Derek understands him, and for all that Derek has always help on, it's never been too tight. He holds onto him but he lets him go. He lets him run, doesn't ask when he'll be back, just welcomes him home when he comes in smelling of the woods and the dirt and the first rain of winter. And somehow, Peter never thought about it, never realized it, but this became his life. Derek. His mother knows, but she's never pushed, never demanded to know where he goes, or who he's staying with. She just knows that he's safe, that he's happy.

He murmurs as Derek presses a kiss to the side of his neck, warm and soft, close to the pulse point. Then he's lifting his hips, shoulders falling to the bed and he's whining, whimpering as Derek's knot starts to swell, so the rim of his body catches on it when he pulls out. It makes him sob, and then Derek bites him, and he comes like that, with his Alpha's canines sinking into his pale skin, marking him like that. Claiming him, cementing that bond between them, marking Peter as his mate, and when he tries to pull back the next time, he can't.

Their bodies tied, and all Peter can do is moan with the feeling of it. "Derek..."