Stiles sensed the return of the Hale Alpha when he was sixteen years old. The bonds that connected him to the remaining Hale pack had been long forgotten by this point, but the one that was linked to Laura Hale seemed to almost twitch, alerting him to the fact that she'd come back to Beacon Hills. He knew instinctively that she was an Alpha and he debated going to find her.
In the end, he decided to see if she'd be willing to meet up with him. Scott was against the idea, but he knew better than to try and stop him. His argument was that Stiles had repeatedly admitted that he wasn't ready to be a Guardian. Stiles just sighed and confessed he didn't think that he'd ever be ready, but he owed it to his mum to connect with her old pack. It was his responsibility.
He concentrated on the weak bond that he shared with the female Alpha, focusing on his feelings of wanting to meet her. He felt brief echoes of surprise before agreement filtered through. The hard part came next; sending her an image of a time and place to meet. He chose the Beacon Hills Preserve as the place to meet and tried to convey a time of 8pm the next night, but he wasn't sure how successful he'd been.
Since he knew that his dad would be against the idea, Stiles purposely didn't mention the fact that Laura Hale was back in town. Instead, he told him that he would be staying at Scott's – which was true because he was planning on going back there after the meeting. Scott would be going with him to represent his current pack, so it was just easier to go back to his afterwards since his mum would be working the night shift.
They set off earlier than they needed to because Scott had to walk slower when he was nervous. He took a few puffs of his inhaler while they were walking, but otherwise he kept up quite well. The place Stiles had chosen was a small clearing at the top of a hill; it had a great view of Beacon Hills. They got there first, but didn't have to wait long before a brown haired woman came out of the trees.
"Alpha Hale," Stiles greeted her respectively, tilting his head to show that he wasn't a threat, but not enough to say that he accepted her as his Alpha yet. "Thank you for agreeing to meet me." He tapped into his powers and allowed his eyes to change to their silver colour before fading back to brown; it would be proof enough that he really was a Guardian.
"Guardian," she responded, her eyes flickering to where Scott was stood to his right. "I admit that my curiosity led me to accept the invitation. I did not imagine that you were so young."
"I took over the role as Guardian when my mother died shortly after the fire," he informed her tightly. Even after all the years that had passed, he still hated talking about his loss. Scott, sensing his distress, shifted closer to him until he could feel the safety of pack. "Allow me to introduce my Alpha."
Scott nodded at her, tilting his head even less than Stiles had and Laura mimicked the motion. Amanda had drilled the words and gestures that they'd need into them before she'd died; determined that when the time came they would both be ready to meet other supernatural beings without insulting anyone.
"It's an honour to meet you both," she smiled politely. "May I inquire as to why you arranged this meeting?"
Stiles stifled a sigh; he hated having to speak so formally, but until she was classed as pack, Laura Hale was to be treated with respect. "I wished to question whether you were planning on staying in Beacon Hills, or merely passing through. My mother had a bond with your pack, one that I inherited upon her death. Should you settle in Beacon Hills once again, it will be my responsibility to renew those bonds…should you be willing to accept me as your Guardian."
There had never been a time when a pack had refused a Guardian. It was classed as a high honour to have a Guardian, and it would be an incredible insult for an Alpha to say no to the offer. Since Beacon Hills was his home, Stiles couldn't leave until he was old enough to be classed as an adult, so he could only fulfil his duties as Guardian if the Hale pack were planning on staying there.
"It would be an honour to accept you as our Guardian," Laura said immediately, a vague sense of joy flowing through the bond. There was also a feeling of pride about the fact that I was offering them the chance to have a Guardian, even though their pack was so small.
Vampires normally bonded to the pack that their parents had stayed with, but if for some reason they needed to find their own pack, they tried to find a big one because it meant that they would be healthier. Since the Hale pack had been gone so long, it would have been acceptable for Stiles to find a different pack. Even though he was young, any pack would be willing to accept him, which meant the fact that he wanted to stay with the Hale pack was an honour to them.
"I do not know yet if my pack will be staying in Beacon Hills," she continued, a bit more subdued. "I must first confer with my brother, but I am reasonably sure that he will be willing to move back."
"Thank you for being honest," I smiled back at her, letting the bond between us strengthen until I could sense her more fully than before. It was the best I could do without accepting her pack as my own. "I shall hold off on renewing the bond until you are sure that you will be staying. I am sure that you understand why I am unable to leave Beacon Hills at this moment in time."
"Of course," she agreed. The determination in her eyes showed me that she would be bringing her pack back into my territory. The vampire side of me danced with joy about the fact that I would be soon adding to my pack. Scott was brilliant and he always made sure to keep me healthy, but I knew that I would be stronger with a bigger pack since it would mean I could feed off of multiple people; allowing me to feed more than once a week.
"I must, however, inform you that I will not be willing to give up my current pack," I warned her, hoping that she would accept Scott as she'd accepted me. "Scott is my only pack and has been my Alpha since we were seven years old."
"He will always have a place in the pack," she reassured immediately; I could sense through the bond that she honestly hadn't even thought about not accepting Scott. Before I'd warned her, she'd already been willing to include Scott into her pack. "Whether as a human or as one of us."
"You would offer him the bite?" I kept the surprise out of my voice, but I knew she could feel it through the bond by the amused smile that graced her face. Scott shifted next to me, allowing me to do the talking since I knew more of the etiquette.
"Any human in the pack is offered the choice," she told them, looking at Scott as she spoke. "It is an open offer that they can choose to accept or decline without any worry of judgement."
"We thank you for your generosity," Stiles responded, pleased by how much he was beginning to like the female Alpha. He would have hated it if he couldn't get on with his mother's old pack; he wanted to like them and be their Guardian.
Laura promised to get in contact once she'd spoken to Derek. They exchanged names and details, Laura promising not to use his name. Her pack might have only included Derek – and maybe Peter – but Stiles wasn't ready for everyone to know he was the Guardian. When his mother had been their Guardian only the Alpha and the second in the command had known her identity.
Stiles waited until he was sure Laura was out of werewolf hearing distance before relaxing and turning to grin at Scott. "Thank God that's over," he exhaled noisily, beginning the walk back to his Jeep. "It will be so much easier once we're accepted as pack and don't have to speak so politely."
"It wasn't too bad," Scott laughed, climbing into the passenger seat. He seemed thoughtful and Stiles guessed that he was thinking about the offer Laura had made him.
"Dude," Stiles whined. "You didn't have to say anything!"
"Exactly," Scott grinned, leaning back in his seat as the Jeep began its drive back to the house. His smile faltered a little and uncertainty came across the bond. "Do you think I should take Laura's offer?"
"That's your choice," Stiles said sternly, unwilling to influence his friends' decision. "I don't mind either way. Anyway, you don't have to decide right now, it's an open offer."
"So, you wouldn't mind if I stayed human?" He asked nervously, fiddling with the inhaler in his hands, only looking up as the Jeep came to a stop in front of his house. "The bond would be stronger if I was a werewolf."
"Scott," Stiles waited until he was looking at him. "You're my brother, my pack, and nothing will change that. If you don't want the bite, then don't ask for it, especially not for my sake."
A week after their meeting, Stiles felt the tentative bond that he shared with the female Alpha snap as she drew her last breath. The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt before, and he imagined it was what getting shot felt like. Scott was at his house two minutes later, gasping from a mixture of pain and exhaustion from his bike ride.
The pain of the broken bond was a lot less for Scott, but he still felt the echoes of Stiles's pain. All Stiles could think of was that if this is how it felt to have just one not even completed bond break, then it was no wonder his mum gave up on life when she lost nearly her whole pack.
The comfort Scott offered helped to keep him grounded until the pain lessened, but it felt like there was a hole in his chest. Stiles knew that the only way to completely get rid of the remaining ache and hole would be to bond to another Alpha. First though, Stiles was going to hunt down whoever had dared to hurt someone he'd claimed and remind them why no one messed with a Guardian.