Hellllo! As promised, this story was updated in this week. Told you guys I was getting back into the swing of things! So this chapter had me a little frustrated because I couldn't get the dates written, they just didn't want to be put into words so it may seem rushed. Let me know what you guys think.

A big thanks to Hackthecatboy, who beta-ed this for me. Hopefully, between both of us, we caught all the mistakes.

Chapter Eight: The Mortem's Appearance

Time: Wednesday, February 23, 2011

It was mid-afternoon when Lydia blew away a piece of hair that fell in front of her and examined her nails. The flat screen in her room was playing a show on the Discovery Channel. Lydia was about to switch the channel when a soft thud came from her window. She jerked; fear gripping her as flashes of Peter ran threw her head. She relaxed slightly when she caught sight of Jackson.

Jackson grinned at her and quickly ducked when a pillow was thrown at him. The pillow flew over him and hit Stiles, who had just snuck through the window, right in the face. "That's a nice welcome." Stiles muttered as he picked up the pillow and moved out of the way so Derek could climb inside the window too.

Lydia watched the three men in her room with a cocked eyebrow and sat up in her bed. "You know that in society it's frowned upon to climb into people's bedrooms through their windows right?" Derek and Jackson rolled their eyes while Stiles grinned over the fact that someone finally saw that climbing though windows wasn't a good thing. "I'm going to assume that because he," A finger pointed at Derek before pointing at Jackson and Stiles, "is with you guys, that he isn't actually a mass murderer, right?"

Derek smirked and pushed past Jackson and Stiles to stand directly in front of Lydia, "Stiles was right. You are smart." Lydia flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled, eyeing Derek.

"Of course I am." Jackson rolled his eyes at the prideful tone and went to lie down on the bed, crossing his arms behind his head. Lydia glared at him but didn't say anything. "What do you want?" she asked, her eyes locked on Derek somehow sensing that he was the one she needed to be addressing.

Derek was pleased with the fact she so quickly recognized him as superior. "We need to talk to you about the attack you suffered." Stiles moved to stand next to Derek and grabbed his hand.

Lydia looked at the clasped hands and raised her other eyebrow. She got up from the bed and pushed past Derek and Stiles, kicking Jackson's leg as she crossed her room. Jackson glared at her. "What about it?" she asked, her tone clearly showing that she'd rather not revisit the incident.

"What do you remember?" Stiles asked, taking a step forward.

Lydia sat down in her desk chair, "Hmm…not much." She smacked her lips together. "Why?"

"Because you are a werewolf now." Jackson said bluntly, siting up on the bed. "What?" He asked when Derek and Stiles glared at him. "You guys were beating around the bush. She deserves to know." He ignored the glares and plopped back on the bed.

"A w-werewolf?" Lydia asked, not quite believing what she was being told.

Derek released Stiles' hand and stepped forward, placing a hand on the strawberry-blonde's shoulder and crouching to her level. "Yes, a werewolf." He paused. "My uncle was the one who attacked you and he bit you, but before your transformation could be complete, the connection to him was severed when I killed him." His face turned thoughtful for a second and his eyes locked with hers. "I bite you at the hospital and my bite healed you. As a result of the severed connection, you are a rare type of wolf."

Lydia frowned; her eyes darted to Jackson's causal form on her bed to Stiles' sympathetic face. "What am I?" Her question was directed at Stiles. Derek got the hint and stepped away from her, allowing Stiles to take over.

"You're a spiritual wolf, Lydia." Stiles looked at Derek to make sure he got it right. At his nod, Stiles continued. "Meaning that you cannot physically shift like normal wolves. However, it's more of a mental transformation for you. You're transformation was basically cut half-way through."

Lydia hummed, turning to look at Derek with the knowledge that he could offer her further explanation. Derek sighed and leaned against the wall. "When you get angry or you sense danger to people close to you, your inner wolf will take over. Your eyes will change colors." He stopped to show her how his eyes flickered to crimson red and back to soft green "You'll become stronger and more agile but you will never have any outer physical trait." He invaded her space, his tone lowering. "You are special. Beyond rare in our world. Spiritual wolves have been known to do great things and hold a lot of power. It's all a matter of you gaining control of your wolf."

Lydia took all the information with stride and nodded determinedly. "How do I gain control?"

Derek smirked, sharing a look with Stiles and Jackson. Another good addition to the pack.

Line

"I don't like this one bit." Scott growled under his breath, turning to look at the Argent house a mere five yards away.

Allison sighed and tightened her grip on her bag. "I know but the pack needs this, and I'm the only one who can provide it. I need to move back. We do what's needed for the pack." Allison's mind flashed back to earlier that day when she and Derek had the conversation about this.

Derek shook his head in exasperation as he watched Scott and Jackson engage in yet another fight. Normally, he would try to stop them but he was getting tired of the constant fighting. Their wolves had to settle the pecking order soon or Derek was going to lose his mind. His eyes left his young beta and landed on Allison siting with Stiles. The two humans were discussing fact regarding werewolves. Or well…Stiles was rambling away everything he had learned while Allison listened, absorbing the information like a sponge. Danny was at a family event and missed this pack meeting. Once again, Derek was made proud. Not only was his mate extremely knowledgeable and filling his responsibility of helping other pack members, but Allison was eager to learn. She was proving to him that she did want to be part of the pack. Thinking about her made Derek think about the Argents. He knew that they were planning something. He knew hunters well enough to know that they wouldn't hesitate to avenge the death of one of their own. Derek didn't understand how they couldn't see that werewolves were no different from them. Derek sighed and walked over to the human.

"Stiles!" He barked. Stiles' head shot up, eyes wide.

"What?"

Derek nodded his head towards the house and Stiles immediately understood. Scrambling, Stiles clumsily made his way into the house that now officially belonged to Derek again. A few days after the battle with Peter, the sheriff had sat his son down to talk about exactly how well he knew Derek Hale. And while Stiles didn't really tell him how he knew, he managed to convince his father that Derek wasn't the one at the school. Needless to say, Scott and Derek went through extensive questioning and Stiles suffered many angry glares from them for that. At the end of that, Derek had been exonerated. Scott and Stiles, in an attempt of an apology, managed to get the deed of the Hale house from the state to be given back to Derek. Now, the pack helped out in the rebuilding twice a week. It was a slow burn but they were getting there. Derek just wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.

Once Stiles was out of the way, Derek moved to sit next to Allison and spared her a look. Allison fidgeted under the intense gaze. Despite having spent more time with Derek now that she was part of the pack, she was still little uncomfortable around him. Derek knew that and for her sake, he tried to relax and forced a smile on his face.

Allison giggled. "Don't do that. A scowl fits your face more than a smile." She gave him an amused look. Derek frowned slightly and the smile turned into his signature scowl. "That's better," Allison chirped.

Derek shook his head and sat up straighter. "We need to talk about your family and your living arrangements." That caught Allison's attention immediately. "I know you are living with Scott now but I need you to move back in with your family."

"Why?" Allison questioned curiously. Her parents and Melissa had a meeting pending to discuss the topic and Allison really hated to think that she would have to move back.

Derek paused, his eyes looking into the woods, his face thoughtful. "Hunters….are like werewolves. We want to avenge the deaths of our loved ones when someone kills them. I have no doubt that your family is going to try to get revenge for Kate." His voice hardened at her name. "I need you there to keep us one step ahead of them."

Allison bit her lip, grief eating at her heart. Kate wasn't who she thought she was…but Allison still had loved her and it hurt to know she lost her aunt. "As a spy?"

Derek's eyes bore into hers. "Yes. You will do whatever they want. Train to be a hunter. Learn from them. And most importantly, listen to everything they say. But you can't get caught."

"And if I do?"

Something unidentifiable flashed in Derek's eyes. "You will be killed and there will be war."

Scott's eyes flashed yellow. "You can die. Do you get that?" His body tensed at the mere thought. "They find out you are acting as a spy and they will kill you." Suddenly, Scott understood how she had felt the night they were trapped at the school.

Allison grabbed his hand. While part of her didn't want to believe her family would kill her, she had stuck around long enough to know that the council didn't hesitate to kill traitors. "Everything is going to be okay," she breathed. Scott could only hope that she was right. Allison cupped his cheek and placed a light kiss on his lips before walking the distance to her former home. Scott could only watch as his mate left him to go back to live with people who were more than capable of killing her if they found she would be feeding them information. Reluctantly, Scott turned around and walked deeper into the woods in the direction of his house, once Allison had knocked on the door. There was nothing he could do but hope for the best.

Line

"So where are we going?" Danny finally broke the silence that occupied the car. They had been on the road for nearly an hour already and Jackson still wouldn't tell him what or where their date was.

Jackson sighed and shook his head, amusement twinkling in his eyes. He knew that Danny would love him after the date he had planned. Briefly glancing at Danny, Jackson tapped his thumbs against the steering wheel. "What's the only thing you love more than your dog?"

Danny's face took on a look of confusion but he answered anyway. "The UC Berkeley Bears."

"Exactly."

"Wait…what?" Danny turned in his seat to look at Jackson, his eyebrow rising in a silent question. Suddenly it dawned on him. "You didn't?"

Jackson laughed at the excitement that coated his voice. He reached into the pocket of his button-up and pulled out two tickets. "Two tickets to the game." Danny's jaw fell open and it took him a while to shut it.

He settled back in his seat with a grin attached to his lips. "You're amazing you know that?"

"Heh." Jackson's smirk grew tremendously. "I know."

Danny remained in amazement throughout the rest of the ride and when they finally got to where the game was being played, he follow behind Jackson. He knew how hard it was to get tickets to these games more so now that it was the playoffs. UC Berkeley Bears were one of the best teams in the league and Danny's absolutely favorite team. This was exactly why Jackson knew that taking him to the game was the perfect date for them. Jackson, for one, wasn't the sappy or romantic type and he didn't feel comfortable taking Danny out to a fancy restaurant and certainly didn't want to do a cliché date with Danny. Since both boys loved lacrosse and were athletic, Jackson instantly thought that such an important game would be the perfect date for them.

"How did things go with Lydia?" Danny asked as Jackson took the on-coming exit.

"Things went well. She didn't react like I thought she would." They didn't talk about it more because soon the campus came into view and both boys were too excited to talk about the supernatural aspect of their lives.

Four hours later, Jackson was pulling into Danny's driveway while Danny raved about the game. "Can you believe that pass? He was amazing! I knew we were going to win!"

Jackson could only chuckle at the happiness oozing from Danny. He turned off the ignition and turned to look at him. "It was a pretty awesome game. I'm glad you had fun."

Danny turned in his seat and smiled at Jackson, "Of course I had fun." He lowered his eyes slightly. "Thank you….I think that was the best date I've been on." Both boys knew that there hadn't been many to begin with.

Jackson smiled fondly and grabbed Danny's hand. "Come on, I have patrol to go to." Both boys got out of the car and walked to Danny's front door. Once they were both there, Jackson lowered his head and smiled to him-self, it was odd for him to feel so nervous. He couldn't help it though; this was his mate he was trying to win over. Slowly, Jackson brought his hand up to cup Danny's cheek. Danny's heart started to beat quicker, his eyes finding Jackson's. Jackson leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Danny's lips. The kiss was slow and sweet, their lips moving smoothly against one another.

Danny broke the kiss, and smiled. "You better go."

Jackson nodded and kissed Danny one last time. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Line

The restaurant was quiet, Stiles observed. Actually, it was nearly empty aside from three couples that occupied the facility. The restaurant was well over three towns away from Beacon Hills, a safe enough distance to avoid anyone from recognizing Derek. Even though he had been declared innocent, he was still a person of interest and….well frankly, everyone looked at him oddly either way.

The restaurant wasn't fancy but it was a nice place. At least Stiles thought so since the napkins were made out of cloth. Cloth meant nice. And so did tables with cloth and waiters. "So why here?" Stiles asked Derek and when the alpha raised an eyebrow as he sipped at the cold glass of water, Stiles gulped. "I mean, not that it's not a nice place but it's not like you." The eyebrow arched higher. "No! It's just that with all the grrrr you have going on I figured you'd take me to somewhere different." Stiles didn't think the eyebrow could go any higher but damn it, it did. "I'm going to shut up now."

Derek cracked a smile, "Stiles, relax." Stiles took a deep breath and let his eyes drop to the menu, Derek's followed suit. "Order anything you want." Derek mumbled.

After the orders were placed, Derek leaned back against his chair. "Tell me something I don't know about you." Stiles nearly snorted; Derek knew nothing about him.

"What do you want to know?"

Derek leaned forward and laced his fingers together. "How did you meet Scott?"

A fond smile crossed Stiles' face, "Most people think that we've known each other forever….it wasn't quite like that." Stiles picked at the cloth napkin, "We met on the first day of eighth grade. It was two years after my mother…." Stiles trailed off and swallowed thickly. Derek listened intently, watching with concern. Stiles shook his head. "Anyways, Scott's parents had just gone through the divorce and we bonded over our missing parents. After that, we became pretty much inseparable."

A little smile crossed Derek's lips, much to Stiles's surprise. "That's nice." Stiles's surprise sky-rocketed causing Derek to chuckle. "I'm not a monster, you know? I kept to myself and I made….mistakes." His eyes locked on Stiles, communicating his remorse. "But I do have feelings and I am capable of smiling and laughing."

Stiles sputtered as their food was brought to their table. When the waiter left, Stiles dug into his meal in an attempt to choke himself to death and out of embarrassment. Derek ate slower but his eyes hardly left Stiles. He never had truly noticed how good-looking Stiles was, in a gawky way. Actually, Derek hadn't noticed a lot when it came to Stiles. Some of the qualities that all wolves look for in mates were part of Stiles. He was the perfect mate. Smart, loyal, caring, forgiving, trustworthy, submissive. And he had been destined for Derek. Part of Derek was still baffled as to why his wolf hadn't recognized Stiles as its mate before he became the alpha. However, he knew that he wouldn't get an answer so he gave up on trying to get one. Leaving his thoughts aside, Derek turned his attention back to Stiles as the teen shoveled pieces of steak much too big into his mouth. "So what is your favorite video game?"

The sudden light in Stiles's eyes almost made Derek regret the question and twenty minutes later when Stiles was still babbling about Zelda and 'its sheer awesomeness', Derek couldn't help but listen fondly to the annoying banter.

A few hours later, Stiles closed the front door of his empty house and made his way upstairs, not all surprised to see Derek climbing into his room through the window. Stiles had told the older male that he could have used the door considering his father wasn't home but Derek had insisted on remaining secretive and didn't want to risk someone seeing him come through the door because in Derek logic, coming into a house through the window was less creepy and suspicious looking.

"I'm starting to think that you enjoy being all creepy and have a fascination with climbing windows." Stiles mused as he striped himself down to his boxers. Derek only spared him a look and removed his clothing as well. Derek huffed and crawled into Stiles's bed on the side that faced that window. Being newly mated meant he was still overly protective of Stiles and an open entry way such a window was potential danger. Stiles slid into his bed and got into his usual position, letting Derek drape a heavy arm around his midsection and spoon him. "Thanks…for tonight."

Derek tightened his arm and buried his nose in Stiles's neck, placing a kiss on the curve of his neck. "Good. I hope that this is a step in the right direction for your forgiveness."

Stiles didn't answer him and let the words hang in the air around them because Stiles knew that he was well on his way to forgiving Derek and falling in love with the stoic alpha. And that scared Stiles more than anything. Derek had said things weren't supposed to progress so quickly and the fact that they were terrified him for the simple fact that he knew Derek's feelings would probably never change.

Eventually, Stiles fell asleep and Derek let out a sigh as he listened to Stiles's steady heartbeat. His feelings for the rambling teen weren't supposed to be changing so quickly…and yet Derek knew that they were. He could only wonder if Stiles's feelings were changing like his were.

Derek wasn't sure how long it had been since he had fallen asleep when Jackson's howl broke the peacefulness of the night. He glanced at Stiles' sleeping form for a brief moment and detangled himself from the teen before jumping out of the window. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Derek shifted to his beta phase and left out an ear-splitting howl.

With blinding speed, Derek raced through the forest only to be joined up with Scott halfway to Jackson's location. They glanced briefly at the each other and continued to run through the dark woods, coming to stop in front of Jackson.

Only that Jackson wasn't alone. Jackson had his teeth bared, a low warning growl slipping through his lips at the person he had pinned to a tree by the throat.

Derek immediately noticed that the male Jackson had pinned was a werewolf even if he wasn't shifted. Turning green eyes to Jackson, Derek spoke never taking his eyes off the stranger. "What happened?"

"I was running my end of the territory when I saw him," Jackson's grip on the male tightened, causing a grimace to appear in the brunette's features, "in our land. I wasn't sure what you wanted me to do so I held him down and called for you." Jackson explained, sparing Scott a glance and a nod from where he stood next to Derek.

Derek nodded and stepped forward, "let him go." Jackson released his grip on the male's throat and stepped back, moving to stand next to Scott. They gave each other a nod in acknowledgement and turned their attention back to the scene in front of him, crossing their arms across their chest. Derek walked up the other wolf and eyed him. The werewolf reeked of the Mortem pack and a high ranking member at that. "Name and rank." Derek demanded, his voice coming out strong.

The stranger rubbed his neck but stayed pressed against the tree Jackson previously had him pinned to, avoiding eye contact with Derek. "Zane Mortem, head beta of my pack."

Jackson and Scott's eyes widened and their eyebrows shot up as Derek let out a gust of air.

Before any one of them could get a word in, Zane spoke again, "I'm afraid I don't bring good news."

After the next chapter is up, I will write a small side story based on Zane.

The story is starting to unfold guys!

Anywho, the next story to be updated is Supernova. You guys should check it out but I warn you, it's not Sterek.

What do you guys think of season two? Should I write a one-shot about the Sterek scene at the police station?

Review!