Chapter 7
“What are you doing over here?” Stiles questioned the older boy who had been furiously typing on his computer for hours. He looked over Remy’s shoulder and saw a page filled with names, pictures, and facts. “What is this?”
“It’s a list of all of the hunters that I could remember. I knew a lot of them from town, although I think they called in a few backups to help take out our pack because there were a few that I know I have never seen before.”
“Will you print these out for me?” If there is one thing Stiles knew about it was the compulsive need to research when you felt powerless to do anything else. He could tell from the slightly frantic way that Remy was banging on the keys that he felt the same way. “Hey look it’s going to be okay.” Stiles put a hand on his shoulder. Remy stiffened slightly at the unfamiliar touch before releasing a sigh and leaning back into Stiles’ hand.
“I just want to be as helpful as possible. We brought all of this crap on your doorstep, and by the sounds of it, you guys really don’t need any more crap.”
“Ah, so they’ve been filling you in on the crazy place that is Beacon Hills.”
“Yeah after we told our story, Isaac and Scott told theirs or at least the highlights. I was a little unprepared for how long their story really was.”
“Still sure this is the place that you want to land? No one would blame you if you three wanted to find another pack. Beacon Hills is literally a beacon for all things supernatural. You will never be able to find a normal life here.”
“Stiles, my life hasn’t been normal since the day I was bitten, and I don’t think it will ever be normal again. And besides, I get the feeling that these hunters wouldn’t leave if we did. They know Scott exists now and taking down another pack is more important than 3 runaway omegas. It is our responsibly to stay and help out with the threat that we brought.”
“What happens when we have dealt with the hunters?” Stiles questioned, wondering if the three of them would decide it was safer just to move on.
“Look at them” Remy said gesturing to where Isaac, Malia, Dawson, and Olivia were lying on the ground playing Monopoly. Isaac was currently haggling with Malia over a trade, and getting increasingly frustrated when she wouldn’t budge in her pricing. His sputtering and her defiance brought wide grins to Dawson and Olivia’s faces who just seemed content to watch the two argue.
“Not every day is like this you know. In fact we get very few days like this.” Stiles pointed out.
“I know, but if we get just a couple days like this it will be worth it. Beacon Hills may have a lot of threats, but I don’t think we are going to find a more welcoming or accepting pack anywhere we go.”
“Fair enough” Stiles liked the idea of them sticking around. All six wolves looked up as the loft door creaked open. Liam and Scott sauntered in all smiles. Stiles was about to yell out a greeting when a crash had them all looking around.
“Oops” Isaac said looking around at the overturned Monopoly Board.
“Isaac!” Olivia protested
“Sorry” He said not looking the slightest bit sorry “Malia cheats anyways”
“Hey do not blame your poor strategy and money problems on me.” Malia said, but she met Stiles eyes behind Isaac and gave him a wink that suggested that there may have been some foul play involved. Stiles rolled his eyes and walked over to Scott.
“Yo Scotty, can I talk to you for a second?” Scott took the hint that it wasn’t a conversation for the group. He nodded and the two of them walked out to the balcony of the loft.
“What’s up man, you okay?”
“What? Yeah I’m good.” Stiles subconsciously ran his hand over the bumps on his chest. “I just think you should officially let them into your pack.”
“You do?” Scott relaxed visibly at his words “I was hoping you would say that.”
“Oh my god I am your second!” Stiles said a little overzealously.
“What?” Scott said looking at Stiles with the half-amused half-confused expression that he so often wore around his friend.
“Oh it’s just something Olivia, Dawson, and Remy were talking about. Apparently in their pack the Alpha had what they called a “Second”. It was the person who the Alpha would turn to first in the pack for guidance. They seem to think that I am your second even though I’m human.”
“Of course you’re my second Stiles, that’s not even a question. You have more answers than me most of the time, and besides you’re my best friend.” Scott clapped him on the back and Stiles gave him a wide grin. Things hadn’t felt this normal in a really long time.
*****
Scott called the pack together that night just to catch everyone up and make sure they were all on the same page. With the three new omegas Derek’s loft was actually pretty packed. Malia sat on the couch next to Stiles, she could feel contentment radiating from him, and it made her feel fairly content herself.
Scott started off the meeting by announcing that he was taking in the three omegas into their pack. Malia looked around curiously at the reactions of her friends. A few seemed glad to hear this news, a few showed more neutral reactions, but what Malia noticed most was the negative reaction of Lydia. Although she didn’t say anything, Malia could tell from the ways she pursed her lips and fixed Scott with a glare that she disagreed with his decision, or at least was wary of it. Malia couldn’t blame her, although she had spent all afternoon with the newbies and got along well with them, she still would be watching them out of the corner of her eye.
Scott didn’t leave any room for discussion however and quickly moved onto the next order of business. He gave the Omegas the floor. They explained their story again so that the entire pack knew it. Then Remy showed them the work he’d been doing at identifying the group of hunters.
“Wait, that one, the one with red hair, I saw him buying groceries the other day.” Parrish said.
“Did he seem to know who you were?” Scott questioned
“I don’t know, but he sure gave me the creeps.”
“Okay you all need to make sure to keep a low profile.” Malia and the rest of the group turned to look at Stiles. He stared at his hands for a few seconds before looking up at the group and continuing, “We have no idea how much they know about us, they may not even know who the other werewolves are. We need to try to keep it that way. Olivia, Remy, and Dawson, I know it sucks but you guys are going to have to stay in the loft at all times, we can’t risk you going out in public. And the rest of you need to keep the supernatural outbursts to a minimum.”
“Stiles is right, it was dark that night and we look pretty different wolfed out and nobody in town who knows who we are would give away our secret…” They all looked at Scott as he trailed off.
“Peter?” Malia asked thinking about her biological father.
“He certainly hates us enough to tell the hunters everything, but I don’t think they could get to him even if they knew about him. And besides, Deacon has sources there that would let him know if anyone was trying to see Peter.”
“Who then?” Asked Liam. Scott looked at Stiles, Lydia, and Isaac. Stiles and Lydia both returned his look with a one of understanding and slight horror. Isaac hadn’t seemed to get it yet. Everyone in the group looked between them, trying to figure out what they were missing.
“Who else in Beacon Hills knows about us and would willingly give the secret away?” Kira prodded, reaching out to squeeze Scott’s hand.
“Oh shit,” They looked at Isaac now who was looking at them with an odd expression as understanding dawned on him,
“Gerard.” Malia searched through her memory for the name. Stiles had caught her up on the history, but it had been a lot to take in at once. Finally she pinpointed the name.
“Chris Argent’s father?”
“Yeah” Stiles nodded at her “Quick synopsis for those of you who don’t know. Gerard is from a family of hunters. He’s a sick and twisted bastard to say the least. He was dying from cancer and manipulated everyone so that he could get a bite from an Alpha.”
“This was before I was one, he tried to use me to get him a bit from the Alpha at the time Derek” Scott added
“Yeah but Scott was too smart for him.” Isaac said proudly “He switched the pills Gerard was taking with ones filled with mountain ash. When Derek bit Gerard black ooze started to seep out of his cut, mouth, and nose.”
“I thought it would kill him” Scott said softly
“Yeah but it didn’t. His cancer was gone, but he didn’t transform into a werewolf. Now he just sits in a nursing home with black stuff constantly seeping out. Needless to say he has a bit of a grudge against us and would readily spill what information he knows. He may be a disgraced hunter since he wanted the bite, but something tells me that these hunters are off their rockers enough to seek him out for information.” Everyone sat in silence when Stiles finished. He reached out and grabbed Malia’s hand, intertwining their fingers. The strength of his hold on her let her know how freaked out he was.
“But maybe they don’t know about him?” Lydia piped up, Malia could see by her face that she didn’t believe the optimistic remark.
“I’m sure the Argent family downfall has been talked about in all the hunter’s circles. Even if they don’t know all the details or what town it is, I don’t think it will take long to find out. They will find out about him eventually, the only question is when.” Isaac said looking at Scott intently.
“If they haven’t already.” Stiles said, his voice no more than a whisper.
“Someone has to find out what they know.” Remy spoke up for the first time. Malia could tell it took a lot of courage for him to say that, she knew what it felt to feel like you didn’t belong. To know you were welcomed but didn’t yet feel comfortable yet. It’s what she had felt every time she walked into her father’s house.
“He’s right” Said Jordan “And it can’t be anyone Gerard knows about, because they might be watching him.”
“It can’t be you either Parrish. A deputy would also attract attention.” Scott pointed out.
“I’ll do it” Malia felt Stiles stiffen beside her as she spoke. She knew he was about to protest so she hurriedly continued before he could. “Look it can’t be Stiles, Scott, Lydia, or Isaac. It can’t be Olivia, Remy, Dawson or Jordan. That leaves Liam, Mason, Kira, and me, and we all know how horrible under pressure they all are.” Malia stated the facts in her typical clinical fashion. The group looked unhappy but resigned, they all knew what she said was true. Mason was too new at this whole thing and both Liam and Kira couldn’t lie to save their lives.
“Nope, I don’t like it.” Stiles said firmly. He looked around for conformation from the rest of the group and his shoulders sagged when he didn’t get it.
“Buddy you know she’s right. I don’t like it either, but what other options do we have.” Scott said to his friend. Stiles launched himself from the couch and walked over to the large window. He stared out it for a few seconds before turning back to them, chewing on his thumb.
“Okay fine, but the rest of us need to be stationed around the nursing home in case something goes wrong.”
“Of course, Stiles, nothing will happen to her.” Scott tried to assure his friend but Malia could tell it wasn’t working. Leaving the others to solidify the plan she walked over to Stiles. She could feel his nerves pulsing through him. Taking his hand she led him out onto the balcony so they could be a little more alone. Going on instinct she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her cheek against his chest. One arm wrapped around her and pulling her close and the other tangled itself in her hair. She could feel the frantic beating of his heart.
“I don’t like this” Stiles said softly, his voice muffled by her hair.
“I know, but I’ll be okay Stiles. How much harm can an old sick man inflict?”
“He beat me up pretty good once, although I’m not nearly as tough as you are.” He tried to laugh it off but Malia pulled back so she could look at his face.
“He what?” This was something that Stiles had failed to mention as he was telling her about Beacon Hills’ history.
“Yeah, well it’s no big deal really.” He reached up and smoothed her hair away from her face.
“Stiles, tell me.” She said in a tone that told him not to argue. He sighed and nodded slightly.
“You remember when I told you about the Lacrosse game where Jackson stabbed himself?” Malia nodded confirmation and Stiles went on, he had a faraway expression on his face as he talked about it.
“Well what I didn’t tell you was that Gerard used the chaos created by that event to kidnap me off of the field. He threw me into his basement where Erica and Boyd were being kept. I tried to get them out but thei bindings were electrified. Then Gerard came down and punched me a couple times and then let me go. He was sending a message to Scott that there would be consequences if he didn’t do what Gerard asked.” Stiles kept his voice even the entire time he was speaking but Malia could tell that by the way his heart beat picked up that thinking about it still made him slightly afraid. She reached up and ran a hand gently across his cheek, she wished she could go back and protect him from the fear of being kidnapped and the pain of getting beat up.
“He scares you” she said softly, realizing a second too late that was the wrong thing to say. She didn’t need to add insult to injury by voicing his insecurities. “Stiles, I’m sorry, that was-“
“No its okay” He said cutting her off. She was reminded yet again how lucky she was that he was so patient and understanding. “He does scare me. And I know you are a werecoyote and he is weak, but he’s also freaking cunning and he always has a plan. We managed to outsmart him once, but barely. Who knows what he could have up his sleeve, especially if the hunters go there first. You need to be careful when you are talking to him, show no signs of weakness and give him no pity.”
“That won’t be hard to do.” After hearing what he had done to her precious boy it would be all she could do to refrain from hitting him back to show how it felt. Pity was the farthest thing from her mind.
“Malia…” Stiles said softly, she looked into his eyes and could tell he knew exactly what she was thinking. “You can’t hurt him either, he will do everything he can to get a rise out of you, that’s what he does, don’t give him the satisfaction. We can’t afford any attention to be brought to ourselves.”
“I know, I can do this Stiles, I can.” She said trying to convince herself as much as him.
“I know you can.” He said pressing a kiss to her forehead. She tilted her face up and pushed her lips into his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. His hot tongue reached into her mouth. He kissed her passionately and a little bit desperately. His nimble hands didn’t stop moving, didn’t stop touching her. He never could seem to decide what to do with them. It was like he wanted to touch her everywhere all at once and couldn’t stand that he couldn’t. His hands gripped her waist, then ran along her back, then tangled in her hair, then cupped her face. She was so lost in the moment that she didn’t hear the figure approaching. That is until someone cleared their throat loudly next to them. They both jumped and pulled apart. Stiles would’ve fallen completely over but Malia grabbed his arm, steadying him. Liam grinned at their reactions.
“If you two are done being so grossly infatuated we would like to go over the plan.” He said and turned and walked back inside. Stiles met her eyes and gave a resigned nod. She took his hand and they followed Liam.
- N x
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