Soulmates | Derek Hale - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Maeve stared at Derek in confusion, concern growing with his silence, nervously moving her head further into the grey woollen scarf around her neck. Derek sighed, glancing weakly down at the crisp, frosted over grass.
"Derek?" Maeve muttered softly, wrapping her hand around his, smiling weakly as Derek looked down to her "Its okay, you can tell me."
Derek took a deep breath, avoiding Maeve's gaze as he hesitantly spoke "Paige was my first girlfriend, she passed away last year,"
Derek and Maeve hadn't spoken about relationships, or friendships really, it was clear to the both of them that Derek's friends were the ones he kept close and Maeve didn't have the best history with many friendships.
Maeve blinked in surprise, supportingly squeezing Derek's hand, Derek struggling to continue his words "An alpha bit her, and her body rejected the bite, i had- i had to help her end it,"
"Derek," Maeve sat forward to gently turn Derek to face her, smiling sadly as he guiltily turned to her "That wasn't your fault."
"She would still be alive if she stayed away from me," Derek argued, Maeve frowned as he let go of her hand, pushing himself up off the cold bench "You should too, I'm not letting you get hurt because of me."
Derek couldn't look in Maeve's direction, he couldn't look at the hurt on her face as he walked away. Confusion consumed Maeve for a moment as she watched Derek walk away, but the hurt and realisation of what had actually just happened, quickly dawned on her.
The shock settled in Maeve, standing up to shout after the beta "Derek!"
Chris had practically dragged Maeve to school earlier on that morning, the omega wanting nothing more to avoid Derek for the rest of eternity. Sitting on the steps with her head buried in a book, was her attempt of publicly doing so.
Derek's heart quickened as he walked into the hallway, finding Maeve sat up on the steps, Romeo and Juliet held tightly in her hands, biting her lip in concretion as she attempted to memorise the words.
Jamie threw his arm over Derek's shoulder, looking down to the brooding werewolf "What happened with your future wife? Stealing Maeve's breakfast was the favourite part of my morning."
"Jamie, don't-" Archie sighed as he rushed after his best friends, shaking his head in defeat as Jamie spoke, walking along side them both.
With Jamie obvious to anything supernatural, other than the tv show he obsessed over, Archie had to keep a watchful eye on Derek's anger and Jamie's abilities to infuriate Derek in a matter of seconds.
"I told her stay away from me," Derek muttered with a glare, rolling his eyes as Jamie gasped dramatically, shoving Derek away from him.
"Are you mad? Why the hell did you do that?" Jamie exclaimed, staring at Derek in disbelief as they walked into the locker rooms, Derek groaned as Jamie hit his side with his gym bag.
"Because he likes her too much," Archie pointed out, unlocking his locker, smiling at Derek's glare in his direction.
"Oh, that makes so much sense! Since when did you tell someone to leave you alone when you like them?" Jamie rambled in frustration, Derek using his locker as a shield between Jamie and the basketball the human had somehow acquired "Is that some kind of messed up reverse psychology?"
"He's still hurt, after Paige," Archie sympathised, pulling on his basketball jersey before shoving his denim jacket into the tiny locker.
"Man, that wasn't your fault," Jamie sighed, nudging Derek's shoulder comfortingly,"Don't let that push away an amazing girl. Right, Arch?"
Archie nodded, taking the ball from Jamie before he accidentally hurt someone, smiling at Derek "Just, don't leave it too late, Derek, or you'll loose her completely."
"Ladies, stop gossiping and get your asses on the court!" The basketball coach shouted from the doorway, a round of grumbles and complaints echoing about the lockerroom.
"That, coach, is sexist!" Jamie called back in protest, Derek and Archie rolled their eyes, moving to put on the rest of their kit.
"That, Jamie, is your ass on the bench!" The coach mocked, Jamie wined in annoyance, frustratingly slamming his locker shut, almost knocking out Archie in the process.
Lunch came around what felt like years later to Derek and his friends, with Jamie away in detention, Derek and Archie sat up on the steps in the hallway to eat. Even in his foul mood after not being with Maeve, Archie had tried to lift Derek's spirits.
The familiar laughter Derek loved to hear ran down the hallway, Derek sat up with a frown, following after the sound, Archie jogging after his best friend in confusion. Reaching the door of the english classroom, the two friends looked through the gap in the door, finding Maeve sat at one of the desks working on an essay, Milo leant against the one in front of her.
Archie cautiously turned to Derek, letting out a sigh as Derek growled, going to drag Derek away but his friend stayed still. Maeve forced a smile up at Milo as she tried to work, going along with his jokes in attempt to win her over, wanting nothing to do with him.
As Maeve looked up from her notebook, she fell back on her chair in surprise as Milo leant forward, kissing her without warning, pressing her back against the chair.
Derek count tell if it was the hurt or the anger making him feel like he'd been punched in the gut, his eyes clouding with jealousy and upset as he stared at the two teens, going to walk away before it all hurt too much.
"What the hell is wrong with you? You can't just kiss someone like that!" Maeve shouted at the taller teen, standing from her chair as she pushed him away, the chair clattering to the ground "Leave me the hell alone, Milo!"
Derek stopped walking, turning in shock at the sound of Maeve's anger, jogging back down the hallway as he heard the words she spoke, a new found protectiveness controlling his every move.
"Wait," Archie tried to pull Derek back, but Derek pushed past him, storming into the classroom.
"Derek?" Maeve stared at Derek in surprise, looking to Archie for answers as the human ran in after the beta.
"Derek, don't!" Archie shouted, reaching out to grab Maeve's arm, pulling her over to him out of the way.
Derek pulled his hand into a fist, pulling up the sleeve of his letterman jacket before forcefully sending a punch to Milo's jaw, a painful crack echoing through the room, and it wasn't from Derek's fist.
Maeve gasped, watching with wide eyes as Archie held her back, stumbling back as Milo fell to the floor near her feet "Derek!"
Milo pushed himself up from the ground, staring up at his teammate in disbelief, holding his jaw in pain, too lost for words to even fight back.
"Stay the hell away," Derek growled at the basketball captain, shaking his head as Archie stared at him in disappointment, rushing out of the classroom.
"Maeve," Derek began, turning to the omega as she stormed out of the class room, marching up to Derek with a glare.
At first, Maeve was incredibly hurt by Derek pushing her away, but after making a scene like that, Maeve's hurt faded to anger, her uncontrollable new heightened scenes making it much worse.
"What? One moment you want nothing to do with me the next your defending my hour?" Maeve scoffed, shaking her head as she turned to walk down the hallway, ignoring whatever answer Derek could say.
"Maeve-" Derek called after her, jogging down the steps as he followed her, ditching his backpack at the top of them.
"Just, leave me alone, Derek!" Maeve exclaimed, her gaze stayed ahead as she walked into the empty hallway, looking around for an exit with a sigh.
"Maeve!" Derek shouted, sighing in annoyance as Maeve picked up the pace, his converse sliding on the floors as he jogged after her.
Maeve heard Derek running, glancing down at her heeled boots in defeat, continuing to walk away "I'm mad at you!"
Derek smiled at her frustrated effort to be angry at him, shaking his head in amusement as he finally called out "Diana!"
Maeve turned to face Derek, crossing her arms over her red jumper, "Its up to you to know what you want, Derek, because i know who i want, and i can't- I'm not here to play games with you. I let my guard down around you and then you suddenly push me away, how is that fair to me?"
"Maeve," Derek mumbled, frowning at the hurt written all over Maeve's face, lost for words on what to say.
"You're allowed to be happy, Derek," Maeve told him, her eyes shimmering in hurt, hesitantly going to walk away, "And whatever's going on between us, it has to stop until you realise that."
Archie reached the hallway as Maeve's figure walked out of the building, the door slamming behind her, "Let her go, Derek," Archie patted Derek's shoulder, leading him in the other direction.
Maeve had easily avoided Derek for the next few days, but there was one Hale who had enough of the whole situation completely.
"Whats going on?" Maeve jumped as Laura slammed her lunch tray on the table, sliding down on the seat opposite Maeve, raising a brow impatiently at the omega "My brother likes you, now he's pretending you don't exist. What did he do?"
Maeve frowned in confusion, concealing her blush as she gazed up at Laura, "Derek told you he liked me?"
Maeve had an inkling that Derek did have feelings for her, but always put it down to being optimistic, hearing Laura say that made her feel slightly less crazy about the whole situation.
Laura groaned, covering her face with her hands, "Oh, don't tell me you're oblivious too?"
"Says the person repeating senior year," Jamie added in, sitting down beside the Hale wolf, as Laura would say, with a stupid grin on his face.
"Jamie, what a pleasant surprise," Laura muttered sarcastically, taking a bite out of her pizza, glaring furiously as Jamie took it from her had, taking a bite for himself.
Maeve laughed at the pair, smiling up at the human beside Laura, "Jamie? What are you doing here?"
"Picking a side," Jamie replied, slouching back onto the plastic seat, propping his feet up on the chair opposite, nodding over at Derek watching from a distance "I happen to think my best friend is an idiot for letting you go."
"Thanks, Jamie," Maeve shook her head in amusement, raising a brow noticing Jamie's pleading smile "You forgot about the homework, didn't you?"
Jamie nodded slowly, grinning thankfully as Maeve slid over her notebook, glancing across the hallway as she looked up, finding Derek sat opposite her. As their eyes met, the two wolves quickly looked away, a frown falling on Maeve whilst guilt quickly hit Derek in the kick in the leg from Archie Deaton.
Talia opened the double doors, smiling slightly at Maeve, staring down at her questioningly "Maeve? Are you here for Derek?"
Derek looked up from his homework he was actually doing himself in shock, happiness rising at the thought of Maeve coming to see him, but her reply quickly faded all thoughts of Hope in the teen.
"Peter, actually," Maeve replied with a laugh, shrugging her leather jacket clad shoulders, adjusting the pink bobble beanie on her head "Believe it or not."
Since their first venture in finding Maeve's mother, initiated by Talia, Maeve and Peter had somehow become adventure buddies, adventure frenemies to be precise.
Talia moved aside to make room for Peter, frowning in confusion at her younger brother "What are you wearing?"
Stood head to toe in black, minus the pink beanie and heeled boots, Peter and Maeve were identical.
Maeve groaned noticing her and Peter's almost matching outfits, rolling her eyes as Peter smoothed out his leather jacket "If we get arrested, i want to look good for the mugshot,"
"Don't mind me, I'm going to claw my eyes out now," Maeve grumbled, Talia discreetly nodded in agreement with the omega.
Peter smirked, waltzing out of the door, pulling Maeve along the driveway "I know, my allure is blinding,"
"Do i want to know what you're both doing?" Talia called after them, glancing back at Derek in the living room with a sigh.
"Nope," The two wolves replied, stepping into the sportscar Peter valued more than anything.
"Look at jealous little Derek," Laura taunted with a grin, settling down beside Derek on the sofa, a bowl of popcorn perched on her lap as she searched for the tv remote.
Derek glared at his sister, "Go away, Laura!"
"Luckily for you, Maeve's repulsed by the sight of Peter," Laura pointed out with a shrug, eating a piece of the popcorn, offering the bowl to Derek, rolling her eyes at his growl.
Derek sighed, leaning back on the grey sofa cushions, propping his feet up on the coffee table "Doesn't stop her hating me."
Talia entered the living room, quickly shoving Derek's feet off the table, placing Cora's colouring books there instead as the girl ran in behind her mother.
"Whos fault is that, huh? Brooding in the corner isn't going to get you anywhere-" Laura began, cheering in victory as she found the remote, groaning as Derek took it, whacking her head with it.
"Laura, leave him alone," Talia interrupted the siblings with a sigh, kissing the top of Cora's head before sitting back onto the leather armchair "If Derek thinks he's doing the right thing, then so be it."
"Wow mom, willingly letting your son be an idiot? Thats new," Laura scoffed, motioning to Cora as the young girl laughed in agreement.
"Enough," Talia glared at her daughters sternly, her eldest child lifting her hands in surrender.
After an hour of running around the hospital without getting caught, Peter and Maeve found the ward her mother was first assigned to, but their way in was much more complicated.
"You're such an idiot!" Maeve whispered shouted, kicking Peter's leg without making too much of a commotion.
"This, was not my fault!" Peter whispered back, motioning to the laundry surrounding them "We're sneaking into a psych ward, what did you expect me to do!"
The two werewolves sat in the hospital laundry cart, being wheeled into their destination by an unsuspecting janitor.
"Not this!" Maeve groaned, scrunching her face in disgust as another set of laundry emptied into the cart, quickly pushing it off her onto Peter.
The cart came to an abrupt stop sending Maeve falling forward, falling face down on the bottom of the cart, Peter held in his laughter as Maeve glared up at him. Once checking for the final time that the coast was clear, the duo climbed out of the cart, moving onto the next step of Maeve's plan.
A young nurse approached the two werewolves, slowly walking past as she stared at Peter, the Hale wolf looking her up and down with a smirk. Maeve rolled her eyes, reaching forward to take the keycard from the back pocket of the nurse whilst the human was distracted by Peter.
Maeve noticed Peter's gaze following the nurse's ass as she walked away, reaching onto the book shelf to grab a book, harshly hitting Peter's shoulder with it.
"Ow!" Peter wailed dramatically, his hand flying to hold onto his arm, glaring at Maeve in disbelief, the omega motioning to the key card now in her hands.
"Peter!" Maeve exclaimed disapprovingly, walking down the hallway in search of patient files, smiling as she found the room, swiping the card to let them inside.
Peter stood by the door on lookout whilst Maeve searched the room for information on her mom, the Hale slouched back against the wall, whistling along to a song in his head.
"Would you stop?" Maeve complained in annoyance, her glare shutting Peter up, returning to rummaging through the filing cabinets.
Peter glanced down at the cabinet by his feet, noticing a file laying on top of his "Is your moms name Elizabeth Rainey Argent?"
Maeve sharply turned, answering in confusion "Yes?"
Peter held up the folder, raising a brow at Maeve "Rainey?"
"My grandmother liked rain," Maeve shrugged, opening the folder as she took it from Peter, scanning the papers in curiosity "This is it. We should get out of here."
The duo, discreetly, tried to rush out of the hospital, once again ending up lost in the many floors of Beacon Hills memorial hospital.
Chris looked up from his book, raising a brow at his niece before glancing down at the papers "What is that?"
"Evidence they paid off the doctors to lie about mom," Maeve answered, picking the papers back up, pushing them in his direction "There isn't even a liable case to admit her into any rehabilitation centre! Nor the evidence, or permission from a qualified doctor!"
Chris sighed, taking the papers from her, "Why would they do that, Maeve?"
"Why wouldn't they? They're crazy, uncle Chris!" Maeve scoffed, throwing her arms out in disbelief.
"You shot Kate," Chris reminded her, reading the papers in surprise, glancing back up to his niece.
Chris was very aware of all the wrongs his family were prone to doing, but optimistically, he hoped that they weren't true.
"Um, you know why i shot Kate," Maeve argued in annoyance, "We need to find my mom, you decide whether you want to help or not,"
"Maeve, surely this is wrong," Chris refused to believe, handing the papers back to Maeve,"Well all know my sister didn't have a perfect history in heal-"
"Mom wasn't crazy," Maeve defended instantly, glaring at her uncle "This family is! They make us act crazy because we can see the atrocity with our eyes,"
"Maeve," Chris began disapprovingly, shaking his head as Maeve turned on her converse, storming in the direction of the front door.
Maeve had always had a good control of her temper, the same temper as her mother, but her werewolf abilities had made Maeve go from sitting clenching her fists to punching them through a window.
"I'm walking out before i actually go crazy!" Maeve called back to him, angrily pulling on her leather jacket, the cold hitting her as she pulled open the door.
"You're being dramatic!" Chris shouted back, amusement clear in his tone but his disapproval still remained.
"So freaking what!" Maeve shouted sarcastically, slamming the door behind her.
Maeve stood gazing at the frosted lake barley a mile away from the Hale house, it was almost pitch black by the time she reached the woods, the moon almost full above her. Finally calm from her burst of anger as she took a moment to collect her thoughts, trying to piece together the information she found on her mother.
Maeve gasped as a hand clenched her shoulder, harshly turning her around as Maeve slipped on the damp grass, holding in her growl.
"Kate?" Maeve jumped back in surprise, turning around with wide eyes to find her aunt, staring at the human in surprise as Kate pushed her back "What are you doing?"
"Come on, Maeve," Kate taunted, slowly pulling a knife from her jacket pocket, Maeve gulped, nervously stepping back against the tree only for Kate to slam her down to the ground "Do you think I'm dumb?"
As much as Maeve wanted to punch Kate straight across the face, the omega had to play weak, knowing if she didn't Kate could figure out why she was no longer really scared of her.
"Just a little," Maeve fired back, anger pumping in her veins as she glared up at Kate.
"I know what you're hiding," Kate informed her, twirling the knife in her hand, Maeve discreetly looked to her questioningly.
Maeve let her fears flood in, knowing there was a chance that Kate maybe did know the truth about what she was.
"You know nothing," Maeve argued, pulling herself up from the ground, standing tall.
"And what if i do?" Kate hinted, a taunting smile on her lips as she pointed in the direction of the preserve exit "I think I might go to dad right now and tell him all-"
"Tell him the truth about grandma too, you can join me in being the family betrayer," Maeve interrupted with a smirk, "Tell him, how you ditched her on a hunt, leaving her to be mauled alive, convincing everyone that she got killed - but really, you made sure she went away the moment she returned without a scratch on her."
Maeve crossed her arms over her chest victoriously, raising a brow at Kate as the human glared "Go on, tell him that,"
Blinded by rage, Kate plunged the knife into Maeve's side, blood seeping through Maeve's baby pink jumper. The werewolf hunched over with a gasp, crying out in pain as humanly as possible, her legs going weak beneath her, her hair falling in front of her face to hide the glare forming.
"Kate!" Maeve exclaimed in shock, her hand flying to her side as Kate pulled away the knife, gasping for air as the hunter stormed away.
Maeve wobbled as she walked forward, blinking dizzily as she checked her wound, pulling up her jumper only for blood to ooze all over her hands, quickly nothing she wasn't healing.
Maeve didn't know how long she was walking, seconds felt like minutes, the more blood she lost the dizzier she got, the path in font of her completely blurred. A crunch of the frost covered leaves caused Maeve's attention to fall forward, looking around for help.
"Derek?" Maeve made out the figure in front of her with blurry eyes, shouting out for the beta as she recognised his scent "Derek!"
Derek had been returning home from basketball practice when he heard Maeve's shout, flashes of the fear he felt the first day he met her flooding in. Staring at the blood on her hands, his gaze falling onto her jumper, the sweat falling from her forehead, Derek felt his heart drop - his worst fear coming true.
"Maeve?" Derek sprinted forward, steadily catching Maeve in his arms as she fell, fearfully staring down at the girl in his arms "Maeve!"
Full moons had always been a topic never discussed with Maeve, even at six years old, Maeve knew they were hiding something - like always, Maeve found out. Running out of the house in fear of the werewolf her grandfather had caught, wrapped up in a white and denim tulle dress and red wellies on her feet, Maeve was lost in the middle of the preserve.
"Mommy?" Maeve called out fearfully, her voice trembling as her breath froze in the cold, wishing she'd taken the coat her mother always complained that she had to wear.
Maeve pouted, her lip trembling as tears gathered in her eyes, climbing up onto a tree stump she discovered as her ears turned red, her hair tied up neatly in two space buns.
Stepping out from behind the trees, Derek had ditched his uncle on his first full moon allowed out of the house, warmly wrapped up in a maroon hoodie. Hearing the quickly pounding heartbeat, Derek walked out into the clearing, the full moon above him lighting up the woods.
Derek's eyes glowed noticing the girl no younger than him stood on the tree stump, pushing away the brown messy hair flopped over his eyes, Derek's eyes brightly shined in an amber glow, and as Maeve turned, so did hers.
"Diana?" Elizabeth Argent rushed into the clearing, blue eyes scanning the woods fearfully for her daughter, "Diana!"
As she turned to look for her mother, Maeve's eyes locked with the boy, barley phased by the glowing eyes, youthful curiosity pushing past her fear, obvious to her own glowing eyes.
"There you are," Elizabeth gasped, quickly scooping up the six year old into her arms, wrapping her up in her fur coat, kissing the top of her head in relief "Don't ever run away like that again,"
"Is she going to be okay?" Archie questioned the vet, opening the door half way as he stepped into the clinic.
"Maeve will be fine, the wolfsbane stopped the healing," Alan Deaton replied, following his son out of the room, leaving Maeve alone in the examination room, nodding over to Derek sat impatiently in the waiting room "You can let in your friend."
"Thanks, dad," Archie smiled in relief, dashing over to tell Derek, his father walking over in the opposite direction to Derek's mother.
Derek walked to the doorway, taking a deep breath as he stepped in, smiling slightly in relief at Maeve's healed side, the omega sat up on the metal table.
"I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now," Derek mumbled with a sigh, staring forward sadly as Maeve turned away"Maeve?
"I thought i was going to loose you too, and, that made me feel like my heart had been ripped out of my chest," Derek continued regardless, smiling sadly as Maeve slowly turned back to face him "I realise now, i can't be happy unless you are too."
Maeve never wanted Derek to be out of her life, she wanted him not to blame himself, to know what he wanted. A smile graced Maeve's lips, pushing off the table to walk over to Derek, gently pulling the beta into a hug, leaning her head on his shoulder with a sigh, unaware of the onlookers from the other room.
"Mates have been unheard of for years, the last ones i heard of-" Deaton told the hale alpha, standing back in the waiting room, watching through the open door the clinic.
Talia answered, knowing the answer, making sure to speak quietly to avoid Cora's prying ears "Was me and Seth, right?"
"Is that why you won't tell them?" Deaton nodded slowly, Talia looked down with a sigh.
Derek gladly hugged Maeve back, mindful of her wound, his guilt was far from over, but at least he knew now that Maeve didn't care about what he had done, Maeve cared about him.
"Seth and i stayed together because we believed it was density, it was our own faults for breaking that bond completely," Talia explained, "Loosing the love you have for your mate, it shatters your heart, you believe you'll never find love again - once that bond is gone, you can never get it back. I'm not doing that to my son."
"I wouldn't be so quick to assume the same would happen to them," Derek smiled lightly, motioning to Maeve's bursting smile as she stared up at Derek, listening to the betas words completely.
"The situation they're in, its impossible, it will never work." Talia argued, lying through her teeth, turning away from her sons happiness.
"It won't be easy, but its not impossible," Deaton hinted, stepping aside for his son to rush past, walking into the clinic to greet his friends.
Silence fell on the clinic as Chris Argent stepped into the room, checking his niece was okay from afar, nodding her over as he protectively glared at Derek. Maeve shook her head in embarrassment, smiling at Derek as she walked out of the room.
"Come on, Maeve," Chris held the door open for his niece, avoiding eye contact with the Hales and the Deaton's as Maeve made her way to him.
Jamie and Maeve sat in the library, an earbud in one of their ears as they listened to music, an excuse for Jamie to do nothing and to help Maeve concentrate on her own work. Archie and Derek walked from their class into the library, meeting their friends at the table in the corner.
Maeve looked up with a smile noticing Derek's arrival, playfully holding up the homework, knowing Derek absolutely despised the thing. Derek shook his head with a laugh, smiling down at Maeve as he kissed the top of her head, moving to sit on the chair opposite her.