The Skeptic

by alvfr

Joe is building her degree on the premise that werewolves, witches, ghosts - all those things that go bump in the night – aren't real. She chooses the attacks in her own hometown as a case study and gets sucked down the rabbit hole. Her cousin thinks he's a werewolf, this other guy claims to be her mate, and she is just trying to make her next deadline without dying in the process.

87. Chapter 87: The Kiss III

"You guys are aware that this is my ex-girlfriend's wedding, right? Not mine?"

"I swear to God, Joe, if you move again I'll poke this eyeliner right in your," Erica bit in a swearword, well aware of the beginning frown on Aunt Mel's face, "eye."

"I just think this is a little— ow!"

"I told you! Now, hold still."

Grumbling, Joe slunk back as much as she could without moving her face. At least the office chair she was in, wheeled into the bathroom for the occasion, was the most comfortable seat in the apartment because she'd been there for hours already. Hours with Erica hovering over her, a concentrated furrow between her brows as she expertly applied makeup to Joe's face. Hours with Aunt Mel behind Joe, meticulously finger-coiling every single one of Joe's curly locks one by one. Hours with Jimmy popping in and out of the bathroom to receive new orders, right now steaming the heck out of her dress in the living room judging by the faint hiss. Hours with everyone busy preparing Joe for the upcoming event, except for Joe, who just sat there like a useless sack of skin and hair.

When Derek said the pack needed the two of them to attend the wedding, Joe hadn't fully understood what he meant. She hadn't fully understood that the pack apparently needed a communal project to work on that wasn't life-or-death. That was fun. At least for everyone except her, and it might actually turn out to be the death of Joe, of course, by the hands of an irate Erica if she had to reapply the eyeliner one more time.

Joe's phone vibrated somewhere in the pocket of the sweatpants she wore, but she didn't dare to check it until Erica turned around to her makeup kit.

Lobito: 30 min warning. Cora.

That girl was so like her brother it started to get creepy. Joe sent a quick thumbs up back and relayed the message to Erica and Aunt Mel.

"Aaah, okay, okay, I just have this section left and we can get to blow drying," Aunt Mel gestured wildly to Joe's head, her fingers glistening from hair products, "I think we'll make it. It's pushing it, but we'll manage."

"Low heat, low speed, remember?" Erica, the officer in charge, told Aunt Mel, who nodded fervently.

Aunt Mel glanced up and met Joe's gaze in the mirror, almost pressing her hands to her heart before remembering they were full of goo. "Oh, honey, you look so good," Aunt Mel cooed, tears already brimming her eyes. That happened all the time these days, so Joe didn't think much of it. At this point, Joe could move Aunt Mel to tears just by telling her she'd had breakfast. Her attending a whole-ass wedding was probably Aunt Mel's idea of winning the Super Bowl. "Your eyes are popping! You have to teach me how to do that nude smokey thing, Erica."

"It's really not that hard," Erica said, her tongue between her teeth in concentration, contrasting her words. "Just three colors going dark to light, and then you gotta blend the sh— sugar out of it. Wait until you see it with the full red lip."

"Wow, remind me to book you for my next date night. You know, if that sales rep who's been MIA for six months shows up again. " Her voice dropped to an annoyed grumble. "Which is hardly likely with Raf still hanging around town."

A chill went down Joe's spine, one that Erica picked up on since she cocked her head at Joe. "Did Scott talk to you about that, Aunt Mel?"

"About Raf? Yeah, don't worry, Rob is keeping him in the blind for now and working on getting him reassigned. Guy sure chose a hell of a time to start bonding with his son again."

No, about Peter Hale, Joe wanted to scream but didn't. Mostly because Erica was back to applying eyeliner to her lower lashline. Oh well, Joe could handle Peter if he ever tried anything. The awkward part would be explaining to Aunt Mel that her last date had been an attempt to blackmail Scott, and that sounded like a problem Scott should solve himself.

"Rob took my dad out to lunch the other day," Erica said off-handedly. "Apparently told him about his experience with rebellious teenage daughters and their need for space."

"I'm glad my hard-earned accomplishments came to your benefit. Any news about your epilepsy diagnosis?"

"Nah. I've convinced Mom and Dad that I'm so done with hospitals that unless I have another episode, I never want to talk about it again. And since I'm not going to have another episode," Erica grinned and glowed her eyes yellow, "they're not gonna press the issue."

"Wow. I'll never get used to the whole," Aunt Mel gestured at her own face while staring wide-eyed at Erica, "thing. It looks so unnatural and natural at the same time. Quick question, since I haven't seen a lot of girl werewolves. Do you also get the crazy sideburns when you shift?"

The conversation buzzed non-stop between Aunt Mel and Erica, with the occasional snarky remark from Joe if only to remind them that she was there, as a person, and not some dress-up doll.

At some point, between Erica drowning Joe in bronzer and Aunt Mel breaking out the hair dryer, Jimmy sauntered in with a tray of lemonade. Actual lemonade, homemade and all, so cold the glasses were all dewy and delicious-looking. And Erica wouldn't let Joe have any because of the stupid red lipstick! At least not until Jimmy came back with a straw, smirking at Joe in the mirror, making Joe suspect he knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he did. He was Jimmy, after all, no matter what Derek wanted to call him.

The purple-eyed bastard had been smirking non-stop the whole morning, probably getting some form of mild payback from seeing Joe so uncomfortable and disgruntled. Or just happy to do Erica's bidding, who he claimed reminded him so much of Joe it was hard to tell where his loyalty lay. He would stop by the bathroom door every so often, holding two pairs of shoes or two pairs of handbags to have them (mostly Erica) choose until they had decided on the complete look. Either Erica or Aunt Mel or both had brought their own collections of accessories because Joe swore she had never seen half the stuff he was bringing for appraisal.

Lobito: 10 min warning. Cora.

"Aaah!" Aunt Mel exclaimed and tried to blowdry Joe's hair faster without changing the settings, just flapping at Joe's hair with her other hand like that would help. Erica was studying Joe's face intently in the mirror, going back and forth to look at her from different angles, and then frowning before applying a dab more of something, blush or bronzer or glitter. Mostly bronzer, to help Joe look like she actually had a hint of melanin in her system.

Finally — finally! — Jimmy waltzed back in with his hands in his pockets. "As much as I appreciate the time-consuming task of getting Joe all dolled up, we have to get her dressed now. If not, she'll have to change in the car, and then they'll never even make it to the wedding, given that Derek will undoubtedly crash into a building at the sight of Joe's naked kneecaps at this point."

Erica cackled in delight as she ushered Joe out of her sweats and into the dress, while Joe's face burned somewhere under all that makeup. While she hadn't told a soul about what happened with her and Derek at the loft the other day, that didn't really matter when it came to werewolves and their stupid senses. It made her wonder how much they picked up that even she missed, but the only one she could ask was Derek and she'd rather give him a play-by-play of the torture in the vault than ask him outright like that.

At least the dress was simple enough — because it was a farmhouse wedding, after all — and Erica had wisely chosen flat sandals for Joe and a sensible leather clutch to hold her phone, powder, lipstick, q-tips, tissues, and whatever else Erica packed in there.

"Oh, sweetie," Aunt Mel said for the millionth time and swiped some of the aforementioned tissues to dab at her eyes. "You're stunning."

"Again, not my wedding. We are remembering that fact, yes?" Joe desperately tried to remind them but caught sight of something in the hallway. "What the hell is he doing here?" She gestured to Scott who had just appeared through the front door of the apartment, but had to amend her question to: "They! What the hell are they doing here?"

Stiles' grinning face popped up from behind Scott. It had been so long Joe had nearly forgotten that those two were a package deal. "Come to wish you good luck!"

"And we brought coffee!" Scott hurried to add, holding up the duo tray with two cups as both evidence and a shield. "Completely normal regular coffee with nothing special added." Joe was definitely making Derek sniff the heck out of those. "It's a long trip upstate, we figured it'd be nice to relax with some hot beverages."

"Lord help me, what kind of social etiquette books have you guys been reading lately?" Joe stood on her toes to spot the latest newcomer awkwardly sneaking into the apartment. "Hi, Isaac."

"Hi."

He gave her a short wave and pretended to ignore her mouthing the words 'help me' repeatedly. It looked like he was eyeing Erica warily, but she was more than occupied with putting bronzer all over Joe's shoulders and chest.

"And we brought snacks!" Stiles exclaimed with even more gusto than realistically possible, wrestled himself in front of Isaac again, and held up a shopping bag that looked way too heavy for a one-hour drive. "We didn't know what you liked, so we kinda got everything. There's gummy worms, pringles, tootsie rolls, pretzels, protein bars, cliff bars, twizzlers, snack mix with raisins, snack mix without raisins, a banana, some carrot sticks, beef jerky, turkey jerky, honey pepper jerky, buffalo wing chicken jerky. I've said jerky too many times now, is that even a word? Jerky. Jeeeerky. Jer-ky. Jerrrrr— holy jerkyballs, you look amazing!"

Joe, coughing from where Erica was now setting her face with some spray, managed to press out, "Thanks."

"No, really, I mean it. You look like a completely different person. Like during the storm, you looked like you were half-dead, or y'know, already dead but somehow still moving and talking, and your hair was like woosh and you had these really black circles going all the way— ow!"

Stiles' whole body jerked to the side after Scott's well-aimed elbow hit him in the stomach.

"Stiles is right," Scott reassured her, his smile close-lipped and genuine. "Even if he doesn't know when to stop being right. You look beautiful, Joe."

"Oh, did you remember my camera?" Aunt Mel hurriedly asked Scott, who nodded just as fast. "I want to get a picture of you on your special day."

"Again, not my wedding, remember? I feel like we are collectively not remembering that."

"Here comes the groom," said Jimmy in a sing-song voice from where he hovered near the window with the same shit-eating grin on his face. Joe made a very rude gesture in his direction behind Aunt Mel's back. The asshole never stopped smiling.

For some completely inexplicable reason, the stairways filled with laughter and conversation as everyone filed down the stairs and out on the sidewalk where the sleek-looking Camaro had pulled up. So black and flawless it looked like a portal to another dimension in the bright sun overhead, and Joe wanted nothing more than to jump in and disappear.

"I thought you said he got rid of that car?" Erica asked Isaac, still fussing about getting the belt around Joe's waist to lay completely right. "Joe, hold still."

"I just put it in storage." Derek's voice rang from the driver's seat just as three out of four doors on the car opened to let out him, Cora and Boyd. Another mist of some sort of spray momentarily blinded Joe, but she heard Derek's voice come closer. "And now I brought it out of storage."

The mist cleared, and Joe saw Derek.

Cliche as it might have been, it felt like time stopped for a little while. The questions and comments from all the others muted into nothing, even the vision of them blurring with only him remaining in complete focus. His mouth had opened to say something but closed wordlessly and pulled into a hint of a smile when their eyes met. He looked so good. Not just the clothes but everything about him. Healthy was the only word Joe could think of. Glowing. Radiating. Something less to do with his outer appearance and more with something inside of him.

Which made him sound like a pregnant woman, but it was the only analogy Joe could think of. Amazing what sleeping in a real bed for a few days could achieve. Not to mention that he'd dressed to the nines in a flawless, crisp white shirt and a pair of dress pants, with the suspenders making it casual enough for the wedding's dress code. Two buttons undone on his shirt, flaring the neckline to reveal the top edge of his chest along with the hair on it. His rolled-up sleeves also showcased an appreciative amount of his arms, ending in those strong hands Joe had become all too fixated on lately.

And yet, as gorgeous as he was, it was nothing compared to the tenderness in his eyes. Even from here, she could see the way his pupils dilated, his eyebrows softening, and the muscles on his throat working as he swallowed hard.

"Are we sure these morons are gonna make it to the wedding without a chaperone?"

Cora's voice carved a new path through Joe's cerebrum, bringing the world back with vengeance. Where Joe had thought she had just tuned out the others, it seemed they had, in fact, all stopped talking and had been watching her and Derek with a variety of expressions, ranging from gleeful (Erica) to downright disgusted (Cora).

"I'm masking my scent!" Joe looked to Derek for confirmation, but he looked blank. "Or, y'know, trying to anyway."

"You're not masking that stupid look on your face," Cora countered and rolled her eyes. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder and pushed past the others to lean against the wall of the laundromat. Cora glared at Erica and waved her hand at Derek. "¡Blanquita! ¿Está aprobado?"

"Hang on, I've gotta get these in," Erica mumbled, suddenly way too close to Joe's face. There was a tug on her earlobe that meant Erica had just inserted an earring, and Joe tried not to move as Erica tottered around her to repeat her action on the other side. Leaving Joe alone, Erica circled Derek with her chin in her hand. "Okay, let's see."

This time the world didn't slow to a halt when Joe met Derek's gaze, giving her the opportunity to mouth the words: "What the hell is going on?"

His strained expression probably meant he was equally as confused as her or just uncomfortable with the way Erica was sizing him up.

"It'll do, I guess," Erica said dismissively after having silently conferred with Boyd using nothing but eyebrow waggles and shrugs. Well. That girl certainly had come a long way since her little crush on the guy in question. It'll do. Like he wasn't the definition of a reincarnated Greek God, carved from marble by the hands of a master and dressed by an award-winning stylist.

"Can I just ask a question?" Joe piped up, trying to cut through the excited chatter. "It's not that I don't love each and every one of you, but why are you all here?"

And out of everyone, it was Boyd who answered. He held up a duffel bag. "Sleepover."

"Sleepover. Sleepover?" Joe parroted, and a quick glance at Derek revealed that he was equally lost as her. "What sleepover?"

"We're having a sleepover at the apartment," Scott explained as if he was just reminding her of the grocery list or something.

"Cora's never seen any movies like ever," Stiles continued, talking with his whole body, "so we're gonna start with some classics. Like Back to the Future one, two and three." He held up three DVDs in turn, somehow having concealed them in his hooded jacket. "And then, if there's time, we'll move on to the Police Academy one, two, three, four, Miami—"

"You couldn't have done that at the loft?" Joe asked while trying to both work out where Stiles was getting the DVDs from and if she had anything worth hiding in her room from prying werewolf teenagers.

Cora looked at her like she was an idiot. "There's no TV at the loft."

Boyd agreed. "And the Wi-Fi sucks."

"And this apartment is lined with mountain ash, meaning it'll be easier to protect." Jimmy had his hands in his pocket as he pushed ahead of the pack to address Joe. "And they won't be able to leave unless I let them. No full or half moon tonight and no threat on the horizon. Don't worry, Mama Goat, I'll keep the kiddies safe."

"Aaaand," Erica appeared by Jimmy's side, her face stretched in a beautiful smile, "we figured we could leave the loft empty for the night, in case you and Derek wan— mrrgrgrh!"

Jimmy, never breaking eye contact with Joe, had reached back and covered Erica's mouth with his hand. "You're welcome, Delgado. Now move, or you're going to be late."

"Oh, oh, oh, wait," Aunt Mel bounced into Joe's line of view. "Line up for a picture first. I'll promise it'll be fast, you guys just look so good I have to document it. And maybe print it and frame it and hang it in the kitchen to look at whenever I need a pick me up and a reminder that the world is a decent place after all. Come on."

"Are you staying for this whole sleepover too?" Joe asked Aunt Mel as she was steered towards the Camaro and Aunt Mel got her camera out.

"Oh no, no, no. I am lucky enough to be working a double shift tonight. Not that I'm thrilled leaving them on their own like this, but at least I don't have to worry about any drinking since werewolves can't actually get drunk. Unless, of course, that is just something Scott told me to get me off his back?" The last part was directed at Derek, who quickly reassured her that Scott was telling the truth. "Okay, good, that means I only have to worry about the non-werewolf, so no drinking, Stiles! All right, if you stand here and you here and maybe you can like put your arm here, and you can lean into him a bit here—"

"We're not going to prom, Aunt Mel." Joe tried to keep her tone light and casual, all too aware of the burning both in her cheeks and where Derek had placed his hand on the curve of her waist. She smiled, or at least bared her teeth, at Aunt Mel. "You get one shot, and then we're leaving."

Derek's murmur came far too close to Joe's ear. "Eyes or no eyes?"

"No eyes," Joe hissed while still keeping her strained smile intact, "we're not ruining Aunt Mel's picture. Now shut up and smile so we can get out of here."

It took Aunt Mel a few tries to get that one shot, mostly because she kept tearing up and placing her palm over her heart, but she did get it. Derek didn't waste any time opening the car door for Joe, and then way too many of the others rushed forward to help her get in without creasing her dress.

"Okay, so here's your coffee," Scott said and handed Joe the small tray through the open car door.

Erica glared at it with suspicion under her heavy lids. "Is it decaf? I told you it had to be decaf."

"It better not be decaf," Joe muttered.

"It's not decaf," Scott said, to Joe's relief and Erica's disappointment. "Some sort of double roast, I don't remember what the barista said. Anyway, here's the snacks. And this is your purse, I guess."

Something thumped into the backseat as she accepted the purse, and Joe spun around in case any of the stupid idiots were trying to sneak onboard. It was no idiot, but a pair of nondescript bags Joe had never seen before.

"Change of clothes for both of you, some towels, your makeup bag, back-up chargers, toothbrushes, extra shoes," Erica listed while hanging on the roof of the car, "wet wipes, con—"

"Thank you, Erica!" Joe snapped and tugged on the door to close it. Erica's grin did not budge even if the door slammed shut. "Again, it's an hour's drive, and it's my ex-girlfriend's wedding. We'll be back by like ten tonight."

"Eleven."

Joe stared at Erica Reyes, aged seventeen, her supposed-to-be beta. "We need to have a conversation about boundaries when I get back."

"I'm just saying," Erica explained in a voice far too mature than what should be possible, "that if you want to take your time before getting back, you can. We'll be fine. And if you do get back early, the loft will be empty and—"

"Oh my God, I can't. This is not real. Please just start the car, Derek."

The Camaro started with a slight roar, quickly turning into a purr that allowed Joe to hear the chorus of goodbyes, good lucks, have funs, and the singular "Don't hurry back!" from Erica. Joe never thought she could appreciate Derek's hairpin driving more than she already did when he bolted away from the sidewalk at record speed.

"Okay, wh—"

Derek raised his hand with a look of caution. Right. The super hearing thing. Joe held her breath while Derek navigated through the almost empty streets of Beacon Hills until he dropped his hand down with a long exhale.

Joe still kept her voice to a hushed whisper. "What the hell was that?"

They looked at each other and promptly burst out laughing.

"What the hell was that? What the hell?" Joe almost sobbed from laughing so hard, blinking rapidly to avoid ruining all of Erica's hard work. "Is this normal? Is this a pack-thing? A grooming-thing? I don't know if I should feel violated or appreciated or some kind of weird combo of both."

Derek had one hand over his face, peeking through his fingers to watch the road with his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. "I don't know. I honestly don't know."

"They woke me up at seven! AM! The last time I was up at seven am, it was because I never went to bed, and then they just waltz in this morning because Jimmy that prick let them in, and they said I couldn't have coffee because apparently caffeine can raise the cortisol levels and make me bloated and instead they gave me hot lemon water and this sourdough toast breakfast thing and a million soaps and scrubs and conditioners — did you know there are specialized scrubs for under your eyes because I didn't — and Erica was this close to climbing into the shower with me to make sure I was using them right and—"

Joe had to stop to breathe, giving Derek a chance to contribute.

"I was woken up at five am," Derek said, his whole face cracked in a handsome smile, "to go on an easy one-hour sprint with Cora in the preserve followed by a ninety-minute weightlifting session with Boyd to, and I quote, get a pump going. I've been on a strict diet of lean-cut steak and protein shakes all morning."

"Erica painted my toenails while they force-fed me that gross lemon water."

"I got the tightest shave in my life from Boyd while Peter ironed my shirt and gave me an update on recent events so I would have some talking points for tonight."

"Dude, I wish I got away with just shaving," Joe mumbled, even while studying the incredibly sharp lines of his beard. Today marked the first time Joe had shielded Derek from her pain on purpose since the lunar eclipse, and she would rather get epilated all over again than admit it. Realizing what she had just said, she quickly added: "Aunt Mel tweezed the shit out of my eyebrows."

"I still think I'm gonna win this one," Derek claimed in a voice that was a little tighter than before. "Cora gave me dance lessons."

"Dance lessons?"

"Dance lessons."

This time, they didn't stop laughing before they zoomed past the sign that marked the end of Beacon Hills.

"Here, sniff-sniff," Joe ordered and held out the coffees to Derek's face.

"Is there something wrong with the words 'smell this'?" Derek asked, but still did as told and took a quick whiff of both coffees. "Clean. And as happy as I am to check things for you, the odds of your coffee being poisoned again are probably quite low."

"Three times, Derek."

"Which is nothing compared to how much coffee you drink."

"Are you, Derek Hale, seriously accusing me of being paranoid? Please. I'm happy if I make it a week without being kidnapped again."

"I'm just hoping we can find a middle ground between reckless and paranoid. That's not a dig at you, Joe. It's both of us. All of us."

He accepted the plain black coffee and leaned back in his seat, one arm on the wheel and the other holding the paper cup. "It might be a werewolf thing. Or it might be a pack-made-up-of-teenagers thing. It might be a lot of things, I don't know. It seemed to make them happy, so I went along with it."

"Yeah, same. Mostly. It might be an Erica Reyes thing, actually. She's, uh, pretty invested in our ship. Don't ask. She does great work, though." Joe smiled and tried to ignore the annoying hard beat of her heart. "You look really good, Derek."

"Thank you. So do you." His fingers tightened on the steering wheel and Joe realized he hadn't fully looked at her since they got in the car and now he did not look at her at all. He still must have caught her confusion since he shook his head. "Give me a minute."

"What?"

"Give me a minute," he repeated, the tell-tale vein on his neck indicating his tension that did not match the tilt of his lips. "You're happy and relaxed and beautiful, and I'm driving a three-thousand-pound vehicle going sixty miles per hour on the interstate, and while we'll both survive if I crash the car, it will make us late to the wedding."

Oh.

Joe tried to keep her tone casual. "You forgot that part where I'm super attracted to you—"

"We're in a very confined space, Joe."

"—and head over heels in love with you."

"I can't smell that part."

"I know, that's why I'm telling you."

"Not helping, Joe."

"Not trying."

It was useless trying to conceal her grin, but Joe still tried as she sipped her coffee and watched the scenery speed by. Even with all of the soaps and lotions and sprays Erica had dunked her with, the car quickly filled with what she was recognizing more and more as their scent. Not just his, but hers as well. Derek had mentioned it briefly during the second lesson of Werewolf 101, that their scents apparently blended together at certain times. When they were on the same side, working together — like now.

They finished their coffees, but Derek still hadn't said anything, so Joe gave him a long glance under her heavy lashes and decided to remind him of their talk.

"Words, Derek. I can't read you, remember?"

A sharp intake of breath, and he turned to look at her. Everything slowed down. Her breathing, her heartbeat, her mind. Everything about him crystal clear, from the way his jaw slackened to the tip of his tongue darting over his lower lip. His bicep bulging under his shirt from gripping the steering wheel, emphasizing the thick veins on his lower arm. All of a sudden, it was as if the entire morning had been for naught, as Joe felt more exposed than she had ever been. Like there was no makeup or fabric in the world that could hide her from his resolute scrutiny. Like he was looking less at her face and more at her soul.

A loud honk pierced the silence. A semi was heading right for them, and with a harsh grunt, Derek swerved to get back in his own lane. Joe thumped against the seatbelt from the sudden force, losing what little breath she had left. The semi sped past, inches away, with a distraught wail trailing after it.

The car filled with their shivering breaths before Derek swallowed. "Still need words?"

"No, I'm good," Joe admitted, trying to shake off the near-death experience. Guess neither Jimmy, Cora, nor Derek had been exaggerating, and she struggled to bury the thrill of Derek losing his cool because of her. Her!

"Change of subject?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay." It still seemed like it took Derek considerable effort to reign in whatever he was feeling, but he pushed through. "You heard from your dad?"

"Yeah. He arrived safe and sound at Benito Juarez yesterday. Gonna be back in two weeks, at least that's what he said."

"You okay with that?" Derek asked, and she nodded, somewhat surprised he could detect her chemosignals under all the stuff Erica had smothered her with.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm used to him coming and going based on whatever case he's working. I'm just not used to missing him when he's gone."

Derek alleviated any guilt she had for bringing the mood down when he reached his hand over to her. She placed her hand in his, the sensation of touching his skin still exhilarating beyond belief, and let their joined hands rest comfortably in her lap. They stayed like that for the rest of the trip, talking about everything and nothing, until they finally saw the wooden signs with white paint leading the way to Alex and Madeline's wedding.

"So much for it being farmhouse," Joe mumbled as they pulled up to the grand estate that could maybe be classified as a ranch if you didn't know any better. They handed the Camaro to a freaking valet, for Christ's sake. Apparently, farmhouse was only the dress code because everything else was extravagant on a level Joe didn't know how to describe, including the glasses of champagne thrust into their hands by an eager waiter who welcomed them to the celebration.

Derek smiled politely at the staff as he slipped his arm casually around her waist. "You ready for this?"

"Not at all, no. Thanks for asking though, my anxiety not coming through with all the hairspray?."

"Just trying to use my words," Derek said and now smiled at her, the large handsome smile usually reserved for when he was acting like someone else, no less gorgeous for that. "Can you do me a favor?"

Joe rolled her eyes slightly and guessed: "Try to relax?"

"Try to remember that no one here knows anything about you; not who you are or what you've been through." Derek kept his easy smile while he talked and guided her through the crowd of guests, giving the impression of it being a pleasant conversation to whoever was watching. "All they know is what you choose to tell them, and you're free to tell them whatever you want and forget about the rest, at least for tonight. I got your back."

"You want me to fake it 'till I make it?"

He shrugged. "It's a nice change of pace, is all I'm saying. We're not here on a mission, Joe, or under any kind of guise. We're the only non-humans on the premises as far as I can tell, meaning you don't even need to mask your scent if you don't want to. So yes, we can actually just try to relax and maybe have fun for once. Hey, Caleb, Nick, good to see you again!"

Either accidentally or intentionally, Derek had steered them towards Joe's friends and was now shaking hands and catching up like they were his best friends and not someone he'd met only once before. Joe tried to follow his advice when she was thrown into the deep end of normal conversations with normal people who thought she was equally as normal.

At least Nick and C-something's almost newborn baby stole most of the attention, and Joe congratulated them as best as she could. Maybe a bit more than she needed, driven by guilt for completely forgetting that Connie or Cara was pregnant in the first place. Joe also found herself fascinated by the little fat bundle with wide eyes watching the world from their mother's embrace, so completely helpless and small, and tried not to think about how she had been the same age when her mother left her.

"You want to hold her?" Celine or Cassandra or something asked eagerly, either having mistaken Joe's fascination for something else or just in need of a break.

"Uhh…" Joe hadn't even considered this possibility; she sputtered some vague excuses and held up her champagne glass as evidence of why she shouldn't.

"Here, let me," Derek said, but instead of taking Joe's glass like she feared, he handed her his and accepted the baby like he had done nothing else his whole life. Joe suspected Aunt Mel might have an aneurysm if she saw this, and Joe wondered if she wasn't due for one herself. Derek cradled the baby in his strong arms, careful to support the heavy head on top, making it look like the most natural thing in the world. He smiled gently at the little thing and whispered: "Hey, you. Hi."

Even if she tried to avoid it, Joe could not help but stare at the scene. Even in her wildest and deepest dreams, she had never considered this scenario. Derek Hale with a real-life-honest-to-God baby in his arms.

"Aww, she likes ya," Nick said with a grin when the baby smiled and cooed at Derek. Nick, the absolute bastard, winked at Joe while addressing Derek, "You got a way with kids, huh, Derek?"

"Kids and dogs tend to like me," Derek admitted, his people-pleasing persona in place, and he rocked the giggling baby gently. "Other people are a hit or miss. Hi. Hi!"

Nick clinked his champagne glass with both the ones in Joe's hands. "Well, if Joe likes ya, you must be doing something right, at least. Anything new in your life, Josef? Heard you've been doing research for Walker all summer."

Joe tried to string together a plausible story on her activities this summer, not just a little distracted by the sight of Derek with the baby still in his arms while he made small talk with Cynthia or Cathrina. It looked right for some reason and she tried to ignore the slight throbbing taking place in her stomach. Or, y'know, below her stomach.

"Oh, be careful she doesn't spit on you," Cassidy or Cleopatra advised when Derek shifted his grip on the baby to support her against his shoulder. "I just fed her. Hang on, let me get a burp cloth out. Oh no, look, she's asleep. Oh my god, how did you do that? Nick, are you seeing this?"

Who cared if Nick was seeing this, because Joe was definitely seeing this. While Coraline or Candy babbled on about something baby-related — using foreign words that sounded like snoo and dockatot —Derek smiled and answered even with the sleeping infant firmly tucked against his chest. His hand rubbed its back in small circles, and Joe felt another pang of something in her lower abdomen. Unfortunately, Derek happened to glance up at that exact moment, and Joe could not even try to either mask her scent or put on an appropriate facial expression because she had no idea what she was even feeling. It looked so right and so good, and it also made her heart squeeze uncomfortably in her chest. Something closer to anxiety or even fear, and she had no idea how to make sense of it.

Thankfully, both Nick and Carmen or Cindy kept yapping on, saving Joe the trouble of acknowledging Derek's slightly concerned glance and she tried instead to keep up with Nick's stories of their move out to the suburbs. Not that he got far since Chrissy or Celina ordered him to get the stroller to put the baby down before the ceremony and Derek, thank God, offered to go with him. When he was probably out of earshot, Joe breathed a sigh of relief as her stupid hormones had definitely reached the end of their rope. At this point she had said "Huh?" more than anything else when talking to the people she once thought of as her best friends.

Derek returned sans both Nick and baby just as the staff ushered everyone to the garden for the actual wedding ceremony. He offered her his arm and gave her another cursory glance. "You okay?"

"Give me a second," Joe muttered and smiled politely at the people she vaguely recognized as Alex' family as she and Derek found their places. Not sure if she should adress the baby thing or not — or even what she wanted to adress — she did not even get the chance when people filled into their seats and the ceremony began.

The wedding was, by all accounts, beautiful. The decorations, the vows, the music, the matching dresses Madeline and Alex wore, all of it. Joe found herself genuinely happy on Alex' behalf, not a small feat all things considered, and even blinked away tears when the officiator declared that the bride may kiss the bride.

And the brides did just that. Cupping each other's faces and giggling before somehow managing to coax their smiles together for a brief kiss. A loud cheer erupted, first from their wedding party and then the rest of the guests, and someone let out a loud wolf whistle. It would not be until much later that Joe realized that someone was Derek.

A cocktail hour followed, and Joe let her mouth go on auto-pilot when small-talking with the other guests, spewing generalities about both her studies and her life and the world in general, sometimes letting Derek command the whole conversation to give her brain a rest. Then came photos, where Joe was roped into attending several group shots, working hard to both pose naturally, smile, and keep her eyes in check the whole time. By the time dinner and speeches rolled around, Joe sank into her chair with a grateful sigh and wondered how she was supposed to endure all of this until eleven o'clock.

Derek, appropriately seated next to her, talked with some of the other occupants at their table about something that sounded suspiciously car-related. And while Joe could not even begin to pretend to understand or care about what they discussed, she could at least appreciate the animated way Derek argued his points and studied how his face behaved as he did so. How he at least seemed to have let his guard down, his face displaying fully readable expressions and his hands moving to emphasize what he was saying.

Okay, maybe endure wasn't the right word to use, Joe thought as Derek glanced over at her mid-sentence, probably catching whatever pheromones she emitted. He smiled briefly, lost his thread mid-word, and his eyebrows went up as he returned to the conversation, obviously having to do a hard reset to get back on track with what he was trying to say.

Caleb, who also sat at their table, tried to cover for Derek's fumble and gestured at Joe. "What do you think, Joe?"

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," to them anyway, "but I guess my answer is that I could not care less about cars or whatever that goes in them."

"You're literally dating a mechanic."

"Saving me the trouble to think about cars." Joe took a sip of water and shrugged at their dumbfounded looks. "Hey, you need to know anything about werewolves, I'm your girl. For cars, it's this guy."

She patted Derek's shoulder, feigning ignorance of the pointed side-eye he sent her.

"Hey, what's a werewolf's favorite car?" Kyle piped up, obviously having had more than his fair share of complimentary drinks. "A wolf-vo!"

The table groaned in unison while Joe grinned at Derek, who looked equal parts unimpressed and amused. Fortunately, the poor joke marked the end of the conversation as the speeches started, and everyone fell into rapt attention. Unfortunately, Joe hadn't counted on the speeches to be quite so touching, and she soon fumbled into her purse for a tissue to catch the tears before they could disturb her makeup. And unfortunately, with all the stuff in her clutch, she pulled out more than just a tissue.

A dark-colored plastic rectangle dropped to the floor beneath their table, and Joe forgot all about crying. "Shit."

Derek cocked his head at her, a silent question to avoid disturbing Madeline's father during his speech.

"I just dropped a condom on the floor," Joe tried to whisper under her breath while keeping her face appropriately attentive to the speech. She was going to kill Erica. Except she wasn't, but by God, she was going to lecture her. "Erica put fucking," Joe fought to keep her voice down, "condoms in my purse."

Apparently, the speech ended since everyone applauded, and Derek leaned forward to Joe's ear, his hot breath tickling her neck. "I found four in my wallet."

"Jesus Christ," Joe exclaimed and took another quick peak in her purse. The absurdity of it counteracted the embarrassment. "I count six here, two on the floor. What the hell do they expect from us?"

"A toast to the new Mrs and Mrs!"

Saved by the bell, Joe thought and raised her wine glass to join in on the toast. Not that she wasn't dying to hear Derek's response, but at the same time, she would rather die than hear it.

Because for all their talking lately, they hadn't really touched upon that yet. Not with actual words, anyway. After the slightly awkward situation at the loft, it was as if they had silently agreed to just take things slow. At least slow-ish. It hadn't even been two weeks since the lunar eclipse, after all. Two weeks of picking up the pieces they wanted to take with them and gluing them into who they wanted to be — together. Two weeks of navigating the juvenile pack and all the practicalities that followed while also navigating the beginnings of their relationship. So much had happened since they first met, more than most people experienced in a lifetime, and it was sometimes too easy to forget that everything about her and Derek as a couple was new. Uncharted territory that required exploration rather than hypotheses. That needed actions and experiences more than just words.

Sure, some of their kisses had become slightly hot and heavy, even after the incident at the loft, but had never gone any further than what could be considered strictly PG-13. Derek had apparently decided to stay firmly in control — of everything — and as for Joe… It wasn't that easy to find a balance between reassuring Derek she still found him extremely attractive and still not push him in any sort of way to act upon that attraction. And now Erica had provided them with a dozen condoms and a promise of an empty loft. Jesus Christ, she was really going to have to talk to the girl about boundaries when they got back.

First, she had to deal with the wayward condoms before anyone else picked them up. She could just imagine what Kyle would say to that, so Joe promptly dropped her napkin on the ground with an ironic "Oops." and swept down under the heavy tablecloth. Without thinking, she activated her eyes and scanned the dark ground, easily locating the pair of condom wrappers lying a few feet ahead. She leaned forward, reaching out, fingertips brushing the side of the plastic without getting a grip.

She kept leaning forward and would have lost her balance if Derek hadn't reached behind her back and grabbed the side of her hip to keep her from toppling over. There was no doubt that it was Derek, even if she couldn't see it because no one else had skin like molten lava like him. The firm hold on her hip did unfortunately not give her enough leverage to reach the stupid condoms, and she swept back up in defeat, hoping her face didn't look as purple as it felt.

"I can't reach," Joe told Derek with a fake smile plastered on her face as the other people at their table glanced her way.

"Where?" Derek asked, matching her big smile, even if his voice sounded rough. Joe thought it was somewhere in the middle of the round table, and Derek nodded, tightened his grip on her hip, and slid down in his seat. Apparently, he wasn't going to just slide under the table like Joe feared, but reached out with his leg and presumably used his foot to bring the condom back to his chair. He straightened up, reached down as if to adjust his pants, and then stuffed his hand in his pocket. "Got it."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Joe downed the rest of her cocktail and tried to put the whole concept of condoms out of her mind for now. It worked, somewhat, except Derek didn't seem inclined to move his hand. He kept it there on her hip, just within the confines of what could be considered proper, almost as if he was staking his claim in a way. Except that was exactly what he was doing, wasn't it? Alex touched upon it after the reunion dinner, too, using the word territorial, and it definitely felt like that now.

Joe glanced up at the main table at Alex, who sat radiant and blushing next to her new wife. By chance or fate, Alex glanced up at the same time, and Joe held her breath in anticipation of whatever reaction would come. And could breathe again when Alex smiled, nodded, and raised her glass in silent acknowledgment. Joe raised her in turn and leaned into Derek's hand, not bothering to analyze how she felt at the moment other than content.

The dinner ended and the happy brides cut the cake, opening the floor for more mingling and more drinking. Joe found herself in a corner with Kelly all of a sudden, subject to Kelly's entire rationale behind Jimmy ghosting her for several months. It became clear, after a few twists and turns in the conversation, that Kelly hadn't considered it even remotely suspicious that Joe and Jimmy went off the grid at the same time. Besides, with how busy Joe apparently had been all summer, it didn't seem likely that she could have made time for anything like that.

"I can sort of get the farmhouse aesthetic," Kelly commented, having moved on from the Jimmy situation that Joe kept coming back to, her eyes glassy from the multitude of cocktails. "But I hope you and Derek go for black tie. I have a few gowns I really want to wear, okay? It's only fair, in my opinion, after you avoided me all summer."

Joe couldn't help but glance over at Derek where he sat with a group of people who looked like they enjoyed drinking whiskey and talking about cars, both of which they looked like to be doing right now. His hearing was selective, maybe he hadn't heard Kelly— oh, no, there it was. Derek glanced back at her, raised his eyebrow slightly, and returned to his conversation.

"Uh, so, the thing is that, uh—" Joe stuttered a response to Kelly while Kelly dragged her along to yet another milestone in the program. First dance, probably. The fact that Joe knew Derek was listening didn't help while she tried to explain that, yes, she and Derek were happy, but they weren't really planning to get married anytime soon. But also in a way that made it clear that it wasn't that she didn't want to get married to him at some point without actually saying that straight. "We just haven't reached that point, I guess, but that's not to say that we won't reach that point at… at some point."

So caught up in explaining without actually knowing what she was trying to explain, Joe did not notice how Kelly lined her up in the middle of a small crowd or how Madeline was standing alone on a podium in front of everyone. Joe only saw something flying through the air in her peripheral and her instincts took over. Her arm shot out without her brain getting involved, and she grabbed the projectile so it would not smack her or Kelly right in the face. Joe did not even look at it until a small cheer broke out, and then she blinked at the wedding bouquet in her hand.

Oh, no. Joe's fingers tightened around the flowers while her stomach dropped somewhere to her knees, and Kelly almost screamed with joy right in her face.

While the other people on the floor also let out happy, screeching noises, Joe caught the sound of heavy laughter and a lot of back-patting from where Derek sat at his table. On the podium, Madeline was jumping and clapping in ill-concealed happiness while Alex was nearly falling off her chair from laughing, probably at Joe's dumbfounded expression.

"Congratulations!" The girls cheered all around her, and Joe had to fight the urge to thrust the flowers at Kelly and bolt out of there.

Kelly grinned and did a happy little dance. "Black tie, right? Please?"

"Uh, I really didn't mean to—" Joe started, more for Derek's benefit than anyone else, but a heavy guitar chord drowned out her voice, and everyone was ushered off the floor for the actual first dance.

Completely in a daze, the flowers hanging limp in her hand, Joe watched Alex and Madeline glide around in their white gowns, so obviously having eyes only for each other. Their parents joined in, then their maids-of-honor with their partners, and then everyone else.

Satisfied no one was watching her, Joe stepped back with every intention of using this opportunity to flee the scene. Instead of an escape, she backed into a familiar muscled wall. Derek, or more specifically his chest, but also his arms that now gently guided her back to the dance floor while dropping the flowers on a nearby table.

"Come on," he said, placing one hand on the small of her back and claiming hers with the other, "let's not let Cora's efforts go to waste."

"Uh, well, they're already kind of wasted because I don't know how to dance like this," Joe admitted and tried to keep breathing through it all. "Sorry. I'm, oh shit, I'm sorry."

"Joe." The sound of his voice brought her back, and even more so when Derek slid his hand over her shoulders to make them go down from her ears. "Just follow my lead."

He reclaimed her hand and tightened his grip on both her back and hand, giving her no choice but to follow as he moved.

"I did not mean to catch the bouquet," Joe breathed when she had enough air in her lungs to do so. He led her around in a slow and beautiful dance Joe barely paid attention to, weaving between the other dancing couples in practiced ease. "I didn't—"

His voice soothed over her like a cold breeze. "I know."

"And it's not because I don't want to, you know, maybe at some point, but there's so much other stuff that we—"

"I know," Derek interrupted again, gripping her hand a little tighter and ducking his head to establish eye contact. "It's fine. Stop thinking and dance with me. Please."

She did as told because it was easier to just listen to him for once and let him lead the way than to deal with her own thoughts. The baby, the condoms, the bouquet, and that was not even mentioning the whole mate bond. Maybe she was reading too much into this, or maybe the universe was really eager to set them on a certain path.

Or, as her still skeptical mind added, they were all just coincidences, and she was seeing patterns where she wanted to see patterns.

"Joe," Derek's voice swept over her again and she realized the song had changed to a slower one. No one moved off the dance floor though and Joe relented to Derek's arms, letting him bring her closer to him. "Your pulse is going faster now than when we fought the Alphas. You want to leave, just let me know."

Succumbing to instincts again, Joe placed her arms around Derek's neck and continued swaying to the beat. "Since I got this nifty healing thing, do you think I can just temporarily remove my brain and put it back in at a later time?"

"I'm sure your brain is as beautiful as the rest of you, but I'd rather I never got to see it in the flesh." His thumb rubbed soothing circles on her back, much like he had at Deaton's clinic after the rave. "I'm guessing this isn't the right time to elaborate on how stunning you look tonight?"

"Not if you're just doing it to distract me," Joe mumbled, feeling less stunning and more like a deflated balloon. Her social battery ran low. "Sorry, I meant to say thank you."

Of course, he saw straight through her and stroked his thumb along her waist. "Words, Joe."

"I know it's stupid," she started and shrugged, "and it's not that I don't believe you, it's just," she tightened her arms around him even more, "wish I could know like you know, you know?"

"What do you want to know?"

At least Joe could duck her head to avoid his bright eyes when she mumbled, "How I make you feel."

"Joe, if I hadn't been masking my scent, every supernatural creature within a ten-mile radius would know how you make me feel."

"Except me. It's ironic, isn't it," Joe said, without dwelling too much on his words lest she got flustered all over again, "that I got the healing and strength when all I ever wanted was the human lie detector powers."

"I'll be your lie detector, Joe," Derek murmured and dropped his head to press his forehead against hers. "Not human, but yours."

They danced more, one slow song shifting into another slow one, Joe only halfway aware of all the other couples dancing around them.

"Here, give me your hand," Derek said.

Joe let him move her hand from behind his neck and place it on his throat. He guided her thumb to lay in the soft hollow area to the side of his Adam's apple, right over his carotid artery.

"You feel it?"

Joe nodded, not sure what he was trying to demonstrate. His pulse went hard and steady against her thumb, matching the equally strong heartbeats she could feel in his chest.

"Now smile at me."

"What?"

Derek sounded impatient. "I'll let you drive the Camaro back."

"Wait, really?"

Joe beamed at him without thinking and realized she had been set up just as she noticed the way Derek's pulse quickened under her thumb. Time slowed again, even if his heartbeat obviously didn't. She honed in on every part of his face that responded — his dilating pupils, the slight wetting of lips, the minuscule flare of his nostrils. She almost wondered if he had pulled some kind of weird werewolf trick to affect his heartbeat because this could not have been from only her smile?

Right?

Before she could think more about it, time picked back up, and Derek leaned down to kiss her. His breath smelled like the whiskey he'd drank, and even before his mouth reached her, Joe felt how his pulse sped up even further. It jumped against her thumb when their lips touched like his heart had just skipped a beat. Just like her own did. Just like it always did, actually, and she almost melted into him from the realization.

His pulse still went crazy, faster than humanly possible, when Derek's lips carefully moved on hers just once before he pulled back.

Joe wondered what sort of black magic Erica had pulled to ensure her lipstick would stay on, but Derek's lips held no trace of the red in any case, only glistened slightly in the moving lights of the dance floor. He held her hand in place, letting her feel how his pulse still ran amok before slowly returning to the steady beat from before.

"Oh," was all that Joe could think of to say, and she blinked up at him, finding it altogether too much, and relented to lean her head on his shoulder instead. "Okay."

"I love you, Joe," he said as if reminding her. "And when I do this," his hand returned to her back, gliding up from her waist and reached the top edge of her dress, landing on bare skin, "my heart beats so hard I can't even hear yours anymore."

Joe felt weightless, only tethered to the world where his fingertips traced over her naked back. She wasn't sure she could believe his words, not with the echo of her loud heart vibrating all the way to her teeth. But that was just it, wasn't it? This was more than words. This was knowing like he knew. At this rate, she was certain she would spontaneously combust long before they could even consider incorporating condoms into the equation.

Her eyes shut on their own, lost in the slow beat and the way Derek traced circles on her back right where he had the triskelion permanently etched into his skin.

"Should I get the tattoo?"

Derek's fingers came to rest. "Ask me again when it's been more than two weeks since the last time we had to fight to survive." An edge to his voice revealed he was not dead set against it, though.

"Is it always going to be like that?" Joe lifted her head from his shoulder so she could look around at all the other couples slow-dancing. Different ages, different identities, different ethnicities; everyone happy, dancing with their partner or family member, celebrating love. "Do you think we'll ever have this?"

"I thought you said you didn't mean to catch the bouquet?"

"Not this-this," Joe rolled her eyes, "but the other this. What's going on right now. Normal. Peace. Not having to look over our shoulder for something bigger and badder lurking in the shadows."

"Normal, no. Not the way you mean it." Derek paused for a long time before he continued. "As for peace, I— Yes. It'll take time and work and effort, but yes, I hope so."

Hope. He had hope. He had hopes for his future, for the pack's future, for their future. And Joe knew right then and there that she would give everything to let him keep that hope. Do everything to make it shine brighter by the day. To make it true.

"I love you too, Derek."

The song ended, and the lead singer cleared their throat.

"Honorable attendees! Distinguished guests! Friends and enemies, humans and non-humans alike, please help me give a warm welcome to the incredible, the amazing, the beautiful, the newly-wed, the one and only: DJ Maaaaaadz!"

Everyone, including Joe, cheered when Madeline sauntered up onto the stage and took place behind the mixer, still in her long, beautiful wedding gown. She grabbed the mic with practiced ease to say, "I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone," Joe was sure Madeline looked right at her, "who came all the way up here to help us celebrate what has been the best fucking day of our lives."

Alex shouted from the dancefloor, "So far!"

"So far! So far. My wife, everyone! My wife." Madeline grinned and pushed the mic away while she got herself settled. "I'm sure you'll all be happy to hear that we have reached the final point on today's agenda," a beat started to play in the background, and Madeline bobbed her head to it, "because the vows have been said, the cake has been cut, but by God, the dance has not yet been danced." The beat picked up speed, a bassline also thumping through the speakers now, reverbating straight into Joe's hips. "Even if I don't get anything else on our registry, I sure as hell hope I get this. I hope I get to see," she pointed at the entire venue, including the few unlucky ones still seated at their tables, "every last one of you on the dancefloor right this moment because we are now," the music paused, "ready to party."

And the beat dropped.

---

It wasn't exactly like the rave, but Joe ended up dancing and laughing with Kelly and Alex in the middle of all the other wedding guests. Sweaty and high on music and content to let the beat steer her body instead of Derek. He had excused himself after one song, claiming that the bass was a bit too loud, but urged Joe to stay on the dance floor for as long as she wanted. And to her surprise, she found herself wanting to dance for as long as her feet could hold her, finally caught up in the happy occasion and forgetting about everything else.

Just like she had almost forgotten how much she loved to dance.

And every so often, she caught Derek watching her from the side. He'd be in the middle of a conversation, but always looked up just as she did, meeting her eye for a heartbeat or two before the rhythm sucked her back into the dance. It was comfortable, in a way. Comforting, maybe. Just an assurance that he was still there. Still hers. Like she was his.

At some point, even Nick's girlfriend joined them on the floor, and Kelly let out a happy shriek of "Carmela!" which Joe decided to commit to memory for good this time.

Finally, when DJ Madz succumbed to the peer pressure of playing another slow song, Joe left Kelly with her date and Alex with her wife and sidled away to find both Derek and something to drink. Most of the guests were on the dance floor or hanging around the bar, but she found Derek and Nick, of all people, sitting by themselves at the very back of the venue. Each with a bottle of beer and a smile on their face. Nick had one hand on the stroller, which he wiggled occasionally, and she noticed his beer was non-alcoholic.

"Hey," Derek gave Joe a decidedly warm smile when she came over to them, one she returned happily. "Want me back out there?"

"No, I need a break," Joe admitted and fanned herself to let the sweat cool. "But, uh, Carmela's still on the floor if you want to join her," she told Nick and nodded at the stroller. "We'll keep watch. I haven't really had anything to drink."

"Just give her to the baby whisperer here if she wakes up," Nick laughed as he patted Derek's shoulder and thanked Joe before going to find his girlfriend. Joe peered into the stroller, found the little thing fast asleep, and was about to take Nick's seat when Derek tugged on her hand, and she landed in his lap instead.

"Hi," she said, a bit surprised but not about to protest. Her sweat had cooled rapidly in the cold October night, and Derek was as always a living furnace.

"Having fun?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Joe said with a smile and wrapped her arms around herself. "But yeah, kinda."

Derek ran a finger down her naked arm, leaving goosebumps in his wake. "You're cold."

"I'm fine. My metabolism's not as good as yours. Give me a second to catch up."

"It wasn't a question. Hang on."

Derek reached his hand into the basket under the stroller and came back up with a dark blanket. Except as he spread it out and wrapped it over her shoulders, Joe realized it was not a blanket at all. It was a jacket. His jacket. His leather jacket. The one she gave back after shooting him, both mistakes so monumental it made her lose her breath all over again.

"Had it in the car," he said as a way of explanation and glanced at the stroller where the baby stirred but still slept. Aware of how he watched her carefully, Joe tried not to fumble when she slipped her arms into the jacket sleeves. Derek's lips pulled up in a half-smile. "It looks better on you."

"That's debatable." She tried to think of what else to say, of putting her vibrating heart and jumping feelings into words that made sense. "Thank you. You know you're not getting it back, right?"

"Good."

"Gonna be buried in this jacket, in fact."

"Too far."

"Sorry." Still parched, she swiped his bottle of beer and took a sip, immediately grimacing. "So, which story did Nick tell you? I'm assuming he did his utmost to ruin my good reputation as an upstanding undergrad."

"Halloween dorm party your freshman year," Derek admitted, and Joe snorted into the bottle. "Dressed as a bear, really?"

"Dressed as Oski the bear," Joe corrected, referring to the official university mascot. "Two hundred dollar cash prize. The runner-up was pissed."

"I bet," Derek said, his dangerously handsome smile returning. "Which song?"

"Lapdance, by N.E.R.D. Which might be ironic, but I don't know. Jealous?"

"Fascinated," Derek corrected and coasted his hand up her low back underneath his jacket. "Sounds hot. Warm, I mean, if you were in a full-body suit and all."

Joe laughed and admitted that it had been. They stayed like that, Joe on Derek's lap, his hand on her back, talking comfortably until Nick and Carmela returned. The baby hadn't stirred at all but piped up then, as it probably smelled its mom. That's what Carmela claimed anyway, and Joe was not about to argue.

They thanked Joe and Derek again for looking after the baby, invited them to visit if they ever stopped by Colorado, and claimed they were heading back to their hotel. Joe had one more round on the dance floor, including another slower song with Derek that was suspiciously similar to the one that had played at the rave that time before the entire wedding joined together to send off the married couple with sparklers and cheers.

While the party would go on as long as people wanted, Derek correctly assessed Joe's mood that she was done, and they strolled back to get the Camaro. The valet automatically handed the keys to Derek, but Joe swiped them out of the air.

"I'm driving, remember?" Joe jiggled the keys in her hand, completely unable to hide her big grin, especially with Derek's frozen smile. "You said I could!"

"That I did," Derek muttered after a brief pause. He got in on the passenger side and sat down like it was a foreign space capsule and not his own damn car. "What?"

"You look so pretty in the passenger seat," Joe cooed, and Derek rolled his eyes so far back that his head dropped to the headrest.

Not bothering to hide her excitement, Joe grinned again as she turned the ignition, and the Camaro rumbled all the way into her bones. It had been a while, but she'd not forgotten how powerful this car was compared to the other ones she usually drove — not that she'd driven all that much after the vault and all. So, she tried to keep her foot light when they rolled down the gravel road, but as soon as they hit the smooth asphalt with nothing but the dark night in either direction, she floored it.

"Okay," Derek said through gritted teeth and seemed to press himself into the seat. "No, keep going. I just need a second to get used to it."

She had glanced at him in question, not even aware of how her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but he waved her on and she did as told. Kept driving, but she did slow down to something closer to the speed limit when they reached a busier section of the interstate, and Derek looked like he could breathe a little easier.

It had been a long day for both of them, and they sat in companionable silence as Joe drove until she could not contain herself anymore.

"I haven't held a baby since Scott."

Derek stiffened next to her, and Joe tried to focus completely on the long stretch of empty road so she would not lose her nerve.

"And I was eight and not really interested in babies and not good at it either. If you're wondering why I panicked when Carmela tried to make me hold her baby. It's not that I don't like babies, I just don't know how to, y'know, handle them. Yet."

"Olivia. The baby. Her name's Olivia." Derek sounded slightly amused, but it was hard to tell with all of her focus on the road. "And I'm sorry, I didn't notice that you panicked."

"Then why did you volunteer to hold her?" Joe couldn't help but glance over at Derek, who shrugged.

"I like babies."

"You like babies?"

"I think they're cute, and they smell good. New. In a less creepy way than I just made it sound."

Joe mulled this over as she drove. "It's not that I don't like babies, you get that, right? I like babies and I'm sure I'll figure it out and everything, but—" She became all too aware of the incredulous expression on Derek's face. "Look, Mom said we were gonna have four kids, all right? And I've been fine with that concept in a, y'know, hypothetical way, and then seeing you tonight, with a baby, just made it a bit real." She gestured with her free hand as if the motion could harness her roaming thoughts. "And then the bouquet thing and Kelly talking about a wedding and— I'm trying, really trying, not to ruin the good thing we have right now because I'm scared about the future. Not scared, not like that, just… I'm worried, okay?"

Her hand had landed on the gearstick, squeezing it a bit harder than intended, and Derek reached over to coax it loose. "I'm not expecting anything from you, Joe."

"It seems like the universe does sometimes. And the pack definitely does. Not to mention Erica. And Aunt Mel and Mom and Dad and…" Joe bit her lip and glared at the road because it was a lot easier than looking at Derek right now. "I'm worried I'm not going to be all those things that I'm supposed to be, that people want me to be. That I won't be a good mom. Or a good Alpha. Or even a good girlfriend or mate or whatever I'm supposed to be to you. Sometimes, I'm worried I'm not a good person. That I'm one bad day away from turning into my mom. And I'm definitely not a good date because I just ruined the mood again, and I'm sorry, I just can't seem to stop. Tonight was great, Derek, and you were great, and we were great and—"

The car screeched when Joe pulled it over to the side of the road, killed the engine, and flopped back with a huff.

"You want me to drive?" Derek asked carefully after they'd sat in complete darkness for a few awkward minutes.

"No, I can drive, but where are we going, Derek?" Joe asked and gestured to the Beacon Hills sign in the rearview mirror. "You wanna crash the sleepover at the apartment, or are we gonna head to the loft? Or should I go to Aunt Mel's for the night and you to the loft? Or should I just keep driving, and we'll figure it out when we hit the coast? There's enough snacks in the back to last us through Tuesday at least."

"I'm sorry, I didn't think holding the baby would upset you."

"It's not about the baby, Derek. You're allowed to hold the baby. It's just, I didn't know you even knew how to hold a baby and I feel like I know you so well and then I get slapped in the face with everyhing I don't know."

"I have two younger siblings and a lot of younger cousins."

"It's not about the baby, Derek!" Joe squeezed her eyes shut and tried to get her breath back. "It's about everything. I want this to work so bad, but there's so much I don't know and I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. Like the thing with Cora and Erica at the loft the other day? I don't know how to handle that. Even if I know that's how you—"

"We."

"— blow off steam, it doesn't sit right with me. I don't know how a real pack is supposed to work, how a real Alpha would handle things, and the only sources of information we have available are your creepy uncle, my dubious aunt, and the frickin' emissaries, who are the shadiest of them all. I know Marin said she'd help get us started, but I don't trust myself around her because she's so pretty— sorry — and I just wish there was like a guidebook or something. A mentorship, maybe. Werewolf hotline. Call 1-800-awooo to talk to one of our experts."

"Joe."

"I know, I know, I'm spiraling, and we can change the subject and—"

"It's fine," Derek said calmly, and Joe got several flashbacks from similar conversations, and she gritted her teeth at her own ability to always ruin things. "You're fine. I'm not upset with you and you're allowed to have doubts and I think I know how you feel. I'm sorry I don't have all the answers. But we're together about this, remember?"

"It's just so much responsibility, you know? To keep everyone safe and—"

"The pack keeps the pack safe. Just like you and me are stronger together, so is the pack. Everyone in the pack has that responsibility you're talking about."

"It's different though. They're just kids."

"They're not just kids. And," he shrugged at her skeptical expression, "even if they technically are in some ways, they're not our kids. I don't care if they call you Mama Goat for some reason, you're not their mother nor are you supposed to be functioning as one."

"You told them that?"

"They know that. I'm not sure which analogy will work, but I do know that familial and pack bonds are different. They overlap at some points, but they are different." Derek gave her a thoughtful look, still holding onto her hand. "Joe, I haven't been in or around a well-functioning pack for a long time either. Laura was my Alpha, and she took care of me, but we weren't a pack, not a real one. I'm trying to remember what it was like, but it's something I've been trying to forget too, so it's not that easy."

"We've got a long way to go, huh?"

"Maybe. Or maybe not. Today," he smiled, and Joe's heart ached in her chest, "sort of felt like the beginning of something."

Hope. What was it she had said about that hope again? Yeah, that she would do anything to let him keep it. Anything except keep her stupid mouth shut, apparently.

"You know," Joe sighed and leaned back into the driver's seat, noting the faint scent of him from the leather, "the main thing that kept me going when I was in that vault was the hope that you'd be proud of me. For taking care of the pack. For being strong."

The admission hung heavy and potent between them, and she did not need heightened senses to detect his surprise. The way he looked at her got too much and she stared at the steering wheel instead.

"And you did. And I am." Derek shifted in his seat, facing her more and coaxing her back to meet his eyes. "Joe, you know you never have to prove yourself to me. In any way. You're everything I want and need already."

"I'm just so worried about letting you down— don't laugh!"

Derek did just that, shaking his head in disbelief. "You can't. Joe, you do realize that almost everything I've done since I met you was an attempt to prove myself worthy to you? From trying to protect you to building a pack you'd want to be part of? I'm not saying I went about it the right way because you know firsthand how many mistakes I made, but you are the main thing that keeps me going every day."

"You wanna know the real reason I want to be a full werewolf?" Joe asked in return, the dark interior of the car somehow making it easier to spill every secret between them. "So I could be stronger. For you."

"You're the strongest werewolf I've ever met, Joe."

"Liar."

"I've lied to you once, Joe, about Paige. Never before, never after."

"I'm like fifty percent werewolf, at most."

"I already told you, there's no such thing as a half-werewolf. " Derek glanced up at the night sky through the window and seemed to have made up his mind about something. "And I'll prove it to you."

"How?"

"You trust me?"

The answer came hard and definite for once, and Joe nodded. "Yeah."

"Then come on, get out." Derek unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, leaving behind a bewildered Joe whose head still reeled from all the heavy talk. "Come on, let's get some fresh air."

"What are you doing?" Joe asked, but got out of the car, wrapping his jacket around her to ward against the chill of midnight. Above them laid the completely empty sky, the new moon gone for the evening, leaving nothing but stars.

Derek, in the midst of taking off his shoes, gestured for her to do the same. "Next lesson, how to blow off steam."

"Are we gonna fight? I didn't really mean that kind of strong, you know."

She still undid her sandals, slipping them back into the car. Derek did not seem anywhere near volatile. In fact, he looked like he had a bounce in his step as he came over to her side.

"No, we're not gonna fight," he assured her and dragged her off the road toward the edge of the preserve. "There are other ways to blow off steam and prove that you're a real werewolf." Derek, smiling and beautiful, pulled her closer to him, placed a small kiss on her lips, and said, "Tag. You're it."

Before she could open her eyes, Derek bolted into the forest.

"Derek? Derek!"

And before Joe could think about it, she followed him.

Fifty yards in, she realized what he was trying to show her, but another part of her overruled her thinking brain and made her keep running. Keep following him. Keep chasing him. Unable to stop herself. Instincts taking over.

Her naked feet slapped against the cold dirt, dry leaves rustling as she sped past the trees, just able to spot a faint shadow moving up ahead that had to be Derek and gave her a direction. The running came as natural as breathing, something she'd marveled at so many times before. Especially when running after something. Chasing something or someone.

Instincts.

Branches whipped her face and the occasional pinecone dug into the soles of her feet — in fact, she could feel the small twinges when the same thing happened to Derek up ahead. The forest was alive with noise in the night, owls hooting and insects buzzing, her and Derek adding the pounding of their feet and fast labored breaths to the cacophony.

He probably let her catch him — he'd gotten a good head start after all — but Joe couldn't care less and pounced on him, sending them both flying into the leaf-covered ground. They rolled twice over each other before Joe shot up and ran.

"You're it!"

The sound of his laughter behind her made her whole body feel weightless as if she was a bullet shot from a gun, smoking hot and flying between the trees. The difference between chasing and being chased mattered little, other than that she could run blind, caring more about the from than the to, and she let out an ecstatic shriek when she caught Derek's shadow to her side, somehow managing to dodge him by a hair's width and keep running.

Leaves and pine needles littered her hair, her makeup smeared from wet branches hitting her face, her dress wet and ragged on the hem. In fact, so wet and heavy that her foot caught in the thin fabric, sending her somersaulting into the ground with a variety of swearwords loose on her tongue. The ground shook from Derek's hard steps as he reached her, and she huffed a loose strand of hair away from her face and accepted his extended hand to help her up.

Derek, with a muddied shirt and messed up hair, gave her an unabashed smile. "You're it." He dropped her hand, sent her back onto the ground, and ran off.

"You try running in a long dress!" Joe shouted after him, louder than necessary, and decided that Erica was going to kill her already for ruining her outfit, why not go all the way? Mind made up, Joe ripped away the bottom fabric of her dress, making it the world's most uneven mini dress, but easier to run with. Easier to chase.

Derek had paused up ahead, his breaths coming out in large puffs of white smoke and his eyes growing a brighter red than her own. He grinned, bared his teeth, and Joe saw the fangs extend. A challenge. Fine with her.

Trying not to give him any forewarning, she dashed forward, jumping almost ten feet in one go, and hit the ground, literally running. Her fingertips brushed the edge of his shirt, but no luck.

The chase was back on, Joe trying to hold in her laughter to save her breath. The nighttime forest zoomed past her as she let Derek lead her further and further into the preserve, too late realizing that this was where he'd grown up, his turf, and he probably knew it better than most.

And she would have worried about that more if Derek hadn't decided to increase his head start by dropping to all fours and continuing to run — on all fours! Joe made it ten, maybe twelve more steps before she broke down.

She laughed so hard she had no doubt Derek would feel it because both her chest and stomach hurt. It was that kind of hysterical laughter that had no end, that had her throw her head back and almost choke on her own snorts, that had her clench her knees together and stumble to the ground. That kind of laughter that did not fizzle, but kept coming in short bursts and hiccups as she couldn't stop thinking about it long enough to get peace. Joe had no idea how she would ever get that image out of her mind and she wiped tears from her eyes, noticing Derek getting closer through the blur.

"Oh my God, you were so fast," Joe cackled, snorted again, and stomped her feet in an effort to keep it in. She had no chance, though, and gasped for air in lieu of howling with joy because of the way he looked now. Like he wanted so bad — so bad — to be pissed off, but could not help smiling despite his best efforts. Joe sucked air into her lungs, threw her hair back to cool off her face, and shook her head. "I am sorry, Professor Hale, I am skipping this lesson. Playing hooky. Gonna go sit under the bleachers and smoke."

"You made your point," Derek said, still fighting the smile threatening to take over his face. He stood in the middle of a small clearing, arms crossed over his chest, and his head tilted while watching Joe fight for her life.

Still giggling, she shook her head, trying to compose herself, and laid a hand on Derek's arm as if to apologize.

"You're it."

With a shrill wail of laughter, she dashed away again, knowing she would not make it far. She didn't. In a few strong steps, Derek slammed into her, curled his body around hers to soften the fall, and they tumbled into the leaves again. Except this time, when she tried to scramble up, he swept her back down and flipped them so he trapped her with his body and started planting kisses all over her face. Joe was already laughing so hard she didn't feel it at first when his fingertips dug into her sides, and his beard wiggled into her neck until she suddenly did and realized he was tickling her. Coaxing out more and more laughs until her throat felt raw and her face ached, and she thought she would burst from happiness.

"You win, you win," she gasped and let a few more giggles escape as he pushed off her and fell to the side. Through the buzz, she heard the low and comfortable sounds of Derek laughing while catching his breath, and she turned to face him just as he did the same.

It should not have been comfortable, lying on the forest floor in October, on nothing but dry leaves and the cold ground. And yet it was, especially when Derek pulled her closer and rested his forehead against hers.

"I can see why you might want to use that sparingly," Joe whispered as if that could prevent her talking from ruining things again. Her feet moved on their own again, like they were not done running, and she intertwined her legs between his.

"I've been saving it," Derek murmured, a faint red glow visible behind his closed eyes and he wrapped one arm around her to pull her closer, "for when you needed a distraction."

"Consider me distracted," was all Joe could say before Derek claimed her mouth in a kiss. As much as he could with both of them still smiling, anyway, and Joe giggled again as his stubble tickled her face.

It was impossible to tell when the smiles slipped into something more breathless and eager. When it grew from small cute pecks to open-mouthed kisses with every inhale desperately sucked in through the nose. When Joe's hands curled into Derek's shirt and his hands wrapped into her dress and they both pulled to get closer than physically possible. They shifted, no longer lying side by side, and Joe's back pressed into the cold ground with Derek's impossibly warm body covering hers.

They broke the kiss at the same time, and Joe opened her eyes to see Derek doing the same. Staring at each other while their labored breaths moved synchronously through their bodies. His gaze did not waver, and she found that neither did hers. They stayed like that for a second or a minute or a lifetime or even more. And Joe found her mind completely blank for once, no coherent words within reach, and none were needed. Not with him, with the universe in his green eyes and a calm sea in his breath. Not with Derek, whose expression shone with everything she could ever dream of — acceptance and patience and love and that thing with no name that somehow surpassed all of it. Her mate. Her equal. Hers.

She ran her fingers over his bearded cheek, and his eyes closed, hiding the shining red while she caressed his face. Up from his jaw to his temple and then his hair. He turned to follow her wrist with his nose, almost as if he tried to inhale her completely through the sensitive skin, and her mind buzzed with everything she wanted to say. The only thing that came out was a soft utter of, "Derek."

His eyes opened to roam over her, and she worried he would retreat, claiming her heartbeat drummed too loud in his ears or her need for him reeked too pungent in his nose. Her skin too hot, her eyes too dark, her grip too hard, her mouth too soft, her love too strong. Some part of her just too much somehow, but Derek only leaned closer. Not kissing her, but hovering a fraction of a hair width from her lips so that she was not sure where her body began and his ended.

"Are you sure?"

At first, Joe thought she had whispered the words in the minuscule space between their lips. The voice belonged to Derek, however, even if the echo of his breath filled her lungs. She closed the distance, trying to devour him through the kiss, only stopping because she had to tell him the only thing that mattered.

"I love you," they both said in the available moment and it marked the beginning of something. An answer to an unspoken question; a sign of mutual consent and understanding. One that flittered into Joe's heart and into her veins and spread across her entire body, multiplied everywhere she touched him and stronger still where he touched her in turn. "I love you too."

And it was that easy, wasn't it?

A shared effort managed the impossible feat of bringing them even closer. He cupped his hand behind her head, and she clamped her fingers around his neck, and neither relented their grip on each other. Their mouths locked together in fervent exploration while Joe arched her back into his chest, and Derek rewarded her by laying more solidly on top of her. They ended in a familiar position with his leg between hers, both stretched out on the ground, kicking their bare feet into the layer of leaves and pine needles and moss. Her breath shivered into him when his free hand ventured up the outside of her thigh until he hit the ragged hem of her dress.

"Your dress's ruined," he murmured into her mouth and continued kissing along the edge of her lips and down to her jaw. His fingers stayed at the hem, thumb digging into the softness of her thigh.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head when Derek's blistering hot lips landed on her neck, the sound of her pulse probably like a jet engine to his ears. "So's your shirt."

"Mm," Derek murmured his agreement into her throat, placed a last hard kiss right over her artery, and sat up.

The chill of the night did not even register at the sight of him in a torn up white shirt, stained with mud and dirt, and Joe pushed herself up too without thinking. She let him take the jacket off her shoulders, laying it on the ground as a makeshift blanket. He started working on the buttons of his shirt, but Joe placed her hand over Derek's to stop him. His red eyes dimmed away to his normal green, laced with uncertainty.

"Can I…?" she asked, heart beating so hard it was a miracle her voice did not shake.

It was hard to tell if Derek understood what she asked. His head tilted to the side, and his eyebrows furrowed, but he gave her a short nod. Whatever he expected, it had obviously not been this as his eyebrows shot up when Joe reached for him. She gripped the sides of his shirt with both hands and tore it apart without much effort. It ripped like tissue paper over his chest, sending buttons flying into the night and revealing the bare skin of his torso underneath.

A moment of shock on his face before his eyes flared back in brighter and harder red than she'd ever seen and the next thing she knew, he was over her again. He pushed her into the ground, the weight of his hip digging into her thighs while he launched a full-on attack on her mouth with his. The growl permeated her very existence, and his chest vibrated under her wandering hands, relishing at the first real chance to touch all of him like she had dreamed of. Strong, warm, sculpted, hard, and soft, depending on where she grabbed him and how he moved over her.

Everything turned hot and desperate and blurry in her mind. The familiar demand of more more more coupled with a thrill of pleasure in her abdomen that could have belonged to either of them. Derek's hand wandered over her naked leg, up her waist, and brushed ever so slightly against the side of her breast, causing her to dig her blunt fingernails into his naked back.

All the earlier whispers of careful and wait were long gone from both their minds. Derek caressed Joe's face, their kiss breaking long enough for Joe to lean into his touch, and when his hand returned down her body it was no longer an accidental brush against her breast. She threw her head back, succumbing to the sensation of his touch, and blanked when he used that opportunity to graze his teeth against her exposed throat.

His growl turned so dark and feral she could imagine his fangs lengthening, turning it into something real. The bite digging into her flesh remained blunt and sensual, however, tapping into nerve endings she did not even know she had and coaxing out a growl of her own. His hands were a different story, and a prickle of claws scraped against her scalp from where his fingers tangled into her carefully made-up curls. Joe was sure she did not elicit any sound that would indicate discomfort, but Derek stilled his ministrations and hovered over her.

He panted worse than when they had run and splayed his fingers wide under her head so as not to touch her with the claws again. "Sorry, I— give me a second."

Equals, Joe thought as if he could read her mind, I can handle you. She hooked her hand behind his neck and all but slammed him back down to her. She went for his mouth first, kissing him so intently she could feel his pulse in her tongue, and dragged her teeth over his bottom lip before following with kisses everywhere she could reach. His jaw, his neck, his shoulders, everywhere until she felt both his hands relax again, returning to what they were doing, which was, by all definitions, making her lose her mind.

Through her haze of red, hot pleasure induced by Derek's hand over the bodice of her dress, she noticed a hardness that pressed into her thigh. Not thinking, she reached down, but Derek pushed himself to the side and out of her reach. She blinked her eyes open in question and found him heavy-lidded and with the darkness casting shadows over his face just inches away. He watched her intently as he ran his hand down the front of her chest, brushing over her shivering stomach to the swell of her hip and all the way back to the ragged hem that had pulled up during their scuffle, on the verge of completely inappropriate.

She tried to remember how to breathe, the way his fingertips inched up underneath the dress and onto her inner thigh making it hard to remember even her own name. His went on repeat inside her skull, all-encompassing and consuming. Derek. Derek Derek Derek. His gaze never left her face, attentive and searching, obviously prepared to stop at her slightest hint of hesitation.

"I haven't," Joe started and blinked at the sound of her own breathless voice, not sure what had prompted the admission or need to warn him, "shaved there."

Derek stopped moving, maybe he stopped breathing too, and he froze with his lips tilted ever so slightly upward.

"There wasn't time, and I didn't think this was on the agenda and—" Joe did not even hear her own incessant rambling, mind working overtime while she tried to decipher his expression because she was not sure why she felt the need to give him a heads up. Blame the patriarchy, maybe, or her own internalized misogyny or just societal expectations, or her mouth that she could not seem to keep closed.

He leaned forward and kissed her before whispering into the hollow between her lips, "Good."

"Good?"

"I'm a werewolf, Joe," he said as an explanation, and she tried to wonder how that played in, but nothing mattered when his fingers moved again, and she blanked completely as they reached their destination. And then some.

She clung to him the best she could, succumbing to his touch, only pulling in enough air to moan his name. Over and over again. Nothing mattered outside of him and his name fell from her lips like a prayer or a hymn, only lost to his kisses or drowned out by his growls and soft swears that mixed with the sound of her own blood that positively boiled beneath her skin. At some point, he pulled her underwear down her legs and dropped it to the side before returning to her in more ways than one.

It should not have been possible to feel this good, but Derek did not relent and his lingering kisses had passed the neckline of her breasts before she understood his intention. At least her instincts worked in her favor for once and had her spread her legs to accommodate him as he pushed his head under her dress. Oh my God. What kind of delirious fever dream was this? Except this was real. She could see him, she could hear him, she could smell him, and she could definitely feel him when he tasted her.

She fell back on the forest floor, thighs hooked over Derek's broad shoulders, and her red vision swam with hot, delirious pleasure when his fingers made room for his mouth.

The scent of him somehow consumed her while Derek positively devoured her. All of her; body, mind, and soul, and whatever part of her that only existed as an extension of him. Her hands fumbled for leverage on the ground, not even trying to contain any sound that burst from her chest and mouth alike, and she knew her bottom lip would bruise from how she bit it so hard in lieu of his that was busy elsewhere. A rain of swearwords replaced his name when the wave rose to hitherto unknown levels, the boiling of her blood threatening to make part of her implode on his tongue where he worked her closer and closer to something downright unnatural in its essence. Something so good, so amazing, so perfect it could only be mythical.

The only leverage she could find was Derek himself and she gripped his hair, probably on the verge of too hard, but she was too far gone to care. Her skin too hot, her eyes too dark, her grip too hard, her heart too soft, her love too strong, her body too light to be tethered to reality beyond where he held her in place. Every part of her just too much and just right at the same time. One of his hands kept her legs open — they had started to close at the same time as she started to shake from the building storm in her core — while his other hand joined his mouth, and that was it.

Good god, that was it.

A scream or a growl or a howl that all somehow contained his name tore from her, and she bucked off the ground as lightning struck. No, not lightning, that only flashed once and was gone. This came closer to a tidal wave that flattened cities in its wake, rolling over and obliterating every piece of her soul that had once been Joe and was now all and completely Derek's.

Every part of her definitely his.

Joe rode the wave to completion, her hips following in turn, until she had to push him away as it got alltogether too much. She buzzed in the aftershock, fell back to the ground, and let out something between a laugh and a swear. Voice shaking and chest heaving, her eyes glowed so bright she wondered if they could be seen from outer space, and she grabbed for Derek to get back up so she could kiss him. Needed to kiss him.

With all her strength zapped away, she barely managed to get a grip on him. He luckily both understood and complied and slipped out from under her dress only to fall over her, their mouths crashing onto each other.

As predicted, he tasted like her, and try as she might, she could not make heads or tails of how that had just happened. Had that just happened? Joe stared at Derek in something akin to awe and noted how sweat ran down his face to mix with what had come from her. And how hard he breathed when he pulled away from the kiss to rest his forehead against hers.

It was almost as if he had been the one to unravel completely, not her.

"The pleasure bond," she managed to whisper, his disheveled state finally making sense, and he gave her a weak nod. "Did you…"

"No." He shook his head, sweaty locks dancing on his forehead. "No, I blocked some, but—" His eyebrows moved in strange ways over his face. "That was a lot."

Joe stared as hypnotized at him and ran her fingers through his hair. "Yeah."

"Is it always—"

"No."

No, it was definitely not always like that, but maybe it would be with him and she had not even considered that before. What the pleasure bond meant for them when they were together like this.

Curiosity and a desire to return the favor made her reach for him now. This time, it was her turn to watch his face, searching for any clues that she should stop, and she knew he gave her full permission even if he looked like he wanted to protest for some reason. She found him easily, of course, still impossibly hard and solid inside his dress pants. Her fingers barely brushed alongside him before she felt it somewhere inside of her. The sensation almost too much after the mindnumbing orgasm she still had not come fully down from and based on Derek's heartfelt groan, he agreed.

Even through the layers, her fingers burned from the contact, and so did her palm when she took a firmer hold. His jaw tightened, his brows furrowed, his mouth parted, and she wanted to squirm under his attention, knowing she could never survive the same scrutiny from anyone else. Still, he made no move to stop her, and she pulled on his belt buckle. Resisting the urge to tear through his pants like she had his shirt because the desire to have him naked all but consumed her.

Apparently, it went both ways.

While she fought with his belt, Derek reached to the neckline of her dress and dug a single claw into the fabric, careful to avoid her skin. Maybe it was payback for his shirt, maybe it was just an urgency on his behalf, but he ripped down and parted the material like the Nile. A neat line that spread the dress to either side, baring her to him and the world, which was one and the same for Joe at the moment.

"Condom?" she whispered into his mouth as he returned down to kiss her. He aided her in getting him equally naked by stripping his pants down his legs, and Joe hooked her toe into his waistband to get them completely off. The hair on his legs tickled the inside of her feet and she ran her feet up and down, basking in the novelty of it. "I left my purse in the car."

"Pocket," he mumbled back and reached for his discarded pants to retrieve the small plastic square Joe had dropped under the table earlier. He paused, digging his gaze into her like they were not both fully naked on the forest floor under an empty night sky. "Are you sure about this?"

"Derek, I love you so much," Joe pushed at him, taking the condom out of his grip and emphasizing her words with her hands, which made him grunt into her mouth, "and I have never been so sure about anything in my life."

It felt both exhilarating and strange to both touch him for the first time and also feel his pleasure course through her as she did so. She gripped him as she kissed him again and trailed her other hand over the hard, rippling muscles of his abdomen. Everything she had dreamed of and more. She ran her fingers through the coarse hair on his chest, following the dark trail down and down to where her other hand lingered, and he shuddered at her touch. Her big, strong Alpha groaned her name and surrendered to her as she had to him.

Every part of Derek's chest rippled, and he put his hand over hers to pull her away. At first, she thought he wanted to stop, but it turned out to be the opposite. He guided her back and lay down with her, their mouths never more than an inch apart. His whole lean body molded into hers, skin against skin and lips against lips, and she spread her legs to allow his hips to settle between them.

"Feel all of it," Joe said, thinking of how he had blocked before and stroked his hair again. "Let go."

He shook his head, already breathing harder than she had ever seen. "I won't last."

"That's okay."

"I want to—"

"There'll be other times. Just, please, this time, don't hold back." Her voice shook when he came closer, the movement slow and steady and amazing. "Let go, Derek. I need you, I need both of us, to feel all of it like we're supposed to."

For once, don't hold back. Don't try to be in control. Let yourself go. Please, Derek, just let us be what we're supposed to be, what we're meant to be. Feel what I feel and let me feel what you feel and let us be like one. My mate, my equal, my Derek, my—

Oh God.

It was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began and the red turned white in Joe's vision from the sheer mindnumbing intensity that came from Derek pushing forward. Into her. It went beyond anything and everything she thought she knew about him or herself or the universe at large. While the world swirled back in the various shades of red, her thoughts struck with a clear black-and-white dichotomy that declared this exact moment as right. Perfect. Good.

It did not matter where one ended and the other began. Not their bodies nor their feelings, and the roll of his hips came crashing with the unnervingly honest love for her that spread to every corner of her body. It was him, it was Derek, it was always Derek, and he was so right and so perfect and so good. She wrapped herself around him, desperate to feel more of him, all of him, hoping he felt her love for him in the same way she could feel his.

I love you I love you I love you

Despite his claim, Derek did last, even if his clawed hands dug up the earth next to her shoulders and his fangs lengthened into her mouth as they kissed. Kissing did not even begin to cover it, though. Not with their lips and tongues and teeth paying homage wherever they could reach. Every push Derek made into her coaxed a groan or growl from both their throats, and Joe tightened around him with the burning hot sensation translating into her. Helping to bring forth her own building climax.

This was where they were supposed to be, a part of Joe thought. Naked and together, rutting into each other on the forest floor under the night sky, on their home turf. With their bright red eyes burning into each other and their growls mixing into a choir of worship for what had become so completely and utterly them.

Natural and supernatural at the same time — that at least went for Derek's stamina, but she could not even begin to doubt that he had heeded her request of feeling all of it. Not with the way his veins bulged on his neck, not with the way his teeth gritted together whenever their kiss broke, not with the way he dug his hands into her now, harder than humanly possible and without any regard for their shared pain. Not human, she reminded herself, and did her best to match his intense rhythm, to follow his lead. Werewolf. Her werewolf.

Her Alpha. Her mate. Her Derek.

She clasped his back, pushed her face into his neck, and turned to kiss whenever she could, but she had more than enough to just hold onto her sanity. He had to feel how close she was — or was it he that was close now? — because he increased his speed. Snapping forward and into her over and over again while her name ran like a river from his mouth. He had to feel how good he made her feel, he had to know what he was doing to her, but with the way he looked at her, the way he kissed her, the way he said her name over and over again, she realized she was doing everything to him too.

"I love you," she almost whimpered, desperate to stare at his beautiful face but unable to keep her eyes open for more than a second at a time. "Oh my God, Derek, I love you."

Everything built and built and built and something had to give and Joe feared it would be her mind before anything else but then the dam finally burst. Her harsh groan disappeared into the meaty part of Derek's shoulder and he bit down on her neck so hard it would definitely leave a mark and everything turned white white white and her orgasm flooded over her consciousness while Derek's climax burst her wide open.

I love you I love you I love you

They stayed in that tangled mess for a second or a minute or a lifetime or even more. Derek's labored breaths shot into the crook of her neck and sent a breeze through her sweaty curls. His heartbeat thudded into her chest like a sledgehammer while she ran her hand up and down his back, not sure who she was trying to soothe and bring back to reality. Probably both of them.

"I love you," Derek murmured and lifted the bulk of his torso only so he could place a kiss on her increasingly swollen lips. "That was…" He never finished the sentence, just shook his head and swallowed hard and kissed her again. "I love you."

"That was," she agreed and smiled because Derek smiled. "I love you too."

Derek kissed her and pushed off her again, the movement separating them in more ways than one. Without him over her, Joe stared at the empty sky instead, still dark and wonderful like earlier, and she filled her lungs with the cold air. It did not take long before Derek laid down next to her again. He wordlessly pulled her against him, wrapped the jacket over her, and brushed pine needles and dirt from her legs.

"That's one way to blow off steam," Joe commented, unable to help herself, and placed her head on his chest in time to feel the rumble from his laugh. His sweat clung to her cheek and made him smell so good she felt dizzy.

"I swear, this was not what I planned," Derek admitted and moved his hand to pick out more of the forest from her hair. "Sorry about your dress."

"Sorry about your shirt."

Derek paused, and she felt him twist his head to look at her. "You're lying."

"Okay, I'm not that sorry about your shirt. Or anything else. I don't think I'm sorry at all, actually."

"Me neither," Derek murmured, which gave her the confirmation she needed, and she relaxed against him even more. "We should get back to the car."

"Mm."

"You're not moving."

"Neither are you."

"Yeah." Derek tightened his arm around her, and Joe ran her fingers through his chest hair again. The chill should have bothered her, especially with the sweat rapidly cooling on both their bodies, but it didn't. The nudity should maybe have bothered her too, but if she had to be honest, she had never felt more at ease than right now, naked and pressed up against Derek like this. It was right.

They could stay like that forever for all Joe minded.

Neither said anything — Joe had no idea what words were worth saying at a time like this — and she continued gazing up at the stars. She could not help but wonder how the next full moon would pan out. Their first one together as a couple. Maybe they could shake out that excess energy the moon brought forth by chasing after each other again. Would it be more urgent and intense than this? Could it even become more urgent and intense than this? It was hard to imagine. At least they would have time to explore the pleasure bond more before the next full moon, or at least she hoped so, and Joe bit her lip as her mind filled with fantasies of how they could do that.

"Really?"

Before she could answer, Derek rolled them around so she laid fully on top of him, naked breasts pressing into his chest and she straddled him without thinking. A lazy smile stretched over his lips, and her breath hitched at feeling his hands wander again, from her arms and down her waist and ending up on her naked ass.

He pulled her down to a kiss, curving his tongue into her mouth and nipping her bottom lip with his teeth before he kissed up to her cheek. His voice came impossibly dark right in the shell of her ear, "We have a second condom."

Joe stared at him, finally starting to realize exactly what being a werewolf meant, but could not deny the new flurry of lust building within her.

"You don't need a minute?"

"Does it feel like I need a minute?"

It did not. And he was right, they did have a second condom.

By the time they made their way out of the preserve, dawn broke over the horizon. They walked hand in hand, taking their time and talking about nothing and everything. Derek had pulled on what remained of his pants while Joe had made a makeshift skirt of her tattered dress and let the leather jacket barely cover the rest. She trusted Derek to pick up on any approaching company but could honestly not care less about either her state of undress, her ruined makeup, or her messy hair.

All she cared about was her hand in Derek's and the ease in his voice as he talked, and the smile on his face whenever he looked at her.

"You know the pack Cora was with?" Derek asked after they reached the Camaro and rummaged through the overnight bags Erica had packed for them. It included another pack of condoms, and Joe shook her head at the absurdity. "In Venezuela?"

Joe paused in the middle of getting into a pair of sweatpants, her chest already covered in what might have been Derek's t-shirt based on the fit. "Yeah?"

"She's been talking about going back. Not to stay," Derek hurried to add when Joe sent him a panicked stare, "but to say goodbye. It's hard to leave a pack, and she's been with them for a long time and only planned to leave temporarily when she did."

Not sure where Derek was going with this, Joe finished getting dressed and took a moment to appreciate the way Derek's chest moved when he pulled on a sweater. He had marks from her fingers on his arms and back, not fully healed since they came from an Alpha. She absentmindedly touched her own neck, where he had made his mark, thankfully with his human teeth.

It felt raw to the touch, something Derek obviously picked up on, and he glanced at her. "That's not a werewolf thing."

"Just a you-thing?"

"Just a you-thing," Derek corrected her and came over to throw his leather jacket over her shoulders. "Maybe a bit my thing too. It's a good look on you."

Not sure if he was talking about the jacket or the mark or both, Joe just smiled into the kiss that followed. The mark would heal sooner or later, but she did not mind it at all now. Only hours before she had talked about getting the same tattoo as him, after all.

Derek did not continue their original conversation until they sat in the Camaro, this time with Joe in the passenger seat. "If you're up for it, we could go with her."

"Cora?" Joe asked, and Derek nodded. "To Venezuela?"

"Yeah." Derek started the car and pulled out on the road, blessedly free of traffic at this hour. "The Alpha down there was — is — an old friend of my family. They're good people and have a good pack, from what I know. Figured maybe we could learn something from them, about being Alphas."

"A mentorship," Joe whispered, and Derek rolled his eyes. "No, I like the idea. It's just, what about Erica and Boyd? They're in school and— wait, so is Cora."

"We'll do a long weekend. We can fly down most of the way and rent a car down there. Erica and Boyd'll stay behind with Jimmy. We'll be back in a couple of days."

"We can't leave Jimmy behind."

"They'll stay behind with Peter?"

"Ew, no. If anything, they'll stay behind with Scott."

"So, we're going?"

Joe watched the approaching city of Beacon Hills, trying to piece together how she felt about leaving, even for a short period of time. For some reason, it was not all bad. It probably helped that she and Derek smelled like sex and each other, having made their claim to Beacon Hills in some weirdly primal way. It was not like Derek to suggest anything unless he had thought it through and besides, Joe knew Cora needed to say a proper goodbye. And how often did you get the chance to visit a pack of South American werewolves?

"Yeah. Road trip to Venezuela sounds fun."

Derek smiled, the sunlight caressing his face, which held more life and color than she could remember seeing before. Unfortunately, the sun came straight at them through the windshield, and Derek pulled down the visor to avoid being blinded. It cast the upper part of his face in shadows, but Joe's gaze focused on something else that was tucked inside the small pocket on the backside of the visor.

Of course, Derek caught where her attention went, and he plucked the familiar Polaroid from its resting place and handed it to her with a shrug. Obviously not at all embarrassed as he said, "I'm very much in love with you, Joe."

She smiled at the photo, the one of them kissing at the loft, and then at the real him next to her.

"I'm very much in love with you too, Derek."

THE END