Hey here is the sequel to Walking these Gray Roads Finding Friends on the Way. This story may not make much sense without reading that one.
I hope you all enjoy this one!
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf.
"Jackson's a dick," announced Isaac walking into the loft.
"No," corrected Stiles, "he's a douchebag. Calling him a dick feels like giving him too much power," he muttered after.
"I agree with both those sentiments," Scott added afterwards, grinning.
"So, in other words," said Derek, "nothing new."
"Exactly," Scott agreed, and then grinned wider at the disbelieving look Derek shot him.
"What's he done now?" asked Allison, from the table where she was doing her homework.
"Scored all the goals," Stiles grumbled, "And 'forgot' to assist us when he could."
"Danny'll talk him out of doing that again," Scott said, apparently unconcerned.
"Well forgive me if I don't share your confidence," Isaac told him.
"He already started when we left," Scott told Isaac, "Why do you think I'm not worried?"
"And it didn't occur to you to tell us that?" Stiles told him disbelievingly.
"Are you kidding?" Scott said, "Like I'm going to interrupt the two of you in the middle of a rant. The last time Boyd tried that Isaac bit him."
"It was an accident," Isaac mumbled.
Derek had long ago given up on them and was hunting around for his jacket because he had to go to work soon.
"Has anyone seen my jacket?" he asked after a moment.
"Check Erica's room," said Allison, "she was trying it on this morning."
Derek disappeared upstairs and came back with his jacket.
"Keep an eye on them," he told Allison.
She smiled at him and said, "Sure thing."
"I am not a child," Stiles protested after him. Scott just gave Derek a half smile and a nod, which he returned. He knew Scott would be protecting the others.
Isaac called a goodbye which was muffled by the sandwich he was currently stuffing his mouth with.
Derek gave a half-wave and disappeared out of the loft. Stiles dived into the fridge for food and Scott went over to greet Allison with a kiss.
"How was practice otherwise?" she asked him.
"It was good," Scott said, "Coach didn't even yell a lot."
"He definitely likes Jackson though," Stiles added from the kitchen, followed by, "Hey Isaac where'd you put the ketchup?"
Allison grinned at Scott and then nudged him towards the kitchen, "Go and get something to eat."
He gave her another kiss and headed over to the kitchen to eat.
It had been a semester since they had started school and all were doing well there. Stiles was reunited with his beloved jeep and often carried Scott and Isaac to school, whilst Allison ferried Erica. Jackson and Lydia alternated driving duty and they picked up Boyd and/or Danny on the way to school. On evenings everyone went home with whoever was available due to their mess of extracurricular activities.
They had settled down to a sort-of routine of home, school, loft and practice in sparring ect. Packwise things were...shifting. They were a pack without an alpha; led by two betas and held together by a human-wolf. Stiles and Scott had, over time, come to a, a knowledge of each other, an understanding. They were not friends, not yet, but they knew each other, balanced out each other. Both of them shared that sort of understanding with Derek but it was different for each of them and him. Scott and Derek were slowly shifting from co-leaders to...a mentor-mentee relationship but it would not be without price. The shift was going to cost, it was going to hurt, but Scott and Derek both knew that, and both were ready to bear whatever was going to come of it when it came. Stiles was being the buffer for the rest of the pack. The backlash would hit him hardest before it trickled down to the rest but he could take it. The three of them had started this and they would take care of this delicate, exquisite pain. Luckily the three of them were mature enough by now to take it.
A few months ago, Stiles reflected wryly, they would not have been preparing for the shift so calmly. It was funny how things changed.
The loft had become their pack hangout, but the old Hale house had become their place for disputes since their disputes could become messy especially if they contained Jackson or even Erica.
Saturday morning found most of the pack in the loft preparing to go through their morning routine. Allison and Erica were already sparring on one side of the loft sans claws and weapons. Erica was stronger and faster but Allison definitely knew what she was doing. She turned Erica's strength neatly against her and rolled blows that were too fast for her too block. She was a hunter and while she wasn't much stronger than a regular person, it was enough to make a difference and give her an edge. They were therefore about evenly matched.
Erica threw a punch and Allison caught her arm, twisted it and threw a knee into Erica's face. Erica rocked back with the blow and used the momentum to rip free her arm. She lashed out with a forward kick that knocked through Alison's guard and sent her stumbling back.
Off to the side of the sparring pair Lydia and Stiles were stretching. Lydia may be a banshee but Derek was quite convinced she was half wildcat as well. Stiles was the only one devious enough to keep up with her. The rest of them often came out of matches with her with scratch marks.
Isaac, Scott and Jackson were out running. Boyd was making breakfast, having already finished his run and waiting for the sparring area to open up so that he could fight with Derek.
Derek was sleeping on the couch having returned from his shift a few hours ago. He had grunted a promise to wake up and spar but Boyd wasn't putting too much stock in that. Still a werewolf could hope.
Allison and Erica finished sparring and soon after the rest of the pack returned from their run. Stiles and Lydia moved over to begin their own sparring session whilst the three runners headed to the fridge for water. Derek slumbered on, occasionally giving little half snores. Boyd was tempted to make a video of him but figured that if he did Derek might shorten his lifespan.
Isaac and Jackson went to begin their own stretches. Jackson was a fearsome fighter and being a kanima, near invincible, but Isaac had a wicked violence-loving streak that rivaled and probably surpassed Jackson's. Their match ups were always something to watch and always wince-inducing. Both of them came out grinning afterwards though and Stiles had often pronounced them both insane.
Scott dropped down on the couch, next to Boyd, who had finished making the pancakes, drinking orange juice and cooling down a bit. After a moment Alison and Erica joined them and they watched Stiles and Lydia go at it. They eventually came to draw and then vacated the floor for Isaac and Jackson.
Stiles grabbed water and sat on the armrest of the couch using Allison's shoulder to balance himself. He sported some nasty looking welts down his right arm and Lydia had a wicked bruise on her upper arm. She claimed the loveseat for herself and turned it so she could watch the Isaac-Jackson fight, which was holding true to its usual brutal fashion. Derek was still sleeping, his mouth a little open now.
Stiles phone rang startling them all. Stiles flailed, lost his grip on Allison and fell of the armrest. He scrambled back up, fished the phone out of his pocket and answered it.
"Hey dad," he said overly cheerful and out of breath.
"Stiles," said the Sheriff, "Good morning. Just calling to check up. You left without me seeing you this morning."
"Oh, hey dad," said Stiles, "Good morning. Yeah I'm fine; I'm at the loft. With everyone else. We were just working out. Usual stuff."
"Well I'm glad to hear it. Have fun. Are you coming home for dinner today?"
"Uh, most likely," Stiles said.
He was distracted by Jackson sweeping a low back kick and Isaac performing a Neo to evade it only to get caught by Jackson's other leg sweeping under his feet in the next moment. Isaac turned his fall to his advantage but Jackson, being the most flexible member of the pack by virtue of being a kanima, cleverly twisted away and landed a solid blow on Isaac.
After what was clearly an awkward pause over the phone Stiles continued.
"Yeah, I'll call you to tell you if I'm coming or not."
"Sure, no problem," said the Sheriff, "Bye."
"Bye," said Stiles. He ended the call and plopped back onto the armrest and grabbed the hand Alison offered for support. Isaac head butted Jackson, grabbed his arm, yanking him forward and applied a wicked blow to his kidneys.
"Oooh," said everyone.
Ironically, that was what woke Derek. He got up on one elbow, looked around and then flopped back onto the couch fast asleep. Boyd gave him a fond exasperated smile and nudged Scott with his elbow.
"Want to spar?"
"Sure," said Scott downing the last of his orange juice.
Derek mumbled something unintelligible and Lydia shushed him but reached over and tapped his ankle twice, affectionately.
Isaac and Jackson finally finish their spar, with Isaac winning and proclaiming that they were now even. Jackson scowled at him and went for water and Scott and Boyd hefted themselves from the warm cushiony comfort of the couch and went over to the sparing area, half stretching as they went. Jackson immediately ran over to take Scott's position, just barely reaching there before Stiles who fell over Jackson and then proceeded to knee him as he scrambled over him to get to Boyd's place. Jackson grunted and would have poured the water all over Stiles if Allison hadn't snatched the cup from him. She took a deep drink and grinned cheekily at Jackson before turning her attention to the fight that was about to start.
Scott and Boyd took a few more moments to really stretch before they stood up and began to circle each other.
Isaac appeared from the kitchen, looked around morosely and then went over to Lydia who gave a dramatic sigh but got up and allowed him to sit. Once he was seated she rearranged herself on him and settled in to watch the fight. Derek was giving tiny, soft snores again.
Scott and Boyd was an interesting matchup because while Scott was the better fighter and as strong as Boyd, Body was big, and heavy. It took a lot to actually knock him off balance. Boyd was also smart and military trained. Scott however knew what it was like to really fight for your life and that was a lesson that gave as much as it took.
It was the longest match of the morning and eventually came to an end with Scott as the victor. The rest of the pack cheered and then headed for the kitchen for Boyd's pancakes. Derek was still fast asleep and likely to stay that way until evening. Allison snatched some pancakes and hid them away for Derek to eat later because he had a special affinity for Boyd's pancakes.
After breakfast they hit the showers and then scattered to do various things. Allison, Erica and Lydia went to the supermarket for groceries, Scott and Stiles went over home to do their various chores, Boyd went to the library, Jackson was meeting some guys on the team to go watch lacrosse videos all say long and Isaac was doing his set of chores at the loft. Derek of course was still dead to the world.
After finishing all their chores, Stiles and Scott regrouped at the Stilinkski house to play Call of Duty Black Ops and to do their chemistry homework while bitching about Mr. Harris. Stiles remembered at some point in time to tell his father he was in fact, going o be home for dinner.
However strangely enough, the Sherriff was the one who almost didn't make it to dinner. He came in late, looking exhausted.
"Hey dad," said Stiles, "What happened?"
The Sheriff sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't say anything until he had seated himself at the table and then said, "We found another body today. This one had been burned in one of the camping sites."
Stiles grimaced. Then frowned.
"Wait another body? I didn't hear anything about a first body."
The Sheriff sighed and said, "Two days ago we found a partial John Doe in the preserve. It looked like the work of some animal. Which reminds me, you kids stay out of the woods okay? You're not supposed to be there anyway but this is an extra waning. I don't want whatever that did that to get you kids if it's still around."
"Sure," said Stiles, but his mind' was racing. "What happened to the guy though? Was he like, missing an arm?"
The Sherriff grimaced and then answered carefully, worried about bringing up bad memories, "He was ripped in half Stiles."
Stiles' felt himself freeze for a moment as memory flooded over him, the slick feeling of blood and its heady scent fogging the air around him and then he was back and gave a twisted little smile.
"That's not...good. I'll pass your warning to the other kinds in school. Some of them like to go out there to neck."
The Sheriff nodded still watching Stiles carefully and Stiles sighed and said, "I'm okay dad. I wonder what did it though."
"Experts are saying it was a mountain lion. But they haven't confirmed it."
Stiles eyebrows skied up. "Man that must have been some mountain lion."
The Sheriff grimaced again. "Whatever it was, I hope it leaves soon and doesn't harm anyone else. We have enough to deal with, what with the psycho burning people."
Stiles made a face and said "Yeah. Nobody needs a psycho burning people." And dug into his dinner. The talk at the table turned to more pleasant things and soon afterwards Stiles was free to go back to his room which meant he was climbing out his window and running over to Scott's house next door and scrambling up the side of the house.
Scott heard him and opened the window to let him in and then did most of the work in dragging him up. Once Stiles was safely inside they settled on Scott's floor while Stiles related what his dad and told him.
"But Scott," he finished, "The only time I've ever seen do something like that, it was a werewolf kill. I'll have to get the pics to be sure but I think it's worth mentioning to the pack at least."
Scott bit his lip and then nodded. "You're right. And if this werewolf is killing people, then we have to stop him."
Stiles nodded and then groaned and said, "If it is a werewolf he's got a crappy sense of timing."
Scott snorted with laughter, "Tell me about it."
They told the pack the next morning and Derek said he'd look at it and everyone said they would keep an eye out. Things were okay for the rest of the week after that with no more bodies being found and as customary the pack congregated together Friday afternoon. They spent their time doing out most of their homework and later watching the worst horror movie they could possibly find where the special effects were so bad you could tell it was a rubber suit.
Around twelve though those who lived out of the loft began to move out to get back to their own homes. Scott was just about to open the door when a wolf's howl pierced the air.
Scott gasped like he'd been shot and dropped to a crouch on the ground digging his claws into the ground. His eyes were yellow and he grumbled in the back of his throat as he fought down an answering howl.
Boyd, similarly affected, was not so strong, and gave into the impulse to howl. Derek jammed his forearm into Boyd's mouth and Boyd bit down hard to stop from replying.
"What the hell?" snapped Stiles hurrying over to Scott. Scott's eyes were wild as he hung on by a thread to his humanity.
In the back, Jackson shifted uncomfortably, his own control being wreaked by the upset in the pack stability.
"He's trying to call me Stiles," Scott ground out.
"Who?" said Stiles.
"My alpha," he said.
Stiles' eyes widened and he looked to Derek frantically. He only caught a slight movement of Derek's head and then Isaac calmly came up behind Scott and whacked him soundly on the back of his head and knocked him out.
Another howl sounded out and Boyd whimpered and struggled against the hold Derek had on him before Derek said "Sorry," and knocked him out too.
R&R Please! Review Junkie writer here...