Of Wolves and Plans

Derek slammed his fist into the brick wall of the building, red chips flying backwards to cut his cheek ignored in the sudden emptiness of the bond shut down between them, as Stiles darted into the shadow of an ally.

The beta he turned towards ducked his head in immediate submission, not meeting his eyes and knees quivering with the urge to drop to the ground in front of his alpha. Derek took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before speaking. "I need you to track him. Keep your distance and don't try to detain him. I just need to know he's safe and has back up if something happens."

He could feel the after images of the shock that Stiles had felt, the sense of betrayal from his own body, the need to just put some space between himself and the wolves before the looks of disgust, that only Stiles though would come his way, were turned on him. "He most likely will calm down and come back on his own." Derek forced that belief to the forefront of his mind and pushed it down the twisted path of his bond hoping that some of it would reach Stiles.

Betas scrambled out of his way as he stormed back to the conference room, throwing the huge mahogany table across the room imbedded it in the far wall before he lifted Chris by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the plaster.

Scott, pack less and omega, snarled as he pressed Allison behind him to protect her from the older wolf's fury but Derek was focused on one thing. "I need you to start from the beginning and explain to me everything that your father has done to Stiles and the rest of the children. Don't leave anything out, not the smallest detail."

Chris clutched at Derek's hands trying to gain more breathing space while his legs scrapped helplessly for purchase against the wall behind him. "I have it all on encrypted files on my computer. Everything that was ever done that I had knowledge of is on those files."

Derek didn't even have to give the order. Ames was out the door calling orders to the nearest betas to get to Chris' office and bring back every piece of computer equipment there. "We need it in one piece," she reminded them as they hurried for the door. "They'll be of no use shattered and broken."

"Derek, you need to let him go." Max tugged gently on his fingers, prying them off Chris' shirt and neck. With a low growl Derek let the doctor drop, landing at his feet in a panting heap, before shifting his glance to Max. Max met his glare with a calm look until Derek stepped back. "Thank you." Derek held off rolling his eyes. Max was always so very polite.

Laura tugged at the table but it had a shattered leg and a large crack down the middle. Shrugging she returned to the group and sat in her abandoned chair. Max gave her a soft smile before returning his attention to Chris. "I think Derek had a good idea. While we wait for the files, why don't you start from the beginning and tell us everything."

Derek listened as Chris' story unfolded, the bile in his stomach churning until it burned at the back of his throat. Gerard hadn't been happy with just being able to block the true mate bond. He didn't want a passive weapon but a violent one that could cause the most damage.

"He started gathering those with the genetic code seven years ago. At first he planned to shape them, make them loyal to the Humans First group and willing to do anything to disrupt werewolf/ human relations. But he found that not all minds are so easily warped."

"The orange tabs. Those are all the children that were mistreated. They were his failures." Max leaned back, his face with tight with tension and Derek could almost smell the pain coming off of him.

"They started off as failures but in the last few months Gerard has become more intense with his plan. He changed the timeline and was pushing to be ready in the next year or so."

"Why?" Isaac looked embarrassed that he had spoken out of turn. Derek nodded at his beta knowing that his concern was because he cared about Stiles' well being too. "Why was he pushing the date forward?"

Chris sighed and looked older, worn and frayed around the edges. "He was diagnosed with cancer. He doesn't have long to live and this plan of his, it's how he sees his way to achieving immortality. When he destroys the hold the wolves have over us, drives you out of our lands, and reduces you down to living like the animals you are, then he believes his name will live on and be spoken of throughout history."

Allison made a choked sound. Derek could hear her heartbeat, an alarming pounding that made him want of comfort her. Scott had once again curled around her, rolling her chair further away from her father and blocking her view of the older man.

"It's not OUR lands," shaking his head Scott corrected himself, "YOUR lands. The wolves were here first. Humans were the ones who came here. The packs offered us a place with them, a chance to live side by side. It was the humans that started the war, we're the invaders."

"It's like I don't even know who you are." Allison's voice was harsh with tears. "I've seen the hate with mother but never you. How could you be a part of this? How could you allow such horrible things to happen?"

Chris reached for his daughter but she pulled away using Scott as a shield. Deflating he responded in a voice so filled with pain that Derek didn't even need to listen to his heartbeat to know he was telling the truth. "I didn't want you raised with all this hate. I knew what it had done to my family; I knew how it warped them and shaped them into people I wanted to hate. I hated myself but it's not something I can change. But Allison, I did everything I could to give you a chance to change it for yourself."

With that statement Derek knew that no matter how much he hated the Argents and despised the role Chris played in everything, that he would do his best to see that he received the lightest sentence possible. He would never trust him, never like him but for what he did for his daughter, the chance he gave her to be a decent person, for that Derek would show mercy.

"So explain the orange tabs. Right now I am most worried about Stiles. Maybe that's wrong of me, but he's my friend and part of my pack." Max turned a little red but kept his eyes firmly on Chris.

"The orange tabs are basically the second wave. They are all the children that were too much of a handful or didn't respect Gerard's authority. They were all to receive implants before they were released from the orphanage. Stiles was slated for surgery right before he ran away. Once they reach majority Gerard has to release them from his control but he still had plans on how to use them."

"So he was never implanted?" At Chris' nod Derek felt his knees go weak.

"They hadn't quite finished the implants. They needed to be untraceable yet able to be triggered to rupture with a specific frequency only. Stiles would have been the first test subject."

"And the other children? The pack coded ones? What were Gerard's plans for them?" Laura had slowly lost the saddened look from earlier. It was replaced with a cold fury that Derek had never seen in his sister.

"They were to be trained. Psychological warfare. Gerard planned to announce he had discovered the secret to finding an alpha's true mate and then match pack with humans. He knew that alphas would throw themselves at the chance of finding a true mate and never question Gerard about where they came from. Once mated to an alpha they would disrupt the pack from inside, causing strife in whatever manner they could."

Chris rubbed his arm; repositioning it in the sling before continuing. "The plan was to use this time of turbulence to increase our Humans First numbers, to syphon off all the resources we would need for the final attack while the pack were too concerned with their own problems to pay attention. Then, when all was ready, Gerard planned to release the information about Stiles' group. Once a good majority of those children were mated up he would…"

Chris didn't finish, just pushed his fists together and released them outward in a pantomime of an explosion.

"And with the death of their mates, the alphas would die as well." Max reached over and pulled Laura's chair closer to his own. Threading their fingers together he seemed to hold on to her as if his life suddenly depended on it.

"His plan isn't finalized yet? I was never implanted and he hasn't mated off any of the others so we have a chance to stop it, to make sure his plan is never put into action." His chest filled with warmth as Derek turned to see Stiles leaning in the doorway. His mate's eyes were reddened and puffy but he had come back ready to face his demons.

"Gerard's been scrambling to find a way to salvage his plan since you mated with Derek. Now that you know about it, I don't think there is anything he could do to continue his plan of attack." Chris actually looked relieved at that idea. A small almost smile graced his lips.

The whole room seemed to sigh in relief. Stiles pressed in closer to Derek and let the wolf slip his arm around him, pulling him closer to his side. The link between them slowly uncurled, opening up and letting Derek feel the embarrassment Stiles felt for running away as well as the courage it took him to come back and face his fears.

"Oh crap!" Stiles whispered but the shock of his thought wrenched through the link like a forest fire. "He's too much of a bastard just to let this all this fall apart for nothing. I don't think he would just let us go." Stiles looked up at Derek with horror in his eyes. "He was ready to kill me rather than let me go. What makes us think he would do anything less to the others?"

The room seemed like ice as everyone reeled at the horror of Stiles' words. "I can give you the location of his safe houses. Places he would hole up while coming up with his next plan of attack." Chris glanced over to where Allison was huddled against Scott's chest and nodded. "I can give you what you need to stop him once in for all."