The Hale Pack

by Missmusiclover573

What if Scott and Stiles hadn't separated that night in the woods? What if both boys had been bitten? Would things have played out differently? Or end in the same amount of loss and pain? *Eventual Sterek*

26. I Don't

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of it's characters. If I did, Sterek would be canon.

A/N: The Pack go back to school, the Darach appears and makes a daring move and causes problems in the Pack, and the twins train with the Pack. *Trigger Warning* This chapter covers the events of Motel California, therefor suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and self harm are mentioned. It is stated when the events start and finish, so if you are uncomfortable with it, you can easily skip those events.

The Hale Pack: I Don't

"I'll help you against the alpha's if you help me save my brother." Ethan promised, sitting up, looking serious and determined. Over his shoulder, Danny noticed Jackson on the phone, probably talking to Derek. "So, will you help me?"

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"How do we know that we can trust you?" Derek demanded the second Ethan set foot on the Hale premises.

"I don't expect you to trust me, yet. I know I'll need to prove myself. But I need you to trust that I'll do anything to save my brother and that I don't break my promises' ever." Ethan stated before baring his neck for Derek.

Derek cautiously moved forward and sniffed Ethan's neck before stepping back and nodding. "What about your previous Pack? The one you killed?"

"I promised I'd get revenge." Ethan stated with a shrug. "Aiden and I weren't the alpha's of them. We were Betas but they treated us like omegas. Worse than omegas, they treated us like a pair of freshly bitten omega's who'd stumbled onto their territory and started howling at the locals. Our ability to merge didn't sit well with the others, and they never let us forget it. They literally tortured us for the sake of it. I'm not saying that they deserved to die, I never wanted to kill them. I swear. But when Deucalion showed up, we saw an opportunity. Aiden and I were convinced that it was the only chance we'd get to escape them. So we killed them. I regret killing them, I do, but I don't mourn them. Out of the Beta's, every one of the guys and two of the girls had blue eyes, the other three girls didn't, but they weren't exactly innocent either. They were all monsters." Ethan explained honestly. Looking the alpha dead in the eyes as the rest of the Pack listened. "I don't regret becoming an alpha. I don't regret leaving that Pack. What I do regret is becoming a killer. I thought Aiden did too, but the others are getting to him, changing him. Convincing him that he is a monster, and that being a monster is a good thing. I don't want that for him. For us. But I can't save him alone."

Derek looked around at his Pack, some of them giving him a small nod. "We'll help you." Ethan sighed in relief, but before he could say anything, Derek spoke again. "However, if Aiden makes a move on us, tries to hurt or kill one of us, we will fight back. And we won't go easy on him."

Ethan nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't expect anything less. He won't though, once he sees that I've chosen to work with you, he'll join me. I can't tell him but he'll know something's up, but he won't confront me in front of them. Whenever we're together, one of the other's is always listening in. They'll try to kill us the second they find out, Aiden wouldn't risk my life like that."

"You're scared of them." Jackson stated in slight surprise.

"If you aren't, you're stupid." Ethan replied immediately. "They're all ruthless killers. They enjoy the kill. Yes Aiden and I used to go hunting, but we hunted animals. They prefer to kill people."

"They must have weaknesses though." Scott pointed out knowingly. Causing Ethan to nod in agreement.

"Kali and Ennis are each other's weaknesses. They're not mates, but they're in love. Deucalion's weakness is a physical weakness. He isn't always blind."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

The days had passed easily, Ethan had the alpha's convinced that he had gained the trust of the Hale Pack. As far as they knew, he had told the Pack was an omega werewolf, previously a Beta who's last Pack had died. As he had actually told the Hale Pack that, the other Alpha's appeared to believe him. Except Aiden. Aiden knew him well enough to know that something was off.

True to Ethan's prediction, Aiden didn't confront him in front of the other alpha's. Instead, he waited for Ethan to go out on his 'date' with Danny, told the others he was going for a run, and promptly followed his brother. He watched, from just outside of the clearing as Ethan walked up to the front door of a large, white stone house and knocked on the door. He wasn't really surprised when Derek answered the door, but he was surprised when Derek immediately asked what new information Ethan had on the Alpha Pack. He felt betrayed when his twin started telling Derek of the newest installation of Deucalion's plan as he walked through the door.

He waited until the door closed, and their silhouettes faded away before standing and stealthily making his way over to the house. Aiden had made his way to the bushes to the right of the pool when the front door swung open. He immediately ducked, only to feel like an idiot when Ethan poked his head out the door and called out "Aiden? Are you coming in or not?"

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"I don't need saving." Aiden protested, glaring at his brother.

"Yes you do!" Ethan argued immediately. "We both do! We never should have joined them in the first place. You know we don't belong there, Aiden."

"And what? We belonged with our old Pack?"

"No, far from it, but we shouldn't have killed them. I said this to the Hale Pack, now I'll say it to you. I don't feel bad that they're dead, but I feel guilty that I killed them. I'm not a killer, Aiden. That's not who I want to be. I know that that's not who you want to be either." Ethan stated, looking his brother in the eyes, desperately searching for the person he grew up with. The person who would stand by his side no matter what. The person who he could trust to have his back. The person he would kill for. The brother he'd die for. He searched for any flicker of that person, and he wasn't disappointed.

"I don't" Aiden admitted, his eyes glistening with shame and regret. Had they been alone, Aiden would have admitted everything he felt to his brother, but with the Hale Pack in the next room, he bit his tongue. "I don't want to be a killer, Ethan. I hate what we did. I always swore to myself that we'd never sink to their level, but we did. We killed them. All of them. For a Pack we didn't really want to join, with people who'd happily kill us if it meant getting more power." Aiden couldn't stop his eyes from glowing. "I want out."

"So do I." The brothers shared a hug, before leaving the room and reuniting with the Hale Pack.

"Thank you." Was the first thing Aiden said when he came face to face with Derek. Despite his instincts, he bared his neck for the man. Once the basic introductions were done, Aiden was informed of the full details of the deal Ethan had made with the Pack.

Unfortunately for the twins, they couldn't just up and leave the alpha Pack. They had to wait. The Hale Pack was kind enough to offer them a place to stay when they do leave the Alpha Pack. Although Derek warned them that if the twins did anything to hurt any of his Pack, or prove themselves untrustworthy then the kindness ends and they're on their own. Once that was done with, Aiden was given a tour of the house, excluding the secret tunnels and second basement of course, and he was shown the room he would be given, as long as he keeps up his end of the deal.

The twins stayed for dinner, and as much as Aiden didn't want to admit it, he had a great time. He didn't feel comfortable enough to call them 'Pack' but this is the closest he had felt to anyone that wasn't his brother. The Hales were kind, but made it clear that they wouldn't completely trust the brothers without being given indisputable reason to.

Aiden had surprised himself by wholeheartedly apologising to Stiles, without prompting from his brother. When he brought it up and apologised, Lydia launched into a play by play, fully detailed account of how she found Stiles, the blood, the fear, the fact that Stiles started choking on his own blood. All of it. Aiden had lived with guilt for a while, but nothing hit him as hard as that. Seeing Stiles in front of him, alive and well, gave him such relief and such guilt. The guilt of causing someone so much pain and leaving them to live with it. Forcing his Pack, his family, to deal with seeing him like that. The twin's previous Pack was killed quickly. None of them had any connections outside of the Pack. No one to miss or mourn them. They didn't suffer long and no one suffered from missing them. But this was different. They say murder was the worst thing that you could do. If that was the case, why did this make Aiden feel so much worse?

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

With more and more dangers coming to town, Boyd had decided to warn his parents. Which included telling them about what he was. He still spoke to them, and he still contributed towards the bills, and stopped by every week to fill up the kitchen. Thanks to Derek's need to pay for everything, Boyd no longer needed to supply himself with lunch money or college savings or anything like that, so the entirety of his paycheck went to his parents. Not that they were happy about it. They appreciated his help, but felt guilty that he had to do it. They wished that they could support their son, they wished he could enjoy his youth rather than have to worry about losing his house.

Thinking about it, Boyd wasn't sure that they realised he had moved out. With their busy schedules, they probably assumed he was out with friends, or working extra shifts. Regardless, they were about to find out.

With the extra income from Boyd, his parents felt secure enough to take a day off, after a little prompting from Boyd, so he took the opportunity to sit them down and tell them everything. "So, I have something to tell you." Boyd stated, handing his parents a cup of coffee each. His mother took a sip, before putting her hand up and stated.

"We think we know what you're about to say, Vernon." The woman stated. "We've noticed how little you've been around, how much of your stuff is missing, how many new clothes you have. We've not idiots, sweetheart, we just hope that whatever you're doing is legal."

Boyd couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. "I haven't got a new job or anything mum, and I haven't gotten a raise or extra hours or anything like that." Boyd stated, but it only made his parents grow more suspicious and concerned.

"You see, a few months ago, the night of the homecoming dance, I learnt about something. Something I didn't think was real or possible. The girl that I went to the dance with, Erica, she used to be epileptic, severely. Then one night, she changed and thanks to that change, her epilepsy was cured. The night of the dance, she told me how she changed. And what she became. She was bitten by an Alpha werewolf, turning her into one. Then, the day after the dance, the same alpha bit me." Boyd stated, then shifted. He expected his parents to gasp, or recoil in horror, or something.

What he didn't expect was his father to turn to his mother and say "I told you so."

"What?"

"Dammit, Vernon, now I owe your father $20." His mother huffed, folding her arms over her chest.

"What?"

"Oh, come on honey, you're the one related to druids! Two of them live in town." His father chuckled, rolling his eyes. "You should really know better."

"Well, I'm not a druid, so excuse me for not knowing!"

"What?!" Boyd exclaimed, looking at his parents in shock.

"What?" His mother blinked. "You think we'd live here without knowing about all of the threats?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I dunno." His father shrugged. "It never came up."

"So, sweetie." His mother stated, setting her cup down on the table. "Tell us about your Pack."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

A few hours later, Boyd was leading his parents up to the Hale house, smiling at the look of awe on their faces. The thing that stood out the most, was the new decoration. A huge banner reading 'Welcome Mr and Mrs Boyd' in large, multi coloured letters, was hanging from the first floor balcony. "I'm guessing Stiles and/or Isaac are responsible for the banner...but yeah, here we are. Prepare for the insanity that is my Pack" Boyd chuckled, leading his parents past the pool and into the house. The second they stepped inside, Erica bounded over, dragging Cora with her. "Mum, dad, this is Erica and Cora. My mates." Boyd introduced with a proud smile on his face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs Boyd." Erica greeted with a grin, holding out her hand. Boyd's mother took it first.

"Please, sweetheart, call me Sheila." The woman insisted, a friendly smile on her face, then withdrew her hand and held it to Cora. "You too, Erica." Cora chuckled and corrected the woman.

"I'm Cora, she's Erica."

"Mum." Boyd sighed, running a hand over his face.

"Really, Sheila?" Her husband laughed. "We went over this. Erica's the blonde, Cora's the brunette."

"We did not go over it, sweetheart. The closest thing we got was that Cora is the alpha's sister. How am I supposed to tell who the alpha's sister is, if I've never met the alpha?"

"Still, you should have asked their names!"

"If I asked, I'd feel bad. My way I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right!"

"But you got it wrong." Boyd's dad stated, then turned to the girls. "I'm Richard by the way." He smiled, shaking Cora's hand first. "It's a pleasure to meet you Cora." He said pointedly, then turned to shake Erica's hand. "You too, Erica."

"Okay, we get it Dick." Sheila smirked and Erica couldn't hide her giggles whilst Richard looked annoyed.

"I asked you not to call me that!"

"And I asked you not to show me up."

"You showed yourself up."

"You little-"

"Hello Mr and Mrs Boyd." Derek interrupted as he walked into the room, a grin tugging at his lips. "I'm Derek Hale, your son's Alpha."

"It's wonderful to meet you Derek." Sheila beamed, she started to raise her hand, then suddenly stopped and bared her neck instead. Derek smiled before going through standard procedure. When he had finished, he looked at Richard, who seemed unsure and wary.

"It's merely a sign of respect, and a way for me to familiarise myself with your scent. It's basically just a way of showing that you respect my role of Alpha and that you won't threaten me or my Pack" He explained casually. "Although, we can stick to a handshake, if you'd prefer." The man hesitated for a moment, then bared his neck. Once it was done with, Derek led the couple through to the living room, where the rest of his Pack were waiting and stated making the introductions.

"Mr and Mrs Boyd, this is my Pack. This is Danny," He introduced first, pointing to the boy in question. "Human, and a computer genius and a straight A student. No pun intended." The Pack chuckled at that, as Boyd informed his parents of Danny's sexual orientation. "This is Jackson, one of my beta's, co-captain of the Lacrosse team and captain of the swim team. Next is Lydia, Jackson mate, a Banshee, all out genius and a wonderful artist. Next we have Allison. Expert marksman, fluent in french, and incredible with a bow and arrow. Scott, one of Allison's mates, another beta, the other co-captain of the Lacrosse team, probably the most morally inclined person I've ever met and he's a wonderful singer and guitarist. Isaac, beta, Scott and Allison's mate, a wonderful tracker, kind, caring and an incredible runner. Melissa McCall, a wonderful nurse, and a great friend, she was really understanding when she found out about all of this. John is like a father to me," Derek smiled at the older man, who wore a bright smile proudly. "He's also a great friend and damn good sheriff. Erica, beta, confident, cunning, she's great at coming up with plans and schemes. Don't be surprised if she, Lydia, Allison and Stiles take over the world one day." The four of them grinned at that, Erica sending a wink to her coconspiritors. "Cora, my sister, beta and as you know, Boyd and Erica's mate. Brave, strong, independent and one hell of a fighter. Obviously, I don't need to introduce Boyd, and this-" He grinned, walking and wrapping an arm around Stiles. "is Stiles, my mate and beta. He's brave, loyal, stubborn, devious and completely insane."

"Hey, that's no- yeah, actually, that's pretty accurate, but I wouldn't say completely insane." Stiles sighed, scratching the back of his head. The looks his friends gave made him defensive. "No, really! Yes, I'm a stalker, I'm crazy and totally paranoid, but I still wouldn't say completely insane!" The Pack just kept giving him that look. "I'm gonna go make dinner."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

The next day, Sheila and Richard met Hayley and Jake. The two couples were sitting in the Reyes' kitchen, Sheila and Hayley quickly built up a friendship, the two women finding a lot in common, other than just having a werewolf child. Amongst conversation topics, was the Pack. Specifically, their children wanting to live with their Pack, but not wanting to leave home yet. Yes, Boyd had, technically, moved into the Hale House but he still spent a lot of time at his parents house, so much so that they hadn't even realised that he had actually moved out.

"My only issue is Erica sharing a room with Boyd and Cora." Jake pointed out with a disgusted frown. "It's nothing against your son, it's just-"

"I get it." Richard jumped in, face void of emotion. "None of us want grandchildren yet."

"Absolutely not."

"Even so," Hayley began looking around at her kitchen fondly. "We raised Erica in this house, we have so many memories here. I do want her to live with her Pack, but I don't want to move house."

"That's it!" Sheila blurted happily, an excited smile on her face. "Move the house!"

"She just said we don't want to-" Jake stated in frustration, only for Hayley to cut him off, realising what the other woman was suggesting.

"No, no, she's not suggesting that we move house, she's suggesting that we move the house."

"Like, move the house? The entire house?! Just pick it up and move it to the Hale property?" Jake asked with wide eyes, a grin tugging at his lips, Richard was looking thoughtful.

"Yeah, you two can do it as well." Hayley suggested happily, clapping her hands together, then she noticed the other couples worried looks. "It may cost a bit, but we have plenty of money now that Erica doesn't need medication anymore. Even if we didn't, Derek will happily give us the rest of the money, you don't have to worry about a thing. Just focus on selling the land that the house is built on."

"We can't ask you to do that." Richard protested immediately. "We don't need charity, we'll figure something out."

"It's not charity." Jake stated, a wide grin on his face. "It's purely selfish, you see, if we only moved our house, Erica would be upset when she finds out that it was your idea. So, by helping you, Boyd is happy, and if Boyd is happy, Cora will be happy, and if Boyd and Cora are happy, Erica will be happy. Then, she'll be ecstatic that she gets to live with her Pack, but not have to leave her childhood home. We get to live with our daughter, you get to live with your son, they get to live close to their Pack without sharing a room. It's a win win!"

Richard and Sheila share a look, apparently coming to an agreement. "Thank you, we'll find a way to pay you back." Sheila insisted with a grateful smile.

"No, no. There's no need." Hayley assured, holding up a hand in a 'stop' motion. "We're friends now, more than that, our children are Pack. From what I know about Pack, you do whatever it takes to help each other."

"I understand that, but I don't like feeling like I'm indebted to someone, and if I don't pay you back, I will feel that way. So please, allow us to make it up to you." Sheila explained, and Richard nodded in agreement.

"If you feel so inclined," Jake began, a wide smile on his face and Hayley looked at him worriedly. "Boyd mentioned something about red velvet cupcakes?" Hayley rolled her eyes at Jake's childlike excitement.

"Yes." Sheila chuckled, "I used to make them every week, Vernon loved them."

"Okay, did Derek invite you to Sunday meals with the Pack each week, too?" Jake asked and the couple nodded, seeing where he was going. "So, you bring those infamous red velvet cupcakes, each time you come over, and we'll call it even?"

"Fair enough. You've got yourself a deal."

The Boyd's and the Reyes' approached Derek the next day about their idea. Expecting him to be pleased or thoughtful about the idea, they were, kind of, but not really, surprised when his entire face lit up in a brilliant smile. None of them had super senses, but they knew that Derek's heart was beating rapidly in excitement.

"That's a wonderful idea!" He exclaimed, mind working a mile a minute. Boyd and Erica would be so happy, which would make Cora happy. With their Pack mates happy, the rest of the Pack would be happy, which would make Derek happy. "I'll make some calls, feel free to take a look around, see if there's anywhere in particular that you want your houses, and which direction you want them facing."

"Do you guys hear this?" Jackson chuckled as he and the rest of the Pack jogged towards the house from the woods. "Derek is babbling!"

"Stiles is really rubbing off on you, huh Derek?" Allison chuckled, as she and the others slowed down, soon coming to a stop.

"You have no idea, Ally." Stiles chuckled, sending Derek a flirtatious wink. "So, what's going on?"

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Two weeks had passed, and the Reyes and Boyd's had moved their houses to the Hale property. Sheila and Richard felt guilty about using the Reyes' and some of the Hales' money to help move their house, but in the end, they couldn't be happier. Derek was two steps closer to having the Pack together permanently. There was still the issue of Lydia, Scott, Melissa, Danny and Allison not living there, and Allison and her parents had recently moved to a new place, making them less likely to move again. Scott and Melissa were seriously considering moving, they were just unsure whether to move their house, like the other families had, or just move to the Hale house.

It was Sunday, and the Hale dining table was completely covered with food. The twins, Peter, Lydia's mum, Scott's mum, the Reyes, Boyds and Argents had all come over to join the Pack for dinner. Derek was sitting at the head of the table. To Derek's right was Stiles, next to him was Scott, then Isaac, Allison, Lydia, Ethan, Aiden, Victoria, Chris, Melissa, then John. To Derek's left was Peter, next to him was Cora, then Boyd, Erica, Jackson, Danny, Jake, Natalie, Hayley, Sheila, then Richard. There was a stack of five chairs in the corner. Chairs that were usually around the huge table, but they had been taken away so that everyone could spread out and have a little more room.

The meal was going well, the twins and Peter were behaving themselves, and made for good company. All of the parents were getting along and sharing stories, both of their children and their working life. The Pack was cracking jokes, arguing over superheroes and movies. Ethan occasionally joined in, and Aiden would teasingly make fun of him and call him a nerd. Peter spoke to the other adults and Cora a lot, the girl finally starting to warm up to him. Derek joined in conversations here and there, but mostly savoured the food his Pack had made, and watched over them fondly.

He had spent the previous six years in isolation, allowing himself to drown in guilt and loneliness. He thought that he deserved it. When he went to college, it wasn't for himself, it was to make Laura happy. When he joined the police academy, it was for others, to keep them safe, something he couldn't do for his family. Every time he felt content, he buried himself in paperwork or some other task that made him miserable. Because he didn't think he deserved to be happy. Then he met Stiles. The second his eyes fell on the boy, he knew. He knew that Stiles was his mate. Had Scott been alone, Derek would have probably kept driving. But he couldn't. He couldn't resist the urge to talk to Stiles. To breathe in his scent. So he pulled over and offered his help. When he went home that night after burying his sister's body, he swore that he wouldn't start anything. He swore that he'd help Scott and Stiles, he'd take down the alpha, then he'd leave. The night of the full moon, he told Scott that they were brothers now, and the scent of Stiles' disappointment made his chest ache. Derek couldn't stay away from him. He'd park outside of the school for hours, listening to Stiles' voice and heartbeat. He told himself that it was to make sure the boy didn't lose control, but he knew that it was more than that.

The night Derek stayed with Stiles, in his bed, watching movies and eating junk food, Derek knew he was too far gone. He couldn't leave now. Not after knowing Stiles, after holding him in his arms. He couldn't let go. Then Stiles said the word. Mate. He claimed Derek as his. Derek could never walk away. He wouldn't. Then Stiles told Derek that he loved him. Derek's heart stopped. First in pure happiness, then in worry. Worry that he didn't mean it, but he did. Oh, he really did. He saw his mate take on protecting the Pack, caring for them, loving them, unconditionally. The best part was that Stiles didn't give himself up to do it. He grew, but still remained himself. Remained passionate, loyal, sarcastic, and stubborn. Some of those traits frustrated Derek, but he couldn't imagine Stiles any other way.

Then came the group date, and Derek met people who would later become a part of his Pack. Derek didn't really like Jackson back then, the arrogant, rich boy who was used to getting everything he wanted, but he understands now. The teen was just protecting himself, the mask of self confidence, the rich douchebag facade, it was to protect himself from being hurt. Derek worried for Lydia when she started to show her true self. He worried that Jackson would break her heart, that he'd leave the genius because he wanted the shallow, idiot girl. Derek learnt the truth though, he saw the way Jackson would look at Lydia, the love in his eyes, pure love. He watched Jackson let down his walls and show the Pack the real him. The good sides and the bad. Derek watched as Jackson slowly, piece by piece, took off his mask. Became himself, and let himself love the Pack, and accepted the love that they felt for him. Jackson, his beta. The determined, driven, cunning and loyal boy, finally free from the people trying to buy his love. Finally at home with his family, free from disguises.

He wasn't the only one who used to wear a mask, though. Lydia did too. Her mask was the most intricate of all, Jackson's hid almost all of himself, Lydia's only covered parts of her. She showed the fashionable, independant, leader side of herself. She hid the genius, caring, passionate side, with a vain, stupid, uncaring mask. She fooled so many people, even her parents and Jackson, but not Stiles or Allison. They knew. They saw the light inside of her. The humanity that she fought to cover. Derek didn't see it at first, and allowed himself to worry that Stiles still had feelings for the girl. Then came the day after Lydia and Jackson were attacked by Peter. The books, her attitude towards them, Stiles was right. There was more to the girl. So much more. Derek saw her determination to learn how to defend herself. He saw her thirst for knowledge. Her loyalty towards the Pack, even after her ties to them got her injured. Multiple times. He saw her efforts and caution every time someone new joined the Pack. He saw her relief when she finally found out what she was. He saw the worry and self doubt on her face when Chris asked what she was. He saw the guilt in her eyes after she was forced to bring Peter back to life. He saw her worried glances whenever the man was near. He saw that worry ease when the man did nothing. He saw her clutch the necklace that Allison gave her for her birthday. She'd clutch it whenever she was nervous or worried, and just smile.

Allison was a sweetheart from the beginning, she still is, now she's just more prepared to defend herself, and others. Derek watched her grow into that role. She took learning about the supernatural in stride. She had only known about it for a few minutes when she stood up to her father. When she defended them. She chose Pack over family when her own mother threatened to kick her out. She embraced the Pack, and didn't let it change her. She still remained friendly and kind and strong and brave, yet gained a hidden darker side. The side reserved for defending her Pack. And her mates.

Scott. Scott has probably grown the most. From the floppy haired boy who refused to believe what was happening to him. His stubbornness and determination to have a normal life is what made the change so difficult for him in the beginning. The person he became amazes Derek and fills him with pride. This confident, outgoing person. So brave and loyal to Pack. Yet like the others, he didn't lose himself. He kept his morals and was completely against hurting people if it could be avoided but Derek knew that if it came down to it, Scott would defend the Pack with his life.

Soon after the start of the Pack was established, Erica came along. The insecure, epilepsy ridden girl. So scared to live, to trust. Convinced that she'd never find friends who accepted her for who she was. He remembered her nervousness and unsurity at the start of their Pack day out, her worry that was all an act. Then, over time, Derek watched her grow more comfortable and at home with the Pack. He watched her fight alongside the Pack, when she was still human. He saw the guilt in her eyes in Lydia's hospital room, he saw the hope when he told her that he could turn her. He saw her determination when she explained why she wanted to turn. Why she needed to turn. He never regretted turning her. Not for a second. She was so much happier now. Far more confident and daring. During Pack nights, the girl would often babble about all of the things that she wanted to do. All of the places that she wanted to go. And Derek couldn't wait to take her, and the rest of the Pack, there. Watch them do everything they had ever dreamed of doing.

Isaac, the second person Derek turned. The broken, abused boy, with a big heart. He didn't deserve what he'd been through. None of them did. But Isaac... Isaac had literally been tortured. Left in a freezer for days at a time, beaten almost daily, he didn't deserve it, yet he's still suffering from it. He can't handle small spaces. Which is part of the reason why he has the largest space out of all of them, the largest bedroom, bathroom, and second largest walk in wardrobe. Other than the claustrophobia, he had done well to overcome what his father had put him through. He was seeing Morrell for any lingering PTSD, which Derek was grateful for. He didn't want any of his Pack to lock inside their emotions, like he had. He didn't want them suffering. Isaac is probably the most determined person in the Pack. Determined to better himself, to defend his Pack, to move past everything that's happened to him.

Boyd was the one Derek was unsure about turning. Derek wanted Boyd in his Pack, but the boy didn't need to turn. He just needed friendship. A family. Which Derek was more than happy to give him. But the boy had been determined to turn, so Derek did. And he hasn't regretted it at all. Yes, Boyd had a little trouble on the full moon, but he was a great wolf. His speed, his strength, his senses. All of it. Derek watched as Boyd fell in love with Erica, then Cora. He watched the boy come out of his shell, little by little. He was still the quietest of the Pack, but the others took that in their stride, and didn't let him sit out of activities. He watched the boy become at ease with the Pack, relax more, and start to call the Pack his family.

Danny. Derek didn't like Danny at first. Sure, it was mainly jealousy, but still. Then Danny revealed that he knew what they were, worrying Derek slightly, but the hacker soon proved himself trustworthy to the Pack. He proved that he was on the Pack's side. On Derek's side. Since then, the boy had become part of the Pack.

Derek was incredibly happy, thinking he had everything he'd ever need. Then he found Cora. Cora, his sister. He had mourned her, there was a gravestone with her name on it in Beacon Hills Cemetery. Well, there used to be until Derek had it ripped out and recrafted into a lovely birdbath. Cora had been alive, all that time. Living with another Pack. Mourning him. He had missed six years of her life. He missed her growing up into a strong, smart, independent young woman. Their mother and Laura would have been so proud. What he did get to witness, was her falling in love. Joining the Pack, making friends, and kicking the crap out of Peter.

Peter was still a flight risk in Derek's eyes. A killer. A monster. But Derek decided, after consulting his Pack, to give the man another chance. This was his uncle after all. One of his two remaining biological family members. It pained him to look at his sister's killer, but as much as he hated it, he understood the man. The grief at losing everyone he loved. Losing himself. None of them are the same people they were before, not even Cora. Laura hadn't been either. Losing Pack changed them, but he and Cora were given the chance to reinvent themselves back in Beacon Hills, with a new Pack. It was only fair that Peter be given that same chance.

It was the same for the twins. Derek still didn't trust them. He trusted their words, and their promises, but he didn't trust them. Not after what they did to Stiles. Derek kept a close eye on them. He saw Aiden's hesitancy to join in conversations, the guilty looks he sent Stiles. Good, Derek thought, he should feel guilty. He should be kept awake at night by his guilt, but he also deserves a chance to make it right. As did Ethan. Ethan, who was clearly head over heels for Danny. Who Danny clearly had feelings for. Even if the twins did prove themselves, Derek doubted he'd ever truly forgive them for hurting Stiles, but maybe he could learn to accept them. Maybe even trust them.

Just like he came to trust Chris and Victoria. Hunters. Yes, Victoria was a werewolf now, but she had been raised as a hunter. Raised to hate what they are. She even kicked her own daughter out of the house for being in the Pack. Derek remembers that night. He remembers hearing Allison call Stiles, asking to spend the night. He remembers her standing on the doorstep, reluctant to follow Stiles into the house, crying her eyes out, apologising over and over again for 'being an inconvenience'. That was the night he came to truly hate the Argents. Yes, he hated Kate and what she stood for, but he didn't blame the entire family, not completely at least. But that night, seeing the girl so heartbroken and vulnerable, made Derek hate Victoria. He warmed up to Chris though. Chris proved himself to Derek. First when helping them cover up Kate's death, then when he showed up, begging for a second chance to be a good father.

When Victoria turned, Derek was dubious about helping her. She had tried to kill Allison, mistaking her for a werewolf. She told Gerard all about the Pack, and tried to kill them multiple times. However, it seemed that being bitten was the eye opener the woman needed. Turning made Victoria a better mother to Allison, a better wife to Chris and a good friend to Derek, Melissa and John. She wasn't quite Pack, her own guilt preventing her completely forming bonds with them, but it was enough to keep her from reaching Omega status, and she was happy.

Melissa, Scott's mum, a nurse. In all honesty, the only reason Derek wanted Scott to tell Melissa about the supernatural was so that the woman could help the Pack out when they were injured. He didn't expect to consider the woman a friend, much less, Pack. The woman was funny, caring and made for good company. Plus, she made John happy.

John, Stiles' dad. The man had become a father figure to Derek too. Sure, sometimes it was awkward, seeing as the man was also his boss, but Derek didn't care. He was Pack to Derek.

Pack. Derek's Pack. Derek had been convinced he'd never have a Pack again. Never have a real home again. Never fall in love again. Never be loved again. He was sure that he'd never stop blaming himself. Derek was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong.

He can't even fathom life without his new Pack. Yes, he loved and missed family, but he no longer let the mourning take over his life. He allowed himself to live, not just exist.

His Pack made it possible.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"No!"

"It isn't optional, Cora. You're going!"

"But Derek!"

"Don't 'but Derek' me! You don't have a choice, you won't change my mind."

"I am not going."

"Yes, you are."

"No!"

"This isn't an argument, Cora. You're going, and that's that."

"What's going on?" Scott asked Stiles, as he and his mates walked into the house after their date. "What's Derek making her do?"

"Go to school." Stiles chuckled, watching the siblings argue. "Cora's upset 'cause she was homeschooled in South America, but Derek wants her going to lowly public school with the rest of us."

"Oh,"

Isaac laughed, earning him a glare from Cora. "Come on, Cor, it's not that bad."

"Yeah," Allison agreed with a nod and reassuring smile. "Besides, this way you can spend all day with Boyd and Erica. Plus, we get to threaten anyone who says something bad about our Pack."

Cora went to protest, but Derek's firm glare, and the hopeful look from Allison made her change her mind. "Fine." She sighed, folding her arms over her chest. "But if I have so much as one class without another Pack member in it, I'm dropping out."

"Fair enough."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Erica modeled a pair of skintight, distressed, black jeans for Allison, Cora, Lydia and Stiles. The five were picking out outfits for the first day of Junior Year, the next week. Well, Allison, Erica and Lydia were, Cora and Stiles were just roped in. "What d'ya think?"

"I think you might wanna put a shirt on if you plan to wear those in public." Stiles stated, gesturing to the blondes red lacy bra.

"I agree." Cora stated with a slight shrug. "I personally love it, but I'm going to have to fight people to keep them away from you. It'll be be hard enough as it is, so I'm gonna have to vote shirt."

"Hey, at least you've got Boyd to help you fight." Lydia pointed out, searching through a pile of clothes. "Anyway, Erica, yes to the jeans."

"Thank you." Erica smiled, rolling her eyes at Cora and Stiles, beginning her hunt for a top. "Besides, Cor, It's Boyd and I who will have to fight people over you. You're new, gorgeous and just dangerous enough to be the attractive kind of scary."

"It's true." Allison smiled, removing her own shirt. "However, you're starting at the beginning of the year, so you shouldn't attract too much attention."

"You're just happy that you're not the 'new girl' any more." Stiles smirked knowingly.

"Very true. Oh, Cora, try this." Allison all but demanded, tossing a tank top to the girl.

"Why am I even here?" Stiles asked, flopping down onto Cora's bed. "Why aren't I in Jackson's room, with the others?"

"Because, we're going to sort out your hair." Lydia stated with a distasteful look on her face. "The good news is, now that it's longer, you don't look twelve anymore. The bad news is, you need to style it now. So we're going to pick a look for you, then teach you how to do it."

Stiles groaned in annoyance, and the girls simply smirked at him.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

A few nights later, it was the full moon. Thankfully, that one went without complications. With everyone in control, Derek decided to take everyone outside, now that the police force knew about the supernatural, Derek was free to have every full moon off of work without question.

The Pack were running around the training clearing, all of the wolves in full shift. Melissa, Chris, Jake, Hayley and Sheila were sitting on a fallen log, in the corner of the clearing, watching and chatting idly. John and Richard couldn't be there as they both had to work. Allison, Lydia and Danny were running around with the wolves, seemingly playing tag. Peter was amongst the wolves, but the twins weren't. They had been invited, unfortunately the alpha Pack wanted to discuss their progress with the Pack, and work on their plan.

Danny clearly missed Ethan, but he knew that it was better for the Pack. They need allies against the alpha Pack, who better than insiders?

After a while, an auburn furred wolf broke free of the group, and trotted over to the adults. Chris immediately recognised his wife and smiled. The wolf grew closer, and once she reached the trio she lay down, resting her head in her husband's lap. The man chuckled, and began petting her head.

Hearing a loud laugh, Chris looked up to see his daughter on wolf Isaac's back, her arms wrapped around the wolf's neck as he ran, the wolf Chris recognised as Scott running next to them. Victoria let out a strange bark, that Chris assumed was a laugh. Next to him, Melissa called out for them to be careful. Lydia and Danny seemed to think it looked fun, as they quickly climbed on a wolf each. Lydia went to Jackson, and Danny went to Boyd. A few meters away, Cora playfully tackled Derek, and the siblings started to wrestle.

Suddenly, Victoria sat up and gave Chris a look that could only be described as mischievous. She ran off, and before Chris could react, her head was nudging at his back. "No." The hunter chuckled. "No, Victoria." She didn't quit though, and minutes later, Chris was on the wolf's back, moving at an incredible speed. Not long after, Isaac was running beside them, Allison on his back.

"Race ya!" Allison yelled, and Isaac sped ahead, Victoria immediately sped up to overtake him.

Victoria won the race, though it was a close call. Shortly after, Allison switched to Scott's back, challenging her parents to another race, which Scott won.

"Where are they going?" Chris asked as he and his daughter walked to the tree stump half an hour later. He gestured over his shoulder to the wolves who were trotting off into the woods.

"Hunting." Allison stated casually, internally giggling at the look of shock on her father's face.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Two large tables had been pushed together in the diner. The Pack were devouring the mountain of food, feeling ravenous after the energetic night of running under the full moon. Stiles wouldn't be surprised if the diner staff now hated them, but it was worth it.

"Hey blondie, pass the salt!" Jackson called across the table.

"I'll trade you for the ketchup, Jackass." Erica replied, holding up the salt in offering. Her mother wrinkled her nose.

"Ketchup with breakfast?" She asked, and Erica just shrugged as Jackson spoke.

"Deal."

"Wait, I want ketchup." Danny protested, and Jackson looked torn, not noticing the smile playing on his best friend's lips.

"Your choice Whittemore." Erica smirked, shaking the salt slightly. "How badly do you want the salt?"

"Sorry Danny." Jackson stated, handing the ketchup to Erica, who slid over the salt.

"Y'know, I wouldn't have minded waiting, if Danny used it first." Erica told him honestly, ignoring Jackson's glare in favour of drowning her food in ketchup. Stiles chuckled as Danny mockingly berated Jackson until Erica passed him the bottle. Stiles looked to his dad, Melissa, Chris, Victoria and Peter. The adults were all getting along rather well, despite the glares between Peter and the Argents, though that was expected.

"Hey, dude!" Scott called out, gaining Stiles' attention. "What's for dinner tonight?"

"You haven't even finished this meal, and you're asking about dinner?" Melissa asked incredulously.

"Actually, I'd like to know too." Isaac admitted sheepishly. Jackson was the next to agree, then Erica.

"Well, most of us will be eating the Deer that we caught last night." Stiles stated casually, heart rate even. "Whoever doesn't want that can order pizza."

"You're eating raw deer that's been left outside all night?" John asked in a hushed, disgusted voice, causing the wolves to laugh.

"Of course not, we skinned and prepared them when we got in last night, they've been stewing in slow cookers all night." Derek explained, an excited smile on his face. "I haven't had Deer in a long time."

Cora grinned in agreement. "I had some about a year ago, in South America, but the Deer here were always so much better." She licked her lips, then stuffed a forkful of fries into her mouth. "The one Boyd got last night looked pretty good."

"That one had the most meat." Stiles agreed, enjoying the fact that all of the wolves were hanging on their every word, all over deer. "Took the longest to prepare, but something tells me that it'll be worth it."

"Will you be joining us for dinner tonight, Victoria?" Derek asked politely, and the woman readily agreed.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"I love Deer."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Hand to hand was Jackson's favourite way to fight. It just felt right to him. Fair. Anything that included distance or long ranged weapons felt wrong to Jackson. Fighting is personal. Up close.

That's why he was very pissed off when he was shot in the arm with a wolfsbane laced arrow. Then in the back. Then twice again in the arm. The hunter who had shot him was at least half a kilometer away. Jackson did his best to avoid the incoming arrows, but he was continuously nicked and cut. With each shot the hunter stepped closer to Jackson. With each shot, Jackson found himself growing weaker. The hunter was less than a meter away, aiming an arrow at Jackson. The wolf fell to his knees, eyes glowing amber. He glared up at the hunter defiantly, then let out the loudest howl that he could muster. He held it as long as he could, before a foot smashed down on his nose.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Blue eyes. Jackson now had blue eyes. The wolf curled up against Lydia, his mate, his everything, finding comfort in her embrace.

He didn't have a choice. The hunter was one of Gerard's men, he had escaped from prison mere hours before attacking Jackson. He took Jackson to one of Argents old warehouses. It didn't take long for the Pack to find him, unfortunately, the hunter had planned ahead. He wasn't working alone. The second his Pack stepped foot in the building, they were swarmed by hunters. They had defended themselves, and freed Jackson, but the hunters weren't giving up. They attacked, again and again. Then, in the blink of an eye, everything froze.

Jackson was face to face with the hunter that had attacked him. The hunter in question had Lydia captive. His gun pressed to the back of her skull, if anyone made a move, he could pull the trigger. He could kill Lydia. The Hunter turned with Lydia still in his grasp so that he was facing Derek. He began to threaten and insult the Alpha, but Jackson couldn't focus on that. All he could hear was his Mate's heart racing in fear. All he could see was the gun being held against her head.

No.

Not her.

Not Lydia.

Jackson's vision turned red, but he held himself back. Until Derek lengthened his claws. Seeing the look on his alpha's face, Jackson knew. They couldn't get Lydia back. Not without killing the hunter. Derek planned to do it. To keep his beta's from having to carry that burden, but Jackson couldn't just stand back and let someone threaten his mate. He couldn't. So he launched himself forwards at the hunters back. He didn't hesitate to grab the hunters wrist, and as the man's finger began to press down on the trigger, Jackson slashed his other hand over the man's throat. Jackson ripped the gun from his hand and tossed the body away from Lydia. Things around him were seemingly frozen as he embraced Lydia and breathed in her scent, until the body hit the ground with a thud.

After that, there was another fight, a couple more hunters died, but not by Jackson's hands. Derek and Chris killed the others. The remainder agreed to abide by the treaty, mainly because they only just found out that it existed.

Apparently Gerard neglected to tell them about it. Now that they know, they agreed to abide by it. Obviously, they weren't going to stop hunting, but Jackson was surprisingly unfazed by that. He felt bad for people like him out there that were being killed and tortured, but he was glad that it wasn't any of his Pack.

He knew that it was cruel and selfish, that those people had their whole lives ahead of them, but that's just the way it was.

He couldn't stand the thought of losing his Pack. His family. It would destroy him. Jackson clenched his eyes shut, trying to force back the tears that were forming.

"Hey." Lydia's tired, but comforting, voice spoke up and her hand started running through his soft, unstyled hair. "It's okay, Jacks. I'm here. You're okay. We're okay."

"I'm a killer, Lydia." Jackson all but sobbed, and looked up at Lydia, with glowing blue eyes. Lydia was looking at him with tear filled eyes. "He'd never killed anybody Lyd. I killed him without hesitating! I'm a monster. Scott hates me." Jackson tried to hide his face again, but Lydia stopped him. She grabbed his face and forced him to sit up and look at her. When they were sat, facing each other, Lydia spoke.

"You are not a monster, Jackson." Lydia stated firmly, she still had tears rolling down her face, but she also looked a little angry. "You had to do it, Jackson. I would have died if you hadn't. Scott was just feeling overly moral. He'll think it over, realise he was wrong, and apologise tomorrow. The fact that you feel guilty, just proves that you are still you! And maybe the hunter hadn't killed anybody yet, but he was about to kill me, Jackson. Would you rather have yellow eyes and a dead mate, or blue eyes, and me alive, spending my entire life with you, getting married, starting a family."

"I'll always pick you." Jackson stated as more tears fell. "I want to spend my life with you. I want to marry you, have children with you, grow old with you. But that doesn't change what I am."

"What you are, is a werewolf, and my mate." Lydia said calmly, her hands were still holding his face and she pulled him closer. "Scott will get over himself and things will be normal again. You and I will continue going strong. We'll face whatever comes our way, we'll graduate, go to college, get married, maybe build our own house on the property, have children-" She stopped suddenly and shook her head. "We'll have half werewolf, half banshee babies." Lydia commented with a chuckle.

"The tantrums will be fun." Jackson stated sarcastically, leaning forward and pressing his forehead to Lydia's. "But we'll handle it."

"Yes we will." She smiled. "Together."

When they went downstairs for breakfast the next morning, Derek immediately wrapped his arms around Jackson in a comforting hug. "I never wanted any of you to carry that burden." He muttered in the beta's ear, breathing in the boy's scent.

"I saw that you were going to do it." Jackson admitted softly, just loud enough for the humans to hear. "I knew you would have, but Lydia is my mate, mine to protect. I didn't want to, but I knew that I had to."

"I know." Derek assured, "You did the right thing."

"You did." Scott agreed, before hugging Jackson from behind. "I'm sorry I was a dick last night." The night before, Scott wouldn't look at Jackson, or talk to him, but the anger was clear in his scent. Thankfully, the next day, the scent was completely gone. "I was being horrible, and probably just made you feel worse. Honestly, if he had been threatening Allison or Isaac, I would have done the same thing." Jackson nodded, glad that his Pack mate didn't hate him.

"Thank you, Scott."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Tattoo's. Of course it had to be tattoo's. Stiles bit back a groan at the thought. He hated needles, but he did want one. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be just needles for the wolves, Derek told them that it would heal, so they needed to do something else to make it permanent. They had to burn it onto themselves. With flamethrowers! Fun.

Although, Scott had it the worst, as he had opted to get two tattoos. A pair of bands wrapped around his left bicep and a triskele on his back, in the same place as Derek's. The adults of the Pack hadn't gotten any, but all of the teenagers did, even the humans. All triskele's, to represent their Pack. Some had gotten it in the same place as Derek, but not all of them. Erica, for example, had gotten hers on her left wrist, as had Lydia and Cora. Allison got hers on the back of her neck, Danny got his on his right shoulder blade. Stiles got his tattoo on his right wrist, yes, wrist tattoos were very painful, but he wanted it in a place that everyone could see. He wanted to show off his Pack's symbol.

"Pin him down." Derek ordered Boyd and Jackson, sending Stiles an apologetic look. "This'll hurt." He warned his mate. Stiles was the first to undergo flamethrower treatment, as he had volunteered, wanting to get it over and done with. Stiles grimaced as Derek lit the tool and carefully approached him.

Fuck.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Junior year, first day. Erica wasn't nervous at all this time. Derek's little pep talk/speech was pretty much the same as the last time, just varied slightly for the newer members of the Pack. A lot of freshmen were staring at the group. To be fair to their fellow students, the Pack did look like they were a part of a gang or something.

They were all wearing leather jackets, most black, but Allison's was brown and Erica's was red. Allison had her hair tied up, making her tattoo visible. Cora and Erica had their sleeves rolled up to their elbows, showing off their tattoos as well. There were whispers from their classmates, some about the tattoo's, some about Cora and some about the Pack in general. Erica's favourite rumour being spread was that they were mafia, getting weapons and things from Chris and being protected by the sheriff. That everything with Kate and Peter was all a part of mafia warfare, the Pack had wanted to take over, but the others didn't want that, so they divided and were now rivals.

Some people had also heard about the renovations in the hospital and believe that the Pack bought it for private medical emergencies, and that they had a private doctor, one who can cure asthma and epilepsy. Erica personally found it hilarious. Hearing rumors about herself and not being self conscious about them was new for her, but she really did not care about what random people thought about her anymore. Sure, if they said anything really nasty and defaming about her, she'd threaten them on principle, but it didn't keep her up at night anymore.

"-And no alcohol, it won't help." Derek ordered half heartedly. "Got it?"

"Yes alpha." Was chorused, drawing more looks from the people walking past.

"And no stealing my Reeses!" Stiles added with a half hearted glare, causing the Pack to chuckle. "I'm serious, okay?"

"Okay mum." Was called, without a single hint of sarcasm, a freshman walking by stopped suddenly and did a double take at Stiles.

Stiles glared at the boy and called out "Yeah they call me mum. Problem?!" Derek chuckled as the kid shook his head rapidly and scurried away.

"Alright, don't kill anyone and try to have fun." Derek smiled, then stole a kiss from Stiles before the Pack made their way into the school, calling goodbyes over their shoulders.

Their first class was English, one of the classes that the entire Pack had together, the poor teacher was screwed.

On the way to class, they passed the principal's offices and noticed the former principal in there. "Better than Gerard." Lydia commented and the others nodded in agreement. The man in question was discussing the applications for the new 'Career Adviser' with Victoria and saying that whatever happened to the library while he was gone needed to be fixed. He was searching through the desk when he suddenly held up a long sword and demanded to know: "What the hell is this!?" Victoria's eyes widened and she glanced over to the Pack and gestured for the Pack to walk away. Which they did, not staying to hear the excuse she would give.

The Pack made steady conversation on their way to class, only to stop suddenly when they walked in the room.

In the front row, sat next to each other, grinning at the Pack, were the twins.

"What are you doing here?" Stiles demanded in a hushed voice, taking the desk next to Aiden whilst glancing around at the other students who were filling the room.

"Deucalion made us." Ethan stated quietly, sending Danny a soft smile.

"He thinks it'll help us gain your trust." Aiden continued, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Don't worry, we won't do anything."

"We were sent here to monitor you, that's all."

Stiles frowned at them for a second, before sighing. "Alright, it makes sense, I guess. But you should have told us. Even if it was just texting Danny 'I'm gonna be going to school with you this year, smiley face, two kisses' Alright? This alliance isn't going to work if you keep things from us."

"We know, we're sorry." Aiden nodded seriously. "It won't happen again."

The Pack took their seats and waited for the teacher to arrive. It wasn't long until every phone in the class went off. The text was a passage from 'Heart of Darkness', sent by their new English teacher, Jennifer Blake. Things were going fine, at least at first.

Before the end of class, a flock of birds attacks the classroom. At first it was just a single bird flying into the window, dying on impact and startling the class. Then another one met the same fate. Soon, hundreds of birds were colliding with the glass, applying too much force for it to withstand. It wasn't long before Stiles noticed cracks appearing. "Everybody get down!" He yelled, just as the window shattered.

Glass rained over everybody as the birds filled the room. All of the wolves, the twins included, used themselves as shields over as many humans as they could. Their efforts caused them several cuts and scratches, but nothing too serious. After a few minutes, everything went still. After a moment's hesitation, everyone cautiously stood and looked around at the damage.

Black feathers, and bird blood and corpses splattered the room. Desks had been pushed over or out of place. Paper was skewed and shredded everywhere. Some people, mainly the wolves, had torn clothing. Thankfully though, no one was seriously hurt, but most people, the teacher included, were freaking out. Stiles tried to comfort the woman, but couldn't quite focus for two reasons. One, he wondered what caused the birds to act like that. Two, the woman didn't smell right. Her chemosignals were telling him a different story to the way she was acting, and her scent in general wasn't quite… right. She smelt human, but with something else thrown in. Something familiar, but he couldn't place it.

He shook his head slightly as the principal burst into the room, looking around in shock. It wasn't long before his father and his mate arrived to investigate, and the class was sent to their next lesson, being called out one by one to see Morrell.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"Close the door and take a seat Stiles." Morrell ordered as the lanky boy walked into her office. Stiles gave her a 'seriously?' look, but did it anyway. "What can you tell me about the incident?"

Stiles immediately nodded and launched into detail about what he'd learnt so far. "Well, first of all, this isn't the first strange incident involving animal behaviour this month. A few days ago, we were all driving home from getting tattoos. Lydia, Allison and Danny were in Lydia's car, Scott, Erica, Cora and I were in my Jeep, and Derek, Jackson, Boyd and Isaac were in Derek's car. We'd just stopped at a red light, and as we moved forward again, Erica and Scott started an argument over who, out of the two of them, had the hottest mates. The argument turned into a full on fight. Scott, who was in the passenger seat, was being hit repeatedly by Erica, who was in the seat behind me, with the heel of her six inch stiletto. So I did the responsible thing and stopped the car. Derek stops behind us. Lydia continued driving for a few seconds before realising we'd stopped. They were a little bit further up the road from us, and so distracted by looking back at us that they didn't notice the deer running up to them until it smashed the windshield!"

Morrell looked intrigued for a second, before she returned to her stoic state. "And have you researched it? Found out if it's common?"

"Yeah, I looked it up this morning."Stiles nodded, neglecting to mention the fact that he had mainly been researching it as a final, half assed, attempt to get out of school. "It's definitely not common. Yes, there have been a few Deer related car accidents in the area over the past few years, but nothing like this. They're all side of the road, or Deer running into the road incidents. Not one of them has the Deer running down the middle of the road towards the car."

"What else have you learnt?"

"The-uh, th-the birds." Stiles started, pulling his laptop out of his bag and opening it. "My dad said it seemed familiar, so he looked through his old cases- hang on." He paused as he found what he was after. "Here." He turned the screen towards Morrell. "Six years ago there was an incident involving birds at the hospital. This woman, sh-she was found in the woods, her face sliced. They took her into surgery and tried to save her. During the treatment a couple hundred birds flew into the window or the room. I-it's like they were-"

"Sacrificing themselves for her." Morrell finished knowingly. "This woman, what was her name?"

"Uh-, Julia B-"

"Julia Baccari."

"Yeah."

"She was a druid, Alpha Kali's emissary." The woman stated, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Is there anything else?"

Stiles nodded, and told her his bad feeling about Jennifer Blake. Once that was done, he finally got to talk about himself, finally let out all of the dark thoughts that had crept into his head.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

That night, the twins joined the Pack for training. They had discussed theories about what, or who, caused the incident earlier that day. However, they all drew blanks, so they got on with training, with Danny typing away on his laptop in a corner.

Unfortunately, the Pack 'forgot' to inform the twins of the wards that prevented the finding them with malicious intent, or leading the alpha Pack there. It's not that they distrusted or were suspicious of the twins, it was that they knew that, if forced to make the decision, the brothers would choose each other over the Pack. Which the Pack completely understood, as they'd all do the same. So, the Pack kept their passages and escape routes secret, and the twins did the same. No questions asked, no lies told.

The twins were good battle opponents for the Pack, showing the new strategy and defense methods they hadn't witnessed or learnt of. The Pack did the same for them. Both sides silently hoped to never have to seriously fight one another.

As Well as being worthy opponents, they made excellent teammates. Not only in their joined form, but individually, on opposing teams. When they were separated, they actually prefered to be on opposing sides. Derek noticed that they primarily fought each other. Derek supposed that it was for one of three reasons: 1) They could make sure the other didn't get seriously hurt, 2) They liked to fight and challenge each other for fun, or 3) It was a way to get rid of any tension or disagreements between them. Derek could understand number three. He and Laura did that a lot in New York. Derek had no doubt in his mind that he and Cora would too, someday.

After a few hours of training, Derek called an end to the session and announced that the wolves were now permitted to fully shift, which made the twins take on confused expressions.

Their confusion and surprise only grew when the wolves of the Pack started stripping right in front them. They then knew how others felt when they strip off to merge. Ethan gasped and Aiden's eyes shot wide as one by one, the Hale Pack started shifting into real wolves. Soon all the werewolves, except Derek and the twins, had shifted and the Hale Pack alpha smirked at the twins.

"Do you want to learn how to do this?" He asked and the brothers nodded quickly.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"They're hiding something!" Kali sneered at Deucalion, who was looking bored with the conversation. "We can't trust them!"

"I agree with Kali," Ennis informed the blind alpha. "Something is going on, and I don't think we can count on them anymore."

"You're right, we can't trust them. We can, however, still use them..." Deucalion stated in a calm voice that irked the other two alphas, then turned towards Kali and all-but growled. "To clean up your mess."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

A few nights later, Derek and the teenaged members of his Pack attended a house party, to celebrate Heather's birthday. A fair amount of people were already there when the Pack arrived, most of them from Heather's school, but there were a few familiar faces from BHHS. Such as Danielle, who was Heather's best friend. The pair were chatting animatedly, until Heather noticed the new arrivals. "Stiles!" She greeted cheerfully, bounding over and hugging the boy.

"Hey! There's the birthday girl!" He beamed, as she approached and embraced her in a bear hug.

"I'm so glad that you could make it!"

"Of course." Stiles grinned as they pulled away, then gestured to his boyfriend. "You remember Derek, right?"

"Of course, it's good to see you again, thank you for coming." She babbled and held out her hand. Derek shook it, sending the girl a soft smile and a small nod. Stiles then went on to introduce the rest of his Pack.

Once the introductions were done, Heather politely asked if Stiles could help her pick out a bottle of wine, and he had agreed. Once they were in the cellar, with the door firmly shut behind them, Heather spoke up.

"I need to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"Well, as you know, I just turned seventeen today." She began nervously, staring at the ground as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "And, the thing I want more than anything, to be blunt, is to not be a virgin anymore."

Stiles' face jumped to an expression of surprise. "Oh."

"Yeah, and I was originally going to ask you to do it with me, but, obviously, you're in a relationship. So now I'm asking, as a friend, if you could help me find someone. All the guys at my school would call me a slut and tell everyone. I also don't want to go out and do some random guy who won't bother trying to make sure that it's as pleasant for me as possible. So, I decided to ask you to help me find someone who will be patient, understanding and won't make me feel uncomfortable. You're a great judge of character, so.."

"Yeah, I'll look. Do you mind if I tell Derek, though?" Stiles asked hopefully. "I don't want him to see me talking to cute guys and get the wrong idea."

"Yeah, of course, I don't want to cause any trouble for the two of you." Heather assured quickly, then paused thoughtfully before adding. "You can also tell Danny, if you'd like. He's got to know a few nice guys who are bi or straight."

Stiles chuckled and nodded. "Probably." He agreed as Heather turned and pulled a bottle of wine off of the shelf.

"Here, could you take this upstairs for me? I'll be up in a minute." Heather asked, holding out the bottle, which Stiles took from her.

"Sure, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just that my feet are killing me." Heather assured the wolf honestly. "I just want to take a moment to get out of these killer heels." The blonde giggled, causing Stiles to smile at her.

"Do you want me to wait down here with you?" He asked, but the girl shook her head.

"No, go dance with your boyfriend and deliver the wine, I won't be long."

"Alright," Stiles smiled, taking a step backwards towards the stairs. "I'll see you in a minute."

"See you in a minute." Heather replied with a smile. She waited until Stiles had gone upstairs to kick her shoes off. She sunk to the floor and inspected the newly formed blisters. She groaned in slight pain, as she accidently pressed down on one of them. "This is why I don't wear heels." She groaned to herself, massaging her foot, not that it helped.

The girl froze when she heard a noise, then began looking around the room. "Hello?" She called out nervously. "Who's there?" She rose to her feet and backed towards the nearest wall. Suddenly, a bottle of wine shot off of the shelf, smashing to shards right by her feet. Heather shrieked in fear, taking a step backwards. Another bottle flew out and smashed, so Heather took another step back. Then it happened again, and again, and again.

Soon enough, Heather was standing below a window, her back pressed to the wall, and she had shards of glass stuck in her feet. Her heart was racing at a mile a minute. The window above her smashed and Heather felt something wrap around her neck, cutting off her air supply.

Heather struggled to break free, to breath, then she was hit over the head. She felt her world going dark, and right before she blacked out, she heard a familiar voice call out her name.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Two nights later, Stiles collapsed in exhaustion on Lydia's bedroom floor.

"Are you okay?" Lydia asked, a hint of amusement seeping into her voice as she flopped onto her bed.

"Yeah, just tired." Stiles sighed, allowing his eyes to rest for a moment. "How about you, though? You're the one who found that guy." He pointed out, forcing himself to sit up, so that he could properly look at the redhead.

"I'm okay." She smiled slightly. "I didn't fight the pull this time." She admitted, a pleased smile on her face. "I let the voices guide me, and I got there in time. I saw that… thing. It was strangling him, and it was about to slit his throat." The girl shuddered at the memory before her smile returned. "But then I shot it, and it ran off, I saved him. If I had arrived just a few minutes later, it'd be too late." She looked Stiles in the eyes, unable to contain her smile. "I didn't fight it, and I got there in time. I helped save his life!" Stiles grinned back at the girl, feeling his heart warming at the look of pure happiness on her face. "And it feels… so good."

"Yeah, it does." Stiles grinned, wrapping the girl in a hug. They weren't sure how long they stayed like that, but they broke apart when Jackson jumped in through the window. The pair greeted the beta, who smiled at them.

"He's stabilized." Was the first thing he said, walking over and greeting Lydia with a kiss. "You did good tonight."

"Well." Stiles corrected without thinking, causing Jackson to look at him in slight annoyance and confusion.

"Well… What?"

"It's 'did well' not good." Stiles pointed out, earning him a giggle from Lydia and a glare from Jackson. "I'm gonna go." He stated after an awkward pause, gesturing towards the window. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He waved goodbye, then jumped out of the window.

He landed in an easy crouch, right in front of Mrs Martin. The woman in question shrieked and jumped backwards, her heart racing in fright. "Stiles!" She gasped with a glare. "First Jackson, now you?"

"Sorry Mrs. Martin." Stiles apologised sheepishly, standing up straight.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Call me Natalie." The woman insisted kindly.

"Alright Mrs- Natalie." Stiles smiled at the woman, then noticed the shopping bags in the woman's hands. "Oh, do you need help carrying anything?"

"That would be great thanks, there are more bags in the car." He helped the woman with the bags before leaving the property, and making his way to the sheriff's station.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"Okay, so the girl and the lifeguard. Both strangled, hit over the head and almost had their throats slit. What's the connection?" Sheriff Stilinski thought aloud in the station, as he pinned their pictures to the investigation board. There was a moment of silence as everyone thought, some people typing away.

"They're different genders, ages, go to different schools, and live in different areas of the town. It seems random, but the cause of death is too precise. Too personal. The actions are close contact, meaning the killer wanted them to suffer. That's too personal to be random." Derek stated, a thoughtful and confused expression on his face. He was leaning against his desk, as Stiles occupied the chair, scribbling furiously in a notepad.

Theories were bounced around, some people would say what they were doing, search wise, while typing on their computers. This went on for a few minutes, but so far nothing had come up.

Suddenly, Stiles' head shot up and he all but yelled. "I've got it!" Around him, all conversation stopped, and all eyes shot to him. "They're both virgins!" He scrambled to his feet, sending the chair rolling backwards as he rushed to the board. "The lifeguard, uh, Kieran, h-he had a purity ring on! And I know that Heather's a virgin! She told me herself, but you can't tell her that I told you that. Anyway, it all makes sense now!"

Stiles was grinning wildly, but everybody else looked confused. "How exactly does it all make sense?" Tara asked curiously, leaning forward slightly.

"They were supposed to be sacrifices! The method the, uh, th-the thing tried to use, had they succeeded, would have been a threefold death. I read about it a while ago!" Stiles babbled as the employee's in the station hung on his every word, or the ones that they could make out at least. "But this sort of thing would require experience, deep, deep knowledge of magic and things. Li-like a-a-a-a,-"

"A druid." Derek stated knowingly and Stiles nodded.

"Yeah, you totally just stole my thunder, but yes. Kinda." Stiles stated turning back to the board, pointing to the question mark "This person started off as a druid, but now with the sacrifices and general badness, they've gone dark. Deaton told me that 'Druid' in Gaelic means 'Wise Oak' and Morrell told me today that a-a druid gone dark, is known as 'dark oak' and the Gaelic have a word for that as well…" He stated and picked up the board pen and wrote: "D-A-R-A-C-H-" He then underlined the word and turned to face the group of people, hanging on his every word. "Darach."

"Okay, that's all great," Deputy Posey spoke up gesturing to the board. "But how do we find this Darach thingy? I mean, they're human right? So how are we supposed to pick them out of a crowd."

"I actually have a theory about who it could be." He stated. "Six years ago this woman, Julia Baccari, was the emissary for Alpha Kali's Pack. When Deucalion came along, Kali chose to kill her entire Pack, including her Emissary. Rumour has it, though, that Kali and Julia were very close. Deaton, Morrell and I have theorised, via text, that perhaps Kali couldn't bring herself to deliver that final blow. Instead, she left her for dead. Julia, probably using magic, was able to stay alive long enough for help to get there." Stiles stated then gestured wildly towards his father. "The sheriff, then deputy, was the first one on scene."

"I was the one to find her, actually." John corrected, a hard to read expression on his face. "I was searching through the woods, looking for any clues in the Hale case, when I heard this… cry, kind of. It was strange, garbled. So I followed where it came from and I found her. She was leant against this huge tree stump. Her face was bloodied and cut us, part of her mouth was missing too. She barely even looked human. I called for an ambulance and back-up, and the woman, Julia was taken into surgery. It was during that surgery that things got strange." He stated, ignoring a deputy's remark of 'the chopped up face wasn't strange?' and continued. "Julia was dying, the doctors couldn't get her stabalised. Then suddenly, birds started flying into the windows, the more birds that flew into the window, the better Julia got. It makes sense now They were sacrificing themselves for her."

"So, the birds at the school, those were sacrifices too?" Deputy Deeks asked, as he wrote in a notebook.

"Yeah."

"So who was in the classroom?" The deputy asked thoughtfully, and Stiles picked up on what the man was thinking.

"The teenaged members of the Hale Pack, the twins, a dozen students and the teacher." John stated, purposely say 'the twins' rather than 'the alpha twins'. The staff obviously knew all about the twins, but the other Alpha's might be listening. And they needed the Alpha's convinced that the twins were actually undercover as omega's with the Pack.

"So, it could be a warning to the Pack and/or the twins, or the darach was in the room." Deputy Deeks suggested and Stiles nodded in agreement.

"That makes sense." Stiles stated. "Julia is probably powerful enough to glamour herself. We should do background checks on everyone in that room. I'd focus on anyone who came to town in the past six years, mainly caucasian females, but not exclusively. She could have made herself appear any age, gender, colour, anything."

John nodded in agreement and added, "Also, look for any similarities in their lives. Anything, birthdays, parents names, mother's maiden name-"

"Initials?" Derek cut in suddenly, and John nodded, so he asked. "Stiles, what did you say your english teacher's name was?"

Stiles' eyes widened in realisation. "Jennifer Blake. I knew there was something off about her."

"Alright, get me everything we got on Jennifer Blake!" John Stilinski ordered and all of his employer scurried to work. Stiles also moved to set up his laptop, but his dad pulled him back using the collar of his shirt. "Not you!"

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Cora was sitting in maths class, bored out of her mind. Why couldn't Derek let her be homeschooled? Maths was her least favourite class for multiple reasons. 1) She really didn't understand it. 2) Neither of her mates were there with her, and 3) The teacher was a bitch. Sure, Cora had a habit of provoking the woman, and annoying her class, except for Lydia. Lydia was the only other member of the Hale Pack in that class. It was an advanced class, Allison, Danny and Stiles were also taking advanced Maths but in a different classroom and with a different teacher. Cora wasn't really suited for the advanced class and was only in there because she refused to be in a class without a Pack member, and all of the other classes were full. So Derek had pulled some strings to get her in there.

Cora wasn't exactly pleased about that, but she dealt with it. She glanced over to the teacher, who was writing on the board and babbling on about something, then to Lydia, who was rapidly scribbling down her notes.

Thank goodness for Lydia's notes. Cora didn't want to think about how many classes she'd be failing if it wasn't for Lydia and her notes.

Cora smiled slightly, then glanced to the clock on the wall. The girl bit back a groan when she noticed that she still had over half an hour of lesson left, she gritted her teeth and tried to distract herself. Cora casually started drumming her pencil against the desk, she could sense the annoyance of the teacher and several of her classmates at the action, but she carried on anyway.

"Miss Hale." The teacher snapped after almost five minutes, glaring at the girl.

"Yeah?"

"It's your turn to solve the equation on the board." The woman smirked, Cora wasn't the best at maths, but even she could tell that it was an advanced problem. Something that they hadn't even begun to cover yet.

Cora didn't allow her nerves to show, however. She simply sent Lydia a look that the girl would understand as a request for help.

"Don't worry." Lydia whispered at a tone so low that Cora barely heard her. "I'll talk you through it." With Lydia's guidance, Cora was done in less than two minutes. The brunette set down the chalk, clapped the dust off of her hands, and smirked at the seething teacher, then strutted back to her seat.

Cora sent a grateful look, and a playful wink to Lydia, who was trying to hide her smile and amused expression.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

"So, you cheated?" Derek glared at his sister, once the girl had shamelessly recounted the events to him.

"I prefer to think of it as teamwork." Cora smiled, which just caused Derek's glare to intensify. "After, all, isn't that what Pack is all about?"

"Cora!" Derek growled, but before he could say anything else, Allison poked her head into the room.

"Sorry to interrupt," The Huntress blatantly lied "but Cora, it's time for studying." Cora grinned at the huntress and quickly left the room.

Group study sessions were a new thing for the Pack. At the end of the previous school year, according to Stiles, they had avoided them, thinking that it'd be pointless as everyone would get distracted. They were all proven wrong when a Pack night turned into a rapid study fest for an english surprise quiz the next day.

They had found out about it when Danny had found a file in Jennifer/Julia's cloud storage, containing questions about the book they were reading for class. It turned out to be their most productive study session up until that point.

They should have guessed it would work out like that. Lydia, Stiles, Allison, Erica and Danny were usually the tutors, but they all had trouble keeping some members of the Pack focused.

For example, Allison was the go-to girl for French, but she had a difficult time getting Erica, Jackson and Stiles to focus. Boyd, Danny and Scott were able to help keep them focused, and Isaac made sure Scott was still paying attention. Lydia made notes and little prompt/reference guides for extra support, and Stiles provided snacks.

All in all, it was so much easier studying together.

That night, they were working on economics homework, which all but Jackson found boring, but they managed to get though it thanks to each other and by remembering Coach's antics. Cora thought Coach was hilarious, she didn't quite believe the Pack's definition of the man before meeting him. She honestly couldn't believe that someone could be like that, but she was proven wrong.

Her first economics lesson was actually the only class she had enjoyed on her first day, meeting Coach wasn't even a funny situation, but had that been the only thing that happened in the lesson, she would have given him the 'best teacher' crown anyway.

She had just sat down when Coach had noticed her. The man squinted at her a few times, then loudly asked. "Who are you?"

"Cora Hale, I'm new" She explained and Coach rolled his eyes.

"Obviously." Then he frowned. "Hale? Like Stilinski's boyfriend?" He asked whilst sending a curious glance to said male, who nodded slightly.

"Yeah, Derek is my older brother." Cora confirmed with a nod. Coach smiled for a second before his eyes widened slightly and his face dropped. Then, a sympathetic look took over his face and he walked over to Cora's desk and crouched down, drawing curious looks from other students walking in.

"You're the Cora Hale." He said softly. "I was under the impression that you had passed away."

"Everyone did, and I thought Derek had. I've been staying with family friends in South America for the past six years." She explained carefully, but Coach just looked sad for her, not pitying. "It was only about a month ago that Derek and I found each other again."

Coach smiled sympathetically at her, "Well, welcome home." He smiled brightly this time. "I know it was a while ago, but it's a big thing, so if you ever need anyone to talk to, you can come to me." He assured kindly. "Or, if you're not comfortable talking to me, I can make sure you can talk to the guidance counselor, just say the word."

"Thank you, Coach." Cora stated genuinely, and Coach gave her one last smile, before standing and turning to face the rest of the class.

"Alright, you morons, sit down, summers over!" He then went on to start the lesson, occasionally cracking jokes and yelling at the class, mainly the athletes. Some guy called 'Greenberg' getting the most of it.

So, yes, Coach was definitely her favourite teacher. Mr Harris was her least favourite, without a doubt. Even beating out Miss Blake, who was in fact an evil druid who went around sacrificing people, or trying to, at least. Anyway, Harris was still her most hated teacher. Everytime he opened his mouth, Cora had the overwhelming urge to punch him, especially when he spoke to one of her Pack mates. Especially Stiles. She also got a bad vibe from him. Not just the regular 'you're-a-douchebag' vibes, either, but full on 'you-seem-like-an-evil-megalomanic-who-might-hurt-my-Pack' vibes. Therefore, she really didn't like Mr. Harris. At all.

Cora was drawn out of her musings by Erica kissing her cheek, bringing her back to reality. "Focus, Cor." She whispered softly with a small smile, which Cora returned before giving her attention to Lydia, who was explaining the economics homework to them.

Two hours later, they were done and preparing to go train. This time, however, they weren't going to the clearing. Instead, they would be using their private training room in the second basement.

Partially because they could do anything without being seen, but also because there was a storm outside, and they'd rather not risk the human members of the Pack falling ill because of training.

They had a lot of equipment, and it was a large room, with air conditioning and padding. They also had a changing room with showers next to it, which they all planned to use, to save having to go all the way through the house to get clean after training.

They were very rarely down there, except for the occasional night in the games room, so they mostly only had the air conditioning, fridges and freezers on, to keep everything the right temperature and to keep it from getting too dusty. Almost weekly someone would go down, either for extra cooking when the Pack was having an especially big meal, to run the taps and showers to keep them from clogging up, or when all of the upstairs washing machines were full, but they almost never went down all at once. So this was a nice change for them.

They all started their warm ups and stretches, waiting for Derek to tell them what to do. Even Danny was joining in this session. He refused to fight, being strongly against violence, but he would stay in shape and train with defensive tools and learn evasive maneuvers. For his own safety and to keep the Pack at ease.

"Danny, what distance equals to five laps around the clearing?" Derek called out as he powered up the treadmills.

"Roughly… One point three miles."

"Okay, everyone, you heard him. One point three miles on the treadmills, let's go." He ordered, claiming a treadmill for himself. Everyone moved to the treadmills without complaint, and started the run, some started at high speeds, and set it to uphill. Derek didn't say anything about those who started off at low speeds, they all knew their limits and what worked well for them, and he also knew that they wouldn't slack off. They all knew the importance of staying in shape, especially given what's going on in town.

One by one, the Pack stepped off the treadmills and flittered around the room engaging in other training activities, awaiting their next orders from Derek.

They all used the various machinery while taking turns sparring with Derek, who didn't hold back. He hated to use his full strength on the people he loved, but he needed to prepare them for the Alpha Pack. If he could, he'd take on the Alpha's himself and keep his Pack as far away from them as possible, but he knew that it wasn't completely up to him, the Alpha Pack would happily attack his Pack. Even if they didn't, his Pack would never let him face them alone. They were just as stubborn, overprotective and prone to self-sacrifice as Derek himself. He hated that about his Pack, yet he wouldn't have them any other way.

After a few hours of sparring and working out, the Pack decided to call it a night and hit the showers. By the time everyone was clean and refreshed, it had reached 8 o'clock. Stiles didn't feel like cooking that night, nor did any of the others, so they opted to order Pizza. There were of course jokes about how they probably should have eaten before working out if they were going to eat such an unhealthy meal, but nobody could bring themselves to really care.

They decided to watch a movie and as it was Derek's turn to choose, they ended up watching a comedy. Most of the Pack was surprised to discover that comedies were Derek's favourite kind of movie, though they really shouldn't have been. With the amount of pain and darkness Derek had endured, it was understandable that when it came to an escape from reality he often chose something funny and light-hearted. Although, he did still enjoy the sci-fi and fantasy movies his Pack often gravitated towards. Sports movies were enjoyable for him too, as were romance movies, and even the occasional documentary. He wasn't so keen on horror movies or thrillers, especially given the recent occasions where his Mate has been tortured, but he could stomach them to make his Pack happy. Plus, Stiles always cuddled him during those movies which helped him remind himself that it wasn't real, that his Mate was safe and sound in his arms. Stiles meant the world to Derek, and he would do anything to keep him safe and happy.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

A month later, Derek finally met Jennifer officially. He managed to remain civil and act like he didn't know who and what she really was. It was especially hard given that she had eventually managed to kill three virgins and abduct three warriors, one of whom had been found dead. Mr Harris had been abducted, he was the only one Derek didn't lose sleep over.

He had gone to the school to pick up his Pack on a friday. The twins warned them that the alpha's were gearing up for an attack, so he had gone to the school so that he could make sure they all got to the clearing okay. It wasn't unusual for him to meet them after school, so it wouldn't raise any flags. Unfortunately, as Derek was waiting Jennifer/Julia came to the car park, apparently to get something from her car.

When she noticed him, she smiled flirtatiously and walked over to him, apparently to make sure 'he wasn't a threat to the students' which Derek didn't need super hearing to know was a total lie. Either way, he smiled and played nice. Dropping comments about Stiles and the Pack, though obviously he didn't say Pack to her.

Soon enough the bell was to signal the end of the day rang out, and the woman scurried off to excuse her class.

When Stiles walked over to him and kissed him, Derek returned it easily, but something was off. It didn't feel right, and Derek couldn't get Jennifer out of his mind.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Something wasn't right. He didn't feel it anymore, the bond with Stiles. Their mate connection. It had seemed to have just vanished. Derek told Stiles as much that evening in their bedroom, despite every fiber of his being screaming that it was wrong.

All he could think about was finding Jennifer and being with her.

"What d-do you mean?" Stiles asked shakily, tears pooled in his eyes as he stared intently at Derek, who avoided his eyes stubbornly.

"I mean, I don't love you anymore." Derek stated casually. His wolf screamed at him, hell, his heart screamed at him, telling him to take it back, that it wasn't true, that he loved Stiles, but he couldn't bring himself to muster up any emotions, it was like his brain refused to register any feelings for Stiles as it was focused entirely on Jennifer "I don't feel the mate bonds or anything. I feel nothing for you." He looked at Stiles, expecting to feel guilt at the heartbroken expression on the boy's face, but still, there was nothing. "I'll be staying at the loft in a building I own. Don't come looking for me, if I want to see you, I will" He stated simply, and stood, moving to grab some clothes, but Stiles jumped up and grabbed Derek's arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"I-I don't understand."

"Get off of me!" Derek roared and flashed his eyes, causing Stiles to whimper, and back away from Derek until he was cowering on their- no his bed.

"Whatever I've done wrong, I can fix it!" Stiles promised, pleading with his eyes for Derek to give him a second chance. "Anything, I swear, I'll be a better Mate, a better Pack mum, I promise! Whatever is wrong with me, whatever you don't like, I'll fix it, just please, don't go." Stiles begged with tears streaming down his face.

"There's nothing you can fix Stiles." Derek replied, unable to stop himself even as his wolf fell apart inside, howling and fighting to take control and comfort their mate. "I'm just done with you."

"Derek, please…" Stiles all but begged as the door opened and the Pack, who had picked up on Stiles' distress and came to check on him, cautiously listened on. They were utterly shocked at what they saw and heard. "I love you."

"I don't." Derek replied simply and coldly. Stiles went to say something, only for Derek to cut him off "God, just shut up!" He sneered as the Pack scrambled over to the bed to comfort Stiles, every one of them looking confused and hurt. "Do you have any idea how annoying you are? You never shut up, it's irritating and-" A circle of mountain ash surrounded him, he looked to see Lydia's hand still raised. "Lydia!" He growled. "Let me out!"

She ignored him and turned to Stiles. "So, what could override a mate bond?" And it clicked for Stiles. Derek was under some… spell or something. It didn't erase the pain of the words Derek had said, but it helped him calm down and get his rational, research state of mind on.

Stiles sniffled, and attempted to wipe his tears away, only to find both of his arms pinned down by the Pack hugging him tightly. He rolled his eyes fondly, then finally answered Lydia. "It'd take a pretty powerful love spell." He said, to the Pack, all of whom were ignoring Derek's angry growls and demands to be released. "But it has to be more than that, the Pack bonds are too strong for him to just leave, yet he's pretty intent on moving out. Also, he's changed his views on me, so whatever it is, it's powerful. Which means whoever's behind this is powerful."

"It has to be the Darach, right?" John asked, trying to ignore his instincts to shoot Derek for making his son cry and breaking his heart so callously. It was only the revelation the the Darach cast a spell on him that kept him from doing so. "She wants Derek for something."

"Probably." Stiles agreed, nodding slightly. "The real question is, why? Why does she need Derek separate from us? What does she need him for?"

"And why does she think we're stupid enough to believe Derek would suddenly have a complete personality switch?" Erica added. "Sure, at first, we'd all be too upset to question it, except Lydia, as she's the rational one, but Jennifer had to have known we'd figure it out eventually."

"Maybe she hoped to have leverage over us before then." Scott suggested thoughtfully. "I mean, with Derek by her side, she'd definitely have us in the palm of her hands. None of us would ever hurt him."

"And she'd have an alpha." Jackson added from somewhere behind Stiles. "At least it'd be an even playing field against one of the other alphas."

"So, how do we undo this… spell or whatever?" Cora asked, a growl clear in her voice as she spoke. Some bitch messed with her brother, and that bitch had to pay.

"I'll call Deaton." Scott announced, digging out his phone.

"I'll call my dad." Allison stated, doing the same.

Danny stood and headed towards the door, "I'll grab my laptop, see if I can find anything useful online."

Stiles untangled himself from the Pack and informed them that "I'll go grab some books from our library, there has to be something useful." Lydia stood with Stiles and announced that she'd join him, to translate anything in archaic latin, or another language that she knew and he didn't.

They made their way to the ground floor of the house, and to the library side by side, both trying to block out Derek's angry yells that echoed down the stairs. Stiles winced as Derek screamed something about him being pathetic.

"How are you doing?" Lydia asked sympathetically once they were settled in the, thankfully soundproof, library. "This can't be easy for you."

"It's not." Stiles admitted sadly, running a hand through his hair with a sigh. "But now that I know it's not really him saying these things, it's a little easier. I'm just worried about Derek once this is over."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you were there, at the beginning. You saw how guilty he was, blaming himself for everything. This-" He gestured around upwards to indicate the bedroom, where they knew Derek was still yelling. "-is just going to set him back. He'll feel guilty about this for so long, and I won't be able to fix it."

"You're right." Lydia nodded in agreement, setting the book in her hands to the side and moved towards Stiles. "But you won't be alone in helping him heal. We will all work together as a Pack, as a family to make sure he's okay." Lydia assuredly placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, but it did little to help Stiles' mood.

"But what if we can't." Stiles sighed, running a hand over his face before continuing. "What if we can't beat this, the Darach. She's already killed at least four people, Lydia. Yes, we were able to save some people, but we can't save everyone. What if we can't stop her before she has killed the number of people that she needs to? What if we can't break whatever the hell she hit Derek with." A tear escaped and rolled down Stiles' cheek against his will as he looked up at the girl who has become one of his best friends. "You all call me 'Pack Mum' and with Derek out for the count, I have to make the big decisions, the hard decisions. But I don't know what to do, I don't know how to handle this. I'm barely holding myself together, so how the hell am I supposed to hold the Pack together? How am I supposed to handle it?"

Lydia wanted to say that it wasn't all on him, that the others would understand, but it'd be a huge lie. Although they would understand, their instincts tell them to turn to Stiles. Hell, Lydia's instincts tell her to turn to Stiles. With Derek effectively unfit to run the Pack, Stiles is the closest to an alpha that they have, Pack bond wise.

Even when the 'spell' breaks, Derek will be withdrawn, guilty, so Stiles will be in charge for a while. Already, the pressure was weighing down on him. Not knowing what else to do, Lydia hugged him. "We'll get through this." She whispered. "We have to."

They hugged for a few minutes, before Stiles pulled back and said. "Thanks, but we need to research."

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Later that night, Derek was rendered unconscious by a stun baton and sent to one of the 'holding cells' for supernatural creatures in the second basement, so that Stiles could spend the night in his own bed without being sneered at. He had opted to spend the night alone, because although a puppy pile would've been comforting, he knew that in the morning it would hurt more to wake surrounded by others and realise that his mate wasn't there.

Stiles curled up on his 'side' of the bed, and held one of Derek's shirts close, inhaling the scent as he tried to remind himself of happier memories. He tried to focus on the night they had spent together watching Batman and eating ice-cream while discussing how much of an idiot Scott was being. He tried to think about the morning after that night when they had been sparring and Stiles realised that they were mates. He tried to focus on their first kiss, their first date, the night they completed the Mate Bond. He willed these memories to play in his head, but his efforts were futile. The sneers were seared into his mind, the memory of Derek telling him that he didn't love him, that everything he felt for him was gone, it was killing him. One of his biggest fears came true. How would he cope with it? How would Derek cope with it? The aftermath will last a lot longer than the event itself. Stiles knew that.

He feared that it would cause a rift between him and his mate, which would cause rifts in the entire Pack. He didn't want that. He needed to find a way to get through it. Fast.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

School was hard to get through. Realising that they couldn't keep Derek locked up forever, they let him out for work, and he refused to come back. They really didn't want to lock him up again, so they let him be.

'Letting him be' proved to be more difficult than they expected, especially when they'd be at the school, and spot him somewhere, kissing Jennifer.

It made more sense now. She didn't remove Derek's connections to the Pack, she just, in basic terms, 'tricked his mind into thinking he felt that for her', as Jackson put it. Just seeing Jennifer in school every day was difficult, but seeing Derek there with her? It broke them a little bit more every time.

It was two weeks before anything big happened, aside from a few more sacrifices that they were unable to stop. It was the day before a big track meet that most of the Pack had. Allison and Isaac were at the Argent apartment, and Scott was heading there to meet them for a meal with Allison's parents. In the elevator, he met Deucalion, and things just went downhill from there.

Derek was dying. He had followed Scott and the Pack to the bank where Deucalion wanted to meet, and tried to attack the alpha's. A battle broke out, despite the fact that they outnumbered the Alpha's, the Hales were losing. Things took a bad turn when Kali caught Erica, and was about to kill her. When the twins noticed what was about to happen, they stopped 'fighting' the Pack and turned on Kali instead, saving Erica's life. The Pack then got their groove back, without having to worry about 'fighting' the twins, and easily held their own. Then Derek and Ennis started fighting, and during the struggle, the two fell off a ledge and fell several stories. Stiles lost it.

He let out a pained howl and charged at Deucalion, eyes glowing as he ran, he lept into the air once he was a few metres from the alpha, and shifted into full wolf form, surprising Kali, who quickly called out a warning to Deucalion, but it wasn't enough.

As he wasn't expecting an actual wolf, Deucalion wasn't prepared to fight Stiles, and quickly went down, as did Kali once she was alone against the Pack and the twins. They didn't kill the pair, just subdued them long enough to take them to the new supernatural holding cells at the station. Whilst half of the Pack did this, the others and the twins took Derek and Ennis to the hospital, both of them were close to death and not looking good.

On the bus to the track meet the next day, Stiles was checking his phone every few seconds, waiting for updates on his mate.

"Dude, relax, he's gonna be fine." Scott assured quietly, sending worried glances to Stiles' torso. "You're still not healing though."

"It's from alpha claws, Scott, they take longer to heal." Stiles reminded him with a wince, not looking at his best friend.

"The rest of us are fine." Scott pointed out, gesturing to the other Pack members on the bus, all of whom kept looking to Stiles in concern. Jackson, Danny, Isaac and Boyd were there, as all LaCrosse players were forced to join the team. Erica and Ethan were there too, as they had joined the track team. Allison and Lydia were following them in a car, and Aiden, Cora and Peter were with the adults of the Pack, keeping an eye on things.

"Yeah, well, just give it time."

"Stiles." Scott sighed, sending his friend a pleading look.

"I'm fine." Stiles snapped, finally looking at Scott, who now had the expression of a kicked puppy. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried about Derek."

"I know, we all are, but he'll be okay." Scott stated, without a single drop of doubt in his mind. "He'll heal, we'll break the spell, or whatever it is that he's under, and we'll help him move past whatever guilt he has. Then we'll be Pack again." Stiles smiled slightly.

"Ever the optimist, Scotty."

"Well one us has to be."

The journey continued on and, rather than healing, Stiles got worse. His blood was turning black, as though he had been poisoned with wolfsbane. The Pack desperately tried to get the Coach to stop at a rest stop, but the man refused.

Stiles finally accepted that he wasn't healing, and decided to call Lydia and Allison.

"What can they do?" Isaac asked incredulously as he and the other Pack members crowded around Stiles, all of them looking confused and concerned.

"Yeah, they're back in Beacon Hills with Cora." Erica stated, trying to hide her fear as Stiles rolled his eyes, and turned to look out the back window.

"No they're not, they've been following us for hours." He stated, dialing Lydia on the phone and put the phone on speaker, so that the others could hear, others being Danny, the only one without super hearing. After a few seconds, Lydia picked up. "Hey, Stiles, can't really talk, we're just about to walk into a movie, y'know, popcorn and all that-"

"I know you guys are right behind us, put me on speaker."

"I-a-uh-no- yeah, okay."

Stiles waited a few seconds then spoke again. "I'm still hurt, and we need your help."

"Still?" Allison asked in concern. "You still haven't healed from last night."

"No, he hasn't." Scott spoke up. "In fact, he's getting worse."

"Yeah, the bloods turning a black colour." Jackson added, voice trembling slightly at the though of Stiles being seriously hurt. What if he never heals from this? What if he has some sort of infection that will kill him? How would any of them cope with losing him? Jackson was drawn out of his dark thoughts by Lydia's voice.

"That shouldn't be happening unless he's been in contact with wolfsbane." Lydia stated, a thoughtful edge to her voice. "Or it's psychological."

"You mean, like in his head?" Allison asked in confusion, and before Stile could protest, the redhead spoke again.

"Yes, tell me about his chemo signals." Lydia all but demanded.

"He's in pain, worried, there's some guilt as well." Scott said, sniffing at Stiles.

"Guilt?" Lydia asked. "Stiles, why do you feel guilty?"

"I don't." Stiles tried to protest, but the others clearly didn't believe him.

"He definitely does." Isaac told the girls. "Scott's right, there's definitely guilt there, along with some anxiety."

"He's really pale, too." Danny observed "A lot paler than usual."

"Okay, I have my first aid kit with me, get Coach to pull over, do whatever it takes." Lydia ordered, then hung up the phone, undid her seatbelt and crawled over to the back seat.

"What are you doing?" Allison asked, looking back at her best friend, who was pulling down one of the back seats, so she could access the trunk of the car and grab the items she required.

"My first aid kit is in the trunk, I need to get it. And I'd rather get it now and have everything prepared for when we pull over, rather than have to search and keep Stiles waiting even longer." Lydia explained as she rummaged.

"Okay, when did you put your first aid kit in my trunk?" Allison asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A couple of months ago, Well, one of them. I've put one in every Pack member's trunk, or bag, and my main one is usually in my bag, but I left it with Cora this morning, some of her wounds hadn't quite healed."

"Have they healed now?" Allison asked immediately, turning to look at Lydia, or rather, Lydia's back.

"Yeah, they finished healing over two hours ago, and hers never went black. I only gave her the kit so that she could cover the wounds, to stop anything from getting into them." Lydia explained, and Allison couldn't help but smile at the fact that Cora was well, but then she felt guilty, because neither Derek nor Stiles were.

"Right, can you hand me the duffle bag?"

"You mean the duffle bag with all the weapons in it?"

"Yeah, I know we're not in any danger right now, but- I don't know, I just- I have a bad feeling."

There was a slight pause before Lydia admitted: "Me too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's like, I feel like I'm constantly on edge of fight or flight, like there's someone watching me, waiting to make a move, like-"

"You're never alone." Allison finished knowingly. "Even when there's no one in sight, you can just feel that someone is there, watching your every move."

"Yeah." Lydia admitted softly. A few seconds later, Lydia pulled back out of the trunk, and handed the duffle bag to Allison and gave her a soft smile, then retrieved her first aid kit. Lydia pushed the seat back into place, before resting in the seat, sorting out the things she'd need, then began sterilizing a needle. As she did this, Allison set the duffle bag down on the passenger side seat, and began pulling out various weapons, whilst occasionally glancing up to see if the traffic was moving yet. Both girls remained silent.

Back on the bus, Jackson was arguing with Coach to pull over into a rest stop, but the man stubbornly refused. Ten minutes later, the pair were still arguing and Coach continuously blew his whistle in the werewolf's face. The rest stop was in sight, so they needed to convince him quickly, before they passed it, but it was clear that the argument was going nowhere.

Stiles sighed audibly, then began hauling himself to his feet, despite the Pack's protest. Stiles buttoned his plaid shirt, to hide the blood that was staining the t-shirt beneath, "I have to do everything myself." He sighed half heartedly and began making his way up the bus. He soon took the seat next to their classmate, Jared, who was looking just as pale as Stiles was, but for completely different reasons. "Hey Jared," He greeted kindly, causing the boy to look at him warily. "How you doing?" He asked with an evil smile.

Minutes later, the bus pulled into the rest stop, and everyone scrambled off as Coach sprayed air freshner and yelled out the window. "Jared, you suck!" He then went on about a mop and a new bus, but the Pack weren't paying attention. Scott and Jackson were supporting Stiles, and practically carrying him to the restrooms. As they did, Allison and Lydia pulled in behind the bus and ran over to them. Lydia glanced over Stiles and had to contain her gasp of horror.

"Scott, Allison, you two are coming with me to patch up Stiles. Isaac, get Stiles' bag and find him a clean shirt. Erica, call the sheriff, tell him what's going on. Danny, check on Cora, see if there are any updates on Derek. Jackson, Boyd, get Ethan, the three of you have the hardest job of all: Distracting Coach." She said, slipping into her natural leader role. There was a unanimous agreement with her plan, then she, Allison and Scott carried Stiles to the restroom to try to heal him.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Erica asked out loud to the Pack.

"I think" Danny began, drawing all attention to him. "that Stiles is far too stubborn to leave us just yet."

"But without Derek, what's his motivation to keep fighting?" Isaac asked sadly without thinking.

"Us." Boyd answered, sending a soft, reassuring smile to his Pack mate. "He know's we'd all probably kill each other without him. He's not going anywhere."

The others chuckled, and Isaac allowed a small, genuine smile to grace his face. "Good point. Now, come on, we all have orders to follow."

Half an hour later, Stiles walked out of the rest room, flanked by Allison, Scott and Lydia. He was wearing a new, clean shirt and had gained some colour in his face. The Pack and Ethan immediately surrounded him and talked over each other, trying to ask Stiles questions about how he felt.

"Guys, calm down, I'm fine now, I promise." Stiles assured his pups, but the Pack remained close to him anyway.

"Where did you two come from?" Coach's voice boomed, and the Pack looked to see him looking at Allison and Lydia in confusion. "You're not on the track team."

"No, we're not." Allison agreed. "But our friends left some important revision material at home, y'know, maths, english, economics and some other stuff, so we followed and waited until you guys pulled over so that we could give it to them." She lied easily, after sorting out what they needed, she and Lydia came up with an excuse to tell Coach.

"You must really care about your education." Coach commented "So where is it?"

Lydia opened her bag and pulled out several textbooks. She had brought them for a little light reading, and they really came in handy. "Coach, we were hoping that you have two spare seats? The car is out of gas. We called Allison's father, and he said he'd pick up the car on his way home from a business trip, but until then we-"

"Yeah, sure, just get on the bus, we gotta go." Coach cut her off then turned to yell at the rest of the team. "Everybody on the bus! We are not missing this meet! Move!"

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

*Start of Motel California*

The group ended up staying at a Motel for the night, a motel that gave Lydia a really bad feeling.

To make things worse, the Pack had to separate into pairs for the night. Well, the girls convinced Coach to let the three of them share a room, so no one had to stay alone. It was same sex pairings only, otherwise they would have stayed with their mates. Scott and Stiles shared a room, as Scott didn't want Stiles out his sight, which Isaac understood. Isaac ended up sharing a room with Boyd and Jackson, as Danny was with Ethan. Things were fine at first, then things started getting strange. The wolves were all Hallucinating.

It happened to Jackson first. He was lying on the bed he was sharing with Isaac, when he heard a noise. Isaac was in the shower and Boyd was out getting snacks, so he cautiously stood and went to investigate. What he found was a man and a woman, both without face, claiming that they were his parents. He backed away from them and ended up passing a mirror. The reflection caught his eye, and he turned to see himself without a face. He scrambled away in fear, he soon made his way to the closet, and sat, curled up in the corner, the door closed as he started rocking back and forth.

Next, Erica was affected. She, Lydia and Allison were sitting on one of the beds and talking when all of a sudden, she started seizing. Lydia immediately went through all of the procedures that she knew, and yelled at Allison to call Melissa for help. After a few minutes, there was no sign of the seizure stopping, and Erica started begging her friends to make it stop. They told her that they were trying, and Melissa, over the phone, tried to calm her down. When nothing worked, Erica lengthened her claws and went to stab them into her chest. The girls stopped her, but she kept trying to hurt herself. It wasn't until she burnt her hand on the radiator, that she snapped out of it.

Within ten minutes, the blonde was asleep on the bed, and Allison left the room to talk outside. "What the hell just happened?" Lydia asked in shock as Stiles approached them.

"Somethings up with Boyd, he just put his fist through the vending machine!"

"Erica just started seizing and tried to kill herself." Allison told him, and Stiles immediately tried to go into the room. "She's fine now, she's sleeping, but something's definitely going on."

Stiles went to say something, but Lydia spoke before he could. "Do you hear that?" She asked, staring at the door to the room next to theirs.

"Hear what?" Stiles asked in concern, as he and Allison exchanged a look. Lydia gasped in horror, as she jumped backwards suddenly.

"Gunshots. A-a couple committed suicide in there." Stiles wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed, then a buzzing sound started. "I hear something else, like a ha-"

"A handsaw?" Allison asked, staring at the door. "I hear it too." Without hesitating, Stiles kicked the door open, revealing Ethan, about to push a handsaw into his stomach. The trio quickly got it off of him, but he kept lunging for it again, until he was burnt by a space heater.

When they were sure he was himself again, they allowed him to return to his room, and Stiles informed Danny of what happened, and instructed him to keep an eye on the wolf.

"So that's twice now, and both of them were brought back by being burned." Allison commented thoughtfully from where she sat on the free bed in their room, as Stiles paced and Lydia looked around, allowing her instincts to guide her.

"Maybe it's a sacrifice thing?" Stiles suggested, with a shrug. "Like, first three virgins, then three warriors, now three werewolves?" Allison hummed and agreed that it was a possibility, they exchanged a few theories before Lydia spoke up. She showed them the bible, and all of the articles in it, articles of all the suicides that had taken place in that room.

They then went down to the front desk to question the woman who worked there, when Lydia pointed out that the counter which read the number of guest suicides, had gone up by three.

Allison rushed off to check on Scott, Isaac, Boyd and Jackson, as Lydia and Stiles walked into the car park, Lydia was shaking her head in denial at something Stiles had said.

"Lydia, think about it. This has happened before, at your birthday party!"

"I didn't do this!"

"How do you know that?"

"I just do!"

"You were being controlled by Peter, and you had no clue. It's possible that the Darach cou-"

"No it's not!" Lydia seethed, spinning around to face him. "The reason he was able to get into my head was because he knew more about my abilities than I did, and I was fighting them. I'm in control now. It's not just something in my head anymore, I am the banshee. I know what I'm capable of, I know how to control my abilities, and nobody can control me anymore!" She stated, glaring at Stiles, who simply nodded. He went to say something, but she held up her hand to stop him. "I hear something." She whispered, and closed her eyes, listening to the words. Her eyes shot open as realisation hit her. "Someone's drowning!"

Boyd. They found him in his bathtub, a safe weighing down on his chest. Stiles immediately pulled the safe off of him, and pulled the boy out of the water and shoved him into the radiator. Boyd roared in pain, but soon came back to himself. As Stiles comforted Boyd, Lydia found Isaac under a bed and Jackson in the closet, both looking terrified. Stiles tried to lure them both out, but they were too afraid, and dragging them to the radiator would probably freak them out even more. Eventually Lydia managed to get Jackson out and to the radiator, but Isaac didn't move. They considered calling Allison, but Scott was missing and they needed to find him, and Isaac was safe, at least for the time being. If they couldn't think of a solution before he started freaking out and trying to hurt himself, then they'd call her, until then, they decided to deal with it on their own.

Then Lydia came up with the idea of using the flares that were on the bus, and soon Isaac was fine, and they were meeting up with Allison to look for Scott. When they found him, he was holding one of the two remaining flares -Stiles had the other- and covered, head to toe, in gasoline.

"There's no hope." Scott stated when he noticed them.

"What do you mean Scott? There's always hope." Allison tried to convince him, forcing a smile onto her face, despite her tears.

"Not for me." He said, then looked Stiles in the eyes. "Not for you. Not for Derek."

"What's happening to Derek isn't your fault." Allison insisted. "You know it's not your fault!"

"Every time I try to fight back, it just keeps getting worse." Scott stated bitterly, as more tears rolled down his cheeks. "People keep getting hurt. People keep getting killed."

"Derek isn't dead!" Lydia reminded him, taking a cautious step closer to Scott.

"He might as well be. He's not himself anymore." Scott argued.

"And neither are you." Stiles argued, hoping that he could get through to Scott. "This is the Darach inside your head, telling you to do this."

"What if it's not, though, what if this is just me? What if doing this is actually the best thing that I could do for everyone else?" Stiles couldn't stop his own tears as he watched Scott break down. "It all started that night, the night we got bitten. Do you remember how it was before that? You and me?" Stiles nodded slightly, taking a cautious step closer to his best friend. "We- we were nothing! We weren't popular, we weren't good at LaCrosse, we weren't important. We were no one. Maybe I should just be no one again. No one at all." He raised the flare, but Stiles spoke before he could do anything else.

"Scott, just listen to me, okay?" Stiles insisted, stepping closer to his best friend. "You're not no one, okay? You're someone… Scott you're my best friend. Okay? And I need you! Scott, you're my brother." All four of them were crying as Stiles stepped closer to Scott, and Lydia and Allison looked terrified, unsure of what to do. "Alright, so," Stiles stepped into the puddle of gasoline and reached out for the flare. "So if you're going to do this, then.." He wrapped his hand around the flare. "I think you're just gonna have to take me with you, then." After a few seconds, Scott released the flare to Stiles, who threw it away. They all stood in silence for a few seconds, until Lydia heard a whisper and noticed the wind pushed the flare rolling it back towards the puddle of gasoline.

"No!" She cried out as she ran forward and pushed them both out of the way. As they hit the ground, she felt the heat of the fire against her back, she turned and looked at the flames, or rather, the creature within them. The Darach, in her true form, pale flesh and sliced up face.

Lydia kept watching until the creature disappeared, then pushed herself off of Stiles, so that he and Scott could get up. She turned to make sure Allison was okay, but before she could say anything, the girl was rushing over, and checking on Stiles and Lydia, before pulling Scott into a bone crushing hug, and sobbing into his shoulder.

Just under an hour later, the Pack and Ethan were all sitting on the bus, as none of them wanted to stay in the motel. Scott had taken a shower, to wash away all traces of the gasoline, and change his clothes, and was now cuddling with his mates on the back row. All of the other couples were cuddling together, whilst keeping a close eye on Stiles.

He was the only one who hadn't tried anything. It was strange, and though they probably should be relieved that he hadn't, it was disconcerting. What made him.. immune?

Stiles wondered that himself. He sat there, staring at nothing as his mind wandered. He didn't feel any different. He didn't feel the urge to end his life. That's a lie. A voice sneered in his head. You want it all to end, you want the pain gone. It was true, Stiles thought to himself, he did want the pain gone, he wanted the harsh words Derek said to be erased forever. He didn't want to get out of bed each morning, he didn't want to wake up, ever again. But none of that was new. He had been feeling like that since the night everything fell apart. He never did anything, though. He couldn't leave his Pack behind, suffering. He couldn't leave his dad all alone, sure he had Melissa, but that's not the same. So he held on. Yes, he wanted the pain gone, but he didn't want to pass it on to someone else.

With a start he realised that he probably had been affected, but he was so used to those feelings that he barely noticed. Glancing around, he saw the Pack watching him carefully, obviously the wolves heard his heart rate increase. Lydia, however, was looking at him calculatingly. Shit. She'll figure it out. She'll figure out whatever caused this, and then somehow realise that Stiles had been infected too. He had to have been. He couldn't have them finding out the truth, about how he really felt about everything that had happened.

Making up his mind, Stiles lengthened his claws in preparation. He allowed himself to drift off in his mind, and soon he inevitably thought of that night. Stiles gritted his teeth, squeezed his eyes shut, and balled his hands into fists, digging his claws into his palms. The wolves immediately smelt the blood and rushed over, Jackson lit a flare along the way. Stiles immediately snarled and tried to get away. He wasn't himself anymore. The pain triggered something, and all his reasons for hanging on went out of the window. After a short struggle, Stiles was pinned down in the bus aisle, by Boyd, Scott, Jackson and Isaac, whilst Erica pressed the flame to his cheek, as it was the only part of his skin that she could get to. Stiles roared in pain, but, somehow, he felt calmer, and he stopped struggling, and let his Pack take care of him.

He soon drifted off to sleep, hearing Derek's voice whisper apologetic and loving things to him.

*End of Motel California* (Well the possible trigger parts at least)

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

The next morning, Coach and the rest of the track team filled onto the bus, some of the team kept glancing back at the scorch marks on the ground nearby. "I don't wanna know" Coach stated as he looked at the Pack and Ethan, who were slowly starting to wake up. "I really don't wanna know, but in case you missed the announcement, the meet's canceled, so we're going home. Pack it in. Pack it in!" He yelled, before walking off the bus again to talk to the other students. The Pack rearranged themselves, so that there was more room for everyone else and made idle small talk as they did so.

When Coach walked down the bus, Lydia's eyes fell on his whistle, and she leant forward, drawn to it. "Hey Coach, can I see your whistle for a second?" She asked as she took it from around his neck.

"Hey! I'm going to need that back!" Coach stated before walking down the bus.

"What is it?" Jackson asked curiously as Lydia covered part of the whistle, then blew into it. When she pulled her hand away, it was coated in purple dust.

"Wolfsbane." She said, showing her hand to the Pack.

"Wait, if the wolfsbane was in the whistle," Erica started as realisation dawned on her. "Then, each time Coach blew the whistle-"

"The wolfsbane went into the air-" Jackson continued, in slight shock.

"-and we all inhaled it." Scott finished, looking around his Pack mates in shock.

"You were all poisoned by it." Allison added, biting her lip as she looked at her mates. She could have lost them last night. Both of them.

"That's how the Darach got in our heads." Stiles stated, "That's how she did it." He then leant forward and grabbed the whistle from Lydia, then turned and leant over Scott, then threw it out of the window, just as the bus started moving.

"Stilinski!"

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

A few hours later, back in Beacon Hills, Ennis and Derek were both fully healed, and Ennis had been transferred to the supernatural cells in the Sheriff's station.

At some point during the night before, Derek -still unconscious- started lashing out in his sleep, and dug his claws into his palms at some point. No sedatives worked on him, not even when mixed with wolfsbane. Though, thankfully, after a few minutes, he stopped struggling, but not before crying out in pain. He spent the next hour whispering things, at a volume too low for any human to make out. After the whispering stopped, his supernatural healing finally kicked in, and by the morning, he was completely fine.

It was mid afternoon when The Pack returned, and Stiles went to the hospital to see Derek.

"He's still asleep." Melissa told Stiles as she led him to Derek's room.

"That's probably for the best." Stiles muttered, he hoped Derek stayed asleep while he was there. He really didn't want to be sneered at, but he had to see that Derek was okay. Physically, at least.

Once Stiles had settled in a seat beside Derek, Melissa left the room. Stiles let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding as his eyes roamed over Derek's body. There wasn't so much as a bruise tarnishing his skin. Stiles bit his lip before setting his hand on top of Derek's. The second they touched, Derek's eyes shot open.

-Teen Wolf-Sterek-Teen Wolf-Sterek-

Kali was pissed off, pacing restlessly in her cell, until they brought Ennis in and put him in the cell next to her. "He's alive." She gasped, looking up at Sheriff Stilinski in awe. "Thank you."

"Thank me by leaving the Hale Pack and their associates alone." Stilinski replied immediately.

"Okay." Kali replied honestly, much to the surprise of the station staff and Deucalion.

"Kali?" Deucalion growled angrily.

"This has gotten way out of hand." Kali growled back, turning to glare at the blind alpha. "Julia is my problem, I will clean it up, then I'm done." She then turned to look at the Sheriff. "Ennis will come with me, we have been thinking about leaving ever since we realised that Alpha Hale would never join us. I will take care of Julia, but I will need help. If the Hale Pack is willing."

John nodded as Deucalion yelled profanities and called Kali a traitor. "I will discuss it with them, if you are being genuine."

"I am." Kali swore. "I want out. Once Julia is dealt with, Ennis and I will leave, and we will never bother any of you ever again. We will leave this town and never come back."

John nodded in agreement. "I'll have to hear Ennis agree the same, and myself, and the Pack will have to believe you. But if you so much as make one move against the Pack, it's over and you will be stuck in a cell for the rest of your life."

"Of course." Deucalion began trying to break through the cell to get to her, anger radiating from him. John rolled his eyes, pulled out his stun baton, slid it through the mountain ash bars, and electrocuted the man, who then fell to the floor screaming and writhing in pain.

"Great, I'll talk to the Pack tonight and I'll hopefully have an answer for you tomorrow." John smiled kindly, then turned and left the room, heading to his office to call his son.

A/N: I am so sorry that this took so long! My only excuses are writer's block and procrastination. BUT this is literally my longest chapter ever, so I hope that helps!

XxZessxX: Yay, I'm glad xD I know that I kinda just jumped right into that, but I think they'd be good together. Yay, I'm glad you like him as he will be showing up again. I don't intend for Peter to do stupid things, like he did in the show, but obviously that may change if I feel it will benefit the story. Oh, I owe you credit for the whole Stiles being like "yeah they call me mum. Problem?!" Thank you :D And yes, more Danny and Ethan! I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, sorry that it took so long xx

Half Alien: Thank you for reading my story :) Thanks, if nobody liked the 'mum' thing, I'd cut it out completely, but some people do like it, sorry. But thank you for reading anyway :) xx

Lynette Serina Jones Harkness: Thank you, I hope you enjoy this chapter xx

lateVMlover: I'm glad you like the Sterek parts, and I'm very sorry for this chapter. More Sterek fluff will come later, though :D I promise! xx

Chikacookie: Erica's parents will show up more, especially her dad xD There is more Sheriff/Melissa to come, so I'm glad you like it. I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter, sorry for the delay xx

thekiid22: Thank you so much! I'm so glad that you like it xx

SquidaQdaloo: Is that enough angst, or would you like some more? I hope you've enjoyed this chapter xx

AnimeHunter411: Thank you, I'm sorry this took so long, but I am out of my funk, and ready to write lots more! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter xx

ThatNaviiLove: Wow, that you, I'm so glad that you like it! xx

bridgetlynn: I understand where you're coming from, I didn't really like Scott in the first two seasons. Yeah, I think that Stiles would take a more logical 'trying to understand what's happening to him' approach, rather than denying it all. Anyway, I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter. xx

Scarlet Moonstone 7412: Thank you. I'm really glad that you like it xx

Phoenix Moon 00: Here is the new chapter! Sorry about the delay! xx

kiera: I'm sorry for the HUGE delay, it won't take this long again, I promise. I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter though xx

WickLobo: Thank you, I'm sorry about the delay, but I hope you keep reading and enjoy this chapter xx