Stiles watched as the body fell to the forest floor, blood seeping out of his lips, pooling around his body. The gun was a comforting weight in his hand and instead of throwing it away like he expected to, Stiles gripped it tighter. He took a step closer, then another until he was looming over her. Glancing up Stiles watched Gerard fall, Derek's hands coated in his blood.
Beside Derek's feet Isaac stirred, while Boyd and Scott helped each other to their feet. Erica appeared beside Stiles, her hand resting on his arm. Four bodies lay between them, the remaining Argents. Stiles eyes flicked to Scott, worry coursing through his veins. Derek had the same idea, glancing between a glassy eyed Allison on the ground and Scott but Scott just stared. Danny appeared behind him, slipping an arm around Scott's waist. Jackson dropped from a tree branch above them, and Lydia slipped a hand into Isaac's.
A cough drew Stiles's attention back to the ground. Chris Argent was looking at the corpses around him, then up at Stiles. 'You're human,' he said with a frown. Stiles shrugged at him.
'I think you took away my humanity the night you tried to kill me and ended up killing my father instead.' He said coldly. Erica pressed closer to Stiles and Isaac blatantly stepped over dead bodies to press close to Stiles's other side, dragging Lydia behind him.
'You're making a mistake.' Chris said rubbing a bloody hand over his face. 'Leaving me alive. I'll find you.'
Stiles looked at Derek, his best friend, his lover, his mate. Derek blinked at him, just once, and Stiles dropped his eyes back to Chris. 'How can you find us if you're dead?' Stiles asked.
'You don't have the-'
The sound of the bullet cracked through the forest, cutting Chris's words off. He slumped back across his daughters legs, a hand falling onto his wife's hip. Stiles lifted the gun, peered at it. It had belonged to his father, a personal firearm he kept at home for protection. It was the first weapon Stiles had ever used at the age of nine. He clicked the safety on, unloaded the rest of the clip and pressed it into the waistband of his jeans. Half a dozen other bodies littered the ground, hunter friends who followed the Argents.
'You ok?' Scott asked.
'He's fine.' Derek said, eyes locking with Stiles's again. 'Let's get out of here.'
Stiles squeezed Erica's hand, ruffled Isaac's hair and wrapped an arm around Lydia's shoulders. 'Derek's right, we need to get going.' He said stepping carelessly over the corpses on the ground. Scott didn't pause as he turned, leading Danny behind Derek. Jackson joined then, pushing against Boyd's shoulder.
Hours later, as the pack lay curled in a cave around a fire built by Derek and Isaac; Derek drew Stiles against his chest. 'That was something else, what you did for my pack.'
'Our pack Derek, they're my pups too.' Stiles whispered. Derek rested his chin on Stiles's shoulder, the two of them sitting at the mouth of the cave while the rest slept. If anything wanted to interfere with the Hale pack they had to get past Stiles first, and good luck to them, Derek thought, as his mate's hard eyes scanned the forest.