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Teen Wolf || Steter || Teen Wolf || Huge and Problematic || Teen Wolf || Steter || Teen Wolf

Title: Huge and Problematic – Darach 2: Electric Boogaloo

TW Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Jeff Davis and MTV. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Tags: m/m, established relationship, True Mates, alternate season 3B, Erica Lives, Boyd Lives, Jackson Doesn’t Leave, Good Alpha Pack, Magic Council, Alpha Peter, Spark Stiles, Pack Mom Stiles, Pack Feels, Nogitsune, hurt/comfort, m/f

Main Pairing: Peter/Stiles

Side Pairings: Deucalion/Noah, Ethan/Danny, Boyd/Erica, Jackson/Lydia, Scott/Allison, Ennis/Kali

Teen Wolf Characters: Mieczysław 'Stiles' Stilinski, Peter Hale, Derek Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Isaac Lahey, Jackson Whittemore, Cora Hale, Scott McCall, Allison Argent, Lydia Martin, Malia Tate, Kira Yukimura, Danny Mahealani, Noah Stilinski, Deucalion Blackwood, Ethan Steiner, Aiden Steiner, Kali Kreul, Ennis Dunham, Marin Morrell, Jennifer Blake | Julia Baccari

Summary: Stiles and Peter find a feral coyote in the preserve and somehow, that’s only the tip of the iceberg of their problems, because somehow they seem to be having another Darach problem and more human sacrifices, tainting Stiles’ Nemeton and waking a great evil underneath.

Huge and Problematic

Darach 2: Electric Boogaloo

The forest was quiet when Stiles stepped into it. It took him a couple of steps to realize but the forest was too quiet. It wasn’t the quiet of a pack run – when the wolves’ presence would cause all animals to steer clear and hide to protect themselves from the greater predators. No, it wasn’t just the absence of animals. There were no rustling leaves, no whistling wind, no gurgling creek. Stiles shuddered as he realized that the forest wasn’t just quiet, it was dead.

His steps hastened as he made his way to his Nemeton. She would know what was going on. Well, she wasn’t all that communicative, she never clearly told him anything. But over the months, he had gotten very good at reading her anyway. His steps faltered when he reached her clearing.

There stood a hooded figure on the other side of Stiles’ Nemeton. She bent forward and rested her hands on the Nemeton. Stiles ran up to them, knowing whatever was going on wasn’t good. Lightning lit up the sky behind the woman just as she raised her head to look at him. He came to a stumbling stop when he saw her face, bloated and distorted, cut up and disfigured. A vicious smile was on her lips as she looked at him. With the lightning came a storm and suddenly there was violent wind whirling around them both. The lightning continued and in its brightness, her shadow lengthened. Stiles was frozen to the spot as he watched the shadow change shape, pointy ears at the head and a tail poking out at the side, then a second, a third, a forth.

The woman laughed, a distorted and horrible sound. The shadow kept forming, moving and Stiles was shocked when he realized that it wasn’t just changing flat on the ground, it was moving up. Taking physical form. What had been a vague monstrous shape now was clearly a many-tailed fox. Two fireflies rose from the Nemeton’s stump and flew toward the fox until they settled on its face, taking up the place of its eyes. Stiles swallowed hard as the fox’s eyes stared dead at him and then it leapt forward at him, its mouth opened wide and pointy, sharp teeth ready to sink into him--

Stiles woke up with a scream dying on his lips, cold sweat all over his skin. He was shaking, hunching over like he was trying to protect his middle from an attack. The way he’d done in Gerard’s basement. Only that the fear he felt right now was ten times worse.

“Kiddo? You… You alright? I heard you scream.”

Stiles’ head snapped up and he looked at his dad. Noah’s face immediately softened and he rushed to his son’s side to pull him into a tight hug, brushing Stiles’ wet cheeks. And oh. He was crying. Blinking rapidly, Stiles tried to make the tears stop but instead he just started sobbing.

“Would you like me to call Peter, dear?”

Stiles looked over his dad’s shoulder at Deucalion, wearing a robe and a frown. Noah made an agreeing noise. Since when was Deucalion sleeping over? Stiles knew his dad and the Demon Wolf had grown closer in recent weeks of working together to go through all of Noah’s cases to check for supernatural involvement, and Noah was very interested to learn more about supernatural law-enforcement, about the Magic Council and Alpha Packs. Sure, Deuc was over at the Stilinskis’ more often than not whenever Stiles got home, but somehow Stiles had assumed it was just work.

“Sweetheart. Stiles, darling, look at me?”

Blinking sluggishly, Stiles turned to look at Peter. How was his wolf already here? How long had he been in his head there? Considering the worried looks on both Noah and Deuc’s faces, it must have been a while. Had he cried the whole time? Stiles frantically rubbed at his eyes.

“Peter,” Stiles gasped out. “Something is wrong.”

“I can tell, love,” Peter murmured, pulling Stiles into his lap. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

“No,” Stiles shook his head frantically. “I’m not. We’re not. She’s coming.”

There was a stretch of silence and it was Deucalion who spoke. “Who is coming, Stiles?”

Stiles continued shaking his head. He didn’t know. But he knew this hadn’t been a dream. He knew it was his Nemeton crying out for help. The woman. And the fox. They were a threat and they were coming for Stiles’ Nemeton – and for Stiles.

/break\

“So—o. You and Deuc, huh,” Stiles shot his dad a look, smirking. “Sleepovers?”

Noah groaned and rubbed his face. “Yeah, it’s been kind of… developing that way… It’s still pretty new and I didn’t want to tell you yet, I…”

His finger was twirling his wedding ring absentmindedly and Stiles didn’t think Noah even noticed. Stiles’ lips twisted into a sadder smile. His dad had never taken off his ring and he had never gone on a date since Stiles’ mom had died. The real reason Noah hadn’t told him yet, he may have been worried about how Stiles would take it. If Stiles would get angry about it. Stiles stopped, causing Noah to also stop. And then Stiles pulled his dad into a hug.

“I want you to be happy, pops. That’s all I want,” Stiles said sincerely.

“Okay,” Noah relaxed in his arms and hugged him tightly. “Thanks, kiddo.”

“No—ow,” Stiles’ voice took on a teasing note. “Would I wish you would be dating someone more age appropriate? And that you hadn’t been sneaking around with your significantly older secret werewolf boyfriend? Yes, I would, of course.”

“Stiles,” Noah groaned irritated, pushing his son off some.

“I’m just concerned that he won’t take advantage of you, what with the age-gap,” Stiles said solemnly, cracking a smile when Noah smacked him upside the head. “Oh, come, dad. You didn’t expect me not to make the joke? It writes itself!”

Noah grumbled, cheeks flushed as he turned away. “Let’s continue on. And one more word about our age and I’ll be grounding you until you’re thirty, are we clear?”

Stiles laughed and fell in step with his dad. The good mood lessened the deeper they got into the preserve. After Stiles’ nightmare last night, the packs had met and decided to go on patrol through the preserve today. Check for the woman. Or for anything else being wrong. Jackson and Erica were in a different part of the preserve, so were Boyd and Derek, Ethan and Aiden, Isaac and Scott, Cora and Peter. His description of the fox had worried Deuc, so he had sent Marin to consult the Magic Council and had gone with Ennis and Kali to talk to Alpha Ito in Fox Creek. Allison had the ungrateful task of informing her dad, who was still not the biggest fan of the pack, even though they had come to an agreement and a treaty. Considering how long Chris had been brainwashed and controlled by his father, it figured that not all prejudice would simply fall away over night. But they were getting there. Stiles considered the hunter a reluctant ally.

“You feel anything off, kiddo?” Noah asked warily. “You got real quiet.”

Stiles shook his head. “No. Just… Just still unsettled from the… vision, I guess.”

He wrapped his arms around his torso, holding onto his own upper arms. Both Stilinskis paused when there was rustling, Noah immediately raising his gun. A growl and then… a coyote. Stiles froze in surprise. Right. There were animals in the preserve, unlike in his dream.

“Okay… Let’s… uhm… Let’s steer clear of the growling coyote, dad,” Stiles suggested.

And then he froze because the coyote’s eyes were flashing blue. Beta blue. Shapeshifter blue. Both Stilinski men stared at the coyote, before Noah started cursing and putting his gun away while slowly, very slowly, inching back from the coyote, pulling Stiles with him.

“Call Peter,” Noah instructed. “I’d call Deuc, but he’s in Fox Creek.”

Stiles nodded and dialed his mate’s number. “Darling, what’s wrong?”

“Wouldn’t exactly call it wrong, but… weird. So, dad and I ran into a coyote. With blue eyes. Can you track my phone and come here?” Stiles requested, not looking away from the coyote.

“I’m on my way, sweetheart. Stay safe. I love you.”

Stiles smiled a little before pocketing his phone. “So, dad. Why are the boyfriends needed?”

Despite the situation, Noah flushed a little at the ‘boyfriends’. “There’s this case, in my ‘suspicious’ pile. The Tate family had a car accident, eight years ago. Three dead, but one of the daughters… gone. No body found. Kali pointed out that the marks looked like they were from a coyote.”

“...Are we thinking this is a murderous coyote who killed a whole family?” Stiles asked nervously.

“No. I think that’s Malia Tate. The daughter,” Noah whispered. “Think about it. Coyote markings, like they were attacked by a coyote – or a were-coyote. And everyone but one kid dead. What if she survived, but got turned. And ran away scared.”

Stiles blinked a couple times, looking at the coyote, who didn’t seem aggressive, it seemed defensive. Stiles’ brows furrowed. He was currently turned very inward, concentrating on his Spark and his connections – to the Nemeton, to the land. To his wolves. Stiles tilted his head confused because he could feel her, now that she was so close. She was one of his. But how?

“You want me to take the sheriff and Stiles away, uncle Peter?”

Stiles’ head snapped over to the two Hales breaking through the treeline. Peter rushed to his side to assure himself that Stiles was safe and uninjured. Smiling, Stiles cupped Peter’s neck, scent-marking his mate to reassure him. Once Peter relaxed, he turned toward the coyote. When he flashed his eyes red, hers flashed blue and she bared her fangs. Her ears were flat against her head as she slowly backed off. Peter tilted his head and growled low in warning.

“I don’t think she knows how to shift back,” Peter whispered. “If what you and Deucalion assume is true and she is a turned were who ran away in fear, she may not know how to control it.”

“She’s not turned,” Stiles whispered, causing his mate and his father to look at him. “Is… Were there any coyotes in your family, Peter? Because I can feel her. She’s one of mine, the way our pack are, the way the Alpha Pack is. She’s a were of my lands. Could… Could she be one of your niblings? Who turned and ran away, the way Cora ran…?”

Peter frowned at him and shook his head. “I only had one other niece, beside Laura and Cora, and she was a wolf, just like her mother. We can get to the bottom of this once she’s human again.”

He returned his attention to the coyote and he was all fangs and red eyes, giving an impressive Alpha roar as he tried to command her to shift back. Cora had put herself between the coyote and the sheriff, set to protect the human, even as Noah let it happen very exasperatedly. Before their eyes, the coyote shed her fur and left behind a naked, disheveled girl.

“Hello, dear,” Peter approached her and shed his jacket on the way. “It’s going to be okay.”

He wrapped her up in the jacket, covering her and pulling her closer. She looked confused and overwhelmed. Stiles tilted his head and looked between her and Cora. This was definitely a Hale. He may not know how, but he knew it deep inside his Spark and also by sight alone.

/break\

Kira was nervous as she stepped into the school. She was far too shy to deal with being the new girl. Ever since they’d moved here, she had been hiding out in her dad’s classroom or the library during lunch. Until yesterday, when she was in the library, sitting by the shelves and overheard who she had come to consider the ‘cool kids’ at school.

Stiles and Danny were part of the lacrosse team and the jocks were definitely cool and highly respected at school – and the majority of the team seemed to be a tightly knit bunch of friends. Lydia was like the queen of school, everyone seemed to know her, she carried herself like she owned the school and always looked impeccable in a way that had Kira a tiny bit envious – because Kira was prone for stumbling over her own feet and was a bit of a mess.

Lydia could usually either be found with her boyfriend Jackson, one of the captains of the lacrosse-team (Kira was a little confused that this team seemed to have two captains?), or a gaggle of her friends. Seeing Lydia walk down the hall with Allison, Erica and Cora felt super intimidating, like she could not approach them, she had seen enough high school movies to know the awkward nerdy girl didn’t just talk to the cool girls. So Kira avoided them and hid out in the library.

Out of all of the cool kids, Stiles seemed the most approachable to Kira. She’d seen him flail and fumble his way through interactions too, just like her. Plus, she had seen him wear a Star Wars shirt the other day and part of her had nearly felt brave enough to approach him because she loved those movies too, but then Stiles got flanked by Boyd and Isaac, and Kira had chickened out.

However, yesterday, Kira had overheard Stiles, Lydia, Danny and Allison talk about a ‘many-tailed fox’. Her ears had perked up hearing them discuss this, because it sounded interesting.

“It’s like Naruto,” Stiles had paused. “Which none of you watched. And which probably wasn’t very accurate anyway. But yeah, nine-tailed foxes. Japanese mythology.”

“I’ll check dad’s bestiary,” Allison had offered seriously.

“And I’ll hit the internet, forward you anything that looks like it could check out,” Danny had said.

Lydia had heaved a sigh and crossed her arms. “I’ll meet you at Peter’s to go through the library.”

Kira wasn’t entirely sure what this was about. Though considering that Kira had heard her dad complain about Stiles’ last paper on the French revolution to be about the history of wedding cakes, this might very well be a biology paper on foxes that somehow went wrong. So Kira saw this as her opening. She spent all night researching kitsune and as she entered the school today, she was clutching her folder to her chest, heading toward Stiles with determined steps. Stiles was standing with Scott, Jackson, Danny and Lydia, talking to them with serious faces.

“Here,” Kira blurted out, holding out the folder. “I, uh, I tried to help.”

“Hello—o, girl I have never talked to before,” Stiles took the folder and flipped through it with a serious face. “And who, somehow, knows what I am currently researching.”

Kira flushed. This was creepy and weird, wasn’t it? Oh no, she was being creepy and weird and they would never want to talk to her, or be friends. She should have just stayed in her dad’s classroom. Her eyes widened as she scrambled to try and justify herself.

“I overheard you in the library and it sounded interesting so I ended up looking it up last night and I figured I could help and just print you what I found,” Kira explained embarrassed.

“I told you, you’re just not subtle,” Danny snorted, elbowing Stiles and Scott.

That had Kira frowning. Were they part of a role playing thing and didn’t want people to know…?

“This… actually… looks good,” Stiles looked between the research and her. “Who are you?”

“That’s Kira,” Lydia supplied with an eye-roll. “We have history with her. She’s new.”

“Mh. New girl and you didn’t immediately snatch her up?” Stiles shot Lydia a teasing grin. “What, are you satisfied with your collection and don’t need a new one?”

Allison covered her face with her hand and giggled a little while Lydia huffed slightly. “There’s a lot going on right now, I didn’t have time to consider. If you hadn’t noticed yet.”

“If I hadn’t noticed yet,” Stiles snorted as he repeated her words, and then he turned back to Kira. “Kira. Thanks. This might actually be helpful. I might just keep you.”

“Stiles, you can’t…” Scott groaned and shook his head.

He leaned against Allison, burying his face in his girlfriend’s hair while she was openly laughing at this point. Kira tilted her head and watched them, while Jackson heaved a sigh, giving Stiles a light shove that earned him a narrow-eyed glare from Stiles.

“What? She’s not even involved but she is pulling more weight than either of you two!”

“I’m not doing research,” Jackson declared. “That’s where I draw the line.”

Danny snorted at that, checking his phone. “Anyway, I think we should get going? Ethan texted.”

“Right,” Stiles nodded, clutching Kira’s folder and grinning at her. “Thanks for this, Kira. See you.”

Kira nodded and waved, before the group headed away. Okay. This was… This was a start, right? She actually talked to them and Stiles seemed to appreciate it. From what she had observed, he was kind of the leader of the group. Even though she didn’t really understand that, considering Scott and Jackson were the captains of the lacrosse team. But both captains deferred to Stiles. It was curious.

/break\

Peter had been summoned to the Stilinski house. Not by his Stilinski, either. In his experience, it wasn’t necessarily a good thing when the sheriff called him, and only him. Was he in trouble…?

“Relax,” Noah huffed amused as he took a seat opposite Peter. “You look like a suspect.”

“I’m not?” Peter actually did relax some at that. “Then… why are we here?”

His gaze shot to Deucalion, who stood behind his partner with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. He noted the lack of Stiles. Which in itself wasn’t unusual. Their pack was big at this point and Stiles was a protective Alpha Mate, he tended to check in with the betas… maybe even more so right now, with something strange happening with the Nemeton. He was worried, frantic.

“Remember how Stiles was so convinced that Malia is one of his wolves? That she’s a Hale?” Noah spoke softly and then sighed. “There’s no easy way to say this, Peter. When we had Malia admitted to the hospital, we also had her DNA checked. And because of Stiles’ hunch, I had the lab crosscheck her DNA with that from you, Cora and Derek. She… She’s your daughter, Peter.”

Peter stared blankly at Noah. When the sheriff had asked the Hales for their DNA, Peter had indulged the Stilinskis. He knew his own family tree, after all. He frowned confused at Noah.

“I don’t ha…” Peter closed his mouth and then tried again. “I don’t have a…”

He couldn’t say it. Why couldn’t he say it? He did not have a daughter, damn it! But when he tried to say it, it was as though there was something missing. Something just out of reach. A hole in his… in his memories. Subconsciously, Peter reached for the back of his neck.

“I don’t know anything about a daughter,” Peter ended up saying. “How… Why…”

“Sometimes, when things don’t work out, a woman might just leave without telling the father,” Noah offered carefully. “Did you know Evelyn Tate…?”

“No,” Peter shook his head. “I didn’t know her. But I also… I don’t know about a daughter. When I try to think back, remember, it’s like… something is slipping away between my fingers.”

He looked down at his hands, claws out and shaking. Why did he feel incomplete?

“Perhaps you did know about her, once,” Deucalion offered reluctantly. “And you were made to forget. An Alpha’s claws are very versatile weapons and they can cut deep.”

Peter’s head snapped up and he stared at the man. “Do you… Can you check, for me?”

He needed another Alpha. He couldn’t fix his own memories. Deucalion gave Noah’s shoulder a squeeze and then nodded. He motioned toward the living room. Noah got up from his chair and guided his blind lover toward the couch. Peter followed, somewhat numb.

“I’d like for Noah to first call Stiles before we do this,” Deucalion requested. “You’re… not in a stable state of mind right now and you know that going into someone’s memories is easier when there is an anchor, someone who is closely familiar with that mind.”

Peter gave a sharp nod. Yes, he’d like to have his mate at his side for this. If he trusted anyone to go into his mind, then it was Stiles. He was wringing his hands the entire time he was waiting for Stiles, like he didn’t know what to do with them, or with himself.

/break\

Stiles was putting together a really nice conspiracy board in his mate’s office. Peter had invited him to feel at home in the penthouse – and Stiles had taken that invitation. He’d put up a nice glass board that Peter had paid for, he had differently colored yarn, markers and he had tape to put pictures on the wall. A note saying ‘Nemeton’ was at the center of the board, a string connecting it to ‘unknown woman’ and ‘nine-tailed fox (kitsune)’. The right half of the board was definitely fuller than the left, because thanks to their own excessive research and Kira’s unprompted research, they had a lot of information on kitsune. Not so much on the unknown woman.

“You really think this Kira girl is the unknown woman?” Erica asked doubtfully.

Stiles had a peanut gallery of the three original Hale betas sitting on the couch in the office, looking at Stiles and the board in front of him. Erica sat with her back leaning against Boyd’s chest, her mate nosing at her hair and occasionally pressing a kiss to her head, temple or cheek, while Erica’s feet were in Isaac’s lap, mostly to annoy him.

Stiles took a step back to look at the left side of the board. He doubted that the unknown woman was someone who already lived in Beacon Hills before, so he had put up some potential suspects among people who had recently moved to Beacon Hills.

“She’s the new girl at school, just as a mysterious, evil woman seems to be threatening my Nemeton. Plus, she… she did research on the fox, unprompted, without any of us having really interacted with her? To be helpful?” Stiles raised his eyebrows and regarded the trio. “It’s what I would do, well, not as obviously. But getting an in with the people I’m trying to fight? Making myself useful to them so I will be trusted and then I can learn what they know?”

Boyd gave a full body shudder, earning a confused frown from Stiles. “Nothing, I was just overcome with the thought of you as a villain. Very glad you’re on our side.”

Stiles snorted when Isaac and Erica made agreeing noises. “You’re not wrong. I’d take this pack apart in a week. Hell, I’m the one who put it together in the first place.”

“Hey,” Erica whined with a pout. “If you go full super-villain, you’re taking me with you!”

“Course I would, Catwoman,” Stiles shot her a small grin and then turned back to his conspiracy board. “Back to this though. Do I really think Kira is it? No. Do I think that she is suspicious enough to belong on the suspect list? Yeah. There are a couple new women in town. With… With the losses at school from Deaton’s sacrifices, we had a bunch of new teachers, like Mr. Yukimura and Miss Blake. With the… when Matt attacked the station, we lost a lot of deputies and there have been a bunch of replacements, Deputy Haigh and Deputy Clark. As of right now, I am considering every new person a suspect for either.”

“Kinda paranoid,” Isaac muttered softly. “How do we narrow it down?”

Stiles heaved a sigh and shook his head. If only he knew. Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair. And then his phone rang. Furrowing his brows, he got it out to see his dad’s number.

“Hello, Daddio? What’s up?” Stiles asked. “Everything alright?”

“More or less. Can you come home? Deuc needs you for something. It’s easier to explain if you come home and they can explain it,” Noah requested.

“They? Who’s they?” Stiles squinted at his phone.

“Deuc and Peter. Just… come home, kiddo.”

“On my way,” Stiles hung up and put his marker down. “Gotta go, pups. Don’t make Derek’s life too hard while I’m gone. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

He grabbed his bag and scent-marked all three of them before dashing out. He only made it to the doorway before being stopped by a grumpy Sourwolf blocking the door, arms crossed.

“Food’s in the oven, eat when it dings,” Derek called out. “I’m driving Stiles home.”

Stiles groaned and rolled his eyes. “I do not need a babysitter!”

Derek glared at him and grabbed his leather jacket. “Not your babysitter. Your Right Hand. There is a threat out there that is specifically after you. We agreed you’re not going out alone, Stiles.”

Heaving a sigh, Stiles accepted Derek’s company. He’d gotten to the penthouse by driving with the beta trio. And at school, at least two puppies seemed to constantly be running around him. It seemed that was very intentional. It was somewhat touching that his pack worried for him, of course. It just also made him feel really useless. Not knowing what the threat was or how to stop it and worrying everyone else. Needing them to watch out for him like that. He was the Alpha Mate, he was the Spark, he shouldn’t need fussy werewolves trying to protect him.

Half the drive happened in tense silence. Stiles had gotten very good at reading Derek’s silences. This was the worried kind, the overthinking kind. Yes, the whole pack was worried about Stiles. Hell, Stiles was worried about Stiles! He’d never had a vision before. This was new and concerning and an indication of how big the threat was that they were facing.

If he was being honest, he hadn’t really slept much since then. They’d gone into the preserve the following night and had found Malia, which had very much derailed things. And now, half a week later, Stiles hadn’t had a single full night’s sleep. He kept seeing sharp teeth and long shadows. He’d dreamed about sitting at his desk, doing research, just for his closet door to creek open. The preserve, in dead silence. The Nemeton, covered in shadows, creaking in pain.

Not that Stiles had told anyone about those nightmares yet. Everyone was way too fussy about the original nightmare, after all. He wouldn’t be allowed to take two steps without a wolf at his side if they knew he had recurring nightmares. Besides, it wasn’t like they added anything new to it. If they had given him anything new, he would have shared it with his pack.

“I’ll be fine, Sourwolf,” Stiles tapped his fingers against the doorframe.

“You better be,” Derek muttered, shooting him a look. “You’re the only force able to control uncle Peter and rein in the gaggle of betas.”

“The moon knows you weren’t able to,” Stiles smirked teasingly.

Derek snorted, but it was good-natured. He was well-aware of how poorly he’d done as the sole Alpha and that, after him and Peter started leading together, he had always taken a step back and acted more in the role of a Right Hand. Stiles turned to watch the wolf. It was kind of ironic, that great loss had actually taken a great burden from him. The Alpha responsibilities had been an undue burden on Derek, he’d never been meant to lead a pack, had always been raised to be his sister’s Right Hand. And he really did seem much more at ease in this role.

“You wanna come in, or are you going back to the pups?” Stiles asked when they reached his house.

“I’d like some of what I cooked for dinner,” Derek replied. “If I hurry, I may get some scraps.”

Stiles grinned and waved at him before heading inside. His mood tanked somewhat when he saw Deuc, Noah and Peter in the living room. The atmosphere was weird. Peter looked tense and Stiles’ dad looked near worried. Stiles beelined it to his mate, taking Peter’s hands and gaining the wolf’s attention. Peter blinked at him and then leaned forward to bury his face in Stiles’ neck.

“She’s my daughter,” Peter whispered, breath soft and warm against Stiles’ skin. “Malia is my daughter. I don’t… I don’t know how. I think there is something I forgot. Was made to forget.”

Stiles sucked in a breath, unsure how to comprehend what Peter had just said. He shot his dad and Deuc a look, but the sheriff just nodded with a solemn expression. Okay. Cool, cool, cool. Stiles had been procrastinating the freak-out about being Isaac’s step-parent on account of Peter adopting him. But an actual biological kid that was Stiles’ age? Stiles shoved that way deep into the closet in his mind, he so did not have space for that yet.

“Peter asked me to use my claws to dig through his memories,” Deucalion paused in a meaningful manner. “I would like to take you with me, as my guide.”

Stiles nodded sharply and then he remembered the man he was talking to was blind. “Yeah. Okay. Take me to a journey into Peter’s mind. That sounds like a fun afternoon trip.”

He gave Peter’s hand a gentle squeeze, searching his mate’s face. Peer looked very out of it. Overwhelmed and confused. Turning some, Stiles looked at his dad and asked without words that his dad would keep an eye on Peter, protect him physically while Stiles and Deuc would be incapacitated as their consciences would be merged with Peter. It was really freaky and Stiles had read everything there was about this. Never thought he’d give it a go himself.

“Okay,” Stiles whispered, gently cupping Peter’s cheek. “See you on the other side, Pretty Wolf. Guess I’ll get to see firsthand just how dirty your mind is.”

He smirked teasingly, but it fell flat. Deucalion took his hand and then dug his claws into Peter’s neck. There was a flash of pain and then light and when Stiles blinked his eyes open again… he was looking at the ceiling of Peter’s office. Because he was laying on Peter’s couch, where had fallen asleep many, many times in the past. Tilting his head, he sat up, just to find Deucalion sitting at the desk. The man was looking directly at Stiles.

“Hello, dear,” Deucalion smiled at him, clear blue eyes looking at Stiles. “It’s very nice to see you.”

“How the fuck,” Stiles yelped surprised.

Deuc raised both his eyebrows in amusement at that. “This isn’t the physical world. We’re inside Peter’s mind. My mind’s eyes work just fine.”

“Huh,” Stiles nodded slowly. “Makes sense. So… What do we do next?”

“We’re looking for something,” Deucalion turned. “I’m afraid I have no visual context for this room, so I’ll need your guidance on what is off compared to the real world.”

Stiles got up and started walking around, his eyes wandering over the room. There was a soft smile on his lips as he was overcome with memories. Peter working behind his desk while Stiles was curled together on the couch doing research or homework, making out behind the desk, and yes they also had sex on that couch before. Stiles paused by the desk.

“Shelf’s off,” Stiles offered. “The bookshelf behind Peter’s desk contains all his law books, from law school and stuff. But these are… photo albums?”

Stiles squinted and pulled one out, just to make a soft noise as he opened it on a random page. Tiny, lanky Peter, grinning broadly into the camera, his arms wrapped tightly around a slightly smaller boy who otherwise looked startlingly much like him. They were at a lake, wearing swim-trunks.

Suddenly, the scenery around Stiles and Deuc changed and they were at a lake, standing at the shore. The two boys were in front of them, roughhousing and laughing. A teenage girl with long, dark hair was laying close to them, trying to read a book and she kept shooting them annoyed looks.

“Mom! Aaron and Peter are being annoying again,” she called.

A beautiful woman with dark curls and the same ice-blue eyes as Peter’s looked up from her own book, first at the girl, then at the boys. “That doesn’t seem like a me-problem, that seems like a you-problem, dear. You are free to throw them into the lake when they get too loud, Talia.”

Stiles blinked startled and watched this teenaged version of Derek’s mom smirk, put her book down and then tackle both little boys. She carried one under each arm and then threw them into the lake, both boys laughing and protesting. It brought tears to Stiles’ eyes. Because those were Peter’s siblings, who had died, and Peter’s mom, who was also dead. This was the happiness the Hale Fire had taken from him.

With shaky hands did Stiles close the photo album in his arms, causing the memory to face away and be replaced with the office again.  Stiles swallowed hard and put the book back into the shelf.

“Fascinating,” Deucalion whispered intrigued. “I didn’t take Peter for the sentimental type, to be visualizing his memories in such an old-fashioned way.”

“Most of his family pictures and… and personal things, especially from his childhood, were destroyed by the fire,” Stiles swallowed hard. “He had the penthouse, but mostly for work. It doubled as his office, because he didn’t want to bring clients to the pack house, and he’d crash here when working a lot. Or after Left Hand business, because he didn’t want to bring that into the house, with the pups. But the family pictures, those were… those were at the house.”

Peter visualized his memories this way because it was something he had lost. Stiles’ fingers gently caressed the spine of some of the books. A small smile played on his lips when he saw year books in between the family albums. And then he paused, a frown creasing his eyebrows.

 “Huh. This… definitely doesn’t belong there.”

Between the photo albums and yearbooks was a book called The Wildlife of the Chihuahuan Desert. When Stiles pulled it out of the shelf, it looked like a regular kind of text book. The cover was a close-up of a coyote, staring directly at Stiles. Malia was a coyote. If his memories about her had been altered, they were still here, but… in a disguise, so to speak. Stiles looked up at Deucalion, who took his arm.

“Open it,” Deucalion instructed, holding onto him. “Just to be safe. I don’t know who altered these memories and how. If it was magic, instead of an Alpha, there might be a protective spell around them that can very well backfire on us.”

“Are you using me as a human shield?” Stiles gasped and turned to Deuc. “I will tell dad.”

Deucalion snorted and shot him a very unimpressed look. “You’re the powerful Spark.”

Stiles grinned just a little at that before he sobered up and opened the book. They were in the living room of the penthouse. Peter was sitting on the couch, holding a baby. He looked so young, all smooth-faced and softer, none of the hard edges that his trauma had cause. A gentle smile was on his lips as he tickled the baby’s belly.

“Malia,” Peter said the name like a declaration. “Your grandmother’s name is Dalia and your auntie over there is Talia. You fit right into the family with that name, mh?”

“Peter…” Talia opposite her brother trailed off, worry on her face. “She’s not going to stop looking for the baby-“

“Malia,” Peter cut in with sharp eyes.

“She’s not going to stop looking for Malia,” Talia amended, her eyes softening. “You know firsthand how deadly and… deranged… Corinne is. She’s convinced that if she kills Malia, she can regain her powers.”

“I’ll fight her,” Peter glared stubbornly at his sister. “I’ll fight her until the death if I must. I’ll protect my daughter at all cost.”

Talia looked unfathomably sad at that. “Your death shouldn’t have to be the cost. And if she kills you, she’ll just continue on and get what she wants. She won’t stop.”

Peter frowned, looking between his sister and his daughter. “What… What do you suggest?”

“Malia isn’t safe with us, with our family,” Talia sighed. “If we give her up for adoption, have her be raised by humans, she could… lead a normal and happy life. She won’t have to fear her mother.”

“I can’t give up my child,” Peter looked up at Talia with angry and sad eyes.

“You can’t fight Corinne either. She may feel weakened by having given birth, but she is still more powerful than most shifters. She killed so many Alphas and others, absorbing their power,” Talia pointed out. “She could easily wipe our entire pack out. Even I’m not a match for her.”

Peter averted his eyes, hugging her close. “How could I live with myself knowing I gave her up?”

“You wouldn’t be giving up on her, you’d be doing the best you can to protect her,” Talia’s voice gentled and then she unsheathed her claws. “And you… don’t have to live with it, if you don’t want to. In fact, I think… I think it would be safer for Malia if you didn’t remember.”

Peter’s eyes widened for a moment and then he nodded resigned. “You’re right. As long as I know, I’d be a risk for her. Can you… Can you make sure she has a good home?”

Talia cupped his cheek with a sad smile. “I will, little brother.”

/break\

Peter was shaking all over when he came to it again. He’d held his daughter, named his daughter… and given his daughter up. To protect her. Much good it did, in the end. Corinne had found her anyway, had killed her adopted family. Knowing Corinne was Malia’s mother, there was no doubt in Peter’s mind who the coyote attacking them had been.

“Ease, Pretty Wolf. C’mon, look at me. Concentrate on me. Can you mirror my breathing?”

His hand was lifted and placed on a chest so he could feel the hummingbird heartbeat of his mate. When he looked up, he was drowning in Stiles’ honey eyes. The boy was breathing deep and slow and even without consciously meaning to, Peter ended up mirroring his mate’s action. Until the Spark smiled pleased and cupped his face.

“It’s going to be okay,  Peter,” Stiles promised before placing a kiss on his forehead. “We’ll figure this out together, like we do every, okay?”

“Her mother is… You don’t understand, Stiles,” Peter pressed out urgently.

“I can’t believe you had a child with the Desert Wolf,” Deucalion muttered and then motioned at Stiles. “I’m aware you have a thing for the ruthless and dangerous type, but the Desert Wolf?”

Stiles raised both his eyebrows at the way Deucalion pointed at him. Not like Peter could disagree here though; his pretty little mate was ruthless and . Stiles settled on his mate’s lap, trying to keep Peter calm. It was working. Peter wrapped his arms around Stiles’ waist, pulling him close enough to rest his chin on the boy’s shoulder, close enough to his neck so he could inhale that soothing, sweet scent.

“She was a hell of a woman,” Peter whispered detached. “We ran into each other hunting the same hunters. I’d… I had suspected them to have been involved in my father’s death. She was hunting them for sports. It was nothing more than sexual attraction and a hunger born from a shared kill, I never had any interest in something more, neither did she.”

Deucalion heaved a sigh and sat down. “I will report back to the Magic Council, about what she had done to the Tates and what she tried to do to your daughter. You and Talia may not have stood a chance, but me and my pack sure do.”

“Run by me why giving the kid up for adoption was the better option than actually going to Deuc to handle this from the get-go?” Stiles requested, looking between Peter and Deucalion.

“She hadn’t done anything yet,” Peter whispered, nose pressed into the nape of Stiles’ neck, using his mate to ground him. “The Magic Council could only intervene when our laws were broken.”

“She is a killer, but she always killed in ways that were above board,” Deucalion offered. “Much like Marin’s wife Braeden, she is an assassin. Usually killing those who pose a threat to our secret, or those that didn’t… concern us.”

“Much like Left Hands are never tried for protecting their packs,” Peter added.

Stiles hummed his understanding but he looked and smelt displeased. Peter dragged his lips and nose along Stiles’ shoulder, tasting and smelling his mate. Letting his anchor ground him. Stiles took his hand, interlacing their fingers.

“What’s gonna happen next?” Stiles asked, tilting his head to bare his throat to Peter.

“Well. Congrats on becoming a stepfather, son,” Noah said dryly.

“Technically already am, since Peter adopted Isaac,” Stiles shrugged. “But what do we do?”

“Get custody before she goes into the care of the state,” Peter murmured, voice muffled by Stiles’ neck. “Considering I got custody of Isaac, as you just pointed out, this really is only a formality, since I am her biological father and thanks to the sheriff’s department, we got that on record now.”

“Meanwhile, me and my pack will take care of Corinne,” Deucalion offered.

“Sounds so wonderfully easy and like nothing could possibly go wrong,” Stiles said sarcastically.

Peter bit his neck as a reprimand, causing Stiles to yelp and glare at him. “I do not need the snark right now, darling. I need solutions.”

“My solutions always come with snark, Peter,” Stiles hissed. “Where’s she supposed to sleep? Are we getting her and Cora a bunk-bed?”

Peter snorted at the mental image and found himself relaxing a little as he sat with the reality of bringing another living Hale into his home. Into his pack. It was going to be harder, since she didn’t have any preexisting pack-bonds.

“The study,” Peter whispered absentmindedly. “My bedroom is large enough to move the desk into it, the book-shelves could go… Maybe we have to rearrange the library a little, but it should fit…”

Stiles cupped his neck and Peter felt some of his tension draining out of him. “We’ll figure it out. Together. And we got enough betas to move around some book shelves.”

/break\

“You cheated,” Malia growled, her eyes flashing blue as she bared her fangs.

“I’m not cheating, you just suck at this game,” Cora countered, her own eyes flashing.

“It’s Monopoly. Can’t you two just be normal?” Isaac requested with a tired sigh, earning glares from them both. “Right. Stupid question.”

The glares intensified and before things between the three betas could escalate did Peter leave the room.  He was smiling to himself as he walked into the kitchen. Malia had moved in two weeks ago, after the whole pack and the Alpha Pack had worked together to remodel Peter’s now former office. So his spacious bedroom was a little less spacious now and the library was more crammed with higher shelves to accommodate the additional books, but Malia had her own bedroom.

His daughter had her own bedroom in his den. The thought filled him with conflicting feelings. Warmth and pride, but also loss and anger because he had missed seventeen years of her life. All he could do was make up for lost time and be there for her now, especially with the heavy loss she was dealing with, though it helped that the Hales knew what this felt like.

At first, she had been incredibly angry at him for forcing her back into human skin. But once they sat down together and Peter and Deucalion could explain things about Corinne to her, explain to her that her family's death wasn’t her fault, the way she had thought for the past years, but that Corinne had killed them, it helped somewhat. Only somewhat because in the end, their deaths were still on her. If they hadn’t adopted her, they would still be alive. It was a point Peter didn’t know how to argue, so he had just held her as she cried for her sister and the parents who had raised her.

She was settling into the home well enough. She was on the wild side, having to learn human modesty and social cues again, because eight years as a coyote fighting for survival changed a person’s behavior. Just because she technically knew how to behave at the dinner table with other people didn’t mean that the instincts and behaviors she had learned and needed for survival these past years weren’t much deeper ingrained. Needless to say, there was a lot of growling and biting happening at the dinner table.

But she seemed to be getting along relatively well with Derek and Isaac. With Cora, she edged on a little. Nothing drastic that had Peter worried though. It was relatively normal for young weres in the same pack, a fight for dominance. While Malia accepted Peter’s authority as the Alpha and Derek’s authority as the Right Hand and second in command after the mated pair, she had the need to establish her dominance within the pack. Isaac wasn’t too confrontational and submitted easily, but Cora had always been very spirited herself, not backing down.

“I’m not sure if introducing Monopoly to that dynamic was a good idea,” Derek pointed out.

“Better they get it out of their systems inside the penthouse,” Peter pointed out. “Malia may not be joining the other teens in school, but I do want her to socialize outside. And I don’t need claws and fangs at the park.”

While Peter, Lydia and Stiles were working hard on catching Malia up on the education she had missed, she had missed far too much to realistically join high school. But Peter was determined to bring her up to speed to allow her to pursue a degree, even if home schooled. She was incredibly bright and catching up quickly already, so he was optimistic. Or maybe he was blinded by parental pride, as Stiles had so teasingly accused him of.

The thought of his mate put a small, mournful smile on Peter’s lips and he reached for his phone. He’d barely caught glimpses of his boy in these past two weeks. Life was far too hectic and both Peter and Stiles were pulled into different directions with their duties. The legal work to get guardianship over Malia had eaten most of Peter’s time at first, now he was working hard with Deucalion on trying to track down Corinne and eliminate the threat before she could come for Malia. Meanwhile Stiles had school, lacrosse, his research into their two potential threats in the capacity of his duties as the Spark of these lands, plus the betas did demand his time. And still, that brilliant, beautiful boy found the time to also help out Malia and get to know her.

Peter furrowed his brows when he checked his chat with Stiles. He’d sent two near identical messages, an hour apart. His poor, overworked boy must have forgotten he already texted Peter. Oh, Peter knew how much Stiles was stretching himself thin these days. Late night texts indicating how little Stiles slept, or little slips like this were worrying signs of just how bad it was.

Ideally, Peter would get to take the phone from his boy, tuck him into bed and allow him a long night’s rest. But they were all working hard these days and Peter knew that even if Peter tried to force Stiles to rest, sleep wouldn’t come to his boy when he was worrying about half a dozen problems. It was better to let Stiles do his work. To a reasonable degree, of course. Peter knew that if Stiles were to push himself too far, Noah was going to enforce some rest for the Spark.

“You miss Stiles,” Derek accused him with the smallest smirk. “You have a very special look on your face for that.”

“I do,” Peter heaved a sigh. “I haven’t seen him all week and tomorrow, I’m going to depart with Deucalion, Ennis and Kali to follow a lead on Corinne. How is my boy?”

Derek’s brows furrowed in a concerned way. “He’s… not sleeping enough. Spacing out more. Erica said he’s more scattered too, forgetting things. She was complaining about how he stood her and Kira up two days ago.”

“He loves spending time with our betas, but he also prioritizes their safety over his fun,” Peter pointed out with a sigh and rubbed his face. “Kira, mh? Have you met her yet?”

“Yes, when I picked Cora and Isaac up from school the other day,” Derek made an amused noise. “She is a lot like Stiles. Rambling, full of energy, definitely a nerd. Softer than Stiles though. Kindness instead of sarcasm. I think she’d fit in well with the pack.”

Peter arched one eyebrow. The girl had impressed Stiles with the research she’d provided and though initially suspicious, he did give her a chance – mostly in a ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ way – and he had quickly grown fond of her for the very reasons Derek had just listed. But Peter hadn’t been aware that it was so strong that she could potentially join the pack. A testimony to how little time Peter had to really be with his mate, talk about things other than the two threats they were still chasing.

And the chase was becoming more dire as the first two bodies had shown up in the past weeks. It put more pressure on them all, including Stiles. Sighing, Peter shot his mate a quick text, telling him to take a break, get a snack and a nap and that Peter loved him.

Once this was over, once Corinne was dealt with and they resolved the matter of the mystery woman – though Stiles had come to the conclusion Kira was most likely not it, he still had enough suspects, including Corinne now – and the fox, once they took care of those threats, Peter would steal his mate away for at least a weekend. Somewhere with a nice view so they won’t have to leave the bedroom all day. Peter smiled pleased by that idea.

/break\

Stiles had a new prime suspect for the creepy woman. Corinne no-last-name-like-she’s-Cher. The Desert Wolf. Coyotes were tricksters, just like foxes, so her working with this kitsune – which Stiles had by now narrowed down to both a Nogitsune, a wild forest fox that was malevolent in nature, and a void kitsune by type, due to the darkness surrounding it – would check out.

“Easy, Stiles,” Ethan caught his arm to steady him, frowning worried.

Stiles blinked away the dancing white and black dots in his vision. Jackson and Scott were quickly by his side too, while Danny exchanged a concerned look with his boyfriend over Stiles’ shoulder.

“You’re not sleeping enough,” Scott accused him with narrowed eyes.

He rubbed at his eyes, knowing there were dark bags under them. How could he sleep. Every dream was a nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare. Sure, his anxiety had always affected his sleeping schedule and all of this was certainly anxiety inducing – the double threat, potential triple threat if Corinne wasn’t the creepy lady from Stiles’ vision, plus sudden step-parenthood – but his dreams were a whole new level of fucked up. He couldn’t tell whether he was awake or asleep anymore. Sometimes, he’d ‘wake up’ and go on with his day, just to realize that he was still dreaming. It made him doubt reality even when he was actually awake.

“Got a lot to research and figure out,” Stiles muttered. “Besides, Lydia and I are pulling double-duty trying to catch Malia up on everything she missed in the past eight years.”

It had seemed like a good way of bonding with their newest pack-member, a way to build trust. She was kind of awesome. Very blunt and seemingly uncaring, but only toward those who didn’t affect her. Now that she was building some bonds, with Stiles, Lydia, Peter, Isaac, Cora and Derek mainly, due to sharing a den with the rest of the Hale family, she actually cared pretty deeply. Reminded Stiles a lot of Peter that way.

“You can’t do everything on your own,” Danny said. “You may be a Spark but you’re still human.”

“Lies and slander, Dannyboy,” Stiles quipped, wrenching his arm out of Ethan’s grip. “I’m fine. If you wanna manhandle a human, go to your boyfriend.”

He shushed Ethan toward Danny, causing Danny to roll his eyes at him. But with a grin did Danny also pull Ethan into a kiss. Disgustingly cute couples all around him. Stiles worried his lip as he was overcome with longing. He’d barely gotten to see Peter since the revelation that Malia was his daughter. Between renovating the penthouse and getting Malia settled in, bonding with her and working with the Alpha Pack to track down Corinne, Peter was very busy.

Too busy with too important things for Stiles to bother him with minor problems. A bit of sleeplessness wasn’t a real issue, he’d dealt with much worse. And missing his boyfriend? Pf. What was he, some damsel princess staring out her window waiting for her glorious knight to return?

(Note to self: Ask Peter if he was up to some Arthurian role-play in bed. Stiles could totally rock the Guinevere and Peter would be a very hot Arthur. Once they had time for bed-fun again, anyway.)

Stiles was fine. He just needed to push through this. They all had enough on their plates. They had so many bigger problems to deal with. This was minuscule, really.

/break\

They had a huge problem. Noah rubbed his face annoyed and looked up at Kali and Ennis in front of him. Ennis stood with his arms crossed, a frown on his face, while Kali was leaning against his desk with her hip cocked. The couple exchanged a meaningful look, while Marin was arranging the files on the desk.

“They’re sacrifices, aren’t they?” Noah asked, knowing the answer already.

The deaths had been piling up lately and with more bodies, they could recognize patterns. Familiar patterns. Marin looked up at him with serious eyes as she nodded, but there was something else.

“Some of them are,” Marin offered after a moment, putting one of the files aside. “Some are very clearly sacrifices. Even if the method of death is… less subtle than my brother had been.”

“So the woman bent over my Nemeton is another Darach?” Stiles asked, voice shallow.

He stood in the corner of his dad’s office, one arm crossed over his chest, the elbow of the other resting on it so he could cup his face with his hand. He’d had a hunch for a couple deaths now, but he had somewhat hoped to be wrong. After all, what were the damn chances.

“Most likely,” Marin confirmed with a nod. “It would explain why she was with the Nemeton. She must be doing this to try and gain power from the Nemeton. Perhaps she was drawn here by what my brother had done. He’d attempted to corrupt the Nemeton.”

Stiles’ fingers dug into his own cheek as he held onto his face with a near painful grip, his jaw set tightly. How in the world did they end up with two Darachs? Back to back? How was this his life? Didn’t he and his Nemeton deserve to catch a fucking break?!

“Easy, sweetheart,” Peter next to him whispered and gentled Stiles’ hand off his face. “We stopped a Darach before, we can do it again.”

Stiles ground his teeth together to bite back the harsh words that threatened to spill out. Peter was just trying to reassure him, because Peter loved him and worried. But blind optimism like that, even faked for Stiles’ sake, didn’t suit the Alpha. And even if they stopped the Darach, they still had the fox to worry about. Stiles’ eyes landed on the other files that Marin had put aside.

“The Nogitsune,” Stiles said. “Those?”

“Presumably,” Marin nodded, though it was tentative. “There are other non-supernatural dangers out here too, and we are currently biased to try and force any crime to fit into what we are looking for. But the… the bombing, in particular, screams trickster.”

Noah huffed, a bitter noise. They were in his office at home, partially because the station was still being fixed up after the bomb had gone off. Stiles felt sick just thinking about it. There were three funerals they would have to go to this week. Deputies Stiles had known all his life. Gone.

He gripped Peter’s hand tightly for support, leaning against his mate’s chest. Peter wrapped his free arm around Stiles’ waist to draw him closer. Stiles missed their soft intimacy. They barely got to see each other these days and it was so frustrating. Everything was just so frustrating. He was so tired.

/break\

“I would much, much rather be out at the club with Danny right now,” Ethan complained.

“I would much rather be literally anywhere else than here,” Aiden countered with a look.

“Yes, well, it’s important that we patrol, especially now that we know it’s a Darach,” Scott argued.

Peter pursed his lips, finding himself agreeing with Scott on this one. They’d upped their patrols through the preserve, regular check-ins with the Nemeton, ever since they realized what kind of threat the mysterious woman in Stiles’ vision really was.

“We’re splitting up here. Scott, Aiden, you go-“

Peter cut himself off when his phone rang. He frowned confused at his mate’s ringtone. It was late. Pulling out his phone, he accepted the call, but even before he could say anything, he realized that something was wrong. Stiles’ breath was ragged.

“Peter? Peter, are you there? I don’t know where I am. Peter, help me.”

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Peter straightened up. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I’m… I’m in a basement? Or something. I’m trapped. I’m scared. Peter.”

Peter shot the three teenagers a look and all three got their own phones out to call reinforcements. If Stiles was trapped in some basement and didn’t know where he was, he might have been taken by the Darach. The Nemeton’s Spark would make for an excellent sacrifice. Peter’s grip on his phone tightened. Stiles couldn’t be taken, couldn’t be in danger. Not like this.

“The sheriff says that Stiles has been in bed two hours ago,” Scott whispered.

Peter nodded gratefully. “Okay, sweetheart. I’m coming for you. Can you tell me anything about the basement you’re in? Anything that could help us identify it?”

“No, I don’t… I’m not…” Stiles trailed off. “Peter, my phone is dying. I need you to find m-“

The call disconnected and it took everything for Peter to not throw his phone against the nearest tree with a snarl. Scott rested a hand on his shoulder, gaining his attention. The beta looked worried.

“We’ll find him. The sheriff  says that him and Deuc are trying to pick up his trail,” Scott offered.

Ethan put his own phone away. “Danny is picking up Jackson and Lydia and then they’re coming.”

“Kali and Ennis are coming too,” Aiden added. “What do we do, Peter?”

Peter’s fists clenched at his side. What could he do? He had no idea where Stiles was. There were so many basements in Beacon Hills. He needed to wait until he’d hear back from Noah and Deucalion.

“Can you call the rest of the pack, Scott?” Peter picked up his phone again. “I’m not… My line needs to stay open, in case he calls again.”

Scott was already dialing. “Of course.”

/break\

Stiles was mostly embarrassed, even a bit humiliated. He was curled together on Peter’s lap, his face buried in his mate’s chest. It had been a nightmare. He’d had so many of those lately, but… but he’d never woken up somewhere else. The scariest thing was that he hadn’t even fully woken up. He’d managed to call Peter for help, but he had still seen the nightmare – the basement, the mummified person tormenting him with riddles. Even though he had been in Malia’s den.

In the end, Malia was the one who had found them, leading her father and Scott toward her den. Because she was the most in tune with that part of the preserve and while everyone was doing a grit search, she noticed that her former territory had been disturbed.

“Sweetheart, you don’t have to be embarrassed,” Peter whispered, pressing a kiss to Stiles’ head.

They were in the hospital, because Stiles’ feet were bleeding badly – not from any kind of bear-trap that he’d dreamed he stepped into, but from the hike through the preserve that he’d done barefoot. He was also dehydrated, so they had given him fluids too.

“I keep worrying about dad’s heart and now I nearly gave him a heart-attack by sleepwalking,” Stiles huffed and buried his face deeper in Peter’s chest. “You woke the entire pack up to search for me. And all I did was have a nightmare in a coyote den.”

“Malia does not appreciate that you broke into her former home, yes,” Peter offered lightly, trying to cheer Stiles up somewhat.

It wasn’t working. Stiles remained mortified by having worried everyone for no reason.

/break\

This was huge, bigger than any of the supernatural nonsense going on. Noah’s hand was shaking as he carded his fingers through his hair, his other hand clutching a sheet of paper tightly. How was he supposed to deal with this? How could… He couldn’t go through this again, not with his son. A sob escaped his throat without him even meaning to.

“Tell me what’s been troubling you, dear.”

Noah jolted upright. He’d thought Deucalion was already asleep. He had checked the bedroom first, before returning to the kitchen. Deuc was asleep and Stiles was out on patrol with some of the betas. Noah thought that would buy him some time to sit with this realization. Apparently not.

“I…” Noah trailed off, looking at his lover.

Deucalion approached him and rested a hand in Noah’s neck. The man navigated the Stilinski home with practiced ease at this point, spending more time here than at his own pack’s place. Even though Deuc liked to claim it was due to Kali and Ennis’ continuous and loud PDA all over the apartment, as well as the twins being loud, Noah liked to think that mostly, Deuc was spending so much time here to be with him, and with Stiles. The Alpha of Alphas had quickly grown fond of Stiles after the pack came to stay in Beacon Hills to teach the young Spark the ropes.

“I think that…” Noah’s throat was so tight, like his body physically refused to say the words. “I think… I think he is dying.”

Deucalion tensed at those words. “Why… What makes you think that? Has he gone out on his own trying to find one of our enemies? He can be reckless-“

“He’s sick,” Noah cut in, taking a shaky breath. “Or at least… I think he is. I’m… very sure he is.”

He smoothed out the paper in front of himself. “It’s like Claudia all over again. At first, I tried to… ignore it, chalked it up to the stress he’s currently under and the ADHD. The finger tapping, the forgetfulness, they just come with that, you know? But it’s different. It’s more severe, these past few weeks. The sleepwalking… The gaps in his memories. He’s forgetting things. His mood has changed too, he’s much more paranoid. And really, I tried to… I thought, yes, we’re facing several unknown threats, a certain degree of paranoia is normal there. But it’s too much. Too many at once. I… I think he has frontotemporal dementia, like his mother.”

He hung his head as the tears took over. Just like with Claudia, he had dismissed the first symptoms. She too had had ADHD, she sometimes walked into rooms and forgot what she was doing, had a bunch of nervous habits like tapping her leg, from all the excess energy. Until it grew undeniable, until it became inevitable. And now it was happening all over again.

“Sh, love, I got you,” Deuc murmured as he wrapped his arms around Noah. “What do we do?”

Noah gathered himself some before answering. “I… I… We need to test him. We need an MRI of his brain, to see if it… deteriorated.”

“We’ll make an appointment,” Deuc smoothed down Noah’s hair and pressed a kiss to his head. “And I will be by your side, if you want me there.”

“Please,” Noah forced the word out strangled. “I can’t go through this again. Not with Stiles. I can’t lose my son the way I lost his mother. I can’t do this alone.”

“You don’t have to, darling,” Deucalion promised. “I’m here.”

/break\

Peter was sitting in the hospital waiting room, his forearms resting on his knees and his hands interlaced between them. They were shaking. He tried to make them stop, but he couldn’t. His mind was a scattered place, more scattered than it had been since he woke up from his coma.

“Is there…” Noah next to him trailed off, taking a shaky breath. “Is there anything that the supernatural could do for him? Can you help when modern medicine can’t?”

Peter’s grip on his own hands tightened, the knuckles turning white. “He’s a Spark. The Bite isn’t a solution for him, Sparks can’t be turned.”

“I’m afraid there isn’t any magical healing,” Deucalion on Noah’s other side whispered. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be blind anymore. There are things that even magic can’t fix.”

He was resting a hand on Noah’s thigh, giving it a squeeze. Peter looked at them from the corner of his eyes for a moment before looking back to his hands. He hadn’t even gotten to propose to his mate yet. They’d sealed their mate-bond, when Peter took his love’s virginity. But Peter wanted it all, wanted a wedding band on his finger that claimed him as Stiles’, wanted a ceremony with their family, their pack. He wanted to move in with Stiles, share a home. Build a life. If Stiles had this disease, Peter may never get any of this. He may lose his mate after only just getting him.

When the doctor joined them, Peter got up on autopilot and walked up with Noah. He listened, but he couldn’t comprehend any of the words, not after seeing the scan of Stiles’ brain and hearing the broken sob from Noah next to him. Stiles had it. Stiles was sick. Stiles was slowly losing himself.

In the quiet dark of night, when Peter was holding a sleepless Stiles, his mate would sometimes talk about his mother. The way she had died, how she had faded away months before that, forgotten who Stiles was. Peter knew just how afraid Stiles was of that, of ever ending up that way. Forgetting who he was, who the people he loved were. Now, faced with this, Peter was terrified of that too. Of Stiles one day far too soon looking at him and not recognizing him.

Peter stumbled backward and practically fled the room, running up to the rooftop to get some air. He clung tightly onto the railing, looking out over Beacon Hills as he struggled to breath. He was losing Stiles. This sickness was going to take his boy away from him.

“Uncle Peter…” Derek approached him tentatively.

“I can’t lose him, I can’t lose him, I’ve already lost so much, he is supposed to be my second chance, my beautiful mate who helped me build our pack, my second chance at family, I can’t lose him, not him. I somehow survived losing our families, I won’t be able to survive this.”

He sank down onto his knees, shaking. He knew for a fact that he wouldn’t be able to come back from this. Not this one. He had already lost so much, suffered so much, he wouldn’t be able to survive losing Stiles. If he had to bury his mate and feel their matebond break, he would just crawl into the grave alongside Stiles and curl around him, to protect him in the afterlife.

“He’s… He’s gone,” Derek whispered while pulling Peter into a hug, holding him close.

“What… What does that mean?” Peter asked, panic rising even more.

“When Noah and Deuc went to him, he was… gone,” Derek said. “I think… What if he’s not sick? What if this was a trick? What if… Stiles is the Nogitsune?”

Peter went rigid in his nephew’s arms, eyes widening. Sleepwalking. Nightmares. The loss of reality. They kept thinking that the Nogitsune was a new person – had suspected Kira for a while too, especially when realizing that she was a kitsune. But a Nogitsune could possess people. Peter clung tightly onto his nephew’s arms as hope rose in his chest. What a horrible thought, to be relieved his mate might be possessed. But a possession was something they could break. Peter could do something, could save his mate, which he couldn’t if Stiles were sick.

“We need to go to Noah,” Peter growled, pulling himself up off the ground.

/break\

Erica was feeling pretty sick. Stiles was possessed and he was gone. The demon had fully taken over and walked out with Stiles’ body. The pack split up to find him, Erica had been out with Isaac, Ethan and Aiden, trying to find Stiles. And like this wasn’t enough, they also had to deal with their evil English teacher. Turned out Miss Blake was the Darach. So Erica’s group got a little derailed when they captured Villain Number 2 at the Nemeton, in the middle of another sacrifice.

“You don’t understand,” Miss Blake complained. “She was supposed to be mine, she betrayed me and our pack, to be with this brute-”

“That’s really enough out of you,” Erica growled, grabbing Isaac’s scarf to shove in her mouth.

“Hey,” Isaac complained. “I liked that scarf.”

Erica just growled mildly at him. Ethan and Aiden were holding her from either side. So their English teacher was actually Kali’s former Emissary. Erica had heard about the crazy bitch, who had killed Kali and Ennis’ packs in a vengeful rage because she was jealous and wanted Kali for herself, the creep. Kali and Ennis had only barely made it out alive, making it to Deuc, who had taken them in and helped them heal. And now what? She wanted their pity? Fat chance.

“We really don’t have time for this,” Erica’s voice was still a soft growl. “Stiles is still missing. I’m calling Boyd. Maybe they had more luck than we did.”

Every hour that Stiles was gone was another hour that the demon could do who knew what to her Batman! Stiles was who had brought this pack together, who had saved them. She wanted him safe. When Peter had broken the news to the pack that Stiles might be sick, or possessed, both these options sucked and Erica was panicking about it. He was gone, either because the demon had taken over fully, or because Stiles had freaked out about his diagnosis and ran to sit with it on his own.

“What if he won’t be alright,” Erica whispered softly, grabbing Isaac’s hand.

She was holding the phone to her ear with her other hand, waiting for her mate to pick up. Isaac gave her a gentle squeeze. The three of them had been the first Betas of the Hale Pack. Stiles had been their Pack Mom the longest, protected them, held them together.

“Yeah, E? What’s wrong?” Boyd asked as soon as the call connected.

“So we haven’t found Stiles, but we did find Miss Blake, in the middle of trying to sacrifice Greenberg to the Nemeton – he’s a little rattled but we sent him home,” Erica announced. “Can you send Ennis and Kali here to take care of the problem? Because apparently Miss Blake is actually Kali’s former Emissary and she should totally take care of that herself.”

“...Right,” Boyd sounded as baffled as Erica felt. “Jackson, Scott, Allison and Cora found Stiles.”

Erica sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Okay. What’s happening? What do we do?”

“We got him tied up at the Stilinski home. Peter and Noah are going inside Stiles’ mind to try and get the demon out. It was Peter’s idea,” Boyd said. “Hurry back here?”

Erica shot Miss Blake a look and nodded sharply. Okay. Deliver the second Darach to the Alpha Pack and then watch tensely how her own Alpha was going to save her Batman. He’d do it, she knew it. She knew how much Peter loved Stiles, he would do anything for his mate.

“We’re on our way. I’ll see you soon, babe,” Erica bit her lip. “Love you. Be safe.”

/break\

Peter was stunned silent when he stepped into Stiles’ mind-space. A huge, white, empty parking garage. His own mind went back to that day, the first time he had really gotten to interact with his mate. Kidnapping him and using Stiles’ clever mind to track down Derek. Holding Stiles’ wrist so close to his mouth, offering the bite, desperate to claim Stiles. Not to turn him, but to give him a mate-bite. His boy had rejected him back then, had rejected the feral Alpha who had hurt his friends. Peter had worked hard ever since to prove himself to Stiles, to deserve him.

“Stiles,” Peter called out, feeling helpless.

His beautiful boy was sitting atop a representation of the Nemeton, playing Go with the Nogitsune. Noah next to Peter gripped the Alpha’s wrist tightly, gaining his attention.

“You need to get him away from the fox, right? Remind him that he belongs to your pack, not to the demon,” Noah muttered, brows furrowed. “How does an Alpha call to his pack?”

Peter frowned at the sheriff and then returned his attention to his mate. Letting his beta-shift take over, Peter roared loudly, calling for his mate. Stiles jerked out of his concentration and then flipped the Go board, causing the Nogitsune to snarl at him. Everything was a blur of motion and before he knew what was going on, Peter and Noah were back in the real world.

“Are you okay? Did you do it?” Erica asked anxiously as she helped him up.

“What happened in there?” Scott asked concerned while he helped the sheriff. “Is he…?”

Stiles struggled and when they removed the duct-tape, Stiles started throwing up bandages. Boyd was quick to untie Stiles and when a person stepped out of the bandages, Jackson and Derek held him, restraining the Nogitsune. Peter stepped up to the demon with a snarl, but he came to a stuttering stop in front of him when he looked into those honey-whiskey eyes. There were tears in them and despair. Instinctively, Peter whirled around… and found the couch gone.

“I… It’s me, Peter, it’s me, I promise,” Stiles begged desperately.

“I know, love,” Peter whispered, pulling Stiles into his arms. “And the demon is gone.”

Lydia took a shaky breath, covering her mouth with one hand and holding onto Jackson for support with the other. Stiles was cold to Peter’s touch and shaking badly. The banshee wasn’t covering her mouth out of modesty for her despair. She was actively trying not to scream.

“We need to find the demon and we need to destroy it,” Peter growled darkly.

“Marin, Ennis and Kali are… disposing of Julia,” Deucalion announced. “We’ll track the demon.”

“And we’ll have to fight my mother’s oni,” Kira argued concerned. “He took possession of them.”

Peter’s growl deepened at that. The oni had been a threat already when they were under Noshiko’s control, ‘testing’ the pack to see who was possessed, marking them up and fighting them whenever they tried to protest the test. The Nogitsune was powerful and smart, with an army of oni, he was going to be an even more serious threat. That didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but destroying the demon so Peter’s mate would be saved, would be safe. That was all that mattered.

/break\

“It’s gonna be okay, kiddo,” Noah whispered, hugging Stiles tightly.

He had an arm around Stiles’ waist, supporting his son. The boy couldn’t even walk on his own, he seemed to be growing weaker by the minute. And he felt so cold. Noah could see it on Peter’s face, that they were still at the risk of losing Stiles. They needed to dispose of this demon fast.

“Right,” Stiles’ voice was shaky. “How. There is no destroying a demon.”

“We can force it to change its shape,” Kira offered. “That was what the research showed, right?”

“Stiles isn’t human though,” Allison argued. “He can’t be turned, that’s what Peter said.”

“Stiles can’t, because Stiles is a Spark,” Deucalion cut in. “The demon made a mistake by splitting them though. A Spark’s power can’t be replicated. By separating them, the Nogitsune separated himself from Stiles’ Spark too. It should be possible to turn it.”

“Plus, thanks to Allison, we know how to defeat the oni, right?” Kira looked nervous.

Noah appreciated that he got the additional protection from the young kitsune, the huntress and his own Alpha wolf, to keep Stiles safe. Noah couldn’t protect his son while carrying him. But yes, Allison figuring out that the oni were weak to silver had been crucial. It had nearly gotten her killed too, if not for Malia tackling the oni at the very last second before it could go for Allison.

“Peter’s gonna do it,” Noah murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of Stiles’ head. “He will do anything for you, kiddo, you know that. He loves you something fierce.”

And that was true. As shocked and displeased as Noah had been when he first learned about Peter and Stiles, the sheriff had seen in the past months just how much Peter loved Stiles. If anyone could save Stiles’ life, it was Peter. The Alpha would do anything it took to save Stiles.

/break\

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Stiles muttered exhausted. “Kira’s mom locked the Nogitsune up under the Nemeton – awful, horrible idea, even worse because she put him in a jar, not even a magical prison – and when Kali’s evil ex came back for revenge and started sacrificing people on my Nemeton, that fed the demon and it broke out, yeah?”

Peter hummed softly and pulled Stiles closer against his chest, nose buried in Stiles’ hair. “Yes. And Deucalion did take Noshiko with him to the Magic Council to justify herself.”

Stiles gave a small nod, hiding his face in his mate’s neck. He had compassion for her, what had happened to her and to the man she loved had been severely fucked up. But who locked a demon away in a jar and buried it under a magic tree, hoping that’d work out long-term?

“Peter?” Stiles asked softly when his mate’s grip on him tightened. “It’s okay. You saved me.”

Peter hummed again but he didn’t ease off. “I nearly lost you, love. If I had been there, if I had paid more attention to you and how you were doing. I thought you were just overworked… I should have seen the signs, we could have helped you earlier, I should have…”

“Shut up,” Stiles interrupted him with a tired sigh. “I just nearly died, I got spit out into a new, crappy body by the demon who stole mine and I had to see my real, actual body turn into a fucking firefly that got trapped in your family’s… claw-jar. I love you but I do not have the emotional space to comfort you about this shit, okay? You didn’t see the signs, nobody saw the signs – including me! I thought I was overworked too! I was exhausted, I kept pushing myself.”

“Yeah, can we all agree that it’s nobody’s fault aside that bitch former Emissary?” Erica asked sleepily, her face pressed between Stiles’ shoulder-blades. “And Kali tore out her spine, so.”

Boyd behind Erica, wrapped around his mate, grunted his agreement. It was a tight squeeze on Stiles’ bed, which wasn’t even made for two, much less for four people. But they were the original pack, Boyd and Erica had been Peter and Stiles’ first betas, so they made it fit.

The floor of Stiles’ bedroom was laid out with mattresses, blankets and pillows to be more or less comfortable for the rest of the pack. Cora and Malia were entangled right in front of the bed, with Kira snuggled up to Malia in her sleep. Ethan was hugging Danny, who was half on top of Jackson, with Lydia laid out against Jackson’s other side. Aiden and Isaac were squeezed in there too, while Allison and Scott were curled together in the other corner. Derek sat with his arms crossed against the door, his eyes half-lid as he watched over the pack. Noah had pressed a couple kisses to Stiles’ forehead, declared he was too old for sleepovers and went to his own bed. Deuc, Marin, Kali and Ennis had left to turn in Noshiko and report back on the whole Darach situation.

“You should rest some, love,” Peter instructed, running his hand over Stiles’ arm.

“Can’t,” Stiles shook his head, trying to hide away in Peter’s chest. “What if… What if it…”

He was too afraid to sleep. What if it all turned out to be another dream. Another way for the Nogitsune to mess with him. Nightmares within nightmares. Sleepwalking. Fake brain scans that made him and his loved ones think that he was sick. So many tricks. What if this was another trick? Making him think he was safe just to pull the rug out from underneath him?

Gentle hands grabbed his and Peter pried Stiles’ fingers apart. “One, two, three, four, five…”

Peter traced each finger, counting them aloud as he showed them to Stiles, until he reached ten. Stiles took a shaky breath, nodding nervously. And then Peter turned so they were both looking at the Star Wars poster Stiles had gotten from Erica. He could read the letters on it.

“This is real,” Peter whispered. “You’re safe. I will keep you safe. So will our pack.”

There were various sleepy noises of agreement all around the room. Stiles blinked away tears and snugged into Peter, allowing himself to breathe deeply. He was safe, with his mate and pack.

~*~ The End ~*~