Not gonna lie, half of this chapter sat on my computer for almost two months... oops.
Sorry this is late, but I updated which should count for something :)
So, thanks for reading, I don't own these characters, and since this is officially an AU, I hope you are enjoying it.
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Bye!
When Derek returned home, weighed down by a pile of books from Deaton, he found his front door unlocked, the smell of coffee and Adderall burning his nose. Eyebrows furrowed, he put the books by the door, and headed into the kitchen. Stiles stood by the counter, fingers tapping against the surface, his laptop open in front of him, his phone balanced between his shoulder and ear.
"No, Scott, this thing is dangerous. We can't just sit it down and tell it to leave town." Stiles sighed when Scott protested, running his hand through his hair, messing it up even more, "Because it would most likely eat us. Look, I know you're Mr. Equality For All Magical Creatures Guy, and I get you don't want to kill if you can help it, but we killed its mate…"
"Actually, Derek killed it," Scott reminded Stiles.
Stiles scoffed, shaking his head. "Alright, fine, Derek killed its mate, and it's going to be pissed. Do you honestly think it's going to be all 'hey, that's okay; I really should go on a vacation? I heard Vegas is great this time of year. Thoughts?' No, it's going to rip our heads off and then feed them to its young."
"Do you think it has babies?" Scott asked, sounding worried, and Derek couldn't help but feel a little worried himself. He had only caught a glimpse of the thing last night before he killed it, but it had been huge and he had a feeling, if he hadn't caught it by surprise, it probably would have put up a hell of a fight. He'd hate to think about the entire town being full of those things.
"I don't know, Scott," Stiles started, turning towards the coffee pot. "I mean, it… Holy Jeez!" When he saw Derek, Stiles jumped back, colliding with the counter, dropping his phone. "Make a goddamn noise next time!" He held his pounding heart, breathing heavily. "Jeez!" He stooped down, very much aware of Scott's tiny voice shouting from the floor, and said, "Stop freaking out. Derek was just being an asshat." He threw a glare Derek's way, and the older guy raised his hands, taking a step back. "Look, I need to go, but we are going to have to come up with a plan."
"I know," Scott admitted tiredly, sighing. "Get some sleep, dude."
"You first," Stiles retorted and hung up, tossing his phone on the counter. "So, how long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know there's another one of those things still out there." Derek crossed the room, opening his fridge door, taking a step back when he found it full of energy drinks and water bottles. "Did you think about buying food when you decided to squat in my apartment?"
"There might be more," Stiles said ignoring Derek's question, returning his attention to his computer. "This says they travel in pairs, but another website said they travel in packs. One said don't feed them after midnight."
"Isn't that Gremlins?" Derek asked pulling two water bottles from the fridge. He closed the door, sitting one down next to Stiles' arm, and leaned against the counter, opening his and taking a drink.
"Regardless, we need to track down others before they hurt anyone else." Stiles closed his computer, eyebrows furrowing when he spotted the water. He gave Derek a calculating look before picking the bottle up and twisting the cap off.
"Alright, I guess we could split up into pairs…" Derek trailed off, reminding himself that he was, in fact, no longer the Alpha. He really should see what Scott wanted to do first, just so they were on the same page, before he started planning anything.
"That's not a bad idea," Stiles admitted with a shrug, fiddling with his bottle's lid, a tense silence settling over the kitchen. "We could go now, call the others on the way." Before Derek could respond, Stiles had already walked past him, heading towards the door.
Derek sighed, but turned and followed the younger guy, figuring he could, at the very least, keep Stiles from getting himself killed.
"Taking up some light reading?" Stiles asked curiously as they walked out of Derek's apartment, nodding at the books the older man had left by the door.
"Deaton gave them to me," Derek stated closing the door behind him. "I thought I'd try and help Allison, Scott, and you."
Stiles gave Derek a long, questioning look, before he said, "Any luck?"
"I haven't exactly brushed on my ancient Latin," Derek retorted following the brunet down the stairs.
"I heard it's far more interesting than standard Latin." Derek smirked at the back of Stiles' head, shaking his head, and the two fell silent.
Teen Wolf
Stiles had Derek call Scott while he drove towards the woods, blocking out the older man's side of the conversation, too busy trying to wrap his head around what Derek had told him. What had brought on the former alpha's sudden need to help Stiles, Scott, and Allison?
Stiles' first guess would probably be guilt. The guy had abandoned them when they needed him the most, when Scott needed him the most, and while his intentions were good, it still didn't change the fact that he took off. He left them in the middle of a shit storm, and it'd take a lot more than some research on Derek's part to make that okay.
Granted, knowing Scott, he wouldn't hold a grudge. Derek did come back (that's more than some people could say) and while Derek could be shady as fuck sometimes, his loyalties usually lied on the good guy's side. Stiles still questioned Ethan and Aiden's loyalties every day.
"If you're really serious about helping us," Stiles started the moment Derek hung up. "You should talk to Lydia. Her freaky brain knows all those languages. She'll be a lot better help than hunting and pecking through some English-to-Latin dictionaries."
Derek's quiet for a brief moment, but he finally said, "I'll keep her in mind."
"Alright."
"So, Scott, Allison, and Isaac are meeting us in the woods, along with Ethan." Derek's nose wrinkled at the mention of Ethan, but he didn't say anything else about the other former-alpha.
"Did Scott tell you to tell me to wait until he got there?" Stiles asked curiously, parking his jeep on the side of the road.
"Yeah," Derek answered nodding.
"Awesome." Stiles leaned over Derek, opening his glove compartment, pulling a flashlight free from an array of candy wrappers and other junk. He closed the compartment, sitting up, and reached for the door handle. "Well, have fun." Before Derek could react, Stiles threw his door open, getting out of his jeep. He shut the door, heading towards the woods, clicking his flashlight on. Behind him, he could hear Derek grumbling, but near silent footsteps soon joined him, a warm, familiar presence lingering a few steps behind Stiles.
"Keep your eyes peeled, Fido," Stiles murmured scanning the woods.
"Fuck off," Derek whispered but still scanned the area.
"I get the feeling, if Scott ordered you to stay put, you'd have dragged me back to my jeep already," Stiles commented nonchalantly, glancing up, letting the beam from his flashlight scan the trees. "Am I right?"
"There's still time," Derek stated quietly just as a stick snapped nearby. In three seconds, Stiles found himself standing behind Derek, his back pressed into a tree, his flashlight now lying on the ground where the brunet must have dropped it during the former-alpha's manhandling.
"It could be anything," Stiles whispered squinting into the darkness, trying to see what could have possibly made that noise. "An animal, a human…" Okay, neither of those made him feel better. Unless the human or animal happened to be friendly, something he doubted with the way Derek kept pressing him into the tree, and Stiles really did not want to have 'killed by mountain lion' written on his tombstone thank you very much. Of course, he didn't want to be killed by an orange eyed thing either, but one appeared to be stalking towards them.
Teen Wolf
"You have a plan?" Stiles asked softly, his breath hot against Derek's neck.
"One," Derek started ignoring how close Stiles stood to him, "when I say run, you run."
"That's a terrible plan," Stiles murmured but he moved when Derek moved, both being careful not to go too fast, lest they set the thing off and have it come sprinting at them full force. "What happens if it kills you? It's gonna come after me next."
"I'm hoping you can find Scott by then," Derek answered barely moving his lips. "Just run when I say to, okay?"
"If you get us killed, I'm just gonna sing Tubthumping over and over again in the afterlife. That'll be your personal Hell."
"I can hardly wait." Derek could almost hear Stiles roll his eyes. "Alright, one, two…" Before Derek could get to three, the thing charged. He knocked Stiles backwards, crashing into the thing, the wind knocked from his lungs as they hit the ground, the thing landing on his chest.
He clawed at its side, sticky, hot blood staining his hands, the thing letting loose a wild, horrible cry. Derek felt his own side erupt in a fiery pit of pain, the thing's retaliated punch breaking three or four of the former alpha's ribs.
Ignoring the pain, Derek brought one of his legs up, managing to shove the thing off him and back a few yards. He staggered to his feet, feeling his ribs slowly start to heal, watching as the thing bounded to its feet. It snarled, an angry, wet, ear piercing snarl, and threw itself at Derek again.
The werewolf jumped up, slamming both feet into the thing's chest, knocking it back a few steps. He landed heavily on the ground, popping up quickly, barely managing to avoid a swipe to his head. He jabbed at the thing, but it swatted his punch away, shoving him back with its beefy, clawed hand. Derek hit a tree hard, the air leaving his lung again with a great whoosh.
Dazed, he felt a hand wrap around his neck. The thing growled, slamming him into the ground. It did it twice more, Derek's vision inking out briefly, but he weakly tried to fight, only to feel his stomach sink when he heard a familiar voice say, "Get the hell away from him."
An audible thunk followed, the unmistakable sound of metal meeting flesh, and the thing howled. It dropped Derek, leaving the former alpha clawing at the dirt, trying to get up. He heard Stiles' breath stutter before the teen turned and sprinted away, the thing hot on his trail.
Derek forced himself to his feet, stumbling into a tree as he tried to follow Stiles' trail. He pushed on, despite running into another tree and tripping over his feet. He silently cursed the stupid teenager and his inability to follow a simple order.
I'm going to kill him.
