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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍
𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘺: 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦
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𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧
IT WAS A STARTLING and heartbreaking for everyone to wake the next morning and find that their one true Alpha has truly left them; to protect them, Isaac tells them, but it's still sickening to realise that the one who has protected them for so very long by being with them has gone away from them to do the very same thing. Distress and panic and horror are probably the only discernible emotions amongst the Pack, but none can truly blame them for that.
Lydia is probably taking it the hardest, curled up against Derek, face pressed against his chest and pale fingers twisted into the fabric of his pale olive green t-shirt. Her green eyes are covered in a misty sheen, strawberry blonde hair is a knotted mess atop her head, and her one make up laced face free of the decorative substance, splotched with red and streaked with fresh, as well as dried, tears. For her, it feels as though her lungs are about to either burst or collapse at every breath, and her throat is burning from the near continuous heartbroken and gut-wrenching sobs forcing themselves free from her frail body.
A knock at the door causes a small break from Lydia's current messy state and a watery smile makes its way onto her face as Mei pokes her head into the room, her blue eyes filled with sorrow and shimmering with unshed tears. It only takes for the strawberry blonde to hold a hand out towards the darker skinned female for the latter to shuffle across the floor, trying her best to withhold her limping, and wraps her arms around the crying Banshee. Derek hesitantly pulls Mei close, holding the stockier woman to himself beside where he's holding Lydia.
"I am so very sorry," Mei murmurs, startling her former lover's Mates.
"Why are you apologising?" Derek rumbles, his voice thick with misery and heartbreak. "You haven't done anything."
"If Mieczyslaw and I had never met, and we'd never had Furu, then none of this would be happening."
One of Lydia's hands latch onto one of Mei's. "Stop it. If none of that happened, then you wouldn't be here with us, and Stiles would still be mourning you right now. You were in love 20 millennia ago, and you have a child who loves you dearly. He has you back with him in this time, we all do, and none of us would trade anything to change that."
"Stiles is only gone so he can keep us all safe," Derek confirms, and then he lets out a small chuckle. "Never thought I'd ever say that about him. He used to be just a plain old Human who couldn't defend himself, and now he's..."
"The same person, but just with a little something to help us all stay alive."
Leaning against the wall outside Stiles' room, for the first time in days, a small smile cracks through the frozen, emotionless mask on Theo's face, bright blue eyes burning with a fire he thought to be extinguished. Standing across from the Chimera, leaning against the railing surrounding the walkway of the upper floor with his arms crossed over his chest, Kai's expression morphs into one of smug amusement, his dark brown eyes becoming a burning caramel, bubbling with emotion he thought forgotten over the past few weeks.
'He's left to keep us safe,' Theo murmurs through the Blood Bonded mind link. 'While we don't know for how long, we all know that he will come back for us.'
Kai nods. 'Stiles is not one to give up easily.'
'Dakū did something to you all before he left,' Kemuri hums.
Elijah smiles, flipping through a book. 'My brother is a mysterious person with many secrets and spells, and he's done one thing to keep everyone in this family alive and well while he is hunting down and killing those who wish to take our own from us, or kill us in our sleep.'
'What has he done to us?' Kai asks, delighted and curious at Elijah's words.
'He's given every mortal in our family immortality in a way; somewhat frozen them all in their current states. My brother has also cast an ancient Spell - one of my mother's - to protect this house, and the plantation where Derek and Lydia and their children live.'
'That cheeky bastard. Why didn't he tell us?'
'It was a last minute thing, and he wasn't sure how anyone would react. Theo, you were, in a way, the test to have a guess as to how the rest of the Pack will react.'
Theo shrugs and stands upright, no longer leaning on the wall. 'Well, it's best we tell them all then.'
That, however, turns out to be one of the... not so good decisions made within the Pack. It causes an uproar of shock and disbelief from those who have come to distrust Stiles in a way, and it even comes from those who haven't done so. Lydia and Derek, and Isaac and Allison, however, take it much better than the others - just like the Alpha and Luna of a Pack should do so. Truth be told, they all had a feeling that something had changed.
Elijah and Kemuri explain that a similar Spell had been placed on Conan, Mieczyslaw, Accalia, Claudia, and Evelyn, as well as the child that Lydia is carrying, allowing them to grow to a certain age before they stop physically ageing, just like what will happen with Hope. The mention of Lydia being with child causes delight to grow amongst the Pack, Sasayaki, Serenity, Mei, Allison, Rebekah, and Hayley hurrying over and whisking the Banshee away, the males only hearing something about "shopping for babies clothes" and "planning a baby shower".
That's enough to make the males flinch in response to their Mates words, and then they all share a somewhat worried look. Theo and Jackson share a pain-filled look, wishing that Cora were here with them, and Kai's hand comes to rest atop his Blood Bonded's arm, giving it a comforting squeeze before slipping his arm around his Mate's waist, holding her against him.
