Fic: Discovery Channel (4/12) Part 2
Part 1
Jackson looked around the bowling alley, bouncing his knee in excess energy until Lydia poked him.
“Tapping your foot is not going to make them show up any faster,” she said, fixing her hair in her compact mirror.
Jackson gave her a look before going back to staring at the entrance. “We could have picked up Danny.”
“And if we had done that I wouldn’t have been able to give you a blow job before we got here, so take your pick,” Lydia said with a winning smile, snapping her compact closed. “And you’re still way too uptight, so I’m not even sure it was worth it. Oh look, here they are!” She got up with a sway of her hips, walking and embracing Allison.
Behind Allison Scott was standing awkwardly, obviously not sure what conversation he should be following, because behind him Danny and Stiles were talking animatedly, both looking the picture of happy.
It twisted something in Jackson’s stomach. He knew he was awful at sharing, and normally it was easy because Danny had terrible taste in men, but Stiles wasn’t looking like he was fitting that mold. The only problem with Stiles was that he was Stiles. Nothing else.
“I’m just saying that I think you would be completely badass as a blood elf and you could level up fast enough to play with me over a weekend.” Stiles was saying, not paying attention to where he was going to the point that Danny had to stop him from running into three different people as they walked to their lane.
“You mean a Red Bull fueled weekend of no sleep?” Danny countered.
“Well yeah, but that’s part of the fun. Besides you’d be with me, and what more could you want?”
“For you to stop talking maybe, Stilinski?” Jackson asked, sitting down behind the scorekeeping table. Danny shot him a look but Stiles didn’t even give him a second look as he rested his head on Danny’s shoulder, still babbling about whatever he was talking about.
Jackson made a note to google blood elves later.
Lydia grinned. “So I figure it can be couples against each other, since boys versus girls would be a little uneven.” She shot him a look and Jackson gave her an offended one back, because he didn’t know what she was trying to imply. “Does that sound fair?” Lydia continued, looking at everyone.
Stiles raised his hand, despite Danny trying to pull it down. “How do you play?”
Jackson smirked. “You can watch us and see.”
Stiles rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything as Danny started to run his fingers through his hair and down his neck. Jackson looked away.
“I guess I’ll go first?” Allison asked.
Lydia grinned. “Sure. We’ll go alphabetical order. Which will give Stiles plenty of time to see how to play.”
Jackson didn’t really pay attention as Allison and Danny took their turns, zoning out. Lydia kept playing with his fingers and it was the only thing that kept him remotely grounded in the moment. She squeezed his fingers when it was his turn and Jackson grinned.
His first turn was a strike and he smirked because he was the best and he would settle for no less. He turned, making sure to mask most of his delight, even though seeing Danny and Lydia beaming at him made him want to crack.
“Nice job,” Danny said while Lydia gave him a kiss.
“I have another go so save your praises,” he said as he picked up his next ball, getting another strike. When he looked back at the group he was disappointed to see that Stiles didn’t look particularly bothered by his skills, but the look on Scott’s face made up for it.
***
By the end of the first game Lydia and Jackson were winning by a pretty large majority, though Stiles had somehow managed to make up for Danny’s non-stop gutter balls to get them decently close. Allison was sad to say that she was not enough to make up for Scott’s complete lack of skill.
“It’s alright,” she said, patting his knee as he got another gutter ball.
Scott looked at her with the most pitiful expression. “I’m sorry I suck.”
“It’s fine. You told me you’d never bowled before-“
Scott cut her off, “Yeah, but still. It’s our first date. You must think I’m such a loser.”
She laughed, scrunching up her nose. “Don’t worry. I already knew.” He stared at her and she continued. “I got over the idea of having a cool boyfriend when I told you I’d dance with you.” She could tell Scott didn’t know what to say so she just pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “It’s fine,” she whispered as she pulled away to take her turn, high fiving Stiles as they passed each other.
Scott was still frozen in the same position she had left him in when she sat back down after managing to knock down nine of the pins. She grinned, waving her hand in front of his face. “You all here?”
He blinked, flailing backwards and narrowly avoiding hitting Lydia. “Sorry, sorry I just. You kissed me,” Scott dropped his voice down to a whisper and Allison nodded.
“I did.”
“You can’t just do that I mean, I should. You shouldn’t have.” He flailed. “I had a plan.” He sounded so defeated and Allison took pity on him, so instead of kissing him again she just squeezed his hand and patted his cheek.
“If you manage to knock down one pin I’ll let you kiss me at my doorstep.”
Scott stared at her open mouth, frozen in place again until Lydia tapped him on the shoulder, shooing him up to take his turn. He almost tripped over his own two feet and Allison covered her mouth to try and stifle her laugh.
“A kiss for a good game? How cute,” Lydia said, and Allison could see she was already marking down a zero next to Scott’s name.
Allison frowned. “Well not all of us are at the stage where we give out blow jobs for victories.”
Lydia put down her pen and grinned wickedly. “But that’s the fun part. Right, Stiles?” She turned to look at Stiles, who had Danny lounging against him. They were playing with each other’s hands, watching Scott try and not get a gutter ball disinterestedly.
“Hmm? Oh, blow jobs? Blow jobs are nice.” Stiles said absently, and a big grin crossed Danny’s face as he tilted his head back for a kiss.
Allison couldn’t hear what Danny said when they pulled away from each other but Jackson must have because he stood up quickly, muttering about getting a soda. Allison arched her eyebrow, looking at Lydia.
Lydia grinned. “What?”
Allison really couldn’t tell if Lydia was the smartest person she’d ever met, or what.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by Scott letting out a whoop of victory, turning with the biggest smile on his face. “I got two!”
Allison laughed and clapped her hands together, standing up to give him a hug. “Good job!”
“Yay for two points,” Lydia said under her breath, erasing the zero and replacing it. “Stiles, your turn.”
Allison sat down next to Scott holding his hand tightly, reveling in his excitement. “Very good.”
Scott blushed. “It’s really not, but thanks.” She leant in to steal another kiss but Scott moved away too fast. “Hey, hey. You said if I knocked down one I would get to do my plan.”
Allison laughed, but her response was cut off by Stiles cursing and jumping up, walking briskly across the bowling alley, with a call that Danny could take his turn. Everyone else looked as confused as her as Stiles approached a tall, older man in a leather jacket and grabbed him by the bicep, dragging him outside. Even from this distance Allison could tell that they were arguing.
She looked back at Scott, who looked concerned.
“Where did Stilinski go?” Jackson asked, returning with a soda.
Danny shook his head. “His brother just showed up, it’s nothing.” He stood up. “Here, I’m taking his turn, so help me out Jackson and give unto me your wisdom.”
“I didn’t know Stilinski had a brother,” Jackson said, putting his soda down and walking up to help Danny.
“I’ll even let you put your hand on my waist,” Danny quipped instead, picking up the ball and letting Jackson wrap his arms around him the same way he had done to Lydia earlier when he was showing her how to bowl. Danny actually looked like he needed the help though.
Allison looked at Scott for clarification. “His brother?”
Scott shook his head. “That was Derek. I don’t know what Derek could have wanted.”
Allison looked back at the door, frowning. She couldn’t see them, and a moment later Stiles came back inside, looking upset and angry. He didn’t say anything to anyone as he grabbed his jacket.
“Dude, where are you going?” Scott asked and Stiles shook his head, pasting on an obviously fake smile.
“My dad needs me to do some undercover work a few towns over.”
“Undercover work, really Stiles?” Lydia shot him a look of disbelief.
Stiles nodded, looking up as Danny came over to kiss him goodbye. “Yeah. I get to go buy booze with a fake ID and see if I get carded and then caught.”
Jackson looked at him. “You’re leaving?”
Stiles shrugged. “Duty calls.” He tossed his keys to Scott. “Drive my baby home alright. Don’t have sex in it, don’t grind the gears, and don’t crash her.”
Scott looked at the keys in disbelief. “But I can’t drive stick Stiles!”
Allison plucked the keys from him. “I’ve got you covered. Have fun I guess?”
Stiles rolled his eyes and jogged out of the building after giving Danny one last kiss and promising to call him later. Before Jackson could say anything else Danny had already corralled him back towards the lane and was forcing him to help him make the spare.
“I didn’t know Stiles did work for his dad,” Allison said to Scott, who was still staring at the door.
He jumped as he came back into focus and he just nodded frantically. “Yeah, yeah it’s. His dad is the sheriff so you know. He helps out as he can.”
Allison didn’t need to hear Lydia’s snort to know Scott was terrible at lying, but she didn’t press it. She was curious though.
***
“And you’re positive it’s the alpha?” Stiles demanded as they ran through the woods.
“It’s another wolf Stiles, and it’s,” Derek didn’t know how to explain the sensation that an alpha had over betas to someone who had never dealt with them. “It’s powerful.”
“Very descriptive. I will have you know I was destroying everyone tonight. I mean yes, Danny wasn’t perfect, so we weren’t winning, but I didn’t even care because every time Jackson looked at the score sheet he got all red in the face and it was hilarious.”
Derek growled. “I said I was sorry.”
“And I believe you. And I thank you for helping me come up with that awful lie. Pretty sure Scott is confused as everything, and I really, really hope for his sake no one asks any questions because he really can’t lie.” Derek snorted. “Hey! No laughing at my best friend. He’s a potato sure, but he’s my potato, okay.”
“Whatever you say Stiles. Just keep running.”
Almost an hour into the run Stiles finally caught the scent they were chasing. It hit him suddenly, the strange sterile burnt smell. It wasn’t quite sulfur but it was strong enough to drop him to his knees.
Derek slowed down and turned to check on him. “Bad right?”
Stiles finished dry heaving and nodded. “You couldn’t have warned me?”
“Told you I couldn’t explain it.”
“You could have said it was awful at least,” Stiles said as he got back to his feet. “I am never going to forget that scent as long as I live. I will wake up in the next life knowing that scent.”
Derek nodded, patting him on the back. “Come on, he doesn’t seem far now.”
Stiles groaned, picking up his pace. It was easier to run now that he knew what he was chasing though. That scent would haunt him he was sure. But no matter how much they ran they never seemed to catch sight of the alpha. It wasn’t until they had looped back into town around dawn that Stiles stopped to catch his breath, forcing Derek to stop as well.
“Do you think he’s leading us on?”
Derek looked around. “He has to be. But I feel like he’s right there.”
“I know what you mean. He feels like he’s right out of grasp,” Stiles agreed. “But I swear we just ran around the whole county and didn’t find him.” Derek growled, looking at the sun coming up like it had personally offended him. “What do we do? Keep going on this goose chase or what?”
“I guess we need rest, at least for an hour or so.”
“Think his scent will still be around if we stop though?”
Derek looked at him up and down. “We’ll be no good if we find him half dead on our feet. We’ll go back to my place, rest for a couple hours. We have his scent. We can find him again. It’s not like he can disappear.”
Stiles nodded and then paused, grabbing Derek’s bicep before he could run off towards his house. “What about the hunters?” They hadn’t talked much while they were tracking the alpha, just general shouts of directions, and Stiles assumed if Derek had anything to report he would have told him.
Derek growled in frustration. “I couldn’t find anything. Nothing by the motels were similar to the scents by the house. And no new scents by my apartment, but if I smell something off we’ll reroute to your house.”
“Sounds like a plan. I like plans.” Stiles followed after Derek back to his apartment.
It wasn’t until he curled up against Derek on the brink of sleep that he remembered he had promised to text Danny.
The alpha’s scent was still strong throughout the town when they got up around ten. It blanketed over everything, and Stiles couldn’t stop himself from thinking that this was the equivalent of marking his territory. Derek was not amused at that idea, and reminded that Stiles that since the alpha’s scent was so strong it would be harder to pick up any other scents. That said, Stiles knew both of them were definitely watching everyone around them and their reactions to them as they walked through town, trying to pick out anything off.
They spent all weekend running around the state chasing after the alpha. Stiles hadn’t even realized how far they had traveled until they were at the coast. It was surreal, knowing he had run 200 miles at least, and that he would need to run those 200 back if he wanted to get home.
He knew he needed to give Scott an explanation when he got back, since the most he had done was tell him to cover for him while he did werewolf things with Derek. Stiles knew he was lucky to have such good friends, because Scott actually lied for him, and Danny was understanding, even when Stiles kept ignoring his calls while he ran around Northern California, tracking a stupid alpha who was obviously playing with them.
But they couldn’t do anything else. They needed to find the alpha if they wanted answers.
It was taking a toll on them though, Stiles could tell. They had slept in the woods Saturday night, taking turns playing look out because they were in a nature preserve and while there may not have been people, and most animals wouldn’t dare approach them, nothing came from being too cautious.
The only reason they even headed back to Beacon Hills Sunday night was because Stiles had school, and Derek refused to let him skip. It was weird, but as Stiles was getting into bed, freshly showered so his dad didn’t ask too many questions, he swore it felt like the alpha was getting closer. If it made sense Stiles would think maybe the alpha had been tracking them the entire time.
“Dude I had the weirdest dream,” Stiles said as Scott climbed into his jeep Monday morning.
“I’m sure. Now tell me what the fuck you were doing all weekend.” Scott glared at him and Stiles rubbed his eyes.
“Is that anyway to talk to your best friend? Who is being so kind to give you a ride?”
“Yeah. Your best friend who just spent all weekend lying to your dad, and my mom, and my girlfriend and your boyfriend? You owe me so much more than a ride to school.” Scott was almost shouting at the end of his speech and Stiles felt bad. “So talk. What was so important that you had me deal with that?”
“Derek got wind of the alpha, and he knew I would kill him if he went without me so,” Stiles made a gesture, “we went together.”
“All weekend?”
“All weekend. Derek and I slept in the woods last night, somewhere between here and the coast, possibly a bit further north. The alpha took us all over.”
Scott licked his lips. “Did you catch him?”
“No,” Stiles said, hitting his hand on the steering wheel. “And it pisses me off because I can still smell him! He’s here. In town. I can feel it but I can’t do anything because he’s playing with us. He has to know we are after him, because he keeps coming back here. We tried everything. We went down wind. We went up wind. We separated for awhile. We never caught him.”
“You didn’t even see him?”
“No. It’s so fucking frustrating, being taunted like this, and now I’m all sorts of fucked up because I spent all weekend wolfed out and I’m having awful dreams that feel real involving killing people and I really want this to be over.”
Scott rubbed his back soothingly. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. It sucks.”
“Is this the wrong moment to tell you I told you so?” Scott asked and Stiles glared at him.
“Yes. I don’t regret this Scott. I don’t want being a werewolf to be over. I want the crap with the alpha to be over.” Stiles let out a breath. “I was able to run to the coast Scott. We didn’t stay that long, because we were still chasing him, but I got to the ocean. And I made Derek promise me that when this was all over we were going to run back because chasing death aside, there’s no better feeling than running with him through the woods.” Stiles laughed, suddenly self-conscious. “Well I mean, having sex with Danny is pretty good too.”
“You’ve had sex with Danny?!” Scott shouted in surprise and Stiles laughed because that broke all of the tension that had been building up in the car.
Scott didn’t want details, but he spent the rest of the ride asking questions and then immediately taking them back with a “wait I don’t want to know!” It helped distract Stiles by reminding him of Thursday night, curled up next to Danny. They hadn’t done much more after coming, the plan had been to spend the rest of the weekend doing more, but then that plan had been thrown out the window. He’d need to make it up to him.
All pleasant thoughts were brought to halt when they pulled into the school parking lot and all Stiles saw was the police tape. He’d heard his dad leave early that morning but he hadn’t thought it would be anything this serious.
The flashes from his dream came back, the feeling of ripping some guys throat. He hadn’t been able to get a sense of a surrounding, but it had been so realistic that he woke up smelling blood.
Scott seemed to be thinking around the same lines of him and he was already shaking his head. “No. Stiles, it’s probably nothing.”
Stiles was out of the Jeep as soon as it was parked and flying across the lot to the edge of the tape. It was a school bus, covered in blood. Stiles could smell the alpha and the blood and it was only the fact that he had skipped breakfast that stopped him from throwing up. Scott was beside him in a moment, eyes wide.
“This, this is nothing,” Scott tried to say but Stiles just shook his head, closing his eyes and focusing on the police talk.
“Animal attack.”
“Poor guy never stood a chance.”
“Too gruesome.”
Stiles only opened his eyes when Scott shook him. “Dude. It’s nothing. It’s-“ Stiles glared at him and Scott froze before grabbing him and pulling him away from the yellow tape. “Calm down. You’re starting to shift. I- I can see. You’ve never shifted before.”
Stiles tried to get himself under control but it was impossible. All he could smell was the blood and the alpha, and all he could remember was his dream and the feeling that had come with ripping some poor guy in half.
“Stiles! Stiles!”
He snapped out of it at the sound of his dad’s voice, the whole world rushing back to him. He looked over to where his dad was waving him over. Stiles swallowed bile and walked on shaky legs.
“Hey dad.”
“You don’t look so good,” his dad said, reaching and putting a hand on his shoulder. Stiles took a deep breath and nodded.
“Pretty gruesome scene.”
His dad grimaced. “Yeah we’ve tried to get rid of most of the blood before school started but the crime lab won’t let us move it. Evidence and all that. A white tarp should be coming soon to cover it up.”
Stiles nodded. “Probably a good idea.”
“You know I missed you all weekend. Hope you had fun with Scott.”
Stiles nodded again, unable to do much else. “Yeah. It was productive.”
His dad laughed. “I’m sure. Try to spend a little time with me though, okay? I have next Saturday off. Think you can spare an hour for your old man?”
“Of course dad.” He would have said more, talked about how much he loved his dad, and how lucky he was to have someone who could anchor him when he felt like he was drowning in himself, but the bell rang and his dad waved him off before he could get a single word out.
Stiles pulled out his phone out the moment he was out of range of his father’s hearing. He needed to talk to Derek.
“What’s wrong?” Derek asked as soon as he picked up.
“You said you watched me last night? To make sure the alpha didn’t show up right?” Stiles asked, lowering his voice as he took the long way around into school so he had privacy to talk freely.
“Yes. What happened?”
“I had this awful, I mean terribly awful dream, and the details were fuzzy but I felt myself kill someone, and I woke up expecting blood on my hands. I really thought something had happened.”
“You didn’t wake up,” Derek said cutting him off.
“I know. But Derek someone is dead. A bus driver. And there’s blood and I smell him, Derek. The alpha was here and it smells like the blood and I’m kind of freaking out.”
“Stiles, Stiles take a deep breath.” Derek’s voice was getting distant and Stiles thought of his dad, trying to bring his thoughts back into focus. “Stiles, I don’t know what’s going on. Each alpha is different, but some of them, for bitten werewolves it can be different. You have different feelings towards your alpha, and a different connection.”
“Like share life scarring experiences connections?” Stiles asked leaning against the side of the school, taking a shaky breath as Scott joined him, looking worried.
“Possibly.” Derek let out a breath. “Look. I’ll, I’ll spend all day here looking through my books. Come by as soon as you can, right now if you need. We will find out what this is.”
Stiles nodded even though he knew Derek couldn’t see him. “I think I can make it through the day. But I’ll be over as soon as I get out.”
“Remember, don’t bring your Jeep.”
Stiles nodded again, remembering what they had talked about. His Jeep was obvious, and anyone in town would recognize it instantly. “I know. I’ll see you after school.”
He hung up and collapsed into Scott, taking a deep breath to clear the scent of blood and alpha out of his mind.
***
“We really need to unpack the rest of your stuff,” Stiles said, looking around the mess they had made in his living room.
Derek had thought he had unpacked all his books, but Stiles hadn’t been convinced, so he had spent the first hour looking through every box, trying to find more books. Then there had been all the print outs he had brought from his house. Most of them weren’t even useful, but Derek could tell that having so much material helped calm Stiles down. It gave him a sense of accomplishment, even though it made a mess out of Derek’s living room.
“I’m not finding anything in these books,” Derek said, closing another book and putting it to the side. He looked at where Stiles had taken over the couch, looking between his laptop and a print out and another book.
“I wish we had a better idea of what we were looking for besides telepathy in werewolves,” Stiles muttered.
Derek’s response was cut off by the doorbell ringing.
They both froze.
The doorbell rang again, and this time there was a pounding that accompanied it.
Stiles sprung into action, running into Derek’s room and shutting the door as quietly as possible. Derek swallowed, the doorbell ringing a third time as he stood up. He could smell three people outside, men more than likely. He gave one last glance around the living room, making sure that there was no signs of Stiles, or any second person.
He opened the door just as the pounding began again.
There were three men outside his door, all dressed in hunting jackets and Derek wondered if they did it on purpose, or if it was just a coincidence. He didn’t recognize any of them, glancing over the two men in the back, before focusing on the shorter blond man who was obviously in charge.
“Derek Hale?” He asked, and Derek could already tell he knew who he was talking to.
Derek nodded, not opening the door much more. It may have been the coward’s way, but he would rather be safe than risk letting Stiles be found. “What can I do to help you?”
The blond man smiled. “Just doing a little check around. After that animal attack from this morning.”
Derek narrowed his eyes. “I see.”
“I’m Chris Argent, you might have heard of my family.” Derek had to stop himself from breaking the door handle, because he was trying not to show any reaction. “These are my friends, Martin Judge and Alexis Cardoza,” he pointed to each man before he turned back to Derek. “We just wanted to introduce ourselves, and ask a few questions.”
Derek stayed quiet. He had nothing to say to this man.
Chris looked completely relaxed, and Derek was sure to anyone observing them it looked just like a simple chat between friends. “Now, Derek. Don’t think we’re here to hurt you. Unless you’ve done something wrong. And you haven’t have you?” Derek didn’t answer and Chris looked at his two reinforcements, but Derek didn’t bite. He knew Chris was the real threat, and the other two wouldn’t do anything unless told. “Now. Why don’t you bring out your other friend. The one you were running around with earlier this month. We want to all get acquainted.”
Derek shook his head, hoping he did it fast enough to cover his shock at Chris openly mentioning knowing about Stiles, or a second werewolf. “There isn’t anymore else. The person,” and at this one of the two reinforcements snorted, “you saw was my cousin, Miguel. He had planned on sticking around but you scared him off. He left the next day.”
Chris gave him a pitying look. “So you’re here all on your own? No one to look after you? No friends to take care of you?”
Derek wondered if word had gotten out that Laura was dead yet. If he said she was alive and Chris had heard otherwise he would have to scramble to cover his tracks, but he couldn’t come off as an omega. Omegas were dangerous, and it would just make the hunters watch him more.
“My sister and I were thinking of moving back here, but she wasn’t sure about the area. I came ahead to see how it was.”
Chris nodded. “Your sister, of course. Laura, right?” Martin and Alexis nodded behind him. “She let you come here all by yourself? I thought you guys tended to stick together.”
Derek shrugged. “Live in a one bedroom apartment together for six years and see how much you want to stick with someone. We needed space, so I came ahead.”
“But she’ll be here soon?”
Derek shrugged again. “Eventually. Last we spoke she was taking her time. Cross country trips and all that.”
“I’m sure. The last time you two did that it probably wasn’t the best time for sightseeing.”
Derek held back a growl at the obvious taunt. He flexed his hand, trying to pull his wolf back in. He could hear Stiles’ heart picking up in the room in response to him getting angry and he took a deep breath. “You could say that.”
Chris gave another one of his stupid smiles. “I guess we’ll just have to stop by again when she shows up.”
“If,” Derek said. “We might decide to leave.”
Chris raised his hands in mock surrender. “Now, now, no need to make changes to your plans if you had your heart set on staying here. We can coexist. We all just follow the rules, right?”
“Rules. Of course.” It was on the tip of his tongue to demand what rules had been broken to cause his family to die, but he already knew that answer. They had existed. That was enough of a reason for Argents. “Refresh my memory about what they are. My mind is a little smoky.”
“You don’t harm humans. You don’t turn humans. You don’t bother with humans.” Chris’ voice dropped low and angry. “I will personally put you down if one of these three things happens and I have any reason to believe you had something to do with it.” He looked Derek up and down. “I know there’s a second wolf. You might not have killed that man but you know who did. Tell me, and I will be more lenient.”
Derek glared at him, his wolf clawing to the surface at the veiled threat. “I don’t. Now leave. And don’t come back.” The satisfaction of slamming the door shut was stopped by Chris’ boot blocking the door.
They locked eyes and Derek felt himself start to shift. He tried to pull it back, because the slightest provocation would give the three of them enough reason to kill him, but it was so hard. Chris grinned and slowly removed his boot. “Have a good night. I hope you enjoy living here.”
This time when Derek shut the door Chris allowed it. Derek stayed at the door until he heard the three hunters leave, and then he immediately locked the door, like a few locks and a chain could stop the hunters from getting in. When he turned around Stiles was standing in the living room looking pale and just as frightened as Derek felt.
He took a few steps towards Stiles, and let himself be pulled into a hug. They were both shaking.
“Guess we know who the hunters are now,” Stiles said, and Derek appreciated the fact that he was at least trying to inject some humor into his voice.
Derek nuzzled his neck. It was becoming the best thing he could do when he felt like he had hit a wall, because Stiles was pack, and pack was home, and pack helped solve problems. “Yeah.”
“Are they going to come back?”
“I doubt they’ll ever leave,” Derek said, pulling back, looking around at the mess. His apartment wasn’t safe anymore. The thought made his stomach drop. He hadn’t unfinished packing for just this reason, but it still felt like a huge loss to know the place he was calling home was no longer safe. “At least we know who to avoid.”
Stiles bit his lip as he nodded. “Yeah. That will be fun.”
Derek looked at him. “What?”
“I think. I mean I might be wrong because I only saw him for a second, and it was through the Jeep window? But the leader? Chris? I think he’s Allison’s dad.” Derek didn’t understand, and Stiles let out a breath. “Allison. Scott’s girlfriend.”
“You’re kidding,” Derek deadpanned.
“I’ll need to check what Allison’s last name is, because I really didn’t pay attention when they introduced her, but yeah. I think so.” Stiles let out a breath. “He didn’t. He wasn’t the one who burned down your house was he?”
Derek looked up at Stiles, his mouth suddenly dry. There had been an unspoken rule not to mention that, but Derek couldn't blame Stiles from jumping to that conclusion.
“No. Not him. Another one.”
“Another hunter or another Argent?” Stiles asked and Derek really hated his perceptiveness at times.
“Another Argent. But not him. He wasn’t involved, I don’t think.” He let out a loud breath. “No. He wasn’t.”
“Good,” Stiles said, eyes suddenly yellow and hard. “Because I really would have hated to kill Allison’s father.”
Derek’s breath caught and he pulled Stiles into another hug. He couldn’t think of a way to express what he was feeling so he just tightened his grip. He wasn’t even able to tell Stiles no because that would have been a lie.
TBC
Jackson looked around the bowling alley, bouncing his knee in excess energy until Lydia poked him.
“Tapping your foot is not going to make them show up any faster,” she said, fixing her hair in her compact mirror.
Jackson gave her a look before going back to staring at the entrance. “We could have picked up Danny.”
“And if we had done that I wouldn’t have been able to give you a blow job before we got here, so take your pick,” Lydia said with a winning smile, snapping her compact closed. “And you’re still way too uptight, so I’m not even sure it was worth it. Oh look, here they are!” She got up with a sway of her hips, walking and embracing Allison.
Behind Allison Scott was standing awkwardly, obviously not sure what conversation he should be following, because behind him Danny and Stiles were talking animatedly, both looking the picture of happy.
It twisted something in Jackson’s stomach. He knew he was awful at sharing, and normally it was easy because Danny had terrible taste in men, but Stiles wasn’t looking like he was fitting that mold. The only problem with Stiles was that he was Stiles. Nothing else.
“I’m just saying that I think you would be completely badass as a blood elf and you could level up fast enough to play with me over a weekend.” Stiles was saying, not paying attention to where he was going to the point that Danny had to stop him from running into three different people as they walked to their lane.
“You mean a Red Bull fueled weekend of no sleep?” Danny countered.
“Well yeah, but that’s part of the fun. Besides you’d be with me, and what more could you want?”
“For you to stop talking maybe, Stilinski?” Jackson asked, sitting down behind the scorekeeping table. Danny shot him a look but Stiles didn’t even give him a second look as he rested his head on Danny’s shoulder, still babbling about whatever he was talking about.
Jackson made a note to google blood elves later.
Lydia grinned. “So I figure it can be couples against each other, since boys versus girls would be a little uneven.” She shot him a look and Jackson gave her an offended one back, because he didn’t know what she was trying to imply. “Does that sound fair?” Lydia continued, looking at everyone.
Stiles raised his hand, despite Danny trying to pull it down. “How do you play?”
Jackson smirked. “You can watch us and see.”
Stiles rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything as Danny started to run his fingers through his hair and down his neck. Jackson looked away.
“I guess I’ll go first?” Allison asked.
Lydia grinned. “Sure. We’ll go alphabetical order. Which will give Stiles plenty of time to see how to play.”
Jackson didn’t really pay attention as Allison and Danny took their turns, zoning out. Lydia kept playing with his fingers and it was the only thing that kept him remotely grounded in the moment. She squeezed his fingers when it was his turn and Jackson grinned.
His first turn was a strike and he smirked because he was the best and he would settle for no less. He turned, making sure to mask most of his delight, even though seeing Danny and Lydia beaming at him made him want to crack.
“Nice job,” Danny said while Lydia gave him a kiss.
“I have another go so save your praises,” he said as he picked up his next ball, getting another strike. When he looked back at the group he was disappointed to see that Stiles didn’t look particularly bothered by his skills, but the look on Scott’s face made up for it.
***
By the end of the first game Lydia and Jackson were winning by a pretty large majority, though Stiles had somehow managed to make up for Danny’s non-stop gutter balls to get them decently close. Allison was sad to say that she was not enough to make up for Scott’s complete lack of skill.
“It’s alright,” she said, patting his knee as he got another gutter ball.
Scott looked at her with the most pitiful expression. “I’m sorry I suck.”
“It’s fine. You told me you’d never bowled before-“
Scott cut her off, “Yeah, but still. It’s our first date. You must think I’m such a loser.”
She laughed, scrunching up her nose. “Don’t worry. I already knew.” He stared at her and she continued. “I got over the idea of having a cool boyfriend when I told you I’d dance with you.” She could tell Scott didn’t know what to say so she just pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “It’s fine,” she whispered as she pulled away to take her turn, high fiving Stiles as they passed each other.
Scott was still frozen in the same position she had left him in when she sat back down after managing to knock down nine of the pins. She grinned, waving her hand in front of his face. “You all here?”
He blinked, flailing backwards and narrowly avoiding hitting Lydia. “Sorry, sorry I just. You kissed me,” Scott dropped his voice down to a whisper and Allison nodded.
“I did.”
“You can’t just do that I mean, I should. You shouldn’t have.” He flailed. “I had a plan.” He sounded so defeated and Allison took pity on him, so instead of kissing him again she just squeezed his hand and patted his cheek.
“If you manage to knock down one pin I’ll let you kiss me at my doorstep.”
Scott stared at her open mouth, frozen in place again until Lydia tapped him on the shoulder, shooing him up to take his turn. He almost tripped over his own two feet and Allison covered her mouth to try and stifle her laugh.
“A kiss for a good game? How cute,” Lydia said, and Allison could see she was already marking down a zero next to Scott’s name.
Allison frowned. “Well not all of us are at the stage where we give out blow jobs for victories.”
Lydia put down her pen and grinned wickedly. “But that’s the fun part. Right, Stiles?” She turned to look at Stiles, who had Danny lounging against him. They were playing with each other’s hands, watching Scott try and not get a gutter ball disinterestedly.
“Hmm? Oh, blow jobs? Blow jobs are nice.” Stiles said absently, and a big grin crossed Danny’s face as he tilted his head back for a kiss.
Allison couldn’t hear what Danny said when they pulled away from each other but Jackson must have because he stood up quickly, muttering about getting a soda. Allison arched her eyebrow, looking at Lydia.
Lydia grinned. “What?”
Allison really couldn’t tell if Lydia was the smartest person she’d ever met, or what.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by Scott letting out a whoop of victory, turning with the biggest smile on his face. “I got two!”
Allison laughed and clapped her hands together, standing up to give him a hug. “Good job!”
“Yay for two points,” Lydia said under her breath, erasing the zero and replacing it. “Stiles, your turn.”
Allison sat down next to Scott holding his hand tightly, reveling in his excitement. “Very good.”
Scott blushed. “It’s really not, but thanks.” She leant in to steal another kiss but Scott moved away too fast. “Hey, hey. You said if I knocked down one I would get to do my plan.”
Allison laughed, but her response was cut off by Stiles cursing and jumping up, walking briskly across the bowling alley, with a call that Danny could take his turn. Everyone else looked as confused as her as Stiles approached a tall, older man in a leather jacket and grabbed him by the bicep, dragging him outside. Even from this distance Allison could tell that they were arguing.
She looked back at Scott, who looked concerned.
“Where did Stilinski go?” Jackson asked, returning with a soda.
Danny shook his head. “His brother just showed up, it’s nothing.” He stood up. “Here, I’m taking his turn, so help me out Jackson and give unto me your wisdom.”
“I didn’t know Stilinski had a brother,” Jackson said, putting his soda down and walking up to help Danny.
“I’ll even let you put your hand on my waist,” Danny quipped instead, picking up the ball and letting Jackson wrap his arms around him the same way he had done to Lydia earlier when he was showing her how to bowl. Danny actually looked like he needed the help though.
Allison looked at Scott for clarification. “His brother?”
Scott shook his head. “That was Derek. I don’t know what Derek could have wanted.”
Allison looked back at the door, frowning. She couldn’t see them, and a moment later Stiles came back inside, looking upset and angry. He didn’t say anything to anyone as he grabbed his jacket.
“Dude, where are you going?” Scott asked and Stiles shook his head, pasting on an obviously fake smile.
“My dad needs me to do some undercover work a few towns over.”
“Undercover work, really Stiles?” Lydia shot him a look of disbelief.
Stiles nodded, looking up as Danny came over to kiss him goodbye. “Yeah. I get to go buy booze with a fake ID and see if I get carded and then caught.”
Jackson looked at him. “You’re leaving?”
Stiles shrugged. “Duty calls.” He tossed his keys to Scott. “Drive my baby home alright. Don’t have sex in it, don’t grind the gears, and don’t crash her.”
Scott looked at the keys in disbelief. “But I can’t drive stick Stiles!”
Allison plucked the keys from him. “I’ve got you covered. Have fun I guess?”
Stiles rolled his eyes and jogged out of the building after giving Danny one last kiss and promising to call him later. Before Jackson could say anything else Danny had already corralled him back towards the lane and was forcing him to help him make the spare.
“I didn’t know Stiles did work for his dad,” Allison said to Scott, who was still staring at the door.
He jumped as he came back into focus and he just nodded frantically. “Yeah, yeah it’s. His dad is the sheriff so you know. He helps out as he can.”
Allison didn’t need to hear Lydia’s snort to know Scott was terrible at lying, but she didn’t press it. She was curious though.
***
“And you’re positive it’s the alpha?” Stiles demanded as they ran through the woods.
“It’s another wolf Stiles, and it’s,” Derek didn’t know how to explain the sensation that an alpha had over betas to someone who had never dealt with them. “It’s powerful.”
“Very descriptive. I will have you know I was destroying everyone tonight. I mean yes, Danny wasn’t perfect, so we weren’t winning, but I didn’t even care because every time Jackson looked at the score sheet he got all red in the face and it was hilarious.”
Derek growled. “I said I was sorry.”
“And I believe you. And I thank you for helping me come up with that awful lie. Pretty sure Scott is confused as everything, and I really, really hope for his sake no one asks any questions because he really can’t lie.” Derek snorted. “Hey! No laughing at my best friend. He’s a potato sure, but he’s my potato, okay.”
“Whatever you say Stiles. Just keep running.”
Almost an hour into the run Stiles finally caught the scent they were chasing. It hit him suddenly, the strange sterile burnt smell. It wasn’t quite sulfur but it was strong enough to drop him to his knees.
Derek slowed down and turned to check on him. “Bad right?”
Stiles finished dry heaving and nodded. “You couldn’t have warned me?”
“Told you I couldn’t explain it.”
“You could have said it was awful at least,” Stiles said as he got back to his feet. “I am never going to forget that scent as long as I live. I will wake up in the next life knowing that scent.”
Derek nodded, patting him on the back. “Come on, he doesn’t seem far now.”
Stiles groaned, picking up his pace. It was easier to run now that he knew what he was chasing though. That scent would haunt him he was sure. But no matter how much they ran they never seemed to catch sight of the alpha. It wasn’t until they had looped back into town around dawn that Stiles stopped to catch his breath, forcing Derek to stop as well.
“Do you think he’s leading us on?”
Derek looked around. “He has to be. But I feel like he’s right there.”
“I know what you mean. He feels like he’s right out of grasp,” Stiles agreed. “But I swear we just ran around the whole county and didn’t find him.” Derek growled, looking at the sun coming up like it had personally offended him. “What do we do? Keep going on this goose chase or what?”
“I guess we need rest, at least for an hour or so.”
“Think his scent will still be around if we stop though?”
Derek looked at him up and down. “We’ll be no good if we find him half dead on our feet. We’ll go back to my place, rest for a couple hours. We have his scent. We can find him again. It’s not like he can disappear.”
Stiles nodded and then paused, grabbing Derek’s bicep before he could run off towards his house. “What about the hunters?” They hadn’t talked much while they were tracking the alpha, just general shouts of directions, and Stiles assumed if Derek had anything to report he would have told him.
Derek growled in frustration. “I couldn’t find anything. Nothing by the motels were similar to the scents by the house. And no new scents by my apartment, but if I smell something off we’ll reroute to your house.”
“Sounds like a plan. I like plans.” Stiles followed after Derek back to his apartment.
It wasn’t until he curled up against Derek on the brink of sleep that he remembered he had promised to text Danny.
The alpha’s scent was still strong throughout the town when they got up around ten. It blanketed over everything, and Stiles couldn’t stop himself from thinking that this was the equivalent of marking his territory. Derek was not amused at that idea, and reminded that Stiles that since the alpha’s scent was so strong it would be harder to pick up any other scents. That said, Stiles knew both of them were definitely watching everyone around them and their reactions to them as they walked through town, trying to pick out anything off.
They spent all weekend running around the state chasing after the alpha. Stiles hadn’t even realized how far they had traveled until they were at the coast. It was surreal, knowing he had run 200 miles at least, and that he would need to run those 200 back if he wanted to get home.
He knew he needed to give Scott an explanation when he got back, since the most he had done was tell him to cover for him while he did werewolf things with Derek. Stiles knew he was lucky to have such good friends, because Scott actually lied for him, and Danny was understanding, even when Stiles kept ignoring his calls while he ran around Northern California, tracking a stupid alpha who was obviously playing with them.
But they couldn’t do anything else. They needed to find the alpha if they wanted answers.
It was taking a toll on them though, Stiles could tell. They had slept in the woods Saturday night, taking turns playing look out because they were in a nature preserve and while there may not have been people, and most animals wouldn’t dare approach them, nothing came from being too cautious.
The only reason they even headed back to Beacon Hills Sunday night was because Stiles had school, and Derek refused to let him skip. It was weird, but as Stiles was getting into bed, freshly showered so his dad didn’t ask too many questions, he swore it felt like the alpha was getting closer. If it made sense Stiles would think maybe the alpha had been tracking them the entire time.
“Dude I had the weirdest dream,” Stiles said as Scott climbed into his jeep Monday morning.
“I’m sure. Now tell me what the fuck you were doing all weekend.” Scott glared at him and Stiles rubbed his eyes.
“Is that anyway to talk to your best friend? Who is being so kind to give you a ride?”
“Yeah. Your best friend who just spent all weekend lying to your dad, and my mom, and my girlfriend and your boyfriend? You owe me so much more than a ride to school.” Scott was almost shouting at the end of his speech and Stiles felt bad. “So talk. What was so important that you had me deal with that?”
“Derek got wind of the alpha, and he knew I would kill him if he went without me so,” Stiles made a gesture, “we went together.”
“All weekend?”
“All weekend. Derek and I slept in the woods last night, somewhere between here and the coast, possibly a bit further north. The alpha took us all over.”
Scott licked his lips. “Did you catch him?”
“No,” Stiles said, hitting his hand on the steering wheel. “And it pisses me off because I can still smell him! He’s here. In town. I can feel it but I can’t do anything because he’s playing with us. He has to know we are after him, because he keeps coming back here. We tried everything. We went down wind. We went up wind. We separated for awhile. We never caught him.”
“You didn’t even see him?”
“No. It’s so fucking frustrating, being taunted like this, and now I’m all sorts of fucked up because I spent all weekend wolfed out and I’m having awful dreams that feel real involving killing people and I really want this to be over.”
Scott rubbed his back soothingly. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. It sucks.”
“Is this the wrong moment to tell you I told you so?” Scott asked and Stiles glared at him.
“Yes. I don’t regret this Scott. I don’t want being a werewolf to be over. I want the crap with the alpha to be over.” Stiles let out a breath. “I was able to run to the coast Scott. We didn’t stay that long, because we were still chasing him, but I got to the ocean. And I made Derek promise me that when this was all over we were going to run back because chasing death aside, there’s no better feeling than running with him through the woods.” Stiles laughed, suddenly self-conscious. “Well I mean, having sex with Danny is pretty good too.”
“You’ve had sex with Danny?!” Scott shouted in surprise and Stiles laughed because that broke all of the tension that had been building up in the car.
Scott didn’t want details, but he spent the rest of the ride asking questions and then immediately taking them back with a “wait I don’t want to know!” It helped distract Stiles by reminding him of Thursday night, curled up next to Danny. They hadn’t done much more after coming, the plan had been to spend the rest of the weekend doing more, but then that plan had been thrown out the window. He’d need to make it up to him.
All pleasant thoughts were brought to halt when they pulled into the school parking lot and all Stiles saw was the police tape. He’d heard his dad leave early that morning but he hadn’t thought it would be anything this serious.
The flashes from his dream came back, the feeling of ripping some guys throat. He hadn’t been able to get a sense of a surrounding, but it had been so realistic that he woke up smelling blood.
Scott seemed to be thinking around the same lines of him and he was already shaking his head. “No. Stiles, it’s probably nothing.”
Stiles was out of the Jeep as soon as it was parked and flying across the lot to the edge of the tape. It was a school bus, covered in blood. Stiles could smell the alpha and the blood and it was only the fact that he had skipped breakfast that stopped him from throwing up. Scott was beside him in a moment, eyes wide.
“This, this is nothing,” Scott tried to say but Stiles just shook his head, closing his eyes and focusing on the police talk.
“Animal attack.”
“Poor guy never stood a chance.”
“Too gruesome.”
Stiles only opened his eyes when Scott shook him. “Dude. It’s nothing. It’s-“ Stiles glared at him and Scott froze before grabbing him and pulling him away from the yellow tape. “Calm down. You’re starting to shift. I- I can see. You’ve never shifted before.”
Stiles tried to get himself under control but it was impossible. All he could smell was the blood and the alpha, and all he could remember was his dream and the feeling that had come with ripping some poor guy in half.
“Stiles! Stiles!”
He snapped out of it at the sound of his dad’s voice, the whole world rushing back to him. He looked over to where his dad was waving him over. Stiles swallowed bile and walked on shaky legs.
“Hey dad.”
“You don’t look so good,” his dad said, reaching and putting a hand on his shoulder. Stiles took a deep breath and nodded.
“Pretty gruesome scene.”
His dad grimaced. “Yeah we’ve tried to get rid of most of the blood before school started but the crime lab won’t let us move it. Evidence and all that. A white tarp should be coming soon to cover it up.”
Stiles nodded. “Probably a good idea.”
“You know I missed you all weekend. Hope you had fun with Scott.”
Stiles nodded again, unable to do much else. “Yeah. It was productive.”
His dad laughed. “I’m sure. Try to spend a little time with me though, okay? I have next Saturday off. Think you can spare an hour for your old man?”
“Of course dad.” He would have said more, talked about how much he loved his dad, and how lucky he was to have someone who could anchor him when he felt like he was drowning in himself, but the bell rang and his dad waved him off before he could get a single word out.
Stiles pulled out his phone out the moment he was out of range of his father’s hearing. He needed to talk to Derek.
“What’s wrong?” Derek asked as soon as he picked up.
“You said you watched me last night? To make sure the alpha didn’t show up right?” Stiles asked, lowering his voice as he took the long way around into school so he had privacy to talk freely.
“Yes. What happened?”
“I had this awful, I mean terribly awful dream, and the details were fuzzy but I felt myself kill someone, and I woke up expecting blood on my hands. I really thought something had happened.”
“You didn’t wake up,” Derek said cutting him off.
“I know. But Derek someone is dead. A bus driver. And there’s blood and I smell him, Derek. The alpha was here and it smells like the blood and I’m kind of freaking out.”
“Stiles, Stiles take a deep breath.” Derek’s voice was getting distant and Stiles thought of his dad, trying to bring his thoughts back into focus. “Stiles, I don’t know what’s going on. Each alpha is different, but some of them, for bitten werewolves it can be different. You have different feelings towards your alpha, and a different connection.”
“Like share life scarring experiences connections?” Stiles asked leaning against the side of the school, taking a shaky breath as Scott joined him, looking worried.
“Possibly.” Derek let out a breath. “Look. I’ll, I’ll spend all day here looking through my books. Come by as soon as you can, right now if you need. We will find out what this is.”
Stiles nodded even though he knew Derek couldn’t see him. “I think I can make it through the day. But I’ll be over as soon as I get out.”
“Remember, don’t bring your Jeep.”
Stiles nodded again, remembering what they had talked about. His Jeep was obvious, and anyone in town would recognize it instantly. “I know. I’ll see you after school.”
He hung up and collapsed into Scott, taking a deep breath to clear the scent of blood and alpha out of his mind.
***
“We really need to unpack the rest of your stuff,” Stiles said, looking around the mess they had made in his living room.
Derek had thought he had unpacked all his books, but Stiles hadn’t been convinced, so he had spent the first hour looking through every box, trying to find more books. Then there had been all the print outs he had brought from his house. Most of them weren’t even useful, but Derek could tell that having so much material helped calm Stiles down. It gave him a sense of accomplishment, even though it made a mess out of Derek’s living room.
“I’m not finding anything in these books,” Derek said, closing another book and putting it to the side. He looked at where Stiles had taken over the couch, looking between his laptop and a print out and another book.
“I wish we had a better idea of what we were looking for besides telepathy in werewolves,” Stiles muttered.
Derek’s response was cut off by the doorbell ringing.
They both froze.
The doorbell rang again, and this time there was a pounding that accompanied it.
Stiles sprung into action, running into Derek’s room and shutting the door as quietly as possible. Derek swallowed, the doorbell ringing a third time as he stood up. He could smell three people outside, men more than likely. He gave one last glance around the living room, making sure that there was no signs of Stiles, or any second person.
He opened the door just as the pounding began again.
There were three men outside his door, all dressed in hunting jackets and Derek wondered if they did it on purpose, or if it was just a coincidence. He didn’t recognize any of them, glancing over the two men in the back, before focusing on the shorter blond man who was obviously in charge.
“Derek Hale?” He asked, and Derek could already tell he knew who he was talking to.
Derek nodded, not opening the door much more. It may have been the coward’s way, but he would rather be safe than risk letting Stiles be found. “What can I do to help you?”
The blond man smiled. “Just doing a little check around. After that animal attack from this morning.”
Derek narrowed his eyes. “I see.”
“I’m Chris Argent, you might have heard of my family.” Derek had to stop himself from breaking the door handle, because he was trying not to show any reaction. “These are my friends, Martin Judge and Alexis Cardoza,” he pointed to each man before he turned back to Derek. “We just wanted to introduce ourselves, and ask a few questions.”
Derek stayed quiet. He had nothing to say to this man.
Chris looked completely relaxed, and Derek was sure to anyone observing them it looked just like a simple chat between friends. “Now, Derek. Don’t think we’re here to hurt you. Unless you’ve done something wrong. And you haven’t have you?” Derek didn’t answer and Chris looked at his two reinforcements, but Derek didn’t bite. He knew Chris was the real threat, and the other two wouldn’t do anything unless told. “Now. Why don’t you bring out your other friend. The one you were running around with earlier this month. We want to all get acquainted.”
Derek shook his head, hoping he did it fast enough to cover his shock at Chris openly mentioning knowing about Stiles, or a second werewolf. “There isn’t anymore else. The person,” and at this one of the two reinforcements snorted, “you saw was my cousin, Miguel. He had planned on sticking around but you scared him off. He left the next day.”
Chris gave him a pitying look. “So you’re here all on your own? No one to look after you? No friends to take care of you?”
Derek wondered if word had gotten out that Laura was dead yet. If he said she was alive and Chris had heard otherwise he would have to scramble to cover his tracks, but he couldn’t come off as an omega. Omegas were dangerous, and it would just make the hunters watch him more.
“My sister and I were thinking of moving back here, but she wasn’t sure about the area. I came ahead to see how it was.”
Chris nodded. “Your sister, of course. Laura, right?” Martin and Alexis nodded behind him. “She let you come here all by yourself? I thought you guys tended to stick together.”
Derek shrugged. “Live in a one bedroom apartment together for six years and see how much you want to stick with someone. We needed space, so I came ahead.”
“But she’ll be here soon?”
Derek shrugged again. “Eventually. Last we spoke she was taking her time. Cross country trips and all that.”
“I’m sure. The last time you two did that it probably wasn’t the best time for sightseeing.”
Derek held back a growl at the obvious taunt. He flexed his hand, trying to pull his wolf back in. He could hear Stiles’ heart picking up in the room in response to him getting angry and he took a deep breath. “You could say that.”
Chris gave another one of his stupid smiles. “I guess we’ll just have to stop by again when she shows up.”
“If,” Derek said. “We might decide to leave.”
Chris raised his hands in mock surrender. “Now, now, no need to make changes to your plans if you had your heart set on staying here. We can coexist. We all just follow the rules, right?”
“Rules. Of course.” It was on the tip of his tongue to demand what rules had been broken to cause his family to die, but he already knew that answer. They had existed. That was enough of a reason for Argents. “Refresh my memory about what they are. My mind is a little smoky.”
“You don’t harm humans. You don’t turn humans. You don’t bother with humans.” Chris’ voice dropped low and angry. “I will personally put you down if one of these three things happens and I have any reason to believe you had something to do with it.” He looked Derek up and down. “I know there’s a second wolf. You might not have killed that man but you know who did. Tell me, and I will be more lenient.”
Derek glared at him, his wolf clawing to the surface at the veiled threat. “I don’t. Now leave. And don’t come back.” The satisfaction of slamming the door shut was stopped by Chris’ boot blocking the door.
They locked eyes and Derek felt himself start to shift. He tried to pull it back, because the slightest provocation would give the three of them enough reason to kill him, but it was so hard. Chris grinned and slowly removed his boot. “Have a good night. I hope you enjoy living here.”
This time when Derek shut the door Chris allowed it. Derek stayed at the door until he heard the three hunters leave, and then he immediately locked the door, like a few locks and a chain could stop the hunters from getting in. When he turned around Stiles was standing in the living room looking pale and just as frightened as Derek felt.
He took a few steps towards Stiles, and let himself be pulled into a hug. They were both shaking.
“Guess we know who the hunters are now,” Stiles said, and Derek appreciated the fact that he was at least trying to inject some humor into his voice.
Derek nuzzled his neck. It was becoming the best thing he could do when he felt like he had hit a wall, because Stiles was pack, and pack was home, and pack helped solve problems. “Yeah.”
“Are they going to come back?”
“I doubt they’ll ever leave,” Derek said, pulling back, looking around at the mess. His apartment wasn’t safe anymore. The thought made his stomach drop. He hadn’t unfinished packing for just this reason, but it still felt like a huge loss to know the place he was calling home was no longer safe. “At least we know who to avoid.”
Stiles bit his lip as he nodded. “Yeah. That will be fun.”
Derek looked at him. “What?”
“I think. I mean I might be wrong because I only saw him for a second, and it was through the Jeep window? But the leader? Chris? I think he’s Allison’s dad.” Derek didn’t understand, and Stiles let out a breath. “Allison. Scott’s girlfriend.”
“You’re kidding,” Derek deadpanned.
“I’ll need to check what Allison’s last name is, because I really didn’t pay attention when they introduced her, but yeah. I think so.” Stiles let out a breath. “He didn’t. He wasn’t the one who burned down your house was he?”
Derek looked up at Stiles, his mouth suddenly dry. There had been an unspoken rule not to mention that, but Derek couldn't blame Stiles from jumping to that conclusion.
“No. Not him. Another one.”
“Another hunter or another Argent?” Stiles asked and Derek really hated his perceptiveness at times.
“Another Argent. But not him. He wasn’t involved, I don’t think.” He let out a loud breath. “No. He wasn’t.”
“Good,” Stiles said, eyes suddenly yellow and hard. “Because I really would have hated to kill Allison’s father.”
Derek’s breath caught and he pulled Stiles into another hug. He couldn’t think of a way to express what he was feeling so he just tightened his grip. He wasn’t even able to tell Stiles no because that would have been a lie.
TBC