Human is Just a Word 3/?
Chapter 3
Stiles wasn't exactly sure how he had ended up in a car and who the guy next to him was but he would take it if it brought him away from Jackson and the twins. He did, however, notice when the guy said something about taking him to the hospital. Which would mean that his dad would get involved. He couldn't do that. His dad was already too worried about him, he didn't need to know that his son had been beaten up by Peter's pack on top of that.
Stiles had no idea how he would hide his battered face from his father but he had to try.
Somehow he convinced the guy to take him home and Stiles was even there enough to give directions. When they reached the house the sheriff's cruiser wasn't in the drive way, thank God for small mercies. When the car slowed down Stiles had his hand already on the door handle but then the car sped up again.
"They're waiting for you." The man said, his jaw twitching. He didn't need to say who was waiting for him.
Stiles craned his neck to have a look at Jackson but he couldn't see anything beyond the dark night outside the window. Defeated he slumped back down in his seat and didn't object when the guy told him that they would go to his place instead.
Only with a delay, he most likely had a concussion, so cut a guy some slack, Stiles realized that the man next to him had to be a werewolf as well. How else would he have known that the werewolves had been waiting for him?
Suddenly way more alert, Stiles sneaked a glance at him. His first thought was that he had to be another one of Peter's betas but that wouldn't make any sense. Then he remembered the red eyes.
Derek Hale, Stiles realized. Holy shit, this is Derek Hale.
He had no idea what the alpha was doing in his uncle's territory but the fact that he wasn't part of Peter's pack was enough to calm Stiles down for the moment.
The public never heard much about the werewolves and their society, they were semi-know at best, like the mafia but with less crime. At least most of the time.
Benefit of being the sheriff's son, Stiles had access to some things he shouldn't have access to and when Scott had needed help Stiles had been there for him. Stiles had seen pictures of the bodies Peter liked to leave behind.
There weren't pictures of bodies associated with Derek Hale. He had been a suspect once or twice but had been proven innocent every single time. Given the choice between Derek and his uncle, Stiles would pick Derek without a second thought.
The train of thoughts slowed down, escaping his grasp more and more until Stiles drifted off to sleep once again. He barely rose when Derek helped him out of the car and into the building. He had to have blacked out at some point because suddenly he was sitting on a couch and Derek was asking him to take off his hoodie.
Derek washed away the dirt and the blood and then he did something. Stiles didn't quite know what he was doing but his hand on his ribs felt nice and it didn't hurt that much anymore. Content Stiles let himself drift in the cozy place between sleep and actually being awake.
Then suddenly the hand was gone, leaving him cold and shivering. A protest on his lips Stiles opened his eyes but found the other man gone.
Not gone but at the door.
When Stiles saw the man stepping into the room, his heart stopped beating for a moment.
Derek was letting Peter fucking Hale into the room.
Betrayal was settling in his stomach. How could Derek do this to him? Why did he rescue him just to hand him over to his uncle afterwards?
Stiles tried to get up but the couch wouldn't let him go. So he just sat there, shirtless and not even able to sit up straight, while the alpha werewolf sauntered into the room as if he owned the place. For all Stiles knew he did.
"I know you have a soft spot for strays, Derek." Peter said in a sickening sweet tone. "But this is a little extreme even for you, don't you think?" He took in the sight of Stiles in all his bruised glory with cold eyes and a smile tugging at his lips.
"Your betas were beating him to death." Derek said, arms crossed over his chest. "And they were waiting for him at home to finish what they've started."
"Please, they were just playing with him." Peter dismissed his words. "He needs to learn to leave things alone. Don't you, Stiles?"
Stiles wanted to say "screw you" along with some other things but for once he kept his mouth shut. And only partly because of his split lip. He really didn't like the way Peter was looking at him. Hungry. Stiles fought the urge to cross his arms over his bare chest.
"Leave him alone." Derek was suddenly between them, blocking Peter's view on him. Stiles instantly breathed easier but he still wasn't sure where this was heading.
"You don't know who he is." Peter said and waited a long second before he cared to explain. Derek just waited him out. "He wants to kill me. He was out there tonight to gain some intel on me and my pack. He is the enemy here. He should feel lucky that my betas didn't kill him on the spot, would have saved all of us some trouble."
"Are you afraid of a human boy?" Derek ask with a tilt of his head. Stiles could only see the back of said head but the tone alone gave the challenging expression away.
"He's an nuisance." Peter spat out and stepped a little to the side to have another look at Stiles. "And I intend to finish this now once and for all."
Stiles really didn't like the feral grin Peter gave him.
"You're not going to kill him." Derek said, planting himself firmly between Stiles and Peter.
"Nephew, please." Peter said, clearly amused. "Why would you think I'd do something that barbaric?"
Derek didn't answer the question.
"Keep you enemies closer, I'm sure you've heard that one before. I'm going to claim him."
"You ... what?" Derek visibly recoiled at those words. "You can't do that."
"Oh, I can."
It was the truth. The only thing keeping him from doing it right now was Derek literally standing in his way but he couldn't stand there forever. Peter knew where Stiles lived, he knew where he went to school. Stiles could probably dodge him for a few days and hope that he would forget about it but if he truly wanted to claim him, he would.
"No, you can't." Derek set his jaw. "He's on my territory right now and with that under my protection. Do you really want to cause an incident over this?"
"I'm not sure." Peter thought about it for a moment. Then he leaned forward to whisper in Derek's ear but it was loud enough for Stiles to hear. "Do you?"
With that Peter backed off.
"You are leaving in the morning if I recall correctly." He said, eyes firmly on Stiles. There was still this hunger burning in them. As if Stiles was a juicy little bunny he would like to sink his teeth into. "I can wait until then. Good night, Derek."
He tilted his head in a mock bow and then he was out of the door.
For a long moment neither of them moved but then Derek got into motion. He dug something out of the closet and threw it at Stiles.
"Put that on." He said, already busy stuffing things in his bag. "We're leaving."
Stiles examined the bundle in his lap which turned out to be a long sleeved shirt.
His head wasn't operating on one hundred percent right now so he replayed the conversation slowly in his mind, trying to figure out what it meant.
Over the last few months he had learned a lot about packs and their politics, he just needed a moment to put everything together.
"No."
"What?" Derek came up from where he'd been stuffing his toiletries into a bag.
"We're not leaving." Stiles said as clearly as possible with his split lip.
"You don't know what you're talking about." Derek let go of the bag and come over to him. "He wants to claim you. That means ..."
"That he wants to make me his human little pet." Stiles interrupted him. "I know what it means."
Derek still looked at him as if he wasn't getting the point but he said: "Something like that."
"We can't run." Stiles knew that much. "He's waiting for me to run. I won't make it out of his territory, believe me I know."
There were questions clearly written over Derek's face but instead of asking he just waited for Stiles to continue.
"I'm grateful for your help." Stiles said and tried again to get up from this goddamn couch. Who in their right mind build this things so low and soft that they just swallowed you? "But I can't let you do this."
"Do what?"
"Risk you life, risk your territory and for sure I don't want your pack to get scattered or killed." Stiles explained. He couldn't remember the last time talking had hurt this much but he needed Derek to know that he knew what he was offering here and that he couldn't accept it. If he was going down he would go down alone and not dragging this poor guy who just wanted to help with him.
Derek raised his eyebrows at him, that was clearly not the answer he had expected.
"That's what Peter meant when he said causing an incident, isn't it?" Stiles squinted at him. "He can't touch me here because technically this is your territory, like an embassy or something, right? But as soon as I set a foot out of this room I'm on his territory and since he has already proclaimed his intention to claim me you would break quite some werewolf laws if you tried to sneak me out of his territory. And since you are the youngest alpha of the Hale Trinity with the smallest pack and smallest territory he could use this as an excuse to just squish you."
Derek just stared at him for a long moment.
"For a human you know a lot about pack politics." He finally said.
"Had to learn a few things when Peter bit my best friend." Stiles shrugged with the shoulder that didn't scream in agony with every breath he took.
"Your friend is a werewolf?"
"Was." Stiles corrected, suddenly very interested in a blood stain on his jeans. "Peter killed him when he tried to run. He didn't even make it past the city limits."
Scott had been a werewolf and he hadn't managed to escape. And here was Stiles, just a mere human who couldn't even get up from this damn couch.
He could try to run which was a laughable idea in and on itself considering his condition or he could wait until he had to leave the safety of Derek's room and let Peter claim him.
"You should have just let them kill me." Stiles said in a small voice.
"I'm not going to let him hurt you." Derek said and Stiles believed him. But he also knew that Derek would risk and most likely lose everything if he tried to help him. If the rumors were anything to go by, Peter was only waiting for an excuse to take over Derek's pack and territory.
"Where would I even run to?" Stiles wondered aloud. Scott had tried to reach Derek's territory but Scott had been a werewolf.
Suddenly an idea was forming in his mind and Stiles blurted it out before it had time to take full shape.
"Claim me."
Chapter 4
Masterpost