Chapter Text
“This place is a damn Hellmouth!” Stiles growled, stalking into the living room, and hurling his backpack and shredded sweatshirt onto the couch.
Peter was up and across the room in a flash, his eyes glowing electric blue and claws prickling the boy’s chin when he gripped it between his thumb and forefinger. “What happened?!”
“We’ve got company. I was minding my own damn business and suddenly these twins I’ve never even met before shoved me into the boy’s locker room and are all up in my face threatening me and flashing red eyes.”
Peter sucked in a sharp breath. “Alphas?”
“Yeah, assholes were going on about how some Demon Wolf is the new Alpha here and any ‘Omega bitches’ need to submit to him by the end of the week.” His eyes glowed a furious, violent orange.
“What did you do, Little Red?” Peter asked on a groan.
“I threw their asses across the room and drenched them in ice water from the showers. Then I got in their faces and told them if they messed with my Pack, I was going to bury them out in the Preserve and that they and whatever ‘Demon Wolf’ wannabe they answered to had a week to get out of our town before I show them what happens when I’m really pissed off.”
“Jesus, Stiles,” Peter muttered. “You cannot take on Deucalion like that.”
Stiles cocked his head. “Who’s Deucalion?”
Peter huffed before he prodded the boy towards the stairs. “Go get cleaned up while I call the others, if Deucalion and the Alpha Pack really are here, then everyone needs to be on the lookout.”
Derek was furious, absolutely, blindly furious. It’d been less than a month since he’d come back. He’d buried his sister, found his mate, gotten his uncle out of the hospital, and formed a pack and had just started to relax and now this. As if the Hale House wasn’t destroyed enough, some asshole wolves had to carve up what was left of the front door with the same bastardized triskelion as was on Laura’s body.
He snarled savagely as he put his fist through the closest tree, his wolf wanting to rend and tear.
His phone rang, Hungry Like A Wolf blaring loud enough to make him flinch, although he supposed it was better than Little Red Riding Hood for Stiles.
“Uncle Peter?”
“You need to get home, now,” Peter said without preamble.
“What happened?”
“The Alpha Pack made a move on Red.”
“Son of a!” Derek cut himself off with a low, furious growl. “They hit the house too.”
Peter snarled. “Deucalion has gone too far this time. First Laura and now Stiles. We need to go on the offensive.”
“Agreed. Have Stiles ward the hell out of the house, including soundproofing. I’ll swing by the station and speak to Noah.”
“Don’t bother, he’s supposed to be on shift for another four hours and unless they attack, he’s not going to leave early. I’ve already called to warn him not to leave the station without one of us, just in case, and he’s switching out his ammo as we speak.”
“Fine. I’ll be home in ten.”
“Drive safe.”
Derek snapped his phone closed. He really enjoyed being able to do that when he was annoyed. Sparing the house one last snarl, he stomped back to the Camero, growling the entire way.
“I can’t believe you,” Derek sighed, after Stiles reiterated what happened at the school.
“They deserved worse,” the teen snarled. He sounded more and more like a wolf each day and while Derek was proud to see him standing up for himself, he was also terrified he’d get hurt.
“You need to stay away from them,” Derek warned him, eyes flashing. “Do you have any idea how bad this could get? They’re a Pack of Alphas and you just threw two of them around for the hell of it?!”
“No,” Stiles said with deadly calm. “I defended myself and my Pack. If they come at us, they are going down because I will not let them hurt either of you again!”
Derek threw his hands up in the air, snarling. “I just can’t with you right now!”
He spun on his heel, stalking out of the living room and upstairs. He wasn’t stupid enough to leave the house, but he couldn’t stand there and watch Stiles defend his actions of pissing off two Alphas.
Stiles winced when the door slammed shut. He blew out a breath. “How bad is this really, Peter? How badly did I screw up?”
Peter sighed, waving the Spark down beside him on the couch. “It’s not great, Red, but it’s not unsalvageable either. Deucalion wasn’t always a sociopath. He was a man of peace once. Of vision.”
“What happened?”
“Gerard Argent. Deucalion was attempting to broker peace between the Argents and the Alliance. It was a consortium of prominent werewolf clans, including Deucalion’s and ours. Gerard broke the peace accord. Killed a bunch of Packs and blinded Deucalion.”
“He blinded him?!” Stiles asked loudly. “How is that even possible? Did he shove wolfsbane in him or something?”
Peter frowned. “I think he used a silver sword. I suppose it could have been coated in wolfsbane, although that seems unlikely.”
“But silver doesn’t kill you. That’s just part of the mythology based on the Argent’s last name,” Stiles frowned, thinking through what he knew of werewolf anatomy.
Peter cocked an eyebrow at the young Spark. “Whatever you’re thinking, the answer is no.”
“But this could work!” he said excitedly. “Think about it, Peter. My spark fixed you up soup to nuts, well, mostly nuts.” He snickered at the pun, ignoring Peter’s rolled eyes. “We already know I can manipulate wolfsbane just as well as I can mountain ash. No thanks to Deaton’s cryptic ass,” he muttered darkly thinking back on the druid’s comment that he was retired and preferred to stay out of things. “If Deucalion was peaceful once, we may be able to get him on our side instead of fighting against us if I can heal him.”
“If you can heal him, Stiles, and that’s a big if. We were lucky that the Vault had those magic theory books you could use on me. There’s nothing to say that your spark will react the same way to someone who isn’t Pack.”
Stiles huffed out a frustrated breath. “I’m not going to let them attack us, Peter. I’m just not. I’m not built that way.”
“I know,” Peter placated, “but until we have a better idea as to what they want, we can’t antagonize them either.”
“They killed Laura,” he said softly, his eyes flickering orange. “They took your family and her spark. I can’t let that stand.”
“Stiles. Sweetheart,” Peter said gently. He shifted until he was sitting on the coffee table holding Stiles’ hands between them. “I know you want revenge for us, but we have to be smart about this. I don’t think you realize just how much you mean to this Pack.”
He glanced up at Derek standing on the landing. “You are Derek’s mate. You anchor both of us. You and Noah are the reason we’re aren’t feral Omegas. We can’t have you going off half-cocked and getting hurt.”
Stiles groaned, knowing he wasn’t going to win this argument. At least, not without a lot of research behind him. “Fine, I won’t intentionally piss them off.”
“Or…” Peter prompted, making the teen roll his eyes.
“Or go searching for them. I will, however, defend myself if they try and hurt me,” he warned.
“That is an acceptable compromise,” the older Hale acquiesced. “Now, why don’t you go talk to Derek while I start on dinner.”
Stiles dropped his head back to look at the wolf over his shoulder. “You still mad at me, Big Bad?”
Derek flashed the edge of a fang. “Not if you keep your promise,” he warned.
“Fine, I promise, now, cuddles!” he demanded, giving Derek a goofy grin and grabby hands.
Stiles tried to keep his promise. He really did. And technically, he did keep it. He hadn’t gone looking for any of the Alpha Pack, even once he figured out who they were. The twins were Aiden and Ethan, then there was Kali, Ennis (the asshole who bit Paige), and finally, Deucalion himself. Unfortunately, they weren’t the only problem in town.
Someone was killing people. They were being tortured and since they were all human with absolutely no connection to anything supernatural, he doubted it was Deucalion’s people. His dad was practically sleeping at the station making all of them nervous. He was protected inside the building, Stiles’ wards saw to that, but he was also the Sheriff and that meant he was often on call.
The entire situation was giving him an ulcer.
He walked into English half awake. Well, he tried to anyways. He’d practiced creating a sort of internal monitoring system, like a proximity alert for supernatural shit, so even if he was asleep, it would warn him of anything around him and right now, it was flashing bright fucking alert-level red.
A woman was standing at Mrs. Gardner’s desk. A woman he didn’t recognize and whose aura was the most twisted muddy green he’d ever seen. Worse than the chick who had tried to kill Peter in the hospital.
His hands went out to automatically stop the twins from shoving their way into the room around him.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Aiden snarled.
“Darach,” Stiles hissed lowly, shuddering. “Murdering psychotic magic user. You’ll thank me later,” he said, shoving them backwards and slamming the door shut, ignoring the teacher’s raised voice from the other side of the wood. He turned and dragged the wolves away, their faces incredulous when he actually moved them. It wasn’t because he was stronger than the wolves, but right now, his magic was in full blown defensive mode which gave him a hell of a boost.
Stiles dragged them outside and around the corner of the building, his breathing ragged. “Holyshitholyshitholyshit!” he muttered incoherently. He dropped to the ground bonelessly, dragging the wolves down beside him. Aiden looked confused and slightly murderous, but Ethan reached out a hand to clutch the other boy’s shoulder.
“Hey,” he said carefully. “It’s okay, man. Whatever is going on, just, just take a breath and chill.”
“Ethan,” his brother hissed. “He’s the enemy.”
Stiles gave a broken laugh, his entire body trembling. “Not your enemy, dudes, totally not after seeing that.”
The twins exchanged confused glances. “You said a darach. What’s that?”
“Dark Druid. Like, evil-suck-the-world-dry kill-a-bunch-of-people, evil.” His eyes went wide and he scrambled for his cell. “Shit, I have to tell my dad the new teacher’s the thing killing people.”
Aiden grabbed his cell and crushed it in his hand, his eyes flashing. “You’re not calling anyone.”
“Aiden…” Ethan started, seeing the panic in Stiles eyes slowly being replaced with fury. The color flickered slightly from warm honey brown to a vibrant, flickering orange. For a second, he almost swore they were tinged in red.
“We have a murderous, magically inclined supernatural in the school surrounded by a bunch of mundanes and you are seriously going to pick a fight with me? Now?! I don’t care what the hell Deucalion or the rest of you want, but stopping her should be the first priority of anyone who wants to live here. I’m not going to let her kill anyone else and you aren’t going to stop me.”
Aiden snarled, getting in Stiles’ face only to be shoved back and pinned to the wall by his brother. “Stop!” Ethan snapped. “He’s right. Kill the monster, then deal with the Hales.”
“Deuc’s not going to like this,” Aiden warned.
“Deucalion can kiss my pasty white ass,” Stiles said savagely, standing and drawing his Spark around him until he practically glowed. “I will defend this town. He can either get on board or stay the fuck out of my way, because I’m not going to let her get away with killing anyone else.”
“Well then,” a gentle, almost aristocratic voice said from behind them, making the three teens jump and flail. “It’s a good thing that I agree with Mr. Stilinski, isn’t it?”
The twins jerked backwards, their necks bent in supplication, surprising Stiles since they were both Alphas, but he supposed if you name yourself the Demon Wolf, you must be some sort of Alpha’s Alpha. Stiles looked him up and down, his eyes catching on the man’s sunglasses.
“Peter said Gerard blinded you,” he said bluntly. “I guess it’s true, even though it shouldn’t be.”
“Dumb ass, shut up!” Ethan hissed behind him.
“No, I’d like to hear Mr. Stilinski out. Why shouldn’t I be blind, because I can assure you, I am.”
“He used a sword, right? A silver sword?”
“Correct,” Deucalion said.
“Did it have wolfsbane on it?”
Deucalion cocked his head. “No, just the silver.”
“Then it shouldn’t have blinded you. Silver doesn’t hurt wolves. Total myth, so unless he used something else that can stop your healing, Gerard Argent didn’t blind you.”
He heard the twins suck in sharp breaths in stereo behind him, which was weird, and a little disconcerting if he was being honest.
“What are you?” Deucalion asked sharply, stalking closer. Stiles could see the glow of red behind the dark glasses. “You aren’t human. You…glow, for a lack of a better term.”
“Spark,” Stiles said, making the twins gasp and Deucalion pause.
“You realize telling me that was very, very foolish, don’t you, child?”
“You won’t hurt me,” Stiles said with confidence. “You won’t even threaten to bite me.”
“And why is that?”
“Because the bite will kill me and I’m the only one who may be able to give you back your eyesight.”
Deucalion smile was slow in coming, and reminded Stiles of a shark. “And how do you propose to do that?”
He jerked a thumb back at the school. “I’m pretty certain the crazy bitch has been following you. Maybe since the beginning. I’m also pretty certain that whatever’s going on with your face is magically induced, which means I can fix it once I know what’s causing it.”
“So?”
“Quid pro quo. You help get rid of the darach and I help you get your eyesight back.”
“And when such a transaction is complete?”
“Well, I’m really hoping you decide to find someplace else to live. But if not, then you get to find out what happens when a Spark is uber pissed off. I wouldn’t recommend it, since it’s almost guaranteed to fuck up more than your eyes, but that sounds like a you problem. I know my Pack would love to rip you apart for killing Laura.”
Deucalion watched the teen with avid interest, a smile flirting around the corner of his lips. “It’s such a pity,” he finally said. “I had hoped to add the remaining Hales to our Pack. It would have been poetic, passing their Spark back to them. Still…”
Stiles bit his tongue to keep from saying anything rash. Well, rash-er. Peter and Derek were going to kill him as it was.
“But I supposed that’s a fair enough trade.” He snapped his fingers and the twins came to his side immediately. “From now on, the Hale Pack are our allies. Don’t let the teacher know who you are and guard him, until this mess is taken care of.”
Aiden’s face twisted into a scowl, but Ethan actually looked a bit relieved. Deucalion turned to leave, pausing for a moment as Stiles pushed himself away from the wall they been crouched besides. “Oh, I almost forgot,” he lunged at Stiles, not giving the teen time to do more than fling his magic up in a defensive wall.
Deucalion’s hand wrapped around his throat, his spark keeping the fingers, still human-looking, from crushing his windpipe. His smile was feral as he hummed pleased. “Very good, Mr. Stilinski,” he crooned as his eyes flashed. “I had hoped you would be worthy enough.” Then he pushed the stolen Alpha Spark into Stiles with enough force that Stiles lit up like a damn Christmas tree.
In return, Stiles’ Spark flared, wrapping them both in scarlet light.
Stiles hands came up to fist Deucalion’s shirt, pulling him close enough the wolf could see small, deadly fangs and claws ease out of the boy’s flesh. “Stupid,” Stiles snarled as he clenched the back of Deucalion’s skull. “If this doesn’t work, don’t fucking blame me.”
He dug his new claws into the man’s temples and shoved his magic deep, searching for poison and magic.
He found both. A tainted muddy green like the darach’s magic coated the optic nerves, the taint of mistletoe flickering palely. He painted his own magic over it until it sank in deep enough to form a barrier between the nerves and the magic. He imagined his magic like a drawstring bag and pulled until the dark magic and poison was contained by his spark and then, because he was still pissed at Deucalion, shoved it out of the man’s body.
Deucalion bent over his shoulder, retching up green goo and white flowers over and over until he lay spent in the teen’s arms.
“Thank you,” he said, faintly. His human eyes, a dark, stormy blue as he slowly extricated himself.
Stiles huffed. “You wolves really need to learn how to communicate,” he said. “I swear, how hard is it to say, ‘Oh, here, I’ll give you a power boost so let’s take care of the eyes now, okay?’”
The twins snickered from behind Deucalion. “Now where would be the fun in that?” the man asked.
“Whatever, dude,” Stiles retorted. He flicked his hands to make the claws disappear and ran his tongue over his fangs. “I’m not a wolf, right?”
Deucalion shrugged. “Not quite. The Alpha Spark should merge with your own Spark, but since you are bonded to a wolf pack, my guess is that it chose to manifest this way to protect you from me, another wolf.”
“Huh, so if I went against a darach?”
Deucalion tapped his chin with a finger. “It may manifest as a wolf, or a different type of magic user, or it could be something completely different.”
The bell rang, it’s shrill cry making the four of them wince. “Well, as fun as this has been, I’ll leave you to it. Ethan, give the boy your number.”
“Why?” Ethan asked, jotting the number down on a scrap of notebook paper since they’d crushed his phone.
“Because we are in fact now allies.” He gave Stiles a smile that was more contented cat then feral wolf. “Boys, come along. I need to inform the others there’s been a change of plans.”
“You’ll help kill her?” Stiles asked as he took the number from Ethan.
“Quid pro quo, Alpha Stilinski, quid pro quo.”
Stiles gave the three of them a smile that promised nothing but pain for the darach before heading back to class. “Awesome.”
Jennifer Blake, aka Julia Baccari, was dead by sundown. Noah wasn’t happy with his son delivering the final death blow, but he understood. Especially when Stiles turned to their Pack with blood coating his fangs and claws and said, “I’m the Alpha now.”
Peter had snorted. Derek just looked poleaxed, then his eyes heated and he dragged his mate off away from the Nemeton and kissed the hell out of him. Noah didn’t want to know if they did anything more than that.
Ennis, a big brute of an Alpha, had objected, strenuously to leaving and Deucalion had ripped his throat out for his insubordination. Kali and the twins had wisely kept their mouths shut.
From the tree line, Stiles’ voice rang out clear enough for even Noah to hear and understand him.
“If you guys aren’t total assholes, I suppose it’d be okay for you to stay.”
The four remaining members of the Alpha Pack looked a bit flummoxed at the offer.
“Stiles,” Derek groaned. “We haven’t talked about this at all!”
Stiles dragged his mate back out to the others, a shit eating grin on his face as Derek rubbed the blood out of his stubble.
“Look, I’m not saying join Packs or anything, and the territory is still Hale land, but that thing is still fucked up,” he said, pointing at the tree stump and ignoring Noah’s muttered ‘language’ comment. “I have no idea how to cleanse it yet, so if you guys are willing to stay and help out, I’m willing to share the territory.”
Deucalion raised an eyebrow at the young Alpha, his smile small, but genuine. He glanced at the other members of his Pack. The boys had hopeful expressions on their faces and Kali looked, if not pleased, then contemplative. Watching the child kill her ex-lover and emissary had softened something inside her. Julia had always been a possessive, manipulative personality, and her obsession with the wolf had driven Kali near mad fighting off her magic.
“Why us?” She asked.
“Because I think we can actually help each other,” Stiles said carefully. “We know what it’s like to be manipulated, and we know what it’s like to want a home and people you can count on to have your back. We’ve still got the Argents and this,” he waved at the tree frowning. “Mess. And to be honest, I’m not sure it won’t take all of us to fix it, but we can. With your help, we can totally fix this and make this town safe for everyone.”
Kali walked up to Stiles slowly, telegraphing her movements and pausing when Peter and Derek rumbled warningly at her until she was directly in front of the young Alpha.
“You would accept us, even knowing what we’ve done?”
“None of us are innocent,” Stiles answered just as quietly. “It might take time to trust one another, and probably longer to forgive, but I’m willing to try. Are you?”
Kali sucked in a sharp breath. She glanced at Peter, who nodded slowly. “For my Pack, I’m willing to try.”
Derek placed both hands on Stiles shoulders and took a shaky breath. “If Stiles believes this can work, then yes.” He glanced down at the teen. “I stand by my Alpha and mate.”
Stiles’ hand went up to clutch Derek’s tightly, his eyes a little watery with emotion.
Kali nodded. “Then I am willing. Deucalion?”
“I have no problem working with Alpha Stilinski.”
The twins fist pumped the air. “We’re in!” they shouted in unison.
Stiles gave the group a broad smile full of fangs, his eyes glowing like burning coals. “The Stilinski-Hale Pack welcomes you to Beacon Hills, Alpha Pack.”
He held his hand out to Deucalion, who smiled as he shook the alliance. The wolves (and the two humans) threw back their heads and howled.
There was a new Pack in town and things would never be the same.
-end-