The next week at school Jackson tried to start a conversation with Stiles, if only to prove to himself that he wasn't disgusted with him, but the way Stiles was avoiding him was clearer than any conversation would have been. This was easier, this way he didn't have to suffer through some conversation and pitying looks while Stiles did his best to let him down easy. But they still had classes together and sometimes would have to work together. Jackson did his best to show no emotion over feeling so…snubbed.

But after five days of trying to get Stiles to even look at him, to acknowledge that it happened, that something had happened, even if neither of them understood what, and just being ignored, it just became too much. They were sitting in English class reading some romantic poetry, 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', Stiles was reading, and it was too much. He couldn't just sit there and listen to him any longer, how was it so easy for him, why was it so easy for him? He packed his bags, shoved everything inside as fast as he could, people around the class began to stare, and he just got up and left and ran out of the school, past the field, and dived into the woods.

He let the wolf lead him, it knew what was best for him and now it was saying run. He did, for a long time, the only thing that stopped him was a root that suddenly and unexpectedly caught his foot and brought him crashing to the ground, knocking the air and energy out of him at once. He just lay there in pain but surprisingly calm. He didn't know if it was the forest around him or the run, maybe a combination of both, but he felt relaxed and at peace. He didn't feel so confused anymore, he couldn't deny that Stiles and he had shared a moment a….intimate….moment and to have Stiles just ignore him and pretend nothing happened. Well, that hurt. He thought that after the pain, he had built up defenses that no longer allowed him to feel any, and it was true, physical pain was almost an after thought to him, but nothing in his entire life had prepared him for emotional pain. If anything, the way he grew up had made him more sensitive to emotional pain, like he had become hyper allergic to it. Its one of the reasons he had grown up being the way he was, people didn't dare insult the tough guy, the asshole, the bully, they left those alone.

It hurt now, but soon all it would be was another bruise, and those always fade with time, sometimes. Sometimes they scarred. Instead of worrying about that though, he just slept.

Derek decided that enough time had passed and it was time to confront Whittemore about the last full moon. There was the smallest possibility that it was him, and if it was, it left Derek with questions he probably would never get the answers to. So he waited till Friday and decided to stake out the school. He walked around the woods that surrounded the school and smelled the unfamiliar scents and tried to separate them from the ones he knew, a nervous habit from his childhood.

A little after lunch he felt…strange, like, the small cold fingers of a ghost touching his head, whispering. It felt as if someone else was inside him. He felt a strange combination of fear, anger, and shame. He was standing underneath the bleachers, feeling every bit the pervert he was sure Stiles would call him, and saw Whittemore run out the school and into the woods. Derek followed.

He ran and did his best to keep the boy in sight but, damn, he was fast. He leaped and weaved and just tore through the forest. He could barely keep up. Right where he was sure he was going to lose him he saw the boy fall. He heard the loud whoosh of air that escaped his mouth and could instantly smell blood. The boy just lay there, not moving. Derek didn't either. He waited and watched and the boy made no move to stand up, after an hour he was asleep. Derek walked forward until he stood above him. He could see and smell the blood that oozed out of the boys head and other scratches on his hands and legs. His face was dirty he could see where tears had left smudges down his face. Derek reached down and shook the boy.

Jackson slowly opened his eyes and looked up into the eyes of Derek Hale. He cringed and pushed himself onto his back and slowly crawled away from him.

"Stay right there," commanded Derek locking eyes with Jackson, "we need to talk,"

"I-I-I don't know anything…"Jackson tried to keep the fear out of his voice but it was useless, waking up with Derek Hale looming over him sent him barreling into fear. His heart was pounding somewhere inside his throat. He held his hand up in the weakest show of defense Derek had ever seen. Jackson looked at him in between the fingers of his hand.

"Jackson, I need you to tell me what happened to you on the night of the full moon,"

"N-N-Nothing…"

Derek waited and listened but the boy was already afraid and he was having trouble distinguishing fear from lies. He sighed. He walked slowly towards Jackson, trying to keep him from completely freaking out. Jackson just sat there with his hand held out. Derek walked towards him and crouched down in front of him, grabbed his hand and slowly lowered it before letting it go. Jackson just sat there with his eyes downcast trembling quietly.

"Hey, hey…just look at me okay?" Derek watched as Jackson slowly raised his face to him and looked him in the eyes. "I need you to tell me what happened on the full moon"

"I'm not sure…I think I…I think I turned," Jackson wasn't sure what Derek was going to do with him. He always thought that he was going to be part of the pack, but after the bite didn't take Derek made it more than obvious that he wasn't invited back. Now, he wasn't sure if Derek planned to kill him or maybe run him out of the State, all he knew was that he was too tired and jaded to care.

"Look at me," said Derek. He needed to know without a doubt that Jackson was one of them, not just bullshitting him in an attempt to get another bite or something equally as stupid. Jackson for his credit looked up at him when he was told and held his gaze. Derek felt the Alpha inside him wake up and push and tear against its cage when it peered into Jackson's eyes, reflected back at him was a pair of bright glowing blue eyes, like the sky on summers day, or the clear waters of the Caribbean Sea. The wolf inside Derek howled in joy, his child, his brother, his pup, had finally returned to him.

Derek let out a stuttering breath, he felt the disappointment of the last three months melt off his body. The boy, His boy had turned.

Derek stood up and extended his hand to Jackson,

"It's time to come home."

Jackson just stared up at him not understanding what had happened to make Derek take such a soft tone with him. He slowly placed his hand in Derek's and felt the older man squeeze it and then was helped to his feet.

They walked back to the Hale house. Derek led the way in front of Jackson giving the boy some time to calm down. Jackson was confused as hell, he wasn't sure what Derek had meant, but he knew what he wished it meant, but didn't allow himself the comfort of hoping. The wolf inside him was bouncing around doing back flips and somersaults, it was so full of joy and Jackson didn't know why. So they walked in silence.

They reached the house from the side. Jackson felt as if all paths in the woods led back to this place, as if it were the center from which the forest grew out of. Derek led the way to the back yard and onto the deck, he took a seat at the picnic table he had just bought to make the backyard more comfortable. Jackson sheepishly sat across from him, he was unsure with himself, he had never felt this way, he didn't know what Derek expected of him, all he knew was he didn't want to disappoint him the way he had everyone else in his life. Jackson let out a nervous sigh, trying to get a handle on his frayed nerves. This past week had been a confusing one and all he wanted to do was get some…stability in his life. He wished this was something Derek was able to offer.

Derek just stared at him though. Now that he knew it was the boy he wasn't sure what to do. He remembered the way he had treated the pup for the past three months and felt, for the first time in a long time, shame. He wondered what his father would have thought of his behavior. But he knew that his father would never have treated a member of the pack this way, he had allowed his fear and anger to irrationally dictate his actions and all he had succeeded in doing was alienating himself from his first success. He had failed this boy twice without realizing, the first was the prolonged illness the bite had given him, the second was not being able to recognize it for what it was.

Derek asked Jackson to describe to him the past three months and Jackson did. He told him about the fever, the days spent dazed in his bed. He described to him the pain and the way it consumed his life for the past three months, how he learned to compensate and live and how he was both stronger and weaker because of it. He told him about the full moon, the joy and freedom he remembered and the taste of blood and intestine. Jackson finished his story and just sat there waiting for Derek to react.

"Are you hungry?" Was all Derek asked and Jackson couldn't think of anything other to say than, "Yea…a little."

So Derek opened the back door to his house which led right into his kitchen. Jackson took a set at the table and just watched Derek as he got set on making Jackson a turkey sandwich. When he was done he set two sandwiches on the table one for Jackson and one for himself, he sat down and started eating, Jackson followed suit.

It was late, later than Jackson realized his nap in the woods, the walk back to the Hale house, and then his explanation of the past three months had taken more time than Jackson was even aware of, the sun was quickly setting.

"I should probably go…its getting late…"

"Don't, I want you to stay the night,"

"W-W-Wha…"

"I want to run with you,"

"I don't know what that means…"

"It means I want my wolf to meet yours, I want us to get to know each other, and I want to run underneath the moon with you."

Jackson couldn't help feeling so shy, all this was new to him and what Derek was asking him felt so…so…intimate, that word again. Last time that had happened, it didn't end so well, he wasn't sure he was willing to do it again. But he didn't have much left to lose, so he agreed.

He joined Derek on the sofa while they waited for night to completely fall and watched old episodes of Twin Peaks. Jackson was painfully aware of the space between them and when Derek got up to get them both a bottle of water he totally noticed how much closer Derek had sat, like completely closer, like right next to him. He could feel the heat of Derek's thighs against his own and was hyper aware of Derek's arm thrown across the back of the sofa. It set him on edge and he knew that Derek could hear the way his heart rate increased, he could see the smirk on his face. But over time he stopped noticing and as night slowly approached he would say he'd even grown accustomed to having Derek close, pressed against him. Jackson closed his eyes and let the tentative peace that had fallen around them to lull him into sleep.

He slowly awoke when the heat of the room became too much. He stretched his neck and felt his forehead scrape against something rough. He opened his eyes and all he could see was the side of Derek's neck, he must have fallen against him when he fell asleep. He felt good though, he didn't know what this feeling was but he had never felt like this, it was new and comforting. He stretched again and the scratch of Derek's stubble against his forehead made him want to giggle and next thing he knew, he was.

"What's so funny?" Asked Derek completely scaring the shit out of Jackson.

"Ugh…nothing," he said sheepishly, "it…tickled…" He said feeling the blush burn through his face and up his neck. He just realized Derek had wrapped his hand firmly around his neck and he could feel him card the tips of his fingers through his hair, making him feel twice as awkward and embarrassed.

Derek laughed and got up off the sofa and told Jackson to follow him. They went back into the kitchen and Derek made them more sandwiches. After eating, Derek led the way out of the house, locked the door, and started walking into the woods, Jackson close behind. When Derek thought they were far away enough from town he stopped and started undressing.

"Take off your clothes," he told Jackson, who couldn't help feeling like he was playing the role of the blushing virgin and Derek was the experienced bad boy here to take away his innocence whether he wanted it or not. But rather than voice any of these ideas or letting them set firmly in his brain, he shook them off and with them his clothes. He was standing next to Derek underneath the moon light unsure of what to do next.

Derek silently answered his question by letting the change come over him until he stood in front of Jackson in his Alpha Wolf glory. He was big…huge. His fur was a deep bottomless black with dark grey patterns running through it. He was nearly invisible in the darkness of the forest, he had perfect camouflage he was the perfect predator. Jackson didn't know what to do, last time he changed it was because the moon gave him no choice. He breathed deep and reached deep into him were the wolf slumbered and asked for its help, its guidance, he asked to be him and wolf complied. He felt the change come over him slowly and languidly. He felt the surge of rising pain, swelling, swelling, and when he reached its crest he felt the wolf take over and the unbelievable pleasure that followed.

Derek couldn't believe what he saw, Jackson was always doing things in a strangely magnificent way, like how he played lacrosse, became untouchable on the field. In front of him stood a large full transformed wolf, a feat neither Scott nor Lydia had achieved. He was tall and strong, but the most striking feature was his coat. His white like the driven snow coat. Jackson never did anything the way Derek hoped or expected but he always impressed. His fur was going to make the worst of camouflages in the dark forests of California. As he stood there the moonlight seemed to make him glow ethereal and bright, a pair of bright blue eyes locked with his red ones and Derek couldn't help let out a playful huff of laughter before taking off as fast as he could, calling behind him, "Try and catch me!"

Jackson stood dumb founded for only a second before he sprinted after Derek, he never felt such joy swell in his chest and the closer and closer he got to Derek the better he felt. He ran and would reach out with his teeth to try and catch him by the tail but he would always get away at the last second, who knew Derek could be such a tease.

They both ran with all their might and stopped to take large mouthfuls of water from a near by stream and then they wrestled, nipped, bite, and rolled around on the forest floor. It hurt, but all Jackson could think of doing was laugh out loud and let the world know how happy he was. As if Derek knew what he was thinking he raised his head and howled to the sky. Jackson followed suit and soon throughout the forest near Beacon Hills the howls of the two wolves could be heard bouncing off the trees.

As they ran through the forest they came across the scent of a group of forest predators and soon they stalked and tracked their prey up north towards the mountains away from Beacon Hills. They found the coyotes before the animals knew what was happening, the wolves tore through their ranks tearing the pack to shreds until nothing was left alive, and soon their bellies were full with the meat of their victims.

Jackson never thought it could be like this, he never expected the incredible joy that came with the dangerous feral animal that was always begging him to kill and maim to sate its bloodlust. Derek found a spot in a clearing in the woods where he scratched away the top layer of dirt and dead foliage, he looked at Jackson who instantly knew what Derek wanted. He walked to the spot and curled up and laid down. Derek walked up behind him and curled himself around the other wolf until Jackson was surrounded by his Alphas body. Jackson allowed himself to just enjoy this foreign feeling that left him feeling sleepy and careless, it was a feeling he hadn't felt since back then…before…he took a deep final breathe before falling into a deep slumber. Derek waited until Jackson feel asleep before allowing himself to let down his guard, he couldn't believe what it felt like to finally have a member of his pack be so in tune with his feelings and commands. This was the feeling his father tried to teach him about being an Alpha, it was something he had forgotten after his family had died, but now he remembered. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Authors note- Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing, keep them coming. Also my postings will probably slow down from now on but ill do my best to post them at a steady rate.