Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Wolf.
Read on, oh faithful ones...
...
Lydia was right about there not being anything to do after the werewolf attacked her. Derek refused to let either of them leave him, snarling at a few people who came too close for his or his wolf's comfort. Since Lydia and Stiles stayed at the same table with Derek all night, refusing to move (no matter how much the casino security would have liked them to), he had them in sight at all times, and eventually calmed down.
By the time Derek's calm enough to leave Lydia and Stiles on their own, almost four full days have passed. He is still anxious about leaving them alone, especially since they now have casino security watching all three of them carefully as well. It turns out that Lydia's mathematical mind, Derek's nose and ears, and Stiles' ability to annoy people made them very, very good at card games. (Lydia refused to let Stiles use magic, though he argued that they were both using the resources at their disposal, so why couldn't he?) The amount of money they won is not only enough to put all three of them through college, but they can also repair the loft, replace Lydia's wardrobe, and buy Stiles whatever books he needs, and still have some left over. Needless to say, the casino's not happy, and Derek doubts that they will be allowed near any of the major players for a few months.
"Derek? Where're you goin'?" Stiles mumbles from the bed, arm stretched out for him to come back.
Lydia is still asleep, her body curled up against Stiles' chest, both of them tempting him to return to bed.
Derek shakes his head briefly. "Deucalion's asked for me again. Says it's urgent this time," he murmurs, pressing a kiss to Stiles' outstretched hand.
Stiles frowns slightly, turning Derek's hand over, eyes fading to white then red as he murmurs some words - a protection charm, Derek realises - before returning the chaste kiss. Stiles looks at him with a soft smile, hair mussed up from his sleep.
"There you go. Gotta keep my favourite boyfriend safe," Stiles says, grinning outright now.
"I'm your only boyfriend, Stiles."
"Therefore, you're my favourite. You're also my favourite person of the male gender. Just don't tell my dad I said that."
Derek grins and kisses him on the cheek. "Go back to sleep; keep Lydia safe until I get back," he adds, looking down at her and stroking her red hair gently.
"You know I will," Stiles replies, then gives him a slight push towards the door. "See Duke and come back to us soon."
Derek nods and leaves before he can change his mind. Deucalion's second-in-command is waiting down the hall for him, and seems a little surprised that Derek is actually coming this time. Derek just nods to the werewolf and steps into the elevator. It's a short trip down to the basement, where a false door reveals a security room and small room currently acting as a prison for Lydia's attacker. Derek balks when he sees that the door is made from moonstone, his wolf snarling at the unexpected threat.
"Good morning, Alpha Hale. I am sorry to take you away from Alpha Lydia and Alpha Stiles so soon, but I have news that you must hear in person," Deucalion says, sounding a little apologetic at least.
Derek decides to skip the formalities; he hates them just as much as he ever has, and he doesn't want to be down here in this room with a moonstone door any longer than he has to.
"Get on with it then, Duke," Derek says, purposely using his nickname rather than his title, and watches as Deucalion nods briefly.
"Very well, Derek. Don't look so alarmed about the moonstone door. It's properties only affect those inside of that room. We can't have a freshly turned werewolf in a normal room, after all. He would escape and wreak havoc on the population."
"Why not use mountain ash then? Stiles can make a circle without a problem," Derek mutters.
"As you are aware, Stiles has been preoccupied for these last four days, and was not available to make a mountain ash prison. Besides, it's far too difficult to get rid of that dust once it's been used in a room. I couldn't stand it if any of my pack were harmed by minuscule flecks of mountain ash."
There's a threat laced in his words, and Derek resolves to tell Stiles not to use mountain ash in Deucalion's apartment building unless absolutely necessary.
"The man who attacked you was recently turned. He was given money and promised more, and was told to attack Lydia by a modified voice. He doesn't know much more than that, unfortunately. But he does live in Spring Valley. We found that there's a connection between him and Alpha Craigson," Deucalion adds, heading over to the computer where a set of files are waiting to be opened.
The photographs are damning, showing Lydia's attacker sitting in a café with Alpha Craigson. They're obviously talking about something together, but as the man was promised money by a person with a modified voice, Derek's still not entirely sure that Craigson's actually the one to blame for Lydia's attack. Someone else could be framing him, but on the other hand, Craigson could be making it look like he's being framed to avoid being put under suspicion.
"I need to talk with him."
"He's trapped in a moonstone room, Derek. You can't go in there without weakening yourself, you'll be just as vulnerable as he is," Deucalion adds, frowning. "I've had to use a human member of my pack for the last four days, and this man's proven himself to be strong in his desperation."
Derek's about to answer, but then he hears a familiar sound of a slide and step, followed closely by heels against the floor, and instead of answering, Derek turns to the doorway where Stiles and Lydia are arriving. Deucalion seems surprised that they're there - they managed to circumvent his security detail - but he nods them both inside to the seats beside Derek.
"Couldn't sleep without you; can we help?" Stiles asks, looking between them.
Lydia mutters something along the lines of 'I could've slept fine without either of you', but Derek and Stiles pretend not to hear since she doesn't seem that annoyed at them, and they know she's lying anyway. She steps away from Stiles, looking into the room where her attacker's sitting.
"Stiles, you'll be able to be in the room despite the moonstone and still be able to defend yourself against him. With Deucalion's permission, of course," Lydia says, business-like as she turns to look between them and Deucalion.
"Of course you have my permission. I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do, Alpha Lydia," he adds with a slight nod of his head.
Derek's a little suspicious of how amiable Deucalion is being; he's being careful with his scent and heartbeat, and if Derek didn't know better, he'd say that Deucalion was afraid. He's not sure of what - or who - but Derek decides to keep a close eye on Deucalion until the pack business is finished and the mystery of Lydia's attacker is solved.
"All right, let me at 'im," Stiles says, clapping his hands together, and heading towards the moonstone door.
"Be careful, Stiles. We don't know what affect the moonstone door will have on you," Derek says, his worry clear in his tone and expression; it's considered a sign of weakness to show any emotion around other werewolf packs, but Derek hasn't been known for following the archaic rules of other packs.
Stiles' face softens, as if he can see every single line of worry on his face, and he nods before opening the door and stepping inside, closing the door behind him with a dull thud. Lydia moves over to Derek, tucking herself into his embrace and against his chest, and he squeezes her shoulder gently. From the other side of the glass, they watch as Stiles sways slightly, eyes glowing red, and that colour fading far too quickly for either of their liking. Stiles stops for a moment, looking a little unsteady, and Derek's claws are already growing, tempted to pull him out immediately. Stiles straightens up and shakes his head a bit, eyes glowing white briefly before fading to his natural warm brown.
The man has been sitting in the corner of the room, looking pale and a little sick, and Derek wonders if he's been fed or has had a drink in the last four days. Before he can ask exactly that, the man gets up and launches himself at Stiles, a snarl on his lips though he's still human. Thanks to Stiles' fast reflexes, he dodges the blunt nails and angry roar, and dances out of the way with hands held up.
"Hey now, calm down. I'm not here to harm you; I just want to talk. There's nothing wrong with talking, right?"
The man falters a bit, as if he hadn't expected Stiles' response. Derek doesn't really blame him - not a lot of people can read Stiles like he and Lydia can, and there's even fewer who can resist telling him everything he wants to know when he's interrogating them. It's a skill that Derek thinks he picked up from his father, because somehow, Stiles can invert that skill and avoid questions like the plague too.
"I mean, some people say I talk too much, which is considered a bad thing, or at least an annoying one. Of course, there's only so much talking people can handle before they snap and try to kill me, and in here, you won't stand a chance against me. Although, I don't like your chances outside of this room either. So you either start talking willingly, or I'll make you talk," Stiles adds, then grins at the man manically.
"I don't know anything! I've already told you everything I know!"
"Well, that's a contradiction right there; how can you have told us everything if you don't know anything?" Stiles asks with a laugh. "Do you know Brian Craigson?"
"No! I told the other one that I don't know who he is! I've never heard that name before!"
"You were spotted at the same café as him in Spring Valley."
"I go to a lot of cafés, there are a lot of people there!"
"Doesn't mean you know them from a bar of soap, got it," Stiles says, then lets out a sigh.
"So I can go?"
"Not just yet. You stink, and we don't want your smell polluting the air of this fine city," he replies with a snort. His expression shifts, and Stiles smirks. "By the way, thanks for the extra cash. We managed to win close to a million dollars just at the card tables. Don't think security were too happy with us, really."
Even from behind the glass, Derek can see how infuriated the man is, at the taunt and knowing he had potentially lost that million dollars to them. Lydia must realise it too, because she stiffens in his arms, and they both watch as he tries to shift, despite the moonstone room. It's not a pretty sight to say the least, his face turning red with anger, and there's not anything he or his wolf can do. Stiles just makes a show of waiting, cleaning his fingernails on his shirt, yawning loudly, and it's doing nothing but make the man even angrier. He lunges forward again when Stiles is seemingly distracted, and though Derek's heart feels like it stops right then and there, his wolf snarling and pacing angrily, Stiles doesn't seem as affected, and simply sidesteps the man once more, turning and throwing him into the wall. He hits with a sickening thud, and Stiles crouches beside his still form, eyes glowing white as he murmurs an incantation over him. Then he stands and steps over the man to open the door, joining the three of them, his eyes filtering back to red, much to Derek's relief.
"He's not going to give us any more information than he already has. Clean him up, give him something to eat and drink, then let him go. Make sure he doesn't go into a casino if you can help it," Stiles adds, shaking his head.
Deucalion doesn't ask any questions, though Derek can smell the curiosity wafting off the older werewolf, but nods and accepts Alpha Stiles' instructions.
"We're going out for lunch," Lydia says, surprising Derek.
He wants to argue, but he can tell that Lydia's planning something, and relents with a brief nod. Stiles mutters something about curly fries, and they leave a moment later. Lydia stays tucked into Derek's side, and he takes Stiles' hand to keep him from wandering, helping to sate his anxious wolf.
Derek's nose leads them to a diner a little off the way that smells somewhat nicer than some of the others that are along the Strip. Most of those places are overcrowded with tourists, and reek of desperation. He's halfway through his burger - slightly overpriced, but the taste makes up for the exorbitant price - when Lydia sets her fork down and waits for them to finish and pay attention to her. Derek sneaks in one more bite before he sets the rest of his burger down, and he can see Stiles wolfing down the last of his curly fries before he looks up at Lydia as well.
"The spell you used on him - a tracking one?" Lydia asks Stiles pointedly.
He nods, wiping the salt off his chin off quickly. "Full moon tomorrow, neither him nor his Alpha will be able to resist. Find the Alpha, find the person who's trying to kill you."
"Good idea," Derek says, trying to be supportive, even though his voice comes out as more of a growl and his eyes flick to red.
Stiles seems to get that he actually means it, despite his red eyes, and smiles at him. Lydia covers his hand with her own, squeezing gently.
"It's all right, Derek. You and Stiles are with me now, nothing's going to happen."
"Well, apart from sex. Sex can still happen, right?"
Derek rolls his eyes at Stiles, but his words have the desired effect, and he feels relieved as the red fades from his eyes again.
"I want to go to Henderson and Spring Valley this afternoon," Lydia says, and the brief moment of relief is gone.
"Why?" Derek snarls.
It's all he can get out through the sudden appearance of fangs, though he wants to know why on earth she wants to go there when it's highly likely that the Alphas from one of those areas are trying to kill her. Derek's vaguely aware that they're lucky to be in a dark booth near the back of the diner, but can't bring himself under control just quite yet. Stiles sneaks in a few curly fries while Derek's wolfed out and Lydia's raising her eyebrow at him, looking unimpressed.
"It's a strategic move; I want you to get the scent of both of the Alphas so we can determine just who that man's meeting before he's actually meeting them. I've already met them, but I couldn't smell anything flowery about either Alpha, and besides, I did promise that I would introduce you both the next time we were here together."
Derek understands her reasoning, he really does, but he can't let go of the idea that she'll be hurt the minute she steps beyond the border of Deucalion's territory. Mind you, Lydia was already hurt within those borders. He tries to push that thought to the back of his mind, otherwise there's no way they're leaving this diner in the next hour. It takes another minute or so, but eventually, Derek's fangs slip back into his mouth and he nods.
"Thank you. Stiles, when you've cleaned the grease and salt, a protection spell would be handy. I'd rather not leave either of you open to harm, let alone myself," Lydia adds.
Derek can tell how worried she is from that alone. It helps calm him further, knowing that she's not just going to walk into this headstrong, danger be damned. Stiles nods, wipes his hands and mouth off again, presses a kiss to the back of her hand, and does the spell with red and white eyes glowing. He repeats it on Derek, then does the same for himself, and Derek's almost completely calm again by the time he's done. It's not a foolproof spell, it can only do so much to keep them safe and protected, but it's better than nothing at all.
...
The visit to Spring Valley and Alpha Craigson went as well as expected. The man's a misogynist to the point where he actively ignored Lydia in favour of talking to Derek or Stiles (although, after Stiles refused to talk to him in favour of his second in command, Craigson started to talk solely to Derek instead). Annoyed at the man's blatant sexism and disregard for his mate, Derek refused to answer his questions, and instead deferred to Lydia each and every time. She answered as if Craigson had asked her specifically, and overall, it was a surprise that they all left Craigson alive. He face was bright red, his fangs and claws were out, but he didn't attack them once.
Derek noticed that there wasn't a single flowery thing to be associated with him - his pack was full of males of a certain physique and temperament, and as Stiles pointed out afterwards, they'd probably rather their throats were torn out before they willingly went near anything floral-scented.
"It doesn't mean that they're not setting Alpha Jacquelyn up though," Lydia adds in the car as they headed towards Henderson.
"That sort of scent lingers, Lydia, and I couldn't smell a single thing. There are certain werewolves who can hide their scent from others, but there's only so much that can be hidden, and flowers are particularly potent to werewolves."
"Because of wolfsbane?" Stiles asks curiously, and Derek nods in return.
"We have to be able to smell it sooner than other flowers, especially while out on a hunt or run, so we've become accustomed to it more than most scents."
"You didn't smell it with Peter," Lydia points out, her knuckles tight on the steering wheel, her body tense as it always is when she talks about him.
Derek rests his hand over hers, slowly calming her down. "Peter knew things that not even I did, including how to make wolfsbane into a powder so it was harder to detect."
"I'm fine," Lydia mutters, pulling the car into a nearby street.
Neither Derek nor Stiles believe her, but Derek lets go of her hand, all of them silent as she pulls into a driveway.
"We're here. Give me a minute to freshen up," Lydia says, pulling down the mirror to check her reflection.
Stiles sneaks in a kiss before he slides out of the car, and Derek squeezes her leg gently before following him out.
"How many are in there?" Stiles murmurs, nodding to the large house they're in front of.
"Sounds like a lot," Derek replies distractedly, seeing the flowers lining the front of the house.
"What's wrong?"
"Those purple flowers are newer than the ones in the rest of the garden. Earth's been freshly dug up," he adds softly enough for Stiles to hear, and hopefully not loud enough for anyone inside to hear.
Stiles looks over to the flowers, leaning back against Derek as he considers them. "They don't really match the rest of the garden either, do they? Too sharp considering everything else is all soft petals and whatever. They look familiar, too. I think I've seen them before."
"I need to get closer to scent them, see if it's the same flower," Derek murmurs.
Stiles nods firmly and then gets back into the car where Lydia's applying her lipstick.
"Der thinks the purple flowers might have the same scent as the one from the money. New flowers, freshly dug earth, all the good stuff."
Lydia presses her lips together, puts the lid on her lipstick, then turns to Stiles and smiles with blood-red lips. "Well, he'll have his chance in a minute; we're going inside."
She gets out of the car, Stiles scrambling to follow her, and Derek sighs softly. He shouldn't have expected anything less; Lydia likes to face threats head on when she can.
"Lydia, what a pleasant surprise!" a woman calls from the front door, smiling broadly and waving to them. "I didn't know you were coming back so soon, otherwise I would have cleaned. Ignore the mess, I've got the pack doing a spring clean."
"It's not spring," Stiles mutters, wincing when Lydia nudges him in the ribs with her elbow.
"That's not a problem, Alpha Jacquelyn. We're just stopping by for a quick visit, and I'm sure these two won't even notice the mess; they never do at home, after all," Lydia says with a laugh, heading up the garden path to greet Jacquelyn.
Stiles looks like he wants to argue that, but he seems to understand what she's doing by luring Jacquelyn into a false sense of security and camaraderie, and just smiles broadly when Lydia introduces him to the other Alpha.
"Nice to meet you, Alpha Jacquelyn," Stiles says, receiving a brief nod in return. "This is Derek," he adds, bringing Derek to his side so he's right next to the flowers.
Derek breathes in deeply, as if he's nervous, and the scent of the flower hits him like a tidal wave. It's so much stronger than the faint scent on the cash, but it's the same, and that means either Jacquelyn is the one causing trouble or she's being set up to make them think that.
"Alpha Hale, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Jacquelyn says warmly, extending her hand for him to shake.
"Derek doesn't like touching people," Stiles says, grabbing Derek's hand and squeezing firmly.
"Not a problem, that's understandable. Maybe when we know each other better, you'll change your mind, Alpha Hale," Jacquelyn says with a smile that makes Derek feel uncomfortable.
"I love what you've done with the garden, Alpha Jacquelyn. You've got some lovely flowers; I'm so jealous. I have a complete black thumb," Lydia says, laughing in a way that reminds Derek of her conversations with her father.
There's something sharp in Jacquelyn's gaze, and Derek thinks that maybe this is one of the times they shouldn't be meeting a threat head on.
"That purple one's Blessed Thistle, isn't it? It's really fresh, especially for this time of the year," Stiles adds. "I've read that Blessed Thistle is really good for purification spells, but I haven't had a chance to use it myself."
"We have an emissary who orders most of these plants; I've little idea what they are, to be honest," Jacquelyn replies.
Her voice sounds steady, but there's a tiny uptick in her heartbeat, and it's enough to get Derek pulling Stiles and Lydia behind him, red-eyed and growling threateningly at the other Alpha. The sharp expression comes back onto Jacquelyn's face, and she smiles coolly.
"Now, now, there's no need for such dramatics, Alpha Hale," Jacquelyn says, as if she's scolding a three-year-old. "This has nothing to do with you, and I will be more than willing to let you live if you hand those two over."
Derek answers her with a roar that's enough to deafen and shake the windows in the house.
"Well, that's a shame. I was looking forward to having a mate as powerful as I am," Jacquelyn says with a disappointed sigh. "Elsie, please bring them inside and we'll get started."
Derek turns around in time to see a young woman floating a foot above the ground, and she blows a yellow powder off her hand, the particles sprinkling over the three of them. Derek tries to reach out for Stiles and Lydia, to break their fall if nothing else, but the powder takes hold of him too quickly and he collapses to the floor, Stiles and Lydia unconscious in front of him. His wolf howls, and the sound follows him into the darkness.
...
End of the second chapter.
Thanks for reading!