The first wolf took fifty-six hours to break. Later Stiles would learn his name had been Keith Burnland, one of eight cousins to the Alpha Brendon Burnland. Keith had taken part in at least half a dozen hostile pack takeovers and five assassinations. He had deserved every minute he spent under Stiles' knife, this boy Stephen did not. He was an innocent caught in the crossfire, and Stiles had been merciful enough to let the boy go. Only the boy didn't stay gone. He came back after proving to himself that Stiles hadn't been lying about not wanting or needing to hurt him, that he really was free to go.
"Keith was a monster, he deserved what you did to him. A lot of the Burnland Pack does; but some of them don't. I can help. I can tell you which ones are worth the torture you want to dish out and which ones were just swallowed up by the larger pack as Brendon killed off their Alphas." Stiles stood in front of the teen with Chris and Peter flanking him as he listened to what the boy had to say. "And why should we trust you? You're selling out your pack to a group of people you just hours ago watched torture and kill members of said pack." Stiles glanced at Peter in a little silent warning to let him handle this, and based off the dropping of his eyes and tilting of his chin to showcase his neck subtly he got the message.
"You want me to believe that you want to help me to torture and murder possibly the entire rest of your pack?" The teen cringed under the scrutiny but held firm in his words, "No, I want you to believe that I'm not the only one who is innocent in that pack, and I want to make sure the ones who deserve it pay." A glance at Peter got a single nod signaling the truth.
"You'd be willing to be our man inside? Get us the higher ranking pack members where we want them when we want them?" Chris asked in the same voice that Stiles remembered from their confrontation at the hospital when Peter had attacked Lydia. It was his authoritative I am in charge voice that had sent shivers down Stiles spine the first time he had heard it, and not the fearful type of shivers either but the ones that meant heat and want. Not that he would tell that to the father of a child that was the same age as him, no he didn't need the embarrassment. Especially not with how great Mr. Argent had been to him since his arrival after Stiles' and Peter's flee from Beacon Hills.
"Yes, I'll do whatever you need. As long as you spare the people who are innocent or had no choice."
Dirt was gritty under their hands as they dug what was no doubt going to be a shallow grave for the remains of the skin walker. A skin walker who had begged and pleaded for their life while Derek commanded the wolves to assist in the rending of flesh from bone. The pain and suffering that had been endured by the girl who claimed to just be passing through, the beat of truth strong while her heart was beating but it was ignored by the Alpha instead Derek tore into the honest and innocent girl while forcing his pack to follow his lead whether or not they wanted to.
Allison and Lydia were standing back with shovels while Isaac cried silently as he moved what remained of the skin walker, handling her oh so gently despite the fact that she wouldn't and couldn't feel anything now. Boyd and Scott were digging the nameless grave as Jackson laid by Lydia's feet too beaten down to be of any help. He had taken the brunt of their Alpha's anger and laying there on the cold hard ground of the forest did Jackson think of how much everything had changed since Stiles had left them.
Part of him wanted to blame the spastic little shit for it all but knew that if he had been in the same situation he would have made the same choice, though he knew if Stiles could see what his absence along with Peter's and Argent's had caused he would be doing his best to make everything right again. He would be fixing it. Sadly though Stiles wasn't here and if Derek was to be believed he was probably already dead by the Burnland Pack's hands. He didn't believe that though, he knew that between the three of those clever shitheads they would survive and the Burnland Pack wouldn't know what hit them, they would just be as shocked as Derek at their success in bringing them down.
He could only hope that once they were finished with their mission in Texas that they returned to see what had become of Derek and the Hale Pack and do whatever needed to be done to fix everything. "Don't worry, Jackson. Stiles will be back soon, and when he is all this shit will be taken care of with a harsh hand and a tight leash. He wouldn't leave us forever no matter how angry he was, that's just the way he is." Looking up at his mate Jackson could hear the truth to her words and hoped with all his might that it wasn't just truth because she believed it to be true but truth because that is what was going to happen.
"Hurry up! Just bury the damn thing so we can all go home." Derek called out from his Camaro watching his pack clean up a mess that never would have happened if Stiles were here Derek knew that much was true, but he made a note to have a little talk with Lydia soon on her behavior.