Til The Dawn [Midnights #1] ✓

chapter 46

Derek took another deep breath, scrambling to find the strength to actually walk inside and face his uncle. He could hear Peter and Isaac talking softly, laughing about some joke they'd exchanged before he'd pulled into the driveway, but it still brought a smile to his face. Even if he was positively terrified to grapple with the embarrassing display from earlier in front of either of them.

He'd known the minute the words left his mouth that they were wrong. All sorts of wrong, as Stiles would say. But he hadn't been able to stop himself. And now he was stuck, standing outside his own home, readying himself for a fight.

Well, fight was probably a strong word. But he was definitely getting a lecture. And a Peter Hale lecture was epic. Especially if you were Derek.

"It's not cold or anything, but are you just going to sit out there and be what Stiles calls 'broody' all night?" Peter inquired gently.

His volume was conversational, as if Derek was already in there with them, but he'd still heard everything clearly. As if he'd been standing right next to Peter.

Derek sighed heavily, jerking the handle on the front door before he talked himself out of it again. He peered around the corner as soon as he was over the threshold, meeting Peter's eyes and not finding Isaac nearby.

"Is... is Scott here?" he whispered.

"You mean, is Stiles here?" Peter corrected plainly. "And no. It's just me and Isaac."

He nodded, shutting the door behind him gently and making a beeline for his room with his gym bag slung over his shoulder.

"Did you really think it'd be that easy, Derek?" Peter retorted, a smirk evident in his voice. "That I wouldn't confront you?"

He hadn't even made it three steps.

He groaned low and long as he turned slowly. "I mean, I knew you were going to talk to me about my thing with Scott, but I didn't..."

"You didn't what?" Peter interrupted, walking toward him much like he had Scott earlier, his arms crossed and a sinister edge to the encounter. "You didn't do anything wrong? You didn't hurt Scott's feelings? You didn't act like a stubborn butthole?" he said, ticking off each question like it was a checklist. "Or did you not tell an outrageous lie to a pack member?"

"A... a what?" he stuttered.

"A lie. You lied to Scott earlier, from what I heard."

"A––about?"

Peter raised both eyebrows at the question, clearly appalled he'd act dumb about this. "You really don't know? You really think you're right, huh?" Peter put his hands on his hips and shook his head. "Jesus, Derek. Do you honestly think you lead a life of solitude? That I do? That I don't have real relationships outside of you?"

"Peter, I didn't..."

"Nope. No more talking from you," Peter demanded, cutting him off again. "You're done talking. And how fucking dare you say you don't care about Stiles."

Isaac gasped from the next room and it became apparent to Derek that Peter hadn't divulged the contents of his conversation to anyone else. Obviously something he appreciated, but now the shame from having spoken those words was even more severe. And clearly even Isaac felt that it was the highest form of treason.

Not that Derek needed confirmation.

"I'm... sorry," Derek confessed. "I'll, uh, talk to Scott in the morning and apologize to him too."

"Good. That's good, Derek," Peter offered. "But you're not changing your mind, are you?"

And they were right back where they started, it seemed. It was possible, he now realized, that he actually was as obstinate as everyone complained. That maybe Scott was right too. It was plausible, though not very probable in Derek's mind, that there was no actual reason for it either. Other than to keep him from losing another piece of his heart, of course. But he didn't imagine that would've saved him from his mother's wrath if she could see him now.

"Listen, Derek, I don't want to pull rank, but I may have to in this instance. All I ask... is that you not make this harder than it has to be, okay?"

"You'd really do it even if I didn't want you to?" Derek wondered, his heart seeming to shatter regardless.

"You've left me with very little choice, Derek," Peter conceded sadly. "My main priority will always be you, yes. But a very close second, on a purely instinctual level, is this town. And right now, your selfishness is putting others at risk."

There it was. The truth. They might be a more democratic pack than any others he'd met, but they still had an Alpha. And it wasn't Derek.

If Peter was willing to do something this desperate, something he'd never even hinted at before, it was serious. He wasn't just making an argument for strengthening their pack, Derek now realized. He had been pressing upon him the dire situation they now faced by not being able to protect the town. It was the same thing Scott had been trying to explain earlier too.

Plain and simple, Derek Hale was a butthole.

"You're right," he finally agreed, a very tense second stretching out between them. "Isaac, come out here. I can hear your heart. I know you're listening."

"Thank you, Derek," Peter replied sincerely. "But you're still apologizing to Stiles."

"Wait... you told him?"

"It's Stiles. He knows," Isaac insisted, eliciting a groan from Derek and a deep chuckle from Peter. "Good luck with that, by the way. I'm with you. In spirit, to be clear. I'm not brave enough to go up against Stiles. He's little, but he's feisty."

Derek rolled his eyes and laid his bag in the hallway, it hitting him that there was no use in prolonging the inevitable another damn minute.

"Well, you ready?"

Isaac nodded, unable to keep the giddy grin off his face as Derek motioned for them all to head to the living room. As far as he was concerned, they were still going to do this right. The way Scott had suggested. All the information first. Then Isaac could make an educated decision.

But both Derek and Peter knew where this evening ended.