As always edited by the lovely and supreme kittiekatt :)

...I've been thinking that once I have time I'll do a Sterek prompt thing, where you guys can send me prompts for anything and I'd write them out. I'd choose a few (if not all) and do them, as a thank you for sticking with me for so long. Would you guys like that? (Is hopeful)

Side note have any of considered or done fanart for this story? Because I would love to see it! :D

An Alpha's Trust

Chapter 14: What Would you Give?

"Lydia, I need you to paint this on me."

The redhead looked up and raised her eyebrow. "Now?"

Stiles nodded. "Yes, now." He handed her the printed copy, a brush, and an unusual container filled with a dark red substance . "It needs to be exact, no mistakes," he muttered as he stripped off his shirt.

Scott's mouth fell open, milk dribbling out, Isaac's eyes widened, the piece of toast in his mouth falling back onto his plate. Erica blinked rapidly, next to her Body stared, Jackson's hand froze, hovering over his glass of orange juice. Derek stared, stunned, the milk and cereal on his spoon dropping back into his bowl, splattering onto the table. His throat dried. "Dude."

Tattoos of black, red, and blue wound around his entire body, runes and words etched his skin, the Latin words curled, the runes embedding and weaving into his skin. Although there were numerous tattoos, they all flowed together, each one linking up to the next. On his chest, right above his heart, were the four elements.

An old tree bloomed, its bark rough and aged, moss climbed up the dark brown, enshrouding it, the leaves clustered together, forming a sea of green. Within the green, flowers emerged that delicately touched his skin, the petals of soft pink gliding across him. Above that, air swirled, parting the sky, the clouds divided having no choice but to follow the will of air. On the left side, flames climbed his skin, the sparks burned, bright and fierce, rage and power contained in hues of red and orange. The right side waves swayed, gentle and eternal, constantly moving, the blue calm and serene. They held a certain virtue and patience. Each element was divided by black lines, with Latin words in between those lines. In the middle, where everything converged, the sun was formed from Celtic knots, Sköll cradled around it. Next to the sun, a little bit below the knots, formed the moon, and Hati wrapped himself around it. Both wolves appeared to b asleep, suspended in time before the moon and sun. They didn't just look like they were on his skin, they looked as if they belonged to him, were a part of him.

Lydia looked down at the paper in her hands. "What is this?"

"A ward."

Her eyes drifted back up to him. "For?"

"Protection."

"I don't like repeating myself Stiles."

He clenched his jaw. "I told you it was for protection."

Her eyes narrowed, the sun gleamed, making the green in her eyes jewel, hard and cutting. Her gaze fell down on his body, and she lifted her fingers to touch one of his tattoos. Derek stiffened. "Your tattoos are distorted, why?"

"What?" Allison frowned and quickly got up, walking towards them. She looked at the tattoos, running her fingers against another. "You're right."

Fingers tightened around the spoon.

Danny turned and looked at another, touching it as his eyes trailed up, his gaze critical and assessing. "The element one is fine the rest though..."

Teeth clenched.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Seriously you're making the werewolves uncomfortable with the amount of touching you guys are doing."

"We'd be uncomfortable with this even if we weren't werewolves," Jackson muttered.

Isaac frowned. "What does being a werewolf have to do with this?"

The magic user paused and turned to look at the alpha, his eyebrow raised.

Derek glared down at his cereal, his brow creasing.

"Oh my god." Stiles groaned and clutched his head. "That's one of the most important things to being a werewolf, and you honestly didn't mention it?! What the fuck is wrong with you!"

The alpha's glare turned murderous.

Scott blinked and looked between them. "Mention what?"

"You want to tell them? Or should I?"

Derek clenched his jaw tightly. "Packs are supposed to touch." The betas all stared.

Stiles covered his eyes. "Don't make it sound so vague. It sounds creepy from you, like bad touch creepy. What Derek meant to say was that packs are close. They are intimate, and touching is just a form of that, of their bond. Which, apparently, none of you do." He looked up, skywards. "Why? Just why?"

Jackson scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not touching anyone."

Scott grinned."Really?"

The blond teen turned to look at Scott. "You so much as breathe on me, McCall, and I'll knock you out."

The shaggy haired beta smiled innocently.

Jackson narrowed his eyes. "I'll break your arms."

"They'll heal."

"I'll knock out your teeth," he warned.

"I've always wondered how strong werewolf teeth were." Scott stood and opened his arms. "Come on Jackson, we need to bond."

"Stay away from me, McCall." Jackson quickly stood and inched back.

"Jackson." Scott sing-songed and walked forward.

"Seriously, stay away from me!" Jackson shouted as he ran. Scott didn't give him the chance to escape as he jumped on him, forcing him onto the ground. "Get the fuck off me! I'll get a restraining order!"

The shaggy haired teen smiled and tightened his grip, hugging him harder. "Guys, doesn't it sound like Jackson wants more?"

Erica smirked and got up. "It totally does."

"I'll get restraining orders!" Jackson struggled harder, trying to wiggle out of Scott's grip.

Erica rolled her eyes and jumped on top of Jackson, hugging his other side, pressing her nose against his throat and squeezing. The blond beta stiffened. "Hmmm, this actually feels nice," Erica muttered, as she snuggled in deeper.

Scott picked up his head and turned to look at her, grinning. "I know, right! Boyd, Isaac, join us, it's really nice!"

Boyd shrugged and got up. He went over and settled down next to Erica, tossing his arm across her, getting everyone in his range. He buried his head into her hair and closed his eyes. "Huh."

The shaggy haired beta smiled even more brightly. "Told you so!" He turned to look at Isaac. "Isaac, seriously, you need to try this, hugging Jackson is like awesome!"

Isaac blinked and looked at Jackson, the curly haired teen stared. "No." Scott frowned. Isaac grinned. "Who'd want to willingly touch Jackson? The douche might rub off on to me." He got up and went into the kitchen.

Jackson frowned and looked at Isaac. He gritted his teeth. "You might as well get in here Lahey, since everyone else is here," he muttered. The curly haired beta paused and turned to look at him. Jackson looked down at everyone else. "There's space next to Scott." He stared at Jackson for a few seconds and hesitantly moved towards them, standing awkwardly at the side. Jackson rolled his eyes and wiggled a little, getting one arm free. He reached out and yanked Isaac down roughly, next to Scott. Isaac smiled and pressed his face into Jackson's side and squeezed him tightly. "This is a onetime deal, don't you dare think this going to happen again," Jackson muttered as he stared up at the ceiling, with four werewolves cuddling him.

"If you want to think that, then go right ahead," Scott said cheerfully.

Erica let out a snort. "If you honestly believe that we're going to stop doing this, you're an idiot."

"It's nice, it feels right, doesn't it?" Isaac questioned softly.

Derek smiled softly, his eyes gentle as he looked down at his pack.

Stiles grinned. "Don't you guys just look adorable?"

"Fuck off, Stilinski."

"So threatening coming from the one under a giant cuddle pile."

Jackson glared at him darkly. Stiles smirked and turned to look at Lydia. "If you could please draw that on me?"

She stared at him for a second, and when she found him not willing to say anything further, she let out a sigh and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Okay, get ready then." The werewolves curiously all turned to look at them. Stiles nodded and sat down on the floor."Where do you want this?"

"The left shoulder blade." The three humans exchanged worried looks. Stiles closed his eyes and straightened out his back. "You don't need to be here for this."

"No, we have to be," Danny said as he offered him a half smile.

Allison nodded. "We aren't going anywhere, Stiles."

Lydia opened the container and dipped the brush in it. Slowly she followed the design. Once she was done, she stepped back. Stiles dug his nails in his thighs, hissing as his flesh burned. Derek quickly stood, the chair clattering loudly. The werewolves all stared, horrified as his flesh smoked. He fell forward, his nails scratching into the hardwood floor.

Danny frowned next to him while Allison stared never taking her eyes off of him. Lydia busied herself with putting away the supplies, her back tense and tight, shoulders drawn up stiffly.

Scott quickly got up. "Stop it! He's hurting!"

Allison grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "You can't stop it."

The shaggy haired teen stared at her. He turned to look at Stiles as he let out another hiss, watching as his face tightened in pain. "But he's hurting..."

"He's done this many times before."

Scott's eyes widened, the werewolves turned to look at her. "What?"

The hunter smiled sadly, not saying anything more.

The painted mark burned red. It seared into his skin, sizzling the smell of burnt flesh stung their noses, made their stomachs churn. But Stiles made no sound, his nails drawing blood as he dug them in deeper, his teeth embedding themselves into the flesh of his lip, blood dripped down to the floor, his muscles strained as he tried to keep himself from screaming. Sweat gathered. The mark burned even more, Stiles turned and buried his teeth into the meat of his arm, biting down, trying to stifle himself. The muscles in his neck strained. His skin pale and slick, beads of blood started to trail down his arm, the red stark against the white of skin. Derek watched as the blood slid down his arm on to the floor, gathering into a steadily forming puddle. Stiles bit down harder, the taste of iron coated his tongue, but even that pain did nothing to distract him from the pain of his flesh burning as the mark pushed itself deeper into his muscles, down into his bone, forcing itself into him. His arms shook. Stiles let go of his arm, no longer able to hold back. He screamed.

Derek dug his fingers into the table, his nails leaving marks. Isaac let out a whimper and pushed himself closer to Jackson, the blond haired beta clutched Isaac tightly and swallowed. Scott stared horrified. Danny clenched his eyes shut. Allison gripped Scott's arm tighter while Lydia's hands tightened, turning white as she gripped the jar. Erica couldn't look away, next to her Boyd tightened his hold on her. Their ears stung. The sound of his voice froze their blood, the amount of pain and anguish contained in that scream chilled them, twisted their stomachs.

Finally it stopped and Stiles dropped to the ground, a sheen of sweat coating his body. He slowly rolled over, his chest rapidly expanding as he panted. He threw his arm over his head trying to breathe. "Fuck that hurts! Shit, you'd think after all the times I've done that I'd be used to it," he joked weakly. He dropped his arm and turned to look at everyone, grinning faintly. "Stop looking at me like that, I'm okay, guys." His voice was scratchy and hoarse as he spoke, raw from screaming.

Danny smiled sadly and offered him a hand up Stiles grabbed it and allowed himself to be pulled up. Scott quickly went over and helped, dragging him to a chair. They gently lowered him down. He winced as his shoulder throbbed. "I'll get some ice," Danny quietly said as he left and went into the kitchen. Lydia silently made her way upstairs to put away the paint and brush.

Allison trailed after Danny. "I'll get some water."

Stiles watched them leave and smiled morbidly. "You can't win with them. If I got someone else to do my tattoos, they'd be pissed because they weren't there, but if I make them do it, they can't look at me for days. I can't win with any of them."

"Then why do it at all?"

He turned to look at the alpha seriously. "If it's to protect them, I'd do anything, no matter how much pain it causes. I will do anything to protect my friends. They're all I have left," he muttered as he tossed his head back and stared up at the ceiling. "What would you give to protect your pack?"

"Anything," Derek answered instantly.

"And that's why no matter how much it'll hurt, we'll take it."

"But you shouldn't have to do that. You're a kid. That isn't your responsibility."

Stiles lowered his gaze back and stared at Derek and smiled darkly. "I stopped being a kid a long time ago." He slowly got to his feet Scott immediately reached out to help, but Stiles waved him off. He grabbed his discarded shirt and put it on. "Tell them I'll be back soon, I need to go somewhere," he muttered as he walked towards the door.

Derek quickly went over to him and yanked him back. "You're not going anywhere without me, especially not now."

He glared. "I can take care of myself, I don't need protection," he gritted out as he tried to get Derek to release his grip.

The alpha's grip tightened. "You aren't going anywhere without me."

Stiles scowled. "Fine." He pulled himself out of the werewolf's grip and almost stumbled. Derek reached out to steady him. "I'm fine, let me go."

The werewolf rolled his eyes and lifted Stiles and threw him over his shoulder. The human let out an offended squawk and flailed. "Let go of me! Put me down!"

Derek walked towards the stairs unhindered by the human. "You're going to bed to rest."

"PUT ME DOWN DEREK HALE!"

"No," Derek simply stated as he climbed the first step. "Stop doing that. We both know it's useless. You're in pain, stop making it worse."

Stiles let out a huff and stopped moving, pouting. "I'll get you back for this, Hale."

"Whatever you say, Stiles."

-.-.-.-.-.-

Derek gently deposited Stiles on the bed and went back downstairs. Stiles flopped back and looked at his ceiling blankly. A few moments later the alpha appeared with a first aid box and a wet towel. "Let me see your arm."

His eyes shifted over to the werewolf. "It's not that bad, it'll heal."

"Let me see your arm."

Stiles sighed and sat up, rolling up his sleeve. He looked down at his arm. Ugly was an understatement. The bruise was starting to turn a disgusting shade of purple and blue, and the area around his teeth imprints was worse, an angry red that still bled a little. He gagged. "Oh, man, that is disgusting."

The werewolf snorted and opened the box, quickly retrieving bandages, medical tape, rubbing alcohol and cotton wipes. He splashed rubbing alcohol on the wipe and gently dabbed the wound. Stiles winced and let a hiss. Derek gently wrapped his arm and taped it off. He reached over and picked up the wet towel and wiped the dried blood off of Stiles' arm and face. "Did you get all of your tattoos the same way?" Derek asked quietly as he cleaned.

"Yeah."

He paused for a second, the towel in his hands crinkling, before he resumed. "When did you get your first one?"

"I was forced to get my first one when I was 12."

Derek stiffened. "By who?" He questioned darkly.

"I don't remember anymore," Stiles muttered, his eyes glazed. "It hurt so much, I screamed until my throat was so raw that nothing would come out, no matter how much I tried. I actually blacked out from the pain." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore, that was a long time ago."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you do this? What was the reason for this?" Derek looked at Stiles, searching for an answer.

Stiles stared at Derek. "Something like me shouldn't exist and because I do, I'm dangerous. There are things out there that, if they were to get a hold me, this world could end. People have died because of me, trying to protect me. And if all I have to do to keep everyone safe is to keep hurting myself a little, to keep doing this, then I will. As long as I can protect my friends, as long they are safe, I will continue to do it."

Derek frowned. "And who protects you?"

Stiles quickly stood. He walked towards the door and stopped at the threshold. He turned to look at Derek. "No one needs to protect me."

The werewolf watched him walk out of the room. He glanced down at the blood stained towel in his hands, he crushed the cloth. "The one that needs the most protection is you."

-.-.-.-.-.-

Everything previously on her desk was tossed to the floor, pens and pencils scattered everywhere. Allison panted and collapsed into the mess. She slammed her fists into the ground, gritting her teeth as thick, angry tears fell. Repeatedly she slammed her fists down against the wooden floor, bringing them down again and again until they turned red, until they throbbed.

Why? Why wasn't she strong enough yet? Why wasn't she strong enough to make sure Stiles never had to do this again?

She clutched herself tightly. Why?

-.-.-.-.-.-

Lydia blankly stared down at her hands. Finally, she snapped out of her daze and blinked quickly, she swallowed. Her hands clenched, her nails digging into the flesh of her palm. How much longer would this go on? How much longer would they have to watch him do this for them? She lowered her head into her knees and breathed deeply. When would it be for the last time?

-.-.-.-.-.-

Danny clenched his eyes shut trying to stop the images. He could still see the blood. He covered his ears, trying to stop the sound. But still it resounded, loud and clear, his scream. He shook his head trying to make it go away. "Please, no more. Please, just stop."

-.-.-.-.-.-

Stiles stomped down the stairs. Why? He slammed his arm against the wall angrily, why had he said any of that? When he'd never told Lydia, Danny or Allison. Then why Derek? He gritted his teeth and quickly descended the stairs.

Scott turned to look at the stairs, confused and quickly sprang to his feet as Stiles stomped the steps. "Stiles? Are you okay?"

The magic user paused. "I'm fine," he said curtly. The shaggy haired beta frowned. Stiles sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Sorry, Scott, it's just when I get these tattoos, I'm on edge afterwards."

The teen's frown deepened. "Do you have to do that?"

"Yes, it's to protect all of you."

"That's not fair! You didn't ask us if we wanted this!"

"It had to be done, you'll see why soon, Scott."

"No. It wasn't worth it, I don't care if this was meant to save us, or help us because it hurt you. It hurt so much and I couldn't do anything, no one could, all we could do was watch and no, that isn't right." Scott shook his head, his eyes glistened. "If you have to protect everyone that way, then no, I'll protect everyone and make sure you never have to do that again, because your scream, Stiles–" he clenched his jaw and looked away.

Stiles smiled softly. "Hey, buddy, look at me. Come on, Scott. This is my decision, and if it can protect you, protect your pack, protect my friends, then I will take this pain to make sure you guys are safe, I can handle it."

"Then we'll become strong enough that you will never have to do that again," he said resolutely, looking at Stiles, determined and unwavering. "I'll make sure you never have to do something like that again."

"That isn't your responsibility, Scott."

"Neither is protecting us, but you do it willingly and so will I. That is my decision."

But, yes, prompt? Would you guys like that? : )