Reading Time: 74 Minutes

Title: A Rock and A Hard Place
Series: What We Gain
Series Order: 6
Author: enigmaticblue
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Genre: Action Adventure, Drama, Family
Relationship(s): Gen
Content Rating: PG-13
Warnings: *No Mandatory Warnings Apply.
Author Note: Man, the timeline of Teen Wolf is just absolutely nuts. This is where I start taking huge liberties, FYI. I’ve done my best.
Word Count: 68,757
Summary: Chris Argent’s warnings about the hunters come to fruition, putting Noah in the difficult position of having two major investigations to conduct with a target on his back. Somehow, he has to keep his pack safe.
Artist: ringspells
Artist Appreciation: I always love working with you, ringspells! Thank you for the amazing work again.

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Chapter 3

Noah could grow to hate the hunters with a passion, but he tells himself that it doesn’t serve him. He trusts both Stiles and Moira’s abilities and information, and nothing has happened yet. Maybe nothing will happen for months.

So, they celebrate Derek’s graduation from college with a small party, and they celebrate Christmas at the house with the entire pack. They get through two full moons easily.

But there’s still the threat of the hunters, which just pisses him off. It would be easier if they left the pack alone.

Then again, bigots don’t need a reason to hate.

Noah pulls up outside the new house, since Derek has a class, and can’t make it to the final walk-through.

“Sheriff Stilinski, good to see you again,” Luis says. “How are things going?”

“They’re going,” Noah replies. “Keeping me busy.”

“Derek called ahead and let me know you’d be doing the final walk-through,” Luis says. “Appreciate that, since I’ve got another job starting.”

Noah shrugs. “It’s my pleasure.”

The front porch has been completed, and it wraps around the house. There are two sections to it, the one immediately in the front that’s open, and the other three sides, which have been screened in.

“This looks great,” Noah says.

Luis nods. “I like how it turned out, too. Derek wanted ceiling fans put in so it will be more comfortable in the warmer weather. It gives you a bit more living space overall.”

He leads the way inside to a spacious foyer with a staircase leading up to the second floor. The floors are wood in a grayish color, and the kitchen is open plan with a large island. The living room is also large and recessed slightly into the floor, giving it a very den-like feel. They walk though the kitchen, and Noah opens the cupboards and drawers, which are painted a dark blue, the counters are a light gray quartz. Noah pauses in the large eating area just off the kitchen.

“Everything looks great,” Noah says.

“Yeah, there weren’t any problems with the finish,” Luis says. “The landscaping folks were here yesterday if you want to see the back.”

There are heat lamps scattered around the flagstone patio, and Noah can see where the gas line is waiting for their large grill. There are stone benches built around a fire pit, and Noah can picture the pack here, gathered on the full moon, with the Preserve right there to run in.

He inspects the master bedroom, and it’s large enough for Noah to have a desk and sitting area for his home office.

The basement has been finished as discussed, with a safe room/vault in one corner and a large sleeping area—plus a small changing area—and a big bathroom. Everything has been finished well, and Noah follows Luis to the second floor.

The main areas of the house are all wood flooring, but the bedrooms and basement have plush carpeting. The bedrooms on the second floor are large enough to sleep more than one if necessary, with two bathrooms. Above that is an open dorm-style loft with a bathroom.

The colors are all warm neutrals with white trim, and Noah has to admit that he finds it restful. He can see the pack here easily, and even though he knows that moving is going to be a pain in the ass, he can’t wait.

“Everything looks great,” Noah says once they’ve finished the walk-through. “I don’t see anything that needs to be fixed.”

“Great,” Luis replies. “I’ll send all the final documentation with you. Tell Derek that if he needs anything, to give us a call.”

Luis hands him the keys, and now they’re in possession of a house that’s big enough for the entire pack.

Noah had taken the rest of the afternoon off, not knowing how long the walk-through was going to take. He heads home, seeing Stiles’ Jeep and Scott’s bike out front, as well as Lydia’s sedan.

He enters the house, seeing Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Kira sitting around the dining room table. “Study date?” he asks.

Stiles grins at him. “Hey, Dad. Yeah, we’re getting a jump start on the semester since lacrosse is starting.”

“How are you doing, girls? Did you have a good Christmas?” Noah asks.

“We went back to New York for Christmas,” Kira says cheerfully. “But my parents have agreed that we’ll stay in Beacon Hills through my senior year, so that’s great!” She gives Scott a mischievous look. “Scott finally asked me to the Winter Formal.”

Scott blushes. “I had a lot on my mind, what with my dad visiting.”

“He still behaving himself?” Noah asks.

Scott nods. “He was on his best behavior this time. I know he was possessed before, but it seems to have done him good. He actually cares what I think now.”

“All’s well that ends well,” Stiles says cheerfully. “We get rid of the nogitsune, and your dad gets a much-needed personality transplant.”

Scott laughs a bit at that.

“What about you, Lydia?” Noah asks.

“It was just me and my mom,” Lydia replies. “We went to Aspen.”

The way she says it, Noah knows the subject is closed. He gets the sense that she’s close with her mother, but that they live very separate lives. He’s not terribly surprised that Lydia has gravitated towards Stiles and his friends.

“How was the house?” Stiles asks.

Noah grabs a soda from the fridge and sits down at the table with the kids. “The house is great. I’ll need to set up a time to talk to Dave and Paul to discuss when the best time would be for us to move out, and for them to move in.”

“That’s awesome,” Stiles says. “It will be nice.”

“Who’s going to live there?” Kira asks, clearly curious.

“Whoever wants to, is the easiest answer,” Noah replies. “Stiles, Derek, and I for sure. Probably Cora and Malia, and I imagine Erica will stay there some of the time. I’m not sure about Isaac or Boyd, but they could if they want.”

Lydia gives him a look. “That sounds crowded.”

She hasn’t stayed for one of the pack sleepovers yet, and Noah thinks she’s still uncertain about the pack, even if she seems all in on the coven.

Noah shrugs. “We like it, but it’s not for everyone.” He stands up. “I’m going to my office to do paperwork, but let me know if you need me.”

“We’re going to order pizza tonight,” Stiles says. “Isaac and Boyd should be here about 7, and the girls are on their way.”

Noah nods. “Sounds good, kiddo.” He pauses to give Stiles a hug on his way upstairs. “Let me know when the food arrives, and if Derek gets here before then, send him up.”

He’s been checking reports from other departments, looking for any sign of hunter activity. Noah hasn’t seen anything, but forewarned is forearmed.

There’s a knock at his office door, and Noah says, “Come in!”

Moira pokes her head in. “Noah, I have Noelani with me. We have news about our overtures to Satomi’s pack.”

“Come in,” Noah replies, rising to greet them. “Good to see you again, Noelani.”

“You, too, Noah,” she says warmly. “Sorry to just drop in on you, but I finally got an answer.”

The last time they talked, Satomi was still thinking about their offer and unwilling to commit to a meeting. “I assume there’s been movement.”

“She’s willing to have her emissary meet with Moira, but only if Stiles is also there,” Noelani says. “She’s promised no werewolves, but Stiles’ presence isn’t negotiable. Since he’s going to be the emissary in the future, she’s insistent.”

Noah hates the idea, but he asks, “You’re going to be there, Moira?”

She nods. “And I wouldn’t agree to it if I didn’t think I could take their emissary, to put it bluntly.”

“You know who it is?” Noah asks.

Moira hitches a shoulder. “I have a very good guess, but there aren’t many who could take me in a fight. I wouldn’t suggest bringing Stiles if I didn’t think I could protect him.”

Noah considers it. “Could Stiles take them?”

“Given the right motivation, Stiles could take just about anyone,” Moira says. “But it really depends. He’s not fully trained, and we haven’t tested him while he’s under fire. That’s for much later.”

Noah sighs. “And we need this connection?”

Moira glances at Noelani, who nods. “I think it’s critical. It’s another pack in an adjacent territory, and the hunters might decide to come at them to get to you, or to make you look weak.”

Noah can’t find fault in that, and he nods. “All right. When do they want to meet?”

“Next week, Thursday evening,” Moira replies. “Which works, since the Winter Formal is Friday.”

“Please don’t jinx us,” Noah says tiredly.

“I’ve taken precautions,” Moira replies. “Speaking of which, how was the house?”

“It’s done, and I have the keys,” Noah says.

Moira nods. “Do you have a move-in date yet?”

Noah shakes his head. “I need to talk to Dave and Paul, make sure they’re still willing to take over this house, and see when they can make the move. So, short answer, no.”

Moira nods. “Good. The warding will work better on a fresh space, before anyone moves in. If you’re okay with it, I’ll take the coven over this weekend to cleanse the space, finish placing the ward stones, and get everything ready for the pack.”

Noah hadn’t even thought about what might be needed in that respect. “Can you ward the back of the house the way you did the clearing?”

Moira smiles. “That’s the least of what I can do. Since it’s going to be a permanent place, I can really dig in. I’m going to do the same for this house, but warded specifically for Dave and Paul. There are some subtle differences.”

Noah blows out a breath. “Well, we’re apparently having pizza tonight, so you’re both welcome for dinner.”

“It’s my cheat day,” Noelani says cheerfully. “So, yes.”

Moira stands. “Let’s go make sure the children order enough pizza, my love. I’m starving.”

Noah goes back to his reports for another hour, which is when Stiles knocks on his office door and says, “Pizza’s here, Dad!”

“Be right there,” Noah replies.

He saves what he was working on and heads downstairs. There are pizza boxes all over the kitchen counters, and the kids are already scattered throughout the house, devouring pizza off paper plates.

Noah chuckles to himself and grabs a couple of pieces of pizza, and some veggies off the tray someone had brought. There’s a chair left open for him at the dining room table. Derek hasn’t come home yet, so Noah asks Stiles, “Any word from Derek?”

“He stopped to grab dinner with Parrish,” Stiles says easily.

Noah thinks they’re all a little bit worried about someone getting to Derek again, and if he hadn’t asked, Stiles probably would have tracked his phone.

“Good,” Noah says. “Thank you.”

“Oh, I know where Derek is at all times,” Stiles says. “And I don’t mean to sound like I’m a stalker, just that I’ve learned my lesson.”

“We’ve all learned our lesson,” Noah comments.

There’s no emergency, nothing but a normal evening where the kids play video games, do homework, and goof off, depending on what they have pending. Which makes it the perfect night to ask Isaac and Boyd what their plans are.

Noah beckons them to his office, and says, “I need to know what you boys want to do about the apartment. Whatever choice you make is fine, and you can change your minds. That’s fine, too. But do you want to stay where you are or move in to the pack house?”

Isaac glances at Boyd. “We talked to Derek. He’s willing to continue covering the cost of the apartment. We also talked to Dave and Paul. They said we can stay here if we agree to dog-sit for them when they need it, so we’re going to do that. They won’t care if we have company.”

Noah raises his eyebrows. “Neither do I. You’re both emancipated, and I helped you get here.”

“Yeah, but…” Boyd trails off. “Maybe it sounds weird to say it.”

Noah just laughs. “Use protection, and don’t make me a grandfather before I’m ready. But I could see where Dave and Paul would be a good source of stability.”

Isaac looks alarmed by that. “It’s not like we don’t want to live at the pack house. It’s just—“

“You’re used to living on your own and want to keep that up,” Noah fills in. “I would probably feel the same in your shoes. I’m offering, but you don’t have to accept—either right now or ever.”

“There’s still plenty of room for sleepovers, right?” Isaac asks hopefully.

“More than enough room,” Noah assures them. “And it’s a standing invitation.”

Boyd cracks a smile. “Thanks. Maybe it won’t work out, but we both like Dave and Paul, and the dogs. We’ll have more space, and we can split the kitchen duties.”

“You could do worse than Dave and Paul as role models,” Noah admits. “You still want to enlist, right?”

Boyd nods. “I know Derek said he’d put up funds for college for the whole pack, but I’ve wanted to enlist for a while, and Paul says he can help me prepare.”

“You thinking Army?” Noah asks.

Boyd shakes his head. “No, Air Force. I’m hoping to get into intelligence and go to DLI.”

Noah nods. “Intelligence would be a good route for you, and could translate well into other jobs after you get out.”

“I’m kind of hoping for something like the FBI,” Boyd admits. “Maybe I could help people like my sister.”

“That’s a great goal,” Noah replies. “Isaac, have you given it any more thought?”

“I think going for a project management certification, and construction,” Isaac admits. “I don’t mind using the CAT.”

Noah smiles. “Good. Well, if you need me, you know where to find me.”

Isaac stands and says, “We know we can count on you, and that—that helps more than we can say.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Noah replies, for lack of a better response. Sometimes, he feels as though he’s not doing enough, but maybe he’s giving them both the room they need to spread their wings.

They both need someone to care, but Isaac needs freedom, and Boyd needs to know he has a safe adult to turn to. They have the pack and each other, and now they’re forming close relationships with other adults. It’s a good sign.

Noah goes back to his paperwork, keeping an eye on the clock. After the situation with Jennifer Blake, Noah keeps a closer eye on Derek, although he tries not to make it obvious. Still, he’d done the walk-through today, and he needs to hand the keys over, if only so Derek can make the appropriate number of copies.

Around eight, there’s a quick knock on the door, and Noah calls, “Come in.”

Derek pokes his head in. “Hey. Thanks for doing the walk-through today. How did it go?”

“Everything looks great,” Noah replies. “I didn’t see anything that needs to be fixed.”

Derek lets out a sigh of relief. “I didn’t think there would be anything. I went by last week, and it all looked good. Did you talk to Isaac and Boyd?”

“They’re going to move in here with Dave and Paul in exchange for dog-sitting services,” Noah says.

Derek takes the seat in front of Noah’s desk, wearing the black pants, black polo, and black boots required of the students in the third module. “They got the taste of freedom, and they know they can show up here whenever they like. Or at the new pack house whenever they like.”

Noah nods. “Yeah, I get that. I was a little bit surprised, but I probably shouldn’t have been.”

“Dave and Paul will be good for them,” Derek says. “They’ll get to see how adults handle their business, and Boyd still wants to enlist. Paul can help him get ready.”

“That’s basically what Boyd said,” Noah admits. “I’ll admit, if they’re not going to move in to the new house, I’d rather them here with Dave and Paul.”

Derek nods. “They’ll have a lot of freedom, but also a couple of adults around.”

Noah appreciates Derek’s insight, and he’s relieved to have his gut instinct confirmed. “Thanks. How was class?”

“We’re definitely in the home stretch,” Derek admits. “It’s a different instructor this time, and she’s even more no nonsense than Officer Jenkins was. But she seems fair, and we’re getting into some of the more complicated aspects of policing, which I appreciate.”

“How are the hours at the station?” Noah asks. “Too much? Too little?”

Derek shakes his head. “I’d work more hours if I could, but I have a good balance right now.”

Noah nods. “Well, let’s sit down with Dave and Paul soon to figure out when to make the move. We’ll need to have a pack meeting, probably at the house, to discuss who’s going to be where.”

“Sounds good to me,” Derek replies. “Maybe the weekend after next, since the Winter Formal is coming up.”

“Probably for the best,” Noah admits, and he won’t say it out loud, but he’s glad that Stiles is getting at least one normal high school experience.

He’s going to a school dance, with a girl he likes, who appears to like him back, and who has made at least something of an effort to win over Stiles’ friends.

Noah isn’t going to do anything to jeopardize that.

He pulls out the keys to the house and hands them to Derek. “Make whatever copies you think necessary. Moira and the coven are going to place the wards this weekend, including those for the back of the house so we can use that area for the full moon.”

Derek nods. “That sounds great. I’ll get the keys made for Moira and Stiles tomorrow so they have access.”

Noah nods. “Thanks, Derek.”

“Thank you,” Derek replies. “I appreciate the help.”

Noah doesn’t try to tell him that it hadn’t been a big deal, because Derek is clearly grateful, and Noah is reminded of just how young he is. And yet, he managed to get a pack house built, without any experience with contractors, and he’d done a fine job.

“You did good, Derek,” Noah says. “I might have made sure the i’s were dotted and the t’s were crossed, but you initiated the project and kept it moving, and I appreciate that.”

Derek ducks his head. “Thanks.”

Noah lets him go, and his mind wanders back to the problem of the hunters. There’s no way of knowing when they’ll strike.

But Noah knows that they have to be ready.

~~~~~

Derek has finished his BA, so at least he doesn’t have to worry about any of those classes on top of his police coursework and his work at the station. Still, he’d slightly underestimated how busy he would be, and just how tiring it would be, to be working for Beacon County as well as going through the third module.

He’s managing, but he’s grateful when Noah agrees to handle the final walk-through. Derek is feeling a little overwhelmed with everything. He’s not even sure he’d done things right, that the pack house is sufficient, that everything is good.

But then Noah says those magic words, and Derek feels something inside relax.

He knows where it’s coming from, that he wants to please his Alpha, but Derek doesn’t really care, since Noah isn’t the type to take advantage of that need.

He sets a reminder on his phone to make sure he gets copies made of the keys the following day.

The next day, he has an early shift at the station, and he’s a little tired when he turns up, as is Parrish, if the dark circles under his eyes are to be believed.

“Long week, huh?” Derek asks.

Parrish shrugs. “You could say that, but we’re three months away, man. And then we’ll be full deputies.”

Derek nods. “Just counting down the days.”

“What did the sheriff say about the house?” Parrish asks.

“Everything looks good,” Derek replies. “We have to meet with Dave and Paul about the move dates, and Moira and the coven are going to do their magic on the new place this weekend.”

“Literally,” Parrish jokes.

Derek shrugs. “Literally, yes.”

Parrish chuckles. “You know what? I’d have taken a hundred Moiras or a hundred Stileses in the sandbox. If they can protect the house, I’m down.”

Derek feels compelled to ask, “Are you married to your place?”

“I’m married to not living with my boss,” Parrish says wryly. “But I’ll keep it in the back of my mind. I’m very interested in seeing how it turned out.”

“You could come over after work,” Derek offers. “I’m going to make copies of the keys and do my own walk through.”

Parrish shrugs. “Sure. Sounds good.”

They spend the day running background on Gerard and Kate Argent, trying to figure out where the two of them were at any given point, painstakingly building a timeline of their movements and activities.

Derek enjoys working with Parrish, and they head for the deli to grab a quick lunch together before getting back into it. Once the work day ends, Parrish follows Derek to the new house, and he whistles as they enter. “Okay, I’m not going back on my original answer, but I reserve the right to move in, because damn.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty great, isn’t it?” Derek asks as they wander around.

“Is Moira going to stay here?” Parrish asks eventually, after they’ve wandered through the house.

Derek smiles. “Let me show you.”

There’s a separate apartment above the garage with a staircase behind, which the contractors were able to finish sooner than expected. Derek leads the way out through the back door, and then up the stars.

The apartment above the three car garage has a large living/sleeping area, a good sized bathroom, and a kitchenette.

“I would live here,” Parrish says. “Man, this is great.”

“Unless Moira declines, you’d have to take one of the bedrooms,” Derek replies. “But I’m really happy with how it turned out.”

Parrish shakes his head. “Derek, you’re building a beautiful life with a beautiful family, and for an orphan, what more could you ask for?”

Derek has to agree, but he replies, “For the hunters not to be a bunch of whiny assholes?”

“What the actual fuck is that even?” Parrish asks. “I’ve never met them, and I hate them.

“That is correct,” Derek jokes.

“I heard Stiles has a date for the Winter Formal,” Parrish says.

Derek takes a deep breath. “Yeah, he does.”

“Do we like her?” Parrish asks.

Derek appreciates how Parrish puts it. “Yes, we do. She’s a banshee, and she’s put the effort in to get to know the rest of the pack, so I guess we’ll see.”

“Am I wrong in thinking that Stiles is the heart of everything?” Parrish asks.

Derek shakes his head. “You’re not wrong,”

“So, we like Lydia now,” Parrish says. “And we hate everyone who breaks Stiles’ heart.”

Derek thinks about that for a moment. “I can get behind that.”

Parrish is quiet for a moment, then he says, “When I was in the Guard I fell in love with a girl. I thought she was great until I deployed. And then she wasn’t so great. I still learned a lot from that relationship, though, and I don’t regret it.”

Derek sighs. “I regret every relationship of consequence I’ve ever had, to be honest.”

Parrish knocks his shoulder against Derek’s. “Yeah, but you’re not going it alone any more. Everyone is keeping an eye on you, and I guarantee that anyone you date is going to have to meet Stiles’ high standards.”

Derek grimaces. “Maybe I just won’t date.”

“Or trust the pack to tell you if you’re making a mistake you’re going to regret,” Parrish counters. “You know we have your back.”

That does make Derek feel a little better. Parrish is right—anyone he dates in the future is going to have to pass muster. At least if he brings them around Stiles and Moira, he’ll know they’re not an evil witch.

“You coming over for dinner tonight?” Derek asks.

Parrish hesitates. “I won’t be an imposition?”

“I’m helping Stiles cook,” Derek replies. “We should have plenty.”

“All right,” Parrish agrees. “I should probably get some studying done anyway. I’ll change out of my uniform and grab my books.”

“Sounds good,” Derek replies. “See you there.”

Stiles is out of school, and Derek finds him in the kitchen cutting up broccoli for a stir fry. “Hey, Der.”

“Hey,” Derek says, going to the fridge to grab his bottle of water. “How many do we have for dinner tonight?”

Stiles shrugs. “Not that many, actually. Mrs. McCall is off work, and she wanted to have dinner with Scott. Isaac, Boyd, and Erica all have to work, Moira’s having dinner with Noelani, and Dad said they were probably going to be working late, so not to worry about them. So, it’s you, me, Cora, and Malia.”

“And Parrish,” Derek adds. “Although, if it’s going to stretch things too much, I can tell him to eat before.”

“No, he’s welcome,” Stiles replies. “I always make more just in case. There should be plenty.”

Derek asks, “What can I do?”

“I need the steak cut really thinly,” Stiles replies. “I just got a couple of jars of stir fry sauce from the store, so it’s easy.”

Derek pulls out another cutting board, and takes the steak out of the fridge.

“I assume you went by the new house,” Stiles says.

“Parrish and I went after work,” Derek confirms.

“Anything exciting happen?”

“It was just more research, building a timeline for Kate and Gerard,” Derek replies.

“Sounds like fun,” Stiles says.

Stiles means it, but Derek knows that Stiles loves his research spirals. “Something like that,” Derek replies. “It’s easier to do when it’s not just me, and both Parrish and I were on it today.”

They work in companionable silence after that, and Derek can’t quite believe how far they’ve come. At one point, he could have happily murdered Stiles, but now their relationship is one of the most important in his life.

Stiles isn’t just the heart of the pack. In some ways, he’s Derek’s heart, too.

“So, are you happy with how the house turned out?” Stiles asks.

Derek nods. “Really happy, actually. We should go by soon.”

“Tomorrow after school?” Stiles suggests.

“Yeah, I have an early shift again,” Derek replies. “I hear that Boyd and Isaac are going to move in here.”

Stiles nods. “Honestly, it makes a lot of sense. They don’t have a lot of privacy in that studio, but they’re used to having their freedom. This way, they get to have space and freedom, since Dave and Paul aren’t going to tell them what to do.”

“It also smells like pack, so it’s familiar,” Derek adds. “I get it.”

Stiles smiles. “I get it, too, but also, I was kind of hoping for as many people under the same roof as possible while we’re all still in high school, you know?”

“I understand,” Derek admits. “I’d give just about anything for a few more years of that.”

Stiles gives him a look. “You will. You’ll have Cora, and it’s going to be a while before Malia is ready for college, if she ever is. They’re both pretty attached to Dad.”

Derek isn’t sure how to put this, but he’s been working with Jack to be more communicative. “My sister wasn’t the best alpha. You don’t know what a relief it was to know there was someone like your dad in my corner.”

Stiles smirks. “I have a little bit of an idea. When he walked in on us and didn’t even shoot you a little bit, and then he took charge? It felt like I could finally breathe again.”

“We were all pretty desperate at the time,” Derek acknowledges. “I like where we ended up.”

“So do I,” Stiles replies. “This thing with Lydia…”

“You should enjoy it,” Derek says. “At least you know she’s not a psycho hunter or an evil witch.”

Stiles is quiet for a long moment. “Still, I know she’s more like training wheels than anything else.”

Derek swallows. “What does that mean?”

“I mean, it’s not forever,” Stiles replies. “Lydia doesn’t mind making nice with the pack, and she enjoys spending time with the coven, largely because she gets to learn things, and she’s as curious as I am.”

Derek frowns. “But she doesn’t have to be pack, not really, not if she doesn’t want to.”

Stiles shakes his head. “No, dude, the thing is that Lydia is meant for bigger and better things outside Beacon Hills, and I’m meant to come back here and stay forever. My coven is here, my pack is here, my roots are here, and this is my place.”

Something in Derek’s chest unfurls at that. He does’t really want to admit it, but the idea that Stiles would fall in love with Lydia and leave Beacon Hills forever made his stomach hurt.

“Hey,” Stiles says. “Whatever has you twisted up isn’t going to happen. Beacon Hills is my home, full stop. This is my pack, full stop. I wouldn’t have even gone to the Winter Formal with Lydia if she hadn’t changed her attitude, but also, I know what the future holds, at least in this respect.”

Derek takes a deep breath. “Thank you for saying that.”

Stiles shakes his head. “I’m not just saying it. I’m actually rethinking my idea of going into the FBI, or I’m thinking about curtailing it.”

“Why?” Derek asks, surprised.

“Because I might get to a point where I don’t need a service dog, but I might not,” Stiles replies. “And I don’t know if I could get into the FBI with one.”

Derek doesn’t like the sound of that. “But you could still try.”

“Maybe,” Stiles replies. “I could probably be an analyst, but… I don’t know. I’ll go to college, get my degree, and then figure it out from there. I could start my own consulting firm, which is basically what Moira has done.”

“I could see you doing really well with that,” Derek admits.

He hears the front door open, and Parrish calls out, “We good?”

“We’re good!” Stiles calls. “Come on in! I hope you like beef and broccoli.” He says quietly, “My heart is always going to be in Beacon Hills, Derek, whether it’s my dad as the Alpha or you.”

Parrish smiles. “Hey, Stiles. The house looks great, by the way.”

“I’ve been by a few times while it was being built,” Stiles says, “so I’m not surprised. The girls should be here soon, and then we’ll get everything started. It should go quickly.”

As though his words had summoned them, the front door opens again, and Cora calls out, “Hey! Who’s here?”

“Me, Derek, and Parrish!” Stiles calls back. “I’ll get started cooking.”

“We have homework,” Malia says flatly as they enter the kitchen. “I hate it.”

Cora gives her a look. “We all hate it, but it’s inevitable.”

Malia sighs. “Once I’m done with high school, I’m done. I don’t know what I’ll do after that, but not more school.”

“You’re pack,” Derek says. “You’ll have time to figure it out. I’ll make sure of it.”

Malia sends him a quick smile. “Thanks. I just know that the Alpha expects us to be contributing members of society.”

“Yeah, but there are a lot ways to do that without further schooling,” Stiles as he starts to heat the oil. “You can find a way to work with your hands. I think Isaac plans on going into construction. You could do the same.”

Malia frowns. “I like that idea.”

“Talk to Isaac,” Stiles encourages. “Everything is easier with a buddy.”

Derek thinks about what Parrish had told him earlier, about how the pack is going to be looking out for him, and he has to agree.

A lot of things are easier when you have someone in your corner.

~~~~~

Stiles knows that his dad has a lot going on at the station, so he doesn’t take it personally when he gets caught up in work again. Noah makes up for it by taking all of Sunday off, and accompanying Stiles and Moira to visit the young Nemeton. After that, they both go with Stiles to get what he needs for the Winter Formal.

Moira had declared that Stiles needs a different suit, and it’s a long-term investment to get a tuxedo shirt and bow tie along with that.

“Why are we doing this again?” Stiles asks, after Moira vetoes the first two suits.

His dad is present, but he just looks amused, probably because Moira’s attention isn’t on him.

“Because you are going to have a reputation to maintain, and the right clothes are important,” Moira says placidly. “This way, you’ll have a nice suit that you can wear a tuxedo shirt and a tie with, and you won’t have to worry about a rental or a fitting.”

Stiles stares at her. “But I might still grow.”

Moira gives him a critical look. “You might fill out a bit more, but I think you’ve reached your full height.”

Stiles doesn’t love hearing that, but it’s also not a surprise. “Yeah, I get it.” He turns to look at himself in the mirror, and he’s surprised at what he sees. His hair is longer and pushed back from his face, the suit sits well on his shoulders and makes them look broader, but he’s also put on some lean muscle with judo and krav maga.

He looks older than 17 in this suit, and Stiles straightens the jacket. “Yeah, I think I’m okay with that.”

“You are very handsome, young spark,” Moira says softly. “Your mother would be bursting with pride if she could see you now.”

Stiles can see his dad in the mirror, sitting behind them, and he rubs his eyes, probably trying to keep the tears at bay. Stiles blinks rapidly. “Yeah.”

Moira rests her hand on his shoulders. “Go. Be kind and attentive, and you’ll have a good night.”

“Jack said that whatever happens, I should strive to live without regret, so I will,” Stiles replies. He turns to look at his dad fully. “Any words of advice?”

“Be yourself, kiddo,” his dad replies. “No sense having someone in your life who doesn’t think that you already meet their criteria.” His dad pauses, “But also, you look great. Lydia couldn’t do better.”

His dad is his dad, so he has to say that, but it’s validation, and Stiles turns back to the mirror. He pulls his shoulders back, and maybe he has a service dog who’s going to leave hair all over his pants, but he remembers the analogy that Lydia had drawn.

Right now, Stiles needs Batman. There might come a day when he doesn’t, but that day is not today. The whole pack is going to the Winter Formal, and Stiles has a feeling.

He’s learned to listen to his gut, so he’s going to be prepared.

“I will be interesting anyway,” Stiles says.

Moira gives him a sharp look, but she doesn’t say anything, at least not right then.

“I do want all of you to be careful, kiddo,” Noah says, as though he’s reading Stiles’ mind. “It hasn’t escaped my attention that there are going to be a number of pack members at the dance, and if the hunters wanted to hit me hard, it could be a target.”

Stiles nods. “I had the same thought, to be honest.”

“We’ll take precautions if necessary,” Moira says. “I’ll talk to Noelani. They might need some additional chaperones. If so, we can be on hand for any problems.”

Noah frowns. “Good idea. I’ll talk to the school, too. I can probably make something up that won’t alarm them too much.”

“Tell them it’s for my peace of mind,” Stiles suggests. “That way, there doesn’t need to be a threat. It’s the first dance I’ll have attended since my kidnapping.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Noah admits. “I wouldn’t have to use county resources if I got a couple of volunteers.”

Moira hesitates. “I would ask non-werewolves. If the hunters do target the dance, they might be tempted to go after your deputies on top of that.”

“Mark,” Noah says. “And maybe Cindy. She has a kid in high school, so she might be willing to go just on principle.”

Moira nods. “That makes sense. Good, we have a plan, or at least the beginnings of one. Let’s get out of here.”

They pay for Stiles’ new clothing, and then head home. Stiles hangs his things in the closet before joining the others at the dining room table to do homework.

Today, Kira has joined them, as well as Lydia, and Asha is working with Malia in the living room.

“I just don’t understand why I need to know any of this,” Malia complains, which Stiles has heard before. “I didn’t need math when I was out in the woods.”

Asha just hums. “What do you want to do with your life?”

“Not school,” Malia mutters.

“Okay, but other things require math,” Asha replies. “Construction, any kind of business where you have to handle money or supplies, anything where you need to calculate statistics, the list could go on. My intent is to give you the tools you need to succeed in whatever you decide to do, and provide options. What you do with those options is entirely up to you.”

“Are there any jobs that require you to be in the woods all the time?” Malia asks.

“There are,” Asha confirms. “You could be a park ranger, or a wilderness survival guide. But you’ll be better able to do any or all of those jobs if you at least graduate from high school, and you will need to be able to do math.”

Malia’s sigh sounds like it comes up from her toes. “Fine.”

Stiles has a feeling that’s going to be an ongoing battle, with Malia needing to be convinced on the regular.

Stiles turns his attention back to the English essay he needs to write. They’re studying Shakespeare’s sonnets as part of a poetry unit right now, so Stiles focuses on his analysis.

“What’s the theme of your essay?” Lydia asks.

“Contrasting the theme of enduring beauty in sonnet 18 with the idea of love enduring with time,” Stiles replies absently. “And how the two things go together.”

“Oh,” Lydia says. “That’s—really smart.”

“Poetry isn’t really my thing, but it reminds me a little bit of magic,” Stiles admits. “It’s like you don’t know these things consciously, but you feel them.”

Lydia wrinkles her nose. “That’s why I prefer math.”

Stiles replies, “Okay, try closing your eyes and listening.”

She gives him a skeptical look, but does as he asks, and Stiles begins to recite, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”

He finishes out the recitation with, “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

“Okay,” Lydia says as she opens her eyes. “I guess I see what you mean. I still have no idea what to write.”

“Talk about the beauty that is math,” Stiles suggests. “Focus on what you know.”

Lydia sighs. “I hate poetry.”

Stiles had hoped that him reading it out loud would maybe change her mind, but he shrugs. Lydia isn’t the most sentimental person.

Since Stiles isn’t sure how to do romance, maybe that works out for the both of them.

Sunday nights, they usually go for something easy, with everyone pitching in a little money to get take out, or pile into cars and go to the taqueria in town.

Tonight, they opt for Chinese, with a ton of egg rolls and crab rangoon. Stiles piles his plate high with fried rice and chicken with vegetables, as well as a couple of egg rolls and fried wantons.

Stiles always needs to refuel after a session with the young Nemeton, and as Moira tells him, magic uses a lot of energy.

He does make an attempt to use his manners as he eats, though. No sense in scaring Lydia off.

Scott says, “What are you working on, Kira?”

“The history essay,” Kira replies. “On the origins of the Vietnam War?”

Scott groans. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Start with why we got into it in the first place,” Stiles suggests.

Scott frowns. “Everyone is going to do that.”

“It doesn’t have to be a novel concept to get a decent grade,” Stiles points out. “You just have to provide sufficient analysis to make the teacher happy.”

Scott sighs. “Good point. I’ll start there.”

Once they’ve finished eating and put away the leftovers, they get back to their homework, including the history essay that’s stressing Scott out.

Stiles finishes English, and turns to his own history homework. He’s taking a slightly different approach and discussing the paranoia about the spread of communism and how that shaped public perception of the war at the time.

They work for another couple of hours, and then people start to pack up to head out for the night. Cora and Malia are staying with Erica, but Stiles knows that in a few weeks, they’ll be in the new pack house.

Boyd and Isaac head to their apartment, and Scott heads to his mom’s, promising to drop Kira at home on his way. That leaves Stiles alone with Lydia, and he walks her to the front door.

“Thanks for coming over,” Stiles says. “It was fun.”

“It was fun,” Lydia replies. “I like your friends, Stiles.”

Stiles smiles. “I think they’re your friends now, too, you know?”

“Maybe, eventually,” Lydia admits. “We’re getting there. I’m looking forward to the dance.”

“Me, too,” Stiles replies, for lack of anything else to say. He is looking forward to it, but he’s also nervous. He doesn’t know whether that’s because of the threat from the hunters, or the idea of going with Lydia, though.

Lydia has her head tipped up to look at him, and Stiles gets the sense that maybe she would be interested in a kiss.

Stiles leans in. “Can I?”

Lydia’s response is to pull him down by the front of his shirt. Stiles keeps the contact light at first, but Lydia tilts her head and deepens the kiss. There’s heat, and Stiles rests his hands on her waist, wanting to be respectful.

When she breaks off the kiss, Lydia hums under her breath. “Not bad.”

“That’s all you have to say?” Stiles asks.

Lydia shrugs. “We should always strive for improvement, don’t you think?”

Stiles raises his eyebrows, but he has to laugh at that. “All right.”

Lydia goes to her tip-toes for one last, quick kiss. “See you tomorrow.”

Stiles closes the front door behind her, and turns to find his dad looking at him. “That looked interesting.”

“We’re getting there,” Stiles replies. “But I promise, I will play it safe.”

“I trust you,” his dad replies. “Don’t forget, you have the thing on Thursday.”

Stiles nods. They’re meeting with the emissary to Satomi’s pack on Thursday to establish a line of communication, and other than establishing the pack bonds, it will be Stiles’ first official act as his dad’s emissary. “I remember.”

“Just promise me that you’ll hide behind Moira if necessary,” Noah replies.

“Promise,” Stiles replies.

Derek had retreated to his room after eating, and Stiles gets the feeling that he’s maybe a little uncomfortable around Lydia.

“Hey,” Stiles says when he raps on the doorjamb. “Everything okay?”

“I just needed some space,” Derek replies. “It’s all good.”

Stiles decides to take him at his word. “All right, I just wanted to check.”

“You have krav maga tomorrow, right?” Derek asks.

Stiles nods. “But I’ll be home after that for the discussion with Dave and Paul, mostly so I can take advantage of the dogs.”

Derek laughs. “I figured. I have an early shift tomorrow, but I’ll be here after that.”

The next day, school is uneventful, although people are starting to get excited for the Winter Formal. Boyd and Erica are going together, of course. Isaac has offered to escort both Malia and Cora, and they’ve agreed, and Scott and Kira are going together.

Danny is going with a senior from Devenford Prep, although he’s told Stiles that it’s more of a friends with benefits situation, since Danny is going to stick around for his senior year after all.

Stiles heads to krav maga after school, and he enjoys it as much as he always does. It’s kind of a relief to find a physical release that actually makes him feel good about himself, and makes him feel as though he has a fighting chance agains the hunters.

Especially now that they know the hunters might be coming.

Sensei OB calls Stiles over to him at the end of the class. “You’re coming along, Stiles.”

Stiles rests his hand on the top of Batman’s head. “Thank you, sir. I’m enjoying it.”

“You thought about doing any competitions?” he asks. “It might be fun.”

“Maybe,” Stiles hedges. “I’ll think about it.”

OB barks a laugh. “Yeah, I know you’ve got a lot going on, kid.”

“Guilty,” Stiles replies. “But thanks for asking me.”

Stiles heads home, heading upstairs to get cleaned up. Dave and Paul had offered to bring dinner to facilitate the discussion, and they turn up with the dogs around five. His dad comes home with Derek shortly thereafter.

Dave brings a pot of white chicken chili, which is really good, and the four of them sit down to eat together. The rest of the pack have other places to be, and Moira is meeting with a client. Stiles thinks it will probably be a long time before she’s willing to take him to another one of those meetings after what happened with Janet.

The dogs are all munching out of their bowls as the humans eat around the dining room table. “So, we wanted to talk about the time frame,” Noah says.

“We went month-to-month at the end of the year,” Paul replies. “So, we can give a month’s notice, and then move. Not a problem.”

Noah glances at Derek. “What do you think?”

Derek glances around the dining room. “I think we can probably get moved in about a month. Are we taking everything with us?”

“I have some plans for new furniture,” Noah admits. “A new dining room table at least.”

“All we have is a cheap thing we got at a yard sale,” Dave admits. “So, whatever you decide not to take with you, we could probably use.”

Noah nods. “We’ll go around the house tonight, and see what we want to keep, and what we’re letting go. Stiles, is there anything you definitely want to keep?”

“Other than Mom’s things, I don’t think so,” Stiles replies. “And the stuff from my bedroom.”

“I’d like to take care of the furnishings, too,” Derek says quietly.

Noah grimaces, but he says, “You know what, I’m going to let you, but I’m going to ask that you make the selections. I’ll take my own furniture, but the house is going to be the pack’s house, and therefore yours.”

Stiles can see that makes Derek a little bit uncomfortable, the same way that any comment about his dad not being Alpha or sheriff eventually makes him twitchy.

“I can help,” Stiles offers. “I mean, I know nothing about decorating, but I can at least make sure things are comfortable.”

Derek offers a brief smile. “Yeah, that would be good.”

Stiles knows that part of it is that his dad just doesn’t have the time right now, and his mom had done a lot of the decorating.

He handles clean up while his dad, Dave, and Paul go through the house to discuss what’s staying and what’s going. After that, Stiles retreats to his room to do homework.

The next couple of days pass in much the same way. He has his lesson with Moira and the coven on Tuesday, and Lydia joins them. They discuss defensive magic, although Stiles is a little disappointed to find out that magic mostly only works against magic.

“So, if the hunters start shooting at us, magic isn’t going to help?” Stiles asks.

Moira takes a deep breath. “I don’t know. Ordinarily, I would say no. With you, I can’t. I don’t want you to lose faith in your abilities.”

Lydia frowns. “But magic has to obey certain rules.”

Now, Stiles understands why magic is so attractive to Lydia. As far as she’s concerned, magic is black and white, with clear rules, and Stiles knows that’s not entirely true.

“Magic does operate by certain laws,” Noelani confirms. “But it’s not entirely black and white. Some things depend on inherent ability and power, and the less power you have, the more your magic depends on the rules.”

“I don’t understand,” Lydia admits.

Alana turns to Danny. “Could you call fire?”

Danny holds out his hand, and a flame dances in the center of his palm. “Fire is my element, and I’ve worked hard to be able to do this much, but this is pretty much all I can do without the right accoutrements and words.”

“Stiles?” Moira prompts.

Stiles holds out his hand, and he also calls flame, but he makes it burn red, then shift through all the colors of the rainbow flag. “My affinity is with the earth, but fire has never been a problem for me.”

Understanding is starting to bloom in Lydia’s eyes. “So, it’s because you’re powerful that you can do the things you can do.”

Stiles shrugs and extinguishes the flame. “If that’s how you want to put it, sure.”

“So, certain rules apply to Stiles, but not to anyone else doing magic,” Lydia says.

“Certain rules apply to sparks,” Moira replies. “And while there aren’t many of them, the same rules apply to all of them. But I imagine that there are things you can do that others can’t, based on your intelligence and other attributes. The world has never been entirely fair.”

“No, I guess not,” Lydia muses. “So, what’s my potential?”

“Let’s try something,” Moira replies. “I don’t think your affinity is earth or fire. If I had to guess, it would be air, or spirit.”

Noelani clears her throat. “Perhaps I should try, dear.”

“Please,” Moira replies.

Stiles watches as Noelani moves to kneel in front of Lydia with enviable flexibility. “There’s an unseen world that exists all around us, and some part of you knows that. Some part of you feels that. Close your eyes and focus on what it is that makes you scream.”

Lydia just stares at her. “What if I scream?”

“Then you scream,” Noelani says firmly. “If you want to find the edges of your abilities, you have to be willing to explore.”

“My mentor has said the same thing,” Lydia admits. “But she hasn’t exactly explained how to get there.”

“Hold out your hands,” Noelani says.

Lydia does as instructed, and Noelani takes them. “Good. Now, Stiles, I want you to think about your pack bonds, and if you can, send reassurance along the bond. Lydia, follow the bonds, and do what you do.”

Stiles has no idea what this is going to be like, but he’s intrigued. He closes his eyes and focuses on the bonds he created with the pack members, since those are the strongest. He pushes reassurance and comfort, and gets back the same in return.

“Oh,” Lydia says. “That’s the opposite of what makes me scream. I feel it.”

Stiles really wonders if she’s just saying that, and then Noelani says, “Stiles, I need you to send another emotion along the pack bonds, and Lydia is going to tell me what that is.”

This time, Stiles sends a bolt of love to his dad, and just to his dad.

Lydia opens her eyes. “All I got was that Stiles really loves his dad.”

“That’s pretty much what I sent,” Stiles confirms. “So, great job.”

Lydia just wrinkles her nose. “This is so imprecise.”

“Magic is not an exact science,” Noelani says. “It never has been, and it never will be. That’s the business of being supernatural.”

“I never asked for this,” Lydia says, sounding frustrated.

“No one does,” Noelani replies, managing to sound sympathetic. “But we are all born with our own burdens to bear.”

Stiles is glad that he’s already realized that he and Lydia aren’t going to be a forever sort of thing, because her frustration with magic is a clear indication that his life is going to be a challenge for her.

They finish up their lesson, and then Stiles just has to power through the rest of the week.

Wednesday is another krav maga session, and Thursday is judo, then the meeting with the emissary from Satomi’s pack.

They meet in a tiny town in between Beacon Hills and Sweetwater. There’s one restaurant in the small burg, a diner called “Rocky’s.”

Stiles follows Moira inside, and they sit down in a booth.

“Is it a bad sign that we’re here first?” Stiles asks.

Moira sits next to him and shakes her head. “No. We’re the party making the overture. They’re probably watching the diner, and they’ll enter now that they know we’ve arrived without having been followed.”

Stiles nods. “Got it.”

Sure enough, a man enters the diner, and he takes a position near the door. He taps something out on his phone, and then a young Asian man enters.

He makes a beeline for Stiles and Moira, so he’s clearly from Satomi’s pack, and there to meet them. “Greetings.”

“Greetings,” Moira replies. “Please sit.”

The man sits down across from them. “I’m Adam.”

“I’m Moira, and this is Stiles,” she says. “Thank you for meeting us.”

“Satomi has been considering such a meeting for some time now,” Adam admits. “But until recently, she judged the risk too great.”

“What changed?” Moira asks.

Adam grimaces and pulls out two photographs, pushing them across the table. One is a picture of a man who looks to be about 30, with longish wavy hair, and the other is a young blonde woman. “They were killed—assassinated.”

Stiles looks at the picture of the young woman, who is maybe in her early twenties, certainly not much older than Stiles. “Do you know who killed them?”

“Sheriff Morrison is investigating,” Adam replies. “I imagine that she may reach out to Sheriff Stilinski, because they were killed with a thermal cut wire, which is not a weapon we’re used to seeing.”

Stiles frowns. “Do you think they were targeted because they were werewolves?”

Adam nods. “They were members of Satomi’s pack, which much like yours has a mixture of both humans and werewolves.”

“If it’s the hunters, I don’t think they’d care if a member of your pack is human,” Stiles objects. “They’d just care that they were a member.”

“I don’t know that it was hunters,” Adam replies. “Satomi’s pack has never had any issues with them. We’ve always been able to remain hidden.”

“Still, we have reason to believe that the hunters are targeting the supernatural,” Moira says.

Adam’s eyebrows go up. “Then it’s true? You can see the future?”

“Stiles is gifted with the rune stones,” Moira replies. “And we received warnings from two separate sources to confirm.”

“You trust these sources?” Adam asks.

“To an extent,” Moira replies. “I trust that they would not have told me about the hunters’ involvement if it wasn’t true.”

Adam doesn’t look terribly pleased to hear that, and Stiles can’t blame him, but at the same time, it’s not their fault, which seems to be how Adam is taking the news. “This isn’t the first time the Hale pack has been targeted.”

“That’s not our fault,” Stiles says quickly. “The hunters targeted the Hales because they’re insane bigots.”

Adam shrugs. “The Hales weren’t well hidden. This is what Satomi was afraid of.”

“How can you say that?” Moira asks. “These deaths indicate otherwise. Our pack is safe.”

That comment clearly troubles Adam. “You can’t deny that a werewolf as sheriff makes a tempting target, and one the hunters probably can’t pass up.”

“And my dad was bitten protecting others,” Stiles counters. “He became the Alpha because he was taking care of people. He built the pack to protect people.”

Adam sighs. “The way your father operates is contrary to how we’ve been taught, but perhaps we can work together. As much as we would like to remain hidden, it would appear that we’ve been found.”

“I think we need to band together,” Moira says. “And we will, of course, share any information that we happen to find.”

“Very well,” Adam finally says. “Please, if Sheriff Morrison has not already informed Sheriff Stilinski, take this to him.”

Moira nods. “We will. Thank you for meeting with us today.”

They allow Adam to leave first, and he leaves the photographs behind. “What did you make of that?” Stiles asks.

“I think they’re afraid, and seeking to blame our pack for their losses,” Moira replies. “But he was right about one thing.”

Stiles frowns. “What was that?”

“Satomi’s pack is hidden, and two of them were killed, which suggests someone with insider information, or a way of tracking the supernatural,” Moira says. “Which is certainly not ideal.”

“You don’t think the hunters have another means of finding them?” Stiles asks. “Like a supernatural method?”

Moira shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. I imagine that Kate would have had another target, once she finished with the Hales and let the heat die down.”

“So, you think that maybe Kate already knew about Satomi’s pack, and is now using that information?” Stiles asks.

Moira nods. “We have no way of proving it at the moment, but it’s a theory.”

“I would have expected hunters to use wolfsbane bullets, or something similar, though,” Stiles says.

“It wouldn’t have to be a hunter,” Moira replies. “With enough money and resources, they could hire someone.”

Stiles drums his fingers on the table. “Okay. What are we going to do now?”

“We’re going to talk to your dad, and you are going to the Winter Formal tomorrow,” Moira replies. “We’ll have to consider our next steps carefully.”

Stiles will have to be content with that for now. They have information and hints and suppositions, but nothing concrete.

~~~~~

Thursday afternoon, while Stiles and Moira are meeting Satomi’s emissary, Noah’s waiting for an update from the station. His cell phone rings, and he immediately picks up. “Stilinski.”

“Noah, it’s Shelly Morrison,” she says. “I don’t suppose you’re at the station.”

“I am, as a matter of fact,” Noah replies. “What can I do for you?”

“I was hoping you would be there,” Morrison says. “I’m fifteen minutes out. Can I meet you?”

“Sure thing,” Noah replies, wildly curious now. They’ve exchanged information in the past, and Morrison has always been friendly, but even though they’ve joked about getting together for a drink, they’ve always been too busy to make it happen.

And now Morrison is visiting Beacon Hills with only a fifteen minute warning.

Noah pokes his head out of his office door to call to Maria, “Sheriff Morrison is on her way. Show her back when she gets here, will you?”

Maria nods. “Of course, sir,” she replies cheerfully.

Morrison’s ETA is spot-on, because fifteen minutes later, Maria is showing her into Noah’s office. She has two folders in her hand, and she’s wearing a grim expression. Morrison has straight, dark hair, pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail. She’s wearing a tan uniform, same as Noah, with a heavy olive green coat.

“Good to see you in person,” she says, shaking the hand he offers. “Sorry for the short notice, but I heard Satomi finally agreed on an overture.”

Noah nods. “Our emissaries are meeting today.”

She hands him the folders and takes her coat off, sitting down across from his desk. Noah flips the top one open and sees a picture of a man who looks to be around thirty, clearly from a driver’s license photo. Below that, is a picture of a decapitated body, but the wound looks a lot cleaner than Noah would have expected.

“What am I looking at?” Noah asks.

“Two deaths inside my jurisdiction,” Morrison replies. “Both killed with a thermal wire, which I’ve never seen before, but I put it into ViCAP.”

“Did you get any hits?” Noah asks. “Because that’s a very specific weapon.”

Morrison nods. “There are at least half a dozen unsolved murders across the US involving that weapon. All of them look like stranger-on-stranger murders.”

Noah knows that’s the hardest sort of crime to solve, since there’s no connection between the murderer and their victim. It was what made the murder of Ennis’ pack member and the Hale house fire so challenging. There was no obvious motive, not unless someone knew that the Argents were fervent bigots—and about werewolves.

“Okay,” Noah says slowly. “Unconnected?”

“Other than the MO,” Morrison confirms. “Thermal wire, and victims who were lured somewhere by themselves.”

Noah looks at the second file, at the face of the young woman staring back at him. She’d lost a hand before being stabbed to death.

“You think it’s a hired hit?”

Morrison leans back in her chair. “I don’t know. Why would someone hire a hitman to take out a couple of members of Satomi’s pack?”

“At Kate Argent’s sentencing, Chris warned me that the hunters would come after me,” Noah replies. “And someone who used to be affiliated with the Argents passed a warning along to Moira.”

Morrison frowns. “Well, hell. If we have a contract killer, how the fuck are we supposed to track them down?”

“No idea,” Noah admits.

His cell phone rings, and he sees Stiles’ name on the caller ID. “Give me a sec, it’s my kid.”

“Hey, Stiles, is everything okay?” Noah asks.

“We just got done meeting with Satomi’s emissary,” Stiles replies. “They told us about a couple of murders.”

“Sheriff Morrison’s with me right now,” Noah tells him. “We’re looking at the case files.”

Stiles sighs audibly. “Oh, good. Is it a serial?”

He laughs at that. “Only you, kid, and you know I can’t discuss that with you.”

There’s a pause. “Is it a contract killer?”

“Now, how the hell did you reach that conclusion?” Noah demands.

“Moira and I think that Kate found out about Satomi’s pack while she was in the area,” Stiles says. “And Victoria Argent doesn’t strike me as the sort to get her hands dirty. That leaves a contract killer.”

Noah can’t fault his kid’s logic. “That was the conclusion that we reached as well, although I’m a little disturbed that you got there so quickly.”

“Dad, I was in a room with Victoria, and I’m pretty sure that Janet—the were-jaguar—was scared of her,” Stiles says. “Is there any way to find out if she’s communicating with Kate?”

“Victoria is her sister-in-law, so it wouldn’t raise any suspicions if she were,” Noah says. “Kate’s mail and phone calls would be monitored, though. I can make some inquiries, but we don’t have much proof—although prisoners don’t have a lot of privacy.”

“You got this, Dad,” Stiles replies. “I just wanted to to give you a heads up. Also, I think Satomi might blame us for the hunters.”

“Well, that’s just bullshit,” Noah mutters, “but once I clean up this mess, they’ll have an understanding.”

“Language,” Stiles chides with a laugh. “See you soon, Pops.”

He hangs up, and Morrison stares at him. “Is this the famous Stiles?”

Noah puts his phone down. “Famous or infamous?”

“Anyone who can escape from the Argent hunters should probably be famous,” Morrison says with a smile. “I heard he picked the cuffs.”

Noah can’t sense any deception from her, but this is his kid, and Moira has impressed upon all of them that they need to protect his gift. “He did, indeed. And he’s always willing to demonstrate.”

“I do kind of want to see it,” she admits. “How did he reach the conclusion of a contract killer so quickly?”

“He said he was in a room with Victoria Argent, and she’s not one to get her hands dirty, according to him,” Noah admits. “I can’t say that I disagree.”

Morrison sighs. “I feel like this means more bodies are going to drop.”

“The Winter Formal is tomorrow night,” Noah admits. “And I’m going to have a lot of pack members there, including my kid. It worries me.”

“It would worry me, too,” Morrison admits. “What are you going to do?”

Noah takes a deep breath. “I spoke to the principal earlier today, and she’s agreed to let us provide discreet security. I have a couple of deputies who have agreed to attend to keep an eye on things.”

“Humans, right?” Morrison asks.

“Moira cautioned me against sending any werewolves,” Noah admits. “And my deputies love Stiles. The saying around here is that he might be a little shit, but he’s their little shit.”

Morrison laughs. “Is he following you into law enforcement?”

“That’s what he said he wants to do,” Noah admits. “But he also has a service dog to help him deal with his PTSD after the thing with Kate.”

“He was kidnapped, electrocuted, and nearly killed, according to the papers,” Morrison says. “If he didn’t have some trauma after that, I’d suspect he’s a sociopath.”

“Well, he’s certainly not that,” Noah says.

There’s a knock on his door, and Noah calls, “Come in!”

Maria pokes her head inside. “I’m sorry to interrupt, sir, but we have a situation. We have a multiple homicide.”

Noah is already standing up, buckling on his gun belt. “Where?”

“Here in town,” Maria replies. “It looks like an entire family was killed, minus their teenage son.”

“Who?” Noah asks. He doesn’t know everyone in Beacon Hills, of course, but he knows quite a few.

“The Walcott family,” Maria replies. “From what little I know, they kept to themselves, homeschooled their kids, didn’t mix much.”

“You know them?” Noah asks.

Maria shakes her head. “Not really, but we shop at the same grocery store, and I’ve had a few conversations with Mrs. Walcott. At least, we would chat before she saw me in uniform. After that, she steered clear, but we’ve all had that happen.”

“We have,” Noah replies. “All right, thank you, Maria.” He turns to Morrison. “Would you like to come along with me?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” she replies. “And I really want to meet your kid while I’m in town.”

“We’ll see how bad this scene is, and then we’ll see what happens next,” Noah replies. “Fair warning, Stiles will probably bend your ear.”

“I can’t wait,” she replies.

The scene is already under Mark’s capable direction when Noah arrives. “We have everything taped off, and the bodies have been transported.” Mark leads them inside. “We found bare footprints in blood, and based on the size, we think they’re probably from the teenage son. He’s either hidden himself really well, or he fled the scene.”

“Wouldn’t be the first scared kid to hide from the cops even if they’ve done nothing wrong,” Noah mutters. “Did you check for a chest freezer?”

“That was the first thing I did,” Mark admits.

Morrison frowns. “Why?”

“One of the sheriff’s foundlings was found in a chest freezer on a scene,” Mark says. “The vic was his dad, who shoved him in the freezer the night before.”

Morrison frowns. “He shoved his own son in a chest freezer?”

“It was unplugged, but it had a latch,” Noah says. “I’m glad we found him when we did, and he’s doing well now. I helped him get emancipated.”

“You did a good thing, Noah,” she replies.

“Isaac is a good kid,” Mark says.

“All right, so he’s not in the house, but the bloody footprints and the lack of a body suggest that he survived the initial attack,” Noah sums up. “Are you good to stay here and keep the scene secured? I’ll ask Maria to send Dave and Paul your way once they’re on duty.”

Mark nods. “Of course, and I’m on duty at the dance tomorrow.”

“Appreciate it, Mark,” Noah says. “I’m going to head for the hospital, and I’ll call in a BOLO on the kid. What’s his name?”

Mark checks his notebook. “Sean Walcott.”

“Got it,” Noah replies.

They get back in Noah’s Jeep and head for the hospital and the morgue.

He goes through the main entrance and immediately sees Mel, who makes a beeline for him. “Are you here for the kid? I just called it in.”

Noah frowns. “What kid? We just came from a crime scene.”

Mel starts moving, leading the way. “Teenage boy, wearing sleep pants and a t-shirt. He had blood on his feet, but it doesn’t appear that he’s injured. He’s not really talking, though.”

“That could be our missing teen,” Noah admits. “Where is he?”

Mel leads them back to a curtained off area of the ER, and there’s a bed, but it’s empty.

“Dammit, he was just here,” Mel says.

Noah glances down at the floor and sees the faint signs of bare feet on the linoleum floor. “I’ve got him.”

He and Morrison follow the footsteps to the morgue, where he sees a teenage boy leaning over the body of what he assumes is the father. There’s no one else around, and in a moment, Noah is going to be grateful for that fact.

“Sean?” Noah calls. “Are you okay? Do you need something?”

Sean turns to him, but his eyes are milky white, and his mouth is full of teeth. “I want my dad!”

Noah doesn’t even hesitate to flash the red eyes and fangs. “Settle down!”

Sean’s eyes clear, and the teeth retreat, and he’s suddenly just a heartbroken kid again. “I’m sorry! I just really want my dad.” He sounds close to tears.

“I know, son,” Noah says soothingly. “But I need to know that you’re not going to hurt anyone, okay? You’re Sean, right? Sean Walcott?”

“Yeah,” he replies, and Noah catches the scent of fear from him.

Noah has no idea what to do. He has no idea what kind of a creature he’s dealing with, but then his phone rings.

“I’ve got him,” Morrison says quietly. “You take that.”

Noah checks the caller ID and sees Mark. “Mark, what’s up?”

“There’s a freezer here,” Mark replies. “After your comment, I decided to take a closer look. It looks like it might be full of human flesh.”

“How do you know?” Noah asks.

“Because it’s clearly labeled as such,” Mark replies. “There’s meat in here labeled beef and chicken, and some labeled human. So, yeah, maybe the family just had a really dark sense of humor, but I’m struggling to understand.”

Noah knows one person who will probably know what the hell is going on with the Walcotts. “Let me make a call, then I’ll call you back, Mark,” he says.

Turning to Morrison, he asks, “Could you get him to his room, and maybe stay with him? I need to make a call.”

Morrison nods. “Of course.”

Noah knows that Moira is driving, so he calls Stiles and immediately says, “Put it on speaker. I need to pick Moira’s brain.”

“I’m here, Noah,” she says after a moment.

“I have a family who’s been slaughtered, two adults and one child with a surviving teenage son,” Noah says succinctly. “When I found the survivor, he had white eyes and a mouthful of teeth, but I flashed fang, and he settled down. Now Mark tells me they found a freezer full of human remains at the crime scene, so what am I looking at?”

Moira starts cursing, first in English, and more fluently than Noah expects, and then in another language he doesn’t recognize. “You need to keep an eye on him at all times, Noah. That’s a wendigo, and they’re cannibals. A teenager who’s just lost his family isn’t going to have a lot of emotional control.”

“Shit,” Noah mutters. “All right. Can he be saved?”

“Wendigos need human flesh to survive,” Moira replies. “Maybe they found an ethical way to source it, and I doubt they were hunting in Beacon County, but…”

Noah remembers the feral omega, and he knows this is a similar situation, although it feels a hell of a lot worse. Sean is about Stiles’ age.

“All right,” Noah says. “I understand.”

“Just keep him contained,” Moira advises. “At least until I get there. Maybe I can come up with a solution that isn’t what we’re all thinking right now.”

“I’ll do my best,” Noah replies. “See you soon.”

He heads back to the room where Sean had been kept, at least until he escaped to find the morgue. When he arrives, though, he finds Morrison on the floor, clutching her bloody throat, Mel kneeling next to her.

“Is she—“

“She’ll be fine,” Mel says. “I don’t know where Sean is, though. I lunged at him with a scalpel, and he ran off.”

Noah nods and begins tracing Sean’s footsteps as he had earlier, this time following him up to the roof. He doesn’t have backup, and he knows that’s not the best idea he’s ever had, but he doesn’t have time to wait.

He remembers what Moira said about a teenager being more prone to losing control, and he’s already attacked Morrison. There’s every possibility he’ll lash out at anyone crossing his path at this point, unless they can intimidate him the way Noah had.

Noah follows the faint footprints, as well as the tang of fear to the stairs located at the end of the hall. He heads up the stairs, since that’s where the scent is leading him.

He sees Sean near the edge of the roof, backing up rapidly, being menaced by a tall, thin, bald man with a hatchet in hand.

Noah draws his weapon, shouting, “Hey! Drop the hatchet!”

The man turns, but he doesn’t drop it—although Noah nearly drops his service weapon. The man has nothing but smooth skin where his mouth should be, and in spite of everything Noah has seen to date, this ranks right up there with the freakiest shit ever.

“Sheriff!” Noah barks. “Drop the weapon! Now!”

Noah isn’t all that surprised when the guy who’s clearly not normal doesn’t do as instructed. Instead, he takes a couple of steps towards Noah, hatchet lifted, and Noah doesn’t hesitate to plug him three times center mass.

Sean is dangerously close to the edge of the roof, and Noah holsters his weapon. He holds his hands up in a placating fashion. “Come on, Sean,” he says. “Come away from the edge.”

“I hurt the lady cop,” Sean says, his eyes wide and frightened. “I didn’t mean to!”

“I know you didn’t,” Noah replies. “You’ve had a really bad day, but it doesn’t have to get worse. Just walk towards me, and we’ll come up with a plan together. I have a friend who knows about your situation, and she’s going to help.”

Sean shakes his head desperately. “No, I can’t, please, I can’t.”

And then he takes one long step backward. Noah will never be certain whether Sean knew how close to the edge he’d been and just acted out of instinct, or if he made a deliberate choice.

Noah immediately calls Dave. “If Mark hasn’t already called you in, I’m going to need you and Paul at the hospital immediately.”

“Mark is still at the triple homicide scene,” Dave replies. “Paul was going to relieve him there. I heard you had the missing kid at the hospital.”

“Emphasis on the past tense,” Noah replies. “And I’m guessing that the murderer is the guy I just shot.”

Dave blows out a breath. “Right. Okay. I’m going to call Derek and Parrish in. Two dead bodies at a hospital—same location?”

“No, the kid jumped off the roof,” Noah replies. “And I have no idea if it was accidental or deliberate, or something in between.”

“So, one on the ground, and the other—“

“On the roof with me,” Noah confirms.

“And you should probably stay out of it,” Dave says. “I’m calling Tara, too.”

Noah feels a frisson of fear. “You don’t think we’re stretching ourselves too thin?”

He’s thinking of the dance the following night, and what could happen if they have to respond to a scene if the hunters pull something.

Or if the killers they’ve hired pull anything.

“Look, I know that no one is going to love this idea, but I really think you should pull the kids out of the dance, at least the ones in the pack,” Dave says. “We now have substantive proof that there’s someone out there targeting the supernatural. No one even knew the Walcotts were anything other than human, but somehow these assholes did.”

Noah wanted Stiles to have a normal, high school experience, to go to the dance with his girlfriend and their friends.

But as the left hand of the pack, Dave makes a lot of sense, and concentrating targets in a public location goes against every instinct Noah has. He’s been trying to quiet those instincts, but now they’re screaming at him.

“Yeah,” he says heavily. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

Dave’s voice is gentle as he says, “Hey, isn’t the new house done? I think you said there was a fire pit. Let them have a bonfire in the Preserve or something.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Noah says, although he doesn’t think the kids are going to love it.

“Let’s just get through tonight,” Dave says. “Maybe Stiles will come up with a solution. Your kid is pretty fucking smart, sir. Tell him what happened, and watch the wheels turn.”

“I’ve been trying to teach him to let the adults handle things,” Noah replies.

“Yeah, but sometimes kids need to think that they came up with the idea on their own,” Dave counters.

Noah knows his deputy is right. “Okay, I’m going to stay on the roof until I’m relieved. The kid attacked Sheriff Morrison on his way up here, but Mel was treating her and said she’d be fine. I’ll check on her on my way out, but then I’ll head home. You can find me there if you need me.”

“I’ll call hospital security to get them to secure the scene on the ground,” Dave replies. “Paul and I have your back, as does the rest of the station, sir.”

“I appreciate that, Dave,” Noah replies. “Thanks.”

He hangs up, then realizes that he needs to head Moira off, so he calls Stiles. “I’m putting you on speaker, Dad,” Stiles says. “We’re about 20 minutes away.”

“I’m sorry, Moira, but I couldn’t keep Sean Walcott contained,” Noah says. “He attacked Sheriff Morrison and ran, then stepped right off the edge of the hospital roof. There are a few more details, but I can deliver those in person.”

Moira sighs. “Don’t worry about it, Noah. I didn’t have a lot of good ideas to begin with. I’m sorry for the boy, but—“

Noah knows what she isn’t saying, that he’d been doomed from the moment his parents had been killed, and they knew he was a wendigo.

He certainly isn’t going to allow a cannibal to run around Beacon Hills eating people.

“Yeah,” Noah says. “I’m going to take a few pictures and send them to you. I’d appreciate your thoughts.”

“We’ll meet you back at the house,” Moira replies. “And I’ll stick around until you get there.”

“I appreciate it,” Noah replies.

He doesn’t have to stay out on the roof long before Dave turns up with Derek in tow. “Paul relieved Mark, and Tara is downstairs with Parrish to take care of the kid,” Dave says. “Derek, you good with taking pictures? It’s low light, so you’ll have to take that into consideration, but if you’re not comfortable, I can show you how it’s done.”

Derek looks a little embarrassed by the question. “I’ve shot in low light before.”

“We have an artist on our hands,” Dave teases. “Okay, let me know if you need anything.” He moves over to the body, and says, “Well, fuck me.”

Noah doesn’t reprimand him. “I almost dropped my gun.”

“Good thing you didn’t,” Dave replies. “I think there’s blood and brain matter on the axe. God, how does he even eat? I didn’t think this existed outside that shitty Wolverine movie.”

Noah only knows what Dave is talking about because he’s watched the movie with Stiles. “Stiles assures me that seeing Hugh Jackman’s naked ass made the entire movie worth it.”

Dave actually chokes on his spit. “Warn a guy, sir. When I picked Derek up, Moira and Stiles were at the house.”

Noah sighs. “Well, if Mel releases Sheriff Morrison, I’ll bring her by. She wanted to meet Stiles.”

“Good luck,” Dave says.

Noah stops by to check in on Derek. “You okay?”

“You need to tell the kids not to go to the dance,” Derek mutters. “Security isn’t going to be enough.”

“I know,” Noah replies.

Derek glances up, his expression sympathetic. “If it makes you feel any better, I think Stiles will probably reach the same conclusion on his own. He doesn’t want to risk the pack either.”

He pauses. “But you could always set up a sting.”

Noah is actually tempted by that, but he can’t risk the other kids. That said, they can post extra security on the chance that people do show up with murderous intent.

“I’m going to work with that idea,” he tells Derek. “Thank you.”

He leaves them to work the rooftop scene and heads down to the ER. Mel meets him at the base of the stairs, saying, “Dave stopped on his way up to let me know what was going on. I don’t think Sheriff Morrison should drive home tonight, but she can be released.”

Noah rubs his eyes. “I can put her up for the night, or take her to a hotel. How bad were the injuries?”

“He attempted to tear her throat out, but I arrived in time to scare him off with a scalpel,” Mel replies. “He was a frightened teenager, and I’ve dealt with those before.” She pauses. “Did he really step off the roof?”

Noah nods. “I honestly don’t know if it was accidental or deliberate.”

“Maybe he didn’t know either,” Mel replies, putting her hand on his arm. “People make stupid decisions in the moment, and we both know that.”

Noah presses her hand. “Thank you.”

“Go on,” Mel replies. “Maybe think about making a friend that’s not just the pack?”

Noah shakes his head. “You’re my friend.”

“Noah.” Mel gives him her best “I’m the head nurse” look. “Try again.”

“I’ll try,” Noah replies. “But Mel…”

“You don’t have to make a romantic connection,” she says in a low voice. “I’m not saying replace Claudia. You’ll love her until the day you die, and I know that. You don’t have to look for a partner, but do look for a friend.”

Noah nods. “I understand.”

“I’ve already told Scott that I would prefer that he and Kira not go to the Winter Formal,” Mel adds. “I expressed the same concern to Noshiko, too.”

Noah blinks. “Really?”

“We’re friendly,” Mel says. “It’s a nice change of pace. And if you need a united front, we’ll stand behind you, but I think you should at least let the kids think they’re making the decision.”

“Dave suggested a bonfire at the new house,” Noah says.

“Now, that’s an idea,” Mel says. “They could even invite a few other select people, and then make it sound like they’re having their own private party because they’re just that cool.”

Noah laughs. “Right, well, we’ll see. Thanks. I appreciate the support.”

“Go,” Mel says. “Introduce Shelly to your awesome kid. Offer her a bed tonight. Just—leave the door open for a connection.”

Noah nods. “I promise.”

“That’s all I ask,” Mel replies, and she puts a hand to the side of his face, but she does’t say anything else.

Noah steps into the examination room where Mel had been treating Morrison. She’s taken off her uniform shirt, leaving her in a dark brown t-shirt, and Noah can see a bandage on her neck.

“Hey, how’s it going?”

Morrison shakes her head. “I should have been ready for it, but he turned on me so quickly. I can’t even tell you what set him off. Did you get him contained?”

Noah takes a deep breath. “No. I found him on the roof with the man who killed his family.” He pulls out his phone, because he’d taken a few pictures of the killer to show Moira.

Morrison leans closer to see his phone screen and says, “What the fuck?”

“I almost dropped my gun when I saw his face,” Noah admits. “He refused to lower his weapon, so I shot him. Sean was close to the edge of the roof, and he stepped off, not sure if it was on purpose or by accident.”

“Well, shit,” Morrison says. “I’m sorry.”

“We weren’t sure we could contain him,” Noah admits. “Or even if we could, that we could do it humanely. According to a friend, he’s a wendigo, and they require human flesh to survive.”

Morrison blows out a breath. “Yeah, that tracks from the little I knew. I wouldn’t have expected to find a family of them living in Beacon Hills, though.”

Noah shakes his head. “No, me neither, if I’d thought of it at all.”

“Do you have enough people to work the scenes?” Morrison asks.

Noah nods. “I have a good team, and they have things under control. Speaking of, Mel didn’t think you should drive home tonight.”

“She said,” Morrison replies. “I can get a hotel room.”

“Or you can come home with me, meet Stiles and probably some of the other pack members, and we’ll figure dinner out when we get there,” Noah offers. “The couch is comfortable, but I’m sure either Derek or Stiles would also be willing to let you sleep in their room.”

She sighs and rubs her eyes. “You know what? I’m going to take you up on that offer. I probably shouldn’t, but what the hell.”

“Come on,” Noah replies. “I’ll text Stiles to see if we need to pick dinner up on the way.”

Stiles has responded by the time Noah leads the way back to his Jeep. “How do you feel about fried chicken?”

“Right now, I’d eat an old leather shoe,” she replies. “So fried chicken sounds just fine.”

~~~~~

Derek hadn’t been scheduled to work that night, but when Dave calls and explains the situation, Derek immediately puts on his uniform. Dave indicated he was going to pick Derek up, so he heads downstairs while buckling his belt.

Stiles and the rest of the younger pack members all had events after school—lacrosse practice for Scott, Isaac, and Boyd, a tutoring session at the library for Malia, with Erica and Cora in attendance, and Stiles is out with Moira.

Then, Moira pulls up at almost the same time as Dave does, and he has the dogs in tow.

Derek suspects that the dogs are some kind of bribe, because Dave hadn’t said anything about bringing them, and Stiles loves Cocoa and Nibs.

Stiles greets the dogs with Batman quivering next to him, but he’s behaving himself. “Do you need us to keep them tonight, Dave?”

“That would be great, Stiles,” Dave replies. “Getting called in was a little last minute, and I didn’t have time to walk them.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind,” Stiles assures him. “We’ll put them in the backyard and throw the ball around. It sounds like Dad is going to be a little longer.”

“He is,” Dave confirms. “Although, Paul and I will send him your way once we take over the scene.”

“Thanks, Dave,” Moira says. “I told Noah that I’d stay until he arrives.”

“Great, thanks,” Dave says. “Let’s go, Derek.”

Derek hadn’t gotten a lot of information from Dave over the phone, just that they have three scenes and it’s basically all hands on deck. “What happened?”

Dave doesn’t put on the lights or sirens, so Derek knows that whatever excitement happened, it’s over, and now it’s just about containment and investigation.

“Based on the limited information I have, someone broke into a family home and killed the parents and the younger son, while the older son escaped,” Dave explains. “He wound up at the hospital, not sure how, and so did the killer. Noah was forced to shoot the killer, and the kid jumped off the roof of the hospital. That means we have three scenes—the family home, the ground outside the hospital, and the roof.”

“Is this related to the information we got from Moira’s source?” Derek asks. “Because if it is, I think we need to avoid giving them a target.”

“I mentioned asking the kids to avoid the dance,” Dave replies. “We’ll have the scenes cleared by then, but if it does have to do with that info, I agree that the dance is too much of a risk. Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?”

Derek likes Dave a lot, and the two of them make a good team for the home pack as right and left hands. The fact that they’re on the same page tells Derek that they’re probably right about the risk, and that it’s too great.

They pull up in front of the hospital, and Tara and Parrish pull up right behind them.

“I’ve got the kid on the ground,” Tara says as they confer. “Parrish and I will take care of the scene down here.”

Dave nods. “That leaves me with the Sheriff. Derek and I will handle the scene on the roof, and we’ll send the Sheriff home. He has Sheriff Morrison with him.”

“Maria told me,” Tara replies.

Parrish gives Derek a look. “You good?”

Derek nods. “Yeah, I’m fine. You?”

Parrish nods. “Five by five.”

“Let’s go,” Dave says.

They stop to see Mel on their way up, and she tells them that Sheriff Morrison had been injured by Sean Walcott, but would be fine.

Derek is carrying the camera, while Dave hauls the evidence kit, and they climb the stairs up to the roof. The body of the killer is shocking. Derek has never heard of anyone without a mouth, let alone seen someone. He has no idea if the killer is some kind of supernatural creature he’s never heard of, or if he’s been modified in some way.

Noah leaves to head home, and Derek continues shooting the scene. “How does he eat?” Derek mutters.

“Hell if I know,” Dave replies. “Maybe he has a port, or he uses a gastric tube? Or maybe he’s figured out how to live on air or something.”

Derek makes sure he gets pictures of the whole scene, including the foot prints on the edge of the roof, since that’s where Sean Walcott had stepped off.

He finds himself looking over the edge of roof to the scene below, and he grimaces, seeing the body. Someone has covered it with a sheet, so he can just see the outline, but he can’t help but think about his sister, Malia, and the other young pack members.

“Don’t let yourself go there,” Dave calls out.

Derek straightens. “What?”

“Don’t picture Stiles, or Scott, or anyone else you know under that sheet,” Dave advises. “Sometimes, your brain can’t help it, but try not to let it. It just bogs you down in emotion.”

Derek turns to face him. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”

“You think someone in my scope never reminded me of someone I knew back home?” Dave asks. “But when that person was a threat, I couldn’t let that hold me back. Same is true in law enforcement.”

Derek finishes taking pictures, and then they call the coroner to remove the body.

Dr. Kelly turns up with his morgue assistant, and he whistles when he sees the scene. “Well, this is certainly a new one for me. Let Sheriff Stilinski know I should have the results of the autopsies tomorrow, both the official reports and the ones he can actually use.”

“Will do,” Dave promises. “Appreciate it, doc.”

“Never a dull day around here, is there?” Kelly mutters. “Have a good night, Deputy.”

“You, too,” Dave replies.

“I’m going to drop you by the house,” Dave says.

Derek frowns. “I don’t mind working tonight.”

“I know you don’t, but you still have school,” Dave replies. “And we’re all pulling overtime right now, which stretches the budget. If things get worse before they get better, we’re going to rack up even more OT. Let’s pace ourselves. I promise Tara is telling Parrish the exact same thing.”

Derek can’t really argue. He might slightly outrank Dave in the home pack, but Dave has seniority at the station.

Dave drops him off, and Derek can see the cars parked on the street that indicate most—if not all—the younger pack members are there.

He makes his way up the walk and lets himself inside, stepping into the middle of a pack meeting, complete with full plates of fried chicken with all the fixings.

“There’s extra for you in the kitchen, Der,” Stiles says as he enters. “I made sure to save some from these heathens.”

Derek laughs. “I’ll change and grab it, thanks.”

He carefully hangs up his uniform, and finds a plate in the microwave. Lu’s chicken is just as at good room temperature as it is hot, and there’s coleslaw and potato salad, too.

Derek grabs the plate and takes it to the living room, where everyone seems subdued. “Is everything okay?”

“We’re talking about alternatives to going to the Winter Formal,” Stiles replies.

Derek raises his eyebrows. “Does Lydia know?”

“Yeah, and since she’s also supernatural, the idea that someone might end up targeting the dance because of us is a no-go,” Stiles replies. “I promised she could still wear her dress.”

Derek can feel the disappointment from all the pack members, including Kira, who’s holding Scott’s hand.

“What’s preventing us from having a party at the new house?” Derek asks. “We can have a fire and food, and set up some music. There’s no furniture. The only thing that would be missing is the gym smell.”

Stiles starts to perk up at that. “Dad?”

Noah starts, “It’s going to be a little hard to pull everything together at this point, but—“

Moira cuts him off, saying, “You let us figure that out. I have some contacts, and I have magic for the rest. It might not be the Winter Formal, but we can make it a night to remember.”

“There’s nothing to say we can’t get dressed up and have a party,” Scott adds, sounding enthusiastic. “We shouldn’t put the entire school in danger. We’re certain they’re targeting the supernatural, right?”

“Whoever these people are, they killed two werewolves from Satomi’s pack,” Stiles says. “Her emissary confirmed that there are humans in the pack, too, but they’re fine.”

“No one knew the Walcotts were wendigos that we know of,” Noah adds. “How the hell would anyone have found out?”

Stiles is frowning, and Derek knows his wheels are turning. Sheriff Morrison is sitting next to Noah on the couch, and if Derek is reading their body language right, there’s something brewing. He also sees her watching Stiles with an expression that suggests she’s impressed, and is considering adopting him.

“Well…” Stiles begins.

Everyone turns to look at him, knowing that tone of voice. Stiles is about to do his thing.

“Look, I think we have to accept that Kate probably knows that the Nemeton will draw the supernatural here,” Stiles says. “Which means she was going to be looking for things that are out of the ordinary. Dad said no one suspected the Walcotts, but wendigos have to eat human flesh. Why wouldn’t the hunters be able to trace that sort of thing?”

Moira is nodding. “I think you have the right of it, mo chroi. Hunters have a lot of connections, and there are some things they aren’t above taking advantage of.”

“How would you approach the investigation, Stiles?” Sheriff Morrison asks.

“Into the hunters?” Stiles asks.

She nods. “Don’t think about budget right now, or manpower. What would you do?”

Stiles frowns at her. “Why?”

“Because I’m honestly intrigued,” she admits. “And because you blurted out that you didn’t want to put the rest of the school in danger as soon as we walked through the front door.”

Stiles shrugs uncomfortably. “Yeah, because we’ve seen what happens when we do. We need to not just take care of the pack, but the town, too.”

“A dance isn’t more important than keeping us and everyone else safe,” Scott chimes in, and Derek knows that he might have had another response at some point, so he’s come a long way.

“We’re a pack,” Erica chimes in. “The rest of the school already knows how awesome we are. It’s sad that we have to deprive them of our hotness, but they’ll live.”

That pulls a laugh out of everyone present.

“So?” Sheriff Morrison prompts.

Stiles takes a deep breath. “I’d follow the money. If we’re talking about contract killers—more than one—someone has to be paying them. Maybe we haven’t identified the person or people who killed the members of Satomi’s pack, but we do have the guy who killed the Walcotts.”

“That’s good,” Noah says. “Assuming we can identify him.”

“I’ve already texted the photos to Alana,” Moira says. “Even if you can’t identify him, someone in the magical community will likely know who he is. That’s a modification that very few would choose, and only a couple could perform.”

“Why would anyone want to get rid of their mouth?” Isaac asks, sounding disturbed.

“You can’t force someone to talk if they don’t have a mouth,” Stiles points out. “I mean, I could think of other means that would have been less dramatic, but it sends a message to prospective clients.”

Derek figures that Stiles isn’t saying anything that comes as a surprise to either Noah or Sheriff Morrison, but Derek has to admit that watching Stiles work the problem is impressive.

“What’s the next step, mo chroi?” Moira asks. “Because I know you have some ideas.”

“Right, well, hopefully you find something with financials,” Stiles admits. “But if not—I’d probably set a trap.”

“How?” Noah asks.

Stiles hesitates. “You’re going to actively hate the idea.”

“I already do,” Noah replies. “But a trap has worked once before, so hit me with it, kiddo.”

Stiles glances at Moira. “How sure are we about the warding at the new house?”

“They’re your wards, young spark,” Moira replies. “So, you tell me.”

Stiles looks at his dad, and his eyes look faintly golden. “I think you know what I’m about to propose.”

“The dance is tomorrow,” Noah replies. “There isn’t enough time to set it up.”

Stiles shrugs. “If there’s a price on our heads, it means they can collect multiple bounties at once, especially if we make it known around school that we’ll be partying separately.”

“How are you going to explain that?” Noah asks, and Derek can see that he’s coming around to the idea.

They likely won’t catch everyone the hunters might be paying, but they could take a couple of players off the board.

“If they want to attack the pack effectively, they probably have someone at the school,” Stiles points out. “I tell everybody that my PTSD has flared up, so we’re going to have a private party. We noise it around the school, and then we see who shows up.”

Sheriff Morrison hums. “Even if you can’t find financials on the one you shot tonight, the more data you have, the better, Noah.”

Moira clears her throat and adds, “Even if you can’t use this tactic now, setting up a distraction—a place other than the pack house where people think we spend the full moon—is a good idea for the future.”

Noah nods. “Don’t I know it.”

There’s a loud ring, and Noah pulls out his cell phone. “Stilinski.”

“What the fuck?” he says after a long moment. And then he says, “Yeah, I’ll grab Derek, and we’ll meet you at the scene.”

Derek stands up. “What’s going on?”

“Parrish was attacked,” Noah says quietly. “Tara said he was in shock, but that he’ll be fine.”

“Who attacked him?” Derek demands.

“We don’t know, but I think we have to assume it’s connected,” Noah replies. “Shel, you’re welcome to stay here. I know Stiles will be a good host.”

“We’ll start planning our trap,” Stiles replies seriously. “And if you need to bring Parrish here, we’ll find the room.”

“I think it might be for the best if no one is alone tonight,” Moira adds. “We’ll all stay here.”

Erica raises her hands over her head in a show of victory. “Yes! Pre-party sleepover!”

“With added planning to stop nefarious deeds!” Stiles says brightly. “My favorite thing!”

Derek snorts, and he knows that all of the kids have been kind of itching to be involved. Well, maybe not Isaac or Boyd, but they all have faith in Noah and Moira, so the sense in the room is more of a bunch of teenagers planning a big prank.

“I’ll go get changed,” Derek says. “Again.”

He kind of wishes that he’d taken a page out of Noah’s book and hadn’t taken off his uniform in the first place.

Noah drives, and Derek asks, “What happened?”

“Tara wasn’t clear on that,” Noah admits. “They got a call about some criminal mischief, and everyone else was tied up. Tara was finishing up on the scene, so she sent Parrish to respond. The next thing she heard was a report of someone on fire.”

Derek frowns. “But you said that Parrish would be okay.”

“The fire department responded, as did Tara, and they found Parrish covered in soot and in shock,” Noah replies. “No idea what happened, or where his attacker is.”

“If we’re lucky, he crawled off somewhere to die,” Derek mutters.

“I share your anger, but let’s keep it together,” Noah says, although he also sounds pretty growly. “We knew that Parrish had something else going on, but we didn’t know what it was. We technically still don’t know, and experience suggests that he probably needs us to be calm.”

Derek nods and reins in his anger. “Got it.”

They arrive on the scene in an industrial area of Beacon Hills, and Derek realizes that it’s in the same general area as where Kate held Scott. “Noah…”

“I see it, too,” he replies. “Keep your eyes open.”

There’s a firetruck and an ambulance on the scene, and one of the firefighters comes to meet Noah. “Sheriff, we have your deputy in the back of the ambulance. No idea what happened here, but he looked like he’d walked though fire minus the burns.”

Noah frowns. “How do you mean, Captain Moore?”

“I mean that he was intact, but nothing else was,” Moore replies wryly. “And he was definitely in shock. I’d make sure he’s not alone tonight.”

Noah nods. “We’ll take care of him.”

“Glad he’s okay, though,” Moore adds. “I hate losing one of our own.”

Noah nods. “You and me both.”

Derek follows him to the ambulance silently, trying to keep his emotions under control. Feeling as though his pack is under attack is bad enough, but what’s worse is knowing that they’d tried to set Parrish on fire—and Derek would call him his best friend at this point.

Parrish looks out of it, even as Tara is sitting next to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. He has a blanket wrapped around his waist, and another over his shoulders.

He looks up as Derek approaches, though, and there’s naked relief on his face. “Derek.”

Derek doesn’t hesitate to haul him into a hug, holding him close. “You’re okay,” he murmurs. “Whatever happened, we going to be fine.”

“I didn’t know,” Parrish mutters into Derek’s shoulder. “I just didn’t know.”

“We did,” Derek replies. “We weren’t sure what it entailed, but we knew. We don’t care. Can you tell us what happened?”

“I didn’t know him, and I didn’t get a good look,” Parrish admits as Derek pulls back. Tara moves away and lets Derek take her place. “He hit me from behind, and when I came to, I was tied to the steering wheel of my car and soaked in gas. I heard a match being struck, and the next thing I knew, I was on fire, and then I—I think I was the fire?”

“You’ll come home with us tonight,” Noah says firmly. “We’re circling the wagons, and you might just be our secret weapon.”

Parrish seems to shake himself at that. “What? Why?”

“Because I doubt they stuck around long enough to see you survived once they heard the sirens,” Noah says. “I’m going to ask everyone to keep it quiet, and put it out on the scanner that we have a man down, okay?”

Parrish nods. “That makes sense to me.”

They bundle him into the backseat of Noah’s Jeep, and Derek rubs his eyes, feeling emotional knowing how close he’d come to losing his friend.

Noah reaches over and squeezes his shoulder. “We’re going to take tonight to regroup and plan, and then we’re going to take care of this.”

When they walk in through the front door, Stiles pops up. He takes one look at Parrish and says, “I’m gonna grab some spare clothing for you. Bathroom is free, and I can put a plate together if you’re hungry.”

“Moira, we could use you,” Noah adds. “The paramedics checked him out, but this is something a little beyond their ken.”

“Can we use your room, Noah?” Moira asks. “I’ll take a look at him there.”

Noah nods. “Yes, of course.”

“Can Derek come?” Parrish asks.

“Yes, of course, dear heart,” Moira says. “Come on upstairs. I’ll check you out, and then you can get cleaned up, get something to eat, and we’ll go from there. I promise, you’re going to be just fine.”

Moira is solicitous of Parrish as they head upstairs to the master bedroom, sitting him down on the bed, still wrapped up in wool blankets. “Sit next to him, Derek,” Moira orders. “He’ll want you close, because I’m about to ask some really uncomfortable questions.”

Derek does as ordered and sits next to Parrish, and Parrish grabs his forearm.

“Tell me about your parents,” Moira says.

Parrish shakes his head. “I don’t know anything about them. I went into foster care when I was five, and I don’t—I don’t have a lot of memories from before that, but I was told that I almost died.”

“Ah, boyo,” Moira murmurs. “I don’t think you almost died. I think that you did die, and you wound up a Hellhound, which is no bad thing, as you discovered tonight. You’re going to be extraordinarily hard to kill, which I’m sure Derek appreciates.”

Parrish laughs, and so does Derek, but he has to admit that the knowledge that Parrish can’t be killed by fire would make him a really attractive friend even if they weren’t already there.

“What does that mean?” Parrish asks, suddenly sounding very young and very unsure.

“It means we’re going to work on it,” Moira replies. “Hellhounds have a connection to the world beyond the grave, much like banshees do. Right now, the only thing that matters is that you’re alive and unharmed. You’re going to wash off the soot, and change into some clean clothes, and you’re going to feel like a million bucks because you survived something that no one should have survived.”

Parrish relaxes at that. They all trust Moira, and if she says that things are going to be okay, things are going to be okay, because Moira will make it be okay. “I trust you. I wish I had someone like you before.”

Moira presses a maternal kiss to his forehead. “I think you’ll find that the right people come into your life at the right moment. And we’re here now.”

She leaves, and Derek takes in a deep, shaky breath. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Parrish grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I was so fucking relieved to see you tonight.”

“I was so fucking relieved to see you in one piece,” Derek replies, unable to articulate anything else.

“Yeah,” Parrish says. “Yeah. We’re going to get through this.”

 

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