It was late. They were heading to a fight. A rival Pack, nothing new, but this one was particularly bloodthirsty and sadistic. They'd known the Pack was in town, but hadn't been able to track them down until after Scott's mother had disappeared. The Pack had gone into overdrive and finally tracked them down.
And then they found them, hiding out in an old factory just outside Beacon Hills. They'd gone to face them. There had been a lot of restlessness in the group (Scott blamed the fact that Stiles would not shut up about the cliche of using an abandoned factory as their hideout) and as they reached the factory, Derek told them all to be quiet and remember the plan. The plan was to intimidate the Pack, make sure they knew that the territory was taken and protected, get Scott's mom, and get out. No heroics, no starting the fight, and (hopefully) no killing. Not unless it was necessary.
Of course, as with everything that happened to them, nothing goes the way they planned it. The Alpha of the rival Pack was waiting with his arm around Scott's mom's neck, holding her in place. Her head was bleeding and Scott felt his anger that he'd been working so hard to force down start to rise. He could feel his eyes turn gold and he could feel Isaac, right behind him, grab the back of his jacket, as if to calm him.
Scott took a deep breath and and tried to force himself to calm down. There was tension in the air and Derek took a step forward, his eyes bright red.
"You're on our turf," he skipped all the small talk, using his Alpha voice, dark and threatening.
"I wasn't aware there was another Pack here," the Alpha said, giving Derek a pleasant smile.
"Bullshit," Scott couldn't hold it in. The Alpha looked at him and his mom's eyes also found him. He met her eyes and held her gaze, trying to reassure her. They were going to help her. They were going to get her. They had to.
If she died, it was Scott's fault. It was all his fault.
"You can't attack humans in another Pack's turf," Derek said. "Especially not those under the Pack's protection."
"I wasn't aware this one was," the Alpha said, still smiling. He was looking directly at Scott, and Scott felt a thrill of nerves and anger and bit back on it again. It wouldn't help the situation. He couldn't mess this one up, too. He couldn't get his mom killed. He couldn't. This wasn't her fault, this wasn't her world. She didn't deserve it. She shouldn't have to deal with this.
"Just let her go and leave," Derek said. "Don't come back."
Scott met the Alpha's eyes and felt his anger turn his eyes again. The Alpha gave a grin and pulled his arm tighter around his mom's neck, cutting off her air supply. She began choking.
"How about I just kill her?" the Alpha snarled. Scott felt all the anger, all the fear and uncertainty, all the guilt that he'd been feeling since he'd first been bite boil over and he lost it.
He jumped forward, directly at the Alpha. He heard Derek shout his name and Stiles yelp. He heard his mom cough as the Alpha let her go in favor of protecting himself. Out of the corner of his eye, Scott could see other members of the rival Pack appearing out of the shadows. He could see the rest of his Pack turning to face them, and Stiles pulling Scott's mother away, back into the circle of wolves. There was a beat of silence and then all hell broke lose.
Scott was distracted from the rest of the fight by the Alpha slashing out at him. He dodged too late and felt the claws scratch his cheek. He let out a growl and slashed back at the Alpha. The Alpha, much faster than him, did duck in time and grabbed Scott's arm, using it to turn Scott around and twisting his arm behind him. Scott let out a yell as the Alpha pulled it tighter behind him. He kicked back at the Alpha and felt his foot connect with something. The grip on his arm loosened for a second and he wrenched his arm free, turning around and kicking out again. He tried to hit, too, but his arm protested, the power in his punch severely depleted. The Alpha grabbed his fist and squeezed before reaching out and grabbing his throat.
"Funny," the Alpha growled. "I'd always heard great things about the second in the Hale Pack. Clearly they were exaggerated."
Scott couldn't respond as the Alpha let go of his fist and put his other hand around his neck. His air was completely cut off and he felt his feet leaving the ground. His head was slammed into something and the world began to spin around him. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't fight.
The darkness began forming at the edges of his vision and he felt his body start to shut down. He was going to die. This Alpha was going to kill him. He was going to die.
Scott fought to find his Pack in the dark room. Derek was across the room, fighting two wolves at once. Erica and Boyd were back-to-back, each holding their own. Isaac was caught in a stalemate with another wolf, both of them holding the other's arm. Allison, who had insisted on coming and brought her crossbow, was firing at three wolves, all of whom looked like a dartboard. Stiles was next to his mother, in the doorway, both of them looking directly at him. Stiles was yelling something, but Scott's hearing was gone, and his eyesight was leaving him, as well.
He started to close his eyes. Maybe they would be better off without him. Maybe they wouldn't need him. Maybe they would be safer without him around, fucking everything up. Maybe this Alpha was finally going to do what Scott had never had the nerve to do and take him out of the picture. It was better this way.
He closed his eyes and let go.
To be honest, Derek hadn't been expecting it. He hadn't expected Scott to lose it, even with the sight of his mom being strangled. Scott had always been the levelheaded one, the one he could turn to and know that he would be there and go along with the plan. It hadn't always been that way; in fact, Derek still remembered the anger Scott had shown when he first became a werewolf, or when Allison had been threatened, or when they couldn't stop the people from dying. But he had been so composed for the past few months, Derek had forgotten the way he'd been.
So he'd expected Scott to keep it cool. Too late, he realized that that was ridiculous, and that Scott was a very passionate person who cared about his family and who did not react well to anyone, especially humans, being threatened.
Of course Scott had cracked. It had been one thing right after the other for the Pack, and Derek often forgot that Scott was still a teenager, a senior in high school. He really should not have been surprised when Scott attacked.
He would have done the same thing.
So he did the only thing he could do. He backed him up.
It became apparent as soon as the rest of the rival Pack appeared that it was an ambush. Setting off Scott had been the signal, and Derek saw with no small amount of relief that Stiles had already moved to get Melissa out of the way of the fight. Scott was facing off with the Alpha, which was not something that should be happening and Derek had to get over there now.
Two wolves jumped in his way and Derek focused on them, determined to get past them and to Scott, who was not fighting the way he usually did. Something was wrong.
He fought the wolves, managing to get both of them and knock them down. As they were struggling to get back up, he heard Stiles yell, "Derek! Scott!"
Derek looked at Stiles before realizing what he'd said and looked for Scott. The Alpha was holding him with both hands around his neck, pushed up against the cement under the stairs. Scott wasn't moving; his body was hanging limply and Derek couldn't tell if he couldn't hear Scott's heartbeat or if there was just too much going on around them. He didn't care.
He let out a roar and jumped over the two werewolves still lying on the ground. The Alpha roared back and put one hand out, holding Scott up with the other one. Derek knocked the arm aside and grabbed the Alpha, wrenching him away from the cement wall. The Alpha lost his grip on Scott, who crashed to the floor. Derek didn't have time to check on Scott, as the Alpha went directly for his throat with his teeth. Derek punched the Alpha right in the face and knocked him backwards. The Alpha got up and ran back at Derek again, but Derek instead used his training that he remembered from his parents and grabbed the Alpha's arm, using to to pin the Alpha in a hold. The Alpha growled and fought to get loose, but Derek held fast.
"Leave," he growled directly in the Alpha's ear. "Now."
The Alpha struggled for a few more seconds before relaxing and nodded. Derek could feel that something was off, but he didn't care. He had more important things to worry about. He pushed the Alpha away from him and the Alpha commanded the rest of his Pack to follow him before running out. Derek didn't watch them go. He turned back toward Scott.
At some point, Stiles and Melissa had made their way to him, and were performing CPR on Scott. Derek stared at Scott's body as Stiles gave him rescue breaths and Melissa did chest compressions.
"Scott, damnit!" Stiles yelled in frustration. The rest of the Pack were gathering around them and Allison was down on her knees on the other side from Stiles and Melissa, holding Scott's hand.
"Come on, Scott, come on," she was whispering. Derek couldn't take the pain in her voice, he couldn't handle it. Any of it.
Right before he was about to run, Scott suddenly coughed. Stiles flailed in surprise, knocking himself over, but Melissa, who dodged his limbs, bent down and put her ear on Scott's chest. Derek didn't need to hear what she had to say as he could hear the beats himself, but it was still reassuring to hear her say, "Pulse. He has a pulse."
"Why isn't he healing?" Allison asked. She was inspecting a cut on Scott's face that was still bleeding. Derek looked at it.
"He was fighting an Alpha," he said. "It'll take longer. We need to get him out of here."
Somehow Derek got elected to carry Scott, who wasn't showing any signs of waking up yet. He held his second in his arms, carrying him to Stiles' Jeep. He climbed in without a word, sitting in the back with Scott. Melissa climbed in the passenger seat. Derek could see Stiles throw an anxious look back at them before pulling out, all of them going to Derek's loft. Since Melissa had been taken from their house, she didn't feel comfortable going there, and Derek agreed.
He carried Scott into his loft as well, putting him down on his own bed. His cheek was still bleeding and Derek tried really hard to pretend that was normal.
It worked for all of two seconds, when Stiles decided to point it out.
"Should that still be bleeding?" he asked.
"No," was all Derek said.
"So something's wrong?"
"Yes."
Stiles looked at Derek as if he expected him to explain. Luckily, the others filed in then and provided a distraction.
"You parked crooked," Boyd informed Stiles.
"Oh, my bad," Stiles looked pissed off. "Because that was my first thought, you know, not the unconscious best friend in the back seat who isn't healing. How dare I park crooked? How dare I not give a shit!"
Stiles was nearly yelling at the end of this and Derek wondered if the entire Pack was on the verge of a meltdown. They needed a break.
"He isn't healing?" Allison's voice was soft and Derek wished he wasn't a werewolf so he could pretend he hadn't heard that. Instead, he had to meet her eyes and shake his head. She closed her eyes, clearly trying to compose herself. Derek looked away.
"What's wrong with him?" Isaac asked.
No one spoke. Derek met Stiles' eyes by accident and could practically see his mind working. He wasn't at all surprised when Stiles spoke.
"It pushed him over the edge," he said.
"The edge?" Erica raised an eyebrow. "If anything, he was the furthest from the edge."
"That's what he wants you to think," Stiles looked like he was going to be sick. "That's what he wants all of us to think. He was hiding it. I should have seen it. I should have known. Damnit!" he slammed his hand down on the table.
Derek shook his head. "Not your fault."
"I'm his best friend!" Stiles jumped up and started pacing in a circle. "I'm supposed to know!"
"Stiles, shut up," Derek said. He hadn't missed Melissa's guilty look when Stiles spoke and wondered what was going on. She was sitting next to Scott, holding his hand and staring at his chest.
It was a long silence before anyone spoke up.
"We have to do something," Isaac said first. "Call Deaton, call someone. Take him to a hospital. He's still not healing."
"He's not letting himself heal," Derek muttered. "Deaton can't do much for him, it's mostly psychological."
"And of course he's unconscious, so we can't even talk to him," Stiles had his hands on his head now. "Damnit."
"Deaton can still stop the bleeding," Allison pointed out. "He'll heal like a human, right? So we should do what we would do for us humans."
"Take him to a hospital!" Isaac repeated, sounding slightly unhinged.
"And if he wakes up and starts super-healing?" Stiles pointed out.
"We make something up!" Allison threw her hands up. "We do what we always do, but we can't just let him bleed on Derek's bed!"
"Fine," Derek said. "Take him. Stiles and Allison, take him. Make up a story. Stiles, tell your dad about the rival Pack. I don't think they're done."
"That's very comforting," Stiles grumbled. "The psychotic werewolves are still on the loose and could attack us at any time. They know where Scott and his mom live."
"I'm aware," Derek couldn't help the anger in his voice. Stiles didn't even flinch, just glared back at him.
"Then what do we do?" he demanded.
"I'm working on it!" Derek yelled back. Stiles did jump back at that, looking upset and frustrated, everything Derek was feeling. He backed away from Derek and turned toward Allison, who was looking at Scott. Boyd helped them get Scott out to Stiles' Jeep and they left.
Derek sat down on a chair at the table and stared down at it. He had to do something. He couldn't just let Scott down like this. He couldn't let anyone else get hurt. He had to protect his Pack. No matter what.