Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of the characters. I dont make any profit off of this.

Please see end of chapter for author's notes.

To say that Derek was royally fucked was an understatement. Three days he'd been planning on trying to figure out a way for Stiles to get the hell out of the castle for the full moon and here it was, the night of the full moon and he was empty handed. Well, almost empty handed. It was a last ditch effort that he was going to have to hope would work.

Derek had been steadily eating everything that Stiles brought. It helped that the full moon approaching was making him more restless. His excuse was that working on repairing the house (which was coming along much quicker with the extra set of hands) made him hungry. If there was no more food in the castle, then Stiles would have to make another food run. Just in time for the full moon.

Seeking out the maid, he soon found him lying upside down on a couch in the library. Rolling his eyes, Derek dropped a pouch on the other's stomach. "There's no more food. Go buy more. Come back tomorrow," He said with his usual frown.

When the pouch was dropped on his stomach, Stiles gave an 'oof' and curled in on himself before falling off the couch. "Ugh … Yeah, I guess I can …" He said, putting his book off to the side. "You think you can hold out that long? You've been ravenous, to say the least." At the comment, Derek rolled his eyes.

"I can hold out. Just get the food."

Putting his book and notes off to the side, he looked through the pouch. "This is … This is a lot of money …"

"I'm a prince. What do you expect?"

"Yeah .. Ah, sorry … I forget sometimes," Stiles said, causing Derek to raise a brow. How could Stiles just 'forget' that he was a prince? Getting up, Stiles dusted himself off, "Alright. I'll get my bag and head out then. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Or … Do … Maybe … That's probably safer to do things that I wouldn't do."

"Stiles. Just go," Derek growled out, watching as Stiles practically jumped at the order, rushing off. Perfect. The plan was going smoothly, so far. He could only hope that it continued.

By the time that Stiles had gathered all the food that he could carry and pay for, he realized that it was actually still pretty decently early. If he left now, he could probably make it back before it got too dark to see the path. Grinning a bit, he immediately set off back towards the castle. As he did, he let his mind wander, thinking back to all the information he'd found out earlier today as he let his feet take him where he needed to go without paying too much attention. The bad part of not paying attention is that you sometimes ended up in situations you didn't mean to get into.

Such as going down the wrong path.

Like Stiles had just done.

By the time Stiles had snapped out of his thoughts, he realized he should have been back at the castle by now. It was already darker than he'd anticipated, the full moon on the rise. He frowned as he looked at the unfamiliar scenery. "Ah … shit …" He said quietly to himself. He was already going to get the angry brows for not listening to Derek when he said to stay the night and now he was lost. This seemed like a full-on throat-ripping-out kind of fuck up. He'd be okay; all he had to do was backtrack until he found the right path. He'd only gotten a few feet back the way he had come before he heard a howl that made his blood run cold. Well, Derek had promised that it wouldn't be him doing the throat ripping, right?

Turning ever slightly to see several pairs of eyes attached to growling forms, Stiles gave a weak chuckle. "It's alright poochies … Good dogs … wolves … I'm just going to turn around and … Yeah … You'll let me go and … everything will be okay, yeah?" Slowly trying to walk away as the large wolves advanced a step for each he took, he swallowed the lump in his (for now, intact) throat and tried to formulate a plan. He was going to have to run. Drop his bags and just run. If he was lucky, he might at least get to the main path where someone could find his body. It would make his dad worry a little less, knowing what happened to his son versus just disappearing.

Silently counting, he dropped his bag and kicked off the ground once he got to three. As soon as he was running, the wolves were as well. Stiles could hear them catching up and tensed, preparing for the sharp teeth to dig into his flesh when he heard a loud yelp.

And then another one.

Daring to look over his shoulder, he skidded to a stop as he tried to take in the scene before him. Prince Derek was single handedly fighting the wolves. He'd managed to knock the closest one out of the way and now he was squaring off against another as three began to circle him. What the actual hell? Was he going to glare them to death or something? "Run, idiot! You can't fight—"

Just as Stiles was trying to get the prince to get to safety, one of the wolves lunged at Derek. The growl he heard, which must have been from the wolf because that hadn't been human, sent an icy chill down his spine. Derek, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what to do. Punching the lunging wolf, Stiles couldn't help but admire the way Derek moved and how he wanted to share with the prince that punching a wolf in the face must have the same effect as punching a shark in the face.

However, Stiles wasn't sure if he was going to get to share that information as a second and then third wolf jumped on Derek. One ripped into the male's shoulder from behind before he grabbed the wolf, swinging him effortlessly over his torso and tossing him into a tree. He knew that Derek was buff but strong enough to toss a wolf like he was tossing paper? That was insane. The next wolf clawed deeply into Derek's side and soon met the same fate as the other wolf. This continued on before Stiles realized he probably shouldn't just stand there. Grabbing a large branch, he swung at the last wolf that was about to attack Derek.

Derek turned, blue eyes glowing and nails grown out to claws, to see just what Stiles was going before the second wolf that had attacked ripped into his side again. Punting the wolf, the animals finally seemed to get the hint. Derek gave a huff at the retreating wolves before turning to Stiles who seemed utterly confused about the whole damn situation. Taking a step towards the male made Derek's head swim. His eyes rolled back and he hit the ground hard. The next thing he knew, Stiles was shaking him gently, his voice pulling Derek back to the land of the conscious.

"Cmon y' big lug … I need you to help me out here. I can't carry you … I can help support you but you gotta walk …" He said, trying to encourage Derek to get up. It seemed to take a while before Derek was able to get to his feet. He could feel the moon's tug on him and he knew he needed to get to safety. Switching to autopilot, the trip back to the castle was a blur. The prince vaguely remembered being helped into his plush bed as Stiles droned on about something he couldn't understand. Once he woke again, he was bandaged and greeted to the sight of Stiles sleeping in a chair that had been pulled up to the bed.

And he was far more furry than when he'd passed out.

Fuck. There was no way that Stiles hadn't seen him like this. Shifting slightly to get a better view, he instantly regretted it and let out a quiet yelp. Derek had thought he was in the clear. The full moon was going to come and go without any incident. It was then that he'd heard the wolves. They were stalking something and Derek had a feeling he knew exactly what, or who, that something was.

Sure enough, there Stiles had been, bolting for the main path when Derek found him. As soon as he saw the male in trouble, he knew he had to protect him. He was already starting to shift by the time he'd attacked the other wolves. The wolf in him wouldn't let Stiles be hurt, even if it meant he was. He knew that he'd have to process just what that meant at some point, but for now, he was content with just sitting in silence watching Stiles.

He'd never really paid that much attention to the maid. When Stiles had first showed up, he took in the view before scaring him off and once he started working, Derek only checked on Stiles to make sure he hadn't fallen off a ladder and broke his neck. But now, with Stiles silent, sprawled out over the chair in his sleep, it was easy to just watch.

Stiles was handsome, Derek finally concluded; his pale skin, pink lips, and those beautiful eyes. He remembered how terrified those eyes had looked when the wolves were attacking and a growl rose up out of his chest before he could stop it. That was sufficient enough to wake Stiles, who nearly jumped from the seat. "Derek?" He asked, eyes focusing on the large wolf in a panic before calming when he realized that nothing was wrong. "Oh thank - … Hey, how're you feelin' big lug?"

The wolf simply stared at him. Stiles wasn't freaking out? Maybe he'd already done his freak outs earlier when Derek was unconscious.

"Right. I guess you can't really talk. All … yknow … " He motioned towards his mouth, "Fang-y and all." The wolf gave a huff and laid his head on his paws, continuing to watch Stiles. Derek frowned a bit (or as much as he could as a wolf) as he smelled the distinct aroma of nervousness coming from Stiles.

"You're not going to eat me?"

A snort came from the wolf as almost as if to say 'if I was going to do it, I would have done it already'.

"Awesome," Stiles said, sounding (and smelling) reassured. "So uh … You know that you're gonna tell me all about this, right?"

Well, he hadn't planned on telling Stiles about any of it. Ever. That hadn't been part of the deal when he took Stiles in. Looking over the hopeful maid, he gave another huff. Maybe if he explained to Stiles, it would help add another piece to his puzzle. Plus, if he didn't tell Stiles, he knew the other would never stop pestering him until he forked over the information. Finally, the wolf gave a nod.

Ignoring how Stiles became a flailing tangle of limbs in some sort of victory dance, a content look spread across his face as he smelled how happy and excited he'd made Stiles. As Stiles tried to calm himself, he grinned. "Oh man, I wish you weren't all toothy and growly right now 'cause I want to know right now," he said, ignoring the wolf rolling his eyes at him. "Buuut you should probably sleep now. You did get some serious wound-age out there. I'm pretty sure your uhm … shifting didn't exactly help." The wolf seemed to agree with him as he settled down more in the bed.

Stiles got up, running a hand over the back of his neck in a sort of nervous tick. "I'll uh … have breakfast ready in the morning …" Heading for the door, he gave a small smile, "… Thanks for saving me." Quickly turning, the male stumbled out of the room.

Tomorrow was going to be oh so much fun.

Author's Notes: Remarkable! I managed to get a third chapter out and (somewhat) break my 2 chapters/2 year curse. Hopefully the next one wont take too long. Starting to get into the meat of Derek's curse and what happened to his family ~ Read/Favorite/Review and all of that fun stuff!