The Spark Within

Chapter 1

Derek had successfully evaded Stiles now for two weeks. He was well aware that the boy was pissed at him as he had heard via Isaac, who had been informed by Scott, that Stiles had gone on a 2 hour rant at him the other night, about idiotic self hating sourwolves who hide their emotions behind walls of forced anger and self loathing. That there was no way Derek would get away with kissing him (all be it in wolfy form), curing a curse with a kiss and expect him not to have questions. Especially when said kiss had been performed by the entire Pack which included his best friend and dad and their platonic kisses hadn't been enough to break the curse.

Stiles always had questions, usually questions on top of questions. The boy was after all resourceful, enigmatic, constantly curious, beguiling and unutterably insufferable. God he drove Derek crazy!

How could such an obnoxious motor mouthed force of nature have turned his entire world on it's head. Derek had spent years curating his grouchy, cold and harsh persona, only for a strong willed, loud mouthed kid to smash down all his walls with his ever willing, ever helpful, hopeful and self sacrificing behaviour. How could Derek not love him, the boy was too heroic for his own goddamn good, always throwing himself into harm's way to save the lives of anyone in danger, regardless of whether they actually had healing powers or not. Stiles always came through, he was dependable, reliable and so goddamnit beautiful it made Derek's heart ache with need and desire.

Derek couldn't possibly face Stiles now, he had been relieved, don't get him wrong, that he had been able to cure the curse that had caused Stiles to lose his memories and live as a wild Fennec Fox. But the cost was that now the entire Pack knew his secret, they knew he had a love so strong for Stiles that it had enabled him to break the curse, that not even the strongest of platonic love could lift.

How was he supposed to look him in the eye again, to see the disgust on Stiles' face and hear the words of rejection he would be forced to utter in an attempt to no doubt let Derek down gently. No thank you! It was bad enough having to face Isaac, Erica and Boyd, seeing the smug smiles and knowing glances, he could not in any way face the source of his heart ache.

Derek had gods honestly tried to avoid his own Beta's too, he had been successful in avoiding Scott, as to be honest their relationship was still somewhat tense, the other Alpha acknowledging Derek as the Pack Alpha but being unwilling to spend an inordinate amount of time with him.

The other Beta's, however, had been suffering undue duress to their Pack bond by the enforced separation. This was no doubt due to Derek being the one who had gifted them the bite, meaning they had a stronger bond with him that needed regular contact in order to thrive. It was like a form of rejection sickness, Derek had realised and there wasn't any way that Derek would willingly hurt them that way just to stave off his own embarrassment. So he had compromised, making sure to spend an hour training with them each day to ensure the bond remained strong.

Erica had tried to force him to talk about his feelings a number of times, to which Derek usually flipped her off, calling the training session over and walked away. This in turn had Isaac and Boyd arguing with Erica to get her to stop pushing his buttons, it was clearly evident he didn't want to talk.

Erica had eventually given in to their requests for the benefit of the Pack, enabling Derek to relax some. So he was surprised when it was Isaac who broached the subject next, just casually mentioning to Boyd in passing the conversation he had had with Scott earlier that day about how Stiles was doing. It was no doubt fully intentional that Isaac brought it up when Derek was in the next room, but it enabled Derek to hear the update on the boy he loved without having to face the others. He couldn't deny he had been desperate for information on how he had been doing following the ordeal he had gone through, so he wasn't going to walk away when he could listen in on any update but still continue to feign ignorance.

So now Derek is out running, running away from his Pack and his feelings, trying his utmost to stop thinking about honey eyes, a button nose and bowed lips, a voice so smooth its like melting butter and a body so lithe it just begs to be cradled against his own. Fuck he is so totally screwed.

It's bad enough the Pack knows, bad enough that Stiles knows but fuuuuuuck what's even worse is the Sheriff with his knowing smirk whenever he catches sight of Derek. He had been bad enough before, just when he had only suspected Derek's feelings for his son, but now he had become so all knowing that whenever he saw Derek, he insisted on trying to offer advice. Advice that Derek really did not want to hear thank you very much!! God could his mortification get any worse!

So now he was avoiding the Sheriff too, despite the Sheriff now also being part of his pack, god he was so utterly screwed!!

Derek continues pounding through the preserve, dashing past trees so fast they are a blur, when he catches a scent that he knows but is wrong somehow. He staggers to a stop and inhales deeply, raising his head to scent the air. His eyes flare as he picks up the scent of blood, familiar blood, causing his heart to thrum rapidly in his chest.

Derek is running again before he realises it, footfalls pounding on the earth as he curses how far he is from the Loft, there is no way the Pack will hear if he howls to call them for aid and his phone will have no signal all the way out here, he just hopes that whatever he finds he is able to handle by himself.

He can see red now as he approaches, so much red that it makes his eyes blur as panic overwhelms him, the pounding in his heart echoing loudly in his own head.

His focus on the red is so intent that he totally misses the giant dip in the forest floor, causing him to stumble at the last minute and fall headfirst into what appears to be some kind of a pit.

Quickly glancing around he realises there is no leverage for him to easily pull himself up and out, causing him to scrabble manically at the walls in an attempt to create footholds for himself to no avail.

He needs to get out, he needs to get back up and out of here. How could he have been so stupid! Panicking he paces, circling the pit as he thinks; there had been so much blood, too much blood, dear god he needed to pull it together, he couldn't afford to be trapped here right now! He couldn't go through this again, please not again. Oh god what if he was already too late, what if he never gets to apologise for how he has behaved. Fuck he was so stupid, he needed to get out, he needed to get to him, get to Stiles and help him.

He sobs in fear and in a last resort silently sends up a prayer to a God he doesn't believe in. After the Hale fire he always figured that if there was a God then they clearly weren't on the side of Werewolves.

'Please please help me get out of here, if anyone can help then please don't let this happen, help me get out in time to help him or just find any way to help him and leave me here, I don't care, just save him please' he sobs, tears rolling down his face, his breath hitching, heart aching in pain that his Pack can no doubt feel along the bond. 'I promise I will do anything, I promise to never leave him alone and unprotected again, if you can just please see it in you to get us out of this, to get him out of this, take me instead just don't let him die'. He hiccups, tears and snot streaming down his face, whilst he claws at the earth still trying to get out any way he can, his fingers bloody from how deep he is gouging into the earth.

A crack of a branch breaks somewhere overhead and a looming shadow falls over the pit. Derek raises his face to the sky, wet and now also covered in streaks of earth from his furious scrabbling at the pits walls, he raises his hand to shield his eyes as the sun blinds him somewhat and gasps in surprise.