Human is Just a Word 83/85
Chapter 83
Wiping the smugness off Jackson's face never got old and Stiles watched with delight when realization hit and the omega turned in defeat and left.
"Meet me here again in an hour." Derek said to the remaining werewolves. "You'll get an answer then."
Stiles fell in step with his mate and together they went back inside. Once he was sure that they were out of earshot he asked : "Are you really considering taking them in?"
"Not them." Derek dismissed the idea. Stiles hadn't thought that he was actually considering it, these were the prime assholes of Peter's pack. "But there might be others we should consider."
"I'll ask Lydia and this Tommy guy." Stiles rocked on the balls of his feet while they waited for the elevator. "How is he anyway?"
"Scared."
"And we're back to one word answers." Stiles teased him but the second the doors closed behind them he used the chance for a filthy kiss. "But I've some ideas for this mouth."
He still hadn't quite come down from his adrenaline high but he feared that once he crashed, he would crash hard and he would prefer that to happen after they had left Beacon Hills.
"I have some ideas myself." Derek chased after his mouth and let his fingers dip under the waistband of Stiles' jeans. Stiles let out a groan which Derek used to slip his tongue into his mouth.
"Can't we just get stuck in here?" Stiles asked but then the doors opened and they had to let go of each other. Of course Isaac was just down the hallway, raiding the vending machine, and the knowing grin on his face put a real damper on Stiles mood. Bacon lube came to mind.
Before Isaac could say anything, Stiles hurried off in the other direction.
When he entered Tommy's room, he found the new werewolf awake in his bed with Lydia at his side and they were talking quietly. But that ended rather abruptly the second the man noticed Stiles.
"Hi, I'm Stiles." He introduced himself. The man accepted it with a nod and didn't lift his head to look at him. "I'm Derek's mate."
At that the man shrank even farther into himself. In the light of the day he looked young, in his early twenties at most so probably around Isaac's or Erica's age.
"It's okay." Lydia assured him while she gave Stiles an apologizing smile.
"There are some of Peter's pack out there." He settled for leaving the awkward steps of getting to know each other for later and launched right into the problem at hand.
"What do they want?" Lydia's tone was cold, she knew exactly what they wanted.
"A place in the pack." Stiles said. "But we already scared off Jackson and Deputy Asshole. And I doubt we want the rest of the bunch that came with them."
"We don't." Lydia said firmly.
"Figured that much." Stiles dropped in the chair at the other side of the bed. Tommy might relax a bit if he wasn't looming over him, besides, Stiles was tired. It had been a long day.
"Question is, are there people in the pack you'd like to take in?" He asked, lounging in the chair, not even bothered by the hard plastic edge digging in the base of his skull.
Lydia pursed her lips at that, thinking.
"Tommy?" She asked.
"It's not my decision to make." He answered quietly, clearly uncomfortable with being addressed in the first place.
"I know you don't know us yet." Stiles said, sitting up to show that he was taking this serious. "But you're part of this pack now, for as long as you want to stay, and Derek won't accept anybody you don't want to have around."
"Ethan and Aiden are strong fighters." He said, still not looking at Stiles.
"Yeah, I know." He let the sarcasm drip off his words. "They almost beat me to death. They're first on my list of people I don't want in our pack."
Now Tommy lifted his head and had a real look at him.
"You're Stiles Stilinski." The way he said it made Stiles wonder what kind of stories he had heard about him.
"The one an only." He spread his arms.
"You're the one Derek claimed right out from under Peter's nose." He said in awe but then the suspicion was back. "But you said that you're the alpha's mate."
"I am."
"But …" Confused he looked over to Lydia. But then something dawned to him. "You're his mate, of course he turned you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to …" At a loss for words he shrank back, making himself as small as possible.
"I'm human." Stiles said gently. "Derek didn't turn me."
"Human or wolf, it doesn't matter in this pack." Lydia explained. "We're all pack members."
It would take some time to convince him of that but once he was living with them, he would see for himself. But he had a long way ahead, Stiles knew that.
"So, is there somebody you'd like to have in the pack?" Stiles brought them back on topic. "And just so you know, everybody who has ever hurt one of you is out." That was more meant for Tommy, Stiles knew that Lydia would never even consider nominating one of her abusers, but he figured that it would be easier for him if he wasn't singled out.
In the end they couldn't name a single one.
"They're all just a bunch of assholes, good to know." Stiles clapped his hands and stood. "Okay, I'm going to tell Derek to just kick them out of our territory, shall others deal with them."
Tommy watched him with big eyes, he probably wasn't used to anybody daring to talk like this even if the alpha wasn't around.
Lydia stayed with Tommy and it was painfully obvious how he breathed easier once Stiles was leaving.
He found his mate in the hallway with his dad and Deputy Parrish.
"I don't want you to get in trouble for this." His father just said to the deputy when Stiles joined them.
"Don't worry about it." Parrish waved him off. "Two alphas go out in the woods but only one comes back, happens all the time." He gave Derek a look. "You challenged Peter Hale, we have witnesses for that, even Jackson Whittemore confirmed it. As far as I'm concerned this case is closed."
"Thank you, deputy." Derek said sincerely and through the bond Stiles felt his relief. He slung his arm around his mate's waist and placed a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth.
"Ready to go home?" He asked and Derek nodded, rubbing their cheeks together.
"As soon as Tommy is ready." Derek said after a moment. "And I have to …" He made a gesture in the direction of the entrance where the werewolves were still waiting for an answer.
"Just send them to hell." Stiles told him. "We already have the ones worth keeping."
Derek was strong and warm and for a moment Stiles just leaned into him, the world could go and fuck itself for a little while.
"Stop staring." His dad interrupted the nice moment and Stiles blinked an eye open to find out who he was addressing and found Deputy Parrish staring at him and Derek.
Closing his eyes again, Stiles snuggled more firmly into Derek's chest.
"Derek's not like Peter." His dad said.
"I see that." Parrish said. What to make out of his tone Stiles didn't know but if he was honest, he didn't really care what the people of Beacon Hills thought of him or Derek or their pack. They had each other, that was all that was important.
By now he understood why werewolves still preferred to keep to themselves. Humans just didn't understand.
"C'mon, let's send some wolves to hell." Derek slung his arm around his shoulder and led him out of the building. Stiles clung to him and let the guy with the supernatural strength carry most of his weight but when they stepped out into the parking lot, he was walking at Derek's side, showing that they were equal. Not that the wolves waiting for them would understand that.
When they came closer, the werewolves almost stood to attention, each of them eager to present themselves. As if Derek cared about physical strength.
"I have consulted the former members of your pack." Derek said in a voice that Stiles had dubbed his alpha voice. It did things to him. But now wasn't the time to explore that thought. "And we all agreed that we don't want any more of Peter's pack."
He paused to let the words sink in. Stiles didn't even bother to hide the broad grin spreading on his face.
"You and every other omega has 48 hours to leave my territory." With the authority of an alpha he threw Peter's former ultimatum back at them. They reeled back as if they'd been slapped and if they had tails right now they would be tucked between their legs.
Stiles half expected one of them to do something stupid, like attacking the alpha, but they just stood there as if they couldn't understand what had just happened.
"Have you seen their faces?" Stiles didn't even bother to wait until they couldn't hear him anymore. "That was awesome. You going all alpha on them."
Derek gave him a shy smile and an adorable blush crept into his cheeks.
"Oh my god." Stiles blurted out. "How are you even real? One second big bad alpha and the next adorable puppy? You know what, I'll call you alpha puppy from now on. Or adorable alpha. Or, you know what …?"
"Stiles?" Derek didn't even dignify him with a glance. "Shut up."
"You love me and you know it." He yelled after him. The asshole didn't even stop walking.
"Sometimes I've no idea why." He muttered just loud enough for Stiles to hear.
The only thing keeping them still in Beacon Hills was Tommy and Stiles had no idea how he would take leaving with them. But there was no other way, he was a freshly bitten werewolf and he needed his alpha.
When they entered his room, they found Tommy and Lydia in the same position as before. And just like last time, Tommy abruptly stopped talking and when he noticed that it was the alpha couple standing in the door, a flare of panic reached Stiles over the bond.
"Peter's pack is gone." Stiles gave them the good news.
Derek stepped closer to the bed.
"How do you feel?" He asked. When they left Beacon Hills depended on Tommy, if he wasn't ready yet, they would wait. Stiles knew that and he knew that Lydia knew as well. Who didn't have a clue was Tommy.
"I'm good, alpha." The man answered, his eyes fixed on the blanket over his legs.
"My name is Derek." He said and sat down on the edge of the bed. "What about you? How do you want me to address you?"
Tommy froze and Stiles could almost feel him searching for the hidden meaning, for the trap.
"Lyds is calling you Tommy." He stepped up behind his mate, resting one hand on his shoulder. "But she's Lydia. How shall we mortals call you? Thomas, Tom, Tommy?" He paused. "TomTom?"
"You can call me whatever you want, Alpha Derek." He was still not looking at them.
"Just Derek is fine." He let out a sigh. "And this is not about what I want, what do you feel comfortable with?"
Stiles was holding his breath for his answer. He didn't know why but this was something big for the man. Jackson and the others had referred to him only as pet and he wondered it that was the name he had gone by in Peter's pack.
"Tom?" It was more of a question than an answer and so low that Stiles barely caught it. "You can call me Tom?"
"Nice to meet you, Tom." Derek said.
Chapter 84
Masterpost