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On October 31, 2018, one Elias Samuel Stilinski-Hale -given the middle names of both his father and his grandfather- was born to Spark Mieczyslaw ‘Stiles’ Stilinski and his werewolf familiar, as well as husband and mate, Derek Samuel Hale. Due to the nature of his birth and who he was birthed from, the child not only held a powerful aura but was tethered to the local Nemeton. The very same Nemeton that had caused so much pain and grief for the Hale pack. The very same Nemeton that his fathers had bound themselves to in an attempt to stop all the bloodshed.
Not even two weeks after his birth the young pup was almost stolen from his papa’s arms as the small family unit slept together. If not for Eli’s cries waking his parents it is unknown what would have happened.
The creature in question had been a striga, a beast known for sucking out the life force of humans, children in particular, while they were asleep. It had been making its way through the town for a couple of days and had already put three other children of varying ages in the hospital.
When Eli started crying both parents had shot awake. Instinctively, Stiles’ magic had sent the creature clear across the room and pinned it against the wall it had slammed into. He barely needed to communicate the thought with his mate and familiar before the man had pounced and ripped the thing to shreds. It didn’t matter that they didn’t have the proper tools to kill it, what mattered was that it had attempted to hurt their pup and Stiles believed that it would suffer at the end of Derek’s claws.
Once Derek had finished the creature and moved the remains to their backyard he helped Stiles soothe Eli as well as calmed the other man down. When Eli was once again asleep they went to the backyard and lit the body aflame using the Spark’s magic.
The children that had been hospitalized by the striga’s actions grew better and soon returned home. The pack was convinced that the creature had left or maybe that some form of divine intervention had occurred. They didn’t exactly know what the pack believed happened but they didn’t care either.
To them all that mattered was that their pup was safe. And he would stay that way, they would make sure of it.
BREAK
Stiles let out a sigh as he felt Derek slowly leave a trail of searing kisses down his neck. He let out a moan as Derek stopped to nip and bite and suck at one spot in particular that the man knew was sensitive.
“Fuck, Der,” he said breathily as he his hand twined through his husbands hair to tug at the strands.
He’s man enough to admit, at least to his familiar, that he whined when the ministrations suddenly stopped and Derek pulled away.
“Sourwolf?” he said a little breathlessly.
“I don’t hear anything,” the man said, alpha eyes in full effect.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t hear anything, no other heart beats, no stirring, no nothing.”
“Eli,” Stiles gasped, shooting out of bed not even taking a moment to change his state of undress as he ran to his son’s room, Derek hot on his heels.
When they got there their son’s crib was empty and the stench of magic was all over his room. Stiles recognized the kind of magic it was too, the same exact magic that had been left on the bodies that had been piling up the last two weeks. The same magic that was now cutting him off from his child.
“You find this witch,” Stiles started, his voice commanding, “and you bring me her head for daring to hurt our child.” Stiles normally did his best to never use the familiar bond to Derek in such a way, his mate had enough happen to him against his will, but he doubts that the man would have an issue with this particular command.
It’s a few hours later when he feels a tug from his bond to his husband. He found the witch. Stiles is there in almost an instant, his magic consuming him and using the connection to his mate to teleport him halfway across town. When he arrives it’s to the image of his mate in full wolf form trapped in a ring of mountain ash and throwing himself against the barrier trying to get to their son. Their son who is on top of a large stone pedestal and wailing as some bitch stands over him chanting with a dagger in her hands.
Much like with the striga only months ago he doesn’t think, only acts, his magic lashing out with little prompting. The witch’s chanting is immediately cut off, the knife that was grasped in her hands now plunged to the hilt in her throat. The woman clutches weakly at her neck as blood emerges from the wound, her fingers slipping on the dark liquid. His magic twists the knife in its place, pulling a weak muffled sound from the hag’s mouth as she starts to choke on her own blood.
He doesn’t care much what happened to her after that, only that her life was no longer a threat to his sons. With a snap of his fingers the mountain ash surrounding his familiar was gone and Derek was ripping the body to nothing more than mulch.
The sound of his mate ensuring the witch’s demise was merely background noise as Stiles rushed to his baby boy’s side.
“Shh, shh, shh,” he soothed, placing his hand on the child’s stomach. “I’m here, papa’s here. You’re all right, no one’s going to hurt you as long as I’m around. I promise.” He smiled as Eli’s cries slowly died down, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears and lip wobbling ever so slightly. “There we go, that’s it, my little wolf.
“Come on Derek, it’s time to go home.” The man in question let out a rumble of acknowledgement as he stepped away from what used to be the body of the witch, licking his bloody chops.
As they left they paid no mind as the building they had been in crumbled to little more than rubble and dust and destroyed what remained of the bitch that had dared to try and take his child from him.
BREAK
It had been awhile since anything truly bad had happened, so long that Eli was now almost two years old. The few things that had attempted to try and take their son -whether for a power boost or his connection to the Nemeton- had been disposed of as soon as they crossed the wards that now surrounded Beacon Hills. Which is why it was so strange for him to wake up at night due to his wards being crossed, and not to the ones surrounding the town but the ones that protected their home.
Stiles reached over to wake up Derek only to find his side of the bed empty. The spot of disturbed sheets was still warm so maybe the werewolf had heard whoever or whatever had crossed the wards before they had been triggered.
Stiles removed the blankets covering him and tip-toed towards the door, wanting to reduce the possibility of him being heard as much as possible. He didn’t stop to put on any additional clothes despite the chill in the air, leaving him in only his boxers.
The first thing he did once out of his and Derek’s room is make his way to their son’s. He paused when seeing it already open but steeled himself with what little hope he had that his son was still inside and though the toddler was his hope was still dashed when he saw the boy asleep in a stranger’s arms.
The stranger in question had a similar build to his husband and was encased in shadows. If not for the clear lack of bonds between them he might have even assumed the person holding his child was his mate.
“Who-”
“Shh,” the man interrupted, his voice deep and gravely. “He’s sleeping.” Stiles grit his teeth.
“Who are you, and what happened to my husband?” he demanded, voice much lower.
“I am who I am. And your little pet is taking a nice nap downstairs.”
“What do you want with my son?”
“Mm, so much power in such a small body, it’s a wonder he hasn’t burned up yet. Though I’m sure that tree has helped quite a bit.”
The Nemeton. Of fucking course it was that gods damned tree.
“If you want access to the tree, why use my son, why not me or my husband?”
“The mutt’s only real connection to the tree is you, despite your mating bond. And while you are the ideal subject I know I can’t take you head on and win. This little one is my leverage.
“But he can be my last resort just as easily,” the man told him with a vindictive smirk.
“Who are you?” Stiles asked again through gritted teeth causing the man to release a sigh.
“You may not know my name but you know who I am. You take a few souls here, raise a couple there, take what’s left for yourself.”
“The necromancer.” The man hummed in confirmation.
The man hadn’t been in town long, four maybe five days at most, but he had already killed almost ten people and created a manner of undead things for the pack to fight off. Clearly that had been more of a reconnaissance mission for him than anything else.
“What do you want with the Nemeton?”
At this point the questions were just a way to buy time so he could work his magic in a way to be able to get the Necromancer away from Eli before he killed him for daring to threaten his son’s life.
“Simple, I want to end it.”
It was as if the words triggered something inside of him. His mind was no longer just his own, his body controlled by something else, and his power increased ten fold. He could tell, just vaguely through the haze that had been brought on, that the Nemeton had chosen to use him as a vessel to stop this man.
“You, necromancer, should have done your research.” The tree’s voice boomed and echoed, seemingly as if a thousand people were speaking all at once.
“I- This isn’t possible.” The man seemed to tremble at the power that was now being protected throughout the room, all of it directed towards as if a threat of some kind. A very effective threat.
“I remember you, from back when this land was first settled,” the Nemeton told the Necromancer. Stiles made sure to file the fact that this guy was hundreds of years old for later. “You asked for my help to lead you to fortune, offered the lives of the natives as a sacrifice.”
“And you cursed me with this wretched magic!”
Stiles’ mind paused, why use a gift you hated. When his babica was alive she had given him this really ugly sweater for his birthday once that he only wore when she was visiting. This man could have just as easily chosen to live a normal life as he chose to not wear the sweater. Only using what was given to him when needed.
Though considering how he got his supposed gift, Stiles really shouldn’t be surprised. Yay America’s tainted history.
“Magic is never the curse, it’s how one chooses to use what is supposed to be a gift that twists their fates. You used powerful magic through other’s souls so that is the magic you were given. The power of death, of souls. Necromancy is never easy, but it does not have to be evil.
“You asked for power and you received it. Do not blame us for the way you chose to wield it.”
Stiles isn’t sure what happened next -everything just kind of became blank- perhaps the Nemeton got bored of the necromancer’s needless arguing. What he does know is that his next conscious moment, no longer host to a sentient and magical tree, his son is in his crib sound asleep as if nothing happened. If it weren’t for the odd gray powder littered all around Eli’s bedroom he would think that he imagined the whole thing, that this would all be some weird dream he would tell Derek.
That’s when he remembered.
“Oh shit, Derek.”
BREAK
Derek huffed from his place, fully shifted, laying under a tree as he watched Stiles try and wrangle their three year-old son. Eli was starting to become a rather hectic pup but it was more enjoyable when you weren’t the one trying to be climbed by a toddler with claws. He’s not quite sure how his mate does it, he may be a Spark but physiologically speaking he’s all human.
This line of thinking somehow brings up the brief moment of time, before they knew that Stiles had magic or that werewolves could be familiars, that he for some reason believed he had been cursed. Not long after Stiles’ spark had been activated and the familiar bond had started to establish he had been compelled to follow Stiles’ orders at random. It had all come to a head -pun not intended- when he had angrily told his mate to go fuck himself and the other did a Stiles typically response of “Fuck me yourself, coward.”
One could probably figure out the rest without much help.
“Ow!” The exclamation snaps him out of his reminiscing. “Elias Stilinski-Hale, I told you to watch your claws!” Derek was maybe considering going over to relieve his mate from child rearing duties, but paused at what the little boy’s response was.
“I no claws, papa.” Their son was telling the truth, confusion coming off of him in waves before turning to fear when Stiles cried out once more, falling onto his knees and clutching at his head.
Derek was at his mate’s side as soon as his knees hit the grass. He whined as the spark screamed and screamed, being bombarded with an invisible pain he couldn’t take a way. When Eli burst into tears at his papa’s ongoing distress his wolf became torn, panicked at not knowing whether to comfort his child or help his mate.
He knew he shouldn’t have been but he was relieved when his mate finally passed out due to his pain. Going over to Eli he nudged the pup’s face with his nose causing him to let out an unexpected giggle.
“Papa okay?” Eli whimpered. Derek just licked the toddler’s tear stained face and grabbed his shirt in his maw so he could lead him inside.
He didn’t want to leave his mate alone but he also knew he didn’t have a choice. He needed to be human to help the man and that required clothes, both because of Eli and just in case anyone had heard Stiles’ screams and decided to investigate. Plus his Spark would be livid if he found out that he hadn’t ensured their pup’s safety first.
As soon as they were in the house and Eli was secure he ran up to his and Stiles’ bedroom so he could shift and put on some clothes. He was quick to rush back down stairs, where he had put Eli only to find the little boy passed out and being carried away by… something. Or at least he would think it was something, otherwise his child could fly (float?).
Letting out a sigh, he shifted back into his wolf form successfully destroying even more of his clothes. His natural instinct was to grab his pup from the air and keep him safe from whatever threat was trying to take his son but as he wasn’t aware of whatever or whoever the threat was or if there were more of them so he had no choice but to follow until he was led to what/whoever it was he needed to kill.
He was led straight into the backyard -he paused briefly to nudge his mate in apology for having to leave him there, unconscious- and passed through the bushes and trees and other foliage that bordered their backyard and was also connected to the preserve. They had ensured they would live somewhere with direct access to the forest when they learned that Stiles was pregnant with Eli -perhaps they should reconsider that thought process.
Derek trotted through the woods, no more than a few yards behind his floating son. It was after about thirty minutes of walking that he realized where they were going. The god damned Nemeton. What was the point of becoming this thing’s guardian when all manner of supernatural creatures not only still came to town just to try and access it but now tried to do so through his son.
Whatever was trying to kidnap his son probably did whatever they did to Stiles specifically so that the largest threat was taken care of and couldn’t retaliate. Derek was powerful, yes, but Stiles was still more so due to the kind of magic user he was and his deeper connection to the Nemeton. Though that brought up the question as to whether what had kidnapped Eli even noticed his presence or simply didn’t view him as a threat.
No matter what it was a big mistake on their part, he would do whatever it took to protect his son. If that meant a blood bath then so be it.
It took about another forty-five minutes before they actually arrived at the predicted destination. When Eli was about five feet from the Nemeton’s base he was lowered to the ground and the creatures that had been carrying him finally revealed themselves.
Faeries, the little bastards, of course they didn’t see him as a threat. Fae didn’t see most supernaturals other than themselves as threats. He’s surprised they even saw Stiles as a threat. His mate was more powerful than all of the winged little pests, yes, but said pests were also egomaniacs that refused to bow down to any one they viewed as a lower species. Refused to believe any other supernatural species could be more powerful than them. Every supernatural he had ever met agreed on at least one thing, faeries were dicks.
The faeries, of which there were at least five, fluttered around his sleeping child and did nothing but argue.
“This little mutt can’t possibly be the Nemeton’s guardian,” one said snidely.
“Obviously,” another pointed out, “you know the human spawns are useless for most of their youth.”
“But this is not a human spawn,” a third chimed, their voice shaky for some reason.
“Ugh, will you stop being scared of everything,” the first one yelled at the third. “We are more powerful than werewolves, we are more powerful than all the stupid supernaturals on this stupid planet. And we are for sure more powerful than an infant.”
“But what if the mother wakes up?” This question seemed to make all fae pause. Maybe they were talking about Stiles, Derek’s brain supplied.
“That- That shouldn’t happen,” a fourth new voice broke the silence. “We made sure that he would be incapacitated for as long as the spell would require.”
“Yes,” the fifth one said, finally speaking, “now let’s hurry and rid this tree of its unfit protectors.”
The insult made his lips curl as he let out an involuntary snarl.
“What was that?” the third one whimpered.
“It was just the trees,” the first one hissed at them.
“Just make sure the pup is secure,” the fourth one told them. “You’ll be more helpful that way.”
With the third one branched away and the other four off preparing the Nemeton for some kind of ritual Derek took his chance. Silently he made his way closer to his child and the third faerie, stomach almost touching the ground. The timid little fae didn’t even have time to react before he opened his maw and swallowed them whole. Faerie may be powerful but they were small and tasted a little like peppermint.
He continued like that until all the fae were taken care of, waiting until they were alone and clamping his jaws over their tiny forms. By the time he had killed off the fae he had a slightly full stomach and was minty fresh. When he was sure there was no more fae he shifted back into his human form before discarding the evidence of the attempted and incomplete ritual.
Picking up Eli he made his way back to the house, getting there within an hour, and being greeted by his panic mate.
“Oh my god,” the Spark gasped when he saw them -Eli passed out and Derek naked and covered in dirt. “What happened, where did you go? Is Eli okay? Are you?”
“Were both fine,” the alpha managed to interject before Stiles could truly start to spiral. “The fae, in an attempt to take over as guardians of the Nemeton and likely have access to its magic, used some kind of spell on you so they could kidnap Eli as a way to sever our bonds to the tree.” Stiles eyes flashed purple at the words. “I don’t know if they just didn’t see me as a threat or were somehow unaware of my presence but I managed to dispatch them before they could even start whatever ritual they were trying to attempt.”
His mate’s buddy visibly loosened at the words.
“What about Eli, why is he still asleep?”
“Whatever spell they put on him probably just needs to finish wearing off.” Stiles breathed a sigh of relief and held his arms out to take their son who Derek didn’t hesitate to hand over.
“Okay, then I’m going to go put our pup to bed while you clean up. And afterwards we can have some alone time.”
Derek was about to make a sultry comment about their ‘alone time’ when a belched ripped its way out of his throat and a cloud of purple dust erupted from his mouth.
“Derek,” Stiles said after a silent and confusion filled moment, “how exactly did you kill the faeries.”
“I-Uh… Well-”
“You ate them didn’t you,” his Spark said, unimpressed. He simply hunched his soldiers and nodded, refusing to meet his husbands eyes as the man let out an amused but frustrated huff.
“Okay then, new plan Sourwolf, we put Eli down to bed and then we go cleanse your body of any lingering after effects of you digesting foreign and magical entities.”
Derek just nodded once more and allowed himself to be dragged inside the house by his mate. Hopefully there would still be enough time for some ‘alone time’. If Stiles didn’t give him a lecture about the whole him eating the fae thing, anyway.
BREAK
Stiles hummed as he set up the decorations needed for Eli’s birthday party. It was his son’s fifth birthday and the little one was so excited. As the pup was born on Halloween (apparently it was a Hale thing to be born on a holiday, Cora had even been born on April Fools Day) each year his birthday party was themed based on a different monster. This year it was werewolves, allowing all the wolves in the pack to roam around in their beta shifts no problem -though that technically applied to every Halloween.
At the moment Eli was out with his uncle Scott and Aunt Kira, preparing for the day, handing out candy to the earlier trick-or-treaters, and awaiting the chance to run rampant in the Stilinski-Hale back yard with all his kindergarten friends.
He let out a noise of contentment when he felt arms wrap around his waist and a nose snuffle at his throat, giggling slightly when he felt the side-burns that came with a werewolf’s beta shift tickle his neck. His mate let out a rumbling growl at the sound, more playful than anything.
“Watch the whiskers, Sourwolf,” Stiles couldn’t help but joke, earning him a nip to his nape. He let out a breathy sound at the action.
“We have an hour,” Derek told him, planting kisses along his throat.
“An hour we should probably be using to decorate,” he somehow managed to say coherently.
“Probably,” the man agreed, punctuating the word by sucking at where his jaw met his neck and causing Stiles to let out a moan.
Letting the decor fall out of his hands Stiles turned around and pulled his mate into a kiss that very quickly turned passionate. Derek arms worked their way down until his hands settled right under Stiles’ ass. Following the wordless command Stiles Jumped slightly allowing his mate to better lift him so he could wrap his long legs around the Alpha’s waist.
Stiles hadn’t even been aware they were backing up until he felt Derek’s legs thump against a table that had been set out not long ago and was meant to hold all the presents Eli was supposed to get from family and friends. If he wasn’t so preoccupied with his mate he might have even made a joke but the feeling of the alpha’s tongue in his mouth and hands squeezing at his jean clad ass was more than enough to shut him up.
It was as he and Derek finally managed to start working at each other’s flies that two people frantically rushed into the backyard.
“Oh, ugh, gross,” came Scott’s voice. Stiles and Derek both paused, lips detaching and looking at each other in confusion as to why the man was there so early.
“Now is not the time, Scott,” said Kira with an uncharacteristic hiss, a hint of fear and nervousness in her tone. The realization made both men’s eyes wide with concern.
“Where’s Eli?” Stiles asked them, his worry ratcheting higher the longer his little boy’s voice was not heard and neither Scott or Kira answered him.
“Where’s our son?” Derek growled, alpha voice bleeding in, forcing the two to finally comply.
“I- They went for a walk around the neighborhood, Eli wanted to get a head start on trick-or-treating in case the party ran longer than expected,” Kira started, her lip wobbling as she struggled to control her emotions.
“Kira, she stayed behind for the other trick-or-treaters, and I took Eli to the bigger houses a couple of blocks away. I… we stopped at one house and somehow the guy, he knew. He knew that Eli wasn’t wearing a costume. Next thing I know I was waking up in the guy’s doorway and both he and Eli were gone.”
“Gone?” Stiles whispered, his hand clenched tightly in Derek’s ripped up shirt. He had specifically worn it for Eli, so that he would match the theme better cause their little boy said it was lazy to just shift and not look anything else like an actual werewolf from TV at his werewolf themed birthday party.
Scott nodded slowly and hesitantly at the broken whisper.
“I tried to follow the scent but the guy must have gotten into a car or something because I lost it by the time I got to the end of the street.”
Stiles doesn’t know why this time is different from the others, maybe it’s because for once they weren’t there to ensure that their child was safe and unharmed, but he broke. In little more than a second he was angling himself over the edge of the table and vomiting into the grass as tears streamed down his face. Derek was by his side in a flash, rubbing up and down his back in an attempt to sooth his mate and ignore his own inner turmoil.
“Call, John,” Derek demanded.
“I-I’m not sure that’s the-” Scott started to stutter.
“My son is missing,” the man roared. “Call the damn sheriff and tell him what happened so he can help find his grandson.”
“I’ll do it,” Kira told him at Scott’s continued hesitation.
Derek nodded at her in gratitude and pulled his mate against his chest as the man’s stomach had finally stopped rebelling and he was now on his way into a panic attack. He soothed his mate as best he could his own mind running in a thousand different directions and being fueled by worry, fear, and anger. Somewhere in the back of his mind there was the thought that someone needed to call everyone that had been invited to Eli’s birthday party.
“It’s already taken care of,” he heard a soothing voice tell him. Crouched down next to him was Lydia, a sad but sympathetic smile on her face.
When had she gotten here? Looking around he could see at least a dozen sheriff’s deputies as well as John himself. The man in question was currently next to the snack table yelling at a frightened looking Scott.
His eyes were drawn to the plastic covering that rested on top of the snack table. Paw prints and full moons -Eli had picked it out himself. God the pup had been so excited for his birthday party, for the chance to finally be himself with Halloween to cover for them.
Looking over to his mate the other man looks all but catatonic and it only serves to further break his heart. Stiles had once promised their son that they would always be there to protect him and for once they were completely unaware of where Eli was or who had taken him.
Derek whined at his unresponsive mate and brought his Sparks face to his neck in a form of comfort. He placed a kiss to the side of Stiles face as the men seemed to borrow ever so slightly into him.
“We’ll find him,” Derek whispered, hand running up and down his husband’s back. “We have to.”
“How’s he doing?” a voice whispered, when Derek looked he found the sheriff peering down at them with a somber expression.
“Better, not by much but better nonetheless,” Derek rasped.
“We, uh.. We looked into the house that Scott stopped by. Apparently it’s been up for sale for a while. The guy must have been squatting. I have a couple of deputies going door to door in the neighborhood, seeing if anyone knew him, or was a witness or has security cameras that might have captured anything.
“As soon as I hear back I'll tell you guys everything I know that can help and get you guys on the path to finding Eli in a way the law can’t.”
“Thank you,” came a muffled and wobbly voice. Both Derek and the sheriff gave each other tight smiles. The sheriff ruffled Stiles’ hair and moved away, either to go join the deputies currently going door to door where their son was taken or to try and scrounge a few more details out of Scott.
“We’ll find him,” Derek said in a repeat of earlier, pressing a kiss to the top of Stiles head as he did so. “As soon as he gets something we will go out there and we will find him, okay?” Stiles gave a weak okay. “For now let’s go inside, get some water and find something heavy with his scent so we can be ready.”
Stiles nodded in confirmation and curled around Derek so the man could bring him inside. The familiar lifted his Spark in a bridal carry and took him straight to Eli’s room -currently covered wall to wall in Halloween and birthday themed items- where he sat him on the boy’s twin bed. Stiles immediately grabbed their son’s favorite stuffed animal -a pure black fox that Stiles got originally thinking it to be a wolf- and curled up into a ball.
Hesitating, Derek pressed one more kiss to the crown of his mate’s forehead before leaving the room and going to get a glass of water as promised. As soon as the door was closed the alpha took out his phone and pulled up the number of the person that was sadly most suited to help them at the moment.
“Nephew, too what do I owe the pleasure. Oh, and I know I told you two love birds I wouldn’t be able to go to the party but I’m closer to town than I thought.”
“Good, because we have a problem you can help with.”
“And why would I do that?” the man drawled.
“Because someone took Eli and we’re pretty sure it was a hunter,” he told him.
“I’ll be there within the next hour,” was all his Uncle said before hanging up. The Hales may have had their issues, Derek and Peter especially, but the one thing they had been able to agree and come together on since the pup’s birth, was Eli’s well being.
Peter was true to his word, he was there in about thirty minutes. He got the story as well as an item that held a good amount of his scent and then left for the house that Eli had been taken from. About two hours later, they got a call from Peter as well as a visit from the sheriff.
It was about nine o’clock at this point -the party would have long been over and they would have been out trick-or-treating with Eli by now if everything were normal. In fact Derek’s pretty sure the only reason they haven’t gotten any trick-or-treaters was the police presence outside. The sheriff had barged into the room startling Stiles, who was now up right and numbly talking to Derek about how tonight should have gone, and making Derek growl and flash his eyes at the perceived threat.
“We have him,” the man said in a huff of breath. “The man that took Eli, we know who he is.” At the same time a shrill ring cut through the room. Derek was quick to pull out his phone and put his Uncle on speaker phone.
“His name is Emmanuel Dickens and he’s a real piece of work,” Peter growled, the fact that he was driving clear from the noise in the background.
“He’s got a mile long rap sheet; misdemeanors, drunk and disorderly, assault charges -both sexual and not- robbery, breaking and entering. You name it he’s probably done it. Been it and out of jail since he was twenty-years-old,” the sheriff but in.
“And that’s only what the law knows about,” Peter continued. “He’s a rather prolific and brutal hunter. But, Eli’s still alive.” Those words caused a breath of relief and hope to come from the two parent’s, some of the worry finally draining from them. “This is what he does, uses a pack pup or pups to lure out the rest of the pack before attempting to kill them all and it sadly doesn’t usually end well. He was probably planning on making a move sooner or later and he just took the easily granted opportunity when Scott knocked on his door.”
Derek growled once more and Stiles’ magic surged at the reminder. Maybe it wasn’t fair to put the blame on Scott but the man had been a werewolf for over a decade now; he should have sensed the danger, smelled the signs of a hunter.
“One of the neighbors had a camera that showed the make and model of the car and a partial license plate. CCTV tracked the vehicle to just outside of the industrial district,” John continued.
“I’m there now, following Eli’s scent,” Peter said. “I’ll text you when I find wherever he’s hiding out.”
As soon as the call ended Stiles was up and moving -texting the pack group chat to let them know of the development, changing into more fight ready clothes, grabbing a blanket and Eli’s stuffed fox so they could comfort the pup when they finally got him back. He was so frantic in his back and forth that Derek had to physically stop his husband so he wouldn’t drive himself into a panic attack.
“What… What if Peter’s wrong? What if we get there and that man did something to Eli? What if we don’t get our pup back in one piece Der?” Stiles whimpered.
“Peter’s never wrong,” Derek reminded him, ‘cause as much as they all hated it the man was only wrong when he gave purposely false information. “We’ll find him alive . And any injuries he has have either already healed or you can heal for him.”
“If he did anything to our son-”
“Then we’ll tear him apart until there’s nothing left,” Derek assured.
It was about thirty minutes later when they finally heard from Peter and within five minutes they forwarded the location to the rest of the pack. It was another twenty when they arrived at a clearly abandoned structure -cracks all over the bricking, rust eating away at metal, pieces of wood over windows and all but a few entryways.
Stiles and Derek didn’t wait for everyone to formulate a plan, just started tearing planks off one of the blocked doors. A blocked way was less likely to be lined with traps, so they hoped. Peter was right behind them alerting them of traps and such so Derek and Stiles only needed to focus on getting to Eli. When they got to the door to the room where both Eli and the hunter were, they stopped.
“You two focus on Eli, I’ll take care of the hunter,” Peter said.
“No,” Stiles growled, as close to a feral wolf as the Spark could get at the moment. “He took our son. We will deal with this bastard.” Stiles handed over the drawstring bag that held the blanket and stuffed fox. “You get Eli, you take him home and you don’t look back.” Peter hesitated but nodded and grabbed the bag from Stiles.
“Hold on a second,” Scott interpreted with a whisper. “You guys make it sound like you’re going to kill him.”
“He was dead as soon as he took our son,” Derek snarled.
“That-that’s not right.”
“And him kidnapping Eli is,” Kira, of all people, said through gritted teeth. The rest of the pack clearly agreed with the sentiment.
“No, but there’s a different way to go about this,” the man tried to argue.
“I don’t give a shit Scott,” Stiles snapped. “He took my five year old son on his goddamn birthday because you were too stupid to recognize the scent of a hunter. He made his decision and we’ve made ours.”
Before any more arguing could take place Stiles was up and waving his hand, his magic slamming the door open, and with a snap of his fingers any sort of traps were disabled. Out of the corner of his eyes Derek could Eli -tied up, battered and bruised and unconscious due to what looked like, all of which just served to piss both parents off even more- as Peter rushed to the boy’s side, bundled him and was gone all in under a minute.
When Peter and Eli were clear they no longer held back. Derek shifted until he was a large, pure black wolf that stood well above his Sparks hips. Stiles’ eyes were now glowing bright white and it looked as if electricity was flowing under his skin.
“Step back,” the now sufficiently terrified hunter said, holding a thumb over the trigger to a detonator. “I’ll take us all out.”
“I don’t think so,” Stiles said with a murderous glare. All it took was a wave of his hand and the detonator was across the room. It didn’t really matter anyway, since he had disabled the bombs as soon as they entered the room.
“I-you don’t have to do this,” Emmanuel begged with a shaky voice.
“And you didn’t have to take our son.” Derek punctuated his Spark’s sentence with a snarling bark, saliva and spittle flying from his mouth as he snapped his jaws.
“Now,” Stiles snapped.
In the blink of an eye they were both across the room, Derek’s teeth embedded in the man’s neck and Stiles’ hand had ripped straight through the man’s chest cavity. With accuracy and synchronicity only a mated Spark-Familiar pair could have, they ripped out the man’s throat and his heart at the same exact time, not caring of the blood that now painted them nearly head to toe. They both watched as the life drained from the man in but a few milliseconds, only backing away to let his body crumple to the floor.
Turning away from the hunter’s corpse with dual sneers they were met with the shocked and disgusted looks, primarily from Scott. While most of the packs distaste stemmed from the action alone Scott’s was behind why they did it.
“You-You-”
“We did what we had to do to keep our son safe.” Derek made a growl of agreement.
“You guys are monsters.”
“We don’t really care if we’re monsters,” Stiles told him with a shrug. “If being a monster means that this pack is safe, that my son is safe, then I’ll gladly be one. And damn anybody that tries to take my family from me!”
Scott clearly wanted to argue his point, say all the reasons he thought they were wrong, but Stiles wasn’t in the mood. All he wanted to do was get home to his son and make sure he was okay, and so, with a snap of his fingers they were gone. Teleported to the living room of their home, no one there but his father sitting shocked on the couch and looking at his child and son-in-law, both of whom were covered in someone else’s blood.
“Uh… They-They’re upstairs,” John told them. “But you might want to take a shower first, change your clothes.”
“Thanks dad,” Stiles said with a tight but genuine smile, Derek letting out a rumble of agreement.
They made their way to their bathroom, Stiles stripping and throwing his clothes into the trash can they kept under the bathroom sink while Derek shifted back to his human form and turned on the shower. When they both stepped in Stiles moved under the shower head, trembling until Derek came up behind him and pulled him against his bare body, and rested his chin on the smaller man’s shoulder.
“We’re okay,” the alpha soothed. “Eli is safe and sound and everyone is alive and well. It’s okay.” Stiles let out a breath in an attempt to calm himself and sunk into his mates embrace.
As soon as they were cleaned and dressed they made their way to Eli’s bedroom and found their boy clean, sound asleep, a bandage on the crown of his forehead and Peter perched on the end of his bedroom. The man in question looked at them and nodded before getting up to leave.
“You two did good,” Peter told them as he passed by. They each gave somewhat grateful smiles and moved to sit in the now vacated spot.
Them sitting down must have woken Eli up because not long after they were settled his eyes were blinking open.
“Dad, Papa?” Eli grunted sleepily.
“Yeah pup?” Derek answered as they both scooted closer to the little boy.
“I get another werewolf party, right?” The question prompted startled laughs from the two parents.
“Yes, pup,” Stiles told him with a small smile, “you can have another werewolf party.”
“Mmm, yay.” And like that their son was once again out like a light.
Stiles and Derek stayed there for the rest of the night, curled up against each other and watching Eli sleep making sure that he was truly safe.