I never imagined that tonight would end with me laying on the ground. Of course, before it happened, I never imagined falling for my best friend. I definitely never would have imagined myself agreeing to let Tori dress me.

Tori and Liz had fallen asleep ages ago and there's only so long one can listen to snores before getting annoyed. So, after a while, I decided to go outside. I'm not quite sure what made me decide to lay on the ground but it was a beautiful night and the stars shone brightly. I loved the sights and sounds of nature; they remind me of Derek.

"Chloe…" Derek's deep voice once more dragged me out of my thoughts and caused me to jump. "What are you doing?"

"Derek! What are you doing out here? You look awful!" I said, climbing up him to reach his forehead. He was burning up, his eyes feverish and his body sweaty. While I was using him as a jungle gym, I could feel his muscles jumping and writhing. He absently scratched at his arm. I suppose clawed at his arm would be more accurate as I could see droplets of blood leaking out.

"I'm fine. I heard you come out and wanted to make sure everything was okay," Derek murmured. He had neither held me nor pulled away. That was unusual in and of itself because he had this ridiculous idea that everything I did wasn't safe.

"I just needed to get away from the snores. We should—" My words were cut short when Derek doubled over and reacquainted himself with the pizza from dinner. I reached over and rubbed his back, telling him that it would all be okay. I could feel his body heaving, muscles still writhing. I heard a loud crack as his arm flicked out at an unusual angle. This cracking and flailing continued for a while. It seemed like his form was changing but I had absolutely no idea why.

"Are you all right?" I asked when it was all over. "We should tell Kit. Don't give me that look. He deserves to know when something is happening to his son.

Derek's resigned sigh echoed back to me. I doubt he was even able to put up much of a fight at the moment. He hated worrying his adoptive father more than was entirely necessary. Nonetheless, I would ensure that Kit knew. It's not that Derek doesn't trust Kit, because he absolutely did. It was that Derek worried about taking care of everyone else, leaving me to care for him as much as he'd let me.

Derek abruptly stood up, pulling me with him. Kit was in the kitchen looking out at us as we crossed the deck. Derek took me inside where I wondered how everyone could have slept through the racket that Derek had made outside.

"What happened?" Kit asked.

"Nothing," Derek muttered. I rolled my eyes. I knew this would happen.

"Derek's ill. He was feverish, vomiting, and spasming. I could also feel what seemed like his muscles were moving and shifting," I informed. I felt that he needed all of the symptoms before he could judge what was happening. I felt horrible, however, when Kit's face quickly paled and a panicked expression overtook his face.

"Derek, I need to speak with you, preferably alone," Kit said. He glanced in my direction and then back to Derek. His eyes flashed with worry. I knew it was serious.

"I'm not leaving. It's important and if you don't tell me I just be thinking of the worst possible explanation," I exclaimed. I gripped Derek's hand in a death grip. I'm sure my expression was one of pleading and hurt.

"It's fine. She'd just drag it out of my anyways," Derek agreed. I smirked, knowing it was true. Kit still looked unsure but I think he decided not to worry about it. His whole body was tense with his eyes darting between the window and the doorway, as if expecting someone with a chainsaw and ski mask to appear.

"This is difficult to explain so I'm going to have to ask you, Derek, to be patient with me. I didn't exactly find you in an orphanage. I used to work for an organization that worked with supernaturals. I, myself, am a sorcerer. You were part of an experiment to eliminate or reduce the harsh side-effects that come along with the supernatural gene. You and your brothers were part of a race that many consider dangerous. Shortly after I took you, your brothers attacked their care-giver, fanning the flames of resentment. I was unsure whether you were a supernatural because the only sign of you coming into your powers was your heightened senses. Before today, that is," Kit mumbled.

"Dad. What. Am. I?" Derek's patience was running thin today. Though, I could easily tell that that was a question Kit was talking circles around. I reached over and set my hand on his arm, more calming than restraining.

"You're a werewolf, as I'm sure you've figured out. You will need to change once a week. We have no way of knowing how the experiments affected your wolf instinct," Kit stated. "You might have barely any influence come from it or you might feel a lot of those instincts of a regular wolf. These instincts include having a pack and having a mate. You would feel protective of your pack and even more so of your mate. Your wolf may cause you to only love one woman and that woman would be the only one to catch your attention."

Kit's words left me with a terrible feeling of dread. Knowing Derek, his wolf will have a strong influence. He's always been protective and he's never had a girlfriend. I wish I was his mate but I doubted I ever could be.

"How common is it to have a strong wolf instinct?" I inquired. I hoped that Kit may know something about werewolves.

"I honestly don't know that much about werewolves except what I've told you as well as that werewolves are territorial. You won't like anyone, especially other werewolves, invading your territory," Kit stated factually.

DPOV

I was trying to focus on what Dad was saying. Really, I was. Chloe's smell was quickly overwhelming my brain and I only wanted to bury my head in her neck. I could feel myself inching towards her.

No. You are not allowed anywhere near her neck.

Oh, but my Chloe always smells so good.

My Chloe?

Yes, she's always been mine. We just need to make it official.

You will do no such thing.

Sure I will.

I fumbled for control over my actions but the wolf quickly won. My body was now directly behind Chloe. I was probably close enough to make her wonder what on Earth I was doing but I didn't have a choice anymore. The wolf—

My name is Nik. Stop calling me "the wolf".

Nik ducked down and leant against Chloe. I could feel two sets of eyes on me and figured that there was no point in stopping him now. They already think I'm crazy. The silence was overwhelming but the smell and the feel of Chloe so close to me was enough to make me careless.

"Uh, Chloe. I think we might want to get Derek to bed. He seems rather tired," Dad stated.

"Right. Sounds good. I'll just—" Chloe started, pulling away. I couldn't let that happen. I wasn't ready for her to leave. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back against me. I didn't want to go anywhere and that meant Chloe wasn't going anywhere unless it was a necessity.

"What's going on Derek?" Chloe asked. She gripped my arms but didn't attempt to pull them away. Her hands were so small. Random much?

"Nothing. M'fine," I said.

"I'll make some calls. I don't know what's going on with him," Dad said.

CPOV

I could feel Derek's breath against the back of my neck, obviously not something I minded. I wondered what was going on with him. He'd never acted like this before and I was incredibly worried. Derek was never much of a touchy-feely person and he suddenly decided my neck was his pillow? And just when I'd started comprehending that, he silently added that he wouldn't let me go. So, I simply stood there and got lost in the feeling of his arms around me.

The doorbell was enough to break me out of my happy place. Derek's head whipped up towards the door and he started growling. I leaned back against him to prevent him from doing anything too drastic. I looked up with question in my eyes. I then grabbed Derek's head and tilted it down so he was looking at me.

"Werewolf," Derek barked. How does he know what werewolf smells like?

He let me go and prowled closer to the door. He looked outside and glanced back. Kit, who was standing behind me, told him to let them in and went back to making…sandwiches? I looked at the clock and wondered two things. First, who would be visiting in the middle of the night? Second, who would be eating while visiting someone else's house in the middle of the night? If it were me, I would want to make the visit as short as possible so I could go back to sleep.

"Good evening. Judging based on that look, you must be Derek." The man stuck his hand out for Derek to shake. He looked completely unsurprised when Derek didn't shake it.

"Derek, be polite." I gave him a look saying I was not at all pleased. "We're still working on his people skills."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure us being here is a major offense. I'm still teaching Clay here those same people skills. He's not as far along," the man stated. He didn't look much older than Derek and I. He was handsome with his dark hair and dark eyes. He was tall but didn't look as muscular as the other guy.

Clay was super-model attractive. He had blonde hair and blue eyes with muscle to spare. The first thought that came into my head was he has a girlfriend. If he didn't, it was certainly something to wonder about. Girls were likely to snap him up.

"Jeremy, come on in. I was just making sandwiches," Kit called. He came into the room with two plates full of sandwiches. "I imagine you still eat the same amount."

"Of course," Jeremy said. "Now, Derek, I'm sure you're wondering what we're doing here. Your father called and asked us to come over because you were acting strangely. Is my memory correct that you have just had your first partial change?"

"Yes, he did," I said. Derek was obviously not comfortable talking to him. I decided that this was too important to leave him to his devices.

"And what was the weird behavior?" Jeremy muttered, shushing Clay who had mumbled something too low for me to hear.

"Well, Kit was explaining what happened to us because neither of us knew that Derek was a werewolf. Then Derek just walked behind me and leant his head against my shoulder. I'm not quite sure why," I told them.

"I believe that I can explain but I'm not sure Derek wants everyone to hear this," Jeremy started. At the end of his sentence, he mumbled something incomprehensible. Derek had obviously heard though because he blushed slightly and nodded his head. "We will speak outside, in that case."

I grabbed Derek's arm as he moved past me to head outside to talk to the two werewolves. I pulled on his arm saying, "What's going on?"

"He's just going to tell me some stuff about werewolves and mates," Derek mumbled. He pulled me into a quick hug. "Don't worry about it. You go back to the living room with Tori and Liz and go to sleep."

"Go to sleep?! I just found out my best friend," and current love interest, I added in my head. "Is a werewolf. And you just want me to go to bed without any more explanation?"

"Exactly."

"Fine." I said, going into the living room. As soon as I heard the door close I counted to ten and then returned to the kitchen. I wasn't going to eavesdrop, not like I could have if I wanted to, I just planned to wait there for Derek to return and then I'd hear what was happening and get yelled at. Probably wouldn't occur in that order though.

A/N: Okay. And that would be the chapter it took me a week to write. That just proved to me that I shouldn't skip the weekends. In any case, the chapter name is Howlin' because I had Howlin' For You by The Black Keys stuck in my head all day when I wrote the beginning. xD Okay. Anyways, I hope you like it. Let me know. Also, I wasn't planning on making Derek a werewolf so soon but hey, it worked.

R&R,

~MSOMS

P.S. Is anyone as excited to see Jeremy and Clay as I was to write them? I don't think I did them justice. Let me know!