As always thanks to my lovely reviewers: Kieron77, Tleighblack, random-nasha, Storylover158, and Sterwolf59. You guys are Mega, Super, Kickass awesome. Cyber hugs to all of you :)

Also thanks to those who alerted and favorited last chapter.

Anyway, this chapter isn't really action-y, but it will pick up in the next one. I actually have it planned out, I just need to sit down and write it. I think the hunters will make an appearance in chapter twelve... maybe. It could be eleven. Just keep a look out for them.

So, thanks for reading, I'm not the creator nor owner of these characters, and I really hope to see ya in the next chapter.

Leave me a comment if you can


The werewolves started doing nightly patrols, two wolves per shift. Derek didn't want any of his puppies to end up like him, and I whole-heartedly agreed. One bloody, beaten up werewolf was enough for me. He also posted a werewolf outside of my house, Lydia's, and Allison's (on her father's request since he was helping the werewolves). It was like the Alphas all over again, and as much as I liked the extra protection, it was starting to get a little irritating because a) it was never Derek watching over me and b) being followed around all day by a werewolf just felt like I was being stalked, and definitely not in a good way.

Actually, since Isaac picked up on the hunter's scent, I hadn't really seen much of Derek outside of pack meetings. Seriously, what was the point of having a werewolf boyfriend if he was never around? And yes, I get it, he was trying to keep us all safe from the hunters, being the overprotective jackass that we all knew and loved, but it wouldn't kill him to take five seconds to check in with me, let me know he was okay. So, if worrying about him made me sound like a nag then so be it.

Thursday night, three days after Isaac's discover, I had Erica as my guard. Since I'm me, and can't just keep the wolves outside, I had already invited her up to my room. I did that with every single werewolf because my mother and father raised me to have manners. Plus, I didn't have to worry about my father getting phone calls from all the neighbors, reporting someone lurking around outside of our house.

She was sitting in the middle of my bed, painting her toenails. I had asked her, several times, to do that on the floor, but Erica hadn't quite mastered the art of listening; plus, I didn't have super, awesome alpha powers so I couldn't make her do anything. So, I was forced to rely on her ability not to spill nail polish all over my blankets.

"He'd be here if he could, you know," she said absentmindedly, working on her right, middle toe.

"What?" I looked up from my book (still had no clue what it was about, and the fact that it was an autobiography was not lost on me) and glanced over at her from my desk.

"Oh, come on, stop pretending you don't know what I'm talking about," she replied dipping the cap back into the bottle. "If you want to hide a relationship from your friends you should probably stop hanging around werewolves."

"Erica," I started turning my chair completely around, "I don't want to talk about it, okay."

"Were your kisses really that bad?" She smirked at the appalled look I threw her. "I'm kidding," she said, her smirk dropping, "but seriously, I can see the scratches on your neck, and I can smell the pining, puppy love rolling off of you from over here. Plus Derek's been grumpier than usual. You two are seriously in need of some alone time; preferably sooner rather than later."

I snorted, shook my head, and turned my chair back to my book. I tried reading again, but what she said was gnawing away at me. Finally, I slammed the book shut, turned back around, and asked, "Does he really miss me?"

"Careful Stiles, I might have to accuse you of being needy," Erica teased grinning and I threw her a sharp look. As she pulled the brush from the bottle again, starting to work on her left foot, she said, "Yes, he does. He's also scared these hunters are going to hurt you. Actually he's scared they'll hurt all of us, but I have a feeling you are number one on that list."

"Should you be telling me this?" I asked curiously, raising my eyebrows, fighting a smile. Aw, he really did like me. "I mean, won't he kill you or something?"

"He won't," she replied earnestly. "You'll protect me, Batman." She flashed me a smile and returned to her toes. I snorted, shaking my head, and went back to my book.

We were quiet for a while, Erica finishing up her feet and moving onto her hands while I abandoned my book and did some serious RPGing. I had a wizard to level up and a team of misfits to lead. Plus, if I didn't get on every so often my cousin Erwin took over for me, and he was just… he was terrible. There was no other word for what Erwin was; he was a failure at RPGs. A noob; the noobiest of the noobs; in fact, he was their leader. I was so glad I only had to see him during the holidays; too much Erwin destroyed what little sanity I had left.

"Why do you play these games?" Erica asked a while later, scaring the holy hell out of me. I had been so absorbed in my fantasy world that I had forgotten she was even here.

"Don't do that," I snapped turning to face her. She was standing directly behind me, apparently learning her creeper skills from her big, bad alpha. He was a bad influence. "God, you are all getting bells for Christmas."

Erica flashed me an amused smile, shaking her head. She turned back to my game and said, "Seriously, why do you play these games? Isn't your entire life one of these games?"

"The only difference, in here I am a level 35 wizard. In an attack, I can flash some dark magic, kill the bad guys. In reality…" I trailed off, looking away from her. I hadn't really given it much thought before, but now I actually thought over why I played video games. I was useful in a video game, needed. In real life, research guy could only get me so far in our group, and I didn't have the same special skills as everyone else; I was virtually the lame of the group.

"You're not useless, Stiles," Erica said quietly, no doubt picking up on my emotions. "In a way, you're like the heart of the group. Derek may have brought us together, but you keep us together."

"Really?"

"Yes," she replied moving away from me. "You're far from useless. And I'm sure a certain alpha would agree with me." She flashed me a knowing smile, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Maybe," I muttered exiting off my game. Deaton had offered to teach me the same stuff he had been teaching Lydia, but I hadn't taken him up on his offer yet. Maybe I should think about it. "So, how long are you here for?" I asked changing the subject.

"Until midnight, and then I think Isaac is taking my place," she responded wandering around my room. I vaguely nodded, turning away from her again. I really didn't want to spend the night with Isaac. "I could stay all night," she stated picking up my stereo remote, again sensing my emotions (stupid werewolf senses). "If you'd prefer that."

"No," I said softly, fiddling with a loose thread on my sweatshirt. "Isaac is fine."

"If you say so," she responded turning my stereo on. The All-American Rejects softly played from the speakers. "Your music taste could use some work," she stated putting the remote down.

"AAR is a good band," I argued crossing my arms. "Granted, I've only listened to their older stuff, but I've heard good things about their new stuff." I think; I only had one of their albums because my aunt bought it for me for Christmas. So, yeah, I was totally lying out of my ass, but from what I heard they weren't bad.

Erica snorted, shaking her head, and walked back towards my bed. She fell backwards on it, looking up at the ceiling. "How can you spend your free time just sitting up here, doing nothing?"

"Sure beats going out there," I retorted gesturing to the window, "and worrying about getting hunted down by speciesists."

"Speciesists?" Erica sat up, giving me an incredulous look.

"Werewolves are a species. Just like humans, cats, dogs…" I trailed off, running a hand through my hair. "And these people hunt you guys down because they distrust you and don't understand you, and instead of talking, instead of trying to figure out how to co-exist with you guys, they just kill you and anyone associated with you. A big group of…"

"Speciesists," Erica finished for me.

"Exactly," I replied nodding. She gave me a curious look before lying back down. I stood up, moving across the room, and laid down next to her. "How's things?" I asked curiously, turning my head to look at her.

"Things are good," she responded quietly, tilting her head my way. "How are things with you? You know, besides the obvious." I stuck my tongue out at her and she chuckled.

I drew in a breath and said, "Things are fine." I scratched my neck, moving my head so I was looking at the ceiling again. We were quiet for a long time, and my brain searched frantically for something to say until I suddenly just started talking. "I know your last experience with the hunters wasn't something you want to talk about; hell, I barely wanted to talk about it. But if you ever need someone to talk to, even if it's a bunch of bullshit, I'll listen. And if you want to talk about anything else-" namely what the alphas did "-well, the offer still stands."

She was quiet for a moment, most likely thinking over what I said, but eventually whispered, "Thanks Stiles."

"Anytime," I replied quietly. She may have been joking and teasing me all night, acting like her usual, she-bitch self, but I could see the underlying fear and worry in her eyes, and I just wanted to put the offer on the table. It was up to her whether or not she took it.

We lay like that for a while, just listening to AAR, not saying a word. A part of me wanted to break the silence, and I nearly did, but a much stronger part fought it and I actually managed to stay quiet. So, it was Erica who broke the silence.

"They wanted him to suffer," she said quietly. I turned to stare at her, but her brown eyes were locked on the ceiling. "I was ignored for the first few days, so I figured they had gotten bored with Boyd when they started in on me, but I realized they were just screwing with his mind." Her eyes narrowed, and she brushed her hair out of her face. "I don't know why they let us go, just like I'll never completely understand why Argent let us go, but I don't ever want to be a victim again."

"You won't be," I said quietly, taking her hand. "Because you're my Catwoman, and Batman always comes for Catwoman."

She snorted, turning to look at me. "That was so cheesy."

"Hey, Derek isn't the only one who can say cheesy crap," I defended myself, slapping myself in the forehead. I had just shared way too much information. Derek was going to kill me.

"Cheesy crap, eh?" she teased, grinning. "What sort of cheesy crap?"

"Forget I said anything," I grumbled letting her hand go, my face burning red. I sat up, "I should finish my homework."

"I'm just kidding," Erica said pulling me back down next to her. "Jeez Stiles, you need to lighten up." I threw her a look, and she smiled. "I'm just glad he found someone. That man seriously needs to get laid."

"Shut up," I said hitting her with my pillow, my face even redder if that was even possible.

"Aw, Stiles, you're so cute when you're embarrassed." I hit her again and she pushed me off the bed.

"Bitch," I whispered picking myself up, off the floor.

"That's my breed don't wear it out," she retorted grinning. I needed new friends.

TW

"Lydia told me," Danny said the next day, coming up behind me.. He hadn't been in school the last two days after he messed his knee up in practice, and now he was donning crutches again. I really hoped he wasn't benched the rest of the season; he was our best goalie.

"Told you what?" I replied, looking at him from around my locker door, raising my eyebrows, faking innocence.

"Oh come on," he replied leaning in so only I could hear him (and any werewolves that happened to be close by), "you know what."

"Sorry Danno, I have no clue what you are talking about," I retorted shutting my locker door. "But the thing I have no clue what you are talking about only happened once. I haven't seen 'you know who' since then."

"Is he avoiding you? Was your kissing bad?"

"Why does everyone…?" I sighed in frustration, shaking my head. "He's been busy," I said easily keeping pace with Danny as we walked down the hallway.

"So, what happened exactly?"

It felt like we were two, gossiping freshmen girls, and I very nearly evaded the subject, but I saw the look of genuine interest on Danny's face and I sighed and recapped what happened in my room, skipping over the werewolf talk.

"So that's where…?" he pointed at my slowly fading scratches.

"Yeah, the guy needs to cut his fingernails," I responded helping Danny maneuver through the crowded hallway.

"Does your dad know?" Danny asked curiously as we stopped outside his English class.

"Not yet," I replied glancing at my feet. "I haven't really thought about what to say to him. I don't think 'hey Dad, Derek and I are kinda, sorta dating. Let's go get pizza' will go over well with him."

"You need to tell him, Stiles, and before anyone else does." I nodded just as the bell rang. Danny smiled and said, "See ya at lunch."

"Yeah," I responded smiling back. I turned, slowly heading down the hallway to Pre-Calculus, thinking over what Danny said. I know I had to tell my dad, I couldn't let anyone else do it for me. I had already kept so much from him; this didn't need to be another thing. Now, I just had to think of the best way to break it to him. Easier said than done, Stiles.

TW

After school, I met up with Boyd. He was my guard for tonight, and I actually preferred him to the others. He was quiet, didn't feel the need to fill the silence with noise (that was my job), and kind of reminded me of Derek. Plus, he wasn't unintentionally trying to steal my best friend, talking nonstop about Allison, scowling out the window, or teasing me. He was the perfect puppy.

"How was your day?" I asked as we drove back to my house.

"Long," he answered leaning against the passenger door. He looked wiped out; all the wolves looked wiped out. They had been patrolling nonstop for three nights. If the puppies were getting very little sleep I would bet money that Derek was getting even less. I really hoped these hunters were caught soon.

"Any luck with the hunters?"

"No," he replied closing his eyes.

"You could always try a tracking spell," I suggested shrugging. I waited for Boyd to respond, but I was greeted by silence. I turned my head, finding him passed out against the window. Well, so much for a vigilant guard.

When I pulled into my driveway, I turned my jeep off, removed the keys, took a deep breath, and nudged Boyd. I waited a beat, and when he didn't stir I nudged him again. This time, when he twitched, I wrenched my door open. I nudged him a third time, he moved, and I was out of the jeep in a flash.

"What the hell?" he grumbled, sitting up, rubbing his eyes. "Where are we?"

"My house, big guy," I replied glancing into the jeep from the outside. "You wanna get out or finish your nap?" He muttered something I didn't quite catch, but opened the door. I grabbed my bag, just as he did, and we simultaneously closed our doors. "I was thinking about ordering…" I trailed off when I realized Boyd had stopped walking.

"What?" I turned to see him staring at my house, his eyebrows furrowed. "Is someone inside?" I asked suddenly worried. My dad usually came home during his lunch break. Did they do something to him? Was he alright? Did I need to call an ambulance? And why wasn't I asking these questions out loud. "Boyd," I snarled nudging his shoulder, needing to know what I had to do, who I had to call, and whether or not my father was okay.

"Derek's here," Boyd finally said and I felt a wave of relief rush through me. "He didn't say anything about…?"

"Is he okay?" I asked suddenly worried again.

"He's fine, it's just…"

"Let's go see what he wants," I said moving towards my front door. Boyd was a few steps behind me, no doubt looking around for any threats. I unlocked the door, waited until we were both inside, and closed it behind us.

"Help yourself to whatever," I informed the werewolf, starting towards the stairs. Boyd ignored my offer, staying on my heels, and followed me upstairs.

When I opened my bedroom door, I couldn't help smiling. It seemed, while he was waiting for me, Mr. Big, Bad Alpha passed out on my bed. Fighting the urge to take a picture, I turned to Boyd and asked, "You wanna wake him up or should I?"

"I'm awake," Derek said softly, his eyes still closed.

"Sure you are, Sourwolf," I teased grinning at the glare he threw me. It hardly had any heat behind it, almost like he wasn't putting any effort into the look. He must be tired or just so infatuated by my awkwardness; whichever.

"Erica is waiting around the corner for you. You can go," Derek said to Boyd, sitting up. My stomach clenched at the angry, dark circles under his eyes and the haggard look on his face. Yep, he was definitely getting less sleep than his betas.

"Do you need me to patrol?" Boyd asked curiously.

"No, Scott and Isaac are handling it tonight," Derek replied standing up, rolling his shoulders. "Just head home. I'll call you later." Boyd nodded and walked out of my room. I had to give Derek some credit; at least his betas knew how to use the door.

"Did you miss me?" I asked the moment I knew Boyd was gone. Derek threw me a tired look but still nodded. "Aw, he really does like me." I grinned at the half-hearted scowl he threw at me. "Not gonna lie, Der, you look like shit." He threw me another scowl. "I only say it out of love."

I slowly crossed the room, easily pushing him back down on my bed. "Maybe you should get some more sleep," I suggested sitting next to him. "I doubt an hour or two will kill you."

"I can't sleep," he replied quietly. "Not until these hunters are gone."

"And you can't help any of us if you're dead on your feet," I countered giving him a pointed look. "Like I said, an hour or two won't kill you."

"You're bossy," he grumbled softly, but still lying back down.

"Nah, I'm just always right," I retorted leaning over him, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Haven't you learned that already?" He wrapped his arm around me when I laid my head on his chest. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep again, his already loose grip slackening against me. I counted the slow, steady beats of his heart, until I, too, drifted off.

I was barely asleep an hour, quite possibly two, when I was jolted awake by a familiar voice exclaiming, "What the hell is going on here?!" I sat up quickly, cracking my head against Derek's, glancing over at my open bedroom door. My dad stood in the threshold, both hands on his hips, angrily watching us through narrowed eyes. I guess now was as good a time as any to tell him.

"Hey, Dad," I started rubbing my aching head, "I think we need to talk." At least one good thing happened; Mrs. Greene didn't tell him.