Chapter 4:

Everyone's heads snapped in the direction of the voice and saw Peter standing in the doorway of the living room.

"I have to say, I love what you've done with the place; very nice." He mused, looking around.

"I told you he was real." I muttered as red spilt into Derek's eyes. A growl started coming through his chest and Peter looked at his nephew.

"Really? Is that any way to greet a guest? I don't exactly feel welcomed here." Peter remarked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leant against the doorframe.

"Maybe because you aren't." Stiles muttered, wrapping an arm around Lydia as she leant further into his side. Peter seemed to ignore is comment and continued looking around the room.

"How are you back?" I asked, making him look at me. A smile curled his lips upwards and he stepped further into the room, making Derek growl again. "Wait, Derek. Maybe he could help us." I said softly, placing my hand on my husband's arm lightly. He glared at his 'dead' uncle but complied with me, moving closer so he could wrap his arm around my shoulders.

"I see you've still got your rationalised thinking." Peter smirked.

"Push the thinking any further and I might rationalise how to make you dead again." I retorted, leaning into Derek as the pack held back a laugh.

"Ah, see; this is what I thought would make you a good werewolf. You have spunk." Peter noticed his nephew's arm tighten around me slightly and shifted his gaze to my eyes. "I see, he changed you. How long ago was that? Did you choose it?"

"I was dying sixteen years ago. Now how are you back?" I changed the subject quickly and Peter smiled slightly, wandering around the living room as everyone's eyes watched him wearily.

"To be honest with you, I don't really know. Just woke up one day and found myself underground." He mused. "But to get back to you, Mrs Hale." He glanced down at my left hand briefly. "Your family from your mother's side were all hunters, passed down through the bloodline until your mother decided to break it."

"How come I didn't know? And how do you?" I asked, frowning slightly as I watched him walking around with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"I had an affair with your mother's sister when I was in my teens." He stated. "Not one of my best decisions I must admit. But, I found out about what they did for a living; hunt and kill our kind." He stopped and looked straight at me. "Your mother was different; she had a heart and couldn't stand what her family was doing to us. She was shunned out the family and went out on her own to try and stop what they were doing. You're very much like her you know; your attitudes are remarkably the same."

"What happened after that?" Allison spoke up.

"Ah, yes. I suppose you're like her as well. Not following your family traditions and such." Peter smiled again before fixing his eyes back on me. "Your mother was responsible for saving many werewolves around the country, and then she married your father and had you and your siblings. She retired for a while, but started up again. Wonder where she was some nights when she didn't come home?" I nodded. "She was out stopping her parents from killing our kind."

"But what about her brother? He's here in Beacon Hills." Derek said, momentarily forgetting that he was speaking to the uncle he had learnt to hate.

"Her brother, he took the job very seriously." Peter frowned. "He still does apparently, didn't think he was still alive to be honest. But then again, nothing is ever as it seems." He smiled.

"Why are you helping us?" I asked suddenly, making everyone's heads snap between me and Peter.

"Let's just say I had an epiphany while I was six feet under."

"No, give me a real reason." I stated. "And you were eight feet actually."

"I don't know! I'm not an Alpha anymore." He sighed, frustrated. "And I don't care how far under the earth I was, I'm out now."

"We can see that." Scot muttered. Peter looked over at him.

"Hmm, I still think you should have joined my pack." He paused for a minute. "I guess this one will have to do."

"This pack has been together for over sixteen years, I think we're doing quite well. Not that I care about your opinion." Lydia remarked. I gave her a discrete thumbs up and she smiled.

"Honestly, your manners are appalling." Peter commented, looking at us.

"Says the one that tried to kill us on more than one occasion." I stated.

"Well, you were ruining my chances of creating a pack."

"You bit my dad and took him away from me, making him a killing machine." I glared. "He killed the whole of my family and never regretted it once, then tried to kill me and my friends."

"Once again, that's because you were getting in the way."

"They were innocent, most of them didn't know what you'd made him into." I said, my anger flaring as I looked at the man in front of me.

"I didn't know them, it doesn't matter to me."

"You knew my mother." I remarked.

"Not my fault, I'm not the one who killed them. You father did." He smirked and I snapped. I changed as I shot up off the couch and roared at Peter as I stared him down.

"If you want to stay alive, then I suggest you don't keep insulting my family." I snarled, stalking forward and making him back up slightly.

"Oh, you have a temper, no wonder you're a good Alpha female." Peter looked to behind me. "You made a good choice here nephew."

Peter's hand reached out towards me and I swatted it away, my claws slashing it open. I growled as I continued eyeing him, watching his movements. An arm wound around my waist and I felt a warm breath by my ear.

"Don't let him get to you, he's not worth your anger." Derek whispered as his jaw brushed my neck.

"Wise words."

"Shut up." Derek stated, briefly glancing at his uncle before focusing back on me. "Calm down." He whispered, his lips brushing against my ear.

I glared at Peter once more before feeling myself changing back and let Derek gently pull me towards the couch again, sitting me down beside Boyd. A small thump sounded from upstairs and I stood back up, making Derek nod at me before I walked out the room and made my way upstairs and to the room in which my four children were in.

Derek's P.O.V.

"Are you hiding something from me?" I glared over at Peter and he raised his eyebrows. "You are, aren't you? I'd like to know what it is."

"Too bad." I grunted. I saw him glance behind me at Lydia who was sitting on the couch before his gaze flickered back to me, a smile appearing on his face.

"You have children, don't you?" he smirked as a growl rumbled through my chest. "I never thought you as the father type to be honest; you turned so moody after the fire."

"You were a burnt piece of skin." I growled, making his face harden as his eyes flashed blue. "Who then turned into a psychotic killer."

"I was traumatised, can you blame me?"

"Yes. Quite easily actually." I stated, crossing my arms over my chest. Peter leant against the wall and continued staring at me until his eye glanced upwards at the ceiling as shuffling could be heard.

"Anyway, I'll meet the kids later." He smiled. "I suppose you want to know what he is." He jabbed a finger at Jackson and I looked at my uncle with mild interest.

"You know what happened to him?" I asked.

"Maybe. What's in it for me if I tell you?"

"I won't let Steph kill you." I replied, a small smirk tilting my lips upward as I heard Steph laugh quietly from upstairs; telling me she heard me.

"Tempting, but that's not enough."

"What do you want then?" I questioned, staring at him intently.

"A place to stay seeing as I have nowhere to go thanks to you killing me how many years ago." He waved his hand. "And to be honest with you, I quite like what this place has turned out like. And you can remove the frown; I'm not interested in harming your children or pack."

"Fine, but there's a bedroom in the basement; you can stay there." I said, scowling at him.

"Did you bleed black blood when you changed?" Jackson nodded as he twisted his fingers in his lap. "Your body started rejecting the bite, but didn't allow you to die. You're not a werewolf anymore; you're what we call a kanima."

"Kanima?" I looked behind me to see Steph walking back into the room. "That's a lizard related thing, isn't it?" Mild surprise took over Peter's expression as he looked at her.

"How do you know that?" he asked her.

"I overheard my mother talking over the phone when I was really young. She said something about a kanima nearly killing an elderly Alpha here." Steph replied, walking closer to me before standing beside me. Peter nodded with a smile.

"You would have been six, making Derek ten. Yes, that was the incident your grandfather had Derek; you remember when he came home half dead?" I nodded after a minute with a small frown on my face.

"Then a woman came round to talk with him."

"My mother, I remember following her to a house in the woods. My father was at work and my nan had fallen asleep while babysitting me. I wanted to go with her." Steph said, lifting her head to look up at me.

"But you got caught and your mother took you to the kitchen for Derek's mother to look after you." Peter added. "That's the first time you met Derek, you may not remember it; but he was in the kitchen with her. You called her cute when they left." He smirked at me.

"I don't remember that." Steph said softly. I looked at her and saw her eyes had a distant look to them as she tried to remember.

"I do." A small smile lifted the corner of my lips and she snapped out of it to look at me.

"As touching as this is, we have to find Harold before he gets him to kill again." Peter spoke up and we looked over at Jackson who had started cracking his knuckles nervously.

End Derek's P.O.V.

/

"So, you're still a werewolf." I remarked as Peter and I were in the kitchen. He leant back against the counter with his arms crossed and looked at me.

"I am." He confirmed. "But I'm in no way wanting to be an Alpha again; it didn't work out too well for me last time."

"Being human didn't work out too well for me either." I said softly, heating up the milk that Tanner drank before bed.

"What happened? I'm guessing it had something to do with a hunter." I glanced over at him and he genuinely looked interested, nothing like he did before when he was an Alpha; maybe, just maybe he'd changed.

"I was protecting my son from Allison's mother and took a bullet in the chest." I replied, testing the milk on my wrist to make sure it wasn't too hot for him to burn his mouth on. "I wasn't going to make it and I was dying in the hospital, Derek bit me to make me live."

"I can see why he wanted to take the risk."

I gave him a small smile before turning and walking out the kitchen, going up the stairs to my youngest child's room. I paused when I heard someone following behind me, turning my head to look back and see Peter at the bottom of the stairs.

"Can I come up with you?" he asked. "I'd like to see the extended family I have now, I won't harm any of them; I give you my word. I know you and the pack are worried about that, you don't trust me." he added when I hesitated.

"Can you really blame us?" I said softly before motioning him to come up.

"I suppose not." He walked up behind me and into the room that my children had congregated into during the pack meeting earlier.

Dylan looked wearily and Peter behind me and I poked him in the head as I walked past to get to Tanner who was curled up in the armchair with his brother Tyler.

"This is your great uncle Peter." I said, picking Tanner up and sitting on the arm of the chair; giving him the drink and holding it steady so he wouldn't drop or spill it. "That's Dylan, Tyler, Hailey and Tanner." I told Peter, pointing to them from oldest to youngest. "Dylan's sixteen, Tyler's ten, Hailey's six and Tanner's two."

Hailey skipped over to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him over and making him sit beside her on the floor.

"Only two of them have the gene." I nodded. "The oldest and the girl."

"Yeah, hurt my family and you'll have to deal with me." Dylan said, staring at Peter.

"Dylan, be nice." I scolded lightly. "Peter's not going to do anything, he's helping us." Peter smiled slightly and Hailey sat her bear on his knee.

"You're like Derek, very protective of family; you look exactly like he did when he was younger too." Peter fiddled with the bear as he looked around at the four children in the room. "This takes me back." He said softly, his eyes becoming distant. "Before the fire, this was a playroom like it is now. All the children used to play in here, Derek did too. He was happy as a child; he was only Dylan's age when the fire happened. You make him smile like he did when he was with us, when we didn't have to worry about the Argents."

"Do you promise not to harm my family?" I asked seriously, making the older man look at me.

"I promise." His heartbeat never faltered and his eyes sent out sincerity. I nodded.

"You don't have to stay in the basement, there's more than enough room up here. You can use the spare room near ours." I decided, sitting Tanner upright as he finished his warm milk before he burped as I rubbed his back. "What do you say?"

"Excuse me." he said in his adorable two year old voice. Peter smiled a little and I heard Derek coming up the stairs. All of us looked at him as he stood in the doorway of the room and he eyed his uncle sceptically before seeming to be satisfied and caught Hailey as she jumped over to him.

"I'm presuming you heard all of that." Peter remarked, making Derek nod as he walked into the room with our daughter on his hip.

"I'm willing to let you stay here if you live up to your word."

Peter nodded and we sat together, all of us consisting of Hales, in the room which bought back Peter's old side; the side that wasn't a psychotic killer or power-hungry werewolf.


I'm really sorry about the like 6 day absence! I was at the Kerrang! Tour last weekend and didn't have time to finish this chapter then. The updating may be really infrequent with this as i have loads of work to do before school again. Please leave a review telling me what you guys think x