Sheep…Meet Fan

AN: I read and respond to all reviews. I appreciate the time you take to tell me what you like about my story as well as the questions and comments you make. I also listen to the creative criticism that I receive. Some of it I can't change – if it doesn't fit with the story I have already created I can't change it but others things I can definitely change. Some of the most common comments are that 1) my chapters are too short and 2) I'm leaving you with too many cliffhangers and seem to be drawing the story out just to torture the readers.

So…I am attempting to write longer chapters. I am combining some of the chapters into one longer chapter but that means that sometimes there will be two POVs within one chapter. I hope that doesn't bother too many people.

Second…I will attempt not to leave so many cliffhangers. I haven't been drawing the story out on purpose but I can see how my short chapters with nothing resolved can be annoying. Sorry. Plus – I'm hoping that I can start updating more often in the coming weeks. No promises but I will try.

Wow! Long AN. Sorry about that.

His heartbeat raced under his palm, blood coursing through his body as it prepared to fight or flee. Derek tucked him closer, pulling his mate into the circle of his arms as if offered protection and comfort.

"What? Stiles, tell me? Just let me know and I will fix it. No matter what it is, if we face it together it will be okay. Please, Stiles trust me."

"You let them take me back to the Pack Home. You sent me there." Underneath the fear and panic was a note of accusation that Derek didn't understand.

"You were underage. The media would have gone nuts with the impropriety of it all. I wanted you somewhere safe, where I could court you until you were old enough. And then you ran away. It was like I lost you twice that day. Once when you fled into the street and got hit by that taxi and then again when you ran away from the Home." Derek couldn't help the edge of desperation that slipped into his voice, and really, he didn't care if Stiles discovered how much he meant to him. He was his mate and Derek would open his very soul up if that was what was needed to keep Stiles by his side.

"Do you know what the Pack Home is like?" Stiles' voice quivered, sounding tiny and small, unlike anything Derek had ever heard from him.

"Laura visits each home every year. She's in charge of that Pack Home and all the others in the region. I haven't visited in a couple of years but Laura is always showing off the pictures of the children and all the letters that they write her. It's a good place, Stiles. I wouldn't have let them take you there if it wasn't."

Stiles scooted away from him dragging the covers with him to wrap around his body like armor. "You really believe that?"

"Believe that? Stiles, it's the truth. If you had just stayed you could have seen for yourself."

Nodding to himself Stiles slipped out of the bed, covers still clutched to his chest as he moved to the farthest point of the room away from Derek. Derek could feel the swirls of emotion through the bond; fear, anger, rage, loneliness, as well as Stiles' need to get control of them all, so he stayed on the bed and waited.

"I was thirteen when my parents died in a car crash. The HPS came and took me away so quickly that I didn't even get to go to the funeral or even say good-bye. They brought me to the Pack House." Derek's intake of breath caused Stiles to pause and smile sadly in his direction. "Yes, I'd been there before. I haven't been living on the streets all this time. I don't think I would have survived for four years especially when I barely made it for six weeks."

Wanting nothing more than to take the pain away from his mate, Derek started to move toward Stiles but stopped the second he flinched, back pressed against the wall and eyes wide. God, he looked so young.

Derek watched as Stiles took a deep breath, Adam's apple bobbling as he swallowed repeatedly before continuing in a shaky but determined voice. "They took me to the clinic. Not the one at the front of the building that they show the visitors but the real one in the back. I spent three days on a cold table or locked in a little room while they took my blood and ran tests. Finally Director Argent came to see me. He said it was too bad they had found me so late in life. That I wouldn't be easy to mold but he'd try. God, he smiled when he said that."

"Stiles, I don't understand. I've been there. There's nothing like that there. We would have known." Derek reached for his mate but was met by a look of fury that made Stiles' chestnut eyes blaze.

"So I'm lying! Is that what you think? Because that's what they all said when we kids threatened to tell, when we were so terrified of what could happen that we didn't care about the pain of the now, just finding a way to stop what was coming next. They laughed and said that you wolves would never believe us. That we were nothing to you."

Pain ripped along the bond curling up Derek's body and compressing his chest until he could barely breathe. He was across the room, mate gathered in his arms before Stiles had finished speaking, swaying back and forth as he tried to sooth and comfort the young man that seemed to be breaking before his very eyes.

"I believe you. I can hear the truth in your heartbeat, feel it through our bond. I believe you; I just don't understand how it could be true. It shouldn't be possible."

They stood like that for a few minutes, Stiles' body slowly unwinding as his tears soaked the collar of Derek's shirt and Derek trying to keep his wolf at bay long enough to hear the rest of his mates story before rushing off to rend and tear those that had dared harm the one he so very much loved.

Stiles was the first to pull away and Derek let him go, fingers trailing along his arm, curling around the tips of his fingers before letting go. The human moved back toward the bed, once again finding the furthest area of the room from where Derek stood. Understanding his mate's need for space, Derek let himself drop into a chair to watch and listen.

The covers slipped from Stiles' fingers to pool, blue and rumpled, at his feet. Derek could see him tremble as he unfastened the first few buttons of his borrowed shirt to expose his shoulder, the pucker of shiny scars perfectly framed by the rust colored fabric.

"I'm mouthy. I know that. I'm a smart ass and I never know when to shut up. The first time I back talked to the dorm monitor I didn't understand why everyone was suddenly so scared. It was like the room dropped ten degrees. I thought it was going to be like being sent to the principal's office and I had 'been there, done that' so I was cocky and flippant as they walked me down the hall."

Stiles' fingers outlined each scar before removing the rest of his shirt. "I learned to keep my mouth shut after that, for a while at least. But I couldn't stand it when they hurt the other kids. It was just before one of your sister's visits. Charlie was just six and didn't know better. It wasn't his fault that the bowl was too heavy. I told them it was me. Told them that I had dropped it." Stiles turned to show the scars that vined up his back. "I don't think Charlie would have come back from this, sometimes they don't you know. Come back. Sometimes they take them off and we never see them again."

The howl that ripped from his throat took Derek by surprise. He was lost in a swarm of red rage that swallowed him whole and spun him about like an anchorless boat on a storm tossed sea only to find himself, slammed to shore, muzzle to nose with his mate, claws ripping at the plaster on either side of Stiles' head.

Instead of fear Derek saw only understanding in his mate's eyes. The single hand pressed to the fur of his chest doing more to calm him than anything his family had ever managed in the past. Derek felt the fur recede but not the anger, pulling Stiles closer to bury his nose in his scent.

"We didn't know. I swear we didn't know," Derek whispered as he clutched Stiles to his chest. "I swear on my life that we didn't know." This was how the rest of the pack found them, seconds later, as they rushed to respond to the anguished howls that had echoed through the manor just moments before.

Stiles watched from where he was tucked away in the most luxurious chair he had ever seen or felt as Derek raged back and forth across the living room. The Hales had moved the discussion to a large sitting room in the back of the house. It could easily sit over thirty people or more if they didn't mind squeezing in.

Derek hadn't bothered to put on a shirt which was just as well since he continued to lose control of his shift as he paced. The fur rippled up his back and then disappeared in a wave, like the ebb and flow of the tide.

Stiles was trying to decide if he was terrified by the whole thing or horny at the sight of his mate in all his glory. Not for the first time in less than twenty-four hours he was finding himself annoyed at the bond that formed between them. It was hard to keep his thoughts from returning to Derek, the way he moved and looked and smelled, instead on the issues that were important to the here and now.

Derek had said that the bond would settle with time but Stiles didn't like the feeling that he was losing himself to this link with Derek. Not that he wanted to give it up, just thinking that made his heart lurch within his chest, but he didn't want to become a puppet on the end of Derek's string. Someone that parroted what his mate thought and felt. He was his own person and wanted to remain that way.

While Stiles fought with his inner self and the tug of the bond, the rest of the immediate Hale Pack filtered into the large room. As they entered they would tilt their head in acknowledgement to Alpha Darren Hale before giving a nod to Laura. Derek, still twisting between forms, they steered clear of, making sure to leave him plenty of room.

The wolves sat quietly. There was no banter or witty comments to pass the time as they waited for the rest of the pack. The happy feeling that had been so evident at breakfast was gone replaced by a growing tension. Stiles could feel their focus sharpening, waiting for a direction. Swallowing, Stiles realized what he was feeling from the bond. They were preparing for a hunt.

Alpha Hale stood and all attention immediately turned toward him. Derek paused his pacing and settled next to Stiles, sitting first on the arm of the chair and then working his way beside Stiles' body until he was curled in the chair next to his mate.

"I've called the Pack to discuss some serious allegations that have been brought to my attention by Derek's mate." His eyes flashed red briefly as Derek's growl filled the room. "I have no doubt of Stiles' story. I, like you, firmly believe that he is telling the truth. But it is up to us to discover if this is an isolated incident or if it has become more spread. This is serious Derek. And if what Stiles says is true for more than just one orphanage, than we have sorely been lax in our duty to protect those that fall in our jurisdiction."

At the mention of the orphanages Laura leaned forward her dark skin paling giving her a greenish cast. "Father? What about the Pack Homes? I've been in charge of them for years. I visit regularly and have monthly meetings with Director Agent about the care and well-being of the humans there."

Stiles felt a wave of sadness for her, part of it from the bond he shared with Derek, but the rest was solely his own emotional response. He was starting to better understand and read the link he shared with his mate. Derek's emotions almost had an earthy green cast to them while his own were warmer.

Laura had been kind to him that first day, treating him with respect and a calm caring that he hadn't seen from anyone in a long time. Stiles remembered the gently way she held his wrist as she scanned him that first day, there had been no show of dominance or expectations of submission that he expected from the wolves. Even finding that he was the true mate of her brother would not have been enough to sway her ingrained reaction to humans if she had been trying to hide it.

Which meant, Stiles thought with sudden revelation, she hadn't been acting. None of the Hales were anything more or less than how they had been treating him since he crashed their wedding party; kind, caring, loyal, and loving. It turned his long held opinions of werewolves on its ear.

"Stiles?" Derek squeezed his arm softly to get his attention. "Will you tell the pack or do you want me to speak for you?"

Stiles bit back his first impulse to snap at the idea that he needed someone to speak for him, feeling the need to shelter and protect coming from Derek's end of the link. "I have my own voice, Derek. I can speak for myself."

Stiles watched the wolves' reactions as he told his tale of abuse for the second time the only thing keeping him from breaking down and curling into a ball of misery was the constant flow of support and love he could feel pouring down the link.

The pack looked utterly stunned by the end of his narrative, many starting to lose control of their shirt allowing their eyes to glow the eerie blue of a born beta and their claws to score across the tight weave of the armrests.

Laura looked physically ill, clutched to Max's chest as tears ran unheeded down her cheeks. "But I go there every year. I talk to the children, made sure you were protected."

"I remember you coming almost a year ago. I thought it would be funny if I got the other kids to sing, to kind of poke fun of the fact that we never really had enough food. I thought that it would embarrass the Director enough that he would increase our rations while still being cute enough for us to get away with it."

"I remember. You were all adorable. You did an Oliver skit. I even told Director Argent how wonderful I thought the production was. He said he would give you my regards."

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Stiles fought with the urge to yell at Laura. Her view of the events was so vastly different from what had gone on. He knew that if he didn't watch he words that he could twist the guilt she was feeling like a knife, cause her pain in some small retaliation to what he had been made to suffer.

He had blamed the wolves for so long. Had seen them as the enemy, as the ones to direct his hate toward but looking at the pack, the family that had taken him into their home with open arms and a mate whose love and desire to do right by his young human lover practically vibrated down their bond were not responsible for his treatment in the Pack Home.

"Stiles, he told me he would talk to you, tell you how much we loved your performance. He told me he would take my message to you personally."

"He did." Stiles tried to keep his voice as calm and even as he could. There was blame to fall but it didn't belong on Laura's shoulders. "He beat me until I couldn't stand. Once I healed I ran away. I guess it was a good thing because otherwise I would have never met Derek."

"Oh God," cried Laura burying her head in Max's chest.

"That's why you ran?" Derek asked. "It wasn't because you were afraid of me, you ran because you didn't want to go back to the home."

"He had a needle, Director Argent I mean. Said you could never know. I had picked the locks on the cuffs but he came back before I had a chance to run. I kicked him and took off out the front door. I didn't know if I could trust you, didn't know if you would believe me over the Director and he sent all these betas after me and in the end it was just easier to stay hidden until you couldn't just send me back, and stay away until I was of age and safe."

"You would have been safe with me." Derek whispered his face broken with pain and guilt.

"But not until I was eighteen. You even said you couldn't keep me until I was of age."

Derek's body slumped, shoulders dropping as if weighted by invisible forces as his eyes pleaded with Stiles. "Do you think I would only protect you if you were my mate? I'm an alpha. My whole purpose is to protect."

"I know," Stiles soothed reeling from the agony he felt though their shared bond. "You protect those that are your pack and your claimed humans."

"No, Stiles. I would protect all of you. If you or anyone had asked for my protection I would have given it to you."

"That's not what we, humans that is, are taught."

The deeper voice of Alpha Hale broke in for the first time since Stiles had started speaking. "At the orphanage, that's what they taught you at the orphanage?"

"That's what we are all taught," Max whispers from Laura's tight grip. At Laura's look of shock he continued, voice gaining strength with each word. "Those of us that live outside the pack, we are taught from the time we can walk that if we are worthy than we will be accepted into a pack but only the very best will make it. Only the best will be claimed." Laura made a pained sound in the back of her throat, a keening whine that tugged at Stiles' heart. "Why do you think I worked so hard to earn my degree, to be the best? Only the best are even looked at by the packs. Only the best are worthy to be claimed."

"That's not why I looked at you. That's not why I chose you, why I love you. God Max. It's just you. You know that, right? I love you." Max smiled eyes sad and hugged his wife and rocked her gently.

"I know Laura. I know that now but it was a lesson that took years for me to understand and I still feel that need to be perfect so that I can be worthy of staying by your side."

The room was silent once again except for the hiccupping cries coming from Laura. After a few moments Derek pushed to his feet wrapping his arms around Stiles' shoulders. "I don't even know how to begin to fix how the rest of the humans feel about us but I can right the wrongs being done at the Pack Home. I want to talk to Director Argent. I think some things need to be brought to light and some justice needs to be served."

The answering sound from the assembled pack was a deep throated growl that made the fixtures of the room shimmer and shake. Stiles felt safe from the sudden rush of 'predator' that filled the room in the circle of Derek's arms. A small part of him questioned the fact that he felt no pity for the shit storm that Director Argent was about to face but he pushed it down and away, knowing that the old man was finally going to get what he deserved.