Through the years

40.

The crashing sound was so loud it immediately brought attention to himself from the two people in the bedroom. Stiles was frozen in his spot. His hands were trembling and he couldn’t seem to find it in himself to stop them. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. Maybe he should have seen it coming though. He had known about something like this happening before travelling back to the past. He had been well aware of that fact, however, he had completely forgotten about it. 

It had been pushed away so far in the back of his mind that he had never spared a thought to it even after dating Derek. And that sure had been his mistake because now here he was, catching his boyfriend kissing Kate Argent on their bed. It was the first time for Stiles to see the woman so young. He had known her in her late twenties and seeing her like this left him even more speechless. Because no matter how he looked at it, she looked like every other innocent teenager out there. 

But Stiles knew better. 

He knew exactly what that damn woman was capable of and how sick in the head she truly was. He wouldn't be fooled by it. 

Never. 

But apparently, Derek had been fooled. 

At that moment, as Stiles stared at the two of them with wide eyes, something inside of him snapped. It had been so sharp and somehow so loud that it rang inside his entire body. It shook him to the core. Because he knew exactly what it was. It was that thread inside his body, the one linked to his heart, entangled around it and connecting him to his mate. That once beautiful and strong thread, thrumming with happiness and love, it had snapped. 

It had been a clean cut. 

Something they both knew would be difficult to repair. 

Stiles could still remember the first time he had felt the thread. It had been after their first kiss. The brunette had felt it crawling inside his chest and wrapped itself around his heart. He had been creeped out by it and had asked what it was to Talia. And the woman had smiled brightly. One of the smiles the brunette loved to see the most on the woman’s face. She had smiled and sat him down before explaining to him everything he needed to know. She had told him she felt the same thread with Connor and that she had been feeling it for over thirty years. 

She had told him that it was what was beautiful about the mate bond. That it was what made it worth it. She had also told Stiles how happy she was that the thread had finally appeared between the two of them. And finally, she had told him to take extremely good care of it. Because the more love they felt for each other, the stronger the thread would be. But, on the contrary, the stronger the heartache the weaker the thread would be. 

Stiles could remember vividly Talia telling him that if the heartbreak was too great, then the thread would snap. It was the worst thing to feel for mated pairs. She had reassured him that it nearly never happened in the history of mating and that he didn't have to worry about it ever happening because Derek would never hurt him to this point. 

But here they were. 

And the thread had snapped. 

Because Derek had just done what Stiles feared the most. What would successfully shatter his heart to a million pieces. 

And it had. 

"S-Stiles.."

The voice seemed to snap the brunette out of his stupor and a look of utter pain took over his eyes. Derek looked panicked, and he was. Because just like the brunette, the wolf had felt their thread snap and he felt like dying. And it only worsened when he saw his boyfriend turning around and hurrying out of the room.