Wedding Crasher

Derek listens as the intruder moves about in the house below him, his wolf growling low and deep at the perceived invasion of his territory and it is everything Derek can do to keep from lunging out of his bed and chasing the trespasser off. The only thing holding him back, by thin threads of will alone, is his desire not to spoil Laura's wedding anymore than his slow decline into madness has already caused.

He had tried for weeks to get her to believe that he was okay with her moving on with her own life, he didn't need her to worry now on what was supposed to be the best day of her life. Derek desperately wanted her to be happy. She never needed to find out how quickly he was falling apart.

The person stumbling around downstairs, he reasons, is just an attendee of the party that is looking for a bathroom or maybe one of the staff using his break to look around at the famous Hale Manor. It's not until the scent of camp fires and pine trees wafts up to his room at the top of the stairs, drawing and focusing his attention, does Derek realize that the trespasser is human.

His family had always been on the forefront of human/wolf relations believing that the best way for the two groups to get along was with equal treatment and rights of all individuals no matter what your station at birth. But for the last six weeks his family and pack had closed ranks around him, trying their best to protect him from anymore pain and suffering. There had not been a human, except for his mother and Max, on the property since that dreadful night when he lost Stiles.

The human below was the first to step inside the manor and his scent gnaws at Derek's heart. The footsteps across the floor are loud, making enough noise to alert any wolf that was in or near the house of not for the party raging out on the back lawn. With the celebration in full swing there would be no one paying enough attention to the house to pick up on the invasion.

As the footsteps made their way to the foot of the stairs, Derek allowed his wolf to come more toward the forefront of his mind. The shifting of the spectrum came with his change. Fangs prickling against his lips, claws lengthening against the fabric of his sheets Derek edged closer to the foot of the bed, cocking his head as he listens as the human climbs the stairs.

Who would dare inter the private quarters of the Hale family? Thief? Nosey reporter for another magazine trying to get a story on Derek and his broken heart? It burns at Derek that the majority of people out there view his pain as tabloid fodder to be consumed and enjoyed in mass quantities. As if loosing part of soul was a blockbuster movie event.

The footsteps near the top of the stairs and Derek slides off the edge of his bed, moving to intercept the human foolish enough to come here. He wasn't going to hurt the idiot but he would give the fool the scare of his life.

It was frightening how easy it was to let his eyes slip to red as the skin of his back flowed and rippled as his fur sprouted up the ridge of his spine and outward. The eagerness of his wolf should have warned Derek to how far gone he really was at that point. Stepping out of the shadows and directly into the path of the young human he growled, "What are you doing here?"

It wasn't until he was face to terrified face with the human that Derek realized it was Stiles. His scent was so different from the asphalt and city dust that he remembered from before. Stiles' scent now contained traces of pine and wild things and it took him a couple of seconds to process that the base scent was still the same. By then the thin male had made a full retreat.

Stiles didn't give him a chance to recover, to pull his scattered thoughts and emotions together, to regain his human form and not the snarling beast that he had become; he just turned and fled back down the stairs as fast as he could run.

With a roar of denial, unable to lose his mate again, Derek charges after him. Stiles stumbles down the stairs ahead of him, his feet slipping from under him and sending him half sliding, bottom bumping on each step, most of the way down. Derek leaps the railing and lands in front of the frightened human, blocking the exit to the front door.

Without pause, Stiles turns and bolts out the back and heads straight for the wedding party that covers the huge spread of back lawn. Somewhere in the back of his mind, where logic still lurked, Derek knew he should give Stiles some space, let the human catch his breath after the scare he must have felt coming face to face with Derek in his fully wolfed out form but his wolf was now fully in control and all Derek could see were the masses of werewolves that were just too damn close to his un-marked mate, which drove him crazy.

Standing on the back porch Derek let out a howl of warning and challenge to any who would come between him and his fleeing mate. As Stiles ran into the crowd people reach out to try to catch him. One snags his red hoodie forcing him to drop down and wiggle free.

Spinning away, Stiles crashes into two waiters that were struggling under the weight of trays filled with fluted glasses and plated appetizers for the party guests. He spins into them, trying briefly to help keep the tottering trays aloft before dodging the inevitable waterfall of alcohol and moving away. The deluge of spirits shower all those in range sending up cries of dismay into the night's air.

A beta, eyes turning amber with the smell of the hunt, catches Stiles around his bicep, his nails digging into the human's tender flesh and drawing blood. Derek's attention leaps immediately from his mate that was inches from being in his embrace to the beta that dares draw his blood.

The brief struggle, which consists mostly of the beta trying to shove Stiles into Derek's arms before Derek kills him while Stiles was trying to avoid Derek and escape from the betas painful grip, sends the young human careening into the gift table. The brightly wrapped boxes break his fall but the tinkling sounds send a shot of dread through his very soul.

A massive metal tree covered in tiny individually shaped wolves, each with a clip hanging from it from which the attending wolves could attach gifts of money or checks, wobbled for a few seconds before toppling over towards Stiles head. The young human had little time to do anything but cover his eyes before a dark furred hand snatches the enormous metal structure as if it was made of tissue.

Rolling away from both wolf and death by metal tree, Stiles ducks under the cover a long table and out the other side, finding himself in a sea of lavender and cream tulle. Shapely legs spin and kick around him as he weaves his way out from under the bride's maids, heading straight toward the center of the party.

Stiles throws himself under a laced covered table that is moaning under the weight of a half eaten wedding cake. The lavender and white monstrosity wavers back and forth as guests attempt to reach under and grab the frightened human.

Derek charges forward, reaching the end just as Stiles pops out to make a run for it. Catching him by the arms, he tries to hold his mate securely without causing him harm but Stiles struggles in his grasp, twisting them backwards until they crumble against the table which tilts crazily under their combined weight, tottering for just a moment until the cake and dishes start to slide at an alarming rate toward the two.

Being caught in an avalanche of cake and icing allows Stiles to slip out of Derek's grasp and once again the dark haired wolf finds himself chasing his mate through a crowd that gasps and chuckles as they pass.

After the first few moments of chaos and confusion the guests start to work together, switching between gentle herding of the frightened human and forming werewolf blockades that cut down Stiles' escape routes until he is forced toward the dance floor.

Derek watches as his mate skitters across the dance floor, the icing that coats him making it hard for him to keep his footing. Seeing Derek's father at the end of the floor, the human jerks to a halt only to slip, sliding forward across the shiny tiled floor until he comes to rest, his sticky lavender coated body flush against the white of Laura's wedding dress.

Seeing his opening Derek storms across the floor just seconds behind his mate, wrapping his arm around Stiles' thin waist and pulling him to his knees.

"Derek!" Laura was barely able to get the cry out before he was in action.

Roaring, head thrown back and teeth elongated, Derek pauses only to growl in his sister's direction. It was both warning and claim. "Mine." The sound of his roar seems to echo through the tent as he bites down on the fleshy part of Stile's neck and shoulder, claiming his mate before the stunned crowd.