Derek didn't know what the hell he was supposed to be thinking. Scott hadn't told him that Stiles was back in town, of course he hadn't, he was Scott and simple things like that just slipped his mind. No, Derek had had to find out when Stiles had turned up in his driveway looking all different and confident, his hair grown out and his gaze cautious. It was like a slap to the face, how different Stiles was from the hyperactive teenager that Derek had grown used to.
The person who had stood in front of him was stronger, more confident. He had muscle packed onto his body, but he was still lean and there was something in the way that he walked that made him seem like a tightly wound spring, just waiting to release. There was an edge to him, something Derek couldn't quite place.
And yet, he was still the same in some ways. He was still the only one who had the courage to walk away from Derek. He was still the only one to ever push him. And of course, he could still be ridiculously childish, bouncing on that damn bouncy castle with Lexie like he didn't have a care in the world. And then it was like a switch had been thrown in Stiles' head.
One minute he was laughing and happy with Lexie and the next he was snarling right back in Derek's face, lips drawn back over extended fangs and his eyes flashing bright yellow. Not even amber like almost every other Beta he had ever come across, but a frightening dog yellow. Being that close to Stiles, his scent had hit him like a sledgehammer. So incredibly similar and yet with that difference, that edge to it that had come when he had shifted from wolf to human.
And he'd been like that for eight years. Eight years he had been a wolf and Derek hadn't had any clue. He didn't know why Stiles had moved away. He didn't know why Stiles had refused to come back, but he would have thought that being turned would have swayed his decision a little. Or did he think Derek wouldn't accept him back because he'd been bitten by another? Did he really think Derek was that harsh.
Although there were those harshly said words, laced with a bitterness Derek couldn't quite grasp. "I was never Pack." But of course he was. Of course Stiles was Pack. He had been a key part, an important part of it all and Derek could still feel the aching loss that lingered there amongst them with Stiles' absence.
He even acted like Pack, appearing again with Isaac in his arms and blood smeared around his mouth. He reeked of anger and of other wolves and of Isaac and he didn't cower to Derek at all. He walked straight past him, into Isaac's room and proceeded to tend to him as though Isaac was his responsibility, his pup or something. And Derek, Derek had just shut down. Because he didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't know how to respond to a blood-smeared, fierce Stiles. He didn't know what to think, what to feel, because the thought of Stiles fighting made a weird sort of desperation and fear claw at his insides, but the thought of him emerging out of it completely unharmed like he obviously was made Derek's wolf howl in triumph and pride.
It was a complete conflict of emotions. He was thinking one thing and his wolf was demanding another. His wolf wanted to press closer to Stiles, to demand that he stay, to demand answers, but Derek the man didn't know how to do that. So he ran. He fled from the room like a terrified Omega running from his raging Alpha. He ran from Stiles and only slunk back hours later.
He only slunk back when he heard the steady heartbeats and found Stiles curled up around Isaac's body, both of them asleep, their limbs tangled together and Isaac's face pressed into Stiles' neck. It was comfort, plain and simple, but Derek didn't know what to think still.
It was confusing. Because Stiles wasn't supposed to be willing to sleep in another Alpha's territory. He wasn't supposed to just waltz in and act like the human Stiles would have done. He was supposed to be afraid, he was supposed to adhere to policies and react like any other wolf. He wasn't supposed to act so different, so like Stiles.
Derek didn't know what Stiles was hiding, he didn't know why he'd left like he had done and why he had apparently been so afraid to return. He didn't have a clue, but he intended to find out. He was going to make Stiles Pack again even if it was the last thing he did. After all, it couldn't be that hard, because Stiles was a wolf now and every wolf, whether or not they wanted to admit it needed a Pack.
It would just be a matter of persuasion and Derek knew better than most how stubborn Stiles could be.