The Aftermath of Losing your True Mate

Derek listened from his old childhood room at the top of the stairs as his mother and Laura discussed wedding plans. Or tried to discuss wedding plans while debating if it was too crass to go on with Laura's life while his own was falling apart.

It had been six weeks. Six weeks since he found his True Mate, to have that moment of sheer joy and belonging, only to have it ripped from him. The pain of his loss gnawed at him and Derek focused on his mother's voice in an effort to keep his growing despair at bay.

Laura and their mother were in the entry way surrounded by the ebb and flow of decorators and the hordes of people needed to pull off a big wedding. The scents of outsider made Derek's wolf growl at the invasion of his territory. He found it was easier to keep control if he stayed upstairs where the scents of family were the strongest.

"I think we should put off the wedding again mother. I just don't see how it is right for me to be starting a new life while Derek is still looking for Stiles."

"I know Honey. You're a good sister for feeling that way but the truth is that we could find Stiles tonight or next year. That is something we have no control over and putting your life on hold won't make the search come to a close any faster. You are only hurting yourself and the man you love. Derek wouldn't want that."

Derek pulled the covers over his head. He didn't want Laura to put her own happiness on hold because of him. But at the same time he didn't want to be around the happiness, to watch them cuddle and neck while half his soul had gone missing.

He had such fleeting memories of the young human who was his mate. The color of his eyes as the afternoon sun struck them, turning them to liquid amber, the feel of his skin as he touched him, so soft and warm. The scars that marred his mate's back and the gauntness of his body also laid heavily in Derek's memories. What could have happened that was so horrible that the boy would flee instead of staying in the safety of the Pack House?

The slight creak of the front door and the addition of fresh, winter scented air, to the manor alerted Derek to a new arrival. As usually he perked up, listening in hopes that this time, this arrival would bring news of Stiles. Derek focused his hearing and held on to his slowly shredding hope.

"Hi Babe." The soft voice and the renewed scent of human dashed Derek's hope of news on Stiles. It was Laura's soon-to-be Claimed Mate. Their love story had been the fodder for almost two years' worth of trashy magazines and gossip rags.

Even from the second floor Derek could smell the increase in pheromones from both his sister and her fiancé. Snorting and sneezing he rubbed the scent away from his face and buried his head under a pillow. It blocked most of the scent but not their conversation.

"Max." His sister always sounded so out of breath when Max walked into the room. It was as if she had found a perfect moment of clarity when looking at the man she loved. Derek had always wondered at that until the second he laid eyes on Stiles.

"Max, be a dear and explain to Laura that postponing the wedding will not make the search for Stiles go any faster. She wants to put her whole life on hold, your whole life on hold, in an attempt to protect Derek."

"'Nessa, I know you want what is best for both your children but if Laura wants to wait, I'll wait. I would put my life on hold for eternity if it would make her happy." Derek rolled his eyes. He wanted to be annoyed at what sounded like such sap coming from the human's mouth but his heartbeat, audible even at the top of the stair, let him know that Max was completely sincere.

Damn!

He wasn't going to ruin his sister's happiness. "Fuck it Laura. Marry the man before I chew my leg off to get away from all the love sick crap I'm having to put up with. There only needs to be one heartsick wolf in this damn house." Derek didn't even raise his voice knowing that his sister and no one else would be able to hear him.

"Okay," Derek could hear the tears in her voice. "I guess we have put it off long enough. Let's not hold off anymore, okay Max."

The silence followed by his mother's little sigh of happiness was Derek's cue to take a shower in hopes of drowning out his sister's make out session downstairs. The hot water could mask the sounds and smells of his sister and her love but it couldn't keep out the memories of that awful night.

He was the happiest he ever remembered being in his life. His father and mother hugged him close and he could feel their joy in him finding his True Mate. Even Laura smelt of warm honey, the aroma she always gave off during happy times. The Champagne had been brought out and poured and the family was toasting to his future happiness when his dad's phone rang.

With a family of werewolves there was no such thing as a private phone call except for his mother who still considered it rude to eavesdrop on other people's private conversations.

"Alpha Hale." All the humor bled out of his father's face even as Derek felt the blood leaving his own.

"What's happened?" hissed his mother clutching Laura's arm.

"I don't know. Something has happened to Stiles."

"Alpha Hale, I regret to inform you that young Stiles has run away. He had mentioned a couple of times to my daughter-in-law that he was scared but aside for the need to reassure the young man she had no idea that he would take off from the safety of the Hale Pack House."

"What happened?" Derek growled as he moved down the table to take the phone from his father's hand.

"He had a panic attack. Just a minor attack but we took him back to the clinic to keep a better eye on his heart rate and blood pressure. The nurse stepped out to consult with the doctor and when she returned he was gone."

"We need to notify the police, get people out there looking for him." Derek's heart felt as if it were imploding within his chest.

"Yes Alpha Hale, we have already sent out search parties and alerted the authorities but we thought it would be best to keep the search limited to humans. He has such an overwhelming fear of your kind that I think sending betas after him would just drive him farther away. I would hate for him to become hurt while panicking."

The idea of Stiles being hurt drove the wolf to the forefront and it was all Derek could do to not smash the phone as he shifted with the sudden surge of emotions. His father lifted the phone gently out of his clawed hand.

"We understand Mr. Argent. Please send out as many parties as needed to find my son's mate. We will spare no expense in having him safely returned."

Derek listened as his father finalized the plans to search for his mate over the phone while his mother held his curled body close, petting his dark fur to sooth him much like he had done for his mate earlier that day.

"Derek, son, I will do everything in my power to find him for you but Mr. Argent is correct. If his fear of Werewolves is so great that he would run like he did tonight then sending betas after him will just make it worse. We don't want him to feel hunted."

"I should have never let him go," whispered Derek as his tears stained his mother's silk skirt. "I should have never let him go."

Derek's claws ripped through the tile in the shower as the memory of his mate's frightened eyes as he was driven away in the back of the HPS car tore through his mind. An alpha's job was to protect and he had failed consistently in that from the moment Stiles had come into his life.

Derek had found himself less and less in control of his wolf to the point where he had willingly moved back home with his parents. Even among family and pack he found it hard to keep it together, to keep his wolf from erupting in a mass of raw fury and pain. His control, which had once been great, was completely gone.

Lost in memories and despair over his dwindling control, Derek didn't even hear the beta that walked up the stairs for a better view of the decorations that were being hung inside the great hall.

Smelling non-pack so close to his den Derek snapped. With his roar still echoing down the stairs he pinned the trespassing beta to the far wall, claws digging into his shoulders as his teeth snapped at the exposed throat that the beta was barely able to keep him from tearing out.

Alerted by the high pitched whines and cries for help, Derek's father and Laura rushed up the stairs to pull Derek off the cowering beta. Fueled with pain Derek turned on his own father, slashing with tooth and claw. The older male, slower with age but his experience making up for any weakness, tossed his son up and over his shoulder so that Laura could restrain him on the floor.

The beta fled as soon as the coast was clear, running straight out the front door and never looking back. For long minutes it took both Laura and her father to hold down the struggling Derek.

With a gasp it all stopped. "God, I'm sorry dad, I'm so sorry. Did I hurt him? Please tell me I didn't hurt him." Laura pulled her baby brother close holding him tight as he shifted back to human form. "I'm losing it Laura. My control is slipping. The more I try to hold on to it the more it seeps away."

Laura cried silently into her brother's hair. "What are we going to do dad? He can't keep living this way."

Her father's look of anguish chilled her to the bone. "When a true mate dies that alpha usually pines away. It's not something that is talked about."

Laura made a disbelieving noise as her mom joined her in soothing Derek. "There is always a dark side to a fairy tale ending." Her mother had tears in her eyes as she looked down at her only son. "True mates are rare and sometimes I think it's nature's way of protecting us. Becoming the other half of someone is more wonderful than you can imagine but it doesn't come without a cost."

"What's going to happen to him if we don't find the boy?" Laura asked.

Derek's parents just looked at each other. His voice muffled from where he is pressed to Laura's side, Derek replied with the truth he had known for weeks now, "I'll die."