A/N: Hello again. Well here is the next chapter. Once again, thank you all for the follows and favourites and for those who have reviewed thank you for your kind words. I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you feel like giving me a review, I would love to hear what you have to say.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Scott closed the file that he was reading as his frustration grew. The file really told him nothing. It was a report of wild animals that he ventured into a neighbourhood on the far side of town but when the police arrived they could find no evidence of any animals around the houses. Scott rubbed his hands up and down his face, he had hoped for so much more information.

"Well this is useless," Isaac said as he tossed his file aside. "All it says is that there were some wild animals a little too close to a residential estate but they couldn't find any evidence when they arrived."

Scott looked over at Isaac and wondered what the chances were that both of their reports were almost identical? He asked around the table and the responses were all the same. Gathering all the addresses from the files and marking them on one of the large maps that Derek had lying around the apartment. When they had marked the addresses, Scott realised that they were all properties that backed onto the eastern side of the woods.

"Something is going on in this area of the woods. I think that the alpha pack is staying around this area," he said, pointing to a section of the woods that he knew to be very dense. "We can't face them unprepared like we did at the warehouse but we can certainly scout the area out first. Try and find where they are staying" he finished as he looked around the table at everyone else. They all nodded their heads and they decided that there was no time like the present to go. As they all stood up, Scott's phone started to ring. He looked down at the screen and was surprised to see Derek's name appear.

"Hey Derek. Where are you?"

"I'm at the hospital Scott and you need to get down here now."

"Is Stiles alright?"

Derek didn't respond and all Scott could hear was a dial tone.

Derek smiled one last time at Stiles from the doorway and then he turned to leave. He had promised Stiles that he would ring Scott and let him know that his friend was awake. He also didn't want to be here when Sheriff Stilinski arrived. Even though he knew that Stiles' father had to know that he had been visiting Stiles each night, he wasn't too keen to face the man again. Walking down the hallway, he entered the elevator and as the lift took him down to the ground floor, he leant back against the back wall and revelled in the fact that Stiles was going to be ok. When the doors opened he walked out into the lobby and then out through the front doors. As soon as he stepped outside, he could sense them straight away. His first instinct was to attack, to kill them but he knew that he couldn't do that by himself. They would tear him apart regardless of the reason that they were here for. He decided to keep walking so that he was as far away from the hospital as he could get.

He didn't want any innocents to be hurt because of him. As he reached the far side of the car park he stopped and turned to face the wolves who had followed him. He wasn't surprised to see more than one here. He looked around at the alphas, counting them. There were three male alphas. Two of them were twins, who looked around the same age as Stiles and then there was another one who looked to be in his forties. He seriously thought about fighting the three of them but as he was debating it with himself, he sensed the arrival of two more, one who was A LOT stronger than anyone he had ever met before. Taking a step back he watched as a female were walked over with the male, the one he knew to be Deucalion. He just stood there and watched as they got closer and closer.

"Hello, Deucalion," he said calmly.

Deucalion smiled at him as he released the arm of the female were and took the last few steps towards Derek using his cane. When he was directly in front of Derek, he removed his glasses and looked directly at Derek, even though Derek knew that he couldn't see him. Derek stood his ground and stared back at the older man. He knew better than to show any fear around them. As he was standing there, he realised that he wasn't actually scared. The fear that he expected to feel when he finally faced Deucalion wasn't there and he couldn't figure out why. When Deucalion hadn't answered his salutation he looked behind the other alpha at the remainder of his pack. None of them would look directly at Derek so he turned back to face Deucalion directly.

"So, what can I do for you tonight?"

"So brave. But still so young."

Derek just stood his ground, not saying anything. They had tracked him down so clearly Deucalion wanted to say something to him. He crossed his arms over his chest and just waited. Eventually Deucalion started to speak again.

"I'm sorry about the warehouse, so sorry that I missed it. I hear that none of your pack got hurt. Well a human was hurt but really, was he that important?"

Derek's hands clenched at his side and he felt his claws dig into his palms as he tried to keep himself calm. He knew that Deucalion knew about Stiles. He clearly wanted Derek to react.

"So, you're not going to react. Well done Derek, you can control yourself. That's good. I could use a strong were like you. And as you can see, we are all alphas. There is, however, a small problem."

"And what would that be?"

"Your other pack of course. You can't be a part of mine while you still have them."

Derek watched Deucalion and it finally dawned on him, why the other alphas hadn't hurt Boyd or Erica. Deucalion wanted him to kill them. He had heard the stories about alphas killing their betas to increase their powers. He wouldn't do it. As much as he wanted to be stronger, he felt like his pack gave him that strength. He would deny it to anyone but they felt like a family and he would never hurt his family. He would defend them all with his life and even that surprised him. Before he'd come back to Beacon Hills he had thought that he would never feel that way about anyone. Because he hadn't felt that way since his family had died in the fire.

"There is no way that I'm going to do anything to any of them. No mater what you say."

"So protective Derek. You can do a lot better than that ragtag bunch of teenagers. Or are they the only ones that you can control?"

Derek let out a low growl. "Come near them, any of you, and I'll show you just how protective I can be."

"Well now, seeing as you are here almost every night, how can you protect the rest of your pack?"

Derek blanched slightly, so they knew about Stiles. Of course they did. One of them had done this to Stiles. He looked around at the others, trying to determine which one had injured the man he loved. He knew that Deucalion and the female hadn't been there so that left the other three male alphas. Derek glared at them each in turn. He swore that he would find out which one had done it and he would kill him. His demeanour must have been radiating off him because Deucalion just started to laugh causing Derek to look back at him.

"Derek, you need to calm yourself. I can feel your anger. That's good, use it but use it wisely. Why are you so concerned about teenage human anyway? Could it be that he's more than just a friend of one of your betas? We've seen how you are so very attentive to him. Although, there is something special about him. Maybe I should keep more of an eye on him. I'll make him be the last one to die and trust me; it will be slow and painful. However if you do it for me…." Deucalion let the sentence hang in the air.

Derek tried to calm himself, he couldn't let on how much Stiles meant to him. As much as he wanted to protect everyone, Stiles was the most vulnerable.

"Just stay away from all of them. I have no intention of joining your little pack. Not now, not ever. Leave Beacon Hills, Deucalion, just leave. There is nothing here for you."

Deucalion just stared at him and shook his head and Derek knew instantly that there was more that he wasn't telling him and that the alpha pack wouldn't be leaving Beacon Hills any time soon. Derek held his ground, trying to stare down the entire pack as they started to walk away. He needed to let Scott and the others in on what had just happened as well as telling them about Stiles.

Taking out his phone he dialled Scott's number and waited for him to answer. When he did, he didn't really let the younger man speak.

"I'm at the hospital Scott and you need to get down here now."

With that, he disconnected the call and made his way back into the hospital. He didn't care if Stiles' father was still in there; he just needed to be by his side. He needed to hold him, to make sure he was safe and protected. Forgoing the lift, he ran up the stairs to the ICU ward. As he came through the doors he could see Sheriff Stilinski standing next to the nurse's station, talking to Stiles' doctor. He hung back a little until the sheriff shook the doctor's hand and the two men separated. He then walked over to the nurse's station.

"Excuse me, Sheriff Stilinski. Is Stiles going to be alright?"

John Stilinski looked over at Derek but he didn't speak right away. He watched the younger man intently which made Derek very twitchy. Hell, he stood up to a pack of alphas not ten minutes earlier but Stiles' dad made him nervous with just one look. Still, he held his ground. He had to show Stiles' dad that he was good for his son.

John didn't take his eyes off Derek; he wanted to see if the younger man would stand up to him. Not in a bad way, but in a protective way. He loved his son and if this was the person that Stiles wanted to be with, then he would have to accept it. He had just hoped that his son's first partner wasn't someone who had been a suspect in several murders but if Derek looked out for Stiles and treated him with respect, he supposed that that was the best he could hope for. Finally, he decided to let the younger man off the hook a little and he answered his question.

"He will be, eventually. It's a good sign that he came out of his coma on his own and the doctor is also happy that it hadn't gone on any longer than it did. They are going to wait a day or two and then he will perform another surgery to re-attach the part of Stiles' skull that they had to remove so that his brain had room to expand."

Derek closed his eyes and silently thanked whoever was listening. He then asked about any further long-term effects.

"That is something that we have to wait and see. They symptoms to look out for are sleeping a lot, thinking and attention skills, headaches, depression, communication skills and excessive movement. Although in my son's case, he already had half of those symptoms anyway."

Derek laughed softly in agreement. Stiles' ADD had many of the same symptoms; he was constantly talking and moving around. His attention would often get diverted easily, however when he set his mind to something, he could focus like no one he knew. And it would seem that he could and at times did fall asleep anywhere. He looked over at Stiles' dad and the older man was smiling at him and the two of them seemed to be sharing a moment with Stiles being the common denominator.

"Treat him well Derek or I will come after you. Don't forget I'm the Sheriff and I can get away with murder."

Derek looked at John Stilinski and smiled but there was something behind his eyes that told Derek that even though he said it jokingly, the older man would hurt him if he hurt his son. Derek had no intention of doing that but how would he protect him from the alphas?

The two of them walked into Stiles' room together which caused the young man in the bed to open his eyes wide. The sight of his father and, well, his boyfriend walking in together sort of freaked him out. He still hadn't told his father that he was seeing Derek. They really hadn't had all that much time to talk when his father had been in his room earlier. They had spoken briefly, and they had both shed some tears, before the doctor had come back in to check on him. After the check, his father and the doctor had left the room. Stiles had closed his eyes after that. He was still so tired. So seeing the two of them together made him nervous.

"Dad! Derek!" He said, looking between the two men. "Uh Derek, what are you doing here?"

"Relax Stiles; Derek's been here nearly every night since you were brought in."

Derek quickly turned his head towards Stiles' dad. So he hadn't been as secretive as he had hoped. He turned back to Stiles and smiled that cheeky grin and shrugged his shoulders.

"Uh dad, there is something that I have to tell you."

"It's ok son. I know. I think I've known for a little while. Why didn't you tell me last year when I found you at that crime scene at 'The Jungle'?"

"If I recall, I did and you didn't believe me. Anyway, at that time, I wasn't too sure myself and to be honest…" Stiles looked down at the sheets that he was playing with, not sure how to tell his dad this. However he took a deep breath and continued, after looking briefly at Derek. "To be honest, it's only Derek that makes me feel the way I feel," he finished quickly before looking back down at the bed.

His father looked down at his son and walked over to take a seat beside his bed. He grabbed Stiles' hand in his and waited until his son looked up at him.

"Stiles, I love you. I always have and I always will. Am I hurt that you didn't feel that you could come to me with all this werewolf stuff? Sure, but I understand that you thought that you were protecting me. I want to be here for you now. Don't shut me out again. As for what is going on with Derek, I have already warned Derek not to hurt you."

Stiles blushed at the threat that he heard in his father's voice and he looked over at Derek to see him nod his head slightly. Stiles whispered an apology to Derek which he knew the other man would hear and Derek smiled when he heard the words. Stiles held out his hand to Derek and the other man moved forward and took his hand before sitting down on the side of the bed. John watched the two of them and even though he said that he just wanted Stiles to be happy, it would take him a while to get used to seeing his son holding hands with another man.

The three of them were so engrossed in their own conversation that they didn't hear the others arrive at the door. It was only when Scott cleared his throat that they all turned to face the door. Derek refused to let go of Stiles' hand. He was tired of hiding his feelings from everyone. He was glad when Stiles didn't attempt to pull his hand from his either. Although no-one seemed to take much notice, they were all so happy that Stiles was awake. Erica was the first to reach the bed and she leant down to give him a kiss and she thanked him for rescuing her and Boyd. Stiles blushed slightly and said that it was no problem. Erica stepped back from the bed and went to stand next to Boyd who had just nodded his thanks to Stiles. Allison and Lydia were the next ones to go up to Stiles and give him a kiss. Funny that for years he had been in love with Lydia but now that she gave him a kiss, he felt nothing. He gave Derek's hand a squeeze and he felt Derek squeeze his back in return.

Scott stood beside John and he clamped a hand on his friend's shoulder and told him that it was about time that he woke up. Stiles laughed at his best friend and told him that he was glad to see him too. John stood up and told his son that he would come back later. Stiles took a hold of his father's hand and told him that he loved him. John leant down and placed a quick kiss on his son's forehead.

"I love you too kiddo. I'll see you later." With that, John Stilinski left the room. As soon as his father had disappeared, Stiles looked at everyone in the room before speaking.

"So, what the hell has been happening?"