The sound of Stiles's foot connecting with the door and the resulting screech of pain made Derek flinch as he huddled against the wall, his hands clenched so hard in his hair that his hands had actually gone numb from the pain. He tried to convince his hands to remove themselves; tried to urge his legs to straighten up and go take care of Stiles as he swore. He couldn't, his body clenched up so tightly that everything ached.

"DEREK!" Stiles bellowed, "Derek, you can focus on me, I know you can. C'mon."

He couldn't though. The thoughts had been bad enough, and being a wolf, he'd been exposed to more of others' feelings than he would ever have liked, but when the tidal wave of the actual feelings crashed into him and took his legs out from under him, he'd lost every chance of an anchor he could glean.

There was another impact on the door, and this time the bloated and rusted wood gave out, Stiles falling in with a crash that no doubt was his own unwieldy pile of limbs. "Derek!"

Stiles found him all too quickly, and that was when Derek realized that there was a high whine coming out of his throat, his whole body shaking as he cowered.

Warm hands folded around his, loosening the grip as Stiles knelt before him, his breathing stuttering and the overwhelming force of his concern flooding him, his mind strangely quiet as he gently took Derek's hands, running his own fingers softly through Derek's hair as if he had the power to drain away Derek's pain, too. Derek made a broken sound, pushing into his touch with his entire, aching body finally releasing, and Stiles easily fell into sitting with Derek cradled against him. "You can focus on me, I know you can." Stiles whispered, "I need you to, Derek. The Alphas are trying to take you out, and we can't let them win. Not on this. You're the only thing that stands between them and winning, Derek, and we cannot let them win." Stiles's hand found his, and Derek just held on, breathing in Stiles's scent, zeroing in on his heartbeat and letting the wash of concern and care fill up everything, his thoughts a familiar buzz that Derek felt pulling him in.

"They're going to strike soon," Derek managed, his throat painful, "I can't-"

"Don't start that shit with me, dude." Stiles snapped out on a whisper, his fingers still burying through Derek's dark hair, "You and I can do fucking anything we need to. I have your back, I always will."

"We need to...we need to stop this."

"Give it a few minutes, Derek. All that muscle tensed that hard will hurt like fuck if you don't give yourself a chance to heal." Stiles whispered. His fingers started to brush through his hair, "Are you...Can you focus?"

"Yes." Derek ground out, "Thank you."

"Good. That's good. When this is over, I'm gonna make sure that you get to sleep for a week. I'll personally kill anything that tries something once we're done with this."

Derek should have known that Stiles knew he hadn't been sleeping, kept awake by dreams that even Stiles's couldn't drown out. Derek felt his muscles begin to go lax one at a time, his eyes fluttering closed. Cupping a hand to his forehead, Stiles shifted just slightly, leaning back against the wall and letting Derek lay out against him, head in his lap and hand still clutched in his. "I'd appreciate that."

Derek could just about hear Stiles's smile, his free hand stroking Derek's hair idly.

"We don't have long..."

"It doesn't matter, big guy."

"No...no. I-Scott's in trouble." Derek stiffened again, and Stiles sat straighter, Derek forcing himself up. "I can hear him...hear the Alphas, they've cornered him." Derek's eyes were distant as he relayed the information, his features pale. "We have to get to Deaton's."

Stiles nodded once, and they both pushed themselves fully upright, running for the Jeep Stiles had parked so close to the porch any further and it would have been a collision with the haggard remains of the Hale house. "Not that I doubt your usual plan of attack, but do we have any other plans than 'if it moves, kill it'?"

"Erica and Boyd might answer a howl. Isaac's with Scott already, he's unconscious-"

"He'll be killed if we don't get there before he wakes." Stiles grit out, throwing the Jeep into gear and tearing out into the Preserve road, racing for Deaton's Clinic. "Can you manage?"

Derek was still pale, but he wasn't shaking, and the determination on his face spoke volumes, "I will."

"Derek, really, your A-game is kind of our only hope right now."

"Just...keep yourself out of harm's way." Derek grit, and the argument that bubbled up in Stiles's mind made him start gritting his teeth, "It's not because you're human or weak, Stiles, don't be stupid about this. I'm asking because you're the anchor that's keeping me from ending up back in that corner."

Stiles slipped in a breath, and Derek felt the drop of his heart with panic and worry. "I'm gonna get Isaac to safety."

Derek grit his teeth as he nodded curtly, his eyes focused forwards even though they were unseeing.

Stiles didn't stop so much as park, the Jeep swaying hard on its chassis. Derek and Stiles got out immediately, Stiles circling around the building one way while Derek disappeared the other. Stiles knelt beside Deaton's prone form, thrown messily against a wall, and Derek breathed through the flash of Stiles's horrified memory of his own face as he'd been gored by Peter, thrown against the high school wall. Stiles's anger made him centered; felt familiar in a way that helped him hold onto the anchor of Stiles's thoughts and feelings better than anything else could.

Stiles grabbed Deaton's arm, hefting him over his shoulders and managing to get them to the door of the office before the locked door stopped him. Deaton was lowered to the ground, and instead of patting his pockets down, Stiles took out a small pouch of tools, picking the lock with unnerving ease. Stiles dragged Deaton inside, laying him down before running into the hidden cache of supplies Deaton had once given him the mountain ash from, grabbing both ash and wolfsbane mace. Stiles shook the canister, creeping up around the side of the building as Derek made himself known.

"Impressive, Hale." Kali purred, "Still standing, hm?"

"I'm not as easy to tear down as you think."

Derek edged forwards and slightly to the side, drawing attention away from Stiles's hesitant progress towards the ring of Alphas, Isaac on the ground on one edge of the loose circle and Scott being held by his throat at the other. Stiles hadn't yet registered on the Alphas' radar yet, his heartbeat steady enough that the panic wasn't registering to the others.

"Let go of Scott."

"Oh? You mean this little pup? Why ever would I do that, Hale? He resisted his alpha: he's not one of your pack...but we know enough to know that the only way we're getting you to come with us is if the stubborn little fucker dies." Kali told him, voice deep and laughing.

"You're not going to get me to go with you at all." Derek growled, "And he may not be pack, but that doesn't mean I won't fight for him as though he were."

She smirked at him, showing too many teeth, and Stiles chose that moment to strike, his mace raised before him as he went for Isaac's limp body, taking out another of the Alphas and letting the mountain ash spill to the ground, his eyes flashing in the diffuse light before he sent it swirling through the air-only to coat him in a fine dusting of ash. Stiles coughed once, growling slightly as he dropped and slammed his fist to the ground, the dust dispersing and ringing the Alphas in a perfect circle, all of them caught and Derek, Isaac, and Stiles on the outside.

"Oh, looks like this one's ours, then-" Kali started, but Stiles cut her off, letting out a low whistle that had Derek's instincts on edge and Scott fighting from Kali's grasp, falling to the edge of the circle only to have it lift for a moment, letting him fall through before it was put back in place.

"What the hell was that?" Derek snapped.

"Something Deaton taught me." Stiles smirked, his long hands grasping Isaac's arms and heaving him up in much the same way he had Deaton. Scott let Derek pick him up in much the same way, the four of them leaving the Alphas to their own devices. "It won't hold them for forever, you know."

"No, but I'm not down for the count and no one should be underestimating you, so we're going to take it as it comes." Derek replied, voice tight. Stiles simply smiled.

They crashed their way into the vet's clinic, Stiles slamming shut and locking the doors, going for the stash of herbs once more. "Derek?"

"I'm fine, Stiles." He answered tightly, laying Isaac down and carefully going to his wounds. "Are you?"

Stiles shrugged a shoulder, "Well, I got you out of your bunker, and saved all our asses, so, you know what? I think I deserve Pack Human of the Year."

Derek snorted, shaking his head as he drained Isaac's pain. Stiles laid a line of the ash at the door, moving quickly through the building to each window, until every possible method of entry was sealed against the wolves outside. Exhausted as his adrenaline began to wane, Stiles threw himself down beside Derek as though every bone in his body had dissolved. Derek looked at him, his own mind whirling with the things that he wouldn't say to Stiles's waking ears; things like 'I'm proud of you' and 'Thank god you're okay'.

Stiles gave him a half-smile, closing his eyes, "I don't have so many nightmares with you...try to keep listening to me, huh, sourwolf?"

"I don't think I could stop if I wanted to."

Stiles snorted, already more than half-asleep, "If that's a remark on my loudness, you can just shove it, mister."