Chapter XVI

Tenko was drenched in sweat as he lay unconscious. Thrawlling about the bed as black veins covered his face. Even his breath became shallow. The only thing that was functioning properly was his mind.

Tenko's mind was a runaway train at the moment. Deep in his mind, Tenko found himself in the lotus position, meditating at the bank of a Virginian creek surrounded the woods in the middle of spring. His mother had taught him control by controlling the emotions within. Pain, anger, love, people will not always be there to anchor a person. But as long as Tenko had his mind, he had control.

Tenko opened his eyes and saw two foxes talking to each other on the other side of the creek. He then looked to his right and saw his father sitting next to him with a warm smile.

Tenko's father chuckled as he looked at his son, all grown up. He then looked around Tenko's mental space and sighed. "You know when the Yakuza killed me. Yukimura and I really thought we were going to escape. But we forgot that Yakuza was more than the Fire and Wind Kitsune clans. They also had humans. Gangsters, hunters, wolves, and do on. We had slaughtered many, but we forgot, but I was shot with a lichen-laced bullet."

Tenko's father laughed some more. "Yukimura was then stunned by ordinance before they put bullets in him. Finally, mountain ash trapped us. I, Prince Toshiki Nakashige, failed because I forgot that this world is human regardless of what we are. "

Tenko stared at his father, speechless. He assumed that he was hallucinating, but his fox talked to his father's fox about the same night.

"How are you here? Am I dead?" Tenko asked.

"No, you are just experiencing what is to be a Celestial Kitsune. We are the closest kind to Inari. Firstborn to be her messengers. Every Kitsune to follow was born from us. We are a direct line to Kami and each other. I am merely a soul reaching out to you in a time when you can't reject me."

"So you really are him?" Tenko couldn't hold back the few tears that escaped the wells of his eyes.

"Save those tears for someone who deserves them, boy." Toshiki barked, "I am here to save you. Look at that fox over there. Stop fighting him, stop trying to control him, let him go, and two will become one as you were meant to be. Then focus! Cut down every arrow and bullet, whip your tails, let your foxfire incinerate mountain ash, move fast, and be wild. Prince Tenko Nakashige, control is overrated, and it is not meant for royalty. Do not let this world extinguish our bloodline. Show them the might of the Great Dog General."

Tenko looked across the creek, and his fox was looked back at. Their eyes shined red and misty power emitted from their bodies. Behind Tenko was an avatar of his fox and behind the fox was an avatar of Tenko.

"Yes, let it go! no fear, hate, rage, distrust. Only what is and what must be done." Toshiki spoke as his son gave into himself.

"You are not in danger. The druid girl is saving you. What you are doing is not to save your life but to get one step closer to your destiny. It is; therefore, you are! Now be!"

Tenko groaned as the avatar of himself and the fox collided over the creek. An instant later, Tenko was relocated to a graveyard of statues. Each man and woman bearing the name Nakashige was immortalized in human form with fox ears, nine tails, claws for hands, and fox slit eyes.

Tenko reappeared at the creek and looked at his reflection in the water. He looked exactly as he usually did during his partial shift, only this time, he had fox ears and four tails swaying behind him.

"This is what it looks like when you become the fox, and the fox becomes you. That bestial form, and the way you turn into a four-legged fox. That is what the alpha spark allows you to do. This form is legacy, my son."

"It would have been cool if you survived," said Tenko.

"But I didn't. A war is coming. You must forget about the things that can not help you. Like right now, I feel that you want to stay with me, but I assure you that your friends need your help. Melissa has been taken, Cora is very ill, and she must survive. The Darach is now at full power. Wake up, son. If you care for your mates, your mother, your pack, you will wake up!"

Tenko's eyes snapped open and howled like alpha so every wolf everywhere could hear him. Across the city in Derek's loft, Jack Arlo's eyes shined golden. Peter and Derek's eyes shined a cold steel blue. Cora looked to the window with fiery red eyes.

A mistletoe poisoned Melissa weakly lifted her head in a root cellar, and her red eyes illuminated the dark cellar.

Deucalion, Bartholomew, Jema, and the twins growled at the Tenko's howl.

Isaac and Scott were at the animal clinic with Lydia, Allison, Stiles, and Deaton. As Isaac and Scott's eyes shinned, everyone heard the howl that sounded like it came from the parking lot.

"Was that Derek?" Lydia asked.

"No. That was Tenko. He's going to kill them all, and he wants to know if we're in." Isaac replied.

Back in Tenko's Manor, Malia and Nikita rushed into the room to find Tenko sitting on the edge of the bed." Where's Jack Arlo?" he asked.

"With Cora still. They managed to get her out of the hospital but--"

"The Darach took Melissa, I know." Tenko interrupted. "Call him back, Malia, get ready. Where is Mareth?"

"She's resting downstairs," Malia replied.

"I'm rested enough!" Mareth shouted.

Tenko raised an eyebrow.

"She...absorbed a beta. Druid shit. Just go with it," said Malia.

Tenko tittered as he pushed himself up. Malia and Nikita rushed to his side, but he waved them off. They had both expected him to be weaker, but he seemed to be in perfect health.

Tenko and company waited for Jack Arlo to appeared. When he did arrive, Derek and Cora were with him. But Tenko couldn't be happy as Cora was supposed to be sick, and Derek was supposed to be stronger than h appeared.

When Tenko asked why. Derek explained that he gave up being an alpha to save Cora. Mareth interjected and told Tenko it was the only way. Cora was throwing up black blood and mistletoe. Whatever the Darach, now known as Ms. Blake, gave to her, it was made to kill Cora.

To make things worse, Derek told everyone that a lunar eclipse was coming in three hours. Malia showed her dad and Mark to the gun room while everyone else talked strategy.

"Do you really think these Duluth alphas brought their pack?" Derek asked.

"Yes. Duluth is a big pack. While you all were in the hospital, I faced six betas and a few omegas. They aren't here for Deucalion. They are here for me. I killed many of them, including one of their alphas."

"So we have to battle a pack and four alphas," said Cora.

"Five if the twins are separated," Malia added as she returned.

"We can do it." Tenko declared. " But how we do won't feel right. These wolves will do anything to win. So, we need to do the same."

"I'm glad you think that way, Tenko." Ms.Blake appeared from a dark corner.

"Who let this bitch in?" Malia asked.

Blue gold and red eyes glowed at the murderous intruder. Ms. Blake threw her hands up and said, "Easy now, I just want to talk."

"Then talk before this shit gets ugly," said Tenko.

Ms.Blake nodded, and her gaze shifted toward Derek. "I'm not the bad guy." she said, "I did this, all of this, for you."

"You did this for me?" Derek asked in disbelief.

" Yes. And us. For everyone who's ever been their victim." Ms.Blake explained.

"Don't talk to me like a politician," Derek growled as he moved closer.

Core immediately grabbed his arm to stop him, and Tenko stepped in. "Alright! enough of the bullshit. 'Ms.Blake,' the only reason I haven't crossed this room to fuck you up is that you haven't killed one of mine. Cora is living, but you have Melissa, and I want her back, healthy."

"She's all yours. As long as you help kill Deucalion."

"This bitch is crazy." Malia tossed her head as she groaned.

"Definitely," Nikita added.

"Have you not been listening?" asked Mareth, "Two more Alphas and pack of wolves want Tenko's head. Fuck Deucalion!"

"But we till need him dead. Release Melissa, now. And you can take Derek as collateral." Tenko bargained.

"How do I know you'll keep your word?" she asked.

"Because I won't let Derek die. And you're the extra firepower I need to sweep my enemies. Our druid is still weak from healing me, and we don't have enough time to wait for her."

Tenko looked to Derek and nudged his he towards Ms.Blake. Derek rolled his eyes, then stepped forward to leave with her.

"Ms.Blake!" Tenko shouted as the wind swirled around her and Derek, "Get them all in one place. It's the only way for this to work!"

When Ms. Blake and Derek was gone, Nikita spoke her mind. "I feel like we're just played."

"But we weren't. She's in love with Derek. I could feel it. He'll be safe. And if Jennifer is smart, she'll know that facing the alpha pack alone is suicide. She wants us all to fight and kill each other. Because that buys her time for the eclipse."

"We'll be powerless then," said Cora.

"Not my mother and I. And not Mareth." Tenko then looked to Jack Arlo and Mark, "Go find Melissa. Kill any wolf that isn't with us."

-----------------------

Ms.Blake was dragging Derek around town and random directions. When he asked her what she was doing, she simply told him that she was holding up her end of the deal. Then a text came in from Scott with a video of where he was with Deucalion and Jema.

Ms.Blake then sent the text to Tenko and made her way to the distillery. Unknown to Derek, Ms. Blake was taunting the Duluths by spreading Tenko's scent to lure them to her. Now that she had a location, she led them all to one place.

When Ms.Blake and Derek arrived to face off against Scott, Deucalion, and Jema, eyes of Blue and golden lit the foggy night outside of the distillery.

"He's here," said Jema.

"You mean Tenko?" Ms. Blake asked. "He's just outside getting ready to kill your pack."

Jema looked at Deucalion, then left to be with her father.

Outside. Tenko, Cora, Malia, Nikita, Mareth, and Mr.Tate stood across from more than twelve pairs of Blue eyes.

"Mr.Tate, Pick 'em off." Said Tenko.

Mr.Tate put his red dot sight between a pair of glowing eyes and then squeezed the trigger. The pair of eyes stopped shining like a dead light bulb.

"Mom, you stay with Mareth. Cora, Malia. We're going for the Alphas. You two take the Twins." Tenko Partially shifted, growing fox ears on his head and sprouting four bushy whitetails.

Mr. Tate never stopped shooting. Mareth cast a circle of mountain ash around Mr.Tate before heading off with Mareth. When Mr.Tate was finally alone, he put his rifle down as he didn't won't shoot the wrong pair of eyes.

In the mob of Betas. Mareth and Nikita fought out. Killing when they had to but ultimately stalling. Tenko flanked left and found Bartholomew and Jema. At the same time, Cora and Malia faced the twins.

The girls smiled at the Giant. Cora nonchalantly pulled out a taser gun and shot the twins. Malia then pulled out a taser of her own and fired. The Giant laughed as the current tickled its body. Then Malia and Cora pulled out the Second tasers and fired again, finally stunning the beast.

Cora and Malia then rushed the twins but didn't take the Giant head-on. Cora tore through their groining with her claws. Malia went high and stabbed a knife into the Giant's armpit. She then twisted the knife and pulled back on the arm, snapping it with ease as the arm had no strength to resist.

The Giant roared in pain, but it didn't stop there as Cora got payback and snapped the giant's knee. The Gaint fell to the ground with a thud. Malia the but the Giant in a headlock while Cora began abusing its body with full force punches.

Malia started to pull up like she wanted to pop the head off, But the moment she felt a little give, she released the headlock and dragged her claws across the nape of its neck and its throat.

Malia howled in victory as her eyes turned Alpha red. The foggy night was illuminated by a blue lightning attack thrown from Tenko's tails and bombarded into Bartholomew's chest, sending him flying. Tenko then moved at a great speed into the ground slide where relieved JEma of her feet. Jema roared the was immediately silenced when Tenko put his foot in her back, craking her spine and sending her face-first into a rusted old truck.

"Have you ever heard the story of the Fox and the Wolf?" Tenko asked.

Tenko looked at the feetless Jema and then at the convulsing Bartholomew fighting the high voltage current rippling through his body.

"No? Well, long story short. The wolf pressed the fox to find food, and he will always find himself beaten. Until one day, the fox got smart and realized the wolf's greed would be his downfall. So he took him to a butcher's house where the wolf ate so much meat that he didn't notice the fox had left him after alerting the butcher. In this story, I am the Fox and the butcher."

Tenko stepped over Jema, reached down, and slashed her throat so brutally that her head rolled away. He then walked over to Bartholomew but stopped halfway when he heard the hammer of a gun dropped. Tenko spun around and began to cut down a garage of bullets coming his way. He then heard a familiar pin being pulled.

Tenko swiftly grazed two bullets and sent them through the wolfsbane laced flashbangs and into Bartholomew's head. Nikita covered her blade with yellow lightning and moved in a flash to end the Betas shooting at her son.

Tenko sped to Cora and Malia's side just in time to see their eyes lose color and their candid features disappear. Tenko quickly put his fingers to his lips and produced an ear-piercing whistle. Mareth and Nikita watched the betas lose their power then immediately retreated.

Cora tried to fight Tenko, but he dragged her away. He promised Derek would be fine. But there was no turning back when the distillery doors blew off, and Ms.Blake came hoovering out like Storm from a Marvel comic. The wind swirled around her, and lightning in the sky behaved like her hypemen. When the Duluth betas saw the crazy witch, they began shooting, but none of their bullets made contact.

Instead, Ms.Blake sent the bullets through their head, followed by wind Scyths to slit their throats, and roots erupted into the ground to strangle them. A dozen wolves dead in an instant.

"Oh, fuck." left the lips of everyone as they watched the horrific massacre.

The wind howled, and the earth rumbled. Thunder rolled a bolt of lightning struck. Ms.Blake's face morphed into a scared monstrosity. A scar left by Kali when she was her emissary. Kali had clawed her face and left her for dead, all to join Deucalion's pack.

Ms.Blake entered the distillery again and began to torture a powerless Deucalion, destroy his limbs, then his body, finally bashing his head into the pavement until Derek called out to her.

Derek reasoned that killing Deucalion wasn't enough. That Deucalion had to see her true face and know why he was dying. Ms.Blake gave in began to heal Deucalion's damaged eyes giving him sight again. An act of magic only a step below resurrection and equivalent to saving a life struck by an incurable illness or untreatable poison.

Deucalion cried out at the pain of his healing eyes. The moment he saw Ms.Blake's hideous face and then her beautifully masked. She moved to deliver the last blow but found herself weakened.

In the woods. Tenko, Cora, and Malia met up with Nikita, Mr. Tate, and Mareth.

"We have to go back for Derek!" Cora cried out.

"Derek will be fine. Scott, not so much. But Mareth and I have to kill her as soon as she kills Deucalion. So we need to go." As Tenko was speaking, Mareth was slowly moving towards him. The moment he finished speaking, Mareth grabbed his shoulder, and the couple vanished. Reappearing a moment later at the distillery, just in time to witness greatness.

Though Tenko wouldn't call it greatness because he had yet to consider Scott McCall great. Although in the distillery. Ms.Blake had put up a mountain ash barrier, and Scott was slowly moving towards her with his hands out.

"What the fuck is he?" Tenko asked.

"Holy shit. He's going to try it again." Mareth stared with wide eyes. "Deaton told me that Scott nearly broke the mountain ash barrier to saving him. Scott's eyes turned ride in the process."

"Ahh yeah, that true alpha shit. I guess he was supposed to be an alpha weeks ago. I saw his eyes turn red at the mall that night." said Tenko.

In the distillery, Scott begins to grunt as the force of the barrier grew to repel him. Scott's glowed, and the barrier enveloped his body as a sign that he was pushing through.

"Are you fucking serious?"

"It's old magic. A God-king created that alpha spark shit," said Mareth

"That shit's cheating to me."

Mareth giggled. "Says the Royal Alpha Kitsune blessed by a Goddess."

Tenko smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

Scott's eyes finally turned Alpha red as he took his first step over the mountain ash barrier, then a second step that caused the barrier to explode, sending Ms.Blake tumbling to the ground.

"Well, I'll be named. He actually did it. Kid's got spunk." Said Tenko.

"I thought you didn't like him?"

"I don't, but not a hater. The kid just walked through a mountain ash barrier. Come on. How many times have you seen that?" Tenko explained. "Come on."

Mareth and Tenko walked into the distillery and saw both of their enemies down and ready to be killed.

Ms.Blake scurried backward and asked Scott how he broke through the barrier. Tenko listened and hoped he would say something cool. But once again, Scott disappointed him and replied, "I'm an Alpha now." in his serious voice.

Mareth giggled and just patted Tenko on the shoulder as he shook his head in disapproval.

"Whatever you're doing to cause the storm, make it stop, or I'll kill you myself," Scott told Ms. Blake.

"Hmm?" Tenko raised an eyebrow in interest. He looks at Scott and then Ms.Blake. He was interested in who would be the chicken.

Then Scott said, "I don't care what it does to the color of my eyes."

Tenko glanced at Ms.Blake and felt her cave a little bit.

"It won't change the color of my eyes, so allow me," Deucalion interjected the slashed Ms.Blakes throat.

"No!" Mareth shouted as the Kungai Tak flew from her waist and impaled Ms.Blake through the chest. Mareth phased to Ms.Blake and twisted the Kungai Tak as it turned red like molten rock, stripping her life force and power.

Deucalion's eyes widened in fear of another druid with so much power. He was about to move when Tenko intercepted him. Tenko slashed him across the face. Deucalion fell to a knee then received a kick to the chest that sent him flying into a metal beam.

Tenko was ready to end it all when Derek and Scott stepped in front of Deucalion.

"Fuck!" Tenko shouted. " Why!? He needs to die. Erica, Boyd, hell, Ms.Blake, and everyone she sacrificed!"

Tenko pointed at Deucalion, "Him. It's his fault."

"Erica and Boyd were my Betas. He's mine to do with as I please." Said Derek.

Tenko looked back to see Ms.Blake had turned to dust. Tenko hummed, then sped behind Scott and Derek to stab his claws into the back of Deucalion's neck. Tenko and Deucalion's eyes both shined red until Tenko ripped his claws.

"You let him go at your own peril. But when he comes back for revenge, I won't help even if your mother begs me, Scott. Derek, I hope you do the right thing by Erica and Boyd. By Cora."

Tenko walked away and took Mareth with him.

"What did you do to Deucalion?" Mareth asked.

"I took his memories of us. If ever does come back because those idiots let him go, we won't be in his sights."

"You could have killed him," she said.

"I know. But it's the last thing I'll ever do for Derek."

"The risk outweighs the reward?"

"Yes. Derek and Scott can take care of each other know."

---------------------------

Tenko and his family left the woods exhausted. They all went to the manor for a good night's sleep, though it was morning by the time they got there.

Jack Arlo had called Tenko and told him that Melissa was safe. Though she hadn't been released, Mark and Jack Arlo arrived in enough time to pull Stiles, his father, Allison, Isaac, Mr.Argent, and Melissa out of the root cellar they were trapped in, so Tenko slept without worry.

However, as he assumed, Scott and Derek let Deucalion go. But it was their problem now. While Tenko slept with Mareth and Malia, Cora crept by the room and slid a note under the door.

The moment Tenko caught her scent, he was awake. But he did nothing as he assumed her letter told him everything that she wanted to say. She wanted to leave without seeing him and respected her wishes as he closed his eyes and left the letter at the door.

Downstairs, Nikita was drinking tea as Cora came down with her bags. Cora had an apologetic face but Nikita just gave her a warm smile and a big goodbye hug. "Take care of Derek. Tenko might not say it, but he will worry about him. And he'll worry about you too. Be safe, okay, and if you're ever in trouble, remember who helped you become an alpha."

"Thank you, Nikita. And you keep him safe," said Cora. she picked her bag up and left. Outside Derek and Peter were waiting on her. Nikita waved goodbye to Derek. Then threatened Peter, "If you touch her, you know we will hunt you down, vagabond."

Upstairs, Tenko heard everything. He then moved to the window and looked down to the Hales leave Beacon Hills.

All seemed well in Beacon Hills, and Tenko would do better during this peace than he did the last.