A/N: Obligatory copyright statement – I do not own Teen Wolf, nor any of the characters represented in this story. Sorry for the late update! Life and work unfortunately got in the way, as those things tend to do. I will try to update more often, but I can't make any promises. The next chapter will be Stiles and Ethan's conversation, but I wanted to get a bit of Derek's education in here too. Let me know what you think! You all are wonderful!

Derek slowly came back to consciousness and groaned a little as his eyes blinked open slowly. He was lying in bed and found himself staring into the icy blue, unflinching eyes of Peter. "You, my dear nephew, are an idiot." Peter said in a flat, yet condescending tone. Derek growled lightly and his eyes flashed red briefly in warning. Peter just rolled his eyes and continued, "What was your plan here? Were you just expecting Stiles to sit around and play the 'Happy Housewife' for your pack while you fucked one of your betas like a sleazy husband going through a mid-life crisis? What is going to happen when Erica gets pregnant? You know as well as I do that Deaton's contraceptives will only be effective for so long."

Derek narrowed his eyes as he said, "My plans for my future with Stiles are none of your business. Where is he?" Peter scoffed, eyes flashing blue as he angrily replied, "It is my business when my Alpha chooses not to claim his mate and the result is slow deterioration of my pack from the inside out!"

That shocks Derek into a stunned silence as he blinks up at his uncle. Peter exasperatedly sighs, "Derek, do you even know what it means for an Alpha to have an unclaimed mate within a pack, especially during times of peace?" Derek shakes his head. "Well that explains a lot," Peter muttered, "It means that any female Betas, regardless of whether they're mated or not, will go into heat and will continue their heat cycles until the Alpha impregnates one or all of them. It is a biological response to the continuation of the species. This process stops once the Alpha has properly claimed and bonded with a mate or impregnates a Beta and a mate bond is forced that way. This is why Alpha status is generally passed on to already mated Betas or why an Alpha seeks out a mate before creating a pack. Which begs the question, why have you not properly claimed Stiles? You have been dating for almost 2 years and pined after each other for several years before now. I suspect that you have known he was your true mate since he was 16."

Derek looks away, a brief flicker of guilt and shame on his face as he answers, "I don't want to force him to be with me for the rest of his life. He still has a choice if I don't properly exert my claim."

Peter stares at him for a moment and then asks, "Have you talked to Stiles about this? Does he know and understand what his role would be as the Alpha's mate?" Derek shakes his head again. "Have you told him anything about the werewolf mating process at all?" Peter takes Derek's glare and stoic silence as a 'no'. Peter sighs again, "Then my earlier statement stands, you are an idiot!"

Derek grumbles again and goes to sit up to get away from his uncle when a sharp pain shoots through his chest makes him fall back. Stunned, he looks to his uncle and asks, "What happened to me? Where is Stiles?"

For his part, Peter at least tries to look sympathetic as he says, "Stiles has gone to his father's hunting cabin outside of the territory because he didn't want to be around to listen to you fuck Erica, which is also the reason that you passed out and cannot get out of bed. You have started the mating bond with Stiles and because of that it is not healthy for you to be separated. It is fine for you two to be apart while both of you remain in your territory, but since he left the territory the separation is starting to take a physical toll on your health. I imagine that you are feeling sharp pains in your chest, not much different to what continuous physical exertion would feel like after several hours, correct?" Derek nods.

"There is a lot of credence behind the lore that werewolves mate for life and also the fact that mates cannot live without each other. Often times, when one mate dies, the other follows shortly thereafter. This is of course different when one of the mates is a human. Humans don't have werewolf instincts, and as a result the mating bond is different. When one the werewolf dies in a human-werewolf pair, the human usually continues to live on; however when the human dies, the werewolf will usually follow quickly if they are older, or become feral and need to be put down because the wolf feels the loss greater than the human would." Peter grimaced slightly as he finished that sentence, but Derek picked up on the slightly stale smell of grief.

"That was why you were feral after you woke up from your coma, because Aunt Marianne was human, right?" Derek asked somberly. Peter nodded and then quickly added, "But for whatever reason, my resurrection cured me from that pain. While it still hurts to remember her, it seems the physical pain from our bond was severed after my death."

Derek contemplated everything his uncle had told him and coming to a conclusion said, "I still won't force Stiles to be with me. He still deserves that choice." He deserves better than me. Went unspoken, but Peter picked up on it.

"Derek, by not telling him, you are actually taking that choice from him." Derek flinched slightly at that. "I can almost guarantee that he will choose you. He is the most loyal and caring member of this pack and anyone can see how much he loves you. I mean, Hell! He lets you have sex with someone else because they are in pain without it! Honestly, I am lucky that he turned down my offer for the bite and isn't a werewolf because he would've most likely killed me, a little more permanently than you did probably, and then would've become the Alpha and claimed you a long time ago."

Derek's eyes immediately bled red as his anger flared at the thought of someone else biting Stiles as he growled out, "When did you offer Stiles the Bite?" Peter waved his hand dismissively through the air as he said, "Back when I was not all there in the head, but that is not my point. If you and Stiles are true mates then you need to claim him, sooner rather than later. If you get Erica pregnant then your bond with Stiles will immediately be broken, as will Boyd and Erica's and she will become your mate while Boyd is forced from the pack as an Omega and Stiles will leave heartbroken. If for whatever reason Stiles receives the Bite from another Alpha, perhaps that attractive Alpha twin Ethan." Derek snarled loudly at the implied challenge but Peter continued, "His instincts as a bitten werewolf to seek out their true mate will be overwhelming. He will return here, stake his claim on you and kill your current mate and any pups you have sired. You will be powerless to stop him, even as an Alpha, as your own instincts will react to your true mate's presence and claim. As a werewolf and Alpha's mate, Stiles will inherit Alpha strength and will also be able to bear your children. Yet another helpful advancement over human reproduction. But I'm sure you have included all of these scenarios in your future plans with Stiles, right?"

Peter quirked an eyebrow, stood and turned on his heel to leave the room without waiting for a reaction from Derek. He paused as he reached the doorway and without looking back at Derek said, "Scott has gone to fetch Stiles from the hunting cabin to bring him back here. I hope that you take this opportunity to tell him what I've just told you; because I will not hesitate to tell him if it appears that you are going to continue to play the martyr and destroy your own pack." Peter calmly closed the door behind him leaving Derek to feel the thick swell of guilt in his stomach. The 'again' was left off of Peter's ultimatum, but Derek felt it nonetheless. His thoughts were swimming and he felt like he couldn't see through the soupy fog in his mind as they played on a loop. - Kate's betrayal and the destruction of his family, Stiles leaving him and the pack permanently, the pack breaking apart over Stiles absence, Erica bearing his children, Ethan claiming Stiles, Stiles as werewolf from another Alpha, Stiles as an Alpha, Stiles killing Erica and their children, Derek claiming Stiles, Stiles bearing his children, the pack growing old together with Derek and Stiles as the Alpha Pair - All of these thoughts and images were swirling and tumbling around his head until he couldn't focus and started hyperventilating. He eventually passed out again and the last thing he could remember was the thought of Stiles bearing his children and how much he desperately wanted that future.