They had ordered pizza for lunch; four of them, because they were ravenous. Eating them was entertaining because neither of them really wanted to stop touching long enough to do so, but they came up with a sequence of short breaks. Then went back to the sex, but while Stiles had nowhere near exhausted his ideas for the loft, he had managed to exhaust his sex drive by mid afternoon. It turned out his recovery time and stamina were now up there with a werewolf's, but even supernatural creatures had their limits.

There were a lot of things that needed thinking about, but he knew for a fact it was going to take him time to process before most would make sense. In the interim, after he came back from taking a shower he sent two texts, one to Scott:

"Sex is amazing! Talk later. Stiles"

Then one to his dad:

"All good, sorry didn't call, slept for 10 hrs last night. Explain everything when get home. Love you, Stiles."

Once that was done he focused back on Derek.

"Where's Cora?" he asked, because he had been wondering, he'd just been a little busy.

Surprisingly Derek smiled at the question.

"Making three grown men cry," Derek told him.

"Now you gotta explain that," he said while trying to get the last of the water out of his hair.

"We went to stay with a small pack who used to be family friends," Derek said, puffing the pillows in the bed in a very domestic way; "their alpha, Greta, is the matriarch like our mom was and she and mom were good friends."

It was the first time Stiles had heard Derek refer to his mother without there being a huge overlay of grief and he almost held his breath.

"Greta and her husband have three sons, all looking to be the next alpha," Derek continued, "but Greta is a stickler for their family traditions, one of which is the alpha is always mated."

"Oh, I can see where this is going," Stiles said.

"The eldest, Timothy, tried to make a move the third night we were there," Derek said and was grinning so Stiles was pretty sure nothing bad happened; "Cora gutted him."

Stiles made a few mental adjustments for the whole werewolf angle.

"Bet that hurt," he said, "and I bet she just missed his tackle, didn't she?"

"By an inch," Derek replied, "and that's only because she likes him."

Stiles shuddered; Cora was a ruthless young wolf.

"And she's still there?" he asked.

Derek nodded.

"We were sorting through some stuff so we stayed and then when I felt the need to come back I asked her to think of herself and not follow me," Derek said. "All three of Greta's sons are courting her and she seems to like the idea and she's definitely enjoying making them run rings while they vie for her attention. Cora was always a little wild, even as a baby, so I don't know if she'll settle, but at least she's having fun."

"Go Cora," Stiles replied and did a little flag wave with the smaller towel.

He was glad she was happy; he had grown to like her, even if she was scary as hell.

"So, wolf stuff," he said while admiring his mate's ass as Derek leaned over the bed.

"What about wolf stuff?" Derek asked from where he was tucking clean sheets onto the bed.

"How do you think I'm supposed to do it?"

"Your eyes glowed white several times since we consummated the bond," Derek told him, "so I should think all you have to do is want it."

"They did?"

Derek nodded; "white with a blue ring."

"I didn't feel different," he admitted.

"Probably because you've been charged with magic anyway," Derek said. "You'll figure it out with practice."

He shrugged in return; Derek hadn't been wrong yet. He almost reached for his jeans, but then stopped. If he was going to do this he might as well do it right then when he was only in a towel.

"How do you change?" he asked.

"A lot of the time I'm doing my best not to," Derek said, "but when I'm calm it's just a matter of reaching inside and finding the wolf nature."

Stiles took a few seconds to think that through. His wolf was not natural, it was magical, so he mentally looked at the power nestled at his core. He wasn't familiar with it yet; he needed to take time to get to know this new aspect of himself, but he felt around it. There was a wild edge to it.

"Your eyes are glowing," Derek told him.

"Cool, at least that's a start," he said.

He could feel the magic, but it didn't look like it was going to be as easy as just thinking about it. He brought to mind Derek and Scott and even Isaac when they went wolfy and it stirred feelings of pack. Scott was his alpha and best friend, Isaac was a pain in the ass, but he was still a friend and then there as Derek, his mate. He had never wanted to be a wolf before, he had known deep down that that wasn't what he was supposed to be, not like them, and yet now he wanted into their world. This was his path, not theirs, and he wanted the wolf, he wanted it fiercely.

It was like a flame shooting out from his core. Raging heat seared through his body and everything it touched melted. It probably should have hurt, it did on some level, but it was as if that part bypassed his brain. He was aware of his body shifting and changing, but it was over in the blink of an eye.

For a few seconds Stiles felt totally disorientated and he almost fell over. His equilibrium was completely gone and he shook his head to try and get it back. Considering that his head was in an entirely different configuration with his body that didn't overly help and he sat down with a thump. That was when it finally dawned on his scattered brain that he had four legs.

"Wow," Derek said, looking at him with a reverent expression.

Stiles twisted his neck to get a look at himself and he almost panicked for a couple of seconds. He had fur, lots of white, fluffy fur; he was a wolf.

"Hey," Derek said, kneeling down in front of him quickly and placing hands either side of his head, "it's okay, you're okay, concentrate on me."

For once doing as he was told was easy and Stiles looked into Derek's face as his mate smiled at him.

"You did it," Derek said; "you really did it."

Derek's fingers in his fur were very distracting, especially where they were touching the undersides of his ears. The fact he could smell Derek very clearly and something associated that smell very distinctly with sex and warmth and safety didn't help him focus much either. It was a bit of a struggle. The wolf instincts were also closer to the surface and he finally had an idea of why Scott had been so out of control for a while.

"Now you," was what he tried to say, forgetting that he had no human mouth and what came out was a whine.

He wanted to see how his wolf would react to Derek's werewolf form.

Derek frowned at him.

"You want me to change?" Derek asked, as if not sure of what he was saying.

Stiles blinked and nodded.

"I'm not sure how I knew that," Derek admitted and Stiles just gave a wolfy shrug; they could figure out that later.

This seemed far more important at the moment.

"Okay," Derek said with a laugh as Stiles nudge him with his nose.

Watching Derek's features change was nothing new, feeling something in the air shift as well was.

"Better?" Derek asked as Stiles stared.

Stiles whined, deliberately this time because there was something else, he could feel it. He nudged Derek again and pushed with more than just his body. Derek gasped, his bright blue eyes flashing white and Derek began to change. Man became beast before Stiles eyes and there was the distinctive sound of ripping material as Derek burst out of his clothes.

The overall effect of a big black wolf would have been more intimidating if that wolf hadn't looked non-plussed and been wearing the remains of jeans and a t-shirt.

Stiles shifted back without even thinking about it and threw his arms around Derek's wolfy neck.

"OMG, you're a wolf too and you're huge," he said, because he just needed to get the words out.

Derek melted back to human in his arms, but barely moved.

"I've never done that before," Derek said, sounding stunned.

Stiles realised he probably should have been in a similar state, but his brain had never reacted the same way as everybody else and he was so excited. Derek's clothes were wrecked, which was all kinds of hot, but as Stiles pulled back he tried very hard to keep his eyes on his mate's face.

"I'm not an alpha," Derek said as if he was still trying to get his head round the whole thing; "I couldn't do that even when I was."

"Deaton said you'd get a power boost too," Stiles said, "and it totally wouldn't be fair if I was a wolf and you weren't. You still have the wolfy form though too for which I'm glad, because, wow, you're hot as a werewolf."

Derek looked kind of surprised by that.

"You think I'm hot when I'm wolfed out?" Derek asked.

"Derek, you're hot all the time," he replied, "and the whole eye thing and your cute pointy teeth..."

"My teeth are not cute," Derek snapped almost instantly and shifted, baring his fangs to prove it.

Which, of course, made Stiles laugh, because he had known that was exactly how Derek would react. From near disaster only days before to being happier than he remembered since his mom died, Stiles just had to let the delight out.

"God you're amazing," he said and kissed his mate before Derek could even shift back.

He felt hair retreat and fangs disappeared under his lips and then Derek was kissing him for real. For a little while he forgot they weren't still in the middle of their sex marathon.

"Come on," Derek said when they finally pulled back; "you can help me find some new clothes and put some on yourself before I start getting ideas."

"I don't mind if you have ideas," he replied and grinned.

"Don't temp me," Derek said; "you are still human even if you've got the wild in you."

Stiles opened his mouth because there were just so many possibilities with that statement, but Derek kissed him again to shut him up.

"Clothes," Derek said and then pulled away and stood up.

As Derek helped him to his feet, Stiles had to admit he was aware that he had muscles in places that were unused to certain activities, so Derek was probably right. That didn't mean he didn't enjoy Derek undressing again and redressing; it was a fantastic view.