Rhythm

Part 2

The ride home was oddly quiet, lost in your own thoughts on the night. You caught Stiles glancing at you in the rearview mirror for the millionth time and huffed. "What, Stiles?"

"Nothing," he said as he practically bounced in his seat. "Just..... Oh my God! You kicked Derek freaking Hale's ass tonight!"

The smile you felt climbing your face could not be put down.

"And not only that, you did it by kicking him in crotch. I mean..... You." He pointed at you in the mirror, then flipped his hand so he was pointing right at you. "You are my new favorite person." A beat. "Sorry, Scott."

Scott chuckled, looking over his shoulder at you. "No, I get it. And honestly, I agree." A beat. "Sorry, Stiles."

You and the alpha shared a laugh at Stiles' glare, only to have it fade off as Scott snapped his head toward the open window. "What?" You asked, something not sitting right in your stomach.

"Stiles, stop the car."

Pulling over into the shoulder of the eerily vacant road, Stiles put the jeep in park as Scott continued to stare out his window. "Stay here," he told the two of you before disappearing into the woods.

"Does he do this often?" You asked, trying to ease the tension. "I would like to say no, but.... Yes," Stiles nodded.
A car pulled up behind you, it's lights on bright, concealing its shape. "Who the hell is this?" Stiles mumbled, looking in his side mirror. "Give me my bat. It's right behi- argh!" He flailed as a dark form appeared beside his door, standing ominously. "Derek, I swear to God, one of these days I will actually beat you senseless with my bat when you do that."

"Sure," you heard Derek's voice say, a smile in his tone.

"What are you even doing here?"

You just watched the exchange from the back seat, enjoying their banter and admittedly feeling better now that another werewolf was here.

"Scott told me he felt like he was being followed earlier today, and asked me to follow you guys home, see if I noticed anything."

"I felt like that, too," you said quietly, shrinking in your seat as Stiles turned toward you and Derek lowered his head to peer into the car at you. "At the loft, when we pulled up. It was just a gut feeling, I don't know. Stop staring at me like that! It's creepy." They continued to stare. "Do you two have telepathy or something? A channel between your two minds solely for the purpose of being annoying?"

A loud howl, almost growl sounded, and both Derek and Stiles turned toward the sound, at full attention. "Scott," Stiles muttered. "Give me my bat."

Derek's eyes were glowing as he rounded the car, looking at you questioningly as you hopped out. "What are you doing?"

"You think I'm staying here? Alone? While you and Bat-boy go and save the day? While I'm here alone? By myself?"

"She has a point," Stiles agreed. "Although, I didn't quite catch that one part.... You said you are worried about being what? Lonely?"

Both you and Derek looked at Stiles as he spoke before looking back to one another. You smacked Stiles on the back of the head without looking away from Derek, almost catching a smirk on his brooding face before the howl sounded again. "Fine. You and Stiles follow me. Try and keep up."

Stiles shoved your arm, making you stumble sideways. "That's for hitting me."

You smacked the back of his head again. "That's for..... Ugh! Don't make me pull a repeat of what I did to Derek today, bat-boy."

"You wouldn't." His voice held a small amount of fear.

"Try and see what happens."

After a moment Stiles stomped off ahead of you. "Into the woods we go."