Ennis growled as he paced around the reception of the Hospital before finally falling into a seat with his massive head in his hands. All he wanted was to see the body of his youngest Beta – Matt – who had been murdered by Gerard Argent the night before. His pack bonds throbbed and stung in his chest like someone had rubbed salt and lemon in an open wound, as he stared down the hallway towards the morgue where two armed officers stood, doing their best to look everywhere but at the mountain of a werewolf they had been assigned to stop. Ennis knew they had no hope of stopping him should he truly wish to enter the room containing Matt's body but, while he did want to say goodbye to his Beta properly, Ennis knew better than to give Gerard anymore of a reason to kill more of his kind. He simply had to content himself with waiting for an opportunity to arise.
"Why are you so sad?" a tiny, male voice asked from right beside him.
In all of his thoughts, Ennis had completely missed the young boy – probably only nine – sitting down next to him while holding a puzzle box in his hands. The boy was pale and slim with a myriad of moles dotted around his face and body in constellations. His wide, innocent, chocolate eyes were staring at Ennis with a child-like wonder that served to both ease and agitate the iron wolf. They held so much naiveite and yet Ennis could sense a pearl of hidden wisdom and awareness underneath the juvenile exterior – it was as if those eyes were staring into Ennis' very soul, compelling him to reveal any information the boy wanted if only to keep those eyes on him more.
"Did you lose someone too?" the boy's voice lacked the grating tone that most children possessed before their voices cracked as well as the high-pitched whine.
"Yes, I did," said Ennis, deciding that it was probably harmless to indulge the boy – if only to keep his mind off the room at the end of the hall, "my little brother."
The boy nodded softly, clicking another piece of his puzzle box: "I lost my mama. She had for-frontal…dem-an-ti-a. She died yesterday…"
Ennis nodded. He sighed and tried to focus on the boy's story instead of Matt's body – especially when he heard the officers leaving their station.
"Is your brother in the Dead room?" the boy asked.
"Dead room?" Ennis asked, "oh… you mean the morgue?"
"Yep, but that word isn't as fun to say as Dead room and besides morgue isn't very descriptive compared to Dead room as that not only describes what that room is known for but also what people are expecting to find in the room… and I'm rambling… sorry…"
Ennis chuckled at the boy's use of word vomit and realised that he probably had ADHD. It would explain his use of the puzzle box – which had a lot of moving parts – and the fact that he was constantly fidgeting and grabbing at his arms – like he was trying to hug himself.
"It's fine, kid. Yes, he's in the 'Dead room,'" said Ennis, his deep chuckle seemingly calming the boy down.
"I'm Stiles," the boy raised a hand in greeting. "My real name is in polish and no one can ever pronounce it so, that's what I call myself."
"Nice to meet you, Stiles. I'm Ennis," his massive hand easily dwarfed Stiles'.
"Why aren't you in there with him?" asked Stiles, motioning to the room.
The Mountain Wolf sighed, doing his best to steel his resolve and keep calm, not wanting to scare the tiny boy who he was growing quite fond of.
"Because I'm not family in blood."
"Oh! You two were like me and Scott!" Stiles compares chipperly, "brothers in all but blood. Right?"
"Right."
"Is that why there were officers at the doors? Because of you?"
"Maybe."
Stiles' face scrunched up in thought and he quickly stood up. Ennis was startled by the sudden movement and even more so when Stiles grabbed his hand and began 'pulling' him up. Wanting to discover the reason for Stiles' movement, Ennis allowed himself to be 'dragged' by the nine-year-old until he was standing in front of the morgue where the two officers from before were waiting – having returned there the moment they saw him moving. The officers reached for their tasers but didn't make any other moves upon spotting Stiles 'dragging' him over.
"Stiles, what are you doing?" one of the officers – a woman with skin slightly lighter than Kali's but darker than Ennis'.
"Showing my new friend around," said Stiles.
Ennis was shocked at how much younger Stiles sounded when he was talking to the officers. The tiny boy had somehow managed to make himself seem five years younger and that did wonders to relax the two officers who were now solely focused on Stiles and seemed to disregard Ennis all together.
"Stiles, honey, you can't come back here. There's an investigation going on and the body in here isn't meant to be seen by little kids," said the female officer.
Stiles opened his eyes wider, de-ageing him further, and released Ennis' hand to clutch his puzzle box like a lifeline. Ennis was marvelling at his easy manipulation of the two guards and slowly began to wonder how one so young could know such advanced tactics such as those.
"I promise we won't look at anything!" whined Stiles, the sound grating ever so slightly on Ennis sensitive ear-drums. "Please, we just want to look! We won't tell anyone! Just give us five minutes! Tops!"
With a pair of shocked eyes, Ennis watched as the officers relented and moved out of the way, allowing Stiles to 'drag' Ennis inside.
The moment they were safely within and the doors were closed, Stiles immediately released Ennis' hand and stepped away from him. It took Ennis a few moments to figure out why before his eyes landed on the body hidden beneath a thin white cloth. Swallowing, he moved towards the metal table and gently removed the cloth, revealing the mutilated corpse of his Beta. Stiles remained far away, knowing that he needed time with his 'little brother' and watched the door to make sure no one would come in while Ennis was mourning.
When the time was up, Ennis replaced the cloth so it seemed like it hadn't been moved and followed Stiles out just before the officers could come in to pull them out. Stiles continued to lead him back over to their seats and didn't say anything until they had both sat down again and were away from prying ears and eyes.
"I'm sorry for your loss," said Stiles – his tone almost a whisper but Ennis' hearing picked it up.
"Thanks, kid, you too… but why did you do that?" he asked, "I'm a stranger, I could have even been the one who killed him."
Stiles looked at him and wrinkled his nose before replying: "No you're not. Besides, it's not fair that I got to say goodbye to my mama, and you didn't get to say goodbye to your brother. Family is family, blood or not."
"You're a strange kid, you know that," Ennis said fondly.
"I'd rather be strange than standard," said Stiles with a cheesy grin.
The two remained sitting in reception for twenty more minutes, Ennis occasionally helping Stiles with one of the puzzles on his box, before the deputy who had calmed him down came charging in with an expression of pure anxiety etched into his suddenly aged features. His eyes scanned every inch of the reception before they landed on Stiles and Ennis and the deputy instantly moved towards them.
"Stiles!" cried deputy Stilinski, rushing to his son's side.
Ennis raised an eyebrow at the urgency in his tone and just watched as Stiles bolted towards his father without so much as a smile in Ennis' direction.
"Daddy!"
"Stiles, why didn't you follow me out? I'm so sorry I left you here! Why didn't you go to Mellissa?" the deputy ranted.
A small growl escaped Ennis' chest when he heard that and he couldn't believe the audacity of Stiles' father to blame his son for his own failure as a father. He didn't dare comment, though, especially when he saw Stiles easily accepting the blame like it was something that happened every day.
"Come on, let's go home," said the deputy.
Stiles just nodded, waving goodbye to Ennis, following his father out of the hospital and towards his car. Ennis watched them leave and decided that it was probably time to phone the rest of his pack – as well as his mate, Kali. All throughout the calls, though, he couldn't keep his mind off the tiny boy who had helped him see the body of his Beta and had begun worming his way into Ennis heart of stone.
~{Eris}~
The woods were rather quiet that night – at least compared to how they usually were in the mornings – that Ennis and Kali almost felt ashamed to disturb the tranquillity with their usual midnight stroll. The bare-foot she-wolf had insisted, though, and if there was one person in all the world Ennis couldn't deny, it was his beloved mate Kali. They were about half-way through the thickest part of the woods when Ennis caught a familiar scent in the air.
It was filled with cinnamon and ginger and Ennis took only a few seconds to place it. It was Stiles' scent! The tiny boy from the hospital must have passed through the woods an hour ago – at the very least – and seemed to be rushing as he did so. Ennis stopped and looked around, his Alpha eyes easily finding the scent trail that led to Stiles' house.
"Ennis?"
Kali watched her mate with a mixture of confusion and intrigue, her own Alpha eyes immediately finding the same scent trail Ennis was staring at. Turning, Ennis scratched his head with a sheepish smile and opened his mouth to explain when there was a loud crash and a tiny groan. Any other person would have probably missed it – especially without werewolf super senses – but Ennis knew instantly who it was as Stiles' scent turned from happy gold to sorrowful brown.
Without thinking or so much as a look to Kali, Ennis sprinted off towards the house containing the small boy he had a tiny soft spot for. Kali followed him, not daring to speak or question him as his scent was filled with the rancid smell of anxiety and fear. Breaking through the trees was easy enough and it took him seconds to enter the house – through the UNLOCKED front door – to find Stiles holding back tears at the bottom of the stairs.
His knees were bruised, and blood was leaking from his button nose – which he held tightly in hopes of stopping the bleeding. He didn't even flinch when Ennis and Kali barged through the door and only moved when Kali wrapped an arm around his shoulder and gently led him to the couch.
"What are you doing here?" sniffed Stiles, still holding back the tears that threatened to fall in waves down his cheeks.
Ennis was pacing back and forth in front of the couch while Kali patched up Stiles' knees and helped stop his nose bleed. Sitting down, the iron wolf sighed and patted Stiles on the head, ruffling his hair with a small smile.
"We heard a crash, wanted to know what was going on with my favourite kid," said Ennis.
Sniffing as subtly as he could, Ennis noted that the sheriff's scent was incredibly faint – almost like he hadn't been in the house in days, or at least only spent a few hours at the house per day. There was also the heavy stench of alcohol in the air as well as that tell-tale scent of depression and hidden resentment. Ennis knew that this scent had nothing to do with Stiles and could only assume that it was the scent from the father and given the faintness of these scents, Ennis knew he was correct.
"Where's your father?" asked Kali, her tone holding nothing but maternal compassion. "Surely he should be here with you?"
"I-it's his night off," said Stiles, his heart rate becoming sporadic as his ADHD overwhelmed him, "S-so he's at the b-bar."
Both Kali and Ennis growled – their eyes flashing Alpha red when Stiles looked away from them – but were soon back to focusing on the tiny boy in front of them.
"Why would he leave you here alone? He's the sheriff, surely he knows how dangerous it is to leave a small child home alone, with the front door unlocked?!" hissed Kali.
Stiles avoided their eyes, not daring to even take a glance in the direction of Ennis as he assumed that his reaction would be the same as Kali's.
"I don't mind daddy leaving me alone," said Stiles, "it wasn't the first time, anyway."
Ennis had to practically hold Kali down after Stiles said that, not that he noticed, and was doing his best to hold his own anger at bay. Kali pulled Stiles into a tight hug – which the boy flinched away from but that only made Kali hug tighter than before – gently picking him up and carrying up to where the scent trail said was his bedroom. The warmth of Kali's werewolf body did wonders to sooth the tiny boy into a restful sleep allowing Kali to easily slid him into his bed before she returned downstairs and motioned for her and Ennis to leave.
"Can we stay?" asked Kali, when she spotted Ennis returning back the way they came, "just to make sure he's alright."
"Of course," said Ennis, "I just thought we should do it from the forest unless you want to explain to people why we're guarding the front of the sheriff's house?"
"…Good point."
~{Eris}~
Stiles hadn't meant to listen in on Gerard Argent's call that evening when he was waiting in the station for his father. He hadn't meant to overhear the words 'exterminate' 'vermin' or 'Deucalion' nor did he mean to hear the word 'werewolf' or 'murder.' He had been hoping that he had misheard the conversation but knew that there was no mistake, especially with Gerard Argent involved.
He knew Deucalion was the name of one of the people in town for the Hale reunion and instantly a connection was made. Stiles had always wondered about Cora Hale and her family, they always seemed to be on the ball no matter the situation, but he had no idea how to approach the subject with people he barely spoke to. He decided to try and find Ennis again, knowing that the massive man was also apart of the Hale family reunion, and warn Deucalion through him.
Sadly, it was a long time before Stiles managed to find Ennis again – though not for lack of trying. They met again in a diner when Stiles' father went to order. Ennis was easy to spot over the seats that he dwarfed with his size and Stiles was rather happy to note that he was alone. Without thinking, Stiles sprinted over to the man he had met in the hospital and gently tapped him on the arm.
"Hey kid," said Ennis, sending him a kind smile – or as close to one as Ennis could manage. "What are you doing here?"
"I need to tell you something," said Stiles, his voice low so no one could hear him other than Ennis. "Gerard's planning on murdering Deucalion…"
Ennis just looked at him, shaking his head and dismissing Stiles' concerns. Annoyed by this, Stiles returned to his father's side and glared at the floor. He couldn't really blame Ennis for not believing him, he was a kid after all, and Gerard was an 'upstanding member of society' according to his father and everyone else. It still hurt, though. Still, at least he could say he had warned someone.
And yet, why didn't that feel like it was enough?
He could tell his father but if Ennis hadn't believed him then why would his own father. His father who knew nothing of werewolves and was still too broken up over his mama's death to even think straight when dealing when his own son. No, he'd have to do something himself!
But what the hell could he do?
He could send an anonymous tip to the FBI… but he didn't know the location of the meeting so that definitely wouldn't work. He could try and warn the other Hales – or go straight to Deucalion himself! But he had no idea what Deucalion looked like or if Deucalion would believe him as Ennis hadn't and he at least knew Ennis slightly. He could follow Gerard and record everything and step in to help if needed! Yes, that would have to do.
He would have to follow Gerard.
~{Eris}~
Stiles had just finished following Gerard when he ran into Ennis and Kali again. He had been traipsing through the woods – making sure not to be seen from the road – when he stumbled into the small clearing he used to play in with his mother. There was a large rock in the centre of the clearing and Stiles couldn't stop himself from settling against the rock, his butt easily fitting into the groove that had appeared from years of degradation. A warm feeling of nostalgia ran around Stiles' chest when he thought of the last time he had been in the clearing.
It was the day before Claudia had been sent to the hospital and it had been raining. The sheriff was working so Claudia thought it was a good idea to get Stiles out of the house – especially as he had been sick the week prior – deciding to take him to the clearing. They had spent hours playing with the grass; playing chase around the rock; watching the clouds; playing hide and seek – all the while never leaving the clearing as it was very close to the preserve and Claudia didn't like going near Hale land as she viewed it as disrespectful. Stiles grinned at the memory, humming the familiar tune Claudia would often sing to him while they were out in the woods. He was so caught up in his humming that he didn't notice three people entering the clearing until Kali began cooing.
Startled, Stiles shrieked as he fell from the rock and gasped, watching the three adults with his wide, chocolate eyes forming a glare after seeing Ennis' hidden chuckle. The blonde that stood beside them was staring at the adults beside him with a look of pure bewilderment – it was like he was looking at a pair of strangers despite being comfortable around them to have possibly known him for years – before his bright, comforting eyes turned to focus on Stiles.
"How long have you been there?" accused Stiles, glaring Ennis and Kali like a petulant child.
Kali raised her hands in defence and smiled, her mothering instincts kicking in as she made her way over to Stiles: "Only a few minutes. It was a lovely song."
"My mama sang it to me…" said Stiles, waving Kali's hands off him as he stood up.
He only came up to Kali's thigh and that only served to warm her heart more but she refrained from hugging him while the other Alpha was with them.
"Who are you?" Stiles asked, pointing towards the blonde.
"My name is Deucalion," said the blonde, "and you are?"
"Stiles, Stiles Stilinski."
"Pleasure."
Ennis watched with fascination as Stiles sized Deucalion up, his eyes shifting between Ennis and Kali, seeing how they reacted to Deucalion and judging him based on their reactions as well as his own. The iron wolf grinned when Stiles relaxed before remembering what Stiles had told him a few weeks before.
"Why is it that we always seem to find you alone?" asked Ennis.
"'Cos you guys are stalking me?" said Stiles.
"Cute," said Kali, ruffling his hair.
Deucalion was honestly shocked at how different Kali and Ennis were around the tiny boy in front of him. The usually solemn and mute Ennis was speaking more now than he had ever done in any pack meeting and Kali's usual cold exterior had melted to bring forth a mothering personality that no one knew existed within her.
"What are you three doing out here?" asked Stiles.
"Going for a run," said Deucalion, his British accent soothed something within Stiles but that didn't mean he believed them.
"What? Three werewolves going for a run in an area that isn't their own territory?"
Immediately all three recoiled in shock and that was all the confirmation Stiles needed to know that Gerard really was planning something horrible for Deucalion. Said Alpha wolf recovered first and sent Stiles a dazzling smile before reaching forward to pat Stiles on the head – in a fashion eerily similar to the way his father had once done before the death of his mother.
"How?"
"Gerard," said Stiles, "said you guys were werewolves right after saying he was going to kill you."
Stiles pointed directly at Deucalion who wasn't at all surprised at the news. Ennis had already informed him of what Stiles had said and, while he personally didn't believe it, it made sense that Gerard would say such a thing.
"Stiles, I already told you –"
"—yeah I know. I should probably go home," mumbled Stiles.
Before anyone could say anything to the contrary, Stiles ran off home, no one daring to follow him in case they made him feel worse. Stiles shook off the pain of not being believed, Ennis' dismissal doing wonders to hardening his resolve, and rushed to his room to begin planning his next move against Gerard.
~{Eris}~
Gerard was an idiot!
Stiles had been following him for three weeks now and he was slowly gathering enough footage of his illegal activities to get him locked away for years. There was no sign of the mystery meeting with Deucalion, though, and that only served to put Stiles on edge. Sure, he had only met Deucalion once but he seemed like a nice enough guy and Ennis and Kali seemed to like him and Stiles liked them so he would protect the strange blonde werewolf. Just like his mama would have wanted.
Ducking down outside the abandoned distillery, Stiles set up his recorder and watched as Gerard placed a bunch of weapons out of the sightline of the two doors. It was then that Stiles turned, spotting a dozen people charging through the woods towards the distillery – Deucalion leading them.
"I think it's quite fitting that we are meeting in a distillery," said Gerard once everyone was in places. Stiles could barely see from his residence near the back but he could see well enough to spot the number of werewolves that had surrounded Gerard. Most of them were snarling but Deucalion looked completely calm. "You know, the process of distillation is the separating of two substances by pushing them into their different volatile states."
"Volatile is exactly the state I was hoping to avoid," said Deucalion.
Gerard wandered over to one of the vats Stiles had seen him put a purple flower in and braced himself to run. Sure he was tiny nine-year-old but that didn't mean he wasn't willing to kick Gerard's wrinkly old ass if need be.
"Ooh. Then this is going to come as quite a big disappointment," said Gerard.
He twisted the valve on the vat and immediately moved back, slamming a needle into his leg, while watching as the werewolves began to choke.
"What have you done?" cried Deucalion, clutching his throat.
Ignoring the fact Gerard was grabbing a weapon, Stiles dropped his recorder and ran inside, ducking down so the gas wouldn't hit him. Deucalion immediately spotted Stiles and tried his best to move towards the child in hopes of protecting him but was stopped when Gerard slammed him in the face with a club. Stiles managed to turn off the gas and turned to help the werewolves only to find most of them were already dead and Gerard holding two flashbangs while walking towards Deucalion.
Stiles knew that Gerard was going to kill Deucalion and sprinted towards the hunter.
"Don't. Don't do this," cried Deucalion, raising his weakened hand in defence as Gerard advanced. "I had a vision, a vision of peace."
"A little shortsighted... wouldn't you say?" Gerard snarled, raising the arrows before slamming them down.
Stiles slammed into him before the arrows could touch Deucalion's eyes causing both him and Gerard to fall down. Gasping, Deucalion tried his best to stand up – releasing a howl and call to arms – to get to Stiles only to be too late as Gerard stabbed him in the stomach.
"STILES!" roared Ennis and Kali, bursting through the trees.
There wasn't even a moment's hesitation as the two Alphas ran towards the tiny boy, allowing Gerard to run away, as Deucalion picked himself up and moved to cradle the boy in his arms. Ennis took Stiles from Deucalion as Kali helped the blonde Alpha towards the vet clinic. The iron wolf was trying his best not to inhale the aroma of blood or squeeze Stiles too hard as he tried to keep the pressure on the wound.
"What happened?" asked Kali, her own anger barely held bellow the surface of her skin.
"Gerard attacked us," said Deucalion. "Turns out little Stiles was right. He must have been hiding outside because he managed to get to the gas almost the moment it turned on… he slammed into Gerard before the hunter could blind me… I owe the child my life."
Ennis almost froze at that: "we didn't believe him… we did this to him."
Kali chose not to comment as they pushed their way into the empty vet clinic were Deaton was waiting – probably having heard the howls. Looking over the three werewolves, Deaton wasted no time in opening the door for them and rushing to help the boy they had brought him.
"Who is he?" asked Deaton while he worked.
Kali, Ennis and Deucalion watched him work with extreme apprehension, their super-hearing focusing entirely on Stiles' slowing heartbeat as their wolves prowled close to the surface.
It was Ennis who answered: "He's the son of the deputy sheriff… he saved Deucalion's life and got stabbed by Gerard for his trouble."
Deaton nodded and his speed picked up considerably when he heard the boy was human. Kali whimpered, tightening her arms around Ennis as she buried her head in his broad chest. Stiles' heart was getting stronger, though, which calmed her significantly, but that calm was ripped from her as she felt an intense agony rip through her chest.
Ennis felt something very similar and howled in pain and rage as he felt his pack bonds breaking with every wolf that died. Deucalion was the only one not affected, his own pack having died in the distillery, and rushed to help the two Alphas towards chairs as Kali began to sob. Deaton ignored the Alphas' pain and continued working on Stiles, using what little spark he had left to increase his rate of healing.
"My pack! My pack!" wailed Kali, burying her head in Ennis' chest as the tears fell.
"They're dead," said Ennis, seeing Deucalion's inquisition. "Someone killed them."
"I'm sorry," said Deucalion, softly.
There was a moment of silence – except for Kali's weeping – but it was broken as Stiles sprung up, gasping and clutching the stab wound. Their pain forgotten, Ennis and Kali rushed to his side and grabbed Stiles' hands to take away his pain.
"Told you I was right," said Stiles, looking at all three Alphas.
"You're right, we should have listened to you," said Deucalion.
"I'm sorry about your packs," said Stiles softly.
"You heard?"
"Everything… sorry…"
Deaton moved away towards the front of the clinic before immediately returning. His face was solemn, and he was doing his best not to look at the boy he had just saved. Scenting his sorrow and regret, Deucalion turned and raised an eyebrow at Deaton only to lower it when he spotted what Deaton had in his hand.
It was the newspaper and on the front page was covered in pictures of Stiles' father. The deputy sheriff was found dead… three hours ago… they had been with Stiles for three hours…
"What is it?" asked Kali, not daring to release Stiles from her mothering hold.
"Stiles… your father—"
"—he's dead… isn't he? G-Gerard killed him… right?" Stiles whimpered.
"Yes."
"My daddy!" wailed Stiles, curling up in Ennis' arms as Kali pet his hair.
Deucalion watched the boy with sorrowful eyes before turning to Deaton and swallowing: "How long would it take to adopt Stiles?"
Deaton looked at him, internally debating it before replying: "about six hours."
"Gerard Argent needs to die," growled Ennis.
"I agree," said Deucalion, shocking everyone. "But we'll need to be a lot stronger if we want to move against him."
"We'll need a pack," said Kali.
"W-why don't you j-just be a pack?" asked Stiles.
"Pardon?"
"Be an Alpha pack. That way you'll all be strong enough to protect each other and yourselves!" sniffed Stiles.
They could all see the merits of such an action and there was a silent agreement that if this were to happen, Stiles would be coming along with them. Kali and Ennis could easily adopt the child and then they could get the HELL out of Beacon Hills and as far away from the Argents as possible.
Yes, Deucalion thought, that's what we'll do.
The End