Stiles couldn't help but think about what a difference a few small changes could make; say for example, a mating. The pack could tell that there was something wrong but they didn't know what. Yet they were ready to follow the cues of their Alphas so were content to wait until they were told – like Stiles thought there had been definite changes in the last year. It's not like it would be hard to figure out what with Derek's eyes still glowing red, and Stiles knew what needed to happen in the short term to make them disappear.

Stiles expected for Derek's instincts to be at the fore for a while; or at the very least until the foreign pack was out of Beacon Hills. Then again it was not like it was just Derek, the minute he'd seen the sign on their door, no, the warning on the door - his magic had sprang up like a well inside him. It was not likely to go away anytime soon - someone had threatened his Alpha and pups, and someone was likely to die in the near future that was a certainty if they thought they could threaten his pack.

Boyd had pulled Erica close, they were naturally more worried as they had been the ones attacked when the pack was targeted by Gerard. It broke Derek and Stiles hearts to see their instinctive reaction to huddle closer to each other. Stiles couldn't help but feel that Gerard Argent wasn't dead enough for what he did. "What is going on?"

Derek shared a look with Peter and Stiles, but it didn't matter if there was one thing they'd learnt in the past year was that nothing good ever came from secrets. "It is the sign of the Alpha Pack. They are a group of Werewolves led by Deucalion, and his 'beta' Kali ... They pass judgements and carry out sentences to Werewolf packs."

Scott frowned, even he knew that that was not a good thing. "So they just kill."

Stiles was the one to snort; he was becoming very jaded since he'd become the Alpha's mate, "No Scotty ... They play with their food."

Jackson had listened to all that was said; he was a planner. He would hear everything so that he could understand how he could best protect Lydia. "Wait you mean that they are all Alpha's."

Peter nodded, "Yes the pack has visited these lands before. The last time they were here Talia was the Alpha, and Deucalion was a model citizen but he likes mind games. And they are not just an Alpha pack they are the mutant kind of Alphas."

Lydia's aggravated sigh summed it up perfectly. "Of course they are, what do you mean?"

Brian chirped up, "My favourite is the pair that can literally merge into one freakazoid Alpha."

Peter shivered as he was not so fond of that idea, but he did love his mate's way of distracting him from that little fact. Brian's blowjobs could make him forget even the most significant slight against him if he put his mind, and well his mouth to it.

Stiles was always sharp and since he bonded Derek his ADHD had settled to something mellower, where he could concentrate solely on one problem whilst blocking out everything else out. They'd identified the potential threat - the Alpha pack but now the question was what to do?

Stiles knew immediately who the freaky conjoinable Alpha's were - the new twins in school. "So we've already met the freaky twins."

Lydia frowned, "Damn you mean the cute twins?"

Stiles nodded, whilst simultaneously rolling his eyes at Jackson's possessive growl. It was bad for two reasons; one Lydia was his mate and wouldn't stray thanks to the mating bond and two, Lydia herself would have his balls for the mere suggestion. Stiles did smile when Lydia swatted his leg, "Don't growl at me."

Jackson was smart enough to bow his head and make a small whine to say sorry. The pack though was smart enough not to make a comment about how blatantly whipped he was because most of the males wolves were themselves whipped, and most had a healthy fear of Lydia. "Well we will just have to make sure that they don't have a friendly welcome."

Stiles vicious smile matched Lydia's; it was never a good thing when they turned their smarts against you. It would almost make you feel sorry for them - almost.

Derek laughed softly; the pack was alert and careful but still able to crack a joke and keep their spirits up. "Look they've thrown down the gauntlet and the Hale pack will answer. For now, be vigilant and no one goes anywhere alone."

The pack broke up, and tellingly because of the threat they all went to their individual rooms in the Pack House. It made sense - there was a threat against the pack and they were strongest together. The wolves all filtered out until there was Brian and Peter on one sofa and Derek and Stiles on the other. Stiles could see the guilty look on Brian's face and it didn't take a genius to see where his thoughts were going. "Oh hell no. They would have come eventually ... We were expecting something sooner or later."

Derek stood up as he really wanted to go to bed and curl up around Stiles, but he wouldn't be able to do that until he'd made the newest pack member see that all was okay.

He walked over, kissing his forehead, "You are pack and this will be dealt with. No blame lies with you."

Stiles couldn't help but be glad for how the wolves had a built in lie detector, as Brian knew without a doubt that Derek was telling the truth. Brian was clearly relieved as he offered his neck in submission, and Derek just nuzzled it offering comfort rather than dominance. It was another change of the last year Derek mellowing and settling into his Alpha role. Stiles hand rose to his mate's shoulder showing Brian that they were both in agreement, and looking at the lead Beta couple, "We will find out who they are individually and then we will make a plan to take them down."

He saw Peter's smile come out to play the one that suggeste4d that if you crossed him then you better hope you could run far and hide from him, or the devil himself wouldn't be able to help you.

Stiles' grin was positively devilicious, a pack could fight them but they better bring their 'A' game.

The pack was sticking with the Alpha's ruling of never going anywhere unless they were in pairs at least. Stiles' nerves were only calmed when he'd hacked the codes so that he could track every pack members' cell, including Danny's even if he didn't know about their secret. Stiles had been only semi joking at the idea of microchipping all their asses.

It would stop his worrying, and no matter what tactics were employed to neutralise scent - technology implanted in the body would be a little harder to fight against. Still even with the threat of a hostile pack - you had to do grocery shopping. So instead of shoving a list at one of the betas with orders not to return without all the items on the list; Derek and Stiles were doing the shopping.

The grocery basket was fast becoming a cliché in old married couples argument. In fact they'd even had an older couple coo over how 'cute' they were; worryingly their death glares made the old couple laugh. It was going so well that must have been the sign for the fates to screw with them. Stile kind of wondered how bad he and Derek were in a former life to have had their run of bad luck. He figured they had to be at serial killer level of bad for their run of bad luck.

As they turned the corner of the aisle - they nearly ran into a blind man, which could only add to their bad karma. It was ironic as because both realised at the same time that this person was more than they appeared; Stiles was almost sure that they were face to face with Alpha Deucalion. The damning thing was though that he actually was blind, not that this mattered Deucalion's 'Alphaness' was practically leaking out of his pores. Stiles took the role that he knew he should; he was both the Alpha's mate and the Hale emissary although until needed he intended to downplay his powers. "The Hale pack welcomes you to their land. Would you care to run with us?"

Deucalion was enchanted by the Alpha mate. He couldn't see him but he could smell him, and hear him. He was impressed by the human on several levels; one the boy was not scared his heart rate never raised, and he showed a sensible amount of deference without losing any of his own status, and lastly there was a scent of power but it seemed dulled. Oh and let's not forget the sheer smell of youth and power - it was intoxicating, and if when he got his sight back he was anything close to what he suspected. Well once Alpha Hale was dead; he would take his mate for himself. Deucalion shook his head "Not at the present time but I would welcome a meeting, My beta and I against yours."

Derek nodded and remembered to use words, "That would be agreeable but can we do it without you defacing my property?"

Stiles was so fucking proud of Derek in that moment of just how much sass he put into that statement. It really did emphasise his growth as a real boy. Deucalion grinned, "My apologies I asked one of the pups to pass the message along."

Derek had to reign in his desire to flash his eyes red to remind the arrogant Alpha that he was also an Alpha. Deucalion was showing a huge amount of disrespect, as protocol demanded that the visiting Alpha visit the territories incumbent Alpha. Instead he settled for a more muted subtle rebuke, "Well life goes so much smoother when we handle things ourselves."

Stiles in his more childish moments would have said, "Derek one, Deucalion nil."

Funnily enough though Stiles had a little more sense than that so he kept his mouth shut - it was really hard for him, but he was more than capable of doing it for the pack.

The hell of it was how close Deucalion was standing to Stiles. It was clear that he would respect the unwritten laws for now - of not touching another's mate. However it was also clear that he really wanted to touch Stiles. It made Stiles wonder whether his spark was what seemed to invite the bad-touch from older wolves - as he was noticing a disturbing pattern.

Deucalion inclined his head in a way to suggest that he'd acknowledged Derek's point, "Well I will leave you to your mate this evening. You should keep a close eye on such a captivating mate."

Derek definitely did not like what the bastard was implying and was happily contemplating a million and one ways he would like to kill the older Alpha. He couldn't help his death grip on his mate, and was grateful to know that Stiles accepted his need to scent mark and reinforce boundaries and mark him as Derek's.

However Stiles was getting worried because if Deucalion stretched Derek's wolf much further - then Derek would be inclined to aggressively mark him in the store. And that would be bad as he wasn't yet eighteen and knowing the interfering busybodies someone would report him. He'd took the initiative making sure that he was leaning into Derek so that their scents could mingle as much as he could whilst being underage and in public, "Well we welcome you, do drop by."

Stiles didn't want to welcome him but sensed that he didn't have much choice - next stop Dr Deaton's. He was in need of annoyingly vague conversation that could be useful or not depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Stiles had an advantage over the rest of the pack in that they were not like Dr Deaton. The vet could still be an annoyingly vague little shit but around Stiles - if he was on his own then he tended to mellow out. Still Stiles was willing to suck it up and endure the headache if he could get useful information on the Alpha pack. He just had to hope that Deaton was willing to engage him in a conversation emissary-to-emissary.

The vet was still his usual calm self, "How are you this evening?"

Stiles sighed, "Not good a new pack is in town - The Alpha Pack."

The fact that Deaton sucked a breath, which is what amounts to panic in his own way told Stiles plenty. Looked like turns of research and battle plans being drawn in the near future but that was okay; he was more than happy to do that for the pack.

Stiles offered up a tentative, "Not good?"

Deucalion shrugged, "The Alpha pack is led by a blind wolf Deucalion but don't be fooled ... very deadly he is a self-proclaimed 'Demon Wolf'. His second is Kali and is not much better … her mate is their emissary."

Stiles nodded assimilating all the information and for once he was doing his level best to limit his smartass response. He needed to use his brain for good, not sarcasm. "What can I do?"

Deaton paused, and was clearly considering a careful measured response which told Stiles a lot. The emissary was meant to protect a pack but was also meant to be impartial - it was one of the reasons that he was glad that he was both emissary and Alpha mate. After all, no one in their right mind would expect the Alpha's mate to be impartial. "I will say this you will have your work cut out for you. He was scared of Talia, and likes to cause havoc."

It was kind of confirming all of Stiles' fears - just once it would be nice to be told that he was a pessimistic bastard and should cheer up. "He expressed creeper like tendencies towards me is it for real or screwing with me. He was worse than Peter at his worst ... thank god he mated."

Deaton didn't really offer his opinion on the mating of Peter Hale and Stiles knew that the creepy snarky bastard wasn't everyone's favourite persons so he didn't try to push it. "My suggestion is update the protection wards and keep your magic close."

Stiles didn't care if he was meant to be the mature one; he was pouting because right now life seemed to be sucktastic ... and then his Dad walked in the vet office.

Stiles wondered what his dad was doing at Deaton's. His Dad had been awesomely accepting of the entire situation but when it came to the supernatural he wanted to know enough not to be ignorant and no more. Although he'd demanded that Stiles get training as he was smart enough to see that no training for his sparky nature would be dangerous. Plus he wasn't stupid, he knew that Stiles had invited more danger into his lives by running with the wolves and therefore didn't want him to be without the ability to defend himself.

Seeing his Dad's pensive face Stiles had to ask, "What's wrong?"

His Dad looked very uncomfortable and explained, "Well there have been some murders and they look ritualistic in nature."

Stiles and Deaton both stiffened at that - the last thing they needed was anyone bringing more attention to Beacon Hills with the Alpha pack in town. Stiles wasn't too sure that the Alpha pack wasn't responsible but he doubted it. "Can we see?"

His Dad didn't even protest to showing him the crime scene photo which told Stiles a) how worried his Dad was and b) how stumped he was.

Stiles grimaced being pack had meant that practicality had seen him lose his aversion to blood but these photos were creepier - for one reason; there was no blood at all. "Who was she?"

His Dad was softly spoken, "I don't know if you knew her but she went to school with you – Heather."

Stiles felt a little sad for Heather; he vaguely remembered the mousy girl that many would overlook. He didn't really pay her much attention as his attention was always focussed on the pups and making sure that they didn't get in any trouble and that was a big job all in itself. "Not really what is more important is figuring out why she was sacrificed."

His dad recoiled, "What do you mean why?"

Stiles shared a look with Deaton but wanted to roll his eyes seeing the proud look. Thankfully the vague vet actually explained, "Well Sheriff she was sacrificed in a ritual, we need to find out why she was sacrificed. We need to figure out, what was it about her that would give her killer power once he'd killed her?"

Stiles could see that his Dad was about to explode over how clinically and rationally they were discussing the death but it was important. "Dad it is important if it is a ritual then there will be more at least two. If we can pinpoint what it is their reason for being sacrificed then it will help prevent any more victims."

The Sheriff deflated and knew that he shouldn't explode but it was a startling reminder about just how integrated Stiles had become with the werewolves. Whilst he may be human in theory, the Sheriff privately thought he was more werewolf than some of the actual betas.

Stiles didn't even bother to call his father out on his very obvious thoughts - it looked like there was more than one threat in Beacon Hills at the same time and didn't that take the cake

Jackson and Scott were out running a patrol while Isaac and Erica ran in the opposite direction. It wasn't like Derek had had to tell them this time they had literally assigned themselves a rotation - they were a pack now and when someone was likely to threaten their pack and land they were proactive. Stiles was so glad that they were finally starting to work together that he didn't dare ruin it by actually voicing this aloud. Strangely enough, when he shared a look with Derek he could tell that his mate was also thinking the same thing and also reticent to talk. The only difference was that no one thought that it was odd when Derek didn't talk - they thought the world was going to end if Stiles stopped talking for more than a few minutes.

Brian had returned which meant that Peter could finally settle in his skin and actually be useful on the research the pack needed. It wasn't hard for Peter and Stiles to settle in and complete the research as they were the best two suited for it out of the pack - their natural intelligence and likes meant they would provide the most valuable research.

"So glad you're back buddy. Peter might actually be useful," Stiles couldn't help but snark.

Peter may have pouted but tellingly he did not deny the charge; he couldn't as it was true. "I am allowed to miss my mate," he argued instead

Brian smirked and walked over to the desk and pressed a kiss to his brow. "Missed you too but I was keeping Beacon Hills safe."

Stiles grinned, "Did I say that I was really glad that you decided to join the force."

Brian knew that Stiles was grateful that his Dad had a better, more powerful protector. It was not like the ritual murder hadn't set them all one edge - everyone in the pack was keeping their mate a little closer. It was instinctive for the werewolves to want to protect their mates when there was a perceived threat, more so when they were two threats. "Relax I'm happy to do it ... Sorry to say that there is another person missing ... A Ms Triskel."

Stiles paled knowing immediately what the link could be between Heather and Ms Triskel. "It is virgins."

Derek looked a little relieved, and he was kind of glad that he hadn't stuck with his initial intention of not mating with Stiles until he turned eighteen as it would mean that Stiles was also in danger.

Stiles squeezed his leg in reassurance, and knowing that he would always feel a little guilty, making stupid comparisons between himself and Kate Argent, "Aren't you glad that we mated after the Kanima?"

Derek pulled him close and uncaring of the visitors, "Always. So what are we thinking?"

Stiles was better at giving concise briefs, which was ironic considering what everyone thought. "Well we have a very bad druid it seems, and whatever their end goal is they after a shedload of power."

Derek couldn't help but muse, "Doesn't it seem strange that the Alpha pack comes to town and then these murder sacrifices start?"

Stiles sighed; his Dad's favourite saying coming to mind, "One is an accident, two is a co-incidence and three is a pattern."

The others nodded, and Brian was the one who voiced the question that they were all thinking, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Only time would tell if that was true, but Stiles didn't much like the idea that Beacon Hills would be the site of the smackdown.