A Beauty and A Beast

Never Do That Again

Dinner ended and the pack followed Stiles back to his room. The Alpha went back to his room in the west wing. He picked up a hand held mirror, purple background with a rose border. "Show me Stiles." He asked. The mirror shone and glowed green. The mirror showed Stiles in his room with the pack all around him. "What do you think of the Alpha?" Jackson asked as he nipped Scott who was grooming Isaac. "I don't know." Stiles admitted as he laid down on Boyd. "He's not so bad once you get to know him. Why don't you give him a chance?" Isaac asked as he laid his head down on Stiles' stomach. "I guess." He said, hesitantly. The Alpha put down the mirror. "I'm just fooling myself. He'll never see me as anything...but a monster." A petal fell from the wolfs-bane flower, joining two others on the table where it was suspended in a cover.

Stiles was getting warm, very warm from all the heater wolves on top of him. He gently slipped out from the wolves and got up. He stretched, bones cracking. Stiles opened his door softly, the door squeaking slightly. Scott and Isaac raised their heads, eyes half shut with sleep. "Where going?" Isaac grumbled. "I can't sleep now. It's my first time in an enchanted castle, mansion, whatever this is." Isaac and Scott jumped up. "Enchanted? Who said anything about it being enchanted?" Scott laughed nervously. Stiles gave the wolf an unamused look. "I'm talking to a pack of wolves. What do you think this is?" Scott and Isaac shared a look before rushing after Stiles who was already down the hall. "I'd like to look around, if that's alright with you two." Isaac's ears perked. "Would you like a tour?" Isaac asked, tail wagging. Stiles laughed at the excited wolf. "Yeah that sounds great." Scott jumped in front of them. "Wait a second, wait a second! I'm not sure that's such a good idea." He walked closer to Isaac and whispered in his ear. "We can't let him go poking around certain places, if you know what I mean." Stiles smirked and squat down next to the wolves. He scratched Scott's ear who's mouth snapped shut, eyes closed and leg began kicking away. "Perhaps you could take me. I'm sure you know everything there is to know about this castle." Stiles complimented. Scott chuckled in embarrassment. "Well, actually, yes. Yes I do!" Scott was extremely flattered.

Scott led the way, Isaac giggling at Scott's side, Stiles trailing behind. "As you can see, the pseudo facade was stripped away to reveal a minimalist rococo design. Note the unusual inverted vaulted ceilings. This is yet another example of the neo-classic baroque period and, as I always say, if it's not baroque, don't fix it!" He laughed at his own joke as Isaac groaned. Stiles was barely listening to the chattering wolf. He was too focused on the whole aura of mystery. "Now where was I? Now if I may draw your attention to the flying buttresses above the-" Scott stopped when he no longer scented the human. He turned his head. "Stiles?" The human was already beginning to climb the grand staircase up to the forbidden area. Scott and Isaac gasped before running in front of him, blocking his progress. "What's up there?" Stiles asked, trying to peer around the mounds of fur. "Where? Up where? There? Nothing. Absolutely nothing of interest at all in the West Wing. Dusty, dull and very boring." Isaac rolled his eyes until Scott nudged his mate. Isaac nodded his head in agreement. "So that's the West Wing." Stiles muttered to himself. "Nice going!" Isaac snapped at Scott, panic in his eyes. "What is he hiding up there?" Stiles pushed his way past the wolves. Isaac bit the hem of the dress. "Hiding? The Alpha is hiding nothing!" A note of fear slivered into his voice that was muffled by the fabric. "Then it wouldn't be forbidden." Stiles retorted. Scott pinned him down. "Perhaps you'd like to see something else. We have exquisite tapestries dating all the way back to..." Stiles shoved him off and continued his climb. "Maybe later." Scott and Isaac shared another worried look before dashing in front of the rather stubborn human. "The gardens or the library perhaps?" Isaac suggested, trying to keep his cool. Stiles looked back with interest. "You have a library?" Scott was ready to howl with delight. "Oh yes!" Isaac butted in. "With books!" Scott gave his mate a look of happiness. "Gads of books!" "Mountains of books!" " Forests of books!" "Cascades!" They kept barking over one another. "More books than you'll ever be able to read in a lifetime! Books on every subject ever studied, by every author who ever set pen to paper..." Scott and Isaac began to walk off with Stiles in tow until he hesitated. He turned back to look at the forbidden zone. He walked up the stairs and was immediately disturbed. He stopped to see a shattered mirror, each piece showing him his own concerned look. He reached the end of the hall to see a closed door. He took a deep breath and opened the door. He entered what seemed to be a whole dimension. He looked around and hit a table with his hip. Stiles caught it before it crashed to the floor. He turned his head to see a shredded portrait on the wall. The person had short dark hair and hazel eyes. Stiles fingered the shreds, putting them back up to see that the man in the painting was breathtakingly handsome. Stiles' breath caught in his throat. Never had he ever seen such a handsome man. However, he looked away when he saw the glowing wolfs-bane flower suspended in the jar. Stiles walked up to it, eyes transfixed on the flower. He reached out to touch the jar only to hesitate. Stiles had this chilling feeling on the back of his neck. He ignored it.He lifted the jar, leaving the flower unprotected. As Stiles neared it, a shadow covered him. He paused, eyes wide. The Alpha slammed the jar back on top of the wolfs-bane flower. He growled at Stiles. "Why did you come here?" Stiles began to back away from the furious beast. "I'm sorry." He tripped over the same freaking table. "I warned you never to come here!" The Alpha bared his canines at Stiles who was trying to crawl away as fast as he could. "I didn't mean any harm!" He squeaked as the Alpha slammed his hand next to Stiles' head, cracking the floor. "Do you realize what you could have done?!" The Alpha roared. Stiles scrambled up and away, still facing the beast. "Please stop!" He whimpered as the Alpha slammed the furniture in his way. "Get out! GET OUT!!" He howled. Stiles didn't even stop to think as he fled the room. The Alpha calmed down, panting heavily as he realized he destroyed his chances of making Stiles to fall in love with him. He rubbed the jar as tears fell down his wolfish face.

Stiles rushed down the stairs and wrapped one of the cloaks around him. He passed a confused Isaac and Scott. "Where are you going?" Isaac yipped as he ran alongside the human. "Promise or no promise, I'm not staying here another minute!" Scott ran up. "No, wait. Please wait! Stiles!" He howled as the door slammed behind him. "Peter!" Stiles screamed. The horse neighed and Stiles turned his head. He mounted Peter with little clumsiness and urged Peter to run. Suddenly, Peter stopped. "Peter what are yo-" Stiles saw the wolves, vicious wolves that were hungry. With a gasp and a tug on the reins, Stiles convinced Peter to move his ass. Stiles took on a zig zag pattern to avoid the jumping wolves. Peter stupidly ran on top of a frozen pond. The combined weight of man and horse broke the ice. The wolves chased them into the water, some drowning in the process. Peter managed to get out before anything serious occurs. He runs into a clearing only to be surrounded by wolves. Peter bucks and throws Stiles off, his reins entangled around a tree branch. The wolves snarled and jumped for Peter's jugular only to be beaten off by Stiles with a stick. One wolf grabs the stick and yanks it out of Stiles' hands. Shit. Another jumped on Stiles' back, sending him sprawling to the ground. Before the wolf could dig its teeth into a tasty 147 pound human, it was knocked off with a growl. Stiles looked up to see the Alpha snarling and growling at the wolves. One jumped for him only to be caught by the Alpha and thrown away. He stood protectively in front of Stiles. The pack of wolves lunged for the Alpha. One clawed at the Alpha's shoulder and the others focused on attacking any openings. Stiles watched in awe as the Alpha fought them all off. Isaac came up to him. "Stiles? Are you okay? Stiles!" Isaac whined, licking the human's cheek. The rest of the pack aided their Alpha, sending the other wolves away. The Alpha turned to look at Stiles before collapsing. Stiles stood up to the wolves' objections and untangled Peter's reins. He stopped himself from getting away, biting his lip as he had an inner battle of morality. Stiles huffed and helped the Alpha to his feet. He carefully laid the Alpha on Peter's back and led Peter to the castle, the pack on his heels.