Distance [Derek Hale]

Chapter Thirty

Narrowing her eyes, she ignored the loud beat of the music which was going through her earphones as she looked at a few of the comments on her latest recipe. She had to read the feedback, make note of the feedback and then respond to the said comment in a nice way. Once she was done with that she had to write up her next recipe. The majority of people seemed to love it but a few had to make a couple of alterations to it to make it work. It was an expected practice.

Beside her, her yellow notebook was sat wide open with a few scrawled notes on waiting to be written up or absorbed into her memory for the next time. She'd fallen into her own world of cooking and it made it difficult to concentrate on the world around her. It wasn't the best idea considering there was a pack of alpha's walking around who could potentially hurt her more than they already had.

"Hey," a voice called out from beside her but she didn't hear it due to her being so concentrated and the music which was going through her earphones. Narrowing her eyes she moved to respond to another comment when a hand reached out snatching the earphones from her ears.

As they fell, she glanced down with a baffled frown before she looked back up. The frown immediately disappeared. "Derek, you're back," she exclaimed a smile forming on her face and she was about to get up but he pressed a hand down on her shoulder.

"No, you shouldn't put stress on your injuries," he urged and her eyes fell into a deep glare at the words. He chuckled as he crouched down and she quickly wrapped her arms around him for a hug; he caught her with gentle ease closing his eyes briefly to remember the warmth which spread through him. Pressing a kiss to his cheek, she pulled back whilst trying to search him for any injuries. She couldn't see any but that didn't mean they weren't there. "Hey, it's alright," he assured as he reached out brushing some of the hair away from her face, "I'm here now. And you were safe - trust me."

She rolled her eyes at the words, "I don't care about me Derek, I care about whether you're safe or not," she countered and he smiled slightly not wanting to let her go yet. Finding the bottom of her t-shirt, which was actually his, he lifted it up just enough so that he could see the bandaged wound and a sigh fell from his lips.

"I'm sorry," he breathed out and she frowned trying to understand what he meant before she followed his gaze.

"It's not your fault," she assured, and even though he thought very differently he nodded and allowed her shirt to fall back down. Pushing himself to his feet his brows glanced at her face before he frowned. Reaching out, his thumb brushed past her cheek.

"You're pale," he muttered. Her brows furrowed as she glanced up at him with an awkward smile before she reached up taking his hand in her own.

"I'm fine," she assured pressing a kiss to the back of his hand and he nodded before glancing at her laptop. "Do you want me to make you some food?"

"No, you should be resting and you're supposed to be in bed. It's past midnight," he mused and her brows furrowed as she checked the time on her laptop.

"Oh, I hadn't realised," she mused, "you've definitely eaten today though, right?"

He chuckled shaking his head slightly shaking his head in the process, "come on, we should get some sleep."

"No, I can't I have work to finish," she said and he glanced between her and the work before looking back to her.

"You can do that tomorrow but for now we both need some sleep," he pointed out, but she was adamant that she had to finish her work.

"No, it's fine. I'll catch up with you in a minute I just have a few words to do," she muttered and he rolled his eyes but was amused regardless. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to her temple before turning to head to bed himself.