Imprinted [Sterek]

Chapter 22

Derek looked down at his mate slowly nosing the boys' shirt up to his shoulders so he could see the imprint. "Beta what are you doing?" Stiles asked, trying to move the wolf off of him. Derek stared down at the print giving a small growl.

This should have never happened. Stiles' was tortured for so many years because of this, and it's my fault. Derek growled to himself. He knew that he had nothing to do with the imprint itself, but it was his family who did it. He was Derek's mate, and he could never do anything to help Stiles because he didn't know.

Derek slowly lifted his paw, "Beta, get off of me." Stiles growled trying to move under the wolfs force. Derek placed his paw down onto the imprint watching it glow a blue light. Soon Derek's head was filled with Stiles memories.

"Look, it's the wolf boy! Better stay away from him, or you'll turn into a wolf!"

"Listen, you don't want to become friends with Stilinski, okay? He's not someone you want to be around."

"Stiles, honey, this birthmark on your back will bring you joy one day. Believe in yourself and the people who love you. Trust them. Trust that one day everything will make sense and you'll be happy." It was Derek's mother. Derek remembers this day; his mother told him to stay in his room while the visitors were there. He didn't listen and hid just before the bottom of the stairs trying to get a look at the visitors. Derek knew their scents, the Stilinski's, the sheriff was around all of the time asking his mother for help, and Claudia was one of his mother's oldest friends. The son, Derek didn't know him, he was Cora's age and was around for one of her birthday parties once. Derek remembers liking the scent that the boy gave off.

"Scott, it's crazy they love me! I don't know how or why but the wolves love me! They let me pet them and feed them straight from my hand! I don't think they want to hurt me." There was so much joy in Stiles' voice; he was so happy that for once something was okay in his life.

"But you can't leave. I thought we were going to be together forever," The pain in Stiles' voice almost broke Derek. He didn't know who this person was, but they hurt his mate, and he didn't like it.

"I can't be with someone so weird. You're nice and all Stiles, but you aren't normal." Derek growled at this person's words. His mate was perfect. It wasn't his fault that he had a different childhood; it wasn't his fault that a werewolf attacked him if it was anyone's fault; it was Derek's.

Derek was pulled out of Stiles memories, slowly climbing off of the boys back and waiting for Stiles to say something. Derek's ears hung low trying to cover his face his eyes were bright blue with worry and fear, his tail tucked between his legs, Derek was scared that Stiles was going to freak out and reject him. Derek knew it was going to happen; there was no doubting it.

"Get out." Stiles' voice was hardly audible, but Derek heard it just fine. "I am not a freak. I will not have some weird wolf making me any more of a freak either. I don't know what you did or who you are, but I never want to see you. I was perfectly happy with the way people treated me before. Now get out." Derek continued to try and shrink himself down as Stiles yelled at him. He knew what was going to happen, but he didn't realize how much it was going to hurt.

"Stiles, please," Derek wasn't sure that the boy was going to hear him, but he had to try.

"Did you just talk?" It worked. Derek slowly lifted his head to find a very red-faced Stiles who now looked scared. It was now or never.

Derek pulled the blanket off of Stiles bed, covering himself, and he slowly shifted back into a human. Sighing Derek adjusted the blanket around his waist, looking at Stiles. Stiles had backed himself into the corner of his bedroom, giving Derek possibly the most fearful face he'd ever seen on anyone. "What the hell are you?" Derek ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.

"We're going to start there? Alright, I'm a werewolf." Derek gave Stiles a sad smile waiting for the boy to ask another question or yell at him to get out again.

"Werewolf? Werewolves aren't real." Stiles' eyes were darting around the room before landing back on Derek. "My book, that's why you always growled or something when you didn't like something."

"You made it sound so Twilight; I just waited until you wrote something remotely close to what was real before leaving it. If you're going to write it, at least make sure it's accurate." Derek chuckled.

"Accurate? I didn't know werewolves were a thing until five seconds ago!" Stiles shouted. Derek flinched, this was going, well exactly how he expected it to go. "How did you, what happened when you stepped on my back?"

"I was trying to ease you into this. I didn't want to shift right out the door, and then you have a worse reaction than what you're having." Derek sighed.

"That didn't answer my question."

"I can't tell you unless you know the whole story. You have to know everything." Derek wasn't sure what to do anymore. He couldn't tell Stiles straight out the door that he was Derek's mate, the kid would end up even more freaked out.

"Whole story? What story?"

"The reason why people call you the wolf boy. The reason why those wolves at the sanctuary liked you so much." Derek was stalling at this point. "Look, I don't want to dish any more of this out on you. You have to feel ready for this before I tell you. I feel bad enough as it is. Just think about it." Derek was ready to shift back and run to his family. He needed them.

"Why didn't you just show yourself to me the day we met?" Stiles whispered, looking away from Derek.

"Because I was scared." Derek moved to Stiles window, ready to climb out of it when the boys' voice came again.

"At least tell me your name. I feel bad calling you Beta."

"Derek. Derek Hale." He was out of the window and shifting as he ran across the roof and jumping down onto the ground, making a beeline for the forest. It went almost exactly as Derek pictured it going in his head, Stiles was now scared of him, Stiles would probably never talk to him again, and Derek was going to be left heartbroken until the end of time. But he did it to himself, and there was no helping it anymore.