Be the hero

Smile, sourwolf!

   "What happened to him ?", asked a passive-aggressive voice, which I recognized as Scott's. He seemed upset and I wondered why. Then it hit me : the werewolf from the other pack who come to visit me to do his little Alpha speech.

   "I don't know more than you, Scott, I found him in a bad state and I brought him back here to healed him. I didn't know what to do..." I could almost hear the anguish in the werewolf's voice. Scott seemed to hear and understand him because his ton softened.

   "And how is he ?" A hiccup of pain took me and I leaned precipitously to the side to spit blood. I was coughing my guts under the startled look of the two werewolves watching, not daring to move.

   "Hi, guys," I'm probably smiling with my teeth full of blood, "everything's good for y'a?" My smile evaporated when blood came back into my mouth and finally overflowed and crushed to the ground. After the ultimate vomiting that took me, I realized what apartment I was in, "Oh, my God," a largely familiar, spacious but empty apartment. An apartment that had the gift of calming me, not knowing why or how, "I'm sorry, Derek, really. It really wasn't my intention to decorate your loft with my vomit."

I saw Derek holding a smile in the corner as Scott approached me, stepping over my blood puzzle on the floor. 

   "What happened to you, Stiles ? I saw you called out but I ran out of drums, I'm so sorry, Stiles."

   "You're not gonna make white hair out of it, Scotty, you don't have to. I'm still alive, right ?"

   "Stiles, you almost died," said Derek. His presence surprised me a little bit but now it reassured me, "We need to know who it was, who did this to you, to find him, Stiles," he had added more slowly by crossing his arms and planting his gaze in mine. I bite my lower lip.

   "I don't know who it was, guys," I said, shaking my head slightly, "but you should be able to track him by scent."

   "What do you mean ?" asked Scott, who was still missing the point.

   "Well, when he came, he literally... stick me. And, and, and, touched me," at these words, a grunt from Derek caught my attention. His gaze ran away from mine, which was rare from him, and it was Scott who brought me back to reality.

   "So, his scent must be in your bedroom!" I looked at him, helpless, just like the born werewolf who seemed to restrain himself from suffocating him.

   "Yes, Scott," I had still acquired by shaking my head seriously, "His scent is - probably - in my bedroom... Go on," I ended up whispering as Scott smiled, excited, probably at the thought of findind my assailant.

   "I'll be back in few minutes, Stiles, don't worry. We're gonna find that guy and make him pay," he ran away from the loft and disappeared behind the door which he had closed in an unspeakable hubbub, leaving us alone, Derek and I.

   "How long do you think it'll take him to realize he's wrong ?"

   "Oh, a good hour, I think, by the time he got to your place and followed the scent as far as he can smell it," Derek said, sitting on the stool next to my bed. I drew a smile and began to wash my teeth with my tongue, I don't want the blood to dry on them, I can't imagine my smile after that.

For the first time in a while, I was relaxed in the presence of that sourwolf, despite my injury that covered most of my back. My muscles, on the other hand, were tense, and it was difficult for me to hold back groans with each of my small movements. I just picked one up when I burned my nose, looking at Derek who hadn't moved a hair.

  "Thank you," I whispered then in a louder voice I kept on, "I didn't expect you to really come to save me."

   "I couldn't... I couldn't giving you up," he replied with a look I didn't know.

   "But you could have, and I thank you for not doing it."

We smiled. And few minutes passed in this same atmosphere.

   It's after these few minutes that I remembered the words of the Alpha. ""Tell Derek Hale that what he loves the most is going to be ripped away from him. And the word is right. Ripped away."" The anguish gripped my whole body in memory of the body of the Alpha against mine. I could still feel his hand coming down from my kidneys to my hips. Shivers of disgust passed through me.

   "You're okay, Stiles ?" asked Derek, noticing my condition. I was looking at him, a heat running through my back.

   "No," I answered without blinking. I had to be honest with him, things were going to change radically by informing him, "Derek, I have to tell you something. It's really really important."

   "I'm listening to you."

   "When the Alpha came, after he literally ripped off my back, he told me to warn you that... the thing you love the most was going to be ripped away from you...? And he especially insisted on this term."

Derek froze. I didn't know if it was because of what I said or the seriousness of the situation. I almost had the impression that he had stopped breathing for a minute.

   "Derek," I tapped his arm to try yo wake him up somehow, he was starting to scare, frozen like a statue, "you're still alive, right ? Because, in my condition, I will have difficulty taking you to the hospital or even carrying you at all," I was again tapping his arm, given his lack of obvious reaction, and I was startling when the wolf took my hand between his.

   "Don't go anywhere, okay ?"

   "I can't go very far, Derek, you doubt it. But let me ask you : where the hell are you going ? Personally, I don't really like staying alone in your apartment, loneliness is my thing, you know. And I like your apartment, I swear, but I don't like it on my own," I said quickly, my thoughts were panicking and it was hard for me to control them or prevent them from crossing my lips. Yes, stress is a well known thing.

Derek shook his head by tightening his grip on my hands : "I'm not going to leave you alone. Not after what happened, I'm not that stupid."

   "Sooooo, who's gonna stay with me ? A clone of you ?"

   "You can think of me as a clone, yes, but I'm much funnier than my nephew," a familiar voice said. Peter appeared on the stairs of the loft. I smiled at him. On the one hand, I am sure that Peter would more competent to ensure my protection than a Beta like Liam, given his werewolf past, whatever I don't know if he would actually agree, I never knew if he liked me or just supported my behavior...

   "Don't worry, Stiles, I trust him."

   "Ow! How touching of you, Derek. My heart is beating faster," Peter smiled as he went down the steps one by one, and approached the wolf and me. The pain in my back reappeared and I put one hand on my mouth to hold back a scream. The two werewolves seemed to have noticed it and their attention was focused on me. I gave them a thumbs up to mean that everything was going well, even though it was partly false given the pain that possessed my body. Derek, who still held one of my hand in his hands, grinned. His arm veins became black.

   "Derek, no, you're going to weaken," I blew in a exhausted murmur, I didn't want him to take my pain at the risk of weakening him, "Stop, please." He continued, thus silencing me, the appeasement spreading entirely in my body which was already weak.

   "You're worth it, tiny human," Peter said, glancing at Derek, "I'm translating his gestures," added the mad uncle to my attention, stretching his lips in understanding and almost benevolent smile that made my heart palpitate once the meaning understood. As I lay down un bed again, I looked at Derek, a little grateful smile on his face. 

   "I owe you a debt of gratitude, little wolf," I whispered before falling into Morpheus' arms under the gaze of the born werewolf.

   "Get some rest, Stiles."