There was a sharp knock on the hotel room door, and Jackson, who was closest, leapt up and opened it, revealing Rickon, who still seemed to be in a mood, eyes hard with a scowl on his face. He jerked his head at the hallway. "Let's go, the more time we waste the better chance that one of them's dead," he growled, eyes flashing.
"Whoa, whoa, cool your jets, Turbo," Stiles said, holding both hands up. "Give us a minute to get ready. We aren't witches, we don't know at exactly what second you're gonna be here!" Rickon's scowl deepened.
"That's my brother they've got, and I intend to get him back, no matter what it takes," he snapped. "Now hurry up, I'm your best bet for finding them!"
"You seriously need to calm down and stop being so rude to us. Yo8u may be best bet for finding them, but good luck getting them all out without our help," Lydia stated, hands on hips glaring at Rickon, who looked rather taken aback.
"We're ready, let's go." Derek growled, pushing past the young Beta and into the hallway, stalking toward the elevator. The rest of his pack followed, Stiles and Lydia sticking their tongues out at Rickon as they passed. The Beta sneered and rolled his eyes, but followed.
"We'll go to Dalhousie first," Rickon said as they made it outside, and he started walking toward a large van. "Get inside, this is what we use when transporting the pack."
When the pack was all inside, Rickon started driving out of Edinburgh, toward Dalhousie Castle. It was a large, partially ruined structure that had obviously been great once. They got out just in front of it and looked up at the structure.
"They might be inside that thing?" Isaac asked, eyes wide. Rickon only grunted, handing them some flashlights.
"We should pair off," Derek stated, instincts taking over. "Isaac and Scott, Jackson and Boyd, Erica and Lydia, Stiles can come with me and Rickon."
"Since when do you get to tell me what to do?" Rickon demanded, glaring at Derek, who growled and flashed Alpha eyes, to which Rickon flinched.
"Since I'm the only Alpha here and my mate might be getting tortured or killed in there," He snapped.
"You aren't my Alpha." Rickon glared.
"Fine, go get yourself killed. See how much I care," Derek growled. He stalked toward the castle, Stiles running to keep up, as the rest of his pack fanned out in their designated pairs. Isaac and Scott walked along the first floor, looking for an entrance to the basement.
"So, you and Allison still…?" Isaac lets the question drift off at Scott's sigh.
"Nah. She said she wasn't in her right mind, that she's getting better, you know? That she's all trustworthy but it's like she doesn't remember I can tell when she's lying. So we broke up. She's going to college." Scott answered.
"Probably for the best." Isaac nodded. He and Scott had become good friends after everything, especially when Isaac had stopped using the leather jacket as a shield to hide his sweet and insecure personality.
"I think so." Scott agreed. "How can I trust her after everything? She was well aware that they were trying to torture Stiles for information, how do I get over that?"
"I'm here for you dude." Isaac patted his back and moved on. "I mean, I totally understand. Not that I've ever really had to deal with dating drama, but y'know. Thought's there."
"Thanks man," Scott smiled and looked up. "Hey look, they've got those torches on the wall! The kind that in movies always open some secret…" he pulled the torch and a section of the wall slid back. "Passage…?" He looked at Isaac with wide eyes. "Holy shit."
"I found the basement," Isaac offered, leaning into the empty space and shining the flashlight around.
"Correction. I found the basement." Scott informed him, walking into the space. Isaac heard a scuffling noise, then a thump and a groan.
"Did you really just fall down the stairs?" Isaac asked, rolling his eyes.
"…No." Scott groaned weakly, and Isaac snorted.
"Kali. Kali wake up." Cutler shook her gently. The hunters had left a while ago, and they'd finally broken free from their bonds, but now they had a new problem. While the rest of his pack worked on the door, Rya and Cutler were trying to wake Kali, who'd been asleep for more than thirteen hours now. Rya stroked gently at the human's hair.
"She's diabetic. Who knows how long it's been since she had her insulin?" the Beta looked up at Cutler. "She's fallen into a diabetic coma. If she doesn't wake soon you'll have to give her the bite or she'll die."
"No, no it won't come to that," Cutler stated, turning to the others. "How's it coming on that door?"
"No way we're getting out this way," Felicia gasped. "We have to wait for Rickon, that's our only way out now."
"Well he'd better hurry," Clayton growled. "We really don't have time to waste right now."
"Nothing," Derek growled as they drove back to Edinburgh. "We checked both castles and there was nothing."
Rickon's ears perked as his cell phone started ringing. He tossed it to Derek, who he'd actually started to not mind as much. "I'm driving."
Derek flipped the phone open and barely had it pressed to his ear when a panicked voice started talking.
"Rickon, it's Felicia, and before you start asking how the hell I'm talking to you, you need to listen to me. We're at Dirleton Castle." the person said.
"This is Derek, Rickon's driving."
"Do you think the location changed? I really don't care who you are, get him to the basement of Dirleton now." And then they hung up.
"Who was it?" Rickon asked.
"Felicia, she wants you to go to Dirleton Castle."
Rickon cursed and slammed on the brakes before pulling a u-turn and speeding off. "What number did she call from?" Derek relayed the number and Rickon cursed again. "It's an unfamiliar mobile number, they must have had their phones taken. Who's holding them? Did she say?"
"No, she just said to get to the castle, but she sounded panicked, it must be bad."
"God, what if something happened to Kali?" Stiles asked, eyes wide. The rest of the ride was tense and silent, and the Hale pack erupted from the car before it was even stopped, running toward the castle determinedly, Rickon following closely, eyeing the cars parked in front of the castle warily.
"Guys, slow down. I think I know who took them." Rickon called.
"Who?" Jackson demanded, snarling.
"They're hunters, good ones unfortunately. They'll be expecting us to burst through the front door and they'll have traps set up. It'll be a massacre." The blond Beta explained. "I think we should climb to the second storey window up there and take them by surprise."
"That's actually a good idea," Derek agreed. "The structure should actually be really easy to climb too. Rickon and I will go first, the rest of you follow quietly. We can't afford mistakes." And then he and Rick started scaling the wall, the pack hot on their heels, Stiles clinging to Boyd for dear life, because come on, he didn't have freaking werewolf strength! Really!
Once they were all in the hallway, they started moving toward the staircase, slowing their pace when they heard voices.
"We should just kill the stupid bitch already, she isn't going to give us information in her state," a female voice snapped.
"She could be useful leverage, you know. As long as we have the human's life in our hands, neither pack will harm us." A male voice added cockily.
"And the witch? Sure, we paid her, but the second her coven decides we're a threat, she'll attack, allegiance or not."
"Don't worry about her. Right now you should be thinking of the mutts downstairs. They've got to be planning something with that precious human of theirs on the brink of death."
At that, Derek's eyes flashed red and he growled lowly before pretty much down the stairs and slamming the guy who'd been speaking up against the wall. Rickon and the rest of the pack followed, Rickon quickly restraining the female.
"Rickon, darling, we were wondering how long it would be before you came to the rescue of your pack," The woman smirked and Rickon snarled before jerking her arm up and out of its socket.
"Don't even talk about them, Ella. Not after everything you've done. I should kill you!" he snarled in response.
"Aw, puppy, you wouldn't hurt me. That brother of yours is too noble." She smirked. "He taught you too well." Growling, Rick threw her into the wall like a rag doll as Derek continued growling at Kevin.
"What have you done to Kali?" He demanded, voice dangerously low.
"I gave her what she deserves," Kevin replied breathlessly as Derek pulled him off the wall and slammed him harder against it. Kevin coughed. "But you should probably get to her pretty fast, I don't know how long she'll last in her state. She's a stubborn bitch."
"If you had any sense of self-preservation, you'd quit talking about my mate like that," Derek warned, pulling Kevin to his height and giving him a feral grin. "But I think I'm going to enjoy ripping your pathetic throat out either way." His fangs and claws started elongating before they heard it.
"Rickon! Rick, help!" Rickon dashed down the staircase next to them as Derek punched Kevin hard enough to knock him out and he followed, the pack close behind. Rickon lifted the heavy metal slab from the door and kicked it open, revealing three figures standing there, who immediately pulled the Beta into a hug.
"We really don't have time for reunions," another voice reminded as two more figures stood, one of them holding a limp body in his arms. "We have to go. Now. Forget the hunters, they aren't important."
"Cutler," Rickon breathed. "I was worried about you!"
"I'm fine, they pretty much ignored us." Cutler snapped.
"Yeah, ignored us in favour of Kali," The Scottish one retorted. "I'd rather they focussed on us."
"Kali?" Derek shoved past the other werewolves until he was face to face with the other Alpha, taking in the damage to his mate. He took her from Cutler's arms. "What did they do to her?"
"A lot." Cutler answered shortly. "You must be her mate." At the nod he received, he nodded and looked down at the unconscious girl. "She loves you, you know. Take care of her."
"Oh, she's not leaving my line of sight after this," Derek confirmed. "Let's get to a hospital."
"Why isn't she waking up?" Lydia asked as they hurried out of the crumbling building.
"She's fallen into a diabetic coma," Rya replied. "If you hadn't come when you did, Cutler may have had to give her the bite to save her."
"I told you, to wouldn't come to that, Kali likes her humanity and I'm not taking that away from her."
"Come on, we have to get to the hospital," Stiles said desperately,"She isn't allowed to die on us. Not now."
"Not ever," Scott retorted.
"She'll be okay, right?" Stiles asked later, as they were standing in the hospital.
"We aren't sure." Douglas answered. "They won't let us in to see her."
"No, she has to be okay! She's pack mom," Isaac said, eyes widening sadly before Scott and Stiles hugged him.
"Long story short, everybody loves Isaac," Rick explained to his pack, smirking.
"Well, he is pretty cute," Felicia admitted. "I'd hug him, too, but y'know. The only reason we're really getting along in the same room is because of a mutual concern for Kali's wellbeing."
"Our Isaac," Stiles confirmed, narrowing his eyes and hugging the teen tighter. Isaac sighed, trying futilely to worm out of the embrace.
"Are all of you here for Miss McCahey?" A nurse asked, looking at the large crowd.
"Yes!" Erica exclaimed. "Is she okay?"
"We'll know of her full condition when she wakes up, but we've given her stitches, stopped the internal bleeding and wrapped the broken ribs. Well," the nurse corrected, "we'll know if she wakes up."
"If?" Derek growled. "I liked 'when' better."
"Can we see her?" Isaac asked, finally pulling away from Scott and Stiles. The nurse nodded and they all followed her to a room on the third floor, where Kali lay in the hospital bed, connected to a heart monitor and IV. The packs took in her injuries in silence before Derek moved to sit next to her and took her free hand gently, stroking the back with his thumb.
"I should have found her sooner," he said, sounding uncharacteristically weak and broken, and the pack surrounded him, laying comforting hands on him. They weren't used to this side of him, but the being open part they'd take any day.
They wished it were under better circumstances.
"How long were you being held?" Rickon asked.
"Maybe eight days, Kali for five, but as you can see… they don't take pity on humans much." Clayton replied.
"We're going to leave you guys with her." Cutler informed the Hale pack. "We'll come back if her condition changes." And they all filed out, leaving the silent group alone with their broken member.
"You guys go get some sleep. I'll stay here," Derek ordered a few minutes later.
"You'll call if there's any change?" Lydia asked, and the Alpha nodded, eyes not leaving his mate's face. His pack obediently left a minute later, and Derek stroked at Kali's hair.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I swear, it won't happen again. I love you, Kali," He admitted, looking down. He felt a gentle squeeze of his hand and his head snapped up to look at the girl on the bed, who was smiling at him with tears in her eyes.
"I love you, too."
A/N: I suppose you guys listened to me and therefore deserve an update. I wrote this last night and then re-wrote most of it this morning when I woke up because it's the weekend, and it's freaking raining and yeah. So... have update! Remember to review, dammit!
