A/N- I'm so glad you've all been enjoying this so much! I've started waking up in the morning with ideas and getting excited about the alpha pack and all kinds of crazy things I never expected, so I guess this is going to go on for a while... I think if you go ahead and count on 15 chapters you won't be far off.


Impact


"Why are we doing this again?" Scott asked the next night as they walked up the hill by the elementary school.

"Because we have to see if you're faster than Derek. I'm serious, it was so cool, dude. He broke eighty and that was going straight uphill. If he were a DeLorean we'd be back in time," he grinned.

Scott checked his phone again. It was after eleven and Stiles' dad was working late. "Didn't you say that alpha attacked you last night?"

Stiles paused slightly then pushed on. "Yeah, but I'm fine."

"How can you be so calm about it? You're only fine because Derek was there—"

"Yeah, and now you're here. Problem solved!"

"Stiles, hey," he grabbed Stiles' arm and pulled him to a halt. "She almost killed you."

Stiles studied Scott's face. The dim amount of lamplight made it hard to see anything, but he reached out and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "She didn't. And no one's going to attack us the night after away, you know? That's not their M.O. And Derek put the fear of god into them, so let's just dash you up the hill and then we can go home, okay?"

Scott agreed reluctantly.

"And I wouldn't need to rely on you guys all the time if Allison would just slip me a gun."

Scott paused, "You asked Allison for a gun?"

"Yeah, but I don't have a license and I'm accident prone. All this legal stuff…" he waved a hand. "She's probably got a point. Anyway, all we're out here for is checking your speed, then it's back to the relative safety of a house lined with magic dust."

Scott rolled his eyes at him. "I could have been hanging out with Allison."

"Yes, but you're too good a friend to pass this up. Now come on. It's right up here."

Unfortunately when they got there, the speedometer was shut off.

"What the hell? Who turns off a speed indicator?" Stiles asked, waving his hands around it. "How do you turn it back on?"

"Maybe they got tired of kids messing around in the middle of the night and having their friends run past it when they could be home safe like upstanding citizens." He got text and checked it. "Or, you know, breaking into their girlfriend's bedroom for a midnight make out. I mean, seriously Stiles, we shouldn't have even come out here."

"Ugh! This is so unfair. You can just take your logic and also your hormones and find someone else's parade to rain on."

"I don't know, it looks like fairly clear weather to me."

Scott and Stiles froze at the same time. A figure in an open coat that hung to mid-thigh was strolling down the hill.

"How could you not smell him?" Stiles hissed at Scott.

Scott just shrugged, "I wasn't paying attention."

"Yes, that seems to be your M.O., doesn't it, little beta?" the figure chided again. It was clearly an alpha, but not one that sounded familiar.

"Listen, we were just inspecting this device and now we're gonna be on our way," Stiles said, dropping his voice down and hoping he sounded older. The alpha chuckled.

"You're the one who escaped from Sissy twice. Better watch out, if she has to keep going after you we're going to start suspecting a crush."

Stiles and Scott were backing down the hill now. "You know, she's a great girl, but not really my type. I've actually got my sights set on someone else."

There was a twinkle in the alpha's eye and his pace quickened. Scott pushed Stiles behind him and growled, wolf features visible. "Derek?" it asked.

Stiles scoffed, but he as he glanced over his shoulder he saw another form appear just beyond the rays of the streetlight that marked the end of the hill. He grabbed Scott's arm. "Why does everyone think Derek and I are together?" He tried to ask without panic in his voice.

"What do you want?" Scott growled.

"What does any large group of power hungry creatures want?" the first alpha asked. "To restore order." At least he had the decency to use air quotes.

"I hear you really don't have much of that though. Everyone's a leader so the train never gets moving? I heard—"

"Stiles, shut up," Scott hissed.

"—you can't even organize enough to call yourself a pack. That's why you keep stopping by and getting your asses handed to you by a group of betas. That's right."

Scott gave him an exasperated look. The alpha shrugged. "That's not entirely wrong. It is hard to get everyone united around a single cause, but that's how it is. That's how we work. Luckily I managed to find a few close friends who don't mind joining me for this little venture. Look what I managed: it's four of us, and one and a half of you." He'd reached the speedometer by now. "Derek can pull eighty. Wanna see how fast I can run?"

Just then a car can screeching down the hill, brights on and wheels squealing. It stopped beside Scott and Stiles. The driver's side window was down. Dr. Deaton's face was lit up by his dashboard. "Do you boys need a ride?"

"We were just going to walk them home," the alpha called, but Deaton's eyes didn't waver from the boy's faces.

They didn't even have time to thank him. They scramble into the back of the car and slam the doors shut just as howls rose up from the group surrounding them. Deaton put the car in gear and raced off down the road, not even slowing when one of them appeared in front of him and had to leap out of the way at the last second.

"Thank you," Scott murmured.

"I don't know what you boys were thinking," he replied, looking at them in the rearview mirror, "But you are just asking for trouble."


The next night Derek was in Stiles' room, facing the window, seething quietly. Stiles was sitting in his desk chair with his knees to his chest. He knew he shouldn't have been going out. He knew he was lucky Dr. Deaton had come to the rescue. He didn't need Derek to tell him that. He knew he'd been stupid.

Suddenly, Derek wasn't standing at the window anymore. Stiles walked over to see where he'd gone and immediately jumped back, out of sight. The same alpha they'd met up with the night before was standing on the street, still staring up at the window even as Derek approached him.

His voice wasn't even remotely hushed and Stiles was grateful his dad wasn't home tonight and that the lady across the street had particularly bad hearing because it wasn't hard to catch everything they said.

"Your little playtoy has been a lot of trouble for us, Derek."

"Stay away from him, Isaiah. Keep the pack off my turf," Derek replied.

Stiles peeked up through the corner of the window. So Derek did know the alphas?

Isaiah snorted. "Well, see, that's the funny thing about this pack, Derek: it's really hard to get us united on one idea. Leaving? Not something we're all in agreeance on. Your pet however? Or… should I call him your mate? Is that what's really going on?" Derek growled. "We all agree that he's a disgrace. I mean, seriously Derek? A human in your pack? It's bad enough you're calling in hunters for backup, that's a fairly deep breach of tradition. Not okay. But all you'll spend your time doing with a human around is saving his sorry, meaty ass. And you know what? He's a sitting duck. The first one of us to get our hands on him when you aren't around? He's ours."

"You're not getting a second warning," Derek said. He was maintaining his human features, but Stiles suspected that was only because the other alpha was too.

The alpha had the gall to raise his voice. Stiles just hoped that by some miracle he didn't know he was there, wasn't saying this for his benefit. He hoped that at least the mountain ash spell had worked properly. Derek and Scott had no problem crossing the barrier so far, and that had been the aim, but neither had tried to transform while inside either. It could just as easily be completely useless.

"In fact," the alpha said, "I have plans for him myself. You see, the next time I find him strolling around alone, wherever he might be and whoever he might be with, I'm going to bite him. Hard. Right through his juicy neck. I'm going to give him a nice big chomp, and you know what that's going to do, Derek? Oh… you know. If he survives and turns it's going to give me free reign over everything he is. He'll be under my control." Stiles shuddered. "I think I'll give him to the pack as a gift. I'll let them do what they want with him," he smirked, "Whatever they want, and when they're done? When he's used up? I will personally tear him to shreds. That's quite a lot to look forward to, isn't it? And he won't mind. He'll be serving his alpha. Loyally. We can't afford betas in the pack for more than chewtoys. However, if he managed to kill you… well, then we'd welcome him in with open arms, wouldn't we?"

"What are you even here for?" Derek asked. He was trying to sound steady but there was a tight note in his voice.

"Let's just say it's not recruitment." Stiles tensed from up in the window. "We've already had to kill off two of our own because they couldn't get past your little beta killing Morris. They messed up their mission and became a liability."

"Glad to know you're making this easier on us," Derek snorted.

"We're all very insulted that you think you can rise up and take charge around here, and with what a poor job you're doing it's just adding injury to it. Your beta killed our packmate. It's not okay, Derek. We're going to stop you and take revenge. Or else… he's going to stop you." He was looking right up at Stiles' window. Stiles' heart was beating a mile a minute. "Or maybe we were just bored. It's not our pack verses yours, Derek. It's us verses you. Never forget that. We'll be seeing you around. Goodnight, Stiles."

Stiles could have sworn he wet himself, but he double checked and was good. His stomach hurt, his head was throbbing, and all because some damn werewolf, who hopefully couldn't get in, really had been talking to him the whole time. He dug the heels of his hands into his eye sockets and rubbed hard.

Within a few seconds, Derek was back in again. The calm, collected stance he'd been maintaining diminished the second he was safely within the walls. He slammed Stiles' window shut.

"What were you thinking last night?" he shouted, turning on Stiles.

"I'm sorry…"

"They're not just going to kill you! This was their plan all along! They're going to take you, and turn you, and manipulate you like their little play thing. Do you want that?"

Stiles scrambled to his feet. "I heard, okay? I get it."

His breath caught as Derek surged forward, catching his face in both hands, his claws were extended and his eyes glowed red for a split second, but he held Stiles' face gently. "You don't! You have no idea what the alpha pack does to betas they pick up. If they get you, that's it." His hands had slid to Stiles' neck. The veins in his arms were bulging. "You'll be their puppet. They'll make you kill everyone you love and then they'll use you. They'll use you as their target practice or their..." he swallowed. "There'll be no way to bring you back. No… no way to reach you again once they've gotten into your head. These aren't normal alphas. They've bonded together for a reason. They're cruel. Stiles… We're going to lose you."

Stiles didn't say anything for several seconds, then he reached up and touched the wrist of Derek's arm. "They won't get me." The wolfiness seemed to subside again and Derek closed his eyes. His hands slid away from Stiles and hung at his side. "I promise."

Derek stared at him sadly for several seconds. "…I should bite you."

"What?"

"I should turn you. I should make you one of mine. It should be me. I could teach you to control it, teach you to fight…"

Stiles took a step back. "Derek, you're freaking me out."

"The worst they could do would be kill you after that. Once you belong to me they couldn't have you." He stepped forward.

"Derek, stop it. Stop—" he swatted Derek's hand away as it reached out for him. "And would turning me solve everything?" Derek didn't even blink. "Would we have magically won? Would my life actually be any better having to change into a crazed killer every full moon? Every time I'm angry? Because I saw what happened to Scott, okay? Yeah. I saw what it did to his brain, and that's fucking terrifying. I'm angry a lot, you know? Maybe you can't tell, maybe I'm good at hiding it, but I'm angry all the goddamn time… So how would you changing me be any different from them doing it? I've seen Scott lose it. I've seen my best friend change into something I didn't even recognize and I'm not talking about the claws or the fangs or the wacky sideburns. I don't want to be that. I don't want to see myself become that thing." The intensity of Derek's eyes changed and he realized what he'd said. "No, Derek. You… … It wouldn't be me. That's all I mean. I'm scared. Come on, put the fangs away."

Derek stepped back and swallowed. "If we can't stop them…" Derek wasn't looking at him anymore. He took a breath and sunk down to his knees on the floor. It was the weakest Stiles had ever seen him.

"There's no way to know if I'd even survive the bite to begin with." Derek looked up at him. "I don't want to die, Derek."

A long moment passed between them. Derek's eyes were so sad, so defeated. "I can't win," he whispered finally. "I'm not as strong. I don't… I don't know what I'm doing. I thought I did, but I never…" he swallowed. "I'm not a leader. I'm not like Scott. They barely trust me. They barely follow me. I should give the power to him. He could use it… he could win…"

"Scott may be good in a pinch, but I think we can both agree he's not the brightest bulb in the box, am I right?" Derek just seemed to deflate further. Stiles knelt down. "Hey, hey! Look at me. This past month, since the attack on your house has anyone been hurt? I mean seriously hurt. No. Because this group, this pack, it may just be a group of betas, a couple of humans, and me," Derek snorted. "Yeah, that's right, I'm special. But they've got you influencing them. They're your pack, and they're willing to rally around you if you'll trust them. You've always come when we needed you and you've always driven them back. You can't let the alphas get to you now."

"They are getting to me. They're going to get to you, and they haven't even been trying. If they bite you—"

"No. You know what? We're gonna win. We're gonna do it without you having to bite me and if it does come down to that, if they do get me… we'll deal with it. I'm sure there's some other way."

"There isn't…"

"We'll find it," Stiles assure him. "Now you go back to being happy, because everyone needs that. Influence the pack for good."

Derek looked up at him with a very soft glance, the kind his dad sometimes gave him when he realized he had his full support when times were hard.

Stiles grinned, "Come on, hug it out!" He opened up his arms.

Derek hesitated, then his expression shifted suddenly to one of resolution, like something had clicked into place. It was gone in a flash, but Stiles was sure he'd seen it.

Derek reached forward, hugged Stiles with one arm and held him there. He held him tight, took a deep breath, then got up and left without a word. Stiles stayed on the floor, kneeling and trying not to let his brain repeat the words the alpha had said.