Chapter Text
Prologue
The veterinary clinic has been Scott’s home away from home since he first got a job cleaning out kennels the summer of his freshman year. It brings him comfort in the form of familiarity in ways that many of his old haunts don’t. Especially at the moment when his life seems to be in constant flux.
Though it may appear creepy, with the inky blackness of the night only cut into by one small fluorescent light, Scott is well acquainted with his surroundings and certainly doesn’t fear the dark. After all, he’s probably the scariest thing living in Beacon Hills. A true alpha who had gained his powers against a background of adversity - Deaton had told him as much. If anything people should be intimidated by him, they should crave him as their alpha. Instead, he’s lost three members of his pack to a man who failed so badly as an alpha the first time round that he got half his pack killed.
And to think he’d once looked upon Derek with something approaching friendship.
It’s a good job that Deaton is around to coach him - to show him the error of his ways. In the past he has been too quick to offer a second chance. He can’t afford to do that now.
Derek is reliant on Lydia, who might be intelligent but doesn’t have the same wealth of experience as his emissary and she’d shown that when she came to visit. Deaton told him that allowing Stiles to command their conversation was a show of great inexperience, and it proved that the Hale Pack could not be reasoned with. He had followed Deaton’s lead and allowed them access to his territory because the emissary had yet to lead him wrong. He had explained, patiently afterwards, that there was no point arguing with the foot soldiers when the real problem was cowering behind them. If Derek was a real alpha, Deaton said, he would have come to seek permission himself.
But Derek is weak. He has always been weak. Too driven by his own interests, too willing to turn to violence. Scott is a true alpha, he can’t let it continue.
Scott has no argument with Stiles or Lydia. Aside from their bad decision to follow a power crazed monster, he likes them just fine. And if his history has taught him anything it’s that people can be manipulated for any number of reasons. He feels sure that when this is all over both Stiles and Lydia will reclaim their rightful spaces in his pack. But Derek has always been a thorn in his side - he owes him no such loyalty.
He pulls out his key and unlocks the door with experienced ease - despite the fact that the door sticks at the bottom. Shutting the door he turns the lock to make sure that there are no unexpected guests. He moves over to the counter and taps it three times so that Deaton knows that it’s him - you can’t be too careful in Beacon Hills.
The vet appears from the back room and pulls open the mountain ash infused gate so that he can get past. As a true alpha he could, of course, force past it, but he’s among friends and sees no point in the expenditure of power, not when power is something he needs to work on.
There was a time when Scott had thought the older man was paranoid. He’s come to realize that Deaton is just the right level of paranoid and that maybe he could learn a thing or two. After all, he’d trusted Stiles, he’d granted him freedom to go off and study when he kept the rest of them close, and his friend - one time brother - had been drawn towards darkness.
It gnaws at his insides - the fact that members of his pack have abandoned him for … the thing that Derek has become. Deaton has helped him see that anger will accomplish nothing and the only way he can fight the demon wolf is to gain power of his own. Even if he doesn’t relish the idea of playing with the Nemeton again, he knows that desperate times call for desperate measures.
“Did you do it,” Deaton asks.
“Yes.” He replies. It hadn’t felt particularly great to use his alpha voice to prohibit any of his pack from contact with Derek’s but he knows that it's a necessary part of Deaton’s plan.
“Good,” the vet confirms, and then his face softens. “I know you didn’t want to do it, but we can’t risk that anymore of them will be drawn into Derek’s power. He’s dangerous even if your friends can’t see it. If we want to help them, we need to stop him. It’s likely that he is controlling them in some manner.”
Scott nods. It’s truly sad that it’s come to this, but Derek has never been a part of his pack, not really, and if he needs to be taken down to ensure the safety of his friends then that is what Scott will do.
“Let’s get started.”