Alpha Derek marrying Omega Stiles in an arranged marriage and assuming Stiles is an Argent spy because it happened before. He married Omega Kate and it turned out she was a spy and a murderer. He ended up killing her himself.
Stiles is NOT a spy but his father did have some ties with the Argents prior to his death but Stiles has none.
he’s lost to his grief after losing his father, numb to the core. then he’s told he has to get married off and then he’s told to who.
now his grief has dread as a companion. because Derek Hale’s reputation precedes him. everyone knows he killed his own Omega spouse. everyone knows how brutal and barbaric he truly is.
Stiles can’t refuse the match, he has nothing to bargain with and no other option.
the wedding is tense, so tense Stiles barely breathes during the ceremony. his new husband didn’t look his way once, not even when they were made to face one another for the vows and the ring. not even when they were told to seal the deal with a kiss. their lips barely touched before it was already done and over.
Stiles is understandably terrified for the wedding night. his husband seem cold and very unapproachable.
Derek eventually shows up for the wedding night after making himself wait for a while and it’s immediately obvious to Stiles just how angry he is.
it doesn’t go well. Derek doesn’t treat Stiles the way he deserves to be treated for his first time and his wedding night with a man he doesn’t know and who obviously scares him.
Derek is just full of anger and resentment and he’s so sure Stiles is a spy and a liar who is bringing nothing but trouble. the Omega even seems to be a good spy and liar too because his fear seems genuine and his pain sharp and his tears heavy after and his small sobs heartbreaking.
Derek doesn’t let it get to him (it does, he’s not made of stone even if he likes to think he is).
then Derek gets the report he’s ordered on Stiles. realizes that there’s little to no chance that Stiles is a spy. Stiles is just a regular kid who got raised to be a proper Omega by his father who had been a widow of small nobility.
now the best part!!!! THE GUILT!!! THE ANGST!!!
Derek realizes he fucked up royally. his new Omega spouse is terrified of him and very angry and feeling very lost but can’t show any of it because what if his Alpha husband fucking kills him.
Derek gives him space after that. Makes sure he always has everything he needs. Stiles is terrified for a long time at night when going to bed that Derek will show up to take what’s his right to take but he never does.
when they do see each other, Derek is infinitely polite if not a bit cold while Stiles is tight lipped and tense, terrified to make or say the wrong thing and provoke Derek’s anger.
Derek isn’t good with words and he doesn’t know how to broach the subject. that he fucked up and that he’s repentant and wants to make amends. he doesn’t know how to be a decent husband but he wants to try anyway but it all feels like it’s too little too late.
Stiles obviously becomes very lonely and starts isolating himself more and more. never really gets out of his rooms anymore. never really gets out of bed.
Derek is kept updated about his Omega spouse’s obvious decline but he’s just helpless about what he can do.
in the end, he decides to try having some visitors, maybe it could help things. maybe if Stiles meet other people, another married and mated Omega, maybe he could make a friend or something.
Derek invites a couple from outside the pack. they’re allies but he’s never invited them for a casual dinner. he’s not sure he likes the idea of having non-pack members practically in his den but it’s for a good cause.
to share the news, he summons his spouse to join him for dinner the same night he sends out the invitation.
they haven’t shared a meal together in a while. the Omega usually eating alone in his personal parlour or on his private balcony. but lately he’s been told, that he preferred to eat in bed, if he eats at all.
Derek waits for him in the dining room, nervously nursing his ale. he waits for a long time. he has time to have two more refills by the time the Omega shows up and dinner is brought in.
Derek stands at his arrival and gives him a polite nod and despite looking slightly haggard, the Omega looks perfect, his skin smooth and creamy, embellished by some delicate jewelry and rouge.
they sit to eat and Derek finds it incredibly hard to start a conversation. the Omega just won’t look at him at all.
they’re starting on dessert and still not a single word has be uttered by either of them. Derek notices how the Omega isn’t touching his food again. he barely ate anything at all.
in the end, that’s what pushes Derek to break the heavy silence. he asks if the meal wasn’t to his taste and Stiles slightly jumps at his words, dropping his dessert spoon which clanks loudly around them.
Derek notices the way he sneaks little looks at him, as if trying to gauge his mood.
eventually, Stiles hesitantly says that everything was delicious, that he just doesn’t have much of an appetite. after another tense silence, he asks if Derek is displeased with him. his voice is so quiet it’s almost inaudible.
Derek assures him that he isn’t, why would he think that and Stiles frowns slightly and points out that Derek summoned him for dinner, that he’s never done that before.
Derek doesn’t really know what to say to that, so he just goes ahead and announces that they’re going to have visitors soon. for a dinner.
he’s not sure what reaction he was expecting but a nonexistent one is not it. the Omega stays perfectly impassive to the news. takes a bite of the dessert in front of him, then stops. another few minutes of silence and then he’s asking if he can be excused.
Derek acquiesces, of course.
he watches his Omega leave the room with an ever growing sense of helplessness.
Stiles joins him in the entry hall to welcome their guests a few minutes before their arrival. Derek turns to look at him descend the grand staircase and is a bit stunned, he looks gorgeous. wearing one of the nicest gowns he owns along with the expensive jewelry Derek gave him as a mandatory wedding gift.
he takes his place to Derek’s right and they stand in silence until their guests arrive.
Stiles is the perfect host, the image of Omega perfection. he welcomes their visitors warmly into their home, as if Stiles has done it a million times before.
his smile is sweet and a little mischievous when talking with the visiting Alpha and playful and friendly when speaking with the visiting Omega.
he takes the arm of the visiting Alpha to get to the dining room when dinner is served like custom dictates.
Derek spends more time observing his spouse than attempting to entertain his guests but clearly Stiles has it all under control or at least he seems to be.
Derek can’t help but notice the way his smiles wane and his eyes grow distant the second the attention of the guests aren’t on him or the way he keeps pushing the food around his plate instead of eating or the way his wine cup seem to get refilled quite often.
after the dishes are taken away, Derek makes a point to start a conversation with the other Alpha. Derek isn’t much of a talker but he’s at least able to entertain a conversation long enough for the Omegas to have some time to talk together.
but it can’t be even an hour later when Stiles stands and offers his apologies and claims to have a headache and ask if they can excuse him. the visiting Omega is gaping in slight surprise while Derek frowns and nods in acquiescence.
Stiles says his goodbyes to their guests and apologizes again before leaving the room.
the guests leave not long after. they’re sincere at least when they assure Derek they had a good time and they have nothing but nice things to say about his new beautiful Omega spouse.
after seeing them off, he goes upstairs to Stiles’ rooms. he doesn’t go in, just listens at the door. he can hear the Omega’s breathing, erratic and uneven, his heartbeat rabbit fast. in between some of the harsh breathes, there’s some sobbing.
Derek’s shaking hands tighten into fists at his sides. helplessness rages through him but he can’t seem to move. he should go in, he should try and diffuse whatever is happening in there but he’s frozen.
he’s pulled out of his stupor when a maid approaches and greets him before asking politely to be let through. he moves aside to let her pass and she slips into the bedchamber.
Derek listen to her speak softly to his spouse and eventually Stiles’ breathing calms and he’s able to speak back and she asks if he wants help to get ready for bed and Stiles answers wetly with “yes please”.
Derek leaves for his own rooms, his gut down to his feet and his chest painful.
he doesn’t sleep much or well that night. he has the nagging feeling that if nothing changes, things will inevitably come a head.
a few days after the dinner, Derek is woken up in the middle of the night by Boyd bursting into his bedchamber. Derek immediately sits up and gives him a dark look. he knows it can’t be good.
Boyd looks frantic which is something he never is and he knows something is very deeply wrong.
Derek is out of bed and running after Boyd a second later.
Boyd tries to explain the situation but Derek can’t really make sense of it. he keeps repeating “he won’t come down, he won’t come down, you have to talk to him, make him come down.”
Derek starts making sense of it when he’s taken to Stiles’ rooms. maids are in the bedchamber weeping with a hand over their mouths while the bed is empty and other pack members are closer to the balcony archway and he can hear people from outside, bellow.
he steps onto the balcony and sees him. naked and standing on the parapet wall, looking down and hugging himself.
Derek’s heart seizes in his chest, fear and panic like he’s never felt before rushing through him.
he approaches the wall slowly and extends a hand.
Stiles turns, too fast and sways a little and Derek stops breathing and he hears screams from bellow.
“No! Don’t touch me!” Stiles screeches at him and Derek lowers his hand but stays where he is.
tears are running down Stiles’ face and his eyes are crazed. in the moonlight he looks so pale and gaunt, he looks like a ghost.
“I have to do this… I cannot stay here.” Stiles murmurs.
Derek’s lips shake and he scramble to find something to say, anything.
“of course, you can stay here. I know it hasn’t been… easy for you here but this is your home.” he says haltingly, feeling utterly inadequate.
Stiles scoffs at his words and more tears fall.
“you hate me. you hate me and I don’t even know why. you’ve hated me since the very beginning. I don’t know what I did wrong and you refuse to tell me. I have to do this. Before you do it yourself like you did your first Omega.” Stiles rambles, his words fast and jumbled but clear and damning.
Derek is gutted, his very being emptied out and left to rot.
“I do not hate you… please come down and we can discuss things, please just come down” Derek begs, voice hoarse and brittle.
“no… NO! leave me!!! all of you! please i have to do this! i don’t want to be here anymore… i want… i want my father…” Stiles says and takes a few side steps on the wall before bending forward and sobbing.
with his heart aching, Derek looks back to Boyd and Boyd gives him a nod. they’re ready bellow.
Derek doesn’t hesitate. he throws himself at Stiles, who sees him at the last moment and gives a sharp scream and throws himself forward but Derek is quicker.
he grabs him by the middle and pulls him back harshly, Stiles shrieking and struggling wildly in his arms.
Derek doesn’t stop and marches him back inside, his pack members moving out the way. he barks at Boyd to get them out and the maids and the other betas are quickly ushered out of the bedchamber.
Derek throws Stiles on the big four poster bed where he still shrieks and flails around. he yells again at Boyd to call for Deaton, now.
Boyd leaves quickly and Derek sits on the bed and grabs at Stiles’ wrists but Stiles is hysterical and screams at the top of his lungs, contorting away from him, pulling on his wrists to make Derek let go.
“Stiles! stop! please, stop!” Derek shouts.
“LET GO OF ME! LET GO! YOU’RE HURTING ME!” Stiles screams, face turned away from him as far as he can stretch it.
Derek lets him go immediately and Stiles slumps back on bed harshly, he was so taut in Derek’s grip.
Stiles turns fully away from him and curls up, rubbing at his wrists and cries loudly into the bedding.
Derek rubs a shaky hand over his face and gives a sharp sniff. his eyes are wet so he wipes at them, pressing into them hard to stop any further wetness.
Boyd comes back, knocks gently on the door before coming in. he keeps his eyes averted from the naked crying Omega on the bed.
Derek stands and walks aways from the bed and towards the door.
“I want him guarded. heavily. night and day. come get me when Deaton arrives.” he chokes out and wrenches the bedchamber door open, almost pulling it off its hinges and marches away from Stiles’ wailing.
he hides in his private parlour, paces around, feeling cooped up. the urge to shift and run and not stop is incredibly strong but he resists. he already fled when he should have stayed by the Omega’s side, he won’t flee his home on top of that.
the sky is greying, dawn approaching and Derek has stopped his pacing, got himself actually dressed and sat heavily in one of the plush chairs when Boyd finds him and tells him the physician has arrived.
Derek goes down to greet him and immediately takes him up to see Stiles. he can explain the full situation after he’s seen and assessed him.
Boyd stationed two betas outside of the bedchamber’s doors and Derek can hear two other inside, probably at the balcony archway.
they go in the door and Stiles is in the same position Derek left him in hours ago. curled up. but he sits up when he hears Derek and Deaton come in. he eyes them both warily and he drags the blanket up to hide himself. his eyes and face are red and swollen from the crying and Derek notices faint bruises at his wrists.
Derek swallows with difficulty and walks deeper into the bedchamber and sits in one of the chairs close to the bed.
“this is Deaton, my emissary and physician. he will examine you and you will let him. understand?” Derek says and watches the Omega closely but Stiles doesn’t react.
“Hello, Stiles. i understand something very alarming happened last night?“ Deaton says and he makes it sound like a question but it’s more of a statement.
to that Stiles does react. he scoffs lightly and turns his face away, eyes filling with tears again and he starts rocking gently.
“I tried to throw myself off the parapet wall of the balcony. My dear husband stopped me and dragged me back in here kicking and screaming.” Stiles whispers, tears sliding down his face.
Deaton sets his heavy wooden box on the bedside table and hums. he then sits himself very carefully on the side of the bed and watches Stiles.
“Stiles. would you prefer it if your Alpha was out of the room for this?” Deaton asks gently and Derek bristles but he knows he’ll get out of the room if Stiles says he wants him to.
but he shakes his head no.
“it’s about him.” Stiles whispers.
Derek gulps while Deaton’s eyes roams Stiles’ face.
“What do you mean by that, Stiles?” he asks gently.
Stiles’ lips wobbles and more tears fall.
Derek grits his teeth so he doesn’t immediately start protesting.
“why do you think that?” Deaton asks, still gentle.
Stiles hugs himself and digs his nails in the meat of his arms.
“our- our wedding night. we- he.” Stiles trips over his words, his tears getting worse and he simply stops and his eyes going distant.
Derek closes his eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath.
“I terrorized him. i claimed him while being enraged and resentful, assumed things about him that i should have never assumed. i was a monster to him.” Derek says quietly.
Stiles looks sharply to him, confusion written all over his face.
“w-what did you assume? did you think i wasn’t… i was a virgin! you were the first Alpha who ever… touched me.” Stiles says with difficulty, sounding confused but there’s frustration building in his scent.
“the first Omega i married was a duplicitous spy who killed my entire family. that’s why i killed her. that’s why when i was forced to marry again. to secure my bloodline i was… angry.” Derek says matter-of-factly.
Stiles’ eyes go wide and he blinks at Derek a few times before turning to Deaton who nods in confirmation.
“you thought i was a spy? for who? my only family had just died and i had nothing, no one else. it doesn’t make any sense.” Stiles says and his frustration is palpable now.
“I didn’t know at the time. i learned later that you couldn’t be anyone other than who you said you were. i know it doesn’t change what happened, what i’ve done, but i felt terrible about what i did to you. i tried to give you space, give you time. i thought that maybe over time i could explain things and make amends but i could never find the words or the right moment.” Derek explains but it feels lacking.
“i never truly hated you not even that night. i care about you. if one thing tonight showed me is that i care about you more than i can express and i want to see you happy. even if. even if we have to break the mating bond for that to happen.” Derek adds and the more he speaks the more certain he feels.
he’d do it in a heartbeat. break the bond and let him go. even if it means death for him and the death of his bloodline.
“you mean that?” Stiles whispers, disbelief dripping heavy in his scent. Derek nods solemnly.
“for months you… you left me to think that you hated me, that you’d eventually even kill me. you must have seen how terrified i was. you saw how… how my mind was… escaping me. and you stayed silent. why? what is that if not cruel?” Stiles says and more tears start falling again.
Derek’s own eyes sting and he blinks a few times rapidly to get rid of the feeling.
“I’m not good with words.” is all he finds himself saying.
“and yet you’ve just said so many. more than i ever heard you say.” Stiles points out like he can’t wrap his head around it all.
“it was a long time coming. way overdue.” Derek admits.
there’s a long silence then. Deaton observing the both of them closely.
eventually, Stiles closes his eyes and shakes his head slightly as if to clear it.
“I’m tired.” he says, brokenly and Derek stands almost abruptly.
“i’ll leave you in Deaton’s hands. make sure to get some rest.” he says and leaves the room.
he once again take refuge in his private parlour. pacing and waiting.
Deaton eventually finds him some time later. Derek sends him an expectant look.
“he’s resting. i gave him some poppy syrup to help him sleep. i’ll leave a vial with you so he can have some every night for at least a fortnight.” Deaton says and hands him the vial.
Derek holds it and waits. he knows Deaton has more to say.
“i know you’re not starving him but he’s malnourished. and exhausted, he’s suffering from chronic nightmares and insomnia. he’s melancholic and still grief stricken. the wedding night is still heavy on his mind but i’m hoping that the truth that was discussed between you two will alleviate some of that weight. Derek. he’s in bad shape but not utterly lost. he’s smart and not unreasonable despite how unstable he is. he needs time, patience and doting attention. you have to be there. if you want to see him happy and adjusted, you have to be there. show him who you truly are.”
Derek listens to Deaton’s assessment and allows himself to feel a flicker of hope.
