Stiles stood frozen in his tracks. Staring in unabashed shock and confusion at the man that was slowly going down on one knee infront of him a few feet away.
Was this some kind of prank? Was this some kind of joke? Was this some trick Jackson and his merry band of jackasses pulled together to make him look even more like a loser?
The man was the most handsome man he'd ever seen. Like for real? He had the chiseld jaw and the broad shoulders and strong muscles and oh... oh... red eyes... Oh by the Gods!
This was a wolf... not just a wolf... this was an Alpha wolf. Stiles quickly looks behind the man to see the large 10 point buck that was dead and laying on a cart that the man had piled full of not only the fresh kill, but also baskets full of freshly picked fruits and herbs.
There was even a bearskin which the baskets were laying on top of.
This had to be a joke. Stiles looked around to see if he was standing beside or in front of the intended Claim. But he was on his own.
The little village was in a tense silence all around them. Some of the women clutched their children to their chests in fear.
He remembered to be afraid. Fear tingled up his spine and he looked back to the Alpha who suddenly looked up after a sniff and his bushy brows were pinched together in what looked like anger.
Stiles stepped back on instint from the bright red eyes. But then The wolf looked pained and the red faded quickly into a beautiful multicolored hazel green that reminded Stiles of the forest bathed in the golden light of the dawn.
He stopped moving away. He remembered those eyes. He knew those eyes.
The man that had those eyes couldn't be the boy he remembered. He just couldn't. The boy he remembered was soft and gentle and yet spunky and brazen. He was nothing like the hard quiet brooding dangerous looking man that knelt before him.
"D-Derek?" Stiles soflty whispered knowing that a wolf would be able to hear him clearly from this far away.
Suddenly the anger and pain left those green eyes and relief flooded into them as his face relaxed. He nodded. "Yes Stiles."
"W-what are you doing?" Stiles muttered as he looked at him in confusion.
Derek frowned again. "I bring you offerings to show I can take care of you." Derek motioned to the cart full of food and a bear fur cloak. "I hunted and gathered all for you."
Stiles blinked between the cart and Derek. "But... But why me?" Stiles has a long and well known bad luck streak with any type of courting. He had been rejected by Lydia and had been laughed at by the boy who won her instead. He was then rejected over and over again by the other boys he tried to catch their eyes and tried to court. The females had seemed to all find him more of a nusance rather than courting material. And the young men his age held no interest for him. The only time that a girl had shown interest was a feral woods woman that was apart of a nomadic pack that came sniffing around him only long enough to get his first kiss then to say he tasted wrong.
He was the only virgin boy of his age in all the village and he had stopped trying to court at all in the last two years. Yesterday had been his coming of age day.
His brother Scott was already betrothed and the wedding day was soon coming up. But he himself had already given up finding some type of companion.
This had to be a dream. Was he dreaming?
"Because you are..." Derek jaw clenched and the tips of his fangs peeked through his lips. "You are my missing half."
A claim was a sacred thing to wolves. It was so sacred that to refuse a claim was to doom the wolf to a life incomplete and unfulfilled.
