Chapter Text
Stiles wakes, numb to the world, in foreign sheets. He opens his eyes to see his pack brother looking down at him. Derek smiles, or he gives a poor imitation of one, and coaxes Stiles into an upright position. The blankets are gone and then so is Stiles’ shirt. Derek puts a fresh one on him and then does the same with his pants and then his socks. Derek is finished tying his shoes when Stiles lets himself sink down onto the ground and wrap his arms around his pack brother. He buries himself in Derek’s scent and clings to their pack bond.
Pack brother doesn’t like it when he dwells on the tattered bond inside him.
Derek lets them stay like that for a while, but then he’s dragging them to their feet. Stiles blinks and they're walking down the hall. He blinks and they're eating breakfast. He blinks and he’s in the passenger side of Derek’s Camaro and his world hones in on the thumb rubbing circles into his hand between them.
He’s more aware of the world by the time they reach school. He’s able to pick up his backpack from the back seat and get out of the car. From here, it’s easy to fall into routine. To float from class to class and take in information and nothing else.
Erica and Boyd are waiting for him at the main entrance. Stiles looks back to see Derek nod at them and get back into his car. Stiles lets Erica take his arm and lead him to their first class together. He leans into her side as they walk and he breathes.
He’s never left alone. Erica passes him off to Boyd and then Danny and then they’re all together and then they surround him on the way to lunch. Danny separates to join his usual table and Stiles eats surrounded by his pack. Allison joins them halfway through. Stiles remembers, vaguely, that she came to him crying a week ago. She was trying to tell them that Lydia stole her phone. That she would never betray them like that. Her racing heart made it difficult to understand and Stiles wasn’t exactly in any condition to listen. Derek understood though, he let her in and comforted her until she calmed enough to apologize. Stiles remembered Derek refusing to accept it because she had nothing to apologize for. She left soon after that.
Stiles looks up at her now and looks back down at his tray. He can smell the stress clinging to her skin and slides a curly fry across the table. He can actually hear the tension leave her body as she accepts it. He feels the urge to smile, and maybe he would have, if he’d not been using all his energy to eat.
Allison leads him to his next class. Lydia is glaring from across the classroom so Allison makes sure to sit in between them. Stiles is grateful. He might have killed her otherwise.
She leads him to his next class too, where Finstock won’t stop giving him meaningful looks like he’s worried. Stiles manages to leave before he could call out to him.
He walks to his last class alone but it’s okay because it’s not very far and he can sit next to Erica again. She seems alarmed that he arrived alone but smothers it quickly. He rests his head on her shoulder until class starts.
Derek is waiting for him when he steps outside. Erica is sure to kiss his cheek before going off in search of Boyd. Stiles warms a little at the gesture and walks down the stairs to his pack brother. He doesn’t stop until he collides with his chest and he leans his head down on his shoulder and breathes. People stare but Stiles doesn’t notice. He’s too busy trying to memorize Derek’s scent. Derek lets it continue for a few seconds but eventually he gets him around the car and into the passenger seat. Stiles buckles himself and Derek lets a small smile loose.
They arrive home to an empty driveway, but they know Erica and Boyd will be there soon.
***
Danny is jogging through the preserve when he hears it.
He’s not too far out so he isn’t exactly shocked but he also wasn’t expecting this at all. He hurries to the source of the crash and finds a little blue Honda on its side, clearly on its way into town. He runs to the driver’s window and sees a girl in her twenties hanging from her seatbelt, groaning. Quickly he gets the door open and manages to get her out. He tries to search for any injuries but she bats his hands away.
“I’m fine. I’m fine, just help me get something.” She groans.
“Shouldn’t we be calling the hospital? That was a pretty bad crash.” Danny follows her to the trunk, pulling out his phone.
“I’m fine. Just got a few bruises. Look, can you just help me with this?” She gripes, struggling with the trunk. Danny grabs the handle alongside her and together they manage to pop open the trunk. A briefcase and a suitcase topple out onto the grass and the woman is quick to snatch them up.
For the first time, she actually looks sheepish when she asks “You don’t happen to have a way into town nearby; do you?”
Danny just kinda looks at her dumbfounded for a moment before “Uhh, yeah. but it’s a bit of a walk.”
“Is it a longer walk to town?” She snarks, eyebrow raised.
Danny laughs and shakes his head “Right this way then.”
They’re nearly to his car when he sees it. Right there, just underneath the cut of her hair, are five distinct puncture marks. They have to be a day old at least. Danny remembers Derek’s warning. Remembers what he said about some alpha’s abusing this gift.
He clears his throat “Hey- uhh-“
“Seraphina. Most call me Sera though.”
“Right. Sera, do you mind if I introduce you to someone?”
Sera stops right as they reach his car. She turns to face him, shoulders stiff “Why?”
“It’s just. Those marks on your neck? Do you know where they came from?”
Sera raises her arm to feel the wounds but lowers it as she remembers her hands are full. “Yes.”
“Oh. Okay, it’s just. I was warned to go to a friend of mine if I ever found any on my neck.”
Sera laughs then, returning to the relaxed demeanor from before “I see then. Yeah, sure. It’s already been two years. I’m sure they can wait a few more hours.” Without any further explanation, Sera sits herself down in the passenger seat with her luggage by her feat. Danny shakes out of himself and drives them to Stiles’ house.
He just hopes he’s doing the right thing.
***
Derek answers the door. Stiles is right behind him, flashing his eyes at Sera. Danny stiffens but she doesn’t do anything but smile kindly and avert her eyes. Whatever it is she did seemed to be the right thing because Stiles automatically calmed even as Derek startled at the formal display. Derek let them in, taking a deeper breath as Sera passed him, and his eyes widen.
Danny is lost. He has no idea what is happening anymore. He closes the door and follows them to the living room where Erica is sitting on the couch. Star Wars is playing in the background but nobody is watching.
Danny must have missed something. He knows because what he sees is Sera displaying the nape of her neck. Derek is already reaching out to touch when she says “I’m sure you can guess who gave them to me.”
“Alpha Dakota.” Derek declares, almost in awe. “I haven’t seen her in years.”
“She didn’t mention you. I’d only just met her a few days ago, but I owe her everything.”
“She isn’t one to take something like this lightly.” Derek declares.
“She didn’t. I remember my time with her pack. I remember asking her to take the majority of these last few years.”
“Why would- “ Derek never got to finish. He didn’t need to because just then Boyd had returned from the hall and froze.
“Sera?” Boyd whispers, like if he spoke any louder she might disappear.
Sera turns to face him and her entire face lights up. She runs to him and jumps into the tightest hug Danny has ever seen. “Hey little brother. It’s been a while; hasn’t it?”
Boyd rights himself from where he’d fallen into the wall. Sera drops to her feet, but doesn’t let Boyd go.
“What. You’re here? Where have you been? Are you okay? What happened?”
Sera shushes him before he could lose his breath. “To be honest? I don’t actually know. I can tell you that I was kidnapped, the bastard's dead now, and I felt safe enough to allow the werewolf who saved me to take whatever he did to me.”
“What? I don’t- “
“The marks, Boyd.” Derek says.
Sera shows him and Boyd understands.
“You’re sure you wanted this?”
“I kept my time with the Moore pack. I’ve also got my consent on video. Dakota made sure I had all my medical tests and my video diary before she took my time.” Sera looks him in the eye. “It hasn’t been two years for me. Not anymore.”
“Good.” Boyd decides. “If the bastard’s dead, then I’m glad he’s erased. Just so long as you’re okay.”
Sera smiles and hugs him again.
Danny coughs from where he’d been standing awkwardly “There’s still the car abandoned on the road?”
“Oh don’t worry about that.” Sera says, stepping away from her brother and facing the rest of the room. “It wasn’t mine.” She smirks at Erica’s confused look before she gets it and smirks back.
Boyd coughs and Sera directs her smirk at him “What? I kept any skills I learned. Dakota is very good at sifting through information. There are plenty of things I learned. I just don’t remember the why or how.”
Everyone seems to just accept this and Sera claps her hands “Well, alright. Met the pack. Met the…alpha and now I think I should be going home.”
Sera gives one last curious look to the alpha before leaving with Boyd in tow.
The room is silent until they hear Boyd driving away.
“That was unexpected.” Erica proclaims. “Here Danny. You can have Boyd’s seat.” She then proceeds to tug a still quiet Stiles next to her as Danny and Derek take opposite sides of the couch.
Stiles relaxes into the familiarity of Star Wars and thinks about what Sera said about other packs. He thinks about how she formally submitted to him as someone reeking of a foreign alpha should to the local alpha. Just like he’d read in one of Peter's book’s.
For the first time since that night, Stiles lets himself cry.