Chapter Twenty-Eight: Beta's Concern
Stiles woke to his phone jingling away across the room and he wondered how they got it back in the first place, probably his dad. He started to sit up, belatedly realizing that Derek and Ricky were still pressed in close on both sides. He grinned but pushed Derek's shoulder, "Der, my phone is ringing. It's probably my dad."
The alpha grumbled in his sleep but didn't move. Stiles pushed him again and Derek growled before he climbed out of bed and retrieved the phone only to toss it to Stiles and fell back into bed, barely waking for the job. Stiles answered the call as Ricky muttered in his sleep and both men tightened their hold on Stiles' body, "This is Stiles."
"Stiles, thank god. I called your dad to get the update and he told me you were kidnapped and assaulted by freaking Varack! The same alpha that attacked Isaac? What the hell is going on in this campus, dude I totally feel you about this omega thing."
"Tell your friend to shut up, seriously. We all have wolf hearing here," Derek grumbled.
Stiles grinned, "Did you hear my handsome alpha Scott?"
"Don't be so gloaty Stiles, you think you can keep working over the alpha instincts but someday he's going to freak out on you and there isn't going to be any stopping it," Scott said in return.
Stiles snorted, "I'm okay. Thanks for calling buddy; we'll see what happens with Varack and the school. I am hoping to have my student status reinstated very soon."
"Well see you later okay, maybe we can do best bud gaming night in a couple days?" Scott asked, trying not to sound like he was desperate for it, which apparently he was.
"We'll see, bye Scott."
"Seriously, he has to call before eight in the morning," Ricky muttered as Stiles dropped the phone at the end of the bed before flopping down next to Derek and Ricky only to wince and gasp at the left over pain from the ribs. His mates were awake immediately, checking him over to make sure he was okay but Stiles just chuckled and waved them away.
"I'm okay guys, you should get up and start getting ready anyways because you both have class and Derek you have work. Come on, stop hovering," he said as he started shoving them away and out of bed but both alpha and beta converged on him, sniffing at Stiles throat and scenting his skin. Stiles sighed happily, and pressed his hand into them, pressing them close as they could before he tugged Derek away from his neck and kissed his slowly and deeply. Then when Derek was looking dazed and stupid happy, Stiles shifted and pressed a lingering kiss to Ricky's mouth as well then shoved them out of bed to start their day. Derek and Ricky laughed as one of them walked to the bathroom and the other headed for the kitchen while Stiles stayed where he was. After some food and a shower, all Stiles wanted to do was sleep off the last bit of pain. He grabbed his phone and checked to see if there were any messages and he didn't have any but he sent one out to Isaac, asking how the other omega was doing then waited while Ricky brought in some food and he gasped happily as he ate the bagel with cream cheese and jelly plus some breakfast meat. He missed one to many meals yesterday and his body was making it known that it didn't appreciate being starved whatsoever.
"I have class this morning," Ricky was saying.
"I know, I have lived with you all semester," Stiles snorted inelegantly.
"Are you going out while we're gone?" Ricky asked.
"Maybe," Stiles responded, understanding where this was going before Ricky even did. He crossed his arms and tucked his legs in close self-consciously. He'd never felt the need to hide from Ricky or Derek but right now, he didn't want those words to come out of the beta's mouth.
"I don't think you should go out until we're here with you," Ricky suggested with a little steel in his voice, which made Stiles believe it wasn't a request.
"Garrick," Stiles whispered.
"Stiles, do you have any idea what it was like to feel the pain of not having you here with us? Do you understand the kind of agony and fear ripped through Derek and me? You don't seem to really think that it's about us, not just you!"
Stiles put his food down on the bedside table as Ricky kept shouting, holding his legs in front of his chest with his arms wrapped around them tightly. Derek walked back into the bedroom, hair still damp and a towel wrapped around his middle and frowning at the beta and omega in the room in confusion, apparently he hadn't heard anything specific.
"I don't know what I'm doing most of the time," Rick continued frustrated fingers gripping his light brown hair and breathing heavily. "I didn't grow up with alphas or omegas around to talk about the concept of the soul bond and there was no reason to know about it but the fact that I was laying into Varack yesterday for you and I was more than willing to kill for you, that scares me and I just don't know if I can keep doing this if that's what it truly means to have a mate, someone that I love so desperately that I have no control over myself or the wolf within. How do either of you live with this?" he shouted in a panic then before either wolf could move he was grabbing clothes and shoving past Derek into the bathroom, leaving Derek to stare after him and Stiles shivering on the bed.
He didn't know what to say, not really. He was a born omega brought up by wolves; neither him nor Derek bitten to bring them into the werewolf community and Ricky had a point, several in fact. He hoped that Ricky wasn't seriously just going to leave and not return. He couldn't! Ricky didn't have someplace to go on campus but then they had some time off coming up soon. Just a day or two off but who knows what could happen even in such a short time. Stiles looked at Derek who was watching him closely, "He can't really break the bond or walk away right?"
Derek shrugged and moved to sit down next to Stiles, the alpha rubbing a soothing hand down Stiles arm. "I don't know Stiles, you and I have had the basis of a bond for a long time, we knew what we were getting into with the soul bond but Ricky doesn't know really what is going on."
Stiles nodded jerkily, "I don't think I can lose him Der, we need him."
"I know little man, we're not going to lose him but maybe today is a good day for some space. Let him be then we'll talk to him."
Stiles pressed his cheek to his kneecaps and looked away from Derek, who stood and got dressed for the day before he walked to the bathroom and spoke to Ricky for a moment before he came back and kissed Stiles on the head before he walked out of the apartment, with the door closing the space fell silent. Stiles flopped down on his side in the bed away from the door and the bathroom. The way the apartment was made, there was a door from the bedroom to the bathroom but another facing the main room for guests. He didn't want to feel the desire to rush to Ricky and force the issue but at the same time, he also didn't want to feel rejected by the beta. He didn't want to know what that looked like or felt like, didn't want to feel sorry for himself either but he knew Derek was right.
Ricky did need some space.
He listened as the shower turned off and he stiffened when he heard Ricky moving around, getting dressed and then he walked out of the bathroom, through the other door so he wouldn't even come through to see Stiles. The omega felt the tears run from the corner of his eye at the sadness that action caused, he wanted Ricky to come back through and kiss him on the forehead or the temple but apparently he needed even more space then Stiles thought was possible. He heard the front door open and close on Rick's departing back and then suddenly the omega was alone in the quiet. He didn't know what to do with himself, so Stiles looked again at his phone to find an email from the college. He was supposed to go meet with the President, Walcott, about the situation. There was an appointment for about an hour from now which would be right in the middle of Garrick's class then he would be able to talk to his beta mate. Derek was in class then working this afternoon and they would all be together this evening to talk everything out. Ricky deserved to have some time to deal with everything that happened since they hadn't really had a lot of time as a relationship without outside forces screwing with them. Stiles was so used to it and Derek probably was as well because he was an alpha from a werewolf family. Ricky hadn't said much about his family and what it was like growing up in a partially turned family as well being born of a human/werewolf couple. He didn't know what those dynamics looked like and he didn't know what it was like to not have the community of werewolves around them all the time.
Its possible that Stiles had been so caught up in his omega revolution and just taking Derek and Ricky along for the ride that he forgot to care about his lover's feelings. Stiles threw his phone down on the bed and scrubbed his hands across his face in frustration. Then he took a couple of deep breaths and got up to face the day and the meeting with the beautiful alpha Paige Walcott, thankfully someone who was supposedly on his side and knew a little more about omegas than most of the people here despite the fact that the college was a part of the Beacon Hills preserve.
After a quick shower and he dressed himself, heading out the door besides the fact that him leaving the room was what started the fight in the first place. Stiles heaved a sigh and walked out of the apartment building and headed towards the college, just trying to imagine how he was going to make it up to Ricky. He couldn't help when the beta was shouting at him; the instinctive response was to sit there and just let the other wolf yell at him. The omega instinct to kowtow to his mates was hardwired into his brain, not to mention the horrible sense that Ricky deserved better than what he was getting from Stiles. The bond was there in the background but it was shaky and filled with sadness over the fight but Ricky's strand was still there for now and Derek's was strong and thrumming through with love and comfort.
Just as he was coming up to the admin building for the campus where the president's office was located and his phone jingled before he turned to phone to silent and found a message from Derek. We won't let him give up, little man, take a deep breath.
Stiles smiled at the message and sent back kisses to the alpha before he walked up and got through the door and let the assistant know he was there for an appointment with the president before he sat down.
He was sitting there for several moments when the door opened and he heard, "Hey Stiles."
He looked up to find Isaac standing just inside the door, kicking his foot bashfully. Stiles smiled gently, "Hey Isaac, what are you doing here?"
"I have an appointment with the president about Varack and I asked if you could be there. Walcott agreed as long as you would get to see her about your situation as well, would that be okay?"
Stiles nodded and grinned, "Yeah I don't mind. I think I would appreciate the back up right now."
Isaac nodded and moved to sit down next to Stiles and they waited in silence. Stiles just hoped he would be getting back to classes soon, especially with what happened with Varack. The omega needed something besides all the trouble he was causing to focus on.
