I'm Not Afraid || A Teen Wolf Fanfic

Chapter 13

"So, is this an all-hope lost situation?" Skyler asked as she sat beside Derek in the abandoned subway cart. "Might as well just give up, huh?"

"What are you still doing here?" Derek ignored her questions. "I thought you'd go with Scott."

"He insisted on walking home," she shrugged. "And you didn't answer my question. Do you really think there's nothing we can do?"

"Honestly? I don't know," he sighed, his eyes closing in frustration. "This is a lot more than I ever thought I would have to handle."

His head fell back, resting against the cold metal of the car, his chest rising and falling as he tried to steady himself. Skyler could see the frustration building inside him. How the weight of the town's survival seemed to fall on his shoulders. Without thinking, she stood between his open legs and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight embrace.

She could feel his body relax as his own arms wrapped around her waist. He gripped her tightly, almost as if he was afraid that she wasn't there. His fingers dug into the skin of her hips as hers snaked into his hair. It was a comfort both of them needed. A calm in the middle of the storm that was Beacon Hills.

"You're not alone, Derek," she spoke into his hair as he listened to her heartbeat. "You don't have to carry this by yourself."

"But it's my fault," he responded, his voice muffled by her shirt. "I bit Jackson, Skyler. I'm the reason he turned into this monster that is ravaging through the town. I'm the reason so many people have died –why so many tragedies have happened in this town."

Skyler leaned back in order to look directly into Derek's eyes. Her hands traveled to his face, cradling his cheeks as her thumbs caressed them. "I want you to listen to me, Derek," she said. "If it's the only thing you ever believe from me, it's that this is not your fault. Nothing that is happening is your fault. Not when other people have made decisions for you or are consequences of their own actions. You are good, Derek. And you are not alone."

There was silence between them, filled with the same tension that gripped their beings whenever they were in close proximity. So many unsaid words traveled through their eyes, and so many desires that were being repressed.

"What are you thinking?" Skyler breathed, breaking the quiet.

"How I don't think I've said enough how amazing you are or how lucky I am to have met you," he said before dropping his voice to a whisper. "Or how bad I want to kiss you right now."

"And what if I said that there's no way you want to kiss me as bad as I want to kiss you."

"You wanna bet?" he chuckled. "Because it's taking everything in me not to."

"What's stopping you?"

"I think you know exactly what's stopping me."

"So, what if I don't want it to stop you –stop us?"

She could see the way his breathing picked up. The way his eyes kept switching from her eyes to her mouth, then back to her eyes. The way his finger squeezed her hips tighter. "Then it would take the Kanima himself to rip me away from you," he growled lowly. "So I need to know exactly what you want, Skyler. Because I don't know if I could contain myself."

Her skin flushed red, warming as blood rushed to her face. The air inside the subway cart was choking, taking the air from her lungs and making the moment just that much more intense. She wasn't sure if giving in to her wants was the best decision. That if she allowed herself this step out of her rules, she would be able to fall back in line.

"Kiss me," she choked out. "Plea..."

Before she was able to get the word out, Derek towered over her and crashed his lips onto hers. And suddenly, everything just felt right. Their bodies fit together like a glove; their lips moved in perfect synchronicity. It was everything and more than she had ever expected. The feeling of his hands on her waist and the scruff of his beard against her skin was now forever etched into her mind. And she understood why Derek would not have been able to stop. Because she did not either.