Author's Note: Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took a while. Hope you like it.

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Chapter 10

Stiles POV

When I got back from the pack meeting I immediately collapse on my bed. Derek was going to be over in a couple hours and I needed to make sure I was calm when he came. Was it a bad idea for me to ask Derek to come over? I mean I went from around him all the time to stopping cold turkey and now I'm going to be with him by myself for a few hours.

I need to get over that. I said that I wanted to be friends and I am going to do my best. We need to form some sort of connection. Derek especially needs this. He needs to be close to someone and maybe I can be that someone.

Ok, enough with all that emotional crap. I need to focus on this crazy pack that's moving towards us. Once again the supernatural world is taking a crap on us. It was bound to happen, whenever life goes back to normal something comes up.

I easily get into my Dad's database and look for signs that a pack was causing problems. There has been a lot of missing person cases, but not a lot of animal attacks.

I start to mumble to myself in hopes that thinking out loud will help. "If there was a rogue pack going around killing people, there would be a lot of animal attacks. This doesn't make sense."

"If a pack was killed, they wouldn't be known as an animal attack." I jump at the voice behind me. I turn to see Derek sitting on the window sill.

"Shit! Why do you always have to scare me?"

"It's not my fault you don't pay attention. Plus I enjoy seeing you jump."

"Asshole." I say turning away, but quickly remember what he said to scare me. "Wait what were you saying about lack of animal attacks?"

"They wouldn't report their death. A lot of times they just bury them in their own manner and report them as missing. Check for missing person reports."

"How do you know that?"

"I have been around werewolves for a bit longer than you. Burying pack members in the forest is a very common practice. Most packs do that. My family didn't because we were a family and we buried them in our own way. I'm assuming that is why you asked me to come over and help." His eyes were showing the sadness that comes whenever he talks about his family.

"Um…" his response caught me off guard. "Yea, but you can just help me try to find a pattern. You don't have to talk about your family. I'm not expecting you to."

"Thank you."

I nodded at him, turning back to my computer. "Here's what I've found. There has been 5 animal attacks in the past 2 months. That is more than usual, but it is summer so there may be more people in the woods. In that same time frame there have been 20 missing person cases, which is definitely a huge leap from the average. These people have gone missing from three areas north of us. Do you know of any packs in these areas?"

"I only know one pack, they are about 4 hours north of here. They're alpha is Xavier Smith. His family and my family were close. I knew him when I was younger. I haven't spoken to him in a while but I'll call and see if I can get in touch with him and see what he's heard."

"Ok, thanks. Now if what you're saying is right about the missing persons, then it does look like this pack is headed towards us. But we do need to get in touch with that pack. It is possible that the rogue pack was taken out and there is no more threat."

"I'll call them tomorrow. Is there anything else?"

"Why don't you help me go over some of these other files and see if you spot anything?"

"Why? Researching is your job."

"I don't give a crap if it's my job. There's a lot of crap I have to dig through and I don't know as much about werewolf politics as you do." Sometimes I forget what an asshole Derek could be. Why the hell do I like him again? He's just a jerk.

"You're right. I should help you since I know more about packs." And that wasn't expected.

"Did you just say that I was right? Can you say that again into my phone? I want proof that it happened."

"Shut up and let's get to work."

Over the next couple of hours we dig through file after file from nearly every city in Northern California. We found more and more missing person cases and a pattern was being formed. It did seem as if they were headed towards Beacon Hills.

Finally after a few hours we stop. I stand up and stretch. "Ok, I think we've done enough work for one night."

"Stiles, why were you avoiding the pack for the past few weeks?"

"I told you I wasn't avoiding the pack. I just wanted to spend some time with my dad and take it easy for a bit."

"I know you're lying to me. Tell me why."

"I'm not lying. That's the truth." I didn't actually lie to him. I wasn't trying to avoid the pack just him.

"Stiles, I can always tell when you're lying."

"How? Is that because you can hear my heartbeat? Because that's not a really reliable source.

"No, your heartbeat is steady, but I know you. I can tell when you're lying."

I looked at him shocked. "You know me? Now who's lying? You don't know any of us, not really."

"Of course I do."

"No you don't. You can't know us if we don't know you. You're always cut off from us. You don't let us get close to you. We're your pack. We care about you. I care about you. Why don't you realize it?"

"It's not that easy. Everyone that I get close to either gets hurt or hurts me. You're my pack. It's my job to care for you guys. You don't have to worry about me."

"This is so frustrating. Do you know what a pack is? It's a family. You need to open up to us. You need to open up to me." I turn away from him. I know I'm supposed to be hiding my feelings from him but I hate seeing him like this.

"I think it's time for me to go." I turn back and see Derek has already jumped out the window.

Before any kind of relationship can happen between us, he needs to pull his head out of his ass. I guess it's going to be my job to help him realize what a closed off ass he can be, and help him get over it.

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Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you thought by reviewing. Thanks.