Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

So When You’re Restless 

(I Will Calm The Ocean For You)

☽♚♛♚☾

He won the game, he was the reason they didn’t suck. Stiles Stilinski did something good. So, of course the universe (and really, it’s cosmic sense of humor was on the verge of giving him whiplash as it was) had to balance his life - and get him kidnapped. Stiles was seriously starting to think that hunters and supernatural creatures all had some low key ‘hate Stiles, kill Stiles’ drive that he really needed to sort out and soon, because this? This was bullshit. His life and whatever sick twisted thing he had done in a past life, was really starting to piss him off on levels he hadn’t known existed. 

Things were finally starting to somewhat calm down. Sure, Derek was the alpha werewolf. He had a pretty strange pack - he had inherited Scott, if the idiot would stop trying to play both fields and be so morally pure that it made Stiles want to vomit. He had inherited Lydia as a beta, his first real beta. Lydia and Derek had a bond that Stiles wasn’t sure he wanted to understand. Derek had bitten Jackson, partially because Jackson wanted it, and partially because Lydia had demanded it. They were sickeningly happy. Stiles sort of hated that they were perfect even as werewolves. Lydia had control that rivaled Derek, and Jackson was one anger management lesson away from ‘being fine’ in Derek’s very useful words. 

Then Derek had turned Isaac Lahey, the boy was a puppy sweet and kind, and Derek had somehow managed to get custody of Isaac, sending the boy's father to jail, indefinitely. Then eighteen-year-old Vernon Boyd, who preferred to be called Boyd, who had been living outside of his parents' house since he was fifteen. Then Erica Reyes, the pretty girl hidden behind the disease she couldn’t control. Stiles was pretty sure Derek sweet talked her parents into letting her move out, or he paid them off. Even Jackson had left home, legally emancipating himself from his parents, and Lydia had convinced both her parents that ‘following their divorce’ she ‘just needed some distance’ .  

Stiles wasn’t sure where he fit. Derek was always careful to invite him to pack meetings, always made sure he knew even if Scott wasn’t coming that he knew could. Stiles at first thought it was his way of still trying to draw Scott in, but Derek never asked about the wayward beta, never bothered to ask if he was handling the whole lone wolf bullshit or not. And honestly, Scott was too wrapped up in his soap opera with Allison to notice anything. So eventually Stiles stopped trying to figure Derek’s reasoning out when it came to him, only when it came to him. 

So really, at that moment, with Erica and Boyd strung up on some sort of heightened electrical fence, and Gerard Argent beating the shit out of him. Stiles was 100% sure that Scott wasn’t going to rescue him, which he blatantly informed Argent multiple times. He had a better chance of Derek noticing his absence and coming for him. Actually, at that point, Stiles was banking on it, because he’d reached across the fledgling pack bond he as a human could feel and tugged, his very being shouting for Derek. Which sadly brought him back to why Grandpa Argent decided to take him. 

He wanted information, all about Derek and the other Hale’s who were alive. Stiles honestly wished he knew if others were alive, Derek deserved the chance to be happy, and he deserved family other than fucking Peter the Creeperwolf Hale, but instead he remained completely silent. Both Erica and Boyd were tight lipped, which was a testament to their love for either Stiles or Derek, he wasn’t sure, when Gerard raised a knife, they both strained against their bonds, clearly intent on their wishes to kill the older man. 

“Interesting, Stiles, these two ran away from Derek - I captured them fair and square, yet, they protect him as fiercely as you do, are you all his little bitches?” When no one answered him, he sunk the knife into Stiles’ shoulder, the blade catching on his collarbone, and a yelp rippled from his lips, in the next moment Argent had a baton to both Erica and Boyd’s necks, shooting more volts through their bodies, the pair of them howled in frustration.

“Tut Tut, gramps, didn’t anyone ever tell you not to play with your food?” The voice was bitter, and alarmingly near, when Stiles’ vision cleared, he wasn’t sure who she was, or what she was, but there were two wolves behind her, their lips curled back and snarls on their faces, eyes glinting golden. “I mean, I fully intend to play with you, devour you and that bitch you call your daughter, in more ways than one for what you two did to my pack. I keep having to clean up Kate’s fucking messes. Do you have any clue the strings I had to pull to bring this one back?” Stiles' vision was a little better, as he raised his bloody head to see a very alive Laura Hale behind the other two wolves, her own eyes blue, and glowing into the room.

“Rozlyn Compton.” Gerard looked terrified enough to drop the baton, and back away, but he didn't make it far, before she was on him, knocking him to the floor, her clawed hands similar to wolves, but something scarier, as they hooked under his ribs, and literally pried him open, his ribs jutting violently, and snapping against the pressure, he sputtered and gouged at her, but it didn’t stop her, Stiles caught a glint of silver, like her eyes were glowing silver, rimmed with red, before he could really reflect on it, a boy that looked a lot like a young Derek was pushing past him, and undoing Boyd, just as the yellow eyed girl was moving to Erica. Laura moved to unhook his arms, and cradled him to her chest. Gerard screamed, his body violently slamming into the concrete, as she drew his heart from his chest, and bit it, blood squirting from between her lips, and dribbling down her chin.

“Dude, Roz, you just told him not to play with his food.” The boy groaned, “You got blood on my pants.” Stiles’ head was swimming too much at that moment for him to verify if there was in fact blood on the pants the voice belonged to. 

“Emmett, stop being a baby.” Laura frowned. “Cora, let’s move.” Stiles didn't have time to think as Laura tossed him into a bridal hold, pulling him against her chest, and nuzzling the crown of his head, he could hear the sound of flesh ripping behind him, and his mind wandered to the creature - to Roz. 

Finally he found his voice, “What is she?”

“Oh, Roz, she’s a bit of a monster, really, mom could keep her on a leash, but Derek probably will have his work cut out for him.” Laura sighed. “Roz was a witch, in the early 1600s in Wales, she met her untimely end when a vampire named Laurent attempted to kill her, he wanted her to marry him, but she refused, always a flare for the dramatic. She woke in a coffin, drug her way out, and ended up in America, since no one here knew she was supposedly dead. She met one of my many great-grandmothers, Magda Hale, who took her into the pack, and issued her a covenant, as long as Roz took care of the pups, and harmed no human without provocation, she could remain hidden within the Hales. Which worked out well until my grandmother Meredith bit her.” Laura was still walking, heading towards the Stilinski house, he assumed. Erica was on Cora’s back, and Boyd was over Emmett’s shoulders, the creature - Roz was a little bit behind them, something cradled lovingly in her hands, as she moved. “Most vampires would have died from a werewolf bite but instead, she… she, well, she woke up a little different. She could go in the sunlight again.” 

Stiles grunted, his arms hurt from being over his head for god knows how long, and his headache from all the new information. His eyes were sort of blurry, and he couldn’t quite make his shoulder stop throbbing. “What time?” He managed, looking at Laura’s neck, where her veins were running black, she was attempting to pull the pain away from him, he wondered how much pain she was actually siphoning off of him if his head was still swimming with the nauseating need to vomit.

Behind them, the voice of the beast, Roz, carried to him, “Almost three in the morning, going to assume you're little play date with Argent started a while ago.” She neared, and he watched, “Derek hasn’t seen us yet, we only hit town in the last hour, but from what I can smell, he’s upset, as are his betas - a male with an undercurrent of anger, a male that's skittish and sweet, and a female who reminds me of a thunderstorm. And Peter.” She mused. “They are searching, running the woods, your father, he’s at your house, I can already hear his heartbeat.”

“Laura you should howl to bring Derek and the others to my house.” Stiles muttered, letting his head finally lul against her shoulder. He felt the vibrations in her chest, the rumble of her flesh, as she tossed her head back and howled forcefully, it sounded like an alphas roar, and suddenly Stiles' heart felt heavy, because she was the one who was supposed to be the alpha. Behind them, he heard the familiar howls of Erica and Boyd, then two that he assumed to be Cora and Emmett, then something chilling, a combination of a blood curdling scream, and a feral howl - Roz. 

Everything about her made his skin crawl, and not in a good way.

The answering howl sounded equal parts confused and alarmed, as did the four that followed it, but each sounded in a closer location, and suddenly, Stiles realized they were running. He couldn’t or didn’t hear Scott’s familiar howl in the night, and something about that made his heart clench tighter in his chest. To his horror, Roz waltzed up to his house, dug out a key from somewhere in her pants, and opened the door. She took a careful step in, then held the door ajar. “I knew you're mother.” She offered as a way of explanation.

“Roz?” Noah looked partially shocked, then one hundred percent relieved, he was hugging her in a way that made Stiles want to scream, because honestly how had his angel of a mother liked the demon creature who had just ripped a man's heart out, literally, enough to give her a house key. “God, you look, you look like the same teenager I used to bust with Claudia, je-zus you and Clauds used to give Talia a run for her money, I swear she regretted the day she brought Claudia in.” 

Stiles gaped open-mouthed from Laura’s arms. “Noah, if you’d please head for the kitchen, in a moment we are going to be doing a lot of talking, and I should probably make your whiskey sour the way you like it before we get started.”

“That bad?” He whispered, then his eyes moved past her, to see a dead girl holding his son, who still had a knife handle sticking out of his shoulder, and two missing teenagers, as well as two who supposedly perished in a fire over half a decade ago teenagers. “Roz?”

“Kitchen, love.” She shoved at his shoulder, his eyes glancing hurriedly towards them, before he complied, and led them into the kitchen. “Laura put Stiles on the counter. I believe what I want is under the third floorboard to the left of the one that Noah…” Her voice trailed off as she tapped against the floor, finally hitting the right board and prying it up, until a book, and several things bound together were revealed. “Lovely.”

Laura whined, and suddenly Emmett and Cora had their hands on Stiles, holding him up, as Lydia and Jackson surged toward him. Jackson was a better friend than Scott, and that was starting to really hurt Stiles, Jackson stood, shuffled, until his back was to Stiles, and the other two wolves lowered Stiles chest into Jackson’s back, as Lydia placed a manicured hand on his thigh. Derek stood in the doorway, his eyes wide, and Peter behind him, the pair looking very much like they had just seen a ghost. “I forgive you, Peter.” Laura said, and just like that, the three were crashing into each other, which really was a mildly alarming but beautiful thing, Cora and Emmett joined the hug, as Roz shooed Lydia out of the way.

“Bend forward a bit, would you, blondie.” Isaac tumbled in, his body a little late on the uptake and glaring at Peter, he surged straight towards Erica and Boyd, who were looking a little better than Stiles. “Ah, the last of Derek’s turned wolves are here. Packs all here…” Stiles didn’t understand the next words that fell from her lips, they were latin and twisted funny against the scene he was blinking hard to understand, then he felt blinding pain, and scorching fire through his veins. He slumped harder into Jackson, and then the world went a little hazy, before someone completely turned out the lights.

☽♚♛♚☾

Wales

1667

Rozlyn Morgan was fourteen the first time her father took her out on his ship. Captain Henry Morgan was a strong man, and brave. She would have followed him anywhere, to the ends of the world. Her mother - Catherine Compton was one of the few women who had managed to hold Henry’s attention for longer than a day. 

“I have to make a long journey, my daughter.” He smiled warmly at her, his hair long curls black as night, tumbling down his shoulders, and his face weathered by many a storm at sea.

“When will I see you again?” She asked, as the ship sailed around the islands.

He looked across the sea, “I fear my child, this is the end of us.” He watched the waves as they split open in the path of the large ‘Oxford’. His eyes never meeting hers, as he gazed along the salt water he loved more than life itself. 

“Where are you going?” She demanded, as she turned to look at him, “And why do you forsake me?” Her voice held a pitch of danger and fear - never before had she felt so… abandoned.

“You're mother’s a witch.” His voice was distant. “I met a man in France, he was more than happy to meet someone of your… skill.” Henry turned sharply to look at her, “I am on my way to Spain - there is not a day that goes by that I don’t wish you were a man. We could take Cartagena together!” He ran a hand over his sword hilt and gave her a long look. “There is a man, Laurent, he is to take you to Paris, you are to go to court there, with or without your mother. I care not.” 

“Then I curse your ship - Henry Morgan I curse the day you experience true joy, may that day this ship sink below the surface of the very sea you love!” He was right, Rozlyn Morgan would never see her father again. Her mother died from a fever before Laurent arrived, she left for Paris in the winter, with the vampire leading her away. 

☽♚♛♚☾

When he woke up, there were a lot of things wrong. One, there was soft guitar sounds coming from the kitchen, and his father humming. Which was something out of a dream, and something that reminded him so harshly of his mother for a moment he couldn’t breathe. Then there was Lydia, curled up on his chest, and Erica on his legs. Across the floor he could see the Hales, Derek at the center, with Cora and Laura on either side, Emmett over his legs, and his head on Peter’s shoulder, the oldest wolf sort of arching over all their heads. Jackson, Boyd, and Isaac were an uncoordinated pile in the corner, tangled and hugging tight to each other, and Stiles couldn't even breathe at how right it felt to wake up like this, like all the puzzle pieces of his chaotic world had snapped silently in place.

The fingers dancing across the guitar were no doubt Roz’s since he couldn't find her in his immediate vision. His father’s voice danced across the threshold to him. “I owe you, you know, for being able to walk away from Claudia, for being able to let her have the normal life she wanted.” The music faltered, but only for a second. “It was hard on you, Roz, so hard, I have no clue how it works, how love could possibly be more for you guys, but I get it, now that you’ve sort of explained everything, except Stiles recent involvement and the teenage werewolves in my living room.”

“I told you, that's for Peter, Laura, Derek, and Stiles to tell. They were the ones who catalyzed this.” She hummed. “You know, all I ever wanted was to see my darling sing and smile, with you she was guaranteed that. With me, she would have died bloody. I’m not meant for normal, meant for this world, and almost everything I touch is tainted. Laura will be alive as long as I am, I had to split my soul to raise her from the dead, but Derek needed her back, Cora and Emmett deserve some sort of family.”

“So do you.” And he can see in his mind, his father embracing her, his father showering her with affection of some kind, even as his mind tries to wrap around what he has heard. Roz loved his mother, maybe more than a friend by the sounds of it, and Roz left so Noah could have a chance with her. Roz, it seemed, would be able to shine some light on his mother, and whatever creeptastic shit she had managed to pull from the floorboards the night before. “Stiles is awake, isn’t he, your eyebrow hitched.”

“Glad you know my face so well.”

“It hasn’t changed.”

“He’s awake, and probably has to pee. Wolves.” Her voice crackled like electricity on the end, and every wolf sort of shot up, Stiles grinned. “Let Stiles go to the bathroom, he’s been out for eighteen hours.” His heart thundered loudly. He went through the motions, washed his hands after, and found the whole pack, and his father in the kitchen. Well maybe not the whole pack, Scott and Allison were missing, but he was starting to think maybe they weren’t pack. 

“I understand why you didn’t tell me.” His father hugged him, not looking upset at all. “I probably would have kept this shit from you too.” Before Stiles can really think that through, Peter is talking, then Laura, and Derek, and finally he spills his part of the story, filling Noah in completely, the older man listening with an intense gaze, his whole body tilted forward, and his eyes meeting those of whoever is talking. “And Roz killed the man, Gerard Argent, who took you from the field?” He clarified. 

Stiles is too busy studying the woman on the counter, her legs look bare, but he would be willing to bet she has a pair of boxers on, her shirt is black, and short sleeve, tight to her frame, half her hair pulled up in some sort of messy bun the other half of her hair falling in cascades around her face, her wrist have heavy leather bracelets on them, with metal spikes, her eyes are darkened with eyeliner, and charcoal. She is the perfect gothic princess, his mother's guitar across her knees, her hands on the strings, and her left foot tucked under her right thigh, her right leg dangling in front of the cabinets, his dad is dangerously close to her.

“STILES!” Derek’s voice broke through to him, and by the look he was leveling in Stiles’ general direction, he’d probably said his name several times.

“What?” Stiles demanded, holding Derek’s somewhat heated gaze.

“Your dad asked if she killed Gerard, and if he was the one who took you?” Derek repeated, something a bit gentler in his voice.

Stiles blinked, “Yeah, to both.” He sighed. “Scott hasn’t come by has he?”

Erica and Boyd both look at the floor, Isaac ducked his head, Lydia clicked her tongue, Jackson looked like he wanted to eat his shoe, Derek visibly flinched, Peter pointedly found something on the ceiling to be very interested in. Finally Noah spoke, “No son, he’s been with Allison and the Argents. Chris found Gerards body, and since then, Allison has been a mess of sorts, and apparently, Scott hasn’t left her side. Melissa came by.” Noah knew it wasn’t enough, but he continued on. “Son, after everything, maybe you and Scott need a little break. I think this dysfunctional little swaray of people seem to be more inclined to save you, I mean Roz was only sniffing out Derek, but could smell his betas and your pain, and decided to save you. Derek, Peter, Isaac, Lydia, and Jackson all were searching for you, but Roz has a different nose.” 

“She ripped a man's heart out.” Stiles whispered, his face paling, “In front of me.”

She looked up, her eyes swimming with regret. “I am sorry for that, puppet.” She promised. “I only realized who you were off scent a moment after I’d already knocked him down, and my little Mischief, I couldn’t have stopped if I wanted to, how dare he touch a hair on the head of my beloved’s child.” Her body shook and her voice heated with hatred, her hands becoming clawed, and her eyes glinting silver. “That bastard and his idiotic need for species cleansing, wouldn’t know a good human if it bit him in the ass let alone a truly evil supernatural entity.” 

“Roz.” Noah patted her bare knee, then turned to look at Stiles. “Before I met your mom, she had a troubled youth, Talia Hale took her in, where she met Roz. The pair were inseparable, I understand now, that they should have been mates, but I was in love with Claudia too, and Roz, she left, she took off in the dead of night, leaving only a note for Claudia explaining that she loved her, and wanted to only see her smile, so she was going to leave, for the next couple years and let Claudia have a go at normal. But Roz was gone longer than a year or two, I assume Talia had something to do with that.” Peter nodded, his eyes darkening. “When she finally came back, you were two, and she adored you, Roz stayed with us for almost a year, before her heart made her leave again, the next time she came back you were eight, and Claudia’s disease had already stripped her of her memories of Roz. She kissed you goodbye, and told me she loved me, then disappeared, but every year on the anniversary of that day, she’d send money.”

Stiles felt his heart soften. “She could have driven herself crazy.” He looked at Derek, “Wolves don’t really handle rejection or separation well do they?”

“Talia never really saw me as a wolf.” Roz said after a moment, her voice both raw and bitter as an undercurrent of memories fought to drown her. “I was a witch, with a bad knack for trouble, who went and got herself bitten by a vampire. I wanted to die, that was why her grandmother bit me, I wanted to die, because being on earth and never getting to meet my love, to grow old, to have children, it was killing me.” She confessed. “But the universe likes to make my life a twisted joke. So instead of dying I came back some sort of bastardized abomination of both wolf and vampire, with a little bit of witch residue.” She frowned.

Peter reached for her, and wound a hand around her wrist. “Roz raised the babies of the pack, while the wolves were out changing the world, Roz raised me and Talia, but for some reason Talia never was fond of her, Roz was like a mom to me, since I wasn’t in line to be the alpha, I wasn’t as needed as Talia, who spent a lot of time with our mom, Meredith. She raised Derek, Cora, and Emmett. Most of Laura’s time was spent with Talia, but when Roz went to her, and asked permission to court Claudia, Talia refused and ordered she give Claudia a normal life. It tore Roz apart, Stiles, that’s why she left, and continued to leave.” 

The bitten wolves regarded her with careful eyes, finally Lydia moved to touch Roz, followed by Jackson, Isaac, Erica, and Boyd. All wrapping clawed hands around her somewhere. Stiles didn’t understand it, but he shuffled to hold onto the side of her neck, his slender fingers brushing over the raised flesh that he realized was probably where she was bitten the first time, as the Hale’s joined the touching fest, Noah wrapped a hand around her fingers against the guitar. “There is nothing wrong with you.” Stiles told her. “Thank you for loving my mom enough to let her love my dad.”

“You, little one, is what made it worth it.” She promised, tears crimson red leaking from her eyes. Stiles didn’t know who moved the guitar but suddenly he was wrapped up in a hug, that was so much like one his mother would have given him, he broke, sobbing into her arms, Boyd and Erica were within her grasp a moment later, and all three were crying. Derek pressed up against his back, a firm warmth spreading through his chest, as Derek encircled them all in a hug, then everyone was crowding around to hug, the tight and heated embrace of the wolves almost too much for Stiles.

He had no clue how long they stood like that, but when people finally started falling away, Noah cleared his throat. “You can’t return to the Hale house, and wherever else you’ve been lurking. I think it would be wise to clean the basement out, and you all sort of make that into a pack house.” All the eyes in the room landed on Noah. “I mean, if you want… no one would expect it, and well, I just got Roz back.” His eyes seemed to find hers over the crowd a smile turning up his lips, “Other than Stiles she’s the only thing alive that loved Claudia more than the whole world, moon, sun, and stars.”

“It’s a good idea.” Roz declared, “It would be safer than the other options, and it would keep Stiles safe.” Her gaze fixed on Derek, who nodded. “It’s settled then, I will start shopping online, Lydia and Isaac can help me, the rest of you mongrels clean out the basement, except Stiles - he is going into work with Noah today.”

“I am?” Stiles muttered.

Noah nodded. “We haven’t spent time together in a while.”

Stiles was pretty sure that wasn’t at all what needed to happen. He needed to pick Roz’s brain for everything she could remember about his mother, she gave him a soft smile. He might have changed his mind about her, a little, maybe she wasn’t a complete monster, then she had to go and press a gentle chaste kiss to his father’s temple. Now his mind was working on the fact - do survivors of traumas end up together? He was pretty sure that they both loved Claudia enough… shit, his dad might be hooking up with a vampire-wolf-witch thing.

“So.” Noah muttered, after two hours in the car, with literal radio silence from Stiles and nothing advantageous happening in the way of supernatural or crime in Beacon Hills.

“Dad. I grant you permission to frolic with Roz.” Stiles hated that his mouth didn’t ever seem to connect to his brain. Noah made a startled noise, and Stiles hit his head against the dash. “I just… I know that people with shared loss, they sort of… gravitate to each other, and Roz, she’s scary as fuck, but…”

Noah laughed, his whole body following it. “I dated her before I met your mom. Roz was fun, free, a little on the crazy side, and worth it, but Claudia, the moment she hit both our lives like a silent thunderstorm, we changed, Roz and I both started doing less dating and more, hanging out around the Hale house, I don’t think Roz ever thought of it as competition, she spent so long with the Hales, and Talia made it clear from almost go, that she wasn’t allowed to be that kind of happy. Roz would just light up… around both me and Claudia, like she was drawn to us, and us to her, she lived with us on and off once Claudia and I got more serious, she… Talia made Roz’s life a living hell, made her understand she wasn’t allowed to be happy, and I never understood why, until the fire.”

Stiles looked up at him, confused.

“Talia and Peter have a younger sister, Marly. She belonged to their father, John, but not to Meredith. It was never really talked about, and Talia jumped to conclusions, she was already the alpha then, I think, because Meredith was dead. Peter was always nice to Marly, but Talia ignored the child, Roz dotted on her, positively adored her, almost more than she had Peter, he didn’t mind, he was already almost a teenager, I think Talia always thought that her father was sleeping with Roz, and he might have been. I can’t see Meredith and Roz allowing that, Roz looked up to Meredith, even though Meredith was younger than her. Talia sort of hated Roz, all her life, I think, she always thought Roz was prettier than her, and she was, she always thought people paid Roz more attention, and Meredith did to a point - I didn’t understand it then, but I believe Meredith whispered to Roz, was because Roz had age, she’s pretty much immortal.” Noah tried to explain, but he sounded just as unsure of himself. 

“Roz is something.” Stiles agreed. “But Talia knew all the kids were raised by her, what happened to Marly.”

“She died in the flames. I don’t actually know how Roz coped with that, but she found Cora and Emmett in the wind, and carried them to Rio with her, where she had extended family, the vampire sort, but it kept them safe.” Noah sighed. “Thanks for being ok with me maybe dating a supernatural creature someday.” Noah laughed a little. “On a more serious note, you and I are here because we need to hunt down the remaining Hales.”

“Huh?” Stiles quirked an eyebrow.

“If Roz is right, trouble of the worst sort is coming. Something called an alpha pack. She didn't explain much to me, I think she and Peter need to talk to Derek about it first. However, Talia had a special hate for her brother too. Every time he mated, she found a way to ruin it. He has five children, none of which have the Hale last name, that we need to track down. They should all be in foster care. Their mother is dead.” Noah explained.

“Who killed their mom?” Stiles really shouldn't have asked because he already knew the answer.

“Talia.” Noah pointedly didn't look at his son. “There are a lot of things, Stiles, I did to protect Claudia and by extension Talia.” He frowned, his face twisted into a grimace of sorts. “Many things I've regretted over the years, but Talia murdering Corinne… that probably needed to happen. It wasn't like Talia got her hands bloody anyway. She ordered the death, and Roz carried it out, the obedient little hybrid. Of course back then I was told it was self defense. Now I know different.” Noah handed Stiles a folder. “Like I said, Five kids. The names are Malia, Sydney, Theo, Brett then LoraLei. They were all thrown into the system after birth. Malia is your age, Sydney is maybe ten months younger. Theo and Brett are twins, the same age as Cora and Emmett. LoraLei is probably twelve.”

“So we need to dig through the files of children in foster care until we find children that match and what?” Stiles sighed.

“And I'm going to petition for custody of them.” Noah declared. “You need siblings anyway.” 

Stiles groaned, “Dad…”

Noah didn't bother to look up or justify whatever he was doing. Instead he focused on his stack of reports and munched on the curly fries, that Stiles had not completely vetoed. It was some time later (thirty-seven minutes, not that Stiles was counting) when Noah made a thoughtful noise. “Found Theo.” He pulled the file from the others and pressed it to the dash, a blink later Roz was knocking on the window of the cruiser. 

Stiles would swear until his dying day that he didn't jump.

As Noah rolled the window down, Stiles looked her over, trick pants with the bottom halves removed, suspenders hanging over her hips, a t-shirt with He Man on the front of it that ended right above her belly button, and black vans on her feet, her long hair was sort of tumbling everywhere, and the leather brackets were on her wrist again. Her eyes were lined in black, but no other clearly defined makeup, her smile bright enough to make Hollywood jealous.

“Peter thinks he found Malia and Sydney. There was a car wreck a couple years ago. Two girls and their mother, the wreck was pretty messy and there was a lot of rain and a time gap from when it happened until you found it. They were the Tate girls.” She leaned forward on the cruiser's window seal and for a moment Stiles' mind played the scenario of her being a prostitute over, and how hilarious anyone looking around the street would find her. “So me, Jackson, and Isaac are going to go check it out. Peter didn't have any wolf children. They we're all coyotes.”

“Let me come with you.” Naoh started, then looked at Stiles. “And Stiles. We can help you look at least.”

“Afraid you'd ask that. We want to catch them in our evolved forms so someone has to watch our clothes. Part of this is me teaching Isaac his evolved form. Derek explained he was the only one who hadn't fully embraced their wolf aside from Scott. Everyone else is working on the kanima problem.” Roz explained, before stretching back up and whistling. Isaac emerged, trailed by a blonde wolf. In Isaac's hands were no doubt Jackson's clothes. “We can take the back.”

Jackson got the window seat, and promptly stuck his head out, Roz climbed in the middle, and Isaac settled in behind Noah, while Stiles and Noah gathered the files they'd been looking at and put them back in the cardboard box at Stiles feet. “So head out to the crash site?” Stiles tracked the way Noah's eyes found Roz's in the rear view.

“Yup.” She popped the P, and Stiles turned to more fully look at her. 

“I'm not scared of you.” He declared. Much like Derek, she growled low in her throat, but it sounded off in a different key, more animalistic than a human throat should be able to sound, without pulling her beta shift forward. “Ok, maybe I am a little.” Stiles swallowed quickly and whirled in his seat. The noise coming from Jackson sounded a lot like a dog trying to laugh, and Isaac was smirking. “I don't hate you.”

“Good.” She wiggled her fingers through the cage, brushing the back of his neck. “Because now that I'm home I don't want to leave again.” Stiles nodded he could understand that.

When Noah parked the cruiser it was at the top end of the preserve, far past where normal people would venture even on the more scenic tours of the trees and limited wildlife. “Everyone out. You two can work on those files here. Isaac and I are going to strip, so just pick up our clothes, when I come back out.” Jackson sank down obediently between Noah where he was leaned over the police cruiser and Stiles who was hunched forward on his elbows, his dad already spreading files open.

This time Noah checked his watch. It took every bit of an hour before the most deranged looking wolf he had ever seen emerged, followed by a blonde grey beast. Stiles took a careful step back, and Noah looked visibly pale. Roz's wolf form was thin, with literal bones showing through here or there, unlike her human appearance the hair was dark and matted, her body scared, and her eyes shimmering silver. 

“Ok, I'm scared.” Stiles squeaked as she neared, she dropped back on her haunches and snorted a bark. Jackson stood quickly and joined Isaac not far behind her, she gave Stiles a dubious look, then rounded on Noah.

“Don't stay gone too long.” He whispered, shifting forward to rub her ears. “Take care of these two.” She barked again before turning tail and charging into the forest. 

“Holy shit.” Stiles whispered. “I'll go grab their clothes.” He gathered up everything they had deposited and watched after the wolves ran, hard and fast into the underbrush.

Night fell, but they sussed out both Brett and Lorelei. Noah made the phone calls while they were in the preserve, not bothering to do much other work. He had climbed up the hood of the cruiser and was looking up at the stars when a howl sounded. Stiles jolted from his place on the ground. The moon light illuminated silver orbs as they neared, in her clawed hands two wiry thin coyotes, she had the scruffs of their necks as Jackson and Isaac followed still in their evolved form. 

Roz was pale naked flesh, the kind you got before death, if Stiles were pondering it, and her body covered in fresh bites and tears, she had a tight grip on both the coyotes, whose eyes were neon in the light. “Call Derek.” She snarled, low, just as Jackson and Isaac tipped their heads back and howled out loud across the blanketed sky. The coyotes weren’t holding still. “Get in the cruiser.” She ordered Noah, just as one turned and thore a chunk of meat out of her thigh, blood coating its snout, and pooling at her feet.

Jackson surged forward, and clipped the offending coyote, as Stiles scrambled into the car, and Noah slid in. The pair turned the high beams on, just as the other coyote sunk its teeth into Roz’s ankle. Isaac bit its neck, tugging fiercely, as a new howl echoed.

“Derek.” Stiles hummed, his face breaking into a smile.

Derek was in a beta shift, wearing only pants, when he skidded to a stop in front of Roz, her clawed hands covered in blood, and the new wounds draining her proverbially dry against the leaves. “MALIA! SYDNEY!” Derek’s alpha voice roared, causing both to still. “SHIFT NOW!” Their bodies shivered, and shook violently, as bones and muscles snapped out of place, tendons breaking, and finally realigning. 

Roz’s hold on their necks hadn’t stopped, instead, Derek moved to take one - Sydney Stiles thought, looking at the picture of her as a child, “Bring out some warm blankets, please, Noah - it’s hard to hold body temperatures from one form to another.” Roz’s voice was clipped, like she was still in pain. 

Stiles scrambled to help the one Derek was holding, just as Noah helped the other stand, ushering the girls into the back of the police cruiser, Derek caught Roz as she swayed. “Roz, honey?” Noah asked softly, her eyes glinted blood red, crimson against the night. 

“Get in the cruiser, all of you. She’s lost too much blood and needs to feed.” Derek muttered, shooing away both Isaac and Jackson, before shaking his body, his own form shifting. Everyone scrambled into the cop car just in time to watch Derek’s pants rip off him as his alpha form emerged, part Harry Potter and part Underworld, he made Stiles shiver, and he’d seen that form only once before, so if he pressed closer to the window, sue him.

Derek’s form twisted, grabbing Roz by her neck, and throwing her further into the forest just as her body was shifting, skin turning a dark grey, and lips red coated. “Nightmares for weeks.” Stiles whined, as he turned in his seat, his face suddenly licked by Isaac. “Dude, I know, he’s freaking terrifying enough without throwing people around - namely monsters like people who could eat us.”

“Right, ok. Sydney? Malia?” Noah turned in his own seat, and looked back at the girls, who were both silent, and eyeing Isaac and Jackson. 

“I’m Sydney.” The one behind Stiles finally said, her voice a little warbly from lack of use, “She’s Malia.” She jerked her head towards the other girl, and frowned. “How are you wolves?”

“You are a werecoyote.” Stiles offered. “They are werewolves. A vampire-wolf-witch thing just drug you from the woods and you caused her to lose too much blood so she and Derek are off on some murder spree right now.”

“Please tell me you are joking.” Noah muttered, as he started the car.

Stiles shrugged. “I don’t know what she eats.” 

☽♚♛♚☾

May 3, 1977

Glen Capri Motel, California Desert

“Alexander!” Roz felt her voice shaking. “OPEN THE DOOR I CAN HELP YOU!” She pounded harder. She could hear Meredith pacing back and forth, just outside of the hotel. She rolled her eyes, pressed her back to the door, and dropped to the floor, pressing her head against the door. “I know you think that alpha condemned you to death.” She tried, “But… Mer was trying to save you, you wouldn’t be alive right now! You were shot five times in the chest.”

She heard the sound of a gun being loaded. 

“Please, the code is outdated - I have lived for a long time, I can promise you that it’s not worth it.”

“Just go, monster.” Alexander shouted back at her.

She stood, intent to break the door off its hinges when she heard Meredith howl. She growled, “You're brother is here to kill you, sure you don’t want my help.”

“I’m already dead.” She heard the shotgun go off, and smelt the blood. She growled, and darted off, to meet Meredith.

☽♚♛♚☾

Roz apparently ate humans, but Derek assured them it was only evil ones, or ones that were dying of disease. He carried her in around six in the morning, both of them completely naked, and having missed a very alarming and tearful reunion between Peter and the girls. Both were also covered in blood, and smelled a lot like sewage.

“You stink.” Noah huffed as he ushered them both in.

“Derek decided to run through a swamp on the way home.” Roz complained from her position over his shoulder. “He dunked me in it head first.”

“In which form?” Stiles wondered aloud.

“We only just dropped out of our true forms, dear.” Roz patted his cheek, leaving a bloody smudge as Derek paused to leap down the stairs to the basement.

It was another thirty minutes before they both returned, thankfully dressed, and looking a little less like savages and a little more like respectable humans. Noah was drinking coffee, with Peter beside him, and the teenage wolves all crowded around. Malia had found a comfortable position next to Erica, resting her head on the blonde, while Sydney was right against Isaac, her head on his shoulder. Cora was the buffer between Sydney and Malia, while Emmett was lounging on Erica’s other side, and Lydia was camped on Isaac's other side, with Jackson squished between her and Boyd. Stiles smiled fondly from his seat on the counter as Laura wedged herself between Erica and Emmett. 

Roz promptly settled into the seat with Noah, and Derek joined Stiles on the counter. “The house next door is for sale.” Peter hummed. “We could buy it, and expand the basements into one large one, you know, for pack things.”

Noah snorted, “How long did it take you to convince the people next door to move. You’ve literally been here twenty-four hours.”

Peter made a noise, “I believe it was the large quantity of people coming in and out of your house yesterday, and whispers of the Sheriff's wayward son and his party friends, who have as of late been in the center of all illegal things in Beacon Hills.” Laura offered, just nudging her shoulder against Emmett’s. “Not to mention, we were up late last night, banging around, doing repairs down stairs.”

“Let me guess, it’ll be on the market in a day or two.”

“Hold on, I’m trying to eavesdrop.” Roz muttered against Noah’s shoulder, tilting her head, “They are on the phone with the realtor now.” She offered, eyes going silver as she listened harder. “Monday.”

“How can she hear further than wolves?” Erica quirked from her position.

Derek hummed, “She happens to be a unique case, the vampire in her is a bit… super strong in a couple regards. She had to be able to hear heartbeats for hundreds of miles, and she managed to eat regularly.”

“That is…” Stiles shivered. 

“It doesn't matter.” Peter assured them all. “Did we find my other children?”

“Yeah.” Noah dropped the three files in front of Peter. “I've made the appropriate calls in regards to getting them back.” He explained. “Any luck on the kanima?”

“No.” Derek huffed.

Roz tilted her head, before stealing Noah's coffee. “My loves we are looking at this wrong. Everyone Derek bit is in this room, right?” He nodded. “What about you, Peter?” He looked sheepish. “Let me see.” She was up before anyone had time to react, her clawed fingers sunk into the back of his neck, and her body frozen, mouth open in alarm. 

Inside Peter's mind, she could trace his fractured memories. Finally landing on the night he bit Scott. She followed him, she let the fractures guide her, until she landed on a pretty girl outside her house crying. The face of Chris Argent swam into view, then the girl dropped off her roof, heavy, before walking towards the woods. Peter lurked, watching until the girl ventured too close to the edge.

“Ohmygawd.” Roz hissed. “The daughter of Argent.” She yanked her claws out hard and leveled Peter a dubious look. “You bit her?!? Are you that much of a fool???”

“Allison?” Stiles groaned.

“Scott's mate?” Cora questioned.

Isaac stood confused. “What do we do with that?”

“Figure out who is controlling it, duh.” Lydia quirked.

“Cause that's going to be easy.” Jackson muttered.

Stiles was silent for a moment. “Danny is with Scott and Allison a lot. So is that Matt kid.”

“Danny isn't a monster.” Jackson snarled.

“Who the hell is Danny?” Roz demanded.

Derek huffed. “Someone worth turning.”

“Ok.” Noah sighed. “We have three more werecreatures joining us in the next couple hours. Derek is the alpha. I don't have a problem with you bringing Danny Maleahi into the fold. The kids had a shit life. But you let him have the choice. And for god sake take Jackson and Lydia with you. They all three know each other very well.” Noah pressed his face into Roz’s side, she patted his head affectionately. 

☽♚♛♚☾

Beacon Hills, California

Early 1988

“I encouraged your mother not to break bread with him.” Rozlyn Compton folded her arms over her chest, leaned against the heavy oak table in Talia Hale’s study.

“Was that before or after you fucked my father.” Talia seethed. “I didn’t ask your conference, nor do I need your permission. I am the alpha.”

Rozlyn gave her a sharp look, “That’s right, you're the alpha. And when that… visionary lunatic gets here, you’ll regret inviting him and his kind into our home.” Roz shot back.

“PETER!” Talia screamed.

The almost fourteen year old barreled into the room. “Yeah, Talia?” He looked perplexed. 

“Take your nanny outside, I’m done with the help.” Talia shot her a dark look, even as Rozlyn let Peter lead her away. 

They made it to the edge of the forest, before Roz stopped them, she cupped Peter’s face in her hands, “Little pup, please, for the love of all that is holy, do not, I repeat, do not blindly follow your sister. Go get the car keys, we are going bowling tonight with Noah.”

“Awesome!” Peter took off excitedly, darting to grab the keys off the hook, and she watched with sadness, as the first of many cars arrived, Alpha’s, their seconds, and their Emissaries.

“Mark my word, wolf, you're making a mistake.” Rozlyn muttered under her breath, low enough only Alpha ears would pick it up, just as Peter reappeared.

☽♚♛♚☾

School was awful. But Erica and Boyd being back made things somewhat better. Scott the shit was pointedly avoiding him. Roz was enrolled, by Noah, as Rozlyn Stilinski - a cousin from the East. Cora, Emmett, and Laura took the last name Hawthorne and returned to high school. Malia and Sydney were destined to spend the next couple days 'learning to not kill everyone ’ classes taught by Peter and Derek (although Stiles wasn’t sure either of those men were qualified to teach that ). Lydia and Jackson made a point to spend more time with Danny.

Things might have even been relatively normal, until Stiles noticed Matt noticing him and Roz. Roz had her arm slung around Stiles, whispering gaelic in his ear, it was a calming spell, something to focus his energies. Boyd, Erica, Emmet, Isaac, Cora, Laura and Roz we're all crammed into the lunch table with him. Danny, Jackson and Lydia joined them a second later. Stiles turned his head slightly, allowing Roz better access to his neck, which in retrospect was very trusting and very stupid. 

She hissed and drew back eyes slightly silver. “Mischief, bad.” She glowered at him. He shrugged, then leaned in until his lips brushed against her cheek.

“Matt hasn't stopped watching us since this morning. All of us. Especially me. Don't look.” Stiles whispered. Roz tilted slightly, kissing his lips softly, the whole table erupted in catcalls and whistles. The kiss caught Scott's attention, subsequently Allison and Matt's as well. They followed Scott as he stormed over, jerking Roz away, and really, she let him.

Scott hissed at her under his breath, “Who the fuck are you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She winked at Scott, her lips puckering up flirtatiously. “Dangerous.”

Stiles moved between them, “How about no WWE in the school cafeteria.” 

“Right.” Allison agreed, “There is a rave tonight, why don’t you guys meet Scott, Matt, and me there, we can… hang out and get to know the new faces.” Her eyes were lingering on Laura, like she registered something but wasn’t sure what. “And you know, exchange information.”

Roz made a thoughtful noise, then tilted her head, “That’s fine, we will be without Derek and Peter, but we will be there, consider me the acting… ring leader.” She ran a hand down Allison’s cheek, and Scott’s chest, laying her scent over them. Derek had tried to explain to Stiles what Roz smelt like, even the betas had attempted, but all he gathered was an undercurrent of grave soil, iron tinted blood, and deadly nightshade. 

Matt looked confused, or thoughtful, and tugged on Scott, until he and Allison dutifully followed Matt away. Danny took a deep breath, then looked at Roz, “I’m in. Whatever freaky shit Derek did to make Scott breathe normal, Erica’s seizures stop, Isaac lose his stutter, and Boyd actually speak, I’m in.” He looked pointedly between Jackson and Lydia. “You two, are you together or?”

“We are mates, but Peter thinks we are part of a triade, so we are waiting for our third.” Lydia offered up, like she was talking about the weather, the smile that flushed on Danny’s face made Stiles groan. 

Stiles dipped back into his spot at the table and looked very seriously at Danny. “You are on human detail with me tonight, ok? We might be squishy but we’ve got this, and these things.” He motioned around the table, “Are the creatures who highlight your nightmare reels? Especially Roz, who I’m so not ever talking about kissing again, because I think she and my dad might end up together.”

Roz snorted low in her throat. “If you're dad wanted the bite, maybe, but I’m not about to fall in love with a mortal, again.” She twirled her hair through her fingers. “I’ve got to head home, and work on something to keep the rest of you from going crazy with the loud sounds from the rave. I need your senses working not diluted by noise.” She stood, then turned to face Stiles, “Stay away from Matt. There is something off about his scent, he doesn’t even smell like food.”

Stiles nodded, and tried to push down the way she called Matt food, he leveled a look towards Danny, “She’s a meat eater.” He grumbled.

“More like a blood sucker.” Lydia whispered under her breath, making Erica and Isaac snort with laughter. Laura tried not to look like she thought it was funny, but both Emmett and Cora were snickering. “Like Dracula, Danny.”

His eyes widened. “A vampire?” He whispered, and looked at Jackson.

“More like vampire-wolf-witch.” Jackson offered, stirring his mashed potatoes around his plate, as if hoping they would taste better with each run of his fork through them. “Do you think Derek, Peter, or Noah would start packing our lunches if we asked?”

“What are you puppies in need of doggy bags?” Stiles muttered. “We just need to buy the supplies and pack our own lunches… or you know, buy the food stuff and I’ll pack our lunches.”

“I bet Peter would put little surprises in them, like when we were kids.” Cora grinned.

“I don’t know if you want his surprises these days.” Laura looked grave for a moment, then frowned. “How are we getting home if Roz took the car?”

“Fuck.” Stiles felt around his pockets, “That witch magicked my keys right out of my…” He groaned. “You guys need exercise, right? Danny and I can both just run with you?”

☽♚♛♚☾

Beacon Hills, California

December 17th, 2004

“The last time they were here, I said it was a bad idea, and it hasn’t changed.” Roz growled. 

“And like last time, it isn’t your call.” Talia shot back at her.

December in California should bring the hybrid happiness, it doesn’t. In fact it makes her largely regret returning home. Or, where her home had once been. With Claudia dead and all the pack she loved missing, there was no real home for her. Marly was off on a week camping trip in the woods with her kids, and had kindly taken Cora and Emmett. Laura was touring schools with her friends. 

Talia had called Roz home because they expected a swell of Alphas, seconds, and emissaries for the annual meeting with the Hunting Family that reigned over America - The Argent’s. 

“You are right, it isn’t my call.” She deadpanned, bored. “But, I implore you my oh great Alpha, my younger sister, my darling angel. Your mother was not one to make nice with enemies.” 

“They are no longer my enemies, immortal.” Talia snapped. 

Roz glowered at her, “And what do you command I do?”

“Act your part.” Talia snarled at her, eyes red and vicious. “Mother had you as her second, and I was blindly led by her to name you my second. You took a vow.”

“You replaced me with Peter.” She snarled, venom in her words, and eyes flashing black.

“Peter has been led astray, magic, the same brand you played the elements with for him and you're darling Marly when they were young.” Talia sounded back, advancing.

“Magic isn’t bad, Alpha.” Roz snapped, ducking away from Talia. “I will play your little games, but the blood this will undoubtedly bring, I wash from my hands.” Talia clawed her face, for good measure, the hybrid recoiled. “Just so you know, Alpha , you are no alpha of mine.”

☽♚♛♚☾

Laura, the wonderful werewolf, carried Stiles after the first block, and they wove into the woods, Danny kept up for a long time, until he had to stop, his chest wheezing, and explained, “Lung condition.” Boyd stupped down enough for Danny to climb onto his back, then they really took off. Obviously the wolves had been curbing their power and speed to match the humans running with them. Stiles had to laugh with the wind pushing against his face, and Laura weaving in and out of trees like it was a game, and to some extent it probably was. They all stopped abruptly when Roz appeared, holding her hand up. Next to her, both Malia and Sydney were looking a little worn thin. 

“Social workers are dropping Theo, Brett, and Lori off at the moment, since these two are legally dead, and your father is working that out, Derek and Peter ordered I bring them out into the woods until the coast was clear. It seems like they have control underway, it’s the random bouts of aggression we are currently working on. But, they are on for going with us tonight, as will Theo and Brett if they handle first interactions well. Brett and Lori were in a home together, so…” She paused for a moment, “Peter is talking to the neighbors about buying the house before it goes on the market, and Derek is working on fixing dinner for everyone before the rave tonight.”

“Ok.” Stiles muttered from his placement on Laura’s back.

“And before I forget, I’ve arranged for the other creature from Rio, our beautiful Kira, to join us, the kitsune deserves a pack - even if foxes, coyotes, wolves, and vampires normally don’t run together. She is on the plane right now, Derek will pick her up from the airport tonight, with Noah. We’ve got a full house and are probably going to have to fight to enroll everyone in school. Brett, Theo, Lori and Kira shouldn’t be a problem, they all have transcripts.” Roz looked at Cora and Emmett.

“I am so glad Kira is going to come.” Emmett smiled. “She’s the best at electricity.”

“Shockingly good.” Cora snorted, making Roz raise an eyebrow that told Stiles she was over their shit, already.

“Ok, we got the all clear from Derek, come on.” She took off in a brisk run, faster than the wolves, flanked by Malia and Sydney. 

“Show off.” Danny muttered, as they wove through the dense forest, coming out behind Stiles’ house, the whole group tumbling undignified into the backyard, just as the neighbor and his wife looked up from whatever Peter was showing them. Peter raised an eyebrow, then turned his attention back towards the humans, with a shrug as if to say, ‘what can you do?’ .

☽♚♛♚☾

Beacon Hills, California

December 19th, 2004.

“Seek you're nephew.” Roz ran her hand over Peter’s shoulders, “His heart is heavy, pup.”

Peter looked up at her. “She marked you.” He ran his hand down the side of Roz’s face.

“She’ll mark all of us before it’s over, my love.” She kissed Peter’s temple.

Peter sighed, “I’ll seek my nephew, do you seek Noah?”

“As soon as I think he’s at work, yes. I can’t stand the thought of scaring Stiles.” She felt red tears threatening to fall from her eyelashes. 

-/-

Peter found Derek at school, he was reading, but his eyes were on Paige. “What are you staring at?” Derek was still learning how to blend in with humans.

“I’m not staring. I’m listening.” Derek grumbled at him. The younger boy was pointedly not looking at Peter.

“Am I distracting you?” Peter mocked, watching as Derek stared harder. 

Derek scoffed, “No, I've got laser-like focus.” Then he tilted his head slightly.

“You sure about that?” Peter flicked him in the face with a fry. 

“I hate you.” Derek grumbled, now completely at a loss for where the conversation was going.

Peter rolled his eyes, “No, you don't. You love me.” He tracked Derek’s gaze.

“Hate you.”

“You love me.” Peter offered. “Moreover, Roz loves you, and is worried about you, on a visceral level.” Peter waited for a long moment before he spoke again, “This drive you have to disobey Talia, to continue to chase a human, whose body is actively dying…” He shrugged, “Roz doesn’t want you hurt.”

“Roz is reacting because she lost Claudia.” Derek countered.

“You're not wrong, but…” Peter shrugged, “Why does she eat alone?”

“Are you only here for Roz?” Derek grumbled, now shoveling food into his mouth.

“I'm looking out for my favorite nephew, making sure no one has a crossbow aimed at your throat.” Peter wiggled his fingers at Derek, the younger boy glowering harder.

“I could get you banned from school grounds. You know that, right?” Derek tried for a determined face, but Peter only thought he looked constipated.

“No one would ban me from anywhere. I'm too good-looking.” Peter was smug.

“Roz told you that to make you feel better, Peter.” Derek shot back, almost full of vile.

“Doesn't she have any friends?” Peter wondered.

Derek looked away from Paige, then looked harshly at his lunch tray. “A few, but she likes to study during lunch.” He plucked at the burger, “And I kind of just don't think she likes my friends.”

Peter laughed at that, “No one should like your friends. They're a bunch of hormonal half-wits.” Peter grinned, when Derek shot him a vicious glare, “But that one over there she's perfect for you. And perfect combinations are rare in an imperfect world. It would worry me too, though. I'd probably be thinking about it all the time. I know Roz used to, when she first met Claudia.”

“Thinking about what?” Derek’s focus was now only on Peter. 

“Her finding out. You've thought that through, right? You know it always happens. One minute, you're in this blissful teen romance, and next, she sees fangs, glowing eyes, claws.” Peter flexed his fingers, clawless thankfully.

“She doesn't have to find out.” Derek muttered.

“But they always do, especially when they're perfect for you. There's really only one way to make sure you'll always be together.” Peter made sure Derek was hanging on his every word. “Turn her.”

-/-

“Rozlyn, how beautiful you are still!” Noah caught her in a tight hug. “I imagine you're here to see Stiles?” He wondered aloud.

Roz looked away from him. “No, I’m here to warn you. Talia has… business contracts meetings, and some of them might be a little more than violent.” 

Noah gave her a questioning look, “Roz?”

“Remember that time I told you that not everything could be explained. This falls under that.” Roz leaned against his desk, “Talia and I are usual on the outs.”

“She get your face?” Noah asked.

Roz looked at him, “You're aging, Noah, there are more frown lines around your face than ever, and you look tired, being a deputy was ill suiting, being a Sheriff might be even more… distracting.”

“You are worried about Stiles?” Noah whispered.

“I worry about the things I love.” She muttered.

☽♚♛♚☾

Roz just rolled her eyes, and continued moving around the house, a skin tight black corset on her chest, with a ridiculous multicolored tutu on her hips and clunky black combat boots. Everyone else was dressed for a Halloween party. “So the main part of the plan is to get Allison alone, right?” They all nodded. “This shouldn’t be too hard.” Peter mused, then frowned. “Why are you all looking skeptical.”

“We still don’t know who is controlling her.” Jackson said after a long moment. “And shits already been a little… sideways.”

“You can say that again.” Stiles muttered, glancing towards Roz. 

“Nothing happens to Stiles or Danny.” Noah snapped. “They are human and breakable and not bait. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” Lydia hummed, looking at her perfectly manicured nails. “I only want my Allison back.”

Malia and Sydney both looked confused, “Wait, we are going after the lizard monster in a rave, full of fragile humans. And the only two you care about, sheriff, are Danny and Stiles?”

“Right.” Noah nodded. “Pack.” He motioned to them all, “Danny is joining the pack, and Stiles is pack. Pack watches out for its more… squishy members. Even be careful with the werewolf and werecoyote ones,” He looked at Roz, “But extra careful with the squishy ones.” He poked Danny’s stomach and Stiles’ face for emphasis.

“Be extra careful with Danny.” Stiles muttered, his mind still going over the new information he had received earlier in the day. At age fourteen, Danny learned that his rib cage was weakened due to malformed cartilage and his lungs and heart were at risk of being crushed if his ribs ended up collapsing. As a result, he had surgery in which doctors installed two metal bars to support his ribs while the cartilage strengthened enough to go without, which left two diagonal scars running along the sides of his thorax. The problem was that at any given time, his ribs could collapse. It wasn’t safe for him to just be human, so Derek would give him the bite following the mission.

Derek raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Stiles, who shrugged. Derek looked around the room. “I’ve got an army of child soldiers, who still haven’t mastered the basics.” He groaned.

Laura rested a calming hand on his shoulder, “No, Derek, we have a pack, a family, that is learning and growing together, whatever happens happens, but our training, and our fighting styles… those are not nearly as important as the lives we are changing.”

“This is why you were supposed to be alpha.” Derek muttered, eyes glaring at Peter for a moment, he looked one hundred percent guilty as he ducked shamefully behind Noah, to avoid further scrutiny. “And the alpha power is hard to contain, obviously.”

“It’ll be fine, once you have a pack your wolf feels safe with.” She nuzzled his head, then looked around the room. “Are we all comfortable with the plan?” No one moved. “Stiles and Danny lay the mountain ash around the building, some of us waiting in the proverbial wings, others capture Allison with the drug that Noah picked up from Deaton, and sneak her to the hidden room, then Stiles interrogates her, while the rest of us suss out the master.”

“And Scott?” Danny asked, sheepishly, “What about him?”

“Distraction game.” Derek hummed. “Which I am relying on Malia and Roz to do. Scott wants to be his own pack, fine, but he needs to be able to withstand Roz and her… charms to do that.”

Noah raised an eyebrow. “Nothing statutory.”

“Ew.” Roz made a face, “The boy smells like vanilla ice cream, all pure and fluffy. No thank you.” She circled Noah, “I prefer a sturdy undercurrent of gunmetal and powder, with an afterglow of Jack Daniels and leather.” Noah blushed as she finished her circle, letting her clawed nails dance over his shoulders. “And, this has to be resolved BEFORE the alpha pack roll in.”

“The neighbors are going to close on the house with me tomorrow.” Peter chirped, letting his hand side down Roz’s spine. “So we can start the basement connection design.” She nodded. “Let’s go kidnap, Noah is Chris Argent on board?”

“For the most part, he’s noticed something off about Allison, he will not, and I quote, ‘hesitate to kill any Hale or Roz that attempts to murder his daughter’.”

“Lovely, remind him not to tease me with a good time.” Roz snorted. 

☽♚♛♚☾

Rio

April 2005

She couldn’t save her pack, not all of them. She could feel Laura and Derek across the bonds, safe in New York. She was paying for Peter’s extensive medical treatment. Cora and Emmett had only just started sleeping through the night, their nightmares often left her scratched up. Her haunting cousins were alarming, blood drinkers who were constantly looking for a meal. 

They had brought the kitsune in to her as food, but Roz instead had settled the little nine tails in with her pups, added a member to a pack she wasn’t sure even existed, and ate the words that Meredith had ingrained in her. “Pack is family first, little one, but there is no pack without an alpha, someone strong enough to hold everyone together. Someone strong enough to see past the creature and into the heart. Someone like you, Roz.” 

☽♚♛♚☾

The rave was loud, and packed with sweating bodies. It also cost a ridiculous amount to get in, at least Derek said it did as he huffed, and handed over his black credit card earlier in the day. Watching her stalk Scott through the crowd made Stiles skin crawl. Roz was a monster, a predator with her prey in sight, a vicious dog ready to rip a rabbits throat out. The way she circled Scott, before dancing towards him, her face stilted and eyes wide. As a vampire she could captivate and hold any hot blooded creatures attention. She had Scott's eyes locked on her frame as she moved to dance with him, hooking her fingers in his belt loop. 

Relatively speaking, Roz was drop dead gorgeous. The kind of pretty that would no doubt cause a lesser man to murder or steal. Anything and everything to catch her attention, and Scott was secluded from Matt and Allison who were miles away on the dance floor. Her arms encircled Scott's neck, dragging his face closer to hers, her red lips doing something that Stiles wasn't in the mood to watch.

He and Danny were up next, the pair circling Allison until Erica and Lydia slunk into Matt's space, grinding and dancing on him. “Can we talk?” Stiles shouted over the music. Allison nodded, Stiles and Danny led her through the crowd ensuring she could see Scott, now bracketed between Malia and Roz, the pair planting kisses on his neck and shoulders, Roz’s hands tangled in his hair, their hips crashing into each other.

Allison's eyes are puffy even as Danny cracked open the storage room door. Jackson, Sydney, and Isaac grabbed Allison, quickly tying her down and for a moment no one moved. “Allison you were bitten.” Danny started. “By a werewolf. By Peter Hale to be exact.” Silence for a long beat. “Instead of becoming a wolf, you became something else.”

“Everything you've been through has you doubting yourself. Which is why the wolf in you turned dark.” Stiles shifted on his feet. “The monster, the lizard beast both Scott and our pack has been hunting… the Kanima. It's you.” Her eyes widened with fear and then confusion. 

“We know Chris told you about the family secret.” Jackson sighed, “At least Roz is pretty sure that is what happened. Why you started paying more attention to us all.”

“What is wrong with you people!” Allison cried out, in fear and confusion. “I was not bit.”

Stiles sighed, leveled her a look. “You were bitten, and we know that you aren't afraid of water, whoever is controlling you is - Allison, who holds the puppet strings.”

Her head dropped and for a moment Stiles thought that was a sign of submission, then her head raised, and her eyes flashed. “I'm here. I'm right here with you.” 

Siles pushed Danny, Erica, Isaac, Sydney and Jackson behind him. “Allison, is that you?” Stiles asked, easily, now kneeling in front of her.

“Us. We are all here.” Allison responded, her head tucked to the side. 

“Assuming you are the master - those people, everyone you killed - why?” Stiles growled.

“They deserved it.” Not-Allison offered, she looked bored, and completely uninterested in the conversation. “They were all murderers.”

“Who did they kill?” Isaac asked, as he peeked over Stiles’ shoulder. 

“Me.” Not-Allison answered with a wave of her hair and a snarl. Outside the wolves could hear Roz and Malia arguing with Scott, they could hear Boyd and Derek talking with Chris and other hunters. Outside was so much louder than inside. The wolves stepped further away, and Stiles took his own step backward, similarly distancing himself from Not-Allison.

A ripple danced across Not-Allison, then her head cocked to the side, where her brown eyes were now green ones pierced forward, her skin seemed to shift, and her whole body went taunt before scales pushed their way out. “Shit, run!” Stiles ordered, shoving at the wolves. 

Outside in the chaos, Roz and Malia were searching for Scott, as Allison now fully formed into the Kanima emerged from the side room, her tail flicking out behind her. “That is completely unattractive.” Roz snarled. “Get everyone out of here, now.” She looked between Danny and Stiles. “I can keep that in check for a moment.”

Stiles watched as Roz flung herself upward with a Grace he was terrified of, then drug the wolves and Danny outside, they ran smack into Derek. “We lost Allison in the rave, the ketamine didn’t work very well, and now Roz is on her.”

Derek looked uncomfortable at that. “Roz can handle her.” He decided, as he tilted his head. “Has anyone seen Scott?” 

“We had him…” Malia frowned, “But Matt appeared and said they needed to talk, then Scott headed outside, and we stayed because Stiles’ heartbeat upticked.” 

Derek frowned, “I can hear his heart, it’s not beating right.”

Scott’s howl broke through the night. “Shit.” Erica whined.

“Stiles, someone is hurting Scott. You have to break the line for me to get to him.” Derek breathed, looking more or less unhappy with the situation.

“Now, Stiles.” Peter growled, just as he darted into the fray of people running out. The fire alarm was blaring, and Stiles wondered if that had something to do with Roz - not that it mattered all the wolves were flinging themselves back into the building, except Derek. 

“Go.” Stiles breathed, as he pushed the mountain ash out of the way with his foot. Derek darted into the darkness, just as a roar - the one he recognized as Roz’s sounded, he looked back towards the warehouse in time to see the Kanima scaling the building, it’s tail through Roz’s ribs, and the hybrid clawing against the scales - Peter and Laura were climbing up after her, the beast roaring its own stilted sort of noise.

Stiles felt his heartbeat flutter. 

This was a shit show.

The kanima disappeared with a flick of its tail, sending Roz free falling towards the ground. A new face with hands that seemed to spark, caught her. Laura and Peter joined Stiles back on the ground a moment later as the other wolves and Danny tumbled back out. “Only one dead.” Danny sighed.

Stiles chewed his bottom lip in frustration as more howls echoed, and Derek's form with Scott over his shoulder appeared. Behind them Matt was running with the Kanima alongside him. Roz was up, and moving then, flinging herself headlong into the lizard beast, and biting down into its flesh. Matt and Roz both screamed out as a series of explosions lit up the night, suddenly Chris Argent was there.

Stiles couldn't trace the next thirty minutes if his life depended on it. One minute Chris was screaming after the kanima and Matt, the next he was shoving everyone into the SUVs and heading them towards Deaton. Deaton didn’t look pleased with any of them. Roz was out cold, from the moment they tossed her into the SUV. When Derek got Scott to them he wasn't in any better condition then Roz. “I take it that a forward attack didn't work?” Deaton started. “Fuck.” The man paled. “Get her on the table. If you consider yourself her pack, even human, find some part of her and bite down. It'll jar the vampire into healing.”

“Bite her?” Noah echoed, and where had his father come from?

“That's barbaric.” Chris shuddered.

“Barbaric or not it works.” Deaton shrugged. “Save her so she can save Scott. She's the only one who can curve the poison out of him.” They all grew silent.  Stiles moved first, with Derek and Emmett. Then everyone found a sort of clean expanse of flesh to sink their teeth into. Stiles went to her cheek, Emmett just below her ear, and Derek on her neck. “Make her bleed.” Deaton toned from behind them. Stiles shuffled to his left as Chris shoved in and bit down in her eyebrow.

When they all withdrew, Deaton split his palm open and poured his blood in her mouth, a beat later the room seemed to light up with electricity, then she was sitting upright snarling loud and proud, her eyes instantly made Stiles think about the demons from Supernatural and a shiver ran up his spine. 

“Roz take care of Scott please.” Stiles whispered.

Her head whipped around to his voice, cocked to the side then she slid off the stretcher, her body already healing where they had taken turns biting her. She looked over Scott, eyes searching for something, then jolted forward, biting between his pecs, ripping his flesh away then pushing her claws in until she drug out what looked like a canima claw, before slitting her own palm open and drizzling the blood into his open chest cavity. 

Scott woke up almost an hour later. The whole hour Roz seemed to vibrate almost completely out of her skin, like the room was alive and actively irritating her. Maybe it was? Stiles never could read the vampire witch wolf. What Stiles knew for sure was that both Peter and Noah kept a hand on her at all times.  “We lost Allison.” Erica had explained to Deaton. “The ketamine wasn't enough.” The veterinarian frowned, hard. “Roz was holding her own until Stiles broke the barrier for Derek to get to Scott.” 

“Why were you alone with Matt?” Derek demanded.

“He said we needed to talk.” Scott's voice was rough and tousled as all the heads turned toward him. 

Roz raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “So you went with him?”

“To talk about Allison?” Scott tried. “He said that there were some things he noticed that we're off about her?” 

“How did you get out of the Mountain Ash?” Derek demanded.

“The powder on the ground? Matt moved it then pushed it back, said it was important.” Scott sighed. “Then he was on me, punching me and he put that in me.” He pointed at the claw that Roz was still holding, one of the only ones not affected by the kanima venom.

Lydia raised an eyebrow as Jackson shrugged beside them, the pair looking utterly uninterested in going on around them. Danny had folded his arms over his chest, with Cora and the new face - Kira both posted beside him. Laura had Emmett under one arm and Boyd under the other, Erica was pressed against him and Isaac was pacing. Peter, Roz and Noah we're tucked tight together. Beyond them Malia, Sydney, Theo, Brett and Lorilee we're all crowded together with wide eyes. Chris Argent and Deaton, we're crowded together next to the desk. 

“Aside from Matt fucking our plans.” Stiles sighed. “We have other issues.”

“Like what?” Chris Argent asked bored. 

Stiles met his stare. “Allison is still the kanima. Matt is obviously controlling her. We have no way to stop or slow her down unless we make more Roz's. We also don't know how to even turn her full human or wolf… but going to bed with hunters, Derek?”

“Yeah, I know.” Derek frowned. “We appreciate you, Chris. But I can't imagine Victoria being into her daughter being a true-blue monster nor can I imagine the council being that into a werewolf leading a hunting family.”

Chris shrugged. “I know. I don't know what to do about Vic, but…” He looked around the room. “I would rather have her alive and a monster than dead and cold.” Chris offered. “If that means you're little fucking pack, then so be it.”

“We are not that little.” Derek grumbled, his chest rumbling, and his eyes flashed red, “We are mighty.” Derek declared, hands over his chest, as he leaned against Stiles shoulder, the younger boy looked up at Derek and grinned. 

☽♚♛♚☾

Beacon Hills, California

November, 2006

“Are you sure you have it?” Matt Daehler asked Isaac Lahey as he followed him home from little league practice.

“Dude, I have the comic.” Isaac countered. It was already a little chilly in Beacon Hills, winter headed for them, and the nights were getting shorter. 

After the boys had a snack and read over the comic that Isaac did have, the noise from outside drew their attention. Below Isaac’s window Camden, his older brother, and every member of the Swim Team were splashing around. By the sounds of the party it was clear they had just won State. Matt could hear the roar of Coach Lahey as he toasted his players.

“You should go.” Isaac whispered, looking down at his hands. “They are going to drink.”

Matt slipped out the backdoor, with the intent to slide around the party, but someone jostled him, sending the little boy into the water, where he thrashed wildly. Each time he fought to the surface, he could see them laughing, could hear Isaac screaming for someone - anyone to save him. He drifted into the darkness. 

He woke to the Coach, glaring at him. “Stupid kid, who doesn't know how to swim. Get the hell out of here.” Matt ran, a little boy died in the pool, the thing that came out… was forever changed. 

☽♚♛♚☾

Mighty was a good word for the pack on most days of the week. Derek and Stiles, we're both unamused with the plan at hand, but Roz had a point. The kanima only seemed to attack them when provoked. So, going about business as normal seemed like the best plausible idea. It also meant that the buddy system had to be invoked.

Ideally, they had to drown the kanima. The only one of them strong enough to hold IT under was Roz. But she couldn't do it one hundred percent by herself. She needed bait (how that became Stiles and Derek neither the alpha or the spark knew for sure). Half the pack was to stay normal. The other half was to be in the proverbial wings, waiting.

The only kink was that Scott was determined to prove that Allison wasn't the Kanima. Any other time in Stiles life and he would have thought Scott was too precious for the world. As it was, he wasn't above letting Roz drown Scott too. Since the nightmare of the Rave, Derek had bitten Danny who turned fairly easily and had a good grasp on his inner wolf. Admittedly he wasn't as in control as Lydia (Stiles vividly imagined Lydia in her mind with the red wolf on a short leash), but not everyone could be perfect. 

It shouldn’t have caught Roz by surprise, but it did, when Stiles caught her arm, “Can we talk, where the wolves can’t hear us?”

“Sure, kid.” She ruffled his hair. “Follow me.” Stiles compiled, as she tossed him his own keys. “You know how to drive to the outside of town.” She quirked. “Der, we will be back.” She whispered, so low, that Stiles might have missed it if he wasn’t so focused on her. 

In the end they found themselves parked just outside of the Beacon Hills City Limits, the sign behind them. For a long time, neither of them spoke, finally Roz looked over at him, “Claudia knew.” She offered. “She knew what I was, what the Hale’s were, what we are. She never wanted to be like us, she just wanted to be with us.” She gave him a long moment, “You remind me of your mother. Which is why I know you need to say something, that maybe no one but me or Derek would understand - but he’s busy training, and you're father’s in a bit of trouble at the station with the recent spike of crimes, right?”

Stiles nodded. A few more moments passed, as even the sky turned orange, and hazy purple. “You know when you're drowning, you don't actually inhale until right before you black out. It's called voluntary apnea.” He paused to inhale, his whole body taunt. “It's like no matter how much you're freaking out, the instinct to not let any water in is so strong that you won't open your mouth until you feel like your head's exploding. But then when you finally do let it in, that's when it stops hurting. It's not scary anymore.” He frowned, “It's - it's actually kind of peaceful.”

“Are you saying that nine year old Matt was at peace?” She hummed - Lydia and Isaac had dug the research up, actually - Isaac melded into Lydia and Jackson with ease, but not in a mate sort of way, if anything he was more like Jackson’s brother. Matt, they had discovered, had been nearly drowned as a youth, by the very people he was targeting with his lizard-shaped Allison-timebomb. 

Stiles glowered, “I don’t feel sorry for him. I personally want to help you kill him.”

“No you don’t. That’s something you and Scott that failwolf share, neither of you want to shed innocent blood, but by all means, go on.” She waved her hand, and waited. “Can you feel sorry for the nine - year - old Matt who drowned?”

“Just because a bunch of dumbasses dragged him into a pool when he couldn't swim doesn't really give him the right to go off killing them one by one. And by the way, my dad told me that they found a bunch of pictures of Allison on Matt's computer. And not just of her though. I mean, he photoshopped himself into these pictures. Stuff like them holding hands and kissing. You know, like he built this whole fake relationship. So yeah, maybe drowning when he was nine years old was what sent him off the rails, but the dude is definitely riding the crazy train.” Stiles grumbled, he had twisted in his seat, drawn a leg up under his frame and was looking at her like the monster she was, sometimes Roz wondered if he saw any reflection of himself in her.

“I’m glad Noah’s back where he belongs.” Roz settled on, unsure of the shaky ground they were standing on. Things had been messed up lately - probably even before she arrived in Beacon Hills - the town had always been a hellmouth out for blood and vengeance. An old curse on the land gave way to new clashes.

Stiles tilted to play with his lacrosse gear, absentmindedly like he hadn’t even noticed. It made the pain of regret resonate in Roz’s heart, she missed Claudia. “Yeah.” Stiles muttered, not meeting her gaze. “Yeah, but I still feel like there’s something wrong between us.” He paused, “Like a tension rope when we talk - I thought at first it was because of you guys… but I think it’s him rethinking everything ‘normal’ he has ever known.” Stiles paused, “The tension with Scott is worse.”

“It’s been a week Stiles, since… the Rave.” She paused, “Have you talked to him?

“No.” Stiles shook his head, tears threatening to fall. “We’ve… I… No, not really. He has his own problems to deal with. He has the Allison issue, I mean - she’s the freaking Kanima and he’s acting like she isn’t, plus dad keeps attempting to pressure him into telling Melissa, which by the way I think we should, but Scott is adamant that we can’t, because I don’t know? He wants to protect her? And then there is the whole, Chris and Victoria problem. I know Chris said he’d rather have Allison alive and in our pack, but… Scott isn’t pack, and two omega wolves around sounds worse than a Kanima controlled by a sociopath and a failwolf as you called him.” Stiles could feel the words running away from him. 

“Has he tried to talk to Allison? Do you know? Has any of the pack tried?” Roz asked, softly. She wasn’t as privy to the teenage aspects, with all the kids now at home she had more of a guard duty - keeping Malia and Sydney in check while in school, she couldn’t be held accountable for all of the other puppies and Stiles roaming the halls. 

“Lydia.” Stiles hummed, “Lydia has tried to talk to her.” Stiles offered it, his hands still working over his lacrosse gear. “But I don’t think Allison has let her, and that might be her choice, ya know? We dropped a huge freaking bomb on her.”

Roz considered it for a moment, “She knew something was wrong.”

“Huh?” Stiles grumbled.

“Ally seems like a smart girl - being the Kanima, she would have woken up missing time, confused and disoriented, she would have turned to one of her parents…” Her eyes widened, “Maybe Matt isn’t the master?”

“It doesn’t matter, until someone kills him, we can’t know.” Stiles grumbled. “Jackson has been on my ass all week at school, he’s an overgrown menace protecting me, what’s there to save me from - Gerard is dead.”

“Victoria is still in play. The Kanima. Matt. The pending damnation of the Alpha pack. We have no clue where Kate Argent is.” She ticked the information off on her fingers, eying him wearily. “And what about you, Stiles? Feeling some anxiety about that championship game tomorrow night?” 

“Why would you ask me that? Ah. Uh, no. I - I never actually play.” Stiles dropped the mitt he had been working on. “Roz, I need to know that the plan - when we actually do it, I need to know that it is going to work.”

She reached across the middle console and took his hands in hers. “The only monster ever known to defeat a Kanima in hand to hand combat is a vampire, Stiles. Don’t worry.” She kissed his temple, and he was decidedly not going to worry.

☽♚♛♚☾

Beacon Hills, California

December 23, 2004

“Derek.” Roz whispered, as she climbed into the root cellar. “Derek, darling?”

She felt tears on her face as she saw him sprawled against the roots, with Paige in his arms, black blood pouring down her face and weeping from the bite.

“I didn’t mean to.” Derek whispered, his breath catching. She could tell he was crying, his body turned in over itself, trying to protect her dying form. Trying to stop whatever pain there was left on this Earth for Paige.

“Oh, pup, I know.” Roz dropped into the dirt next to him. “Let me shoulder this burden with you.”

Derek’s eyes were tightly closed, even as Paige’s breaths became labored. Derek felt the cold touch of Roz against his flesh, her hand moved over his. “Roz.” He choked.

“There is no honor in this death, Derek, grant the girl who has your heart mercy.” Roz whispered against his ear, she closed her eyes, red tears trailing her face, and felt the snap of Paige’s spine where her fingers were intertwined with Derek’s.

For a long time neither of them moved, when Derek finally did, he looked at her with bright blue eyes, and she looked at him with her own set of blue hues. “I made a mistake.”

“Yes, you did.” Roz nodded. “But we all make mistakes.” Roz kissed his temple, and made a slow move, “Let me handle this, Derek. Wait here for me.”

Roz scooped Paige’s cooling body into her arms, and headed out. When she was done making it look like an animal had killed Paige, she went back for Derek. She carried the crying pup home, and briefed Talia on what had happened, once he was tucked into bed with Cora and Emmet.

-/-

“I told you to seek him because his heart was unstable!” Roz snarled, and shoved Peter, “Not encourage him to… to… ask another pack to bite her!” 

“It wasn’t my idea!” Peter tried.

Roz glowered, “I can see your lies, Peter!” She slammed him furiously against a tree. “This, this is ending. I am not… this town is going to kill me!” Then she flew, for the first time in a very long time.

☽♚♛♚☾

It's a late night conversation that Stiles is one hundred percent sure he isn’t supposed to hear. It’s been a week and a half and the Kanima hasn’t reared its head, but Allison has been at school. He knows that Roz can smell him, and probably Derek - they are way too keyed into his scent not to, and that should bother him, but it doesn’t.

From what Stiles has gathered it’s a meeting of the leaders - Noah, Chris, Roz, Derek, and Peter. The fact that Chris Argent is in the house makes his skin crawl, but for now he ignores it and settles on something more important, like listening. It’s Peter’s voice first, and he smiles in spite of himself - the creeper wolf isn’t so bad these days, he has the same streak of Stiles understanding that Roz and Derek have. “There is a myth that you can cure a werewolf simply by calling out it’s Christian name.”

Argent makes a scoffing noise, “It’s just a myth.”

“Sometimes myths and legends bear a hint of truth. Our name is a symbol of who we are. The kanima has no identity. That's why it doesn't seek a pack.” Roz is older than the table combined, and Stiles wonders if she remembers everything she’s ever read. 

“It seeks a master.” Noah toned, his voice earnest.

“And who else grows up with no pack? No identity?” Peter demanded.

“A child who never quite fit in, and who always felt like her family was lying to her.” Roz sounded. “A child who although loved, felt like an orphan.”

“By all rights, I’m amazed it wasn’t Jackson.” Derek grumbled. 

“I believe you all, ok. But how the hell do we save my daughter because right now, her identity is disappearing beneath a reptilian skin and we need to bring her back.” Chris grumbled, a clink at the table made Stiles wonder who was drinking and what.

“Vampires can kill Kanima.” Peter offered, “But you want your child alive, and Noah wants Roz to survive. The only way is through Allison’s heart.”

“Heart?” Derek sounded confused. “She lost her grandfather, and doesn’t believe any of her friends. For all we know Matt has convinced her that Scott doesn’t even love her.”

“Derek, that’s not true.” Roz huffed. “What is the one thing you can’t overcome?”

“True love.” Noah whispered, and it sounded deafening to Stiles.

“There is one person who can reach her.” Peter  continued. 

“Scott.” Peter concluded. “Roz, you're best ally has always been your magic - you can weave a fable out of thin air; Chris, you trust your guns; Noah you trust your gut and your belief in right and wrong. For me it was once love, then vengeance, now… I… it doesn’t matter.” Peter sighed, Stiles wondered why the chair shuffled against the floor, then, “Your best ally has always been anger, Derek, but what you lack most is a heart. That's why you've always known that you need Scott more than anyone. And even somebody as burned and dead on the inside as me knows better than to underestimate the simple yet undeniable power of human love.”

“So, we need Scott, more than anything - if we want her to come out human.” Chris clarified.

“She won’t be a human.” Roz challenged. “There is another way, just in case. That Peter and I found.”

“Roz.” Peter’s voice was hard, and Stiles wondered why. “It’s a foolish idea.”

“Tell me.” Derek demanded, in a voice that sent chills down Stiles spine.

“Invite Stiles to the table, if he gets any closer to the door, his anxiety will make me hurl.” Roz sounded amused, as Noah opened the door and gave Stiles a highly unimpressed look. “Sit, pup.” She toned, shoving the child into the seat she had just climbed out of, she rounded the table and climbed into Noah’s waiting arms. “It’s a spell, it would drain what was left of the witch magic in me.”

“What would that leave you as? Would your human part be gone?” Stiles asked, inched forward, body pitched uncomfortably close to Peter, to avoid touching Chris Argent.

“It would leave me a true hybrid in every sense of the word - one part wolf, one part vampire, and one part Kanima. I might need a master.” She bit her bottom lip, pulling blood and let it drip from her chin. “Noah, if we have to go with plan C… could you be my master?” Her voice was hopeful and easy.

The table sounded off, in a chorus of disagreements, before Stiles finally stood. “I will be your master, if it comes to that.” She nodded at him. “Has anyone told Chris plan A?”

“Plan A? I thought that was Scott?” Chris blinked.

Derek sighed, “Scott is Plan B.” Then he looked at Stiles, “Stiles has a ‘foolproof’ plan for A, so he didn’t want us to come up with backups.” Derek didn’t look like he believed in the foolproof nature of the plan. “Actually Peter here has helped develop all the plans.”

“I like A the best.” Peter chimed. “It involves drowning.” 

“What?” Chris yelped.

“If you wake the puppies I will eat you.” Roz snarled low. “Stiles, explain.”

Stiles inhaled, “We are going to let the Kanima come after one of us.” He paused, “While it’s tracking the prey - probably me and Derek - we are going to lure it to the school pool, and then Roz is going to drown it. Cleansing the monster, allowing it to be born again.” Stiles explained. “Roz can hold the Kanima down, but we might need back up, so all the wolves, Kira, coyotes, dad, you in theory - would be waiting in the wings to descend if things get dicey.”

“What does Scott think?” Chris demanded.

“Scott doesn’t know.” Derek gritted out. “About any of this, he refuses to see her as the Kanima.”

☽♚♛♚☾

Matt’s dead body was found in the lake just south of the Hale house in the preserve. No one talked about it, but by Monday at school, it was clear Allison was distraught. Her eyes were wide in alarm, and she looked everywhere without really seeing. Had the situation not been so deadly, Stiles might have found it funny.

“I think when Matt died, the Kanima saw.” Lydia whispered, “Allison didn’t know he was dead, but when Mr. Carter announced it, her face seized up, like she was freaked out about something.”

Jackson nodded, his chin over Roz’s shoulder, and Danny beside them. “The game is tonight, we seriously can’t be that worried.”

“Peter and I are going to check it out.” Roz explained, “Before the game. Noah said he got a really messed up feeling, like something was off.”

“Ok, but you will be at the game, right?” Stiles wagged a finger at Roz. “Coach said I was starting today.”

“Jesus, kid, yes.” She promised. “Boyd, keep and eye on the wild ones.” It was her term of endearment for Malia and Sydney, both snorted in annoyance, but smiled as she walked off. 

“Going somewhere?” Victoria Argent asked, a snide smile on her face, as Roz made it to the door. 

She rolled her eyes, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” 

Victoria grabbed her arm, and jerked, “Which one of you freaks is the Kanima?” She growled, but her heartbeat sounded off.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” She hissed, jerking out of her grip and shoving around her. “Hale pack, get away from Victoria, find Scott - she’s the master. I think.”

☽♚♛♚☾

How was this his life? Stiles grunted, as Derek grabbed his shoulder, “RUN!” And started to drag him away, he’d ran through a messy conflict in the school parking lot - his father had shielded Melissa and was probably grumbling about Stiles being late, but the plan was shot to shit - and Victoria had stabbed Peter through the heart, the blade piercing through him and into Kira. Stiles had skirted it all, aware that both had bigger things to worry about. 

The Kanima, however, reached them, as they hit the school’s pool room, a swipe of green tail made Derek freeze. “Shit, shit.” He hissed.

“Derek! You're neck!” Stiles attempted to help him stand, but the wolf was already starting to crumble. “Hey, come on.” He managed to support both their weight, but it wasn’t easy, “Where is it? Can you see it?” Stiles demanded, still clutching wildly at a wolf who couldn’t protect him.

“I can smell it.” Derek huffed. “I’m trying to pull Roz, but…”

Stiles pulled his phone out, and speed dialed Lydia, “Please hurry, get in place. Please.” 

“Call Scott!” Derek demanded. “Stiles, ah…” Derek’s body slumped more against Stiles, the pair slipping down closer to the concrete floor. 

“Where did it go? Can you see it? Did you see it?” Stiles demanded, his fingertips numbly moving across the touch screen as he attempted to call his best friend. Distantly he heard the sounds he associated with Roz. 

“No.” Derek whimpered, clutching more closely at Stiles. 

Scott’s phone went straight to voicemail. “Okay, maybe it took off.” Stiles could feel the lie in his heart, and his faked hopefulness.

“Maybe not.” Derek grunted as claws tore into his chest, knocking both him and Stiles into the pool, Stiles’ phone landing against the concrete. In the distance the chorus of wolf howls that made Stiles’ heart soar sounded, he was managing to hold him and Derek up, but he didn’t know how much longer he could do that.

When they got closer to the pool's edge, the Kanima would swipe at them. 

The only place they were safe was in almost ten feet of water. “Okay.” Stiles breathed, treading water, “Okay. I don’t think I can do this much longer.” Stiles sounded winded. 

“No, no, no.” Derek adamantly shook his head, “Don't even think about it.” Derek ordered, “Do not let me go.”

“Derek, would you just trust me this once? I need the phone to call Scott, plan A is obviously out.” Against the outer wall something seemed to explode.

Derek felt fear ripple through him, he was a wolf, and he could heal, but he didn’t know if wolves could come back from drowning. “No.”

Stiles growled, frustrated, “I'm the one keeping you alive, okay, have you noticed that?” He was noticeably winded, and looking a little therbred.

“Yeah. And when the paralysis wears off, who is gonna be able to fight that thing, you or me? I need you to survive, Stiles. You need me to survive, which is why you are not letting me go. Stiles!” Derek almost shouted his name, as Stiles let him go.

“I am coming right back.” Stiles promised, unsure if he heard it or not, Derek was already sinking under the water. Stiles rushed, using his reserved energy to get to the phone. Roz’s howl and scream pierced the air not far away. He called Scott. “Scott!”

Scott on the other end of the line sounded frustrated, “I can't talk right now.” The call disconnected, Stiles screamed in frustration and dropped the phone into the water, before turning and diving back down to Derek, he grabbed the wolf under his armpits, and hauled him back up. When they both broke the surface, Derek took in lungfuls of air.

“Tell me you got him.”

Before Stiles could answer, the door of the pool room burst open, and Roz swept in. The Kanima was on her, instantly, it’s tail slicing at her, Stiles screamed - more because this form of Roz was even more terrifying than the one from the night they found Malia and Sydney - she had wings twisted with bones showing through, she had several arrows in her back, and her face had been cut. 

Roz didn’t give the beast time to react, before growling - the inhuman rumble more like a roar, and charging the Kanima. They collided in midair, just as Stiles had the idea to move him and Derek further away. Roz used her wings to push into the concrete on either side of the pool - her wingspan could have probably gone out more, but Stiles couldn’t be bothered to worry about that.

With her wings holding her in place, she dug her claws into the Kanima’s chest, and wrapped her legs around the Kanima’s middle, it’s tail punctured through her back, and pushed through her ribs under her heart, coiling upward, and sinking back into her shoulder, but it didn’t stop Roz, her eyes completely black as she pushed the beast further underwater.

Stiles drug Derek further away from the creatures flailing limbs. Laura and Emmet were in the pool in a blink, moving to help shoulder Derek’s weight, as other wolves pooled in, all clambering forward to pull the Kanima under. Kira was supporting Peter, with Noah’s help, while every werecreature in their pack gouged at the beast.

Victoria and Chris appeared - Victoria with a golden sword of some sort in hand, she lunged, cutting deep into Roz’s left wing - the vampire let out a blood curdling scream, just as Theo and Brett lunged at Victoria, each grappling with her, Noah had raised his gun, unsure of what to do, and Chris let out a shaky exhale. Victoria fired two shots, wolfsbane bullets hitting both Theo and Brett. Laura growled, low and harsh, just as Victoria scrambled forward to stab Roz again, Chris made it to his wife before Laura, the gunshot echoed off the walls as Victoria fell in a pool of inky red blood and chlorine, her body hit the water, the Kanima had stopped fighting under Roz. 

For a blink no one moved, then Roz seemed to hover in mid-air. “Everyone out of the water.” Peter ordered. “The Kanima isn’t dead, it’s saving its energy. Plan C!” He called. It was a mad dash, then Noah yanking Stiles out of the water, as Danny and Jackson hauled Derek out, the other wolves did their best to get out without disrupting Roz. In the stillness, Chris crept away from the pool, to stand by Peter, moved to support the man. 

“Scott is safe, Roz - he… hunters attacked him, but I put most of them down. He… He was looking for Allison, Melissa with him.” Chris paused, “If you can’t free her, at least be merciful.”

The eyes that met Chris’ were not the inky black of the vampire, nor the golden hue of the werewolf, instead they were something unyieldingly pearl white. “The witch.” Derek hissed, an undercurrent of fear running through them all. Kira, stepped back, the ripple followed, stepping even further from the water.

Roz cocked her head, just as the tail started to twist again, the Kanima’s claws sinking more into her chest, the back legs, clawed feet like a gargoyles aiming for her skeletal like wings. Roz opened her mouth, blood poured from it, as a cough left her body, then she started to talk. “Et accipere impiíssime, da mihi cor tuum. Et ut monstrum, liberate animum tuum.” She growled, as blood started to run from her nose, “Et accipere impiíssime, da mihi cor tuum.” Blood was leaking so freely from her mouth it made Stiles huff out a cry, “Et ut monstrum, liberabo animam tuam. Et accipere impiíssime, da mihi laborem tuum.”

The lights above them cracked one by one, popping and sending glass down like rain, the windows followed suit, and the pool itself seemed to revolt, water crashing out of it, and rolling, no one moved, as if suspended in place, the walls of water raised high above the ledges of the pool, before dropping back in. When the churning water stopped, Allison was floating in the middle of the pool, not far from her Roz was face down in the water, her wings covered in green scales, and her body starting to sink.

“ROZ!” Stiles flung himself into the water just as Chris shouted, “ALLISON!” And dove for his daughter. Laura helped Stiles haul Roz out, as Lydia helped Chris with Allison, the girl's eyes flickering neon blue.

“She lost too much blood.” Laura whispered to Stiles.

The boy was shivering, tears falling from his face, “How can I help?”

Chris was there, suddenly, slicing his palm open, and making a fist, he let the blood run straight into her mouth. “She needs more blood, NOAH!” 

In a blink, Noah had followed suit, and was letting his blood drip against her elongated fangs. “It won’t be enough.” Derek wheezed, he was able to move his fingers now. “She needs… more than that, she needs an artery.”

Her eyes fluttered, for a moment, then Stiles shook her, “You don’t get to die, you horrible creature, until you tell me about my mom!” He shoved his wrist into her mouth, and pressed up until her fangs impaled his vein. It was like a light had switched on, she grabbed his wrist, and pulled it closer, curling around it, and sucked hard.

“Don’t drink him dry!” Derek screamed.

“Laura, when Stiles’ heart sounds different, less like a rabbit, pull her off, and let one of the other humans have a go.” Peter grumbled, before collapsing.

“We need to get out of here.” Chris started, but the door burst open, and Scott poured in. Allison was in Lydia and Jackson’s arms, sobbing. Melissa followed her son, wide eyed. “We can explain this, Melissa, just not here.”

“Can we move her with her wings out?” Stiles whispered, “Lydia come here, she’s only talking in Latin. Or I think the spell was Latin.”

Lydia with Allison clinging to her arm, and Jackson trailing, the other wolves and Kira were making their way towards Roz now, too. “Posuit alis tuis auferat.” Lydia tried, “Put your wings up!” She screamed.

Roz looked past Stiles, up at Derek, who nodded, she folded her body more in, the bones and meaty flesh of her wings folding until they disappeared along her spine. “Stiles can you hold her up?” Derek muttered, as he flexed his fingers, Stiles shook his head, and yelped when Derek picked them both up. “We need to get out of here, now. Everyone - woods, unless you're human. Scott, we can explain later.”

Allison stopped Derek, and bared her neck. “I submit to you, Derek.” She whispered, “You saved me, you're second saved me. Is she ok?”

Derek sniffed her quickly, “I dunno, let’s move.”

When the dust settled - Scott, Melissa, Noah, and Chris were left standing by the poolside. “What happened to Victoria’s body?” Noah asked, carefully.

“It must have been the blood sacrifice she used for that spell.” Chris guessed, then ran a hand down his face. “Roz Compton is crazy.” He sighed, “But she saved Allison.”

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!” Melissa shouted, her whole face squished up in fear. Scott looked between Noah and Chris, the wheels turning in his mind, before he turned his body, and inhaled, finding a scent, he took off running into the darkness. 

“Mel, Chris and I can explain, but right now we need to get out of here.” Noah suggested. “The police force let me go today, and I’d rather not be charged with murder.” 

“I can help you get back on. Victoria made a complaint against you.” Chris huffed. “But she’s suddenly decided to leave me.” It wasn’t until they were seated around the table, in the middle of the Stinski kitchen, with Roz still pale, and Stiles being pried from her, that Chris broke and started crying, even as he pressed his wrist into her mouth, the hungry monster moaned around his blood as it dribbled down her chin. 

“Melissa.” Noah sighed. “Shit, Stiles, get the chessboard would you?” 

Stiles looked a little woozy. “I got it, Mr. S.” Isaac appeared, holding it with a smile. “Not all of the pups are done healing - those hunters… they didn’t do us any favors. There are none left, that I know of.” He looked pointedly at Chris.

“They are all gone.” Chris assured him. “Allison is pack, I think, and I would like to be pack.” 

“What was that sword?” Stiles demanded. 

“The golden sword of the Archangel Gabriel.” Peter huffed, he leaned against the fridge, and Melissa although confused was digging a series of bullets out of him. “It is the only blade that can kill a death dealer, the breed of vampire that Roz is… was?” He didn’t sound sure at the end. “Go see the board.” Peter huffed at them.

Melissa stood and looked at Stiles, expectantly. “Ok. So…” He frowned. “Tonight you saw a lot of things you probably can’t explain and definitely don’t understand.”

“Stiles, I have seen a lot of things I can’t explain in this town.” She ran a tired hand over her jeans. “Tonight I saw things out of horror films.”

“True.” Stiles nodded, then sighed. “Ok, so this is the game board.” He motioned. “All the pieces are magnetic, but they are where they need to be at this moment.” He continued. “Derek is the alpha - werewolf, so he’s on the King, see all the pink sticky notes are supernatural creatures.” Melissa noticed that most of the board were supernatural creatures. Chris pulled away from Roz, who looked a little less ashy, just as Noah offered his wrist to her, she nosed against it before biting down. “Roz is on the Queen.” He motioned to the girl on the table, with blood smeared against her face and frame, scales ripping and dancing  over her skin.

“The purple.” Derek growled, in a grunt, “Is our enemies, Hunters - like Chris and Allison, Matt when he was alive, Victoria, Gerard…” He sighed, “The dead have been removed from the board, their pieces tucked away in the bottom of the board. Names and death dates on them.”

Melissa frowned. “Ok, and the pawns are… werewolves?”

Stiles ignored her. “My name is on the Bishop beside Derek, because I will someday be the pack emissary, right Roz?” She didn’t respond. “Peter is on Rook beside me, and Laura is the Knight on my side. Next to Roz, on the Bishop is Alan Deaton - the old Hale pack emissary who is not useful at all. My father is the knight on her side, and Jackson is on her rook.” He paused. “Kira, Malia, Sydney, Brett, Lorilee, Theo, Emmet, Boyd, Erica, Danny, Cora, Lydia… They are pawns.” 

“What about Scott?” Melissa demanded.

Derek snorted, Roz pulled off Noah. “Scott is the yellow pawn off to himself, too stupid to join the pack, and too proud to admit he was wrong.” She licked her lips, and looked around them. “Call Deaton, I need him to check me out, and I think Allison and Chris can get new colors, maybe add Melissa to the board.” 

“Ok, so… how did this happen?” Melissa wondered, even as Theo appeared, helping Roz off the table and into the basement, Derek and Isaac followed, Peter tumbling after them. 

“Cowards.” Stiles hissed. So he told them all about sneaking into the woods the night Laura’s bottom half had been found, how Scott had been bitten, how they had figured it out, how Gerard had kidnapped him after the game only a month ago, how Noah had orchestrated adopting the Hale’s that belonged to Peter, how Roz was the only thing other than Derek that were holding them together.

“What’s an alpha pack?” Melissa asked.

Stiles shrugged, “Apparently what it sounds like. A pack of alphas.”

“But… you said a pack had one alpha, betas, and human members.” She looked accusingly at Chris, “How can there be a pack of alphas?”

“It’s not completely unheard of.” Chris sighed, “It’s led by one alpha, one who is more powerful than the rest, his name is Deucalion, and we want no part of him if we can avoid it.”

“We can’t.” Stiles grumbled. “Roz and Peter are pretty sure that they are going to show up and test Derek, which is why we needed to get the Kanima out of the way before they got here, if we have a strong pack, we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.” Stiles yawned. “Can I go to the puppy pile now?” 

Noah laughed, “Go on, son.” 

Stiles left the chessboard, and ambled down the stairs. 

Melissa sighed, hard. “So, this is all real.” Then she looked at the chessboard, “And we are all players in a supernatural game that we can’t win?”

“We can win.” Chris deadpanned. “We just have to work a little harder. Roz… Roz didn’t have to save Allison, she was more than strong enough to drown not only the Kanima but Allison in that pool, but she saved her. We don’t know how Roz is going to be, or what she is going to be…” 

“She was already a hybrid - part wolf and part vampire.” Noah explained. “You’ll have to ask a Hale about that, I don’t know.”

“She was a teenager with us, Noah!” Melissa cried out, her face still wearing shock and concern. “She dated you before introducing you to Claudia!” She cried out again, this time tears on her face, “She… she was never human?”

“Never.” Noah confirmed. “I believe Claudia knew.” 

Chris looked perplexed for a moment, “Claudia was pack, Noah - Talia had to send information of pack members to the hunters council every ten years, she counted Claudia as pack, but she only ever declared Roz as pack-adjacent.”

“Deep seated issues between the two of them - Talia and Roz.” Noah offered, his voice hard, and his head swimming. 

“Roz… she… she had wings and she drinks blood.” Melissa grumbled. “And Derek mentioned showing me wolves tomorrow, what does that mean!”

Chris and Noah shared an exasperated sigh. “Mel, why don’t you go to bed, ok? You can take the guest bedroom, it’s got your favorite blanket on it. Chris the couch is yours, I’ll get you some pillows and a blanket, I’m headed to bed.” He watched Melissa climb the stairs before getting into the hall closet and getting a blanket out for Chris, and throwing a pillow missing its case at him. 

Roz peaked out, from the basement. “All the werecreatures, Kira, and Stiles are fine, probably going to sleep it off for a while. Scott and Allison made up, I think? And Scott might actually be a Hale wolf now.” She beamed. “Can I sleep up here.”

“Why?” Noah asked, cautious.

“The heartbeats are more amplified.” She hung her head, “I can’t mute my senses after feeding, I need one heart to focus on. Normally it’s Peter, or Derek, but they are currently at the bottom of the puppy pile - Peter almost died, and Derek just wants to keep hugging and scenting everyone.” She bit her bottom lip, pulling blood, and looked at her feet. “I can go back down… you all must be… I’m a monster.” Red tears dripped from her thick eyelashes.

“Roz.” Noah stepped into her space and hugged her, “Let’s go to bed, honey.” He steered her up the steps, and looked back at Chris one last time, the man growled before disappearing somewhere.

“We need to sort out Chris.”

Rozlyn found him on the back porch, it was a little thing, only three steps to the grass, but it had been something Claudia had been determined to have - Roz remembered how much it meant to her. “Chris?” Her voice was soft and patient. “Wanna talk?” He looked up from his position on the steps, for being one of the ‘adults’ he was curled in on himself like a child. She dropped down next to him, and wrapped an arm around him. “I am sorry that Victoria died, she was a damn good woman.” Her voice sounded small. 

“Welcome to the widows club.” Noah settled near them. “It doesn’t get better. But Allison is alive.” He rested against the top post of the stairs. Melissa and Derek joined them a beat later, Melissa dropping to Chris’s other side, and Derek dropping down next to Noah.

“Chris, this hurt, inside of you, it’s going to be there for a very long time. It’s been almost 300 years for me and I still can’t imagine going to Paris - even with everything changed, there is too much Laurent there, too much hurt. He wove love around me, and then he turned a child.” Chris made a sharp noise. “The one thing - the one thing I always wanted to have a child of my own, and he took that idea and twisted it.” She let out a shaky inhale. “It's luck, these days that vampires are practically extinct. I haven’t met another one in the last 80 years.” She looked toward the night sky. “I wish we could have had this talk sooner.”

“What happened?” Chris whispered, “To the child.”

Roz hung her head next to him, “His name was Christophe. Maybe that’s why until Allison you were my prefered Argent.” She bumped shoulders with him. “He was four. Do you know why the high council never sanctioned vampire children?” Chris shook his head no. “Their bodies, although dead, have an insatiable need to feed. Although they aren’t growing - its a metabalizism flaw, and one that probably wouldn’t have been an issue - but Christophe was so damn hungry, Laurent couldn’t keep food in him.”

Derek made a sort of horrified noise, and Melissa looked up at the stars, while Noah inched forward, Peter had shuffled out, to sit beside Derek, eyes wide. “The pups are all asleep.” He whispered, Roz nodded.

“I… there was a Cathedral celebration, as Death Dealers, we can go out in the sun.” Chris watched how her eyes grew distant and hazy, red tears threatened to fall. “He killed three men, they turned, and I… I killed them, with the help of a family you probably know well - the Van Helsings, it’s how I got my scar, here.” She pointed to a long cut deep across her collar bones. “I wasn’t a fledgling anymore, but I wasn’t as old as Laurant. It took three days to take out the ripples, and then I went after Laurant. Bled him dry.” She looked up to the stars, “The night sky… the moon was so full it looked like it was going to burst.” She whined a little in her throat. 

Chris looked at her, “Death follows you, it’s the type of vampire you are.” Chris sighed, “It’s believed by most people, that you're kind of vampires are harbingers of death.”

“I think Lydia can keep that title, wolf or not, she’s a banshee.” Derek whispered.

Chris frowned, “I met Victoria through our fathers. The pair of us had been engaged since we were little. It wasn’t a marriage out of love, but we eventually found our own version of love somewhere around the time Allison was three.” Tears began to flow down his face. “She was a good stand in matriarch, and a good mother. She was my best friend, and loyal to a Code that no one bothers to honor anymore.” 

“You do.” Noah offered. “One man can make a difference.” Noah assured him. 

“The hunters that used to serve us are all gone.” Chris muttered. His heart started to shatter even more. “I mean I could train you and Mel.”

“You could train all of us.” Roz suggested. As the night sky continued to hue, darker and stars sprinkled. Chris huffed out a sigh with tears against his cheek and placed his head on her shoulder. “Use that pain, darling. Use it to help us win.” She offered just as a shooting star shot across the night sky.

☽♚♛♚☾

Melissa had to do a double take when she woke up the next morning. The kitchen was flooded with humans, er, supernatural creatures that she had literally dug copious amounts of bullets out of the night before, who had been stabbed repetitively - for god sakes’ Peter and Kira were ran through with a long sword. All of them were cooking. “Shh.” Derek hissed, “Scott, stop that!” He teased as Scott snuggled more into Allison. “Don’t wake the…”

“One adult is awake.” Melissa grinned. “Chris is probably going to be up a moment, Roz is up with Noah.” Stiles frowned at that but handed Melissa a cup of coffee. “Thank you.” She looked over Stiles, noticing that he was slightly off balance how he still didn't seem to be able to move his arm completely in sync with the rest of his body.

The front door opened to reveal Roz, in a Beacon Hills Sheriff's department t-shirt and a pair of boxers Stiles recognized as his own. Under one arm she was holding what looked like a newspaper, under the other she had a flaming ball of… human? The fireball was looking less ablaze and more like a shaking human. A few steps behind another flame was walking, looking a little more resigned. 

“Uhm, Roz?” Melissa coughed. A blink later Noah with a shotgun raised, was standing on the stairs, and Chris with two pistols in hand had appeared over the edge of the couch, both watching with wide eyes as she continued to shove into the house.

“Felt them last night.” Roz growled. “Chris, please tell the class what they are.”

“They are here for you.” Peter muttered eyes wide. “Which means you lost either the wolf or human.”

“I'm more of a vampire than I was before. I'd wager half vampire, a fourth wolf, an eighth human witch, and an eighth kanima. These two are Hellhounds. Sworn protectors of Vampires. I'm the last death dealer, or so they seem to think. This little fireball can't hold his human shift, could you get Isaac.” Roz looked tired, worn.

“Why?” Stiles demanded. “He, Theo and Brett are still sleeping.”

“Stiles.” Derek growled in a warning. “Don't question the Queen.” The whole room looked at Derek wide eyed. Peter made an aborted noise before howling. His sons would know to come, and Isaac would follow.

Roz, the beast, had turned to whisper to the flames. “It's ok, Cam.” She promised. “Jordan shift please.” The room watched as the flames behind her turned into a tan human with the same wolf-like features they were used to, then he was completely human. Lydia and Jackson made a rumble in unison, and made to move, but Roz stopped them. Stiles was still hurt, his eyes looking between Derek and Roz. Neither had ever been that short with him.

Isaac sniffed the air, looking at the burning beast in question then was running. The whole group took a sharp breath. Roz released the flaming creature she was holding as Isaac collided with it, where a flame had stood (Stiles had been sure Isaac was going to burn) a man now stood who looked a lot like Isaac, but older. The room let out a collective breath. “Jordan Parrish and Camden Lahey. Hellhounds.” She motioned to them and smiled. 

Stiles felt something like fear run down his spine as Derek stalked forward. He was already wolfed out into the underworld Harry Potter monster hybrid, he reached but Laura caught his wrist and Lorilee tugged him to her side. Derek stalked forward and let out a growl, “Submit.” Camden raised his head and bared his neck, Jordan followed. Derek scented them both and bit over their collar bones. When he stepped back, he was a naked human. “Stiles.” He growled, then reached, and tugged Stiles into a heated embrace. “I'm sorry, I was afraid of what Roz was doing, I'm sorry.” Instinctively she swooped in on them both, and hugged Stiles from behind.

Noah raised an eyebrow but shrugged, he was obviously handling this better than Melissa, who Peter was attempting to show the basement too. Chris was trailing behind still slightly confused, as the other wolves, coyotes, and Kira we're all cooking. “We've connected the two houses, no offense Chris I won't be giving you a tour of the emergency exits.” Peter chuckled darkly at that and continued down the stairs.

“So, the house was finalized?” Noah asked Laura who seemed like the only one in a position to talk. 

Laura snorted. “Yup. Are you ok?”

“I'm happy.” Noah whispered. “This house is starting to feel like home again. It hasn't. In a long time.” He feels more than sees Roz perk up, her arms lazily wrapped around his middle. “Stiles, why don't you dress our new family members and our leader, huh?” He feels Roz's chilled temple through his shirt, and for the first time in a long time, he feels Claudia - like she's there, a steady current woven around him tight.

Breakfast is a haphazard and messy affair. Derek orders the humans to the table, then promptly releases “Ever creature for itself!” After the humans have piled their plates full. Allison makes a grab for the last piece of bacon just as Roz does and for a moment the whole room is tense. Roz offers her a soft smile before breaking it in half and giving Allison the larger half. It's not perfect, they've got a long way to go, but Stiles is counting it as progress.

Chris’ cell phone ringing breaks the easy reprieve, and reminds everyone that no one really gets a break in Beacon Hills - Gerard had come for Derek. Just because he wanted to finish what Kate started, but everyone at the table paled even the Hellhounds who Lydia and Danny had mercifully caught up, when Chris put the receiver down on speaker phone. “Kate?”

“Dad's dead!” She shouted, Derek made a jerking motion, but found Stiles and Allison both clinging to him. “And you didn't even FUCKING call me.” There is hurt in there somewhere, but it's laughable. Tangible. Lost in the hate that she is, that most of the table feels for her.

“It's only been a month.” Chris responds, his tone flat. “Didn't know how to track you down. Victoria's gone, too.” His pain is real, for his wife. Or at least Noah thinks it is because Roz and Melissa both reach for his hand, thiers linking over the pulse point of his wrist. It's a move to ground a person. “To be honest it's been liberating, Kate. I have a load of free time with Allison. I'm making friends with the locals.” He paused. “Even have a treaty with the local pack. Just handled a kanima problem.”

Allison tensed as the word Kanima bounced around, Scott was holding her from behind while she clung like a rag doll to Derek. Stiles had practically clambered into Derek's lap and Jackson was on his other side with a firm hand wrapped around his upper arm. 

“I wanna come play with your… friends.” Kate sings songs. That does elicit a growl but not from Derek. From Roz, it's echoed almost in harmony by the new faces. Both Jordan and Camden looked a little hot under the collar of their borrowed clothes.

“Kate. I know what you and dad attempted to do to the Hale pack. You failed, and I want no part in some bastardized holy war. There is no winner. Only innocent blood to be spilt.” Chris sounded more like a predator than Stiles had ever heard. 

“Too bad you feel that way, big brother. I'm already here.” With that the line went dead.

Roz stood, her eyes dancing through a litany of monsters. Silver orbs, bright yellow, lizard like ones, to solid black, and then to neon blue. “I'll kill her, skin her alive, bathe in her entrails. I'll eat her heart, suck out her eyeballs, drain her fucking dry.” The hatred rolling off of Roz has everyone shifting uncomfortably. Except Derek, his eyes lined with blood and hatred. 

“Together.” He growled. “We kill her together.”

Scott didn’t look at all into the notion of murder, but before he can doubt the plan, Roz has his face in one hand and Allison's in the other. “Neither of you were made by Derek. By default this is not your war. But let me show you…” She whispered. “Let me show you how it feels to burn.” She's a whirl of motion, clawed hands slipping into their necks, and a scream on her lips that sounded more like Lydia's than anyone else's.

☽♚♛♚☾

Scott and Allison were screaming when she finally released them, before anyone could think to stop her, she was out the door, and running. Noah and Peter didn't think, not really, before scrambling out the door after her. Stiles doesn’t know how he feels about any of it, or what to do. Derek places a firm hand on both Scott and Allison, “Whatever she showed you, it's yours to keep.” Derek hummed. “She gave you part of her memories - don’t let that be in vain.”

“I am so sorry.” Allison recovered first, flung herself at the nearest Hales - Derek and Cora, wrapped around them both and sobbed. “What she did - what Kate did…” It’s broken off, and muted, her pain, even as Scott turns to reach blindly for Laura and Emmett the pair ready as he tangles around them, Stiles is lost, even as Boyd and Erica huddle closer to him. 

The house is a lot bigger, now, but it feels a lot emptier without Creeperwolf, Roz, and his father. Chris Argent looked troubled, and Melissa, who'd been the only one attempting a normal life outside of the pack and school, was leveling them all a look. “There is nothing to be done, not right now. Everyone that is enrolled in school needs to go to school. Chris, Derek, you both mentioned wanting to see Deaton - well he’s on his way here, and I have to go to work.” She folded her arms over her chest, “Normally Peter would accompany me, but since he's handling Roz - Cam, Jordan do you think you could hang out around work?”

“Of course, Momma McCall.” Camden winked at her, before grabbing Jordan’s arm. “Your favorite spicy wolves are ready to roll.” And what has Stiles’ life even become that he finds that hilarious. 

“Scott, Allison - stay close to the pack at school today, it’s dangerous on your own.” Derek manages, untangling himself - he’s looking pointedly at Boyd and Lydia, the pair nodding their understanding, before Derek is looming over Stiles. “You are staying home.” Stiles must look like he wanted to ask why, because Derek follows it up with, “Deaton knows about sparks, and this is the first time since he patched us up after the Rave we’ve had a chance to get you and him together. Chris and I can protect you.” Derek’s voice softened a little at the end, almost pleading.

“Ok, sourwolf.” Stiles whispered, “But Argent and I are not going to be snuggle buddies.” The spell, the one Roz had woven around them with her sudden departure, one that smelled sour of dread and death, lifts as the pack giggles and snorts around him. He tries not to think about how much he trusts Roz - who still scares the hell out of him, and Peter - recently resurrected asshole werewolf, to keep watchful eyes on his father, but he also knows they both have some sort of affection toward Noah. He’s caught them both watching him with those eyes.

He has caught a similar look and gaze from Derek aimed at him on more than one occasion, which sets his stomach alive with butterflies and worries. 

Melissa hands out packed lunches for everyone - making sure to show Chris where the ones for him, Stiles, Noah, Derek, Peter and Roz are - Roz has a bag of AB blood waiting for her in the fridge, and although nothing about this is normal (really, it’s starting to feel like one big Addams family knock off) it feels right, Stiles feels settled, and it's not until the house is almost completely empty, Chris in the shower and Derek reading on the couch, that he realized his panic attacks are virtually non existent now. 

He’s never alone, not since the night with Gerard. 

The wolves, his father, the coyotes, Kira the Kitsune, Roz, hell - everyone has woven a tight thread of connections around him, lighting up like neurons firing across his brain, each one its own bright color, and its own significant bond, Scott and Allison aside, he knows they would die for him, not just Derek and Roz (who he concedes both make sense, one is an alpha and responsible for him to some degree, the other a monster who loved his mother enough to let her go), not just his father (default job), and not just Scott. Even Jackson would go to battle for Stiles, and that thought is almost overwhelming.

“Stiles, stop thinking so loudly.” Derek huffed, over his book, and looked up raising an eyebrow. “Roz is fine, you're dad is fine, Peter is fine.” Stiles believes him, and settles in next to him to wait on Deaton - the cryptic emissary of doom.

☽♚♛♚☾

Peter slowed down enough to keep up with Noah, the pair walking through the preserve. “You smell her, yet?” Noah asked.

“I am amazed at how fast you accepted this.” Peter grumbled, “She came this way.” He turned them slightly to the left.

Noah followed, “There was always something off about your family, probably would have figured it out eventually. God, though… What did she do to Scott and Allison?”

Peter stopped them, “It’s called linking.” He frowned, “Strong wolves can use their claws to share thoughts, memories, pull them from other people's brains.” He raised his hand tentatively, and brushed his fingers against Noah’s spinal column, where it met his shaggy blonde hair. “Roz can do it, and taught me to do it, when Talia wouldn’t. Talia thought it was a power meant only for the alpha. Roz never saw herself as anything but equal to every member of the pack. Hiding information or witholding things wasn’t something she was interested in.”

Noah shivered as Peter raked his nails against his neck, looked at the man next to him and offered a sly smile. “You and I were thick as thieves once, Peter. With Roz in the middle of it.”

“Then Talia had Roz kill my mate, and you met Claudia.” Peter grumbled, letting his clawed hand curl around Noah’s wrist, his fingertips against the man's pulse point. “Now, before we hash that out, let’s just-”

He was cut off by a roar, one deep enough it reverberated through the woods and seemed to make the trees themselves quake with fear, sent the birds scrambling from the trees, and made Noah’s skin crawl. Then the gunshots started. “Shit.” Noah hissed, “Is that Roz?”

Peter gave him a look that he interpreted as ‘ who the hell else would it be, idiot ’, before the wolf was running full speed ahead, Noah took off after him, darting around the branches, and moving as fast as he could - he might have been an aging cop, but dammit he was in shape - police cardio or something, he might take up a running program, he rounded the last set of trees to see Roz down, a dozen or more arrows sticking out from her body, and a knife through her chest. Peter was on the ground, riving in pain - a woman, who Noah recognized immediately as Kate Argent, was standing over him, her gun barrel still smoking. 

“Well, well.” Kate hummed, “What do we have here?” She turned her attention to the sheriff.

“RUN!” Roz screamed, Noah tried to comply, but a sharp pain resonated behind his eyes, just as his world turned sideways, the forest floor catching him, in a hard embrace.

☽♚♛♚☾

The first time Noah woke, he was cuffed to something that looked like a banister. It took him a moment to realize that they were in the old hotel, part of the highest cliffs of Beacon Hills had dropped into the ocean in the 1950s, and the hotel, once a grand place had been left abandoned. Roz had found it, when Noah was a teenager. She had brought him and Peter out multiple times. Sometimes Claudia with them. It was their place, and that bitch - Kate Argent had weaponized it. He doubted she even knew it was their secret place.

His head hurt, more than he cared to think about, and he could feel the trickles of blood. Several  moments passed before his vision began to clear completely, his eyes landed on Peter Hale first, the man was stripped to his underwear, strung up on an electric fence. There were bullet wounds on him that had yet to heal, his head was down, chin against his chest, and his breathing was off, Noah could tell even from where he was cuffed to the floor, that the wolf was in pain.

It took longer to find Roz. 

When he did he let out a sharp whine, she was suspended from what he believed was once the hooks that held the chandelier. Her wings were out, and frayed - the webbing between bones sliced through so many times it reminded him of a spiderweb. Her hands were chained above her head, and her feet dangled, her elongated neck, more pronounced by the thick metal collar fastened around it, blood dripping down the metal, down her face, and onto the floor not far from him. Her eyes were as black as night, pitched so dark the moon couldn’t be found among them. 

She was only the vampire, he shivered.

And that was more terrifying than the other occupants of the room - hunters , his mind aptly supplied. Kate Argent, their leader, her blonde hair in a ponytail as she moved around Roz, jabbing her with a golden blade, the end coated in something that reminded him of blood, but somehow looked darker. It took him even longer, to distance the ringing in his ears enough that he could make out what Kate was saying.

“I’ll cut your wings off.” She was looking pointedly at Roz. “I’ve been working on some anti-venoms, wonder what they will do to a pretty little hybrid like you.” Roz either had no response, or couldn’t actually speak - the collar looked tight from where Noah could see, but his blurred vision had him unsure of what he was actually seeing. Roz’s black orbs were tracking every move Kate was making. Noah was reminded of watching a Lioness stalk a Gazelle on the National Geographic channel Stiles used to be obsessed with. The thought, although abstract, was so normal that he almost longed for that time, and an innocent notion that he now found laughable. 

Peter, awake now, was growling and snarling - low; instantly Noah was reminded of the feral coyotes that Malia and Sydney had been, how they had snarled and bit at Roz, even when she wasn’t hurting them. Peter’s electric blue eyes were watching Kate now, too. Alarmingly narrowed, his breathing heavy, and only through his mouth. “Oh, the Sheriff is awake.” Kate was looming closer to him now. “How does a human man of the law end up running with abominations.” 

“The only abomination I see here is you.” Noah managed to slur, Kate smiled at him, predatory, then struck him against the face, hard.

☽♚♛♚☾

“Where are they?” Melissa paced, it was her second nature, to worry. She and Noah had lost too damn much to let the supernatural destroy what they had left. Knowing that it was nightfall, her shift at the hospital over and she still didn’t see Noah, Peter, or Roz among the faces in the house, set her on edge. 

“We looked at all the places Roz used to take us to hide as children.” Cora and Emmett looked sheepish. “And we couldn’t catch any scents anywhere.” Emmett added, giving them a thoughtful look. “We ran the preserve twice.”

Stiles had learned earlier that day that he was in fact a witch, but that Deaton wouldn’t be able to teach him. Deaton was a Druid, who believed in balance, in the scales being equal. Stiles, like Roz, had the power to shift the balance of nature, to unsettle the world in fundamental ways. Deaton had encouraged him to become Roz’s student. 

Now, Roz still wasn’t home. 

Neither was his father.

Or the creeptastic Peter Hale. 

If Derek was on edge, he was hiding it well. “They could just be hanging out.” Derek countered, looking at Melissa in a serious way. “Peter, Noah, and Roz grew up together right, with you Mel? Can you think of any place they might be?”

“They used to talk about a palace.” Melissa frowned. “Claudia knew about it, but Rafe and I were never really invited.” She sighed, “We were different back then. I was a cheerleader, Rafe a football player. Peter and Roz were the nerds, Claudia was younger than us, and Noah was into baseball.” She bit her bottom lip. 

“Let’s not worry about it until midnight.” Chris suggested. “There is nothing, at this moment, to indicate that they are in danger.”

Then of course, because this was Stiles’ life, Derek grabbed his chest and doubled over - actually all the wolves did. Derek reared up and howled. “Roz is in pain, she’s in physical fucking pain, and Peter is also in pain.” He couldn’t focus, he couldn’t breathe.

Even when fighting the Kanima, Roz had never owned up to actual pain, she had called it all a mild inconvenience. Stiles looked wildly around, until Boyd and Scott were on either side of him, Boyd interlacing their fingers, and squeezing his hand hard enough it almost hurt. Scott had a firm grip on his shoulder, and it didn’t take Stiles long to realize, they were trying hard to make sure he was ok - that he was going to be safe. 

“Derek, breathe!” Laura shouted, grabbing at his shoulders. “You need to focus on the bond, and let it pull you. Roz and you have a strong connection, let her draw you in.”

☽♚♛♚☾

When Noah blinked awake again he, too, was strung up next to Peter, Roz was on his other side, her face against the chain length fencing that was holding them all up. It was no longer charged with electricity, but that probably had to do with the fact that Kate had an electric baton in hand. Roz’s back looked wrong, as he blinked awake, Kate touched the baton to Peter’s neck, the wolf howled in pain, and jerked wildly, his beta shift surging forward, and claws emerging.

Roz was missing her wings.

Her wings were on a table, a metal table behind Kate. Roz, she looked completely out of it, her neck was still collared, but her eyes were rolled back in her head, blood dripping from her back, and her lips. She was bare from the waist up, just her underwear on her hips, and long deep cuts down the back of her thighs, and her calves. Her wrist were bound high above her head, blood running from her wrist. 

“You bitch.” Noah hissed at her, “Why did you cut her?”

“She’s a fucking monster, Mr. Stilinski.” Kate laughed maniacally. “Just like the Hales. Honestly, I am trying to do you a favor before one of them… converts your son.” She rolled her shoulders, “You know you're young teenage son… who is friends with all the werewolves, you know about them, right.”

“I know they are good, good teenagers.” Noah grumbled, “Peter is a little hard to love, but we are trying, and Roz is the only one who manages to keep us all alive.”

“Funny how she’s the one I plan on killing first.” Kate shoved the baton against her back, Roz’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, electric blue to gold, to solid white, and back to black. This time her eyes locked on to Noah, and a growl erupted from her lips. Kate had backed off, and was advancing on both Peter and Noah, the baton against Peter’s inner thigh, and a knife sliding down Noah’s shoulder. 

“Get your hands off my mates.” Roz’s voice was gutted, tight strung, and forced from her lips with such violence that Noah almost recoiled from it, but then his mind wrapped around the words. She called him and Peter her mates . And that, at this moment, shouldn’t make his heart do something chaotic, but it does, and then Peter is looking at him, a frown on his features, which under any other circumstances would have had him laughing - because beta shift with a frown wasn’t as terrifying.

“Mates, huh.” Kate settled the baton down, and grabbed a second knife. 

“God, you are your father made over.” Peter pushed out, his voice leaking hate and pain.

Kate just shrugged, and moved forward, bringing the knife down the side of Noah’s face, to his collarbone. If Roz was mad before, she was furious now, her body fought against everything holding her down. The binds that held her wrist popped first, sending her backward, her legs tangled in the straps of metal holding her to the chain length fence. She clawed her way out of them, even as Kate turned on her.

Roz looked dead, paler even than the night Malia and Sydney had bit her.

Peter heaved a groan, “Bloodlust.” 

“What?” Noah demanded, but he was lost in the noise, because gunshots sounded and howls - then Derek, at least he assumed it was Derek (he was fairly sure Derek was the only wolf who could hold a bipedal shift like the movies) was on Roz and Kate. The metal collar that had been around Roz was ripped clean, tossed across the room like it was nothing, and Kate’s screams filled the chamber. Chris and Melissa were helping him down, as countless wolf hands moved to help Peter. Roz had shifted, into something alarming, and fragile, her back broke open with blood weeping where her wings had been cut off.

Kate’s thrashing stopped, as both wolf and vampire clawed her chest open, and started ripping her insides out. Chris was ghost white, “We need to move out, create a buffer for…” He motioned towards his sisters twisting body, the large monsters over her. “We need to move fast.”

Noah couldn’t count the minutes, until Derek exited the chamber, bathed in blood and what he reasoned to be bone marrow, in his arms Roz, also covered in blood, and other bodily excretions. Derek looked at Chris for a long moment, “Sorry.”

“She had it coming.” Allison bit out. “We should…”

“No.” Noah growled. “This was our safe place.”

Peter nodded, barely keeping his head up. “This was our palace.”

“Oh my god.” Melissa whispered. “This is where you and Claudia got engaged.” 

Noah nodded sadly.

Roz let out a wheezing breath. 

“She overfed, she drank Kate dry… she’s going to be sick.” Chris looked down at her, “What happened to her wings.”

“Kate cut them off.” Noah wheezed. 

Stiles was there, then, hugging his father, too tight, making the man groan, and then he was hugging Peter, when his eyes fell on Roz he yelped, Scott was a beat behind him, with Jackson and Danny, “We got the SUV’s like you said, Chris - completely dismantled them all. Is she ok?” Scott asked, looking at Roz with wide eyes.

“She isn’t.” Deaton observed, “We need to get her home.”

☽♚♛♚☾

Roz didn’t wake up for almost eight days, and when she did… she was more human than she had been in over 300 years. Deaton didn’t know what to make of it, “She wants to live now.” He’d said, after a long moment. “Roz spent decades, centuries trying to die once Laurent bit her. First with your grandmother, then with accepting the Kanima in her. In all of her absences she battled hand to hand with hunters, went toe to toe with every beast she could find. She didn’t die, instead she carried a piece of that with her.” It might have been the longest Deaton had ever spoken to the Hale pack, as he sat at the table. “She lost her purpose, she gleaned it for but a moment with you and Claudia, Noah.” He frowned, “She came to me and asked if I knew how to live. How to be a mortal, how to die.” He sighed, “Now she has a purpose, and I believe we owe that to you, Noah.”

“So love?” Scott had asked, confused.

Deaton had nodded, “There is nothing on earth more powerful than love.” Deaton had paused, and looked around the room, “She has a will to live, and because of that, because of her love for Noah, and probably her acceptance of her need for Peter, she… well, she’s accepted all the parts of her, and because of that, the more human part of her was released.”

“But she’s still a hybrid.” Derek toned.

Deaton shook his head, “Derek I have no clue what she will be when she wakes up, I don’t know.” Then the veterinarian had left, not just the Stilinski house, but Beacon Hills. He’d had Scott and Isaac pick up a series of boxes, all of which were labeled ‘For Stiles and Roz.’ Then he’d disappeared into the proverbial night. 

When she woke up, it was with the same fueled vengeance that she’d killed Kate. She screamed, her hands fighting to get to her shoulder blades, where deep grooves remained, “I can’t fix that.” Deaton had told them, his face dark, and with it the last hope Stiles had of any of the pack making it out of this hellmouth a complete soul.

“NOAH! PETER!” Her voice was raw, and cracked from disuse. Both were on her in a blink. “Are you ok?” Peter had laughed, like a crazy man, because of course the almost dead hybrid was more worried about a human who got knocked around and a werewolf with a little wolfsbane poisoning. 

“We are fine.” Noah promised, and dipped low for her to scent.

“You scared us.” Peter whispered, his fingers stroking over her temple.

“Huh?” She looked perplexed. 

“What is the last thing you remember?” Stiles asked from the doorway as he climbed into the room, unleashing the flood of werecreatures, Chris, Melissa, and Kira. They all crowded and pushed to be around her, whining low in their throats and making aborted motions to touch her.

“I was chained up.” She whispered, “Kate was threatening you.” Her sharp green eyes locked onto Noah’s, “I thought I could smell Derek.” She frowned, “What happened?”

“The vampire took over.” Peter whispered, still featherlight against her. “It… I don’t know, broke free, I have no clue how it works for you, it was like a seperate creature, it got you off the wall, and then… transformed you into something even I don’t think I want to see again.”

“Kate?” Her eyes found Derek.

“We killed her and ate her.” Derek didn’t look that ashamed. Stiles knew for a fact that he was actually a little disturbed by the whole thing, he’d given too far into his wolf, and that was a chance he couldn’t and didn’t want to take again. 

“Oh, god.” She groaned, closed her eyes and sighed. “I exalted the vampire reserves. I can feel the beast, it’s still inside me but… changed somehow, more in sync with the wolf.” She whispered. “It used to be a power play, but now, they seem… mended, forged? The Kanima is there too.”

“Deaton thought they’d band together.” Melissa offered. “To preserve your human life.”

“I… What?” She raised an eyebrow.

“According to Deaton.” Lorilee stepped up, almost thirteen now, the only beta in the house who was defiant ninety percent of the time and got away with it, because all the adults had a soft spot for her, “Love won.”

“Love.” Roz looked perplexed.

Noah found his voice, “The Vampire, when it took over, it told Kate to stop touching it’s - your mates.” The whole room grew quiet. “Peter and I, she was attacking us both, when the vampire…”

A deep blush moved across her cheeks, and she attempted to hide her face. “Holy shit.” Derek whispered. “A triade. That… that actually explains a lot. About so many things.” He sighed, before dropping against the edge of the bed. “This… complicates things.”

“How?” Boyd asked, clearly the quiet beta had found his voice.

Derek looked at Laura, but Roz spoke. “A triade can only establish itself in certain packs. Packs that are meant to be immortal.” The room grew quiet. “Packs that don’t die, that go on indefinitely and usually save the world, it means that as a pack we have something special, something the Gods and the Moon blessed.” She sighed, “It also means that Derek has the right to offer you, all the humans, the bite, in an open ended sort of way.”

Noah looked around to meet Derek’s gaze. “I want it.” Stiles wasn’t the one to object, but the whole room fell into chaos. Noah waited for the chatter to slow down, “I want it after the full moon. There is no arguing over this. Derek. Roz, and I can talk about it. Stiles, what do you think?”

“I think I’m an immortal witch just like Roz. I was going to be immortal regardless. Scott, pups, none of you have a chance to change his mind. And Frankly, I am too scared to lose him. Derek, I support it, I know Peter and Roz do. Roz told me once that she was not going to trust her heart with a mortal again, I see how much she loves you, dad.” Stiles felt his breath hitch. “I know how much she loved mom - and we are coming back to that, Roz - because I want to know everything about my mom.” Stiles huffed, “Even what you know.” He pointed at Peter. Stiles looked back at Derek, “The bite would only make me sick.” 

“And Chris? Melissa?” Peter whispered.

“Eventually.” Melissa whispered, “I don’t want to be away from Scott, and my future grandchildren, in the far distant future.” She growled at both Scott and Allison. 

Chris frowned, “I don’t want to be a wolf, but should I need to be I will.” 

Derek looked around the room, and smiled. “Laura, I have a pack.”

“Yeah, you do.” Laura bumped shoulders with him.

☽♚♛♚☾

It started as a joke, because that's who Rozlyn was at her base. A funny trickster, with a flirty smile. Sometimes the teenagers hated her confidence, but then Derek had a tendency to point out the fact that she was literally over 300, now. Pack nights consist of one of three things.

1. Movies and Pizza (“We are not ninja turtles!” Derek growled)
2. Music and laying under the stars (“Please don’t sing Across the Galaxy!” Noah begged)
3. Indian Pow Wow - or pushing all the furniture around in the second house and sitting in a circle and just talking, just really letting shit out, (“Kumbaya, bitches!” Erica gets a pillow to the face.)

Roz actually made a pretty decent weekly schedule. They trained every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Monday and Wednesday they trained for three hours, then immediately went into Pack night option number two. Saturday they trained all day, and it often devolved into pack night number three. Tuesday they were guaranteed to have take-out from China Now or Tokyo Main. Thursday they had spaghetti, regardless of the morning, and Sunday was a day for relaxing and catching up on homework. Friday, after school they always did movies and pizza, copious amounts of pizza.

When Roz caught wind that they wanted their lunches packed - she delegated the job to Peter and Chris, “Get to know each other, and learn what the pups like.” It became something both men enjoyed doing, although neither were going to admit it. Every two weeks they visit the cemetary - to pay respects to so many they’d lost along the way. Claudia Stilinski, The Hales, Jackson’s first parents, Lydia’s grandmother… After the Kanima it’s also Allison’s mother, Victoria among the headstones. Boyd’s little sister, Erica’s mother, Isaac and Camden’s mother. 

Roz took time to get Laura, Cora, Malia, Sydney, Erica, and Lydia into dance classes. Eventually Lorilee joined them, and Roz even took the ballet - “It helps with our footwork on the battlefield.” Derek had no clue when Melissa joined them, but he had caught her with ballet slippers on more than one occasions. All the boys were in track, “It builds endurance”, and lacrosse, “It builds control.” She and Peter meditated together, Derek had no clue what Chris and Roz got up to in the room he claimed as his in the house Peter bought, but they were friends of some sort. Noah and Roz were always gravitated together, always orbiting, and working together. 

He couldn’t help but wonder why she was so damn determined to get everyone involved, he noticed that morning, when she rounded up all the boys and Stiles, and took them on a hike through the preserve to the top end, opposite of the cliffs, to an old pond. “Work on swimming, and water combat - we might need it.” Then she spent the next several hours working out with them. He caught her hand as she set his plate in front of him, and pulled her wrist to his lips, pressing a chaste kiss. “Thank you, Roz.” He whispered and let her go, Stiles watching him with calculating eyes - and that’s another thing, Roz has noticed him noticing Stiles, and it’s unnerving the way she knows, she has to know that Derek is very interested in all things Stiles, he even watches their magic practice. 

Derek realized over dinner, in a shocking way, that Roz’s part within the pack had always been as the backbone. That’s why his mother’s pack was unstable at best. Talia had never allowed the hybrid to settle and dig in, grow roots, and grow memories around them all.

End Part One.