The Hellhound's Mate

Chapter 83

Angie was still shivering as Derek hugged her, trying to share some of his body heat. And though she needed to hear this story, she was a little worried that Jordan hadn't called for help yet. She hoped that meant he'd be alright for a little bit longer as they all stood inside the animal clinic as Stiles explained what happened.

"So literally it's day one of my internship and up comes this slide about this guy that they've been chasing in the woods of North Carolina."

"I thought you were in South America," Malia said to her cousin.

"I was. The bodies of the wolves I told you about? They blame me."

"Now there's a surprise," Angie teased and Derek only shook his head at her.

"I called and I told Angie about it in hopes that she could get to Derek first but that was before I learned that the FBI had cornered this feral, mass-murdering unsub-"

"I found a group of hunters gathering at a meeting place and I was trying to get information," Derek interrupted.

"Well the FBI found out about it too. And they were planning a SWAT assault to take him down, dead or alive," Stiles continued.

"And let me guess, they preferred you dead rather than alive?" Angie asked as she looked up at him and he raised his eyebrows as he shrugged as said, "As usual."

"So I convinced them to take me on the field op," Stiles said and Angie scoffed in amazement. She wasn't surprised in the slightest, unlike his friends.

"You convinced the FBI to find an intern onto an extremely dangerous field operation?" Lydia clarified, though whether she was surprised or impressed, they couldn't tell.

"I'm surprised he didn't convince them he could lead it," Derek commented as Stiles turned to him.

"I tried. Didn't work," Stiles informed. "Anyway, long story short, I basically had to, you know, save his life," he said and Angie furrowed her brows as he told a tale about a chaotic gunfight that ended with him helping an injured Derek and saving the day. Her brother was heroic, sure, but he wasn't the combat type of heroic. And her theory was proved when Derek protested.

"Yeah, that's not how it happened," the former alpha said.

"Yeah, I may have left out a few details but that's the gist of what happened. It's the essential essence of it," Stiles insisted and Angie could hear the amusement in Derek's words.

"You couldn't walk," he revealed.

"I was limping!" Stiles persisted.

"You couldn't walk and I know that because I was carrying you," Derek said and Angie started laughing. Yeah, that sounded more accurate.

"They shot my toe! You wanna see it?!" Stiles exclaimed. "My toe got caught in a crossfire and it was obliterated."

"Ok, forget your toe," Lydia interrupted.

"Obliterated," Stiles muttered sadly.

"Guys, it's not just the hunters, we've got another problem," Scott said.

"Yeah, Ange said it was called an Anukite," Stiles said with furrowed brows.

And so began the tales of the creature that provoked fear and could turn you to stone with a single look. One made up of both a supernatural creature and a human.

"Ok, so you're telling me that we've got to go up against this thing blind? And face our deepest fear?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah. Why? What do you fear most?" Scott asked and Angie laughed again because she knew the answer.

"Blindness," Stiles said with a glare at his sister.

"Becoming blind?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, terrified of it. Always have been. This just seems to be a situation of unfortunate overlap."

"Lydia, you and Stiles need to find Argent and get to the armoury, rescue Jackson," Scott instructed.

"I don't think we have time to wait for him," Lydia said. "I've gotten through those doors once anyway, I can do it again."

"If Gerard has wolves from London, he's got Ethan as well," Angie piped up.

"Ethan? Who's Ethan?" Malia asked but her question went unanswered as Angie kept talking.

"Ethan said he and someone else were coming to town and he'd contact me when he got here. This was weeks ago. If he's been kidnapped by Gerard, it would explain why he hasn't reached out."

"If he's there, I'll find him," Lydia promised.

"Can we slow down for one second to make sure I'm grasping this," Stiles intervened. "So we're actually talking about doing this? We're actually going to do exactly what Gerard wants? Is that right?"

"If we stop the Anukite, we stop it all."

"Stopping this thing can stop Gerard and the hunters?" Derek questioned.

"Not all of them are hunters," Angie informed him.

"She's right. Most of them are ordinary people acting out of fear," Lydia supplied.

"Monroe's not gonna change. But I think we can convince the others. Most of them actually," Scott said.

"The Anukite is causing them to act out from a place of fear," Lydia continued.

"Fear is pretty motivating, especially when it leads to anger," Derek remarked.

"And I think that if we take out the fear, we can take out the fight in them too. They're afraid of us, but they don't have to be. They just have to change their minds," Scott insisted.

"We have to change their minds," Derek corrected as he grew worried about the fact that Angie got even colder so quickly.

"Ok, we can face the Anukite. We can fight it blind. We can face our worst fears. But we still need to know how to catch it," Malia pointed out.

"We'll figure it out, we always do," Scott insisted and Stiles was a little pained by the look his best friend gave his ex-girlfriend.

"It's nice to see that somebody hasn't lost their optimism," Derek said.

"It gets rather annoying," Angie shivered.

"Not yet," Scott said.

"I have," Stiles piped up and Angie huffed a laugh.

"We will buy you time Scott. Who knows? Maybe Jackson and Ethan will have an answer," Lydia said.

"Maybe Argent will come back with one," Malia added.

"You and Derek are with me," Scott said as he took Malia's hand. "And we need Peter and Deucalion too. Anyone who can help stop this thing or slow it down."

"Where are you heading?" Angie asked as she pulled out her phone and let Derek type out the text because her hands were shaking.

"The high school," Scott answered and Angie sighed. It was always the damn high school.

"That's where we're going to find this thing?" Derek asked.

"It'll find us," Scott said.

"Ok, we need to do something, Angie is getting colder by the second," Derek revealed worriedly as they looked at the pale alpha who shivered in his arms.

"I'll be fine. Once I get Jordan out of Eichen."

"You're not going there alone," Stiles proclaimed.

"I'll take d-dad. And then we'll go g-get your dad," she said as she looked from her brother to Scott. "We-we'll take care o-of the hospital."

Scott nodded. "Then let's go."