True Mate » Sterek

Chapter 13

Derek grunts as Stiles shifts yet again. "Quiet down, sour-wolf, I'm trying to study," Stiles scolds, readjusting his head in Derek's lap and highlighting another sentence in his economics book, which is leaning against his propped up knees. "Then quit moving," Derek retorts with a small eye roll. "I'm not."

"Stiles—!" He growls without finishing his sentence, what's the point? Derek clenches his jaw when Stiles, yet again, picks his head up and moves it. "You know what?" Derek grabs Stiles shoulder and pulls him up, the teen clutching his schools stuff for dear life. He ends up sitting between Derek's legs, with arms around him. "Oh..this actually works," he more murmurs to himself. Derek stifles a laugh and watches his human mark pages like a coloring book. It's far from an efficient way to spend his day, but Derek doesn't really mind.

"You missed a line," Derek mutters, referring to the single line that Stiles hadn't covered with a yellow streak. "Hm? Oh, thanks." He uncaps the marker with his teeth and fills it in, flipping to the next page. Derek opens his mouth to say he was joking, but again, what's the point?

Stiles curiously looks away from his book when Derek's phone goes off. Derek glances at him and realizes that he wants to be let in on whatever is happening. "It's Scott, he's looking for the Beastiary at Allison's house."

"With our luck, he hasn't found anything, am I right?"

Derek just nods and slips his phone back into his pocket, motioning for the boy to move. Stiles groans but obliges.

"Don't give me that look," Derek sighs, "I have to help any way I can." In reality, he actually needs to find Jackson and the psychotic kid controlling him, even thought they've all hit a dead end. Either way, he's trying to keep Stiles out of it.

"Wait," Stiles quickly catches his wrist, making his turn back with a quizzical look. "Are you coming back tonight?" Stiles thinks it's childish to be afraid of the dark, but with Jackson having some sort of extra hate for Stiles, sleeping doesn't always come easy. Having Derek there is a comfort it that way, and others, but if he's not coming back the teen would rather the window be shut and locked.

A small grin tugs at Derek's lips. He kisses Stiles softly, silently letting him know he's there to protect him. "I'll be back. Don't worry."

While Derek is out trying to keep Stiles away from all of this, he has a different plan. Scott comes over and they all huddle around Noah's files, trying to link everything back to Matt. Not long later, they find themselves at the police station, going over the surveillance footage from the hospital.

"Wait...he's talking to someone," Stiles mumbles, both the teenagers leaning in to get a closer look. Scott gulps, "That's my mom. He's talking to my mom." Scott fumbles for his phone until he has it pressed to his ear, Mellisa on the other line.

"Scott, you know how many people I deal with in a day?"

"I know, Mom. Just try to remember. He was wearing a leather jacket, my age—"

"Yeah, he looks evil!" Stiles adds in, earning a eye roll from his father. "Here, I'll send a picture." Scott turns on his camera and snaps a picture of the computer screen paused on the two of them speaking. There's a couple seconds of silence while Mellisa studies the photo. "Yeah. Yeah, I remember him. I stopped him for tracking mud through the hospital." The three guys share a look, Noah sighing. "Dad, if his boot prints match the ones found at the crime scene, we have Matt linked to four murders."

"Can you come in and make a statement?" Noah asks. "Uh, Yeah. I'll head over right now." Noah thanks her before they end the call. "Go tell the front desk, tell them to let her back when she gets here," he orders. Stiles nods and Scott follows.