A/N: Hey! So I literally have no excuse as to why this chapter took so long, apart from the fact I'm a lazy shit; it's been written for ages just haven't typed it up. Oh well, it is here now, enjoy!

Derek awoke a little before sunrise and slid out of bed so as not to wake Antoinette. He found his jeans somewhere in the loft and pulled them on before staring out of the window overlooking the town. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he did not notice Peter appear next to him at first.

"What do you want?"

Peter feigned innocence. "Can an uncle not visit his nephew?"

"No."

Peter shrugged and looked over at the sleeping Antoinette. "Never deflowered a witch before, what was that like?"

"Shut up" Derek snapped.

"Touchy, touchy. I would have thought you would be happier after getting some."

Derek turned to him, visibly vexed.

"Unless the reason you're awake is because you feel unsettled, what's wrong?"

Derek said nothing at first but eventually gave up and sighed. "It felt different."

"Different how?"

"Like emotionally."

"So you love her."

"No, it was deeper than that, like she's…" he trailed off.

"Like she was your mate" Peter said with a grin. "Oh this is simply precious, your intended mate is Sabrina the mentally deficient bitch, I mean witch." Derek shot him a red eyed glare. "I think the best thing is the fact she's not like us and has freedom of choice, I wouldn't tell her, you could scare her off. Talia said this would happen."

"What?" Derek looked at him suddenly interested.

"Talia knew you would be intended for someone who wasn't like us, but I don't even think she realised it would be a Deveraux witch. What are you going to do?"

"I will let her go."

"That would break her little heart."

"It's for the best."

"Who are you trying to convince? You finally have everything at your fingertips, power, a pack, love and you're willing to throw it away on the off chance she rejects you? That's sad."

Peter decided to take his leave thoroughly amused, leaving Derek to stir in his own thought for the rest of the night.

The burning irritation on the back of Antoinette's left hand did not override the emotional turmoil going on within her core. Her father's lieutenant and close friend was busy at work on the rose petals by her knuckles. Preparations had been made for her to leave England and she was just waiting on an email from her new landlord about a flat. Once she got word, she would buy a one way ticket and leave London behind her. She could not have chosen a further place to go, California in a little town called Beacon Hills.

Antoinette winced as the final touches of the needles went across the little bones of her hand. Her father had said she would get a tattoo over his dead body, the irony of that statement. No tattoo shops would work on her without parent or guardian's permission, but thankfully the lieutenant was more than willing to do that for her. Her father was a good man and the loss was substantial, not just for Antoinette.

"There you are" said the lieutenant as he began to wrap it up. "What do you think?"

"I think it's beautiful and that my father would be turning in his grave" she smiled sadly, tears threatening to spill over.

A reassuring hand was placed on her shoulder and the mutual pain flashed in their eyes. "He was a good mentor to me, and you both welcomed me into you home many a time; this was the least I could do to thank you for that."

She nodded.

"I am sorry to hear that you are leaving your life here in England but I am glad you're taking steps to make a fresh start."

She looked up at him. "There's nothing left for me here."

Sore did not cover what her body felt like, try excruciating; Antoinette winced with a slight groan a she sat up. Memories of last night flooded back to her and she smiled as her heart felt lighter. Derek stirred next to her and she lied back down, lying on her side to look at him. She stroked his hair to slowly bring him to and he opened those brilliant eyes to stare into hers. He took her hand and once again looked at the red rose tattoo gently caressing it with his thumb.

"I got it to represent my family, much like a rose life is temporary, a beautiful thing but temporary nonetheless. We must cherish its imperfections and beauty while it lasts."

"So that's what it means" he drained her pain and watched the ease spread across her face. "I'll have Isaac pick you up some clothes from your place, go have a shower" he withdrew from her and got out of bed.

Antoinette sat up confused, what had happened? Last night there were sparks, not just sparks, fire even and now it was like it never happened and her waking up in his bed next to him was like any ordinary day. She pushed it all to the back of her mind and pulled the sheet around herself as she walked into the bathroom.

Washing the blood and dirt from her skin, she wondered if this was how her father felt when coming back from a mission. The sheer relief of feeling clean was like spiritual healing. Her hand ran along the stitches on her side, at least two were loose and she was sure others had ripped.

"Your thoughts are damned noisy, are you okay?"

Wondering what last night meant.

"You were noisy then too."

Shut up

"It's different for wolves; they still have instincts that humans don't."

What are you talking about?

"They still need to find a mate, someone that they stay true to."

What are you saying?

"That it might you and he's having a complex about it, wow you're blind."

Shut up.

Isaac arrived and looked around the loft, he saw items of clothing strewn across the floor. He saw the sheets on the bed crumpled and messy, there was even the remnants of a passionate atmosphere from the night previous. He sauntered up to Derek, bag in hand and a grin on his face.

"This place smells like sex and regret."

"Shut up" Derek snapped.

"Just want to make sure she recovers huh? I've never slept with a witch before what's that like?"

"You're not the only one who wants to know. Did you know she was a virgin?"

"I had my suspicions but couldn't be sure."

"That makes this all the more difficult" Derek sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Derek looked at Isaac worriedly. "Derek?"

"IT appears I'm destined for her as my mate, someone who can choose soulmates."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm not putting that kind of pressure on her, I'm going to have to stop it."

Isaac glared at him furiously. "No, you don't get to have last night and then ghost her; that makes her seem like a cheap one night stand" he stepped forward, threat in his voice. "If you hurt her, I will kill you." He dropped the bag on the table before spinning on his heels and marching out.

Antoinette came out of the bathroom in a towel shortly after Isaac had left. Even now she radiated intrigue and warmth, just like the smile she was giving him. One of those rare ones Derek had only seen her give Isaac or him. It only made his heart sink further into his chest at what he was going to do. He allowed her to change into the clothes Isaac had brought before looking at her seriously.

"Antoinette, listen about last night, we need to get a few things straight."

She looked at him like she was expecting this. "Was it not good for you?"

"That's not the issue here, I just hope you don't think this is going anywhere." Her eyebrows rose in surprise and then he saw hurt flood her eyes and hit her like a freight train, extinguishing the spark. "I'' see you at pack training and meetings" he continued.

Her palm connected to his cheek, he did not even see it coming. Tears streamed down her face. "How could you? How could you sleep with me, knowing you were my first, only to make me feel as easy as you have this morning? I am not a toy, I am not an object you can pick up and put down and use whenever you feel like it. I am a person! And I thought you cared for me the way I care about you. You think just because you're an alpha you can do that to me? Like it's your right? I don't know what changed from last night because I know that was real. Call me when you realise what you want." Antoinette gathered her things and stormed out of the loft before Derek could say anything to stop her.

That night she told the others everything, she told them about her family, she told them about Derek and about how he changed. Isaac looked like he wanted to rip Derek's throat out but Scott did not seem at all surprised and said that he would talk to Derek. But Antoinette did not want that, as much as she felt used and as much as the white witch was gloating; she had stopped caring. Or so she had told herself.

Thy were back to school the next day, so Lydia drove Antoinette home so that she could get an early night. The next day, Antoinette half expected to wake up to Isaac lying on top of the bed next to her; out of habit she left the balcony door unlocked in case he visited. It was going to be a hot day so she pulled on a pair of black shorts and grey tank top. The first day back was relatively standard, same shit, different day.

English with Malia and Scott was a bore, always was. It was not that the subject was boring or the texts but the teacher made paint drying look exciting. The day only got interesting the lesson before lunch. Economics with coach, Antoinette was called to the principal's office, she frowned but went anyway.

"Hello, Miss Deveraux" he began. "I'll get right to the point, as you know, the school is aware of your family situation. I got an email from England; it appears there are some matters there that would benefit from your attention."

She was in the office for the rest of the lesson and later joined her friends outside for lunch but Scott was not among them. "Where's Scott?" she asked.

"He got the feeling we were being watched, so he went to check it out" replied Stiles.

"What was the meeting all about?" asked Malia.

Antoinette shrugged and smiled "Just England wanting my attention again."

Lydia grabbed hold of Antoinette's wrist tightly and looked at her intensely. "A alive matter is aurae evil me."

"What?"

"A alive matter is aurae evil me."

"Lydia you're hurting me, let go."

"A alive matter is aurae evil me!" Lydia snapped out of her trance and let go of Antoinette's wrist. "I'm sorry I don't know what happened."

"Banshee thing maybe" Stiles offered.

"Almost definitely" said Malia.

When Antoinette got home, she was thoroughly tired and her wrist was sore; matched the rest of her body. There was a knock on her balcony door and she let out an exasperated sigh, she did not fancy a visit from Isaac tonight; she just wanted to be alone so she could rest in peace. To her surprise, Derek stood there looking quite forlorn. She sighed again before opening the door and let him in.

"I didn't expect to see you, that's for sure."

"Just because you don't see me, doesn't mean I'm not there" he replied.

She crossed her arms and closed herself off from him snf made sure there was space between them. "So it was you Scott sensed."

"I wanted to make sure your first day back went okay. But speaking of Scott" he stepped toward her but she stepped back shaking her head. "I know I hurt you Antoinette, Scott made that abundantly clear when he punched me in the face on behalf of Isaac."

"Wasn't like you didn't deserve it" she muttered.

"You're right I did, but when I told Scott why I did what I did, he suggested that I tell you or to just go with it."

"I'm not going with anything unless you explain."

"Antoinette please…"

"No, Derek you don't get to do that, come here acting all sorry and expected me to just forgive you without an explanation, I thought you liked me."

"It's because I like you that I don't want to tell you."

"Then you need to make a choice, tell me, or we keep it strictly plutonic as of now."

Derek sighed. "There's this thing that werewolves have, it goes back to our animalistic instincts. There is always that one special person that we devote ourselves to. Our mate; in human term, a soulmate. Antoinette you were right, last night was special because I realised you were my mate. I didn't want to put pressure on you and thought it best to let you decide for yourself but I was an idiot. It was me you let in last night, no one else." He took her hand. "I want to go with it, I want you now even if you realise I'm not your mate."

Antoinette did not know what to say, as far as acting like an arse goes, that was one hell of an apology and she could see now it was all just fear. Her arms flung around his neck. She kissed him deeply and was reluctant to pull back. They stared at each other for the longest time before she finally spoke.

"There's something you should know, the school received an email from England" she saw Derek's eyebrows rise in curiosity. "I must return to England to claim my family's heritage as they are aware I turned eighteen; which legally makes me able to inherit everything now."

"I'll come with you" Derek said.

"You don't have to."

"I want to."

She smiled but then it faded. "Right after I mentioned it to the others, Lydia went into banshee mode. She said 'a alive matter is aurae evil me' any idea what that means?"

Derek shrugged and shook his head, both clueless to the confusing ramblings of the banshee.