Chapter Four: Just Another Evening
Stiles slept deeply and when someone nudged him gently, he woke with a start and sat up panting, looking around the room only to find Ricky holding up his hands in submission, "Hey, you okay?" the beta asked.
"Where's Derek?" Stiles panted when he saw that the alpha wasn't there.
"He went down ahead, lets go meet him."
Stiles took a deep breath and scrubbed his hands over his face then back into his hair and realized that the room had that musk of sex in the air and he looked over to Ricky who immediately looked away and twiddled his thumbs, really! "You had sex without me?" he asked angrily and tried to hide the arousal that immediately rose in him, he tried to mask it in the anger and resentment. Ricky just looked like a kicked puppy so Stiles snickered and continued so he could put Ricky out of his misery. It was just too easy anyway, "Good, Derek needed a release and I am going to take a wild guess that you did too. You are mates, I am okay if you two get together as long as you aren't purposefully excluding me."
Ricky frowned, "You are pretty amazing Stiles Stilinski," he said quietly.
Stiles shrugged before he climbed out of the bed on the side he was on and took the fresh clothes that Ricky was holding out for him. He was getting dressed slowly, still feeling a little drowsy from the effects of the accident and rapid healing with wolfsbane just under the surface. He had felt the uncomfortable itch even in sleep because the poison had a way of getting beneath the surface and the rapid healing would force more of it under the healed skin, which would start the whole process. Thankfully it wasn't enough to keep him from sleeping but it was obnoxious. It was also tiring.
"I need some food, lets get downstairs," Stiles said but he popped over to give Ricky a quick kiss on his cheek before he moved to get changed for the day. Stiles didn't know he was having any problems until they were downstairs and someone dropped a plate, which shattered, and Stiles froze. He heaved in a deep breath and tried to calm his breathing but it didn't work. He could feel his heart rate increasing, as he looked around the room, sure that there was some kind of danger. His breathing stuttered and skipped into pants, and there was nothing to stop the panic from rising to choke him. Stiles gasped harshly and grabbed his chest.
"Stiles?" someone asked and then hands were all over him and it made everything worse. Everyone's heartbeats were suddenly there inside his head and overwhelming the sound of his own. He got these attacks a lot of the time when he was younger, especially after his mother died but it had been a long time. He'd always used his own heartbeat, regulating it to calm himself, the beat was something continuous even when it was rushing but now with so many people crowding in on him, he couldn't breathe and couldn't hear his heart beat and he needed some space!
His legs collapsed and he fell into arms that were holding him up and then he heard the whispered words in his ear, "Come on little man, and come back to us."
Derek's voice was slow and even, there was no tension and fear to force his panic attack to become even louder. Suddenly he was being held in the alpha's arms gently, and Ricky's hands were pressed into his cheeks. He also sensed when all the other people moved away from Stiles, giving him some space.
"Just listen to the sound of my voice and let all that panic slip away, no one is going to hurt you if I can help it," Derek's voice soothed the fear in him until his breathing evened out and he was able to open his eyes again. Yeah, Ricky was kneeling down in front of the omega and Derek's arms were holding him close from the back. He took a couple of deep breaths and his heart reclaimed its easy and calm rhythm. Stiles pressed in close and pressed his lips into Ricky's mouth gently before he shifted and climbed off Derek's chest, "Well everyone, the show is over and I'll be here all week," he snarked hoping to get the attention off of him.
There were a few scattered chuckles around the room and then Derek rose from the floor and Stiles tucked himself into Derek's chest and Ricky pressed himself in close to sandwich around Stiles and he breathed in the scent of mates and comfort and home.
"I haven't done that in a while," Stiles whispered to them with a breathy chuckle.
"You were attacked today Stiles, just give it time."
Stiles nodded at Derek's calming words, "Thanks for being here, everyone's heartbeats were overwhelming me. I couldn't hear my own and that's how I normally calm myself."
Derek nodded against Stiles' neck and he could feel Ricky's breath puffing against his neck. Then the beta's lips were pressing gently there as well for just a feather light touch before they were moving away from each other. They headed into the living room where there was a mountain of food all over the top. Stiles and his mates quickly filled their large plates then settled around the table. Stiles checked in with his dad, making sure his dad had gotten enough food before they settled into quiet, no sound but the gentle sounds of munching and scarfing up delicious food.
"How are you feeling Stiles?" Talia asked between mouthfuls.
Stiles swallowed quickly while nodding, "I'm doing okay."
"Then what was the panic attack in the other room?" his father asked.
Stiles rolled his eyes, "That's nothing really, I haven't had one in a long time and probably go away again. I have it under control."
Talia spoke gently, "Stiles, this isn't over. The man we took was a lackey, he didn't know more than the woman's name: Kate. She contacted him with a disposable cell phone and he never knew more than skin contact with the wolfsbane soaked weapons that she gave him, he didn't even know about the aconite that he was carting around. He knew he was after a wolf but he was a hired gun, nothing more. He didn't necessarily know he was fighting a wolf, just to attack whoever she was following. That was you, she's going to come back, it's the only thing that all the hunters agree on; that all omegas should die because of the power of wolf-birthing you have."
Stiles shrugged though he was trying to contain the shaking in his hands, feeling Derek and Ricky's hands each touch his legs in comfort. Stiles took a deep breath, "I'll stay with Derek and Ricky, stay close and not be too stupid."
Talia smiled serenely, "Well I shall be sure to send Otto and Laura as well, because though I love my son and you and Ricky, you seem unable to really stay out of trouble."
Stiles frowned but said nothing while his dad snorted in amusement. Stiles turned to glare at his dad for that but it seemed like it just created a partial chain reaction of snickers and giggles around the room. Stiles just went back to eating his food and letting the stories and conversation turn away from him and his inability to stay out of trouble.
Soon the meal came to an end, mostly because there was no more food. Talia stood and wiped her hands. "Well today was a very interesting day and I am hoping to keep the unplanned chaos to a minimum tomorrow. I am planning a run for tomorrow evening and then the next couple of days is going to be set aside for some friendly competitions such as tracking and so on. We shall tell you more about that in the next couple of days but for now, it would be fun to maybe put in a movie and just relax together for the evening. If you need some quiet time or so on, please do so but I would love to get the chance to truly spend time getting to know each of you."
With a quick clap of the alpha's hands, everyone was dismissed and everyone started cleaning up their plates and spots at the table before they headed off in different directions. Stiles smiled and clapped happily at the thought of chilling out all together and watching a movie together. He rushed to the kitchen and cleaned up his dishes before heading to the living room as Derek and Ricky followed close behind. Stiles took up residence in the middle of a comfy couch and his two mates quickly sat down on either side of him. Stiles grinned happily as he put his head down on Derek's lap, curling up on his side and flopping his feet and legs down on Ricky's lap. Both of his mates immediately started touching Stiles, Derek's hand running through Stiles hair while Ricky's hands rubbed gently along Stiles' leg and rubbing his feet gently.
Stiles settled into the utter joy of their touch while Laura put in a DVD and Stiles grinned when it started playing. Clearly it was Laura's show tonight because she had played a romantic comedy and though Laura was a hard-ass as far as Stiles could tell most of the time, it was believable that she would watch something like 27 Dresses. A bunch of the guys in the room groaned but Stiles just smiled and winked at his sister-in-law and watched as Ravyn grinned and shoved herself into the chair where Laura was sitting and the two of them started jabbering about the favorite parts. Stiles always like the leading lady when she called her sister out on the stage. He enjoyed watching romantic comedies, it was a guilty little pleasure that even his mates didn't know about yet. He glanced up as several others settled among the chairs surrounding the television, though Stiles frowned when he realized that Braedon and Shelby weren't there for now. He wondered if the Oseric couple was going to settle in with the rest of the wolves here? He understood that it was different for them but Stiles worried that they were never going to try to fit in here. It wouldn't bother Stiles except that it would hurt Ricky and he would move heaven and earth to see that not happen.
For now though he settled into the laughter and stupid drama and eventual happy ending inherent in rom coms, he wondered if his life was kind of like one, finding Derek and Ricky when he got to college, learning about the tri-omega and getting to keep them both. Stiles didn't know how got lucky enough but he didn't think all the good times and bad times were going to be done in a couple hours for a movie. Stiles knew they were still in the honeymoon season and there was going to be hard times a'comin especially since some hunter knew who he was now.
Derek kept rubbing his fingers into Stiles hair as the credits started rolling after the big happy ending. "You doing okay?" the alpha crooned.
Stiles nodded, looking up at Derek's face. "I'm fine Der."
Derek nodded and they stayed like that as the television was turned off and the conversations started up around the room again. "So we going for a run together tomorrow and this is the first time we are all going to run as a family," Laura said from her chair. Ravyn was still curled into Laura's hip, just sitting close to the other wolf and Stiles was glad to see the closeness between them. There was power in the pack that was forming here and the omega was glad to see it. Otto was sitting close by, not really being actively a part of the group but being present and he wondered about something. Stiles shifted off Derek's chest and kissed the alpha then turned quickly to kiss his beta as well before he walked away saying, "Be right back."
His mates shifted on the couch and Stiles watched for a second as Ricky settled into Derek's side and the girls gave a couple of shrieks and jumped at the open space and tugging Otto into the puppy pile as well. Stiles grinned as he walked out of the living room and found Talia, John and Melissa all sitting around the kitchen table. He could hear Scott and Alison talking in their room and Stiles smiled at the 'rents sitting at the table.
"Hey," he said with a careless wave.
"Good movie?" John asked with a smirk.
"Shut up Dad," Stiles said with a chuckle. "You know I have a disgusting love of romcoms."
John chuckled, "Yeah, you doing okay son?"
Stiles rolled his eyes, "I'm fine Dad, where is the Oserics?" he asked them before they had a chance to ask him about the quick flutter in his heartbeat that Ricky and Derek might be able to hear from the other room.
"In there room," Talia said, pointing up the stairs and Stiles walked away before he could be asked anymore heart stuttering questions that he might end up fibbing about. He ran up the stairs and down the hall to where the Oseric couple was staying, he knocked and heard when someone mumbled an assent. Stiles opened the door and walked in to find them sitting on the couch watching some movie, even a romcom and Stiles frowned. "We're watching movies downstairs, you couldn't join us instead of staying up here by yourself?" Probably not the greatest way to start the conversation with his most reticent in-laws but this was so not like pack dynamics, it was basically a slap in Talia's face as well as Derek and Stiles as Ricky's mates.
"Stiles, this is very strange for us. You have no right to tell us how to show up in our son's life or to this celebration," Ricky's mother stated calmly with an edge of annoyed rudeness.
Stiles moved across the room and turned off the TV with an angry flick of his hand on the side of the television, knowing how rude it was but finding he didn't really care. Shelby gasped in indignation and Braedon just waited, seemingly ready for this discussion. "I don't understand what its like where you live but here in the Hale pack, in the Stilinski pack, everything is about family. We spend time together when we can, when an omega and alpha mate and in this case Ricky as well, the mates' families spend time together so we can meld as a pack as best we can because a Soul Bond is something to hope and pray for, its something that is a gift and your son has one with me and Derek."
"You think we don't understand it?" Shelby asked.
"I think you are holding back, keeping yourself away from us. I don't understand why though? Don't you understand the joy and wonder in being a part of a close knit pack?"
Shelby shrugged, "I don't know if you understand the kind of struggle we are having with this relationship to which I only see two alternatives for my son."
"Something I don't agree with," Braedon chimed in but quieted when his wife glared at him. Braeden shrugged, clearly used to his wife's mulish attitude. Stiles waited to see what kind of future she was sure to see for her son even as he crossed his arms stubbornly, they could both play this game that was for sure.
"Option one: I believe either you and Derek or both will realize you have somehow glommed onto my son for some reason and you believe that he is a part of this weird three person relationship but its not going to last."
Stiles gasped, glaring even as she held her hand up and continued speaking.
"Or this is real and somehow that is going to be even worse for him. He won't be able to have children of his own, he will be thrown into your desperate journey to make life better somehow for the omegas and the kind of danger that's inherent in stirring the shit, especially in pack dynamics. You are getting two mates and so is Derek but really what is Garrick getting besides a good sex life?"
Stiles tapped his foot in annoyance; he waited to see if she was going to say anything else. When Shelby stayed silent, he waited some more all while he continued to glare at the woman. "How do you feel when you look at your husband?" Stiles asked, trying to go about this some other way besides anger and resentment.
Shelby turned and smiled at her husband, her eyes softening for a moment before she reclaimed her stoic resolve and stared at Stiles, "It's not the same thing so why would you ask about it?"
Stiles gestured wildly as he responded, flailing his arms, "But it is sort of."
Shelby glared at him, "The Soul Bond touches the wolf within, and it makes someone's love instinctual and deep, a base for everything you do in life. There is more than just the hard work and joy of love for the human. I fell in love with Braeden when I was human and when I was turned that love deepened but it never had any magical or instinctual aspect to it."
Stiles nodded, he'd read up a lot about turned wolves verses born and betas versus omegas and alphas. He walked over and knelt in front of the woman, taking her hands between his gently. She didn't pull away thankfully.
"Shelby, you and Braeden have a wonderful and loving relationship, please don't compare it to something you feel doesn't measure up in some way. A Soul Bond is different than a love like yours, which is strong in the hard work and the choice to keep fighting for it. A Soul Bond is instinct but it's so much more than that, we fight too but there is a magical aspect. I can't make you believe me when I say how much I love your son, apparently you believe that my Claiming bite is a mistake or something."
Shelby gasped and Stiles tightened his grip just enough to keep her touching him. He frowned up at her, staring at those dark blue eyes so like Ricky's that it made Stiles want to cry. "No, just listen to me, I can't promise we are never going to have hard times, that Ricky might never come to you and say we've broken each other's hearts because we're all that dramatic," Stiles chuckled and Braeden heaved a quick laugh as well. "The only thing I can promise you is that I am in love with your son, it broke my heart thinking I couldn't be with him before Derek showed a connection to Ricky as well. He completes us in a way that we cannot be alone. I need him in my life to geek out with me over some strange new knowledge or nerding out over a game we both like to play but its not just that, when I touch him or feel his hands on me it calms the nervous energy I always have. He's exhilarates me, he's so smart and beautiful and I don't understand why he wants to be with me and Derek sometimes but I won't give him up." His hands had slipped away from Shelby and he flopped backwards, wiping a little at the tears that were escaping his lashes.
Shelby and Braeden stayed quiet and Stiles stood and moved away from the beta couple and turned back at the door for a moment, "I hope you can learn to seek out this pack and I need to say one thing for your son right now. When you refuse to be a part of the proceedings within this pack, it hurts him and I would do anything to keep that from happening. That's not even counting the fact that you're also being incredibly rude and disrespectful of Talia Hale, who is not only an alpha but she's one of the few alphas that other alphas respect and yet you don't."
With that, Stiles walked out of the room and headed toward the bedroom he shared with his mates and slammed the door behind him, feeling the overwhelming desire to choke someone. He flopped down on the bed and rested a hand over his thundering heartbeat and tried to slow it. He couldn't believe he was so mad, didn't understand the completely alpha-like anger he was struggling with right now. He wanted to shift and use his claws, growl at anyone who thought they could hurt Ricky and then just as fast as the anger came it deflated in a rushing of breath leaving his body and Stiles was left with the thought that if Shelby believed that those were the only two ways for Ricky's life to end up and he wondered if Ricky thought that, even just a little. The sadness enveloped him in a wave that caught his breath and he pressed his hand even tighter into his chest, trying to alleviate the pain that suddenly made it hard to breath. He squeezed his fingers into his streaming eyes, trying to wipe away the evidence, the scent of saline wafting around him gently. He needed to get himself calmed down, try to get control of himself before he rejoined the others. He didn't want them to feel like he'd deserted them but Shelby was Ricky's mother and maybe she knew her son better than Stiles did and the beta was just trying to keep the status quo until everything fell apart.
He was standing up and pulling off his t-shirt as he wandered into the bathroom when the outer door opened and he ignored his mates as he pulled off the rest of his clothes, turned on the hot water and stepped under the stream as Derek and Ricky came into the bathroom. He scrubbed the scalding water into his skin and rubbed his eyes, hoping that he hadn't been broadcasting everything he'd gone through; the anger and the sadness but knew it was a false hope.
"Stiles?" Derek called gently.
"I know," Stiles growled fiercely and rinsed his hair quickly before he grabbed the soap, he might as well actually shower while he was in here. "I shouldn't have spoken to your parents Ricky, I'm sorry."
Ricky growled under his breath, "What did they say to you?"
Stiles rubbed at his face again in annoyance, why did he even say anything? Stiles groaned then spoke over the sound of the shower, "Your mom feels like Derek and I will suddenly fall out of love with you, as if it was never real or what could you possibly have in this relationship because you won't have children of your own and all you're going to get is a good sex life."
Derek's growl mixed deliciously with the sound of Ricky's snarling rumble, Stiles hated that his arousal jumped at the sound of his mates wanting to protect him from harm but he ignored it as he heard a door slam and reached out the grab a towel as he turned off the water. He pushed back the shower curtain as he wrapped the towel around himself then stepped into Derek's arms, grateful for the easy comfort from his alpha.