Flicker of a Flame

by placidwriter (suptranquility)

Summary:

Surprisingly it takes Gerard-level evil to turn them into a pack.

Or; the one where Derek is a good Alpha, the Sheriff knows everything, and nothing helps quite like puppy piles.

Notes:

This work is completed and being edited, there are two parts, one prologue, and an epilogue.

If I missed any tags or incorrectly rated, please let me know. No sexy times, just love and feels and fluff because they deserve a nice and happy safe space to just exist.

Chapter 1: Prologue: Burnt Out

Stiles hates hospitals. 

Hospitals remind him of saying goodbye to his mother, hair matted to her skin and dad holding her whispering, it’s okay, bliss, it’s okay. let go mama, let go. don’t be scared, see you again. Hospitals remind him of Scott’s broken nose the first and only time his dad saw them curled up together, thirteen years old and just passed the lydia martin is cute but danny mahealani is perfect talk.  

Now hospitals are going to be a reminder of every single hit he took by a man who didn’t look like he could throw them. Hospitals will remind him of Erika’s screams as electricity runs through her body the way blood does. Hospitals will remind him of Boyd, strong and silent and amazing Boyd who broke down begging for them to break him instead.  

“Stiles.” 

The voice is strong and he knows it. Glancing over to meet red eyes he feels safe suddenly.  

“Derek.” He says just as the door opens and his father walks into the room, followed by blonde curls, dimples, and blue eyes. “Dad-“ 

“Werewolves, Stiles?” The Sheriff sighs and walks over to lay his hand on his son's neck, avoiding any stitching and broken parts. “Son, what am I going to do with you?” 

“Who told you?” He asks sheepishly instead of what he wants to say.  

He doesn't really answer with words, instead just chuckling like it’s not really funny but he needs to make a sound. 

Dad shakes his head and points a thumb behind him. “Your pups have been causing quite a ruckus while you were unconscious.” Stiles follows his pointing to three people. Something starts pulling at his nerves as he looks at them.

Erika looks hauntingly beautiful. Unflattering hospital gown draped down her body, hair half-heartedly pulled up into a bun with most of her makeup gone, making it look like she didn’t really try getting it off at all. Her eyes are scalding as she takes in every nook and cranny of his face, and he realizes he probably looks worse than she does. 

Boyd, always the strong and silent presence. Boyd looks like he can’t step out of his head. His eyes are an unnatural blue that belong to wolves like Derek who’ve seen too much before they turn Red Red Red. Boyd’s normally dark and silky-looking skin was a sickly pale version of his natural color and his body was tense as if he couldn’t relax. 

And Isaac, Isaac who was left behind as the only Beta to ground his Alpha. Isaac’s naturally bouncy curls were lifelessly laid against his forehead and ears. His eyes shifting side to side anxiously and his foot tap-tap-tapping. Isaac didn’t look like someone who went through the ringer recently, but like someone who’s been consistently through it and can’t seem to find the exit door to be safe and secure. 

Pups. His heart starts to thump pathetically. All three of them whimper. Help. They cry silently back. Lost, help.  

He opens his arms, ignoring the tearing pain in his side, and suddenly he has a lap full of wolves. Erika is completely on top of him, head to toe stretched as she whines and lets tears fall into his neck. Boyd is pressed to his more injured side, head buried in Stiles’ hair and sniffling like he can’t quite catch his breath. And Isaac is against his other side, wrapped slightly between Stiles and Erika with Stiles’ unbroken hand in his curls.  

“You’re okay,” He whispers to them, unsure of what exactly they need to hear. “All of you, you’re okay. We’ll take care of it.” 

He looks to Derek, who stands next to his father like a united front. The two of them lock eyes and the Alpha nods once, as if agreeing with Stiles.

They’ll definitely take care of it.  

Chapter 2: Part One

The following weeks are somewhat of a ghost town around Beacon Hills High School. Everyone walks on eggshells around them. Boyd, Erika, and Stiles were all missing for over four days (Erika and Boyd as long as a week), and even though the Beta's healed quickly, Stiles spent another three consecutive days in the hospital under constant monitoring. 

The bones in his left hand were left shattered and he'd be in a cast for a good while as they mended together after the doctors had to re-break parts of them, and they said his hand may always be a bit more messed up than the rest of him. He had a total of six ribs broken, four on the left side and two on the right, but by some miracle they did not puncture his lungs. He was dehydrated and malnourished. His left collarbone cracked. Two black eyes, a fractured nose, and bruised jaw. Concussion and sprained right ankle. 

In all, Stiles was broken and visibly so. 

The Beta's didn't leave his side at all during school hours. They'd changed their own schedules around to fit his so that at least one of them was always with him, and the classes they couldn't get into (AP courses that Stiles had tested into, three of them) they were always right there after the bell rang to walk with him to whatever class they had next. Isaac moved into the guest bedroom in the Stilinski home, but it was for show as he spent every night curled up next to Stiles in his bed. Most nights Stiles fell asleep with Isaac as a blanket and woke up to a blonde curtain of hair and blue eyes bringing him his daily dose of medication. Erika's parents put her in therapy, Boyd’s grandmother didn't comment. Life went on for them all. 

Derek drove them to and from school seeing as Stiles wouldn't be cleared to drive for a good while. The first day back to school had been an adventure, as the four of them clamored out of Derek's Camaro, the entire student body of Beacon Hills High School watched on with wonder and some pity. Stiles' dad texted him throughout the day with updates on tracking down Gerard and that felt like the most normal development in Stile's life. 

They're taking care of it.

 

 

 

Two weeks after what's been circled around as The Incident, Stiles wakes up to Erika and Isaac on either side of him, his face buried in Isaac's chest and Erika pressed to his back like a leech. He can see Boyd sitting at his desk, legs spread with elbows on his knees and head in his hands. Stiles hates it, the tugging he gets in his heart and stomach at the sight of one of his pups so broken. 

The clock says it's time to get up, otherwise they'll be late. He crawls out from under the two wolves, who whine and wake slowly. He shushes them and opens his door, ignoring all the wolves' confused looks.  

"Dad?" He calls downstairs, able to hear his father tittering downstairs, probably getting ready to head out to work. 

"Yeah?" His dad asks, coming around the corner to look up the stairs. 

"Can you call the school and let them know we'll be a little late? And let Derek in too. We need a pack moment." 

His dad agrees and Stiles walks back into his room. Isaac and Erika are both sitting up in bed and looking ruffled. Boyd stands next to the window, trying and failing at being nonchalant. “Erika, can you go get me my medicine?” She’s out of the bed and across the hall before he can officially finish the request. Once he’s taken the pain medication prescribed to him, he walks over to grab at Boyd’s shirt, tugging him onto the bed to join the rest of them.  

“Puppy pile,” he offers as an explanation. He leaves them to arrange themselves as they please and walks over to his laptop, turning it on and queuing up a random movie from one of his save files.  

Derek walks through the door just as the movie is officially starting with dialogue instead of opening scenes. Stiles sits up with his back against the headboard, Isaac between his outstretched legs and using his thigh as a pillow. Boyd’s head is rested on Isaac’s stomach with Erika cuddled up to his chest like a boa constrictor.  

“Puppy Pile.” The three betas parrot as their Alpha makes his way over to the bed, sitting on Stiles’ empty side nearest to the window and glancing over to the computer screen.

“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.”  

 

 

 

When they make it to school, just in time for third period to be wrapping up, they all feel a little lighter and a lot happier. Isaac smiles, the smile that you could drown in, dimples and all. Erika applies lipstick to her face for the first time since forever. Boyd’s eyes wavered between blue and brown all day.  

At lunch time, the pack gets together under the old oak tree by the field and eats leftovers from Stiles’ kitchen. It’s peaceful, up until it isn’t.  

A hurricane of strawberry blonde hair and high heels makes her way to their little gathering, hand clutching the shirt of a protesting half-wolf. Boyd growls in warning, Beta and blue and so strong. Jackson flinches, and it’s the most emotion Stiles has seen out of him in weeks.  

“I know what you three are,” Lydia starts with an air of authority around her to cloak the desperation. “He’s wrong. Fix him.” 

Jackson is suddenly kneeling before the pack, eyes dull and hair greasy and nothing like Jackson Whittemore at all. Stiles leans forward, aware of himself and careful enough that he’s able to ignore the strain so his pups don’t worry. “Jackson?” 

“He smells like a wolf,” Isaac murmurs in confusion. “But like a dead one.” 

“What he doesn’t smell like is pack,” Erika snarks. “We don’t have to do anything she-“ 

Stiles holds up his good hand and she grumbles but doesn’t say anything further. ”Jackson, what happened?” 

His tone is soft, the way he speaks to Isaac after a nightmare. Jackson blinks slowly and finally meets Stiles’ eye. It’s like he’s seeing him for the first time, despite the years of schooling together. “I’m… I'm broken. I’m wrong, broken.” 

“You’re not broken, Jackson. You aren’t broken or wrong.” Stiles promises and reaches further, this time too far, which the Betas get wind of when he grunts. “Come to my house after school.” He prompts quickly, refusing to let the pups dote on him.  

Jackson looks hopeful.  

 

 

 

After school, Derek meets them out front in the Camaro, leather jacket and scowl present. Stiles is walking to him, smelling of determination and love. When the boy his Beta’s call out for is finally in front of him, he leans slightly forward as if he’s also drawn in by Stiles.  

“Derek.” Stiles says.  

The Alpha raises an eyebrow. Stiles smiles, lovely.  

Jackson’s Porsche follows behind the Camaro to the Stilinski household. 

 

 

 

His dad is working the mid shift, so he isn’t home when they get there. Isaac opens the door with his keys, still proud of the fact he stays with Stiles when everyone else goes home. Derek is the last in the house, following in after Jackson stumbles in fearfully.  

“Isaac,” Stiles starts, but the pup is already in front of him with his medicine held out and a cup of water to follow. Stiles loves him. “Sit down, Jackson.” 

“Lydia Martin said she knew what we are,” Erika rats before his butt can touch the chair. Derek tenses.  

Isaac is kinder, but not by much. “Why do you smell like a dead wolf?” 

“I-“ Jackson starts but Stiles interrupts. ”Kanima.” 

Derek tenses further, his hackles would be raised if he were a dog. The Betas growl lowly in response to their Alpha. “Stiles.” 

The boy ignores him and continues to smile at Jackson. “I doubt Lydia knows exactly what you are. Kanima are rare. Do you have a master, Jackson?” 

Jackson shakes his head, his skin pale and his hair falling into his face. “I don’t know.” 

“Have you changed fully yet? You would black out and not remember the change itself or what you did during it. But it would make you feel sick, like you passed out and lost time.” 

Jackson shakes his head again.  

“Good, let's get you all better before it takes over completely. If we can get you transitioned into a wolf before the Kanima effects take over, we don’t have to worry about you falling into the wrong hands and killing someone.” Stiles tilts his head. “How are you feeling now Jackson?” 

“Overwhelmed.” He says quickly, then frowns. “Confused. Why are you helping me?” 

Stiles smiles, “Do you want me to help you?” 

“Please.” 

“Then that’s all that matters. Let’s start you off easy.” Now Stiles finally looks to Derek, who looks like he’s unhappy but willing to follow Stiles to the ends of the earth. “Alpha?” 

Derek's eyes are red, his nails scratch lightly against Jackson’s jaw when he grabs his chin and forces the boy to look him in the eyes.  

“Meet your new Beta.” 

 

 

 

Derek's kisses are hot. They light him on fire every time.

The first time they kiss is during a full moon. Jackson is tied up, Lydia and Danny and Isaac all there in company and reassurance - rather than guards. Boyd and Erika disappear into the night, following their hearts and the Goddess home. Derek slips beside Stiles in the open field less than a mile from the burnt reminder of his broken past with red eyes. 

"You don't scare me, Sourwolf." Stiles tells him, lovely and sure. Turns to look in his eyes, reaches for his face. "I'm yours," he swears. "You're mine, mine to me." 

Derek breathes fire into him. Lips smooth, mouth hot, tongue demanding. Stiles gives him everything, anything. 

Always. 

Notes:

“The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.” is a quote from LOTR. The full quote is “The world has changed. I see it in the water. I feel it in the Earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, For none now live who remember it." I love it and so does Stiles, do not fight me on this.

"You're mine, mine to me." is actually "Never forget this. You’re mine. Mine to me. No matter where you go or what they may call you, you will always be my son." said by Raksha in my comfort movie, The Jungle Book (2016 live action remake).

Look, I have zero regrets here. Let me live.

Chapter 3: Part Two

The next weeks are spent training Jackson, training the pack to integrate Jackson into their folds. Isaac spends his free time letting Jackson tutor him in Stats, because Jackson Whittemore is kind of a genius on that front. Boyd helps him work on his control so he can get back to playing Lacrosse since taking a sabbatical per Stiles’ recommendation. Erika and Lydia plot to take over the world, as per the norm. Danny is perfect, though that’s also a norm.

They continue to handle it. 

Stiles gets better. His bones mend back and he manages to talk the doctor into getting out of the casts early. His left hand is still wrapped at night and he can’t carry his books in it, but damn it feels good under the hot flow of the shower. His eyes go back to normal, the skin firming again and the swelling going down. He gets out of the arm sling and has full range motion. He can roll his ankles and walk without a limp.  
The pups still continue to treat him with care, but Isaacs hugs are a little tighter because he can, and Erika lays all over him despite her werewolf weight. Even Boyd and Jackson in their own ways find their spots in puppy piles practically on top of him.  

Stiles’ birthday comes and goes. Isaac brings him breakfast in bed, Jackson puts brand new tires on Roscoe, Erika bands together with Lydia and the two end up supplying him with an entire new wardrobe, Boyd bakes him his grandmother's famous birthday cake (follows the recipe to a T), Danny gets him a new laptop, and Derek shows up to his house a little after noon dressed to the nines in a Beacon County Police Deputy uniform.  

Melissa McCall brings him her special tamales, glancing around the room with a suspicious eye. “He isn’t here is he?” She asks after giving Stiles a birthday hug.  

“I haven’t seen him outside of passing him in the hallway at school since before I got hurt.” He answers slowly. Melissa knows her son. Stiles knows her son. No reason to make excuses for him.  

She sighs in disappointment. “Happy Birthday, love.” She tells him instead of the goodbye they both know this is.  

He thanks her and doesn’t even feel sad when she leaves. Scott made his bed. Allison-shaped with a large ‘X’ through the Stiles-shaped pillows.   

 

 

 

Derek working for his dad is smart. It’s part-time, during the week, but it gives him a position in the community and provides a safety net from any rabid hunters working for Gerard. People will notice if something happens to Deputy Hale.  

One night when Isaac is at the movies with Jackson, bonding, and his father is at home with a new book and a glass of scotch, Stiles heads to the loft. Derek's loft is more of a hangout space for the Pack, since more often than not they end up at Stiles’ house. Every member has a key, which Stiles uses to unlock the place.  

Derek isn’t home, working an extra shift. Stiles changes into a pair of sleep pants that may or may not be Jackson’s or Boyd’s and one of Derek's shirts. Both are too big for him but he feels enveloped and crawls into the pack bed. Unlike his Queen, the one in the den is a California King and smells like pack and home and safety. He drifts off to sleep.  

Stiles dreams of fire but wakes up to the smell of a woodland. He presses his face deeper into the tanned hair-and-skin-pillow he’s acquired in his sleep and smiles. He asks, "Do you know what I'd do for you?" 

Derek's heartbeat stays steady, for it finally has a reason to. 

 

 

 

The pack spends their free days bonding with each other and the land. Stiles lays spread eagle on the forest floor, feeling the power mother earth provides, letting it tickle his core and calm his blood.  

Mine. 

"Derek," he says calmly. He's covered instantly, sweat clinging to a muscular body and wounds already healing. Do you know what I'd do for you? 

The Alpha lifts him easily, pulling lengthy legs around his waist and burying his sweaty face in Stiles’ neck. "You belong to me, Stiles. Mine to me." 

 

 

 

A week later, Scott approaches them at lunch. 

The pack is together, of course, Isaac practically in Jackson's lap as they work on a project for Chem, with Lydia doing Erica's nails, and Boyd being the solid piece holding both Danny and Stiles up as they read through ancient Hawaiian rituals.  

Erica growls before he officially heads across the courtyard towards them, but no one else reacts until he's practically on top of them, shifting his feet and looking intrigued, confused, and betrayed all at once. But Stiles only feels complete. 

"I need-" 

"Help?" Lydia interrupts smoothly. 

"To fuck off?" Erika grumbles. 

"A better hairdresser," Jackson says snidely. 

Danny, Isaac, and Boyd are the good children, Stiles remembers to mention to Derek later. (They’re on the preserve again, letting the magic of the Forrest hum around them and light a spark under Stiles’ skin. Danny mentions Scott and Jackson getting into a small row when they ran into the lone wolf outside the school grounds. Jackson looks cowed by Derek’s disappointed eyebrows, however, he looks absolutely destroyed when Stiles tells him never to do it again. All the pups, even the human ones, bow to Stiles.) 

"Stiles…" Scott finishes lamely. Allison is spotted on the other end of the courtyard, looking out of place and annoyed. 

For the first time ever, Stiles turns to Scott and says no. And without a care to the shattered look the boy gives him, he turns back to his pack with a fullness in his heart and doesn't care about anything else. 

 

 

 

They handle it.  

On record with the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Department, Gerard Argent, his daughter-in-law, his daughter, and three other men that were staying with them all die in a police chase that ended in their cars being run off a cliff. The Sheriff and a trusted Deputy of his, Jordan Parrish, are the only ones that know the truth.  

The truth is, Stiles is stupid. Scott calls in the middle of the night one evening, begging Stiles to help him because Gerard found him in Allison's bedroom and trapped him in the basement. 

Stiles, knowing exactly how painful the torture of grandpa Argent can be, rushed over with Isaac as backup.  

Stiles is stupid, because of course it was a trap. Of course Scott would throw Stiles under the bus in an attempt to aid Gerard and win Allison's affections. Isaac is trapped in beta shift, eyes glowing gold, and despite his obvious distress and fear, trying to crowd Stiles behind him as Allison aims an arrow at his heart. 

The plan, apparently, was to trap Stiles and have the pack come to rescue him. Once Gerard had the pack in his control, Stiles wasn't sure what the end goal was because it never got that far.  

Derek flew into the room in full shift, eyes as red as the blood he spilled from the three other hunters. His pack followed, Boyd and Jackson with angry blue eyes, Erika with murder in her golden ones. Danny, Lydia, and Stiles' own father all had guns trained on the remaining members of the Argent Clan. 

Was it a bloodbath? Maybe. 

Was it necessary? Absolutely.  

In the end, Chris Argent left town with his daughter and a warning to never return. Scott was granted peace from the Hale pack and allowed to stay for the rest of the school year, but Derek told him and Melissa in no simple terms that should the boy outstay his welcome he would be considered an Omega – dangerous and to be hunted.  

Gerard and Allison's mother died with bullets to their heads, courtesy of John Stilinski and Lydia Martin, respectively. 

Kate Argent's last view was that of red eyes before her throat was torn open. 

They handle it.  

Notes:

Melissa is an angel, we respect Mama McCall in these parts.

Jordan Parrish is unofficially Pack and you cannot change my mind on this.

Fuck Kate Argent for everything she is. Horrible. Disgusting. Derek should've killed her and that been the end of it.

Chapter 4: Epilogue: Set Me To Burn

Pack nights at the Hale House are always a bit too much and yet, not enough.  

After high school, the pack split up to go to different colleges or trades as necessary. Derek, Stiles, and Isaac were the only ones to stay in Beacon Hills. Lydia was accepted into MIT, obviously. Jackson went to France to study abroad. Danny was the closest, besides Isaac, just in Berkeley. Boyd was accepted into the Culinary Institute of America in New York City. Erika went to Yale for law.  

Isaac attended community college before deciding to go for his counseling credentials and Derek stayed working for the sheriff's department.  

Stiles did what he did best - took care of the pack in between working as a consultant and support for supernatural beings and proper hunters.  

With everyone being spread out, it meant a lot of weekly zoom calls and monthly visits from the pack. Not everyone could always come at the same time, so having the pack fully together during holidays and in between semesters was a blessing.  

But it was always too much and never enough.  

Pack nights at the Hale House are always filled with laughter, good food, and love.  

So much love, sometimes Stiles never remembers what it feels like to be in pain, to hurt. So much love sometimes he suffocates with it. 

Everyone is home for a winter break, and Stiles bundles up against his heat-filled wolves and drowns in the love. 

"Where'd you go, batman?" Erika's voice draws him out of his haze and he smiles into Danny's neck. 

"Just basking, catwoman." Stiles promises. "I love having everyone home." 

"We love being home," Lydia answers from her spot in Boyd's lap.  

Derek rumbles, and the wolves all whine happily in response to their Alpha's content. Stiles recognizes his immediate need to be buried in his packs' scent, their warmth, their existence. Stiles knows Derek, at one point, didn't think he'd ever have this again and some days he still doesn't think he deserves it. 

But gods, does he deserve it. Derek deserves the world. 

"Do you know what I'd do for you?" He asks out loud, to Derek and everyone. 

"You'd do anything," Boyd responds automatically. 

"You'd kill for us," Erika grins. 

"You'd die for us," Isaac says breathlessly. 

"You'd live for us," Derek growls, lovely and sure. 

"Do you know what we'd do for you?" Jackson asks him suddenly, sure and safe from his spot between Derek and Isaac. 

Stiles thinks about it, and without any doubt he knows the answer. "Burn."

Notes:

The End?
Thanks for following me on this (short) journey! I has been slowly writing this for about a three months after sitting on the idea for over a year. I'm not necessarily happy with it, but if it brought even one of you some ounce of joy then it was worth it! xoxo