If I Could Turn Back Time

A Come To Alpha Moment

It was almost midnight when Stiles got to the Preserve and that was only because he had to make a pit stop to get some shovels to dig with. He drove up to the Hale house a few minutes after Derek had driven off. Once Derek's Camaro was out of sight, Stiles hopped out of Roscoe and grabbed a shovel before beginning the trek up the hill to find the buried body. He followed the scent that he found earlier and used it to guide him in the right direction. But as he got closer, he noticed something was different about the scent.

Despite the shift in the scent, Stiles was still determined to uncover the truth and he immediately got to work digging for the body. He dug for what seemed like forever, constantly looking over his shoulder to see if Derek was coming back or if someone was watching him until he finally struck something solid with the end of his shovel. "Now, we're talkin'," Stiles heaved. Then he tossed the shovel to the ground and bent down to dig the rest of the way with his hands.

Once he had done that, Stiles got to work untying the knots in the rope that was wrapped around the burlap sack containing what he assumed was the other half of the body. "Damn it! Did he really have to tie this thing into, like, 900 knots," he swore. Just then, he caught a glance of something out of his peripheral a few yards away from where he was digging.

Wolfsbane.

Stiles immediately stopped what he was doing and crawled out of the hole he dug and jogged over to get a better look at the plant. Then he reached out to touch it, but recoiled instantly when it burned his hand. Still, not willing to be deterred, Stiles reached out for it again, this time grabbing the dirt around the plant and lifting it up until his saw the rope tied at the end of it. Then he grabbed the rope and tried to yank it out of the ground but found that it was quite difficult. Even with all his new werewolf strength, Stiles struggled to unearth the rope and wolfsbane, causing him to groan loudly in frustration.

"Damn you, flower. Come on! Give me something to work with here?" Stiles grunted. "I'm not the one who plucked you, damn it. I'm not your enemy!"

"Well, maybe you should stop messing with it. After all, it's ceremonial wolfsbane for my sister's grave," a familiar voice chuckled sardonically behind him. Stiles froze instantly as his heart crawled into his throat. Slowly, very slowly, the teen wolf turned around and saw Derek Hale leaning against the railing of his old house with his arms folded with a smug expression on his face.

I'm screwed. Stiles thought.

"Oh, yeah, well... did you ceremonially kill her, too?" Stiles shot back once he regained his ability to speak. All at once the smug look on Derek's face dissolved into a dark scowl, and Stiles struggled not to flinch and turn away from the Alpha's steely gaze.

"She was one of the few family members I had left," Derek grimaced. "I didn't murder my sister, and I also wasn't the only wolf in the area that night."

From there, it didn't take long for Stiles to put two and two together and conclude that the other Alpha that bit him and Scott was the same one who killed Derek's sister. And while Stiles believed that it was more plausible, a part of him still wasn't willing to completely take Derek's word for it. "If you don't believe me, see if I'm lying," Derek announced, as though sensing the younger boy's caution.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Stiles asked, mildly, okay, fine, EXTREMELY curious.

"Just close your eyes, steady your breathing, and focus on listening to my heartbeat and smelling my scent," Derek answered simply.

Stiles narrowed his eyes suspiciously but did it anyway. "Okay, I get why you're asking me to listen to your heartbeat, but why are you—" "Because sometimes, you may come across some people who are trained liars and know how to keep a steady heartbeat while they lie. Smelling the difference in their scent can help you to discern if someone is lying to you, too," Derek explained. "Deceit has what my uncle would call a particularly acrid scent. The way he described it, he said it smells something akin to sulfur and corroded metal."

"Okay, then let's test that theory," Stiles urged, eager to put his new skills to the test. "Did you murder your sister?"

"No," Derek responded.

Stiles focused his senses on the Alpha's heartbeat and his scent, but all he heard was a steady, rhythmic beat like a drum and the same scent of pine wood, leather, and morning dew. The Beta reopened his eyes and stared at the older werewolf guiltily. "I'm sorry. I should have been more considerate. There's just been so much going on, and, I swear I'm not trying to make an excuse, even though it sounds like I am," Stiles rambled.

"You're good, Stiles. I get it. Were I in your position, I'd probably do the same thing," Derek nodded in understanding, as he approached the young wolf. "Now, can you please put the wolfsbane back where you found it and stop desecrating my sister's grave?" It was then that Stiles realized that he was still holding the wolfsbane and the rope in his hands, and he immediately got to work putting it back where it originally was, stammering out apologies as he went. Then he grabbed his shovel and recovered Laura's grave with dirt.

When that was done, Stiles got up and dusted himself off, before looking back to Derek and saying, "Sorry, again, for falsely accusing you." Derek nodded in response as he watched the teenager meander back to his Jeep.

"Hey, Stiles," Derek said, causing the Beta to turn around.

"Yeah?" he remarked.

"Don't be afraid of your inner wolf. Embrace it," the Alpha encouraged. "I know it may not seem like it right now, but not everything about being a werewolf is all ra, ra, ra, kill, kill, kill. Being a wolf, it doesn't change who you are. It just amplifies the good and the bad parts of who you are and gets rid of all of the clutter."

Once again, Stiles honed in on Derek's heartbeat and his scent and found that Derek wasn't lying. In response to Derek, Stiles quirked his lips upward in a small smile and nodded before heading back to his car and driving off.

Maybe being a werewolf wouldn't be so bad after all.