Pack Mentality // s. stilinski

Eighteen

As soon as Scott followed Derek out of the train car, he started talking. "You know who it is," he accused the Alpha, and the man in question furrowed his eyebrows, turning around only to lean back against a dust covered table. 

With a repressed sigh, he answered. "Jackson."

"You just wanted Erica to confirm it, didn't you?" Scott went on. Despite it sounding like a question, it wasn't. Scott knew what he knew; it was his way of telling Derek that, of gauging the Alpha's reaction. There wasn't much of one in the was of facial expressions, but if the elder's scent gave off anything it was that he was stubborn and reluctant, irritated that Scott had found him out- he didn't want to be talking to Scott about this. 

Too bad Scott wasn't giving him much of a choice. 

"I'm gonna help you stop him," Scott said then, "as part of your pack." Derek, who'd been glaring at some adjacent wall, was now turning back to him, a quelled look of surprise pulling at his features. "If you want me in, fine. But we do it on one condition. We're going to catch him, not kill him."

Scott had paused, but Derek sensed he wasn't done. "And?" he asked, urging the beta on impatiently.

"And we do it my way," Scott told him. There was a pause, in which Derek looked contemplative. 

After a few moments, Derek answered. "Okay," he said. He looked up at Scott from where he was leaning back, before turning his head slightly, his eyes landing back on the train car that housed his beta and the two humans. "But Scott," he continued, as Scott made to turn back around. "You have your conditions, I have mine."

Scott looked at Derek, a small frown on his face. "What conditions?" he asked.

Derek jutted his chin out at the train car. "I want Cadmus in my pack as well."

Scott blinked. "Cadmus?"

"Yes, Cadmus," Derek sighed, rolling his eyes at the beta. "Whatever he is, I want him. He'll be useful." Cadmus, as if on cue, emerged from the train car, Stiles trailing after him. The Argent sent a skeptical look at Derek as if he'd heard his name being spoken, unnerved by the way the Alpha was currently looking at him. "And he can't say no, before you try to argue with me."

Cadmus sent Derek a hard look, but quailed under the roughness with which it was returned. "What do you mean?" Scott asked, looking back and forth between Derek and Cadmus. Derek, who was glaring like he had something over the other boy, and Cadmus, who was biting his lip and looking very much like he was regretting some past decisions. "He can't say no?"

"The term conditions is me being polite," Derek explained, and he pushed himself off the table he'd been leaning against, stalking over to where Cadmus was standing. "Cadmus knows he has to go along with what I want, because he owes me. We made a deal, didn't we?" He stopped a couple feet away from the taller boy, tilting his head and looking up at him with a gaze half curious, half amused, and half condescending. It was a very full look. Cadmus gnawed at his lower lip, looking down at Derek. 

"Hold on, you two made a deal?" Stiles interrupted, looking between the two suspiciously. "Was this the same day you told him about werewolves and gave him bruises on his neck?"

"Stiles," Cadmus mumbled a small warning, causing the shorter boy to press his lips together tightly. He looked at Derek, then, seeming cautious. "You know I wasn't planning on following through with that favor."

"I know," Derek told him, but he still held out his hand, a mock smile stretching his face. "Welcome to the pack."

Cadmus grimaced, and his insides trembled, but he had no choice but to take his Alpha's hand.