Chapter Text
Stiles didn’t hear from Scott for two weeks. Jackson had returned after a day and a half, reporting that he’d done everything he could to explain the full situation to Scott.
“It’s up to him, now,” he told Stiles, gripping his shoulder briefly before leaving to seek out Ethan.
Four days after his meeting with Scott, there was a knock on the pack house door. The wolves had heard it coming, so they knew it was the omegas they’d let stay on their territory after claiming it. Lydia was visiting for the weekend, and it was she who answered the door and let them in.
The two stood side-by-side in the living room, too nervous to sit. Derek smiled warmly at them and sat in the armchair, facing them. “Kathryn, Josiah,” he greeted.
The pack didn’t know much about either of them, just that they were siblings who had been turned in a similar fashion to Stiles. Josiah was younger, in his early thirties, while Kathryn was closer to forty. They both had curly brown hair and bright hazel eyes.
“Alpha Hale,” Kathryn responded formally.
The omegas eyed Lydia skittishly when she entered the living room with two steaming mugs of coffee, but accepted them with grateful nods.
Lydia, Stiles, and Peter stayed in the room, but the rest of the pack had retreated upstairs, not wanting to overwhelm the two visitors.
“Your pack is young,” Kathryn observed shrewdly. “But they feel strong.”
Derek grinned. “They are. Most of them go to school locally, except for Lydia, here, who’s at MIT.” She shot Lydia a proud wink where she was seated on the couch between Stiles and Peter.
Josiah’s scent suddenly flooded with what smelled like longing. His face was impassive, but he was eyeing Lydia with interest.
“Josiah?” Peter caught the wolf’s attention. “Something wrong?”
He cleared his throat several times, but found that he was unable to respond.
“You’ll have to forgive my brother,” Kathryn said, coming to his rescue. “He used to be a professor at MIT; he actually designed much of the mathematics curriculum that they still teach.”
Lydia perked up at that. “You’re J. Bonham?”
Josiah nodded, looking surprised. “Yes,” he croaked. “How did you know that?”
She smiled enthusiastically. “I just read your paper on –,”
Stiles groaned, interrupting her. “Oh god, you two might as well just go outside and spare us from having to listen to you nerd out.”
Lydia swatted at the back of his head, but stood up and gestured for Josiah to follow her to the porch so they could continue their conversation. He did, wearing an expression that told the other wolves in the room that the banshee already had him wrapped around her finger.
Kathryn bit back a laugh, but her scent quickly turned sad. “He had to quit when we were bitten,” she told them in a soft voice. “He had control issues early on, and didn’t trust himself to be around his students.”
“How is his control now?” Peter asked, wondering how closely he should be monitoring the omega’s interaction with his packmate outside.
“Much better,” she assured him. “He could easily go back to teaching, but he’s being stubborn. He doesn’t think they’d take him back, and he doesn’t want to leave me by myself if he moves back to Massachusetts.”
“You wouldn’t go with him?” Stiles piped in.
Kathryn shook her head. “It’s a little hard to explain, but this town kind of acts as my anchor. We’re from here originally. I was just visiting Josiah when we were attacked. Afterwards, I moved in with him so we could be together while we tried to figure out how to survive as wolves. It took me a lot longer than him to learn to control my wolf. I really only felt stable when we moved back, and you graciously allowed us to settle here.”
Derek nodded thoughtfully, a plan already forming in his mind. “What can we do for you today, Kathryn?”
She steeled herself and stood up straighter, looking Derek in the eyes. “Apologies if I do this wrong; I don’t have much experience with packs and formalities. But I was hoping you may be open to the possibility of accepting Josiah and myself into your pack?”
Since they were prepared for the request, and had already discussed it with the rest of the pack, Derek was able to give her an answer right away. He stood up and approached the omega confidently.
“We would be honored to have you join us,” he told her with a sincere smile.
Kathryn slumped visibly in relief. “Really? You have no idea how much that would mean to us, Alpha Hale.”
“Derek,” he corrected her kindly. “Please, call me Derek. And I do know. I can’t tell you how impressed I am that the two of you were able to navigate turning and controlling your wolves without help. From what I can see, you two will make wonderful packmates.”
She blushed at the praise, but frowned uncertainly. “What do we do now? Is there some formal ceremony or something?”
Peter huffed a laugh. “What does your wolf want you to do?”
Kathryn considered the question for a second before tilting her head to the side almost without thought, baring her throat to her new Alpha.
Derek smiled proudly at her and ran his nose over her throat, formally accepting her into the pack. He felt the bond immediately and gathered the woman into a tight hug, which she reciprocated without hesitation.
He went outside to where Josiah and Lydia were locked in a fierce debate. Derek scented the air and could tell the two were both pleased and content with their current interaction.
He watched them for a few minutes, before repeating the scenting ceremony with Josiah. Lydia beamed when it was done, and took her new packmate’s hand so she could lead him into one of the offices inside to continue their conversation.
Derek returned to the living room to find Peter, Stiles, and Kathryn perched over a laptop, smelling happy.
“What are you guys doing?”
Stiles smiled and pulled him forward so he could place a kiss on the wolf’s lips. “Colluding.”
“We’re buying Josiah a plane ticket so he can fly back to Massachusetts when Lydia does,” Peter explained. “I can make a couple of calls and get him an interview at MIT.”
“Because of course Peter has contacts everywhere,” Stiles said with an eye roll so large it looked like it hurt.
Kathryn smiled at the exchange, and Derek could feel through her bond how excited she was already to be part of the pack.
The next day, Derek and Peter were the first to rise. After pouring a mug of coffee for his uncle, Derek sat down next to him in the living room.
“So,” he started nonchalantly. “While I’m on a roll accepting new people into the pack, is there something you’ve been wanting to ask me?”
Peter, who had just taken a big sip, choked on his coffee.
Derek had to laugh at the normally very put together wolf dabbing futilely at his coffee-soaked shirt.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Peter responded primly, glaring daggers at the Alpha.
Derek just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, just call him, Peter. See when he can get here so we can get this over with.”
Peter growled half-heartedly, but he smelled pleased.
Chris arrived that afternoon and happily accepted Derek’s offer.
When Stiles finally heard from Scott, it was in a manner he hadn’t expected, and came in the form of a messenger knocking on the door of the pack house.
He answered the door and accepted a large envelope. He brought it over to the dining room table and sat down to open it. Derek, Peter, Jackson, and Isaac were the only ones home, and they joined him immediately when they heard his heart start to race as he read the papers inside.
“It’s,” he said in a strangled voice. “It’s a request from the McCall Pack for a formal alliance.”
Derek stilled before sighing happily, and settled in to read with Stiles. After they read through everything, they handed it over to Peter to iron out any issues or details that hadn’t been addressed.
Stiles called Scott that night and they talked for over two hours. There were lots of apologies and tears, as well as promises to never let their relationship reach that level of strain again.
They hadn’t fixed everything, but it was a damn good start.
The sun hadn’t quite set on the first day of summer when Stiles walked out onto the back porch to watch his pack.
Peter and Chris were cuddled up on the porch swing, idly swaying back and forth contently. Lydia, Kathryn, Cora, and Josiah were playing bean bags in the backyard while Isaac and Jackson sparred nearby.
Peter and Scott had worked out the final terms of the treaty, and it had been signed officially that morning.
Stiles’ dad drove up to help them celebrate, and was manning the grill. His attention was half on the food, and half on keeping the wandering hands of Ethan and Kira from stealing everything he’d already cooked.
Strong arms wrapped their way around his waist from behind. Stiles sighed serenely and burrowed backwards into a familiar, broad chest.
“You smell happy,” Derek rumbled, running his nose over Stiles’ throat to get closer to the scent. “Are you happy?”
Stiles looked out into the backyard at his pack and hummed in confirmation. “If I’ve lived a better day,” he said, “I can’t recall it.”