The Return Home

Chapter 12

Ryder’s POV

I wandered in the forest, purposely aiming in the direction we took Stiles. I came to the stream, seeing no sign of him. I decided to sit and think about Scott’s words. I’ll take care of you, repeated in my head. I so badly wanted to accept his offer, but I was terrified. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to find out who I really am, at least not yet.

I sat and thought to myself, not paying any attention to my surroundings, until suddenly a strong force hit the side of my face, knocking me face down into the ground. I felt my lip begin bleeding from the blow. I turned my head to see who had hit me, seeing no one until I looked at the ground, seeing Stiles on his elbows and knees, breathing heavily. "Stiles!" I jumped up and crawled to him. He weakly grabbed my shirt and shoved me up against a tree. "Where is she?" He growled, not looking me in the eye. "She’s at the hospital, Stiles. Scott found her, he saved her." I explained. "Stiles, let me take you to her!" I continued. "Why should I trust you?" He winced in pain. I sat there and thought for a minute. "You shouldn’t trust me, but Scott forgives me." I said. "How do I know that Scott forgives you?" He asked. I closed my eyes. "Because I saved him, Malia, Liam, and Cora." I said. "How?" He breathed. I slowly opened my eyes. "I killed the alpha that caused all of this chaos." I explained. "You? Ya, right." He denied. I forced my eyes to glow, and when he saw them his eyes widened. "How in the world did you kill this alpha, but Scott couldn’t?" He asked. "Because the only way to get to my brother was to get him by surprise." I explained. "Your brother?" He asked, confused. "You killed your own brother to save Scott and my friends?" He added. "He was only my half brother." I admitted. He was silent for a moment. "You killed your half brother to save your other half brother." He said. I gave him a confused look. "How do you know?" I asked. "I’ve known since Scott’s mom found out." He explained. "She called my dad for comfort, and I over heard it." He added. "Scott doesn’t know about me does he?" I asked. He shook his head. "Can I take you to Allie now? Can you trust me that much?" I asked. He looked away hesitantly, and then nodded. I stood up and carefully put his arm around my shoulder, and I gently put my arm around his waist. He winced as I did so. "I’m sorry Stiles." I apologized.

I led him out of the forest and slowly towards the hospital. "Do you know what happened to Allie?" He asked. I shook my head. "No, Adrian tied me up inside the Hale house, because I refused to hurt Allie." I explained. "What about Jackson?" He continued. I paused. "What?" He asked. I looked down. "Adrian killed Jackson." I explained. "Oh, you were closer to Jackson, than you were Adrian weren’t you?" He asked, sympathetically. I looked him in the eyes and nodded. "You’re scared to get close to Scott huh? Because you’re scared to get close to anyone again." He said. I nodded. "You need to tell Scott, Ryder, he deserves to know that you exist." He said.

We finally entered the hospital parking lot, when Stiles forced us to stop. "What is it?" I asked. "Both of Derek’s cars are here." He explained. That signified that Allie was in fact here. We entered the emergency room and Stiles immediately spotted Scott in the waiting area. "Scott!" He shouted. Scott was startled, and horrified at the sight of his best friend. He ran over to us and grabbed Stiles other side, taking a little weight off my shoulders. "Dude, Stiles, are you ok? What happened?" Scott asked, frantically. "Jackson kicked the crap out of me, and then dumped me in a river." He explained. Scott looked at me with a questioning look, and I gave him an apologetic one in return. "Hey it’s not his fault." Stiles said. "I know." Scott replied. Stiles began to stumble. "I... I need... to see... Allie." He breathed, and his eyes became extremely drowsy, to the point they couldn’t even stay open any longer, and he fell unconscious. "Mom!" Scott called. His mom came running around the corner and froze when she saw Stiles. "Follow me."She said. Scott and I both nodded and began to follow her.

We followed her into a small vacant room, that had a bed and a few chairs. We laid him on the bed and stepped out of the way so Scott’s mom could check him out. She then gave him an IV, to give him fluids. "What’s that for?" I asked. "He’s dehydrated, this will re-hydrate him." Scott’s mom explained. She looked him over and then called a doctor in. The doctor looked him over. "We need to get an X-Ray on him." The doctor said. Scott’s mom nodded and then turned to us. "Stay here, I’ll bring him right back." She said, reassuringly. We nodded to her, and she began to push Stiles’ bed out of the room. Once she was gone I took a seat in one of the chairs. "Thank you." Scott said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "For what? I helped kidnap your best friend and his girlfriend. There’s no reason to thank me." I said. He sat beside me. "There’s plenty of reasons to thank you. You refused to hurt Allie, and you brought Stiles back. You can’t keep blaming yourself Ryder, you’re a good kid, your brother was the only one that made you do bad things." He said. I gave him a slight smile.

Within a few minutes, Scott’s mom returned pushing Stiles’ bed in. She parked his bed and walked over to us. "So from what the X-Rays show, he has a few broken ribs, a broken wrist, and his knee is dislocated. A doctor will be in to reset his wrist and knee. He’ll be out for a few hours so you boys can go get some food, I don’t know maybe even go home to get some sleep." She said with a sarcastic look. "I’m staying." Scott said. "Ya, I figured you would say that." She said with a smirk, and walked out. "You want to see Allie?" Scott asked. I nodded. We got up and walked out of Stiles’ room. We walked down a hallway and stopped in front of a private room. We stood looking through the large window, beside the door. Allie laid unconscious, her whole right arm in a cast, and an IV in her left arm. "Adrian practically destroyed her right arm." Scott said. I was confused. "If he broke her arm, why is she unconscious?" I asked. "He poisoned her with a form of wolfsbane, it won’t kill her, but she will be out for a while." He explained. I looked at Derek who sat at her bedside. He looked upset. "Is Derek ok?" I asked. He shook his head. "Cora’s dying." He said. I looked at him wide eyed. "What? Didn’t Adrian, just jab her in the back with his claws?" I asked. "He also bit her." He explained. "Is she here? Can I see her?" I asked. He nodded. I followed him to another private room, and this time we walked in, instead of looking through the window. Cora was also unconscious, but no one sat at her bedside. We took a seat on either side of her bed. Scott reached up and gently grabbed her hand. As he did so his veins enlarged a little and turned black. The same happened with Cora’s veins in the same arm Scott held. "What are you doing?" I asked. He let go of Cora’s hand, both their veins went back to normal and he looked up at me. "I took some of her pain away." He said. "How do you do that? Is it enough to save her?" I asked. "It’s not very hard, and kind of." He said. "Kind of?" I asked. He sighed. "Derek saved her once by taking her pain away." He explained. "Can he do it again?" I asked. He shook his head. "He did it when he was an alpha, but he isn’t an alpha now because he did it." Scott explained. "So you lose your alpha powers if you save her?" I asked. He nodded. "Can I try it?" I asked again. "You want to give up your alpha powers to save Cora?" He asked. I nodded.