1 Chapter 1

The last few weeks in Beacon Hills had been frustrating for Stiles and he had to admit that he didn't see it getting better anytime soon. Ever since they had finally managed to defeat the Kanima and turn Jackson into a real live puppy, Derek's pack had been focused pretty much on themselves. Defeating Gerard was good, phenomenal even, but the way Scott pulled it off still left a very bad taste in Stiles mouth even though he had nothing to do with it since he was left in the dark by his best friend. Derek had definitely not appreciated Scott's betrayal and actions and the gulf between them had never been as large as it was now.

It would have been much worse if Allison hadn't finally broken Gerard's hold over her. She had taken her mother's death badly and gone all 'dark willow' on them and turning into a crazy huntress. Stiles was tired of Scott's angst over her breaking up with him and he seemed to not even care that Erica and Boyd had gone missing. It came to a head when Allison had pretty much threatened Isaac at school when Stiles had snapped.

*FLASHBACK*

"You made your choice and now you will have to deal with the monster you have become" Allison snarled at the curly haired boy in front of her. Isaac had tried to talk to her, to make some kind of gesture, but Allison was still too angry. "And we take care of monsters" she added in a threatening voice as she stalked off.

Stiles had followed after her to the parking lot but before he could catch up she turned around quickly pulling out a dagger and aiming it at him. "Gonna graduate to killing people now Ally?" Stiles challenged and he saw the brief flicker of surprise when she realized it was him.

"You hang with them Stiles, you are no better" she snarls and starts to turn around to leave.

"And I guess that makes you no better than Kate" Stiles voice is icy and Allison turns, fury written on her face. "Spare me the outrage Allison" Stiles steps up to her "the only difference between the two of you is opportunity. I bet killing children and babies wouldn't even make you hesitate. Got to run home to plan how to burn families alive?" his words were merciless and Allison looked like she had been slapped.

"Peter killed my Aunt and Derek killed my mother" Allison defended angrily but Stiles wasn't having any of that.

"Bullshit!" he called. "Kate was a raving psychopath who deserved to suffer a hell of lot more than she did!" Stiles drove the words into Allison. "The only thing that gives me any satisfaction is the hope that the afterlife is real so that I can believe that if there is any justice in the universe that she is now rotting in some dark and terrifying corner of hell, suffering for the rest of eternity." Allison eyes widen at the poison in his words. "And as for your mother, Derek didn't kill her, he bit her. And that? That was her own damn fault!"

"How dare you!" Allison screamed. She couldn't honestly defend Kate no matter how upset she was that her aunt was dead. Her crimes were monstrous and discovering that several of Derek's family had been fully human had made it difficult to look at the man without feeling guilty. "Derek bit my mom knowing that the code would require her to take her own life!" she snarled.

"No" Stiles voice was flat and without mercy or emotion. "Derek was poisoned and disoriented by wolfsbane. An aerosolized version of wolfsbane that your mom was using to try and kill Scott! Derek was trying to save your boyfriend from being murdered by your mother. "

Allison went pale as the blood drained from her face and she shook her head. No. It couldn't be. Her mother would never have tried to really hurt Scott. Sure she didn't like him, hated him even, but Scott was innocent and he had never done anything to anyone. The code protected him as well.

Stiles could see the conflict on the girls face and almost relented but this had to stop. "Ask Scott. Make him tell you the truth. Ask you dad about your mom's real feelings. Whether she would do that. You don't know her Ally, she successfully lied to you your whole life" Stiles voice was slightly gentler. "Stop being a puppet for your family, a weapon without a conscience" he told her.

Allison looked at Stiles and saw something in his eyes that she couldn't exactly explain. Stiles was the comic relief, the geek, the nerd. He wasn't a fighter or a hero or a real part of all of this. But there was something that caused her to pause.

"Because I promise you. If you cross that line. You violate the spirit of the code, then you are the monster Ally. You and your whole family" Stiles tells her without blinking and she suddenly realizes that she is feeling fear. "And when that happens" Stiles face turns hard "I will make sure you and every one of your family will be put down…permanently." Stiles walks away from the dark haired girl who watched him walk away shaken by the sudden realization that out of everyone she had ever met, including Peter when he was crazy, Stiles was the one who was the most dangerous because once he saw you as a threat, your days would be numbered.

*END FLASHBACK*

Luckily Stiles had actually reached Allison that day and she had later cornered her father and demanded answers and he was honest. Finding out that her mother had in fact been trying to kill Scott when she was bitten was hard to hear but hearing that her father had begged his mother not to take her life, to stay and fight for their family, but had instead chosen to listen to Gerard and kill herself had nearly broken her.

The final straw had been a few days later after the Lacrosse game that Stiles had won when she came home and heard a strange sound from the basement. She had been prohibited from entering but she snuck around to get a view and saw her grandfather and his men beating Stiles while Erica and Boyd were hanging from electrified restraints. Allison trembled at seeing her classmates being tortured but she also knew that she couldn't stop them. Thankfully Gerard decided they were through and sent Stiles off with his men to drop him off as a message to Scott! Hiding, she waited until Gerard had left for something before she broke in to the basement.

Walking in Allison had struggled to convince the two werewolves she was sincere, but she turned off the electricity and freed both of the exhausted wolves. "You need to get to Derek" she urged them and saw the doubt on their faces. "Werewolves heal faster when they are with their pack. You are too weak to run, Gerard will come after you with his men and this time he won't hesitate to kill you" she explained.

Erica and Boyd had listened and ran to Derek who had been stunned by their return and what they told him. He had decided to move the pack to a safe house that Peter had set up to everyone's surprise. They decided to hide out there and recover while Gerard raged and tried to find them without success.

Stiles found them by chance when he ran into Peter at the library of all places while the older werewolf was out one morning. He had been his usually irritating self but had relayed that Erica, Boyd, Isaac, and Derek were all safe and laying low. Stiles had tried to look disinterested but he wasn't fooling the older werewolf.

Peter had taken a deep sniff as he leaned in towards Stiles causing the teen to rear back "Hey dude! Boundaries!" Stiles yelped.

"You smell of bruises and blood Stiles. Perhaps Lacrosse is not your game if you are this banged up from the game. Perhaps you should try a real sport like basketball" Peter teased but there was something off about the younger man.

Stiles had froze for a second when Peter had smelled his bruises but attributing them to Lacrosse gave him an out. "Hah. Lacrosse is so much better. Besides I would probably be as graceful in basketball as I am at Lacrosse" he mutters knowing that his heart won't give him away since he didn't actually lie.

As the school year ended, things began getting more complicated. Jackson was cured, Gerard was dead or as good as, Derek was training with his pack, and Scott was trailing puppy like after Allison who had started talking to him again after she confronted him about her mother's attempted murder. Scott had told her he didn't want to hurt her by telling her the truth, the dipshit!, and of course that just made their obnoxious love worse. However Chris managed to convince Allison to visit family in France for several weeks after school so she was gone and would be gone for several weeks leaving Scott to mope around missing her and waiting for facetime and texts.

Stiles had to deal with his whole world changing and he was confused to say the least. His best friend was pretty much AWOL and when he wasn't pining over Allison he was hanging out with Isaac! What the hell?! Serious violation of the bro-code! Then Jackson and Lydia were suddenly being integrated into the Hale pack and dealing with their issues now that Lydia's true love had saved Jackson, something that had been hard for Stiles to watch. But he had decided he could deal with it but he didn't really get the chance since he rarely saw them.

Then there was the strange tension between Stiles, Erica, and Boyd. They had watched him get tortured by Gerard and as far as he could tell they hadn't told anyone, not even Derek. Erica had sneaked into his room one night while he was still recovering and he woke up when he had a sudden realization that he wasn't hurting. Finding Erica snuggled up to him absorbing his pain had been confusing but he saw the fear and uncertainty in her eyes so he just laid back down without commenting on it. She was gone when he woke up but she returned several other times, both alone and with Boyd, to snuggle with him without talking.

Now that things were settled and he was healed he hadn't seen the two betas for a while but he had to confess it had been nice while it lasted. It felt like he belonged, like he was pack, even though he wasn't. He was starting to think that Scott and Isaac's bromance would mean that he might join Derek's pack but since he was ignoring Stiles, it made Stiles wonder if Scott was planning to join without him.

One week after defeating Gerard Stiles had shown up at the vet clinic when he knew Scott wasn't working. He confronted Deaton about his so called Spark. The druid had told him he had something and showed him the mountain ash which worked in the Jungle, but then nothing. "Stiles" Deaton was as unreadable as ever "what can I do for you?" he asked politely.

"I want to learn more about my Spark" he said simply. "I want to know what I can do with it and develop it."

Deaton frowned. "Stiles, it is not that easy. Many people have the Spark which allows them to simply activate magic that is already there, like in mountain ash. Doing more is something different. I trained as a druid to use herbs and nature magic to heal and help others and to maintain the balance. I don't detect the druidic mark in you" he finally adds.

"So that's it? I can make dirt circles" Stiles voice is flat because being the son of the sheriff has given him some insights into human behavior and his every instinct is telling him that Deaton is lying.

"Making a mountain ash barrier is helpful Stiles. You are also the only one who can handle wolfsbane which can be critical to the pack" he reminds the teen.

Stiles left with two convictions. The first was that Alan Deaton wasn't as good of a liar as he obviously thought that he was. He may have been honest about Stiles not having the 'druidic mark' but he was also not telling everything he knew. Big surprise there! The second was that Deaton truly did not understand or know Stiles Stilinski if he thought he was going to accept that crappy answer.