[ However much he uses the excuse that he needed a pack for when the alphas arrived in town, Derek created a pack of his own with the power and ability to do it because it was something that he craved; he didn't just lose his family because of the fire, he lost his entire pack, and he felt each and every one of those loses for so long. After Laura, and with Scott not quite working out the way he had hoped, he longed for it that much more, even if he knew it was his fault he lost everyone he loved in the first place.

But she's not technically pack, which takes a weight from his shoulders; he fully intends to help her as much as he can, both as an alpha and as a fellow werewolf if it should ever come to it, but it doesn't change the fact.

For now, though, he finds himself liking her company, and it doesn't hurt that she's not much older than his younger sister would have been if she were still alive; he's not looking to replace her, he knows he never could, but it's nice, to have a dynamic that could have been normal to him under different circumstances. ]

I could help. I'm far from being a master in the kitchen, but I have my uses. Between the two of us, it's probably going to be harder to get hold of the ingredients.