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Stiles sat under the playground set and spun the tic-tac-toe board counters. Scott sat next to him taking a puff of his inhaler. It was a gorgeous spring day, a Friday and both Stiles’ dad and Scott’s mom were on the night shift for the week. They took advantage of this freedom to put off doing their homework and spend the time around their classmates at the playground.
Not that any of the other kids actually played with Stiles or Scott. Stiles was too hyper and odd and Scott’s asthma was very bad. Just playing for ten minutes of the monkey bars and slides had caused a minor attack. There was no way Scott could kick around the soccer ball with Danny, Isaac, and Jackson.
Stiles could have, if Jackson wasn’t such a jerk and if he was willing to abandon Scott, which he wasn’t. Scott was his best friend. His only real friend since Heather started going to private school and Theo moved away with his family.
But Stiles wouldn’t leave Scott on his own, so they played what they could and people watched when they couldn’t. Stiles fidgeted with the spinners as he gazed across the playground at the swings. Lydia was swinging high and laughing while Erica just swung back and forth lazily.
Stiles had a major crush on Lydia. She was pretty and so smart, but she barely talked to him since she became popular a few years ago in third grade. And starting middle school this year had just made it worse.
Erica was nice but shy. And a few weeks ago she had been in gym class and had a seizure. Stiles had researched it, and he thinks she might have epilepsy but just starting to show symptoms. He hoped he was wrong because that was a horrible thing to live with and you could die from a bad seizure, or even from a mild one if it happened at a bad time like when you were on a ladder or even near the top of a flight of steps. Or if no one was around and you hit your head hard against something or if you bit your tongue in half and swallowed it and choked or choked on your tongue when it blocked your airway. Or if you vomited during or after the seizure and choked on it. Or aspirated it into your lungs and got pneumonia or something from it.
Stiles shook his head, pushing his mental rambling aside. “Doing better, Scotty?”
Scott smiled. “Think so, yeah. Sorry.”
Stiles shook his head. “Nope. No worries. No reason for sorrow. You are who you are and asthma is a shithead but I don’t mind. You know that. Just so you breathe. And don’t have to go to the ER because it is so bad your rescue inhaler isn’t enough because the hospital sucks, dude. And I know you hate it, too. So, when an attack starts, I’m fine with slowing it down instead of ignoring it and making it worse, ya know? ‘Cause you’re my best friend and I want you to be happy and healthy and -“
Scott smiled. “Thanks, Stiles.”
Stiles smiled and opened his mouth to ask if Scott wanted to get up and try to do something when the tenor and pitch of the yelling from the far side of the playground where the open ground was changed. Jackson screamed in pain and fear and was soon joined by others.
Stiles looked over and saw the reason. Jackson was laying on the ground, bleeding, as were Isaac and Danny. And a large creature, like a wolf but distorted with glowing red eyes and fangs that were dripping in blood. As Stiles watched in horror, it leaped at the girls on the swings and knocked them off, before biting their sides and turning. He grabbed Scott’s arm and tugged him to his feet, looking around the playground until his eyes fell on the domed monkey bars. That was it. The gaps were too small for the wolf thing to fit through and if they huddled in the center or against the opposite bars, it couldn’t reach them with its claws.
He yelled. “Get into the dome! It won’t fit! It can’t reach! Come on, Scott. Come on. Hurry!”
Stiles began running for the dome, Scott on his heels, continuing to yell his idea to anyone listening. As they passed the slides, Stiles heard Vernon Boyd trying to get his little sister to slide down from the top and follow Stiles, but she was whimpering and saying she was up high and it couldn’t reach. It wasn’t tall enough.
A few steps later, the boy’s pleas turned to screams and a glance back showed Stiles the creature had bitten him as it leaped up the ladder of the slide, taking a bite of the little girl at the top on its way passed before sliding down the slope.
Stiles increased his pace, as the dome neared. Three kids were already inside, safe — Matt, Jared, and Harley. He reached the dome and grabbed an upper bar, preparing to use his momentum to slide through a lower hole when he looked behind him and saw Scott on the ground in the middle of a massive asthma attack, the creature steps from him.
Stiles let go of the bars and turned around. “No! Leave him alone! Pick on someone your own size, asshole!”
He ran toward his friend but the wolf thing was faster and Stiles screamed in denial as it bit into Scott’s waist. He jumped at it and began hitting it around the jaw and ears when it let Scott go and roared. Stiles fell over from the force of the sound and the creature bit down on his upper arm.
Stiles screamed in pain and felt a burning sensation in his chest and a feeling like something broke. He grabbed onto his attacker’s head and suddenly there was lightning flowing down his arms into his hands and through wolf. It let go and shook him loose but the lightning still covered it. It growled and snarled and Stiles was convinced it was going to go for his neck this time when it cocked its head and turned towards the forest. It shook itself and took off into the Preserve, the electricity fading as it left the playground area.
Stiles lay on the ground, panting and crying. He crawled over to Scott and wrapped himself around his best friend, pushing on Scott’s wound, keeping pressure on it, as they both moaned and shook from the pain and the shock of the attack which had taken less than five minutes from the time Jackson was bitten until the creature had run off.
===
Stiles sat on a gurney in a curtained area in the emergency room of the hospital. His father, the sheriff of Beacon County, was holding his hand tightly, his complexion pale and his hand trembling.
“I’m fine, Dad. They gave me some drugs and the bite doesn’t hurt too much, anymore. They’ll fix me up as soon as they can.”
Noah Stilinski took a deep breath. “I’m glad you’re not hurting, kiddo, but you’re still bleeding.”
Stiles shrugged the shoulder on the side that wasn’t injured. “The EMTs bandaged me up, nice and tight. Yeah, I need stitches and it’s gonna give me a cool scar, but everybody’s busy right now, Dad.
“They triaged everyone at the scene and then again when we all got here in the ambulances. I was the least hurt. It only chomped on my arm and I have some cuts and scrapes from hitting the ground. But everyone else was bitten on their torsos, except Boyd. It yanked him off the slide’s ladder by his calf.
“That thing really mauled Lydia bad, and she’s in surgery. Scott’s mom stopped by and told us that the surgeons were optimistic but busy.
“And the other operating room is busy with Mr. Hale. The firefighters brought him in on one of their trucks because all of the ambulances were busy with the playground attacks. He’s really, really bad off. He’s got lots of burns all over. They didn’t tell us anything but I saw when they rushed him passed us before you got here. And I heard what they were calling to each other. It was gross. His skin was, like, black in places. He really needed the surgeons.
“I don’t need the operating room, though. Just a local and then stitches. But Jackson and Isaac are next in line for the surgeons. They think they might have internal injuries from the bites. And Erica had a seizure from the stress of the attack. And Boyd and his sister, um, Amelia? Abigail? Angelica? Yeah, Angelica, he calls her Angel, sometimes. They had worse bites and need more stitches than me. So do Scott and Danny. So, relax, Daddio. The bleeding is minimal, just sleeping through the bandage a little bit, not soaking it. It was just a really bad time to need the emergency room. With all of the kids attacked and the fire, too, everyone’s really busy.”
Noah sighed. “I know, Stiles. But you’re my kid. You’re all I’ve got left and I got a call out that you’re on the way to the hospital because you were attacked by a wild animal, along with at least eight other kids. Excuse me for being worried about you, okay. I’m your dad. It’s my prerogative. And it is weird that so many of you were attacked and the fire at the Hale house at the same time, nearly. Could be a coincidence. Could be there was something in the house that the fire released as smoke and it infected the animal, drove it rabid without the rabies. Drug lab, maybe? The Hales lived pretty far into the woods. I don’t like the thought of it not being connected. Something tells me it was.”
A young voice piped up from outside the curtain. “It was connected. But it wasn’t drugs in the air. Drugs like that wouldn’t work on us.”
Noah released Stiles’ hand and pushed the curtain back.
“Cora?” Stiles gasped. “They said your uncle was the only survivor from the fire. I thought you were dead.”
“Son?”
“This is Cora Hale, Dad. She’s in my class at school.”
Cora edged forward, closer to Stiles. “I wasn’t inside. I was playing in the woods. Well, I was hiding, sort of. I wanted quiet time and you can’t - couldn’t get it in the house. Mom and Dad and Uncle Peter knew where I was. I wasn’t missing. There’s a tree not too far from the house and it has this hole in the roots and the tree is kind of hollow inside near the base. And it has a little ledge a few feet off the forest floor and it’s just the right size for a kid my age or younger to curl up on. I took a sleeping bag in a waterproof bag and I take books and a lantern and games. And I just hang out by myself for a few hours, once or twice a week. I know Laura did the same thing when she was younger. And Uncle Peter’s the one who showed me the tree nook. It’s kind of tradition.
“But today, I was in there and Uncle Peter came by. He said he smelled - um, something bad and to stay inside until one of us came to get me. To not leave unless I heard their voice. Not to trust my nose. So, I did. I huddled in the tree and waited.”
Cora drifted closer to Stiles until she could put a hand on his ankle under the blanket on his bed. Noah frowned but sat down and sighed.
“So, your Uncle Peter knew something was going to happen?”
Cora bit her lip. “I’m not supposed to tell.”
Noah sat forward. “Did your uncle do something, Cora?”
She shook her head violently. “No. But he smelled them.”
“Them?”
Cora’s eyes darted around, and she lowered her voice. “Hunters.”
Noah’s brows lowered in confusion. “He smelled hunters? Beer? Gunpowder? Was he worried they would hit you by mistake?”
Cora shook her head before she bit her lip, shrugged her shoulders and sort of nodded. “Not by mistake. On purpose.”
“Why would hunters shoot a little girl, Cora?”
Cora swallowed hard. “You won’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
“Because they know. They know we’re werewolves. And Uncle Peter smelled the wolfsbane in their bullets. They set the fire. And I felt them die, Mama, Papa, everyone, so many, it hurt. But I hid. I listened and waited like Uncle Peter told me. I almost came out when I heard the Alpha roar, but then I heard Uncle Peter howl in return, and I remembered not to move. But, no one was coming and I felt the pack bonds break and I know they died. But after the howls, I could feel lots of new bonds. I heard them put Uncle Peter in the ambulance and leave and no one else knew where I was. So, I followed the bonds and most of them are here. In this hospital.”
Noah blinked. “Cora, I understand that you’ve had a very bad night and some horrible things have happened but I need the truth not imagination.”
Cora sighed and glared at the sheriff, her eyes turning a bright gold and her mouth dropping open to show far too many sharp teeth.
“Wow, that explains a lot about you, Cora,” said Stiles. “You kind of growl when you get upset and you only started not being homeschooled this year and no one in your family goes to elementary school and some of them don’t even go to middle school and only stop homeschooling when they are high school age. And even though your parents both work - er, worked none of you were ever in daycare or preschool or babysitting or anything. I guess, little kid werewolves like transform a lot? Since, I guess the full moon thing is a myth or maybe exaggerated since it is a full moon but you look human now and have other than a minute ago and that seemed to be a deliberate action to convince my dad.”
Noah blew out a breath. “Okay. Werewolves. And hunters. So, you mean there are specific people who kill werewolves? And I assume the movies and such are very fictional. There’ve been no bloody bodies once a month. Not even any missing person reports. No animal attacks either. Until tonight. So, these people your uncle smelled? They were carrying something specific to werewolf hunters, I assume?”
Cora nodded. “They had bullets that had wolfsbane inside them. And the only way everyone would have been trapped inside the house and not gotten out was if they used mountain ash to make a barrier. But we had an escape tunnel under the house. I don’t - why didn’t Mom use the tunnel?”
Stiles reached out and grabbed Cora’s hand, grimacing in pain at the movement. “The hunters must have known about it and lined it in the ash stuff, too. Why would hunters hurt your family, though? Like my dad said, you never hurt anyone. No one even knew about you.”
Cora clenched her fingers around Stiles and stood against the side of his bed. “Uncle Peter said that some hunters are good and go after the omegas that go feral. But others are bad and just go after any werewolf just because they are a werewolf. But the hunters are mostly in families. Like clans. And they have treaties with the major packs and stuff. I don’t know a lot. Just the basics.”
Noah nodded. “Okay, I understand. You’re only a kid. But anything you can tell us. Were they chasing the thing that bit Stiles and the other kids? Did they think it was in your house? That your family was sheltering it?”
Cora shook her head. “No. I think that whoever that was went feral because they suddenly became the Alpha and it was too much for them. I don’t know who it was. Everyone was supposed to be home for the moon run we were doing for the Hare Moon because a lot of them couldn't be here for the Wolf Moon back in January like they normally would have been. So, the family reunion moon run was rescheduled for the Hare Moon instead. But that wasn’t going to be until after dinner when the moon rose, and I wasn’t home to see who got there or didn’t. I know Derek had basketball practice today and Laura was coming home from college for a long weekend, and they might have been in the house, but they might not. It wasn’t Uncle Peter and it wasn’t me. It could have been Uncle Max or Aunt Brigid. Or my cousins, Sarah or Terrance. But Mom and Dad were both home when I left and so were Nana and Paps. And Uncle Lionel and Aunt Meghan. And Jamey and Farra and Kinsey.
“Laura was Mom’s heir but if she was home, she’s dead, too and the Alpha spark would pass on to the next best wolf in the line. That would probably be Derek, unless he was home, too. And it is really unlikely I would have gotten it, unless absolutely everyone else was dead. Uncle Peter would have gotten it before me, even as hurt as he is. And I showed you that my eyes are still gold.”
Stiles leaned towards her. “So, what does that mean?”
“Gold eyes is a beta wolf. Do you remember the color of the eye of the wolf that bit you?”
“Yeah. It was this really bright red.”
“Red means Alpha. And only the bite of an Alpha werewolf can turn a human. If I bit someone, it would just be a bite.”
Stiles gasped. “So, I’m gonna be a werewolf?”
Cora shrugged. “You should be. But your wounds aren’t healing at all. They should be.”
Stiles frowned. “So, if someone is turned, the bite heals?”
Cora nodded.
“Okay, that explains the difference in the triage declared at the playground versus when we arrived. It wasn’t a big difference but Jackson’s bite was declared the worst but when we got here, Lydia was way worse according to the shouting of the nurses and doctors as they headed to the surgery room with her. Does that mean Lydia isn’t turning either? Are some people just immune?”
Cora bit her lip. “I don’t think so. Uncle Peter always said you either turn or die.”
“Because you bleed out?” Noah asked.
Cora shook her head. “Because your body rejects the bite. I had never heard of that when I was little, but Derek’s girlfriend, Paige, got accidentally bit by a rogue or something, I don’t really know, and she rejected the bite and died. Uncle Peter said the sign was black gooey stuff coming from the bite wound and throwing it up and stuff.”
Stiles pulled the bandaging away from his arm. “Just red. No black.”
Noah slumped in relief. “Did Lydia have any black stuff, Stiles?”
“Not that I saw. But I couldn’t see much.”
Noah turned to Cora. “Okay. So, Stiles isn’t bleeding ‘black gooey stuff’. So, he ain’t rejecting the bite. But he isn’t healing either. That wound is still bleeding. The only reason he is okay is because the pressure bandages are slowing it down enough.”
Cora shrugged. “I don’t know. Uncle Peter would know. He’s our lore master. I never heard of this. But I feel a pack bond with Stiles. It is really strong. Uncle Peter would know why, I know he would.”
Noah put his hand on Cora’s shoulder. “He’s in surgery. They aren’t optimistic, sweetheart.”
Stiles straightened his shoulders. “But he’s a werewolf. And we need him. He’ll make it and get better. I know it. He will!” Stiles shivered, feeling goosebumps all over.
Cora smiled at him. “Thanks. But I don’t know what to do. I feel so many pack bonds here at the hospital. Not just you and Uncle Peter. And what if the hunters come for me? I have to run. I have to hide. I don’t want to die.”
Stiles squeezed her hand tight. “They won’t come here. They left as soon as the fire was fully engulfed. They won’t know about you not being in the house. They won’t know about all the kids the Alpha bit. They won’t realize anyone survived. They’ll leave town and be after their next hunt. And no one will tell. I believe in people. We’re just kids and everyone will help keep us safe from hunters and bad people from out of town. Werewolves and whatever I am and Lydia and Cora and Mister Hale. I know it.”
Noah sighed. “It’s a nice sentiment, Stiles, but -“
“No, Dad. I know it. Everything will work out, and we’ll all be safe. I believe that.”
And with that solid statement a golden glow spread out from the center of Stiles’ chest and encompassed the room and moved beyond it throughout the entire hospital and then further into the town and everywhere within its borders.
==
It had been six months since the Alpha werewolf had bitten the children. None of them rejected the bite, and though most had turned, neither Lydia nor Stiles had become werewolves. Trial and error and some more accidental spells had shown that Stiles had some kind of magic. Lydia had dreams and visions that led her to people who had died or were about to die. She thought that her body wanted more to happen but it hadn’t yet.
Lots of things had changed in the half year. The hospital had stabilized Peter’s injuries, but he fell into a coma, unconscious and unresponsive, but not brain-dead. Once the hospital agreed they could do nothing for him except palliative care, the pack of bitten children, their parents, Cora, and the human pack members - those children who had been present in the playground, but unbitten - discussed things and their instincts and Cora moved in with Stiles and his dad.
When Peter was released to the Pack’s care, the Sheriff transformed his downstairs office into a bedroom-slash-den for the man and the Pack. The Pack hired Melissa McCall and Reginald Tando to provide in-home nursing care, mostly paid for by Lydia’s and Jackson’s families.
The Pack all spent a lot of their free time in the Pack den, scenting and often cuddling with Peter. They were all struggling, as whatever magic Stiles had accidentally performed to keep the townspeople from telling about the newly revealed supernatural among them, had cut them off from the Alpha who had bitten them. It made them realize that whoever it was, they had left town before the Event, abandoning the grieving Cora, the newly bitten kids, and the badly injured Peter. Being together helped stabilize them, but they all still longed for an Alpha. But not even Stiles’ wishes would elevate a pre-teen to that status. And the parents all agreed that was for the best, as no one wanted a feral pre-teen Alpha in town. And none of them were ready to handle that kind of power or responsibility, so it would drive them feral.
The six-month mark had passed the day before and this morning, Melissa McCall had noted that Peter was not as deep in a comatose state as previously. The entire Pack had gathered in the hope that the man would wake.
Stiles sat on a chair against the wall near Peter’s head, his leg bouncing up and down. Cora lounged on the opposite side of Peter’s bed, curled up around his torso. Lydia sat on a chair near the foot of the bed but placed back from close proximity. The other werewolves had arranged themselves around the mattress so that some part of them was touching some part of Peter. The adolescent human Pack members were sprawled around the room, in sight on the bed but not quite within touching distance.
Cora sighed as she looked at her uncle’s burned face. “It isn’t fair. Uncle Peter kept me safe, and he could have saved himself and stayed in the woods with me.”
Scott smiled at her. “We know. Peter’s amazing. He’s only hurt because he’s such a hero.”
Jackson grimaced. “Unlike the Alpha asshole who bit us and then abandoned us and him. You didn’t see them try to get people out of the burning house. They just bit and ran.”
Stiles bit his lip. “Alphas care for the Pack, right, Cora? They keep the Pack safe and stable?”
Cora nodded. “They’re supposed to, yeah. Not run like cowards from their problems and their mistakes,” Cora growled.
Stiles stood up and approached the bed. “So, Peter’s waking up, right? Mrs. McCall said he wasn’t as deep in his coma. And he tried his best to save the rest of Cora’s family and it cost him, the burns and the coma and all. He’s a hero and a protector. He’s what an Alpha should be and if he hadn’t already been hurt, which the Asshole Alpha wasn’t , Peter should have gotten the spark. Peter’s the Right Alpha.”
The Pack all frowned at Stiles but Lydia stood up and stood next to him, bumping his shoulder with her own. “Yes. Peter should be our Alpha. He has the knowledge and the spirit for it. He can handle the power.”
Stiles gestured, flailing his arms. “Everyone, come here. I want to try something. I thought of it before but it didn’t work. I think Peter was still too hurt but now he’s getting better on his own and I think I can get him the rest of the way, but he’s gonna need the Pack to help and keep him grounded. Everybody touch him and think about what you know about him and how we feel about him and what we need. What the Pack needs.”
Everyone followed Stiles directions and Stiles laid his hand on Peter’s scarred face. He closed his eyes and concentrated. “Peter Hale is our Alpha. Peter Hale is our Alpha. Peter Hale is our Alpha! Peter Hale is OUR ALPHA!”
Under Stiles’ hand, he felt the scarred skin shift and smooth. He opened his eyes and gazed at Peter’s face. Burning red eyes, blinking in confusion, met his.
Cora squealed, “Stiles, you did it! It worked!” as she threw her arms around her uncle’s neck. “Uncle Peter, you’re awake! You’re okay!”
The rest of the Pack piled on top of their new, terribly confused, Alpha, the human members less so than the supernaturally inclined. All of the werewolves scenting what parts of him they could reach, everyone murmuring, “Alpha, Alpha.”
After a few minutes, Peter began squirming beneath the pile and Stiles slid out. “Okay, everybody, give our Alpha some room to breathe. He doesn’t have a clue what is happening. We’ve connected and everyone can stay in the den, but we have to explain. The last thing he knows, guys, was the fire.”
Slowly the puppy pile unpiled and Cora helped Peter to sit up against the headboard of the bed. Stiles stood next to him and nodded. “Okay, first thing we’ll do is introductions and then Cora and I can fill you in and the others can chime in as they need to. I’m Stiles Stilinski, my dad’s the Sheriff, you might know him. You’re in our house, in what we’ve come to call the Pack den. You know your niece, Cora, obviously. This is Scott McCall, his mom is one of your nurses. And going counter-clockwise around the bed, we have Lydia Martin, Isaac Lahey, Jackson Whittemore, Danny Mahealani, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, we just call him by his last name, his little sister Angelica Boyd, Matt Daehler, Harley Harlowe, and Jared Baker. We’re all Pack. Scott, Isaac, Jackson, Danny, Erica, Boyd, and Angelica are all werewolves. Matt, Harley, and Jared are human. I’m some kind of magic user or something. And we aren’t sure what Lydia is, but she isn’t a regular non-supernatural human.
“Six months ago yesterday, was when the fire happened. You tried to get inside and break the mountain ash barrier and got badly burned. You’ve been in a coma as your body healed. That same night, whoever the asshole was that got your sister’s Alpha spark, they went feral and tore through the playground by the middle school. All of us were there except Cora. All of us were bitten except the three who are still fully human.
“That night I accidentally performed some seriously big wish magic and coated the town in a like notice-me-not field crossed with a fidelius kind of thing mixed with I don’t even know. The crux of it is that no one from the town and it’s surrounds who knows about the supernatural, which after the attacks is everybody, can talk about it to anyone outside of town and that nothing weird that happened is known elsewhere. If you try, you just automatically say something on a different topic, it works with writing and sign language and Morse code, too. We tested it. And if two people from town are outside the field and are talking about it, and someone who isn’t in the know comes around, they don’t hear what you are actually saying but some boring conversation and small talk. And anyone who leaves town or moves and has bad intentions and wants to like hurt people from town, supernatural or otherwise, once they leave town, they forget about the supernatural and whatever was the problem they had here. My dad saw it happen twice with bad guys in the last six months. It is sooo weird but it keeps everyone safe and I believe it will work and keep doing so. No more hunters to hurt the new Pack.
“But the Asshole Alpha who bit us left town before I cast the spell or ward or whatever it is and the Pack hasn’t had an Alpha since then and Cora has been trying to help train the wolves but none of us are older than twelve, we were all ten or eleven when everyone was bitten, except Angelica who was only just turned eight and is now eight and a half. So no matter how we tried, or what research Lydia and I did, or any of the adults, though none of them are very good at it, we couldn’t make an Alpha. Until today.
“You’ve been in a full-on deep coma since just after you got to the hospital. But we’ve been surrounding you with the Pack as much as we could. We know we’re your Pack because we can feel the pack bond to you. So, Cora said being around Pack would help you heal faster. So, we moved you and Cora in here with my dad and me after you were released from the hospital. And everyone spends as much time here as they can. And we all like that because we like being together. Like a family. And Mrs. McCall said you started responding to more stimuli this morning so it meant you weren’t as deep in your coma and were healing, so everybody was here and I figured I could try what I had tried before but didn’t work maybe because you weren’t healed enough for it to help enough and work but this time it did. We made you our Alpha. And when you got the spark, it finished healing you. No more burn scars. So, that’s what’s been going on.”
Cora smiled at her stupefied uncle. “Stiles is really good at talking and really likes to, so I let him do it. You and I are the only ones to survive, Uncle Peter.”
“And the Asshole Alpha,” mumbled Jackson.
“And them. And I don’t know who it was. I stayed hidden in the tree until I couldn’t anymore and then I followed the pack bonds and found Stiles and the others at the hospital getting treated for their bites. And you in surgery for the burns and stuff. So, I don’t know who was in the house. Sheriff Stilinski wasn’t able to identify most of the bodies. The fire was really bad and the accel - um, accelerate, no, uh -“
Peter cleared his throat and rasped. “Accelerant.”
Scott poured a glass of water and handed it to Peter and helped him drink some. “Thank you.”
Cora nodded, “Accelerant that the hunters used was really bad. It burned the stone of the house. The bodies - most of them were little more than ash.”
Stiles reached across Peter and laid a hand on Cora’s arm. “Like cremation.”
Cora nodded and sniffled. “Yeah. That’s how we think about it. The only two that could actually be identified, other than you, obviously, were Jamey and Kinsey. They found them right inside the big tub-like sink in the basement. They think the adults were trying to keep them wet to keep them safe when they couldn’t escape. But they suffocated from the smoke. But the sink and the water kept their bodies more intact.”
Erica wrapped her arms around the crying Cora. Peter reached up a slightly trembling hand and scent marked his niece, leaving his hand against the nape of her neck. She sank onto his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her while Erica rubbed her back and Lydia and Harley smoothed her hair.
Stiles began talking again to give Cora a break. “So, Cora didn’t know who wasn’t in the house during the fire. She knows the Asshole Alpha wasn’t your sister, Talia, Cora’s mom, because she wouldn’t have gone feral from new power since it had been hers for years.
“Logically, we thought it might be someone relatively young and/or untrained for the power. Like Laura or Derek or Cora’s Aunt Brigid or Terrance.”
Peter spoke, his voice more natural, though heavy with emotion. “It wasn’t Brigid or Terrance. I remember, I saw them through the window when I was trying to break the mountain ash circle.”
Stiles nodded. “Okay. Well, we know Derek had basketball practice and might not have been home yet though practice had been over nearly an hour by the time we were bitten. And that would have put him near-ish the middle school and the playground. But Cora doesn’t think he would have run and abandoned all of us.
“Laura could have been running late getting home from college. It was a two-hour drive and there was some bad traffic that night on her normal route. And if she was running late, the pack bonds breaking could have caused her to pull over in town from the pain. And then the Alpha spark could have hit her when she wasn’t in the car and driven her feral, and she could have been near the playground.
“The thing is, Laura never went back to college after the fire. Her accounts haven’t been touched. Nor have Derek’s. Dad’s got them flagged. But they haven’t found her car, either. None of the Hale accounts have been touched except for the one the judge allowed Cora to use for herself and you over the past six months. With my dad as a trustee to make sure she didn’t go crazy. And the only money removed from that account has been from here. So, it could have been one of them. Or someone else who wasn’t in the house for some reason, running a last minute errand for dinner or the moon run, meeting someone for a meeting, though no one came forward about any such meetings.
“But those hunters knew someone. The insurance investigation was going to be declared an accident. The main investigator was bribed and blackmailed. It was a big scandal and my dad had a lot of late nights right after the fire. The hunters had inside info. They knew about the tunnels and where to find the exit. It was lined with mountain ash and blocked with debris, tree limbs and stuff, from the outside. My dad was able to get a description of the main hunter who did the bribery and blackmail - all before the fire actually happened - but he hit a dead end. She was using a fake name. She was a long term substitute teacher at the high school. Katrina Arian. But she left town before my dad knew to look for her.
“So, that points to Derek being the source, since she would have had easy access to him at the high school. But not necessarily . Or not necessarily voluntarily , if she tricked him or something. He is just a teen and her fake identification said she was twenty-four. It would have been weird if she was younger than that, though she could have been older. And if Derek died in the fire, well, he paid for whatever he might have said to her, voluntarily or not, didn’t he?”
“And if he survived?” Asked Peter.
Stiles shrugged. “Then he’s likely the Asshole Alpha and a coward. I’m not gonna go chasing after him. None of us are. Especially since he’s a ghost. Possibly literally, possibly only figuratively. We’ve got you and each other. Were Pack. He’s not. Alive or dead, Derek’s not Pack.”
Peter nodded. “It is possible he is alive and not the Alpha that bit you. If he wasn’t home and someone else was Alpha and found him on their way out of town, they could have ordered him with them. And Derek was very much an obedient beta when given an Order.”
Stiles shrugged again. “Still don’t care. If he’s the Alpha or a beta, if he’s alive, he’s an asshole. He at least abandoned you and Cora from what he would know if he was just a beta. And he knowingly abandoned all of us, if he is the Asshole Alpha.
“What about you? You want to go after him or whoever? Leave us behind?”
Peter met Stiles’ eyes. “No. I’m your Alpha. This Pack may not be related to me by blood, other than Cora, but that doesn’t make it less my Pack. I can feel the pack bonds connecting to all of you, born wolf, bitten wolf, bitten supernatural, and full human. I can even feel faint bonds to others I have to assume are your parents. My anchors have always been my Pack bonds and the knowledge I acquired. Without the first, I would likely have lost myself to the revenge you imagine me chasing. But I have both - strong, numerous pack bonds and my clear mind.”
The entire Pack smiled at him but Jackson shuffled from his place at the foot of the bed. Danny put an arm around his best friend’s shoulders and Isaac and Scott moved closer to him. Peter looked at the movements and cocked his head.
“I’m missing something.”
Stiles looked at Jackson and waved his hand around. “We can go, Jax. Let you, you know, privately. If you want.”
Jackson snorted. “I don’t want. We’re Pack, Stilinski.” Jackson sighed. “It isn’t a secret from anyone here, Stiles. Or from pretty much anyone in town. You’ve all been helping me through this since I found out. Why change a thing that works?”
Stiles smiled and nodded.
Jackson looked at Peter. “So, when you were in the hospital, and they were trying to identify the remains from the fire and figure out who the Asshole Alpha was, they ran your blood for DNA. And they ran all of ours, too, after a month or so, thinking we might have foreign DNA from the bite or something. They were reaching but whatever. Anyway, you said that Cora was your only blood relation in this Pack. But she isn’t. The DNA, they found out that there’s a match to me. A familial match. I hadn’t even known I was adopted until that. My parents said they were going to tell me when I was thirteen.”
“So, you’re my cousin? Nephew?”
Jackson shook his head. “Son.”
Peter blinked. “You’re twelve?”
Jackson nodded. “Yeah. I know. Stiles’ dad and his deputies investigated. Even my parents didn’t know but you were evidently - um - seduced by a married woman when you were thirteen or so. And she got pregnant, and she and her husband left town a few weeks later, and then they were in a fatal car accident when she was nearly nine months pregnant with me. She died and the doctors delivered me from her dead body. And my parents were in that hospital because my dad - adopted dad, had a heart attack scare, though it wasn’t one, just stress. And they adopted me and took me home then and there. But my biological mother’s husband wasn’t my biological father. You were. Sheriff Stilinski said there were lots of records of them trying to get pregnant and that her husband had major fertility problems and likely couldn’t have fathered a kid. So, she was a bitch and seduced a kid. You.”
Peter frowned. “I. I don’t recall that.”
Jackson’s chin rose. “It happened. The investigation was through.”
“Maybe she drugged you? Like a roofie? So you don’t remember?” Stiles interjected helpfully.
Peter smiled a bit. “It is possible. But unless she used a very rare type of drug, as a werewolf, it shouldn’t have had an effect on me. And I don’t disbelieve you, Jackson. I just don’t recall being seduced by an older woman when I was thirteen. I had thought I was a virgin until I was nearly eighteen. I could have been drugged, or a combination of drugs and alcohol. At that age, born wolves are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol. And, possibly, Talia could have removed the memories I did have of what happened to protect me. I recall feeling off around that point in time. There were several things that made me angry at Talia and I didn’t understand my own reasoning. It caused a rift in our relationship. I loved her but I never quite trusted her after I became a teenager. It always baffled me and I tried to push the instinct away. But if she removed my memories, with my consent or not, I would have felt the hole. And my wolf would have instinctively shied away from the person who could change us so fundamentally.”
Peter sighed. “It doesn’t much matter, who did what and how. What we deal with is the present before us. I have a son. I don’t know how to be a father. And you already have parents who loved you so much they chose to bring you home with them when they could have left you in the hospital for another couple to adopt. But I am willing to have whatever relationship you need from me, Jackson. Whether that is simply as you Alpha or more is up to you. I just ask that you understand all of it is new to me.”
Peter’s gaze traveled around each member of his new Pack. “I ask that of all of you. I was never meant to be an Alpha. I sometimes wished for it, I am something of a control freak, occasionally. And I have some of the training and I know what I saw of how Talia did things and other Alphas and packs I’ve met. But our Pack is very different from hers or theirs. And I am very different in temperament and mind from any of them, as well. I’m going to make mistakes. All of you will make mistakes. But we will learn and grow as a Pack together. You are my Pack, I am the Alpha, now.”