Work Text:
Deputy Stiles Stilinski was in the middle of filling out paperwork when he felt it. Just as he was reaching for the next piece of paper in the endless pile he felt a sharp pain right in his heart. Immediately his thoughts went to his mate, Derek Hale. Something was wrong. His mate was dying!
“Shit!” In scrambling for his cell phone he almost dropped it. Stiles quickly dialed Derek’s cell praying for his mate to answer. He cursed again when the call went straight to voicemail. The next number he dialed was the alpha of their pack, Scott McCall. When he didn’t pick up either Stiles’ panic increased. He stood up while frantically dialing the numbers of other pack members.
“Stiles, what’s wrong?” Beacon Hills Sheriff Jordan Parrish stepped out of his office. He, too, had been doing paperwork before being startled by Stiles’ outburst.
Stiles’ whole body was shaking as he made call after call only to have no one answer their phone. He barely acknowledged Parrish as he strode for the door. “S-Something’s wrong with Derek. Gotta go!”
“What? Stiles!”
But Stiles was outside the Sheriff station before Parrish had finished speaking and headed straight to his vehicle. His favorite car, his beloved Jeep, was increasingly unreliable so he drove a Chevy Tahoe for work. He was just leaping into the driver’s seat when he finally reached someone, his dad.
“Dad! There’s something wrong with Derek and no one is answering their phone! Have you heard anything from the pack?”
“What’s wrong, son? I haven’t had any calls.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong! He’s dying! That’s all I know. Derek’s dying, Dad!” Tears pricked Stiles’ eyes as he held back a sob.
“Slow down, Stiles. Take a breath. If something’s wrong with Derek your best bet is Deaton’s. They’ll take him there if he’s hurt. Be careful driving, son.”
Stiles swallowed painfully and took a shuddering breath. He was buckling in and starting the car as his dad spoke. “Right. Thanks, Dad. I’ll call you, bye!”
Stiles raced for the town’s veterinary clinic with his car’s lights on. This was an emergency, rules be damned! The pain in his heart had not receded since he first felt it. His mate was dying. He did not know how, but he knew it. He could not lose Derek. Not now. Not after everything they’d been through. Stiles darted into the clinic’s parking lot, almost hitting a truck parked sideways in one of the spots. Seeing the doors of the truck wide open he immediately knew his mate was here. Scott had found him and brought him to the vet clinic. A small part of him felt some slight relief, but mostly his terror increased.
“Derek!” Stiles haphazardly slid his Tahoe into the closest parking space. As he raced toward the clinic he noticed several other cars pulling into the lot behind him. More of the pack was here. Calling out his mate’s name Stiles rushed inside and headed directly to the back. A special room had been set up for treating werewolves and other supernatural members of the pack, carefully hidden from view of the clinic’s mundane clients. Scott had taken over the vet clinic a few years back but the pack continued to refer to it as Deaton’s place. It would always be so.
Scott and his wife, Kira, were already working on Derek when Stiles slipped into the room. Although Scott was trained as a vet and Kira as his vet tech, they both had experience with emergencies involving the supernatural. They’d patched up werewolves before.
Derek was laid out on a table while Scott and Kira worked around and over him. They had already removed his shirt and were in the process of removing the rest of his clothes. Stiles gaped at the open wounds he could see. Derek’s chest and stomach were covered in them. Most of them looked like vicious scratches from fearsome claws but there were a few bites, too. Blood was everywhere and some of the wounds exposed the wolf’s insides. Stiles might have vomited if he weren’t so concerned for his mate’s life.
“Scott! What happened? Who did that to him!”
Scott barely glanced up with a grimace as he helped Kira remove Derek’s shoes and pants. “Not now, Stiles. We have to clean and bandage these wounds. Go wait outside!”
“No! Tell me what happened! What can I do?”
“It was an alpha,” Scott huffed. “Now get out so we can help him.”
Stiles stubbornly refused to leave. “He’s dying! Isn’t he?”
“Not if I have anything to say about it!”
A voice behind him interrupted his panic. “Stiles, Scott is right.” Mason Hewitt, who was both pack member and a fellow Beacon Hills deputy, laid a calming hand on Stiles’ shoulder. “You’re an emotional wreck. You’ll just get in the way. Come out here and I’ll tell you what we know. Liam, Corey, you two help Scott and Kira.”
“But-“ Stiles hesitated. Liam and Corey, Mason’s mate, obediently brushed past him. They both touched Stiles’ shoulder before they went to assist the vets.
“Come on, Stiles.” Gently Mason led Stiles from the frantic scene and out into the clinic’s waiting room. Stiles let himself be pushed down into a chair while Mason pulled up another to sit across from him.
Stiles was still shaking visibly. He jumped when Mason leaned over to touch his knee. “Yeah, okay. What happened? Why is it all so bad?”
“We don’t know a lot. Derek can tell us when he, uhm-It happened at the edge of the preserve. A rogue alpha must have been trying to get to the town and Derek stopped him from encroaching further. Derek is a great fighter but even a beta like him stands no chance against an alpha. This one was really crazed for some reason. Anyway Derek must have known he was losing the fight because he howled for help. That’s when the rest of us were alerted and rallied to his aid. It took the rest of us to stop the alpha and Scott put him down himself. Then he and Kira grabbed Derek and came here while Liam, Corey, and I cleaned up the scene before coming here ourselves.”
Somehow Stiles was able to refrain from interrupting Mason during his summary. Groaning he dropped his head into his hands. “Fuck! Damn martyr wolf.” Stiles lifted his head to look at Mason. “That’s why it’s so bad. Wounds from an alpha take longer to heal.”
Mason nodded. “Derek is a survivor, Stiles. If anyone can make it through this it’s him.”
“I know. I am his mate after all. I know what he’s capable of.” Despite the brave words Stiles chocked back sobs. Derek was a survivor. But even survivors got killed. The thought of Derek dying made him want to die himself. Life was nothing without his mate. After everything they had been through to get to where they were now it wasn’t fair. Not fair at all.
*****
What seemed like hours but was more likely an hour later, Stiles and Mason were joined in the waiting room by the rest of the pack. Scott and Kira looked exhausted and disheveled in their doctor coats. Liam and Corey didn’t look much better.
“Stiles, we’ve done all we can. We cleaned his wounds and bandaged him up as best we could. It’s all up to Derek now.” Scott looked sympathetically at his best friend. He could only imagine how he’d feel if Kira was the one lying on that table.
Stiles stumbled to his feet. “How is he? Can I see him?”
“Of course you can see him, Stiles,” Kira responded with a sad smile. “Be careful of his bandages. Right now he is unconscious. We don’t know when he’ll come to. It’s probably better that he stays out a while longer so his wounds can heal.”
“Alpha wounds take longer to heal. I only briefly saw-There were so many! What if-?”
Kira grabbed Stiles in a quick hug. “Derek’s a fighter. He won’t easily leave you behind. Now go see him and talk to him.”
Stiles gave her a brief squeeze before rushing off to be with his injured mate. Fresh tears blurred his vision as he took in the state of him. Derek’s body was covered in so many bandages he looked like an Egyptian mummy. A blanket was laid over his lap, offering modesty. Stiles approached the table. He dragged a metal stool over and sat by Derek’s head. Hesitatingly he reached out and brushed a hand through his mate’s hair.
“Oh, Derek, what am I to do with you? You always throw yourself in front of trouble like you have something to prove. You couldn’t have called for back up before engaging a crazed alpha?”
Stiles carefully placed a hand on Derek’s chest between two bandages. He watched the slight rise and fall of his hand with each breath his mate took. He’d been so sure when he felt the pain in his heart that his mate was dying. The severity of his wounds and the fact that they were inflicted by an alpha meant there was a chance he still could.
“You’ve come a long way from that angry guy I met in the preserve that day. You have nothing left to prove, martyr wolf. I love you. Our pack loves you. I’m proud of you and so are they. Don’t leave me. I still need you.” Stiles leaned down to kiss Derek’s forehead and then laid down his upper body on the table beside his mate.
*****
Stiles must have fallen asleep because he woke to the sound of a groan and some rustling. Sitting up he quickly checked on his mate. At some point one of the other pack members must’ve covered Derek up with a light sheet. It suddenly clicked that the sounds that woke him were coming from Derek.
“Derek?”
“Stiles?”
Stiles reached forward to stop Derek from moving. “Don’t move, Derek. You’ve been severely injured by an alpha so your injuries will be slow to heal. You’re at Deaton’s. Scott took care of the alpha.”
Derek huffed and shifted on the bed, wincing in pain. “I remember. Was anyone else hurt?”
“Nope. Just you, you big idiot!”
Derek grimaced at Stiles’ raised voice. “I’m sorry, Stiles. He was trying to get to town. Said his pack was dead and he was going to make a new one.”
“I know big guy, you were just being yourself. But don’t ever scare me like that again! I thought you were dying!”
Derek winced. “I’m sorry, Stiles. It won’t happen again. I’d rather die than be without you and I know you feel the same about me.”
Stiles sighed and leaned down to kiss his mate on the lips. “Well, just see that it doesn’t! I intend for us to be together for a long time, Sourwolf. Now go to sleep. You have a lot of healing to do.”
Derek yawned widely. “Love you, Stiles.” His eyes closed and he was soon asleep.
Stiles stroked his hair gently. “I love you, too, Derek.”