Baseball Bats and Sour Wolves

Chapter 3

They head out as a big group, and Stiles made damn sure Peter was there with them, he refused to let him stay at the loft. Away from the danger, he told him if he was a part of the pack, he needed to start acting like it. Peter's heart had stuttered at the thought that Stiles considered him a part of the pack. No one else did, not even Derek, although he had killed his sister, that was also his niece, he felt it as much as Derek had.

Peter follows, only because Stiles threatened to drag him there by his ear, werewolf or not. He was amused by it, but also knew Stiles would do just that. They walked through the woods without much of a plan, hoping the witches would come to find them. Stiles wondered what spell they hit Derek with, and what the effects were supposed to be, yeah he stuck to Stiles, and snarled, growled, or bared his teeth at anyone and everyone. Whined at Sties occasionally, but was it supposed to turn him feral, or just nonverbal? He seemed to understand what people were saying to him, most of the time.

"You know it's just your luck to offend a witch." Stiles mutters to Derek, who huffs at him. Stiles told them to spread out, but keep in groups of two, of course, no one would go with Peter so he stuck with Derek and Stiles.

Everyone else was in groups of two, except for Stiles and Scott's group. Peter was standing close to Stiles' side. He hated the preserve since killing Laura, it reminded him of it over and over, so he focused on Stiles. Focusing on Derek would bring up more guilt and sadness. Stiles, even though he wasn't a werewolf, seemed to sense when people were sad, especially one of the pack members, Peter included. He let his hand brush against Peter's now and then as they walk, talking about random things, making fun of Derek and then turning to Peter and telling a joke or making fun of him.

Stiles knew wolves relied on contact to feel better and that's what he was giving Peter, but he was also giving him something else to focus on, and Peter was so grateful for the fact. This is why he liked Stiles way more than the others and gave him information when he asked, instead of the others, he'd give him anything he needed. Peter almost jerked back at the thought, that's how he felt about his family before the fire, he would do anything for them and give them anything. Stiles was becoming a part of Peter's family, and Cora and Derek were already a part of that family, even if they didn't accept him as they once had.

Peter started to relax just a little bit. Feel less pain as he walked around, focusing on Stiles' voice, his scent, his heartbeat, his touch, and his overall presence. It helped, it anchored him.

Derek snarls and Stiles stops talking, going still. Stiles has his attention turned to Derek, wondering what he can hear or see. Peter extends his senses and hears a twig snap, there's also an unfamiliar smell in the air that screams, witches. Peter presses closer to Stiles and steps a little bit in front of him. Derek steps in front of both of them, snarling and darting his eyes around.

"Hello?" Stiles questions loudly and both Peter and Derek whip around to give him a look. "We're not here to harm anyone, we just wanted to apologize on behalf of our pack mate for offending you." Stiles declares, shrugging at the two of them.

"Apologize?" A voice hums sickly sweet, Stiles' eyes follow and aren't tricked by the direction. "Why can't the wolf do it?" The same voice questions sounding a little peeved.

"He's a little on the nonverbal side at the moment. But he is sorry, aren't you Derek." Stiles nudges Derek, and gives him a look, before flashing a bright smile in the direction of the witches.

Derek whines and hangs his head, and the witch sighs. She paces for a second and then laughs, smirks and comes closer to them.

"Why should I change him back?" She grins evilly at them and Stiles raises an eyebrow at her.

Stiles' eyes harden into cold amber and he glares at the witch, his heart quickens, but with anger. He pushes past both wolves and faces her head, the witch grins at him.

"Because if you don't, we'll set you on fire and kill you. That breaks the spell anyways, doesn't it?" Stiles smirks in a way Peter's never seen, his eyes going a little berserk.

The witch laughs, but Stiles remains firm and doesn't even blink when the witch is all of a sudden in front of him, he stares her down, keeping eye contact.

"You think you can kill me, little boy?" She sneers, "you're human." She taunts.

"Well, human no. Spark, yes." Stiles downright smirks at her and the witch's eyes widen in fear before that's gone and she's backing away.

"The spell will wear off in two days." She mutters and then she's gone. Stiles whips his phone out and texts all the others to meet back at the loft. Peter stares at Stiles, at a loss for words.

"Spark?" Stiles looks up at Peter from his phone, amber eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Oh yes, very powerful magical being. Much more powerful than a witch, or so some of the things I've read have said." Stiles smiles, and Peter frowns. "You know mythology, bestiaries, a couple of stories from other packs and hunters. The usual." Stiles grins sharply.

"And you're a spark?" Peter drawls, and Stiles laughs brightly.

"Oh definitely not, I'm all human. But the witch doesn't know that, although Deaton said I had the potential to be one." Stiles ponders thoughtfully, with a chuckle. Peter quirks a brow at him.

"And you knew that would work how?" Peter asks and Stiles shrugs.

"I didn't." Peter shakes his head and grins fondly at the boy.

"Of course, you didn't." Peter snorts and Stiles laughs and nods along.

Derek just paws at Stiles' chest and whines, Stiles draws his attention to Derek and smiles at him. Derek preens under the attention, and Stiles just grins at him. Stiles ushers for them to head back the way they came. Stiles herds them in that direction and then sighs when Derek won't go unless he's beside Stiles, he grabs Derek's arm and just drags him along.

They are the last ones to get to the loft and Stiles heads right to the couch that is unoccupied and lays on it with a groan. The others just stare at him, waiting for him to tell them what happened and what's going on. Stiles sighs turns to look at Peter and gives him a very pointed look of 'you better tell them,' that Peter somehow understands. He just nods and then turns to the others.

"Well, Stiles scared the witch off. She also said Derek would be back to normal in a couple of days. I'm just worried she'll figure out Stiles isn't a spark and be pissed." Peter explains and Scott has that very distinctive look which means he has no idea what Peter just said.

"A spark?" He asks and Stiles moves his arm from over his eyes and narrows his eyes at Scott.

"A person with magic that is a lot more powerful than a witch," Stiles informs then he glares at Scott. "Which you would know if you weren't so busy fawning over Alison." Scott gaps at his best friend who just covers his eyes with his arm again.

Alison doesn't even say anything, just glares at Scott. Peter rolls his eyes and then brushes his hand over Stiles' shoulder, scent marking him. Derek doesn't even growl, which is progress in everyone's book. Stiles doesn't even move his arm away from his eyes, but catches Peter's wrist, rubbing his thumb over his pulse point before releasing him.

Peter smiles down at him, before sitting in the armchair closest to Stiles. Derek awkwardly tries to sit with Stiles, but it ends up with Derek sitting with Stiles' feet over his lap. Derek just sits there contently, but doesn't like it when anyone else gets too close to Stiles, he still growls at the others.

Derek rubs Stiles' ankle to scent mark him and Stiles rubs the arm that Derek has on his legs. Peter smiles behind his hand, Derek rarely does that with his pack anymore and when he does, the others don't seem to get the significance. Scott never did it and Derek would always squirm when he wasn't touched, which is why Stiles and him and been getting closer, also probably the reason that he listened to Stiles, instead of his 'Alpha.'