Chapter 39

"Be careful! He's already basically dead, we don't actually want to kill him."

"I know, but it's kind of hard to be careful when I can hardly touch him."

Who the fuck is being so loud? Who the fuck is touching me? Derek's wolf sneered having no strength to move or fight whoever was moving their body.

Fuck, Derek, wake up, answer me. He growled. What the hell hap- Oh shit. Come on Derek, you have to wake up now, we have to go find Stiles, you idiot! The wolf was remembering what happened, hours, minutes, seconds ago. He didn't have a clue how much time has passed.

"Hey there, don't move. We're taking you to your family. We're trying to help you." Now the voices were a little clearer, but the wolf didn't have a clue who the people were. He couldn't force open their eyes, he could barely get their toes to move, that was always Derek now that he learned to fully control his wolf.

"It won't be long now, just hang on a little longer." The girl who was speaking, she sounded, well the wolf wasn't sure if she sounded nice or worried, but trying to keep a calm voice for their sake.

The wolf let out a large sigh feeling a massive pain shoot through their whole body. Fuck me. Come on Derek, you've gotta wake up. We won't heal if you don't, you'll get stuck like this again, too scared to change back, too hurt to want to change back, or just gone to the world and I'm all that left. Great, mom would be so pissed if that was the case. Dammit Derek, wake up. The wolf was growing tired of trying to wake the human, he could hardly feel Derek's presence in their body, this wasn't good. Derek needed to wake up or there would be no Derek left.

The wolf felt a familiar presence, it was comforting, it was safe. The scent was faint, he was trying to pinpoint who's or what it was. "Where did you find him?" That voice, he knew it, who was it? Fuck, we're dying Derek, I'm starting to fade out now. I can't remember scents or voices. Derek, you need to wake up, please, for Stiles.

"Place him on the table, I'll take it from here. Scott, grab all of the needles and medical wrap that you can find. Issac, I need you to go into my office and grab the big wooden box." Deaton? He's trying to save them, he has too, they have to save Stiles.

"What are we going to do? We can't take his pain, he'll die if we do." Scott. Scott is going to kill them when he finds out what happened.

"We are going to force him to shift if he shifts he'll heal. It's the same thing as the bullet wound, he's been like this for too long. He still isn't used to being in his wolf for this long after what happened, he can't handle the long transformation." Deaton rushed. The wolf felt something almost sprinkle on him like rain.

Don't. He said trying to reach them.

"Did you hear that?" Issac, thank goodness for you.

"It sounded like Derek, is he talking to us in his wolf?" Scott, sometimes I want to rip your throat out with my teeth.

Don't force the shift, Derek isn't answering. You have to get him back first. If you force the shift it will be a blank body, no one inside. The wolf whined.

"What are we going to do if we can't force him to shift?" Issac asked.

Deaton sighed looking through his wooden box, "We're going to get into Derek's head, find out why he isn't answering his wolf. Holly will give us basically full access. Well, not us, his wolf. Your wolves only have so much, your memories, being able to control your body when it's in your wolf form, but it is limited."

"So what do we do?" Scott asked looking to the ripped apart wolf laying on the table. He had so many questions, so many regrets, Scott needed Derek to wake up so they can figure out what happened.

"We wait until Derek shifts back on his own. We'll keep his body stable until then." Deaton sighed gripping the bottle of Holly dust in his hand. "This will hurt at first, but it shouldn't be long until you're into the core of Derek's head, you should find whatever is keeping him there." Deaton pulled the cork out of the top of the bottle sprinkling it on the wolf's head. Now it was up the wolf to find Derek and pull him back into reality, no matter how much it was going to hurt.

The wolf felt a heavyweight on himself before he was in the middle of a forest. He sniffed trying to find a scent that he would know, he shook his head getting a nose full of nothing. Derek? Are you there? He asked, it sadly wasn't going to be that easy, he had to find Derek.

Looking around the wolf spotted a familiar rock, where did he know it from, most rocks did look alike, so he could just be seeing things. No, this one was different, he did know it, he knew exactly where he was, he knew where Derek was.

The wolf's feet seemed to move faster than they'd ever moved before taking him down the familiar path to the lake back in Oregon. Oregon, where Derek and Stiles met, where they became connected, where Derek figured out Stiles was his mate and would have stayed as a wolf forever if it would have made Stiles happy. The wolf skidded to a stop at the edge of the lake looking to the small cabin on the other side, he was confused, this isn't what happened.

From across the lake, the wolf could see Derek and Stiles sitting on the porch swing together. This isn't a memory, what is it? A fantasy? The future? The wolf grunted and began to run around the lake to Stiles' cabin. He slowed his pace when he grew closer, would Derek know it's him or would he try and fight the wolf? He didn't want the chance of the second option.

"Derek, is that a wolf?" Stiles asked seeing the wolf come into view.

"Go into the house," Derek said pushing Stiles behind him and through the kitchen door. "Who are you?" Derek growled at the wolf.

You're a damn idiot. This isn't real. The wolf growled back raising the fur on it's back, he lifted his chest for Derek to see his family mark.

"How is this not real? How are you like this without me?" Derek pressed.

How do you think? This isn't real Derek, it's a dream, you're stuck in your own damn head. You want this to be what's actually going on, but it isn't. Stiles isn't here, you aren't here, I'm not actually here. Right now, Derek, we're laying on Deaton's surgery table basically dead after being ripped apart by some enemy pack. You're your freaked out and blaming yourself about what happened to even realize that this isn't real.

"What happened? I still don't believe that this isn't real." Derek sighed looking over his shoulder at Stiles who was stood in the kitchen watching the encounter.

If this is real, then you would be able to smell Stiles and everything else here. You wanna know how I know that, because I can't smell a thing, I should be able to smell our mate. I want you to take a big old whiff and tell me if you can smell him and don't say that you think you can, because that you're head playing tricks on you.

"This could be my head playing tricks on me!" Derek growled.

Just sniff the damn air! The wolf growled back.

Derek rolled his eyes and huffed being taking a deep breath. Nothing, he couldn't smell a thing, he turned to Stiles trying to focus on his mate's scent, there was nothing. Soon the forest was dark and Stiles was gone, leaving the wolf and human alone. "Why is this happening? What's going on?" Derek cried out to his wolf.

We lost Stiles, another pack took him and tried to kill us. I don't know who, but someone saved us and took us to Deaton. Derek, you have to remember what happened, if you don't we're as good as dead, we won't be able to save Stiles. Derek, you need to wake up, you need to wake up right now and shift back to normal.

"I-I don't remember what happened. I don't know if I want too." Derek was lost.

You have too! If you don't want too, I'll make you! The wolf growled before jumping onto Derek pinning him to the grown, teeth at his neck. Do you remember something like this? Being pinned down by multiple wolves, one with its teeth at your throat crushing your windpipe so you wouldn't breathe! Stiles screaming your name begging them to not kill you and just take him. Stiles screaming as he's dragged away by his hair and the wolves beginning to rip into you! The wolf bit down on Derek's throat and began to pull. He could hear Stiles' screams, begging him to stop, not to kill Derek.

"I remember." Derek sobbed grabbing at the wolf. "I remember Stiles' screams, not being able to help him. I remember watching Stiles be taken from me."

Good, now wake the fuck up and start healing! We're running out of time! The wolf growled pressing his forehead to Derek's. He felt them mold back together and a rush of emotion take over him.

"Stiles!" Derek screamed as he shifted back and sat up on Deaton's surgery table.

"Careful Derek, you're still about ready to fall apart," Deaton said trying to lay Derek back on the table.

"I have- I have to save Stiles." Derek sobbed holding Deaton's arms.

"You aren't doing anything until you're one piece again Derek, if you tried to walk right now, you would fall to the floor and lay there continuing to bleed out. You have to heal before you can do anything, Derek." Deaton sighed.

"How long?" Derek paused, "How long has it been?" He didn't care how long it would take for him to heal, he wanted to know how long it had been since the attack.

"Almost a day," Scott said from the corner of the room.

"Where the hell were you!" Derek screamed at him tears cascading down his face.

"We got ambushed, we almost didn't make it out. It was too late by the time we got there, Stiles was gone and well we didn't know where you were. The wolves must have dragged you off so we couldn't find you easily if you did make it." Issac answered for Scott who turned away from Derek hanging his head.

"Who found me? I didn't know their voices." Derek looked to Deaton for the answer.

"We'll answer that when you're healed. Rest for now." Deaton weakly smiled.

"Does anyone have Stiles scent anywhere?" Derek pressed.

"Not yet, we got to the edge of town and it was gone."