Chapter Ten: Alpha / Omega
"What's going on here Der?" Stiles asked gently as he watched Ricky drive away from their home on a motorcycle with his little sister. He didn't even know what to think about that. Derek walked over and pressed close to his back, wrapping his arms around Stiles' waist and pressed a kiss to the side of Stiles' throat. The omega easily tilted his head to accept the comfort of Derek's touch before he pulled away and walked back over to the desk and looked down at the homework that Ricky left spread all over the counter and looked at the dates they were due, finding it to be two weeks from now. He frowned and walked back to the couch and Derek followed him. He gently tucked himself close to Derek and took in the comfort the alpha offered, "Derek we can't lose him."
Derek pressed a kiss to the side of his head, "We're not going to lose him."
"How can you say that? He's been twitchy all day and he's been distant for weeks now. Ever since Heat and now he's riding on the back of a motorcycle with his sister who we didn't know was coming, you think he's not running home? He was doing everything he could to stay away from us after he told us what happened."
Derek just tightened his arm around Stiles' shoulder and whispered, "I know we're not going to lose him because I refuse to lose him. We can't go on without him, we love him so we are going to fight until we don't have any breath left and then we are going to keep fighting."
Stiles sighed and nodded a little bit and they fell silent. They were both going to got to bed whether Ricky was with them or not, Derek had an early morning with class and so did Stiles, Ricky would find his way home if he planned to do so, they could force him to come home. So they sat up until it was way past their normal crawl-into-bed time then stumbled into the bedroom and fell asleep, Stiles couldn't help but notice the cold spot at his front where Ricky always slept but he closed his eyes and focused on Derek's breathing and let the sound lull him into sleep.
When they woke up the next morning Stiles sighed when he figured out that Ricky wasn't there, he'd never come home. He rushed out to the living room, finding Ricky's books and homework where he'd left it yesterday when he rushed out with his sister. Stiles slumped down into Ricky's chair and pinched the bridge of his nose and Derek was there at his shoulder and he could hear the jingling of a phone, looking up and seeing the phone pressed against Derek's cheek. Stiles shook his head but Derek just ignored him as the voicemail picked up and he growled into the recording, "Garrick, call us back as soon as you get this, Stiles is worried sick you aren't coming home. What the hell is going on right now?"
Then he hung up and dragged Stiles to his feet and hugged him, Stiles pushed his nose into Derek's throat and took in his Alpha's scent and pulled himself together. He nodded as he pulled away and Derek's fingers threaded through his hair and he nodded back, "You have to get through the day, you have a class and then you are going to be at the newspaper. Whether or not he's done doing whatever the hell he's dealing with right now, we have to go to class and so on. Okay? We didn't lose him okay?"
Stiles nodded, jerking his head up and down in the gentle restraint of Derek's palms before he walked back woodenly to the bedroom and started getting ready. He had class so he grabbed his bag, it also had his laptop and everything he needed for the newspaper before he walked quietly into the bathroom and took a shower, following Derek closely who just pressed a gentle hand to his shoulder before getting ready to leave as well. They met at the door and Stiles tucked his quiet phone into his red Beacon Hills sweater before Derek tugged him closer for a hug and then they walked out, separating at the curb with one more kiss. He didn't honestly know how he was going to get through the day without knowing one way or another what was going on with Ricky, but he would do what he needed to do. He turned in his assignments, took notes from the lecture and ate lunch since he had no appetite that morning. He didn't feel like eating anything at lunchtime either but if he didn't eat then Derek was going to have his hide when he got back home.
Derek checked in regularly, and Stiles answered with monosyllabic answers until around two in the afternoon when his phone jingled and he recognized Scott's personal ringtone. He pushed the talk button and answered, "What's up Scott?"
"What happened? Derek is freaking out, well as freaking out as Derek can do. He used an emoticon and everything, the world is freaking ending and you need to tell me right now what the hell is going on?" Scott stammered out, ending on a heaving breath. Stiles smiled at the thought of Derek using an emoticon and wondered which one it was, probably some sort of frowning face, though Stiles didn't know how to make a frowning face.
"Ricky was freaked out yesterday and he didn't come home last night and I don't know what to think. What can I do if he chooses not to come home? I don't want to lose him Scott, I don't know what Derek and I are without him, except incomplete."
"Stiles, you need to remember all the things we learned about omegas, even the minimal stuff we did learn. The omega of the pack is the den mother, and the empathic one of the pack, they feel the losses more readily and are more prone to depression because of the hormones to allow for fertilization, remember all the facts and place them next to what your feeling. Remember that you can choose to stay in this depressed mode right now; you need to get a handle on it before Derek loses it too. He is on the verge because he doesn't know how to help Ricky and he knows you are hurting with this. You have to be the glue of the pack Stiles, I know it's not fair and you just want to hurt right now but you need to remember who you are."
Stiles took a deep breath and thought about all the things his best friend was telling him, surprised that Scott remembered all of that. It wasn't that surprising maybe since Stiles was his best friend and he'd been there through everything, he'd been there for every scrap of information that Stiles could find about his Caste and he'd been there for all the times Stiles felt his mother's death and the fact that he would never have siblings and the possibility of losing his father to the drinking and depression. All those things, there was Scott to protect and support Stiles when he would have been alone otherwise. He took a couple of deep breaths and forced the smile back to his lips and spoke.
"I hear you brother, I hear you."
Scott sighed; Stiles could feel the relief in his brother's quickened breath before he answered, "Good, you should call Derek and calm him with the knowledge that you are doing well despite the circumstances. He doesn't know how to handle a sad and quiet Stiles."
"I will," Stiles returned then begged off before he dialed his mate's number.
"Stiles, love, how are you?" Derek's voice was filled with the anxiety of an alpha who could feel the bonds of his pack stretching to the point of breaking.
The omega took in a deep breath and smiled, forcing the happiness into his tone, "I'm good Derek, I just ate lunch, then I need to grab some things from the apartment before I head over to Braeden's to work on the paper."
"Okay and how are you Stiles? I have been worried about you all morning, I can barely get anything done," He started.
"I'm okay Derek," he paused, "Have you heard anything from Ricky?" he asked, his voice shuddering in fear of answer.
"No, I would tell you as soon as I do, my love. I promise you that."
Stiles nodded and turned towards home, "I got to go, text me later okay?" he whispered, trying to hold back the tears making their escape from his eyelids, there was nothing to stop him from hanging up the phone and shuddering as he crumpled to the ground in the hallway of the building where his class was. There was nothing he could do to get Ricky back if the beta didn't want to be with them any more. He pressed against the wall and slammed his head back against the hard surface. He really wanted to be what Derek needed him to be, he was desperate for it in fact but there was nothing left in him that was okay with the idea of being okay without Garrick.
He closed his eyes against the desperate need to cry out the pain in his heart then without even thinking, reached out for Garrick through the link but what he found was a block. There was a wall in the way of his bond and so he closed his eyes even tighter and dug at the wall with his all his mental strength. He stripped and scraped at the wall until he could see a sliver of light from the other side and he felt the pain rip through his side like a deep wound had magically opened there. He felt Garrick's pain and anger; there was terror and rage but he didn't understand the cause of the dangerous emotions. Stiles grappled, punching at the wall with as much of his mental abilities as he could. He imagined the line of mountain ash the desperate need to get through that made it possible, he ripped at the wall using his mind as a wrecking ball. He needed to know what was happening to Ricky and the small glimpse was doing nothing to get him the information he needed to get Ricky back from whatever was happening to him at the moment. In his physical body, he jerked his phone close and shuddered as he tried to call Derek but he couldn't tell if the call ever went through because the wall ripped open and there was everything Ricky was feeling and there was nothing good to be had. Stiles screamed out, the sound of his pain manifested into sound that shattered the quiet and forced his lungs to pulse in the effort of the sound.
Someone was sinking a live wire into Ricky's body, straight into his body so the electrically current would keep him from shifting, taken a few degrees higher and it was start to mitigate the healing and strength of his wolf. Stiles' foot kicked out and thudded into the wall across from him, giving him a slight tether in reality instead of the pain his partner was feeling at the moment, a reminder he needed to do anything for his love. He could hear Derek's voice, speaking and shouting from somewhere far away.
"Stiles, what's going on? Stiles, please!" the alpha demanded, anxiety ratcheting up every sentence when Stiles didn't answer.
"Derek, he's hurt. Someone has him and they are hurting him, please Derek, we have to find him."
"Stiles, where are you? What are you talking about?"
"Someone has Ricky!" Stiles screamed and slammed his palms into the sides of his head, wishing now that he'd never taken the wall down. Ricky had erected it somehow to protect them or himself, Stiles didn't know either way but now that it was down, he couldn't help but feel everything the beta was feeling and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
"Where are you Stiles?" Derek demanded, his alpha command clear in his voice.
"I am in the English building, the hall is empty, I am taking my normal back way. We have to help him Derek, I can feel everything they are doing to him," Stiles cried the words, his breathing quickened in panic and the sounds of his panting reaching his ears from far away. He couldn't see anything in front of him, there was nothing but Ricky's pain. His body arched as the electrical current buzzed and jumped, he felt the echo of the pain and there was nothing he could do. He had no extra abilities to heal beyond accelerating it a little bit and there was nothing he could give to Ricky. What good was being special if he couldn't help his beloved beta?
"I'm coming to you Stiles, we'll find him. Just stay on the phone with me. I am going to text Braeden and have them call your father, he can work in conjunction with the campus police and the sheriff's station. We're going to get him back. Are you hearing me Stiles?"
Stiles nodded but he couldn't do anything else in the face of the agony ripping through his muscles and then someone was there, and it was the same scent that had clung ever so thoroughly to Ricky's clothes and skin. He looked over into the bright blue eyes of a beta, she had long dark brown hair and a strangely beautiful yet angular face. "You!" he accused.
She frowned then breathed him in, "You are Garrick's lover then?" she asked though she didn't need to, Stiles knew Ricky's scent was all over him and vice versa. She was being purposefully obtuse. "What's wrong with you? You need something right?" she demanded.
"I need Ricky and Derek. Derek is coming, Ricky needs our help," the words slipped from his lips absent thought or purpose, this she-wolf had no right to the information he was giving out but he couldn't seem to stop the words from leaving his lips. Part of him had been a little concerned that he'd gone and found this wolf and left with her but now that she was in front of him and Ricky was in such agony, answered the question of if she'd been involved.
He didn't hear or see anything as the pain shuttered in and out of focus. There was no rhyme or reason in the pattern of pain, only the possible desire to hurt and do the most damage to Ricky but the she-wolf did not leave Stiles' side and he didn't know how much time had passed before there was a shouting growl and Derek was next to him.
"Who are you? Get away from my mate!" Derek sneered at the woman and Stiles turned towards his Alpha.
"Derek, I hurt everywhere, I tore down the wall and now I can feel everything," Stiles whimpered the words and tears continued to trickle down his cheeks over and over. The She-wolf did no back off though, even in the face of Derek's alpha countenance.
Stiles felt when the painful edges of what Ricky was feeling softened and Derek groaned, he was taking Stiles' pain and probably getting a dose of Ricky's as well. There was nothing Stiles could do to help, he lay helplessly in the loving embrace of his alpha and hoped they would find Ricky soon. In the soothing darkness of healing touch from Derek, Stiles slipped into the darkness where Ricky's pain wouldn't touch him.
"Who are you? I know your scent!" Derek growled his accusation at the she-wolf sitting far to close to his omega. The scent that Stiles had found on Ricky, she was the one who had been flirting with him and led to their amazing sex yesterday. Of course it had also led to Ricky leaving, feeling freaked and distant from them.
"My name is Malia Tate, I am new here. Ricky was nice to me, I offered to scratch the itch and he told me that he was taken. I did not realize he would have two of you, that seems odd."
"I don't really care what you think, what happened to him?" Derek flashed red eyes at her and she snarled back at him.
"I found him like this, screaming and back stretched out in some unseen pain. He realized who I was then you arrived, I have done nothing to your mate, or to Ricky—if that's what your thinking. I was deeply concerned when he didn't show up to class, he's never late and I just happened to be the one who found this one."
Derek glared at her, his eyebrow raised in demand of the truth and she just glared back again, completely unconcerned about the possibility of him doing harm to her. This Malia Tate was clearly made of sterner stuff, especially since she was a beta.
"I need to get him out of here, his father should be meeting us at the doctor's office where Stiles' personal physician works. Will you help me get him there?" he asked, taking a chance in trusting this wolf with one of his most beloved mates. He needed to get as much information from Stiles so he could go and look for Ricky, which also made him wonder if Ravyn had also been taken. Stiles only had access to Ricky through the bond so he would also need to call Ricky's parents and see if they had heard from either of their children.
Malia nodded after a moment and between the two of them, got Stiles up and out of the building then into the jeep since it was there and it was more comfortable than the Camaro. She got into the passenger seat as well and just waited for him to drive and so they did. Derek broke every speed law from the campus to Deaton's place and made it there just as the Sherriff was parking his cruiser. John Stilinski rushed out of the cruiser and threw open the door, catching Stiles as the omega stumbled out of the vehicle with little control over what his body was doing. Derek took a deep breath as he tried to figure out what the hell he was supposed to say to the father of his mate, that he couldn't take care of either one and it happened bare weeks after his nascent pack had disbanded for the summer. There was nothing he could say because he just choked on the overwhelming shame that ate at his insides and desired a swift end to him if he could not reclaim Stiles and Ricky.
John and Derek tag-teamed Stiles into the clinic and they were immediately waved into one of the rooms where Stiles' twitching body was gently laid on the hospital bed. Deaton walked into the room, all business and calming influence. It helped especially when Derek's first response was to growl and remove all the other people from Stiles' space. John quickly tugged Derek back and pushed him into another chair, far enough away that Deaton would have room but close enough that Derek could reach out and touch Stiles. The omega's father leaned down and placed a hand on Derek's tense shoulder.
"Derek I need you to tell me anything you know about this, right now!" the gentle command in the man's voice activated Derek's need to retain control; he took a deep breath and started talking.
"Stiles called me about a half an hour ago and he was screaming and crying. He said that somebody took Ricky and they were torturing him. I don't know how Stiles knows this and I don't, I don't know if Stiles knows anything else because I took his pain and it knocked him out. I've never felt what he was feeling and if that was just an echo of what Ricky is feeling, then our mate doesn't have a lot of time."
"Okay Derek, well as far as I knew from Claudia, the omega has the power to sense and find their mates if they are in trouble but we need to get him awake again. You need to find your calm because if you are freaking out that isn't going to help him."
Derek nodded and he bent forward and took in a couple of deep breaths before he felt centered again. John was bent over Stiles while Deaton whispered to him about whatever he was finding. Then Derek sat up and nodded resolutely, finding Malia staring at him, as if waiting to see what he would do.
"Okay, what can we do about Ricky?" Derek asked as we moved over and pressed a hand into Stiles' head.
John sighed as he looked over to Deaton where he was checking Stiles over gently. "We need to wake up Stiles, get as much information from him then we need to see if we can find out what happened with Garrick yesterday."
"And Ravyn," Derek responded.
John frowned, "Garrick's little sister?" he asked.
"Yes, Ricky left with her last night and we haven't seen him since."
"You didn't call him and check in last night?" John asked.
Derek bristled, "He wanted to be alone, we didn't even know he hadn't been home yet until this morning then we had to keep going. He's not our slave, he's our mate and he needed some time with his sister. We had no way of knowing something like this might happen the second he was out of sight, most people won't even go after Ricky, he's been pretty insulated from the crazy."
"Derek, I mean no disrespect, I just know my son and I know your relationship pretty well. There must have been something pretty bizarre going on that you weren't in contact. I'm sure this is also happening. We need Stiles to wake up."
"'m wake," Stiles mumbled quietly and Derek turned to look at him and pressed a kiss to the side of the omega's head. "…hurts, Der."
Derek shushed him and took Stiles' hand while the omega's dad held his other hand. "Stiles, are you still in contact with Ricky?" John asked gently.
"Not contact, I feel what he feels, he's not hurting as much but it's steady. There is a constant current running through his body. I think he started building the wall between us again," Stiles spoke slowly and purposefully. The words seemed like they took even more time and effort from his genius omega. Derek pressed another kiss to his forehead while John refocuses Stiles with his next question.
"Stiles, you can learn something about what happened to him and where he is, you just need to connect with him, climb deeper into the connection not less."
Stiles shook his head, "Can't… Not strong enough…"
"Son, you are the only one strong enough to do this," John stressed gently.
Malia cleared his throat, "He left from the apartment building?" she asked.
Derek glared at her and Stiles groaned when he realized who she was, "Yes, but they were on a motorcycle, I don't think you can find the trail after hours and the speed in which they left."
Malia shook her head, "You don't understand, I know I saw them at the campus last night."
"When you were stalking him?" Stiles growled and Derek rubbed his fingers through Stiles hair to calm him.
"Ugh, just shut up for a second. I know where they were heading and they were on foot for a while around the campus. I spoke to him. I will return to the campus and see if I can get any other information about them."
Derek nodded then tossed his phone to her, "Put your number in the phone and make sure you get mine so you can contact me if you learn anything, don't get in the way of the campus cops and let me know immediately if you find anything."
She nodded, entered her number then sent a text to herself, her phone jingled in her pocket before she was out the door once more. Derek turned back as John started talking to Stiles again.
"Stiles, you need to sink into the connection with Ricky, see if he will replay his memories of the night before when he was taken. Anything you can glean from him will be useful."
Stiles nodded and he closed his eyes all the way and he sank into the deep sleep of someone who was trying to meditate. Derek was left with nothing to do besides comfort Stiles and help the omega with the pain a little at a time. He felt as the pain sank into him and dissipated slowly. He focused on the black veins on his hands and arms and waited as each session allowed Stiles to sink farther into their mate's mind.
And he waited for whatever Stiles would have for them before he went after Ricky; it was time to get the three of them back together and on the same page. Maybe talking to his sister had helped before whatever happened and after this, Derek was going to have a really hard time letting either of his mates out of his sight.