Part 11 – Ambushing Assumptions
At 8am Allison called Stiles. "Hey Stiles, we still on for today?"
"Definitely," Stiles said stretching out in bed. "I'll come and pick you up at 9 which should be just enough time to get to the movie."
Allison grinned at Scott who was pouting as he pulled on clothes. "I think we should go and have breakfast first. Maybe at Luke's?"
"Oh his omelette," Stiles said with a moan. "I'll come and get you in a half hour?"
"Excellent."
"How much is Scott pouting?"
"Oh so much," Allison said with a laugh. "More so now that he knows we are going to Luke's."
"I'll buy him a doughnut."
"When you get me doughnuts from Luke's I get nothing but crumbs," Scott yelled down the phone from the other side of the room.
Stiles laughed. "Tell Scott he's already late and I'll see you in thirty minutes."
"See you then Stiles."
"Bye," Stiles hung up the phone and dragged himself out of bed.
/ / / \ \ \
Ten minutes later Scott arrived at Derek's house to find Jackson, Danny and Lydia already there waiting for him on the porch.
"So he really didn't come?" Lydia asked sipping her coffee slowly.
Scott shook his head. "He and Allison are going to Luke's for breakfast and then to a movie."
"Bastards," Danny muttered.
"Where is Derek?" Scott asked.
"Oh he knows you are late," Lydia said with a grin. "He and John are out setting something up."
"Do we know what we are doing today?" Jackson asked.
"All we know for sure is that it is something we haven't done before." Lydia said.
Scott sighed. "Is there coffee?"
"Jasmine is in there," Danny said with a sigh. "Do we know what she said to Stiles yesterday?"
"I asked him on the way home," Scott said. "Just more crap about her wanting Derek and disliking Stiles. Said it was nothing to worry about but if one of us felt the overwhelming urge to maul her today he wouldn't tell them off."
His other pack mates laughed as Monica came out of the house. "Coffee?"
Scott smiled at her and grabbed one of the mugs off the tray in her hands. "If you give her coffee Lydia will roll over so you can rub her belly. Ow! Fuck Lydia."
Lydia smiled at him sweetly and thanked Monica for the coffee.
Ten minutes later Derek and John came out of the woods together discussing something so quietly the rest of the wolves couldn't eavesdrop.
"I'll get Jasmine," John said going inside leaving everyone else.
"So what are we doing?" Scott asked.
"When we are all together I will explain," Derek answered.
John and Jasmine came out of the house not long after, Jasmine sitting next to Lydia while John went down the steps to join Derek turning to address the group.
"We are going to do a team session today." Derek said.
"We are going to break up and be in two teams there will be an alpha per team and three betas. We have each planted a flag somewhere around the forest. The flags have been scented to make sure they can be found since we will not be saying where they are." John continued.
"I planted mine and John planted his, the teams are as follows. With me are Jasmine, Jackson and Scott. John will have Monica, Lydia and Danny." Derek added. "You are going after the other team's flag."
"The objective is to scent and track the flag," John continued. "Derek said the three of you have done that before though apparently you were tracking Stiles and Allison instead."
Derek's four betas laughed.
"Why is that funny?" John asked.
"Stiles found out that if he bathes in wolfbane then we can't scent him. No one found him and he was sitting up in a tree. Just before dark he started throwing stones at Scott who got to 'find' him. When he came down he had a book with him." Danny explained. "Derek got so frustrated that he couldn't find Stiles he pouted for the rest of the night. Stiles had to make him his triple chocolate brownies to make him stop."
"I do not pout," Derek said letting his eyes flash.
"And yet you did," Lydia said. "So we are tracking a flag you've peed on."
"Lydia," Derek said firmly. "We scented it."
"You say scented," Lydia said with a smirk. "But you mean peed on."
Derek turned to the rest of the group ignoring Lydia. "The first wolf to find the flag needs to howl so we know the game is over. You'll need to bring it back with them and everyone can meet back here."
"We will have one minute to confer before we start." John watched as the two teams formed in front of him as he spoke.
"There will be an added obstacle. Until one of you finds it, I am not telling you what it is." Derek grinned and his pack recognised the malicious glint in his eye.
Both teams separated to discuss before Derek and John set out sniffing the air trying to pick up a scent.
/ / / \ \ \
Monica swore as a balloon full of neon green paint exploded on her chest right over her heart. "That hurt."
"Are you okay?" Lydia asked looking around.
"Fine, well down a shirt but other than that I'm okay. What was that?"
"I smell a Stiles," Lydia said looking up at the trees around them.
"I don't smell anything." Monica said looking around.
"No, but it was him, he could be anywhere. He's dangerous with a rifle." Lydia looked around. "And he bathed in wolfsbane again. This is the extra obstacle isn't it?"
"He is going to be picking us off one by one. Head shots you are out of the game, heart shots you need to drop and stay for ten minutes, all other wounds involve a two minute downtime. Three body hits and you're out of the game completely. You need to go back to the house. He needs to give you a five minute leeway between hits," John called out across the woods between himself and Lydia.
Monica laughed and threw herself onto the ground. "I like Stiles more and more. I couldn't even smell him. Shooting us with a broken nose."
"Stiles is awesome." Lydia agreed. "And scary as hell with a gun."
Lydia and John ran on ahead to get out of the way of the rifle leaving Monica to drop to the ground for ten minutes. Laying there she tried to find patterns in the clouds until she heard a twig snap, she twisted her head to look and found Stiles waving at her with a grin before he disappeared back into the trees.
"That was Stiles with a gun wasn't it?" Danny asked running past her. "Oh shit he's out with his rifle isn't he?"
Monica nodded.
"Derek is an evil bastard."
Monica laughed as Danny continued on separated from the rest of the pack trailing other scents looking for the flag.
/ / / \ \ \
Scott turned to Jackson and opened his mouth just before he felt something hit him in the middle of the chest. He looked down and his shirt directly over his heart was covered in bright blue paint. "Allison!"
Derek stepped in front of him and picked up the arrow from the ground in front of Scott and grinned. "She is hunting us, if she hits you on the head you are automatically out, if she hits you on the heart you need to lie out for ten minutes, if she hits you anywhere else you have to lay out for two minutes. Three shots no matter where they hit you on your body you need to leave the game entirely and go back to the house."
"Stiles is out with his gun too isn't he," Jackson said his body deflating. "We are all going to be shot in the forehead."
"It's only Stiles," Jasmine said at the same time as Derek confirmed Jackson's suspicions. Jackson looked at her and after sharing a smile with Scott he started off Scott staying where he was for his ten minutes out.
/ / / \ \ \
Jasmine was separated from the rest of her team. Derek had sent them all off in separate directions hoping that one of them would pick up the scent.
She assumed Scott was still lying on the ground after his little human girlfriend shot him. Jasmine was transformed and scenting the air but she never even smelt it coming. A whistle on the breeze the only indication anything was occurring before a bolt of pain laced her chest, a thwack moments later in the tree next to her. Jasmine looked down at her chest blood red paint dripping down her clean white tank top. Stiles. She turned to look at the tree next to her an arrow sticking out of the bark a note attached to it.
Watch your back Jasmine
Jasmine lifted her head and scented the air. She couldn't smell anything. Another whistle on the air and the tree in front of her had an arrow buried in the wood.
You are not going to find us Jasmine
Jasmine growled at the air knowing Stiles and Allison would be able to hear her.
/ / / \ \ \
John caught the scent of something; he tilted his head and filled his lungs with air. It was faint and far away. With a deep breath he allowed the change to continue until he was completely alpha his eyes blood red as he sniffed the air. A whistle made his ears twitch and he turned just as his left ribs started to sting. He turned his head and stared at the distance where the noise had come from. He could see no movement, could smell nothing. With a low growl he allowed himself to change back to his human body. He looked at his ribs covered in bright green paint an arrow on the ground next to him.
"It seemed like such a good idea at the time," John muttered to himself as he dropped to the ground.
/ / / \ \ \
Stiles was recounting the list of mythical creatures from the textbook he'd been reading the night before when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Derek's team had separated but Jackson and Scott were standing together discussing something both of them pointing in different directions. They were obviously arguing about the direction of the flags, Stiles smiled, he'd come across both of the flags when he and Allison were moving around the woods to catch different wolves. He shouldn't be mean to either of them since Scott was already sporting a paint mark. Obviously Allison had already hit him but they were both being incredibly noticeable that he pulled his gun to his shoulder and sighted Jackson before taking a deep breath, tightening his hold on the branch for the recoil and squeezed the trigger on the out breath. Stiles could see Jackson swear before he sighted Scott and repeated the actions to hit him as well just a little to the right of Allison's mark.
"Stiles you suck!" Scott yelled out as they both dropped down to the ground still arguing.
Stiles laughed silently waiting until they had finished their ten minutes and then scurried down the tree to find himself another spot to shoot his friends from.
/ / / \ \ \
Allison sighted Lydia with the string of her bow pressed to her lips. She knew Lydia would be annoyed that she shot her but that was what made it fun. She took a deep breath, sighted carefully and let the string go her arrow sailing through the air a little more heavily than normal with the ball of paint at the tip.
The arrow hit Lydia just above the line of her singlet staining her skin with bright purple paint. Lydia flipped the air around her off before she looked around her area until she found a fallen tree she could perch on to keep her off the ground.
Allison dropped silently from the tree so pleased that Stiles did his research and knew how to keep them off the werewolves' radars. She started in the opposite direction from Lydia looking for a good tree to climb. She didn't normally shoot from up in them when she picked them off for training but Stiles had suggested it this time to keep them from the wolves. Allison suspected it had more to do with Jasmine being one of the wolves than him being worried about them actually catching him.
Allison looked around to see if anyone was in the area before she could sling her bow over her back to climb the tree. She turned around and spotted movement, she swung the bow around and nocked her arrow, slid into her stance and took aim. Danny froze when he saw the movement but before he could react she let the air out of her lungs and let the arrow go. He was close enough that the warning kept him from being able to get away. The paint exploded onto the skin of Danny's abdomen running in rivulets over his defined muscles. He swore and dropped to the ground before Allison turned and walked away to find another tree.
As far as she knew they couldn't be injured by the wolves but it was easier to sneak attack them when they couldn't smell the linger scent of paint or in her case see the spent arrow. She found a new tree and climbed up quickly before settling on a low branch out of sight.
/ / / \ \ \
Stiles was waiting for Jasmine.
When Derek had pulled him aside two nights ago to suggest this lovely day of ambushing his pack Stiles had been more than happy to do it. They were holed up in Derek's study and Derek laid out the plan. The werewolves would break into two packs for a tracking exercise and Stiles would lay in wait to shoot them. Stiles had brought Allison into the plan since there would be two teams, they'd spent almost three hours that night talking about the activity and then talking about nothing at all.
Yesterday after Jasmine had cornered him in the kitchen, and the bruise from that was spectacular and quite annoying when he was trying to pick his friends off one by one, Stiles decided that this was the perfect opportunity to show Jasmine exactly why Stiles was not the human to mess with. In hand to hand battle he couldn't fight a werewolf, not that he hadn't tried and lived before and wouldn't try again but with a gun in his hand Jasmine was nothing more than another moving target. Stiles wouldn't tell Derek about her actions because nothing could force him to take this time away from Derek but that didn't mean he had to stand by and take it now that she had progressed from verbal bullying to physical threats. The full moon was tomorrow night so John and his pack would be gone soon. Stiles was going to miss Monica and John, he'd thoroughly enjoyed getting to know some different werewolves but he would really enjoy watching Jasmine leave.
Jasmine's first shot had been planned by he and Allison at breakfast to pass on a message. Allison didn't know what had happened with Jasmine the day before but like all the pack barring Derek she knew that Jasmine was not being polite and courteous to Stiles. Allison had suggested the messages when Stiles told her that he intended to make sure Jasmine was the only werewolf who was shot out of this game. She could keep telling herself that she was going to try and take over the pack but Stiles knew for a fact that if it came down to it the betas would fight for him, might even leave Derek. Not Jackson, who would never leave Derek given the older man had given Jackson a sense of belonging that he had never had before but Scott might just leave the pack for him. Stiles wasn't worried because he knew with certainty Derek would never ever ask him to leave the pack. The night Stiles had broken his wrist Derek had said it, if Stiles ever chose to leave he could but Derek wasn't going to kick him out and the woman Derek ended up with would have one hell of a fight on her hands if she thought she could kick Stiles out of his pack. Stiles didn't worried about his place in the pack anymore. Jasmine was a just picking on Stiles because he and Derek spent so much time together and she had probably noticed Stiles' feelings which he had to admit might be obvious to everyone but Derek…thankfully.
Finally Jasmine moved in the direction of the fake scent John had left. Stiles grinned, pulled his rifle up to his shoulder and took his shot.
Jasmine was hit in the back, over her heart. Stiles smiled at the perfect shot. Her next one would have to be a head shot. He watched with glee as the werewolf sat down on the ground.
/ / / \ \ \
Allison lined John up in her sights and let the string go watching for the explosion of paint which overlapped her last mark. She grinned at the sight of the alpha dropping to the ground. Her father would be so proud, except of course for the fact the alpha wasn't dead.
She understood that not all werewolves were Scott or Derek or Lydia but they were not all Peter either and her father and now her grandfather seemed completely blind to that fact. She couldn't wait to get back to university so that things could return to normal. They could go back to talking about her coursework and her roommates instead of the fact she was ruining a generations long legacy and how her boyfriend would one day rip her to shreds in the throes of a full moon caused blood hunger. Or, you know, during sex as her mother had so mortifyingly pointed out during one of their interventions.
Allison sighed and pushed the thoughts from her head taking aim at Monica who'd come over to mock John. She hit Monica in the leg since there really was no reason to stop her from gloating at her boyfriend. Allison was a firm believer in busting your partner's chops in situations like this one.
/ / / \ \ \
Stiles smirked as he lined Jasmine up in his sights, he had made sure he'd only hit her on the body up until now since he didn't want her out of the game too soon. Both hits so far had been to the heart, one in the back and one in the front. Each time she'd growled and started to prowl sniffing the air looking for him but Stiles knew these woods and knew how to evade a wolf. Both times she had eventually been forced into her time out giving up on finding him which amused Stiles to no end as she fumed lying in the dead leaves.
This time he wasn't going to be so nice, she was out regardless so he lined it up, took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger on the exhale hitting her smack in the middle of the forehead with a bright red paint pellet. Stiles bit his lip to keep from laughing, probably this was going to just piss her off more but hopefully the fact that Stiles was not nearly as weak as she assumed would also sink into her thick skull.
Stiles wasn't as careful about being quiet this time moving so a twig snapped and revealed his position. Jasmine's eyes snapped to his, he smiled at her big and wide while waving. She growled and started for him but Stiles wasn't very worried about her. Seconds passed before she stalked by Derek who looped around and reminded her that the house was in the other direction, head shot meant she was out. Jasmine glared at him one last time baring her teeth before turning and heading back to the house. Derek waved to Stiles with a smile before he took off at a run. Stiles took aim and hit him on the left arse cheek before he made it out of range. Stiles laughed at his growl as he dropped to the ground.
/ / / \ \ \
Jasmine wrenched the door open and stalked into the bathroom to wash the paint off her face. Written on the bathroom mirror in garish red marker was a message.
'Jasmine, I might be Derek's pathetic little omega but I can kill you without you even knowing I'm there. Remember that bitch. ~Stiles'
Jasmine growled and slammed her fist down on the counter before rubbing the words away so she could wash the bright red paint from her forehead.
/ / / \ \ \
John's team captured Derek's flag not long after Jasmine was forced off the field. Danny's howl split the air and all the wolves returned to the house. Jackson was the last person to arrive and with a low whistle every member of the wolf packs was suddenly hit in the stomach by either a bullet or arrow.
"Stiles," Derek yelled. "The game is over."
"Yeah but shooting you all is fun," Stiles yelled back.
"That why you shot Derek in the arse?" Lydia called out as Stiles suddenly appeared from the branch of a tree dropping down to the ground Allison dropping from the tree on the other side of the clearing after him.
"I thought about a smiley face but you were only allowed to be shot three times before you were out."
"I cannot believe you shot me," Scott said when Allison came to stand next to him.
"You would have painted a smiley face on my backside?" Derek asked Stiles.
"You don't get special treatment just because you're my man," Allison said kissing him before she broke down her bow.
"Of course I would have," Stiles said. "I would have painted a smiley face on everyone's arse if I could have done it without getting you all out. Instead I stuck to heart shots, and one head shot."
"Yes, I saw Jasmine," Derek said.
"You hit Jasmine in the head?" Lydia asked slinging an arm around Stiles' shoulders.
"I should have a look at your nose if you've been scurrying in and out of trees," Monica said biting her lip to hold in a smile.
Jasmine came to the door when she heard them all outside, she was wearing new clothes and a forced smile.
"I think you were the only person 'killed' little sis," John said slinging an arm around her.
"Apparently," Jasmine said looking at Stiles whose back was to her as Monica poked at his nose.
TBC...
Only 2/3 parts left. Having such fun.
My assignments are not finished but they are making me SUPER stressed and depressed so I decided to post instead.