Chapter Text
Stiles wasn’t sure how they made it to Derek’s loft, he didn’t know who’s car they took, he didn’t know who drove - he was pretty sure it wasn’t him who’d been driving. He hoped it wasn’t either. He only knew that he didn’t start regaining a sense of self, time and place until he felt Derek’s hands on his cheeks, his voice whispering his name over and over, asking him to focus, to listen to him, as if Stiles was capable of doing anything else at that point.
“Someone’s here,” Scott said as Stiles finished the water he’d been handed. “It’s her,” he hissed, eyes glowing gold.
Stiles shifted and tried to cross the room to meet her at the door but hands pulled him back, ushering him behind the screen that separated the bathroom of the loft. “We need to be smart about this,” Scott said gently, nodding at Derek when the alpha disappeared. “We need her alive to get your dad back, we have no idea where he is, she’s the only one can give us that information.”
“Scott,” Stiles squeezed his friends hands tightly as they wrapped around him from behind. “I can’t lose him,” he whispered. “Not him too...”
“We’ll get him back, I promise.”
“Derek?” her voice rang through the entire loft as the door made a grinding metal against metal noise when it opened. “Derek! Where are you?”
“Right here,” the alpha replied and through gaps in the screen, Scott and Stiles saw him step out from behind one of the pillars.
“Oh thank God,” she breathed, rushing over to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Something happened at the recital... at the school. Okay? I need to tell you before you hear it - before you hear any of it from them.”
“From who?” he played dumb, giving her a confused expression to sell it.
“From Scott, Stiles... They’re gonna tell you things. Things you can’t believe, you have to trust me, okay? I need you to trust me.” He frowned at her.
“What is it?” The boys couldn’t see her face but they imagined her to look very convincing.
“Just promise you’ll listen to me, okay?” he nodded...
“I promise,” he said softly and couldn’t move back quick enough to stop her from pressing their lips together.
Behind the screen, Stiles snapped, eyes narrowing and he shrugged off Scott’s hands as he stepped around into view, footsteps silent. He caught Derek’s wide eyed look and raised an eyebrow, silently asking if he was going to continue the kiss for the rest of the night. Derek rolled his eyes and gently but firmly pushed Jennifer back. The woman looked up at him, a small frown lining her brow.
“They’re already here, aren’t they?” she asked and Derek stepped back, looking at Stiles and Scott. She turned around and saw them stood there, watching. “So... they told you it was me? That I’m the one taking people?” she lowered her gaze to the floor, trying to make a show of disbelief and confusion, trying to convince Derek.
“We told them you’re the one killing people,” Scott said, eyes flashing gold.
“Oh, that’s right,” she laughed. “Committing human sacrifices? While cutting their throats? Yeah I probably do it on my lunch hour that way I can get back to teaching High School English the rest of the day...” she was laughing, disbelieving, trying to make her case by putting emphasis on how ridiculous they would sound to someone neutral, who knew nothing, but Derek wasn’t neutral and she had yet to realise this. “That makes perfect sense.”
Stiles took a step forward and felt a tear fall from the corner of his eye. He hated to appear so emotional, weak and unstable in front of the enemy but he just couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Where’s my dad?” he asked, voice almost cracking.
“How should I know?” She shrugged the question off as if it didn’t matter to her in the slightest, as if Stiles’ dad’s life meant precisely nothing to her. Which he supposed it didn’t, but it meant the world to him. He tried to take another step forward but Scott’s hand on his arm stopped him from advancing. She turned back to Derek and shook her head in the face of his impassive expression. “Derek,” she said, tone pleading. “Tell me you don’t believe this...”
His eyes flickered back to the boys again and back to Jennifer. “Do you know what happened to Stiles’ father?” he asked.
“No,” she shook her head.
“Ask her why she almost killed Lydia,” Scott prompted and she spun around to stare at him, confusion written all over her face.
“Lydia Martin?” she gasped. “I don’t know anything about that! Is she okay?” Stiles growled low in his throat, Scott’s hand being the only thing still keeping him in position.
“Then what do you know?” Derek snapped, drawing her attention back to him.
“I know,” she took a breath. “That these boys, for whatever misguided reason, are filling your head with these lies and and this absurd story.” She spun around to glare at them pointedly. “And one they can’t prove by the way!”
“You really have no idea who you’re dealing with, do you?” Stiles asked but she didn’t answer as Scott stepped forward, taking something out of his pocket.
“What if we can?” he held up the small bottle.
“What is that?” She asked, stepping back from Derek, a hint of nervousness visible now.
“My boss told me it’s a poison and cure,” Scott explained. “Which means you can use it and it can be used against you...” Her eyes widened.
“Mistletoe?” she tried to run but Scott threw the contents at her too quickly for her to react and she was stuck, a slave to whatever the mistletoe would reveal. The change was evident, where she stood before now stood a disfigured being, no hair, face scarred beyond all recognition, and just as quickly, it was gone and Jennifer was back, slowly righting herself before trying to make a run for the door, only to come up against Derek’s hand at her throat. “Derek! Wai-Wait!” she cried out. “You need me!”
“What are you?” he growled, hands squeezing, claws digging into the sides of her neck while his other hand was ready to attack.
“The only person who can save your sister! Call Peter-” she gasped, trying to draw breath enough to speak. “Call him!” she insisted.”
Stiles was already pulling out his phone and dialling.
“Stiles, they’re getting her ready for transport now-” Peter’s voice echoed through the loft as he put the call on speaker.
“How is she doing?” Derek asked, still glaring holes into the side of Jennifer’s head.
“Derek? She’s not good,” he explained. “She’s in an out of consciousness, she’s vomiting up black blood along with another anonymous substance...”
“Mistletoe,” Stiles breathed.
“How did you know that?” Peter asked but Stiles quickly ended the call as Derek’s grip on her neck tightened and she was lifted from the ground.
“You need me!” she tried to scream but it came out a garbled mess. “Derek! You need me to save her! I’m the only one who can!”
Stiles was suddenly there, hand slowly travelling up Derek’s arm until it was resting on top of the hand around her neck. She stared down at him, pleading.
“You’ll never see him again Stilinski,” she gasped. “He’ll die,” she sneered. “Just like your mother.” At Stiles’ prompting, the hand squeezed tighter and her eyes widened. “They’ll...” she choked. “They’ll both die,” she promised, eyes shifting to the side to where Scott stone, face set in stone. “McCall,” she begged.
“They’re my alphas,” he said. “I don’t question them.”
“What makes you think we can’t figure it out?” Stiles asked.
“I cast the spell,” she laughed in his face. “Only I can break it.”
As Stiles released Derek’s hand, Derek’s hand released its hold on Jennifer, letting her drop to the ground.
She looked up at the pair of them and smirked. “You need me alive.”
“And when you’ve outlived your usefulness,” Stiles crouched down in front of her. “I’ll be the one with a way to strip you of everything you’ve ever considered as power.” Her smirk died and Stiles stood up again, backing away with Derek.
“Get up,” Scott was there, glaring down at her.
“You know I’m still your teacher,” she huffed but got to her feet.
“And I’m a werewolf, I bet I know who has the faster reflexes,” he growled, eyes flashing and teeth lengthening. She just rolled her eyes and let herself be manhandled into following the current members of the Hale pack she’d managed to piss off.
“Do you want to take her in your car, I’ll take Scott in mine?” Stiles suggested and Derek raised an eyebrow.
“You trust her with me? After that performance?”
“Well, you won’t kill her, you’d sooner kill her than kiss her... so it’s a pretty safe bet that your virtue will remain safe and she’ll keep her vocal chords long enough for her to tell us what’s going on.”
“You’re putting a lot of faith in my self control...”
“I’m putting my father’s life in your self control,” Stiles replied seriously, not bothering to look as Scott passed them with Jennifer, throwing her unceremoniously into the passenger seat of Derek’s mom mobile - sorry, his car.
“We’ll get him back,” Derek pulled his mate close, burying his nose in Stiles’ neck and breathing in deeply.
“I know,” Stiles whispered and they separated, sharing one last look before engines were started and tyres squealed as they pulled away from the curb.
When they were on the road, Stiles slammed his hand against the steering wheel and beside him, Scott didn’t so much as jump as he turned and waited for whatever Stiles was thinking about to be voiced.
“We’re doing exactly what she wants,” he laughed bitterly. “We need her... she’s running from something, she needs us to protect her.”
“How do you know that?” Scott frowned. “We’ve never had any indication that she was running from anything.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Stiles asked and went on without waiting for a response he knew his friend didn’t have. “Why would she go back to Derek? She didn’t have to, she knew there was no relationship to be had there, she knew he was with someone, me... she doesn’t love him, doesn’t want him... the only thing she could possibly have for him is a need for his protection, the protection only an alpha could offer. I don’t know what... maybe you were right. Maybe she was an emissary to the alphas, maybe she fucked up and they want her dead... maybe this entire sacrifices bullshit is her trying to come up with a way to break their pack... maybe the alphas are the ones chasing her. All I know... all I think I know is that she needs us and now she has leverage.”
“Cora,” Scott sighed.
“And my dad...”
Neither mentioned how the Sheriff could be a possible sacrifice. Neither wanted to admit it was true.
The night from that point devolved.
The alphas were after her, the twins tried to go through the pack to get to her but she disappeared, Cora was still unconscious and Stiles’ world went to shit. His father was gone, his best friend felt like he had no other choice but to go with the enemy, with Deucalion, the other enemy - the one that actually had his dad, and now Melissa, was gone again, his mate was still out for the count and Cora was gone with Peter, Isaac and Allison to safety.
“I’m confused,” he said, leaning back against the wall, Derek’s head in his lap, his fingers working their way through his hand gently. He looked up to see Ethan and Aiden walking towards them in the corridor. “You both are falling for members of my pack, member who, by the way, don’t seem to give two fucks that you’ve basically made it your mission to wipe us all out because, for whatever reason, you’ve buried yourself so deeply into their heads and hearts that they’re falling for you too... you actually apologise to me, an alphas mate, for killing my beta, you go out of your way to protect Danny, to protect Lydia and yet... here you are.”
“She’s trying to kill us,” Ethan’s voice came out as a growl through his teeth and Stiles shrugged, gesturing to his still unconscious mate.
“She has my dad, Scott’s mom, she’s killing Cora, she attacked my mate hell - she kissed my mate. What makes you think you have a monopoly on her?”
“Deucalion,” Aiden, much to Ethan’s surprise, was the one to speak up. “Wants her dead.”
“And why are you here? Now, I mean... they’re gone, everyone’s gone, Blake’s gone...”
“Danny and Lydia,” Ethan sighed.
“Ah... so they do remember that we’re their alphas...” Stiles snorted.
“They’re human, it’s different...” Aiden huffed.
“If Deucalion finds out you’re going soft on your mission, he’ll order you to kill them, and then I’ll be forced to do something drastic to stop you...”
“We’re keeping a low profile...” Ethan muttered, crouching down to examine Derek.
“Not low enough,” Kali was at the end of the corridor and the twins froze, staring at Stiles with wide eyes.
“I’m not a werewolf, I’m just his mate, you should’ve heard her,” he shrugged, seemingly unconcerned with the bitch-alpha’s presence.
“So you’re the mate,” Kali pushed herself between the twins, who backed off. She knelt down so she could reach out and grasp Stiles’ chin, forcing their eyes to meet - as if Stiles would think of deferring to her in any way. “Interesting...”
“I don’t like you,” Stiles said easily and she smiled.
“Not many do,” she hummed.
“You can kill your emissary, former,” Stiles said. “After I get my dad and Mrs McCall back, and after baby Hale’s cured. I couldn’t give two fucks about what happens to her after that.”
“You’re making demands to me?” Kali chuckled.
“I have access to something your dear old alpha demon wolf would very much like to get his claws on...”
“Oh?” she cocked her head to the side. “Unless its name is Jennifer Blake, Derek Hale or Scott McCall, I’m afraid he just isn’t interested...”
“How about Gerard Argent?”
Chris was walking towards them from the right and Stiles smiled at Kali, fingers never stopping their movements in Derek’s hair. The twins were shifting, nervous, behind the older alpha.
“Aren’t you Chris Argent? The son?” Kali purred, releasing Stiles’ chin.
“I am,” Chris stopped a few feet away, his gun aimed at Kali’s head but she seemed unconcerned by the potential danger - or she was just that confident that between the muscle flexing of his finger and the firing pin connecting with the bullet in the chamber, she could move out of the way and avoid the shot. Stiles was curious to see who’d win if he were honest.
“So why would you give him up? Especially knowing what he did to Deucalion?”
“He’s dying,” Chris shrugged. “I have no feelings towards him, neither my daughter nor myself want anything to do with him. Would Deucalion be interested?”
“He did something to you...” Kali turned back to Stiles, who shrugged.
“Would. He. Be. Interested?” Chris repeated shortly, tense and Kali gave him a long look.
“I’d have to ask... but I’m almost certain he’d be intrigued...”
“And my pack?” Stiles prompted.
“Hale and McCall are who we’re after,” she said in a very matter-of-fact tone. “We’re still going to have that battle... but for now, Jennifer will take priority...” She turned around, giving the twins considering looks before walking away. “Do your jobs,” she said before turning the corner.
“I’ll trust you to keep them safe,” Stiles said seriously. “And if that means staying away from them when the time comes...” he stopped speaking, leaving the threat open ended and they nodded stiffly, turning to follow Kali down the corridor.
“Why are you allowed to get his blood on your hands but we’re not?” Derek murmured, sounding very groggy and Stiles rolled his eyes.
“Victim’s wishes trump everything, obviously. Come on sourwolf, we have a pack to wrangle.” He looked up at Chris as Derek got up stiffly, holding his head in one hand.
“Could you do it?” he asked as he stood.
“He broke his own code-”
“That’s not what I asked. He’s your father...”
“If not for his actions, none of this would have happened-”
“Chris...” Stiles sighed, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “Just... be prepared.” He nodded at the hunter once before he and Derek left the corridor, leaving Chris alone with his thoughts.