Burning Slowly

Chapter 20

Derek had arrived at the location Lydia sent him via text message earlier than he was supposed to. He'd wanted to scout out the area, to make sure that it was safe for his pack. He also wouldn't admit it to himself fully, but he had wanted to make sure it was a place where Stiles would enjoy himself.

Hunger. Desire. Need.

He shook his head at the thoughts twisting through his brain. They were his thoughts and they weren't all at the same time. The power of the Alpha, it amplified and at the same time simplified portions of his mind. This thing with Stiles-this thing that he wouldn't let happen-had grown quickly out of his control. Derek normally found the kid irritating as hell, especially when trapped in enclosed spaces with him. The van ride from Beacon Hills had been a perfect illustration of why.

Derek liked peace, liked quiet. He wanted things to be calm. When he thought about laughing, when he thought about smiling and joking it reminded him of things he didn't have in his life anymore. Once his home had been something a person like Stiles would have loved. There had been so many people running around. Children played games while adults cooked food or cheered at the TV. It was a life that no one who wasn't a werewolf could understand fully, but they would be able to see how warm it was.

Being a werewolf, being a member of a pack, that sense of community meant never being alone. When Kate burned his house down, when she had murdered everyone he'd ever loved except for his sister, she had locked him in a cage of solitude and nightmares. Laura had been the only thing he had left. Then his uncle killed her, then he killed his uncle, and then he was entirely alone.

Fury. Vengeance. Pain

Fire in his mind tried to burn up all that was left of Derek and leave only the Alpha. He needed to focus on something else. Derek closed his eyes, ignored the music in the air that was starting up. He disregarded the people who entered the dance floor. He breathed calmly, tried to stay focused. He relaxed his hands so that they were not clenched into fists.

He'd bitten Jackson because he saw something in the young man that reminded him of himself. Not the person he used to be, but the Derek of today. He'd seen someone who was alone. If it hadn't been in the first hours of his ascension to Alpha he may not have done it, but the instinct was still too much raw power at the time. He could have killed Jackson with the bite. Not everyone lived through the change. It was rash and irresponsible, but it was also the beginning of a new chapter in his life.

With Jackson in his pack, with Scott joining in as well, with Allison and even Lydia, Derek was no longer truly alone.

Stiles though, Stiles had proven to be something more than Derek had ever thought he would be. That night he'd awoken to Stiles soothing him, whispering into his hair, Derek saw something unexpected. He knew that the teenager was caring, that he would go to any lengths to do whatever he could for the people he cared about. He knew that Stiles would try to provide whatever it was those people needed. Derek had just never thought he would be one of the people who Stiles would do those things for.

Derek was the leader of their pack, but he had never felt truly a part of it until that day in the kitchen. When they were making food together and everyone was laughing and joking. It had made him happy. Stiles had seen that happiness, he had seen right through Derek's exterior like he had the x-ray vision his comic book heroes had. He wanted to protect Stiles. He wanted to protect all of them. He wasn't going to lose another family.

A shining blue light flickered in the darkness of the dance floor. It caught Derek's attention. It pulled him forth from his memories. It was his family's symbol branded on Stiles's back.

MINE!

The force of it rocked him at the core. One of the females of the pack was on what was his. She should have known better. He growled under his breath and took a step forward. Some weak creature stumbled as he impacted it. It didn't matter to him. There was a pulsing wave of flesh between him and what he wanted. It shifted and moved, caused him to lose sight of his target. He sniffed the air to try to locate what he wanted.