We grow weary of this…

Derek's long-spoken words rang true in Maia's ears as she stood in her bathroom, the Alphamega needing to clear her head. Soft, undoubtedly feminine hands were pressed on either side of the sink basin, her fingers tending and relaxing almost rhythmically as she tried not to think about the pads of her paws aching from all the running she had been doing as of late.

The woman's head hung down, her tousled hair creating a curtain around her face, still wet from her shower. The sound of small drops of water rolling down her body and falling to the marble helped her pass the time, Maia knowing exactly how long she had been waiting there, legs crossed, back slightly arched, shoulders raised: two hours, thirty-seven minutes, twenty-nine seconds and counting.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and she looked up into the eyes of her own reflection, searching her features for any sign of change. Maia could not spot one difference, even though there had been many changes in her life over the past month and a half.

"Mrs. Mayor? You need to get some sleep- you're being sworn in in less than ten hours."

She straightened up and moved to climb into bed even as she heard the others moving downstairs, the house busy being cleaned for when the photographer would come after the festivities of the coming day. The election was long past and she had won by a landslide- the only thing that was missing in all of it was Derek.

Maia laid with her face buried in her husband's pillow, her eyes closed as she inhaled the remnants his scent. It was her job to stay in control, to sit in the position of power… but without her husband, she felt utterly powerless. The passing days without him felt like torture and she knew that every time her eyes met Deucalion's that he was waiting for her order to hunt down Derek… and the now missing Peter. It had been weeks since she had sent him after his nephew and the rest of the pack was itching to hunt them both down… and Maia had finally agreed, once the sun set tomorrow.

Leaving the pack was not an option.

She found it hard to accept that he might have been pushed just far enough to give up, that she had finally driven him away with the insanity of her life. She knew he felt like she had used him – and she had. That she had lied to him – and again, she had – but what he refused to see was that she had had no choice; Maia would do anything for Derek, even if that meant destroying their marriage, their relationship, their bond, to keep him alive.

Maia looked out of the window in her bedroom, staring out over the sleeping city, "Come on Derek, come on… I did not fight this hard, just to lose you again."

Derek was running.

He wasn't sure how long it had been since he had left the pack – time seemed to move differently when he was fully phased – and he still wasn't sure what was right or wrong anymore in the world. It wasn't completely black or white like it had once been, clear and simple to understand, just a thousand shades of gray.

The Alpha turned as he heard heavy footfalls behind him, growling at the wolf that had been following him. It had never gotten close enough for him to catch a scent, staying just far enough behind to keep up without provoking him. But now the wolf was gaining, calling out to him for the first time in their time together with three long howls – it was Peter.

He was upright and on two feet when his uncle reached him, the older werewolf somersaulting through the air and landing on his hind legs. Derek watched as he phased, Peter catching his breath before speaking, "God, I must really be getting old – that little work out of yours left me winded."

"No one asked you to follow me."

"Actually, your mate did. Otherwise, I would have given up after the first week and spent the other six at home with the beautiful women in my pack, having a good time with my new family," Peter replied sarcastically, moving to lean against a nearby tree. "She's worried about you."

Derek's eyes flashed when he thought about his wife and what was waiting for him back in Beacon Hills, attempting to keep cool even as his wolf reared up inside of him. "Go home Peter. Now."

"I can't – not unless you come back with me. Or else I have to face a very angry wife and an even angrier Alphamega." The Alpha male scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, stubborn and set in his resolve, "Give me one good reason why I should go back."

"You don't have a choice."

Peter looked up into the red eyes he knew as well as his own, sighing. He knew that Derek wasn't thinking rationally, the older male reaching out to touch his nephew. "She sent me after you… And I have to bring you back alive, Derek or Deucalion will kill you and take your head back to her. Its been too long and if you want to stay alive, we need to return to the pack. Now," he said seriously, Derek giving him a warning growl. "Maybe her threats scared you, but they don't fucking scare me!" Peter barked fiercely and narrowed his eyes impatient, "They should scare you! Derek, you don't know who or what she is- or what she's capable of! She will kill you if she has to and if you try and force her hand, she'll have to. It's the law of the pack!"

The men stared at each other for a moment before Derek shook his head, swallowing. "I can't go back Peter, not to… bowing down to her. Maia's my wife- we took vows to be equals," he spat angrily, seeing a flash of compassion in his pack mate's eyes. Peter gripped his nephew's forearm, looking at him evenly in the eyes and inhaling deeply.

"What's done is done, Derek. And you have to let whatever future you thought you were going to have with her… go. Its gone and now its time to face this very new, very strange world we live in. Besides, she's being sworn in as mayor in the morning, I think. You shouldn't miss that."

"We'll go back," Derek agreed through his teeth, turning back east. "But she made me promise, no matter what that we'd be together. That we'd have our future… and I'm not giving that up. Not again."