The journey back to the Hale house was a tense one; Peter and Laura were in the front of the car, at each other's fronts as they argued over what had happened at the school that night. Lucas and Derek were in the back, both silent and staring out of the window at the blur of trees that rushed past them. Derek sense the deep regret his brother felt for his part to play in what had happened, and there was also a lot shame. Derek, however, made no effort to comfort him – he was angry with him and besides, Lucas needed to feel this so he would learn from his mistake because his actions along with their Uncle's could have led to all-out war with the Argents.

Derek drowned out the sound of Laura and Peter bickering and the suffocating tension that filled the car. He thought only of Stiles, worried about him because when they'd parted Stiles was clearly still shaken and Derek knew there was no one he could talk to about it when he got home. He was also worried about what his mother was going to say to him know that she knew Stiles knew the truth about the Hale family. What had happened was his fault, he hated himself for listening to his Uncle, for not trusting his instincts when it came to getting mixed up with the Argents; because of him Stiles had been hurt and scared. Derek closed his eyes as anger pumped through his veins, he couldn't ever let that happen again he told himself.

Peter pulled the car up outside the Hale house; the four occupants climbed out and trudged up the steps onto the porch. Lucas hung back as Peter unlocked the front door and looked like he was going to bolt whilst the others headed inside but Laura grabbed him by the elbow. "You're not going to get out of this, Mom said we all have to wait for her to get back." she told him.

"You can't tell me what to do." Lucas said shrugging free from her grip.

Laura's eyes flashed yellow in warning. "Just sit down." she growled pushing him toward the living room as they entered the house. Lucas didn't look happy as he sat down, but he didn't argue because he knew his sister was right, that he'd be a fool to disobey his mother's orders and risk the wrath of the Alpha.

Derek sank down into the armchair and inspected his wounds, they were healing nicely but still caused him great pain. Laura glanced over in concern and made a move to head over and inspect them for herself but Derek just shook his head at her – he was too tired and didn't want her fussing over him.

They waited, all four of them silent aside from the odd sigh of impatience from Peter and the anxious tap of his footsteps on the wood floor as he paced the length of the living room. Finally the sound of a car pulling up on the gravel track outside the house signalled the arrival of Talia Hale.

Derek got up and headed out to the porch, despite his sister's calls for him to stay where he was. "Mom." he said from the front door watching as she climbed out of the car.

"Stiles is home, he's safe." Talia said knowing what her son was worried about.

Derek's eyes fell on his mother's, he could see great disappointment in them. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you he knew but I -"

Talia held her hand up to stop him. Derek instantly fell silent. "We'll talk about this later, right now I want to talk to the everyone." she said entering the house. "Go and get Cora out of bed."

Derek headed back inside the house and made his way upstairs to fetch his sister; when they entered the living room a few moments later they found Talia standing in front of the fireplace with her arms crossed over her chest. The atmosphere in the room had taken a dark turn and everyone looked a little frightened. "Mom what's going on?" Cora asked sleepily.

"Just sit down." Talia replied sternly.

Cora and Derek obeyed and sat down with Laura and Lucas; Peter had remained standing but one look from the furious Alpha had him sinking into an empty arm chair. Derek had never felt so much emotion from the usually so controlled Alpha; he could sense Talia was angry, that was more than obvious, but she was hurt and there was still a trace of fear lingering in the air also.

Talia paced back and forth for a few moments, trying to shake of her anger so she could speak; when she finally stopped she fixed her family, her pack, with glowing red eyes causing them all to shrink back and cower a little.

"Mom -" Laura started to say.

Talia shook her head and Laura fell silent. "There is nothing you can say Laura, nothing any of you can say to defend your actions." she said making sure to fix her eyes on each and every one of her children and then her brother.

Cora glanced around at her brothers, her sister and her Uncle who all hung their heads in shame; she wanted to ask what had happened but she dare not, because her mother looked absolutely furious.

"Secrets cost lives." Talia continued, the tone of her voice stony with rage. "How do you expect me to lead this pack, to protect this family if I do not know what is going on?" she asked barely able to hide the shake of anger in her voice. No one said a word, they all simply sat and stared down at their laps, not daring to make eye contact with Talia or each other.

Talia sucked in a deep breath before she continued. "Not telling me that Stiles knew our secret was dangerously reckless." she said her pacing coming to a halt in front of Derek; Cora avoided her mother's eye, not wanted her to find out that she also knew. "And kidnapping Chris Argent?" she spat in disgust as she turned to look at her brother and eldest son. "A stupid risk that could have cost lives."

Peter opened his mouth to argue but Talia cut across him. "There is no excuse you can give me to defend your actions Peter." she snarled. "And Laura you should have told me sooner, you're my second, I trusted you." she said shaking her head as her eyes came to fall on her eldest child.

"Mom." Laura breathed her eyes filling with tears as she felt her mother's disappointment in her. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough." Talia snapped harshly. "Tonight we risked war with the Argents," she said, her pacing resuming. "Derek was seriously injured, Stiles could have been killed. How much more will it take for you to realise that this is not a game, this is real and that everything you do impacts upon the rest of us?"

Derek's heart clenched in his chest at his mother's words and he was reminded of how he'd found Stiles, tired to the chair, injured and scared – he couldn't believe how badly things had gone wrong. Anger once again filled Derek's veins and he glared at his Uncle. "This is your fault!" he shouted jumping out of his seat. "You were the one who told me to go after Kate, to lead her on, you used me! You didn't give a damn about Stiles's safety."

"Well you made it too easy." Peter sneered as he too got up onto his feet. "You're completely blinded when it comes to that boy, he's made you weak. If anything this is your fault, Kate saw right through you because of your inability to hide your feelings for that kid."

Derek squared up to his Uncle. "His name is Stiles." he growled in warning; his eyes setting a solid yellow.

Peter just laughed. "What do you think you are doing? You're no match for me Derek." he scoffed, his claws extended in warning. Derek didn't back down, his claws also extending as he moved even closer to his uncle drawing himself up tall so their eyes met level.

Talia stepped between them, she placed her hand on Derek's shoulder and pushed him away. The look she gave him instantly had Derek backing down. "I took you in, I allowed you to join my pack after you left home even after all the trouble it caused." she said turning on her brother. "And this is how you repay me? Corrupting my children? Trying to turn them into soldiers? And now you threaten my son in front of me?"

"I was trying to protect this family!" Peter argued. "You let the Argents get away with killing your husband, they killed him and you did nothing." he snapped.

"To make sure no one else got killed!" Talia retorted. "We agreed a truce, but you have destroyed that and put this family in more danger than ever."

Peter shook his head. "Truce?" he laughed. "You can't have a truce with the likes of them, they were just biding their time can't you see that? Something had to be done and I was the only one prepared to act."

"And look where that got us!" Talia snapped back. "Stiles kidnapped and held hostage, Derek shot three times, Kate would have killed him if she had the chance."

Cora glanced at her brother again, tears filling her eyes. "Is that true?" she asked her eyes drawn to the holes in Derek's shirt and the blood that streaked it. "Derek!" she cried the tears spilling down her cheeks.

"I'm fine." Derek told her, reaching out and grasping his sister's hand tightly. "Honestly Cor, I'm fine."

"I'll kill her." Cora said spitting with rage. "Kate Argent I'll kill the bitch." she growled.

Derek's eyebrows rose, he'd never heard such rage from his youngest sibling before. "Not if I get to her first." he told her.

"None of you are to do anything." Talia said glaring at them crossly. "You will only do as I tell you do you hear me? When you go back to school you will ignore Kate Argent, pretend that she doesn't even exist and keep your distance from her as much as possible. You will not say a word to her got it?"

Cora and Derek glanced at their mother and knew not to disobey; Cora sighed and nodded in agreement as did Derek.

Talia turned to her brother. "If you ever do anything like this again …" she hissed through gritted teeth. "If you ever go behind my back or try to use my children again I will cast you out of this pack for good." she told him.

Peter swallowed hard; he'd lived life as an Omega before, after he'd left home and it was a life he never wanted to go back to. "You have my word Talia." he said lowering his head in obedience.

"And as for you." Talia said turning to her children. "You will come straight here after school or work and aside from your scheduled patrols you will not leave this house."

"For how long?" Lucas moaned.

"Until I say so." Talia snapped her eyes flashing red, warning him not to argue with her again. "Until I can trust you again."

Laura, Lucas, Derek and Cora all looked at each other in despair; as born werewolves they had a natural desire to be outdoors and stretch their legs, they usually spent a lot of time out in the woods and so complete confinement to the house was going to be torture.

"Is that it? Are we done now?" Lucas asked moodily.

Talia growled and bared her teeth at her eldest son. "You don't appear to be taking this seriously."

"I am!" Lucas cried incredulously. "You think I'm not upset about what happened? That I'm not ashamed? That I don't regret it? I could have lost my brother and it would have all been my fault, I'll never forgive myself for that!"

Derek glanced over at Lucas surprised at this outburst, there were a good few years between them and so they weren't exactly close especially since their father's death when Lucas had become quite withdrawn choosing to spend more time with Peter than anyone else. "I'm okay Lucas, I'm still here." he told him.

"Only because Laura did the right thing and told Mom." Lucas said glancing at his eldest sister gratefully. "I'm sorry, I should have listened to you." he told her. "I should have never gone along with his plan." he said glaring at his Uncle.

Laura just nodded in agreement. "You weren't the only one at fault, we should have all been honest with each other." she replied fairly.

Talia sighed deeply. "I was scared tonight." she said her anger draining away. "Terrified." The four Hale children looked over at their mother as he shoulders sagged and her anger drained away. "Losing your father was bad enough, but to lose one of you …" she said her eyes turning to rest on the four of them sitting in front of her. "That would be the end of me."

Laura burst into tears and headed over to her mother, wrapping her arms around her tightly. "I'm sorry Mom." she cried. "I wanted to prove to you that I good enough to be your second, to be an Alpha, so I tried to sort this out on my own … I know now I should have come to your right away."

Talia comforted her daughter. "Laura." she said drawing back and wiping away her tears with the pad of her thumb. "One day you will take over as Alpha of this pack, but you are not ready yet. You must accept that you still have more to learn." she told her.

Laura swallowed back her tears and nodded. "I know that now, I'm sorry for not coming to you sooner, please forgive me?"

Talia smiled. "Forgiven." she said as she stroked her hand through her daughter's dark hair. "We are family." she continued glancing at everyone in the room. "A pack, and we look after our own, you have to understand that the actions of each individual affect the whole pack. We have to look after each other and to do that we need to be honest with each other."

Everyone in the room nodded, all looking down in shame at how the part they had to play in this whole mess. Talia sighed, knowing she'd more than given them the third degree. "Laura, Peter, I need you to check the perimeter of the preserve and make sure none of those Argents are sniffing around."

Laura gritted her teeth in determination. "Right away." she said glancing over at her Uncle who nodded in agreement.

"Lucas take your sister back upstairs." Talia instructed. "Derek and I need to talk." Lucas dare not argue, and he and Cora followed Peter and Laura out of the living room. Talia turned to Derek and sat down beside him. "I owe you an apology." she said.

Derek glanced at her in surprise - that was not what he was expecting to hear. "You do?" he asked.

Talia nodded. "Yes, I thought you were too young so I did not explain it to you properly … in hindsight I see that was a mistake. I was not wrong when I said we need to be honest with each other and that includes me too."

"What do you mean?" Derek asked.

"Stiles." Talia sighed.

Derek's heart started to beat nervously against his chest. "What about him?" he asked his palms starting to sweat … because he already knew the answer, it just that hearing it from his mother, his Alpha, would confirm it to be true.

"He is your mate."

Derek sank back against the back of the armchair and closed his eyes; a few moments passed whilst he let her words sink in. "I know." he mumbled his eyes flicked open and rested on his mother's concerned ones. "But what does it mean?" he asked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Stiles headed out of school feeling thoroughly miserable, Scott hadn't spoken to him all day and had taken his frustration out on him in Lacrosse practice by pelting him with balls after the Coach had put him in goal. The only upside was it did look like Stiles had saved the shots and so he was for once on the coach's good side … but even that was enough to lift his spirits.

Stiles headed for his jeep, opened the door and climbed in sighing heavily as he pushed his key into the ignition.

"Bad day was it?"

"Derek!" Stiles yelped, spinning around to see him sitting in the back seat wearing a smug smile. "Did you hide back there just to scare the crap out of me?" he asked.

Derek climbed over the seats and pulled himself the passenger seat at the front of the jeep. "Might have." he shrugged casually. "It was worth it to see the look on your face." he chuckled.

"You're such a child." Stiles said elbowing him in the side.

Derek rolled his eyes at him. "So you don't want the curly fries and chocolate shake I picked up for you then?" he said reaching behind the seat and grabbing he paper bag the items were contained in.

"Oh my God Derek you're the best!" Stiles cried grabbing the bag and stuffing his mouthful of as many fries as he could, swallowing them down barely having chewed them before slurping on his milkshake. "How did you know?" he asked.

Derek chuckled, he couldn't help but buzz all the same – he just loved making Stiles happy because when he felt happy it calmed him. "Judging by your messages I guessed you'd had a bad day."

Stiles rolled his eyes and sighed once more. "You could say that." he said through slurps of milkshake.

"Better?" Derek asked once Stiles had finished.

Stiles sighed happily as he put down his empty milkshake carton. "You always know what to do to cheer me up." he said glancing over and smiling at him.

"Food usually does the trick with you." Derek grinned reaching out and brushing away the crumbs off the front of Stiles's shirt.

Stiles smiled shyly, Derek's hands on him causing his heart to beat faster. "A kiss works just as well."

Derek laughed. "You're impossible." he said with a shake of his head but leant over and brushed his lips against his none the less. "Tell me what happened." he said after another kiss.

Stiles sighed. "Can't we just carry on doing this and forget about today?" he asked his fingers clutching tightly as the leather of Derek's jacket to keep him close.

Derek smiled slightly. "You know you'll feel better if you tell me."

Stiles broke away, sighing deeply. "Yeah you're probably right." he replied. "Home first?" he asked. Derek nodded in agreement, Stiles started the engine and drove off. The ride home was quite but Derek knew Stiles was just thinking, he could tell because he was chewing at his bottom lip anxiously.

Stiles pulled the jeep into the driveway, climbed out and the two of them headed into the house; Derek put the coffee maker on and Stiles plonked himself down on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. "Scott's still pissed." he said shrugging off his jacket. "I can't get through to him, I don't think he wants to ever talk to me again." he mumbled.

Derek set a cup of coffee down in front of him. "He'll come round." he assured him. "It's not you he's angry with, it's me."

Stiles shook his head. "No it's both of us, for being together." he said reaching out and tangling his fingers through Derek's. "But I won't give that up." he said clutching his hand tightly.

Derek smiled and instantly felt reassured. "That's good to hear." he smiled. "Look maybe I could talk to Scott?" he suggested.

Stiles shook his head quickly. "No, you're the last person he'll want to see trust me."

Derek sighed. "But I feel bad, this is my fault."

"No it's not, don't think that." Stiles told him. "It's my fault for lying, for hiding this." he said squeezing Derek's hand tightly. "Even if we can patch this up I don't think it will be the same, I don't think he'll ever trust me again."

Derek moved around the counter and pulled Stiles into a hug. "I'm sorry." he mumbled into the side of his neck.

"You told me this would get messy, I should have listened to you." Stiles sighed.

Derek chuckled. "Well don't worry I'm not going to say I told you so. That would just be cruel!"

Stiles drew back and glanced up at Derek. "It's okay, I deserve it." he replied.

Derek leant down and pressed a kiss to his lips, his hand running through his short hair. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked between soft kisses. "I need to go out for a bit." he told him.

Stiles moaned in protest when Derek tried to move away. "Do you have to?" he asked. "Can't we just stay here and keep doing this?" he asked pressing his lips against his.

Derek smiled. "There will be time for that later." he told him.

"Okay okay." Stiles replied letting go of Derek's jacket; he knew they couldn't get distracted from the mission to find the Alpha, no matter how tempting it was. "So do you have a new lead?" he asked.

"Possibly." Derek replied pulling on his leather jacket.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "As much as I find mysterious you sexy as hell, care to share a bit more than that big guy?" he asked.

"Let me look into it first, if I find something I'll let you know." Derek said brushing a quick kiss to his lips before heading to the back door. "Sure you'll be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." Stiles nodded. "I've got piles of homework to distract me." he said with a sad smile.

Derek nodded. "I'll see you later then, just call me if you need anything." he said before disappearing.

"You too." Stiles said, but he knew he wouldn't – what help could he possible be? He thought as he glumly sank back down onto his stool at the kitchen counter. Stiles pulled out his mobile phone and glanced at the screen – not a word from Scott – not that he was expecting anything. Depressed, Stiles grabbed the mug of coffee Derek had made for him and headed up to his room to get one with the mountains of work he had piling up in the hope it would distract him from his own thoughts.