The Mother of Beacon Hills

18

NeneExo_l

(Lyrica's P.O.V.)

My heart is racing as Noah and I slide open the door to the loft, easily spotting Stiles inside. He's facing the windows, back to us, in the middle of the room. I hear Noah's heart racing too as we take a few steps inside. Stiles slowly turns to face us, looking scared out of his mind,

"Hi, Dad. Hi, Lyrie."

Noah pulls out his handcuffs, holding them where Stiles can see them.

"You want to handcuff me?" The teen asks.

"If my son is still here, if there's still a part of him standing here in front of me," Noah and I walk down the steps, slowly nearing him. "Then he'll put these on willingly, and he'll come with me."

"Because he knows," I add. "That we're here to protect him. From himself, and from others."

Stiles holds out his arms, and allows himself to be cuffed. He lifts his head as Noah steps back, and there's a sinister look on his face.

"You're not my brother." I whisper.

Stiles, or rather, the Nogitsune, just smiles as he pulls his hands apart, snapping the cuffs. It's at this time that the Argents and Derek walk in. He chuckles as they come to stand next to us. Allison tries to shoot him with a taser, but he catches the tips before they can pierce his skin, glaring at the girl as he pulls the weapon out of her hand and throws it to the side.

Derek charges him with a growl, only for Stiles to catch his arm and twist it around. We can hear the bones crunch as he shoves Derek to the side. I growl in anger as Derek coughs, and the sound of a gun cocking is heard. I look up from my injured mate, only to see Argent with a gun aimed at Stiles' head. Stiles turns to look at the man with an amused look on his face.

"Argent, listen to me." I say, stepping up beside Noah and carefully slipping his gun from its holster on his side. "Don't do this."

"Why not? I've done it before." Argent's gaze doesn't leave Stiles and I see Derek move to his feet out of the corner of my eye. "Werewolves, berserkers. I can easily add a nogitsune to the list."

I lift the gun I had stolen from the Sheriff, aiming it at the hunter and pulling back the hammer. I can easily hear Noah patting his side in shock and realization. Argent turns his head to look at me and the gun I have in front of his face.

"You're not going to shoot my brother." I growl.

"You said it yourself, Lyrica. That's not your brother." Argent looks back to the teen. "And I doubt you even know how to use that gun."

"Safety's off, both hands in place, bullet in the chamber, hammer cocked, finger on the trigger. I'm ready to fire." I seethe. "Put it down. Put it down."

"Lyrie, he's going to shoot me." The nogitsune tries to play me. "He's going to kill me, Lyrica."

"Don't listen." Argent demands.

"Put it down. Put it down." I continue to tell the hunter. "Now! Do it! Put it down!"

"Pull the trigger." Stiles taunts Argent. "Come on."

"Listen to me, you put the gun down now!" I shout.

"Shoot me."

"Put the gun down!"

"Dad." Allison calls.

"Shoot me!" Stiles yells.

"Put the gun down!"

"Shoot me!"

"Argent, you put it down!"

"Put it down!" Noah yells.

"Strife." I hear Allison mutter. "Stop, stop it! This is what he wants! This is exactly what he wants."

"Not exactly." Stiles corrects her. "I was kind of hoping Scott would be here. But I'm glad you all have your guns out. Because you're not here to kill me." He turns around, looking at the windows. It's dark outside. "You're here to protect me."

Four oni appear out of the darkness, and I instantly pass Noah his gun. Stiles back away behind us as the oni unsheathe their swords. Argent tries to shoot them, only for nothing to come out of the weapon. He reaches for another gun in his jacket as Noah opens fire. Derek, Allison, and I move to the other side of Stiles as two of the oni disappear, only to reappear in front of us. The oni charge, and Derek and I shift, charging right back at them.

The fighting goes in a blur and before I know it, the oni are gone, and Derek and I are on the ground. Derek has a deep gash in his left shoulder, and I have one from my right shoulder to just above my right hip. I feel the pain in my left shoulder from Derek's injury, and I have no doubt that he feels mine. Argent crouches down to check on us when there's suddenly footsteps. We look up to see Scott and Kira run in.

"What happened?" The teenage alpha asks, looking over the mess.

"They disappeared." Allison pants. "They literally just vanished."

"And so did Stiles." Noah sighs.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you absolutely sure you don't want me to at least put a bandage on it?" I sigh, looking at the gash on Derek's shoulder. The one across my chest is slowly healing, but Derek's looks to be exactly the same.

"I'm sure, Lyrie." Derek says with a fond smile. "It'll heal soon. I promise. Just like yours."

"But yours is deeper." I protest, rising from the edge of our bed in the loft and walking over to my mate. "It would heal even faster if you just let me stitch it up."

"I'm okay. I swear."

"If it doesn't show any signs of improvement in the morning, I'm stitching it and covering it." I cross my arms, giving him a stern look.

"If it'll give you some peace of mind, then fine." Derek chuckles. "Now come on."

We walk over to the table, setting out the chess pieces.

"What are you doing?" Peter asks, coming down the stairs. "And more importantly, why aren't you healing?"

"It's from one of their swords." Derek answers his uncle, briefly turning to look at the wound on his shoulder, easily visible due to the tank top he's wearing. "It'll heal."

"By playing chess?" Peter questions, coming to a halt on the other side of the table.

"Yup. Heals the soul, trains the brain, soothes the body." I tell the beta with a roll of my eyes.

"And I'm guessing the use of sarcasm means that you're healing just fine." Peter sighs, looking towards where my wound is hidden underneath the shirt I'm wearing, which just so happens to belong to Derek.

"Back in his room, Stiles had a board with my name on one of the pieces. If this is a game to him, then I need to figure out the plays." Derek explains our plan to Peter.

"Not so easy to do when it's a game without rules." Peter sighs, messing with one of the pieces.

"What does that mean?" I ask, shoving my hands into the pockets of my sweatpants.

"You're dealing with the kind of spirit that's lived too long to play by human rules. It's a fox spirit that chose to become human. And supposedly, that's something they can do only after about 100 years. If a kitsune is an annoying pain in the ass, then a nogitsune, which is a dark kitsune, is a freaking disaster." Peter grabs his jacket off the table, putting it on as he continues. "Besides, chess is Stiles' game. It's not the game of a Japanese fox. Do yourself a favor and put something on that. Before it gets infected."

Peter walks out, and I drag my fingers through my hair with a sigh.