Cornering Their Prey

It had taken the pack two days to locate the building the Argents were using as their refuge. The last forty-eight hours had been brutal with little sleep for any of the pack members. Not only did Derek and Laura have to coordinate plans and searches but they had to field questions from the increasingly panicked human population. With the collapse of the Argents power, many unsavory elements of his plans had come to the surface ranging from political manipulation to sinister medical experiments.

The more the press uncovered, the deeper they dug into the Argents financial history, the more they uncovered the multitude of spider thin webs that connected the Argents to almost every aspect of a normal human's day to day life. People were waking up to the fact that many of the limitations that they had suffered under were not of the pack making, but of the Argent family.

The fallout was brutal.

"I guess we aren't going to sneak up on them." Stiles grumbled as another reporter popped up in front of Derek. He had sudden visions of a silly game he played as a child. Little critters would jump out of holes and it was his job to smash them on the head and send them back down in order to score more points. He was seriously considering convincing Derek to play 'whack a reporter'.

"Alpha Hale. How are the packs planning on addressing the issue with the banks? Many institutions are being overrun by people demanding to withdraw all their savings because of the belief that the banks are no longer stable."

Derek's face held the same pleasant, in control look that he had managed to paste on for the last day and a half with the barrage of questions. But Stiles could feel the huff of annoyance through his link.

"All financial institutions are backed by the full support and guarantee of the Unified Packs. We will not allow any of the banks to fail at this important juncture in human/wolf relations. Gerard Argents' family has much to answer for but I will make sure that no innocents are harmed while we bring him to justice and right his wrongs."

The reporter nodded, wide eyed and just a bit heavy on the hero worship as Derek stepped away tugging Stiles in his wake.

"God Derek. You need to wear a freaking cape when you say things like that. I love how you don't even blink while offering to support the possible collapse of all the human run banks but I'm just amazed that you can say something like that without putting your hands on your hips and pushing your chest out or something."

Derek spun to look at Stiles with a single raised eyebrow and a wave of amused disbelief filtering down their bond. "What?" Stiles smirked. "Do werewolves NOT read comics?"

Stiles continued to follow Derek silently down the street. They were in one of the worst parts of town, calling it a slum would be a compliment. In the last few hours the pack had been working on evacuating the inhabitants from the buildings that surrounded a large building that loomed over the area.

Seven stories high and wide enough that it seemed to take up the whole block, the building squatted at the end of the road like a bloated toad. It was faced with dark grey marble with ribbons of chalky white running through it, most likely to give the building some class. It failed miserably. The tendrils of white just made it look like the building had cracks running through it, adding to the rundown appearance of the whole street.

Pack cars had been moved into position around the building offering cover for the wolves that surrounded it. So far all had been quiet but from the tensely held positions of the wolves, Stiles knew that they could tell something was going on inside.

Boyd materialized at Derek's shoulder giving Stiles a small start. For someone so big, the wolf moved with a silent grace that was matched by few others in the pack. "We've managed to get fairly close and there are somewhere between thirty to forty humans in the building. They've barricaded the doors and the whole block is in clear sight of the windows. We've pin pointed at least five rifles on the upper story windows. I don't think there is any doubt that this is their hiding place."

Derek nodded and followed Boyd closer to the building. Stiles started to follow but was quickly waylaid by a couple of betas that forced him into a bullet proof vest and helmet. Catching up with Derek and Boyd with an extra thirty pounds strapped to his body was difficult. He felt like a pregnant duck as he waddled after his mate toward the front line.

"Is this necessary?" Stiles flailed at Derek, upsetting his balance and sending him slowly toppling backwards. Luckily Boyd was behind him to catch him and push him gently upright.

"Most of us will survive a bullet wound. You won't. I'm respecting your need to be here in the middle of all the danger so I'm asking you to please wear the protection so that I know you are as safe as I can make you."

Stiles rolled through his counter arguments in his head but couldn't find anything that could logically win against Derek's request. "It's hot." He whined, which was the best he could come up with as he stood under Derek's worried gaze.

Derek leaned forward and pressed his forehead to the visor of Stiles' helmet. Whatever his mate was planning on whispering to Stiles was interrupted by the first volley of gun fire from the Argent's stronghold. The staccato sound of an automatic weapon sent the pack scrambling for cover behind the vehicles. Derek bodily lifted Stiles off his feet and carried him behind a large van that was parked behind multiple concrete dividers for extra protection. Even then his mate covered Stiles with his body until the sounds of the shots stopped echoing off the surrounding buildings.

With that single shooter letting loose it was as if the flood gates had opened and the bullets poured forth with a riotous noise. Stiles could hear the yelled reports of the betas scattered all over the area as they let each other know they were out of danger but he couldn't see anything but the roll of fur that quickly flowed up Derek's arm as his shifted into his alpha form.

Turning to Boyd, Derek gestured to Stiles with his elongated chin. "Protect him." Stiles was transferred from one set of furry arms to another set of overly muscular arms that made his look like sickly toothpicks.

Derek centered himself with a deep breath, muscles bunching under his fur, his clawed toes gripping the concrete through the remains of his tattered shoes. His howl was deep enough that Stiles could feel the vibrations in his bones. His heart beat once, a heavy thud in the resulting silence, and then the air was filled with the answering howls of the rest of the pack. It went on and on, the multitude of voices merging into one massive howl that rattled the windows on the buildings and made the gravel next to Stiles' hand skitter and shake.

With the howls still echoing, Derek lifted the concrete barrier and charged the building as his pack fell in behind him. Bullets chipped away at the enormous shield, fragments raining down behind the wolves as they ran but they remained unharmed as they closed on the barricaded doors.

The cement barrier made an excellent battering ram and Derek, followed by a swarm of his betas, crashed through the doors and into the first floor of the building. Stiles strained to get a better view but was restrained gently by the older beta.

"Be still Stiles," the beta soothed with a voice suddenly deeper. "Let your mate clear the way before you go rushing in."

"I should be there by his side." Stiles hated the fact that once again he was being kept back, protected and sheltered away from any of the action and not able to help his pack.

"There is no shame in letting those trained for battle protect you. We all have our strengths." Stiles settled with a grumble, listening to the sounds coming from the building. The gun fire paused for a few seconds before returning with double the intensity. A muffled whoosh preceded the blowing out of all the windows on the third floor. Glass and scraps of paper rained down in all directions.

Smoke billowed out all the windows followed by the flicker tongues of flame that licked their ways along the walls, climbing upward as they grew bigger. The pack stumbled out the doors and windows, eyes raised upwards to watch as the fire spread.

And then the screams started.

Stiles curled on the couch with a dark blue blanket wrapped around him and tucked under his nose. The scent of his mate entwined it the soft fibers doing nothing to block the smell of burnt flesh that clung to his nostrils. He had showered twice now and he could still smell it and when he closed his eyes he could hear and see it as well.

Boyd, the huge mountain of a beta that had been his guard not so long ago, laid curled on the other end of the couch. He had been one of the first wolves to turn around and go back into the fire when he heard the cries from the trapped humans. Pulling three Humans First supporters from the building that had gone up in flames with terrifying speed; he had collapsed from the burns that covered his body.

Had he been human, Boyd would have surely been dead three or four times over. His skin had crackled and peeled away from the tissue below but even then Boyd had tried to go back. Stiles had grabbed him, wanting to stop him, only to have the flesh almost melt between his fingers. In the end it was his voice alone, the force of his bond with Derek giving him the power to verbal back down a wolf that towered over him by almost a foot.

Less than a day later his skin had mostly healed but remained reddish and puffy under the wolf's dark ebony skin. Stiles reached over at random intervals to gently run his fingers over the smooth skin of the beta's head, tracing soothing patterns against his flesh. At his touch the giant wolf would settle deeper into sleep, the tension flowing from his shoulders and the creases smoothed from his brow.

The television was on mute but Stiles caught the bright orange and red of the flames as the news showed another clip of the wolves rushing back into a burning building to save the humans who had, moments before, being trying to kill them.

When his mates weary form came on the screen Stiles reached for the remote, fingers brushing it a couple of times before dragging it close enough to scoop off the floor. Boyd woke with the volume and moved closer until he was resting on Stiles' thigh.

"Alpha Hale can you tell us if the body of Gerard and Kate Argent have been recovered from the fire? How did you feel about attempting to rescue a man that has been undermining the Pack for years? Did you hesitate at all before returning to the building?"

Stiles ran a soothing hand along Boyd's shoulder as he growled at the television. "Does she not watch her own news footage? They've only shown the video of Derek leading the charge back inside about fifty times this morning alone." Boyd's response was to snuggle closer to Stiles who draped the bottom half of the blanket over his massive shoulders.

"An alpha's job is to protect those in need. It didn't matter who they were before the building caught fire, they needed my help and I didn't my best to save as many as I could. Unfortunately many of the chemicals they had stored were accelerants and my pack was unable to reach many of them on the upper stories. The coroner is still identifying the bodies and I have not information on that at this time."

Stiles muted as the reporter went on to rehash everything from the day before again, from the gun battle to the wolf's bane smoke bomb that had ignited the fire. A weak tug on his bond had him turning to the door before it even opened. Derek stepped into the room making Stiles feel lighter than he had in the past day. It was amazing how deeply he was starting to feel being separated from Derek.

His mate looked powerful and sexy as hell but he knew that Derek was bone tired and ready to collapse. He motioned Boyd to stay where he was and moved over to press himself behind Stiles, scooping him up until he rested in the alpha's lap.

Stiles was slowly adjusting to the packs need for physical touch. It had taken a quick explanation of werewolf tactile behavior 101 from a panicked Isaac before he understood why Boyd was plastered against him. Boyd had been injured the worst of all the pack and had needed the comfort of touch and having his alpha's mate nearby made the pain more bearable and the healing faster.

"Glad you're back." Stiles sighed as his head rested against Derek's warm shoulder and he interlocked their fingers together over his chest. It was as if the world snapped back into focus for Stiles. All the worry and fear he had felt was tossed away with the presence of his mate. The bond between them flared chasing away the shadows from his mind and soothing all the visions of death away.

Warm air teased the outer shell of his ear before Derek's lips traced its edge. "Thank you for taking care of the pack. I needed to handle the chaos. If you hadn't been here with them I would have been torn between those two responsibilities."

Letting his eyes close Stiles nuzzled closer to Derek. It took watching his love dash back into a burning building to understand that being his equal in the relationship did not mean he had to match his mate step for step. While Derek and the rest of the pack tried to rescue the humans trapped in the building, Stiles found himself in charge of the pack members that stayed outside.

Within moments he was direction betas to start a triage area for the wounded, keep the plague of reporters at by, and make sure there was a pathway cleared for the emergency response vehicles. The wolves jumped to follow his orders immediately, never hesitating for even a second. When the humans arrived to help with the wounded all their questions and requests were filtered through Stiles first.

In the midst of battle he had found his place in the pack.

"Did you find them?" Gerard and Kate had not been among the rescued.

"They have a positive ID on Kate Argent and the coroner is confident that the male we found on the top floor is Gerard. He has the same body type and age but he is running the dental records tomorrow to confirm."

Stiles didn't even feel guilty for the glee he felt at the news. After all they had done, in a long line of the damage that their family had created down the years; there was no one more deserving of a fiery death than Gerard and Kate Argent.

"For a soft little human without any claws, you sure have a blood thirsty streak." Derek chuckled as he kissed the back of his neck.

Stiles arched back at the feeling of warmth, fingers clinching around Derek's. "I'm not so soft now." Derek chuckled sending another wave of warm air down the back of his shirt.

"Oh God," groaned Boyd. "Can you take it upstairs? Or do I have to drag my char-broiled ass to my own room to avoid the trauma?"

Stiles could only laugh as Derek lifted him up and carried him out of the room.