So, I know I haven't updated very quickly (yes, not updating for a single day means I've been lagging in my books) but I've been focussing on Shameless a little bit. I'll try and update as much as possible, but either way, enjoy. . .

Almost as soon as they'd finished talking, Stiles started barking out orders. He sent four off into the woods, telling them to make sure they stuck in pairs and do a perimeter check, see if they could find out how many wolves they were talking about here at the same time. He then went about instructing the rest of them to set up the one large tent they'd brought with them, not-so-subtly looming over the annoying one, Jason, the entire time.

Rory must have caught the surprised look on his face, because he laughed as he walked over, nodding in Stiles' direction, "Just because I have the fangs, doesn't mean I'm the boss." And Derek could see that, he could definitely see that. Stiles looked completely in his element, casually holding Jason in a headlock while he carried on giving out instructions.

Stiles seemed different now that he was surrounded by all of his Pack. More confident, more at home. The easy way he was smiling and laughing made something inside of Derek ache. He looked like a piece of a puzzle that he seamlessly slipped into place with this Pack and Derek couldn't help but crave Stiles having that sort of relationship with his Pack. He wanted Stiles to feel that at home with him.

"He'd drop the hostility if you just told him," Rory said in a low voice, low enough that Stiles couldn't hear them. Stiles who was now having a swordfight using two of the tent poles with the guy he'd previously had in a headlock. But then, Derek knew that that was just how Pack was. They could fight all they liked, but that didn't stop them being bonded together. Fighting didn't mean hatred, it still allowed for closeness.

"What?" Derek could feel his features mashing up into a frown that no doubt also doubled up as a scowl.

Rory smirked, "If you just told him how you feel." Because apparently it was just that simple.

He cornered Isaac the minute that the guy actually managed to detach himself from Stiles' side. "We're just going to go for a little ride," he said, dragging Isaac into the Camaro by his arm and trying to ignore the panicked expression on his face. Sometimes he forgot how easy it was to spook Isaac, but he didn't have the time to stop and feel guilty about it right then.

"Talk," he said a soon as they were far enough away that none from either Pack could overhear them.

Isaac's eyes widened briefly before he stammered out, "T-talk, a-about what, I d-don't know a-anything."

Derek seriously had a hard time resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Why does Stiles think he was never Pack?" he asked, just saying the words making him want to throw up. Inside of his chest, his wolf was snarling at the prospect of Stiles not being Pack. He was Stiles, he was mate, how the hell could he ever not have been Pack?

"Because nobody ever treated him like he was," Isaac said, like it was obvious, "They never included him in anything because they didn't think he was Pack or something. I don't know, but he was never given a reason to think that he was Pack."

Derek frowned, "What do you mean 'they never included him in anything'?"

From the look on Isaac's face, this should have all been obvious to him at the time and it made Derek feel a little stupid for apparently not seeing something that was happening right in front of his eyes. But then it also made him as pissed as hell to think about Stiles being pushed out to the edge and made to feel like he wasn't Pack.

"When they went out to do stuff as a Pack, like have a movie night or go to the beach or something, they'd never ask him along," Isaac explained, scratching the back of his neck, "So just me and him used to hang out. I was the only one that even ever talked to him at lunch, it was like he wasn't even there. He'd say something and he'd just be overlooked."

Isaac shrugged, not seeming able to think of any other way to explain it and Derek was starting to see that maybe it did make sense after all. He couldn't imagine Stiles just sitting there and being ignored, because the boy had always been so full of life and had always had so much to say, but if he had been, Derek couldn't even really find it in him to blame Stiles for leaving.

Even if he wanted to.

"Do you know why?" he asked, because he had to know. He had to know if there was more to it, if there had been something that Derek had done personally. If there had been any mistake on Derek's part that had pushed Stiles away. Had he ever said anything to the Pack that had implied that Stiles wasn't welcome? That Stiles wasn't Pack? "Do you know why they did that?"

Isaac tilted his head to the side briefly and looked like he wanted to shrug the question off, but he didn't. "I think it had something to do with Erica," he admitted. And that, that right there made perfect sense. Erica.

She'd always been bordering on insane and it had been his greatest mistake as Alpha to turn her. He hadn't thought it would turn out that bad. He hadn't thought that she would be that power hungry, that she would be convinced that a few kisses made him hers. And yet, the entire time he'd been sure that she'd known who he'd really belonged to. He'd been sure she'd seen the looks he gave Stiles. The looks she'd wanted for herself. And that was why he'd understood her insistence that they were mates even less.

Derek had a mate. He'd just never thought his mate wanted him, except. . . "He loved you, you know," Isaac said, not looking at him, but instead staring out of the window. Like he wasn't sure he was supposed to be saying that, but knew he couldn't very well swallow the words back. "I think that's the only reason he stuck around as long as he did."

And those words, those simple words that Isaac probably hadn't even meant to say, definitely hadn't meant to mean so much, they made his wolf whine and preen all at the same time inside of his chest. Those words made the both of them hope.

He waited until that night, until after they'd all eaten and people were sitting around the camp fire that someone had lit and Jason and Scott were bonding over whether or not it would hurt to toast marshmallows on their claws. He waited until Stiles clambered to his feet, sliding out with surprising grace from under a heap of his Pack mates and Isaac and mumbling something about needing to pee.

He followed and caught Stiles' arm just as he headed into the house, pushing him up against the wall and pressing his nose into the crook of Stiles' neck. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with Stiles' scent and chuckling when Stiles yelped.

"D-Derek, what the hell are you doing?"

He kind of liked the fact that he could still get Stiles flustered. He hadn't seen any hint of the old Stiles since he'd arrived, not really. Especially not now that his Pack was here. And right then Derek sort of wanted to step back, point and shout, "There he is!" He didn't, but that didn't mean that he didn't consider it.

"Smelling you," he replied like it was obvious.

He knew without having to look that Stiles was frowning. "Yeah," he said, inhaling sharply when Derek flicked his tongue out to lap over Stiles' pulse point, "But w-why?"

Derek ran his nose up the side of Stiles' neck, not missing the way that Stiles hesitated for a second before tilting his head to the side, baring his throat to Derek. And he wanted to howl in triumph, because he hadn't seen Stiles submit to anyone. Not even to his Alpha. This Stiles that he'd been seeing was dominant and in control, it wasn't the Stiles he knew. The Stiles who seemed to be melting underneath his touch, the Stiles who was whining low in the back of his throat and had hands pressed against his chest but not pushing him away, this was his Stiles.

Although, he would admit that bossy and confident Stiles did turn him on.

"Because I want to," Derek replied, sucking briefly at a patch of skin under Stiles' jaw and pulling back just enough to see the mark fade away almost instantly. Stiles moaned and it was like music to his ears. "Because I missed you," he continued, heeding Rory's advice. He pulled back and stared at Stiles, took in the way that he had his head tipped back, his lips parted slightly and his breath coming out in short little pants. His eyes were wide and almost glassy looking and Derek thought he looked fucking beautiful. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. He wanted to kiss that amazing mouth, wanted to taste Stiles, to own him. But he didn't.

Not yet.

He ran a thumb over Stiles' cheekbone, watching as his eyes slid closed a fraction. "Because I wish you'd never left me," he admitted and ducked in to nose at Stiles' neck again before tearing himself away completely. His wolf howled at the loss of contact and Derek's skin felt like it was burning and even though he wanted to look back, wanted to see if he was affecting Stiles as badly as the guy was affecting Derek. But he didn't.

Even if he wanted to, he didn't.