Chapter 11/12 (+epilogue)

To no one's surprise, the next few days were hardly the most pleasant, to say the least. All of the pack lived in an almost paranoiac state of mind, wondering each morning it this would be the day Gerard chose to struck. They had begun to walk in group, never alone, with always at least two people together, because they knew they would be less vulnerable like that. Derek was the only who was exempt of the buddy-system, mostly because he couldn't hang out at school during the day and, therefore, couldn't stay with anyone else. It was the disadvantage of being the only adult of the group. Stiles didn't like it but he had to admit Derek would be the one more capable of protecting himself. That was already something.

Of course, nothing happened at all. Stiles would have almost preferred if it did, mostly because it would mean they would be fixed finally. For now, though, they were still playing the waiting game and it was becoming harder and harder to act as if nothing was wrong with them. Still, they couldn't afford to tip off their parents and make it obvious there was something big on their mind or they would have a moment of peace.

The problem was that they all assumed that, should Gerard attack, it would be someone in the pack who would be targeted. Stiles should have remembered the old adage about assumption. However, as if was logical to think so, they had no reason to believe otherwise, which was the reason the way it all went to hell surprised them and they found themselves caught by surprise and not ready to act at all.

Stiles was lounging on Scott's carpet, Scott and Allison sitting a few feet away, in the empty McCall house. it had been so long since he had time to just hang out with his best friend, with no supernatural-related emergency or conversation that, when the boy had invited him, he had said yes, immediately, even though he knew Allison would also be there. Mainly, because he actually liked the huntress and, if she was there, Scott wouldn't spent the evening complaining about how much he missed her, which was a step up. Plus, she was considerate enough she would make sure to remind Scott they weren't alone, so it was more than alright with him to share his best friend.

They were chilling out in Scott's room, trying and somewhat succeeding in relaxing and let their stress level go down when, suddenly, Scott straightened up, as if he had been struck by a lightening. Both other teens looked bewildered and not a little concerned, especially since they had no idea of what had captured Scott's attention.

"Mom!" he exclaimed and they could see him begin to lose control of the change.

"What?" Stiles wondered. "Is she here?"

That didn't seem all too likely and Stiles doubted it would concern Scott so much even if this was the case, as they all had parental permission to be there.

"She's in danger. She's being attacked. I could hear her scream."

Without even waiting for an answer, Scott took off, half-transformed, out of the window, leaving both Allison and Stiles behind. The two teens were on their feet in no time, immediately running after him, down the stairs. They both flung themselves into Stiles' jeep and they didn't even take the time to talk before they were on the road.

"You know where he's going?" Allison asked after she failed in her attempt at contacting Scott, who must have already been at his destination.

Stiles nodded.

"Mrs. McCall was supposed to go to the station tonight, meet my dad. It wasn't anything important but, you know, they like to meet and complain to each other about me and Scott. She's probably still there."

Allison put a hand on Stiles' arm, not enough to take his attention off the road but enough for him to know she was there and wanted to provide him with some comfort. Because if Mrs. McCall was being attacked while she was at the station, it also meant that his father was in danger and Allison knew how much Stiles cared about him. He was the only family he had left and that meant something.

Stiles didn't care about speed limit right now, as they screeched to a halt in front of the station; they were out of the car almost before it stopped. The fact that no one had come to see what was going on informed them that something was very wrong and the low growling and hissing coming from inside let them know what was happening before they even set foot inside the building.

Jackson was there, they knew it. How the hell was he able to get away from Danny and Lydia, who were supposed to be with him, without anyone knowing? Of course, they couldn't have stopped him if he had been called away by his master, since they were only human, but they would have at least texted them to warn them they had lost him. Stiles really hoped the two of them weren't hurt, not only because he didn't want his friends being in harm way, but also because he knew Jackson would never forgive himself if that was the case.

They ran in at full speed and, for a moment, both of them were petrified, unable to react. Nothing could have prepared them about that, it was an absolute massacre. They could see the bodies all around them and Stiles had to fight his gag reflex in order not to throw up. A side glance to Allison told him she wasn't fairing much better. They saw Scott battling it out with the kanima and then Stiles saw his father lying on the floor and everything else stopped mattering.

He ran at his side, not even bothering to check if there was any other threat around, and fell down on his knees at his father's side. For a moment, he was frozen in fear but, then, he extended trembling finger to touch his father's neck, at pulse point.

He thought he would pass out under the strength of his relief. The Sheriff's pulse was strong, he had most likely only been knocked out. He was still alive and not dead. Stiles hadn't completely failed to protect him, as he had sworn he would do. He was so caught up in his thought he never even heard both Allison and Melissa approaching. The girl was watching the fight from the sidelines, cursing herself for not having a weapon on her and Stiles couldn't let her wallow.

"You couldn't have known it was going to happen," he said and, yes, he was aware of how much of a hypocrite he was being right now because he did blame himself for not protecting his father better but there was really no need for her to know that.

"What's going on Stiles?" Melissa asked and if there was a touch of hysterics in her voice, he didn't comment on it.

She had just seen her son half-wolfed out go after a giant lizard and half the station being killed off or knocked out. She was absolutely entitled to have a freak out. The fact that she was still moving around and not either passed out or frozen in fear was already a testament of her courage. However, he hated seeing her so pale. She had always appeared as a pillar of strength to him, not crumbling down even when her husband left and being punchy whenever she talked to him. She was on the verge of tears now and it just seemed wrong.

He took her hands and squeezed, trying to comfort her slightly.

"We will explain everything, I swear. Let's just make sure we're safe first," Stiles said and she gave him a smile but also a look that promised a world of hurt if he didn't keep his word.

They almost jumped out of their skin when the kanima ran past them and, at least, they knew the fight was over for now and they would have some respite.

"Mom?" Scott asked in a small voice, as he walked towards them, limping slightly, his wolfish features still adorning his face, mostly because he was too freaked out to have his mother aware of his secret to change back.

Stiles prayed that it was going to end up well for his best friend, that Melissa was not going to freak out on Scott. However, she was a mother first, and an awesome one at that, so she just took a deep breath and released it slowly then, if a surer voice than any of the teens would have managed in the same situation, she took complete control of the situation.

"Scott, you're my baby. Nothing in the world will change that but you will have a lot to explain to me. And you will probably be grounded until the end of high school. We need to call the hospital, tell them to send several ambulances and paramedics to do some triage here. We will get checked out and, once everything is taken care of, the three of you will be coming home with me and explain in great details what the hell just happened, got it Mister?"

Scott nodded and, had the situation been any less grave, Stiles would probably burst out in laugher at the dropping expression on Scott's face. The wolf-boy been scolded by his mom was hilarious. Now was certainly not the time, though.

"My dad?" he asked.

"He's fine, Stiles. He just hit his head."

"Did he see any of it?"

Melissa looked quizzically at him, working out what the question meant. She apparently wasn't the only one to be in the dark and she didn't like it much. Of course, she would first hear her son and his friends before going around telling the other parents what was going on. She needed to fully understand it first.

"He was knocked out immediately. He won't know what happened."

Stiles breathed out in relief and the next hour passed in a sort of daze. He was relieved to hear the paramedics on the scene confirm Melissa's diagnostic about his father but the rejoicing was quite tempered by the knowledge that a dozen officers or so had died that night. The only bright stop was that most of those who had been knocked out hadn't seen anything and, for the few that had, they probably wouldn't trust their own recollection of the events, thinking it was mostly hallucination and what's not.

Eventually, it was time to go to the McCall's and explain everything to Melissa. There was exiting the crime scene when Stiles' phone chose to chime up. Stiles nearly dropped his phone, trying to look at the text as quickly as possible, hoping it would be Danny or Lydia. Unfortunately, it wasn't. It was from Derek and hardly good news.

"Shit," he muttered and the other three immediately turned to him, inquiring looks on their faces.

"What happened?" Scott asked promptly, worried about the expression on his best friend's features.

"Erica and Boyd left," he said and Allison gasped, understanding what it meant for the pack and especially for their Alpha. "I know I said I was coming with you to help you explain but I can't leave Derek alone. He can't be alone right now."

He was almost desperate, begging them to understand, and Allison put a calming hand on his arm.

"Scott and I can manage to explain everything. You need to go now," she said because she may not have been a wolf but her parents had taught her enough to know what Derek must be going through right at this moment, having two of his beats choosing to abandon the pack, especially considering what had happened to his first pack. Erica and Boyd didn't know the damages they had caused.

"Stiles," Melissa began but Scott cut her off before she had time to go any further.

"I'll explain everything mom, but Derek needs Stiles right now. We will tell you all about it," he promised firmly and it was in these kinds of moments that Stiles could see the leader Scott was capable of being.

He thanked his two friends and promised Melissa he would talk to her once everything was settled down, mostly to make damn sure she wouldn't go babbling to his father and tell him every single revelations they gave her. For now, though, he had to go to his Alpha, to his boyfriend, and make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid.

The road to Derek was passed in a kind of worried haze. He was driving recklessly, he knew it, especially when he wasn't in any state to be taking the wheel in the first place, but he had to get there as quickly as possible and since there was no way anyone around was monitoring the speed limit, he just went for it. He never took so little time to rejoin the Hale house. For once, Derek wasn't waiting for him on the porch, one more clue that something was wrong.

He went straight in and ran to where Derek was sitting on the couch and basically threw himself on him because the Alpha radiated misery. Derek, for once, decided to take the comfort offered and hid his face in the crook of Stiles' neck, inspiring deeply and taking solace in the smell of pack.

Of course, that lasted as long as he registered the whiff of blood and fear that was permeating Stiles' whole body and Derek almost sky-rocketed off the couch in worry.

"What the hell happened?"

"The station was attacked. Lots of deaths but my dad will be fine and he's still in the dark about everything. Scott was able to make Jackson back off but we still don't know where he is or how he was able to get there without Danny and Lydia telling us anything was wrong. Mrs. McCall has seen Scott half wolfed-out so Allison and him are explaining everything to her. That's why they didn't come with me but, as soon as they're finished, they will be here."

That was a lot of information to give in one go but there was no going around it and it was better off his chest. They had no time.

"What happened with Boyd and Erica?"

Derek just shrugged, pain still fresh in his heart.

"I think the whole situation became too much to handle for them. They wanted the transformation for the advantages it would offer them but they weren't ready to accept the drawback and the fall-out, to be targeted by Argent. I should have waited until after everything had calmed down, given them the time to adapt," Derek said.

"It's not your fault. You explained to them what it meant to become a werewolf, they were aware of the circumstances. They chose to take the bite even knowing all this. It's their own fault. They shouldn't have walked out on us now that we need them the most."

Stiles wasn't feeling very charitable with them right now. Of course, there was still a part of him that couldn't blame them for wanting to bail out, but he didn't think he could have been able to leave his friends in need, especially now that they had integrated themselves with the group. And hurting Derek that way, when they knew what he had gone through before, was a bad decision even if they had probably not considered how much it would impact on him.

Both of them huddled on the couch, though, not talking anymore but just taking comfort in each other. Stiles wasn't sure how long had passed when he felt Derek's ears perk up.

"Who is it?" Stiles asked, knowing what it meant.

"Allison and Scott," Derek answered. "They are with Isaac."

Stiles' eyebrow shot up. With everything that had happened, he hadn't thought about the other wolf. He knew he had been spending more time with Boyd and Erica, in their little buddy system. But with the two of them bailing, he would have found himself alone. He had kind of bonded with Scott, though, so it was not great surprise he would have gone to the other boy, especially if he had been able to feel Scott's distress.

The three of them showed up and Scott did look a bit better so Melissa must not have reacted all that badly.

"Mom wants to see you once everything calms down," Scott said in guise of hello, assuming Stiles had already told him what happened. "She wants more information that we could give."

Derek nodded, understanding why Melissa would want to talk to him, especially considering the kids must have told her he was the only adult in the pack.

"She also wants to grill my parents," Allison added. "We told her to wait until the situation with Gerard is over."

Stiles snorted.

"You may want to warn your parents, Alli'. Mrs. M. may seem pretty chill but she can get scary when she wants to. And if I remember correctly, I'm told their first meeting was not exactly ideal."

Both teens winced because that was their own fault in the first place and they knew it perfectly. Isaac, however, looked interested.

"What happened?" he piped up.

"Just those two playing hooky and forgetting it was parents-teachers night. They kind of accused each others' children and… well, I'm sure you can imagine. Of course, they were interrupted by an actual mountain lion so it just ended there."

Of course, the good mood just crashed after that because there really wasn't anything good going on right now and their little interlude was over.

"They are really gone?" Isaac said in a small voice. "I was worried when they didn't show up when we had decided but then I couldn't feel the bond anymore."

The bonds that he was the only one to feel constantly, except for Derek. The others had been able to feel them, at some point, for the wolves at any rate, but Isaac was much more receptive and was, therefore, more in tune with all of them. Derek was aware of all of his pack members because he was the Alpha but he was sometimes so overwhelmed by one of them that he couldn't really feel the rest at the same time, which explained why he hadn't known about the situation at the station.

Derek nodded.

"Yes, they chose to leave the pack voluntarily. They also decided to run away, so I don't know exactly where they are but we are to respect their decision. The pack must be a choice."

All of them looked down, feeling as if they had lost part of their family. It was what it was but they felt like orphan, a brother and a sister had left never to return to them and it hurt them all. At least, they could grieve the loss together.

The silence was shattered by the three werewolves who looked up at the door at the same time. Derek was out of the door before anyone had time to say something and the others all followed. They stopped in their track when they saw the last three missing pack member walking towards them. Lydia and Danny had Jackson between them, both holding his hand, but it was still easy for them to see the lacrosse team captain wasn't fine.

Derek hovered as they entered the place and Stiles was able to see some contusion on both humans, answering the question on why no one was called when Jackson went away. He probably found them unconscious and got them back into the land of the living after his disastrous attack at the station.

"I don't know what I did after I knocked them out," Jackson said in a voice devoid of all inflection.

The others looked at each other and it was enough for Lydia to notice.

"You know what happened," Lydia stated. "Tell us."

They hesitated.

"I need to know," Jackson almost begged them, a far cry from his usual demeanor. "I need to know even if it's bad."

Stiles was the one to answer. It should have been Derek, but he only knew the basics and wasn't there so it would be easier for the teenager to describe the events, even if it was worse than whatever they may think.

"The kanima attacked the police station. Scott was able to drive you away but…"

"I killed people."

"It wasn't you!" Allison interjected vehemently. "You weren't in control of your actions. It wasn't your fault."

"How many?" he asked.

"A dozen," Stiles admitted. "The rest were knocked out. They shouldn't be able to remember very clearly what happened so we're safe. Though Danny, maybe you should try to hack into their camera surveillance system and erase everything so that there's no risk to be discovered."

Derek backed Stiles' idea because being discovered on top of everything was really the last thing they needed.

"Your father?" Lydia asked because she knew the Sheriff must have been working, though she imagined he wasn't dead seeing that Stiles wasn't a complete mess.

"Knocked out, but he's fine and he still doesn't know anything."

Jackson, for his part, seemed to be having a panic attack and, while they didn't immediately realize it, once he began breathing badly, they all snapped their attention to him. Derek stepped in, as his Alpha, and took him in his arms, comforting him more as a wolf would do than a human and the rest of the pack made sure to keep in some kind of physical contact. Luckily, it calmed him down soon enough. Still, they kept close to him even as he ended up sitting on the couch.

"We need to find out who the master is," Lydia said and, this time, she had murder in her eyes because she was done playing around.

Stiles could understand. His dad had been almost killed and it would have been his friend who was used for it. It was absolutely imperative for them to know who would have wanted to attack the police station. Were they getting to close to him or her? Was that to put them off trail? Yet, it didn't seem probable as they didn't have any idea of what was going on. Stiles knew that, even if his dad didn't want to tell him. He had long ago found out how to know about the station business.

Then it hit Stiles like a sledgehammer and he gasped out loud, all eyes turning to him.

"What?" Derek asked him in a harsh voice that Stiles didn't take personally.

"Gerard," he whispered.

"It's more important to find out who the master is," Lydia countered and Stiles realized that, for once, she was too involved to make the connection immediately.

"No, Gerard is the master," Stiles repeated, explaining. "It… it makes sense. He must have realized he was being followed and took measure against it. It's my fault. God, it's because I asked my dad to keep an eye on him that he attacked them. He thought the cops were on his scent and wanted to stop them before they found him."

Stiles was almost hyperventilating. His dad could have been killed, several officers had actually suffered that fate, and it was all because of him.

"Breathe," Derek ordered. "Breathe, Stiles…. In and out…"

When exactly had he sat down on the floor, with Derek behind him? Oh, he must have actually hyperventilated. He supposed he should be glad it hadn't morphed into a full-blow panic attack. That would have been bad.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said when he finally looked into the worried eyes of the rest of the pack. "It's over. But I'm right, aren't I? Gerard is the obvious choice."

"It would explain why he wasn't worried about the kanima. Because he was the one controlling it, so he had no reason to be concerned. He wouldn't attack without his say so, so the only people in danger were the ones he had a grudge against. We should have realized it sooner," Lydia berated herself and them.

She wasn't wrong, Stiles thought. They had been so worried about handling both situations that they hadn't even thought about linking them both together. Of course, they had also never thought that Gerard, as a hunter, would use a supernatural creature as a weapon. They had thought him more likely to kill it than use it. The fact that he was actually capable of doing so added quite a horrific dimension to the reason he was so interested in the pack.

Now, they didn't only have to worry about being killed but also used for another plan that may end up with them killing people. That was just great. And here, they had thought the man may have some morals left, maybe not where werewolves were concerned but humans. Apparently, that had already been too much to ask. He would kill anyone who got in his way.

"Shit!" Scott exclaimed and it was enough to summarize all their thoughts.

Stiles couldn't help but agree.