They kept searching for the thing that crossed Stiles's wards, but without result. It was like the thing just vanished, but Stiles wasn't so sure. He was afraid that the thing would attack when they wouldn't be ready, and Stiles was getting antsy. It didn't help that the Alpha pack also didn't do anything. After Ennis was killed, they did expect another attack, but nothing had come.
It was now the weekend before they needed to go back to school, and Stiles and Martinique were dragged with Lydia to go shopping. Stiles was complaining about the money, but Martinique just scoffed and said that she was paying. He was trying to protest, but then she just said that if she wasn't paying, Derek would pay and then flashed Derek's credit card. So he gave up.
Lydia, Erica, Cora, and Allison went with them, and they actually had fun. Stiles was getting dressed like a doll by the girls, and Martinique dragged him back inside the dressing room if he looked really hot to kiss him senseless. He wasn't protesting and felt only a little overwhelmed when she thought he was looking hot a lot of the time.
Allison stayed a little on the outside, but Martinique was warming up to her. Especially when Allison found a dress that Martinique loved, and Stiles only drooled a little. When Martinique also got a leather jacket, he groaned about it because he and leather just didn't match. He pouted before Lydia found a red leather jacket, and he fell in love.
''Oh my god! We are totally the leather pack!'' Stiles exclaimed before making a photo of himself and Martinique with the jackets and sending it to Derek. He got a text back when they were grabbing something to eat, and he snorted before giving the phone to Nic so she could read it too.
From: Love the Sourwolf
We aren't the leather pack. Don't get any ideas.
''Ah, our little stoic wolf,'' Nic says fondly before reaching over and taking some of Stiles's fries.
He gapes at her. ''You did not just steal one of my fries. There is no we in fries!''
''I really did steal one of your fries.''
He narrows his eyes at her, he may love her, but you do not touch his fries!
''7th of July,'' Nic sing songs. Stiles's eyes widen, and he closes his mouth.
''Take as much as you want, babe,''
''Thought so.''
''Sooooooo, what happened on the 7th of July??'' Erica croons while putting her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her hands. Cora, Allison, and Lydia also lean in to hear the story.
''Yeah, we are so not telling you about that,'' Stiles mumbles while turning a beautiful shade of magenta.
''I really can't tell you, because otherwise, I don't have any leverage. And you know, you need to have something to hold over your boyfriend. You understand.'' Nic says while winking.
All of the girls nodded earnestly.
''What do you have over Derek?'' Stiles asks, now curious about what Derek could have done since he has known Nic.
''If you want leverage over Der, you need to find out a thing for yourself,'' Nic says while laughing.
After lunch, they shop a little while further before calling it a day. Stiles has a completely new wardrobe to start the new school year. He feels confident when they walk out of the mall, hand in hand with Martinique and laughing over small things.
When they reach the cars, they bump into someone, and Stiles is pushed to the ground. He can hear Nic shout, Erica and Cora are growling, Lydia is screaming, and he sees Allison pull out a small knife she had hidden beneath her jacket.
Stiles kicks out and gets on his feet when he has kneed the asshole in the groin above him. He looks around and sees Nic on the floor. His heart stops for a moment before his rage takes over. He can feel his eyes turning red, and he snarls. Someone throws ash in his face, and he sneezes before everything goes black.
He wakes up about five minutes later with Lydia slapping him in the face. He is up again in a moment before holding onto Lydia because he is a little dizzy. The men or women that surrounded them are gone. Cora and Erica are on the floor; they are breathing and waking up. He doesn't see any injuries and turns to Allison, who is leaning against the car next to him, holding onto her arm. He sees that she is bleeding and walks to her. He puts his hand on her arm and heals it in a second before turning to look for Nic.
''Lyds, where is Nic?'' He turns to look at the redhead, who is now silently crying.
''Stiles..'' She starts.
His blood runs cold, and he pulls out his phone. He doesn't even look at it before calling Nic's phone. It goes to voicemail immediately.
''Stiles, they took her. It were hunters.'' Allison spats. Stiles turns his head so fast to her that she flinches.
''Hunters? Allison, you better tell me that you have nothing to do with this.''
''I don't have anything to do with this! I still don't even know what she is!'' Allison snaps back. Stiles turns to look at Cora and Erica. Both are nodding that she is telling the truth.
Stiles doesn't say anything but now calls Derek.
''Der. They took her. I couldn't protect her. They took her!'' Stiles starts as soon as he hears that Derek has picked up the phone. Tears were now silently streaming over his face. He is already thinking about how he can find them.
''Come to the loft as soon as possible.'' He can hear Derek growl. He is glad to hear his voice, even if it is all growly.
Stiles nodded and hung up the phone. They reached the loft within twenty minutes, and Stiles throws himself through the door in Derek's arms.
''They took Nic! I was pushed to the ground, and some kind of ash was blown in my face, and when I woke up, she was gone.'' He says in Derek's henley. Not ready to look into his face, afraid of disappointment. But of course, Derek knows this, and he puts two fingers under Stiles's chin and lifts his head to look into his eyes.
''We are going to find her, Stiles. They don't have anything on us.'' Derek says softly with understanding in his eyes. He then places a soft kiss on his forehead and hugs him close. Stiles wants to break down and cry, but Martinique needs him right now.
''I'm going to the house. Maybe there is something that can help us with tracking her. I don't have anything of her blood, but maybe it will help with hair or one of her scales she has lost.'' He rambles before turning and wanting to transport himself to the lake house.
Derek grabs his wrist before he can disappear.
''I don't want you to go alone. Lydia can help you with research. We are all going back to the mall, trying to track her.'' He looks around for confirmation and gets nods from everyone that is there. Only Scott and Isaac aren't there at the moment.
Stiles nods too and kisses him quickly before grabbing Lydia and vanishing with a little flash.
Stiles is ready to pull out his hair. His dad has now also joined the search with the police force. The wolves were tracking Martinique's scent but finding nothing. It seemed to be blocked for their noses.
Stiles had already tried three different tracking spells and had found Nic in three different locations, but he couldn't travel there because he didn't know the locations. It seemed that they were still moving her.
Nic already was missing for 24 hours, and Stiles was scared that something would happen to her. He was now pacing at the loft, waiting for the last search party to return. Tomorrow all the teens needed to go to school. Stiles argued with his father for an hour. But John wouldn't budge. Finally, he committed defeat when his dad said that Nic wouldn't want him to drop anything for her, as long as Stiles was safe.
Derek, Jackson, Boyd, Cora, and Erica came in, looking tired and ready to fall down. Stiles fussed over them for a moment before they went to the guestroom to get into a puppy pile.
Only Derek remained, and Stiles pulled him into a hug. They both were distraught that Nic was missing. Derek maybe only knew her for a couple of weeks, but a mate bond meant a lot. It felt like they already were together for years. Just like how it felt to Stiles.
''We will find her, Stiles. Tomorrow morning you are going to try another tracking spell, right?'' Derek said while pulling Stiles with him towards his bedroom.
''Yes, I know, I only don't want anything to happen to her. And yes, I'm trying again tomorrow. I already did two today, and my magic needs to refuel.'' He grumbled, not pleased that his magic didn't come back faster.
''If you get something of a location, I will scout it tomorrow,'' Derek said while they got into bed together after undressing.
''You're not going alone, you need to wait until after school,'' Stiles mumbled, but he was already dosing off.
''I will take Peter with me.''
''Don't trust him,'' Stiles said softly. Derek only could hear him because of his werewolf hearing.
''I know, I don't either. Go to sleep Stiles,'' Derek said before kissing Stiles on his head and hugging him close.
''She is at the same location as the one I got yesterday,'' Stiles exclaims, clearly excited with the founding. He gets a red sharpie en encircles the area he knows Nic is in. He hasn't been there before, so he still can't transport there. It's an hour and a half drive from the loft, and he is already planning to go tonight with the pack to rescue Nic. He would go now, but his dad would ground his ass for a couple of months.
''I will scout it today with Peter, and when you are ready with school, I send you a picture so you can transport there.'' Derek placates, he knows that Stiles will be in a constant state of panic today, but he can't help it.
Stiles is nodding eagerly before kissing Derek and leaving the loft with the rest of the teens for their first day of school.
Derek wasn't going to wait for Peter or the pack. He was already planning to go alone. Check the perimeter and get in as fast as possible. Would that be a stupid idea? Yes, yes, it would. But he didn't want Nic to be alone any longer.
He got into the Camaro and raced to the place Stiles had found. When he got out, he was in the middle of a building site. He started to sniff around and found a whiff of the sea. It wasn't exactly Nic's scent, but if there was seawater somewhere close, it would probably where Nic was.
He snuck closer towards the building he had found the smell coming from and waited if there was any movement. After twenty minutes, two hunters cam out, and Derek listened closely when the door opened if there were any others nearby. When he didn't hear anyone, he got into the door and walked down a set of stairs.
He listened very closely if he could hear any other hunters but found no one. After walking through the big building, he found another set of stairs. When he smelled at the top of it, he could smell the sea and went down quickly when he heard hunters on the other side of the hallway.
When he got down the stairs, he could hear the buzzing of electricity and some snapping like a bolt cutter. When he heard it snap for a second time, he could hear an inhumane screech.
His blood started to boil, his fangs descended, and he could only see red. His mind was controlled by one thought only. Danger, mate is in danger.
He listened for a second longer to affirm that there was only one hunter before he barged in, roaring with anger.
He felt bile rise when he saw what was happening. Nic was in a small water tank. Her tail was being held in place with hooks attached to it hanging from the ceiling. A hunter was underneath it, apparently snapping the scales of her tail. Derek could see blood on the floor mixed with water and about twenty scales.
Martinique was lying underneath the water in the tank, her eyes red, and she was snarling at the hunter, but there was electricity on the tank. Every few seconds, she would stiffen from the shocks that raked her body.
When Derek roared, he saw that Nic's head snapped to look at him, and it looked like she was chanting no, no, no, no while shaking her head.
Derek stormed at the hunter, who had frozen in shock at the roar of the Alpha. Derek ripped his throat out with his claws like it was warm butter before turning quickly to Nic's tail and unhooking it. Before he was finished, he could hear Nic banging on the tank. He looked over and saw her pointing towards the battery that gave her the shocks.
He pulled the wiring apart, and he could hear rushing footsteps behind him. He finished unhooking Nic and bashed in the tank. Nic flushed out of the tank. Luckily no shards had hit her. She transformed back into her human form and tried to stand, but it was clear that she was too weak to do anything. She collapsed in Derek's arms.
''They are coming.'' She whispered. Derek nodded stiffly before shrugging off his leather jacket and giving it to her. She was shaking and naked. He needed to get her out.
He waited behind the door when the hunters came barging in. He knocked out two of them before the third ran towards Nic and holding her at gunpoint. Derek snarled at the hunter, but he was still pointing the gun at her head. He was only looking at Derek, and that was his fatal mistake.
Martinique shifted in some kind of beta shift with only her face, her fangs descending, and she snarled and pounced while ripping the hunter's throat out with her teeth. The hunter had his finger on the trigger and had shot the gun. Derek was frozen in shock for a moment, and he ran towards Nic.
''Nic! Did he hit you?'' Derek was frantically trying to find a bullet wound. But it was hard with all the other blood. Most of it was on Nic's legs. Probably from the cutting of the scales.
Nic just put her hand on his face and looked at Derek with a look full of love. She kissed him softly and resting her forehead against his.
''You came.'' She whispers.
''Of course, if John hadn't stopped Stiles, he would be here too,'' Derek says softly. Stroking Nic, still checking for a bullet wound.
''I'm glad he isn't here. I don't want him to see this.'' She says while indicating all the blood and gore around them.
''And you are fine that I see it?'' Derek asks before lifting her in his arms. He starts to walk towards the stairs. He couldn't hear any other heartbeat and got out of the building rather quickly. He looked down to see if Nic was still conscious. She was looking at him with a tired look.
''You have seen worse. You have felt worse. Stiles has been tortured too, and he knows how it feels, but they were tearing me apart. You know how that is.'' She says with a trembling lip. Derek just nods before he lays her in the backseat of the Camaro.
He looks at his cellphone that he left in the car, thirteen missed calls from Stiles. Oh shit.
When he calls Stiles's number, it hasn't even rung once before Stiles picks up the phone. Derek is already pulling away from the building site and driving as fast as possible. He knows Nic needs water. He is planning on going to the Stilinski house so she can go into the pond. The lakehouse is too far from the road to get her there fast.
''DEREK! Where the fuck are you? I got a text from fucking PETER that you weren't at the loft when he came for the scouting mission! Do not tell me that you went alone!'' Stiles is whisper yelling into the phone. Derek thinks that he is probably still in school.
''I've got her Stiles.'' Is the only thing he now says, before giving the phone to Nic, she is still awake, even while looking bone tired.
''Hey, Gen, I will be home before you know it.'' She says softly into the phone.
Derek can hear the crack in Stiles's voice when he responds.
''Nic, did Derek found you? Are you both okay?''
''We are okay, Derek just told me that we are driving to the Stilinski household, so when school is done, I will be there. Do not rush; come after school. I - I'm not ready for you to see me yet, do you understand, Gen?'' Nic says softly, Derek can smell the tears, and her voice is full of emotion. He reaches his right hand back, and she clasps her hand around it.
''I - I want to see you as soon as possible, Nic,'' Stiles says, clearly holding back his own tears.
''I understand, and you will, but give a few hours before you come storming in with your sarcasm and jokes.'' Nic tries to joke. She grips Derek's hand tighter, and he knows she is now crying. He thinks it is from the pain, and he tries to take some of her pain and flinches when he feels it. She is in agony.
She relaxes a little into the seat.
''I'm going to sleep now for a couple of hours, Gen. I will see you when you are finished with school. I'm sorry I missed your first day.'' She mumbles, already nodding off a little.
''That's alright, Nic, sleep well.'' When Nic is sleeping, he can hear that Stiles is still on the phone. He can't reach the phone while driving, so he just leaves it there.
After five minutes, he can hear Stiles whisper.
''Thank you, Derek. I will have words with you when I'm home. But thank you.'' Stiles has already disconnected the call before Derek could respond. He winces a little. He knows he will get chewed out later. But when he looks back at Nic, he knows it was worth it.