The Hale pack tenses at the newest addition though when Klaus calls out, "Brother", in greeting, they all relax. Lea can't even comprehend that it's Elijah who's standing there at the moment. All the tension that was building up in her, to ready her for a fight, has suddenly left her entire being.

Shoulders slumping with relief that the fight is now over, Lea is overwhelmed by grief when her gaze lands on Stile's form. Tears instantly fill her eyes, sobs tearing their way to the surface. In the blink of an eye, she's sitting on her knees by Stiles and pulling his body up so she could cradle his lifeless form in her arms.

More sobs echo through the night, Lea glancing up to see that it's Allison and Erica. Allison is being held up by a still shifted and whimpering Isaac while Boyd is trying his best to soothe a sobbing Erica. Elena has her face pressed to Stefan's shoulder, her sniffles being heard by everyone and Caroline is trying her best to hold herself together.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Lea cries as she hugs Stiles closer to her and presses a kiss to his temple. "None of us were supposed to die tonight. You weren't supposed to die."

Scott takes a step forward, tears in his eyes but when the gravel beneath his shoes crunch, Lea snarls up at him with glowing eyes and fangs on display. Holding his hands up in surrender, he attempts another step. "Lea, it's just me. It's Scott."

"Get. Away." She growls.

"Lea-"

"No!" She snaps her jaw up at him. "I said get away."

Scott's temper gets the best of him and he flashes his own eyes at her and growls. "He's my friend, too! I have every right to grieve over him."

Lea doesn't relent on growling and hissing, Derek deciding to step in when Scott started to shift even more. "Scott, that's enough." Allison, Erica, Isaac, and Boyd look shocked at Derek reigning Scott in.

"No." Scott snaps at his alpha. "Stiles is pack. Why aren't you trying to get to him?! He's my best friend. My brother."

"And he's her mate. Her bonded, to be exact." Klaus drawls.

All eyes snap to Klaus at his revealing bit of information before they look to Derek. "It's true. And besides-" He nods to Lea. "She's pack, too. So start treating her like it."

Scott looks back down at the snarling Lea and finally steps back. After all, if it was Allison who had died, he wouldn't want anyone near her as well. When Scott backed off, Lea relaxed and continued to cry over Stiles. Realizing what Stiles was to Lea, everyone can't help but look on in pity as she bawls, whimpers, and clutches Stiles closer to her.

Jeremy awkwardly clears his throat, earning himself a few stares from his sister, Stefan, and Damon as he attempts to get closer to where Lea sat with Stiles. The closest he got was to where Klaus stood a few feet away from her and he kneeled so he'd be at eye level with her.

"Lea." He called out.

Eyes wide, Elena rushed forward. "Jeremy!" She hissed. "Did you not just hear what they said?!"

"I did." He sighs. "But she needs to hear this." Jeremy glances over his shoulder. "All of you need to hear this."

"What are you-"

"He's not dead!" Jeremy cuts Elena off. Everyone's attention quickly snaps to Jeremy who's now staring Lea in the eyes, her cries mute. "He's not dead." He murmurs softly to her.

"But he has no heartbeat." She mumbled, her voice cracking in the end. "How can he not be dead?"

Jeremy gulps, scooting closer as he points out Stiles' right hand. "Well, technically he is dead but he'll wake up soon."

The sadness in Lea's eyes suddenly turns hard and cold, her gaze snapping up to the vampires around her. "Who fed him their blood?!" She seethed.

"No-one!" Jeremy quickly assured her. "He's wearing one of the Gilbert family rings. He'll wake up soon and he'll wake up human."

Klaus and Elijah's shoulders slump in relief when they realize that Stiles is indeed wearing the black and silver bulky ring, everyone else' shocked gaze flickering between Lea, Stiles, and Jeremy.

"W-when.. How?"

Jeremy went to answer her questions but Damon cut him off. "We're glad Stiles will live, really we are, but you need to get back to Klaus' home. We're not sure how long Liz can hold the meeting for and we need to get rid of these bodies."

Lea looks around as she sniffles, nodding in agreement. "Okay. Okay." She mutters. "S-scott?" She called out to the werewolf. "Can you lay Stiles in his jeep and drive back to Nik's?"

Scott doesn't answer, the werewolf in question immediately gathering his best friend in his arms and running him to the jeep. Lea stands up on shaky legs and Klaus briefly hugs her. "Come on, love. The vampires will take care of the bodies. Let's go wait for your boy to wake up."

No-one protests to Klaus' plan- Damon, Stefan, Caroline, and Elena already moving bodies before any town's folk wander into town. Scott and Isaac hop into the front of Stiles' jeep while Allison sits with Stiles' body in the back seat. Derek, Boyd, and Erica hop into the Camaro while Klaus and Elijah take the SUV. Walking towards her Corvette, she tosses Jeremy's the keys.

Catching the keys with shocked eyes, Jeremy looks up at Lea. "You're driving, kid. I can't concentrate on anything right now." With a swift nod, the duo settle in her car and follow Derek's Camaro and Klaus' SUV.

..

..

..

Once they're back at Klaus' home, Lea instructs Scott to put Stiles in their shared room. They're all settled in Stiles and Lea's room- everyone covered in blood, sweat, and dirt but no-one makes a move to get cleaned up.

Stiles is laying in the middle of the bed as everyone else just stands around. Out of everyone, Lea is the most upset, the hybrid pacing up and down the side of the bed as she glances worriedly at Stiles every few seconds.

"So, this ring." Lea suddenly exclaims. "Please explain it to me because I'm freaking out right now."

The entire room, sans Klaus and Elijah, turn to Jeremy to hear about the ring. "Back in the day, a witch spelled two rings for my family. We don't know why the witches did it but they just did. Anyway, the rings are spelled to protect the wearer from any supernatural deaths. Should the ring wearer die at the hands of a supernatural being, he or she can be brought back to life. I gave it to him earlier when you were all outside in the backyard."

"And you're sure it works?" Lea blurted, not bothering to fight him against it.

Holding up his own hand where his ring sat, Jeremy nodded. "Yeah. Damon's snapped my neck before but yet here I am."

"You didn't have a spare to give to Allison?" Scott suddenly scoffed. "She's a human too, ya know."

Derek, Isaac, and Erica all glare at Scott's insensitivity. His best friend was dead on the bed in the room yet he was getting angry because Allison didn't get a nifty little ring. "No." Jeremy answered honestly. "There's only two rings and I wear one. I thought about who should get to wear the other ring during the fight and nearly gave it to Allison but then I realized that she was born into a family of Hunters."

"And?" Scott's jaw clenched in anger.

"And-" Jeremy sighed, already getting annoyed at the werewolf. "The spirits would have classified her as part of the supernatural realm and the ring wouldn't have worked for her. It only works for humans."

Allison feebly smiled at Jeremy's reasoning but Scott still seemed pissed. He opened his mouth to probably spew more about the safety of his girlfriend but Derek silenced him with a warning growl. "Enough, Scott. It wouldn't have worked for her anyway. Let it go."

Scott's eyes flashed gold in annoyance but he clenched his mouth shut. For a few seconds at least. "Fine." He then turned his attention to Klaus. "So are you going to tell us about what being a 'bonded' means?"

"No." Lea dead-panned, her gaze meeting Scott's. "We wait for Stiles to wake so he can hear this and Nik doesn't have to repeat himself."

Scott huffed in anger but smartly kept his mouth shut. Allison pulled him to the side of the room where they could lean against the wall and be away from the glares he was still receiving from Erica at the moment.

..

..

..

Fifteen minutes later- Lea, Derek, Isaac, Scott, Allison, Erica, and Boyd all jump when Stiles gasps. Lea is immediately at Stiles' side as everyone else crowds around his bed when he attempts to sit himself up.

"Ow! What the fuck happened?!" He groans and rubs the back of his neck.

Lea laughs, tears falling from her eyes as she gently pulls Stiles into a hug- Stiles confusedly hugging her back when he caught on. "You died." She whispered. "Desmond snapped your neck."

Stiles pulls back, eyes wide before his gaze lands on the ring Jeremy had given him hours before the fight. "It worked?!" His gaze flickers from the ring to Jeremy. "It actually worked?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck yeah!" He fist-pumps the air which causes everyone to chuckle seconds later when he grimaces and rubs his sore neck.

"Yeah, you're gonna have to chill for a bit." Jeremy tells him. "You're gonna be sore and have a killer headache for a while."

"Alright." Stiles reluctantly agrees as he fingers the ring before pulling it off his finger. "Here, man" He tosses the ring back to Jeremy. "Thanks."

"No problem."

A knock sounds from the open door, everyone turning to see the Mystic Falls vampires standing there. They had been so caught up with Stiles that they hadn't realized they had company. "Nice to see you back in the realm of the living, kid." Damon smirks at him.

Caroline, Stefan, and Elena all nod in agreement before Elena calls out to her brother. "Come on, Jer. It's time for us to go home. Let them have some time alone."

Jeremy agrees and makes his way to the door only to be stopped by Derek. "Jeremy." Derek calls out to him. "Just thought you should know that the Beacon Hills Hale Pack is in debt to you."

"What? No, it's-"

"We are." Derek cuts him off. "You protected one of our own when you didn't have to. Should you ever need help, don't be afraid to reach out. Or if you're ever in California, there will always be a room for you at Hale Manor."

Jeremy is too busy gaping in shock at the alpha wolf that it's Elena who has to speak for him. "Thank you." Elena smiles at Derek. "I'm sure he's happy about that, it's just.. well, he's in shock at the moment."

Derek's lip twitch in amusement but nods nonetheless and the Mystic Falls gang take their leave.

The room goes quiet and Lea takes the moment to settle in the bed next to Stiles, curling up into his side and pressing her face into his shoulder. With their arms that are closest to each other, Lea then entwine their fingers as she sighs in relief once again.

Feeling tears soaking through his shirt, Stiles looks down at her. "Hey, hey, hey. What's wrong?"

"You were dead. That's what's wrong."

"But I'm not anymore." Stiles mumbled. "I'm fine. See?" He squeezes her hand in emphasis.

"You didn't feel it though." Lea cried. "The pain, the emptiness.. I can still feel it lingering in me. It's like I haven't fully accepted that you're okay yet."

"W-what are you talking about?" Stiles asks. Looking up at Klaus with a curious gaze, he asks, "What is she talking about?"

They all turn to Klaus for the exclamation that they've been waiting for since he told Scott that Stiles was Lea's bonded. Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Klaus finally tells them. "Being one's bonded is the same as being a mate in the werewolf community only it's called a 'bonded' because since Lea's a hybrid, the two of them can share blood." The grimaces on the Hale Pack's face is enough to make both Elijah and Klaus chuckle. "But because they are capable of sharing blood, the bond between the two be will stronger than that between a werewolf and his or her mate. Just being in each others company is already sealing half of their bond. The longer they are together, the more difficult it is in being away from the other."

"Is that why she was twitchy when Stiles wasn't in sight earlier in the day?" Erica asked curiously. She and Allison where there when Lea had suddenly went on edge when Jeremy had called Stiles to his room.

"Yes." Klaus admitted. "And when they complete the three stages of blood sharing, the bond will be complete."

"What do you mean by blood sharing and what comes with this bond?" Stiles rasped.

"What he means-" Elijah finally spoke up. "-is that you two must drink, at the same time, from each wrist and neck. Each stage has to be done on a different day and after each stage of drinking, you'll slowly be able to feel each others emotions and be able to locate where the other one is."

The room is shocked into silence, gazes flickering between Lea and Stiles. This was something they definitely weren't expecting. Mates, yes, but blood sharing and bonds, they were not.

"Okay, well, that was.." Stiles trails off in thought.

"Overwhelming." Lea finishes for him.
"Yeah. That." Stiles agrees and slumps back into the pillows that were propping him and Lea up.

"Well now that everyone has got their answers-" Klaus piped up. "I think it's time we've left the two alone so they can talk things out."

Derek nods in agreement, gesturing for his pack to leave. He walks out right behind his pack with Elijah and Klaus following him and shutting the door to the room.

Silence falls over the couple, Lea sighing before sitting up and climbing beneath the blanket with Stiles. Once she's flush up against him, she sighs in content and buries her face in his chest.

"Why aren't you freaking out?" Stiles yawns tiredly.

Lea shrugs. "Why aren't you freaking out?"

"Touche."

They fall into another bought of silence, Lea feeling her eyes droop and hearing Stiles' breathing even out. "So are you up for it? Bonding with me." He clarifies.

"Mhm." Lea mumbles. "It's your choice, really. Whatever you want, we'll do."