Chapter Eleven
February 26th, 2011

Peter snagged Derek and they dived into the stacks of the library as soon as they got back, he'd made a detour via the Hale vault under the school to pick up his books, but he was sure he'd seen the book he needed when he'd been exploring earlier. He was passing books to Derek to take back to the big desk they were working from. Once he was happy with the books in Derek's arms, he sent him back to the table and asked him to write up a list of everything he had noticed about Jackson's shift.

Peter had left the teens working with Ralph and Noah, they were finalizing the info packs for each of the relevant police departments, as well as the main pack of evidence for the FBI via Stiles godfather, and the Gajos family patriarch. Derek was keen to help them, but Peter was worried about him seeing just how much damage Kate had done after her hit on the Hale Pack. As it was he could see regular flinches from Derek as the group discussed what evidence to leave in and what to leave out for later, once they knew if the investigators were aware of the supernatural.

Derek eventually stood and he said quietly, "I need some air, I'm going to go for a run. I'll be back later."

Peter nodded and scent marked him as he passed behind him, he murmured, "Are you sure you don't want someone to go with you?"

Derek shook his head, "No, thanks. I just need… air." He took off through the house Peter was renting, and ran out into the preserve.

Stiles wandered into the library and he asked, "He ok?"

Peter shook his head, "Not even slightly, kiddo. He's feeling guilty that others were harmed because he was forced to keep his mouth shut. It's going to take time and reassurance from us for him to realize nothing would have stopped her."

Stiles tapped the page he had open in the bestiary and he asked, "Kanima?"

Peter nodded, "They are quite rare, there are a lot of theories as to how the Kanima happens, but most of them are conflicting theories which tells me no one really knows the original reason."

He saw a look of contemplation on Stiles' face and he asked, "You know about the Kanima?"

Stiles nodded and he stood to pull some books from deep in the stacks, as well as some of the personal journals.

He said, "Kanima-dragon pairings are legendary. These journals contain accounts from bonded dragon and kanima pairs that were able to protect their pack. That the pairings were noted to be powerful and symbiotic, and watching them in battle was like watching a dance, an incredibly violent, but graceful dance. That the pair could cover each other without ever speaking a word."

Jackson squeezed in beside his mate, "The telepathy probably helps. How is it symbiotic though?"

Peter cleared his throat awkwardly, "So the Kanima is known to wolves as a wolf shifter where the shift has gone wrong, often due to a lack of self or identity. They crave a master and will seek one out as an instinctual imperative. They are most often captured by hunters and used as mindless drones, as vengeance killers. The kanima often doesn't realize they are a kanima and they don't remember the killings they are forced to do by their masters."

Stiles looked at Peter with a disgusted look on his face, "That explains why hunters were gunning for dragons. My uncle had discovered that the hunters were killing dragons because of the dragon kanima bonded pairs. He theorized it was because the bonding made them too powerful and the dragons are easier to track down than the kanima which appear to happen at random. He said the bonded pairs were more like werewolf mates than a master-slave relationship."

Jackson sighed, "Thank fuck, if I am a kanima I don't want to be used as some hunter's murder puppet. So do any of the books tell you what was dripping out of my claws?"

Peter grinned with a grin the other two knew would be trouble, "Kanima venom is a powerful paralytic, usually it's just a few drops in the mouth or a scratch from the claws to get it into the bloodstream and it leaves the victim paralyzed for several hours."

"Even wolves?" Jackson asked in surprise.

Peter nodded, "Depending on how much venom gets in the scratch it can even take an alpha wolf down for a few hours."

Jackson asked, "Is there an antivenom? Something we can keep on hand in case I accidentally paralyze someone?"

Peter started to shake his head in denial but he looked up in shock when Stiles said, "Yep this book lists an antivenin which is the same thing, but it looks like a difficult potion to make and some of the components are hard to find."

Peter asked, "There is? Since when?"

Stiles handed over what looked like an ancient recipe book judging by the stains, that was open to a specific page. Peter commented, "It looks well used."

Stiles grinned, "I've been experimenting with ink recipes that can mark shifters. I want to try runic tattoos but it's pointless until I figure out how to change the inks and then I have to find a tattoo artist willing to use altered inks.

Peter nodded and he said, "When you're at the point of wanting to test the tattoo let me know, I have an artist friend in town who's a shifter."

Peter started reading, "I should be able to get most of this, it looks like it makes a paste that goes over the scratch. What about if the venom is injected?"

Stiles reached over the table and turned the page and there were instructions for how to turn the paste into a drink."

"My great uncle Roger wrote in his journals that it tastes foul to drink," Stiles said with a chuckle, "His words, not mine, but it's worth it to keep some on you at all times especially for sparring sessions."

Jackson nodded, "Definitely, I don't want to accidentally leave someone paralyzed because I let the venom out during a fight."

Peter said, "Once we have a good supply of the paste you'll have to spend some time training up in fighting with the venom so you know the best ways to use it."

Stiles grinned, "Also, our bond, makes both of us immune to the venom so you can spar with me and we won't be affected."

Jackson frowned as he thought about the wording and the look of contemplation on Peter's face so he asked, "I would be affected if we weren't bonded?"

Peter nodded, "People often use the venom to test suspects to try and find the kanima when one is seen. The problem is that the kanima who are unbonded or bound to a master rather than a mate are usually unaware of their altered state. Most of the time they think the bite failed or that they are immune to the bite, and the human side is still susceptible to the venom."

Jackson looked around at all the books and he asked, "So what else can we expect from the bond?"

Stiles shrugged, "We'll have to research, I didn't even know telepathy was an option until this morning and that was mostly instinct, to be honest."

Peter asked Stiles, "Do you ever go flying?"

Stiles blushed, "Only when it's cloudy enough to hide me in the clouds. I can pull the shadows to hide at night but I am still big enough for people to see when giant patches of stars go missing."

Jackson looked up, "Now that I want to see, you looked too big to fly."

"My theory is part aerodynamics, part magic." Stiles commented, "It's not like I have anything to compare it to."

Jackson asked, "So by being bonded I am safe from hunters wanting to use me as a murder puppet? They can't force a new bond?"

Stiles shook his head, "The only thing that would break the bond is the death of both mates. If they kill me to try and bond with you, it won't work."

At that morbid thought, Peter asked, "How's the case stuff going?"

"They're nearly done, it's mostly just the Sheriff and Ralph debating what would pass the mundane filters." Jackson admitted, "The Sheriff wants to leave more out than Ralph's comfortable with."

Peter stood, "I'm going to see if I can help. Are you two going to keep researching?"

They both nodded and settled in to read through the journals, they were both making notes as they were reading for things they wanted to cross-reference later. As soon as Peter was out of the room Stiles let out a talon and he scratched a rune into the table. Jackson jumped when he felt it activate as Stiles pushed magic into it as the sounds from outside of the room faded. He asked, "Privacy ward? Why scratch the table though?"

Stiles shrugged, "It's just a temporary silencing ward, it'll fade as it runs its course after a few hours and there'll be no sign of damage on the table."

After nearly two hours of reading, Stiles asked quietly, "Are we going to talk about this, about the bond?"

Jackson sullenly said, "What's there to talk about, we're bonded."

Stiles spun his chair so he was facing Jackson and he snapped, "So this doesn't bother you, damn it, Jackson, you're straight."

Jackson slid the journal he was reading across to Stiles and he said quietly, "Apparently not."

Stiles read through the section he was pointing to, "The bond like ours can only form with fated mates?" He looked up, "Soulmates?"

Jackson pointed to a paragraph at the bottom of the page, "Often the pairs were already dating when they bonded. They said that the bonded pairs would have eventually got together outside of the bond. Otherwise, it ends up as more of a master and slave type bond which can be broken by the master at any time. Like what Peter was explaining before."

Stiles paled and he whispered, "Did I fuck it up for you?"

Jackson frowned, "Fuck what up?"

Stiles stood and he started pacing, "Did I force you to be a kanima instead of a wolf? Was it my presence in the pack bond that forced you to want to bond?"

Jackson stood in front of Stiles to stop his pacing, when he stopped Jackson cupped his cheeks and he said, "This was not your fault. Odds are even if you were human I would still have turned into a kanima due to the issues I have with not knowing anything about my biological parents. And then we would be up shit creek because I would have been used to kill people."

When Stiles still didn't say anything Jackson said, "Look, clearly Fate, and yes I mean Fate with a capital F, knows what she's doing or the bonded pairs wouldn't be legends." With a cocky smile, he asked, "Is it so bad, being bonded to me?"

Stiles shook his head, "No, but it means you get to be bonded to the spaz. Who'd want that."

Jackson dropped his hands in shock at just how little self-confidence his mate had. Stiles used that as an excuse to try and flee the room but Jackson reacted just as quickly as he reached out and grabbed Stiles' hand. "Wait, just wait, what are you talking about?"

Stiles could feel the tears on his cheeks as he said, "I have better hearing than even a wolf. I hear what people say about me at school. Hyperactive spaz is one of the nicer things people say."

Jackson snarled, "And we both know that's a mask you wear to keep you safe. Look, it's not even been a week yet, but the Stiles I have seen since you let the mask drop around me couldn't be more different than the Stiles they gossip about at school. You're smart, confident, and honestly, you can't have missed me ogling at you this morning in the clearing. You're hot and it was distracting as fuck, which is why I took a few tries to figure out my shift."

Stiles blushed and he said, "Seriously? You could have anyone but fate or whatever has forced you to be bonded to me."

Jackson shrugged, "Am I pissed that we didn't get a choice? Yes," He saw Stiles start to pull away and he hurriedly added, "Pissed at Fate, not you, for deciding this for us. In a perfect world, we would've had the chance to figure it out for ourselves rather than some higher power deciding to force it on us."

Stiles asked quietly, "Would you've picked me though? Like I said before, you're straight."

"Ogling, Stiles, I couldn't keep my eyes off you," Jackson reminded him, "It would seem I am not as straight as either of us thought." He saw the disbelief on Stiles' face and he asked quietly, "Can I kiss you?"

Stiles snapped his head up and he asked, "What?"

Jackson reached up and cupped Stiles' cheek again and he asked, "Can I kiss you?"

Stiles shrugged, "Sure."

Jackson leaned in and kissed Stiles, it was a gentle chaste kiss to start with, but as soon as he felt Stiles relax he licked at the seam of Stiles' lips, and when Stiles gasped he deepened the kiss. He felt Stiles wrap his arms around his neck as they got lost in each other. He looped his fingers in Stiles' belt loops and pulled him closer as the kiss got even hotter and he coaxed the occasional moan out of the other teen. They were really enjoying themselves until they were interrupted by a gasp from the door.

Danny was standing at the door grinning and fanning himself. "Damn boys, that was hot!"

Jackson scowled and without taking his eyes off Stiles he asked bitingly, "Can we help you?"

Danny chuckled at the indignant sound in Jackson's voice, "Peter sent me in here to check on you. He got worried when he couldn't hear anything."

Stiles pointed at the fading rune on the table and he said, "Silencing ward. We needed to talk, privately."

"I see it went well," Danny commented with a leer.

Stiles cupped Jackson's cheek and he glanced at Jackson before he looked at Danny as he said, "We're not done yet, feel free to tell our alpha that we're fine."

Danny grinned and he left the room shutting the door quietly as he left. He walked back to the room they were using for the crime wall and he said, "They're fine, Stiles had setup a silencing ward so they could discuss the bond privately."

Peter could smell the arousal on the teen so he asked, "They were just discussing the bond?"

Danny grinned with his dimples on full beam and knowing full well the wolves could hear the lie he said, "Yup."

Noah flicked him a suspicious look before he got back to the evidence, the less he knew about his son's love life, the better.

Danny saw the mischievous grin on Peter's face and he was about to make a smartass comment until he realised he hadn't seen Derek for a while, so he asked, "Should we go look for Derek? Shouldn't he be back by now?"

Peter tried to call him but they could hear the vibration of his phone coming from one of the guest rooms. "That's not good. I know he can take care of himself but he usually only runs for an hour or so." He checked his watch and he said, "It's been nearly four hours now. Danny, can you go and see if he's turned up at your place? I'll take Ralph to see if we can pick up his trail."

Stiles and Jackson came in and Stiles suggested, "I can take a fly around the preserve and see if I can spot him."

"We'll take a fly," Jackson added, "I'm not passing up a chance to fly with you."

Stiles glared at Jackson and privately he said, 'You could fall!'

Jackson nodded, 'I could, but then lizards have sticky feet so I'm sure I'll be fine. I trust you to not let me fall and I can use that freaky lizard vision thing to spot the wolves.'

Stiles raised an eyebrow and he asked, 'Do you have thermal vision?'

Jackson shrugged, 'We can test it flying over the preserve.'

Stiles nodded, "We'll go out for a few hours and see if we can spot him."

Noah nodded and reminded his son, "Make sure you keep control of your shadows. The last thing we need is for a hunter to spot you, especially with the Argents in town."

Stiles saluted and he grabbed Jackson's hand and led him to the vacant house, the easiest way to the preserve from the cavern, without being spotted, was through the trees in the backyard of the vacant house. He had considered extending a tunnel into the preserve from the house they were living in, but he'd never got around to it.

When they reached the house he hugged Jackson close and wrapped his shadows around them both. Jackson breathed, "Wow."

They could see out but he could see how others would find it difficult to see them. He saw Stiles' eyes glowing ethereal green and he let his eyes glow so he could see more in the darkness. Stiles again grabbed his hands and interlaced their fingers as they left the house and ran across the yard into the preserve.

As soon as they reached the small clearing through the trees Stiles stripped off and dropped his clothes and amulet beneath a warded bush before he moved to the center of the clearing and shifted. He snarked, 'I'm gonna need to clear some trees, I'm almost too big to fit.'

Jackson asked, "How do you want me to sit?"

Stiles considered it and he said, 'Hold onto my neck and dangle your legs either side in front of my shoulders. Make sure you're forward of my shoulder blades so you don't affect my wing movement.'

Jackson shifted to his beta shift and climbed up Stiles foreleg, the lizard shift making it easier by giving his hands more grip, just like a lizard.

They spent a few hours searching and spotted Peter and Ralph a few times, but there was no sign of Derek anywhere. They did spot human heat signatures at the Hale house ruins, which Jackson reported to Noah by text. Danny reported that there was no sign of Derek at his place and he was searching nearby to see if he was hiding out somewhere close.

Jackson suggested he stay home just in case Derek turned up overnight and he and Stiles flew back to the house to coordinate with Peter and Ralph and to see if they found anything.

The boys let Peter know what they had found when they got back to the house. Noah confirmed that a few strangers were found around the Hale house and they were arrested for trespass and let go with a warning by the deputies Noah sent in.

Peter scowled, "We lost his scent and there was a faint trace of wolfsbane and gunpowder where he vanished from. I've tried reaching out through the pack bond to track him or even feel if he's in pain but I can't feel beyond the basic feeling that he's alive."

"Guilt," Stiles admitted sadly. He's still blaming himself for the loss of your original pack and no matter how much we've done to try and convince him, he still feels that he doesn't deserve to be pack."

Noah said, "We can search more in the morning. Let's get these reports sent off, then get some sleep."

Stiles got settled at his clean laptop and using every method he could think of to stay anonymous he sent off the evidence files to the anonymous tip line for each of the areas the fires occurred in. He also cc'ed in the local DA for each fire in the hope that they would prevent it from being swept under the carpet. Once that was done he found the master file and he sent it off to his godfather, Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI, and then a second email with the master file to his Grandpa Gajos. He left a note in the last file to say he had reported it to local law enforcement and asked for time to deal with the hunters before he sent in the cavalry. He signed the note, 'Mischief' knowing his grandfather would know its origin regardless of the anonymous email.