A.N: Hey guys!

New chapter! I was curious….Are you really enjoying the story? The numbers of reviews are quite low and I can't help but wonder. Once again thanks to my reviewers and my beta.

Anyways I hope you will enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 14:

For the next few days Derek was very careful with Natalie, but the more time he spent with her the more he grew attached and the more he knew that he would fight Fritz to death if it meant keeping her safe and sound.

"Don't worry too much Derek; I am not sure what's bothering you but everything will be fine." She said, early one morning as they lay together in his bed.

He kissed the top of her head. "How did you know I was awake and worrying, you can't even see me."

Natalie, moved to kiss his jaw. "Do you think I need to see you to know what you think?"

"Are you just that attuned to me?" Derek asked in a light tone but Natalie could hear the seriousness behind it.

"I am…Are you scared?"

"For you," he whispered. "I am always scared for you."

"I'm okay, I'm safe."

Derek tightened his hold around her waist. "And I intend to keep it that way." he said, so fiercely that shivers ran down Natalie's spine.

Derek's phone beeped. He sighed after reading the text. "I have to go soon but just stay and relax; you still have a couple of hours before going to school. Peter is out of town for a few days and I'm sure Stiles will give you a ride."

"Are you sure everything is fine"? Natalie asked as Derek exited the bed and walked to the bathroom completely naked. It was still strange to her how unconcerned he seemed to be about his nakedness around her when she was still very self-conscious.

He turned around when he reached the bathroom. "It will be."

Derek left as soon as he had showered. Natalie took a quick shower, called Stiles for a ride and she was about to make breakfast when she heard the door of the loft open to reveal Peter.

Derek had told her that Peter would never hurt her, that it would be too dangerous to hurt the alpha's girlfriend but based on the stories she had heard, the term 'psychopath' came up way too often for her not to be concerned.

"Are you living here now?" Peter asked, throwing the keys in a bowl by the door. He was not even trying to hide his annoyance.

"Are you?" She replied. "Maybe it's best for you to move in a hole somewhere." She replied trying to hide her discomfort with attitude.

Peter gave her his predatory grin before sitting on a bar stool. "I like you, you've got spunk."

Natalie shrugged, getting her pancakes on her plate.

"Won't you offer me breakfast? I have to admit these look delicious."

"Why would I?"

"Because we're almost family." He kept his eyes on her. "I'm the one who turned your cousin and you're screwing my nephew. I think it counts for something."

Natalie winced at the harshness of the word 'screw'. She looked up at the clock she still had 20 minutes to wait for Stiles. "Take mine." she said, putting the plate loudly in front of him. "I'm not hungry anymore." She grabbed her bag to go downstairs and wait for Stiles.

"It won't work you know." He said mouth full of pancakes.

"What?" She asked, regretting taking the bait immediately.

Peter smiled and swallowed loudly. "You and Derek… No matter how much you both want it, it can't work."

"And why is that? Because I'm human and he is not?"

Peter nodded.

"This is nonsense; Scott and Alison are making it work."

Peter reached for her half drunken cup of coffee and took a sip. "Scott was bitten not born."

"And that makes a difference?" She asked incredulously.

"A bigger difference than you think, Derek has never been human, no matter how much he wants to deny it he can't fully understand you as you can't fully understand him. Your instincts are different, he might look human but he is first and foremost an animal and he can fight it as much as he wants, but his primary instinct will always come back. He might care for you, hell he might even love you but in the end he will chose one of our species."

"Speaking from experience?" Natalie asked not able to conceal the fact that his words did shake her deep down; it was mostly because part of her already believed that.

"Yes, in fact I am."

Without even realizing it Natalie had put her bag down and was now sitting on the stool beside Peter.

He slid the plate between the two of them for her to take a pancake. "You know I'm not the monster everybody would like for you to believe. I made a lot of mistakes, did a lot of things I regret but I did them for what I believed were the right reasons."

"Well, you are not a saint."

"And you think Derek is one?" Peter shook his head. "You do whatever you want, I don't have any influence on Derek anymore but just know that I tried to love a human, Derek had tried to love a human and in the end it didn't go well. Listen to me, Natalie; no matter how much you want it, it will always end up in pain and blood…. Always. "

Natalie was about to ask for more information when her phone vibrated in her pocket, making her jump. It was a text from Stiles. "I have to go."

"I like you." said Peter as she reached for her bag. "In any normal circumstances I wouldn't care if you got hurt or not, humans never really mattered to me, you are commodities, expendable but you seem different and I would really hate you getting hurt…Just think about that."

Natalie ignored him as she rushed out of the loft and climbed in Stiles car. No matter how she tried to deny everything Peter had told her there was a small part of her that acknowledged the hard truth of what he had told her.

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"What do you want?" Derek asked Fritz, flanked by both Boyd and Erica.

"You came with a committee? Don't you trust me?" Fritz was visibly alone.

"Why would I?" Derek challenged.

"Why wouldn't you?" Fritz sighed. "Anyways, I told you I didn't come here to fight but to talk."

"Your actions the other night lead me to think otherwise."

Fritz sighed again. "I guess we could have handled it differently, but really you wouldn't listen, we thought we could use the girl as an incentive for you to listen…And I was right."

"The girl doesn't matter."

Fritz sniffed deeply before laughing. "Please I can smell her all over you. She is your human pet."

"She is not a pet." Derek growled, his eyes flashing red.

"Hey, settle down there boy, I didn't mean any disrespect but we both know we cannot call a human your mate, it isn't possible, not if you want to keep Beacon Hills."

Derek frowned. "Didn't you come to take Beacon Hills from me?"

Fritz smiled "I am here to offer you an association."

"What kind of association?"

Fritz howled and within minutes a beautiful, tall and lean young woman was standing beside him. "This is my daughter, Anna."

Boyd whistled his appreciation, earning one of Derek's glares.

"And what I want is an association make our packs one big family."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Derek asked suspiciously.

"I want you to become my daughter's mate."

"What now?" That was not something Derek had seen coming.

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