Part II of chapt 10 of Nowhere Man.

[1lostone]

Please see the bottom of the page for more notes for possibly triggery specifics on this chapter. Long chapter is Long. There is one more chapter after this and possibly an epilogue. Please see the end of this post for any trigger warnings.

Stiles only noticed that his hands were trembling when he brushed one finger against the back of his hand.  Stiles swallowed hard and forced himself to look.

Derek was just starting to blink awake. Stiles could see that his arms were both broken, bones shifting and healing in front of his eyes. Derek couldn’t hold back the wince, and Stiles saw that the ropes that tied Derek’s hands and feet were charred. The reek of wolvesbane made it obvious why Derek couldn’t just break the rope and free himself. Road rash bled sluggishly, the grit and gravel from the road looking as though it was bubbling up from the surface of Derek’s skin as the flesh knit flawlessly back together, pushing the imperfections out so that he healed perfectly.

Isaac was cutting open the ropes with a hiss and a flash of a blade. Derek barely noticed, his cool hazel gaze settled directly on Stiles.

Stiles actually jumped when his phone chirped.

Unknown Caller:

--He is no sort of Alpha for you. That pathetic little pup couldn’t even keep his own cub safe. How could he possibly give you what you need?

His phone beeped again and Stiles felt his stomach jump up to his throat when he saw that Morel had sent a picture message.  His mouth was a desert. When Stiles nervously swallowed, his throat clicked painfully.

The picture was an extreme close-up of Zoe’s face. Stiles could see how red her eyes were, the eyelids almost translucent from weeping.  The picture had frozen the wet sheen of tears in her big brown eyes. It took him a minute to be able to drag his gaze away from his daughter’s face.  Her cupid’s bow mouth was turned down, and Stiles could still see marks from tear tracks on her cheeks.

The spurt of anger morphed into something so dark that for a second, Stiles wondered if this was what other, full-blooded werewolves felt before they changed. Scott had once said that it was like taking all of the hurt and anger, the fury and hatred inside of him and balling it up so that he could use it.  That there was a trick to being so angry and so full of rage that you could then turn it into his wolf. Now? Stiles understood what he was talking about. For the first time, Stiles actually felt less than human. Even his heat hadn’t made him feel this... preternatural.

Stiles could feel his own eyes bleed to the ice green of his mother’s, and only dimly realized that his hand was clutching his phone tightly enough to crack it. The replacement phone wasn’t very fancy, but it was sturdy enough that the screen didn’t crack from the stress that Stiles put on it. It chirped under his hand and Stiles wanted to throw it. Adrenaline was causing his heartbeat to pick up. He was having trouble focusing the rage he felt.  Morel’s message had made it plain that Derek was no match for him.  He’d hurt both Boyd and Derek just to prove a point.  Stiles jerked when he realized that Derek was staring up at him from where he knelt on the floor, his own gaze dark as he darted a quick look from Stiles’ face to Stiles’ phone.

Stiles felt the helpless terror and rage ball into something dark and malignant deep in his gut. Oh, how he wanted them to hurt. Morel? Derek? Both of them?  Stiles wasn’t sure which one he wanted to hurt more.

While most Omegas could change at the full moon, they were too weak to change back and forth as Alphas, and some of the stronger Betas were wont to do. Stiles’ own diluted Omega blood had always kept him from changing.  Even the thought of it had terrified him during that dark time in college while his brain shut off- right before Lydia had swooped down and physically removed his head from his ass.

Now though, he could feel the possibility under his skin. Isaac did a classic spit-take, staring up at Stiles with wide eyes.  Stiles didn’t know if it was the adrenaline focusing his thoughts, or the way his pupils had enlarged, but Stiles could see a clearly-defined level of detail. Suddenly, he could see the way Boyd was still struggling to heal; his own abilities not nearly as strong as his Alpha’s.  He could scent the way Erica fairly vibrated with worry as she stared down at Boyd’s broken body, biting her lip. Her heart rate was so high that Stiles could hear each, individual thud thundering in his ears.  Allison and his father were practically telegraphing their distress and worry in every single twitching movement that they did. They were so loud! Where was Scott? Shouldn’t he be here?

And Derek.

Stiles’ gaze zeroed in on Derek’s hazel eyes.  He forced himself to take a deep, shaky breath as he stepped away from everyone still crowded around Allison’s van, needing a moment to himself.

He took another step away, and another, purposefully releasing his grip on his phone.  It was easy to blame Derek for everything- but the cold, hard truth of the matter was that it had been Stiles who had fucked up...for whatever it was that Morel wanted.

Stiles heard a familiar footstep behind him and counted to five before taking another deep, calming breath.  

“Stiles--”  

Stiles just held up a hand to stall whatever it was that Derek felt he needed to say.  “Save it. Let’s just get her back.”

Derek was silent for so long that Stiles looked down at his phone, idly surprised to see that the ping from before was a video message, then so sick to his stomach that his heart actually skipped a few beats. He felt as though he’d been hit again as the memories of the video Morel had sent made his stomach lurch again. He barely noticed the way Derek was immediately behind him, causally gripping Stiles’ elbow, almost as though he’d been thinking about it unconsciously.

“What?”

Stiles opened his mouth, but the words wouldn’t come out.  He touched the screen with fingers that shook, biting his lip hard enough to  taste blood. There was a moment while the message loaded, then the video started playing.

Princess Tianna was having a rough day. Her green dress looked ripped and burnt in  a  few places. The black hair was matted and scraggly looking. She was absolutely filthy, with her face streaked with red clay and black dirt and only recognizable by the satin sheen of a green dress that Stiles had washed countless times, given that the version that Derek bought was exactly like the one Zoe had left in Massachusetts.

It was obviously calculated. Rationally, Stiles knew that the doll couldn’t have gone through that much trauma in the what. Twenty? Thirty? minutes that Zoe had been missing.  Rationally, he knew that Morel was a master of the mindfuck, and had been manipulating Stiles (and Derek) for years.

But ‘rationally’ took a hike when he saw the battered doll. All he could see in his head was Zoe, like some twisted metaphor, crying and filthy, marked in the places the doll was. Stiles must have made some sound, because the solid, comforting heat of Derek was pressed against him; the low, furious growl almost soothing against the center of Stiles’ back.

“He’s been two steps ahead of me the whole fucking time.”  Derek’s words made Stiles swallow his rage. He couldn’t have said why, really.  It was so confusing; half of him wanted to melt into the comfort that Derek was offering, while the rest of him was so furious that his skin crawled. “He had someone in the hotel the entire time. They didn’t get close until I.” Derek almost seemed to absently reach out to touch the screen of the phone before realizing what he was doing and freezing, his muscles tensing uncomfortably. “Even the Ash that I left was fake. He had someone there to plant it. Unfucking believable, right?”

Stiles blinked.  He hadn’t really thought about the fact that even if Stiles had been able to cross the path of the Ash, Zoe shouldn’t have been able to. At the time he’d been so focused on food for a pack meeting that he’d willingly left the little sanctuary Derek had provided for them.

They both jumped when a tiny hand curled around Tianna’s leg, patting it almost absently. Stiles made a sound like his internal organs all exploded at the same time, then whirled, almost knocking Derek over, screaming for his dad.

“Dad! Dad! I know where she is! Dad!!”

Stiles ignored the way his dad stared at him, too set on waving his phone in his and Allison’s face to be offended.   The phone chirped at him as a text came through, and Stiles saw the horrified, furious knowledge on both his dad’s and Derek’s faces as they realized exactly who was texting and sending Stiles videos.

Unknown Caller:
    -Come alone.

Stiles wasn’t even aware that he had sucked in a shocked breath, words tumbling from his mouth in his haste to make all of them understand. “It’s the clay. The clay! Mom used to take me out there when you were working, when she was upset that you had a double and weren’t home. Usually we’d just eat cereal on the couch and watch Johnny Bravo, but fuck. Fuck, he had to have seen her. She would be so... so full of energy. Like it would zip under her skin, like electricity. She tried howling once, but I got so scared that she stopped and oh my god. He had to have.”  

Stiles sucked in a deep breath, his gaze jumping from Derek’s, to Allison’s, to his dad’s. They stared back, identical looks of stupification on their faces.  Stiles hissed, furious. Why did everyone around him have to be so stupid?  “The clay! There’s only one place in Beacon Hills where the clay’s like tha--” Stiles broke off at the terrible look on his dad’s face.  Stiles hadn’t seen that look in years, and only when his dad was so drunk that he couldn’t bottle up the loneliness or the bitter anger of losing his wife anymore.  When Stiles spoke, he didn’t have to try to make his voice gentle.

“Dad. we used to go there all the time and play. She’d act all mad that I was covered in clay, but she’d run with me. Chase me, dad. Remember the tub? You’d come home and I’d be in the bath... and that was after she hosed me down outside. Trust me. I know what that stuff looks like. And it’s here, deliberately here and here on Zoe’s hand.” Stiles  clicked off of the text message and back to the video, pausing and holding it up, leaning out of the way as they all tried to crowd around the little phone to see.

Stiles watched all of them, watched their reactions as his head throbbed so painfully that he could feel it in his back teeth.

“She’s at the quarry. The one just outside of Beacon Hills. The one where you found...mom.” Stiles’ dad had not let him see the crime scene photos, but as a teenager Stiles had found them.  Her body had been streaked with the same clay.  So had his dad’s uniform. The blood and the clay had mixed together enough that Stiles would be very, very surprised if the two weren’t forever linked in his dad’s head.

Since it was outside of Beacon Hills’ jurisdiction, his dad hadn’t been on the case (and obviously, who would have let the spouse of a murdered victim anywhere near the case?) but he’d been kept in the loop by the Staties that had been responsible for.

Oh.

Oh.

When it clicked, the nausea that Stiles had been battling for the past half an hour won. Stiles barely had time to turn away from everyone before he was vomiting, the spasms keeping him bent over and helpless as he fell to his knees.

There was a startled squwak of sound from Derek’s pack, but of all people it was Allison who held him while Stiles lost control of his body.  When he was done, she wiped his face and helped him back to his feet.

Stiles was enjoying the white static that buzzed in his mind for the blissful seconds before plans started whirling around his brain: ideas and thoughts and possibilities swirling together. The familiarity Stiles had always felt at even hearing Morel’s name had bothered him in the way things did when they were just on the tip of the tongue, ready to click into place.  Only, it had taken thinking about his dad’s hidden, probably-not-legally-obtained casefiles of his dead mother for that click to happen.

Adrian Morel had murdered Stiles’ mom.  He had lured her there- they had later found information on her computer promising twisted retribution to her human husband and son if she didn’t comply- then killed her.

Only his mom? She had fought. There had been such obvious signs of a struggle that the detective in charge had believed that Stiles’ mom had fatally-wounded her attacker.  Sometimes, on her birthday or on Mother’s Day, Stiles had taken a twisted sort of satisfaction that if she had to die, she did it protecting him and his dad. It didn’t really help.... but sometimes? Sometimes that was all he had.

Stiles’ dad had gotten there before the police and the paramedics, with just enough time to say...goodbye. Stiles wasn’t sure. He had never asked, and his dad never offered the information. Stiles only knew that she had died in her dad’s lap because of the statement he’d given to the detective in charge as to why her body had been moved.

Stiles blinked, the sour taste in his mouth and the pounding of his head forcibly dragging him back to the here and now.  

Stiles’ dad and Derek were arguing, both of their tempers clearly blowing past whatever checks and balances they had. Normally, Stiles thought he’d be popping some popcorn and getting comphy to watch his dad tear into Derek, but now?

“We really need to focus. If Morel has been ... if he wanted my mom and me and Zoe, it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that he’s not going to stop with us until he’s dead.” Stiles wiped his mouth on his plaid, then balled it up and wiped the sweat off of his head, tossing it into the back of the open van. There was little point in pretending he was completely okay- every single person here would see though that in half a second- but he could fake it long enough for what speed-healing he had to kick in. It would take him a good twelve hours to heal his head. Fortunately for Stiles, he had excellent proof that his head was extremely hard.

“He wants me... to know where Zoe is.  Morel is ready for a confrontation. And... he wants me to come alone.”

Derek actually growled at that. Isaac’s eyes changed, his nose and mouth twisting to the less-controlled werewolf form of his other shape.  Stiles rolled his eyes, wishing not for the first time that he could get away with whacking them on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper.  Well, okay without losing his arm in the process.  Stiles sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck and giving them what he hoped was a look that spoke volumes about their bullshit.

“And, since we don’t know who is watching.... that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”  Stiles ignored the way his dad’s knuckles popped when he balled his fists together. Isaac huffed a heated breath. Derek didn’t move- just stared at Stiles like he was waiting for the punchline. “He wants me to come alone? Then that’s what he gets.”

*****

Stiles felt a little ridiculous standing in the middle of the rock quarry, his feet squelching in the rocky mix of clay and mud that had caused this place to be abandoned. Funnily enough, digging away at the supporting rocks of the earth apparently caused sinkholes. Stiles bet that whoever had fucked that particular little fact up had gotten a truly epic amount of shit for it.  Still, as long as people kept away from where they’d been digging and digging, and the huge sinkhole that (fortunately) hadn’t spread past where the rocks still sort of blocked it in, it was safe enough. There was a large, dense patch of woods to the southeast that he and his mom used to play in, but Stiles made sure not to look over there.  

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and Stiles bit his lip.  He knew that Derek, his dad, Isaac, hell even Boyd, Erica and Allison weren’t exactly thrilled with his plan. But when Scott had texted them, the plan had suddenly gone from a firm ‘fuck, no!’ to a slightly less rigid, ‘fuck, no are you actually insane, Stiles?!’ and that? That he could work with.

The problem with werewolves being bad guys was that they were impossible to sneak up on. The better eyesight, superior hearing, and frankly freaky sense of smell was all well and good when your side was the only one who had that advantage, but when the other side had the same sort of advantage, things became a little less gloat-worthy.

Still, it was hard not to think of sacrificial lambs and well, basically the plot of every horror movie that had ever been written ever as he stood there, waiting for something to happen.

Stiles’ phone buzzed again.  He sighed and took it out of his pocket, glancing at the screen.  It seemed sick of him to feel amused at Scott’s rather pathetic-sounding text.

Scott:

-dude. I get that we need someone to watch the back, but this is seriously the nastiest stink that ever stank.

Stiles felt his lips twitch into a smirk.  Nope. He definitely didn’t feel bad for Scott. In fact, if there was a way for the maggot-infested rotting carcass that Scott was literally wrapped in to be even more disgusting, Stiles was completely onboard with that.

It had been the dumbest of luck, and really if dumb luck wasn’t Scott all over, then Stiles didn’t know what was, that Morel hadn’t known that Scott had followed Derek and Boyd.  But, where Derek and Boyd had gone for the full-on frontal werewolf of rage assault, Scott had clearly used all his years of Call of Duty shooter strategy to track them from the back.  The result? Scott had managed where none of them had. He’d successfully followed Morel’s pack, had seen Zoe in the hands of some of the underlings hole up in the old trailer that had served as the quarry headquarters, and was currently covered in enough stink to hide the scent of ten werewolves, watching the trailer where Stiles’ daughter was being kept.  

Scott had texted where he was, and that Morel wasn’t there, then had sat back to wait.  Unfortunately, while Scott could text information, they had decided not to text back, given that the sound of his phone vibrating would be a little harder to hide than the scent of his body.

And as ridiculous as Stiles felt standing here, waiting for something to happen, it was kind of nice to know that Scott had his back again. Even if Stiles still didn’t quite trust him to keep it safe. Standing here and doing nothing was still better than the shocky, withdrawn state he’d been in right after Zoe had been kidnapped. And unfortunately? Stiles knew that that was just on the horizon of his consciousness, that he could go back to that if he gave up his focus for only a second.

The sound of a  truck bumping along the rocky ground caused Stiles to tense. He had to be very careful not to look over to where Scott was hiding.  Morel had wanted him to come alone, and it was absolutely imperative that it look like Stiles was complying.  That of course had made both his dad and Derek less than happy, but Stiles kind of snotty remark that ‘he’d done just fine for himself without either one of them for a few years now’ had at least managed to shut them up. Stiles got why his dad was so protective. But Derek? God only knew what was going on in that head of his. Stiles certainly didn’t.

The truck, a huge hemi-powered suv pulled up ten feet from where Stiles was standing.  He tried not to tense as the door opened, but seeing Morel face-to-face after so long was just... weird. His chest gave a funny twitch, like it remembered being shot, and Stiles couldn’t help the step back that he took, breathing a little heavier than normal.

“Wow, so you must have a really tiny dick if you're compensating with a truck that big. Rev up the engine so I’ll be really impressed.”  

Stiles could almost feel the facepalm from wherever Derek was hiding.

Morel’s smirk widened into a delighted smile. That creeped Stiles out more than anything.

“I am certain that you will have plenty of time to decide for yourself. Now. Before we continue with tonight’s little drama, why don’t you go ahead and have that little pup come out of hiding. Really, did you think that I wouldn’t scent an Alpha on my own property?” Morel’s voice rose. “Hale! Come now. You and I both know how this is going to end!” Before Stiles could do anything to avoid it, Morel had twisted around him with reflexes that made his own look like that of an old lady. An old, arthritic lady. One of his hands was on Stiles throat, lightly pressing. The other arm was wrapped firmly around Stiles’ waist, fingers digging into the meat of his left asscheek.  Stiles bent back as best he could, but Morel’s mouth was on his, kissing him hard enough that his split lip bled again.

Stiles’ faint thought of ‘ha, hope you like puke-breath, you sick fuck,’ was startled out of him by the furious burst of motion that was Derek busting out of the small tower of granite stacked and forgotten.

The prick of Morel’s claws on the back of Stiles’ neck caused both of them to freeze. Stiles hated that Morel could probably smell his fear, but he was terribly, horrifically aware of what would happen if Morel tried to mark him as part of his pack.  It wasn’t like you could just wave a magic wand and get rid of Omega blood.  Wolves have been trying for centuries, and Stiles had seen pictures of what was left of the Omega after their blood rejected the Alphas.  

Sometimes he still had nightmares.

“Good dog. That’s so much better. Now come along. We have much to discuss.” Morel’s grip on Stiles’ ass changed as he grabbed Stiles’ wrist instead, his other hand not leaving his neck.  He wasn’t going anywhere.  Derek was a warm blast of heat beside of him as they walked towards the small trailer.

It had been killing Stiles not to just break the plan and run for the trailer. The thought of what Morel would do to Zoe was the only thing that kept him from hauling ass. Now though, with each step that brought them closer to the abandoned building, something in Stiles almost purred. He would be calm. He wouldn’t fuck this up, but oh oh oh ohhh how Morel would hurt before this night was over. Stiles faked a stumble into Morel’s body. His skin crawled, but he was willing to believe that Morel would be distracted enough by the brush of Stiles’ body for the way his fingers flew over the keypad of his phone, still hidden in his pocket, to go unnoticed.

Isaac, Stiles’ dad, and strangely enough of all people Erica had been against the idea of Derek going into this with him at their brief strategy meeting. Stiles hadn’t particularly felt like fighting, so he’d kept his opinion to himself. But now, as Derek walked up the steps just ahead of them, Stiles could sort of see their point.  

Derek was barely holding his shit together. Stiles could tell by his elevated breathing, by the sheen of sweat on his forehead, by the faint tremble of his fingers.  Maybe there was some sort of wolfy-- oh. Of course. The urge to protect the younger members of the pack was as strong as any other instinct. It was one of the reasons that while most packs looked down on Omegas as breeders, their offspring were a precious resource. They were true-born wolves, and as such imperative to the strength of the pack.  Stiles had been fairly certain that Derek is only helping him for Zoe. And that was fine, really. As long as Zoe was safe, nothing else really mattered. But Stiles didn’t know how strong Derek could be against all those centuries of protective instincts.  He bit his lip, following Derek meekly up the few stairs.

Here was the part of the plan that Stiles didn’t like. He could get behind being bait. He understood the strategic need to make Morel think that he was nothing but complacent. But now? Now Stiles had to trust his former pack- and fuck them. Stiles had been pack, despite what their stubborn, human-biased asses had to say- who had done their very best to break him.

The door swung open with hinges that groaned with disuse.  Stiles had only the blurred impression of three thug-looking wolves in the back before there was a muffled shriek.  Stiles only caught a quick glimpse of pink before he was hurling himself away from Morel’s grip and across the room towards his daughter.

Only to be brought up short by the sight of one of the betas in the room grabbing Zoe’s jacket by the pink hood and tugging sharply enough that it kept her from running. His smirk spoke volumes. Zoe turned, launching herself at the calf of the man holding her, tiny teeth tearing into his leg. Stiles gaped at the ferocity his sweet girl displayed, clearly furious at the man who dared keep her from her dad. The man swore and swatted at her, sending her staggering towards the floor, before hauling her up by her hoodie and giving her a little shake.

It was only the thought of scaring his little girl  that kept Stiles from killing him right then and there.

“Now, now. Let’s all make ourselves comfortable.  Jeffery, You can let her go. good thing for you that she still has all her baby teeth!” Morel chuckled, sounding inordinately pleased at the almost feral way Zoe attacked the man holding her. “I’m sure she misses her daddy.”  The beta let go of Zoe immediately. Zoe was a little blur as she ran forward, and when Stiles wrapped his arms around her, he thought his heart was simply going to stop. He buried his nose in her shoulder and neck, inhaling deeply as her skinny little arms wrapped just as tightly around him.

“Daddy. I did not like that game. Hide and go seek is supposed to be fun. He is a big stupidhead meanie!” Zoe frowned over at Morel. “I had to watch cartoons the whole time. He said I was too little to read! Daddy? It’s okay daddy. You don’t have to cry. It was just a game... Daddy?”

“Aww. Aren’t they sweet? What do you think, Mr. Hale?” Morel’s voice brought Stiles back to the fact that they were far, far from being anything close to safe. Stiles felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise at the thought at how very differently this could have gone.  Zoe seemed under the impression that they had been playing a rather involved game of hide and seek. It made something in Stiles’ gut relax slightly. She looked and acted unharmed.

For the first time, Stiles realized that Morel might have some of the same instinct against Omega-born weres as Derek.  The thought was utterly foreign and made him frown. While he couldn’t be more grateful (and the pessimistic little voice in the back of his mind made it clear that Stiles had no way of knowing if Zoe had been hurt or not) that Morel might not be as completely sadistic as they had all assumed, it was weird as hell to attribute him with any sort of positive acknowledgement.

Stiles turned, moving so that his body was between Zoe’s and Morel’s, but that put her within reach of the three goons in the back of the room. Still, that was better than having her have to look at Morel and whatever sick shit he was planning.

“Ah, no reason to talk. I can see it on your face as plain as day. I wanted you to see them, Derek. See how perfect my little family will be?” Derek only shifted forward the tiniest little bit but froze when he saw the glint of the gun casually pointed at Stiles and Zoe. Stiles shifted so that Zoe couldn’t see anything, panic a hard little ball in his throat. The three goons had no problem subduing Derek. Derek didn’t even fight. He’d seemed to go somewhere completely calm. The only sign of any emotional upheaval was the way his eyes had bled away to a furious, seething red.

Morel walked over to a chair and sat down, putting his feet up onto the ancient, termite-infested desk.  The gun dangled from his wrist, but Stiles had no trouble imagining how quickly Morel could aim and fire it, despite the less-threatening hold. The goons bound Derek’s hands behind his back, pushing him down to his knees. Stiles couldn’t help but notice that the one Zoe had attacked was limping a little. Stiles could smell the wolfsbane-infused rope that Morel had used only hours before and sighed. While he was sure that Derek could kick ass, literally with his hands tied behind his back, this would have been a fuck of a lot less nerve-racking if Derek hadn’t had to.

“The thing is,  Stiles, I’ve been trying to tell you for quite awhile that I would make a much more attractive mate than Derek.”

Stiles couldn’t help it. He snorted.

Morel continued, speaking over Stiles disbelief.  “Look at him. Brought low so willingly. Well, I don’t need to tell you how weak he is. Look at how willing he was to believe my little stories back before you left!”

Stiles winced. “Well, he did see you slobbering all over me.”

Morel laughed. “And look! You’re defending him. Well this is just perfect.”

“Stiles doesn’t belong to anyone but Zoe.” Derek’s voice was calm on the surface but laced with such rage that Stiles couldn’t help the small shiver down his spine.

“Wrong!  You seem to be utterly confused. I guess brainpower wasn’t really ever your strong suit. What you fail to understand is that Stiles. Is. Mine!” Morel’s roar caused Zoe to whimper and press closer to Stiles’ chest.

“Don’t you understand? I’ve had him. Them. I’ve seen him sleep. I’ve seen him touch himself.  Seen him cry when he remembers your ever so thoughtful parting gift, seen every second of self-doubt when he raised a beautiful creature by himself.  I was there to see Zoe grow up. Not you! Not any of you.” Morel causally brought the gun around, shooting Derek in the shoulder, the pfffft of the silencer completely shocking in the small room.  Stiles cried out, all at once terrified, desperate for Zoe not to hear or understand what was going on.  

“You can’t possibly mean for her to see this,” Stiles blurted before he could think of holding back the words. Stiles would use whatever instinct to protect that Morel had, especially if it got his daughter out of way of whatever the fuck was going on.

Morel tapped his chin, once with the barrel of the gun before nodding once at one of the betas. Stiles noticed that it wasn’t the one that Zoe had bitten. “Take her to my car. Wait for us there.”

It took everything Stiles had not to meet Derek’s red gaze. His cell phone was burning a hole in his pocket. “No! I mean...”

“I promise you that she won’t be harmed. Unless you prefer she stay here, with a front row seat?”

Stiles shook his head, hugging Zoe to him again. It physically hurt him to let her go, but the plan called for her being safe and out of the way.  Stiles might not trust Scott, but he knew that Zoe wouldn’t come to any harm in his care.

“Daddy? I don’t want to go with him.”

“Aw, Zoe. Now you know better than that.” Stiles stomach swam with disgust as he talked his baby girl into leaving with the stranger. Still, it was better than leaving her in here with him and watching.... whatever it was that Morel was going to do. He knew that he had to stall for time before the rest of Derek’s pack could be in a position to help.

But that didn’t make it any easier.

“Well, I left some books in my car. Maybe if you ask really nicely, he’ll go and get them for you.”

The stubborn jut of Zoe’s chin was pure Derek Hale.  She turned to look at the beta, who forced a terribly fake smile for Zoe’s sake. He was lucky that Stiles wasn’t in a position to rip out his throat.  Zoe hugged him and kissed his cheek, rubbing her nose against his cheek the same ways that puppies did. Stiles saw Derek shifting slightly so that Zoe couldn’t see that his hands were tied, or the still-sluggishly bleeding wound in his shoulder.  Derek seemed completely baffled when Zoe did the same thing to him, giggling a little at the “fur” on his face under her lips when she kissed him.

Stiles thought he had had his heart broken before, but watching Zoe slip her trusting hand into the beta charged with babysitting and walking out of the dingy little trailer with him was the hardest thing he’d ever done.  He had to curl his nails into the palms of his hands to keep from reaching for his cell phone.

Stiles took a deep, shaky breath. “So... can I ask you something? How did you find me? I mean, my dad couldn’t even find me.”

Morel raised an eyebrow, swinging his feet down and patting the surface of the desk, his intentions clear. Stiles wrinkled his nose, but figured that it wouldn’t hurt to at least seem like he was on board with Morel’s special version of crazy.

“Funny you should ask. I really couldn’t have done it without your dear friend, Harper.”

Stiles hadn’t been expecting that. Hurt speared through him like a shot from a gun. He gasped, pausing in mid-step towards Morel.  

“No. Not in the way you think of course. She didn’t give you up or anything as tedious as all that. Were you aware that she considers herself a bit of a blogger? Funny how a few positive comments can open those anonymous floodgates. A few years ago, she mentions that someone saved her life. Someone brave and sweet, a young man who just happened to have been pregnant at the time.  And oh my how desperately guilty she felt at being responsible for the premature birth! I’m quite sure her mother was behind the post’s deletion, but it was the most fortunate of instances of luck that one of my loyal pack just happened to capture it and send it my way.  Of course when it was deleted, we knew that it had to be true.”

Stiles pressed his hands into the sharp corners of the desk, keeping it between him and Morel. He couldn’t quite bring himself to perch on the desk like Morel so obviously wanted. Despite himself, he was interested in Morel’s answer.

“Did you know that you are one of only seventeen Omegas left in the entire United States?”

The non-sequitur caused Stiles to gape at Morel’s calm face, nonplussed. Derek made an odd sound to his left. For a moment, Stiles had actually forgotten that they were in the middle of their own drama- carefully staged for Morel’s amusement.  Even the two betas left in the room shifted slightly uncomfortably.

“Oh! Indeed. You see, while you were on your little jaunt--- no. Actually it was a bit earlier than that that the idea actually occurred to me. With your mother’s death, to tell the truth.

Stiles tensed.

Morel’s smile twisted into a smirk.  “Oh? I see that’s not as much as a surprise as I had hoped. Shame really that she didn’t value her family a little more. I even offered to let her and her child stay with me, but would she budge? Do you know that she actually seemed offended at my off--”

Stiles launched himself at Morel.  He didn’t think he had ever tried to hurt someone in his life, and it was worth it for the feel of Morel’s flesh giving under his fingernails. Stiles tried to take a swing, but Morel had his arm twisted up behind his back, pressing him to the surface of the desk with barely a skip in his heartbeat.  

Stiles kicked at him, but Morel held his skinnier frame down with very little effort. Stiles hissed, watching the deep scratches healing before his eyes. Stiles glared up at the werewolf, noting with some tiny little part of his mind that he had finally managed to piss him off. His phone fell out of his pocket and clattered onto the stained linoleum.

Morel snarled down at Stiles, causing his shoulder to pull painfully as the added weight pushed Stiles’ arm into the unforgiving surface of the desk.  “This is why your kind needs to be exterminated. And you will be, as soon as you’ve bred me enough cubs. You think that because you’re allowed to run with your betters that you’re one of us.  But first, I think you need to remember just who it is that you belong to. You picked me, Stiles. You know that wolves mate for life. I knew what we were as soon as I tasted you for the first time.”

Stiles gaped up at him.  “You’re fucking insane. I kissed you as a distraction, so that my pack could take you down.” Stiles shook his head, raising his neck up from where it lolled against the edge of the desk. He caught a glimpse of Derek’s too-pale face but couldn’t concentrate on what that meant. “I knew that Derek and Scott were having trouble with you. Some kind of territory thing. I snuck in there so that your attention would be off of them when they kicked your ass. And seriously, dude - I have to tell you that the being shot thing was sort of a deal-breaker even if I had any interest in your ancient, older-than-my-dad ass.” Incredibly, of all things, this caused Derek to snort a huff of laughter.  Morel looked furious, pushing Stiles away from him and whirling to stand by the window, looking out to the two vehicles parked just outside.  Stiles’ heart stuttered in his chest, remembering the fact that Morel held a weapon and was facing the vehicle where his daughter was being held.

“I have watched every step that Zoe has taken. I’ve seen her first bout of colic. The first time you changed her diaper. The times you cried yourself to sleep when you realized how much you wanted your friends to know... to even care that Stiles Stilinski even existed. The first time she got her hair cut. The first time she ate solid food.  I have watched you for years!” His voice roared so loudly that Stiles winced, pushing himself up from the desk. “You are mine in every single way that could possibly count. You will give me beautiful children and for that reason alone, I am not able to harm you. But him?” Morel turned, his face eerily blank as he stared at Derek. “Him I can hurt with no problem. One shot and his pack is no more. All of them, the ones that hurt you so deeply, gone. I will hunt them down one by one for each and every time you cried yourself to sleep over their idiocy. I have something very, very special planned for your former lover, Stiles. Something that will make him regret each time he touched what. Was. MINE!”

Stiles shut his mouth with a small snap. He turned to look at Derek, who was ignoring Stiles completely, staring down at the floor with an almost obsessive glare, as though there would be a test later on the stains marring the linoleum.  

“So, my dear one. You have a choice. All good lessons begin with a choice, right? Those weak little breeders that I killed- they had choices. I offered to give them everything, and yet they could not bear to give up their cubs to me. As though they would raise them with any of the skills needed for a true predator.  Your mother had a choice, and unfortunately for you she made the wrong one. It hurt me to gut her, knowing that she had the potential to produce such powerful offspring if only she wasn’t...” Morel waved the hand with the gun around, like he couldn’t quite think of the words that he wanted to say. “..so enamored of her human spouse. Still. I believe that you will make a far more intelligent choice, Stiles.”

Morel took a step forward. Stiles shifted backwards, slightly, keeping his body between Derek and Morel.  It was probably stupid, but he couldn’t stop himself from trying his best to get Derek out of this any more than Stiles could stop his next breath from his lungs.

“Stiles.” Derek’s growl was so full of emotion that caused Stiles to jump where he stood. He’d never understood why people always said Derek Hale was emotionally barren. Emotionally constipated, maybe. But he felt things.  And right now? He was not happy with Stiles’ pathetic attempts to protect him.

“Stilessss.” Morel’s voice echoed Derek’s warning, mocking him with a drawn-out s at the end, like the hiss of a snake. “So? Here is your choice. You can either come with me and our cub. Willingly. I’ll even... promise not to harm your dear father.  The three of us will begin to rebuild my pack to the strength of my ancestors. Or? You can have a center seat for all the ... inventive things that I have dreamed of doing to your Mr. Hale.”

Stiles blinked, the blood draining from his face.  His lips twitched. For a second, he was terrifyingly afraid that he would burst out laughing. It wouldn’t be the first time that he’d had a terribly inappropriate reaction to something.  Morel was almost caressing the gun now, his posture absolutely relaxed, as though he was waiting for Stiles to decide what he wanted for dinner.  

Stiles licked his lips.  He didn’t mean for it to be provocative, but Morel’s gaze focused on him like a laser beam, causing Stiles’ skin to actually crawl with discomfort.  

Stiles forced himself to take one more glance at Derek. Because this? This was not really a choice at all. If he went with Morel, he and Zoe would be safe. Derek would be safe. “How do I... know that you won’t just shoot him later? Or have one of your goons do it?”

It hurt his heart to hear the low, shocked sound Derek made from behind him.

Morel’s smirk turned smug. “You don’t. It’s a leap of faith.”

Stiles bit his lip,  quickly thinking. Doing this would change the plan... but they’d be safe. He was sure that he could get himself and Zoe away from Morel later. Stiles’ body shifted, ready to take that one step forward before turning to see Derek still staring at the floor. He wanted...He wanted...

He just wanted. His throat was tight. “Derek...” It was barely a breath of air.

Derek looked up for one second and the force of his gaze caused everything in Stiles to freeze. He could see fury. Terror. Frustration. And something else that Stiles refused to put a name to. Something softer, but no less crushing to see. Stiles could feel his cheeks flush with the stupid, stuttering way that his heart skipped a beat in his chest.

The shot rang out with a strange echo as the sound bounced around the quarry.  Stiles didn’t even have time to breathe before Derek moved, his muscles springing into action from the way they’d been bunched together in preparation of his need to move. Stiles cried out when his back hit the filthy floor, the solid weight of Derek crashing into him and taking him to the floor. Derek hit him so hard that they actually skidded a few inches across the floor, causing Stiles’ shirt to ruck up to his armpits.

For a moment, the only sound Stiles could hear was the crash of his and Derek’s hearts, punctuated with the tinkle of falling glass.

“Stiles?? STILES?”

His dad. Stiles stared up at his dad from over Derek’s shoulder, framed almost perfectly in the window of the old trailer, the red-spattered glass neither hiding the frantic desperation on his  face nor the shotgun that he still held.

There was the sound of swearing, and Stiles blinked stupidly up at the two betas as they both tried to sprint for the door, before blinking again up at Derek’s face.  The look Stiles had seen could have been completely in his head for all that there was evidence of it on Derek’s face.  Derek’s gaze was hooded, his face so blank that Stiles would have cringed away from him had he been able.

There was a shout, and the sound of someone’s fist hitting flesh.

“I think you can get off of me now.”

Derek rolled off of Stiles with a quick, jerky movement, completely at odds with his usual grace he usually displayed without even thinking about it.

Stiles only had a glimpse of red blood spatter before he forced himself to look away. He struggled to get to his knees, then used the desk to pull himself up to his feet, still a little dizzy between Morel’s earlier love-tap with the gun and Derek’s more recent tackle.  

He heard his dad’s voice and Boyd’s low reply. When Zoe’s piping voice made its way to Stiles sluggish brain, he practically burst through the door before his baby could see Morel’s grey matter splattered across the desk.  They all met on the porch. It was slightly surreal, actually. Zoe threw herself at Stiles. Derek ignored the both of them, jerking his head at Boyd and Isaac who both nodded, looking feral as they hauled off Morel’s two betas.

Scott and Allison were having some sort of furiously hissed argument on the fringe of Stiles’ awareness. He felt his dad’s arms come around the two of them and Stiles let himself relax for the first time in what felt like weeks.

“Daddy, your stinky friend is so cool! Did you know that he can burp the entire ABCs?”  Zoe pulled away from Stiles clutching hug, waving brightly at a sheepish-looking Scott.

Stiles hiccuped from tears to a giggle. It burst from his throat without his control, then he was laughing so hard that his legs collapsed, utterly unable to hold his weight.  “Yeah? How did you meet him?”

“Oh! Well, he’s faster than Harper.” Clearly this was a huge concession. “He and the other stupidface meanie had a talk, then your stinky friend told me to come with him. I know that I’m not supposed to go with strangers,” Zoe scuffed her sneaker in the dirt, peeking up at her dad through her eyelashes.  Stiles heard his dad snort. He couldn’t blame him. Stiles had been performing that particular Stilinski move since the early nineties. “..but your friend was with him.” Zoe nodded at Allison.

“Uh. Stiles?” Stiles wiped the tears from his cheeks and turned to Allison, noticing that she was shifting her weight. “I need to... uh.”  Her brown gaze cut down to the large knife she was holding against her leg, carefully keeping it from Zoe’s gaze.

Oh. Oh! Of course. Werewolves could heal even a headshot. Stiles stood aside, and let Allison slide through the door to finish cleaning up the mess. Scott bit his lip, looking nervously at Stiles, Zoe, and Stiles’ dad.

The wind changed, and all of them winced at the stench hit them.  Stiles would never say that his Omega instincts were his best feature, but even he could understand why Zoe was calling  Scott Stiles’ stinky friend.

Between one blink and the next, Derek, Isaac and Boyd were coming back.  They only had one Beta with them, clearly unconscious and bound with the wolvesbane ropes that had so recently held  Derek captive.  Stiles started to ask where the other asshole was, but noticed two things: The first was that the beta that was missing was the one that had swatted at his daughter. At... their daughter.  The second was that Derek still had flecks of blood on his clothes and something that looked suspiciously like little globs of flesh under his nails. They fell onto the ground with a wet plop as Derek quickly retracted his claws into his human form.

The slow smile of satisfaction was hard to contain. Stiles would waste time worrying about the state of their souls or some such nonsense, but he was too busy remembering the way his daughter had staggered when she had been hit to feel much more than glad that Derek had handled it.

Derek’s gaze jumped from Scott’s, to Boyd and Erica’s, back to Stiles’ dad’s and finally down to Stiles before he spoke.

“Okay so, I think we’re done here. Time to go home.”
****

TBC! I think I already said this, but there should be one more chapter and an epilogue. :) THANK YOU for your patience. I don't have an eta on when it will be finished, but it certainly won't be as long of a wait as you just went through. Promise!!!

CHAPTER WARNINGS:
I say this with the utmost respect. DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED. Particulars for this chapter include: description of panic attacks, kidnapping of a child, description of an extremely shocky state, casual references to a non-con relationship, “relatively” minor violence towards a child (Of course, no violence to a child is ever minor, but in this fictional story, the character is “swatted” at by a Really Bad Guy.), canon-typical violence and gore- including gunshots and assault. Also, my bad guy seems to be a cross between a wanna-be Moriarty and every Scooby Doo villain that has ever existed. Uh. Sorry? Again, please read at your own risk.

Comments

[bittersweet-luv.livejournal.com]

Wow this was utterly intense. Absolutely thrilling and until the end was I convinced that Stiles' next chapter in life would be escape from Morel. Very good indeed!!!

[basicallyrunn.livejournal.com]

egh more soon please?