Chapter 9
After a disturbing conversation with Stiles, Allison had quickly called Scott asking him to come over to her house because she needed to talk to him. The last few months had been hard for them all, but Allison felt like she had no idea where she stood with any of the pack. After her mother's death she had been so lost and so out of control that she had allowed Gerard and his ideology to influence her much more than she ever thought possible. After her grandfather's real plans had come to light, it was like a betrayal, not only of her but of everything her family had believed in. She had clung to the code as a justification for her families actions, even when she didn't agree with them. Her mother killed herself for the damn code and Gerard had encouraged it but in the end all he had wanted was to save himself by forcing Derek to bite him.
Sighing, Allison thought about Derek. God, talk about a complicated situation. Her family had twisted and taken from him in every way possible. Kate had coerced him into a sexual relationship when he was way younger than her and then murdered almost all of his family, then Gerard had used Scott to force Derek again, to use his own body against him when he forced him to bite the old man. Allison didn't think that Scott even understood the type of violation that he had been part of, but she understood. She understood and because of that she was willing to drive to Mexico to try to get them out of this mess.
She heard Scott enter the apartment, not even bothering with the pretense of knocking and she felt her heart flutter. She had no idea where she and Scott would end up but she knew that her feelings were far from simple and far from gone. She had stuck to her game plan. She had stayed strong and attempted to be more like Lydia, more independent and comfortable in her own skin, but it was a lie. A lie that she had to admit to herself the day that he had come over and they had hidden in the closet. The feeling of him pressed against her, hard and hot and so right as she pushed back against him while they waited for the coast to clear. God, even the memory had her body twitching in places that it hadn't in far too long.
She missed him. She missed him so much and not just the sex, even though, there were not even words for how much she missed that, she just missed Scott. The sweet boy who was content to hold her hand and push her hair out of her eyes and listen to all of her rambling thoughts. The boy who had snuck into her room every night before she went to France and held her while she cried for her mother, the woman who she later found out had tried to kill him. He never told her that her mother had tried to kill him even though it would have made his life easier and saved everyone else pain, because he didn't want to taint her memories of her mom. How did he exist? A guy who wasn't afraid to defer to her or to allow her the space she needed while still being supportive and protective without being overbearing.
Sure, she had flirted with Isaac a bit, but she knew that they were both too screwed up for anything to ever really work. She had disemboweled him, she couldn't really date him. But, perhaps, they could be friends and that could smooth the way for her to continue working with Scott's pack and maybe, eventually, she and Scott could work things out.
Turning from the safe that she was raiding, she looked to him, standing there in jeans and maroon t- shirt, black duffel bag at his feet, and a slightly confuse look on his face, "Allison, what the hell is going on," he looked to the pile of weapons on the desk and overflowing several bags.
"Stiles and Lydia are in trouble," she answered, a little breathless.
"Where?"
"Mexico," she answered flippantly as she zipped closed the last bag.
"What" he followed her out of the room, grabbing the bags and his own instinctively.
"Yeah, um, Stiles called and," she sighed, looking at him, "Look time is of the essence so how about we have this conversation in the car?" She smiled weakly as she grabbed her own duffel bag and yet another bag that Scott could only assume contained some sort of weapons as well.
"Car to Mexico?" He muttered a little helplessly.
"Well," she turned to face him, "Yeah."
Exiting her apartment and quickly making their way to the parking garage, Scott was relieved to see that she intended to take one of her father's SUV's because he had brought his bike and he didn't think either of them wanted to take that over 1000 miles. He repressed a chuckle as she tossed her bag on the back seat before popping open the hatch and motioning for him to meet her as she started tucking the bags of weapons he was holding into hidden compartments.
At his smirk, she shrugged, "What, my dad is an arms dealer, not all of his clients live in places that it is easy to carry weapons."
"Amazingly that is the least weird thing about your family," he chuckled, helping her load the heavy bags before tossing his own in the backseat with hers and climbing into the passenger seat. As they pull out of the parking deck, she hooks her phone into the navigation system, an address already input and she follows the automated directions. As they pass the "Now Leaving Beacon Hills" sign, Scott sighs and looks at her, "So, I think now is a good time to tell me why we are going to Mexico with enough firepower to start a war."
"Grab the laptop in my bag," she gestured to the pink bag she had tossed in the back, "We may have to start a war to get them out of there." She added ominously.
After kissing him, Lydia had offered him no explanation, she just gave him a small smile and snuggled under his chin, allowing her exhaustion to take over once more. Outside the storm still raged and Derek wondered for a moment if it wasn't the universe's way of trying to get them to work out their issues. She was right though, he needed to fix his pack and until that was done they were all going to be vulnerable. Looking down to Lydia, not bothering to fight the smile that crossed his face as her even breathing tickled his chest and she sniffled in her sleep; awake, she was a force to be reckoned with, asleep, she was adorable.
Pulling her closer, he sighed. He was worried about her, this baby was hurting her and he didn't know how to fix that. He had told her the truth, not all werewolf babies had fathers—there were plenty of lesbian werewolf pairs who had children and gay pairs who used a surrogate, the difference there was that the surrogate had to be a pack member so that the fathers of the child where there. With lesbian couples, the donor mattered less that the support of the pack and the partner.
That was the thing that a lot of bitten wolves like Scott didn't understand; being pack was about being family. And right now, Lydia was alone and her baby had no family but her, so it was trying to draw everything out of her and that was killing Lydia. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he vowed to fix this mess, no matter what. Even if it took pretending to be the father of her child for the Lunas, no matter how much that was going to hurt him. He knew she was safer with him and their motley bunch of messed up adolescences that she was with the twins, who were now Omegas as well as being murderers and general douche-bags. Just the thought that fucking Aiden was the father of her child felt like Kali was behind him, twisting the metal rod in his back, aiming for his heart. No, if the child growing inside of her wasn't his own then he could simply not allow himself to believe that it was that asshat's progeny. The baby would be his; for the Luna pack and for as long as she would allow it after that.
Lydia was lost again. She hated this feeling, it was the part of her power that she hated the most honestly. She hated the overwhelming disorientation that came with the spirit world. God, she hated that saying too, "spirit world", it sounded like a cheap Charmed rip-off but that is what the books all called it. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and tried to find her center. Breathing in again, she caught the smell of the woods and rain and a sweet citusy smell that she could not place. Hearing a light, melodic giggle, she opened her eyes with a slight smile at the sound. Looking down she saw a little girl, no more than three years old. It was the same child she had followed into the woods to start with she remembered. Dark curls and dimples, long eye lashes and pouty lips, fangs and glowing eyes. The child grinned at her and then turned, running at preternatural speed through the dense forest.
"Wait," Lydia called, running after her but feeling like she was wading through syrup as the air around her seemed to thicken to separate her from the imp.
"Wait, who are you," she yelled helplessly. As the air continued to thickened into a dense fog, she felt herself start to panic. Looking around, the moisture of the air sinking into her white gown, she spun around, seeing nothing but white. Not even the scent of the forest permeated this place.
"Lydia," a voice echoed. It was deep and gentle and she knew it from somewhere but she could not quite place it. "Lydia, come play with us," the voice laughed and the sound felt strange in that tone
Running towards that voice, the sound of her name rolling over it like honey, she panted to a stop as the fog cleared and she was again in the forest, the whole place painted in vibrant greens. Trying to catch her breath, she realized she was once again at the Nematon. The little girl that she had been chasing was held in the arms of Talia Hale, who was humming to the child softly. The place looked the same but this time Lydia was watching the scene, looking around she realized that several sets of glowing eyes were closing in on Talia and the child from the woods that she had just run through.
"Keep her safe," Talia whispered to a tall man with dark hair who was almost completely obscured by shadows before kissing the girl's head and handing her to him.
"I will," the voice echoed and again Lydia couldn't place it. The man disappeared with the little girl who, just before they were enveloped by the forest locked eyes with Lydia and screamed.
Lydia felt consciousness hit her like a concrete wall. She sat up screaming, her head thrown back and her blood rushing in her veins. It took her a few seconds to realize that Derek was right there, holding onto her, anchoring her. He was pushing her hair out of her eyes and whispering to her, trying to calm her down even though she knew that the scream had to be painful for him. As her breathing slowed enough to speak, she found his eyes, wide and worried staring at her, "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked without demand.
Considering his offer, she took a breath and allowed the tears she was trying to repress to flood her eyes, "They are going to try to take her."
He cups the back of her head as she drops it to his chest, careful to avoid the wound there.
"Who?" He asks inquiring after the source of the taking, not needing to ask who would be taken.
"My baby, they are going to take my baby," she sobs.
"Who is going to take it?" He asks again, still gently rubbing her back.
Looking up, she whispers, "The Luna pack wants her."
"Why would they want it? What do they think your baby can do for them?" He asked, not challenging her but with genuine concern.
Getting a better control, she allows him to wipe the tears from her face, "Her." She corrects and for a moment he pauses, "Huh?"
"The baby, you always say 'it' but she is a girl, so her," she explains gently and he nods, realizing that he has been saying it because he has been trying to distance himself from her baby, to protect himself from the idea that she is having someones else's child. But the reality that the bump isn't just an it, but a little girl, growing inside of Lydia who would soon come out and be a person was somehow hard for him to accept. Nodding again, he offers and apologetic, "Her, sorry, I, well I didn't know that you already knew the gender."
Smiling as she caressed her belly, she says, "I knew from the moment I knew about her that she was a girl."
Nodding he doesn't comment, he just pushes her hair out of her face and kisses her forehead.
"Derek I am really scared," she confesses, trying to repress further tears.
"And you should be," he whispers against her skin.
Looking up, she turns his face so she can clearly see all of it, "So, you don't think I am crazy?"
Scoffing, he runs his thumb along her cheek, "Lydia, you are anything but crazy. I trust you and I trust your instincts and if you say that someone is trying to hurt you then I know that it is true. You are a lot of things, but crazy has never been one of them."
She gasps a bit, like she is going to say something but he cuts her off, "I just hope that you can trust me when I say that I will do anything and everything in my power to protect you and your baby because," he sighs, "Lydia I know you may never forgive me for what I have done to you, and that is fine. I don't deserve it. But I do care about you and I, well you are part of my pack and I will always protect you. So even if you hate me forever, please don't ever stop trusting that I will never stop trying to take care of you."
Sucking in a breath, Lydia is overwhelmed by the sincerity in his words and the openness in his face. She believes him. God help her, she believes him.
"Okay," she nodded, taking a deep breath, trying to listen to her gut over her head, "Derek, I know that we have a lot of issues and I have no idea where they are going to land but," she pushed herself up on her knees, "Derek I believe you. I am trusting that you will keep me safe," looking down, "And I know she is not your problem, but I am trusting you to help me keep my daughter safe as well."
"Lydia," he interrupted her, "Lydia, your baby is my pack. She will never be a problem. You are pack, and you are important to me for some many reasons beyond that and she is a part of you." Searching for his words, he reached for her knee, "Even if," he struggled, "Even if she is not mine, until we are out of here, she is. Okay, and we can talk about how everything plays out after we get out of this place but for now, she is mine and you are mine and that is all we can focus on. Keeping both of you safe."
"Derek," she sits up higher, trying to balance their height difference and once again lifting his face to hers, she slides her hand down to rest on his throat once his eyes are locked to hers, "Derek, do you want her to be yours?" Her voice trembles with an emotion that neither of them can really place.
A look of helplessness crosses his face and he nods minutely before she is pressing forward, kissing him again. This time, however, it is not a chaste token of gratitude. This time there is a fire behind her movements that is spreading through his blood, singeing his nerve endings. Before he can process the action, he has slid both hands under her knees, lifting her bodily into his lap and is groping at her, pressing his open mouth to every exposed bit of skin he can touch. Once that is not enough, Lydia is leaning back, pulling his t-shirt over her head and tossing it to the side as he dives back in, his tongue re-familiarizing itself with every nook of her mouth. Breaking for air, he moves down her throat, licking and tasting her, allowing the scent to over take him. He wants to worship her, to make love to her the way he should have the last time he had the opportunity but the forces pushing them into this are impatient and soon they are moving, his hand diving into the sweatpants that she is wearing as his mouth closes around her nipple. Lydia's back arches at the contact and he cannot help the smile that curves his lips as he drags his teeth along the puckered flesh.
"Oh God," her pelvis rocks against his as switches nipples, his tongue and teeth driving her mad. She needs to move this along. It has been too long and too stressful and she needs him inside of her now. Yanking his hair, she pulls him back. Derek looks up at her with blissed out confusion on his face as she pulls away to stand. His confusion is quickly replaced as she unties the drawstring on the sweats she is wearing and they drop to the ground quickly. Even pregnant his clothes are still too big for her and suddenly she is standing in front of his completely naked.
He looked at her with hooded eyes before gasping her hips and leaning forward, pressing his nose between her legs, breathing her in. Her pregnancy hadn't changed her smell like he would have assumed, it had only intensified it. Pressing his lips in, he opened his mouth, licking out to taste her. She rolled he head back as she buried her hands in his hair. Pulling her down at werewolf speed, he guides her to the blankets, settling her on her back before lowering his face to her middle. Stopping on his journey to press random kisses into her flesh, the delicate skin of her throat and breasts. When his fingers find her belly though it is like everything in the room stops and Lydia can only watch as he reverently runs his fingers over the new curve of her body before meeting her eyes and pressing his lips to the taunt skin just below her navel, his eyes flashing blue. She draws in a sharp breath at the sight, her eyes lolling closed and missing his next movement until she feels his tongue tracing her folds, breathing her in and tasting her.
This was always his favorite part and God was he good at it. Lydia had a theory it was a werewolf thing, something to do with scenting and being territorial and tactile because he had loved going down on her more than any guy she had ever been with and according to Allison, so did Scott. As his tongue made contact with her clit, her whole body tensed and she dug her heels into his shoulders as he licked and sucked every inch of her in the most sinful ways. Before she realized it, she was teetering on the precipice of rapture, as his fingers sunk into her, rocking in and out of her only a few times before she threw her head back, screaming as her orgasm ripped through her body.
Panting as she came down, she opened her eyes to see Derek kneeling in front of her between her spread legs, now naked, but still waiting for her. Suddenly she understood that he needed this to be her decision, that he needed her to accept this, to accept him again. Shakily she sits up and his eyes follow every movement. Reaching for him, she smiles as he instinctively reaches out, sliding his arms around her and puling her forward to straddle his lap.
"Lydia, are you sure," he starts, looking so sad it almost breaks her heart.
Silencing by pressing her finger to his lip, she smiles, "If I didn't want this, I wouldn't have kissed you." She answered, pressing their lips together again. "I don't know where this goes from here, but for now I am going to trust my instincts and I am going to trust you," she whispers as she reaches between them and grips his cock from where it has been pressing insistently into her thigh and lines it up with her body, "I don't hate you." She murmurs against his lips, "I never could, no matter how much I wanted to," with that she kisses him again and sinks her body forward, taking him inside of her once more. They move as one, rocking together in a slow, controlled passion that was both practiced and primal.
Lydia arched as his mouth made its way down the column of her throat and she cried out when he shift her leg just so and thrusted into her, hitting all of the right spots. She bit his lip until she tasted blood and their eyes locked as they took from and gave to each other, each of them needing this connection even if it only lasted until they made it out of this storm. They came together, both falling to the nest of blankets around them, spent and sated but still touching and placing small kisses on exposed skin. Even as they drifted off to sleep, their skin was always touching, they never completely lost contact. It was only then, as her senses returned that Lydia's fingers passed over his chest, "Derek," she whispered, her voice raw.
"Uh," he murmured into her hair.
"Derek, look," the tone of her voice drew his eyes first to her face and to his chest where the wound that had been festering just to the left of his heart was rapidly healing. The red bands of infection faded and the wound closed.
"What the hell," he whispered, looking to Lydia who looked back just as confused.
"I guess that is one mental block down," she snarked and he actually laughed before kissing her again.
Somewhere in the middle of Arizona, Allison and Scott were stopped for gas. Scott had ran into the store to pay and use the bathroom while Allison pumped gas. An SUV pulled up opposite her, paying little mind to the girl tiredly pumping gas and pretending to listen to her Ipod as she clocked the military grade armor on the vehicle.
"According to La Madra there are at least three of them," A tall, built bald man in his mid-twenties with bronze skin and intense eyebrows said to the other man, who was around the same age but with light hair and fair skin.
"And their sure," he said, moving to put the nozzle in the tank.
"Yeah," the man nodded, his incredulous tone clear, "The Hales. I haven't heard of any of them in these parts in years."
Nodding, the blond man added, "Yeah, I was in school still, but I remember the meetings from the last time they came around, damn, that was one scary bitch," he shakes his head.
Chuckling his darker friend nods, "Yeah, even my dad admitted that Talia Hale was the scariest she wolf he had ever faced. She took out an entire team by herself before she escaped."
"I heard she was dead though, years back," his partner leaned against the SUV still holding the pump, "One of the Argents took out the whole lot of them."
"Yeah, but I guess not all of them died," he was riffling though some papers in the passenger seat. "How did they get away?" Blondie asked with a hesitation in his voice.
"Don't know," the other man shrugged, "Something about a team breaking them out. La Madra said that she would give the details once we were all there."
"Something is not adding up," the blonde looked to his comrade, "If there are any Hales left, why would they show up here and allow themselves to get caught and then break out. If they had back up, why get caught?"
"They are just dumb animal Jenkins, don't over think it, just split it in half," he said with an intensity that Allison knew well. "I'm going to hit the head," he nodded to the building and the other man nodded back. Once the glass door swung close behind him, Jenkins muttered, "The real question is why didn't La Madra just kill them, why keep them around if they are just dumb animals?"
So, Allison thought, there was distention in the ranks and clearly her troupes didn't know that she had held Derek and Peter for several days before they escaped. La Madra was obviously trying to get something out of the remaining Hales that she didn't want anyone else to know about. Stiles had said that there was a shoot out and the Platas had lost some soldiers. Allison could see now that this wasn't about the code or balance or territory; this was personal, at least it was for La Madra. And if Allison had learned anything over the last year it was that mixing personal motives and hate mongering never lead to anything but blood and pain.
Pretending to drop her bag while trying to replace her card, Allison made a silly show of picking up her things, gratefully accepting Jenkins' help collecting her lip glosses and random stuff in her purse while she subtly bugged his SUV with a GPS. Smiling her thanks, she climbed back into her SUV and drove around the building, sending Scott a tense look as he climbed into the passenger side of the car, completely out of sight of the other patrons of the gas station. As they pulled out, she asked, "Did you hear all of that?"
"Yeah," he breathed out, "Stiles and Lydia have no idea what they are in for."
Looking over at him, she shakes her head, "No, and now that the Luna's know that Lydia is a banshee they are not safe there either."
"Scott everything I have read about the Luna pack screams that something else is up with them and La Madra is hiding things from the Plata family. Everyone is hiding something in this situation and we are going to have to figure it out if we are going to get Stiles and Lydia out of there safely."
Rubbing his face, he nodded, reaching for her laptop again, "I am going to call Deaton, see what he knows and look over this again. There has got to be something."
Nodding Allison added, "Make sure to ask him about some issue that the Hales had with the Plata family about fifteen years ago, I think this is a personal vendetta."
"Yeah," he nodded, "But Stiles said that the Luna pack was pissed that Lydia was there, that she screamed and they knew she was a banshee and they wanted her gone. Something about that isn't adding up either."
Shrugging, Allison added, "Why the hell was she there anyway, and why is Stiles there? I mean Isaac I get but how did they get caught up in this? They don't even like Derek."
Considering her words, Scott shrugged, "I really wish I knew." Looking at the brunette, he quirked his head, "I feel like I have no idea what is going on."
Chuckling she smiled, "I feel like I haven't known what was going on since last year."
Chuckling he nodded, "True." Smiling at her, he couldn't fight the feeling bubbling in his heart. Reaching for her hand, he twinned their fingers together and looked out at the laptop as they headed over the Mexico boarder.
