Burning Slowly

Chapter 13

Derek stretched out in the sun; it was getting close to the middle of the day. His skin was slick with a light sheen of sweat, the huge towel between him and the sand was warm against his stomach. He rolled over onto his back adjusting his black swim trunks slightly as they twisted around his hips. He took a deep breath of the ocean air, smiled to himself. Stiles was getting close, traces of Allison and Jackson layered lightly with his scent. Hopefully that meant his plan was working.

Something dark growled low in his gut, a hungry memory of other scents tied to the teenager. He choked it down, forced it back and kept his eyes closed, not wanting the temporary surge of animalistic power to be betrayed by his eyes if Stiles was close enough to see. He gritted his teeth against it; he was the master of his own mind and heart. He was the one in control. Subverted momentarily the power settled in the recesses of his soul, it would be back, he knew that it would, but for now he was still in control.

Things had been different since they arrived on the beach. Not a lot of time had passed, but it was easy to learn things about people when you couldn't get away from them. He'd assumed that his time with Stiles was going to be infuriating. They didn't get along, they hated each other, and yet Derek was starting to see echoes of himself in the teenager. Being alone, being on the outside of everyone else around you, it wasn't easy.

Stiles wasn't really alone, he had more than he gave himself credit for, but he'd lost a lot, dealt with it admirably considering what he had to work with. The humor, the sarcasm, it was just as much of a mask as the anger Derek shrouded himself with.

"Sit," Derek said without opening his eyes, "If you want, there's an extra towel rolled up in my bag."

"Thanks," Stiles's scent was a think cloud of nervousness. It bordered on fear.

The Alpha felt the subtle currents of air around his body as Stiles rummaged through the backpack and came up with the towel, felt grains of sand against him as Stiles displaced them while spreading it out next to Derek's. He took a deep breath through his mouth, it wouldn't mute the scents entirely, but for now it was better than provoking another altercation with the beast. He didn't want to frighten Stiles away.

"You wearing sun block?" Derek already knew that he wasn't. He'd have been able to smell the chemicals saturating his skin. Stiles had enough problems without adding sunburn on top of it. He felt the need to take care of the scatterbrained kid, especially after Stiles had helped him deal with the nightmares.

"Of course" Stiles lied; it never failed to amuse Derek. Part of him wondered if Stiles did it on purpose. Trying to figure the kid out was like running in circles, it could be fun, but it made you dizzy and got you nowhere.

He sat up, opened his eyes, and glanced over at Stiles. The teenager was carefully studying his flip-flops, picked at the edges of his orange swim trunks. His hands had new bandages on them; it had probably been hard to apply them without any help.

"I have some if you want," Derek told him.

"Can't put it on, I'm all Edward Bandagehands," Stiles mumbled under his breath. He waved his wrapped up hands, fingers spread out in front of Derek's face making a feeble scissoring motion. "You'd have to put it on for me..."

"Is that what you want?" Derek asked.

"I don't want to be a lobster." Stiles looked away from Derek as he spoke; nervousness skyrocketed, the scent cloying to his skin. "If you wouldn't mind that... uh... that would be great."

Derek didn't want to think about what was going to happen if he lost control, but he wanted to take care of Stiles, to give him what he wanted. He pulled the lotion out of his bag and turned to look at the teenager. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to be reacting the way he had been. Derek had decided long ago that he was going to live his life in a specific way, understood what he would and wouldn't have. This trip was turning everything upside down. He should have waited until he'd mastered the Alpha Wolf.