking but he didn't stop or move either. "Your mother loved it here, she went to college in New York then came right back here and they weren't friends then but somewhere along the way it was her home away from home. I guess—maybe I don't want to lose the only family I have left to another Hale."

Stiles slumped ungracefully into the chair at the table again and stared at his father for a second, just dumbfounded. "Dad?" he whispered, "You're not going to lose me just because I am friends with Derek Hale."

His dad looked at him, sad and resigned, "You ran away from home a couple of times that year before the fire, always to the Hale house and Talia would bring you home, sometimes her husband but it was like they were the better family to you when you were little. You were always drawn to them, just like her."

Stiles reached out and gripped his dad's hand gently, "Will you always be here for me? Will you listen even if I sound crazy? Even if I tell you things you may not want to hear?" Stiles asked in a strangled whisper.

"Yes of course, Stiles that's not even in question."

"Then you are not going to lose me, we might just need to have more than a few awkward conversations."

"My favorite," his dad responded sarcastically and Stiles chuckled. There was another pause then he spoke, "I don't want you to get fixated on fixing Derek so you don't have to worry about yourself okay?"

Stiles sat in silence, wondering how much of his memory had been compromised by grief and trauma, the dream had given him an inkling but not much more than time with Scott and late night pickups from other deputies because his dad couldn't do it. He got up, mostly because he didn't know what to say, to retrieve a glass of milk. He pulled the half gallon from the fridge and put it down on the counter. "You didn't want me to help him after the fire because you thought I wouldn't deal with losing mom?"

"Yeah, I guess," Stilinski responded with a shrug and he wondered how they even got here. His dad looking deeply uncomfortable with the way this conversation was shifting and Stiles started shaking because he didn't know how to deal with the death of his mother, had never really learned to live without her.

"Dad, we hardly ever talk about her, after she died or now. How could I have possibly worked through any of how I was feeling when you spent the first year after she died in a bottle?"

His dad stared at him, open mouthed with shock. Stiles could understand the reaction, he was flabbergasted as well since they didn't discuss this. His dad let him fuss about the food, refused him curly fries and diner food but never, never had they ever talked about the first year after she died when the McCall's had raised him, when his dad should have tossed himself into the drunk tank. When Stiles had been the parent more than his dad had been. He'd locked up, alone, every night and walked himself to the bus stop. He'd been the one to get himself up for school when he went. And they never discussed things like that, but he figured then again if his dad was going to call out Stiles' bad coping mechanisms then he deserved a fair trade on that. He'd needed his father all those years, he'd needed his father to let his son to talk it out and that didn't happen. They both walked down this particular path together and Stiles figured that he had just as much right to care about his dad as his dad had to care for him after all this time.

Stiles wished that he could give up all of the things that his dad saw as bad coping mechanisms but he would still have to run off with Scott, he would still have to research and everything and now he would have to do it without the chemical boost of Adderall. They were the Stilinski's they just kept moving forward and he had broken the unwritten rule. The sad thing was, calling out his father's past actions did nothing to take the spotlight off of his misbehavior but then again, Stiles was always going to be impulsive, most of the time he didn't think things through before he said or did them. The days of his dad shaking his head and saying nothing about what Stiles did were obviously over if he is going to shake out the cobwebs on what his father had done and maybe they were better off but right now he couldn't deal with any of it. Stiles put everything down on the counter again, breakfast forgotten and grabbed his phone, bag and shoes and headed out the door as he gasped out, "I'm sorry Dad."

As he walked quickly towards his vehicle, Stiles rubbed his head and groaned. He didn't know what was going on, it was the same thing with the kiss. He had this reaction or this truth inside of him and it just burst free without his permission. He'd always had trouble with filtering but this was ridiculous. He thought for a second that maybe he was going crazy, incapable of stemming the emotions he'd been ignoring for so long and the introduction of the supernatural into his life shook a lot of it loose.

He started the jeep and before he could put the car into gear, he slammed his palm into the wheel and grunted, "Fuck! Stellar job there Stilinski!" He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and gripped the device in his hands, trying to make himself stop shaking but it didn't work. He stabbed out a quick message to Scott, saying he was on his way to pick the werewolf up and to be ready.

Scott responded quickly, agreeing to his terms. It didn't take more than a few minutes to get to the McCall house and Scott was on the curb waiting so he climbed into the jeep and they continued on the way to school. It took a few minutes for Stiles to remember that he was fighting with Scott for his horrid timing in disappearing with Allison the day of the parent-teacher conferences. Scott had been texting him constantly for the past couple of days and he hadn't reached out at all, he hadn't talked to him either. He was glad that his dad was doing better, and he wasn't angry at Scott like he had been but now was not the time to talk about any of it, this was about him right now.

He just needed his best friend more than he needed to be angry at him.

"I still hate you, ya know," Stiles said and Scott flinched, any other person would have missed it but Stiles believed in the pack bonds better than any other human might because he and Scott had been around each other long enough to read each other and to share something of a superficial bond. Stiles could definitely read him better than Allison, he thought uncharitably.

"I know," his puppy friend responded, "Can I ask how your dad is doing?"

Stiles winced right back, "He's doing better. He didn't break any ribs; his shoulder was dislocated and sore but healing. Which I decided to derail by having a freak out this morning."

"What do you mean?" the werewolf asked, his brown eyes not leaving the side of Stiles' face even as he kept his eyes on the road.

"So I guess you need to know this other thing first because I did something stupid last night and it involves you and Derek."

"What did you do Stiles?" he asked loudly.

"I found out there was a good chance that the alpha is Peter Hale, Derek's uncle. I did the research, got his records from the long-term facility as well as the information about the fire. It was too much of a coincidence but I didn't want to take it all to Derek until I had more proof than a gut feeling and possible connections. I confronted Peter in the long-term facility where he's at currently, I was trying to get some kind of response and I got one. He's the alpha and I know and he knows I know so there's that."

Scott stared at him in open-mouthed awe/disgust/terror then punched the dashboard, causing the jeep to screech in pain, Stiles gave a full body wince.

"Hey now, be nice to the jeep, she didn't do anything to you!" he shouted even as Scott's breathing changed, quickened in an extremely recognizable fashion, a long-lost memory from the painful parts of his childhood. Stiles pulled the jeep over, despite the fact that they were only about a minute away from the school and pressed a hand to Scott's shoulder. "Breathe in, one long breath. Make you ridiculously awesome gut look fat, just for me." Stiles batted his eyes at his friend who chuckled a little and worked through the breathing exercise for a few minutes, putting his hand on his stomach to be sure that's where he would feel the air expanding the space. Stiles had a moment of gratitude for remembered some of the techniques his doctors and counselors had taught him when he was younger and having panic attacks at every turn.

"You unbelievable idiot!" Scott finally gasped out, and Stiles grasped his chest in mock offense.

"It's part of my charm," he said with a negligent shrug and a grin.

"Well your charm is going to get you killed!"

"Can't argue with you there."

"And? I feel there's an 'and' coming."

Stiles grinned, "You know me so well."

"Stiles," his friend admonished. They may not do the whole range of emotions all the time but Scott knew deflection when he heard and saw them.

"I told my dad this morning that we never worked through my mom's death. That instead he just fell into a bottle and we all know my coping mechanisms aren't the greatest. He has called me out on them too, saying that I was going to have to learn some new methods."

Scott face palmed and Stiles turned back and started driving again. They were going to have to get to class soon anyway. He was sure Scott was going to make this about him in a minute, whatever was happening in the werewolf world and Stiles wanted to help him, he didn't want to see his best friend fall prey to the beast that turned him and hurt Derek.

In surprising turn, though Scott asked, "What the hell is going on with you?" his tone didn't sound angry or rude, just confused and worried. He sounded sad, like this was something he had seen coming a long time ago and the only thing that didn't make any sense was that it was happening now.

Stiles felt the out of place anger rise in him, feeling at the mercy of the wave as he parked the jeep, got out and headed towards school. Scott was right on his ass just like any well-meaning friend would do. "Hey! What did I say? You can't keep walking away from me!"

"Why not Scott? You've walked away from me more times than I can count since you were turned!" he paused, taking a deep breath and answering the question angrily. "You know, I wish I knew what the hell was going on with me but I don't. I know that my best friend is suddenly different in ways I can't comprehend most days and I kissed a guy. A dark broody, angry and amazingly hot guy that has completely blown Lydia freaking Martin out of my mind but it's like I'm not really gay so I have no idea what or who I am and now… Now I am opening up a host of old wounds that I am not really ready to deal with! What the actual fuck!"

Scott looked around the courtyard but Stiles just groaned and started walking again, he hadn't said anything that would be outing his best friend as the supernatural creature he now was but it did out himself and all of his crazy. There were a few people pausing in their morning routine to check him out in his school-side meltdown but he didn't really care. The nice thing about barely being a blip on the radar of high school is that no one cared that he was having an existential crisis and screaming about it in front of the school building wasn't going to change that.

They headed inside, Scott was silent for a long time as they went to each of their lockers and Stiles just went to his first class without his best friend. He would see him again in second period and they could talk about Scott's problems then. The full moon was racing them down and he may not have been supernatural but he could feel Scott's rising discomfort. He knew that Scott wasn't getting enough practice with Derek to be ready for it, to be ready to fight against Peter's control.

Right on track Scott sat down behind him in English and whispered, "Derek wants me to stay away from Allison, he says the only way to control the shift is through anger. Are you going to help me with this?"

Stiles rolled his eyes because right on cue this was again about Allison freaking Argent and Scott getting to date her! He knew it was coming, it didn't make it any less painful that the supernatural concerns of his best friend apparently took precedence and to be on the safe side, it had to but it still sucked, "When are you meeting him?"

"After work tonight, he's picking me up from Deaton's place."

"Then we can work on it during free period."

Scott grinned, "Thanks bro."

"Just stop disappearing because of the pretty girl, you have a responsibility to more than her now."

"Understood," Scott grumbled miserably though he did it with a shrug and a roll of his eyes.

Stiles turned around, thinking about what Scott had said to him as he sat down, "He thinks anger is the key?"

His friend nodded.

"Well don't let me act as though I know more than the born you-know-what but every time you get angry you try and kill someone, mostly me."

"That's why he doesn't know if he can teach me at all."

"Okay well let me think about this and come up with something different, we have the day to test a couple theories."

Free period came and went, Stiles hitting Scott with lacrosse balls while he focused on his heart rate with the help of his misappropriated heart monitor and Scott coming to the forlorn conclusion that Allison makes him weak which Stiles is pretty sure is stupid and incorrect. He understands that Derek was born this way and he learned a certain way but Stiles was unwilling to believe that the only way to have control was through anger. It made perfect sense that Derek had only ever had power through anger because grief and pain were debilitating and from what Scott shared with him on the field was that the stronger the anger, the stronger his body felt and was. The anger that Derek felt would have made him feel powerful enough survive the loss, to survive anything or anyone that kept coming for him. Stiles didn't begrudge him the control he needed but he didn't think that was the only one.

Watching Scott being berated by Coach and Allison calming him down was another puzzle piece which Stiles quickly shared with Scott outside of class, "It's her."

"What?"

"I don't think she makes you weak, I think she brings you back. Like an anchor to hold you in your humanity, I don't think you should stay away from her."

"Because I love her," Scott said and Stiles grinned because whether or not they were in the midst of crazy supernatural shit, his best friend had never been in love before.

"Yes."

"Did I just say that?" his love-struck friend asked.

"Yup," he responded. He was happy for his best friend but they had bigger looming problems than the hunter's daughter, "Before you go off to write sonnets, why don't we figure this out."

"Oh yeah," Scott agreed and they continued walking.

Stiles thought about the times that Scott had gotten into trouble with the change and cross examined the information with what he knew about the times that Scott came back, without pain because that seemed to be across-the-board with the werewolves. Pain keeps you human but the other times, it was always Allison, Scott not wanting to hurt her or be found out by her. He paused in the hall and grinned.

"Oh no, you have an idea, don't you?"

"Oh yeah," Stiles responded as he started ticking through the possibilities.

"Is this going to get me in trouble?" his friend asked.

"Maybe but I probably will too," he said in comfort as he slapped Scott on the shoulder.

"Is it going to cause me physical pain?" Scott then asked and Stiles laughed and nodded as he led them off to get into more trouble and to get Stiles a little resolution.

Derek walked towards his Camaro and looked around, he was heading back to the warehouse after checking to make sure Stiles was at school, he'd been lucky enough to catch sight of him and Scott on the lacrosse field and Stiles was chucking balls at Scott. Derek chuckled, thinking that he was going to have to ask what Stiles' rationale was for that choice and how he'd convinced Scott that it was for his own benefit. He was going to be back at the school later since Scott was going to be going to work and leaving Stiles alone, that wasn't going to happen as long as Derek had a choice. He thought about the days coming till the full moon and thought, he needed to end this but Peter is the alpha and without help, Derek wasn't going to have the strength to stop him, maybe with Scott's help if he could get the kid ready. If Peter got a hold of Stiles, he didn't think they would be able to save him so they only had protection and preemptively making sure that the spastic teen didn't get nabbed.

He drove off towards the other side of town, heading towards the warehouse, keeping an eye on the roads in front and behind him, taking a chance and driving all the way through as he didn't see any of the Argent vehicles. He pulled up to the end of the warehouse and tucked his car inside neatly, pleased with the work that Stiles had done to make sure that he would easily be able to open the door and close it without having to get out of the car. It wasn't an official garage door opener, it looked more like something Stiles cobbled together, but it worked and it was just another gesture the teen had done for Derek and he knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Stiles didn't have any designs on him then, he would have scented it. Desire and arousal were scents that everyone had, something that was easily recognizable but it had been absent when they'd spent time together otherwise Derek would have ended things immediately.

The kiss, that was a different story and Derek still didn't know what to do with it except trust that Stiles had no intention of forcing any sort of attention on him and he hadn't, in fact he'd been more than willing to stop spending time together completely. It had been up to Derek to bridge the gap and this was just a good time to end the separation. He shut off the Camaro and closed the large door then stopped up short as he took a deep breath.

"Derek, so this is where you've been hiding out," her voice slithered across his shoulders and down his back and he shifted immediately, his teeth lengthening and his claws extending as he crouched and turned. Kate Argent stood there, hip cocked and a gun resting in her hands and pointed in Derek's general direction. The door was closed; she must have slipped in as it was closing. How she got in didn't really matter, the only thing that did was surviving this so he could protect Stiles and Scott. Kate wasn't going to be the death of them too.

"No back up?" he growled the question, the teeth making him words slur a tiny bit.

"I don't need it for you my sweet," she returned, crooning at him. Derek backed up another step as his heart rate spiked and he tried desperately to reign in the fear he was starting to drown in at the sight of her. There was no other way to describe it, she'd destroyed his family, she'd made him love her and made him believe that she loved him. That was the scariest part of her being back, not that she would do it all over again, there was no one left after all… except Peter, and now Stiles and Scott but maybe she would try again and use the old methods to destroy what little there was left of him.

With that thought he turned off the rabbiting in his ribcage and with some slow breathing exercises he pushed all the fear and the feelings down as deep as they would go while she walked towards him. He shifted and moved around the warehouse, knowing the space better than she had a hope of knowing and he would use anything to his advantage to survive, he asked "How did you find me here?"

She tutted, "Now now, family secret."

Derek stumbled inside his jacket pocket for his phone, shoved his finger across the screen though he didn't know what he was trying to do. He tugged it out just as she fired and hit him across the shoulder with buckshot. Derek spun and fell, screaming though some small part of his brain realized that they were just regular bullets, they would hurt and take time to heal but it wouldn't kill him so he bit down on his lip, making it bleed to bring himself under control so he could keep fighting. He dragged the phone in front of him and almost pushed on Stiles' contact but he couldn't. Derek wouldn't bring him here to her. She would only assume that he was the beta and might kill him on the spot but maybe he could get her to say something, maybe something he could use against her. He pushed on the button to record, darkened the screen and shoved it back into his jacket pocket then threw the jacket off and towards the train car. Hopefully the recording would pick her up and he would try to stay close to it as he fought. Kate was laughing as she sauntered over, pulling back on the shotgun to load it again. The sound of the barrel loading was harsh and loud in the silence of the warehouse.

"Poor boy, I do love to hurt you," she hissed at him.

"Like Laura?" Derek grumbled, wondering even now if Peter was capable of doing what Stiles had said. He didn't know how to live with that but he would, like everything else but maybe if he could keep Kate talking then he would have enough time to act.

"It's true that she was cut in half and left for you to find her, little too Texas Chain Saw Massacre for me, I like fire. How about you Derek?"

He growled at her but ignored the dig because it was just another distraction, "Are you saying you didn't kill her?" he asked as he scooted back and then before he could even try anything, she whipped out a baton, flipped it to its full length and pressed it to his stomach and he couldn't stop the cry, the aching pain from the electricity jolting through his body.

"Listen very closely to me Derek, I may have fucked you into the ground to get you complacent and pumped you for information on your family, I may have set your home on fire and killed your whole pack but I did not kill your sister. None of the hunters did."

Derek gulped back the need to snap his teeth at her despite the fact that he wasn't shifted anymore. He had never heard what happened to him ever explained back to him and to have it done so coldly, he could barely stand it. He'd never said out loud what she did to him. His family had barely known about her, just enough that his mother didn't approve. To have her say it like that—he shook, wanting to curl up and stop existing. He'd felt that way after the fire and Laura hadn't let him give up, but now she was gone too. He hated himself for the weakness he'd portrayed and the way he'd given her to damage and kill them. Derek didn't want to be the last Hale anymore.

"Just kill me," he sobbed, sounding weaker than he ever remembered sounding in his life, "I don't want to keep doing this. You have taken everything from me and I don't want to be around just in case there is anything else you can take." He didn't dare think about Stiles and Scott, if she did kill him then they would be alone and Peter would hurt them but he couldn't help the selfish desire to be done with all this, if she didn't kill him then he would keep fighting but right now, he didn't want to anymore.

Kate laughed then kneeled down next to Derek and he flinched away from her proximity then she was pressing a hand against his abdomen, holding him in place while she sent another jolt through his body and he wondered slowly how it didn't shock her in the process, then again maybe it did and she was just crazy enough to like the pain. He arched into her hand which was now slipping lower until she was cupping him intimately through his jeans and nothing was responding to her touch. If anything, his penis was trying to shirk away from the touch of her hand, "You really did grow up in all the right places, what do you say. One more for the road?"

At this Kate put down the gun and the baton and tugged her shirt to the side and revealed her breast, moving across his thighs and rubbing the warmth and the V of her legs against him and Derek shuddered. "Oh yeah, baby you know you want this."

He couldn't let this happen again, he wouldn't do this again. He took a deep breath and forced himself out of the freeze mode. Derek shoved her hand away and pushed her backwards, surging up and over her. He shifted as he moved and roared in her face, wondering if the sound would echo out and call to his pack or maybe they were too young to know what it would mean though it didn't matter as he shouted at her. "NO! Don't you fucking touch me! Do you hear me! Don't ever touch me again!" He pressed his claw tipped hand down on her throat, looking for enough strength to keep fighting even as the shotgun pellets were making their way out of him and the electricity was seeping out of his cells, one slow second at a time.

Derek looked down at her while he squeezed her throat, she just smiled at him and arched her body into his and Derek couldn't stop the desperate need to move away and stop touching her. He recoiled automatically in a desperate need to not touch her again. He pulled back and punched her hard enough to stall her then scuttled away, glad that he'd been in touch enough to pull in his claws. Scaring her wasn't the point here, getting her away and off of him was. He grabbed the jacket from the ground, feeling to make sure the phone and keys inside the pocket. Derek watched as she shook off the pain and laughed, he took a second to wonder if she was as unhinged as she appeared and figured the answer was yes. She had shocked herself to shock him, and when he was choking her it was pleasurable instead of terrifying.

"What are you really here for? It clearly isn't to kill me," Derek growled, shaking his shoulder as a few of the pellets hit the floor, clattering and bouncing in the silence between them, only minutely shared by their rapid breathing. The blood smeared across his skin and it was starting to itch a little, all a normal part of the accelerated healing but he was at least functional now.

"You can't kill me can you? Good to know sweetie. I came to tell you that if you help us get the Alpha then we'll leave you alone. He clearly killed your sister, who knows what else he's doing but he's going to be the death of you so just let us help and we'll be on our way out."

Derek thought about Allison and knew she was lying, the Argents' were here to claim territory and he wasn't going to fall for another one of her games. Fool him once shame on her, fool him twice…that wasn't going to happen. Maybe he couldn't kill her today but that meant very little with Peter being the alpha. He didn't want Peter to hurt anyone else but her, Derek would cheer from the sidelines while Peter ripped her throat out.

"You want the Alpha, go fucking find him. It's Peter Hale. I hope you do find him because all these deaths have just been the buildup to the main event in his revenge plot."

Kate laughed, grabbing her gun and wand before she paused, froze in step and looked up. She clearly heard the second part before the first, "Peter Hale?" she asked.

"So you remember him then? My mother's top Enforcer, he had a human wife who was pregnant in the house when it burned. He had only found out; her scent had changed and I have never seen him look happier. You sentenced him to listening to her die before he ran and survived, he listened and experienced the death of his Lupa. I have proof that its him and guess who he's coming after?"

"Us. Me," Kate whispered and she looked, maybe for the first time since she arrived in town, scared of what she'd done and what the consequences were going to be. None of the other Hale's were supposed to survive and if any of them could have been the worst—that would be Peter because on the best of days he was a manipulative son of a bitch, willing to do anything to save his wife and family. Now, well now he was crazy to boot.

"He's been waiting for your Kate Argent, and now you're here. Good luck."

She backed up, looking around like she expected the alpha to jump out at any time. She headed for the door and he figured now would be one of those amazing moments he always missed because he was too intensely in his head, "I may not be able to kill you but he will and he could take all of your family with you just like you did his and mine."

Then she was gone and Derek collapsed to the floor, hating the fact that her scent was all over the place, the fear and the arousal both taking him back to that day and the things she'd said to him after it was all over and he stood and threw himself to the door, leaning out and vomiting in the dirt next to the building. He needed to move the Camaro, he needed to do something and get out of here. He needed to protect the other, protect Stiles. Peter wouldn't go for Kate now; he would try to contain and control Scott and maybe recruit Stiles in the meantime or grab Jackson if he was transitioning.

Derek stumbled back to the Camaro, started it with a rumble and he headed to the hospital to park the car. From there he started walking towards Stiles' house, worried about the fact that he was alone when he got a text. He pulled out the phone and saw Stiles' name on a text and opened it quickly.

'Scott and I are at the school with civilians. Peter's here and we are trapped. Help!'

"Of course," Derek husked, trying to battle down the fear that attempted to choke him at the thought of Peter stalking Scott and Stiles in the school. Peter was smart and he was crazy, he'd always been methodical and if he was hunting the teenagers then there was a damn good reason. He got back in the Camaro and headed towards the school, hoping he would get there in time to do something—anything. He wondered for a second about the fact that he didn't have anyone to call to fight against Peter except maybe Chris Argent. Calling on a hunter to help him though felt like a great way to get them all killed. So he would just have to just figure it out when he got there.