Scott and Derek develop a brotherhood relationship
Alison is alive
Melissa and the Sheriff have weekly dates to complain about their savage children and the supernatural; what's worst, your werewolf son dating a hunter or your human son dating a werewolf???
Stiles and Scott are brothers from different mothers
Erica and Stiles are the most dangerous duo ever
Stiles' neighbors think he's a dealer, why else would there be people climbing through his window every night??
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Max won’t ever say it, but she likes it, the way Steve gently and methodically slides his hands over her shoulders and down her arms, squeezing at her wrists with the slightest pressure to stimulate her own developing scent glands. It helps to mix their scents, mark them as pack, tell her she’s loved and cared for. She tells herself that she likes it so much because Steve smells like lavender and sweet mint. A little pocket of calm for her nose that lingers on her skin after a movie night or a ride home from the arcade.
Sometimes she goes a couple weeks without seeing Steve, everyone busy. Her mother’s scent marking is lackluster now, all the drinking souring her scent, the alcohol burning away any of her natural sweetness, and her friends do their best, but pup scents aren’t strong enough, all similarly powdery.
Then she’ll catch a whiff of Steve on Dustin and she has to bite her tongue to keep from growling. But Lucas always notices, taking her hand and allowing their scents to mingle. “You can always go see him, you know,” Lucas says, again.
They both know who he means by “him.”
Max shrugs, unwilling to admit she wants anything, least of all to be scent marked by the boy she wishes could have been her older brother.
They both know she won’t do anything or say anything, but the next day Steve will be in the parking lot when school gets out. He’s picking up Eddie, the van in the shop again, but Max knows he’s waiting for her, his arms opening easily for her.
🪻🪻🪻
Lucas gets more than enough affection at home, his parents making sure he carries their scents before he leaves the house each morning. His mother’s rich molasses scent sits at his neck, his father’s peppery green scent grips his shoulders. He has never gone a day of his life without being marked, and it shows in his bearing—head held high, comfortable in himself, not always sure about the world, but sure of himself.
He doesn’t need Steve the way the others do. But Steve still cares, clapping him on the back and slapping his hand in triumphant high-fives. They talk sports and bump shoulders, and it’s enough. Steve’s soft herbal scent lives with the others on his skin, a link to the pack he’s chosen for himself.
🪻🪻🪻
Mike acts like it annoys him. He complains about Steve crashing Hellfire, how the omega is only going to distract the DM and cut their game short.
Never mind the fact that Steve only ever shows up after their end time. He still attaches himself to Eddie as soon as he’s in the door, throwing it in everyone’s faces just what will be happening later that night.
Mike hates that for real, knowing that Eddie and Steve… That they make sense to each other.
They should be diametrically opposed, yet Eddie never looks happier than when he is with Steve. And Steve is the same, like his body is drawn into Eddie’s gravity, relaxing just by being near him.
The sex thing, too. Mike hates thinking about that…
So, he grouses when Steve shows up and gets in the way of him talking with Eddie as they pack up the table. He ducks when Steve reaches to ruffle his hair the way he does with Dustin—but never so far Steve can’t touch him.
It’s never much, but it brightens the musky leather scent left by Eddie’s touch; a complement that Mike appreciates, he just isn’t ready to understand it. Not now.
He scowls every time it happens, only to shrug when Will elbows him. Will who appreciates the subtle gesture, even though he rarely receives it himself. Will isn’t one of Steve’s pups, their packs overlapping at odd angles to keep them separate. It’s why Will can tell Mike secretly likes it, having Steve’s scent on him, the way he sniffs that little bit more after Steve’s touch.
Will and Steve will share a smile as the pups leave. They have a bet going to see how long it takes Mike to get over himself.
🪻🪻🪻
With alarming regularity, Dustin fully sleeps on top of Steve. It usually starts with him sitting next to him on the couch during movie night, and as the evening progresses Dustin curls into Steve’s side.
By the time everyone else is ready to go home, Dustin is asleep, face pressed to Steve’s neck, curled up in his lap. “I’ll get everyone else out the door, then give Mrs. H. a call,” Eddie murmurs as he stands, pecking a kiss to Steve’s temple.
“Thanks,” Steve returns, keeping his voice down. Dustin may not have many nightmares now, but he still has trouble sleeping. His brain is always buzzing, new thoughts constant, keeping him awake far too late as he jots down ideas and digs through his bookshelf to look things up. Steve knows he’s running on too little sleep, and he’s happy to be a calming presence for his favorite pup.
Not that he’ll be a pup much longer, and Dustin’s grown close to a foot taller since he started treating Steve like furniture. Having his deadweight on his chest is a bit more of a strain than it used to be. But once he presents he won’t want the same kind of cuddles.
If he ends up an alpha, his instincts will have him shying away, not wanting to look like a threat to an alpha he respects by scenting Eddie’s omega. The only omega he’ll still allow to mark him will be his mother, at least until his hormones settle.
Dustin will stay cuddlier as an omega, offering and seeking comfort from the pack, but he won’t be a pup anymore. His scent will tickle a different place in Steve’s nose, and his instincts will have him nesting more, his omega learning to self-soothe.
For now, Steve will let Dustin crush him a little, taking the time to cover him in his scent.
🪻🪻🪻
Steve can’t be near Eddie without touching him—holding hands, pressed to his side, arms wrapped tight around his chest, cupping his cheeks to hold him in place for a kiss—all perfect opportunities to cover his alpha in his scent. He wants everyone Eddie meets to know he is taken. That he has an omega who cares for him.
That he’s loved.
Eddie returns the favor in kind, his warm leather scent rubbed along Steve’s back and down his arms. Kissed against Steve’s neck and onto his cheeks, his lips. Filling him with his scent as they lie together in Steve’s nest, naked and warm, clinging to one another. The intimacy of their scents mixing so complete that they always smell of each other, a scent that will settle permanently when they bond.
A few times now, Steve’s come close to asking for it. He wants to breathe forever in and hold it in his lungs, to have Eddie’s scent inside him always. To have his love filling him to bursting.
Soon enough, Steve will realize it has already taken root.
🪻🪻🪻
Steve is nesting, readying the nursery for its impending inhabitant. All the furniture has been built—by Wayne, Eddie was allowed to hold things in place—and arranged just so. The walls are a gentle blue, gauzy curtains hang at the windows, and a cozy rug covers the floor. The crib has simple bedding, for safety, but Steve has a nest in the corner, a place for him and the pup.
It already has scent tokens from his packmates, and the sheets and blankets stink of Eddie, now it needs a final layer of Steve. Of Mama.
He’s lying in the nest on his side, clutching a pillow and pressing his wrists to the fabric. A baby blanket is draped loosely around his neck like a scarf, his scent seeping into the fibers.
“How are you?” Eddie asks from the doorway, “Both of you? How are my sweethearts holding up?”
Steve strokes down over his round belly. “She’s fine, keeps kicking and letting me know she wants more space.”
“Steve…” Eddie shakes his head fondly. “What about you?”
“I’d be better if my alpha was in my nest with me. She’ll like it more too, having Daddy close.”
“Okay.” Eddie smiles, slotting himself into place at Steve’s back, covering his mate’s hand where it rests over their pup. He nuzzles against Steve’s neck, right over his bite mark, and inhales. Steve purrs and Eddie rumbles his own contented pleasure in response. “Yeah, feels pretty good here,” Eddie mumbles, “Smells like home.”
hiiii! i'm trying to find a fic where stiles is a spark and derek lives with him and his dad? and they end up making a pack with lydia anddddd...danny i think?? i remember stiles' uses magic to make derek alpha again (i think this is post s3?) -- also! deaton is a good teacher and the nemeton is like. a benevolent entity? i remember the fic describes the nemeton as feeling almost grandmotherly at some point.
Hi anon! @blackbirds-of-promise suggested this one.
Anthracite by LupusScintilla (inkandblade)
(16/16 I 106,673 I Explicit I Sterek)
It's been a quiet few years, and the McCall Pack has grown and settled. But, when the Hale Pack return to Beacon Hills they find Scott isn't as welcoming as they had hoped.
Soon they, Stiles, and Lydia, find out that not everything about the McCall Pack is as it has always seemed.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski & Everyone, Peter Hale & Stiles Stilinski
Characters: Stiles Stilinski, Sheriff Stilinski (Teen Wolf), Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Lydia Martin, Cora Hale, Allison Argent, Isaac Lahey, Peter Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Derek Hale, Roscoe | Stiles Stilinski's Jeep
Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship, Pack Mom Stiles Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski is Derek Hale's Anchor, Derek Hale's Pack Ships Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Pack Alpha Derek Hale, Scott McCall is a Failwolf (Teen Wolf), Wolf Pack, Minor Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes, no one dies, Post-Kanima Arc (Teen Wolf), Canon-Typical Violence, Rated T for the cussing, Original Monster/Creature, Monster of the Week, Good Peter Hale, Peter Hale is a Little Shit, Not Beta Read
Summary:
Stiles knew something was wrong the moment he woke up. All it took was a name to bring it all back. Now he's the only one who knows that something's wrong. Which means he's the only one who can fix it.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
The sheriff and Stiles have a complex relationship in the show but it's also a fairly loving relationship.... Let's make it toxic
After his wife died it's alluded to quite a bit that the sheriff took to drinking and that stiles kinda had to raise himself and that got me thinking...
What if instead of just being a drunk for a short amount of time, he stayed a drunk until Stiles last year in middle school? And during those many years that he was drunk he was also neglectful. He couldn't stand to look at Stiles because Stiles reminded him too much of his wife so he just chose to not look at him or talk to him. He basically pretended that Stiles was invisible for years. Stiles obviously took this to heart which impacted his already precarious abandonment issues, but he still tried his best to take care of his dad and not lose him which (to him) meant hiding his alcoholism.
Stiles doesn't want CPS to get called so he hides everything that he can but eventually Melissa finds out and she helps the sheriff quit(or more accurately, slow down).
The sheriff and Stiles slowly learn to get used to each other and adopt a comfortable relationship by the time the show starts.
However (sometime after season two when their relationship is rocky again) the sheriff starts to lean into his old habits. He's not quite a drunk just yet but he is slowly getting back to it, and he starts to ignore Stiles more and more. Stiles won't tell him the truth about what's going on and that's all he wants to hear so there's no point in talking to him anyway.
Stiles is hurting over this obviously because he doesn't want to lose his dad again but he also doesn't want to involve him in any of this.
This all comes to head one night when Stiles gets home late. He was out with the pack dealing with the newest big bad and the plan didn't work so there was a huge mess.
A bunch of the pack had yelled at him for his plan failing even though they're the ones who didn't stick to it, and Derek was pissed at him because he got hurt while trying to push Scott out of the way of something. Scott was also pissed at him because Allison got hurt and she decided to take it out on Scott, so he yelled at Stiles too. Then they all left and he was the one who had to clean up the mess. He was in pain too because got hurt during the fight and his entire night was just horrible.
When he gets home he sees his dad sitting watching tv with a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He's stressed and just wants to lay down but he also has to take care of his dad. He tries to take the whiskey from his dad's hand to put it away but the sheriff pulls it back and keeps watching tv. Stiles tells him to go to sleep and that it's late and he has work tomorrow and he tries to take the bottle again but the sheriff won't budge and just keeps watching tv.
At this point Stiles is pissed so he turns the TV off, stands in front of it, and tells his dad to put the whiskey away and go to sleep in a harsh tone. The sheriff just turns his head away from Stiles and starts drinking it straight from the bottle. Stiles is livid. He snatches the bottle from his dad's hands and throws it on the floor.
The sheriff gets mad and starts glaring at Stiles, he opens his mouth(likely to yell at him) but then he remembers that he's not talking to Stiles right now and starts walking away instead. Stiles sees all this and starts yelling at him about it, and confronting him about being a neglectful asshole. The sheriff just keeps walking, he gets to the liquor cabinet and pulls out another bottle while completely ignoring Stiles, and is pouring himself a glass when Stiles shoves him.
Stiles was already yelling at him for ignoring him and being a drunk, so when he saw the bottle he just snapped. He shoves him and that's when the sheriff looks at him again. He's shocked and angry that his son would get violent with him. Stiles yells at him again about how he's paying attention now.
The sheriff is pissed but he just turns back to his drink so Stiles shoves him again. And again. And again. He keeps shoving him and screaming at him until the sheriff shoves back. When he does, Stiles falls back against the counter and hits his head on the cabinet. The sheriff stands there shocked at his own behavior, but Stiles is just angry. He pushes himself back up and jumps at him.
This turns into a full on fight between the two. The sheriff just keeps trying to get Stiles away from him but Stiles won't relent and keeps fighting and yelling. Eventually Stiles loses energy and the sheriff is able to contain him. They just stay still for a minute to take everything in and calm down. They're both bruised and battered, and they both feel guilty for hurting the other but they suck at feelings and end up separating and going to their rooms without talking.
The next few days they avoid each other but eventually all the guilt Stiles feels about starting the fight, fully eats him alive and he tries to apologize. The sheriff won't talk to him though, his guilt over hitting his son is too much. He avoids all the calls and texts and changes his schedule so he's rarely home. Stiles is getting angry again but is determined to apologize, so one night he stays up extra late and makes dinner for his dad.
The sheriff gets home and doesn't even glance in his direction. He bypasses the dinner Stiles made and heads for the liquor cabinet again hoping to distract himself from this entire situation. Stiles is getting pissed but he tries to reign it in and starts talking about how sorry he was and that he made his dad's favorite food as an apology.
The sheriff just keeps ignoring him. Stiles raises his voice but the sheriff still won't look at him. He starts full on yelling again when the sheriff starts walking past him. He follows his dad to the living room, and when the sheriff turns on the tv Stiles loses his shit. He grabs the glass from his dad's hand and pours it on him.
The sheriff looks pissed but still won't look at him, he stands up to grab himself another glass and Stiles shoves him again. Stiles won't stop yelling or hitting him and the sheriff starts hitting back. They fight for a while before the sheriff manages to get Stiles away from him. Then they go to their separate rooms again.
The guilt is eating Stiles alive but he's just so angry and hurt every time his dad ignores him, he doesn't want to go back to being invisible so he does the only thing he can think of to make his dad look at him, he fights. The sheriff is fully gone into the bottle, too consumed with guilt and misery that he does nothing to stop it.
The fights become a regular thing, almost nightly,and they get more violent before eventually it goes too far. After a particularly rough fight that ended with Stiles getting his head smashed into the wall, the sheriff says he's had enough and tells Stiles to get out of his house.
Stiles angrily rushes upstairs and packs a bag, he ends up living in his car for a few days before the pack find out. Scott ends up telling his mom who tries to talk with the sheriff about it, meanwhile Stiles starts living at the loft.
Ensue pack feels, and found family moments.
Maybe the sheriff gets better and they actually talk about and fix their relationship? Maybe he doesn't and they stay estranged?
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Characters: Derek Hale, Stiles Stilinski, Vernon Boyd, Lydia Martin, Allison Argent, Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Isaac Lahey, Jackson Whittemore, Cora Hale, Laura Hale, Talia Hale, Kira Yukimura, Aiden (Teen Wolf), Ethan (Teen Wolf), Peter Hale
Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski are Siblings, Aiden & Ethan are Hales, Alpha!Laura, fae!Stiles, Human!Stiles, shifter!stiles, beta!derek, alpha!Derek, Humor, Alternate Universe, Getting Together, Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Mutual Pining, Communication, First Kiss, Canon-Typical Violence, Pack Dynamics, Pack Feels, Talia and Lucas Hale are Good Parents, Sibling Love, Sheriff Stilinski is Not Stiles Stilinski's Parent, Full Shift Werewolves, BAMF Stiles, First Meetings, Hurt/Comfort, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Prince Stiles, Brief miscommunication, Anal Fingering, Rimming, Anal Sex, Riding, Top Derek Hale/Bottom Stiles Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski's Name is Mieczysław, Vernon Boyd & Derek Hale Friendship
Summary:
“He didn’t magically charm me,” Derek shot back in his defense.
“Oh, so he just regular charmed you?” Laura said with a smirk.
“What? No,” Derek growled.
“Was he hot?”
“No! He just—“ He just had a laugh like a sun shower. Fuck.
He’d gotten a call from the Department about an incident with one of his pack. He’d rolled his eyes at first and nodded, waiting for another report about some conflict Darlin or Chrissy had gotten into. It wasn’t that the others weren’t possibilities, it was just that Milo would have told him before the Department and Asher was out of town.
But then they dropped a name he’d never heard the Department mention to him before, not since he confirmed them being in his pack. His heart squeezed in his chest. Mugged? What the fuck did they mean mugged?
“Where are they?” He was already out the door, keys in hand.
“What?”
“Where?”
“Oh, um. It looks like they checked themself out of the hospital after making a statement to the unempowered authorities… It doesn’t look like they broke covert although the report does suggest the assailant was empowered…”
David felt sick, teeth too long and hand shaking around his keys. It was too much information at once, all tossed out carelessly by this desk clerk on the phone like none of it even mattered. Hospital. They had been taken to the hospital? What the fuck had happened? And who had mugged them? And why, in the hell, did this asshole think David gave any fucks about covert?
“How injured were they?” he interrupted. They’d been taken to a hospital, but they seem to have left on their own. David wanted to find comfort in that detail but he couldn’t, because he knew for a fact that Babe could and would push through pain and illness. They would sooner walk home with a broken leg than ask someone for help and risk being a burden.
Fuck! Now he was worried they were walking around on a broken leg.
“Um… It looks like they were treated for some cuts and scrapes. There’s a note about a possible concussion but the doctor didn’t seem overly worried.” And the empowered clerk on the phone didn’t sound worried either.
“Cuts?”
“And scrapes.”
David ground his teeth. “What makes you say the assailant was probably empowered?”
“Oh. There’s a note about them being bitten. They kept their story pretty vague though,” he sounded pleased and then huffed a smile. “The unempowered doctors gave them antibiotics in case of an infection.”
David hung up. He had to. If he didn’t, he would somehow kill this person through the phone. He immediately dialed another number, sliding into the driver’s seat of his truck. He put the phone on the dash and started the engine. It didn’t take Milo long to answer. “Boss?”
David hesitated just when he was about to speak. Babe was pack but they were human and they were so private.
“David?” Milo was louder, closer to his phone and focused with concern.
“I’m going to need your help, but I need you and Stealth to keep it quite.” It never even occurred to him to ask Milo to keep anything from his partner.
“There was an incident with Babe. I’m headed to their apartment now. I need you to find out everything you can from the department.” He took a turn and pulled into an alley beside their building, not caring if he was in a loading zone.
“Yeah. On it. Are they okay?”
“I don’t know,” he said without thinking and froze just as he was getting out of his truck.
He didn’t know.
His instincts raged, his wolf rolling under his skin. He didn’t know. A member of his pack—the most important person in the world to his best friend—and he had no idea.
“I’ll get back to you.” He hung up and used Asher’s spare key to get into the building. He couldn’t wait for the lift, taking the stairs two at a time. It wasn’t until he was in the hall that he knew something was wrong, something other than everything else wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it until he was at their apartment door.
He knocked, but already his stomach was twisting because his senses told him they weren’t there. Not only was their apartment empty, but their scent was so faint in the hallway that he knew they hadn’t been there in hours, probably not since they left for work that morning, definitely not with any cuts.
Cuts.
Bites.
His skin crawled and he wanted to growl and whine at the same time. He needed to see them. He needed to know how bad this was and do everything he could to fix it.
He scrolled his phone numbers and tried to call them. It went immediately to voicemail.
“Fuck,” he pushed the heel of his palm against his temple. Did they even have their phone? Where would they be?
He could have the pack find them. If they fanned out, they’d have them in no time. But then he would be making this moment, this day—their day—pack public. And he didn’t know yet if that was okay with them.
Asher hadn’t called him yet. Which meant, either they were on the phone with him right now, or he didn’t know yet.
David needed eyes on Babe. He needed to be able to tell Asher he was looking at them and that they were okay, or he would lose his mind.
He tried to think up places Babe would go on his way down the stairs.
Where would he go if he was unempowered and recently attacked by a vampire? They’d called it a mugging. Had the biter really robbed them? He flipped his keys against his palm but stopped one step toward his car. The hospital wasn’t far from here. Even on foot, even slowed by injury, they would have been there by now. So, if they didn’t go home, where did they go?
He called Angel to ask if Babe had come to their place. No. Angel had questions, but David promised to explain soon and they promised to call if they heard from Babe until then.
His phone rang almost as soon as he hung up.
Milo.
David answered.
“Are they okay?”
“I don’t know,” he ground out again. “They aren’t at their apartment.”
“What?”
David looked up and down the street. It was getting dark. “Was their phone stolen?”
“No. It was broken. They were on their way home from work, just got off the subway—”
David pivoted, looking in the direction of their stop.
“In their statement to the cops, they called their attacker a biter at first—said he cornered them before they could get out of the underground station and took their jacket and their bag. They didn’t have any money or cards on them so they must have left the hospital on foot. They can’t have gotten far.”
“Did they have their keys?” David started walking toward the subway station.
Milo was moving on his side too. “It didn’t sound like it.”
If David was in Babe’s shoes, he would just want to go home. He would want to be in his own space with the door locked. But if they didn’t have their keys, they couldn’t get home. They could, of course, call him. He had the spare. But he wasn’t sure they would even if they had their phone.
He descended the steps into the subway.
“I can start at the hospital and track them.”
“Are you at the hospital now?”
“I’m on my way.”
“Good.” David hung up just as the call would have cut out anyway. The air was colder underground, the lights yellow and the hallways echoing with the hum of a passing train. The afterwork crowd had thinned out and it wasn’t quite late enough for the party crowds.
He hopped the entrance and shivered when he inhaled their scent.
He wasn’t sure he’d be able to explain how relieved he felt when he saw them standing there on the platform. They looked awful. Their pants were dirty and their shirt bloodstained and torn. He’d never seen them even mussed let alone a complete mess before. One hand clutched at the bandage around their wrist, squeezing as they frowned and stared, seeming to scrutinize the tracks.
For one horrific second he thought they were going to jump. They kept cutting glances up and down the tracks and shifting their weight where they stood at the edge.
“Babe.”
They jumped and spun around too fast.
He closed the distance and caught their hands in both of his to tug them that one step forward, away from the edge.
They stared up at him, one eye blood-red where it should be white and their cheekbone bruised in dark purple clouds. Their jaw was scraped up like they’d landed on the ground, matching their scabbed palms in his hands. “What are you doing?” David asked, trying so hard to keep his voice low and soft—trying not to growl or yell because of the fear that had built in his chest from the moment he heard their name on that call.
“Oh,” they exhaled and their shoulders dropped. They looked down at themself and flushed. “Sorry. It’s been a bad night. I was mugged but it’s fine.”
They didn’t know he knew about that. “It doesn’t look fine.”
They turned toward the tracks again. “I kicked my keys when he went for them and they went down there… If he got my keys he could be at my place and if he didn’t, well, I need them.” Their voice was tinny, carefully logical but fragile in that desperation.
David nodded, still holding onto their hands and very gently drawing them another step away from the tracks. “I’ll look.”
Babe exhaled hard and shook their head, wincing at a pain in their body and stopping short in the gesture. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll find them. You’ve probably got someplace to be.”
David stared at them. Was it shock or did they really think he was just passing by? He folded their hands inside of his. This was the first time he’d ever touched Babe. Pack was very physical but David had never been good at building those relationships. With other wolves, it was easier. It was simpler. With the non-shifters in the pack, it had always been so much harder. He knew now that he’d made a mistake when he thought that was okay—that he didn’t need to build on those bonds as well. Babe was looking at him like a work associate being nice to them on a rough day. It was polite but unexpected and certainly unnecessary. They expected nothing from him.
“I don’t have anywhere to be. I came here looking for you,” he said, their hand spasming in his.
They looked down at their joined hands for the first time, as if just now registering the contact. And then their eyes widened and their face shot up to seek his gaze again. Their words rushed out of them. “I didn’t break covert.”
It was a gut punch.
They pulled their hands out of his and took a step back, chin pressing high as they tried to stand taller. “I would have let you know after… After I got home. I just…” They looked over their shoulder at the tracks and their lost keys again, frowning.
David nodded. First problem first. He could do that.
He stepped around them and up to the edge of the platform, eyeing the shadows until he spotted the bundle of keys on a ring. He jumped down.
“Be careful!” Babe rushed to the edge.
David could hear the trains and knew exactly how long he had. He snagged the keys, pocketed them, and jumped back up onto the platform. He was just turning them toward the exit when Milo came down the steps, slowing and stopping at the sight of them.
“Hey,” he said to Babe, gaze flicking over the state of them.
David heard the way the other wolf’s pulse quickened, the edges of rage tucked behind his teeth.
Babe sighed, shoulders drooping as they started up the stairs. “I guess this is a thing now.”
Milo frowned and turned to follow them. “How was this not going to be?”
David shot him a warning look but Babe didn’t wither under the badgering tone. They sighed again, a little groan of annoyance now. They were slow on the steps but neither shifter was going to rush them.
“I mean, I figured I could go home and clean up before it had to be public knowledge that I got mugged. Asher is going to be—” They stopped and swung around.
Both shifters stopped, arms out to stabilize them if they were falling over.
“Does he know? He’s going to panic and think I died.”
David blinked at the rush of words. He shook his head. “Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first.” He really just wanted to see them—to be able to tell his best friend that they were in one piece and breathing.
Babe sagged in relief, nodding, almost slumping into the railing with the weight of it. “Good. Good. Just, let me clean up and I’ll video call him. That’ll be better.”
David wasn’t sure it would be, but he nodded.
Babe started the upward march again. David had never realized how many fucking steps their were until he watched this human drag themself up each one. He could swear he could hear Milo’s teeth grinding on the effort not to pick them up—the same as his.
“Do you know who it was?” David asked, trying to distract all of them while getting a little information.
“What?”
“The biter,” Milo helped.
Babe jerked a little, free hand flying to the bandage on their wrist. “I’m not going to turn am I?”
Milo laughed.
David groaned. “No. Asher really needs to take you to those classes…”
They exhaled tired relief. “Never saw him before. He cornered me and tossed me around. Bit my wrist and then laughed. He wanted my stuff, my phone, my keys, and my wallet.” They swallowed, looking up at the last stretch of steps.
David squeezed his fists until his fingers popped to resist scooping them up.
They continued to walk. “But my phone was busted from his initial attack and the keys I’d kicked. The next train was coming in. He took all my cards though and said…” Babe stopped then they reached the sidewalk atop the steps. They took a deep breath.
“Said what?” David asked.
They opened their eyes and looked at him, not seeming to know what he was talking about at first.
“What did the vampire say?”
A shudder rocked them when they remembered and it was like watching a person remember to be afraid. “Oh.”
“Babe?”
They looked up the street toward their building. “He said he’d see me later.”
Milo growled low in his chest and David felt relieved at the sound if only because it was the echo of the one he was holding back.
Babe looked at them both. “He didn’t mean it though, right? I mean, that’s just something someone would say to scare. There’s no reason for him to bother with me again.”
David frowned. “You don’t need to worry about it.”
Babe nodded like he was agreeing with them, relieved and started down the sidewalk.
David tipped his head toward Milo, who hadn’t moved a muscle. “Find him,” David growled. “Get Darlin to help you and hunt him down. I want him in pieces in a box by morning.”
Milo nodded once and was gone.
David joined Babe, close at their side but not quite touching, always ready to catch them or buffer anyone else out of their way. It was one of the longest walks of his life but they both sagged in relief when they reached their apartment door. For a second Babe thought they’d lost their keys again, until David pulled them from his pocket and unlocked the door.
“You don’t have to stay,” they said when they were inside.
He shut and locked the door. The lock was just for them. Nothing was getting past him.
Babe let out a little laugh. “I’m going to clean up, okay? I’ll call Ash after that. Just… Just wait, okay?”
David nodded and stayed in the living room when they headed down the hall to their bathroom.
He kept his senses focused on their breathing, hearing it even through the shut door and the spray of the shower. It took everything he had not to move when they started crying. They needed that moment alone and he wasn’t going to take it from them. He was going to pretend he hadn’t listened, even if he was, even if he had to just in case they passed out.
He texted Angel to let them know that he had found Babe, everything was okay, but he’d be over at Asher and Babe’s for a while.
-
Babe tried not to cry. Really they did. It was stupid. It wouldn’t help anything. Oh god but it had been such a bad night. They’d been so scared and then so embarrassed and now they were a mess and they’d have to call Asher and he’d feel terrible and the whole pack knew and it was going to be a big deal and how could they even convince anyone it wasn’t when their face looked like that!
They stripped down and bunched all their clothes into a tight ball, cramming them down into the trash and then tying off the plastic bag and throwing it into the corner. They felt like a mess. They felt out of control and like everyone was looking. It made their skin hurt.
They showered, trying not to wallow and take too long because they knew David would still be out there. Poor guy was stuck having to sit in their living room, thinking they were falling apart. If they could show him they were fine he’d probably feel okay to leave.
They cried some more in the shower, hoping to get the last of it out. They cleaned up, dressed in some soft sweats and a hoodie with long sleeves. Their palms throbbed, the scrapes deep and matching the ones on their jaw. It was going to look even worse tomorrow. And their eye… they could barely look at it, the white gone red.
When it was as good as it was going to get, they marched back down the hall to their living room. David wasn’t there. Their heart lurched but just as soon as they’d started to panic that they were all alone, they found him in the kitchen. He had the fridge open but had stopped to stare back at them. “I forgot that living with Ash, there’s never any leftovers.”
They exhaled, letting some of the strain in their chest go with that breath. “Yeah. I can make you—”
He shot them a look that was between outrage and shock. “I’ll make us something. What do you want?”
“Oh. You don’t have to.”
“French toast, right?”
Babe stared at him, the sleeves of Asher’s hoodie bunched up in their palms, pressing into those scrapes. “What?”
“When we do pack get togethers overnight and make waffles or pancakes in the morning… Ash always asks for French toast,” he said as he pulled the eggs and milk out and then found a loaf of bread. “He never used to ask for French toast. He has a whole thing about pancakes being superior to all other breakfast options. He started asking for French toast when you joined.”
Babe felt heat rush their face and something ease in their heart. They sank into one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter, nodding. “Yeah.” They loved French toast.
David nodded and then took out of phone and waved it over his shoulder. “Do you want to call or do you want me to?”
Tears stung their eyes. It was stupid. Everything was fine and they just needed to let Ash know that.
They held out their hand and David passed them the phone.
It wasn’t hard to find his number and it only rang a couple times before that voice they’d been missing so much picked up.
“Hey buddy. What’s up?” Asher sing-songed, thinking it was David calling.
He was on some trip to meet and get to know other packs on the continent, a gathering out in the wilderness to build relationships. Baby sighed.
The levity was gone from his voice. “Babe? What are you doing on David’s phone?”
How the hell were they supposed to say this? “Everything is okay. Everyone is okay. I just… My phone is broken.” True but not all of it. They closed their eyes. “I got mugged in the subway and my phone got broken. David had to walk me home.” Nope, not quite. “There was a police report and I had to go to the hospital, but I’m okay and I didn’t break covert or anything.”
The pause seemed long even if it was only seconds. “Oh Baabe,” he said so gently that their heart melted. “I’m so sorry. You’re sure you’re okay? That must have been so scary.”
They exhaled so much relief, dropping their head forward onto their folded arm on the counter. Thank god he hadn’t freaked out. They weren’t sure they could handle that right now. They just wanted normal. “It was but I’m okay.”
“You’re home now?”
They nodded and then remembered they had to actually say it. “Yeah.”
“You’re so fucking tough, Baabe. I’ll be there in the morning.”
They sat up, dragging a breath. “You don’t have to—”
“You know I’m coming home. Really, you’re giving me an excuse to do exactly what I want, which is to come back to you. So just hang tight, okay? Order delivery or something, sleep in, and I’ll be there when you wake up, okay?”
Babe hummed something close to a yes.
“David’s there?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I talk to him? I’ll be home soon, okay? I love you so much, Baabe.”
“I love you too,” they said and then held out the phone.
David took it and held it to his ear.
-
David turned back toward the eggs.
“Who?” There was no smile or light-heartedness to Asher’s voice now.
“Milo’s on it.”
“How bad is it?”
“Not bad.” He couldn’t give him details without Babe overhearing. “I’ll text you.”
“Broken bones?”
“No,” he was fast to answer that.
“Unempowered?”
“No.”
Asher growled.
“Milo’s on it,” David reminded. “I’ll have it for you when you get here.”
“David…” Asher started, human voice shuddering with the effort to stay in that form when probably his whole wolf was trying to shift out and run.
“Anything,” he said.
“Just… stay with them until I get there? They’re tough but…”
David nodded. He’d never intended to go anywhere. “We’re making French toast. We’ll be here when you get back to town.”
Asher grunted and hung up. It wasn’t like him to be short on words but David understood.
Babe had their head in their arms again. “You don’t have to stay,” they said as soon as he started cracking eggs. “I’m probably just going to sleep.”
“Great. Then I can pick what we’re watching.”
Babe lifted their head and looked at him before relenting with a nod. “Sure. You’re a good friend. Asher’s lucky to have you,” they said, voice quiet with the soft compliment.
It made his chest swell but his brow pinch. “You’re pack, Babe. Yes, you’re Asher’s mate, but you’re also pack.” He sighed. “You should have called me from the hospital, not because this was some sort of trouble you needed to report but because you needed help.”
“I didn’t.”
“You could have used help,” he reworded for them and felt the echo of his words in words spoken to him by Asher in the past. “You could have called any of us. You don’t have to call me if you don’t want to, but Milo or—”
“My phone was broken.”
“There are phones in the hospital. You know you could have called… and I know why you didn’t. But you don’t need to need us to call us. It’s okay to just want us to show up.”
They pressed their lips, thinking about it.
He cracked another egg. “And stop worrying about covert.”
They looked up. “But you worry about covert—”
“Yeah. It’s my job to worry about it on behalf of the pack. You don’t need to give a shit about it. When someone hurts you, all bets are off, and I will handle everything else.”
Babe blinked at him and then finally asked. “The vampire isn’t going to come back for me, is he?”
David huffed, looking for the cinnamon on the shelf. “No. You don’t ever need to worry about that.”