Payment (revised)

Chapter 27

edited: 5/14/20

edited: 9/5/23

Stiles was wandering the empty halls of the pack house. His footsteps resounded off the walls of the winding walkways. The silence pressed all around him, stifling him, making him feel claustrophobic.

There was once a time when Stiles craved the silence. He had longed for the moments when his father was gone and he wouldn't have to hear the constant stream of passive aggressive comments aimed his way.

Silence had once been safe. The quiet was a blanket that wrapped itself around Stiles, protecting him from the screaming disappointment that he had come to view as normal. But things had changed, everything was different now.

Sound meant family.

Sound meant Erica's laughter, and Scott's excitement that only Isaac could keep up with. Sound meant the twinkle in Boyd's eye at his friends' theatrics. Sound meant Lydia's sharp quips, and Allison's soft humming. Sound meant Derek. Derek's quiet smiles, and gentle touches that meant more to Stiles than Derek realized. Before the pack, no one had touched him so softly, like he was important. Not since his mother died.

Stiles let his own fingers trail up his arms, trying to replicate the goosebumps only Derek's touch was capable of leaving. This new family he had stumbled across was a gift he would never stop being grateful for. This new found love consumed him entirely.

Which was why he was so worried.

Although Derek hadn't come to sleep with him last night, the man had been there to gently wake him up. Stiles had awoken wrapped in strong arms and nestled against sun kissed skin. It was midmorning, and all Stiles wanted to do was stay in bed with Derek for the rest of the day.

But after the prior evening's events, Stiles had sensed a shift in the air. War was coming, and they didn't have time to waste. As much as Derek seemed to want to give into Stiles's persuasions, it was the Alpha who pulled back first. Stiles had sensed the time to fool around had passed them, and as much as he wished they could stay together this way, it wasn't meant to be.

The ice cold fear that had wrapped around the Alpha like a protective shield was thawing, and he was letting Stiles in.

Stiles's own fears that he had given himself wholly to a relationship that would lead him in infuriating circles began to fade away with every step forward.

Derek had explained that he had woken the other pack members at dawn. He had sent them all out as emissaries to allying criminal rings to ask for their support in the oncoming war.

Derek assured Stiles that the first two attacks had only succeeded because Derek hadn't realized the true extent of the offense. Now he was ready. Now their enemy was going to have hell to pay.

The only information Derek held to himself was where the pack had all scattered off to, and which gangs they were in contact with. Even within the group, each person's separate destination was kept secret from the others, for insurance. Stiles let Derek get away with that as he saw what his lover wasn't telling him, that in case Stiles was captured he would be safer not knowing vital information that could get him hurt.

The one thing Derek did tell Stiles, that not even the rest of the pack knew, was that Derek had once again called on the infamous Alphas. The pack of dangerous individuals who kept to themselves and only traded through information. Stiles had heard of them only once before, they had been the ones to tell Derek where Lydia had been held. It was because of them that Lydia was found. Stiles shivered at the thought of what might have happened if they hadn't been given that vital information. Needless to say the pack owed The Alphas for their help that night.