Derek watched as the boy, the cub flew at Stiles, landing straight in his arms and unashamedly hugging him. He had to be about nine, possibly ten and Derek could remember being that age and cringing away from hugs his Pack, his family had tried to give him. Of course he regrets that now, but he never could have known that then.

But that cub, he didn't seem to care in the slightest and that made Derek think that maybe it was just something about Stiles. Something about Stiles that had the young and the innocent and anyone in need being drawn to him. This cub. Isaac. Isaac just seemed to be drawn in by Stiles and it wasn't even in a sexual way, it was in the way that a heartbroken cub would press close to its Alpha. Just sitting there outside, Isaac couldn't seem to be too far from Stiles, reacting to the new people, to the new situation by leaning in to the person who made him feel safe. And that person wasn't his Alpha, no that person was Stiles.

Stiles had always attracted the needy though. Hell, sometimes Derek thought that was why Stiles attracted him. Derek was broken and shattered in ways that nobody could ever begin to imagine, but there was just something about Stiles. There had always been something about Stiles. His accidental touches burned Derek's skin and even though he flinched away from the touch, snarled in the face of it, it didn't change the fact that that touch thawed something inside of him each and every time. And that scared Derek, scared him more than he would ever want to admit because he didn't know how to imagine a him that wasn't all icy and cold inside. That was out of his comfort zone.

And yet, gradually he'd discovered that Stiles didn't even need to touch him to make the pain of Derek's memories fade away. It was in his smile. In the way that Stiles could make a person feel like they were the only one in the room, the only one he had ever wanted to focus on. The way he did that so effortlessly that it was just his nature. It was beautiful. Stiles was beautiful.

Derek wasn't. Derek was all jagged edges, he was filled up with painful memories and harsh words and he couldn't let himself risk the change of ruining Stiles. He didn't want to ruin Stiles' beauty. He couldn't bring himself to. And yet he also had never been able to completely tear himself away.

He had always felt selfish and wrong when he witnessed Stiles' smiles, when he'd bottled them up inside of himself, inside of his memories. He'd always felt like he was defiling something sacred, marring perfection; but that didn't mean he could help himself.

So this time, like all the other times, Derek watched from afar as Stiles lifted the cub far too effortlessly for a human. Yet another reminder that something about Stiles wasn't so innocent or fragile anymore. A reminder that maybe Stiles had some jagged edges now too. The cub laughed and there hadn't been laughter like that in the Hale house for years. Not since Stiles. Derek couldn't explain why; because people laughed, his Pack still laughed, but not like that. Not completely careless and without abandon, not with their eyes shining and complete joy and carelessness written all over their features.

Stiles' Pack – God how Derek hated thinking that! – stood a little off to the side watching and Derek didn't miss the way that they looked at Stiles like he was in charge. Like he was higher ranking. And maybe he was. Something about that made sense, because there had never been anything about Stiles that had been submissive. Even when he had cowered under Derek's threats, he had never submitted. He had never bared his throat, not once. And now, now there was just something about seeing Stiles as a werewolf that made Derek think that Stiles made an amazing werewolf. What Derek didn't want to think about was that Head Beta, the one people talked about. He didn't want to think of the possibility of Stiles bearing his throat for him.

Just like Derek didn't want to meet this guy Sax, the one that Stiles fucked. It made him feel sick and see red and it made him want to tear his own eyeballs out just to see if maybe that would help.

Once Stiles had finally set the cub down, even though it still stuck close, out of instinct no doubt now that it was on foreign territory, the other two newcomers pressed forwards. They both curled their limbs against Stiles' body as one, instinctively, marking him with their scent. The woman was obviously the cub's mother judging by the blatant similarity between them was anything to go by. Both were fair skinned and dark haired with high almost regal looking cheek-bones. They practically looked feline, but they acted and smelt like wolves.

The male was shorter and stocky, build a lot like Boyd with just a lot less height. He was all smiles, but there was something wary in his eyes that made it clear he would defend his Pack mates without hesitation. His eyes kept fixing on the cub, checking it wasn't in danger and Derek could understand that. There was a reason that Lexie was inside with Allison and hadn't come out.

He thought it said a lot though that they were even coming onto Derek's territory with a cub. He thought that must mean that they were confident about their fighting skills and he had to admit that if the rumours were true, then that confidence was well earned.

Proof of Stiles' dominant position was shown in how he ducked in an lapped at both of the newcomers' throats, quick and almost needy as he tasted their flesh before he nuzzled against their throats, scenting them. The sight made Derek's teeth ache because it made him realise just how close this Pack were. They hadn't been apart for long that much was obvious and yet they were greeting Stiles like his Pack should have greeted him. They were greeting him like it had been years not days and that dependence, that need made it clear how tightly the bond was woven around them all.

They were family and Derek felt jealous not just because he could admit his Pack wasn't that close – they were close, he wasn't saying they weren't, because they definitely were, but Stiles' Pack was on a whole other level – but also because he wanted to have that right. He wanted to be able to be so close to Stiles without having to be ashamed of anything. He wanted to be that comfortable with him and for Stiles to be that comfortable in return.

The one who had arrived on the bike, Lee, he stood after the other two finally detached themselves from Stiles. Lee was actually surprising in that he had seemed perfectly content in remaining apart from his Pack, remaining with Derek's Pack while Stiles was greeted. Derek didn't miss the almost protective glances that Lee was giving Isaac; nor did he miss the way that Isaac was instantly the one that was instantly introduced first. He was thanked and welcomed practically like he was in their Pack and that unsettled Derek.

That phrase from before that Stiles had whispered, "Two man wolf Pack," he didn't know why that made him angry. He thought maybe it was because he didn't understand it. Isaac was in his Pack, Stiles had been in his Pack, there had been more than two of them. And yet Stiles had insisted that he had never been a part of Derek's Pack and Isaac had never even looked like he had wanted to dispute that. In fact, he looked like he agreed. Which was stupid, because of course Stiles had been Pack. He'd come to all the Pack meetings, hung out on Pack nights, so Derek didn't know how he could say that he wasn't Pack.

He made a mental note to ask Isaac about it later, because he knew for a fact that Stiles wouldn't give him a straight answer. It annoyed him how he knew that without a doubt for certain.

The female was the first one who actually acknowledged Derek, something that was strange and sort of weird considering the first thing that wolves should do was acknowledge an Alpha, whether or not he was their Alpha specifically. But none of them had, they'd done nothing more than glance at him in passing. This female though, she just outright stared at him until he started to feel uncomfortable, especially when he got the feeling that she was assessing him or something.

Derek wondered what that meant.

"Oh by the way guys, there's something I think you should know," Stiles muttered and then obviously typed out what that thing was if the way that all of the wolves checked their phones instantly.

Lee's eyes widened a little when he read whatever it was that it said on the text and he stared at Stiles, "Dude, you're going to want to tell Maggie that, I think she's in the process of sharpening her claws on the way here."

"Shit," Stiles muttered under her breath and then he was rattling off a rapid-fire text, obviously to think girl Maggie and Derek was left even more confused than ever.

"Are you Derek?"

He hadn't been aware of the fact that the cub was in front of him before it actually spoke. He blinked down at it, amazed that its mother had let it come so close to him, but then even Derek wasn't going to bite the head off of a cub. Cubs were precious, they were to be protected, his parents had taught him that.

"Um, yes," he replied, since he obviously couldn't lie and he didn't see the harm in admitting that.

He could smell the cub's annoyance almost immediately. "Why don't you love Stiles?" the cub asked in a brutally blunt way that only kids could really ever master.

Derek only just had time to register what the hell he'd just heard before Stiles' panic hit him in waves and he was lurching forwards, grabbing the cub around the waist and shaking him a little as he pulled him away. "What the hell is wrong with you guys and sharing information you're not supposed to share!" Stiles hissed at him, but his face softened almost immediately when the cub pouted.

And Derek didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but it obviously meant that Stiles had been talking about him a little bit at least. Either way, whether or not it was a good thing, Derek still found himself smiling for the first time in a while.