A tense moment passed by as Derek digested the words that Deaton had just fed him. "What do you mean he's the Alpha of the Hale pack? Why would it pass to him, he's not…" Derek began saying before Alan raised a hand to silence him.

"He is Maria's son, Talia's nephew. When you lost your Alpha status it passed to the next oldest member of the pack, that being Álmos. It didn't pass to Peter because he had already held it prior, stolen it from Laura. Had Laura died at a hunter's hand or at the hand of anything other non-werewolf it would have passed directly to you. Peter cannot become Alpha, not unless there are no other Hales around. He would become the Alpha simply because of the lack of other Hales left in the bloodline." Alan began to explain. "This means that if Peter is indeed looking to destabilize things he is most likely seeking a way to do just that, which places you, Álmos and Cora in serious danger." the druid said sternly. "There is only so much I can do directly, I was your mother's Emissary which places me in a position where I cannot myself harm any member of the Hale pack. It is a solemn and unbreakable oath that every Emissary takes when they pledge themselves to a pack. They may defend themselves, but they cannot knowingly and willfully harm the pack they serve."

It was at this time that Stiles made his way over to pair carrying the book with him, having looked a few things over enough to figure out ways to at least keep the dark things lingering around Beacon Hills from latching onto anyone. "So I'm looking at having to make a vow never to hurt whatever pack it is I end up looking after?" he asked as he set the book down on the nearby desk.

"Actually, that is something we should likely discuss. As you are both close to Scott and Derek there may be a slight conflict of interests as to which pack it is you'd want to be the Emissary to." Alan said as he looked at Stiles an almost sad smile on his face, and it was understandable, he'd basically just asked Stiles to choose between his best friend and his mate.

Stiles was silent for a moment, this was far from something he'd wanted to start worrying about so soon. He figured once Álmos had mention Deaton wanting to teach him to follow in his footsteps that it would lead to him having to choose which direction he'd have to go. "If it weren't for the fact that Derek and Scott would sooner rip the each others heads off I'd say their pack, but I know that's about as likely as a the queen of England inviting me for high tea at Buckingham Palace." Stiles said with a sigh. This was really quite possibly one of the least fair things to ask him, but more and more he figured he already knew his answer, especially when he saw the pain in Derek's eyes his heart sank. "I'm sure Scott has plenty of time to find someone else, besides, sometimes I need to be able to whack him upside the head without having to worry about some sort of oath against directly harming him getting in the way." Stiles said with a wide smirk. As though saying this was the best thing in the universe Derek's shoulders fell with a barely noticeable sigh of pure relief. Stiles simply smiled as he made his way over to Derek and pulled him close, taking one of his hands before he leaned into him. "Besides Derek would be lost without me anyway." Stiles added sticking his tongue out at him with a smirk on his face. Derek simply rolled his eyes and chuckled before quickly picking Stiles up and flinging him onto his shoulder upside down. "Hey, hey lemme go!" Stiles said as he started kicking and laughing.

"Stop being a pain and I will." Derek said over his shoulder. Stiles mumbled something about Derek being a spoilsport but Derek took it as apology enough and moved Stiles back around to kiss him. "I love you too Stiles." Derek said as the kiss broke.

"As touching as this display of affection is would it be at all possible for me to speak with Deaton please?" came the unmistakable English accent of the former threat to Beacon Hills.

Derek immediately whirled around and moved between Deucalon and Stiles, eyes flashing blue as he stared the Alpha down in the exam room of the druids' animal clinic. Deaton simply placed a hand on Derek's shoulder and moved forward, calmly standing in front of the other werewolf and looking at him sternly.

"Why are you here Deucalion?" he asked with a raised brow. "Last I checked you had been asked to leave the territory by Mr. McCall, I would hate to see his reaction were he to realize you were back in town." Alan added as he crossed his arms passively in front of himself.

Deucalion simply turned his blue eyes on Deaton raising a brow of his own. "In the recent past I would have killed you simply for looking at me the wrong way Alan, but this business I come with is a bit more pressing." the English werewolf said as he stood his ground, his tone civil, and grim.

"What is it?" Stiles asked stepping around to look at Deucalion and look sternly into his now healed eyes.

"There are going to be a lot of deaths come tomorrow. István has very much come back." the disgraced Alpha said with a stony face that would rival Derek at his worst.

Scott was sitting at home, across the living room from his father his mother beside him as he face him down. He was taking Stiles up on his advice, if his father had any idea what was going on in Beacon Hills he wouldn't be as easy a target to go after, he could at least protect himself, get in touch with Chris and Allison and figure something out.

"So would someone tell me why I'm sitting here feeling like I'm the one about to be grilled?" Howard asked as he faced his son and ex-wife, wondering what was going on.

"I'm going to tell you something, something that you're only going to believe if I show you, and something that after I show you might make you either run screaming out of town, or make you want to stay around even more." Scott said getting up from his seat before closing his eyes. Hair began spreading on his face, his teeth sharpened and claws extended from his fingers, when he opened his eyes they were a bright scarlet. "Not exactly the kind of coming out most dads are worried about, but dad, I'm a werewolf." Scott said as he stared his father down.

Howard looked like he'd just been told that everything he'd ever known was a lie, and he was half right. The monsters that walked the earth that had been discredited as hoaxes and legends were very much real, and one of the most well known was now staring down at him with glowing red eyes. "What the hell was in that drink you gave me Melissa?" Howard asked, his tone accusing as he shifted, quivering in his seat trying to crawl his way to the other side of the house.

"I reacted the same way the first time I saw Scott like this, I swore I had lost my mind, but Howard, it's the truth, but before you end up calling Homeland Security or something remember, he's your son. I don't want him ending up on some sort of exam table being dissected by some scientists trying to figure out what makes werewolves tick." Melissa said firmly as he moved to cut off Howard's escape.

"This…how can this actually be happening? How…" Howard said as a clawed hand gently lay on top of his shoulder. He flinched away as his heart hammered in his chest, the hand was removed with and almost sad expression crossing over Scott's face as he shifted back.

"There are some crazy things that go on in this town dad, things that don't make sense and things that could get you hurt if you don't find out about them. I don't want you getting caught up in the middle of something and then getting hurt." Scott said softly as he looked at his father. "You may not have been there for me and mom, but you're still my father, I still care about you." he added a little more firmly before he stepped out of the room.

Scott's words had hit home a little harder than they should have, bringing up his failure as a father and as a husband was a harsh slap in the face to Howard as he sat there. Still shaken though he was that heavy weight of guilt hung there in his guy and dragged his head down to look at the ground. "So this is how it feels to have been a total failure."

Melissa stood there shaking her head as she walked after her son. "He still cares about you Howard, so the least you can do is stop feeling sorry for yourself and be there for him. Now you know what's really going on around here, do us a favor and either leave, or figure out a way to make sure you don't end up getting used as a pawn by someone who wants to hurt him. I'd go talk with Chris Argent, it might keep you from getting yourself killed." Melissa added before leaving the room to see Scott nowhere in sight, but she could hear some movement upstairs and made her way up. She peeked inside the door to Scott's room and what she saw struck her hard. There was her son, laying in bed, alone, holding a pillow and crying just like he had when his father had first left when he was so much younger. She knocked on the door before opening it up more, Scott didn't move and so Melissa took the initiative and walked her way over and pulled her son up and held him close.

"Why is it always like this with him?" Scott asked with a frustrated sob, burying his face in his mother's shoulder. "He should have just stayed away, he should have left us alone. I wouldn't have had to tell him anything, I wouldn't have him hate me." Scott said as he just kept sitting there.

"He doesn't hate you Scott, he's probably a little freaked out and damn near close to shitting his pants, but he doesn't hate you.' Melissa said as he gently rubbed her son's back. "Now cheer up, we've done fine without him, I'm not going to let him swoop in and make you start beating yourself up." she added as she gave Scott a few good pats on his back. "It'll take him time to adjust, it's not like he's seen you save people's lives or anything like I have, so give him some time to adjust…" she began saying before she heard Howard's vehicle start up and drive off. Scott heard it too and the look on his face spoke volumes, he was really torn up over this. "If you wanna stay up here and get some rest that's okay, but you're coming downstairs once I fix dinner." Melissa said firmly as she took Scott's chin and wobbled it, causing him to smirk and reach forward to hug his mother.

"Okay mom, thank you for being here for me." Scott said as he squeezed his mother gently before turning and laying down again, this time trying to rest away his insecurities and unhappiness.

"That's my son." Melissa replied before going downstairs to the kitchen to start cooking, going to the fridge she saw a note. Taking it down she began to read what Howard had transcribed on it:

-Went to meet with this 'Chris Argent' you mentioned. If I'm going to finally not fuck up with my own son I better start now. -

"Well call me surprised." Melissa said with a smirk before crumpling the note and tossing it out and going back to getting everything together for dinner.

Chris was in his office going over some weapons orders for some security details at some embassy over in the middle of nowhere, shaking his head as he read what they were looking for. "Mhmm, sure, the 'President of Amrika wants some assault rifles. Request denied." he said as shredded the request and leaned his head on his hands. "They can't even be clever and just say it's some prince in Saudi Arabia who wants to protect his particular oil field." the scruffy hunter said as he shook his head before hearing the doorbell ring. "Allison could you go see who that is?" Chris called out his door, when he heard the doorbell ring again he figured that Allison must have run of somewhere…again. "Or I can." he said as he got up, some of his joints crackling unpleasantly, he was getting a little worn out ever since moving back to Beacon Hills, maybe he should go talk to Derek…right, Derek had left, so much for asking him for some workout tips. Then again he somehow had the impression that he wouldn't get far by asking a werewolf that. The doorbell rang again before Chris got there and opened it. "Hello…oh, Mr. McCall, what can I do for you?" Chris said, recognizing the man as not only the FBI agent asked to investigate the murders in the area, but also as Scott's father.

"First off you can tell me how the hell I'm supposed to handle having a werewolf for a son." Howard said as he barged in and sat down on the nearest chair he could find. Chris merely looked a little shocked and tried to play dumb.

"A werewolf? Howard I think you've been a little too stressed out, what are you talking about?" Chris inquired as he moved over to the wall across from the man.

"I'm talking fangs, fur, claws, glowing red eyes…Mr. Argent, what the hell is going on around here and why does Scott think you can help me?" Howard asked as he just stared almost desperately at Chris.

"So he showed you himself then." Chris said as he sighed heavily, looking at the floor before looking back up. "Alright, then follow me." the hunter said as he beckoned Howard to follow him to the other room. "Myself and my family have been hunters for a long time, dealing with creatures like werewolves, kanimas, so on and so forth for centuries. What we have is knowledge on how these creatures work, where they go, what they do, what can kill them." Chris added as he reached into a drawer and pulled out a box of bullets, an image of a plant on the cover of it, soft purple-blue flowers growing from it. "These," Chris said opening the box and pulling one of the projectiles out, "is a bullet that's been treated with wolfsbane, wolfsbane is poisonous to humans but is absolutely lethal to werewolves. If you ever deal with one, and trust me around here there's a good chance, and they get violent, one bullet and a good shot will take care of them pretty quick. I can only assume Scott sent you here because he's afraid of someone using you as a bargaining chip to force him into doing something." Chris added handing the 9mm bullets to the FBI agent.

"He said he was concerned, he didn't go into specifics, though that would certainly explain why he sent me here. You know how to kill them, do you know how to cure them?" Howard asked praying Chris would tell him there was a way for Scott to not be a werewolf.

"Yes, of course there is." Chris said as he turned to face Howard. "You kill him, death cures all ills." Howard's face went from hopeful to dismal in no time flat. "Once bitten there's no going back, no exorcism, no ritual, nothing." Chris said as he heaved a heavy sigh. "If there had been my uncle and my wife would still be alive today." Chris said as he raised his eyes to look into Howard's own.

"Your uncle and wife were werewolves?" Scott's father inquired as he stared firmly at the other man in the room.

"Emphasis on were, they both killed themselves. A hunter considers it the ultimate dishonor to become that which it hunts." Chris replied as he made his way out of the room, followed by Howard as they made their way to the kitchen. Chris poured himself a small glass of bourbon and did the same for Howard. "I think it's safe to say you could use this." he added sliding the glass over to the FBI agent who took it and gave it a small sip before downing it.

"How…how do you do it? How do you handle knowing what you know?" the eldest McCall asked as he put the glass down.

"I was raised knowing about it, so it's easier for me to handle, in your case however I would simply take solace in the fact that your son is at least being honest with you and is trying to keep you safe. Yes, he's a werewolf, but not all werewolves are murdering, psychotic monsters. Neither are all hunters paragons of justice." Chris added as he nodded his head toward a closed door. "My father used my entire family just to get bitten by an Alpha werewolf, to be turned. As a cure for cancer, not taking into account that he'd killed one daughter, a daughter-in-law, and nearly his own son and granddaughter." Chris added with an anger burning in the back of his eyes.

"Wait, being turned can cure cancer?" Howard asked before being shut down by a glare from Chris.

"Werewolves might be immune to most illnesses but that does not make it a viable option. To be honest some people are better off dead. Furthermore, not everyone who ends up bitten survives, many actually reject the bite and die from it." Chris said as he drank from his own glass. "So before you go trying to market the idea keep that in mind and also keep in mind people who are turned are prone to killing on their first full moon unless they're born werewolves, and even then unless they belong to a pack, you're more prone to kill more people than you save." Chris stated before finishing his drink.

That was all more than enough to humble Howard, it seemed he wasn't making good marks with anyone today, or this week to be honest. "Sorry, I didn't really…" Howard began and Chris just raised his hand.

"I know, you're new to all of this, your brain is trying to pull out every little good thing you can and capitalize on it in order to cope." Chris said as he sat down on a stool in the kitchen. "Though there is one thing that'll pay off from all of this." Chris added with a smirk.

"Yeah, what's that?" Howard asked, desperate to have some good news out of the hunter.

"You'll always be able to tell that he's faking to get out of school. Only excuse he'd have is severe insomnia, and even then, that's why they made melatonin. Works just as well on werewolves as it does humans. Naturally made compounds are good like that." Chris said as he laughed. Howard just stood there, hanging his head. He was hoping for something other than a joke, but he figured that at least if Chris could joke about things like this than it was possible for him to adjust.

"Well, thanks for the bullets, I do hope I won't need them but still. I should head home and try to apologize to Melissa and Scott." Howard said as he ran a hand over his face. "She's probably making dinner too, so maybe if I'm lucky I won't need to go and get take-out from somewhere."

"If Melissa is anything like Victoria was, you might be stuck trying to hunt something down for dinner." Chris said with another laugh before he bid the FBI agent a fond farewell.

"What do you mean István is back?" Derek asked as he moved across and pinned Deucalion to the wall, glaring at him, only to get an amused smirk down from the Alpha pinned to the wall.

"Well I'm not going to very well say much while I'm pinned to a wall now am I Derek?" Deucalion said as he took a hold of Derek's hands and pried them from his shirt before regaining his footing. "I mean just what I said, István has in fact returned. Did you think that his grandson's presence here is a mere coincidence? Or that the strigoi that have been following him were simply being drawn by the nemeton?" he asked as he surveyed the people in the room.

"István is directing them to go after Al, isn't he? He's trying to beat him down so he can kill him…but for what purpose?" Stiles asked as he hopped up onto one of the counters, the whole standing around all day was starting to make his legs cramp.

"Much like how Peter returned from his grave István has his own way of doing so, but he needs someone of his own bloodline to die, and seeing as Álmos is the last of his that means he's the only one left that István can use for his plan." the Alpha said as he went over and calmly rested his forearms on the exam table. "However he realizes that due to certain complications in his grandson's genetics that he isn't the best target so long as there is still a Hale pack as well." Deucalion said eying Derek firmly.

"He sent Peter after Stiles and John…but why?" Derek asked as his eyes flashed blue again before meeting Deucalion's red, Deucalion was pulling rank and telling Derek to calm down at the same time.

"He must realize you're Stiles' mate, if he kills him he kills you both, which leaves Cora to fend for herself. After that it wouldn't be terribly difficult for István to kill Peter, even if he is dead." Deucalion said filling them in further.

"How do you know any of this?" Deaton asked as he stepped forward, wanting to know how at all possible it was that the self-proclaimed Demon-wolf would know this.

"Because I happened to overhear a fascinating exchange between the two while I was taking a stroll through the preserve near the old Hale house. I wanted to pay my respects to Talia before I left, I regretted not doing so before." Deucalion said, his tone sincere, and his heartbeat matching, the remorse was there. "Peter's scent was there, and the unmistakable scent of death, mixed with winter and ash." the Alpha said as he looked Deaton face to face. "Believe me if I weren't certain I would have waited a bit more patiently and gathered more evidence, but I have no doubt of what is going on here." he added before glancing down toward the ground. "I'm not about to see that disgrace rise from the dead, I am determined to ensure he stays dead, and with any luck can be sent back to whichever circle of hell he climbed out of."

"Maybe it's the one you're from." Stiles said garnering a slow appraisal from Deucalion. "What, you call yourself the Demon-wolf and you expect people not to make hell jokes around you?" Stiles asked only to have the Alpha shake his head resignedly.

"You know sometimes Mr. Stilinski I'm amazed you've lived for as long as you have with that mouth of yours." Deucalion said. There was no threat in his voice, it sounded like a legitimate statement.

"What can I say, people just like to listen to me talk." Stiles added before Derek was leaning in and kissing the young man again. "Okay so maybe there are times that not talking is a good thing." he said in response to the romantic gesture to which Derek chuckled and the Alpha in the room smirked, even getting a fond grin from Deaton.

"Seems a smart match, the man who doesn't talk, and the one who talks too much." Deucalion said with a chuckle of his own, getting a rueful look from Stiles that faded into a defeated smirk and a nod of his head.

"Okay, you got me on that one." Stiles admitted before hopping down from his perch and returning to his book.