"Did you honestly think you could win against a pack of alphas" The alphas red eyes burn with rage as he pulls out the arrow trapped in his side. He throws it to the ground and continues speaking, his accent thick and grating, and snarls "A bunch of uncoordinated teenage pups. I'm going to rip you all limb from limb, and then I'll make you heal just so I can do it over and over and over. I'll carry on till you can't even scream. Until you are nothing."

The small man behind him gives Derek and twisted smirk and licks his lips as he steps forward. Derek hears someone behind him snarl at the man and he distantly recognises it as Isaac. Erica and Boyd are crumpled at the Alphas feet, there clothes are bloodied and worn and they look vulnerable and defenceless curled up on the ground. He can sense how unnerving it is to have two of the packs strongest personalities on the ground. There is a sense of defeat in the pack and everybody crowds closer to each other. Even Jackson grabs Lydia's hand and pulls her slightly behind him as Scott does the same for Allison. Both girls huff and stand their ground. Derek realises then that they are a strong pack, could have rebuilt everything the Hale pack had been before the fire if they had the chance, but these Alphas are taking away that chance.

He feels a rush of anger in him and let's himself shift into wolf form. Everything is tense, the nervous energy palpable in the air, and Derek know that if this becomes a fight, they will lose. Just as the pack takes a collective breath of air they hear a twig snap to the side. Derek sniffed the air and cursed under his breath.

Stiles.

If they both survive this, and he really deeply doubts they will, Derek is going to have a very long talk to Stiles about his self-preservation instincts, or lack of.

Stiles steps out into the clearing and smiles awkwardly at Derek, but instead of making his way to the pack he steps closer to the Alphas. Stiles is shifting nervously on his feet and he takes a moment to look at the Alpha pack in all their glory. He takes a deep breath and, "Wow, you guys all grouped together are pretty intimidating. But, you guys over there," Stiles points at the blonde twins standing together at the very back, Creepy twins numero uno and dos, drop the silent mysterious psychopathic spooky twin thing you have going on. It's been done, and if I say it's been overdone, than you need to start being worried."

The twins glared at Stiles furiously and stepped forward to attack but were dismissed by what appeared to be the head Alpha. They stepped back with what seemed to be a lot of effort. Stiles looked down and smiled slightly before clearing his throat.

Stiles stepped in front of the head Alpha and smiled a tight smile. "Correct me if I'm wrong but you're Gideon, are you not?" The Alpha nodded and tilted his head questioningly. Stiles took one step back and Derek resisted the urge to pull him by the back of his hoodie towards him. "A pack of Alphas, that's kind of impressive, but I'm not going to pretend to have any idea whatsoever how those dynamics work. How are you not all killing each other?" Gideon seemed to be getting irritated and Derek was twitching to know what Stiles' game was. "You look like you're Alpha of the Alpha's. So you're kind of Alpha Alpha… confusing, whatever. We need to have words."

Gideon stepped closer to Stiles and the entire pack behind Derek moved forward. "You are part of the Hale pack. You're not a wolf, so why are you representing the Hale pack?"

Gideon's face morphed into shock when Stiles seemingly ignored him and went to stand closer to the small man with the twisted smirk. The whole scene was confusing, from Stiles knowing Gideon's name to him basically representing the Hale pack (something they hadn't been called in a very long time).

Stiles cleared his throat and pointed to the man's neck, and Derek noticed for the first time a small tattoo there. It looked like a sun and moon and a snake wrapped around them both. "That's your family crest, right?" The man's eyes narrow and stiles smiles brightly. He faces Gideon and weighs him up. "Do you know you have very special people in this pack, at this the small man growls at Stiles "Really, really special people, well I'm guessing anyway." The small man's growling grew louder until it was filling the field and Derek glared, this made the mans twisted smirk reappear.

"Stand down Eli"

Derek saw something in Stiles shift when Gideon spoke and Stiles spun to face the small man who was apparently called Eli.

"Eli," He said the name like he was tasting it on his tongue, that's not your real name." There was no question in Stiles' voice, only absolute certainty. He tilted his head as Eli shrunk back, his face losing the twisted smirk. "You're polish?" Eli, or whatever his name was, nodded quickly, his eyes wide and fearful. "What's your real full name?" The way Stiles was concentrating on the guy was making Derek twitchy but as he glanced around he saw the other Alphas enthralled by the exchange. Eli hesitated and Stiles nodded at him to answer.

"Jedrzej Elliot Dobry" Derek instantly realised that there was power behind the name, just in the Eli held himself as he said it. Stiles' face completely changed into an inviting smile and Derek saw his stance relax a bit. The others Alphas noticed it too by the confused looks on their faces.

"You're a Dobry, I'm guessing you're an original or direct descendant and not one of the ones who just adopted the name" He nodded and Eli's faced relaxed almost imperceptibly but Derek knew Stiles was building to something, he could tell from the way he was rocking on his feet.

Stiles whispered a few words in a foreign language and in a split second Eli's whole body tensed and his eyes filled with childish wonder. He looked like someone had told him Santa wasn't real only to go downstairs at Christmas and see huge red pants shimmying down the chimney. Stiles smiled a brightly and suddenly looked a hundred times more confident.

"Opiekun. You're… You're real."

"Just like the fables baby, or myths or whatever. I'm guessing your mother told you the story when you were a child" Eli nodded once again and stepped closer to Stiles. Out of the corner of his eye Derek saw Scott tense up and motioned for him to stand down.

"So, you are a Stilinski. A living, breathing Opiekun." Stiles' unknown plan seemed to be working if the delight in his eyes was any consolation.

"Some people call me an Opiekun or custos et patronus, most would call me a guardian and protector, but around here, they just call me Stiles. Stiles Stilinski. Don't wear it out." The Alpha pack made a collective gasp at the foreign names and he saw Allison's and Lydia's jaws literally drop. Stiles put up his hand and smiled at Eli. They seemed to be engaging in a battle of will when the other man reached out and shook Stiles' hand. As soon as their skin touched Eli gasped and tried to pull away but Stiles shot him a significant look and held on tighter.

"You really are a Stilinski" He whispered in wonder.

"I'm Stiles and a Stilinski and a million other things but right now I'm really angry, which makes me dangerous." In the blink of an eye Eli made a move to run away but just as quickly Stiles shot him a powerful glare and he submitted. The Alphas stared in shock and outrage as he bowed before Stiles.

"Not all of the legends are true. I'm not a hero and I'm not a warrior. I don't want to hurt you, but if you so much as touch a hair on their pretty little heads I. will. Destroy. You." A flash of lightning and thunder struck the clear sky and Eli whimpered beneath Stiles' stare. The look on Stiles' face was murderous; his whole body tight with tension and the whole forest around them was pulsing with power.

Derek stepped closer to Stiles and laid and hand on his shoulder and immediately recoiled. It felt like… energy. That was the only way to explain it. It felt like Stiles had the sun burning inside of him and the only thing that stopped Derek from completely stepping away was the look on Stiles' face when he pulled away. It was fleeting, it really only lasted a second, but it was enough to see that Stiles wasn't as put together as he seemed. So Derek laid his hand back onto his shoulder and this time the energy felt welcoming and Derek squeezed slightly.

"Stiles"

Derek saw the moment Stiles snapped out of his haze. He took a step back and almost tripped backwards into Derek. He reached out and put his other hand onto Stiles' shoulder. He stood up a little straighter and Derek almost smiled.

"The Hale pack is under my protection and an Alpha pack has not been given permission to step into this territory. Eli, I have no grievances with your family and it would be interesting if we could share some of our histories but you come alone and with permission." The Alpha pack stepped together and formed a v formation with tight, well-practised movements. Gideon stood at the front and nodded at Derek and then Stiles.

"We wish you no harm and we will leave. If Eli wants to talk with you I will make sure he contacts you beforehand." They nodded in unison, Derek could feel Stiles shudder beneath his hands, and left. Derek didn't relax till he couldn't sense them on his territory anymore.

Scott was the first one to speak, interrupting the complete silence that had fallen across the clearing. He was a few feet away from Stiles when he whispered, "What the heck was that Stiles." Stiles just coughed and acted as if what had happened was like a daily occurrence. "That was me saving all of your asses. Again." He seemed to have lost all the confidence he was radiating when the Alpha pack was there and when Lydia practically snarled his name he flinched. Derek heard him breath sharply through his nose.

"It was nothing" Lydia actually scoffed at that and walked right up in front of Stiles. "You said custos et patronus. That is not nothing, that's a big something." Stiles cleared his throat and took a step away from Lydia. Allison seemed to magically appear at his shoulder, bow hanging off her own, and Stiles rolled his eyes.

"How did I know it was going to be you two who harassed me" Stiles sounded strangely exhausted and faintly… fond? Allison sighed and put a hand on Stiles' forearm. She didn't seem to jerk back like Derek did but her eyes did widen a bit. "Honey, it's because were the smartest," Stiles let out a small genuine smile at that and Allison smiled back, "and also because we've researched the most about those kind of things."

Erica who had been surprisingly quiet through the whole exchange made a noise of frustration and looked about a second away from throwing her hands up into the air. "Is anybody going to explain to me what is going on." Scott made a noise of agreement and was about to butt in but Erica silenced him with a glare, "Seriously, Stiles, what the hell!"

Just then somebody cleared their throat and Stiles' eyes widened before he groaned and grumbled, "Oh God."

Every person in the group turned to see Peter grinning creepily at the edge of the field. He was leaning against a tree and had his signature smirk planted on his face. Derek heard someone behind him complain before Peter announced "Well Stiles, I always knew you were special but I never thought you were this big" Derek heard Stiles say 'oh my god' again in a higher pitched voice before Peter stepped forward and his smirk dropped.

"Why don't you tell the rest of the gang who you really are?"