Chapter Eight

"An omega? Looking for me?"

Derek nodded, leading his mate, and the interloper into the loft, where he'd left the girl.

"Yea, I called the pack after I called you. They should be on their way here."

Stiles hmmed, but stilled as he took in the girl lying on the sofa. The interloper gasped and his eyes were full of hope and heartbreak.

"Esmeralda?" He whispered, taking a shaky step in the direction of the couch.

Derek looked away uncomfortably, eerily reminded of his own expression and feelings upon finding Cora with the Alpha pack.

Grief and hope were bright in eyes so much like his own it hurt, and he wanted to flee.

Why?

Why had things turned out this way?

Stiles was his mate. He'd known breaking off what they had was a mistake but at the time, their relationship wasn't healthy for either of them. He could smell the heartbreak Stiles felt every time Derek left after they slept together. He could smell the worsening of Stiles self-loathing and depression every time he and Derek argued and he'd hated himself for making the teen feel those things. He'd thought that by ending it, Stiles would be able to heal and move on and after so many months…it seemed that he finally had.

But he didn't expect it to hurt so much.

A warm hand on his arm drew him back to the present and he look down into warm sunlit whiskey eyes.

"We should talk."

"Shouldn't you be with your husband and his family."

Stiles jerked a heard in the direction of the two, and he saw the interloper lying on the sofa with his bulky frame curled protectively around the omega pup.

"They're fine. Ares wants us to hash things out anyways."

Scowling, the alpha nodded and followed his emissary up the stair, finding himself very much appreciative of the soundproofing he'd done to his room. He had a feeling this was a conversation the pack didn't need to hear.

Once they were inside, he sighed.

"I'm sorry. I should've trusted you." He murmured and Stiles nodded.

"You should've. It hurts that after everything we've been through, you still don't trust me, Derek."

"I just- you've never kept a secret from me before, Stiles. Even after we broke up, then you started and it felt like you didn't trust me. The fact that you're married, with a child and I didn't know…it feels like you don't trust me as your alpha to protect your family."

His mate sighed heavily.

"I did, or at least I did until-" He clammed up and Derek frowned.

"Until?" He prompted.

The teen was silent for a moment.

"Did you look for me? The night of the lacrosse game, when I went missing. Did you look for me?"

Derek frowned. "I wasn't at the game. Erica and Boyd were leaving the pack, then everything happened with Jackson. I never knew you were missing, Scott never said anything. What happened?"

A brittle smile crossed Stiles lips. "I scored the winning goal of the game. I was so proud of myself, finally I'd done something right…then the lights went out. Something hit me in the head and I lost consciousness. When I woke up I was being dragged into the basement of the Argent house."

Derek felt dread building in his stomach. Surely, Scott would've noticed, would have said something.

"Erica and Boyd were already there, strung up like pigs for slaughter. He was electrocuting them, just for the hell of it. He knew they couldn't give you up, their instinct to protect you was too strong, but I'm human. I don't have instincts that keep me from saying anything and Gerard knew that. He beat me, tortured me. He beat me so bad that Erica told me my heart stop a few times after I passed out. When I woke up, I unplugged the electrical box, but Gerard's men took me from the basement before I could free them. Boyd told me that Chris freed them a little after that." He shook his head.

"Anyways, the whole time I was in that basement all I could think was 'just hold on a little longer, the pack is coming. I just have to hold on a little longer.' Then I find out no one, no one even looked for me. Not you, not Scott, neither of you. And Scott was working with Gerard, with the man that nearly killed me and all of my trust in you guys vanished. I wanted to trust you, Derek. I want to with everything in me, especially you…but I can't."

Derek hugged him, heart aching.

Another failure.

And Stiles, Stiles had paid the price for it. What would he have done if Stiles had never woken up again?

Dear Lycaon, he didn't think he'd be able to survive in a world without his mate, even if the boy was married to someone else.

"I'm sorry, Stiles. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"It really isn't."

They were silent for a moment, then Derek spoke.

"You're my mate."

Stiles didn't reply at first, then he sighed and looked away. "I know. That was another reason I didn't tell you about Baz and Ares. I didn't want to hurt you, no matter how much you hurt me."

He pulled away and looked up at the alpha.

"I've known I was your mate for a long time, but…I can't, Der. I love you, you were my first love, and if I'm honest, I'm probably still in love with you now…but being with you hurts. Between the two of us, we've got enough issues to fill Eichen house six times over and still have enough left over to try for a seventh time." Derek snorted.

"You have shit you need to get over with Kate and Julia, Jennifer whatever the hell her name was. You have your guilt and self-loathing and hell other shit too. Me, I'm insecure as hell, I've got a guilt complex just as bad and it seems I can add PTSD to my growing list of mental health issues. Back then, right now, we aren't right for each other. Bypassing the fact that I'm happily married to someone else, if we were to get back together right now, we'd be no better now than we were then. I'd still talk around my problems, or try to ignore them until they go away and you'll still shove me and threaten me, then turn around and fuck my brain out the second no one was around. I can't go back to that. I love Ares, Derek. I love him and Baz so much that I wanted to fucking kill you when I saw the bruise you left on him. I won't give that up. I can't…but I don't want to lose you. I want my friend back. I want to go back to how we were right before we started dating. Hanging out and watching batman, talking about the pack, I just…I miss you. Please don't make me choose."

He wanted that too.

He and Stiles had been close before they started dating a byproduct of trying to wrangle Scott and being forced into near-death situations. After their failed relationship, they'd drifted apart, their friendship hanging on by a thread as they tried to navigate that awkward line of exes and friends.

He'd never stop loving Stiles and Stiles had already said he still loved him, but he knew Stiles was right. There was entirely too much keeping them from being together, and he knew a lot of that fell on him. It was just the way things had turned out for them.

"If he ever hurts you, Uncle Peter will help me hide the body."

A vivid smile crossed his mate's lips and the laugh that followed it went a long way of soothing the pain in his heart.

"Whatever you say, Sourwolf."

*/*

She was alive.

He didn't know what to think as he stared down at the slumbering form of his baby sister, her lither frame clad in the same clothing she'd been in the day of her "death" only a few months previous.

How had she survived?

Hale had told Stiles she was an omega, implying that she was a wolf. If this was true then he was going to be spending a lot more time around this pack. He'd have to for his precious baby sister to get the help she needed.

He groaned slightly, stroking her hair.

"You have a way of making me do things, I don't want to do." He whispered to her. "Now I have to make nice with Hale."

She stirred slightly, and he looked up as Stiles and Hale entered, both looking lighter than they'd been before their little talk.

"Is everything resolved then?"

The latter nodded and held out his hand to shake. "Derek Hale, Alpha of the Hale Pack. I'd like to apologize for my actions last week."

"Ares Cisneros. This is mi hermana, Esmeralda. I accept your apology."

Hale nodded then frowned. "When was the last time you saw your sister?"

"Months ago. She was presumed dead with our mother. Car accident."

The alpha hummed softly, turning as his pack entered.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Scott snapped at Ares who, to Derek's surprise, sneered at the young wolf, hate clear in his gaze.

"I was invited by Hale."

Peter smirked. "Made nice today, did you?" He teased before pausing as he caught sight of the young girl in his son-in-law's arms.

The musician followed his gaze and held her closer. "He gave me back my little sister. And he and Stiles made up."

Stiles smiled at him, ignoring the dark looks Scott sent his husband. Allison grinned at him, and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Stiles! You brought me and Aiden back to life, even if it could've killed you and yet everyone still treats you like crap! And we did nothing to stop it."

Stiles froze, and everyone barring Allison and Aiden stared at him wide-eyed. Ares paled.

"How did you know that?" The spark asked and his husband frowned.

"How did she- you told me it wasn't life-threatening beyond your connection to the Nemeton!"

"It wasn't!"

Allison glared at him. "Liar. I looked it up. Anyone else would've died. It's only because of your connection to the Nemeton and the healing the Nogitsune left behind that you survived at all."

He shrugged. "It was the right thing to do."

"Not if it cost you your life!" Aiden, Derek and Ares snapped in unison and he shrank back.

"I was just trying to make things right!"

"Stiles," Peter began, placing a hand on his surrogate pup's shoulder to placate him. "What happened with the nogitsune, that wasn't your fault. Think about how you felt, losing your mother, wishing she was there when you needed her. Do you really want Bazyli to grow up the same way?"

Tears welled in the teen's eyes and he looked devastated at the thought. Ares pulled him away from Allison, and into his arms, but before he could speak a soft groan sounded from the omega on the sofa behind them.

"Sti'es? 'res?" She rasped, eyes fluttering open. Ares smiled at her.

"Hey," He greeted, helping her sit up. "How do you feel?"

She glanced around nervously, clutching her elder brother's hand tightly. "'m fine."

Nearly everyone in the room snorted and shot Stiles a glance.

"Pull the other one, it has bells in it." Peter muttered.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sore, but otherwise, I'm fine. Where am I? Who are you?"

Ares stroked the back of her hand soothingly. "You're fine, little one. These are Stiles' pack. The dark one is the alpha, who called us when you came here to find Stiles. This is his home. What do you remember?"

"Mama picked me up from school. We were talking about going to get Bazyli so that you and Stiles could have a date night, but then the car on the side of us ran a red light. He hit mama's side of the car and everything went black, then I woke up and a woman called Satomi told me she saved me from the wreck. She said I had a lot of glass embedded in my throat and arm. She told me she changed me into a wolf and told me I had the choice of staying or going after she taught me to control my instincts. I just learned control a week ago."

She looked up at her elder brother worriedly. "Was mama alright? Did she-"

He closed his eyes pained and shook his head. "She didn't make it. Up until Hale called Stiles, I believed you had died with her."

The girl's eyes widened and a whimper left her.

"No." She whined, a low wounded noise and tears welled in her eyes. He pulled her into a hug and held tight as she mourned their mother. The pack, barring Stiles watched the two with sad eyes, despite the differences, and in Scott's case, animosity, they'd held for the elder only minutes before.

Derek placed a hand on Ares' shoulder, causing him to look up at him.

"Your sister, as well as yourself and your son have a place in our pack should you want it. You're Stiles' pack, his family its only right you be included in ours as well, especially with your sister being a newly bitten wolf."

The musician stared at him, wondering what had changed the man's mind.

He'd seen the hidden anger in Hale's eyes as he watched him and Stiles, the jealousy and memories of times long passed. He'd seen how the man's gaze lingered on his husband's slender frame and while he understood that the two had been, and probably always would be, close he didn't appreciated those looks.

At all.

He was a possessive bastard and Stiles was well aware of this fact.

However, he also knew that Stiles had wanted to introduce them for the longest. His husband longed for the day when all of his loved ones could sit amongst each other. The day they could all get along and he would be damned if he didn't help that dream along.

So, with a small nod and a faint smile he reached out and shook the Alpha's hand, Stiles beaming in the background.

Somehow, despite everything, he had a feeling he wouldn't regret doing so.

TBC…

A/N: TWO MORE CHAPTERS! I'M SO EXCITED!