The Run/Hunt

Chapter Twenty-One

-Stiles-

Lydia and Jackson leave five minutes after she broke the news. Now it's just Der and I. "Well, that was interesting," I say, falling back onto the couch. "We've already got a second gen of our group on the way."

"Yeah," he says. "Jackson's probably a bit overwhelmed. He just found out who his dad is and now he's gonna be a dad."

"Makes sense," I nod. "I hope he'll deal with the news okay, since his biological dad was such a prick."

"Damn," Derek says, covering his face with his hands. "I didn't even think about that. We'll need to make sure he knows we support him."

I hum. "He might hate it if we baby him. So, maybe we just tread carefully for a while. See how he handles it for the time being."

"Yeah," he nods, "alright. Good idea." 

"Now." I turn to Derek, crossing my legs on the couch. "It's been a month and I've been breezing through all my studies." 

"That's good," he says, taking a sip of coffee that he had brought up when Lydia announced her pregnancy. 

"I think it's time we mate." I jump as he spits out his coffee. "Whoa. Wasn't expecting that reaction. Was it a good or bad spit-take?"

"You shocked me is all," he says, resting a hand on my thigh, warming me up from the inside. "Of course, everything you've just said is good."

I smile. "So, what do you think?"

"I'm absolutely ready for mating," he says. "But, you remember what you told me the last time we talked about this? We mate, then we ascend."

"Yeah. I remember," I say. "That's why I've told you about whizzing through my studies. My tutor has already put me through the exams." 

"How'd you do?" 

"I passed with flying colours."

"Wouldn't expect anything less from you babe." 

I laugh and press a kiss to his cheek. "I love you. When do you want to mate?"

"So keen." 

I playfully shove him and he laughs. "Of course I'm keen. You're my mate, my forever. I wanna be wolf-married to you."

He leans over and presses a kiss to my cheek. "I want to be wolf-married to you too." 

I stand up, taking a hold of his wrist, pulling him with me. "C'mon then." I place his hands on my hips, pulling him close so our chests brush together. "Let's go. Break the news to everyone. When do you think we can do it?"

He grins like the wolf he is. "You're in luck. Full moon's tonight, the perfect time to do it." 

"Perfect."

-Isaac-

"So, they're finally doing it, huh?" Scott says as we're cuddling on the couch in our room. 

It's still a shock for me about the luxury of this room, something I should have expected when I was told that Scott and I would be moving into the palace. It just never crossed my mind I guess. 

"About time," I say with a laugh. "I think they did the right thing, waiting." 

"Yeah. Stiles did need to study up, and he said he wanted to ascend right after mating." 

"What do you think will be the first thing they do once they become our kings?"

"I can only pray that it's to abolish the Hunt." 

"That would be a dream come true," I sigh, burrowing closer to him, and he tightens his hold on my hips and waist. 

"I hope Queen Talia won't catch wind of their plans before they ascend. Do you know if she has the power to stop them from ascending? It'd fucking suck if she did."

"It would. But, not a lot of people know about their plans, so I wouldn't worry about it."

"It hasn't been long and half of us are already taking the next steps. Lydia is pregnant, Stiles and Derek are gonna be kings. But what about us?" 

"What do you mean?" Scott asks. 

"It feels like we're not doing anything. We've got jobs, we're mated, but..."

"Hey." He sits up straighter, causing me to as well, "you're not thinking that we need to do more just because our friends are doing different things, are you? Let's enjoy being together like this for a while, and later, when we're really ready, we'll talk about building onto our lives." 

I smile warmly up at him and we softly kiss. "I'm happy with that. I'm happy with you."