My Head is an Animal - Side B [McHaleinski]

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

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Before:

Side A, Ch5

He lets the rage brew into the next day, fueled by his son's guilty avoidance and the silent remorse - pity - of his deputies.

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Having a roof over his head after over a month is... odd, for Derek. Having a warm place to sleep is odd. Celina and Eliza (as they insist he call them) are odd. They... dote.

They mother him. They steadfastly refuse his offer to pay for anything. They make sure he eats and ask if he's comfortable and they're... they're just odd.

Derek finds himself settling into a routine quickly - something that completely baffles him after spending the last two months leaping from one life threatening situation to another. He jolts awake sometime between seven and nine after only a few hours of restless sleep. Unable to remain in bed, Derek gets up, goes for a run, and then showers. At exactly ten in the morning, there's a single knock on his door. He's treated to breakfast, and tries not to eat his weight in pancakes while the older women fuss over how obviously hungry he is. Since becoming an Alpha, his appetite has only grown to match his growing strength. He fears eating them out of house and home, but they only seem delighted at the idea of feeding him.

That first morning, Derek is practically terrified of sharing a meal, of having to answer questions. Of having to be social. But neither of them push, even if their eyes are a little too knowing. Instead, after breakfast the three of them go over the (long) list of repairs the house will need, and everything that Derek will need to fix things.

In the week that follows, Derek begins work immediately after breakfast, starting with the roof and the gutters. It's hard, rewarding work, and has the bonus of pushing the fear and the exhaustion and everything else from his mind for a while. Derek throws himself into it wholeheartedly. He quietly pays for his own supplies, and places the cash Celina gives him into an envelope to return later - once they'll hopefully accept it.

At three, Derek picks his Betas up from the high school, and together they return to the rail depot for training. These sessions always end in frustration for all of them, it seems. Their first full moon is fast approaching, but Derek also has to teach them how to not die with the kanima and the army of hunters bearing down on all of them, and trying to teach both that and control only leads to pain and sullen glares from his Betas, and only compounds his fears of losing his Pack before he's really had a chance to have them yet.

He has half a mind to ask Scott for help on the full moon. Both to include the boy in what should be his Pack and to make sure that they all make it out alive.