Archive of Our Own

Stiles

Every inch of determination he had was concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other as he shuffled through the dark school hallways. His mind, however, was racing, he had to cover this up, he couldn’t let the message get out. He had to get to the nurses office, he’d need bandages and more than likely stitches and he’d definitely need painkillers, the best that they had. Then he needed to get the locker room and take a long shower, scrub off all the evidence, pray that it made him feel clean again.

But at the moment it was just one step at a time, hoping he wasn’t leaving a trail of blood and forever grateful that school had finished for the summer as he hobbled forwards in his bare feet. He’d spent too much time wandering around here at night to be afraid of anything anymore. The dark hallways didn’t bother him, neither did breaking into the school, although he knew if his dad caught him then he’d be in trouble. But he knew that there were much worse things out there than a slap on the wrist for breaking and entering, and, if it kept those that mattered to him in the dark, then, it was worth it.

He gripped the handle on the nurses’ office door, so glad when it turned easily under his touch that he nearly whimpered in relief. He held his arm tight against his bruised ribs, trying to ensure that none of his limbs moved unless absolutely necessary. He headed over to the medical cabinet and quickly picked out the strongest painkillers they had. He downed two of them, hoping to just take the edge of so that he could finish the job with some semblance of normality. Although what about this was normal? He was sixteen and had just been tortured and was breaking into a school instead of going to hospital because he wanted to stop his friends from ever finding out. That wasn’t normal. That was so fucked up it was beyond belief. He scoffed in amusement to himself at what his life had become.

He was struggling to keep going, but he knew he had to, his job was far from done and he still had to deal with so much else tonight. He had to stop Gerard, somehow save Jackson, comfort Lydia if he couldn’t and, of course he had to go back for Erica and Boyd. So he squared his shoulders and set his mouth in a firm line as he reached out to grab the medical supplies he’d need. He shoved them in a conveniently located bag and then trudged towards the locker room, knowing he only had to keep going for a little while longer.

He had walked the whole way in only his boxer shorts, amazed that no one had seen him, he put the supplies down on one of the benches in the locker room and then stumbled towards the showers. He wasn’t taking his boxers off, not when, right now, they felt like his only protection against the world. He stepped into the cold shower and let the blood run off him, ignoring the shaking that was running rampant through his body. He knew he was in shock, he knew that he should call somebody and get to the hospital, but he couldn’t, this was a secret he would take to the grave. If anyone had seen him right now they would have thought he’d bathed in someone’s blood. His wrists were cut open from where he’d struggled against the chains that held him, they would definitely need stitches, his neck covered in bruises from where they’d hung him, his back cut in multiple places from where the whip had torn open his skin over and over. Not to mention the other cuts and bruises from where he’d been kicked and punched. Thankfully his face only had a bruise on his cheek and a split lip. He would be able to cover this up. He just had to lie his ass off. It was to protect the pack. It was necessary.

He thought the water should probably be stinging against his cuts but it didn’t seem to. Instead he just stood there looking at his damaged body, looking at the cuts and bruises and recalling the agony that he had suffered in the last few hours. He was glad that the shower hid the tears streaming down his face, he would not let anyone know that they’d broken him. He could cry here and no one would know, but as soon as he stepped out of this shower then he’d never cry about it again. He was strong. He would survive this.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood in the shower staring at his mangled wrists before he registered that he had to get out. The blood had long since washed down the drain, although most of his wounds were still bleeding sluggishly. He dried himself off as best he could and then started bandaging himself up, he moaned in pain as the large bandage he’d constructed pressed against his back. He kept it tight across his skin, determined to hold himself together, he would deal with this. It must have taken him an hour to get himself properly covered and then dressed, glad that he’d left a pair of jeans and a hoodie in his locker. They covered the worst of his injuries. He’d just have to deal with the few marks left on his face. It was nothing in the scheme of things.

He took some more painkillers, managing to look almost normal as he made his way to his jeep. It was good he managed to look normal because he didn’t feel normal. He felt like death. He just needed to make it through tonight. Then he’d avoid the pack for a few days until he got better and then he’d see them all again and they’d never know. He pulled up at his home, knowing that his dad would be going out of his mind with worry. He opened the door quietly, could hear his dad on the phone upstairs and headed in that direction, every step he took was a tremendous effort.

“Just, if he turns up, at the hospital, or wherever, just please let me know.” His dad hung up the phone and Stiles could hear him muttering to himself.

“Where are you Stiles? Come on kid, where are you?” John was pacing across Stiles’ room and Stiles knew this was going to be hard.

“I’m here dad.” He said, his voice breaking slightly, taking a step into the room, watching the relief flood his father’s eyes before the anger filled them as John took in the bruises on Stiles face. Stiles tried not to wince as his dad grabbed hold of his face.

“Who did this? I’ll kill them. Stiles.” John rambled, pulling Stiles in for a hug and not seeming to notice the gasp of pain that flew from his lips.

“I’m fine dad.” Stiles said trying to calm his father.

“You’re not. Tell me who did this. Stiles look at you. You’re hurt. Tell me who did it.” John demanded, concern filling his voice.

“It was nothing. I was mouthing off. Some guys from the other team roughed me up a bit.” Stiles replied, trying not to think about how much his throat was hurting.

“Tell me who they are, I’ll pistol whip those little bastards.” John raged, seeming distraught that his son was hurt. Stiles couldn’t help but wonder how badly he’d react if he knew the full extent of his injuries. He couldn’t ever tell him, it already looked like his dad was about to have a heart attack, if he knew what had happened it would kill him. Stiles pulled his sleeves down, making sure that his bandaged wrists were covered.

“Dad. I’m fine.” Stiles shouted as loud as he could. “Please, look at me. I’m fine okay. It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters.” John replied softly, pulling Stiles in for another hug. “God Stiles, if anything happened to you, it would kill me.” John said. Stiles could only nod in agreement. Even more of a reason to keep it secret.

Before they could continue there was a knock at the door downstairs and Stiles couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief. His dad was the sheriff, of course he’d notice something was wrong if he spent any time around Stiles. He sighed heavily, catching sight of himself in the mirror. No wonder his dad had panicked. His normally pale skin was almost translucent, his amber eyes looked wide and still terrified, his long eyelashes black against his skin. His lip had split from talking and Stiles could taste fresh blood in his mouth. He shuddered in disgust.

He heard another knock at the door and sighed.

“I said I’m fine dad.” He replied wearily, not sure where he was going to get the strength to still go and help the pack.

“I don’t believe you.” A voice said. Stiles turned around to see Lydia stood in the doorway and he felt his heart jump. He hadn’t expected her to be here. All the times that he’d wished Lydia Martin would pay attention to him and now she shows up and he’s beaten and broken and of course she’s only here to talk about Jackson.

“It’s nothing.” He said quickly, glancing away. “How are you Lydia?”

“Well considering the guy I love just died in front of me, oddly enough not great.” Lydia replied coldly and Stiles could only nod dumbly.

“Yeah. Well, sure, that’s normal.” He paused unsure where to go from here, “What are you doing here Lydia?” He asked curiously, unable to keep the confusion out of his voice and too weary to try and figure it out himself. Lydia paused for a moment, thinking about her answer before replying.

“You and Scott are involved in something. I know you are. I think Jackson was involved too. I want to know what’s going on.” She said firmly. Stiles shrugged, this wasn’t his place to tell was it? He wasn’t a werewolf, he was the pet human, he couldn’t tell her. But Scott could, or Derek, or Allison or Isaac. One of them would surely be willing to tell her. His phone beeped again and he glanced down at it on the bed.

Lydia picked it up and glanced at the texts.

“You’ve got thirty-eight messages from Scott. You should probably read them.” Lydia said handing him the phone. Stiles nodded, taking the phone and scrolling through the texts, the first few were asking where he was, but after that it was all about Jackson somehow been alive. Evolving into an alpha kanima. That they were going to meet Derek and Peter at an old warehouse and could Stiles somehow get Lydia there as she might be able to save him. Stiles read through the texts once, and then he read through them again, disbelief running through his veins.

If everything had gone according to plan, gone according to Gerard’s plan, then Stiles would be dead on Scott’s front doorstep right now. And Scott hadn’t even looked for him? Other than a few quick texts? Did Scott just assume Stiles had wandered off on his own? Now he was texting Stiles continually because he actually needed him to help the pack once again? Stiles couldn’t help but feel the anger burning in his gut. It felt good, it gave him strength. He could be angry about this; that his best friend hadn’t even bothered to look for him while he was being tortured. He just had to think about that, not about how weak he was that he got kidnapped in the first place. He just had to focus on his anger and he’d get through the night.

Stiles looked up and Lydia and back at his phone and then made his decision.

“Come on then. If you really want to know what’s going on, then I’ll explain it to you on the way.” He said quickly, turning towards the door and trying to ignore the pain that was spreading through his body.

Lydia followed him silently from his room and they walked to the jeep. Stiles told her everything he could while driving to the warehouse, not caring that his throat was throbbing as he talked, that his voice was cracking and his whole body was screaming at him to stop.

“So werewolves are real?” She asked timidly. He nodded. “And Kanimas? Which is Jackson? Who is not dead?” Stiles nodded again. He looked down at his phone as it beeped. Another message from Scott.

‘Any time now would be good Stiles!!!’

He grimaced as he saw the warehouse come into view.

“Hold on.” He said simply to Lydia and then drove through the wall.

Thankfully he hit Jackson and not anyone on their team. Lydia was out of the jeep immediately, calling out to Jackson as Stiles hobbled around to the far side of the jeep. It was over pretty quickly, Jackson turned into a werewolf and then Stiles watched as Lydia and Jackson declared how much they loved each other. It made his heart sink.

Then Scott was turning to him, sniffing him.

“Dude you smell like blood.” He said in confusion. Stiles rolled his eyes.

“Obviously. You see my face Scott? It’s bruised. My lip is split. Of course I smell like blood.” He replied quietly not trying to draw attention to himself.

“What happened man?” Scott asked casually.

“A few guys from the other team jumped me. You know me, my mouth is always getting me into trouble.” Stiles grinned, trying to pass off the fact that he’d been beaten up by hunters by implying it was the other lacrosse team, he hoped Scott bought it.

“Huh, well, so long as you’re okay. I need to go help Isaac.” Scott said walking off quickly to pull the knives out of Isaac. Stiles wanted to scream. Was that really all it was going to take? It was stupid how easily he could fool Scott. Admittedly he knew Scott was distracted right now, but still, how could he not tell that Stiles was lying? How could none of them know? This was good though right? This was what he wanted, he didn’t want them to know. He should be pleased that they didn’t notice, but instead he just seemed to feel even more hurt, how could none of them notice just how much pain he was in? Surely he wasn’t acting normally? Surely somebody should notice. He shook his head, arguing internally with himself. He didn’t want them to know. He had to keep up the act.

Gerard was long gone which annoyed Stiles immensely. It would have been nice to see him die. Instead Derek was prowling towards him, looking every inch the alpha wolf.

“What are you doing here?” Derek growled and Stiles was surprised to find that Derek was talking to him.

“Erm, Scott asked me to come.” Stiles said, looking around for Scott. He wasn’t sure why Derek seemed so angry but he really didn’t feel like any more violence tonight.

“You’re not welcome here.” Derek replied quietly.

“Well, I could think of a million places I’d rather be. But since I needed to be here to save your sorry ass, again, I figured I best come.” Stiles replied coldly.

“You smell like blood and pain.” Derek said, shocking Stiles, the blood yeah, he could understand that, but Derek could smell the fact that he was in pain? Derek took the silence as proof of his facts. He looked at the bruises on stiles’ face. “You must have a really low pain threshold. I guess that’s because you’re human.”

“So?” Stiles asked, his voice cracking, not caring that most of the attention was on them now.

“You’re human Stiles. You’re not pack. You’re weak. You’re a liability. You’re useless. We only keep you around to keep Scott happy. You couldn’t even protect yourself from a bunch of lacrosse players. You aren’t welcome here.” Derek said harshly and Stiles felt his breath rush out of his lungs. He’d thought a thousand times that he wasn’t pack, but he’d never had it confirmed to him in such a brutal way. The silence that echoed around the warehouse made him feel even worse, nobody was leaping to his defence, he looked at Scott who glanced down at his shoes, Isaac who looked guilty but in agreement, Peter who still looked like he wanted to eat Stiles, Lydia who looked like she might speak before Jackson put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, and Allison and Chris who he couldn’t even bear to look at. The whole thing made him feel about six inches tall. But he’d had worse, been through worse tonight as a matter of fact. So he sucked it up, glared right at Derek and forced a smile onto his face, a predatory smile, all teeth.

“Fine by me. Yes, I’m human. No surprise there. I’m not pack. I never thought I was. I’m weak. Hell yes of course I am compared to freaking werewolves. I’m a liability. Damn right I am. I never know when to keep my mouth shut. And you know what that’s all fine with me. I’m not welcome? Perfectly fine. Just so you know, you’re not welcome around me either. So I’m going to leave now. And I’d appreciate it if you don’t come calling round the first time you can’t figure out how to turn on a computer.” He growled not caring that his voice was breaking harshly with every word. It made him sound emotional. He wasn’t emotional. He was pissed and hurt. He was glad the painkillers were working right now because he didn’t hesitate as he walked to the jeep and reversed it out of the warehouse, ignoring the shocked look on Lydia’s face.

How had he not seen this coming? Every single word Derek spoke was the truth, and okay, maybe it wasn’t lacrosse players that had done this, but, even if it had of been, Stiles still wouldn’t have come out of it on top. Gerard had been right earlier, taunting him with the exact same words, they’d kept him around for Scott, they didn’t care about him, why was he bothering to protect them when they weren’t even looking for him? Stiles had argued back, saying that of course they’d be looking for him and they’d find him and Gerard would die. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have believed in any of them? He’d nearly died protecting a pack who hadn’t bothered looking for him, who didn’t even want him. He drove around aimlessly, not wanting to go home and try to sleep, knowing he’d only have nightmares. He needed something else to focus on. So he concentrated on the pain and betrayal he felt and he forced himself forwards.

Lydia

The moment Stiles left the warehouse Lydia looked around in shock at the pack around her, finally she looked to Derek.

“How could you do that?” She said, her voice sounding almost as distraught as Stiles had.

“What?” Derek growled.

“How could you do that to Stiles? He’s your best friend Scott, and I know he’s helped you out Isaac, and he’s protected you all as often as he can. How could you kick him out?” She asked, desperate for an answer, she had to understand this, she had to make sense of it.

“There wasn’t any choice Lydia. You saw the state of him. If he can’t protect himself from a couple of teenage humans how’s he going to deal with going up against a werewolf? Or a vampire? Or fae? Or banshees? Or anything else supernatural out there? He’ll get hurt. He shouldn’t be pack.” Derek said seriously. Lydia looked at him in shock.

“So you’re telling me that you kicked him out of the pack because you’re trying to protect him?” Lydia said gazing around at the pack like she’d entered a twilight zone. She sighed heavily when they all nodded slowly in agreement.

“You do know this is Stiles right? Stiles who likes to go running off into the woods to look for half a body? You do realize he’s going to get into trouble with or without you around?” She said steadily, hoping to knock some common sense into them.

“Enough Lydia. I’m the alpha and what I say goes. Stiles is out of the pack. That’s the end of this conversation.” Derek said firmly.

“Fine.” She said folding her arms, “But I still think you’re all idiots.” She scowled. She wasn’t going to leave the pack, not now she was finally in on the secret and Jackson was alive. But it doesn’t mean she wouldn’t tell them how stupid they were.

Stiles

He’d managed to get back to the spot where he thought he’d escaped from the moving car. It looked about right and the woods around him looked familiar in an odd sort of way, he’d seen the traces of blood which he thought made sense and so he’d carried on. Now he was trying to trace his way back to Erica and Boyd, trying to figure out what he could remember of the journey and which direction he thought he’d travelled in. He didn’t care that it was well past midnight and his whole body was screaming at him to stop, the only thing that was keeping him going was the adrenaline. He knew as soon as that wore off he’d be useless. He couldn’t leave them there, he had to get them out, it didn’t matter if he wasn’t pack, he still wasn’t leaving them there.

He was driving down a narrow road, the branches snapping against either side of the jeep, it sounded familiar and Stiles prayed he was in the right place, licking his lips with nerves. Just because Gerard was gone didn’t mean his goons had left. He gripped the baseball bat tight in his hand, resting it against his lap, if he was going down he was going to go down swinging. Although really, what chance did a baseball bat have against guns? He was finding it harder and harder to breath, he closed his eyes, forced himself to calm down, focus instead on the fact that Erica and Boyd were still there.

He opened his eyes and started the jeep crawling forward again, yelping in surprise when two figures stepped out of the woods.

Erica and Boyd were looking slightly worse for wear but they were actually honest to god smiling at him. Erica ran quickly to the jeep, pulling open his door and reaching in to hug him.

“God, Stiles, God, we thought you were dead. You’re alive. You’re okay.” She said squeezing tighter. He grimaced.

“Well, maybe okay is not a word I’d use, but definitely alive yeah.” He said, unable to tear his eyes from the two of them.

“What are you doing out here Stiles? Where’s the pack?” Erica asked quickly, eyeing the baseball bat on his lap.

“Erm,” He glanced down guiltily, “Would you believe me if I told you I was your rescue attempt?”

“You mean you were coming back to get us armed with a baseball bat and no back up?” Boyd said, his tone full of amusement and something deeper, more like admiration. Stiles faked a quick grin.

“Well, it’s a better weapon than my sarcasm. Anyway how did you guys get out?” He asked as Boyd came around the other side and they both slid into the jeep.

“When they were dragging you out you managed to kick out the plug. The battery took a few hours to drain but then we were able to break out pretty easily.” Erica said easily, her wounds already starting to heal and fade.

“Oh right, I didn’t know if that would work.” Stiles said as he started to reverse slowly down the track, glancing across at Erica and Boyd, unable to believe he’d found them so easily.

“Of course it would.” Boyd said in his deep voice, “Stiles,” He began, hesitating when Stiles looked at him slowly, “Thank you.”

“No big deal.” Stiles said dismissively, he couldn’t wait to get out of this jeep, he couldn’t wait to get home and forget about the whole night.

“It is a big deal.” Erica said fiercely, “You saved our lives Stiles. You didn’t let them kill us when it would have been so much easier for you. We owe you our lives Stiles.” She said seriously. Stiles felt physically sick, he couldn’t think about it, didn’t want to think about it.

“Yes, thank you, for protecting us, for saving us and for coming back for us.” Boyd said solemnly sounding like he genuinely meant it, Stiles couldn’t help but think of what Derek said, that they only kept him around for Scott. That he was weak and useless. He shook the thoughts from his head.

“Of course I was coming back for you. I was going to get the pack to come too but all this stuff happened with Gerard and Jackson and they were all exhausted by the time it was over.” Stiles said, making excuses for them.

“And yet you’re here?” Boyd said looking at him questioningly.

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t sleep. Too hyped up I guess. But there is something I need to ask you.” He paused, hoping that they would agree to this. “The pack hasn’t got the message. I don’t want them to. Can you not tell them please?” Stiles said, hating the fact that every time his voice cracked both wolves were looking at him with worry.

“How can they not know Stiles!?” Boyd demanded angrily, Stiles couldn’t help but feel a little relief that somebody else had said out loud what he had already thought.

“I guess I’m a better liar than I thought.” He paused. “Please. I know it’s a lot to ask. But please don’t tell them.” When he finally got both of them to nod in agreement he felt his shoulders relax slightly. He tried not to wince when the change in position made his wounds throb. He ignored the worried glances sent his way.

He pulled up near where he knew the pack would be. He didn’t want to face them, he just wanted to go home. When he pulled over Boyd and Erica looked at him expectantly.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you that bit. I’m not in the pack.” He said quickly before putting the jeep into gear. He didn’t expect Boyd to actually growl at him.

“What!?” Erica shouted. Stiles winced. “What the hell does that mean you’re out of the pack?”

“Please tell me you are joking.” Boyd replied.

“No joke. Although technically I was never in it, so it’s more like never part of, rather than out of it. I’m human, I’m not worthy of being pack.” He grimaced as Erica screeched again. He wanted to get this out of the way quickly and then he wanted to go home. “So it would probably be a good idea if you didn’t mention that you’ve seen me.” He looked at them, seeing the displeasure on their faces.

“I know it’s a lot to ask. On top of you not telling them what happened. But please? I’m asking you not to.” Stiles pleaded, hating that everything was feeling like too much right now. He couldn’t keep this up, he needed to take some more painkillers and sleep.

“Okay.” Boyd said eventually, looking at Erica for agreement. “But only if you promise us that someone knows about this. Someone is looking after you?” He said solemnly.

“Yeah. Someone knows. And they’re trying to look after me. I promise.” Stiles said, hating the fact that he was twisting the truth, yes, someone did know, him, someone was trying to look after him, him again. He didn’t need anyone to know about this.

“Okay.” Boyd said finally. “We’ll see you soon Stiles okay. You might not be pack but you’re still our friend. That’s not changing.” Stiles felt himself well up at the kind words. He nodded quickly and then accelerated away from them.

He could only pray that they’d keep it secret. He made it home shortly after and was so glad that his dad was at work. He went upstairs, took several more painkillers and then lay on the bed on his front trying to get comfortable. It hurt his ribs, but there was no way he could lie on his back. He shifted around uncomfortably for what felt like hours until eventually the pain killers kicked in and he drifted off to an unsettled sleep.

Erica

Erica was fuming, she knew Boyd could smell the anger rolling off her waves, much like she’d been able to smell the pain coming from Stiles. How could the rest of the pack not have known? How could they possibly think he was okay in any way shape or form?

They could smell the pack almost instantly and followed their noses to an old building that looked almost abandoned, apart from the fact that some of the windows showed light blasting from them, so there must be some life there somewhere. They strolled up to the building and took the lift to the top floor. Boyd pulled open the loft door and they were greeted with a shocked silence. Jackson, Lydia, Scott, Peter, Isaac and Derek were all looking at them in disbelief.

Isaac was the first to run towards her, gathering them together in a hug, then slowly the other sounds filtered in, the sounds of surprise, curiosity, the questions, where had they been? What had happened? How did they escape? On and on the questions continued.

Erica was exhausted, she was so full of anger at her pack for throwing Stiles away like a piece of trash, but she’d also been through hell the past few days and she needed to sleep.

“Why do you smell like Stiles?” Scott asked in confusion a minute later and suddenly the whole pack stilled.

“We bumped into him on the way here.” Boyd said calmly and Erica looked to him gratefully, she didn’t think she’d be able to lie to them right now.

“What was he doing out?” Derek asked angrily.

“I don’t know. He was just driving around, he saw us and gave us a lift to near here.” Boyd said, once again his voice was calm but Erica could sense anger coming from him.

“He should be at home resting.” Derek said grudgingly.

“He’s not pack any more. He can do whatever the hell he wants.” Erica shouted, suddenly unable to keep her mouth shut.

“He told you that?” Derek said, eyeing them carefully.

“He told us he’s not pack. He didn’t want to come here when we invited him. He didn’t have a choice in telling us.” Boyd said, trying to restore the calm.

“Okay.” Derek said. “It’s for his own good.” He added as an explanation.

“How is this for his own good?” Erica argued, her voice breaking slightly in emotion.

“He’ll be safer away from the pack.” Derek roared. “Stiles is human. He’s breakable. You must have seen his face. That’s from teenage humans. He can’t be involved in this world. We’re trying to protect him.”

“You are so fucking stupid!” She yelled, about to tell them that it wasn’t from a stupid lacrosse player. She caught sight of Boyd who had tensed up and Erica took a breath and a moment to think before she spoke again. “Fine!” Erica shouted, throwing her hands up in the air in despair, “You want to keep him out of our business fine! But he’s still my friend and I’m not going to just ignore him.” She shouted.

“Yes you are.” Derek shouted back. “None of you are to see or speak to Stiles, none of you are to contact him. He is not part of this pack and I will not have him involved in any way.”

“You can’t do that!” Lydia shouted from the back of the room and Erica felt relief that not everyone in here was a complete asshole.

“I can and I am. I am the alpha and you will listen to me.” Derek roared his eyes flashing red. Erica saw how the whole pack nodded submissively and she felt a small part of her break. She needed Stiles around. He made everything lighter, he kept them human. Without Stiles they’d lose their way. She looked at Boyd, knew he was thinking the same thing.

“Fine.” Boyd growled lowly, “I’m going to bed. It’s been a long few days. I presume you have somewhere for us to sleep?” He said holding onto Erica’s arm to stop her arguing any further.

Derek nodded, surprised at how calmly his pack had taken the order.

“What an absolute bastard!” Erica whispered as soon as they were out of earshot. “He can’t do this. Stiles needs us right now.”

“No, Erica, you need Stiles right now. He’ll be okay, you heard him, someone knows and is looking after him, probably his dad, in fact, I’m sure it’s his dad, it didn’t sound like he had time to tell anyone else so his dad is definitely looking after him okay? We need the pack, look what happened last time. I hate it too. But we’re pack, we can’t leave and we need to listen to Derek okay?” Boyd said, keeping his voice low.

“I really hate it.” Erica grumbled. Boyd just nodded in agreement as they slipped into sleep.

Stiles

The next day passed in a blur, he heard his dad pottering around the house, heard him knock gently on the door, Stiles pretended he was still asleep. Once he heard his dad leave, he got up, almost crying with the pain that wracked his body. He’d barely slept, maybe an hour before the pain became too much and he’d spent the rest of his time trying to think of anything other than the pain, the pack, Scott, the stupid texts that meant his best friend hadn’t even tried to look for him.

He managed to make it to the bathroom, slowly peeling off his clothes and bandages. He took a long look in the mirror, he was white as a sheet, his hair looking slightly longer than his usual buzz cut, his eyes had dark circles from lack of sleep, the bruise was still developing on his cheek, looking worse than last night. His lip had stopped bleeding which was good, but where the rope had cut into his neck was black and blue, his throat was screaming at him, he remembered all too clearly the impossibility of breathing when they’d wrapped it around his neck. His ribs were bruised, small cuts littering his chest and stomach where their shoes had cut him as they’d kicked him. He couldn’t turn to look at his back properly, his neck hurt too much to turn it properly. He knew the whip marks were bad though, the bandages were still covered in blood and the longer he stood there the more he could feel the blood running down his back. His wrists were cut, his stitching was awful and he knew it would leave hideous scars, and the bruising was turning a hideous black. All in all, Stiles looked like shit.

He had another long shower, ignoring the stinging from the water, pretending that the whimpers of pain weren’t coming from him. When the pain became too much Stiles wrapped his mouth around his clenched fist, leaving teeth marks on his skin, keeping back the tears of pain. He had to try and keep the wounds as clean as possible otherwise he could face infection and he wouldn’t be able to hide that. So he stood under the water for as long as he could bear it and then started the whole process of bandaging himself up again.

By mid-afternoon he was sat on the couch, the television was on but he didn’t know what he was watching. Instead all he could think about was been back in that room, feeling the whip hit him again and again. All the time Gerard’s smirking face was staring back at him as he screamed.

He dozed fitfully, each time waking up from a nightmare, a scream on his lips but unable to get it out because his throat was so swollen. He heard his dad’s car approach and he sat up quickly, making sure his hoodie hid his injuries and plastered a fake smile on his face.

“Hey kid, how are you feeling?” His dad asked as soon as his saw Stiles on the couch.

“Not great. Think I’m losing my voice.” Stiles said, his voice breaking on the words and proving his point. His dad sighed heavily and moved to sit down near Stiles. John placed a hand on Stiles’ forehead.

“You are feeling a little warm kid. Why don’t you go to bed and I’ll make you some soup?”

Stiles nodded quietly and waited for his dad to move to the kitchen before moving from the couch, wincing at every step, and heading upstairs.

“Hey,” John said poking his head around the kitchen doorway a smile on his face, “This is the first time that I’m going to be talking more than you. I think I’m going to enjoy the silence.” His dad joked, Stiles smiled quickly in return, wanting to make a sarcastic comment but not finding the energy. Instead he just flashed a brief smile and headed up to his room. He took more painkillers, lay down on his side in his bed with his back to the wall and closed his eyes. He heard his dad come up the stairs but feigned sleep. He didn’t have the energy to fake that he was okay. He just couldn’t do it.

He felt his dad check his temperature again and then leave the room sighing quietly. Stiles wasn’t sure how long he stayed like that until eventually he fell asleep.

Lydia

“What the hell do you mean you’re going to London?” She asked harshly, glaring at Jackson. It was four days after Erica and Boyd had returned and the pack was a mess. They were all falling apart, Derek was obviously still pissed at Scott for getting him to bite Gerard, Erica and Boyd weren’t talking to Derek or Scott, blaming both of them for the fact that they couldn’t talk to Stiles. Lydia was a bit surprised, she hadn’t realised that they were that close. When she’d mentioned that to Boyd one night he’d looked at her, as if assessing if she was worthy to talk to and then he’d replied slowly.

“There’s some things that you go through that mean a person is always going to be a big part of your life, even if they weren’t before.” He’d spoken quietly as if afraid the rest of the pack would hear and Lydia decided to leave it at that. At least Erica and Boyd were speaking to her.

Scott and Isaac were acting like best friends and it pissed Lydia off every time she saw it. Stiles was supposed to be Scott’s best friend. But Scott was lounging around the loft with Isaac and acting like he hadn’t thought of Stiles in days, which was probably true. Derek and Peter just sat around the table, not really talking, more like they spent the entire day just rolling their eyes at the teenagers around them. Lydia couldn’t help but be pissed at that too. From all accounts Peter and Derek were responsible for the teenage werewolves but they weren’t taking care of any of them. And then there was this. Jackson the jackass was moving to London and hadn’t even told her.

“Pretty much what I said Lydia. My mum and dad have had enough of life around here. They’re moving and I’m obviously going with them.” He said stubbornly. Lydia frowned at him.

“And you didn’t think to tell me? You’re leaving tomorrow and you’re only telling me now that you’re moving half way around the world?” She said, not sure if she wanted to scream or cry. How could she love someone who was so thoughtless and selfish?

“Well, I had other things to do you know. There’s been a lot to sort out.” Jackson replied in his usual derisive manner.

“Oh yeah, sure, so busy that you just forgot to tell me, or any of the pack.” Lydia shouted, yes, she was angry, she was definitely going with anger; it worked better than breaking down into tears.

“Come on, it’s not like the pack really cares.” Jackson said, looking around the room, daring for anyone to contradict him. “We’re not really a pack are we?” He said, again he was met with silence. “A pack is supposed to mean family isn’t it? What kind of family would do to Stiles what you did?” Jackson said glaring at Derek who snarled back.

“Do not bring Stiles into this.” Derek growled, “You want to run away because you can’t face the things you’ve done then that’s fine. But don’t try to blame this on Stiles.”

“I’m not trying to blame it on Stiles. He’s always been there for the pack. I’m blaming you Alpha. You’re the one who drove him away.” Jackson argued and Lydia couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride. Jackson was defending Stiles. She knew Stiles would never believe her if she told him, and then she remembered that she wasn’t allowed to talk to him and she scowled.

“Right, so if I got Stiles to come back you’d stay?” Derek said calling Jackson’s bluff. Jackson sighed.

“No I wouldn’t. I’d still be leaving tomorrow. But it doesn’t mean that you’re right about this.” Jackson said softly, not wanting to part on bad terms but still needing to say this.

“Stiles isn’t pack. I’m the alpha, I make the decisions. Until you leave this country you are still pack so I would advise you not to question me again.” Derek growled, Lydia rolled her eyes.

Jackson nodded seriously and then turned to Lydia.

“I’m going home now. My plane is leaving in the morning, can you come say goodbye?” Jackson said, looking at her sadly. She nodded feeling the first of many tears build up in her eyes. Jackson walked out of the door without saying goodbye to any of the rest of the pack and Lydia wasn’t sure where she stood now.

She’d only joined the pack because of Jackson, and okay, yes she got on with Erica and Boyd, but she was mad at Derek and Scott, Peter was obviously a psychopath and she’d barely spoken to Isaac. But could she leave? Could she just walk away knowing that there was this whole other world? Not to mention the fact that Allison was a hunter, surely once Allison came by this would be much easier to bear. Actually hadn’t Derek said about a pack meeting tomorrow night? Allison would be coming to that she was sure. Lydia knew that Allison was still trying to deal with shooting Erica and Boyd full of arrows, Scott had mentioned her planning to apologize tomorrow night so that meant she must be coming.

Lydia made up her mind. She’d stay until tomorrow night. If nothing had changed by the end of the meeting and Derek hadn’t got his head out of his ass and sorted out this crap with Stiles then she’d find a way to leave the pack. She felt much better now that she’d made the decision and said goodbye to the pack shortly after to go home to sleep.

Lydia slept surprisingly well and she woke up early to go say goodbye to Jackson. She tried not to cry, she failed miserably. Jackson cried as well so that made her feel a little bit better. They even had a few laughs in between their tears. It was a very bittersweet farewell. Lydia spent most of the afternoon in her bedroom, trying not to think about how suddenly empty her life felt. She thought about calling Allison but she didn’t want to make any rash decisions. She’d see what happened tonight, she didn’t want to lose Erica and Boyd as friends either so she decided to wait.

She got to the loft to see that Scott, Isaac, Allison, Derek and Peter were already there. They were just waiting on Erica and Boyd. Lydia strolled into the loft and Allison got up and hugged her tightly.

“I’ve missed you Lydia. How are you? Scott was just telling me about Jackson. I’m really sorry.” Allison rambled, tucking her hair behind her ear, showing her nerves.

“I’m fine. How’ve you been?” Lydia replied, feeling oddly cool towards her best friend. She wasn’t sure why but she didn’t feel quite as friendly towards Allison as usual.

Before Allison could reply the loft door opened and all hell broke loose.

Erica

The anger Erica had been feeling was building up the more time that passed. She was angry at Derek and Scott. When she’d found out that Scott hadn’t even looked for Stiles she’d nearly wolfed out and torn his throat out. It was only because Boyd steered her out of the room quickly that Scott was still alive. How come nobody noticed Stiles was missing? He’d been there for hours. Surely someone would have noticed. Erica hated not been able to see him. Not been able to check that he was okay. What if he had gotten worse? There was no way to be able to tell since Derek had issued that stupid order. What if he was in trouble and none of them knew? She was driving herself crazy with worry and anger. She knew it was all going to explode at some point. But she hadn’t expected this.

“What the hell is she doing here!?” Erica shouted as soon as she stepped over the threshold and saw Allison, her eyes flashing as she struggled to control her wolf.

Allison turned to look at Scott.

“I thought you’d told them I was coming?”

Scott winced guiltily, “Sorry, I forgot. Erica, Boyd, Allison is coming here tonight because she wants to apologize.”

Erica growled, so Scott was just bad at everything, not just a shit best friend, but evidently a shit boyfriend too, or whatever they were now.

“Erica.” Derek said coming towards her. “You need to calm down.” He ordered, flashing his eyes at her. She submitted silently still glaring at Allison. She gripped Boyd’s hand for support.

“I wanted to say how sorry I am. What I did to you two, it shouldn’t have happened. I was in a bad place and I took it out on you.” Allison said solemnly.

Boyd’s gripped tightened and Erica realized that he was having trouble controlling himself too.

“Erica and Boyd understand that you weren’t in your right mind.” Scott said trying to act as the go between. Erica just growled at him.

“You think I give a shit about what her frame of mind was?” She growled, “It doesn’t matter if you’re crazy or sane, you don’t do what you did.”

“I am so sorry. I know shooting you was out of line. I can’t even think how you can begin to forgive me. But I am sorry.”

“You think I’m pissed about you shooting us?” Erica growled, feeling her control slipping. Not caring about the looks of confusion on the pack’s faces.

“Erica. Calm down.” Boyd ordered and she forcibly swallowed back her words. She’d promised Stiles she wouldn’t tell. She would keep that promise.

“What else would you be annoyed about?” Scott asked cluelessly, “Okay so her grandad went a bit crazy with you guys for a couple of hours but you’re all healed up now. It’s over. No harm, no foul.”

Boyd was trembling next to her as he fought the urge to change and rip out Scott’s throat.

“Scott. Shut up.” Boyd growled, trying to calm himself down.

“I don’t get what the big deal is.” Isaac said butting in, sticking up for Scott. “You guys took a few hits. We all have. Christ, Allison put two knives through my chest. You don’t see me wanting to kill her.”

“I don’t care about what she did to us.” Boyd said through gritted teeth and this time it was Erica who was warning him to calm down.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Allison asked in confusion, “Is it about what my grandad did? I heard you guys screaming, I know it will have been awful. I should have stopped him.”

“You think that was us screaming? You think that screaming sounded like either of us!?” Erica screamed, immediately realizing that she’d put her foot in it as Allison paled and the room descended into silence.

“No.” Allison whispered. “It was you. I heard you. It was you. It had to be you.” She said quietly, evidently in denial.

Erica was silent, she was kicking herself, she’d really put her foot in it now. She glanced to Boyd, hoping he would have a plausible explanation. Derek was the first to move, taking a step towards Erica and Boyd.

“What do you mean it wasn’t either of you screaming?” He asked, his tone dangerous. Erica knew she wouldn’t be able to lie to him.

“She means what it sounds like. It wasn’t either of us.” Boyd said, putting his arm across Erica, almost protecting her from Derek.

“Well who was it then?” Isaac asked, the confusion evident in his voice.

“We promised.” Erica said turning to Boyd.

“It’s going to come out Erica. They know.” He replied, ignoring the look that Derek was shooting them.

“We still promised.”

“It’s too late. They should know what happened.” Boyd said calmly.

“Fine.” Erica said crossing her arms and glaring at Allison. “You want to know what happened so badly? You want to know why we’re so mad at you? Because of what your grandfather did. Yes definitely. And because of what you did. When you stood on the other side of that door and listened to the screaming and the laughter from your grandad and his goons and you did absolutely nothing to help. You didn’t care so long as it meant some wolf was getting hurt and your mum was getting some kind of revenge.”

Erica didn’t care that Allison had gone white as a sheet, or that Scott was flashing his eyes at her, warning her to back down, or that Derek was looking at her like she’d grown a second head. What she cared about now was Stiles. About making sure the pack knew just how much they’d let him down.

“Erica I am ordering you to tell me what happened right now!” Derek yelled, flashing his eyes and putting all the authority of the alpha behind it. Erica was screaming internally. The absolute bastard. He shouldn’t get to know this. This was Stiles’ secret to tell. But she couldn’t refuse. Could not dismiss the alphas order.

“You know, it started out that your precious grandad just wanted to know where the pack was. If the pack was caught, then we could all leave. No harm done. When he wasn’t given that information the torture really started. We couldn’t do anything to help, to stop it, we could only watch. And when it became evident that the pack was safe, that you’re names and hiding places would never be given away your grandad started another game.” Erica paused, watching the pain run across Allison’s face. She felt some sort of vindictive pleasure from seeing Allison hurt. It made up for having to watch Stiles go through it.

“The next game was more brutal.” Boyd said seriously and every eye was on him. “All he had to do was ask for it to stop. Of course Gerard made it perfectly clear that the second the torture ended he’d cut both me and Erica in half. So it wasn’t really an option for him. There were times when I wished I was dead. When I’d wish that he just asked for them to stop even if it meant my own death, just so long as he didn’t have to suffer any more. But he was so stubborn, so determined to protect the pack. He didn’t give you guys up, didn’t ask them to stop because he knew it would mean our deaths, not when they strangled him, not when they whipped him, when they kicked and punched him, when they,” Boyd paused, obviously trying to focus on the fact he was here and not back in the basement again. He cleared his throat. “No matter how much he screamed he never once asked for them to stop. He was so sure that help was on the way. So convinced that he could hold out.” Boyd finished. Erica looked at the rest of the pack, Allison was crying, tears streaming down her face. Scott and Isaac both looked pale but Erica knew they hadn’t realized yet, didn’t know the full extent of the damage caused. Derek and Lydia looked that they’d pieced it together but didn’t want to mutter it out loud. Couldn’t make it true.

“Eventually Gerard ordered for him to be taken away and shot. Dumped on your doorstep like a piece of trash so you could finally get the message across that you couldn’t protect your own. He managed to kick free the plug that had us hooked up to the electricity, despite the fact that he was barely conscious and knew he was about to be executed he still managed to find a way to get us out of there. So you can imagine our surprise when we escape a few hours later and find him half a mile away looking for us. Coming back for us. Bringing us back to you. Only to find out that he doesn’t seem to think he’s worthy of been pack. That you never even looked for him.” Erica finished glaring at Scott waiting for his brain to finally catch up with the information.

“Stiles.” Scott said a moment later, tears suddenly filling his eyes as he looked at Allison in a whole new light. “Stiles,” He whimpered, “They had Stiles and you didn’t help him?” He said his voice cracking with emotion.

“I didn’t know.” Allison said, tears flowing down her face too. “Scott, you have to believe me. I didn’t know.” She said gripping his arm as he pulled it out of reach.

“Who really cares who did or didn’t know?” Lydia shouted, drawing all attention to her. “What matters now is that we go and check on Stiles.” She said gathering her bag and heading towards the door.

“I’ll drive.” Derek said grabbing his keys, seeming to have forgotten that he’d kicked Stiles out of the pack. Derek looked angrier than Erica had ever seen him as they ran towards the cars. Derek pointed for Erica, Boyd, Isaac and Lydia to get in his car.

“I can’t look at you right now. Ride with Scott.” He said angrily to Allison as he slid into the driving seat. Erica couldn’t help but feel some relief. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Allison. She didn’t care that Allison said she didn’t know, she had still heard the screams. She should have realized.

“Stiles is going to be fine.” Lydia said, more to herself than anyone else as Derek raced toward the Sheriff’s house.

Stiles

The last few days had been difficult, he’d forced himself to get out of bed every day and have a shower, cleaning his injuries as best as possible. Talking and swallowing had been impossible for the past few days but Stiles thought the bruising and the swelling might finally be going down a bit now as he’d managed to speak a few words today, maybe in a few more days he’d be able to stop wearing his extra baggy hoodies but he couldn’t deny they were offering him comfort as well as hiding his injuries. A few of the cuts on his back were still bleeding and his wrists were an absolute mess, he was worried about them getting infected. His ribs were a lovely shade of black now and he was beginning to wonder if they were broken rather than bruised. He still wasn’t sleeping well and he hated that he hadn’t heard from any of the pack since dropping Erica and Boyd off. Hadn’t they said that he’d still be their friend? Had they forgotten him so easily?

He was currently sat on the couch, his dad had had the afternoon off work and they had watched two of the Star Wars films in relative silence. Stiles knew that his dad kept sending worried glances across at his unusually quiet son but Stiles was hoping he could use the sore throat excuse for a few more days. It also explained Scott’s absence. He knew his dad would pick up on it sooner or later and Stiles had explained that he’d told him to stay away until Stiles was feeling better so he didn’t accidently catch anything. His dad had laughed and said that obviously that thoughtfulness didn’t extend to him. Stiles grinned.

His dad was in the kitchen making them a hot chocolate when Stiles heard the screech of tyres and then the sound of running feet. A moment later there was a knock on the door and Stiles felt suddenly nervous.

“Stiles? Can you get that?” His dad called from the kitchen. Stiles got up slowly and made his way to the door. He opened it, took one look at the pack that was crowding together on his doorstep, Erica and Boyd refusing to meet his eyes. Oh crap, they knew, and Derek looked pissed. He shut the door quickly, registering the look of surprise on Derek’s face before the door slammed shut.

Stiles looked around the room panicked, not sure what he was supposed to do when suddenly the pounding started behind him.

“Stiles! Open the door. We need to talk to you!” Derek shouted, seeming not to care that he was banging on the Sheriff’s door and causing a commotion.

Stiles was finding it harder and harder to breathe. He couldn’t deal with this. They knew. God they knew. He didn’t want them to find out. Didn’t want any of them to find out. He sunk to the floor slowly, his lungs felt like they were on fire. Suddenly there were hands on his arms.

“Stiles? Stiles? It’s okay. Just breathe. Breathe with me.” His father was saying, his voice coming from a long way away.

Eventually Stiles got his breathing back under control but he could still hear Derek banging on the door, evidently either they hadn’t heard his panic attack or they had and were just ignoring it.

“Stiles!” Derek’s voice called out, “I swear to god either open this door right now or I’m going to break it down.” Stiles glanced at the door, fear filling his eyes and his dad looked at him with worry and sudden determination.

Derek

Derek’s mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour. How could he not have realized that Stiles had been taken by hunters? He should had realized that a split lip wouldn’t have meant Stiles radiating that much pain. He knew Stiles. He should have put two and two together. Instead he’d believed that some stupid lacrosse players had beaten Stiles up. How could he have been so stupid? How was he alpha? How was anyone in his pack still alive? He was the worst alpha that had ever existed. He’d let Stiles suffer through all of that, and then he’d thrown him out of the pack.

He was only trying to protect him, but even as those words echoed around in his head he knew how empty they sounded. If he was half the alpha his mother had been then he should have realized that Stiles was in trouble. He hadn’t even noticed the kid was gone. He was a horrible person.

He’d driven like a lunatic to Stiles’ house, convinced that if he didn’t get there right now then he’d never see Stiles again. He was out of the car and heading to the house before Scott and Allison even got there. He heard the Sheriff shout for Stiles to get the door and then he saw Stiles.

He saw the paleness of his skin, could still smell the blood, the fact he was still bleeding made him almost growl with displeasure. His pack mate had been hurt badly and he hadn’t even noticed. He’d never been so angry at himself. Stiles looked like a rabbit in the headlights. His eyes wide and startled. Filled with disbelief and horror that the pack were there in front of him. Suddenly the door was slamming shut in Derek’s face and he was beyond sanity.

“Stiles! Stiles open this door right now!” Derek was shouting. He could hear the other pack members trying to reason with him but all he could think about was Stiles suffering at the hands of the Argents, recalling what Kate had done to him, imagining that it would have been worse for Stiles. Stiles who was human and breakable and still goddamn bleeding.

He was a second away from kicking the door down when it suddenly opened and the Sheriff was glaring at him.

“Are you going to tell me what the hell you are doing banging on my door in the middle of the night Hale?” The sheriff barked and Derek cringed.

“I need to see Stiles.” Derek said urgently.

“Stiles doesn’t want to see you.” John replied, eyeing the group on his porch with distaste.

“I’m sorry sir, but it’s very important. I need to see Stiles now.” Derek said taking a step forward before John blocked his path.

“And I’m telling you that you’re not coming in. Now if you really want to try and gain access to my home after I’ve just told you that you can’t then please feel free. Right now there’s nothing more I’d enjoy than arresting every single one of you and dragging you down to the station.” John said, grinning at them, looking at them like a mother protecting her cub. “I don’t know how you kids have all got wrapped up in whatever the hell this is but I would have expected better from you. You especially Scott.” John said coldly, fixing them all with a disappointed gaze. Scott shifted around uncomfortably.

“We just want to know how Stiles is doing.” Lydia said calmly, “Sorry Sir, I know it’s late, but see, Erica and Boyd here have been out of town, and when they heard that Stiles got hurt they wanted to come and check up on him.” She smiled sweetly at the Sheriff.

“Stiles is fine. Just a couple of bruises and a cold. I’m sure he’ll be up and about in no time.” John said, his arm still across the door to stop anybody entering.

Erica

Erica was watching the exchange silently, she’d seen the look Stiles had given them, he’d been scared, terrified even. She couldn’t help but feel guilty. She’d promised him that she’d keep it secret. She hadn’t even managed a week. She’d heard him panicking inside the house, could still hear his shallow breaths as he tried to get his fear under control. She knew the whole pack could smell his fear, he was afraid of them. It made her angry and hurt, it was making her irrational and she was struggling to hold herself together.

How could the Sheriff not let them see him when he knew how hurt his son was? When he’d been the one looking after Stiles, he would have seen the whip marks, the cuts, the bruises, how could he even attempt to pretend that it was just a few bruises and a cold? Stiles should be in the hospital at least.

“We know it isn’t just that, Sir.” Boyd said, obviously reading her mind, “We know you’re looking after him. He told us he’d told you.” The look that the Sheriff gave them showed his complete and utter confusion.

“I really don’t know what you’re on about.” John said, glancing at his son who was still sat on the floor behind the door looking at him with wide fearful eyes.

“So who’s looking after him if you don’t know?” Erica said quickly before taking a step forward, it suddenly made sense, Stiles hadn’t told anyone. Stiles was looking after himself. The thought made her shudder in anger, how could he be so reckless? “Stiles!” She shouted, “I know you can hear me. You told me someone was looking after you!” She demanded, not caring that she was losing control, not caring that she had flashed her eyes at the Sheriff.

“What the hell!?” John suddenly shouted, going for his gun and levelling it at the pack on his doorstep. “What the fuck was that!?” He shouted, not seeming to care that he was the one suddenly causing a commotion.

“Sorry. I wish you found out about this a better way. But I need to see Stiles right now.” Erica said firmly. “Short version. Werewolves are real. So are werewolf hunters. Derek is alpha. Stiles got kidnapped by hunters and he’s hurt. Derek is an idiot and kicked him out of the pack. Nobody knew the hunters got him apart from Boyd and me. He told us someone was looking after him. Apparently nobody is and his wounds will need looking at. So you need to let us in right now.” Erica said as calmly as possible. Hoping that John wasn’t about to shoot her anyway.

“I’m sorry? Werewolves?” John said, evidently still stuck on that fact. Boyd changed quickly and the Sheriff took a step backwards. “Stiles?” He called out, not tearing his eyes from the pack. “Stiles, there is a pack of werewolves on our doorstep.”

Lydia cleared her throat, “Technically I’m not a werewolf. I’m not fully human but not a werewolf. And Allison’s a hunter.”

John nodded at them dumbly. Erica pressed the advantage and took a step into the house. She turned to look for Stiles at the same second that John did.

“Stiles!” They both called stopping Stiles as he tried to creep up the stairs.

“Erm, yeah, dad, about that. Werewolves exist.” Stiles said trying to fake a sheepish grin through his cracked voice. Erica made to push past John and he let her. The whole pack followed her into the house and John closed the door behind them.

Stiles

Stiles heard Erica explain what had happened, that werewolves were real. He couldn’t help but try to get out of the room. He knew his dad was going to let them in and he didn’t want to face them. He was also worried that his dad was about to have a heart attack but he seemed to be handling it pretty well so far.

Stiles had got his foot on the bottom step when he heard both Erica and his dad shout his name and he turned and faced them guiltily. He guessed he knew this was coming. However, as the whole pack came into the house he couldn’t help but feel a bit sick. He didn’t want to deal with this, didn’t want to face this.

“What the hell Stiles?” Scott demanded taking a step forward into the space separating them. “You got kidnapped and you didn’t even tell us?”

Stiles looked down at the floor uncomfortably, no he didn’t tell them. He didn’t want to tell them. John took a step towards his son, standing in front of him, facing the pack and oddly Stiles felt that his dad was protecting him from the pack.

“As I’m sure you can tell Stiles has lost his voice. If you’re really werewolves and you want to be civil, you’ll let Stiles take it easy and not demand answers right now.” John said calmly, Stiles heard a shuffle as Erica stepped forward.

“Stiles?” She whispered, her voice flooded with affection, “Your voice? Your throat?” She asked, he glanced up at her, hating the way her eyes had gone wide with pity and sorrow. He nodded slowly.

“It’s fine. I’m fine.” He said, his voice scratchy.

“You’re not. God, Stiles, you’re so not. Let me see please.” She said, ignoring the look from the Sheriff as she stepped towards him.

He shook his head, pulling his hoodie tighter around his neck, making sure his injuries were hidden. “I’m fine.” He said again.

“Stiles.” His dad said, looking at him with wide eyes, suddenly realising that it hadn’t just been a split lip and a bruised face. “Stiles, show us.” He said with authority and Stiles blinked back tears. He didn’t want them to know. Didn’t want them to see.

“I can smell blood, Stiles, and infection. We need to know how bad it is.” Derek said, his face still filled with anger and Stiles wondered if that was something like concern in his features. Derek’s comment seemed to pull his dad out of his trance and he took a step towards Stiles.

“What the hell does he mean he can smell blood? What the hell Stiles? Where are you hurt?” His dad said, worry lacing his tone as he grabbed hold of Stiles, pulling at his hoodie. Stiles tried to twist out of his grip.

“I’m fine.” He shouted. “I’m fine.” His voice broke. “Stop it. I’m fine.” He said as he gave a vicious pull away, breaking his dad’s grip and suddenly falling to the floor. He put his hands out to stop himself and he felt his wrist take the strain and at least one stitch come out. He cried out in pain, pulling his wrist across his chest, cradling it gently, tears spilling down his face.

His dad was next to him in an instant, holding onto him. “Oh kiddo, why didn’t you tell me?” John said his voice filled with regret and sorrow as he pulled up the sleeves and saw the bloodstained bandages and the bruises surrounding his wrists that extended outside of the bandages. His dad was already crying and Stiles didn’t want him to see it all, didn’t want him to know how bad it had been.

“This isn’t the worst of it.” Erica said quietly from his other side and he turned to glare at her.

“Leave it Erica.” He tried to demand but his voice came out weak and broken.

“No Stiles. I’m sorry. But we need to look after you okay? We need to know how bad it is.”

“You were there. You already know.” He whispered. She nodded quietly, ignoring the pack behind her, tears were filling her eyes and he tried not to be angry at her. It wasn’t her fault he’d got hurt. It was his. He was the one who’d got kidnapped in the first place.

“Please Stiles, your injuries need looking at. We need to see them.” Erica pleaded with him.

“Melissa.” Stiles said after a minute. “I’ll let her see.” He hated that he was going to inflict his injuries on Melissa, but he didn’t want the pack to see. If Derek was right and he smelt like infection, then he needed to get help before it got worse. But he didn’t want the rest of them to see. He didn’t want any of them to ever have to see. Erica and Boyd had seen most of them as they happened, they didn’t need to see them now.

“Okay Stiles. Whatever you want. I’ll call Melissa now.” John said, patting Stiles on the shoulder, talking to Stiles like he was a two-year-old having a tantrum. Stiles was worried that his dad was going to have a heart attack any second now. Stiles hated worrying him, but his dad didn’t need to see them, it would kill him he was sure.

Stiles sat in silence for the next half hour, still cradling his bleeding wrist to his chest. He ignored the way the whole pack was glancing at him with worry, the way his father kept opening his mouth to speak and then closing it again without saying a word. He would let Melissa help him, if only to put his father’s mind at ease.

There was a quick knock on the door and then Melissa was there, eyeing the pack, John and Stiles in confusion.

“You going to tell me what I’m doing here?” She said a moment later.

“Stiles got kidnapped by hunters and he’s hurt but he won’t let any of us help him.” Scott said quickly. Erica and Boyd both glared at him.

“Okay, Stiles honey.” She said approaching him slowly. “Why don’t you let me see where you’re hurt?” She said taking his wrist in her hand slowly. She took a moment, analysing the injury and then looking at Stiles and then at the pack. “Who stitched this? When did this happen? This wound looks days old.”

“You stitched up your wrists!?” Derek shouted shocking the pack into movement, all of them stepping forward towards Stiles.

“What?” Melissa asked turning back to Stiles. “Stiles, sweetie, listen to me, this is really important, did you put these stitches in yourself?” He nodded, blinking back tears, “When Stiles?” He looked up at her guiltily.

“Five days.” He whispered, his voice cracking.

“They hung him.” Boyd said suddenly. “He’s hurt his throat, that will need looking at too.”

“And his back.” Erica piped up. He glared at both of them.

“They,” John whispered trying to process Boyd’s words, “They hung you?” He said, his voice breaking with emotion as the image of his son hanging filled his mind. John looked like he was about to be violently sick, so did most of the pack. Allison actually excused herself from the room.

“Okay Stiles, well I’m going to need to look at that okay? Can we take your jumper off?” Melissa said starting to move to take his jumper off. He shook his head.

“Not in front of everyone.” He pleaded and he knew that she instantly understood.

“That’s fine. Shall we go to your room?” She said, helping him slowly to feet. Stiles swayed unsteadily, he was exhausted and he knew the night was far from over.

“I’m coming with you.” John said following them, Stiles went to shake his head but his dad pre-empted it. “Stiles, I know you think you’re trying to protect me but I’m going to see sooner or later. I’m going to need to know how to help you treat this so there is no way I’m staying here.”

Stiles sighed heavily, knowing he wouldn’t be able to dissuade his dad from coming. He really didn’t want his dad to see it all but he knew there was no way he could avoid it now.

“I’m coming too.” Derek said suddenly and this time Stiles did manage to shake his head, his eyes wide with fear. “Sheriff, werewolves have the ability to take pain away, I’ll do that while Melissa examines the wounds.” Stiles frowned, trust Derek to use pain relief as a way to get his foot in the door.

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea Derek. Maybe normal pain relief will be fine.” John said looking to Stiles for the answer. Stiles nodded his head in agreement.

“Sir, I can smell the pain that Stiles is in. Normal painkillers aren’t going to be enough. I’m not going to ask any of my pack to do something that I’m not willing to do myself. And as Alpha, I can take more pain than any of the rest of the pack. Please let me help.” Derek said firmly, Stiles groaned as John nodded in agreement.

“Stiles, why don’t you go upstairs? I just need to grab some supplies and the three of us will be up in a moment.” Melissa said calmly and Stiles could only nod in agreement. He wasn’t sure what else he could do. They knew and there was no avoiding it now. He didn’t want to admit it but he was grateful that Melissa would be able to help with his back, some of the wounds were still bleeding no matter what he did and sometimes he was sure that he could still feel the whip landing on his skin. He made it to his bedroom and then stood unsure in the middle of the room.

John

“Alright.” Melissa said as soon as Stiles disappeared out of sight. “Once I’ve patched Stiles up somebody is going to tell me why the hell I’m only seeing them five days after the event. Because somebody best have a damn good explanation.” She glared at the pack and they all shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. “But first treating Stiles is the priority. So I’m going to need to know what the hell happened because I’m pretty sure he’s going to hide as much as possible from me.” She glanced at Erica, correctly assuming that she would have the answers.

John couldn’t help but feel the relief at Melissa asking the question because he sure as hell needed to know too. His mind was still stuck on the image of his son hanging, gasping desperately for breath that wouldn’t come, his hands clawing at the rope around his neck, unable to breathe. He felt like he was going to be sick.

“Hunters kidnapped both me and Boyd.” Erica said glancing at Boyd before glancing at the stairs, as if hoping that Stiles wouldn’t hear her as she blurted out their secrets. “We were chained up in the basement and they had us hooked up to electric wires so we had no superhuman strength and we couldn’t escape.”

Allison stepped back into the room, looking as white as a sheet, she was trembling and her eyes were red and puffy. John couldn’t help but feel a little bit sorry for the girl, she was obviously taking this very hard.

“They threw a couple of punches but nothing too serious.” Boyd said slowly. “We’d been there a couple of hours when Gerard appeared with two of his goons and Stiles.”

“Gerard? As in Gerard Argent?” Melissa said looking at Allison.

“Your grandfather?” John said glaring at her. Allison nodded, tears spilling down her face.

“I didn’t know.” She mumbled, it sounded like a weak excuse to everyone in the room and even Allison winced.

“Tell me what happened.” John demanded.

“At first Gerard wanted information on the pack. He kept punching him, hitting him over and over, demanding to know the name of every pack member and where they were hiding out. Stiles wouldn’t give any of them up. I guess Gerard realized eventually that Stiles wasn’t going to betray us so he switched tactics.” Boyd said looking to Erica to continue.

“Gerard told us that he was going to torture Stiles. That the torture would stop as soon as Stiles asked. But that the second he asked for it to stop Gerard would cut either me or Boyd in half. We all knew he was deadly serious. Then it started.” Erica shuddered. “The two goons started by kicking at him, punching him, slapping him about a bit. Then they chained him up from the ceiling. He couldn’t reach the floor and I could smell the blood where the chains cut into his wrists. They kept punching him, I could hear bones crunching and I was shouting at them to stop. I couldn’t do anything. He was screaming in pain.” Erica glanced to Allison who looked at the ground guiltily.

“Gerard tied a rope around his neck. It was shorter than the chains, it strangled him and he couldn’t do anything, couldn’t get his hands anywhere near his neck to pull the rope away. Gerard kept letting it go slack and he’d keep asking if Stiles wanted it to stop. Stiles told him to go fuck himself, kept telling him that. We kept telling Stiles that it was okay, that he could ask them to stop. That we’d rather die than watch him suffer. He wouldn’t do it. Gerard kept taunting him, telling him how weak and useless he was. He kept asking Stiles why he was protecting a pack that wasn’t even looking for him. Stiles told him that the pack was looking. That they’d find him. That they’d kill Gerard for what he was doing. Gerard got bored of strangling him. That’s when the whipping started.” Erica stopped she couldn’t talk about that. She couldn’t think about that.

“The goons took his shirt off and then chained him back up. Gerard started whipping him. I was begging them to stop. Erica was begging them to stop. Stiles just screamed.” Boyd said. “The worst bit was the way the goons,” he paused, “the way that they touched him. They held him in place when Gerard whipped him, but they kept touching him, and grinning at him.”

“What the hell do you mean touching him?” John demanded, “Touching him how?”

“They, erm, well, they obviously found the whole torture thing very, erm, arousing.” Boyd grimaced, watching as the whole room paled in reaction to those words.

“Did they,” John paused, he didn’t think he could get the words out. “Did they rape my son?” He whispered.

“I don’t know.” Boyd frowned. “Gerard obviously got bored of the whole game. He told the two guys to take Stiles and put a bullet in his head and dump him on Scott’s doorstep. He told them that they could do whatever they wanted before then. They dragged Stiles from the room, there was so much blood and I wasn’t sure he was conscious. But as they were dragging him out he stepped on the lead that was hooked up to the electric. It took a couple of hours before the battery drained and then we managed to get out. We found Stiles about half a mile away. He was coming back for us armed with his baseball bat. We don’t know what happened in the meantime. We truly thought that, if we made it out, the next time we’d see Stiles would be at his funeral.”

“He asked us not to tell the pack.” Erica said, “We wanted to, but Stiles saved our lives, he could have just told them to stop. But he didn’t. To protect us. We said we wouldn’t tell because he promised somebody knew and was looking after him. He obviously lied.”

The room was silent as they all processed the information.

“Why couldn’t you find him?” John asked, “Why didn’t you find him before that? If they had him for hours why couldn’t you track him?”

Scott scuffed his feet on the carpet. “I didn’t know he was taken. Gerard had killed Jackson, except he was coming back to life and there was so much going on. I just thought he’d freaked out on the pitch and he’d come home. When he got to us he told us it was some guys from the other team. I didn’t think any more of it.”

“So just so I’ve got this straight.” John said, glaring at the pack, “These hunters tortured my son for hours while he protected this pack, they may have raped him, they were going to kill him, and you weren’t even looking for him?” John said trying to keep his voice as calm as possible to make sure that Stiles didn’t overhear him.

“Okay.” Melissa said seriously, looking at John who was bright red in the face. “I’m going to go and see to Stiles now which is obviously the priority. You can stay or leave but right now I don’t want to look at any of you. I don’t think I’ve even been so disappointed.” She turned her back on the pack and started up the stairs. John didn’t think there was anything else to say to that, his mind was still reeling that his son had been tortured and possibly raped. The idea that Scott hadn’t even realized he was missing made John’s blood boil. He could have lost his son and his best friend hadn’t even looked for him.

He heard Derek walking towards the stairs and thought about telling him to stay down here, to not come anywhere near him or Stiles. But then he thought that if Derek was telling the truth and he really could relieve some of Stiles’ pain then it was necessary that he came with them.

They walked up the stairs, Stiles must have realized that they were talking about him downstairs, after all they’d been down there at least twenty minutes, but when John entered Stiles’ room he was shocked to see that Stiles was stood in the middle of the room. Melissa had stopped in the doorway and Stiles was just staring off into space, as if he hadn’t even realized that they were there.

“Stiles.” Melissa said clearing her throat. He jumped and then flinched as the movement obviously jarred some of his injuries.

“We need to take your jumper off now so we can see what we’re dealing with.” Melissa said calmly as she approached him. Stiles just nodded glumly.

Melissa slipped the hoodie off as gently as possible, there was silence in the room as John saw Stiles in a t-shirt for the first time. The bruising around his throat was black, it circled all the way around his neck and John felt physically sick that someone had done this to his boy.

“Oh honey.” Melissa said reaching out to touch Stiles. Tears were spilling down her cheeks, she looked like seeing Stiles like this was causing her physical pain. She swiped he tears away and then straightened her shoulders. “Okay Stiles. We’re going to have to take your shirt off and have a look at your back okay?” Melissa said, sounding much more like a nurse than a friend. Stiles nodded numbly.

Stiles whimpered when John started to lift the shirt over his shoulders. John heard Derek suck in a breath and he knew it was going to be bad. There was a crudely constructed bandage that covered Stiles’ back and wrapped partially around his front. John could still see the large black bruise that covered the whole left side of Stiles’ ribs, he knew it would mean broken ribs at least. Melissa reached forward and starting undoing the bandage so she could see his back.

Stiles’ hands were shaking and he seemed to be trying to keep himself still so that he didn’t stop Melissa from doing her work. Eventually all the bandages were off and John ran from the room to be sick. Melissa had gone as white as a sheet and Derek had reached forward and grabbed hold of Stiles’ hand, instantly sucking pain from him.

By the time John got back to the bedroom, hating himself for been so weak when his son needed him, Melissa was looking at the wounds on Stiles’ back. The cuts covered most of his back, some of them were shallow but there were plenty of deeper ones, ones that were still bleeding sluggishly and several that he knew would need stitches. Black lines were running up Derek’s arms but Stiles was sitting silently on the bed, replying to Melissa with a nod or shake of the head, seemingly ignoring Derek’s presence.

“We need to go to the hospital.” Melissa said looking at the wounds. Stiles looked up at her, his eyes wide as he shook his head.

“No hospital please.” Stiles begged. John sighed and looked to Melissa.

“Can we deal with it here?” He asked, watching as Melissa studied the wounds again.

“Maybe. I can try. But Stiles, it’s going to be painful. Some of these wounds are infected which means I’m going to have to clean them before I stitch them up. It’s going to be very painful and I really think we should go to the hospital so you can get a proper doctor to look at you.”

“I’ll be fine. I trust you.” Stiles replied, wincing as he spoke. Melissa looked to John who nodded knowing he wouldn’t be able to change Stiles’ mind.

“Okay. Sure. Well first things first, let’s deal with your wrists okay?” Melissa said starting her work.

Derek

Derek had never felt such pain. He didn’t know how Stiles was getting himself up in the morning. The pain overwhelmed everything. Seeing the wounds had made Derek want to simultaneously throw up and tear somebodies throat out. How could they have done this to Stiles? Annoying, childish, flailing, and loyal to a fault Stiles. Derek gripped his hand tightly, taking as much pain as he dared. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take and Melissa had barely started. She’d taken out the crude stitches in Stiles’ wrists, cleaned the wounds and then stitched them back up.

Derek had marvelled at Stiles who had barely flinched. How could Derek have ever called Stiles weak? How could he have ever said that Stiles had a low pain threshold? Stiles sat silently, watching every movement with calculating eyes.

“Okay, let’s do your back sweetie.” Melissa said getting Stiles to lean forward. Derek tried to keep his eyes open. Stiles had suffered these wounds protecting the pack, Derek owed it to him to see what Stiles had had to go through. So he forced himself to look at the wounds when all he wanted to do was close his eyes and look away and possibly throw up.

Melissa cleaned the wounds thoroughly, stitching several of them shut where they had cut clean through the skin and down to muscle. She kept glancing nervously at Stiles who stared blankly ahead. It seemed to take forever, Derek was exhausted, unsure how he could draw any more pain from Stiles and yet it seemed to be never-ending. John stood in silence next to the bed, studying his son’s wounds, glaring at them like each wound was a personal offence to him, Derek presumed it was. Every wound he saw made Derek want to scream.

When they were done here he was going to track down the people who had done this to Stiles. He was going to find Gerard and the two men who had carried out this assault and then he would tear them apart.

“Can you open your mouth for me Stiles? I just need to check your throat.” Melissa said when she had finished bandaging his back and ribs. Stiles obliged and Melissa spent a few minutes checking his throat.

“It’s still swollen, but I think it’s starting to go down. I can’t see any damage to your vocal chords, you should be able to speak normally again in the next week or so when the bruising goes down.” Melissa advised, informing John and Derek more than Stiles who just nodded in silence.

“Stiles, there’s something else I need to ask you about. Erica and Boyd said that they thought something else might have happened, between you leaving the basement and getting home?” Melissa asked but Stiles stayed silent. “In the car? With those men?” Stiles licked his lips nervously and Derek couldn’t help but track the movement.

“Son, look if they did anything to you, we need to know. Whatever happened, if they,” John struggled with his words, “If they hurt you or if they, if they,” Stiles eyes were comically wide by this point, “If they touched you or anything, then we need to know.” John said, clenching his fists as he obviously thought about those monsters hurting his son. Derek felt his own fist tightening and it was only then that Stiles shook his own hand free.

“They didn’t.” Stiles whispered, looking up at his dad with tear filled eyes.

“They didn’t touch you? They didn’t, god I can’t believe I’m even saying this, they didn’t rape you?” John said rubbing his hand across the back of his neck.

“No.” Stiles whispered shaking his head frantically. “I mean, yeah, there was some bad touching, but they didn’t rape me, it didn’t,” Stiles frowned, ignoring the pain in his throat in order to get his point across, “I didn’t let it get that far dad. I promise.”

John gave Stiles a watery smile and Derek couldn’t help but let out a big sigh of relief, he hated the fact that there had obviously been ‘bad touching’ as Stiles so eloquently put it, but at least they hadn’t raped him, there was that small miracle in this whole mess. Stiles glanced across at him before turning back to Melissa.

“So am I all patched up now doc?” He asked calmly. Melissa grinned although you could still see the worry in her eyes.

“I’m going to have to keep coming and changing your bandages for the next few weeks at least. Stiles, you have to understand, these wounds are serious and you’re very lucky that you haven’t already collapsed and been taken to hospital.”

Derek knew it wasn’t luck. Stiles was strong.

“You are under strict instructions to take it easy for the next few weeks, that means bedrest.” Stiles rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. I don’t think you understand how serious these wounds are. You have three broken ribs, your back is a mess, you’ve got stitches in your wrists and you could have severed several of your arteries in your poor attempt to stitch yourself up, not to mention the fact that you could have suffered vocal damage if you’d have hung for a moment longer. You are lucky that the bruising didn’t cause your windpipe to swell and cut off your breathing.” Melissa paused, looking Stiles in the eye. “You could have died Stiles. Do you understand that? Do you understand that by not getting these wounds treated right away you could have died? That your dad could have walked in here one morning and found you dead in your bed and none of us would have even known why.” Melissa was crying now and Stiles was crying too.

“I’m sorry.” He sobbed. She held tightly onto his hand.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for. This wasn’t your fault. You might not believe me when I say this but we need you. Your dad needs you. I need you. The pack needs you.”

“I’m not pack.” Stiles whispered. Derek glanced at Melissa and John who were both looking at him in confusion.

“Stiles, what I said that night,” Derek started but Stiles cut him off.

“I’m tired. Can I go to sleep please?” Stiles said, cutting off the conversation. John and Melissa both looked to Stiles then Derek.

“Sure thing son. Whatever you need.” John said motioning for Derek and Melissa to leave.

“I’ll come around tomorrow to check everything over.” Melissa said as she left the room. Derek looked at Stiles and John awkwardly. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again, what could he possibly say or do to make this better?

“The pack will make sure somebody is always with you to take the pain.” Derek said slowly, the anger overwhelming him when he thought again about what Stiles had been through.

“I have painkillers. You’re not welcome. I meant it.” Stiles whispered. Derek heard him clearly. He left the room quickly before he started to cry.

Stiles

Stiles had never felt like such shit in his life. Hearing his dad throwing up at the state of his injuries made Stiles feel like a piece of crap. He was the worst son in the history of the world. He should have been able to deal with this himself. Instead he had Melissa crying, his dad throwing up, and Derek grimacing at the sight of him, clutching tight on to Stiles’ hand. Stiles knew that Derek was probably looking at the injuries and thinking how pathetic Stiles was, after all, if Stiles was a werewolf the injuries would already be healed.

Instead he’d just gone and got himself kidnapped and tortured and would probably wear the scars for the rest of his life. A constant reminder to all those around him of just how pathetic he was. Derek obviously felt some kind of guilt, that must be why he was here, trying to ease that guilt. But he didn’t want Stiles in the pack. Stiles knew that. Derek knew that. If Erica and Boyd hadn’t told him about the kidnapping then he wouldn’t be here, none of them would be. They’d all made it blatantly obvious that they didn’t actually like him.

So Stiles sat in silence as Melissa cleaned his wounds, trying not to think about how Derek could feel the pain he was in. He tried to stop it from radiating through his body, tried to stop Derek from taking it, so Derek wouldn’t realize just how much pain Stiles was in, after all, he already knew Stiles had a low pain threshold, he didn’t need to have it proved to him.

He listened as Melissa ranted at him about bed rest and looking after himself and how silly he’d been not to have the wounds seen to earlier. He couldn’t help but agree with her, the thought of his dad walking into his room and finding him dead, yeah that made Stiles feel like the absolute worst son ever.

When Derek started to talk about what he’d said that night Stiles didn’t want to know. Derek had made his feelings perfectly clear, as had the rest of the pack. He couldn’t go back now. He wouldn’t. Not when he knew that they would only be asking him back because they felt sorry for him, he didn’t need people’s pity.

“I’m tired. Can I go to sleep please?” He asked, cutting across Derek and not really waiting for an answer before he started to slip sideways to lie down on his bed. He heard Derek’s reassurance that somebody would always be around to take the pain, oddly enough it didn’t make Stiles feel any better. It just made him think that Derek knew exactly how much pain he was in, and just how weak he was. As soon as the door shut Stiles closed his eyes and wept silently. How had his life come to this?

Lydia

Lydia waited impatiently with the rest of the pack downstairs. Unfortunately, the rest of the pack had supernatural hearing, apart from Allison, so they could all hear what was going on. Nobody was speaking to Allison right now, which Lydia could sort of understand, even if Allison hadn’t known that it was Stiles screaming, she still heard someone screaming, no doubt in complete and utter agony, and she’d ignored it. Of course Lydia cared about the fact it was Stiles, but even if it hadn’t had been him, even if it had been somebody she had never met before, Lydia didn’t think she could have ignored the screaming. She knew Allison had been in a bad place that she blamed the wolves for her mums’ death, but by all accounts her mum would have survived the bite, she could have lived as a wolf, but she killed herself. That didn’t give Allison the right to shoot and almost kill Erica and Boyd, and it sure as hell didn’t give her the right to listen and do nothing while Stiles was tortured.

So she sat on the sofa in silence, watching the wolves’ reactions, hating when they flinched as they listened to the words upstairs. Eventually she had enough, it felt like they’d already been up there for hours.

“What’s happening?” She whispered not wanting to break the silence but having to know. Boyd glanced at her.

“Melissa is cleaning his wounds out. Derek is taking a lot of his pain. He seems okay so far. But it must look pretty bad. The Sheriff has just been throwing up.” Boyd said quietly, his deep voice carrying through the living room. Lydia paled, knowing that it would be very bad then, she happened to know that the Sheriff had a strong stomach, for him to be throwing up, it must be awful.

It helped her reach a decision though and that was maybe a good thing. They sat in silence again, all of them collectively letting out a sigh of relief a while later.

“What?” Lydia asked, seeing Allison open her mouth to ask the same thing and then shutting it quickly.

“They didn’t rape him.” Erica said, and Lydia heard the tone in her voice, the joy that Stiles hadn’t been raped, the horror that she had to even think about the fact he might have been. Lydia felt like that too. How could they even be talking about rape and Stiles in the same sentence? It just didn’t seem to make sense.

It was a few minutes later when the pack flinched again and Lydia didn’t even need to ask this time before Isaac cleared his throat.

“We’re not welcome. Stiles just told Derek to leave.” Isaac whispered as the first steps sounded on the stairs.

Lydia nodded, it made her decision even easier.

“I mean it.” Derek’s voice drifted down the stairs a moment before he came into view. “One of the pack will always be here to help with pain relief. Stiles needs it.”

“I think Stiles has made it pretty clear that he doesn’t want you here.” John replied, ignoring the rest of the pack gathered in the front room.

“Sir, with all due respect, you can’t feel the pain that Stiles is in. We can. He needs somebody to help with that pain.” Derek replied, and Lydia looked slightly concerned because she could have sworn it looked like Derek was about to cry.

“Fine. One pack member at a time. But if Stiles doesn’t want to see you then that’s his call. I’m not about to make him do something he doesn’t want to. You understand me Hale?” John said authoritatively.

“I don’t think one pack member will be able to deal with the pain, two will probably be better. But I’ll leave the choice to you and Stiles. We’ll leave now.” Derek said motioning for the pack to stand up. Lydia remained sitting.

“Come on Lydia. We’re leaving.” Scott said quietly, talking to her like a child.

“No. The pack is leaving. I’m not.” Lydia said meeting Derek’s eye. “I only joined the pack because of Jackson. He’s gone. After Jackson my best friend was Allison, but right now I’m not sure where I stand on that friendship.” Lydia said harshly, meeting Allison’s gaze, “After that, the person who was always there for me to talk to, no matter how badly I treated him, was Stiles. My loyalties lie with him. I’m not pack. Not until you sort this mess out. And if you don’t then I won’t ever be pack. I’m fine so long as I have Stiles.” Lydia declared, ignoring the way the whole pack was gazing at her in astonishment, ignoring the way that both Melissa and John were staring at her with wide eyes.

“Lydia.” Allison started to say but Lydia held up a hand to silence her.

“I’m serious. Stiles is the only pack I need.”

“Stiles isn’t a wolf.” Isaac said.

“You think he needs to be a wolf to be pack?” Lydia said outraged, “Pack isn’t supernatural, pack is family. Pack is choosing people that you want to spend time with, that annoy the hell out of you but that you can’t survive without. Stiles is my pack. Just because you lot are too idiotic to realize how good you had it doesn’t mean I’m going to tie myself to you and make the same mistake.” Lydia raged.

Derek looked to her in astonishment. Scott’s jaw was hanging open. Isaac was staring at Scott and Allison his eyes wide in confusion. Allison had tears slipping down her cheeks. Erica and Boyd looked so happy together, smiling at her, that she was pretty convinced they were about to start dancing around the room.

John cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I think Lydia’s made it pretty clear where she stands on this whole mess. I still think you all need to leave.” He said as he glanced upstairs, obviously his thoughts still with Stiles.

“Mrs McCall, would you be able to give me a lift home please?” Lydia asked politely not wanting to be near any of the pack right now. She’d go collect her car in the morning.

“Sure thing. Come on, you can help me with these bags.” Melissa said picking up her medical supplies. “Scott, you’ll be home in an hour, no arguing, there is obviously a lot that we need to discuss.” Melissa said frowning at her son.

Lydia followed her out of the door, her thoughts still with Stiles.

John

Once his house emptied he sat down at the kitchen table and poured himself a glass of whiskey, god knows he needed it. He downed it quickly, needing something to take the edge off. He poured himself another glass and stared at it. He couldn’t help but wonder how he could have been so blind? His son had been tortured, and yet John hadn’t even noticed. It had taken John finding out that werewolves were real for him to realise that something was wrong with his son.

The injuries he’d seen had him at a complete loss. Stiles hadn’t even flinched when John had hugged him, or had he and John just not noticed? How could he not have realized that his son was nearly killed? That he should have been dead if Gerard had his way. John put the empty glass down on the table a little while later, it was the early hours of the morning and John knew he needed to sleep in order to deal with this, but he couldn’t. When he closed his eye all he saw was his son, strung up, blood pouring from his wounds, a rope wrapped tight around his throat and Stiles was unable to get his hands close enough to even attempt to claw at the rope. John couldn’t sleep, he knew he’d have nightmares. He didn’t know how Stiles could deal with it all.

He heard the sound of shuffled footsteps on the stairs and he glance at the clock, three am. Stiles could have only had an hour or two to sleep at most. John glanced up at him as Stiles took the seat opposite him at the kitchen table.

“Trouble sleeping?” John asked, Stiles nodded. Reaching across to grab the bottle of whisky from his father. John let Stiles pour himself a small glass, he didn’t argue, he knew that Stiles deserved it, just this once.

“Are you in a lot of pain? I can get you some more painkillers?” John said, suddenly thinking that letting his son drink and have painkillers was probably not a good idea.

“I’m fine dad.” Stiles mumbled and John sat back down.

“Don’t lie Stiles. You can’t be fine. I’m not fine.” John whispered.

“I will be. Don’t worry about me.”

“How can I not? You’re my son and somebody hurt you. They were going to kill you Stiles. I could have lost you. And I wouldn’t have ever understood why.” John said, suddenly unable to control his sobbing at the thought of his dead son.

Stiles got out of his chair slowly and hugged his dad, John hugged him back gently.

“You’ve still got me dad. I’ve still got you. Nothing is going to change.” Stiles said quietly and John sobbed even harder.

“I wanted to tell you. I didn’t know how. I didn’t think you’d believe me, and I’m not anything special, it would have meant revealing somebody else to you.” Stiles muttered and John sighed heavily, pulling away to look at his son.

“I understand Stiles. I really do. But you are special. Don’t doubt it. You’re someone special to me.” Stiles rolled his eyes.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” Stiles whispered.

“No. But I figure you’d want to know Lydia thinks you’re something pretty special too. She left the pack earlier. Told them all where to go actually. She thinks you are more important than the pack.” John informed him, grinning at Stiles looked at him confused.

“Really?” He whispered. John nodded, glad that he could share this good news with his son. Stiles nodded, his face still full of confusion.

“Hey, how about we get settled on the sofa, watch some more Star Wars or whatever?” John asked, hoping that it might get Stiles to sleep for a little longer. Stiles nodded and slowly made his way over to the sofa. John put the film on and soon both of them had drifted off to sleep.

Stiles

The whisper of voices woke him, he was warm and sleepy and he knew that until he moved he wasn’t in a huge amount of pain. It made him not want to move. He stayed as still as possible, listening to the whispered conversation in the kitchen.

“So what did Scott say then?” He heard his dad ask.

“Pretty much what he said here, that he hadn’t realized Stiles was missing, that if he had done, then of course they would have looked for him.” Melissa replied, Stiles could hear the tension in her voice as she spoke, it was obvious she was very angry at Scott.

“What’s happening with the pack? Did he say?” John asked quietly

“Apparently Derek kicked Stiles out because he was trying to protect him. He thought that Stiles couldn’t hold his own and he’d be safer away from the danger.” Melissa whispered. “Obviously Derek doesn’t understand that Stiles could find trouble just stepping out of his front door.” His dad huffed in indignation but then sighed.

“Yeah, you’re right. I can’t say I blame Hale, I appreciate him trying to protect Stiles. But he obviously messed up.” John whispered. Stiles listened to the words, he didn’t know what to think, it kind of made sense, but he didn’t understand why? Surely Derek didn’t care what happened to Stiles? It was probably just because he didn’t want to have to deal with another dead body, and let’s face it, at some point, that was all Stiles would be.

There was another knock at the door and Stiles opened his eyes blearily as his dad strode into the room.

“Morning kiddo.” John said before turning to the door. Stiles was surprised to see Lydia standing there, she looked as beautiful as ever, although her eyes were red rimmed and it didn’t look like she’d slept all that well, he shifted lightly, wincing as all of his injuries made themselves known. Stiles motioned for her to sit down on the sofa next to him and she did, looking at him in worry.

“How are you feeling?” She asked, her voice filled with concern. Stiles reached for a glass of water on the table, ignoring the way it made his back throb, he saw his dad and Melissa both stood in the kitchen doorway waiting for an answer. He took a long swallow of the cool water and cleared his throat, it didn’t feel quite as bad today.

“I’m okay.” He said, his voice sounding nearly normal. He would have done a bit of a celebratory dance for that, but his body wasn’t quite up to it.

“Derek said he’d be sending somebody over to help with pain relief.” John advised him. “Do you want Melissa to check you over before they get here?” Stiles glared at him.

“I don’t need pain relief. Normal painkillers will be fine.”

“Tough. You suffered for the pack, they can help with this. And don’t think we aren’t going to have a big talk about werewolves when this is all over. Now do you want Melissa to check you over now or wait until one of them gets here?” John asked again. Stiles rolled his eyes.

“I guess now would probably be better.” Stiles said quietly, taking another sip of his drink. He was going to get up and go to his room so Lydia didn’t have to see but he didn’t have the energy. He looked to his dad who seemingly understood.

“Would you like something to eat Lydia or drink?” He asked, pointing towards the kitchen. Stiles saw Lydia glance at him from under her eyelashes.

“Would you mind if I watched?” She asked cautiously. Stiles was speechless, he didn’t understand why she would possibly want to see that.

“What?” His mouth said before his mind caught up.

“I was wondering if you’d mind me seeing how badly hurt you are?” Lydia asked sheepishly.

“I got that bit. Why?” Stiles said, mouth still hanging agape. Lydia blushed.

“It’s just that, well, I want to know what they did to you. So when I think about it, I won’t just have all these horrible things swirling around in my head, I’ll actually know what happened.” She explained, pausing as she tried to find the right words. Stiles looked to his dad and Melissa for guidance.

“Lydia, sometimes it’s better to imagine than to actually see the damage.” Melissa explained, Lydia jumped up from the sofa, looking on the edge of tears.

“You see, that’s the problem, I’m imagining it, all the time, all I can think about it how badly hurt you are and how you still helped with Jackson. And I keep thinking it won’t be as bad as I think it is. Except you say that, you say that it’s better to imagine it than actually see it, and the wolves can smell it, and your dad threw up because of it. And all I can see when I close my eyes is blood and death. I just I need to see that they are healing and that you’re going to be okay.” Lydia finished breathless, the whole room looking at her in awe.

“Erm, right, sure okay then Lyds, if that’s what you really want?” Stiles said, obviously unaware of how to handle this situation. Lydia nodded firmly and Melissa moved towards the sofa.

It hurt taking his jumper off and he saw Lydia pale when she caught sight of his throat and the bruising on his ribs. If somebody had told him two weeks ago that Lydia Martin would be staring at his chest he would have probably done a freaking tap dance, but now she was staring at him and he was covered in bruises and he was broken and it fucking hurt. Melissa pulled the bandages off slowly and he winced as all his cuts were uncovered. Lydia gasped and gripped his hand tightly, as if to reassure herself he was okay.

“So you think I could audition for Phantom of the opera now?” He joked trying to lighten the mood. Lydia gripped his hand tighter.

“Nope, your face is still perfect, so I guess the Phantom is out of the question for you. Maybe somebody else?” Lydia suggested, her tone light but her voice still thick with tears.

“You think my face is perfect?” Stiles grinned trying to lighten the mood because Lydia was crying over him.

“Get over yourself Stilinski.” She whispered and smiled back at him. He winced as Melissa stitched up one of the wounds he had reopened. Lydia held tighter onto his hand.

“I don’t have wolf powers but you can hold my hand if it helps. That’s what pack is for right?” Lydia said earnestly and Stiles nodded gently, gritting his teeth against the pain spreading through his body.

Derek

He could smell the pain Stiles was in as soon as he stepped out of his car. How could he have ever thought that it was just a simple bruised face? He squared his shoulders, he didn’t care that Stiles didn’t want him here, Derek was here to take the pain away, the only thing he was capable of doing in this situation, other than going after the bastards that had done this. He knocked loudly on the door, glad when it opened a moment later to reveal the Sheriff.

John nodded at him in greeting and then directed him to the front room where Stiles was still sat on the sofa. His shirt was off, the bruising around his neck looking just as bad as the night before. Melissa was dabbing gently at his back, Lydia gripping tightly onto one of his hands and Derek could smell blood and pain. Ignoring the way that Stiles gritted his teeth together and glared at him, knowing that he wouldn’t ask for help, Derek strode forwards, placing his hand around the back of Stiles neck and instantly starting to drain the pain away.

Stiles let out a little sigh of relief almost immediately and Derek felt his heart jump, okay so Stiles was mad at him but he would fix that, he’d spend the rest of his life making it up to him, apologizing for what he’d said, making things right between them. Lydia was looking at him with curiosity in her eyes and he lowered his gaze, instead looking at the mess that was Stiles back. It looked only marginally better than the night before and Derek wanted to cry. How could anyone want to hurt Stiles that badly? This was Stiles. Okay, yes he was annoying sometimes, and way too energetic, and really sarcastic. But he was a kid, an innocent kid, and, okay, maybe sometimes he wanted to hurt Stiles, but not in a serious way, not actually hurt him, just scare him a little, a little bit of manhandling just to remind him who was in charge, make him realize that he was part of the pack and he had to follow orders. Except that was part of the problem with Stiles, he didn’t follow orders, he did what he thought was best and screw the consequences. The other part of the problem was that Derek probably enjoyed manhandling Stiles too much, he liked feeling the press of Stiles’ body against his, he liked watching Stiles refuse to back down anyway.

But Lydia had looked at him just then, and god, it looked like she knew, she knew that he had enjoyed taking whatever contact he could get with Stiles. Like right now, his hand resting against the back of Stiles’ neck, he could feel the beat of Stiles’ pulse under his hand, the heat of the boys’ skin, except he was a kid, he was still only sixteen. Derek couldn’t be thinking like this, it was wrong.

Melissa finished cleaning and dressing the wounds and he had to let go of Stiles so that he could get dressed. Stiles shifted on the sofa, wincing slightly, thanking Melissa and receiving a gentle hug in return. Lydia sat down on one side of Stiles, still clinging tightly to his hand, and proceeded to glare at Derek until he sat down in the seat on the opposite side.

“I’m going to have to go to work kiddo, you going to be okay? I can take the day off if you’d prefer?” John said a few minutes later, seemingly judging the state of his son and the two supernatural beings on either side of him.

“I’ll be fine dad. Go.” Stiles said quietly, the warmth and affection for his father obvious in his voice.

“Yes, go to work. We’ll look after Stiles.” Lydia said firmly, scowling at Stiles when he rolled his eyes.

“Okay. I’ll see you later.” John said, patting Stiles awkwardly on the shoulder, obviously terrified of hurting his son any further before heading out the door.

Derek glanced at Stiles who had closed his eyes and was resting his head against the back of the sofa. He looked to Lydia in confusion. She glared at him, oh right, yeah, she was still pissed with him too. He had a lot of making up to do. Where was he going to start?

“I can practically hear your brain working Derek. Spit it out.” Stiles said without opening his eyes. Derek huffed, god yeah, Stiles was so annoying.

“I,” He was going to say that he was sorry, but sorry really wasn’t good enough was it? “Do you want me to take any more of your pain?” He asked instead, it didn’t really matter what Stiles said, he could still feel the pain radiating from the boy, he was going to take the pain one way or the other.

“I guess.” Stiles said quietly still not opening his eyes. Derek nodded and placed his hand back around the back of Stiles neck. “Why there?”

“What?” Derek asked confused.

“Why there? Don’t you want to hold my hand dude?” Stiles said, a small twitch of a smile on his lips, Derek and Lydia both rolled their eyes.

“It’s quicker pain relief if I place my hands on the wound. I would do it for your back as well, but I don’t want to touch there unnecessarily, I don’t want to cause more pain. It still draws the pain from your back, it’s just slower.” Derek explained quietly.

“Huh, think that’s only the second time I’ve actually got a proper sentence out of you.” Stiles said quietly, his voice slurring slightly as he started to drift to sleep. Lydia smirked. Derek wanted to know when the first time was but before he could ask he was interrupted by the sound of soft snores coming from Stiles. He smiled softly, looking at the boy who had drifted so quickly into sleep. He must have been exhausted. He caught Lydia staring at him, her eyes full of intelligence and he shifted slightly on the sofa, getting more comfortable as he settled in to take more pain from Stiles.

They sat in silence for a while, Derek keeping his hand on the back of Stiles neck, Lydia still clutching onto Stiles’ hand, trying to reassure herself that he was still there.

“I’m sorry.” Derek said after hours of not talking, his voice low and quiet, trying to ensure that he didn’t wake Stiles up.

“What for?” Lydia asked, looking at him with curiosity, as if re-evaluating him, it kind of made him feel exposed.

“For this mess. For kicking Stiles out. For you feeling like you had to leave. I,” Derek paused, knowing that what he was about to say wouldn’t be a good enough excuse for Lydia, “I know you think it was the wrong thing to do, but I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought it was important to protect Stiles.”

Lydia studied him carefully, pursing her lips before speaking. Derek was sure she was about to go for the jugular. She surprised him by glancing down at the still sleeping Stiles and looking at him fondly.

“I know what you were thinking Derek. Protecting Stiles is important. He’s so breakable. But look at him, look what they did to him, and he’s not broken Derek. He’s more cut up about what you said than what they did. Stiles is, well, he’s Stiles. You can’t protect him. None of us can. He’s going to do whatever the hell he wants whenever he wants and there’s nothing any of us can do. At least when he was in the pack he had wolves at his side wanting to protect him. Now he thinks he’s alone. You didn’t just take him from the pack, you ordered us not to see him. You took him from his friends.” She whispered quietly. Derek felt his throat tighten with unshed tears, nodding at Lydia in agreement, he knew he’d messed up, but hearing Lydia put it into perspective like that made him realize just how much of a mess he’d made.

“You can still fix it though.” She whispered to him, reaching out and gently touching his other hand. “I know you weren’t trying to hurt him. Stiles has this undeniable way of sneaking up on you, before you know it, you couldn’t imagine your life without him in it. I know you were thinking of him, trying to look out for him. You should explain that to him. And apologize. A lot.” She added with a grin. Derek nodded again, unsure when Lydia had become so wise. He’d never really had much to do with her before now, other than the time he’d try to kill her, which probably wasn’t the best relationship builder. But sitting here with her, listening to her advise him, call him on his bullshit, yeah, he could kind of understand why Stiles was crazy about her.

He glanced down at his other hand, surprised to see that Lydia was still holding tightly onto it, rubbing the pad of her thumb over his hand.

“I will.” He said quietly, meeting her eyes, making sure she believed him, “I’ll fix this. I’ll apologize until I’m blue in the face if I have to.”

“You’ll have to I’m sure. You know what Stiles is like.” Lydia joked. Derek grinned, yeah it was going to be difficult, but he’d fix it.

When they both looked back down at Stiles it was to see that he was shivering in his sleep, they leaned back towards him, pulling a blanket over him and pressing themselves gently to his sides.

Stiles

Stiles was in the back of the car, it rumbled underneath him, hitting every pothole on the road and making him wince in pain, one of the goons holding him down, the other one driving. He was shivering, the pain from all of his injuries, the fear of knowing he was about to die. He knew it was shock. He was going into shock and if he didn’t do something soon he wouldn’t be able to put up any fight and he would die. He knew he was going to die anyway, but he wanted to go down fighting, not curled up in some pathetic ball, not begging them to stop. He wanted to be strong in his final moments. So that when his dad found his body, god, his dad was going to find his body, he whimpered, hating that the goon holding him down grinned at that. But he wanted his dad to be proud, know that his son had died fighting. But oh god, he was going to die and his dad was going to be left all alone, and Scott, god Scott, he’d blame himself for this.

Scott would be out looking for him right now, and he wouldn’t find him in time, and Scott would always blame himself, that if he’d just searched a little harder, run a little faster, then Stiles wouldn’t be dead. He closed his eyes, hating the thought of what was left of his small family suffering. But he’d protected the pack, that was important, he’d not given them up. And he thought that maybe he’d done enough to ensure Erica and Boyd got out, that they might make it.

The man pressed down harder onto his back and Stiles whimpered in pain again, he didn’t think he could scream any more, his throat felt like it was on fire. Typical that his last defence, his only defence, his sarcasm, and he couldn’t even use that any more. The guy was running his hands over Stiles now, his hands covered in Stiles’ blood, Stiles could see him smirking as he grabbed at Stiles flipping him over so that he could smear the blood all over Stiles’ chest, run his hand down to his stomach, grab hold of his bum, his cock. Stiles tried not to cry. He didn’t want this to happen. It was bad enough he was about to die, he didn’t want his dad to find his body and know that his son had been raped beforehand.

The guy was still smirking at him, as if daring Stiles to try and fight him off, Stiles could feel the press of his erection against his legs, he flinched away from it, not caring that it made everything hurt worse. He couldn’t do this; he couldn’t handle this. He couldn’t breathe, the air wasn’t there, he knew he was having a panic attack, he knew it, but it didn’t mean that he could do anything about it. And the entire time the guy was sat there smirking at him, his friend in the driving seat telling him to hurry up because he wanted a go before Stiles died.

“No.” He whispered, using up every last particle of air in his lungs, “Don’t touch me. Stay away from me.” Struggling against the man, desperate to get away no matter how much pain it caused him.

“Stiles.” He heard his name been called, it was odd, it almost sounded like Derek was shouting his name. “Stiles.” The voice called again, yes that was definitely Derek. Where the hell was he? Was he there to save Stiles? Was he finally safe? But Stiles couldn’t see him, he was alone with the goons and he was going to die. “Stiles! Wake up god damn it!”

Stiles jolted upwards, his body flaring in pain at the sudden movement, making him cry out in pain.

“Stiles. It’s okay. We’re here. It was just a dream.” He can hear Lydia speaking, his heart feels like it’s about to burst out of his chest, his breaths are coming in huge gasps of air. It had felt so real, it had been so real, he was sure he had been about to die all over again. He blinked, slowly taking in the surrounding area, he was in his front room, he’d obviously fallen asleep on the couch. It was raining heavily outside and the darkness of the day made him think he’d been out of it for a few hours at least. Lydia and Derek were both there, looking at him with concern. He leaned back against the sofa, letting his eyes close for a moment and to get his breathing back under control.

“Well, that was fun.” He whispered sarcastically, keeping his eyes closed so he didn’t have to look at the worry in their eyes.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked and Stiles rolled his eyes behind his closed lids.

“Just peachy.” He replied sarcastically.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lydia said quietly and Stiles groaned in reply.

“Stiles.” Derek began and Stiles knew he had to open his eyes now, actually glare at the alpha wolf.

“What?” He replied sullenly.

“You were talking in your sleep.” Lydia whispered. Suddenly Stiles couldn’t control the humiliation and anger washing over him. He didn’t want them to know about that. That was his. His secret. How dare they!?

“Big deal. I’m always talking, you didn’t think sleep could shut me up did you?” Stiles said calmly, making a move to get off the sofa before Derek placed a hand on his to stop him. Stiles glanced back at him, looked at his wide, fearful eyes.

“I wanted to, to say I’m sorry. What I said to you was unforgiveable. I should have realised that you were hurting. I…” Derek started

“Let me just cut you off right there, big guy, we both know that the only reason you are apologising right now is because you feel bad about what happened…” Stiles said, his mind still caught up on how much he had said out loud, how much of his dream they had heard.

“Stiles that’s not…”

“Don’t start.” Stiles replied angrily, he couldn’t handle this, he didn’t want them here, he didn’t want to think about what had happened. He focused on his anger, knowing that having it as the driving force behind him would keep him moving. He got up off the sofa, ignored the pain flaring through his body, pacing angrily across the living room floor. “You didn’t want me in the pack because I’m human and weak and a liability. That hasn’t changed. The only thing that’s changed is you now know what happened. So I know that the only reason you are apologising is because you feel bad. You don’t actually want me as part of the pack, and that’s fine. I don’t want to be pack. I just want to protect my friends, which seems to be quite important because nobody else seems to be wanting to do it.”

“Stiles, just let me…”

“No. Listen to me very carefully Derek Hale. You didn’t want me in the pack. Nothing has changed.” Stiles paused, glaring at Derek before turning to look at Lydia. “You’re supernatural too. You should just go with the pack.”

“Stiles, no…” Lydia said looking at him with tears in her eyes.

“Lydia, just go.” Stiles sighed wearily. “I don’t want either of you here. I just want you to leave.” He whispered, going into the kitchen, turning his back on them, he knew that they wanted to say more, he didn’t want to deal with it. He just wanted to pretend that this was all a horrible nightmare and soon he’d wake up and find himself still on the lacrosse pitch, the game just finished, Jackson still been an ass, and for no one of this to have ever happened.

He heard the door shut quietly behind him and when he looked up both of them had left. He sank down to the floor, his arms wrapped around himself, unable to stop the tears from flowing. He hated himself. He didn’t want them around to see just how broken he was.

Lydia

The two of them stepped out into the rain, Derek looked paler than she had ever seen him before.

“Are you okay?” She whispered, unable to shake the feeling that Derek was on the edge of tears.

“Fine.” He muttered before clearing his throat and blinking quickly, “I’m fine. Just, god, Lydia, I’ve messed up so much.” He sighed heavily, glancing back at the house behind them, seemingly not caring that they were both getting soaked.

“He just needs time. He’s hurting at the moment. Once he’s calmed down he’ll listen.” She reassured him, surprising both of them when she pulled him into a hug. “I’ll see you here in the morning okay? We’ll try again tomorrow.”

Derek nodded at her, his eyes wide with surprise, she smiled shyly.

“I’m not giving up on him, neither are you, and neither is the pack.” Lydia said firmly. Derek could only nod in agreement with her ferocity.

Lydia hugged him again before jumping into her own car and driving away, watching as Derek did the same.

She slept worse than the night before, now she had seen the injuries herself, seen the damage that had been inflicted, they swirled before her eyes and she woke up sobbing. Stiles had been through hell, and if Erica and Boyd hadn’t told them then Lydia still wouldn’t know, none of them would know. She had dreamt of Stiles screams, of him telling them to not touch him, to stay away from him, she had dreamt of blood and pain and eventually death. Her heart was pounding in her chest and it took her a long time before she could eventually convince herself that it was a dream.

She arrived at the Stilinski household the next morning at the same time as Derek and they walked up the steps together. John greeted them, his eyes still full of worry when he looked at Stiles. Melissa had just finished patching him up and Stiles was sat tensely on the sofa. Lydia sat down quickly on one side, clasping his hand tightly. Derek sat down on the other side, already starting to draw pain from Stiles, who seemed to relax slightly immediately.

“I’m sorry. About what I said yesterday.” Stiles said a little while later, his eyelids heavy with lack of sleep, but obviously fighting it so that he could say this.

“Don’t worry about it Stiles.” She whispered quietly.

“But I am. I just, I’m sorry for yelling at both of you.” He said emotionally, “I’m just…” Stiles’ voice trailed off and both Lydia and Derek sat there expectantly. Derek sighed a minute later when Stiles’ breathing evened out and it was obvious he’d gone to sleep.

“Honestly, can’t get a decent conversation out of him these days.” Lydia joked, Derek smiled at her.

“Obviously my pain relief powers should be renamed as the ability to put Stiles to sleep.” Derek grinned and Lydia couldn’t help let out a small laugh.

They sat in relative silence while Stiles slept, Lydia glanced across at Derek several times, noticing how his gaze lingered on Stiles even when he was asleep. She looked at the two of them, they were both quite cute, Derek was obviously very attractive, and he worried a lot which made him scowl, which kind of made him more attractive. But he also had a killer smile, although she hadn’t seen a full smile yet, she’d only got him to twitch the corner of his lips in an upwards direction, she still knew that one day she’d get him to smile properly and it would make every girl weak at the knees. He was also very serious, taking everything to heart, and every movement he made seemed planned. Except around Stiles. When Derek was around Stiles he was softer somehow, less in control, more relaxed. Only for a few moments though, and then he’d seem to remember that he had to have a permanent scowl on his face and would clam up.

Stiles on the other hand, well Stiles was something else. He didn’t have the deep tan that Derek had, or the werewolf muscle, but he was lean, wiry, and his pale skin was covered in moles that made him look delicate in some way. He was always out of control, his movements just natural reactions, when he’d been so stiff in the car explaining about werewolves, Lydia should have realised how wrong things were. Stiles never sat still. He expressed everything with movement, he talked about everything, although not always the things he actually needed to talk about. He was very good at distracting people. He was incredibly clever, even if he didn’t show it, Lydia knew it, just like Stiles knew she was smart. He always called people on their bullshit. He was brave. A lot braver than she was, and braver than Derek too. Stiles didn’t have werewolf strength or healing to protect him, but he still ran into dangerous situations in the hopes of helping his friends.

The two of them were very different people, one the strong and silent type, the other still handsome but also able to talk your ear off. It was odd that Lydia found them both equally appealing. Derek looked up at her, meeting her eyes and she blushed, looking back down at the hand that was still holding onto Stiles.

“So,” She began a little while later, “What are we going to do about finding the guys who did this?” She asked glancing down at the sleeping Stiles.

“We’re not going to do anything. I’ll find them and then I’ll kill them. I’m not dragging anyone else into that.” Derek replied quietly.

“I think Stiles might be a pissed at that.” Lydia whispered. “You know he’ll probably want his own revenge.” There was silence for a minute as Derek processed her words.

“Yeah. You’re probably right, but at the same time, I can’t risk him getting hurt again. They need to be put down. If they are anything like Gerard then they won’t stop, not now they know they can get to him so easily. I need to protect him.” Derek grumbled.

“Is that like an alpha need to protect?” Lydia questioned, “Or some other need to look after him?”

Derek blushed and wouldn’t meet her eyes. Just as he was about to reply he paused and looked to Stiles in worry.

“What’s wrong?” Lydia asked quickly.

“His heartbeat is racing. I think he’s having another nightmare.” Derek replied, his voice full of worry and beneath that Lydia sensed anger.

“Stiles.” She whispered quietly, wanting to wake him up as gently as possible but still needing to him awake.

Stiles

He was covered in blood, his skin slick with it, the whole car smelt of it, it made him feel sick. He knew he wasn’t going down without a fight. They’d have to kill him before he let them touch him like they so obviously wanted to. He pushed back against the man holding him down, ignoring the way the knife cut into his side.

He swung an elbow backwards, felt it connect solidly with a nose, felt the bone break. He heard the cursing but he was already slipping out of his grip, the driver was slowing down evidently going to grab hold of Stiles while his partner was incapacitated. Stiles reached forward grabbing hold of the steering wheel and yanking with all his strength. Time seemed to slow down as all three of them flew sideways. Stiles saw the driver going for his gun, the other goon reaching for him, blood spilling down his face. Before the car had completely stopped Stiles was flinging himself forward towards the nearest door, grabbing hold of the handle and throwing it open.

He could see the treeline only a few meters away, he could hear the two goons behind him clambering out of the vehicle, he could sense the guns been trained on him. He didn’t stop. He’d rather they shoot him; they’d have to shoot him. There was no way he was getting back in the car unless he was dead.

He felt the bark of the first tree under his fingertips and had a surge of adrenaline, he could do this, he had spent so much time in the preserve, he could get away, hide from them. He just had to keep moving.

“Stay where you are kid. I don’t want to shoot you just yet.” One of the guys shouted. Stiles assumed it was the driver as his words came out clear.

“Fucking shoot the little bastard. He broke my nose.” Came the second voice, it was obvious he was still trying to stop the blood flow. Stiles couldn’t help but grin, at least he went down fighting.

He ignored the stinging of his wounds, the flaring agony he felt as soon as he moved. If he had any chance of making it out of here, then he had to be quick and he had to be smart. He paused, trying to gather his senses, figure out which way it was to town. The sound of a gunshot registered in his ears and he flinched when it struck the tree next to him.

He came to a stop, his chest heaving, his body screaming out in agony. He couldn’t fight them; he couldn’t outrun them. He was going to die. This would kill his dad. He turned to face the monsters that masqueraded as men. He wouldn’t die as he ran away. He would stand tall. His hand reached out and touched the tree next to him, using it to keep himself upright.

“You little shit. You know I’m going to enjoy killing you, and when I’m done with you I’m going after your dad. Then your pack. I’m going to kill them all.” The goon with the broken nose taunted.

“Stiles.” He heard Lydia whisper. He turned his head quickly, where was she? She couldn’t be here, it wasn’t safe. He had to keep her safe.

He was staring down the barrel of a gun. It blocked everything else from his vision. All he could think was he was about to die and his dad would never get over it, Scott would never forgive himself. He was letting everyone down, but more importantly, as soon as he was dead there was nothing standing between these guys and his dad. His dad who knew nothing about the supernatural world. He needed to stay alive to protect his dad, to protect his family. He couldn’t let these bastards anywhere near his family, he was so scared but anger overruled it, the ultimate desire to protect them at all costs. He heard the shot, saw the bullet leave the gun and instinctively threw his hands up as a last weak form of protection.

“Stiles wake up!” Lydia shouted.

He jolted upright, surprised to find himself alive and in his own home. He patted at his chest, convinced he was about to find a bullet hole, letting out a sigh of relief when there were no fatal wounds there. Derek and Lydia were both sat next to him, eyes wide with worry.

“I’m fine.” He whispered before they could ask. He cleared his throat and stood up, ignoring the way that his whole body was shaking with adrenaline. He headed to the kitchen, wincing as some of his injuries made themselves known. He poured himself a glass of water taking a long gulp of it before pressing the cool glass against his forehead.

Lydia and Derek had both followed him into the kitchen and were both staring at him, he couldn’t help but feel irritated.

“What?” He asked after another minute, closing his eyes and leaning heavily against the table.

“Nothing. We’re just worried about you Stiles.” Lydia said in a small voice. Stiles cracked open an eye to see her looking between him and Derek. As if she wanted Derek to start talking. He smirked. Derek was the least talkative person Stiles knew.

“I’m fine.” He said again, perhaps repeating it would make it true.

“You’re not.” Lydia started but then went silent when Derek placed a hand on her arm. Stiles looked at him questioningly.

“We know you aren’t fine, but if you want to pretend you are, that’s fine. We’ll go along with it. But, Stiles, we’re here. When you want to talk, when you want to tell us what happened, then we’re here and we’ll listen. Until then we won’t ask you about it, okay?” Derek said seriously. Stiles couldn’t believe it but he actually sounded like he cared, sounded like he wasn’t going to push and pick at Stiles.

Stiles sighed heavily, maybe this was what he needed, to not be pressured into telling people what happened, it wasn’t like he really understood it himself, he just needed time to process and research and to put it all together. He nodded his head, hoping that Derek understood how grateful he was for this. The way both Lydia and Derek smiled at him made him think that he’d got the message across. But more importantly, what the hell? Why were they both smiling at him like that? Since when did Derek Hale smile? And when did Lydia even notice him? Not to mention the fact that they both had killer smiles, enough to make your heart race when it was directed your way. He could feel it pounding away in his chest right now, going crazy all because the two of them had smiled at him. God! He was such an idiot, and stupid traitorous heart, probably beating loud enough for them both to hear it. Fuck! Derek could probably hear it anyway. He glanced up, meeting Derek’s eyes, saw the small smirk on his face. Dammit, that would be a yes he can definitely hear it. Stiles looked down at the kitchen floor, trying to get his heart under control and ignore the fact that he was sure he was blushing like a twelve-year-old.

“So…” Lydia said quietly, waiting a moment until she was sure that Stiles was looking at her. “Are we going to go sit down again? Watch a movie maybe?” Stiles nodded slowly in agreement, not entirely sure what was going on, but he was sure something was, Lydia and Derek had barely spoken to him recently, let alone spoken to each other, and now they were acting like they were friends. It was weird to say the least.

He settled back down on the sofa, surprised when they took up the same positions as earlier, one on either side of him. They weren’t overly fussy over him which he appreciated, but Derek still placed his hand on the back of his neck and drew pain away from him. Stiles sighed, he hadn’t realized how much he was starting to hurt until Derek took it away.

It was dark outside by the time his dad got back and Derek and Lydia said they were leaving. Stiles wanted to thank them but he wasn’t sure how, he’d barely spoken all afternoon, neither had they, they’d just sat in a comfortable silence, watching some rubbish film on the tele, all three of them laughing at random parts. Stiles had nearly had a heart attack when Derek first chuckled, he didn’t know the guy was capable of it, not to mention the fact that it was a really amazing laugh. Deep and quiet, a smile on his lips. Stiles found it odd that he kept staring at Derek’s lips. It wasn’t exactly a secret that he sometimes had a crush on guys as well as girls. But he’d never looked at Derek like that. Obviously Derek was hot, he would have to be blind to not see that, but the fact that he was always growling about something meant that Stiles had never even considered Derek as crush material. Besides, he had a ten-year plan with Lydia.

“We’ll see you in the morning Stiles.” Lydia called happily as she was leaving and Derek simply nodded as he left. Stiles didn’t want to move from the sofa, he was very comfortable and warm, instead he spoke to his dad for a little while about his day and then lay down and went to sleep easily.

It was easy to get into a routine over the next few weeks as he healed. Every morning Melissa would check his injuries, humming happily when she saw that they were healing nicely, the Derek and Lydia would arrive and they’d spend the day watching television or sleeping. Stiles found that even though he was healing he was still exhausted a lot of the time and so sleeping definitely helped. It also helped that when he woke up it was usually to find Derek and Lydia snuggled into his sides. It was still weird; he couldn’t get his head around why they were suddenly being so nice to him. But he went with it, he couldn’t be bothered to argue.

Erica and Boyd turned up a few days later and they sat and chatted and laughed and never mentioned the torture which he appreciated. Peter appeared a few days after that, Stiles was more than a little bit surprised when Peter actually smiled genuinely at him. Stiles gulped, obviously loudly enough for the whole pack to hear, and Peter smirked.

Scott and Isaac came next. Stiles had been a little worried when he hadn’t seen his best friend in over a week. It wasn’t like them, but then the last time had been the night Stiles’ injuries had been revealed, and Scott, well, Scott had looked at Stiles like he’d betrayed him, like he’d let him down by not sharing the fact he was kidnapped. If only they knew what other things he was hiding.

As time passed the injuries started to heal up, Stiles started to feel slightly more energetic, he was going to bed at night now instead of sleeping on the couch, he even made tea a few times which was pretty impressive. He snorted at the thought, he was proud because he actually had the energy to make food. How pathetic was he? If he’d been a werewolf, he would have already healed and be out prowling the streets by now. Instead he was proud of the fact he’d managed to put his own socks on.

Derek

Derek sat on the sofa next to Stiles as usual. He was worried, Stiles smelled anxious, the pain smell was gradually receding over time which Derek was glad about, but Stiles still smelled anxious and it seemed to be getting worse. What was he worried about? Maybe about those guys coming back to grab him again, well, Derek wouldn’t let that happen. He was working hard to try and find them, he’d passed all the information he had across to Chris who’d been pretty sure he knew exactly who they were. When Derek had mentioned this to Stiles he’d just got a small smile in return, before Stiles brushed him off to go get something to eat.

He noticed the rest of the pack looking at Stiles with worry too, okay so there was something else going on then. He knew it, he just didn’t know what it was. He also knew he needed to talk to Lydia and Stiles in private but he’d barely been able to get the pack to leave now that they knew it was okay to come and visit Stiles. The only one who hadn’t been yet was Allison. Maybe that’s what was bothering Stiles?

“Derek.” Lydia said looking at him while Stiles was in the kitchen. “I think we need to talk.” She said firmly. Derek nodded, he knew Lydia would have figured something out. He glanced around at the pack who were lounging on different furniture, glancing discreetly at them from the corner of their eyes.

“Lydia and I are going out for a walk. Keep an eye on Stiles.” Derek said quietly as he rose from the sofa.

“Sure thing.” Scott said from the nearest chair as he battled Isaac on the Xbox. He got a quick wave from Erica and Boyd. Peter sat stiffly in a nearby chair but nodded his head in acknowledgement.

He strode out of the front door and Lydia followed behind him. They walked down to the end of the block and then Derek slowed his stride so that Lydia was walking next to him instead of half a step behind.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on?” She asked without preamble.

“I don’t know. He’s anxious about something. But I don’t know what it is.” Derek said quickly as they walked down to the next street.

“I didn’t mean with Stiles. Although it doesn’t surprise me he’s anxious. But I meant what’s going on between you and Stiles?” She said firmly.

“Nothing.” Derek replied quickly, glad that Lydia couldn’t hear his heartbeat as he lied, it was bad enough he was already blushing like a child.

“Yes, sure.” Lydia said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “I know you have feelings for him. It’s obvious. But I want to know what’s going on.”

“Lydia…”

“Don’t Lydia me. Stiles is special, he’s so clever and he can figure out so many things but he’s also oblivious about other things. So I know he doesn’t know how you feel, or,” She paused taking a deep breath, “Or how I feel.”

“You like Stiles too?” Derek said quietly, his heart pounding.

“Of course I do. I’d be an idiot not to. But the problem is that you like him too, and weirdly, I like you too.” She rolled her eyes when Derek’s cheeks turned an even brighter shade of pink. “Oh, god, you are too cute when you’re embarrassed.” She huffed, turning to sit on a nearby wall, holding her head in her hands. “I can’t believe I just said that. Can we pretend that didn’t just happen?”

Derek sat down next to her, pulling one of her hands away and holding it tightly in his own.

“I’ll tell you something, but you have to promise not to laugh.” Derek said seriously, Lydia nodded next to him, looking at him wide big eyes.

“It’s, god, I don’t even know where to start. It’s, I guess it’s a wolf thing. Okay, so let me explain as best I can. I never thought it would happen to me so I never listened to the stories like I should have done. And it’s been so long since I heard my mum tell them. Wolves have mates, and I say mates as in plural. People make out that wolves are monogamous, that they meet the one and that’s it for them for the rest of their lives. But it’s not. A wolf looks for strengths, similarities picking out the best mates possible but it also looks for the missing pieces, the things that it lacks to make it whole.” He paused to look up at Lydia, she was nodding at him in encouragement, telling him silently to continue. “So, for example, with Stiles, he’s loud, I’m quiet. I’m good at hiding my emotions, he wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s good at communicating, me, erm, well not so much. But we also have similarities, we’re both loyal to the pack, we bottle things up, we’re sarcastic, we don’t think before we speak. But it’s more than that. He balances me out. He’s not afraid to question me. He’s annoying, god, he’s so god damn annoying,” Derek sighed heavily, smiling gently when he thinks of some of Stiles antics, “But I wouldn’t change him, not a single thing. But here’s the thing, I think I’ve been falling for Stiles over the past year, because the second I met him he just bounded into my life and took over. But then I met you, talked to you properly, saw the same things in you, that you’re smart, and not afraid to speak your mind, and you’re a little bit terrifying, but you hide behind masks just like I do and you’re crazy loyal, and I can feel the same connection with you as I do with Stiles. Really if I’m honest, it fucking terrifies me. I can’t even tell Stiles I’m crazy about him. How the hell am I supposed to handle the fact that I think you might both be my mates?” Derek finishes, unable to look at Lydia for the fear of rejection he would see there.

He feels the soft touch of her fingers against his hand and risks looking up at her, surprised when he sees her eyes filling with tears.

“I didn’t know you cared about him so much.” She whispers.

“Of course. Why do you think I kicked him out of the pack? I was terrified he was going to get hurt.” Derek replied.

“God, you are an idiot.” She laughed, wiping away a stray tear and looking at him with soft eyes. “So, you think, that me, you and Stiles are mates?” She whispers.

“Yeah. But it’s not like a final thing. If you didn’t want it, or Stiles didn’t, then I wouldn’t force it on you. You’re both still so young. I didn’t even want to think about it until you guys were older.”

“Huh.” Lydia was silent, obviously trying to process everything. “Okay. Well before we make any further decisions we need to tell Stiles.” She said a minute later. Derek gulped looking up at her with fear.

“Are you crazy? He can’t hear it. Not yet. He’s only just getting better. Let’s just give him some time. Please.” He whispered. Lydia looked at him before eventually nodding.

“Fine. But I’m not doing this without Stiles. Not because I don’t find you attractive, because obviously I do. Not because I don’t think you’re pretty amazing, because you are. But because I need Stiles. And if he feels anything like I do then he’s going to be happy about this. Although, not so sure my mum is going to be. How do I begin to explain to her that I’m going to be in a three-way relationship. And how does it work exactly?” Lydia rambled. Derek placed an arm around her shoulder to calm her down.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself Lydia. Let’s just, we’ll let Stiles get better and then we’ll talk to him. He might not want this. I’d understand. I’ve been horrible to him. But I only wanted to protect him. I know how much damage this world can inflict and Stiles is so breakable.” Derek whispered as if afraid to admit just how scared he was for Stiles.

“Look at what he’s been through Derek. He’s gone through more than any of us. And he’s still standing. He’s stronger than you think.” Lydia replied.

“I know how strong he is. I don’t doubt that he can handle more pain than any of us. But he’s still human. If anything happened to him, I just, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I need him to be safe.” He mumbled.

“You need to explain that to him. I’m not going to say explain the whole mate bond thing just yet. But I think part of the reason he’s so anxious is because he thinks you’re only helping because you feel guilty. I think he thinks that as soon as he’s better he’s going to start annoying you again and then you’re going to kick him out again.”

“I wouldn’t do that.” Derek said heatedly.

“Does Stiles know that?” Lydia replied calmly.

“Probably not.” Derek grumbled. “And you’re right. I’ll explain it properly to him when we get back.” Derek said standing up from the wall and holding out his hand for Lydia to take.

They wandered back toward the house slowly, Lydia still holding tentatively onto his hand. Derek felt a small blossom of hope in his chest. If Lydia was willing to even consider this then maybe he had a chance with Stiles.

When they turned onto Stiles’ street his heart rate quickened. All of the pack were sat outside the house, their eyes flitting between the house, the ground and now Derek.

“What’s going on?” Lydia said striding up to them. “Why are you all out here?” She demanded.

“Allison’s here.” Erica supplied sullenly, “Stiles told us all to get out so he could talk to her.” She mumbled looking guiltily at the ground.

“Oh.” Lydia said, her mouth hanging open in a perfect circle. “Right, well, okay then.” She said a moment later as she composed herself, smoothing down her skirt and glancing at Derek and then the house. “How’s Stiles?” She asked quietly, obviously not wanting to distract Derek.

Derek meanwhile was listening intently to the conversation going on in the house, ignoring the fact that the whole pack was probably doing the same. It wasn’t until Lydia actually asked him how Stiles was that he remembered she wasn’t able to hear. He broke away from the conversation to meet her gaze.

“He’s okay. Allison’s crying. His heart rate is up a bit, but nothing out of the ordinary.” He said trying to reassure her. Lydia squeezed his fingers thanking him silently, apparently none of the pack had noticed that fact.

Allison

She approached the house with caution, she wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. She hadn’t seen Stiles in nearly two weeks and the last time it had been the reveal of his injuries, of his torture. She hadn’t seen any of the pack since then. She didn’t blame them for not talking to her, she deserved it, she deserved to be kicked out of the pack, she deserved so much. But she had to tell Stiles how sorry she was. That she’d never meant for him to get hurt, never meant for any of them to get hurt, she just wasn’t thinking straight.

She had barely knocked on the door when it was flung open and Erica was glaring at her with hatred.

“What are you doing here?” Erica said, her voice filled with disgust.

“I, I erm, I came to talk to Stiles.” Allison muttered, unable to look the girl in the eyes.

“He doesn’t want to see you.” Erica growled. Allison nodded, blinking back tears, she’d expected that.

“Would you just tell him I’m sorry please?” She asked.

“No.” Erica snarled before slamming the door in her face. Allison stood there for a moment in shock. She’d kind of expected that.

Erica

Erica had smelt her coming before she’d even got there. Derek and Lydia were out, that made it her job to protect Stiles. And she wasn’t going to let Allison get anywhere near him. She growled at the girl, hopefully scaring her into leaving when Stiles reappeared from the kitchen and Erica slammed the door in Allison’s face.

“Who was at the door?” Stiles asked innocently, still wincing slightly when his back twinged in pain.

“Nobody.” Erica growled out daring any of the pack to disagree with her. Stiles raised his eyebrow questioningly as if to say that he didn’t believe her. A moment later and he was walking towards the door and Erica held her hand in front of it so he couldn’t open it.

“Erica.” Stiles warned and Erica didn’t know why but for some reason she didn’t want to argue with him. Instead she let her hand drop and Stiles opened the door. She knew Allison hadn’t gotten far and she saw Stiles’ eyes go wide when he saw her.

“Allison?” He called out and Allison turned around to look at him.

“Sorry. I was just leaving.” Allison replied quietly, so quietly that Erica wasn’t sure Stiles would have heard her.

“Don’t be stupid. Come in.” Stiles said calmly stepping back from the door and motioning her to come in. Allison stepped into the room and glanced around cautiously, seeing the rest of the pack, Erica couldn’t help but smirk when Scott wouldn’t even meet her eyes.

“I came to say sorry.” Allison blurted out awkwardly. Stiles turned to look at her in confusion.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” He said quietly.

“She does.” Erica and Boyd both growled while Allison only nodded in agreement. Stiles looked between them and Allison and then squared his shoulders.

“Alright, all of you, out.” There was a shocked silence. “I mean it. Get out. Go wait outside. Allison and I need to have a chat.”

Erica threw one last glance at Allison, who was stood by the door in disbelief, before heading out of the door and waiting at the end of the drive with the rest of the pack.

Allison

“So, you going to tell me what that was about?” Stiles asked as he settled slowly into the sofa.

“It’s my fault. I helped kidnap Erica and Boyd and then I didn’t do anything to help you. Stiles, I’m so sorry.” Allison sobbed, unable to contain her guilt any longer. Stiles patted the space on the sofa next to him and she sat down quickly.

“I’m so sorry.” She sobbed again, surprised when Stiles reached out and took her hand.

“It’s okay Ally.” He said quietly.

“No it’s not. God it’s so far from okay. I let him torture you, and even if it wasn’t you, I let him torture someone and I did nothing about it.” She could barely get her words out.

“Listen to me.” Stiles said firmly and Allison looked up at him her eyes wide and still filled with tears. “You couldn’t have stopped him. Even if you had have tried he would have hurt you too. He was evil Ally, completely undeniably evil.” Allison nodded her head in agreement.

“It’s still not an excuse, I should have done something. I’m so sorry. I just, I was in such a mess. I know it wasn’t right, but my mum…” Her voice broke and she started to sob again. Stiles pulled her into a hug and Allison sobbed onto his shoulder.

“I know okay. I know how it feels. When my mum died I was so angry, so unbelievably angry, I wanted someone to blame it on, for it to be someone’s fault because it didn’t just happen. Somebody had to have missed something, or not acted quick enough, or not given her the right medicine or something, because there had to be somebody at fault. I wanted someone to blame so badly because I wanted someone that I could hurt, so I could hurt them the way I was hurting.” Stiles said his voice full of emotion. “If I could have blamed werewolves for her death I would have done. I would have torn them all apart for making me hurt so much. So I understand why you did what you did and I don’t blame you in the slightest.”

“Stiles…”

“But.” Stiles continued, raising a finger to silence her, “You did need to have all the facts. Because yes, Derek bit your mum and that was a horrible thing to do, but you should know why. Because you know Derek, you know he wouldn’t bite somebody without their consent. So you have to ask yourself why he did. I can tell you that if you like. But it’s up to you.” Stiles said quietly and Allison couldn’t help but feel deep respect and love for Stiles. She paused for a moment, sniffing as the last of her tears dried up before deciding that yes, she did want to know.

“Your mum found out that you and Scott were still dating in secret. She tried to kill him. The only reason she didn’t manage to was because Derek found him in time. They fought. Derek bit her when she tried to break his neck. It’s not pretty. But if it was a choice between biting her and dying? I don’t blame him in the slightest. And also, he didn’t kill your mum. She would have survived the bite. You know that werewolves can be decent human beings. Your mum couldn’t even consider that. That’s why she killed herself. The pack isn’t to blame.” Stiles finished and watched as Allison took in all the information.

Allison wiped at her eyes, her mind obviously racing with all this new information.

“I’m sorry Stiles. I’m so sorry.” She mumbled as he pulled her tight to his side.

“Don’t worry about it.” He said and sounded like he genuinely meant it. Allison wasn’t sure how she’d ended up been lucky enough to have Stiles as a friend.

“Now, are you up to dealing with everyone else or do you just want to stay and cuddle?” He grinned and Allison let out a small laugh, leaning into his side.

“I guess dealing with everyone.” She muttered quietly, glad when she felt Stiles squeeze her reassuringly.

Derek was already opening the door before she’d finished the sentence and she tensed up at the look on his face. The rest of the pack pouring in behind him.

“I haven’t got a problem with Allison been here. If any of you do, then get over yourselves or get out.” Stiles said calmly and Allison felt like she could kiss him right then.

“Fine.” Derek said dropping down onto the sofa on the other side of Stiles and placing a hand around the back of his neck. Lydia came next and sat on the floor next to Derek and Stiles’ feet. Soon the whole pack shuffled into seats and went back to doing what they had been doing before, which mainly consisted of watching Scott and Isaac fight over which game to play next.

Allison felt slightly more relaxed as the tension eased from the room. It wasn’t gone completely but she didn’t expect it would be straight away. She just hoped this was a step in the right direction. She couldn’t help but be a bit astounded by Stiles though. He had forgiven her without a moment’s hesitation, he’d insisted that there wasn’t anything to forgive but also pointed out where she’d gone wrong. She couldn’t help but feel a great feeling of love and pride swell up inside her, Stiles was the best person she knew and she’d spend the rest of her life making it up to him and the rest of the pack.

She glanced across at Derek, surprised to find him looking oddly relaxed, one hand on the back of Stiles’ neck, the other playing with Lydia’s hair discreetly. Allison was a bit shocked by that, were Derek and Lydia a thing now? But then why was he holding onto Stiles? She glanced down at Lydia who turned to smile at her. Allison decided to ignore it, she was sure it would all get explained in time. Instead she looked at Stiles who was fast asleep, it hadn’t taken him long to pass out, in fact, pretty much as soon as everyone settled down and Derek had touched him. She wondered if he was still in a lot of pain, she wanted to ask but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

The evening darkened around them and Allison knew that she should probably leave soon, but she didn’t want to. Stiles had forgiven her so easily and she felt like a weight had been lifted, but it didn’t mean that Erica and Boyd weren’t both still glaring at her, she knew she had a long way to go before they’d even think of forgiving her. In a way she was glad because even though Stiles had forgiven her it didn’t mean that she deserved forgiveness. She would spend the rest of her life trying to make it up to the whole pack.

Derek shifted on the sofa a little while later, his gaze now resting on Stiles. Allison turned to look as the rest of the room all shifted their attention to Stiles.

“What’s going on?” She whispered breaking the silence.

“He’s having a nightmare.” Lydia replied quietly, her voice tight with emotion. Allison was silent, she’d expected this, she knew it wouldn’t just be the physical trauma, but to see them all tuned into Stiles’ pain and to not be able to do anything about it made her hang her head in shame.

“If he doesn’t come out of it in a minute I’ll wake him up.” Lydia said to Allison, almost as if she was reassuring her. They stayed silent, all of them watching Stiles as his face started to show the strain of his nightmare. When he started to mumble Lydia leaned against his legs.

“Stiles. Stiles wake up.” She said calmly, her voice soft. Allison moved away from Stiles knowing that Lydia wanted to be closer. Stiles didn’t wake up and a moment later tears were rolling down his face.

“Don’t.” He mumbled and Allison felt her heart breaking.

“Stiles. Wake up.” Derek said authoritatively and Stiles immediately jerked awake. He was grabbing at his chest, tears streaming down his face and he was sobbing.

“Get off me.” Stiles shouted, pushing both Lydia and Derek away as best he could, not seeming to realize it was them and fighting against them with everything he had. Lydia came around the other side where Allison had been sat and wrapped her arms around Stiles, Derek holding him in place on the other side.

“It was just a dream Stiles. Just a dream. You’re okay. You’re safe.” Lydia whispered quietly, giving him time to calm down.

“No. No. They were going to kill me. They shot me. They shot me.” He whimpered and Allison felt the tears rolling down her face.

“Sweetie, they didn’t. They didn’t. I promise. Stiles look at me.” Lydia said firmly. “You’re okay. You’re home.” She said as Stiles finally started to calm down, his eyes locked onto Lydia’s as she carried on murmuring reassurances to him.

Allison swiped at the tears on her face, not surprised to see some of the rest of the pack doing the same. Derek loosened his grip and Stiles relaxed against him for a moment before seeming to remember where he was. He looked quickly around the room and then glanced down at the floor, obviously embarrassed by his actions a moment before.

He stood up quickly and headed upstairs in silence, Allison watching until he disappeared out of sight. How could she have ever thought Stiles would be okay? Those bastards had tried to kill him. They had shot at him. They had terrified him. She needed to find them and make them pay. She was so angry, not only at herself, thinking that she could have somehow prevented this, but at them, at her grandad and his goons for hurting Stiles. Stiles was the one who looked after all of them, who helped them all however he could. He was an innocent. He didn’t deserve this.

This wasn’t the same anger she’d felt when her mum had died, the rage that had driven her to hunt down the wolves. No this was cool and calm and collected. She would track them and she would kill them. Stiles couldn’t defend himself against them, they’d taken him as a pawn in their game. She would kill them. They weren’t human. They were the monsters in this world.

“Whatever you’re thinking about Argent, I’m in.” Erica grinned at her, obviously picking up on her rage.

“You are not going to do anything. Any of you. I’ll find them and deal with them.” Derek warned. “You do not need blood on your hands.” He said finally. Allison remained silent, seething with the injustice of this. Stiles needed justice. She’d bring it to him. She turned on her heel heading for the door with only the worst intentions in mind.

“Stop.” Lydia said gripping onto her wrist. “Allison stop. Take a breath.”

“Stiles.” Allison whispered, the agony obvious in her voice, “They need to pay.” She growled, “I’ll make them pay.”

“I’m with Allison on this one.” Scott said from the floor. Isaac laughed sarcastically.

“When are you not with Allison?” He snorted.

“Not the point. Those bastards hurt Stiles. Stiles.” Scott said, waving his hands for emphasis as if they didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation. “Of all the people that they could have gone after they went after him. We let him down. I let him down. I’m not going to sit here and watch him carry on like this when I can do something about it.”

“And what are you going to do about it Scott?” Lydia said viciously, “Are you going to kill them? Are you going to hunt them down and tear them limb from limb?” Scott paused before squaring his shoulders and nodding firmly.

“If that’s what it takes for Stiles to feel safe.” He said.

“Scott you’re not a killer. None of us are.” Lydia said wisely, looking around the room. “Can you all just stop for a minute and think about this. If you kill them, it makes you a murderer. Nobody will care that it’s justified. Nobody will care that they fucking deserve it. If anybody ever found out it would be premeditated murder. Do you understand that?”

“Then we make sure nobody finds the bodies.” Erica said angrily, “If there’s no bodies then we can’t be arrested for murder.”

“No, but hunters will know. They’ll know that wolves went after them and wolves killed them and then they’ll come for us.”

“I’ll tell other hunters what they did.” Allison shouted, “I’ll tell all the hunters that if they hurt our pack they’ll pay with their lives.”

“How will that help Ally? Please, I cannot be the only voice of reason here!” Lydia shouted back, “We can’t kill them. No matter how much we want to. These are human beings. They need to be arrested and thrown in jail.”

“And what about if they get out? What’s to stop them coming after Stiles again.” Isaac spoke up.

“We’ll make sure there’s enough evidence to make sure they never get out.” Lydia said angrily, “Please, guys, think about this, I want to kill them too, god you don’t know how badly I want them dead. But killing them won’t solve anything. And how do you think Stiles will feel? You think he’ll be happy if you kill somebody for him?” Lydia pleaded obviously trying to get them all to see sense.

“I won’t.” Stiles said from the stairs. Nobody had heard him coming and there was sudden silence as they all turned to look at him. “I will be pissed. You don’t need the blood on your hands. Don’t even think about it. Lydia’s right. Following the human law is the way to deal with humans.” Slowly everyone nodded in agreement, not willing to argue with Stiles on this one. “Now, I want to go to bed. I’d like you all to leave.” The pack whimpered but Stiles stood firm, refusing to back down.

“I mean it. Get out.” He said firmly before turning his back on them and heading back up the stairs.

“He’s in his room.” Derek said a minute later looking around at the pack. “You heard Stiles. Leave. We can come back tomorrow.”

They all trudged slowly out of the house and Allison stopped at the end of the drive.

“I’ll find out everything I can. Once we know where they are then we’ll tell the sheriff and they can be arrested.” She said firmly looking at Lydia and Derek who both nodded in agreement.

“Pack meeting at the loft tomorrow morning. I expect you all to be there. We’ll get a plan together then.” Derek said firmly before the whole pack disbursed.

Stiles

He could hear them yelling from up here, he couldn’t take it. It was bad enough they’d all had to see him like that, bad enough that they’d all witnessed his complete and utter break from sanity. In that moment it had been so real, it had been happening right then, the gun levelled at his head, throwing up his arms in one last defence, hearing the gun go off, knowing he couldn’t do anything, that he was about to die, that he was going to let everyone down, that they were going to die because of his failure. Then he’d heard Lydia and then Derek and he was snapping into consciousness, but he couldn’t breathe, he was scrabbling at his chest, convinced that the bullet wound would be there. He hated how it had taken Lydia practically climbing on top of him and talking to him like a child for him to finally calm down enough to realize that it was a dream. Then he’d done the crazy stupid thing of relaxing into Derek, Derek who wanted to murder him half the time and just knock him out the other half. He’d caught the looks of despair on the rest of the pack’s faces and he just needed to get out of there.

He couldn’t bear them looking at him like he was broken, he was broken, but he didn’t want them to know that. He was trying to stay strong because that was what they needed. They needed Stiles to be sensible, to come up with the plans, to be a complete pain in the ass, to be sarcastic and stupid. But he didn’t have the energy to be all that. He didn’t have the energy to do anything other than heal and try and get his head on straight.

Instead he sat for a moment listening to the argument from downstairs, laughing mirthlessly when Lydia was the only one not suggesting murder. He couldn’t do this. Not right now. He needed time. He needed to figure out some things first. He trudged back down the stairs, surprised when no-one noticed him coming, listening to the last of Lydia’s speech, shocked to think that anyone would ever think of killing for him, he wasn’t worth it.

“I won’t. I will be pissed. You don’t need the blood on your hands. Don’t even think about it. Lydia’s right. Following the human law is the way to deal with humans.” He paused, taking a deep breath as everyone slowly agreed with him. He was exhausted, all he could think about now was getting to bed, but he had work to do first. He needed to figure something out and he needed to do it before he told the pack. “Now, I want to go to bed. I’d like you all to leave.” He waited while nobody moved. “I mean it. Get out.” He said louder surprised when they all finally seemed to register his words and hurried out of the house.

He went back up the stairs, glad that his injuries were finally healing enough that not every step felt like agony. He shut the door to his room loudly, pulled his computer near his bed and slumped down onto the mattress. It was time to research. He cracked his knuckles loudly and began.

Lydia

Stiles was acting odd, well more odd than usual. She wasn’t sure what it was but he was spending a lot of time looking at something on his computer. The past week she’d barely been able to get a decent conversation out of him. Derek and Allison were working on tracking down Gerard’s guys, the pack helping them whenever possible and if they weren’t out searching then they were with Stiles. Lydia was annoyed, she wanted time with Stiles by herself. She knew that was selfish, but she wanted to know if he was feeling anything like she was feeling, towards Derek, towards her. What if Stiles wanted to be with Derek but not Lydia? It was silly, she knew that, she knew Stiles had been crazy about her for years, but what if that was only because he thought he had no chance? Now that she actually wanted to be with him would he still want to be with her?

But that wasn’t the only issue, he was obviously researching something, he was obviously hiding something. Whenever any of the pack asked he managed to brush it away, talk about how he was preparing himself for the next big thing, but Lydia wasn’t sure that was the truth. Stiles was twitchy, nervous, unable to sit still, his leg constantly jumping, chewing nervously on his nails. There was something going on. She was sure about it.

The good news was that Stiles had pretty much healed now and he’d even ventured out of the house a few times by himself. Lydia had found him one night sat on the back porch looking at the preserve in front of him. He seemed to be focusing on something with a frightening intensity but as soon as he saw her he stopped and turned to smile at her. She’d wanted to ask him what was going on but the rest of the pack had appeared a minute later and they’d spent the rest of the night in a pile in the front room.

Derek was still touching Stiles occasionally even though he didn’t really need the pain relief any more, brushing his hand across the back of his neck, or letting Stiles sleep on him when the exhaustion eventually set in. Lydia loved the looks of confusion on Stiles’ face when Derek was nice to him, she found herself giggling to herself a few times, meeting Derek’s smirk. Stiles would look between them like he was missing some great joke but he didn’t say a word, just readjusted his position so he was comfortable and didn’t move when Derek put an arm around his shoulders. She hadn’t been aware that Stiles was quite so oblivious, both Lydia and Derek were constantly touching him in some form or another. Both of them always near should he need anything. Stiles seemed to be very confused half the time and barely even notice the other half of the time. It was frustrating.

It was Saturday afternoon, most of the pack were at Derek’s, including the Sheriff and Chris Argent. Chris had called to tell Derek that he’d heard a rumour of more hunters in the area and he thought they might be linked to the ones who had beaten Stiles. It had set them all on edge and Lydia had promised that she would come over as soon as she’d picked Stiles up.

Just as she pulled up to the house she was surprised to see Stiles coming out of the front door still pulling his hoodie over his shoulders, a handful of papers shoved under one arm and rooting in his pockets for the keys to the jeep. He was obviously in a hurry to get somewhere.

“Hey.” She called out and Stiles jumped and dropped the papers and the keys.

“Shit!” He cursed, scrambling around on the floor to get all the papers together. Lydia crouched down and grabbed a few of them, they were covered in Stiles’ scribbled writing and she was struggling to read it just as he snatched it out of her hand.

“Hey Lydia.” He said in greeting, trying to look calm and collected and not at all like he was flustered and caught doing something he shouldn’t be.

“What are you doing?” She asked, steeling herself for what she was sure was going to be a long winded explanation.

“Nothing. I was just, erm, going to go for a drive.” Stiles finished lamely, waving his arms in the direction of the jeep.

“To where?” She said glaring at him.

“Erm, that’s a good question.” He glanced down at his watch, “Shit. Right. Fine. I’m going to Deaton’s. But I need to be there like now. So I’ve got to go.” He said heading towards the jeep. Lydia nodded and then climbed into the passenger side.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m coming with you obviously.”

“Erm, Lyds, this is kind of a private matter.”

“Oh right, what is this private matter that you’ve not told any of us about?” She scolded and Stiles blushed.

“Crap, right, fine.” He said shifting into gear and reversing quickly out of the drive. “Fine. Just, just don’t be mad at me.” He paused glancing across at her. Lydia pursed her lips before nodding.

“Fine. But you’re telling me everything.” She said firmly and Stiles nodded feverishly in agreement.

“Well, you see, the thing is, the night I, erm, escaped. Something happened. And it took me forever to figure out that it did really happen. So you know then I started researching it and I can’t really figure out exactly what happened or how it happened. But then Deaton called and he says he can explain it but I have to get there right now otherwise he’s busy all afternoon.” Stiles rambled.

“You know you didn’t actually tell me what happened.” Lydia said after a moment, surprised to find they were already near the clinic. Stiles must have raced all the way here.

“Yeah, erm, well about that.” Stiles said rubbing his hand across the back of his neck, a sure sign of stress in the Stilinski men. “I don’t know how it happened, or what I did, or how I did it, if it was even me, it might not have been, could be like a woodland fairy or something? I mean if I knew anything about how it happened I wouldn’t be here chasing Deaton for random clues. But you see, I erm, god, how do I say this without sounding crazy?”

Lydia raised her eyebrows and placed her hand on his arm, “How about you just tell me?”

“Yeah, sure.” Stiles said letting out a deep breath, “Well, I was out of the car and I was running for the woods and I knew I wasn’t going to get out of there. One of the guys had a gun levelled at my head. I knew it was over, that I couldn’t outrun them, couldn’t get away from them. I was at the treeline, I knew that I just needed a moment or two without them seeing me and I’d be able to get away, but it wasn’t going to happen. They were going to shoot me and I heard the gun go off. I knew I was about to die. I threw my arms up and when I opened my eyes,” Stiles paused apparently figuring he sounded ridiculous, he glanced at Lydia as he pulled into a space and turned the ignition off, “There was a tree in the way, as in like, this tree just grew up out of nowhere in time to stop the bullet from hitting me.”

“Stiles…” Lydia started, maybe he was a bit crazy.

“Yeah. I know how it sounds. Why do you think I haven’t said anything? I figured if I could do it again then at least I could know it was real but I can’t. I don’t know how I did it, or if it was even me, but somehow a tree grew up out of nowhere and stopped that bullet.”

Lydia sat in silence for a moment before swallowing loudly.

“Okay.”

“Okay? Like, what, you believe me?” Stiles asked astonished.

“I believe that something happened. Even if we’re not sure what yet.” She said opening the door and starting to slide off the seat. “We’ll figure it out Stiles.” She said across the hood as they walked towards the doors.

“Thanks.” Stiles said coming towards her and pulling her into a hug, “Thanks for believing me.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” Lydia said pulling out her phone, “I still need to call Derek and tell him.” Stiles sighed.

“Fine.” He said striding towards the door while clutching onto his paperwork. “But can we at least see what Deaton has to say before you do?” He pleaded. Lydia glanced at the number still up on her screen, then at Stiles, his eyes wide and pleading. She sighed heavily.

“Fine.” They opened the doors together and strolled in.

“Deaton?” Stiles called out when the clinic was silent around them. Stiles opened up the counter and headed into the back room, Lydia followed him, suddenly feeling uneasy, something felt wrong.

“Stiles.” She whispered to get his attention as they stepped into the darkened back room. Stiles turned to face her and his eyes suddenly went wide in horror. Lydia started to turn but something hit the back of her head and she went down hard.

She could hear Stiles shouting, calling her name and yelling for people to let go of him, and what sounded like glass breaking, everything was blurry but she could make out the shape of several people in the room. She struggled to get her palms under her and raise herself up but she didn’t have the strength. She focused on her phone which had skittered out of her hand as she fell. She reached forward relived to see that Derek’s number was still on the screen.

Her head was spinning, she thought she was going to be sick. There was so much noise, a serious fight taking place and she couldn’t do anything. She could hear Stiles shouting for her but she couldn’t look up, couldn’t move.

She heard the call go through, the ringing overly loud in her ears. “Please.” She whispered. “Derek, please pick up.” A moment later the call connected.

“Lydia?” She heard Derek’s voice and felt like crying.

“Deaton’s.” She said as loud as she could. “Stiles. They’re taking Stiles.” She said with the last of her energy. She heard more shouting, more cracking glass, Derek shouting down the phone, and then everything went black around her.

Derek

He’d spent the morning listening to Chris’ information on the new hunters that had come into town. It was definite that they had, although nobody seemed to know where they were now. His first instinct was to get Stiles, to protect him. But Derek knew Stiles wouldn’t appreciate it, it was more important to find out where these hunters were and then scare them out of town or have them arrested.

He was glad that John knew about the supernatural now, it made things so much easier now. John sat on one of the sofas at the loft, reviewing all the information while the rest of pack glanced at Derek as he paced across the floorboards.

“If you’re so worried why don’t you just go get him?” Chris said eventually, Derek glared at him.

“Lydia’s picking him up, they should be here anytime.” He said, his heart still fluttering in his chest. He didn’t like that neither of his mates were here and there were hunters in town.

“So we know they’re well trained and they’re vicious.” Allison said from one of the chairs, “What we don’t know is if they’re after the pack like Gerard was, or if they’re after Stiles to get at the pack.”

“If they go anywhere near my son I’ll skin them alive.” John growled and Derek couldn’t help but echo the sentiment.

His phone was ringing on the nearby table and he strolled over to it, glancing back over his shoulder and looking at his pack, he had to protect them, at all costs. He wished Lydia and Stiles would get here already. He looked down at his phone and saw Lydia’s name flashing up on screen. His heart went into overdrive. Why was she calling? Why wasn’t she here?

“Lydia?” He queried, his fear and increased heart rate making all the pack turn to face him.

“Deaton’s” Her voice came down the phone, Derek could hear what sounded like fighting in the background and glass shattering and he didn’t like how weak Lydia sounded. “Stiles.” She whispered, it sounded like all her effort was going into her words. “They’re taking Stiles.” Lydia mumbled.

Derek was already heading towards the door, the pack that had heard the conversation already following him, the humans knowing that something was happening but not sure what.

“Lydia?” He said again, “Lydia? Are you there? Can you hear me?” There was silence. Derek could hear the sound of a struggle, could hear Stiles yelling for Lydia, panic in his voice.

“Enough of this.” Derek heard a voice growl, there was the sound of a fist connecting solidly with something and then sudden silence. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” The voice said loudly and Derek nearly crushed his phone in anger. He wasn’t going to be quick enough. He wouldn’t get there fast enough.

They ran as fast as they could, John, Chris and Allison piling into the police car and speeding along behind them.

As soon as Derek got to the clinic he knew it was too late. He raced inside, not caring that he nearly pulled the door from its hinges in his rush.

“Lydia! Stiles!” He called out, praying that they’d answer him. He went into the back room, ignoring the fact that there were bottles of all sorts of things spilt all over the floor, glass pieces everywhere, tables overturned, windows smashed. All he could see was Lydia, she was lying on the floor, her phone still clutched in her hand and blood pooling around her head.

“Lydia!” He shouted, racing forward, sliding along the floor in his race to get to her. “Lydia?” He called again as he cradled her head gently in his lap. He could hear the steady beat of her heart but he needed her to open her eyes. Needed to know she was okay.

“Lyds, please. Open your eyes for me.” He pleaded, ignoring how the rest of the pack were staring at the destruction of the room around them.

“What the hell happened?” John mouthed, taking in the scene in front of him.

“Stiles.” Scott sobbed, “They took Stiles.”

“No.” John denied, unable to process that his son had been taken. Derek looked around at the terror on their faces and he knew he needed to get the situation under control. But he didn’t know how, all he could think of was Stiles and Lydia. Lydia was hurt, she needed medical attention. Stiles had been taken, god only knows where and god only knew what was already happening to him. He felt like screaming, how could he have been so careless?

“Lyds, wake up. Please.” He begged, relief sweeping through him when her eyelids fluttered open.

“Derek?” She croaked out and he nodded his head viciously tears spilling down his cheeks. “Stiles?” She asked already trying to look around the room for him.

“They took him Lydia.” He whispered, hating himself when all the colour disappeared from her face.

“No.” She mouthed in horror. “No. They can’t have done.” She winced as she tried to sit up and Derek immediately started drawing her pain.

“You need to stay still. You’ve taken a good knock to the head.” Scott said crouching down next to her and examining the wound.

“Like hell I am.” Lydia growled getting to her feet unsteadily, looking at Derek gratefully as he helped her to stay steady. Scott cleaned her wound delicately and finally placed a bandage over it.

“It’s not that bad I guess. You’re probably going to have a bad head for a good few days, but I don’t think it’s overly serious.” Scott said, chewing at his bottom lip, “Although going to the hospital and getting an actual doctor’s opinion might be a good idea.” He frowned.

“Where’s Deaton?” Lydia asked gazing around the room.

“What?” Isaac asked.

“Deaton told Stiles to meet him here. Where is he?” Lydia explained, her voice clipped with anger as she struggled to control the pounding in her head. The pack looked around the room but there was no sign of Deaton.

“Do you think he went out? Or they took him too?” Erica asked the room at large.

“Why would they take Deaton? I mean, they took Stiles to hurt us. Not to be rude but hurting Deaton wouldn’t exactly hurt us.” Isaac replied, looking to Scott in apology.

“They didn’t take Stiles to hurt us.” Lydia grimaced, heading towards the back door, “They took Stiles to hurt him.”

“Lydia…” Scott whispered in denial, none of them wanting to think about Stiles getting hurt again. Derek felt like his heart was going to shatter into a million pieces.

“No. Listen. Something happened. With Stiles.” Lydia panted, trying to get them to pay attention. “With the hunters. That night. Deaton knows.”

“What happened Lydia?” Derek asked, gritting his teeth and holding her tightly by the shoulders trying to keep her upright.

“A tree. A tree grew up. Stopped the bullet.” Lydia said her voice wavering.

“What?” The whole pack asked in confusion.

“Stiles grew a tree, or he thinks he might have done, he also said something about woodland fairies so I’m not sure.” Lydia said, obviously aware that she wasn’t making much sense. “Stiles said a tree grew up and stopped the bullet.” The whole pack looked at her like she’d actually gone insane.

“Stiles is human.” Chris said slowly, obviously not willing to point out that Lydia had a head injury and that’s why she wasn’t making any sense.

“I know that.” Lydia growled frustrated. “But he said he thinks he grew a tree and Deaton was going to tell him how. That’s why we were here.”

“Okay. Well let’s say this is true and my son has somehow developed the power to grow freaking trees, which, okay, let’s just go with the idea that it’s true. Deaton somehow found out. He calls Stiles here. These hunters get the jump on both of them and then take them where?” John said trying to be as logical as possible despite knowing it was likely Stiles was being tortured at this exact moment.

“We can’t track them. The van is hiding their scent. They might not have even stayed in town. If Stiles was the actual target rather than just using him to get to us, then why not just take him and run?” Isaac said a moment later.

“We have to believe they are still in town. It’s been what half an hour? They can’t have gone far.” John said determination in his voice. “I’ll call the department, get a road block out there, nobody leaves this town without our say so.” He said already calling up the office. “It’s Stilinski.” He said as soon as the call connected. “Somebody has taken Stiles. I want road blocks setting up at every road out of town.” There was a pause as the person on the other end spoke, “No. I don’t know who. But Stiles won’t go quietly. Nobody in or out without a complete search for my son. Do you understand?” Apparently they did as John disconnected the call a moment later.

They were wandering the streets trying to catch any scent of Stiles. It had been hours. Derek winced every time he thought how long it had been. When he thought about what they might have been doing to Stiles in that time.

“Can we search for his phone? Maybe they took it with him?” Boyd suggested.

Allison pulled out her phone and met Derek’s eye before calling Stiles’ phone.

“Stiles?” Allison said, placing the phone on speaker as soon as it connected.

“Unfortunately not.” A man’s voice replied. Derek growled.

“Where is he?” Lydia demanded.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” The guy said sarcastically. “I will tell you something though. He has the most beautiful scream. I could listen to him screaming all day.”

“If you’ve laid one finger on him…” John warned.

“What are you going to do Sheriff? Are you going to arrest me? I think you’d personally rather shoot me. Especially when you know what I’ve done to your son, what I’m doing to him right now.”

“Damn right I’ll kill you.” John spat down the phone.

“I haven’t even got to the good part Sheriff. Did you know about that birthmark on his ass? The one shaped just a little bit like a fox?”

The whole room sucked in a breath.

“Well, I’ve been spending a lot of time studying it. These past few hours have been so much fun. But I’m getting bored. There’s no fun torturing the boy when there’s nobody here to witness it. So here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to tell you where I am, and the whole pack is going to come.” The man said simply and Derek bit down hard on his lip to stop himself from saying something he’d regret.

“How do we know Stiles is still alive?” Chris said coldly to the man.

“Oh, you want me to prove it?” The guy laughed. They heard movement down the other end of the phone. “Stiles? They want to know you’re alive.” There was a pause. “Talk or I’ll make you scream.” The guy warned. There was still silence. “Alright, have it your way.” There was a loud crack followed by a scream, Stiles was screaming, Derek felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“See. That wasn’t so hard was it.” The guy cooed. They all heard Stiles growl low in his throat, Derek could imagine the glare that the guy was receiving.

“It’s a trap.” Stiles’ voice said down the phone, Derek hated how wrecked he sounded. Stiles was hurt. Really hurt. But yet he was still trying to warn them that it was a trap. Derek didn’t think he could love him more in that moment.

“We’re coming for you Stiles. We’re coming okay?” Derek said, speaking only to Stiles, wanting him to know that they would come for him. That they would save him.

“Don’t.” Stiles pleaded, trying to protect them.

“Oh please do. I’d hate to have to hurt the poor boy even more. Although there’s plenty I can still do to him, there’s a lot I’d like to do to him.” The guy laughed.

“Get your fucking hands off me.” Stiles growled.

“Oh come on, mind that language in front of your father.”

“Fuck you.” There was the sound of fists hitting flesh and Stiles gasping for air.

“I have every intention of fucking you. But we’ll wait until they get here for that won’t we?” The man teased. Derek felt his stomach flip. He could feel his wolf fighting to get out, to take control and tear this enemy limb from limb.

“Come to the old industrial estate. We’re waiting in warehouse six. You best all be here in half an hour or we start without you.” The man finished before cutting the call.

Derek couldn’t control himself, he couldn’t breathe, all he could think was that Stiles was hurt, was being hurt and he hadn’t protected him.

“Derek. Derek just breathe okay.” Lydia was saying although her voice seemed like it was far away. “Listen to me. We’re going to get him, okay? We’re going to get him.” She repeated, Derek finally calming enough to focus on what she was saying.

“So what’s the plan?” Erica said, “You heard Stiles. It’s a trap. We can’t just walk in there.”

“How many hunters did you say they had?” Lydia demanded.

“The two goons who helped Gerard and an additional four that we know of.” Chris said decisively.

“Okay so six against what, nine of us? We could take them.” Boyd said seriously.

“Except they’ve got Stiles. If we mess anything up, he’s the one that’s going to be hurt.” Scott said making the whole pack wince.

“So we just hand ourselves in?” Isaac asked cautiously

“No. I’ll hand myself in. None of you need to be involved.” Derek said firmly.

“Not a fucking chance.” John shouted, “You heard him. If the whole pack isn’t there, then they’ll hurt him. They’ll hurt my son.”

“Fuck.” Scott cursed, holding his head in his hands. “You heard Stiles, it’s a trap.”

“I know.” Derek said firmly. “That’s why I’m not asking any of you to come. Chances are they’re going to kill whoever turns up there. And if nobody goes then they kill Stiles. I don’t want any of you to die. But I can’t leave Stiles there. I just can’t.” Derek pleaded. “I’m going. I don’t expect any of you to come with me.” Derek said already starting to walk towards the warehouses.

“If you think for one second that I wouldn’t risk my life for Stiles then you’re wrong.” John said angrily. “I’m coming with you.”

“Me too.” Lydia and Scott said at the same time.

“I’m in.” Erica and Allison said in unison. Boyd, Chris and Isaac all nodded, grim expressions on their faces.

Derek couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed, he was risking the lives of his whole pack for Stiles. What if someone got hurt and Stiles blamed him for it? What if they all died anyway? What if they all died and Stiles lived? That wouldn’t be so bad, at least Stiles would be alive. He’d give anything to keep them all safe. He wished with everything he had that they would all come out of this unscathed.

Stiles

The moment he saw goon number one hit Lydia over the head he was overcome with a rage he’d never felt before. He saw her hit the ground but there was no way to get to her, there were hands already wrapped around his chest, pulling him up and away from her. He kicked out at another man who went to grab his legs.

“Lydia!” He was screaming, desperate to get to her, terrified she was dead, the blood flowing too quickly, he had to get to her, he had to help her.

“Get off me!” He screamed at them as they tried to drag him out of the room through the back door. He wasn’t sure what was happening or why the jars around the room were cracking and spilling their contents all over the floor. There was a persistent wind that was howling against everything in the room, knocking everything over, the glass spinning around wildly as Stiles yelled at them and shouted for Lydia.

He saw the fist come flying at his head, knew there was nothing he could do and then everything went black.

He woke up later, unsure as to how much time had passed. He was shivering in the cool air as he slowly came to consciousness. He was stood in the middle of one of the old warehouses. The floor was cracked and weeds were growing through it, the windows had been smashed out at some point and there was a gentle breeze which made him shiver even more. An old pipe was dripping water from above him and he heard it splash to the ground every few seconds. His wrists were chained to a hook above him, he was dangling, his bare toes only just touching the floor, there was a table several feet away and Stiles could see it was littered with what he was sure were torture devices. It felt too much like the basement except on a larger scale. His head hurt but he still glared at goon number one as he approached.

“Nice to see you again Stiles.” He said flashing the large knife he held in his hand.

“I can’t say the same.” Stiles said through gritted teeth as the man laughed mockingly.

“I see you haven’t lost any of that fire. That’s good. I like that about you.” He replied as he came closer with the knife.

“Well it is one of my more annoying personality traits if I’m honest. The other is a complete and utter inability to shut up. Speaking of which, I’m calling you goon number one in my head, have you got an actual name or should I just keep calling you goon?” Stiles rambled as he stretched a little higher to try and ease the ache on his recently healed wrists.

“You can call me Mike.” Mike replied softly as he pressed the knife against Stiles’ chest.

“Alrighty then Mike. Nice catching up with you. If you feel like letting me down, then any time now is fine.” Stiles grinned sarcastically at him. Mike only smirked at him in return. He grabbed hold of the hem of Stiles’ shirt and pulled it away from his body, slicing the knife through it easily.

“Hey!” Stiles said indignantly, “That’s one of my favourite shirts.”

“It’s nice. I like it. It looks good on you. Do you know where it would look better though? On the floor.” Mike grinned cutting the rest of the shirt off. Stiles rolled his eyes trying to hide his shiver as the cool air hit his skin.

“As far as pick-up lines go I’ve got to be honest, I’ve definitely had better. You should probably work on that.” Stiles said, ignoring the feel of Mike’s fingers running along the marks left on his back.

“You know I loved listening to you scream. I’ve been fantasizing about it for weeks, getting to hear you scream again. I know that Logan’s been thinking about the same thing.” Mike whispered, leaning in to breathe on Stiles’ neck as he traced the marks gently. Stiles tried to stay calm, trying not to flinch from the fingers on his back, tried to remain strong in the face of danger, that Mike wouldn’t know how scared he was right then.

“So goon number two is called Logan huh? That’s good to know. I like putting a name to a face.” Stiles replied, not expecting the fist that suddenly connected with his ribs and made him let out a gasp of pain. “Not cool Mike.” He said a moment later when he got his breath back.

“Really? I thought it sounded really good. Maybe we should just carry on where we left off?” Mike taunted as another fist hit him.

The next period of time passed in a blur, Stiles was bleeding again, he could only hope that the pack would smell it and get him out of here. At some point during the time they’d taken his jeans and he was now shivering as he stood only in his boxers. He wasn’t doing too badly he thought, yes he hurt but he was holding it together. He was staying strong.

It wasn’t until he saw Logan walking towards him dragging a whip along the floor that he felt himself whimper in fear.

“Stiles.” Logan said in greeting. “Ready to talk or do you want to continue?”

Stiles licked his lips in his nerves, “Talk about what? I can talk about anything you like, all day. How’s the nose asshole? How long did it take to heal up? Got to say you look a little worse for wear. Not such a handsome face now, are you?” Stiles laughed fully expecting the smack to his face. He groaned in pain. “Fuck, that hurt. Alright point proved, obviously you have no sense of humour. Man, you are really going to struggle in life, no good looks, no sense of humour, a personality that means you enjoy hurting underage kids. You probably like drowning kittens too huh?”

“You’re still a little shit.” Logan growled.

“What you think a little bit of a beating was going to take that out of me? You obviously have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“You’re right. But I’d love to find out.” Logan said as he walked around Stiles. Mike was stood in front of him grinning, Logan was behind him with the whip. Stiles was terrified, sure that any second now he’d feel as it cut into his flesh. He hated been so vulnerable.

“So, before Logan puts that whip to good use, how about you tell us.”

“Tell you what?” Stiles asked trying to keep the fear from his voice.

“How you grew that tree.” Mike demanded and Stiles groaned. Of all the things to ask him it was the one thing he didn’t know.

“I don’t know.” He said fiercely.

“Wrong answer.” Mike said and Stiles felt the movement of air at his back a moment before the whip landed. He stifled a scream, god he’d forgotten how much that hurt.

“How about how you almost destroyed the room earlier? You going to tell us that?” Logan asked from behind him. Stiles tensed up, knowing what was about to happen.

“No. I don’t know.” He couldn’t stop the small scream that escaped from his lips this time as the whip landed. Mike stepped close to him, running his fingers across Stiles’ stomach, running along the waist band of his boxers, dipping slightly below their edge.

“You just can’t even imagine what those noises do to me Stiles.” Mike purred and Stiles felt physically sick.

“No you’re right. I can’t. Mainly because I’m not a sick fuck.” Stiles retorted.

“Tell us how you did it.” Logan said angrily.

“I told you I don’t know.” Stiles hissed, unable to stop the scream as the whip hit his back again and again.

The tears were flowing down his cheeks, he’d lost count of how many times they’d hit him. His feet kept slipping in the puddle of his blood and he was struggling to take the weight from his abused wrists. He kept repeating that he didn’t know. How could he possibly know? But they didn’t believe him.

Logan pulled his boxers down, baring his bum and started to caress him. Stiles kicked out at him, growling low in his throat.

“Don’t try it Stiles. I’ll make it much worse for you. I wonder if that’s how it works?” Logan said absentmindedly.

“What?” Stiles hissed out

“Well, with the tree, we were about to do delicious things to you, maybe that’s what made it happen, maybe we need to try that again do you think?” Logan said, groping at Stiles. Stiles just hung his head, trying desperately to shake Logan off but unable to do so.

“You might be right.” Another voice said and Stiles glared as he realized it was Deaton.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Are you helping these bastards?” Stiles raged, unable to believe it.

“Of course not. They came to my office and threatened me unless I told them everything I knew.” Deaton replied calmly.

“And what? You just decided to hand me over to them on a silver platter?” Stiles spat. “They hurt Lydia. If she’s dead because of you I’ll fucking kill you. You understand that?” He raged.

“I did tell you to come alone. It’s not my fault Ms Martin decided to accompany you.” Deaton said. It was only when he stepped into the light that Stiles saw he was handcuffed, but other than that he didn’t look physically hurt. Stiles growled. He didn’t care that it didn’t sound as dangerous as Derek or Scott, he thought he still got his point across quite clearly.

“Now. I believe you are thinking along the right lines. I don’t mean raping him. God knows the damage that might do.” Deaton said and Stiles watched as both Mike and Logan and the other hunters looked at him. Deaton held his hands up in surrender. “What I mean is recreating the situation that you believe made Stiles, ‘grow a tree’ as you so eloquently put it.”

“You said you knew how?” Stiles asked, curiosity rising despite his injuries. “You told me to come to the clinic because you knew how.”

“Apologies Stiles, that was a lie purely to get you there. I have no idea what you did, or even if it was you that did it.”

“You’re a bastard.” Stiles shouted, huffing in pain when he took a fist to the ribs.

“Now, if you think that Stiles does have magical powers, which I highly doubt by the way, I would have recognised them if he did, then the best way to find out would be to put him in a similar situation and see if the same thing occurs.” Deaton explained slowly and Stiles could see as the hunters all started to plot.

“Alright, so we’ve got the beating bit covered, and the inappropriate touching so I don’t think you need to do anymore of that.” Stiles informed them, he got another hit for his troubles.

“We were going to shoot him.” Mike said helpfully, “We could try that again.”

“And if it doesn’t work I’m dead. Sure, really sensible.” Stiles rolled his eyes. Logan hit him again. He was starting to sense a pattern.

“We weren’t trying to kill him at the clinic.” Logan said slowly from behind him. Deaton hummed in thought and Stiles could see them all trying to piece it together.

“But we hurt the girl. And in the woods we said we were going to go after his dad.” Mike said after several minutes. “Maybe it’s that side of things.” They all looked to Stiles as if he had the answer.

“I don’t fucking know. You think if I knew then I wouldn’t already have made trees grow out of your ass.” He spat angrily.

“Okay. Well here’s the thing kid, once we’re done with you we’re going to go after your pack. The girl? Lydia right? She’s probably already dead. That’s one down, who do you think we should go after next? Probably the alpha right? Do you think he’d spill on where the rest of them are hiding? Or should we go after your dad? Do you think they’d rush to protect him?” Mike said grinning. Stiles could feel the anger building up inside him but he couldn’t do anything, he could only think about Lydia lying on the floor, dead. He was going to follow her shortly.

“Fuck you.” Stiles growled, screaming when the whip landed on his back again.

“I think it might be better if you gave him actual evidence.” Deaton spoke up.

“What?”

“Maybe get the pack here? Threaten them in front of him. You said that these ‘powers’ showed up at the clinic when you weren’t threatening his life, but Lydia’s. Get the pack here, show him just how easily you’re going to kill them. If these powers are real they should show then, shouldn’t they?”

“Shut the fuck up you bastard.” Stiles raged, not caring when he took another hit to the ribs. “I’ll kill you. You understand? I’ll fucking kill you.”

“I don’t know.” Mike said unsure. “How would we stop them from attacking us? We don’t know how many there are, they could outnumber us, and who’s to say that they’d even come, they didn’t last time.”

“But last time they were distracted.” Deaton advised, “You have their full undivided attention at the moment. I assure you they’ll come. Now if you’re worried about protecting yourselves I have some mountain ash. Evidently you have chains and I’m sure I saw tranquilizer darts earlier. They come, you dart them, chain them up and I’ll put a circle of ash around them. They’ll be your captives.” Deaton said calmly, Stiles had never felt so helpless, he couldn’t let them do this.

“You think tranqs will knock out a werewolf? Seriously?” He said, hoping they’d believe him.

“Of course they will.” Mike said. “We use strong ones, we’ve done it before. It won’t be an issue.” Stiles felt like screaming, he couldn’t watch his pack die.

“Okay. This sounds like a plan. How do we get them here?” Logan asked looking to Mike for guidance.

“We’ll use Stiles. They won’t be able to resist the sounds of your screams will they.” Mike smirked, tracing fingers across Stiles’ body, making him flinch at the same time as snarling at him.

“I won’t fucking do it. You’ll have to kill me.” He replied viciously, putting all the anger he had into those words. He would rather die than risk his pack suffering.

“You won’t have a choice in the matter.” Mike smirked as Logan sent the whip crashing into his back again and Stiles sobbed out a broken scream. “See, that wasn’t that hard was it?” Mike cooed, running his thumb across Stiles’ cheek, brushing away his tears. Stiles tried to pull away from his touch but Mike tightened his grip, holding him in place and then leaned in and kissed him. Stiles froze in complete shock, of course he knew these guys were messed up, he knew that they had planned to rape him before, but he’d never thought that there would have been kissing involved, just a lot of pain.

The whip smacked into his back again while Mike was still kissing him and Stiles flinched and cried out in pain. Mike only seemed to enjoy the sound of his pain, he pulled Stiles closer to him, pressing his erection into Stiles’ hip as he continued to kiss him.

When he finally let go Stiles was crying, he didn’t want to ever have to go through that again. He felt sick, he felt violated. He just wanted to hug his dad and never let go. He knew he was losing strength quickly, his wrists were bleeding again, he was cut and bruised, his back was on fire and he could barely keep himself on his feet. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer but he had to try, he had to keep fighting, it was all he knew how to do.

He felt hands grabbing at his bum but he didn’t turn to see who it was, he assumed Logan but he didn’t want to know because if it was another hunter then Stiles probably would be sick, it was bad enough two of them, he couldn’t handle any more. He glanced at Deaton who was getting together the necessary equipment, he didn’t even look bothered about what had just happened to Stiles, Stiles felt his hatred bubble, how could they have ever trusted Deaton? When he got out of here he’d kill him for this. Stiles focused on the anger, it kept him going, thinking about the various way’s he was going to hurt Deaton almost made him smile.

“Okay. Everything’s ready.” Deaton said a few minutes later. “You just need to get the pack here.” He advised. Mike looked at Stiles like he was about to eat him and Stiles shivered.

“How loud do you think I can make you scream?” He taunted, walking towards Stiles.

“Fuck you.” Stiles snarled.

“Oh, I intend to, don’t worry about that. But first, I need you to scream for me.” He laughed, running his fingers along some of the bigger cuts on Stiles’ back. Stiles tensed, knowing that whatever was about to happen was going to hurt like a bitch, but he had to keep silent. He wouldn’t bring the pack here.

Mike pressed a finger into one of the cuts and Stiles clenched his jaw as he tried valiantly not to scream. Mike only looked at him in curiosity, as if curious to see how far he could push before Stiles broke.

A moment later and he head his phone ringing, he thought he must be hallucinating to begin with but then Logan strolled over to a table and grabbed it up and passed it across to Mike grinning.

“Oh, it’s Allison. Who’s she Stiles? Is she your girlfriend? Or is she part of your pack?” Stiles remained silent, he wasn’t going to give them any information. He would stay silent, anything to protect them.

Mike answered the call, placing it on speaker so that they could all hear exactly what was said.

“Stiles?” Allison asked, her voice sounding nervous over the phone

“Unfortunately not.” Mike replied, grinning at Stiles. They all heard as a growl echoed over the line. Stiles was pretty sure it was Derek and he sounded pissed.

“Where is he?” Lydia demanded, Stiles felt such relief at hearing her voice, she was alive, and she was with the pack, she would be okay.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Mike said sarcastically, he approached Stiles, trailing a finger across his stomach and down his happy trail. “I will tell you something though. He has the most beautiful scream. I could listen to him screaming all day.” Mike looked up at Stiles meeting his eyes and grinned.

“If you’ve laid one finger on him…” His dad warned and Stiles felt his stomach churn uncomfortably at the thought of his dad involved with all this.

“What are you going to do Sheriff? Are you going to arrest me? I think you’d personally rather shoot me. Especially when you know what I’ve done to your son, what I’m doing to him right now.” Mike boasted, reaching around to grope Stiles’ ass.

“Damn right I’ll kill you.” John spat down the phone.

“I haven’t even got to the good part Sheriff. Did you know about that birthmark on his ass? The one shaped just a little bit like a fox?” Mike taunted and Stiles felt his face burn with shame when he heard the silence on the other end of the phone.

“Well, I’ve been spending a lot of time studying it.” Mike continued, gazing as Stiles as he taunted them all, “These past few hours have been so much fun. But I’m getting bored. There’s no fun torturing the boy when there’s nobody here to witness it. So here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to tell you where I am, and the whole pack is going to come.” Mike said dramatically and Stiles flinched as Logan pressed his body flush against his back.

“How do we know Stiles is still alive?” Chris’ voice came down the phone and Stiles felt a little relief, at least Chris was still being sensible, now if only he could keep quiet they’d all think he was dead and they wouldn’t come, they’d be safe.

“Oh, you want me to prove it?” Mike laughed grinning at Stiles as he grabbed at Stiles’ cock. “Stiles? They want to know you’re alive.” Stiles was silent, even when mike squeezed harder making him wince with pain. “Talk or I’ll make you scream.” Mike warned. Stiles only glared at him in return. “Alright, have it your way.” Logan stepped away from him and Stiles only had a moment to try and steel his nerves before the whip landed on his back, it hit several of the worst wounds directly and he screamed, he couldn’t help it, he couldn’t stop it. It hurt, god it hurt. He was weak. They’d come and they would all die here because of Stiles.

“See. That wasn’t so hard was it.” Mike cooed, going back to tracing the cuts across Stiles’ back. Stiles growled at him, not sure his voice was capable of words but knowing he had to try.

“It’s a trap.” Stiles said, hoping it would be enough to convince them to stay away.

“We’re coming for you Stiles. We’re coming okay?” Derek said and Stiles felt his heart trip, Derek was coming for him, god he wanted him to, wanted to feel Derek pressed up against him, his hands holding him tightly, Lydia clinging to him, talking to him, both of them there to protect him and save him. But he couldn’t do that to them. They’d die if they came here. He knew they would.

“Don’t.” Stiles begged, hoping they’d realize just how much he needed them to stay alive.

“Oh please do. I’d hate to have to hurt the poor boy even more. Although there’s plenty I can still do to him, there’s a lot I’d like to do to him.” Mike laughed, dipping his hand back down and groping Stiles’ cock again.

“Get your fucking hands off me.” Stiles growled.

“Oh come on, mind that language in front of your father.” Mike laughed and Stiles grimaced, he didn’t want them to know how bad it was.

“Fuck you.” Stiles replied, determined to give the impression that he was holding up okay, that they shouldn’t come. He fully expected the hits that rained down on him but he hadn’t expected to feel one of his ribs crack and then suddenly he couldn’t breathe properly, every breath hurt and he found himself gasping for air.

“I have every intention of fucking you. But we’ll wait until they get here for that won’t we?” Mike teased when the beating finally stopped and Stiles couldn’t do anything other than glare at him.

“Come to the old industrial estate. We’re waiting in warehouse six. You best all be here in half an hour or we start without you.” Mike informed them and then promptly ended the call.

Stiles took another fist to the stomach and it knocked all of the air out of him, he didn’t have the strength left to keep his legs under him, instead he now hung uselessly by his wrists, he could feel the chains cutting into him and could feel the blood trickling down his arms but he didn’t have the strength to do anything about it.

He was terrified, time was passing too quickly and he knew the pack was coming and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Mike continued to grope him and hit him, Logan punched him repeatedly until he could barely see from the blood that was running down his face, he could taste it in his mouth and then Mike had kissed him again, moaning in delight when he tasted Stiles’ blood too.

He wanted to die. He just wanted it to be over.

Lydia

Lydia didn’t care that her head hurt or that she still had drying blood across her forehead. What she cared about right now was Stiles. She didn’t want to say anything to Derek because she was sure she was just imagining it, but it was like she could sense what an awful state Stiles was in. She could almost feel his pain the closer they got to the warehouse. She had an overwhelming urge to just curl up and cry, that death was better than this, that there needed to be an end to it.

“Lydia?” Allison asked her and Lydia looked around suddenly aware that the whole pack was staring at her.

“What?” Lydia demanded, unsure as to why they were wasting time when Stiles was being hurt.

“Do you know what you just said?” Scott asked looking at her with concern.

“No. What the hell are you on about? Come on Stiles needs us.” Lydia said dismissively continuing forward towards the warehouse.

“You said that you just wanted it to be over. That it hurts so much and you just want to die, just so you can rest.” Isaac said calmly but it was clear they were all looking at her like she was crazy. “Is your head that bad?” He asked.

“No. Don’t be stupid. I don’t think that. I just,” Lydia paused, unsure what she was going to say next, she felt a pressure on her back, something burning, stinging, hurting. She winced, placing her hand on her back convinced that she would find blood there but her hand came back clean and the pain was starting to fade. She stopped in her movement forward as a realization washed across her. “Oh, you bastards!” She shouted, racing forward until Derek grabbed her by the arm.

“Lydia! Calm down! Look at me, what’s going on?” He asked her, his voice flooded with concern, how could Lydia explain it to him? How could she inflict this on him?

“Stiles.” She said, tears spilling from her eyes, “They’re whipping him.” She said watching as the horror filled Derek’s eyes.

“No.” He said in denial. “You can’t know that, how do you know that?”

“I can feel it Derek. Now, please, let’s go. It’s not me that feels like dying just so they can rest. Do you understand? Derek, please.” Lydia pleaded, pulling from his grip and racing towards the warehouse.

The rest of the pack were frozen in place as Lydia’s words were processed and then suddenly they were all running, all racing towards the warehouse, desperate to get to Stiles before it was too late.

Lydia knew when the wolves heard Stiles, the looks of anguish on their faces when they heard him screaming, Lydia was glad in that moment that she didn’t have super hearing, she could feel the burn of the whip across her back and it pushed her to run faster. Stiles needed her.

They didn’t slow down when they reached the warehouse, just burst open the door and raced in, the wolves all wolfed out and glaring at the hunters. Lydia felt her stomach roll as she smelt blood, knowing that it all came from Stiles, god, she was going to be sick, she couldn’t stand this. She had only a moment to glimpse Stiles, he was chained up, naked apart from his boxers which had obviously been pulled down and then back up at some point, he was beaten black and blue, blood dripping steadily to the ground, she wasn’t sure if he was conscious or not, she hoped he wasn’t so he didn’t have to deal with the pain he would be in. But before she could take a step forwards there was suddenly a loud bang, she turned trying to see what it was when suddenly Erica collapsed to the ground next to her, a dart sticking out of her chest.

“Erica!” Lydia cried, dropping to the floor beside her. She felt quickly for a pulse relieved when she found one, she turned to tell the others but instead found herself surrounded by unconscious werewolves. Chris, Allison and John were across from her, crouched down next to various incapacitated wolves. Chris and John both had their fingers on the triggers of their guns, looking at the hunters across the room, Allison looked ready to fire her bow. Lydia only looked at the wolves and felt completely helpless. She couldn’t do anything.

“Welcome to the party.” One of the hunters said strolling forwards, he was grinning wildly and was splashed with blood. Lydia tried to stand but she felt overwhelmingly dizzy and decided sitting might be a better option.

She could see John staring at Stiles in horror, as if waiting to see some sign of life from his son.

“What have you done to him?” John said his voice hushed.

“Oh, nothing too serious. He’ll live. Now, lay down your weapons and kindly step this way.” The man said turning his back on them and clearly expecting them to follow orders.

Lydia stumbled as she stood and Allison clung tightly onto her arm to keep her upright. They followed the man across to another part of the warehouse closer to Stiles. Lydia used the trip to study Stiles, she could see his chest rising and falling so she knew he was breathing, but other than that she really wasn’t sure. There was just so much blood and he looked too pale and fragile, his lips looked almost blue in the harsh lighting and she was sure he must be freezing. She heard the movement of hunters and watched with disgust as the wolves were dragged across to them and then chained in place. The man that seemed to be in charge handed out more chains and a moment later Lydia found herself connected to a chain. She felt the weight of it against her wrists, wondered vaguely how it would feel to be dangling from a pair of chains, to feel them cutting into her skin. She looked to Stiles, saw the blood trickling down his arms from where they had cut into him and shuddered.

Allison knocked her shoulder gently and raised an eyebrow, obviously trying to find out if she was okay. Lydia shook her head, she wasn’t okay, she was so far from okay. She couldn’t stop the tears running down her cheeks at the sight of Stiles. She’d failed him. She was supposed to take him to Derek’s and they were supposed to look after him. She shouldn’t have insisted instead of going with him to Deaton’s, she should have made him come with her to Derek’s. This was all her fault.

Deaton appeared in her eye line and she watched as he walked around the wolves placing a mountain ash circle around them. Lydia glared at him, Chris spat insults at him and John seemed unaware, his eyes unable to look away from his son. Allison squeezed her hand tightly as if letting Lydia know that she was still with them, but it felt useless. She needed Stiles. She needed Derek. She needed a way out of this.

It was only a moment later when the wolves started to move, it was obvious that the darts wouldn’t have kept them out for much longer and Lydia felt a rush of relief when Derek opened his eyes and looked blearily at her. He raised an eyebrow, silently questioning if she was okay, she nodded quickly in reply but she knew that he saw the worry on her face and he turned to look at the hunters and at Stiles.

Derek growled, his eyes flashing red and instantly the whole pack was awake and moving, the pull of their alpha waking them up.

“What have you done to him?” Derek growled, his voice tight while he looked at Stiles. Lydia held tightly onto Allison’s hand, she knew she would need her strength to get through this.

“We’ve just been having fun haven’t we Logan?” The man taunted as another hunter stepped towards Stiles.

“Oh yeah.” Logan drawled, “We’ve been having lots of fun.” Lydia flinched when Logan smacked Stiles with the palm of his hand across his back. Stiles groaned in pain and then his eyes fluttered open and looked to them. She saw him freeze when he saw them helpless before him.

“So, how do you want to do it then Mike?” Logan asked gripping tight onto the back of Stiles’ neck so that he couldn’t look away from the sight in front of him. Mike, obviously the one in charge, glanced at the pack, saw the looks of devastation on their faces and then smirked at them before walking over to Stiles, running a hand carelessly over Stiles’ stomach, leaving slight scratch marks.

“What do you think Stiles? Who should we start with?” Mike said leaning in close to Stiles and gazing at the pack, a smirk still on his lips.

“Please.” Stiles whispered, his voice cracking and Lydia felt her heart breaking, “Please Mike, I can’t. I told you I don’t know. Please.”

Mike only laughed, seeming to ignore Stiles as he continued as if Stiles’ had never spoken. “Maybe we start with your dad? Hmm? Sheriff, you’ve raised such a beautiful looking boy haven’t you? You’d die wouldn’t you? To protect him?”

“Don’t.” Stiles pleaded again at the same time as John nodded furiously.

“Whatever it takes. Just take your hands off my boy.”

“Dad. No. Please.” Stiles begged, tears slipping down his cheeks.

“You hear that Stiles. He’s going to die and it’s on you.”

“No!” John shouted.

“Please Mike. Whatever you want. Just don’t hurt them.” Stiles begged, it was clear to see he was half delirious with pain and fear.

“Oh really? Anything?” Mike smirked, looking back at the pack and taunting them with the power he had over all of them right now. “Stiles.” Mike warned, gripping hold of Stiles’ face when he started to drop towards unconsciousness again. “Look at me.” Stiles blinked, slowly raising his gaze to look at Mike. Mike surged forwards pressing his lips against Stiles’, Lydia felt the whole pack tense at the sight in front of them, she was almost shaking with anger and she was sure Derek was in the same situation. How dare that bastard touch Stiles!? She’d kill him.

Stiles tried to pull away from the kiss but he was held in place by Mike and Logan pressed up behind him. Lydia could see the panic written all over his face, the way the chains smacked together as he tried desperately to get away, the whimper of pain as fingers dug into his abused back. Lydia didn’t know how much longer it was going to go on but she couldn’t bear it, she felt like screaming, she felt like destroying everything in sight. She would make them pay for ever touching him, make them pay for hurting someone that was hers. She would make them hurt and beg for death.

Derek

He’d come around slowly, not quite able to remember what had happened until he locked eyes with Lydia, he could smell the distress coming off her in waves, even though she nodded that she was okay it was obvious that she was far from it. It was then that he remembered Stiles. He’d seen him when he’d first entered the warehouse and it had stopped him in his tracks. He’d heard him screaming in pain, it had made him feel physically sick, then he’d smelt the blood, he knew it was going to be bad, but seeing him chained up, beaten black and blue, blood dripping onto the floor below him and hearing him struggle to breathe, it had frozen Derek in place, unable to process that Stiles could be in such a bad state.

That moment of shock had cost him everything, the pack had been taken out and were now all chained up and trapped behind a mountain ash barrier. He was frozen again at the sight of Stiles, at listening to him beg for Mike and Logan not to hurt them. He was beyond anger, he felt something vile churning in his gut, how dare they touch his mate? Watching Mike kiss Stiles drove him to near insanity. He was struggling to control himself and he knew the rest of the pack was struggling too, he wished he was next to Lydia so he could feel her hand on his, so he could know that she was still with him.

Eventually Mike pulled away still smirking at them, Derek could tell the guy was enjoying this, enjoying their helplessness, enjoying the power he held over them. They couldn’t do anything other than watch as they abused Stiles. No wonder Stiles had begged them not to come. It would have been bad enough that they were doing this to him anyway, he wouldn’t have wanted his dad to see it, or any of them to see it. Derek had gone against Stiles’ wishes and now he wished he’d at least kept John out of this, he could have given Stiles that at least.

“So, you think you can do it now?” Mike said addressing Stiles. Stiles glanced at the pack, staring at all of them as if he was memorizing their faces.

“I told you I don’t know how.” Stiles replied defeated.

“Maybe he needs more motivation?” Logan said taking a step forward and grabbing hold of Stiles’ ass. Derek growled as Stiles yelped.

“You’re right.” Mike said strolling towards them, pulling a gun from his belt. “The question is Stiles, who should we try it on first? Your dad maybe?” Mike pointed the gun directly at John’s head and John glared at him, hatred obvious in his face but no fear.

“No!” Stiles called out, trying to twist out of the chains and Logan’s grip. Derek felt a shiver run across his skin as a soft breeze twisted its way through the warehouse.

“Okay, how about your alpha?” Mike said, pausing in front of Derek, Derek gritted his teeth to stop himself from saying something stupid. He wouldn’t show any fear to these monsters.

“No! Wait please!” Stiles begged, pulling on the chains more feverishly, his eyes wide with panic, Derek could hear his heart rate going through the roof.

“Hmm, Stiles, I’m going to shoot someone. How about your best friend? Or the girl you’ve been crazy about for years? Or these two wolves that you were so willing to suffer for before?” Mike taunted taking his time levelling the gun at each pack members face. Derek struggled to control his urge to surge forward and gut the man. He wouldn’t get far, unless they all worked together he would crash into the floor mere inches from where he was now, not to mention the ash circle that was holding them in place.

“No!” Stiles screamed as Mike tightened his finger on the trigger while it was still pointing at Isaac. Mike paused to look at Stiles.

“Come on then. Do it.”

“I,” Stiles paused, obviously trying to buy some time. “I need my hands free.” Stiles sighed gesturing towards the chains that still held him in place. Mike thought it over for a moment and then nodded, Logan reached across and lowered the hook that was supporting Stiles. As soon as the support disappeared Stiles collapsed to his knees, his legs unable to support his weight.

“Come on now Stiles.” Mike said, waving the gun around at the pack. “You’re not going to let me just shoot them are you?”

Stiles glared at him, getting unsteadily to his feet, swaying on the spot rubbing at his raw wrists and trying to get some feeling back into his hands.

“Okay, show time.” Mike laughed levelling the gun at Erica. “Stop this or she dies.” He said viciously before pulling the trigger.

Everything slowed down, Derek heard the retort of the gun, heard the gasp of breath from Erica, saw Stiles stretch his hand out in front of him a look of horror and despair on his face, a cry of denial on his lips, and oddly, a tinge of green to his eyes that Derek had never seen before.

A moment later and he heard the thud of the bullet as it made its mark followed by Mike’s hysterical laughter.

“See, knew you could do it kid.” Mike laughed again. Derek took a moment to look away from Stiles who had gone white as a sheet to turn and look behind him. He was sure he was about to see Erica’s body slumped lifelessly on the floor, instead he was met with the sight of a broad tree standing directly in the path of the bullet. The rest of the pack were staring at the tree and then Stiles with a look of awe on their faces. Meanwhile Stiles was staring at the tree with complete shock and disbelief written all over his face.

“What the fuck?” Scott said as eloquent as ever.

“I’m curious about that one myself.” Deaton said from where he had sat quietly during their recent exchange. “I think you should try it again just to be sure.” There was a growl of anger echoing from somewhere in the pack but Derek didn’t know where, at that moment all he could see was the gun already lowering to Lydia and the trigger been pulled. Stiles managed to stop it again but Derek could see the strain it was taking on an already weakened Stiles. Still, Mike fired more bullets until his gun was clicking on empty and the pack was nearly surrounded by a sudden growth of trees. Derek hadn’t been able to tear his eyes away from Stiles, noticing the green glow in his eyes becoming more and more obvious as trees continued to sprout from the ground.

Mike was laughing unable to believe his eyes.

“You know, I thought I’d imagined it that first night, if Logan hadn’t been there I would have said I’d been hallucinating. But this, Stiles, this is something pretty incredible.” Mike said happily, slinging an arm around Stiles’ shoulder and pulling him close. Stiles tried to push him away, swearing at him but his voice was barely above a whisper and he was swaying where he stood. Derek knew Stiles wouldn’t last much longer, he could hear his harsh breathing without supernatural hearing. Stiles was suffering.

“Alright, so Deaton, Mr magic man, tell me what Stiles is now and I’ll let you can leave.”

“I might be wrong, after all, I wasn’t aware that Mr Stilinski here had any magical abilities.” Deaton said cautiously, Mike only rolled his eyes and waved his gun in Deaton’s general direction. Deaton cleared his throat and continued, “I would hazard a guess that Stiles is an elemental. They can control the elements. He’s not growing trees out of thin air, he’s forcing them to grow faster is all. The last elemental was heard of over five hundred years ago, it was assumed they’d died out, they didn’t come into their powers until they reached maturity, usually in their early twenties, definitely not this young. It might only be earth for now, but soon enough, if taught properly, he would be able to control water, air and fire also.” Deaton explained calmly. Derek paled, the idea that Stiles could control the elements was something he couldn’t even process, and yet he’d witnessed it with his own eyes. It took only a quick glance at the rest of the pack to see that they could hardly believe it either, Stiles was glaring at Deaton in disgust.

“And I assume you want to be the one to teach him?” Mike questioned.

“I believe my instructions would be invaluable.” Deaton advised.

“Okay.” Mike said firmly. “Pack up, we’re leaving.” He said to the rest of the hunters, “Oh and Kill them.” He shouted waving his gun in the general direction of the pack as if as an afterthought. Stiles stumbled forward, turning his back on the pack and throwing his arms up in defence as several guns were suddenly pointed in Derek’s direction.

Vines appeared at the hunter’s feet, wrapping around their legs and pulling them from their feet. A gust of wind blew through the warehouse and Derek felt like he was in a tornado, struggling to stay upright as the wind buffeted them, at least they had the trees to give them some protection, as soon as he thought that he noticed that the trees were spreading outwards, bending over, forming a dome around them to protect them. Derek heard a few shouts and thuds and then there was silence.

He looked up and saw the hunters were all down on the ground apart from Mike who was still aiming his gun in their direction. Vines were curled tightly around the bodies of the downed hunters; Derek could see they were still breathing but they were obviously unconscious.

“That wasn’t very nice Stiles.” Mike growled before aiming the gun at John through the trees and pulling the trigger. Stiles stepped sideways, throwing himself into the path of the bullet, and blasting Mike backwards with a wave of air, knocking him unconscious. Derek had heard the whole pack shouting with denial, all of them unable to do anything other than watch as the events unfolded.

Stiles turned to look at them, he stumbled as he turned and went down on his knees.

“Huh.” Stiles whispered in surprise at the blood running down his chest before collapsing completely.

“Stiles!” Derek shouted surging forwards pulling half the pack with him before smashing into the ash circle.

“Stiles!” He heard voices echoing around him but he couldn’t move, couldn’t get to him, couldn’t even tell if Stiles was still breathing in his panic to get to him. Suddenly Lydia was pushing past him sweeping her hand across the ash and breaking the circle. They all rushed forward through the small gap left in the trees, the chains snapping away easily as their strength returned, Derek tripping over in his haste and landing on his knees next to Stiles.

“Stiles, wake up!” He demanded, lifting his head gently to rest on his lap, already pressing on the wound to keep pressure on it. He felt Lydia next to him, her hands fluttering across Stiles’ face, resting on his neck, checking for a pulse.

“He’s alive.” She breathed and Derek felt himself relax infinitesimally. “Derek, it’s okay. He’s alive.” Lydia repeated and Derek looked at her in confusion, it was only then that he realized his claws were coming out and his eyes were flashing. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

“Stiles.” John whispered from next to them, his voice broken, tears sliding down his cheeks. “Come on kiddo, wake up for me, please.” John begged, stroking Stiles’ face gently.

“We need to call an ambulance.” Allison said quickly already grabbing a phone from the table. “He might be supernatural but he’s still human. He’s lost too much blood. We need to get him to a hospital.”

“Yes.” John said swiping a hand across his face, “God, yes. I’ll call the station. We need somebody to get these bastards in lock up.” John said striding away from Stiles and grabbing his phone.

“Where did Deaton go?” Erica asked and they all spun around to see that the vet was missing.

“We’ll worry about it later.” Scott said from where he still sat at Stiles’ side.

Time seemed to pass too slowly, Stiles’ breathing seemed to be getting worse and even though both Derek and Scott were drawing pain from Stiles it didn’t seem to be making any difference.

“Where’s the ambulance?” Isaac demanded a moment later when all the wolves heard Stiles’ heartbeat stutter.

“It’s on its way.” Allison replied, not realising why there seemed to be sudden panic amongst the wolves. Derek was terrified, he couldn’t bite Stiles, he didn’t know how the bite would work with his magic, he couldn’t risk accidently killing him.

“Hold on Stiles.” He begged, hearing his heartbeat start to stutter out of rhythm.

“It’s not going to be fast enough.” Scott said.

“What the hell do you mean?” Both John and Lydia demanded in unison.

“His heart, it’s failing.” Boyd whispered into the silence of the room. The pack members without supernatural hearing were all looking on in horror as both John and Lydia rushed to touch Stiles as if reassuring themselves that he was still warm under their fingertips, that he was still breathing.

“Stiles. Please, please don’t give up on me. Keep fighting for me, please.” John begged, not wanting to move him but desperate to cling to his son. Lydia was kneeling next to Derek, tears streaming down her face, Derek squeezed her hand tightly as she touched Stiles, he could feel the grief echoing through their bodies, he could hear the beating of Stiles’ heart that was getting slower. He was terrified, he was about to watch Stiles die, he couldn’t do it. He had to do something. But the bite would more than likely kill him, even if he wasn’t magical then Derek didn’t think he had enough strength to survive the bite.

“Can you turn him?” John asked quickly, looking to Derek like it was his last hope. Derek guessed it was. He shook his head slowly.

“It would kill him. He’s not strong enough.” Derek said quietly not wanting to look at John as he told him that his son was dying.

“No. He would. This is Stiles. He’d make it.” John argued, his voice full of determination.

“He wouldn’t.” Scott said, holding tightly onto John, hugging him tightly.

“I can hear sirens!” Isaac shouted, running to the front of the warehouse and ripping the doors open.

“Hold on Stiles. Just hold on a little longer.” Lydia whispered leaning down and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “If anyone’s strong enough to get through this it’s you. You can’t leave us. There’s stuff we still need to talk about.” She whispered, her voice lost in amongst the racket as the ambulance and the rest of the sheriff’s department arrived.

The ambulance crew arrived quickly, pushing the pack out of the way in their haste to make it to Stiles. Derek sat there in silence, he listened to their words but they bounced around uselessly in his skull. Stiles needed him and there was nothing he could do. He was useless, he wouldn’t make a good mate. He should get away from here, make sure that Lydia and Stiles found someone who was worthy of them.

“BP is dropping.” One of the men said as they lifted Stiles onto a stretcher.

“We’ll need to call ahead, get surgery prepped, bullet wound to the top right chest, multiple lacerations, broken ribs, possible punctured lung.” There was more movement. “He’s o negative. We need blood ready on our arrival.” The second man said into his radio.

Derek stood to his feet slowly to follow them as they loaded the ambulance, he was moving slowly, it felt like he was wading through quicksand, one of the men placed a hand on his chest and Derek looked down at in confusion, wondering how it got there and why it was there.

“Family only. Sheriff you coming?” The man said as John jumped in the ambulance, John sat down next to Stiles, gripping his hand tightly and then the doors shut and they were gone.

Derek glanced down at himself, his hands were covered in blood, Stiles’ blood. He wiped them quickly down his shirt, not caring that he was getting blood everywhere, just needing to get the blood off his hands.

“Derek.” Lydia said from next to him, grabbing his hands to stop the movement and gazing at him, her face etched with concern. “Listen to me. It’s okay.” She said squeezing his hands tightly. “He’s going to be okay. Okay?” Derek blinked back tears, it wasn’t okay, how was Stiles going to be okay? There was so much blood and he was so still and pale and his heartbeat was slowing and how was he going to be okay? Lydia seemed to realize all he was trying to say without even opening his mouth and she leaned into him, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back, his chin resting on her head.

“It’s Stiles. He won’t quit on us. I know he won’t.” Lydia whispered quietly so that Derek was sure he was the only one to hear it.

The rest of the pack gathered around a moment later Scott looking sheepishly in the direction of the deputies.

“I think we should get out of here before they ask any more questions.” He said a moment later.

“What did you say to them?” Isaac asked and Lydia groaned, Scott was literally the worse liar on the face of the planet.

“Erm, that they tripped and fell into the vines. We should probably go though, before they want any more details.” Scott said already herding the pack towards the door.

They all headed to the hospital desperate to hear how Stiles was doing. Derek spotted John as soon as he walked through the door, the man was radiating worry, he was pacing near a set of chairs, obviously unable to sit down, his hands covered in blood, despair written into every one of his features.

“How is he?” Derek said striding up to John, needing to know that Stiles was okay, not knowing how he would continue in this world without him.

“He went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. They managed to get his heart started again. He’s in surgery at the moment.” John said quietly, obviously trying to process the fact that his son was on the verge of death, that he had died for a moment, that there was still a good chance he might die.

“He’ll be okay.” Lydia said quietly, placing a comforting hand on John’s shoulder. “I know he will.”

“I wish I had your optimism.” John replied.

“It’s not optimism. You know how I felt it when they hit him, I can still feel him fighting. He’s not going to quit on us. He knows I’d be pissed at him. He’s going to be fine.” Lydia said confidently before sinking down into one of the nearby chairs.

The rest of the pack followed suit, only Derek and John remained standing, evidently both of them too wired up to sit down and stay still. The hours ticked by and there was still no news, Derek could only pray that no news was good news. Melissa appeared a little while later, apparently she’d been on shift elsewhere in the hospital and had only just found out. She gave John a hug and promised to find out what was going on and let him know as soon as she could.

It made Derek feel a bit more optimistic, that someone there knew and cared for Stiles and would let them know everything as soon as she could. More time passed. They were all sat in silence, all wrapped up in their own thoughts. Melissa appeared eventually but it was obvious she had been crying and John reached out to grasp hold of Derek’s shoulder, as if they were the only things that would keep each other standing.

“He’s alive John.” Melissa said quickly and Derek felt John all but sag in relief. “He’s in a bad way but he survived the surgery and they’re putting him in recovery now.”

“Can we see him?” Derek asked and Melissa shook her head sadly.

“Not at the moment no. Once they’ve got him settled and they’re happy then you should be able to. But it’s still very touch and go at the moment and they might need to take him back into surgery yet.”

“Why?” John demanded.

“I think the doctor really needs to talk to you about that. I’ll get him to come across as soon as he can. I’m sorry I can’t do anything else at the moment, but I’ll keep an eye on him.” Melissa said lovingly.

“Okay. Yeah. Sure. Just, god, just please let me know as soon as I can see him.” John begged and Melissa nodded sadly before going back to work.

John sunk down into a seat, the relief that Stiles was still alive obviously making him weak in the knees. Derek looked around at his pack, they looked exhausted, pale faces staring at nothing as they thought of the various horrors that Stiles had suffered. Derek looked down at his hands, blood had long since dried under his nails and his shirt and jeans were crusted with it. He needed to see Stiles, he needed to know he was okay.

“Derek?” Lydia said a moment later and Derek looked up at her. “I think we’ll be here a while. Why don’t I go get everyone some clean clothes?” Lydia asked and Derek could have kissed her right then. It was something that needed to be done but nobody wanted to leave the hospital. The fact that Lydia would be willing to leave just to make sure they were all looked after made his heart swell with love. He nodded silently, hoping that she realized just how grateful he was. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before disappearing down the corridor and out of sight.

More time passed. Derek was slowly losing his mind, how long did it take for the doctor to come and tell them what was going on? Lydia came back, she was wearing clean clothes and looked blood free and still the doctor hadn’t appeared, she was carrying several bags of clothes and they all thanked her when she handed out dry warm clothes to them. She also handed out several hand towels and told everyone to go get themselves cleaned up. Derek was the first to go to the bathroom, knowing that Lydia needed him to get back quickly. He washed off the blood and slipped into a pair of clean jeans and a warm t-shirt. He made a mental note to thank Lydia again later and then hurried back to the waiting room.

They were all changed and clean and looking marginally more put together when the doctor finally made an appearance.

“Sheriff Stilinski, I apologize for the delay there were some complications in your son’s recovery and I needed to make sure he was stable before I came out here.” He looked at the pack with wary eyes, “Would you like to go somewhere private to discuss this?”

“No. Anything that needs to be said can be said in front of them. They’re family.” John said quietly, “Now please, how’s Stiles?”

“Well, as your aware Stiles went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance, we lost him twice more on the table. His body was going into shock from loss of blood as well as his injuries. We removed the bullet, it thankfully didn’t hit anything vital and while it made him lose even more blood it wouldn’t have been life threatening if it wasn’t for the condition your son was already in. We inserted a tube to re-inflate his lung. He has three broken ribs and small pieces of bone broke off and pierced his lung, part of the reason the surgery took so long was to ensure that all pieces of bone were removed. We also had to stitch up several of the lacerations on his back and wrists. These have all been dealt with and Stiles should recover fully from the injuries.” There was a sigh of relief from the pack, “However,” The doctor continued, “Stiles also suffered from exposure, combined with the punctured lung means that he is currently suffering from pneumonia. He also took several hits to the head and has swelling on his brain.” The doctor paused to let the information sink in. “Because of this we’ve had to put him into an induced coma to ensure he heals properly; we’ve also had to insert a breathing tube because at the moment Stiles isn’t strong enough to breath for himself.”

Derek looked around at the distraught faces, how could he have allowed this to happen? He should have been watching Stiles better. Stiles was his mate and he’d left him unprotected. If Lydia hadn’t been there then how long would it have been before he realized Stiles was missing?

“There is something else. Something I can’t explain and why I’ve been so slow to get to you.” The doctor said quietly. “I know there’s a lot of strange things happen in this town, and I understand that and I guess I accept that there are going to be things that I don’t know. But the thing is, I saw it happen. If I hadn’t had seen it myself then I wouldn’t have believed it myself.” The doctor rambled.

“What is it?” Derek asked nervously, had Stiles used his powers while he was out?

“Well, you see Sheriff, your son has a tattoo.”

“What?” Echoed a chorus of voices, the doctor cleared his throat nervously.

“He has a tattoo that moves.” Everyone stared at the doctor like he’d gone insane. “You’ll believe it when you see it.”

“Can we see him then?” Scott piped up excitedly.

“Maybe only one or two of you for the time being. Stiles is still very weak. I’ll let you in now for five minutes but that’s all I can offer you for now. He needs to be constantly assessed by our team and we need easy access for that.” The doctor said. Scott looked disappointed but understood. John stood up to follow the doctor and turned back to the pack.

“Derek? Are you coming?” John asked quietly and Derek nearly tripped over his own feet in his rush to stand up. Lydia smirked at him and he squeezed her hand quickly before following John.

It took a moment for Derek to recognize Stiles. He looked awful, his skin was so pale it was almost translucent, his lips still had a tint of blue to them, there were wires and tubes everywhere and Derek hated the sound of the machines forcing air into Stiles’ lungs. He felt the tears slipping down his cheeks but he had no control over them, he couldn’t look at the boy in the bed and then compare him with Stiles, Stiles who was always in motion, always moving and laughing and snarling and always alive.

John had an arm around Derek’s shoulder, he wasn’t sure when it had appeared or how long it had been there but it seemed that John was struggling with the state of his son as well.

“So where’s this tattoo?” John asked a moment later, rubbing his hands over his face to get rid of the evidence of his tears. The doctor stepped forward and pulled up the sleeve on the long t-shirt they had Stiles in.

“I can’t show all of it to you just now. It’s important to keep Stiles as comfortable as possible. But it continues up his arm.” Both Derek and John stepped forward and looked down at the inside of Stiles’ arm. Derek gasped in shock.

On the pale skin was small embers of flame that were moving delicately as if been blown by a gentle breeze, as they travelled up his arm they turned softly into leaves, the browns of autumn, the greens of mid-summer, the leaves twisting slowly as they continued up his arm.

“What else?” Derek asked full of curiosity, he wanted to take Stiles’ shirt off and see every inch of this tattoo.

“Well, the leaves carry on and when they get to his shoulder blade it becomes evident that they are coming from a tree. It’s a large tree, with a river running near it. You can see the water running. It’s,” The doctor paused obviously overwhelmed, “It’s something I’ve never seen before and something I feel privileged to have witnessed.”

“I’m not so sure Stiles is going to agree.” John chocked out a laugh. “He’s going to go up the wall when he finds out he’s got a tree tattooed onto him.” Derek couldn’t help but laugh as well as he imagined Stiles’ reaction. They stayed there for a few more minutes, just staring at Stiles, as if trying memorize every single one of his features, and then it was time to leave.

The doctor followed them back out and insisted that he would inform them as soon as he had any further updates. Derek and John just headed back to the waiting room in silence, both of them wrapped up in their own thoughts.

“How is he?” Lydia asked, jumping from her seat as soon as Derek appeared.

“He’s alive.” Derek said firmly, not wanting to describe just how bad Stiles had looked.

“Does he really have a tattoo?” Erica asked and John nodded, “Does it make him look hotter than usual?” She said sweetly, laughing when both Lydia and Derek snarled at her. “Didn’t know you two got so jealous, good to know!” She laughed.

Derek tried to ignore the fact that the rest of the pack seemed to be studying Derek and Lydia with confusion in their eyes. Lydia huffed and grabbed Derek’s hand before taking a seat again.

There was silence in the room as everyone seemed to process what had just happened.

“So,” John said a moment later obviously trying to figure out what exactly was going on, “You’re dating my son? Both of you?” He asked, the stress and surprise obvious in his voice.

“No.” Lydia said firmly. “Stiles doesn’t know. We were going to talk to him about it when he was all healed up.”

“So, you’re dating each other then?” Scott asked and the confusion on his face made Derek want to laugh out loud.

“Sort of.” Derek supplied.

“Wolf thing. Mates.” Lydia supplied. “As in multiple partners. As in Derek and me and Stiles. But Stiles doesn’t know.” She said seriously and Derek couldn’t help the blush spreading on his cheeks as John stood speechless beside them.

“So you just expect my son to date both of you because it’s a wolf thing?” He stuttered.

“No.” Derek said quietly, “Stiles has a choice in this and I won’t force it on him. If he doesn’t want to do this, then it’s fine. It wouldn’t kill me or anything like that. He might not even feel the same way. It’s just,” He paused not knowing how to put it into words without sounding crazy.

“It’s a bond.” Lydia supplied, “Anyway, none of this really matters right now. We’ll talk to Stiles about it when he’s better, until then, we’d really appreciate none of you mentioning it.”

“He’s my son!” John spluttered, “You’re talking about a three-way relationship with my son. Which, oh my god, I don’t even want to think about this. No, nope, not happening. You’re what, six years older than him? He’s sixteen! He’s a child. You can’t seriously expect me to believe it’s a wolf thing. How do I know this isn’t your way of seducing teenagers?” John ranted, seemingly horrified by the idea.

“Sheriff.” Lydia said loudly, stilling John in a moment, “This isn’t the time to be discussing this. Let’s get Stiles better and then we can talk about it okay?” She said calmly and John nodded slowly, still looking horrified by the whole thing.

Lydia

Lydia spent the next few days practically living at the hospital along with Derek and John. The mates thing wasn’t mentioned again but Lydia had a feeling that John would be fine with the whole thing if it made Stiles happy. The rest of the pack came and drifted through the hospital, all of them coming in at least once a day to see how things were going. On the third day Stiles was moved to a normal room and they were actually allowed to sit in with him.

Lydia had never felt such worry before. Stiles was still breathing through a tube, he was still hooked up to various machines and he was still too still for her liking. She was terrified. Once they were allowed in the room Lydia made sure that someone was with Stiles at all times, she knew she wasn’t the only one wondering where Deaton had gone and she didn’t want to risk him coming after Stiles. There was something in his eyes when he was talking about elementals, Lydia didn’t like it, it unnerved her, the quicker Stiles was up and about and able to use his powers the better.

It was late afternoon on the fifth day when John cleared his throat, Lydia and Derek were the only other one’s in the room at the moment and so she knew he wanted to say something to them. Scott and Isaac had only just left.

“I think I was too harsh the other day.” John said quietly. “It was just a shock I guess. But if you promise to make my son happy then I don’t think there’s an issue.”

“Thank you Sir.” Derek muttered and Lydia nodded, she felt something like awe. Stiles had the best dad a kid could ask for, she wished her parents could be so understanding. She hadn’t even mentioned Derek and Stiles to them yet but they’d already been complaining that she had been spending all her time at the hospital and didn’t she have some shopping to go and do or something? They didn’t want her back at school and not looking the part of queen bee. Lydia had slammed her door on the way out of the house.

“I keep thinking about what Deaton said.” John said a minute later, “About how elementals only come into their powers when they reach maturity.”

“Yeah, well, obviously Deaton was wrong.” Lydia grumbled at the mention of the vet.

“Yeah he was. You know when Stiles was a kid, before his mum got sick, he used to help her in the garden all the time. She used to say he had such a green thumb, that he could get flowers to grow that she had never been able to.” John paused, obviously dwelling on the happy memories of his wife, “They used to spend whole days in that garden, it was their bonding time. Stiles kept himself busy, out of trouble, and he used to be so happy with his mum. I never intruded on their gardening time, could never get the hang of it myself, Stiles had to show me how to put bulbs in and even then his always just bloomed up out of nowhere while mine were still in the ground.” He paused again, glancing at Stiles on the bed, “When she got sick, Stiles took it hard, he was just a kid you know, he did everything he could for his mum, all the time, he was always there for her. He made her laugh when I never could. And then she died.” John sucked in a deep breath as if reliving it all over again.

“Stiles didn’t speak for a month. There was a big storm, I don’t know if you guys remember that? Probably not. But it rained constantly for a month, there was thunder and lightning and a wind that knocked you off your feet. One day there was a freak mudslide and our whole garden got wiped out. Every day made everyone feel miserable, there seemed to be no end in sight, I didn’t mind, it was exactly how I felt inside. I didn’t know how I was going to carry on. I was drowning my sorrows at the bottom of a bottle. Stiles was dealing with it all by himself. He was eight years old and I spent more time trying to deal with my loss than helping him with his.” John wiped at his eyes, clearing his throat. “One day he comes up to me, stares at me with those eyes and goes ‘Dad, mum wouldn’t want this for us.’ First words he spoke since she died and it’s to take the bottle off me and tell me to pull myself together. The storm stopped after that. I wonder now, looking back, if it was Stiles all along. These powers of his, feeding off his emotions maybe?” John said looking at Stiles and then at Lydia and Derek.

“They obviously seem to be linked to his emotions.” Lydia whispered, still on the verge of tears at imagining Stiles in that scenario. “Mainly his desire to protect. If he felt that he hadn’t protected his mum, then maybe that caused it? And it stopped because of his desire to protect you?”

Derek only nodded quietly in agreement. John looked to both of them and then back to Stiles, tears threatening again.

“I miss seeing him move.” John laughed, “First time I’ve ever wished for that, usually he destroys seven things before breakfast. But I’d give anything just to see him awake again.”

“It’ll happen.” Derek said softly and Lydia squeezed his hand, they all had to believe that. “When the doctors think he’s well enough they’ll stop the drugs and he’ll wake up and cuss us all for not looking after ourselves properly.” John laughed, looking down at the shirt he’d been wearing for the past few days.

“Yeah probably.” He murmured in agreement.

“Well, maybe we should go get cleaned up.” Derek said a minute later and looked to Lydia in confusion when she tensed. “You okay?” He asked suddenly worried.

“Something’s wrong.” Lydia said suddenly agitated, she didn’t feel right, everything was wrong, too far away, and dulled and it hurt, god it hurt so much. She doubled over in pain, she could hear Derek shouting her name but she couldn’t think about anything other than how much it hurt. Then it stopped instantly and she was left gasping for breath.

Just as she was starting to gather herself, just starting to look up at Derek and John one of the machine’s that Stiles was hooked up to started beeping rapidly and his body started to convulse on the bed.

“Stiles!” Lydia called out in despair rushing forward to hold him still while Derek and John rushed forward as well. She saw Stiles open his eyes and look around at them. The panic was obvious, he was terrified and didn’t know what was going on. “Shh, Stiles it’s okay. It’s okay we’re here.” She said reassuringly. The door pushed open and several doctors swarmed in, ushering them out of the way.

They were escorted from the room and told to wait there while they worked on Stiles. Lydia sunk down into a chair with exhaustion.

“What’s happening?” John asked desperately, looking to Derek with his super hearing.

“I don’t know.” Derek replied, watching the door as if he would be able to see straight through it if he only tried a little harder.

They sat in silence, Lydia trying to ignore the pain that was running rampant through her body again, wrapping her arms around her chest in an effort to ease it.

“Lyds? You okay?” Derek said a minute later and Lydia nodded, blinking back tears. “What’s going on?” Derek said crouching down in front of her, looking at her in confusion, his face full of worry.

“It hurts.” She mumbled, unable to hold in her whimper of pain.

“What hurts? Where?” Derek asked, the fear in his voice evident to Lydia.

“Everywhere.” She whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“Okay. Let me get a nurse okay? We’ll figure out what’s going on.” Derek reassured her, already moving to go get help.

“No. Don’t. It’s okay. It’s not me.” Lydia whispered as the pain started to recede to a manageable level.

“What?” Derek said confused, “Lydia what are you on about?”

“It’s not me.” She repeated. “It’s not my pain.”

“Stiles.” Derek breathed as the realization rocked him. “God.” He sighed distraught, clutching at his hair in despair. Lydia placed her hands over his, gently removing them from his hair and then clutching them tightly in her own hands.

“He’ll be okay.” She whispered. “It’s fading already.” She whispered reassuringly.

“Sheriff.” The doctor said, stepping out of the room and drawing their attention.

“How Stiles? What happened? Can we see him?” John rambled, terrified of what had happened.

“Stiles is sleeping at the moment. He came out of the coma unexpectedly, we hadn’t included any painkillers in the solution as it wasn’t necessary. When he woke up he was in a lot of pain and very confused.”

“Is it normal to come out of a coma like that?” Derek asked and the doctor looked at them slowly.

“No. Not at all, but considering this is Stiles and there’s obviously something odd about him, it doesn’t exactly surprise me. We’ve given him some strong painkillers and removed the breathing tube. He’s sleeping now but I’m sure he’ll wake shortly.” The doctor smiled gently, “He was asking after you. He’ll be pleased to see you alive and well.” The doctor allowed them into the room and then disappeared down the hallway.

The room had changed drastically since their departure from it half an hour earlier. Stiles was still lay in the bed but there were a lot less machines and wires attached to him. He looked a slightly healthier colour, his eyelashes still dark against his skin. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully and Lydia felt herself relax in a way she hadn’t in so long. Stiles would be fine. She was sure.

It was hours later when she glanced up at the bed and saw Stiles’ eyelashes flutter.

“Stiles?” She whispered quietly, approaching the bed as both Derek and John came closer too. She watched as his eyelids fought to open and then she almost cried with joy when his groggy eyes opened.

“Dad?” He whispered his voice cracked, John went to his side, gripping his hand tightly.

“Right here kiddo.” Stiles smiled at him gently.

“Pack?” He mumbled and Derek stepped up next to Lydia.

“Everyone’s fine Stiles.” He said quietly and Lydia watched as Stiles gave a small nod of his head and went back to sleep.

Lydia felt like laughing. They’d been waiting so long for Stiles to wake up and the only words they’d got out of him was to see if everyone else was okay. She pressed closer to Derek and clutched at Stiles’ hand.

“Told you he’d be okay.” Lydia said a minute later and Derek and John both snorted.

“Honestly, two words out of him and a ‘I told you so’ from you! I’m feeling the love today.” Derek laughed and Lydia leaned into him, a smile on her lips.

Scott was back by the time Stiles woke up again. He’d been pleasantly surprised to see the difference in Stiles upon his return.

“Hey buddy.” Scott said as soon as Stiles opened his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

Stiles just smiled groggily at him and then closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.

“Is he supposed to do that?” Scott asked worriedly.

“He’s on some really strong painkillers sweetie.” Melissa said, “He’s going to be in and out of it for the next couple of days probably.”

The next time Lydia was in the room by herself, Derek had gone to get a drink and John had gone home to get a few hours’ sleep.

“Lyds?” Stiles voice shocked her, she’d been reading quietly next to his bed and hadn’t expected him to wake up.

“Hey Stiles. You okay?” She asked, he paused and then blinked blearily at her.

“What happened?” He mumbled

“You got yourself shot.” She reprimanded and Stiles just blinked sluggishly at her.

“Dad okay?” She nodded at the worry in his voice, “You? Derek? Pack?” She nodded repeatedly, easing the tension in his face. She squeezed his hand tightly and he smiled at her gently.

“Thanks.” He whispered, his voice full of emotion before slipping back to sleep. Derek came back a few minutes later. He was disappointed he’d missed Stiles been awake but glad to hear he’d woken up again.

Lydia must have drifted off to sleep at some point and when she woke it was to the soft murmur of voices.

“Stiles, I said I’d come.”

“I know. Didn’t want you to though.” Stiles replied, his words slurred slightly, “Didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“I couldn’t have left you there.” Derek replied and Lydia blinked slowly to look at them. Derek was holding onto Stiles’ hand and she smiled, Stiles seemed to be in a half dream state, his eyes fluttering open and closed, as if he was fighting desperately to stay awake. Lydia moved and sat on the arm of the chair next to Derek, letting him wrap an arm around her waist and placing her other hand over Stiles’ and Derek’s.

“We wouldn’t leave you Stiles. We won’t leave you.” Derek whispered and Stiles looked to be blinking back tears.

“Thanks.” He mumbled, “Didn’t want to stay there. Didn’t like them.”

“Nobody did.” Derek replied, getting a laugh from Lydia.

“Kept telling me to shut up and then talk. Was confusing.” Stiles said, his voice fading as he started to slip into sleep.

“I couldn’t imagine anyone getting you to shut up.” Lydia grinned, glancing down at Derek wo had a smile on his lips.

“That’s what I said.” Stiles relied and then he was silent. A moment later she could hear gentle snores letting them know he’d gone back to sleep. Derek leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Stiles’ forehead, Lydia followed a moment later, placing a kiss on his cheek and then turning and doing the same to Derek.

John returned a few hours after that and Lydia told him about what had happened while he was gone. Then both her and Derek left to go home, get some sleep and clean clothes. They’d be back before late afternoon.

Stiles

He wasn’t sure how long he was out. He kept seeing people but they were blurry, and half of it felt like a dream, he heard people talking to him, could hear voices around him, but keeping his eyes open was such an effort. He knew he should try, but he usually only succeeded for a moment or two before succumbing to the desire to close his eyes again.

He kind of remembered talking to Derek and then Lydia, he’d been confused because it looked like they both were actually worried about him. He didn’t know when he’d got so close to both of them and it really messed with his teenage hormones. It sounded about right that he was going to fall in love with two people who were both completely out of his reach. Although he’d been sure, just as he was falling into sleep, that he’d felt the brush of stubble across his forehead and the soft brush of Lydia’s hair across his cheek.

When he woke again it was to see his dad and Erica and Boyd all looking at him with relief.

“Stiles.” Erica said, bouncing over towards the bed, tracking her movement made his head hurt.

“Rica.” He mumbled in greeting.

“Hey kiddo, how are you feeling?” His dad asked sitting in the chair next to the bed.

“Like I got shot.” Stiles replied, earning a laugh from his dad, Erica and Boyd.

“Wouldn’t know the feeling.” His dad replied.

“Let’s keep it that way.” Stiles whispered, suddenly feeling overcome with emotion. What if he’d been a second too late? What if it hadn’t hit him and hit his dad instead? What if it had killed him? Stiles could practically feel his heart racing in his chest and he couldn’t seem to get enough air, what if his dad had died because Stiles had failed to protect him?

“Hey, Stiles.” His dad ordered and Stiles felt the hands on his cheeks, “Listen to me. You’re okay. I’m okay.” Why was his dad’s hair blowing around like that? Why was Erica’s? Why were there papers fluttering all over the room. “Listen Stiles. Deep breath. Okay. One, two, three.” Stiles copied his dad’s movements, even though he felt like he was copying them wrong. He sucked in a deep breath, air filling his lungs quickly and suddenly the room settled and Stiles could breathe.

“Forgot about that.” Stiles mumbled a moment later, suddenly remembering that he could control air, that would come in handy for future panic attacks he thought vaguely.

“It’s alright kid, we’re all okay. You just need to focus on getting yourself better. Then we can figure out everything else, alright?”

Stiles nodded in reply, he felt a lot better now actually, the panic attack seeming to pull him out of his drug fuelled state.

“What’s happening?” Stiles asked a moment later, “With,” He paused, unable to say the names, unable to think about what they did without needing a shower, “With the hunters?” He finished. If his dad noticed the reluctance to say their names he didn’t mention it.

“They’re all in lock up at the moment. I threw everything at them, maximum charges possible. They won’t get out. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“What about how they got knocked out?” Stiles asked quietly. Erica grinned bouncing on her toes.

“Scott told the police what happened.” Stiles groaned and rolled his eyes, Scott was the worst liar on the planet. “They fell into the vines and knocked themselves out.”

“Jesus.” Stiles huffed out a sigh of despair, “First job when I’m out of here is to teach Scott how to actually spin a good tale.” The whole room laughed and Stiles felt lighter than he had done in a while.

“That’s not the only thing though.” Erica said grinning mischievously, “Derek says we’re not allowed to tell you because you’ll freak out.” She started, stopping suddenly when Boyd elbowed her in the ribs and both Boyd and his dad tensed, he didn’t miss that, he was obviously missing something. She glared at Boyd, “But, I’m going to tell you anyway because I think it’s amazing and has definitely increased how unbelievably hot you are. I mean I’d date you if Boyd didn’t mind having a three-way. How do you feel about that by the way?” Stiles blushed, spluttering slightly as he tried to process what she was saying.

“What are you going on about?” He murmured, he was curious but he could already feel the pull of the drugs again and decided he needed to go back to sleep soon.

“You’ve got a tattoo!” Erica said, bursting with excitement. “You winning the lacrosse game, getting beaten up by a gang of thugs and now you’ve got a tattoo! Everyone is going to want a piece of you!” She said happily and yet Stiles still felt there was something he was missing.

“A tattoo?” He asked in confusion, when did he have time to get a tattoo? “I’m confused?” He added, his eyes going wide when Erica pulled the sleeve on his shirt up and he saw the flickering embers on his arm. “What the fuck?” He said in disbelief.

“Language.” John warned.

“Dad. I’ve got a moving tattoo. I think this calls for fuck.” Stiles said, not looking away from the tattoo. “What the actual living fuck?” He whispered again, turning his arm slightly and watching the leaves and embers flutter.

“We haven’t seen it all yet. The doctor wouldn’t let us see, but he says it goes all the way up your arm and you have a tree and everything.” Erica supplied happily. Stiles just stared at her dumbfounded. “That’s not the best bit though. Your eyes change colour too.”

“I’m sorry what?” John interrupted.

“Haven’t you seen it yet?” Erica supplied and John shook his head slowly.

“When he uses air his eyes have silver in them, with earth it’s green. I bet when you start on water and fire they change to colours for them too.” She said with enthusiasm. There was sudden silence in the room before Stiles sighed heavily a minute later.

“Okay.” Stiles mumbled, “Tattoo. Powers. Eyes changing colours. Got it.” He said quietly, “Anything else?” He asked

“Well, not that we can tell you right now. I’m sure you’ll figure it out by yourself though.” Erica said smugly and Stiles thought he might try throttling her.

“Okay. I need to rest my eyes for a minute okay?” He said, his eyes already closing of their own accord.

“Sure kiddo. You sleep. We’ll be here.” His dad replied and then he sunk into darkness again.

Stiles wasn’t sure how long he’d slept when he woke up again but the sun was setting out of the room window and there was a light on in the corner of the room. He didn’t know what had woken him but he was definitely awake. He felt better than he had done in a while and he intended to keep it that way by not moving. Instead he studied the room, it was the first time that he’d woken up and no-one had been there, he wondered what was going on. He decided to just close his eyes and relax and enjoy the silence for a minute.

The door opened a few minutes later and Stiles wasn’t sure why but he didn’t bother to open his eyes. He could hear the low murmur of voices, he instantly placed them as Derek and Lydia, his dad and Isaac. Scott was there but he only said a few words.

“I’m going to kill Erica later.” Lydia growled and Stiles was pretty impressed, Lydia sounded genuinely pissed as she entered the room.

“I just think she was testing the waters.” Isaac protested but it sounded like a weak argument.

“He’s been through enough. She should be letting him recover in peace, not telling him about a stupid tattoo minutes after a panic attack.” Derek whispered in a hushed voice and Stiles felt a little hurt, he thought his tattoo was pretty cool, it moved! Who else had a tattoo that moved? That wasn’t stupid. He was about to say as much when his dad cut in.

“I’m in agreement here. I’ve said I’ll go along with whatever Stiles wants. But he needs to be in the right head space first. You should have seen him earlier, he was so confused and there’s so much to process. We need him to be up and about before this is discussed.” His dad muttered

“Erica didn’t mean any harm.” Scott whispered, “But I get that it was out of line.” He sighed defeated. “She’s just trying to look out for Stiles. I think she doesn’t want you guys pressuring him into anything. Letting him know he has options.” He whispered. Stiles heard Derek growl.

“We wouldn’t pressure him into anything. That’s not how this works. Anyway, what options? Erica and Boyd?” Derek scoffed.

“No. I mean maybe? I don’t know. But you know she was right about what she said. Stiles is going to have a lot of people paying him attention. She’s just trying to be a friend to him.” Scott whispered and Stiles decided it might be a good time to make his presence known. He blinked open his eyes sluggishly, noticing that everyone in the room was turning towards him.

“Hey Stiles.” His dad said coming towards him, “How are you feeling?”

Stiles looked at the rest of them, why were they looking quite so worried? Had something happened?

“What’s going on?” He asked, suddenly terrified, they all looked guilty, they were obviously hiding something from him, was it the hunters? Or Deaton? Had they escaped? Were they coming for him? He wouldn’t survive another attempt on his life. He wasn’t strong enough. He couldn’t protect them. He’d fail and everyone would die.

“Woah, Stiles, calm down.” Lydia said rushing over to the bed. It was only then that Stiles noticed the floor was shaking. “Listen, it’s fine, everyone’s fine.”

“The hunters? Did they get out? Are they coming?” He said, he knew they could all sense his panic because suddenly they were all rushing towards him and he was terrified and he couldn’t think straight and how was he supposed to breathe? How was he supposed to help when he couldn’t even move?

“Stiles.” Derek demanded his attention and Stiles submitted willingly, unable to tear his gaze from Derek’s. “They’re locked up. They aren’t coming for you. You’re safe.” Derek said, speaking calmly and slowly and Stiles felt himself relax as the words filtered through his brain. The floor stopped creaking and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“It’s okay Stiles.” Lydia said, brushing her hand through his hair, Stiles wasn’t going to deny that it felt really nice and he felt safe.

“Well, what’s going on then?” He asked, licking his lips as his voice cracked with disuse. His dad handed him a glass of water and Stiles drank it gratefully.

“Nothing Stiles. It’s just there’s a lot for you to process, finding out about these new powers and everything. We didn’t want you getting stressed about your tattoo and I’m a bit annoyed about Erica telling you.” Derek said and Stiles stared at him in disbelief. “What?” Derek said after a moment of silence.

“Did you just openly talk about your feelings?” Stiles said in disbelief, what the hell had happened while he’d been out? The rest of the room laughed and Stiles even saw a grin on Derek’s’ lips.

“Yeah. I guess I did. You obviously bring out the best in me.” Derek smirked and Stiles nearly choked on his water which resulted in another round of laughter.

It was a week later when the doctors finally thought Stiles was well enough to leave the hospital and it couldn’t come quick enough for Stiles. He was losing his mind lying in bed with nothing to entertain him. He still thought he was missing something the way the pack would look at him oddly occasionally, but he figured that was probably because he suddenly had powers, which by the way, were so freaking cool. He’d taken to practicing using them at night when nobody else was around. He had to concentrate, pull up that feeling of fear and failure and protection of the pack that had settled somewhere in his gut. But he got them to work and it was getting easier the more he practiced, becoming more like second nature rather than a struggle.

He couldn’t wait to get home and throw himself into research and figure out what else he could do. Derek and Lydia had both been there the first time he’d managed to manipulate water his eyes glowing a bright blue, he’d been hovering a bubble of it over near the door, holding it in place with air and then forcing it into different shapes. It was pretty hard work but Stiles was revelling in it. They’d both got a good laugh when he lost his concentration as Scott walked through the door and the water promptly dropped onto Scott’s head.

Stiles had stopped laughing when his injuries started to ache, but Lydia and Derek and Scott had still stood laughing for a while afterwards. It was weird to hear Derek laugh, to see him smile. He figured it had something to do with Lydia. Stiles would often catch him looking at Lydia with something like wonder in his eyes. Stiles figured it was just his luck that the two people in his whole life that he had fallen in love with and they would end up together. He’d expected it obviously, they were both gorgeous, and smart and clever. He just hated the fact that it meant that he couldn’t be with either of them.

They’d let him out of the hospital while only his dad was there, it was nice to spend time with his dad, everything had changed so rapidly in the past few weeks and he’d barely spent any time with him. He didn’t know how his dad was dealing with the whole werewolf thing, or the elemental thing, or just anything in general. It was weird, so Stiles decided to ask him about it on the trip home from the hospital.

“How are you holding up with everything?” Stiles asked quietly and his dad arched an eyebrow, “You know, werewolves? Freaky elemental son? Kidnappings? Near death experiences? All that kind of stuff.”

“Pretty big topics to cover in a ten-minute trip.” His dad replied teasingly and Stiles sighed.

“We don’t have to go straight home you know? We could go out for some food? Something healthy since I’m sure you’ve been using my absence to eat as much rubbish as you can.” His dad glanced across at him and then shook his head.

“The doctor told me to take you straight home and rest. You’re still not recovered Stiles. It’s just you’re not as bad as you were.”

“I know.” Stiles replied sorrowfully. Why couldn’t he be like the wolves and have super healing?

“So, quick answers,” His dad started and Stiles grinned, “Werewolves – okay, dealing with it. I’m not going to lie and say I like everything that comes with been a wolf, but they seem like good people so I’ll let it slide. They start murdering innocents and I’m going to come after them with wolfsbane bullets. Same goes for if they don’t start protecting you better.” Stiles started to protest but his dad held up a finger, “Elemental son. Still my son. I don’t care what you can do. You’re my son and nothing is going to change that. Hopefully this will make you a bit more durable. I can’t handle any more experiences like the last few weeks. Seeing you in that state nearly killed me. Kidnappings, I’m really not happy about. Next time you blast them to the fucking moon if you have to but don’t let them take you.”

“What the hell do you mean next time…” Stiles started to interrupt but his dad only scoffed and continued.

“Near-death experiences. I’d really prefer if we keep that one to an absolute minimum.” His dad said his voice softer as they pulled into the driveway. Stiles laughed and unbuckled his seatbelt reaching over to get out of the car when his dad put a hand on his arm. “Stiles, if we ever get in that situation again, I mean this, please, just don’t save me again.”

“Dad…” Stiles protested.

“No, listen to me. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to cope. I nearly went out of my mind when you flat lined. I know it would hurt you if anything were to happen to me. But I’m the dad. I’m supposed to protect you. Not the other way around.”

“Dad, I couldn’t deal with it if something happened to you. Not if I could stop it.”

“I get that, I do. But how do you think I felt watching my son bleeding to death in front of me? How do you think I felt knowing that you’d been beaten and tortured and assaulted and there was absolutely nothing I could do? That you were dying because of me? I’m supposed to protect you Stiles. I promised your mum I’d protect you. If you had died saving my life, I wouldn’t have ever forgiven myself.” His dad said, his voice cracking with unshed tears and Stiles understood, of course he understood. He pulled him into a tight hug not caring how it pulled against some of the marks still healing on his back.

“I know dad. But I won’t apologize for saving you. I won’t promise to never do it again if the situation arises. I love you, dad. I’d do anything for you. Even die if that’s what it took to protect you. But, I can promise you that I will work as hard as I can to make sure that we’re never in that position again. That I will figure out how to use these powers to protect the pack, to protect our family, so we never lose anyone again. Sound fair?” Stiles whispered as he hugged his dad. He felt his dads grip tighten slightly and then eventually loosen a few minutes later. When he pulled away they were both smiling slightly, even though their eyes were shining with unshed tears.

They both got out of the car a moment later and Stiles leaned on his dad as they went up the steps.

“I can’t wait to get this shirt off and see what this bloody tattoo looks like.” Stiles said as they neared the door, he’d somehow managed to miss seeing it so far, only the leaves up his arm and he was dying to see how it looked.

“I’ll help you with that if you like.” Erica said from the open doorway and Stiles nearly had a heart attack as he hadn’t seen her there. He also heard a growl from inside the house and then Erica looking at him sheepishly. “Guess that job is already taken.” She laughed before opening the door fully and Stiles stared in bewilderment.

The whole pack was there, there was a banner hung across the wall that proclaimed ‘Welcome Home Stiles!’ there were balloons and cake and everyone was smiling at him. He felt a little bit overwhelmed if he was honest.

“Erm, Hi?” He said in confusion, taking a small step forward and nearly falling on his face as he tripped over the doorway. Thankfully his dad still had hold of his arm and managed to keep him upright but Derek quickly came over and gripped the other arm. Stiles just sighed heavily. He had bloody superpowers and still tripped over the doorway. Maybe he should just try levitating from now on, he probably wouldn’t trip as much, but then people might notice if he was floating. He’d have to do it like an inch of the floor? Maybe less? But then he’d probably still trip over things and what would be the point of that? Although if he could do an inch, what about a mile? Like literally, oh my god, what if he could fly?

“…iles?” Lydia was looking to him with worry.

“What?”

“Did we lose you there for a minute kiddo?” His dad asked good-naturedly.

“Yeah. I was thinking about jumping out of my window.” Stiles replied.

“What!?” Half the room exclaimed, pure panic on their faces.

Stiles sighed as he was steered to a nearby seat and sunk into it. It felt so nice to sit down and it not be a hospital bed. He was kind of tired now. Walking had taken more out of him than he expected. He looked at the room and saw that they were all still waiting for an explanation on that one.

“To see if I could fly.” He mumbled embarrassed. Now it seemed like a stupid thing to say. But he was still going to try it at a later date. Although would he need to jump? Could he not just push himself off the ground? Like Superman does? He looked up again and guessed he’d zoned out again.

“Sorry what?” He repeated.

“No jumping out of windows.” His dad said and Stiles found himself nodding.

“Not without a fall mat underneath, I mean otherwise I could really hurt myself if it didn’t work.” Stiles replied and smiled sleepily when he heard half the room laugh and his dad sigh wearily.

The next few hours passed quickly, there was usually a pack member within touching distance which Stiles appreciated when he started to hurt again. Lydia came and squished on the seat next to him and usually he would have been overjoyed about this development but he kept catching Derek looking across at them, and it was obvious that he couldn’t keep his eyes off Lydia for more than a moment or two, he looked happy, content. Derek had obviously fallen pretty hard for her which Stiles could completely understand. Once or twice Stiles had met Derek’s eyes and Derek had looked away in embarrassment, obviously he didn’t want Stiles to know about him and Lydia yet. Was he worried about upsetting Stiles? Knowing that he’d been crazy about her for years?

Stiles could admit he was kind of upset, but only because he loved them. But in a way, they deserved each other. They were the best people he knew, they would balance each other out and if they were happy then Stiles would be happy for them. It wasn’t like he’d ever stood a chance with either of them anyway. He thought about who he would choose if he actually had the option of a choice. He decided he couldn’t. It was weird, he’d loved Lydia longer, but he’d quickly fallen for Derek and honestly it was better to have neither of them than to have one and miss the other.

“I’m going to have to go into work kid, you going to be okay?” His dad asked a little while later and Stiles nodded, knowing he would have to be, he couldn’t stop his dad from working, not when there was going to be a huge medical bill to pay. His fault again. God, he was such a pain. But he’d work on it. He’d be better from now on.

“You fancy a game Stiles?” Scott said an hour later, holding out the controller for him to take and Stiles found himself shaking his head. He was too tired for all this, he needed to go to bed he thought, and he still hadn’t seen his tattoo.

“I think we should call it a night.” Derek said a moment later. “Stiles has had a long day, I’m sure he needs to rest.” The pack mumbled disagreements but it was obvious that Stiles was exhausted and they all got to their feet soon enough.

“Come on, I’ll help you upstairs.” Derek said, when Stiles stood unsteadily. Stiles nodded silently, accepting hugs from the pack as they slowly left the house. Stiles wasn’t bothered about locking the door, knowing that Derek would lock it on the way out.

They went up the stairs slowly and Stiles was grateful that Derek just didn’t sweep him up and carry him. He needed to do this by himself, he was determined to do this himself. Instead Derek just stood half a step behind him, a warm presence by his side, ready to catch him should he fall. He finally got to the top of the stairs and made his way to the bathroom.

“Thanks for the help Der.” Stiles said quietly and Derek nodded firmly before turning away and Stiles shut himself in the bathroom. He managed to take his shirt off slowly and he spent a good five minutes staring at the tattoo in the mirror, he watched as the leaves and embers moved in a gentle breeze, as the water seemed to actually be running through the small stream. It was magical. But then his eyes were drawn to the scars that littered his back. There were hundreds of them. He was scarred. He swallowed thickly, fighting the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him. It was silly, the scars showed what he had overcome, instead all he could see was what he had been through, Logan cutting the whip into his bleeding skin over and over, Mike laughing and teasing as they smacked and punched and touched and kissed him. It made him feel sick. His vision was blurry as the tears threatened to overwhelm him.

“Stiles?” A voice came from the doorway and Stiles blinked and looked away from the mirror. He swiped at his eyes, trying to remove the evidence of his tears. Derek was stood in front of him, cupping his cheeks in his hands. “What’s wrong?” Derek asked and he seemed genuinely terrified. Why was Stiles crying in the middle of his bathroom?

“Nothing.” Stiles said reaching for his shirt. “Just happy to be home I guess.” He said, freezing in place when Lydia grabbed hold of his shirt. Where did she appear from? What was she doing here?

“Bullshit Stiles.” She said snatching the shirt from his grip. “Come on. We’re not doing this is a bath room.” She said striding from the room. Stiles just stared after her in shock, Derek looked shocked as well but turned to follow her, checking to make sure that Stiles was following both of them.

Lydia was sat on his bed, Derek leaned against the window frame and Stiles stood in his doorway awkwardly. He really didn’t know what was going on. Had they stayed behind to tell him about their relationship? Perhaps they didn’t want him finding out from someone else? That was kind of nice of them he guessed. But why did Lydia have to steal his shirt?

“So, are you going to tell us what that little break down was about?” Lydia demanded a moment later and Stiles felt himself stiffen.

“Nothing.” Stiles replied.

“Lie detector.” Lydia said pointing at Derek who shrugged and nodded in agreement.

“For god’s sake!” Stiles shouted, throwing up his arms in disgust, “You guys get all the bloody good powers, fucking lie detector,” He ranted as he reached for a new t-shirt in his drawer, turning his back on both of them, “Fucking super hearing and bloody mind reading skills and super speed and super healing.” He complained as he wrapped his hands around a t-shirt.

“Is that what this is about?” Derek said from right behind him and Stiles jumped in shock, he hadn’t heard him move.

“And moving like a freaking ghost. So not fair.” Stiles complained but looked at Lydia who was studying him still. She got off the bed and stalked towards him, eyes locked with his. He felt Derek trail a finger along the wounded skin on his back and he couldn’t help but feel despair at the gesture. Derek was probably studying what a scar felt like, not like he had any of his own.

“Stiles,” Lydia began, coming closer to him and Stiles was beginning to feel a bit caged in. “You’ve got scars yes, but think what you’ve survived.” She said softly, touching the bullet scar on his chest, “Think about how amazing you are, you’ve only just found out you have magical powers but you’ve spent the past year running with wolves. Throwing yourself into danger to protect the pack even though you were human. Do you honestly think any of us would care about a few scars? Do you think it would make us think you were any less beautiful?”

“I guess not.” Stiles mumbled, feeling more embarrassed the longer that they stood so close to him, feeling himself blush at the compliment.

“Plus,” Derek said, “You’ve got a moving tattoo. That’s pretty damn cool.” He said and Stiles felt a shiver up his spine as Derek and Lydia both brushed their fingers over his tattoo.

“Yeah. I guess so.” He said, trying to think of anything else other than his teenage hormones about to get the better of him.

“So,” Lydia said taking a step back and handing him his shirt. He nodded at her thankfully. “Now that that’s cleared up there’s something else we need to talk about.” She said.

“Lydia, no.” Derek said, “Not yet.” He said and Stiles was worried as Derek genuinely sounded panicked.

“It’s okay. I know.” Stiles said, trying to put Derek’s mind at ease.

“You know?” They both said in unison turning to him in surprise.

“Of course. You guys aren’t very discreet. It’s kind of obvious.” He replied, sitting down on the edge of his bed and leaning against his wall, closing his eyes as exhaustion was starting to win out.

“Okay.” Lydia said slowly, “And how do you feel about it?”

“Okay I guess. I mean so long as you are both happy that’s what matters.”

“But it matters how you feel too.” Derek said seriously sitting down on the bed next to him and Stiles cracked open an eye to look at him.

“I’m fine with it. Honestly.” Stiles said, struggling to keep his thoughts together as sleep called to him.

“Stiles. What are you fine with?” Lydia asked in curiosity and Stiles let out a small sigh in reply, “Hey,” Lydia said shaking him slightly and Stiles groaned as he woke up, “What do you think is going on Stiles?”

“Derek and you dating. It’s fine. I’m fine with it.” He said closing his eyes again.

“What!?” Derek shouted, startling Stiles from his sleep. “Lydia and I aren’t dating. Well, I mean, okay, we kind of are, but it’s more than that.”

“Okay? So you’re like wolf mates or something?” Both of them looked at him shocked and he felt the urge to explain even though he was exhausted. “Erica was wittering the other day, something about wolves finding their mates and getting all emotional and jealous and beyond reason and that she can’t even make a joke anymore without getting growled at. I wasn’t really listening. She talks a lot and I wanted to sleep.” Stiles explained with a heavy sigh.

“I’m going to kill her.” Lydia growled.

“Me first.” Derek replied and Stiles couldn’t help but laugh. “Stiles, listen to me. This is really important and not how I wanted to talk to you about it. We wanted to wait until you were better. But you need to understand now.” Stiles glanced at him and then Lydia, they were both looking at him with something like fear in their eyes and it made Stiles sit up a little straighter and force himself to pay attention.

“Lydia is one of my mates. And I’m one of hers.” Derek said quietly and suddenly Stiles’ mind was racing with questions.

“How can you tell? Is it like a certain smell or something? And how can Lydia tell? Like not been funny Lyds, but you haven’t got super smell so how do you pick up on that?”

“It’s emotional tethers, we both feel it like a pull in our chests, right about here.” She said placing a finger on Stiles’ chest and he felt a buzz of warmth go through him. “Did you miss the bit about ‘one of our mates’?” Stiles looked at her in confusion.

“You guys get more than one mate? So what like do you just keep gaining mates as the years go on? So like eventually you’ll have like a hundred different mates or something?”

“No. It’s pretty much always one, a few rare cases where you would have two. I’ve never heard of anyone with three mates.” Derek replied.

“So you guys reckon you both have two mates? What about when you meet them later down the line? What if they’re not the same person? Like if one of you likes them but the other doesn’t? Or if you both end up with the same mate? How does that work? Do you not get jealous if they spend more time with one of you more than the other?” Stiles asked.

“Can you take a breath?” Derek replied and Lydia let out a shaky laugh.

“Sorry, just a lot of questions. Are they too personal? Who am I kidding, I revel in asking the questions no one else would. Do the rest of the pack know? Of course they do, that’s a stupid question. So what does happen if you don’t like the other person’s mate?” Stiles rambled and Derek and Lydia were both staring at him oddly.

“I’m pretty confident that we both like him.” Lydia said slowly, a slight blush on her cheeks.

“You met him already? And it’s a him!?” Stiles asked shocked, “Dude, I didn’t know you were into guys!” He said amazed turning to Derek, “So what’s he like? Is he going to join the pack? I guess he probably would do, although is he a human? Does he know about supernatural stuff?” Stiles asked, there were so many questions. What if he didn’t like the guy? He was obviously going to be jealous of him, he was going to get to make out with Lydia and Derek which would be pretty amazing so of course he was jealous. But what if the guy was an absolute dick? And Stiles just had to like him because he was Derek and Lydia’s mate, of course they were going to pick this guy over Stiles, and then Stiles would be out of the pack again.

“Seriously?” Lydia asked gazing at Stiles like he was a complete moron.

“What? I’m curious, sue me.” Stiles grumbled.

“I can’t believe you’re this oblivious.” Derek laughed and Lydia started laughing and Stiles just felt completely lost.

“What?” Stiles asked a minute later, which only made Lydia and Derek laugh even harder and Stiles’ started to blush. Why were they laughing at him? What had he said? He thought back over what he’d asked but he still couldn’t figure out what was so funny. Lydia and Derek were practically lying on his bed now, tears of laughter streaming down their faces. Stiles had never seen Derek look so care free and it was really nice to see that side of him.

“Alright. Joke’s over. Tell me what’s so funny.” Stiles said seriously a minute later.

“It’s you.” Lydia said, sobering up enough to get the words out, struggling to control her laughter.

“What? I’m funny?” Stiles asked, Lydia looked at Derek and they both cracked up again. “You’re been really unhelpful you know?” Stiles grumbled, he was tired and starting to ache again and he wanted to go to sleep. It wasn’t his fault that his brain wasn’t working properly, he was getting easily distracted and going off on tangents in his own mind. He knew he’d feel better once he had some sleep. He couldn’t make the connections at the moment and he was starting to get a bit irritated that they were still laughing at him. It wasn’t his fault he was tired.

A few minutes later both Derek and Lydia sat up, it was obvious that they’d both had a seriously good laugh, Stiles couldn’t believe how gorgeous they both were. He couldn’t help but be a little bit unhappy about the fact that they had another mate together. He was probably going to be tall and gorgeous and Stiles would probably end up crushing on him as well, which would be just his bloody luck. On the plus side he could probably trip him over a lot with air, and maybe move the earth occasionally, he’d have to be careful though if anyone else found out they might be pissed. Remind him that he was acting like a child. Admittedly he was acting like a child, already planning on annoying the new guy. What if he had like some supernatural powers too? God, he was probably another werewolf. Fuck his life. When had it gotten to this stage?

“-iles?” Lydia asked and he looked up at her in curiosity.

“Were you talking?” He asked, rubbing at the back of his neck, trying to focus on what Lydia had been saying.

“Oh for God’s sake. This is ridiculous.” She said a smirk on her lips. “Stiles. Listen very carefully.” She paused and Stiles nodded showing her he was paying attention. “Derek is my mate. I’m his mate. You are mine and Derek’s mate.” She said slowly, pronouncing each word delicately.

“If you want to be of course.” Derek added in seriously, they both suddenly looked very nervous and Stiles sat there in silence.

“Did you hear me?” Lydia said a minute later when Stiles still hadn’t spoken but was just staring at both of them with wide eyes, blinking at them slowly. “I think we broke him.” She mumbled to Derek.

Stiles’ mind was racing. They weren’t being serious were they? Was this some sort of joke? Did they know how he felt about them and then just decide to mess with him because they thought it would be funny? No way was he in their league. They were so far out of his league they weren’t even on the same planet. This couldn’t be real could it?

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Derek said after another minute of Stiles’ internal panic attack. Derek leaned forwards quickly, wrapping a warm hand around the back of Stiles’ neck and then pulling Stiles towards him so that somehow Stiles ended up practically sat in Derek’s lap and Derek was kissing him.

Holy shit! Derek Hale was kissing him! And it was amazing, it was soft and gentle and even though Stiles could feel Derek’s stubble brushing against his skin and he thought it should remind him of Mike instead it just felt amazing. He could have stayed like that all night if there wasn’t a small bit of doubt in his mind that this was still a joke somehow. He wasn’t quite sure how Derek kissing him would be part of the joke, maybe it would be the fact that Stiles still hadn’t pulled away from him? Why hadn’t he pulled away yet? Oh yeah, because it was amazing and he didn’t want it to stop.

Derek was the one who pulled away first, he was breathing heavily and gazing at Stiles as if waiting for the answer to a question. Stiles broke eye contact, blushing furiously, he wasn’t really sure what had just happened and he probably wasn’t in the right frame of mind to figure it out just yet.

“Don’t judge me when I say that I found that incredibly hot.” Lydia said and Stiles jumped slightly as he suddenly remembered Lydia was in the room. There was a first time for everything he guessed, kissing Derek Hale, forgetting about Lydia. God, he was going to hell, he was sure. “Do you mind?” She asked him as she leaned forward and kissed him too. Stiles was still practically sat in Derek’s lap and he felt his arms tighten around him gently as Lydia kissed him. Her lips were soft too, just like he’d always imagined them being. She deepened the kiss slightly and Stiles heard Derek groan slightly next to him. He didn’t need to imagine how incredibly hard Derek was, he could feel the length of him against his leg. Stiles tried to think, he tried to figure out why Lydia would then kiss him as part of the joke? He couldn’t make sense of it. Lydia broke the kiss a minute later, smiling gently at him and Stiles blinked, licked at his lips.

“Understand now?” She said gently reaching out to take Derek’s hand, pressing the three of them together. Stiles cleared his throat, looked down at the bed rather than at both of them. He didn’t want to see the moment they finally broke character and started to laugh at him again.

“I don’t understand.” He whispered, knowing they would hear him, “I’m not,” He paused looking for the right words, glad when they both remained silent to let him think, “I’m thinking that this must be some kind of joke. That no way would both of you look at me the way I look at you. That I’m not good enough to be with you. And you’re going to tell me in a second that you were just messing with me and that’s completely fine. Kind of mean. But I’ll get over it. So can you just do it already.” He said, refusing to look away from where he was staring at his blanket.

“Stiles.” Lydia whimpered cupping her hand against his cheek, forcing him to look up at them, Stiles heard Derek practically whine from the other side of him and then lean against Stiles, pressing his face into Stiles’ neck. “Stiles. This isn’t a joke. We’re serious. We want to be with you. Because you are amazing. Because you’re funny and sarcastic and smart and you don’t take any shit from any of us. You call us on our bullshit. You are incredible.” Lydia whispered.

“You don’t have to be our mate.” Derek whispered, nuzzling at Stiles’ neck, “And we’re not going to force you to if you don’t want to. But we want you. There is so much about you that just leaves me lost for words. I was so lost when I met you and now I feel like you’re the person that woke me up to the world. Everything feels so much better with you both around.” Derek said simply and Stiles couldn’t help but feel his heart jump in his chest. This was real. They were serious about this.

“Of course I want to be your mate. I’d have to be insane not to want it. But I just don’t think I deserve it.” He replied, feeling a sense of contentment as both Derek and Lydia pressed themselves against him.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” Lydia said quietly, “I don’t think I deserve you guys either. You are both amazing people and I’ve never been as brave or as strong or as honest as you two. I think I’m the lucky one if you’ll have me.”

“Not true at all. I’m the one who’s lucky. I never thought I’d get this. I don’t deserve it after everything that happened with,” Derek paused, struggling to get his words out and Stiles brushed his hand against Derek, offering his silent support, “Everything that happened with Kate and my family. I thought I’d never find my mate, that I didn’t deserve to. Except I find both of you and you’re willing to accept me even though I’m moody and grumpy and can’t communicate to save my life and a general pain in the ass.” Derek mumbled and Stiles hugged them both tightly.

“I’m willing to do this if you guys are. And then we can work on our opinions of ourselves because they are seriously lacking.” Stiles whispered, putting his feelings out there and praying that it wasn’t all about to blow up in his face.

“I’m in.” Lydia whispered.

“Obviously me too.” Derek said a smirk on his face and Stiles smiled back at them both.

“Great. Now that we’ve got that all sorted, I need to go to sleep. You guys can stay but I need to sleep now otherwise my brain is going to be mush in the morning.” Stiles said, already lying down on the bed and closing his eyes.

He felt the bed shift slightly as both Lydia and Derek lay down next to him. He could practically feel the smiles radiating on both their faces.

“And stop smiling. It’s freaking me out.” He said without opening his eyes causing both of them to snort with laughter as they snuggled down to sleep.

Epilogue

It took another month for Stiles to finally heal, and Stiles was happy. Really happy. He felt so lucky to be with Lydia and Derek. He didn’t ever get jealous, even though Scott asked him why he didn’t sometimes. It was hard to explain, but it wasn’t like he saw them together and felt excluded, he felt happy to see them together, he loved them both and he knew they felt the same. It wasn’t like they were three individuals; it was like they were all different parts of the same person. He trusted them with his life and his heart. He felt filled up with love.

They were out at the old Hale house, Derek had decided to start doing it up finally, after all he fully intended on making it into a pack house, somewhere they could all go to whenever they needed to. Derek was coming on leaps and bounds as alpha and the whole pack could feel his happiness radiating through their bonds. Lydia and Stiles were practically glowing around him.

His powers were growing significantly, the feeling of love making it a lot easier to push the magic into protecting the pack. He felt like life was going well, there was just one thing he wanted to try out, he’d done it in private but he’d not shown anyone else yet and he really wanted to show them. Why not do it on a day as beautiful as this? A clear sky, not a cloud in sight. Yeah it would be brilliant. He drove up to the house and jumped out his jeep happily. Surprised when Derek jumped out behind him and spun him around pulling him into a kiss. Stiles laughed at the surprise and Derek pulled him tighter.

“Get a room!” Erica shouted gleefully and Stiles broke the kiss laughing as they strolled towards the house. Lydia met him on the steps, giving them both a quick kiss before darting past them.

“What’s going on?” Stiles asked curiously.

“They’re going for a run.” Lydia said sulkily, “But I guess that means me and you get to stay here and catch up.” She grinned mischievously and Stiles wanted to nod in agreement because hell yeah he’d like to catch up with Lydia. But he also wanted to surprise everyone.

“I’ve got a better idea.” He said strolling down the steps towards her.

“A better idea than making out with me?” She said, feigning shock.

“There’s nothing better than kissing you Lyds, you know that.” Stiles grinned, watching as the pack all started to appear, ready to go for a run. Usually one of them would run out in front and the others would chase after them, trying to track the scent and the noise. It usually ended in a puppy pile which everyone enjoyed.

“But, I thought, how about going out with them?” Stiles asked and the whole pack looked to Stiles in confusion.

“We can’t run with them you know that.” Lydia complained and Stiles’ smile got wider.

“Who said anything about running?” He grinned grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her into a hug. “Hold Tight.” He said before pushing off from the air under his feet and shooting them high enough into the sky to just brush the tops of the trees. He ignored the astonished looks on the packs faces and the small shout of surprise from Lydia, the laugh of pure delight from Derek. “Catch us if you can.” He hollered down to them and started to fly over the trees, Lydia laughing delightedly next to him.

He could hear Derek laughing and it made his heart swell, he didn’t think he’d ever get so lucky. He was whole.