Chapter Text
Derek had always believed in the power and magic of mates.
His parents were mates and their love story might be simple, but it was theirs and they lived a happy life. Even his uncle Peter before the fire, before he ruined everything, was happy with his mate.
Peter never wanted to settle down, too busy being Talia’s enforcer, too busy having adventures and misadventures, both in equal measures and living the best of his single unattached life. But when Peter met his aunt Penelope, it was like a magical shift, Peter changed from the reckless beta chasing after adventures and adrenaline to someone who craved family life, a quiet life with his mate.
Derek, newly turned 10, had asked Peter how did he change so much.
Didn’t he miss his old self? Peter had told him that when it was Derek’s turn, Derek would understand that nothing is as powerful, as fulfilling as living with his mate. Peter’s life before aunt Penelope was filled with adventures yes, but it was also filled with loneliness and he always felt something missing. He tried chasing that loneliness away by taking up more work, going out with many women, terrified that finding his mate would make him boring like his sister (that had earned him a loud slap on the upside of his head cutesy of said sister).
Peter was lucky that Aunt Penelope had forgiven him for his misdeeds before he met her and accepted the darkness that came with him being an enforcer for years. She had loved him with her everything, not despite the flaws but with them. Though Derek’s parents’ love story was romantic and happy, Peter and Penelope’s was real, proof that mates were indeed magical, and finding ones mate was the best thing that could happen to a werewolf. Derek, all of 10 years old then, had declared that he would wait just for his mate and not date any girls like Peter had, to which he received a slap on the back of his head by Peter and Aunt Penelope’s laugh.
When Derek turned 15, he met Paige.
She was lovely, she challenged him, she made him nervous but also accomplished whenever he managed to get her to laugh. Derek truly believed that Paige was his mate for finding mates was not an easy thing, there was no moment of just knowing, or smelling their scent or any other type of signs as portrayed by fiction.
A werewolf was able to identify their mate when both their human and wolf side craved the same person, the person made both of their sides calm and at peace. Though their first meeting was entirely up to chance, werewolves would feel restless if their mate was not anywhere near them, prompting them to move in search of their mate. Werewolves also got more in touch with their wolves when they entered puberty, though it did not happen necessarily with the onset of puberty, which was Derek’s case.
The attraction he felt to Paige was on his human side and as his wolf side had not developed fully, Derek believed himself in love. He really thought that Paige was it, they had fun together, she really understood him, even though his pack told him that it was still too early to tell. When Paige was bit my a rouge alpha, Derek had stayed with her, hoping that she turned into a werewolf and they would get the confirmation that they were mates. Paige did survive, and she made a good werewolf but it was undeniable, Paige did not have the same feelings towards Derek that mates usually had. Derek was heartbroken, especially when Paige told him that she was moving away, as her wolf was feeling restless.After Paige, Derek had become more closed off, believing that his wolf was of no help and he would never find his mate.
It was then, at the age of 16, that Kate Argent entered his life and burned everything down (literally).
She fed Derek little doses of wolfsbane, not enough to injure him, just enough that his wolf was repressed, making it seem as if his wolf was at peace when he was with her. She knew everything there was to know about werewolves and their mates, while Derek knew just the basics which she used to her advantage. She manipulated him in believing that she was his mate, extracting information about the secret tunnels of his home, under the guise of meeting him for a rendezvous.
Kate had him bound in chains laced in wolfsbane, watching as she carried out her cruel and sadistic plan, intending to kill him after making sure he bear witness to everything. Kate had left him alone for a few hours, watching everything burn down to ashes while she went about celebrating her win. Laura, who had snuck out earlier that night to go out for a party but returned in a panic when she felt the alpha spark being transferred to her, had found him there, tear tracks on his soot covered face, beaten and bound, surrounded by ashes and wreckage. She had taken him and ran, never looking back.
They were on the run for three years, never staying in one place for more than a week, never approaching any packs.
They lived off of vending machines and stayed in abandoned houses and sketchy motels, paranoid of every shadow. They had run off to New York, the first time they stayed for more than a week. Their father had had a small flat in New York from before he met their mother, something he had told Laura for she was to be the future alpha and should have the information for any potential safe-houses.
They bunkered down there, in the small and cramped apartment but still so much better than anywhere they had stayed for the past three years when they felt they could finally relax just a smidgen. They were in New York for a year, Derek got his GED while they both worked odd jobs, too paranoid to use their family money, before Laura felt the sudden urge to go back to Beacon Hills. Derek had pleaded and begged her not to return to that hellhole but Laura was inconvincible, believing it must be something important beckoning her to Beacon Hills.
When Derek turned 20, Laura returned to Beacon Hills and within a week, she was dead.