Chapter 23

Still Derek's P.O.V.

**

Derek dragged his feet onto the porch step of the Stilinski home. The sheriff wasn't with them when they felt the bonds break. So it was now up to Derek to tell the sheriff the bad news. Scott was with him, but the guy was still crying and couldn't make coherent sentences.

Derek knocked on the door, and after he heard stumbling inside, the door opened. The sheriff looked disheveled and smelled of whiskey.

''Sheriff.'' Derek gruffly said.

''Hale. Let me guess. You have news on my boy?'' The sheriff said with a trembling voice and shaking hands.

''I do, maybe we should go in.'' Derek tried to sound unaffected, but by the surprised look he got from the sheriff, it hadn't worked.

The sheriff turned around and walked inside without another word. He sank down on the couch in the living room and stared at the floor. In front of Derek, the broken man didn't look at all as the powerful sheriff that brought order in Beacon Hills. This man looked like he just lost his entire world.

Knowing how it affected Derek, he could relate.

''Tonight, about an hour ago, we felt-'' Derek swallowed around the lump in his throat. ''-The wolves all felt the pack bond break that connected us to Stiles.'' Derek rushed out. He didn't look at the sheriff at first, but when it stayed too quiet too long, he looked up.

The man looked puzzled while Scott was whining next to Derek. It seemed like he couldn't stop crying.

''Did Lydia scream? Did she saw his death?'' The sheriff whispered.

Derek was shaking his head before answering.

''No, she didn't saw it coming. She also tried to look into it more, trying to get a glimpse of him. But nothing showed.''

''Then he isn't dead.'' The sheriff said with conviction, already nodding to himself before standing up and walk to the kitchen.

Derek sat there for a moment, shocked at how the sheriff reacted. He looked at Scott, who had stopped crying and seemed also startled at what the sheriff said.

The sheriff walked back in with a tumbler of whiskey before opening a file he had with him on the couch before Derek and Scott entered.

''Sheriff? We felt the bonds break. We kn-'' Scott started.

''You don't know shit, Scott!'' The sheriff exploded. Angry tears falling down.

''Everything you know about werewolves you learned from my SON, MY SON! My mischief! When I started to learn all about 'your world', he told me everything he knew. That included banshees. And he specifically told me that how closer emotional the banshee is to the person that is going to die, how more potent the scream is, and that the banshee could always predict the death of a loved one. Now I don't know about you, but after the hunt debacle, their dating, their friendship, and the fifteen years of crushing on that Martin girl, I think their relationship was pretty close.'' The sheriff yelled.

Scott ducked his head in shame, Derek understood the anger, but it just wasn't possible for Stiles to still be alive if every pack bond broke.

''Sheriff, I don't think you understand how it feels to have a pack bond broken, but believe me, I do. I know the feeling. And that's how I know for sure that Stiles is no longer with us.'' Derek carefully said.

The angry glare of the sheriff was now aimed at him, and he wanted to duck his head, but he was an Alpha. He wasn't going to cower for a human man.

''You should leave, Hale.'' The sheriff said with venom. Derek flinched. Did he say he wasn't going to cower? Well, you guys haven't met the sheriff.

Derek nodded and stood, but when he felt a hand on his arm, he turned around, and before he knew it, he had a fist in his face.

He stumbled back a couple of steps, shocked that the sheriff just punched him. The sheriff was in his face within seconds, not giving him any space.

''You said to me that you were going to keep him safe. You told me that he was going to be okay.-'' The sheriff kept pocking with his finger in Derek's chest, to let him see how angry he was. ''-After everything, he's been through, how do you explain this as safe?! You're his ALPHA!! You were supposed to protect him! And-'' A sob escaped the sheriff, and before Derek knew it, he had his arms full of a broken man.

The sheriff clung to him and sobbed. Broken beyond words, anger was now replaced by sadness. His scent had turned into ash from the grief.

Derek felt his own eyes starting to prick with tears, and when he let out a hiccup from a suppressed sob, the sheriff squeezed him even tighter into a hug. And Derek gave up. He let out all the raw emotions he felt.

He started sobbing with the sheriff. He already lost his first love and his family. But to lose Stiles too, the guy that could've been his forever. Those feelings were crushing Derek now.