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Stiles had been attending pack meetings for awhile now. Most of the time he sat on the steps of the Hale house and observed Derek instructing Isaac and Scott in how best to attack and defend themselves. Sometimes he would give his opinion on a certain plan or maneuver, but a lot of the times he found himself either staring at Derek or researching ways in which he might be able to protect the pack. Stiles had asked Deaton for books on magic, empowered by his success with the mountain ash, he wanted to see what else he could do.
It was during one of these sessions of Scott and Isaac getting beaten up again and again, and Stiles with his head in a book, when Stiles realized that all of a sudden everything had gone quiet.
He looked up, only to find Scott, Isaac, and Derek in defensive positions in front of him, fully wolfed out. Stiles looked out into the forest and saw nothing, wait, not nothing, there was definitely movement, something was coming towards them.
The longer he stared, the more confused he got. It looked like about three people were walking towards them, but by the reactions of the three werewolves in front of him, Stiles would have to make the educated guess that these were not three hikers out for a morning stroll.
Isaac was the first to break ranks. It happened in a flash, one second he was in a defensive position, next his face turned to one of shock and delight and he raced to meet the newcomers.
Derek continued to growl, moving closer to Stiles, but always keeping an eye on the group steadily moving forward.
Scott changed next, his face just showed one of confusion, not quite sure what to do. He stood up straight again, face going back to its normal human appearance. He glanced at Derek and then back to the trees.
That's when the group finally made it out into the open area in front of the Hale house, and that is when Stiles realized why Isaac had run.
It was Boyd and Erica, looking better than expected, but accompanied by a new girl.
The girl was on the tall side, had long blonde hair, and was tan. She was wearing skinny jeans, combat boots, a very loose tank top (Stiles could see her ribs through one of the arm holes) and a dark blue beanie. She kinda looked like a badass hipster. As she moved forwards, Stiles could see that her left arm from hand to elbow was covered in tattoos, as was her right shoulder, and he could just make out one on her ribs as well.
"What's going on?" He asked Derek, breaking the silence as the group made its way to the house.
"I don't know, but I don't like it. They smell like the Alpha pack." Derek growled out.
That made Stiles stop and think.
They waited for another minute and then the group was upon them. Isaac was chatting amicably with Erica and Boyd, arms around each of their shoulders, and the biggest smile on his face that Stiles had seen. The new girl stood off to the side. She took in her surroundings, and then glanced at Derek, apparently determining that he was not worth her time she folded her arms and started examining her nails, a sign of boredom if there ever was one.
Derek had been growling continuously as soon as they had stopped. Once Erica and Boyd noticed, they got a lot less carefree and started looking a bit anxious instead.
"Explain." Derek growled out, reminding Stiles a lot about when his father had said the same thing when he was explaining about the Beacon Hills werewolves.
Erica and Boyd glanced at each other and then the new girl. It was Erica who finally spoke up, "We were captured by the Alpha pack after Chris Argent let us go."
That was news to Stiles, he had known that they had been locked up, had informed Scott and Derek, but when they had gone to check it out, they had already left. Stiles had assumed they had escaped.
Boyd continued, "They held us captive for a couple months, kept asking us about our pack." That got Derek's attention, he had been staring down the new girl but suddenly whipped his head towards Boyd.
"We didn't tell them anything, we swear." Erica got out quickly. "They strung us up, just like the Argents had, we were there for two months before Linnet approached us." At this she glanced over to the new girl, Linnet apparently.
The girl glanced up, looked around for a second before settling on Stiles "Hi, names Linnet, like minute, none of this Lynnette crap. I am not some southern belle." With that she focused back on her nails.
"Linnet was turned by the Alpha pack to be there sole beta, their slave basically. She was in charge of making sure we were kept alive, along with a bunch of other stuff from what we can tell." Boyd offered.
"Linnet came up to us one day when the Alphas were gone, they were out trying to track you down Derek, I think. She explained her situation, how she felt no loyalty to the Alphas and how she wanted out. She didn't really have a chance on her own, so she set us free to help her break out. She didn't really want to be an omega, so she stuck with us. We said that we had a pack that we could go back to, that is if you let us in Derek..."Erica said.
Derek stared them down again, "And why should I accept you? You abandoned your pack, your family, when we needed you. You have spent the past couple months with the Alpha pack, how do I know this isn't a trap?"
Isaac whined, obviously wanting to just accept Boyd and Erica back in. Scott still looked confused, not sure what to make of the situation. Linnet did not seem at all phased by the way the conversation was going. Stiles looked at Erica and Boyd, saw the near desperation in their faces, and then he stood up and started to move forward.
Before he could get off the steps of the porch, however, Derek had moved in front of him, blocking his path and let out a low growl of "Stiles" with a hint of warning to it.
"Stand down Sourwolf, they would be stupid to try to attack me with you, Isaac and Scott here. I just want to get close enough so that we can have a nice civil conversation." Stiles said, moving forward and pushing Derek aside.
Derek followed Stiles until they were standing closer to the group, making sure to keep close to Stiles. He was still growling softly.
Stiles turned and swatted Derek in the arm, "Stop that, I promise you that you can attack as soon as they show any sign of hurting us, but until then you will act like a grown-up and will talk to them."
Derek stopped growling, but did not start talking. Stiles sighed, "Ok, so you would like to join the pack again, correct? And Linnet, you would like to join too?"
Erica and Boyd gave soft affirmations, glancing at Derek and that back at Stiles. Linnet just looked up, stared at Stiles for a minute and then nodded once.
"Ok, is there any way you can prove that you are not working for the Alphas?" Stiles asked, looking between the three.
Before any of them could answer, Scott spoke up, "They're not, well, at least Erica and Boyd aren't. I can feel it, they're pack, they aren't lying."
Stiles just looked at Scott and the back at Derek. "Is that true? You can tell?"
Derek looked slightly annoyed, "Yes, they are telling the truth." he conceded unwillingly.
Stiles swatted him in the arm again, "What is wrong with you then? If they are pack then you can stop being all grouchy towards them."
"They abandoned the pack, they ran, they don't deserve to be trusted." Derek growled out.
Stiles was pissed now, "They ran because they were scared, you never told them anything and they got frightened, the Argent's captured and tortured them and then the Alpha pack did the same thing, and yet they still identify as part of your pack. They never fully cut off ties to you Derek, otherwise you would not be able to feel them, right? They earned your trust when they did not tell the Alpha pack anything about you, if they had, I am sure the Alphas would have done more than just attack you once, they have not gotten what they are looking for yet."
Everyone stared at Stiles for a moment. Then Stiles moved forward and quickly hugged Boyd and Erica, "I'm glad you guys are back and are safe."
Derek had twitched when Stiles moved forward, almost as if he was going to stop him and then thought better of it. Instead he slowly moved in between Linnet and the rest of the pack. "Ok, Erica and Boyd can be back in the pack on a probationary basis, now explain to me why I should let this one in."
Stiles turned to take in the new girl again. Up close he could see that her tattoos were symbols, some of which he recognized as protection wards. "Nice tats, why the need for all the protection?"
The rest of the pack stared at Stiles in disbelief for a minute. Really? Asking about tattoos at a time like this? What was he thinking?
Linnet, however, looked up at Stiles with a small smirk on her face. "Most of them are protection from the Alphas, so that they cannot control me or get inside of my head. There are some that protect from other supernatural creatures and some that require a word to be spoken for them to be activated. There are still others that I will keep their uses known only to myself until I can trust you better, and then of course there is the one I got when I was dunk in Vegas." At this she lifted her shirt slightly and shoved down the right side of her pants a bit until Stiles could see the word 'Truth' written on her hip. "That one just means that my hips don't lie."
Stiles laughed outright at that, he could hear the others chuckling behind him, all except Derek who was still glowering at Linnet.
"Nice, very nice, I appreciate the humor. So, why do you want to join our pack?" Stiles got out, smiling now that he knew the girl had a sense of humor.
"Protection mainly, the Alphas never treated me as pack, just as a slave. I was human before then, but had grown up with the supernatural. My brother, Dean, was a hunter." At this the group looked at her, shocked, "I know, I know, why am I still alive? Well, short answer is the Alpha who bit me, killed my brother in the process. For awhile I considered just killing myself, but couldn't justify it, wanted to take revenge for my brother's death. So I came up with a plan, I started my tattoo collection you admired. Some, I had already, due to my brothers insistence, others I got when I could get away from the Alphas for a couple hours. They started noticing the tattoos, but they didn't care, they didn't know what they were. I started inking myself, it was too hard to sneak away from them, so at night I would stay up and add more. Then they brought in these two." She said, nodding towards Boyd and Erica, "And that was all I needed to make my escape. I had to wait until the Alphas left to set them free, unfortunately the Alphas knew not to trust me too much and it took a couple months for that to happen. You know the rest." She stood there, breathing slightly heavier than normal after the speech she just gave, "I hate the Alpha pack, I want revenge, and I want protection. If you accept me into your pack, I will do my best to protect my pack members, from whatever threat comes our way. I also promise not to leave as soon as the Alphas are taken care of, I understand the importance of a pack bond, and will not use it for my revenge only to turn around and leave you all."
Stiles looked at the girl, she seemed to be telling the truth. More emotion was showing on her face than he had seen yet, slight desperation the most prominent. He turned back to Derek, who had calmed down a bit and was now staring Linnet down through his normal blue eyes. "What do you say Sourwolf? She in?"
Derek looked at Stiles, then back at Linnet. "You can join our pack. But one sign of deception and I will rip your throat out before you can even blink."
Linnet just nodded while the others shifted nervously a bit.
Stiles looked around the group, gave a big smile and said "Alright, let's go inside, get caught up and start some pack bonding."
Derek groaned at Stiles but they all made their way into the Hale house.
As they talked, Stiles sat there for a moment taking in the others and just smiled to himself, they were finally becoming a real pack.