Chapter 25

The day after his kidnapping, Stiles was 'invited' to the Hale house by Talia… if Derek coming in his room through the window, scaring the shit out of him in the process, to take him to the house without asking, could be considered as an invitation. They talked a lot in the car on the way but it was mostly small talk and a few more questions about werewolves and mythical creatures.

"So no dragons?" Stiles asked while Derek parked the car in front of the house.

"Nope… Well not that I know of anyway. I'm not an expert." Derek answered before getting out of the car. Stiles followed him until they reached the door, the werewolf walked in but the teenager stopped at the doorstep, staying quiet for the first time since they had left Stiles' room.

"It's okay Stiles; you're not in danger here."

"I'm not scared dude, I just…" Actually he was scared, terrified really. There were at least ten cars outside, probably more around the house, and he could already see people inside from the doorstep. Those were werewolves. There was a ton of werewolves in that house and he was just 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bones. He sighed, gathering as much courage he could find. "Whatever, let's go." He said, walking in the wolves' den… literally.

Derek took the teenager to the panic room, it had been turned into a war office of sort; with so many werewolves in the house, the Alphas needed some place private to discuss their next move, they couldn't let everyone hear in case Ennis had someone inside.

Talia and Deucalion were already there, along with Deaton and Peter. They were all standing around a round table on which was a map of Beacon Hills.

"Mr. Stilinski, how are you feeling? I know all this is a lot to take in, especially after yesterday's… unfortunate event." Talia started.

"I'm… Okay, I guess."

"Good. I need you to stay here tonight; I want you to send a text to your father. Tell him you're staying at a friend's." She continued, her voice leaving no room for arguments.

"What?" Both Stiles and Derek asked at the same time.

"Mom what's going on? You said you just needed to ask him a few questions."

"There's been a change of plan. The prisoners finally talked, we leave at sun down."

"But-"

"The decision has been made Derek." Deucalion added. "Stiles will remain here with the children and the humans, with a few guards to protect them, while the rest of us attack Ennis and his pack. We can't wait and risk for them to move camp."

Stiles wasn't terrified anymore, he was too pissed off for that. Not only was he going to have to stay in a house with strangers for a sleep over while Derek was going to fight against an army of other werewolves, but he had also just found out that his father knew about the existence of said werewolves for YEARS. And he never told Stiles, ever. He felt betrayed. Mrs. Hale had told him about the night his father had shot Peter and how she had worked with him on a few cases that required supernatural knowledge. It was the last thing she had told him before dismissing him. He was going to have a long talk with the sheriff when this was over.

Derek showed Stiles to the living room where they found Paige on the couch, Nathan was kneeling in front of the coffee table, drawing and Fred was sitting on one of the chairs with her 8-month-old daughter, Nina, in her arms. She and Peter were married now, it had been a shotgun wedding, not that they had not thought about it before Fred got pregnant. Derek introduced everyone to the teenager and vice-versa before inviting him to sit down on the sofa with Paige.

An uncomfortable silence settled in the room until Paige asked "So Stiles, did you do the problems I gave for Monday?"

Both Stiles and Derek looked at her like she had just grown another head.

"No, I've been kinda busy… with the kidnapping and all."

Talia was afraid of losing her pack. Derek had seen it in her eyes when he had told them about the fire. Before that, she had been a rock; nothing could scare her not even a few attacks from hunters. She had thought her pack was strong, that it could endure anything… but she had been wrong. In another world, her pack had died; burned alive in their den without so much as a warning. They had been destroyed by one woman.

After Derek had told her what could have happened, she had spent the whole night watching Nathan sleeping, her sweet little boy who could have never been born, and she vowed that she would never let anyone hurt him. Her pack would survive but for that they had to be stronger. They had to fight to protect what was theirs.

The werewolves were starting to leave. The sun was slowly disappearing and with him, more and more man and women were leaving the house. It was part of the plan, they left in small groups and would regroup somewhere not far from their target.

Derek was in the last group to leave. He was in a group with Peter, Laura and five people from Deucalion's pack. Sixteen people were staying at the house. The humans; Stiles, Paige, Fred, Jared's wife Sabrina and Tom's wife April and the children; Nathan, Nina, Jared's 10-year-old twins, Alice and Juliet, Tom's 2-year-old son, Sam and a very reluctant Cora, who had been heard yelling for hours after she had been told that she was not old enough to fight; plus the five werewolves staying to protect them.

Derek had been busy for hours, preparing for the attack, begging his mother to reconsider and attending briefings. The last time he had seen Stiles, the teenager was going through at least five books simultaneously. He had looked like a kid in a candy store when Derek had told him they had books on werewolves. Unsurprisingly, Stiles was still exactly where Derek had left him hours before, only with a lot more books around him. It used to be Peter's room until he had left and was now a small library/office that Derek's uncle used when he was at the house. Stiles was sitting on the floor, surrounded by books, with a notepad on his right knee.

"Found anything interesting?" Derek asked mockingly.

For once Stiles didn't flail, he actually barely acknowledged Derek, his nose staying firmly in a huge old leather-bound book.

"Oh hey Derek." He mumbles absently.

"We're leaving soon… I just wanted to see if you were okay."

Stiles suddenly looked up. He stared silently at the werewolf for a second.

"I'm fine, don't worry." He said quickly, looking back down.

"Okay… I should… g-"

"Please don't go." Stiles whispered.

"I have to." Derek said, determined. He had to go with his pack, it was his place. Stiles was still looking down, staring at the book without really reading it. Derek made the rash decision to kneel in front of him, taking Stiles' chin in his hand to make him look up and finally joining their lips in a small tender kiss. He stopped the kiss almost immediately, getting back up and away from the 15-year-old as if he had been burned.

"I'll be back before you know it." Derek said. He didn't wait for an answer and left the room. Stiles sat still for a moment, bringing his hand to his lips. He wanted to smile, to be happy about getting his first kiss from Derek, but all he could think about was 'What if it also was their last?'.