Archive of Our Own ^beta

Stiles stopped as he saw the sign that read "Welcome To Beacon Hills", and pulled the Jeep off to the side. Stiles took a deep breath and got out and walked up to the sign. He ran a hand over the white words painted on the weathered wood, he was actually back. He had been gone over a year and a half, but things were different now, he was different. Stiles turned at the sound of a car pulling up next to him. The door opened and a smiling Deputy Parrish got out, "Hey, your Dad said you might be having trouble with this. Thought I might help out by giving you a police escort."

Stiles smiled back before moving to give the Deputy a hug, "Thanks Kyle."

The older man smiled before pulling back and placing a hand on Stiles' shoulder, "Hey, I get it Stiles. No matter what you've been up to since you left, it still hurts coming back." Stiles shrugged before Kyle patted him on the back and jerked his head towards the road in a silent 'let's get going'.

Stiles climbed back into his Jeep and followed the squad car through the familiar streets. He saw a few people here and there do double takes at the sight of his Jeep, something that had once been a familiar sight around Beacon Hills but had been mysteriously absent along with the Sheriff's son. Stiles smirked thinking about the gossip it would turn up, the people of Beacon Hills were all secretly old busy bodies at heart. They finally came to a stop outside the station and Stiles was eager to see his dad, he hadn't seen the man in person since he left. They had almost daily phone calls until Deputy Kyle Parrish showed up and taught the Sheriff how to use Skype. Kyle had eventually been a regular presence during the video chats after a while, Stiles secretly thought of him like an older brother. Stiles ran a hand through his hair, he had grown it out a little so the action made it look messy and like he had just rolled out of bed. Kyle sighed and brushed a hand over Stiles head, fixing the hair a bit so it wasn't sticking out in a million different directions, "Go on, he wants to see you. Don't tell him I told you but he already asked me to come over for a small welcome home party after we get off." Stiles made a face that had Kyle laughing, "Don't worry kid, I think it's only going to be the three of us."

That gave Stiles a small smile and he straightened his jacket and stepped forward into the police station. There were a few new Deputies but those that recognized him smiled politely or gave small waves. When he reached the door to his dad's office, one of the new guys scowled, "You can't go in there." Stiles smirked and turned to look at the guy, the officers that knew Stiles chuckled and shook their heads but watched intently, they knew Stiles well enough to know this would be amusing.

Stiles looked at the guy, he was young, probably only been on the force a year or so before transferring to Beacon Hills but the guy had a look on his face that said he thought he was better than this stupid kid. "Really, Officer..."

The guy crossed his arms, "Officer Manson. And like I said, you can't go in there."

Stiles walked over to the guys desk and leaned over, propping himself up on his elbows, "I think I can actually."

Officer Manson scowled and Stiles mentally renamed him Grumpy Gills, don't judge, everyone knows Finding Nemo is an awesome movie. "I'm afraid you can't and if you insist on doing so I will have to ask you to leave before I have to arrest you for trespassing."

A throat cleared behind him and Stiles turned to see his dad, Sheriff John Stilinski, standing in the open doorway of his office, but he didn't miss the smug, victorious look on Grumpy Gills' face. The Sheriff shook his head, "Manson, I'd prefer if you didn't arrest my son for coming to see me, he gets in enough trouble as it is." Stiles turned to see the smile fall from the offending officer's face as he turned pale and tried to stammer out an apology. The Sheriff just shook his head and grabbed Stiles into a hug before ushering him into the office. "Do you enjoy tormenting my Officers?"

Stiles shrugged, "The guys was being a jerk, besides, he isn't much of a cop if he didn't recognize me from all the pictures you have in here. Seriously, if you weren't my dad I’d be a little worried at the amount of pictures of me you have on the walls."

Sheriff Stilinski smiled, "God I've missed you Stiles."

The smile on Stiles' face wavered, "You know I had to leave, it wasn't good for me here."

John ran a hand over his face and sat behind his desk, "I know Stiles, doesn't mean I didn't miss you like crazy. You've been gone a year and nine months, I've missed two of your birthdays, I missed you going to Junior Prom and your first day of senior year."

Stiles moved around the desk, kneeling next to his dad, "Hey, it's only October, I still have Senior Prom and Graduation, and I plan to have many more birthdays. Now, I heard something about a welcome home dinner with you and Kyle, and that better not involve any fried foods." Stiles stood and crossed his arms, giving his best disapproving face.

John laughed, "You look so different, but you are still my little boy. What's with the leather jacket by the way, didn't think it was your thing?"

Stiles shrugged, "Leather is tough material, easier to imbue with protection charms if it's doing a bit of the work itself, besides, it distracts a bit from all the extra muscle I've built up during training."

A raised eyebrow told Stiles that his dad didn't quite buy that answer, "Just training huh?"

Stiles looked down, "There might have been a few... incidents, but you know Lizzy takes care of me."

John huffed, "You know Elisabeth hates it when you call her that, says it reminds her that she isn't a spring chicken anymore."

Stiles barked out a laugh, "That woman may be 85 but she is more active than the average 17 year old. She ran me ragged during training."

John paused, "Speaking of training, are you finished with it? I didn't think she would let you go if you hadn't but I it doesn't seem like it's been long enough."

"Yeah," Stiles leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling, "I'm not done. She wants me to come back after I graduate. I was thinking of applying to a few colleges near there anyways. Right now though, I'm in a period of self-actualization. She wants me to figure out who I am, face my past and forge a path for my future. It's a part of magic that you can only do on your own and she said it will be hard. I have a ton of things she wants me to do but in the end, it will allow me to get in better touch with myself, with my spark. Besides, we have monthly video chats scheduled and she wants me to let you know she expects to be invited for Christmas and Graduation."

John, "For all that woman has helped you, I'd be willing to sign away your firstborn to her. I know she'd still let me visit."

Stiles rolled his eyes, "That's because she thinks you are handsome in your uniform." Stiles made a fake gagging motion that had John chuckling at his son's antics.

A glance at the clock told John it was getting late, "I'm off in twenty, why don't you head home and get your stuff to your room before dinner."

Stiles nodded and gave his dad a hug before heading out, waving to Kyle as he passed the older man in the hall. In no time at all, Stiles was sitting in the driveway in front of his house. Stiles gripped the handle tight as he got out, he felt unnerved, like someone was watching him. A quick glance told him a werewolf was behind the tree line and Stiles sent a glare in the direction of the hiding were, it was probably one of the betas, Derek would have been slightly better at concealing himself. Stiles grabbed his bags from the trunk, being careful with the ones containing his supply of herbs, some of those were very hard to come by. As Stiles got to the door, he threw down a handful of mountain ash from the pouch in his pocket, willing it to encircle the house. Satisfied the circle would keep out unwanted guests, he made his way inside and up to his room and quickly set his stuff down. A pull from his magic told him something was at his barrier and Stiles made his way to the front door, a quick glance told him it was Scott. Stiles schooled is face into an emotionless mask and opened the door to see Scott on the ground, he had apparently fallen on his ass after running into the mountain ash circle.

A snort from Stiles brought Scott's head up, "Dude, what is that? Why can't I get closer to your house?" Stiles just stared at Scott, face unchanging. Scott stood up and brushed dirt from his jeans, "What the hell Stiles? First you disappear without a word and now you won't even talk to me? I thought we were best friends, whatever happened to that?"

Stiles bristled, "What did happen to that Scott? I'll tell you what I think happened, I think you got yourself a girlfriend and some new friends and forgot all about me."

Scott scowled, "That's not what happened, you just abandoned me! I needed you and you left."

"Needed me for what Scott?" Stiles balled his hands into fists, "So you had someone to whine to about how you were a werewolf and how it was so hard, how you wanted to be with Allison but her Dad hates you, how much you hate Derek? But what about me? What about when I was kidnapped by Gerard, where were you then? Where were you after that when I needed someone to confide in?"

Scott huffed, "You were fine, and it was only a black eye. It's not like your life was falling apart."

Stiles could feel the anger tangling with the magic inside him, "You need to leave." Scott opened his mouth and Stiles glared, "Leave Scott."

Stiles was momentarily distracted by the slamming of a car door and looked to see his dad and Kyle. After a quick look at the situation, Kyle moved towards Stiles, "Everything alright here Stiles?"

Stiles relaxed a bit, "Scott was just leaving."

Scott glared but before he could say anything, John spoke up, "Goodbye Scott, say hello to Melissa for me." The words were friendly, but the tone of voice wasn't. It was obvious that Scott needed to leave. Stiles didn't wait though, he turned on his heel and headed inside to collapse on the couch.

Kyle sighed, "It's alright kid."

The deputy sat next to Stiles and the teen buried his face in the older man's shoulder to mumble, "Not a kid."

Kyle smiled, "You are to me."

John smiled when he saw the two, "Who wants dinner? I got burgers and fries!"

Stiles head shot up, "Really dad?" John shrugged and Stiles sighed, "At least tell me they are curly."

That had John smiling wider, "Of course they are, and they are for your welcome home party after all."

Dinner was nice, the food and company were good and Stiles felt at home again, something he hadn't felt in Beacon Hills for a long time. Eventually Stiles drifted to sleep while watching a movie, curled up between his dad and Kyle with a soft smile on his face. When the movie ended, John turned to tell Stiles to head to bed only to see the kid sleeping. John smiled fondly and turned to Kyle, silently asking the younger man to help him get the teenager up the stairs. After Stiles had been set in bed, shoes removed and covered in a light blanket, John turned to Kyle, "Thanks, for being there for him."

Kyle shrugged, "I don't know the details of what happened, but I know it was bad. He needs someone and since it seems his friends went AWOL, I figured he could use one. Or at least someone that wasn't his dad. It's no problem Sheriff, he's a good kid."

"He is," John shot Kyle a look, "You know I asked you to call me John when we are off duty." Kyle looked sheepish and John just sighed before ushering him home with a goodnight and a container of leftover hamburger, Stiles wouldn't want it in the house for long anyways.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Stiles didn't remember falling asleep in his bed, or taking his shoe off for that matter. He shrugged, knowing it must have been his dad. He quickly pulled off his log sleeve shirt from the day before, exposing the intricate black lines dancing over the expanse of his pale skin. As Stiles grabbed a new shirt, an intake of breath told him his dad had opened the door. Stiles had told his gad about the tattoos, but never shown them to him. John stepped forward to look at them, the way the lines turned sharp and steady like jagged rocks across the chest and faded to flowing patterns that resembled water or overlapped and seemed to float off his son's skin lower down the abdomen. The most eye catching though was how his right arm looked to be engulfed in flames of black and grey that were mimicked on the opposite arm in the fur of two animals, a fox and a wolf engaged in what was either a deadly battle or an intimate dance as they spiraled up the arm. The designs all seemed to grow from a tree that covered Stiles' back the branches turning into the other images and the tree itself seemed to hide a plethora of images in its bark, things that John couldn't quite recognize. Stiles cleared his throat, "They are runes, for magic. They help focus different powers. The other designs help too, allow me to have better control over elements and such." Stiles pointed to the animals on his arm, "These guys help a lot too, the wolf kind of serves as a reminder, while the fox symbolizes a future, he's also supposed to help in the next area I have to work on." John raised an eyebrow in question and Stiles shrugged, "Shape shifting, apparently my spirit animal is a fox, I haven't been able to do it though. I may never though, Elisabeth said some of us never figure it out, that we never become at peace with our lives and ourselves and it blocks the shift." Stiles shakes his head, "You don't want to hear about that though."

John wraps a hand around Stiles' bicep, finally noticing the toned muscle the ink is covering, "I like it when you tell me these things, I may not understand, but I like that you trust me with this."

Stiles smiles and ducks away when John ruffles his hair with an eye roll, "Love you too Dad, but I have to get to school." John smiles as Stiles makes a shooing motion before getting dressed. Stiles is dressed and ready to go fairly quickly. On his way out the door he grabs his jacket and keys before shouting a goodbye and climbing in his Jeep. When he pulls into a parking space, he can see upperclassmen looking in shock as he climbs out and they take in his new look, a tight dark V-neck that allows the edges of his tattoos to poke out, the leather jacket, a pair of tight jeans and his stylishly coiffed hair. He knows he looks different, in fact, he thinks he looks hot if he does say so himself. He smirks and walks confidently through the school, ignoring the looks he gets, especially when he walks past Lydia and completely ignores her, his crush on her was probably more widely known than the National Anthem. He puts his stuff in his locker and heads to his first class and smiles when he realizes the teacher is Finstock.

When he walks in the room, the coach does a double take, "Stilinski?!?"

Stiles nods, "Hey Coach." He smiles, and takes a seat, taking off his jacket and allowing the short sleeve shirt to show off the tattoos and newly acquired muscle, causing eyes to widen around the room.

Finstock looks at the teen calculatingly, "You trying out for Lacrosse?"

Stiles smiles wider, showing off his teeth, "I was first line at the school I was at last year." Elisabeth had thought it would be a good way to build up muscle, turns out when he put his mind to it he was actually a pretty good Lacrosse player. Finstock nodded and as the bell rung he started class as if students appeared after long mysterious absences every day, sometimes Finstock was kind of awesome.

His next class turned out to be with Harris, Stiles was looking forward to this one. The teacher scowled when Stiles entered, "Mr. Stilinski, I was hoping I wouldn't have to see you again."

Stiles' smile was predatory, "Trust me, the feeling is mutual." And now that Harris was successfully unsettled, Stiles leaned back, arms crossed over his chest in a way that made him look menacing without even trying, Stiles knew it was a good decision to get these tattoos. Harris swallowed nervously and couldn't help but let his eyes dart to Stiles every few minutes.

Lunch was interesting, people seemed to avoid him, the intimidating guy in the leather jacket. Stiles chuckled at the thought, God, when had he become Derek? The room seemed to freeze though when twins sat at Stiles table. Stiles knew instantly they were werewolves, "Hello boys, what can I do for you? I don't think Derek will like his puppies wandering off and talking to strangers."

One of them growled, "How do you know we are Derek's?"

Stiles quirked an eyebrow, "Omegas? You two should know better. You seem like strong wolves though Ethan and Aiden."

Aiden, the one who growled, bristled again, "How do you know our names?"

Ethan ignored his brother, "We were on the wrong side of their pack, and they don't exactly like us."

Stiles smiled and leaned forward as if to tell a secret, "Well I don't really like them. They had a lot to learn when I left, seems they didn't learn anything if they left you two alone."

Ethan tilted his head, his eyes boring into Stiles, "We aren't though are we?"

Stiles laughed, "I like you." He turned to Aiden, "If you stopped growling maybe we could get to know each other. I'm Stiles."

Aiden huffed "We know who you are."

Ethan picked up the line of thought, "What we would like to know is what you are."

His eyes looked back and forth between the twins before he replied, "Nothing you want to go up against." The answer seemed to be enough because the two relaxed and Stiles got to have a nice conversation about what happened while he was gone, apparently there was an Alpha pack and a Darach, he was going to have to have a talk with his dad about telling him things.

As the bell rang and Stiles went to head to his next class, Aiden stopped him. "You're not a wolf, but you feel like an Alpha." It was an unasked question, if they could stay with him, Stiles nodded.

The day went by pretty quickly, when the final bell rang, Stiles headed to the locker room to get ready for Lacrosse. Official tryouts were done, but Finstock had wanted him to come. The younger kids on the team looked wary of him as he made his way through the locker room, the older ones looked confused. As he passed the office, Finstock stopped him, "Jesus Stilinski, I looked up your last school. You said you were first line but you didn't tell me you made captain. Where was all that skill when you played for me?"

Stiles shrugged, enjoying the looks of shock from those who had been on the team with him before, "Never had the proper motivation."

Finstock shook his head and threw him some gear before pointing him to a locker. Stiles quickly stripped down to change into the practice gear. A soft, "Holy crap." brought his head around to come face to face with Isaac. Stiles always kind of liked him, Isaac had been the only one to not completely ignore him after everything. They hadn't talked, but Isaac showed small kindnesses when he could. Stiles smiled and turned, allowing Isaac to see the entirety of the ink work on his upper body. Isaac gave a low whistle, "That some impressive stuff, must have hurt."

Stiles nodded, "Like a bitch. Worth it though, there's a lot more to these things than you would think."

Isaac cast a glance over the tattoos as if trying to understand what he meant. Scott interrupted, "Come on Isaac, we need to get on the field." Stiles didn't miss the look Scott threw him, He wondered what it said about Scott that the werewolf thought Stiles was the one who had thrown away years of friendship when in truth, he had simply gotten tired of trying to keep it held together when Scott didn't even seem to want it. Stiles rolled his eyes as he watched Isaac follow Scott.

Instead of dwelling on it though, Stiles got ready and headed to the field, ready to work out a little anger. Stiles noticed Allison, Erica, Lydia and Boyd sitting in the bleachers, they were with a young Asian girl he didn't recognize. He wondered if they knew she was a kitsune. Something on the edge of the bleachers caught his eye and Stiles rolled his eyes that Derek seemed to think it wasn't creepy to hide and watch teenagers. Ethan and Aiden were also watching, Stiles sent them a smile. Finstock called him over, wanted him to captain one of the scrimmage teams. Stiles nodded and took his place in front of Jackson, directing his players before bending down to look Jackson in the eye.

Jackson growled, "Stilinski."

Stiles sneered, "Whittmore."

The whistle blew, Stiles got the ball. He wove around Jackson, passing it to one of his guys. The ball was passed back and forth before Stiles got it and spun, narrowly avoiding Scott and sending it over his shoulder to sail past Danny into the net. Stiles hi-fived the guy he worked with before heading back to the center. The rest of the match followed a similar pattern, with Stiles working with his team to get around the wolves. Even when Stiles moved to defense, they didn't have as many goals but no one on the other team could get past Stiles, werewolves included. Stiles knew the pack was watching him, he could feel Derek's eyes on him. By the end of practice, the team seemed shocked, those that knew him unsure what had happened and those that didn't almost in awe at how he took down all their star players. Stiles just smiled and changed, ready to go home and relax, he needed a good meditation.

Stiles stopped when he caught sight of the twins, "Do you guys have a place to stay? A real place, not an abandoned building, though I do know how much you werewolf types like abandoned buildings." Ethan and Aiden shared a look and Stiles smiled, "Come with me, you are staying at my place. No arguments." Then Stiles turned and headed for his car, completely unsurprised when the twins followed without question.

The drive was quiet but comfortable, the werewolves seemed to accept him as a pseudo-alpha and he kind of liked them. They were lonely, Stiles knew the feeling. As Stiles pulled into the driveway, he noticed his dad's car and smiled, thinking about how this conversation would go. Stiles dragged the two werewolves inside, pausing to murmur a few words to the mountain ash line and waved at his dad who was sitting on the couch, "Hey Dad, this is Ethan and Aiden, they're werewolves. They are staying here for a while, kind of adopted them. Anyways, what's this I hear about sacrifices?"

John winced, "I was kind of hoping you wouldn't hear about that." Stiles gave his best impersonation of the Sam Winchester bitch face. "I know Stiles, I didn't want to worry you. Everything was going well with your training and I didn't want to have to drag you back unprepared."

Stiles huffed, "It was stupid but I understand why you didn't tell me. I only forgive you because it didn't end too horribly, even if I could have made it a lot easier."

To his credit, John looked very apologetic, "What's this about adopting werewolves though?"

Ethan held out a hand which John shook, "I'm Ethan, this is my brother Aiden. We kind of got caught up in the Alpha pack a while back and when the Darach went after us, we split. We've been on our own for a while, Derek doesn't trust us and I can't say I blame him. We almost killed one of his betas, I can understand if you don't trust us either but Stiles feels right. I know he isn't a werewolf, but he feels powerful, almost like an Alpha."

Aiden took the moment to speak up, "We need someone like that, and to keep us grounded. You don't have to let us stay here but we would appreciate it. And for what it's worth, even though we haven't known him long, we will protect him as much as we can. Like my brother says, he feels right."

Stiles looks at the twins then his Dad, "I'll have to ask Elisabeth about that one. Anyways, what do you say Dad?"

With a sigh, John turned to his son, "Do I even have much choice in this?" Stiles gave a sheepish smile and John shook his head fondly, "Yeah, they can take the guest room if they don' mind sharing." Stiles smiled widely and gave his dad a big hug, murmuring 'thank you' over and over before herding the twins up stairs. John looked after Stiles and couldn't help but be amazed at how much the boy was like his mother.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Stiles wasn't sure what he had been expecting when he went to bed but it certainly hadn't been to wake up to two hot werewolves cuddling him. Stiles took one look at Aiden sleepily trying to get closer and sighed, "Definitely time to call Elisabeth." Ethan and Aiden whined as he moved, but Stiles took one look at the clock proclaiming it to be 5am and shoved one of his hoodies into each of their searching hands. They immediately settled down and Stiles was kind of surprised it actually worked. Stiles grabbed his laptop and headed down stairs and immediately sent a Skype call to Elisabeth.

She answered fairly quickly, "Do you know what time it is?"

Stiles took one look at her perfectly styled grey hair and snorted, "Right, like you weren't already awake or anything."

Elisabeth rolled her eyes, "Alright Hun, what do you need."

"Well I would like to know why I woke up to two werewolves treating me like a life sized teddy bear."

Elisabeth quirked a brow, "Tell me everything." He did, everything from meeting them to taking them home. When he got to the part about them saying he felt right, Elisabeth sucked in a breath. "I kind of suspected this, when the wolf on your arm seemed so right and resonated with the magic inside you so perfectly. It's rare though. Stiles, you are a wolf mate. Supernatural creatures all have what you would call mates, one person who just fits for them. It doesn't always mean things work out or that they even meet, what it means is that there is someone out there who keeps you grounded without even knowing it. Most of the time it's the same creature, it's not often that it crosses species, even to humans. It's almost unheard of when it's one of us, magic doesn't like to share, it's the reason dark magic consumes you, fills you with the insatiable need for more. A mate bond is a magic of its own, connecting them. For you, it connects you with a wolf, most likely an Alpha. These bonds have to be strong to push past the inherent magic in us, and it will make you all the more powerful for it if you ever join with the other half of the bond. Even without that though, even if you never meet them, werewolves will be drawn to you. It's why these two twins see you as an Alpha, it's because you are. I need to check with a few people, confirm a few things before I say more, but what I've said should help." Elisabeth raised her hand in the Vulcan salute and signed off.

Stiles shook his head in amusement, "Love that woman."

A voice interrupted Stiles thoughts, "Should I be worried you are proclaiming your love to your computer at 5 in the morning."

Stiles rolled his eyes and deadpanned, "Dad I love my computer and no matter how unconventional it is, there is nothing that can keep us apart."

John smirked, "Well if that's all... What are you doing up so early?"

Stiles gave a shrug, "My bed gained a pair of space heaters overnight."

The surprise was evident on John's face, even in the dim morning light seeing as Stiles hadn't actually turned the light on. "Really? Should I be worried?"

Stiles smiled, "Don't worry, only one of them is gay."

John rolled his eyes, "Because that makes me feel so much better."

Stiles waved his hand dismissively and went about making breakfast, pulling out everything to make pancakes because, who didn't like pancakes. It felt good, to do something familiar. To make breakfast and argue with his dad about eating 'real' bacon. Stiles had a big smile on his face by the time the twins showed up look amazed at the fact he was cooking breakfast for them. As they all ate and headed out, John with a container of pancakes for Kyle, Stiles couldn't help but think he could get used to this.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Subtlety was, apparently, an art lost on werewolves as was evident in how Erica was now openly stalking him. She had several classes with Stiles and would follow him through the halls. She was currently sitting a few seats away, growling softly. Derek seriously needed to teach his wolves better. It was for this reason that after the final bell rang, Stiles was utterly unsurprised to find himself cornered at his locker by a blonde werewolf. So Stiles did the only logical thing to do in such a situation, he completely ignored her. Erica didn't think much of his tactic and before he could make it down the hall towards the parking lot, a clawed hand closed over his arm. Stiles sighed, "Erica."

The girl in question bared her teeth slightly, "What are you doing here?"

Stiles rolled his eyes, "Going to school, or at the moment trying to go home so I can do my homework."

Erica growled, "I meant what are you doing back in Beacon Hills, what do you want here."

Stiles folded his arms and looked at the teenage girl, "I live here."

"Derek doesn't want you here." Erica's statement stung a bit but Stiles didn't let it show.

Yanking his arm from her grip, Stiles smiled back with a false sweetness, "Derek has no say over what I do."

Erica didn't seem to like that, "He's the Alpha, what he says goes."

That made Stiles laugh, "He's a crap Alpha, and I'm not a wolf."

The admission seemed to surprise Erica, "But you smell like..."

"Ethan and Aiden," Stiles interrupted, "You guys seemed to have tossed them away and I understood the feeling. They are living with me now."

Erica sneered, "You better watch out for those two, Omegas can go feral."

Stiles gave her a smile that was more teeth than anything, "Well I guess it's a good thing they aren't Omegas then."

A harsh, short laugh burst from the blonde, "They would have to have an Alpha, and there aren't any others in Beacon Hills."

Stiles tilted his head, "Not all Alphas have to be werewolves." With that cryptic remark, Stiles left Erica standing alone in the middle of the hallway and made his way to his Jeep.

The twins were waiting by it patiently but seemed to stiffing when they caught his scent. Aiden growled, "You smell like she-wolf."

Stiles shrugged before running a hand over their necks reassuringly, "Erica felt the need to inform me of my unwelcome. I took the opportunity to inform her of the new pack in town."

Ethan smiled, "Pack huh?"

With a shrug, Stiles climbed into the Jeep, "Well, it seems I'm kind of like your Alpha and we have my dad and Kyle to. Oh I should introduce you guys to Kyle, he's awesome. I just know you guys will love him. He works for my dad, he isn't fully in the know but I'm pretty sure he has an idea. It will be so much easier to tell him now that he won't think I'm nuts about the whole werewolf thing."

Aiden looked shocked, "You trust us with your dad and your friend?"

Stiles smiled into the rear view mirror as he pulled out of the parking lot, "Look, I know I don't know you guys very well, but my magic likes you. That doesn't happen often with supernatural creatures. It means I trust you. Besides, Dad and Kyle can take care of themselves." Stiles eyes softened as he spoke, "You guys have a pack now, a good one. I know it's not very big but we'll get there, for now we will just be family." It didn't slip Stiles' notice that both werewolves seemed happy and somewhat shocked by the impromptu speech. "How about we get to know each other and we can introduce you to Kyle and him to the wonderful world of werewolves when he comes for dinner. Good?" The twins nodded, eager to understand this kid who had showed up and turned everything they thought they knew upside down.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Dinner was rather uneventful, Kyle seemed to know everything before Stiles said it. He didn't even flinch towards his gun when the twins shifted. Stiles couldn't help but draw everyone into a big hug afterwards.

The day after seemed to try Stiles patience though. It was a Saturday but Stiles couldn't sleep in because Scott tried to cross the barrier again. Stiles just sighed and tried to meditate for a while, at least until the twins woke up. He kept getting distracted though, apparently werewolves didn't understand that mountain ash meant they should stay away. It wasn't until he felt someone trying to break the line that he let out a growl, a fairly good one for a non-werewolf, and made his way outside to see Deaton surrounded by Derek's pack. Stiles eyes narrowed and he used his connection to the barrier to send the vet flying backwards, knocking over werewolves like bowling pins. Deaton looked up in shock," How did you..."

Stiles smiled, feeling the presence of Ethan and Aiden at his back, "There are a lot more things mountain ash can repel than werewolves if you know what you are doing."

Derek growled, "Break the line, we need to talk."

Stiles glared at the Alpha, "You don't tell me what to do, and there is nothing to discuss. You leave me alone and I leave you alone, end of story."

Erica growled, "I'm not going to be told what to do by a weak little human who was too much of a coward to stick with his friends"

The twins started up a rolling growl behind him. Stiles tsked, "Now Erica, is that any way to talk to a rival Alpha?"

Deaton's eyes widened, "But you aren't a werewolf, that means..."

Stiles smiled widely in a way that was more a baring of teeth, "Why yes Dr. Deaton, that's exactly what it means."

The pack looked confused. Isaac was the one to ask though, "What does it mean?"

"That Mr. Stilinski is not to be messed with. Perhaps we should leave and maybe we can discuss this turn of events elsewhere." Deaton turned to Stiles, "Mr. Stilinski, I apologize deeply for the intrusion, I hope you understand it was not my intention to bring you insult in anyway. We will leave you alone for the time being but I cannot promise that the wolves will understand the need to stay clear as long as you wish not to see them."

Stiles nodded, "I understand Alan, I in no way hold you accountable for the actions of the wolves after this unless they are in your presence. You are free to go on your way." Stiles watched as a wide-eyed Deaton quickly herded the confused pack away then went back inside. Stiles flopped down on the couch in exhaustion, "Finally."

Ethan and Aiden sat either side of him, their hands brushing over him, covering him with their scent, making him smell like pack. Ethan grinned, "That was pretty cool. That Deaton guy seemed pretty shocked."

Stiles laughed, "Yeah the way his eyes bugged out was pretty funny. That could have ended badly though, there are more of them then there are of us. I know I can't turn anyone, but I have a few ideas for expanding."

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Danny was totally agreeable, he had already figured out his boyfriend was a werewolf and was happy to be included in Ethan's pack. Ethan was a lot happier and Stiles was maybe just a bit smug for getting Danny on their side, the goalie wasn't very happy with Jackson at the moment and was fine being in a different pack as long as they didn't set out to hurt Jackson's pack. Stiles had no intentions of that anyways.

The second addition was a bit of a rough sell to the pack, they knew what he had done in the past but Stiles knew the importance of having another werewolf in the pack. They agreed eventually, so Stiles approached Peter Hale.

Peter smirked when he opened the door to Stiles, "I was wondering when I would see you."

Stiles smiled at the older man, "Peter."

A moment passed where the two took each other in. Peter broke the silence, "I'm glad you turned down my offer. You would have made a majestic werewolf but the aura of magic around you suits you much better. I know why you are here though, what makes you think I would join a pack other than the Hale pack?"

Stiles snorted, "The Hale pack doesn't seem to think much of you, their loss. Besides, you weren't with them when they came to confront me. Allison was there, as was Lydia and all the werewolves and even the new girl Kira, but you weren't. That's for one of two reasons, they don't trust you or you don't trust them. Either way it's promising for me."

Peter chuckled, "I knew there was a reason I liked you, very forward, you tell it like it is, no hidden agenda. Very unlike myself. You are right though, they don't trust me. I have changed from my time as an Alpha, I'm not sure it was enough for them though."

Stiles gave a shake of his head, "They don't realize what an asset you are. You've been a werewolf longer than any of them have been alive, that comes with a lot of knowledge."

The nod Peter gave showed he agreed, "Yes, it does. I have to ask though, you saw what I did to Lydia and even after what I did to you, how is it that you trust me?"

Stiles smiled, "Throwing a Molotov cocktail at a guy kind of gets rid of all the anger associated with him, plus I don't like to judge people by their mistakes." Stiles put a hand on Peter's shoulder, "Come over for dinner, everyone is going to be there." Stiles waited for Peter to nod before heading out the door. He stopped when he got to his Jeep, the air felt heavy, something bad was going to happen. Stiles hoped to be ready.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Things stayed quiet much longer than Stiles expected, they made it through Thanksgiving without incident. The entire pack gathered at the Stilinski house, Peter even made pie. The guy could bake, who knew. It was nice, sitting at a table with his dad, his pack. It was like what he had always wanted from his old pack, when he still belonged there, if he ever belonged. Stiles didn't think about that though, instead he watched as Kyle joked with the twins and Ethan played footsie with Danny under the table, occasionally hitting other people’s legs. He even watched amused as Peter tried, unsuccessfully to flirt with his father.

After dinner, when everyone was lying around and slowly drifting into food comas, John approached his son. "Your mom would be proud of you. Claudia was a lot like you, you know. She would have seen this rag tag group you built up and filed adoption papers for the lot of them, Peter included."

Stiles looked at his dad, shocked, "You never talk about her."

John sighed, "Maybe I should. I checked out after she died, heck maybe even before. I couldn't see what it was doing to her. I didn't want to see her forget me, our life together, our son. I'm sorry that I left you alone with her the day she died. I should have been there for you, after that as well. I got caught up in work, I was never home. I didn't even notice you had gotten mixed up with werewolves until it was practically tearing you apart."

Stiles smiled, "In your defense no one would have had werewolves as a first guess."

That earned him a raised eyebrow, "From what I've heard from Peter it was yours. Apparently you knew before Scott."

Stiles shrugged, "I have the unfair advantage of teenage imagination and ADHD fueled research binges."

John laughed, bringing Stiles in for a hug and settling his chin in Stiles hair, "Yeah, I still wouldn't have won any father of the year awards."

Stiles wrapped his arms tight around his dad, "Doesn't matter, you have been the best dad I could have asked for."

John shook his head, his cheek brushing against Stiles' hair, "You don't ask for much then."

He should have been expecting the hit. He really should have, because no sooner had the words left his mouth then Stiles jerked back and hit his arm. John rubbed his arm, the kid had a solid hit and looked up to meet his son's eyes. "Dad, I don't care if you were the worst dad ever. Don't you say that about yourself. I love you and I know you love me, it's more than a lot of people get and it's all that matters."

John smiled fondly at his son before bringing him back into a hug, kissing Stiles' forehead as he went. Then he noticed the room full of eyes on them and blushed, he couldn't believe he just had that moment in front of everyone. The looks on their faces though said what had just happened was most likely the sweetest thing they had ever witnessed. So John got over his embarrassment and settled down on the couch with his arms wrapped around his son, Kyle at his side with one hand resting on Stiles' back, Peter stretched out next to them and three teenagers who promptly draped themselves over the group.

Stiles chuckled at the group, "This is totally a puppy-pile." The werewolves groaned at the term, but they were smiling wider than they had all day.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Christmas came and went, Elisabeth loved Stiles pack, and they all thought she was hilarious. She tried to help him with the shifting he had been working on but it seemed he wasn't settled enough in his magic. Elisabeth believed he wouldn't be able to achieve it until he reconciled with the wolf that was to be his mate. Neither Stiles nor Elisabeth were stupid, they knew it was Derek. Stiles wasn't sure he wanted it to be though. Before Stiles left, he had thought he was getting somewhere with the Alpha werewolf. But then they had sex and Derek ran and the pack hated him. Stiles couldn't figure out what went wrong, but they all acted like it was his fault, like he was the one who had abandoned them. Stiles shook himself from those thoughts, that way led to nothing but frustration and that could make his magic go a little wonky. Last time he got frustrated it took three hours to figure out how to get his bedroom furniture unstuck from the ceiling, he almost thought he was going to have to sleep like a bat. But that was how they knew it was Derek, because of what thinking of the older man did to his magic. Derek was ignoring him though.

That's when things got messy.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

The first thing that happened was strange, teenagers would disappear for a few day and come back dazed almost a week later with no memory of what happened. If the victims had been younger Stiles would have said faerie circles, though he kept the possibility in mind. Deaton had kept his word and told the pack to stay away from him unless he initiated contact. For the most part they listened.

That changed though when a group of hunters wandered through and thought the disappearances, the last of which had resulted in the dead body of the missing teen being found in the preserve, were because of the werewolves. Stiles pack were smart, didn't draw attention to their status as werewolves. Derek's pack couldn't claim the same wisdom. That's why Stiles wasn't surprised when Melissa McCall came knocking on his door to ask for his help. Scott, Isaac, Erica and Boyd were missing. Jackson was only lucky enough to escape capture by virtue of being at an event for his father's law firm.

Melissa looked upset when Stiles opened the door, "Oh God Stiles, they are missing. We can't find them anywhere! I know Scott said they weren't supposed to come to you or anything but I have to ask. I need your help, please find him, find Scott."

Stiles brought her into a hug, shushing her softly, "It's alright Mama McCall, I'll find him. Do you have anything of his with you?"

She nodded and grabbed Scott's keys out of her back pocket and tried to compose herself, "Will these work?"

Stiles nodded and brought her inside, ignoring the looks Ethan and Aiden were shooting him. He sat down on the floor next to the coffee table and held the keys in his up turned palm. He closed his eyes and brought a finger from his forehead to a rune on his side, hidden by his shirt, then to the keys. I took a few moments but Stiles eyes snapped open and he nodded to the twins who grabbed their stuff and headed for the Jeep. Stiles smiled at Melissa, "I know where they are, but I need you to stay here. I don't know what I'm going into yet and Scott would kill me if you got hurt." She nodded and gave him a tight hug before he followed after his wolves.

Aiden scowled, "Are we really rescuing them?"

Stiles nodded, "I may not be on the best of terms with them, but they used to be my friends. I can't stand by and watch them get hurt. I'm pretty sure it's hunters so call Peter and my dad while I drive. We could use the back up and arresting them for illegal gun possession is easier than hiding bodies."

Ethan chuckled as he pulled out his phone to call the rest of their pack and sent Danny a quick text to be ready at his computer once they got these guys names. Danny was pretty good at finding all the illegal stuff guys like these hid, they had an entire portfolio on the Argents incase it was ever needed.

They were racing through the town, Stiles was actually surprised not to get pulled over for speeding. In no time, they were sitting outside an old warehouse. Stiles took one look at the building and rolled his eyes, "Seriously, can't hunters at least try to be original?" Stiles gave a sigh and grabbed his pack, you never know when you may need obscure magical ingredients.

The hunters were easy to locate, it made Stiles wonder why Derek hadn't. Then Stiles saw it, a thick line of mountain ash. A quick investigation told Stiles it was a good one, it blocked scents and sounds from werewolves. It certainly explained why Derek's pack hadn't found the place. Stiles reached out his magic towards the barrier, the caster was good, but Stiles was better. Stiles felt the tree on his back grow hot as he negotiated with the magic imbued in the mountain ash. When he was finished, Peter had joined them. Stiles smiled at the man, "Ready to kick some hunter ass?"

Peter cracked his knuckles, "Of course, it makes for a delightful evening."

Stiles smiled and guided the three werewolves over the line, careful not to disturb it. As they got to the door, Stiles turned to his pack, "You guys take care of the guns, "I'll take care of whoever laid the line." Then with a nod they burst through the doors. The shocked look on the hunters’ faces at the sight of the werewolves was comical. Stiles however kept his eyes on a middle aged man with several runes tattooed on his arm. The man noticed Stiles attention. Stiles smirked and dropped his leather jacket, exposing his own tattoos. The man's eyes widened at the extensive collection of ink on Stiles arms. Stiles walked forward, ignoring the sounds of fighting around him. The man brushed against a rune near his elbow and sent a gust of wind at Stiles in an attempt to push him back. Stiles places a hand on his chest and kept moving forward as the wind went harmlessly around him. Stiles chuckled, "Still relying on simple elemental runes at your age? Now that's just sad."

The guy sneered, "Yeah and what's a kid like you got? I could probably squash you like the bug you are." Stiles smiled and raised his right hand, allowing the guy to see how the ink flames seemed to actually move over his skin. The guy stepped back, "You'd have to have full control over the elements to do something like that. A kid like you can't have mastered that, it takes a lifetime. I bet you are just using a glamour to do that."

Stiles tilted his head and brought his fingers together in a tight fist, the guy screamed, dropping to his knees. Stiles smiled and kneeled next to the man, "That feeling, it's your insides coming to a slow boil. Now, I'm going to be nice and let you go. But understand this, you won't be coming back. You will leave here and if you ever hear of someone coming to attack the pack here, you let them know that the pack of Beacon Hills is under the protection of a wolf mate and high mage. Do you understand?" The guy nodded and Stiles released his magic. The man slumped forward. Stiles stood and turned, now aware of the eyes on him from both packs. Stiles smiled, his entire presence seeming to brighten, "Oh you guys found them, good. Well, now that we are done here, let’s get these werewolves back to their Alpha." Stiles turned with a bounce and sauntered out to his Jeep, knowing they were all following him.

Erica was the one to ask the question, "What the hell was that?"

Stiles turned, "Hmm? Oh, that? Just a little show of strength, it was nothing really."

Boyd must have been taking eyebrow lessons from a certain Alpha because normal eyebrows did not have the capability to say, 'that was not nothing, I could smell the guys insides burning'. Seriously, did werewolves have to take a course in eyebrow language or something?

Stiles beamed back, "Just exercising a little magic and establishing my territory amongst us magic folk."

Scott looked shocked at Stiles actions, "That guy said that what you did would take a lifetime to master."

It was Stiles turn to do a bit of eyebrow dancing, "So? I just learn faster than the average bear, that's all."

Erica huffed, "I'm not stupid, you said you were a high mage, that doesn't happen overnight."

Stiles frowned, "It didn't, what did you think I was doing when I was gone?"

The eye roll was expected from the blonde werewolf, "Staying far away from supernatural crap, isn't that why you left after all?"

Ok, that hurt. "I left because my so called friends completely ignored me, tossed me aside like so much trash. Ditched me for girlfriends or treated me like crap and never telling me what it was I did wrong. I was there for you guys, whenever you needed it. I saved most of your lives, even Derek's but I don't get so much as a thank you. Instead I get labeled the weak little human who couldn't possibly be worth the time of the high and mighty werewolves." Stiles sent an apologetic smile to Peter, Aiden and Ethan, "No offense guys."

The three exchanged looks, "None taken."

Erica scoffed, "Please, when did you ever save my life?" The rest of the group was watching them like a tennis match now.

"How about the library? Or, I don't know, Gerard's basement?" Erica flinched and Boyd let out a growl. Stiles laughed, "What you think you two hold the monopoly on being traumatized from torture at that psycho's hands? You never seem to remember that I was there to, that I got him to turn down the current and focus on me, that I'm human and my wounds didn't heal the moment I stepped out of that basement." At this point, Stiles was practically yelling. Erica and Boyd looked ashamed, apparently, those things had never occurred to them, they had been too wrapped up in whatever wrong it seems he had done. Stiles took a deep breath to calm down, "What did I do anyways? Why do you all hate me?"

Isaac looked at his shoes, "Derek said you wanted out, that we were to leave you alone. We thought you were abandoning us, that we didn't mean anything to you, that you could just forget us. Then you tried to talk to us at school, it hurt that you were ignoring us one second and then trying to laugh with us the next, so we cut you out."

No one was expecting the laugh that burst from Stiles mouth, "Well, that explains that. Maybe you should ask Derek what really happened because it was pretty much the opposite of that." Peter looked up and made a small 'oh sound. "Yeah Peter, Oh."

They dropped the four betas off at Derek's, not even bothering to exit the car. They returned home and Stiles informed Melissa that Scott was alright and should be home soon. She thanked him and ran out the door, leaving him to lean back on the couch and sigh. Peter was actually the one to approach him, "So you and my nephew huh?"

Stiles turned his head from where it was leaning back over the couch, "Yeah, only the once though. He kind of disappeared after then everything got bad with the pack. It got to a point where I couldn't handle it anymore. I had this card from Deaton, from back when I did the thing with the mountain ash at the rave. He told me to call the number if I ever wanted to learn more, so I called. I met Elisabeth and she taught me so much, it was amazing. Sometimes I wonder though, if I would have gone this far with magic if none of that had happened, I almost can't imagine life without it anymore."

Peter patted Stiles knee, "Well, I'm sorry my nephew is such an idiot, but I honestly wouldn't have you any other way."

Stiles gave a mumbled "Thanks Peter." as Ethan and Aiden climbed on the couch and the four of them drifted into an exhausted the kind of which was only brought on by a good fight.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Stiles woke up to the smell of bacon, "Dad!"

John poked his head out of the kitchen and pointed at Stiles with a pair of tongs, "No. Last night I had to go arrest a group of hunters at some abandoned building who had all been traumatized by my son. Therefore, I get bacon." Stiles sighed, he knew he wasn't going to win that argument. Soon the kitchen was crowded with werewolves fighting over French toast and who got the next slice of bacon. Stiles solved that argument by taking the entire plate for himself, doing his best to ignore the look his dad shot him and went to get ready for the first day back to school after winter break.

When they got to school, it didn't take long for Erica and Isaac to find him. They looked very apologetic. Erica spoke first, "I'm sorry. Derek told us what happened, well not all of it but we understand what actually happened now. I feel ashamed, for the way I treated you. Even if you had done what we thought, you didn't deserve that."

Isaac picked up when her voice trailed off, "We wanted you to know that we don't expect forgiveness, but we would like a chance to try at being friends again."

Stiles smiles, "I would like that. You need to remember that we are in different packs though. It changes some things." They nodded in understanding as the bell rang. Stiles reached and squeezed their hands gently before heading to class, accepting a nod from Boyd as the apology that it was.

Allison showed up next, "Scott's being an idiot. He doesn't want to accept that he was the one in the wrong." She paused a moment, "I'm sorry, for my part in things. I didn't really know what was going on and I was too wrapped up in myself to see how you were hurting."

Stiles hugged her, "Hey, it's alright. You had just lost your mom, that kind of takes over. I know the feeling."

Allison laughed, "Maybe we should start a dead mom's club, invite Isaac and Derek." She cringed when she mentioned Derek but Stiles waved it off, he had gotten over the hurt for the most part.

Jackson shouldered him in the hallway and Lydia plopped herself down at his lunch table and started a conversation without even acknowledging what had happened. It was a very Lydia thing to do and it felt nice to have her act the same around him.

Stiles was utterly surprised when Kira approached him, he hadn't even known her. She smiled softly, "I'm sorry about what happened to you. I, I know it's probably not my place to say because I don't even really know you, but they are all really sorry. They didn't want to hurt you."

She beams when Stiles gives her a soft smile, "Thanks."

Scott is the last, Stiles finds him after school waiting next to the Jeep. Stiles tells Ethan and Aiden to see if they can catch a ride with Danny and he goes to face his old best friend. Scott frowns, "Was I really that horrible to you? Did I ditch you for Allison and ignore what the others did to you?" Stiles nods and Scott whines, "Oh God, I'm so sorry dude. I can't believe I was such a crap friend. What can I do to make it up to you? Do you want me to do something weird like eat a worm? Cause I will if you want me to. I'll streak through the cafeteria, or wear a pink tutu at practice. Finstock loves you and he won’t get mad if I'm doing it because you told me to." Stiles laughs and puts an arm around Scott's shoulder, he had missed his friend.

Derek never shows up.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Stiles decides it's time he had a talk with Chris Argent, the guy needs to keep his hunters in check. Stiles was not happy to find that some of the hunters that kidnapped the betas were operating under the Argent name. So that's why he is standing outside Chris Argent's door at ten o'clock at night. Chris is somewhat surprised to see him, "Stiles! What are you doing here?"

The teen gave an innocent looking smile, "To discuss why I had to rescue a few teenage werewolves from your hunters last night."

Chris looked shocked, "What are you talking about?"

Stiles handed a file to the hunter, "You should keep your men in line Chris. Next time I can't guarantee that they will only be arrested." Chris looked through the file, his face growing grim and he nodded in understanding. "I know you can't control them, but try to keep them from doing anything stupid. It won't end well for them if they touch any of my betas."

Chris' head shot up, "Your betas?"

"I'm not a werewolf," Stiles shook his head, "What I am though, is very pissed off. If you touch the twins or Peter, if any of your men do, their lives are forfeit." Stiles' eyes were dark and held a promise there that made Chris believe his words. Stiles smiled and the darkness disappeared from his face so quickly Chris thought he had been imagining it, "I'll be seeing you around then, say hi to Allison for me!"

Chris wondered what kind of person Stiles Stilinski had turned into, to threaten a hunter and as a human, claim to be a werewolves' Alpha.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

It was decided that it was time for the two packs to get to know each other. They kind of knew each other, but they needed to see each other as allies, whatever was taking people was still out there, and another body had shown up. Stiles decided a nice get together would be appropriate. It was still cold so Stiles decided a game night was in order and Ms. McCall graciously offered to host. It was a good idea, while Scott lived there, the house was more of a neutral ground considering Stiles had spent half of his child hood there as well. That was how Melissa ended up with a house full of werewolves, assorted supernatural creatures and a few humans thrown in for good measure. There was all sorts of food too, Melissa had ordered pizza, but Stiles had shown up, his whole pack in tow and each holding at least on container of food. What, Stiles liked to cook. Eventually, everyone but Derek had shown up. When Stiles asked about that, Scott admitted they didn't know if he was coming. The packs seemed happy though. Danny and Ethan were talking with Jackson and Isaac. Allison, Erica, Kira and Lydia had practically fought over who got to sit next to Kyle. Peter, John and Melissa were having some sort of super interesting grown-up talk about politics or groceries or something. And in a strange turn of events, Boyd and Aiden seemed to be getting along like a house on fire. Scott nudges Stiles with his elbow and motioned around, "Pretty cool huh?"

Stiles looked at the seen and smiled, "Yeah, it's nice."

Scott looked away, "Derek should be here."

That had Stiles slumping and sighing into his arms, "I'm pretty sure he's avoiding me."

Scott put a hand on his friends shoulder, "He missed you. I don't think he knows how to handle you. I think when he did what he did, he thought he was helping you, keeping you safe. He didn't think of the ramifications of his actions. Now, you are different. You are stronger, probably more so than any of us, and he can see that now. I think he has trouble with seeing you as anything other than who he thought you were before you left."

Stiles looked up at Scott, "That would probably go a lot better if he would actually talk to me."

Scott looked towards the door, "Maybe he will."

Stiles spun around to see Derek. The room went quite, everyone frozen in place and the only sound coming from the video game Aiden and Boyd had been playing. Scott patted Stiles awkwardly on the back then went to join Allison. Stiles looked at the Alpha, he hadn't changed much, "Derek." That seemed to break the spell over the room and everyone went back to whatever they had been doing before. Boyd and Aiden had to restart the game though because they had both died.

Derek rubbed the back of his neck, "Stiles, been a while."

Stiles let out a burst of laughter, "Yeah. I think we have a lot to talk about."

Stiles looked around for a moment then directed the older man outside. When they got outside, Derek spoke up, "You know they can still hear us right?"

That made Stiles smile, "Yeah, but they won't. I think they all understand how important this talk is going to be for our packs."

Derek, "How is your pack doing?"

"Good," Stiles paused, "You know they could have been yours right? They should have been actually. You are the area's Alpha, it was your duty to take them in."

Derek winced, "I know. I'm a pretty crappy Alpha though. I don't do the right thing for my pack half the time. I've seen you, with Ethan and Aiden at school. You scent mark them, sometimes even in public. They wear your clothes, you wear theirs. Heck I'm pretty sure you were wearing Peter's shirt the other day. Danny does it too. It seems so natural for you guys, like its right. We don't do that, we have been a pack much longer but we don't have the closeness your pack does. It makes me wonder how things would be if I hadn't driven you away."

Stiles looked softly at the troubled Alpha, "You know I forgive you for all that right? I understand what you were trying to do, at least I'm pretty sure I do. I can't forget though, and if you want our packs to coexist, we need to get along. Which means you need to earn our trust, we need to earn yours as well. You need to accept the presence of human's in packs. Whether you like it or not, you have Allison and Melissa, even Chris sometimes. I have my dad, and Kyle, and I can assure you, they are going no where. Most importantly though, I need the two of us to step back from, well, the two of us. We can't let what we may or may not be or have been get in the way right now. There will be a time when we can deal with that, but after we take care of whatever is happening in Beacon Hills."

Derek nodded, "Any ideas?"

"Of course I have ideas!" Stiles laughed, "At first I thought fae, but those are usually kids and all the victims so far have been teenagers. There is also the Slaugh, but that's usually only during the Great Hunt and the occurrences are too spread apart for that. They aren't sacrifices as they only started dying recently. Mermaids, but there hasn't been anything that scream aquatic about the disappearances. Or Sirens, but there were girls as well as boys. Are there boy Sirens? Or are Sirens like bi or something? I don't think they would discriminate against gender, would they? Incubi and Succubae are a possibility. Whatever it is though, it's getting stronger,"

Derek lifted an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"It didn't kill at first, and the attacks were spread apart. They are becoming more frequent and now instead of confused teenagers, we are finding bodies." Stiles seemed upset, "We need to figure this out before anyone else dies."

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

They don't figure it out, instead Stiles spends the next several days searching through lore and meditating. He's gotten so obsessed with figuring it out that he hasn't been to school in those several days and his room looks more like it belongs to a serial killer with the amount of stuff he has plastered on the walls. He's fairly certain Kira ran away screaming when she tried to bring him his homework from their shared history class, it's kind of weird that her dad is the teacher. He's nearing his fourth day of non-stop research when a werewolf comes in his window.

Stiles opens and eye from where he is seated on the floor attempting to search Beacon Hills with his magic for a sign of the creature, "You know, I didn't give you access past the maintain ash line for you to interrupt my meditation. I'm trying to find an elusive supernatural murdering creature that is killing people... did I mention the part about people dying?"

Derek snorted, "Everyone is worried about you." The Alpha takes a moment to glance around the room, "I can see why too. This isn't normal Stiles."

"What isn't normal is the thing killing people." The look on Stiles face dares Derek to say otherwise. "Besides, Kyle brings me food when he is on lunch break so it's not like I'm going to starve up here."

Derek shakes his head, "Yes but you won't be of any use to us when we need to take it down if you burn yourself out searching for clues where there are none."

Stiles insists, "There are, I'm just not looking in the right places. I wish I knew what the right places were, that would make this so much easier." Stiles pauses, "That's actually a brilliant idea! Way to go Stiles!" Derek looks confused, or maybe that's just his face, but Stiles keeps going. "I've never done it before but I have all the stuff. I could probably call Elisabeth for a quick tutorial but I pretty much know what she's going to say." Stiles trailed off before snapping around to look at Derek, "Get me a map."

And that was how Derek found himself sitting on Stiles' bedroom floor in front of a map as Stiles dug through his bags looking for something. Derek startled when Stiles let out an exclamation of victory and held up a small crystal on a chain. Derek raised an eyebrow, "What's that supposed to do?"

Stiles rolled his eyes, "Hey don't hate on the magic crystal, it's a very nice magic crystal." Stiles cradled the stone near his face, "You are a very nice magic crystal." The rolled eyes Derek gave Stiles earned him a stuck out tongue for a moment before Stiles moved so his arm was over the map, the crystal hanging motionless. Stiles closed his eyes and began murmuring in another language, it sounded like a mix of ancient Gaelic and Norse. Stiles used the words to guide his magic and that in the crystal to find what he wanted. The crystal started moving in circles, slowly as it moved over the map. At one point, the circles became tight and fast before the crystal touched down on the map in an area on the far end of the preserve that housed a few hunting cabins. Derek hadn't been up that way in a long time, maybe not even since before the fire. Stiles flung his arms over his head, "Yes! It worked! Now we just have to see if we can get a sneak peak of these guys."

Derek paused as he went to get up, "What makes you think it's more than one."

Stiles looked down at the crystal, "Just a feeling, like there was more to what I was searching for than I knew."
~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

"This is a stupid plan. This is the stupidest of stupid plans. The stupidest plan of them all." Stiles crossed his arms and glared at Derek. "Are you even listening to me?"

Derek looked over to the pouting Stiles sitting in the passenger seat of his Camaro. "It's not that bad."

Stiles raised his eyebrow as he let out a loud, "HA! Right, we are just sitting here, alone, waiting for a few creatures to show up who have been killing people and we know absolutely nothing about them. Oh, did I mention the part where you are terrible at communication and no one even knows we are out here?"

"Scott knows." Derek paused as he saw Stiles' unimpressed look. "So maybe he was the best person to tell."

Stiles laughed, "Not the best person? I love Scott, but the guy's brain goes out the window the second Allison is anywhere near the equation."

Derek frowned, "Why don't you text Peter or the twins then?"

Stiles rolled his eyes, "Because a stupid sourwolf abducted me from school and didn't think to bring a phone charger!"

A hand suddenly clamped over Stiles mouth and he looked in shock at the offending appendage before following the line of the arm to see Derek's face screwed up in concentration. Stiles let out an offended noise around the hand but Derek shushed him and whispered, "I think I hear them. It sounds like there is only two." When the werewolf moved to open the door, Stiles mumbled into Derek's hand something that may have been, 'Oh, only two. Two of something we have no idea what it is so we should definitely go and fight it all by ourselves with absolutely no hope of winning what so ever.' Derek felt he at least had the level of sarcasm in that right. Derek rolled his eyes, "I only want to get a closer look, try and get a scent profile."

Stiles crossed his arms and glared at Derek only to jump in shock and let out a little scream when something came down hard on the roof of the Camaro. It was totally a manly scream, the high pitched on came from Derek... that's the story Stiles is sticking to anyways. Derek growled and threw open his door, rolling out as he went. Stiles huffed and scrambled out of his own side, barely managing to duck a swipe to his head with a clawed hand. Stiles turned to see a woman on the car's roof, with the claws and fangs Stiles would have said she was a werewolf if not for the blank, soulless white eyes. Stiles ignored the crawling feeling up his spine and grabbed her ankle and yanked, unbalancing her enough that she had to leap from the top of the car. Derek raced around the car and lunged at the woman only to be hit midair by a second figure. This one was a man, his eyes the same as the woman's. Stiles let out a growl and allowed magic to surge from his hands as he pushed the guy off Derek, sending him into a tree. The guy was up in a matter of seconds and ran inhumanly fast at them. Derek bared his teeth and swiped with a clawed hand. The guy ducked but the woman came up from behind Stiles and managed to sink her claws into his hip before he grabbed her and swung her around. Derek's eyes grew impossibly redder at the scent of Stiles' blood and he let out a rolling growl that filled the clearing. The two creatures, which Stiles was now fairly certain were an Incubus and Succubus pair, clearly saw Derek as a bigger threat and rushed him. Stiles tried to get to Derek, but the werewolf barreled into them and the three went rolling away like bowling pins when they got struck by a ball. In the midst of that, the guy managed to get on Derek's back and reached forward to dig claws into and across Derek's chest. Derek's knees buckled from the sudden pain and the female made to slash at his throat.

Suddenly Stiles felt himself surge forward on all fours, clothes shedding to be replaced with orange fur, black markings where the tattoos had been. He snarled and forced the two away from Derek and stood over the injured wolf with a muzzle full of teeth bared. Stiles anger fueled his magic and he felt the warmth of fire spread out from his paw as he took a menacing step forward. The leaves under that paw caught flame and the two creature fled, faces showing terror as they cowered away from the now growing flame. The fox tilted its head at the sudden absence of the threat but refused to let its guard down as it turned to tend to its fallen wolf. Stiles nudged Derek's arm with a wet, black nose, the tip of his tongue flicking out and moving over a small space of skin. Derek moaned and shifted, exposing his chest. Stiles growled when he saw the damage, it was bad, even for a werewolf. A whine started in the back of Stiles throat as he nudged at Derek again and the werewolf didn't respond. So Stiles did what he had to and gripped the collar of Derek's shirt in his teeth and tried to think of somewhere safe to go.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Scott sighed in relief as Derek finally opened his eyes, "Dude! Thank God. You finally started healing but when you weren't waking up Deaton got worried."

Derek squinted at the light and looked around, "Where's Stiles?" Scott's reply was a hesitant 'uh...' before Derek growled, "Where. Is. Stiles."

Scott pointed to the floor and Derek sat up to see a fox curled up on the floor, red-orange fur covered in strange black patterns. Derek turned a raised eye brow to Scott who shrugged, "Deaton says that's him but he's been like that since you guys showed up here. Which I'm still not sure how that happened, you guys kind of appeared in the middle of the examination room."

Apparently that was Deaton's cue to speak up, "It appears Mr. Stilinski is far more advanced in the practice of magic than I thought, or he found the necessary circumstances to level his magic to accomplish two extraordinary feats. I'm afraid though that the second is more likely as he has not returned to human form. I believe that is because he still believes there to be a threat to your life."

Scott snorted, "Seriously, he wouldn't let anyone but Dr. Deaton near you until you started healing, not even his dad or Kyle!"

Derek looked down at the fox, which was apparently Stiles, who was now looking up at Derek with his head tilted as if to ask if he was alright. Derek smiled, "Stiles, I'm fine now. You should probably change back."

No sooner had Derek said the words than there was a naked Stiles on the floor. Stiles blushed, "Um... think I can get some clothes hear, apparently they just magic off when I do the whole growing fur thing."

Scott covered his eyes and left to grab Stiles some clothes, only running into a wall once during his rushed escape. Deaton seemed completely undisturbed at having a naked teenager on his floor, it made you wonder about the guy. Derek however, was blushing almost as much as Stiles and trying not to look at the boy. HIs eyes had apparently staged a mutiny however and kept darting back to Stiles, who blushed anew with each glance. Scott finally returned with a pair of sweat pants and a red hoodie which Stiles put on surprisingly fast and graceful for a kid who used to trip on air. Stiles had changed a lot in his time away though, Derek remembered watching him play Lacrosse when he had first returned. Stiles had even one them a few games since his return.

Stiles smiled sheepishly, "Well, now that I have now died of embarrassment, I know what they are." Deaton looked intrigued as Stiles continued, "It was the eyes, a lot of my ideas had similar features, but when I saw their eyes, I knew they were Incubi, well technically one was a Succubus, but for the sake of brevity let's just say Incubi. Well the thing about Incubi, is that they are demons, they are essential soulless creatures. Incubi try to suck the life, the soul, from people through seduction of many types. That's how I knew when I saw their eyes."

Derek looked at Stiles, understanding in his eyes, "They looked empty."

Stiles smiled and pointed at Derek, "Exactly."

Scott looked around, "So how do we defeat them?"

Deaton shook his head, "No record of how to kill them exists. Incubi are ancient creatures, in it was ever documented, and they would destroy the evidence of it."

Stiles gave a long sigh, "Unfortunately, Deaton is right. There was something though, something that happened tonight that made them run. If I can figure it out, maybe we can get rid of these guys."

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

It isn't till almost a week later when Stiles figures it out. They are gearing up for the big Lacrosse game when the girls come to wish them luck. Allison shivers as they turn to leave, "You boys are lucky, you get to wear nice warm pads and we have to tough out the cold weather."

Stiles shrugs, "It's not that cold, I'm sure you guys can survive a few hours."

Kira smiles, "Yeah but I still wish I could use a little fox fire to warm up the stands. Cold metal bleachers are not fun to sit on."

Her words make Stiles freeze, mouth open in shock before he smiles big and bright, "Oh my God! Kira, you are a genius!"

"I am? I mean of course I am." The kitsune looks around for a clue from their friends, but they look as confused as she feels.

Stiles laughs, "God I could kiss you, but I won’t. Fox fire! Why the hell didn't I think of that?" Stiles threw his hands up. "I have to go tell Derek!” Stiles ran, leaving more than a few confused werewolves in his wake.

Scott tilted his head, his face screwed up in confusion, “He’s going to be back to play in the game right?”

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Of course Stiles totally won that game for them, it was awesome. After the game, Stiles put in an immediate call to Elisabeth who told him his theory had promise and she was on her way to help in what ways she could. Stiles is pretty sure she just wants to come and see his new animal form so she can coo over how cute he is, not that he's cute, Stiles' fox form is total badass. She shows up fairly quickly, swanning in during a joint pack meeting and winning over everyone from Derek's pack, she even manages to have a conversation with Deaton where the man doesn't sound like a book of riddles or a fortune cookie. Stiles can't figure out how she does it. She also promptly takes over the planning. "Well, first things first, they think Stiles will be their biggest threat so we need to play that up when we have the final showdown. We put him out front, Kira will be the ace up or sleeve, hidden until just the right moment."

Derek frowns, "You want to put Stiles in harms way on purpose? Use him as bait? He could get hurt."

Elisabeth out right laughs, "Oh honey, are you sure you know Stiles? Because I can assure you, not only was he about two seconds away from suggesting it himself, he will do it no matter what anyone says. Besides, Stiles isn't likely to get hurt, he knows how to take care of himself."

That has Stiles giving a sheepish smile but both John and Kyle frowning. The Sheriff is the one to speak up, "You say that like you've had opportunity to witness this."

Elisabeth turns to Stiles, a greying eyebrow raised, "You didn't tell them about the trolls? The omega? Or that one time with the pixies?" Stiles remains silent, avoiding the eyes of everyone in the room. Elisabeth huffs, "At least tell me you told them about the gnomes, that shit was hilarious."

Stiles winced, "I may not have let on how much fighting experience I've gotten since I left."

Elisabeth rolled her eyes, for an old lady she acted so much like a teenager sometimes, "Well, for the benefit of all present, Stiles is a pretty good fighter and can heal most wounds himself if he does get hurt. After this is all over make sure to get me to tell you all about the gnomes, seriously, that had me laughing for a week."

Stiles gets a few wary looks, one slightly angry one from his dad but it's surprisingly Jackson that snorts, "Obviously." No one else seems to understand and Jackson sighs theatrically, "Do you guys not see how he plays Lacrosse? He's bested werewolves on the field, that comes from more than just non-stop Lacrosse training." Stiles shoots Jackson a pleased look at the fact someone had noticed his epic Lacrosse skills.

Lydia smiles at her boyfriend before turning to the group, "I believe we were discussing strategy, not Stiles' ability to punch something in the face."

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Stiles easily shifts into his fox form on the night of the fight, things aren't perfect between him and Derek, between the packs, but there is effort there and that's enough to make a connection. The fox makes Stiles feel more grounded in the magic, makes it more instinctual than when he's human. It feels powerful. It's no question that Stiles is more than just the bait in this. But that's his first role of the night, so Stiles is pleased when the two creatures instantly turn defensive at the sight of him. Derek growls at them, "We can't let you keep killing people."

The woman sneers, her eyes flashing white, "We wanted to work our way up to bigger game, heard there was a pack of wolves in town." She leers openly at Derek, "Wolves can be so tasty." This time it's Stiles who growls, causing the woman to step back.

Beside her, the guy crouches, "Seems our time table has moved up. I guess we will just have to feed now." They leap as one at Stiles but he sends out a wave of fire from his paws that send them off path towards Boyd and Erica. They fight hard, Boyd and Erica giving as good as they get till the female pulls an underhanded move and trips Boyd into Erica, sending both werewolves to the ground. Ethan and Aiden jump in, covering the two fallen werewolves as they make their escape towards where Danny is holed up with Deaton and Elisabeth to help them heal. The twins do that weird merging thing they do and tear into the two and are quickly joined by Jackson and Isaac. The guy manages to slip away after throwing Isaac into a tree and tries to make his way to Stiles who is back in human form and furiously writing a spell into the dirt. He stops short when he is met with a volley of bullets and arrows from Allison, Kyle, Chris and John. With an arrow and several new bullet holes, the guy turns his attention back to the werewolves. Jackson roars as he rips a chunk out of the girls arm but she keeps going, the wound healing faster than any of the werewolves could possibly heal. She retaliates by snapping Jackson's leg with a well aimed strike from her heeled boots. Jackson goes down and is immediately dragged from the fight by a stumbling Isaac. The twins are fighting hard and now have Peter and Scott with them. Derek stand protectively over Stiles and sends a nod in Kira's direction. The kitsune lets out a blast of foxfire, arching rays of lightning that knock both sides to the ground. A second later, Lydia lets out a piercing scream as Stiles finished the spell and slams his bleeding palm into the dirt, trapping the lighting inside the bodies of the two creatures and setting a fire of his own within them. The clearing falls silent as the creatures heart beats slow and stop, then its a flurry of activity as Stiles, Derek and anyone who can walk move to help those who can't.

Kira slumps over in exhaustion and Stiles is suddenly beside her, helping her up and through the clearing. Halfway through his face freezes in horror and he drops Kira before flinging himself at Derek just in tome to catch a last blow from the Incubi. It collapses with Stiles and Stiles uses most of his now wavering concentration to flare up the fox fire inside it. The Incubi lets out a final scream before going silent.

~*~*~* TW *~*~*~

Derek wonders as he sits at the foot of Stiles bed if this is going to become a pattern between the two of them, getting hurt and waiting anxiously for the other to wake. He hopes not, he doesn't think Stiles pack could take it. Stiles eyes flicker open, almost as if he had heard Derek thinking. Before Derek can call the others in, Stiles speaks, "You know I never asked you why. I think I know what you were trying to do, but I never asked you why you left, why you didn't want me around, why you told the pack I wanted out, why you took them from me. I think I might like that explanation now."

Derek grimaces, "I didn't think of the consequences of my actions when I did all that, all I could think about was that I had just had sex with a teenager, that I had turned into Kate." Derek held up a hand when Stiles opened his mouth to speak, "I know that's not what happened but, all I could see was me hurting you so I had to take myself out of your life. I didn't realize that by doing that, I would be taking everyone from you. I'm sorry for that."

Stiles shook his head, "You don't have to apologize for that, I've told you already that I forgive you, I just felt it was time to understand."

Derek sighed and leaned back so he was laying next to Stiles, "I'm still sorry. I ended up doing exactly what I set out to avoid and I realized much to late that I might love you."

Stiles smiled, "Well, I don't know about to late, but we might be able to work something out. You know, Peter misses you and I think you could use a little human influence in that pack or yours. I seem to have plenty in mine."

That had Derek turning to look at Stiles in shock, "What?"

Stiles sighed, "We really need to work on your communication skills if we want this co-alpha thing to work."

Derek stuttered, "Deaton said you were a wolf mate, what about when you find..."

Stiles laughed, "It's you Derek, it always has been."

Derek sighed in relief, "You know, for a while there I thought you might have been with Kyle."

Stiles gagged, "Oh my God, ew, no. The guy is practically my brother."

Chuckling from the doorway brought the two's attention to the now filled room and the playfully scowling Kyle, "Gee thanks Stiles, love you too."

Everyone laughed when Stiles stuck out his tongue at the older man. Derek smiled and placed a chaste kiss on Stiles lips, "You know, I think you have something there, about joining the packs. We'll have to see where it goes." Stiles smiled and kissed back, it seemed things were finally going their way.