Breaking News
Stiles lay stretched out on the couch as his mate's family moved restlessly around the mansion, each talking to a different pack, spreading the word of what they had found. Stiles was more than just a little angry that they were more worried about the device that allowed humans to lie to them than they were about the children that had been so horribly abused.
"That's not fair," grumbled Derek from the doorway.
"What's not fair?" Stiles asked not even bothering to turn from the program he was watching to face his mate.
"I can feel the anger pouring off of you. We are treating the children as our top priority. We have sent in some of our top betas to all the homes we run, alerted other packs so that they can make detailed inspections of their orphanages, and we are making sure that those children harmed by the Argents get all the care they need to recover."
As he spoke Derek moved closer to his mate. Stiles bent his knees so that the older man could sit next to him before resting his feet in the wolf's lap. "It just seems you are all more interested in that weird pace maker thing than you are worried about the children."
"Stiles," Derek placed his hand on his knee and turned to fully face his mate. "While the orphanages are a huge part of this, the ability for humans to hide their lies from us is an enormous problem. If they use this to lie about orphans than where else have they used it? Humans are in charge of most of the day-to-day runnings of all our companies. We have placed our trust in them with almost every aspect of our lives and now we discover that they can lie to us. Stiles, you have to see how devastating a blow this discovery was to all the packs."
Stiles shrugged not quite ready to admit that Derek might have a point about the wolves' concerns. "Humans get by on having to trust people without being able to hear their heartbeats."
"But humans so very rarely truly trust others within their business circles. How many people do you trust with your life, Stiles? How many can you give over your most important decisions with a firm knowledge that all will be well? We thought we could do that until today."
They sat there in silence. How many? Stile though. He had trusted his parents. But he had to admit to himself even the children in the home, those boys that faced the same abuse day in and day out, he would be hard pressed to trust with his most important secrets. Humans were raised to doubt others' words, knowing from an early age the ease in which one could lie. How hard it must be for the wolves, who never learned that lesson, to find out how easy it could be for people to lie to them.
"One," Stiles answered at the commercial break.
"What?" Derek cocked his head in what Stiles was beginning to think of as his confused puppy look.
"You asked how many people I trust with my life. The answer is one. It's you, I trust you with my life."
Red swirled around the edge of Derek's eyes as his hands slid up Stiles' legs until they reached his hips. The next things Stiles knew he was sitting in Derek's lab while his mate kissed the breath out of him.
Twining his arms around Derek's neck, Stiles shifted until he found a comfortable position. His mate's legs were shapely and very muscular but they didn't make the best cushion material. He ended up with a knee on either side of Derek's hips, his ass resting on the wolf's knees as he deepened the kiss.
They stayed that way for a while, just kissing slowly and letting their hands explore the other's body with gentle touches. Stiles was just about to suggest heading upstairs when he caught the sound of his own name coming from the television. He untangled himself from Derek and turned to watch.
A vapid blond wearing the red collar showing her allegiance to the Cooper Pack came on screen. Behind her was a picture of Stiles and Derek from the night before. Derek had his arms around Stiles, a look of shear desperation on his face while Stile looked pale and shocked. The cake in the background was starting to topple over toward them.
"Crap," growled Derek reaching for the remote but Stiles pulled it out of his grasp before he could change the channel.
"The fashion world watched in awe last night as Alpha Laura Hale, heir to the leadership of the Hale Pack one of the most influential Packs in the nation, tied the knot with her boyfriend of less than six months in a lavish ceremony on the Hale estate."
"Max Cardwell, a relative unknown until he caught the eye of Alpha Hale, was an unbounded human until he met Laura. They fell in love in a whirlwind romance that set the tabloids on fire." A series of pictures of Max and Laura flashed across the screen.
"Laura's going to be pissed," Derek rumbled pulling Stiles closer to his side. "She's been trying to get them to stop running those pictures for months. Stiles could see why. In most of the pictures the difference in the two lover's station was blatantly obvious. Max wore faded jeans and shirts in most of the pictures while Laura was always dressed in the height of fashion.
"But the wedding of the decade was eclipsed by another event." The blond continued with a fake smile and dead eyes.
"Oh God!" whispered Derek hiding his face with both hands.
"Rumors of Derek Hale's life mate have been swirling through society for the last month. The Hale Pack has down played the reports that Derek had barricaded himself in his room as an attempt to get better control of his wolf when his mate went missing, having presumably run away to avoid their joining. While there have been numerous occasions in the past that have illustrated Derek Hale's struggle with his alpha position he has never gone into seclusion before and the theories flew among many social circles."
Another half dozen shots of Derek in different stages of wolfing out where shown ending with Derek in full alpha form standing between Stiles and a ripped taxi in front of the Gibbous Café."
"I have with me today Alan Deacon, human/wolf relations expert and author of 'Human Betas and their Importance in Today's Society'. Thank you for joining us Mr. Deacon."
The dark man gave a soft smile and nodded as the reporter continued. "When looking at the photos that have come out," a picture of Stiles being herded by wolves back toward Derek came up behind the two, "we can see what looks like real fear showing on the young human's face. We've always been told that a true mate bond is some magical binding between human and werewolf but truthfully Stiles doesn't look like he was agreeing to this union. How can you justify Derek Hale's actions?"
Derek had frozen his body stiff and unmoving on the couch as he watched the report but at that statement his claws ripped a large gash in the armrest of the couch.
"You go through a lot of furniture around here don't you?" Stiles chose to be amused by his mate's distress over the news report. They both knew that Derek had handled all aspects of their joining in the worst possible way but their bonding was strong enough to overcome Derek's shortcomings.
Not that Stiles wasn't planning on holding it over his head for a while to come.
"You're asking me to base much of this on speculation but historically an alpha would not outlive the loss of his or her true mate. Their classics are filled with tragedies where the werewolf pines away and dies with the death of their mate. Even with our recent history you can see the tragic outcome of an alpha losing his mate."
The blond glanced off stage and then placed a hand to her ear bud as she responded to an obvious prompting from off screen. "Are you referring to the bonding of Alpha Brice Cooper and Darla Argent that ended the war between the Weres and the humans?
"Yes, if not for their union the werewolves would not have stopped their attacks and the humans would have lost the war. But when she died in a car wreck eight months later, Alpha Cooper stopped eating and slowly lost control of his wolf. While there are no clear reports on his cause of death many including myself have come to the conclusion that he either committed suicide or had to be put down by his own pack for the safety of others."
Stiles pressed himself a bit closer to Derek's side. "Would that have happened to you? Would you have lost it like that?"
Derek nuzzled against Stiles' neck running his lips and nose around the mating mark but never directly touching it. "You saw how I was. What do you think?"
"Fuck." Stiles pulled Derek down until the wolf's head was resting in his lap. Derek rolled so his face was against his mate's abdomen and relaxed as Stiles stroked his hair. "I guess that's how he knew."
Derek hummed a little in question. "How Gerard knew to run. He must have had people paying attention for things like that and me showing up at Laura's wedding wasn't exactly subtle."
"No," Derek chuckled. "We were not subtle at all."
"So how does this relate to Derek Hale?" The blond asked in a perky voice that in no way conveyed the seriousness of the interview subject pulling Stiles back into the program.
"If it was a true mate bonding, and from what I've seen it is, the fact that Derek Hale had been without his mate for over a month must have pushed him into a state of despair. Considering there were so many other wolves and non-pack alphas on his territory and near his mate, I'm surprised that he handled it as well as he did. Yes the young man was scared and, by all means, someone should have stopped Derek before he claimed his mate so publicly but he didn't attack any of the guests and aside from the chase, the mating was relatively gently."
"That's a load of crap," Stiles grumbled pulling Derek's hair to get his attention. "You know it hurt like hell, right?"
"I'm sorry. I wound never purposely hurt you if I could help it. The mating mark is necessary to complete the bond between us. There was no other way."
"It still fucking hurt."
They were interrupted by a young beta with curly brown hair. "Alpha? There's a few packages that have arrived for Stiles."
"Is there a reason your wolves won't talk directly to me? Am I beneath their notice?"
The beta flashed a grin in Stiles' direction. "Mostly it's because we're all afraid that Derek will take it the wrong way and try to bite our heads off but it's also a sign of respect."
"Isaac," Derek rumbled in warning but Stiles was already heading across the room to meet the wolf.
"Packages for me? Where did they come from? Don't just stand there, take me to them." Stiles gave Isaac a push out of the room and followed behind him. Derek rolled off the couch and trotted to catch up.
Stiles came to an abrupt halt once he reached the front entry way which was crowded with a multitude of boxes. They lined the sides of the hallway stacked two to three high in some places.
"Holy shit!" Stiles couldn't help but stare, opened mouth with shock, at the mountain of packages. "What is all this for?"
"People have started sending mating gifts for you. I'm sure there will be more soon. Considering your mating was quite a surprise most people won't have had a chance to send a gift yet. Plus they won't let anything mailed arrive at the manor until it's been checked by security these days."
"All these are for me?" Stiles was stunned. It was like his birthday and Christmas all wrapped up together and put on monster steroids.
"The human traditionally gets all the gifts. These days, like with Max and Laura, some progressives send gifts that are for the couple but they are still addressed to the human half of the bond."
Tentatively at first but then with the growing enthusiasm of a boy opening Christmas gifts, Stiles unwrapped the packages in a flurry of paper and packing peanuts. Derek and Isaac kept track of the cards, noting the gift on the back of each. Wolves were anything but impolite.
There were clothes of all styles and colors, silk sheets, and fancy knick-knacks that Stiles had no idea what to do with but most of the gifts were the royal blue of the Hale Pack. Pulling open a box containing a bassinette Stiles turned to Derek in confusion. "They know I'm a male right? Is there something you NEED to tell me? If so, the answer is NO, hell no, no way NO. I don't care what magic pill you werewolves have, I am not having a baby!"
Derek's eyes widened for just a second before he all but collapsed by Stiles in a fit of giggles. Giggles? Stiles had to smile at the image of an alpha wolf reduced to giggles in the middle of the hallway. Even Isaac was chuckling as he continued to pick up the paper and foam peanuts that were spread far and wide.
"I don't know what they are telling you Stiles but male wolves don't have babies and we don't have a magic pill. Most, if needed, employee a surrogate to carry their babes to term. When you are ready we can discuss it further but I am not ready to share you with anyone else just yet."
Stiles leaned over and kissed Derek's laughter warmed lips. Joy looked good on his mate's face and he found he wanted to keep it there for as long as he was able.
The three were almost to the end of the mountain of presents, an air of happiness filling the hallway, when Stiles opened a small brightly wrapped box. Inside laid a collar made of rich blue leather and backed with creamy satin. Around the circumference it was lined with large radiant cut diamonds.
Stiles vaguely heard the pleased gasp that came from both Isaac and Derek as the blood drained out of his face and his chest seemed to freeze between on breath and the next. The collar hung limply in his hand as he turned to face Derek.
"Do you expect me to wear this?" Stiles asked his voice deceptively light.
"It is a gorgeous collar." Derek smiled. "Who sent it? We will have to have them over for dinner or something."
Stiles was on his feet and striding away from Derek without even conscientiously planning to move. He heart pounded in his chest along with the blood that thrummed in his temples.
"You expect me to wear this!" Stiles snarled as he turned to slam the offending collar against Derek's chest. "Am I your property now? Do I belong to you? Where's the ID tag in case I get lost and someone needs to return me so I don't get taken to the pound." Stiles could feel the angry tears that threatened to spill over burning in his eyes.
Derek looked horrified. "No! You're not my property. It's a style that humans have chosen to show their loyalty to their pack. No one forces them to wear it. We all just figured that because humans can't scent who belongs to what pack they wanted something to show which pack they were affiliated."
"Right, so humans just decided to wear something that makes them look like they are owned, like they're property just so that we could tell which werewolves we belonged to? Does that really make sense? Why not a pin? Or even a fucking class ring? Why would we want to wear a collar?" By the end Stiles was screaming, tears running down his face as Derek and Isaac stood dumbfounded by his outburst.
"I swear to you Stiles on our bond that no werewolf has ever demanded that one of their human betas had to wear a collar. My mom doesn't wear one and Max has never felt the need to wear one. If you don't want to wear it, then don't wear it."
"God Derek," Stiles groaned. "That's not the point. A collar implies ownership. Do you think you own me? That I am somehow your property now?"
"Shit." Derek looked like he had been struck by lightning. He backed up until he almost tripped over a discarded box. "No. Hell no! That's all backwards Stiles. In a bonding between an alpha and a human, it's the human that has the power. Once we finalize our union then all my holdings become yours."
"What?" Stiles once again found it hard to breathe.
"There has to be a balance when humans and Were's mate. The wolf uses his strength to protect the home while the human uses his ability to create a haven for his mate and takes care of everything else. That's the way it has always been."
"Oh," Stiles felt like he had just tumbled down a well and everyone was very far away. "I think I need to sit for a little bit." Turning he walked back to the room where the TV was still playing and fell back into the couch.
Derek and Isaac exchanged glances and seemed to have a quick discussion with nothing up their eyebrows and a couple of frowns. With a final dramatic circling of his hands, Isaac left Derek and disappeared down the hall. Derek slunk into the room and cautiously approached his mate.
"Do you want me to return the collar?"
"No," came the exhausted reply. "Just put it somewhere that I don't have to look at it."
Derek quickly tossed it to the far side of the room and slid into position next to Stiles who leaned his head against him almost immediately. "It's kind of scary how much humans don't understand about their own rights with you guys. Why wouldn't we know things like that? Is there a rule book somewhere that I never got a chance to read because if there is I really want you to get me a copy?"
"I don't know what to tell you Stiles. Except for my mother I didn't know many other humans until Max and then you. You all seem to keep your distance from alphas. The only humans I have really ever spent time with are turned betas but they don't really count."
"Doesn't that just seem really screwed up to you? It's like there is a big piece missing to a puzzle and no one seems to realize it."
Stiles could feel his mate thinking, the turning of ideas and thoughts in his brain echoed the lapping of waves that he could remember from a childhood trip to the ocean. Tucking his head closer to his mate's warmth Stiles let himself be soothed by Derek's gentle stroking while he tried to figure out why everything was so very broken in the world.