Derek tries asking the sheriff to break the mountain ash for him but he refuses. Telling him stiles needs space and he needs to respect that. Lydia wonβt break it because βyou need to figure it out yourself, he deserves the effortβ. Derek does try though, he shows up outside the house all the time. heβs leaving prey he hunted, heβs leaving rare herbs stiles was looking for, he leaves books he knows stiles would love. Heβs basically courting stiles all over again.
Paige is sixteen, suddenly brought back to life, and sheβs so confused. Everythingβs so different, she canβt see her family because theyβd have to explain the supernatural on top of hunting them down because they left BH after her death and no one has time for that when they are trying to get to stiles, trying to make sure the witches didnβt harm him. Paige is alone and terrified and no one will talk to her and all she wants is for the soft, sweet Derek she knew to comfort her. She wants him to hold her and tell her everything will be okay. She wants him to look at her like she matters, that her being brought back is the best thing to happen to him. Instead, he looks at her like sheβs a burden, like sheβs a problem that he canβt be bothered to solve. He looks at her like he wishes she would disappear. Heβs short with her, he snaps at her when she cries and that only makes her cry harder. None of the pack are nice to her. They make sure sheβs fed and someone is always with her but she feels so alone.
Derek is borderline feral not being able to see or hear his mate. He hadnβt told stiles but stiles is his mate, heβs his. He was trying to ease stiles into it, didnβt want to scare him off by throwing the entire wolf at him. Stiles is only human, he doesnβt feel the mate bond like Derek does. Because of that though Derek is borderline feral and snapping at everyone. Heβs having problems controlling his shift.
It comes to a head one day when the betas are all talking about stiles, about missing him, about wanting to scent mark him and see him. Theyβre talking about ways to get to him. No one has any real answers, they can just scheme at this point. Paige asks who stiles is and the pack take turns explaining βmy Batmanβ, βour pack momβ βmy best friendβ, and finally βheβs the alpha mate, heβs Derekβs mate.β Paige makes a face and tries to quickly mask it but itβs caught. βIs he really his mate? Wouldnβt a good mate be here though?β The pack tenses, Derek growls before grabbing her arm and pulling her to the Camaro. The pack follow behind, sharing concerned looks between themselves. They finally pull up at the sheriffs house. The sheriff is outside on the porch, one of the betas called him. No one can see stiles but heβs watching them from one of the windows, the cursing and muttering his dad been doing before stepping outside gaining his interest. Derek pulls Paige out of the car by the arm, heβs gripping her hard enough to bruise and sheβs tripping over her own feet trying to keep up with him.
Lydia ask Derek what heβs doing and he tells her βIβm fixing it like you told me to.β The sheriff sighs from the porch, pinching the bridge of his nose. βYou canβt kill her to solve this, son.β Erica cackles from the side βsheβs already dead though so you wonβt have any extra paperwork!β And that is why sheβs both the sheriffs favorite beta and the reason he has even more grey hairs now- sheβs finishing what stiles couldnβt.
Derek pulls Paige to the mountain ash line, ignoring everyone. He tells her to break it and sheβs sobbing but tells him βno, I wonβt do it.β Sheβs still holding onto the naive hope that Derek will see her like he did before, that heβll realize that stiles ran and hid but she stayed with the pack when she could have ran and found her family.
Stiles steps on the porch just as Derek grips the back of her neck like he does the betas when they donβt listen, his claws her out and she has little streaks of blood on her neck. He growls at her, behind words at this point and shoves her towards the mountain ash again. Sheβs frozen in fear now, maybe still a little stubborn but mostly fear, and still wonβt break the line. Lydia and the sheriff step forward at the same time to break the line before they have a dead body to deal with. Lydia can feel the urge to scream building.
In the end, itβs neither of them who break the line. Stiles is standing in front of Derek, the mountain ash kicked to break the circle.