Satan in a V-neck

00

A Day before the full moon

It was just a normal day at the loft.

Well... that's what almost everyone thought.

The pack lounged around Derek's loft and were about to leave when Derek called out to them.

"Can you handle the full moon on your own tomorrow?"

They froze but Scott nodded.

"We can do it," he stated semi-confidently.

"Good," Derek nodded, with eyes downcast. "Don't come by at all tomorrow."

"Why?" Stiles asked but he was ignored as the older werewolf headed upstairs.

The pack was left in confusion but headed out anyway, shaking their heads at the vague werewolf. Isaac was staying with Scott that night, leaving the two Hales alone in the loft.

Derek on the other hand took a seat next to his uncle in his room.

Peter had a picture in his hand, one of the many that were scattered around the room. Silence engulfed the pair, no words needed as they reminisced.

The picture in the older man's hand held a young blonde woman that smiled at the camera with an arm around Peter's waist and her other around a young Derek Hale.

A child was sitting at their feet, a young Cora looking up at the three. The image had an entirely different mood from the room. They were happy and you'd have to be blind to not see it.

This time of the year was one of the few times Derek put aside his negative feelings for his uncle with no goal or objective to defeat the other. Not only had Peter lost the girl he loved, Derek lost his best friend.

While traveling after the Hale fire, Derek would light a candle for his lost friend and cry silently, the same time... every year. He missed her, but certainly not as much as his uncle.

She was his light and he knew Peter was hard and cold, not only because of how he was treated and what happened to him, but also because he lost his anchor... and mate.

It had been months before the Hale fire that she had left, saying goodbyes to everyone.

The blonde had been close with the Hale family. She helped Talia around the house even when she didn't need to. She played with the children. She had even moved in and was a part of their "normal" lives.

She was family, but... she left.

It had been years, no word from her.

They thought she was alive but just a month after she disappeared, the pack bond they shared with the girl disappeared.

They couldn't contact her and assumed the worst.

Ember Hestia was dead.

Or so they thought.