Survival

10

Recovery

...

"So, how's our favorite pound puppy?"

Liam groaned, "I've been better."

Stiles smiled and patted Liam on the head, "Hey, Deaton, think you can neuter him for us?"

Liam flashed his yellow eyes and growled at Stiles.

"This is the thanks I get for saving your life? Better give him a rabies shot, too."

There was a knock at the back door.

"It's Derek and Sean." Scott scented them instantly.

Deaton opened the door and let the pair in.

"How is he?" Sean asked.

"Cranky." Deaton replied flatly.

"I guess it's pick on the kid who just got stabbed, kidnapped and thrown in a well day..." Liam muttered.

Scott ruffled Liam's hair, then scratched behind his ears.

"I need to talk to Sean. Alone. And that includes you, Stiles." Liam said sternly.

Stiles shook his head, "Kids these days have no respect."

As the group filtered out of the recovery room, Sean came and sat beside Liam.

"I'm glad you're alright." He smiled.

Big blue eyes met light green, "Why'd you do it? You were safe. Everyone thought you were dead, but you took on Garrett and Violet for me. Now everybody's gonna' know."

"Do you think I'd let you be wasted by a pair of snot-nosed kids? I'm offended." He looked tired, but resolved, "I can't spend the rest of my life hiding. I've been hiding all my life, and my family was murdered anyway." He grinned, "Besides, I'm saving you for for Thanksgiving Dinner, so put some meat on those drumsticks." He looked at the bandages on Liam's stomach, "Wolfsbane really does a number on you guys, doesn't it?"

"It'll heal pretty quick, now that Deaton cleaned it out." He turned to Sean, "I heard you broke Garrett's arm to get him to talk." There was no judgment in his voice either way.

"We didn't have time to play games with that loser and his bimbo girlfriend. I normally wouldn't even consider breaking someone's arm, especially a kid..." He looked down at his hands a little sadly, "I did what I had to do to find you." He sighed, "Scott mentioned it?"

"He wasn't happy. But, then again, he broke my ankle to keep me from taking his place as team captain, so he's not one to talk." Liam settled back, "It's funny, when I looked up and saw you in Wendigo form, I wasn't scared of you. Probably the hypothermia and blood loss, but I was happy to see you."

"Did... Did either of them say anything about The Benefactor?"

"No. Mostly they talked about getting Scott. Though Violet did mention wanting to rape me a few times. I always thought she was creepy... They did mention the money, but not The Benefactor."

"How long have you known these kids?"

"About a month or so. I thought they were cool." He moved his hand over his stomach, "What's going to happen to them?"

"That depends on the law. They've committed at least two murders, that we know of, and stabbed, kidnapped and tried to kill you. The sheriff said they were going to press to have them charged as adults, but they have money and lawyers. Of course, that won't help them against the Argents. They, The Mute and any other bounty hunters in Beacon Hill are in the Argent's territory. I don't know Chris Argent, but from what I've heard he's a good man. I doubt he'll take them out in the woods and shoot them if they get off, but he'll probably find a way to keep them off our backs."

"Sean. I... Thanks. Thank you. You saved my life. You came out and saved me, even though you knew that it would put you right back in the bull's eye. I can't not forgive you after that. For what it's worth, I intend to vote on making you pack."

Sean smiled at the thought of belonging, at the idea of being part of a pack. A family.

Liam looked him in the eyes, "You keep saying you're a coward. But you're wrong. Your one of the bravest guys I've ever met. I don't think I could live with half of what you've been through."

"I bet you say that to all the guys who help save your scrawny butt when you get into trouble."

"I'm not scrawny, Jaws."

"'Jaws'... I like that. You can be 'Wolf Cub' and I can be 'Jaws'."

Liam rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Anyways, thank you."

"It's what we're supposed to do, right, look out for each other? Besides, it wasn't just me, Scott went out alone to hand himself over in exchange for you, Derek made sure Violet wouldn't put any bullets in our backs, and Stiles... He, well, he drove."

...

Malia was stunned, "I can't believe that Garrett and Violet are cold-blooded killers. I would have suspected Greenberg before Violet."

"That's just being sexist," Stiles couldn't resist throwing the charge the strongly feminist Malia often threw at him, "Just because she's a girl doesn't mean she's not capable of being pure evil. I think we all learned that from Kate. And Kali. And Jennifer..."

Malia gave him a glare that showed she did not approve of the irony.

"How do we know Greenberg's not some kind of evil criminal mastermind?"

"What is it with blaming Greenberg today? I've known him since we were toddlers. He's a kiss-up, but he's not a trouble-maker." Scott objected.

"I was using him as an example of someone I would NOT expect to be a bloodthirsty killer." Malia clarified, "Though sometimes I think he may be some kind of supernatural brown-noser."

A light flashed in Brett's eyes, "The game. When somebody cut me with a stick laced with wolfsbane... It was Garrett, it had to be. He was almost right beside me during that play..." He growled, revealing his fangs. "That filthy, stinking little traitor. He's lucky it was Sean and not me who caught him."

"You're right. Who else could it have been?"

"Greenberg." Malia quipped.

"Just shut up about Greenberg, alright."

"I think Scott has a crush." Stiles grinned, only to shrink back as Scott growled.

"We also have something very important to talk about." Derek reminded them, "The whole pack's here, so we might as well do it now."

...

Sean was standing in the kennel, watching the animals Deaton had treated for various injuries and ailments as they waited for their owners to come pick them up. He was, of course, a cat person himself, but he liked animals in general. They didn't judge him, not for his actions, not for his race. They just wanted to be taken in and loved.

He knew the feeling.

He heard footsteps and the door behind him opened. He could recognize Scott's scent, even through the confusion of a kennel.

"Sean, I need to talk to you."

Sean groaned, Liam had warned him this was coming.

"About Garrett?" It wasn't really a question. He turned to face Scott.

"I don't want to sound ungrateful. You saved Liam's life, and most likely mine as well. But you scared me out there. It was like the hospital again, only instead of Liam it was Garrett. When you snapped his arm like that, and he screamed and started crying and begging..." He trailed off.

"I'm not proud of myself, if that's what you think. I'm proud I helped find Liam and stop those two, but I didn't get any kind of joy or thrill from breaking a fifteen-year-boy's arm and watching him piss himself in fear. I couldn't waste time, Liam was dying and Garrett wouldn't talk."

"Or maybe you just didn't like what he said."

Sean's eyes narrowed, silver replacing light green, "Excuse me?" His voice was laced with a mixture of disbelief and rage.

"What he said, about seeing your family in Hell, right before you broke his arm."

"What would you have done, if he'd said the same about Allison?" Sean was really, really trying to keep it together. Physically he was a match for Scott, but he honestly was not a fighter, and attacking the Alpha might break all of the friendships he'd made, the first friends he'd had in a long, long time. People he genuinely cared about, and who cared about him. And Scott had taken him in, helped him when he needed it the most. But still, The Wendigo wanted to rip this fool to shreds.

Scott paled at the name, and looked away guiltily, "What I'm trying to say is, we don't kill people, but we don't torture them either."

He could hear Sean's heartbeat increasing, his breathing becoming heavier. He was struggling with The Wendigo. This was not what Scott had wanted. He knew he'd gone too far. Finally, Sean spoke.

"Garrett's arm will heal, assuming The Benefactor or someone else doesn't kill him first. If Liam had died, he wouldn't heal from that. Werewolves don't go into a near-death state to heal. He would have been dead. And he wouldn't have woken up like I did. I was too rough with Garrett, I agree, but we found Liam, and he'll live. I don't intend of making a habit of hurting kids to get information, in fact, when all this dies down I'm probably going to have even more nightmares." His eyes flickered for a moment, and he smiled thinly, almost cruelly, and looked Scott directly in the eyes. The Wendigo had a message for this pompous idiot as well. "And, at least I didn't hurt him out of jealousy, like you did with Liam. If not for you breaking his ankle so that you could stay team captain, none of this would have happened. You ruined a young boy's life over a stupid lacrosse position. What does that make you, Mr. True Alpha?"

Those words cut Scott to the bone like the teeth of a Wendigo. Not as much as he had hurt Sean, but it hurt because it was the truth. He had been jealous of Liam's natural skill, he'd tried to put him in his place, and when that hadn't worked he'd used his Werewolf powers to show him up. He hadn't meant to injure the boy, just humble him a bit. But he had. He lived with the knowledge, every day, that if he hadn't been so jealous, none of the suffering Liam had to endure since that awful night at the hospital would have ever happened. He had truly ruined Liam's life over a stupid game...

Derek walked into the room before Scott could respond, "Liam's ready to go home now. What are you going to tell his parents?"

"That he fell down a hole." Scott said dully. He was still processing Sean's words.

"Scott, did you tell Sean the good news before going all high-and-mighty on him?"

"Tell me what?"

"We took a vote. You're Pack now. It was almost unanimous." He shot Scott a telling look.

"I... I," Sean didn't know what to say. He had a family now, a pack. They could never replace his parents and David, but they were family! "I'm honored. Thank you." Was all he could manage to say.

Derek smiled at him, really smiled. He walked over and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Welcome to family, kid." He wasn't prepared for the crushing huge bear hug he received in return.

Man, that kid was strong.

The rest of The Pack poured in, happily embracing their newest member. Sean had never been hugged by so many people in his life. His anger faded, though the pain of McCall's words remained. He decided that he would enjoy this moment, and that Scott McCall could go screw himself.

Derek turned and glared at Scott, who was standing several feet away, watching. "We need to talk later. Alone."

The Alpha just nodded. Scott might be Alpha, but he usually deferred to Derek when the older man had reason to question him.

...

"He broke that kid's arm!"

"That 'kid' was about to shoot you dead and leave Liam to die a slow death alone in a cold, dark well."

"He could have persuaded him some other way." Scott persisted.

Derek sighed, Why out of everyone in Beacon Hills did this idiot have to be The True Alpha? Why couldn't Peter have bitten Stiles instead?.

"Listen, I was at the police station while they interrogated Violet. She didn't say anything except that Sean was going to be worth a lot more on The Deadpool once The Benefactor found out he was alive. She's a kid, but she's cold as ice. She didn't even ask about Garrett. 'Persuading' him would have taken time, probably days, and Liam wouldn't have lasted the night."

"We have to have standards!"

"You dragging out Sean's murdered family, was that high enough standards for you? If Sean was as vicious as you want to paint him, he'd have torn you open for that and eaten your heart. I was tempted to tear you apart for being such a bastard as to stoop that low." Derek's eyes were glowing now, "I know this is your pack, but if you antagonize them enough, they will eventually turn on you. No king reigns forever, McCall, remember that." He began to walk toward the kennel.

"Is that a threat, Derek?"

Derek turned to look at him, "Just a warning, McCall. If you mistreat your pack, you don't deserve to lead. You'd be no better than Deucalion."

...

To be continued...

Notes

Since this is a story about Sean, major events for other characters will be in the background, and sometimes merely mentioned.