Hunger

Chapter Thirty-five

Derek

"She's still out, Derek. Are you sure we don't need to take her to the hospital?" Stiles asked worriedly, shooting a small glance back at Kara, who was still unconscious, but perfectly healthy. Stiles had been looking back at her every few minutes for the past three hours because he was worried, and I understood. He wasn't a werewolf, so he couldn't sense that she was fine. She just needed rest, and that was it. I was worried too, just not as much. 

"She's just sleeping, Stiles. She's not hurt, only exhausted. I promise it'll all be okay," I replied softly, and gently took his hand in mine just to reassure him of it. It really would be okay. Adara was dead, and so therefore she was no longer an issue. Marcus and his coven of stupid asshole witches were down in numbers, so they weren't really an issue anymore either. We were okay. 

"Sorry, I'm just- I don't want to lose Kara."

"You won't," I assured him, bringing his fingers to my lips so I could kiss them softly. "It's okay. We're going to stop for the night in about an hour, and then tomorrow we'll be safe at home." That was a relief too, because I was ready for this entire trip to be over with. I had Stiles now, and I was done with him always getting the bad end of things. He deserved to be able to sleep in his own bed, possibly with me if he was okay with it, and not have to worry about something terrible happening to him. 

"Please don't let Malia drag me into staying in a room with her. I haven't thought of what I'm going to say to her yet and I really don't want to sleep next to her. I want to sleep next to you." Stiles looked guilty, probably because he was technically cheating on his girlfriend, but he also squeezed my hand a little tighter as if to say he wasn't letting me go. I believed him, one hundred percent. 

"I won't let that happen. You'll stay with me," I promised, giving him a small glance. He smiled slightly and gave a slight nod. He seemed a little out of it, since we left he'd kept to himself mostly, other than a couple light conversations about random things, and besides right now. I didn't know if something was wrong with him, or if he was just bored. "Are you alright?" I asked cautiously, linking my fingers with his. 

"I'm fine," he replied, shifting closer so he could lay his head against my shoulder. "Just been thinking." He pressed his forehead against my arm and I could feel his breath hitting my skin. It was comforting to have him close to me. I felt his lips stretch into the smallest of smiles against my shoulder before he placed a small kiss to it and then leaned away. 

"About Malia?" I asked. 

Stiles shrugged lightly. "That, and about my dad, and you, and just everything in general. Like how things are going to be when we get back. My dad will probably kill me for not calling, or texting. I honestly don't even know where my phone is anymore. I think I lost it at some point," Stiles said, laughing at himself a little. "I'm just worried things aren't going to go as smoothly as I want them to. I want my dad to accept the fact that I'm with you, even though he probably won't. I don't want Malia to get hurt because I care about her, but I know there's no avoiding that. I just want everything to be okay."

"Not everything can be easy, Stiles," I muttered, trying not to curse as Scott, who was driving the car in front of us, swerved into the turn lane, and I had to find a way to follow him without pissing off other drivers. I took a deep breath and continued. "Not everything can be easy, but at least we're all alive, right? So if your dad doesn't like us together, we'll ease him into the idea. Say we're just friends and we can go over to his house for dinner once a week, and show him I'm not who he thought I was four years ago. We can work past that." Stiles nodded slowly, staring at his lap. "And there's no way of telling how Malia is going to react, but if she loves you, or cares about you, I'm sure she'll just want you to be happy."