Author's Note: I had planned to have this posted much sooner, but things got stressful this week so here it is now at the very least. Hope you all like it.


"Where are you going?"

Peter stopped short, his hand on the back door. It was a few minutes before midnight, and he did not actually have time to play twenty questions with his niece. "It's really none of your business." He pulled it open and was just about to step outside when her next question stopped him dead in his tracks.

"You're going to meet with the hunter aren't you?"

Of course she would have figured it out, it wasn't like she was an idiot or anything. That and she had caught them in the bathroom; hell she and Derek both had probably heard the entire conversation in the bathroom between him and Chris. One of the many downfalls of being a werewolf, there was absolutely no privacy and nothing was sacred. Everyone would always know what you were doing.

He closed the door and turned to look at her. "Derek know yet?" he asked putting his hands into the pockets of his black leather jacket.

"You two were not exactly quiet about that conversation." She stood there in her pajamas, hair pulled back in a loose bun. "You're lucky Isaac wasn't actually trying to listen in or else the pup would know too."

Well that was just great. Peter ran a hand through his hair and moved back towards the living room, taking a seat on the couch. "If you want to know what that was about sit Laura and ask your questions."

She did, taking a seat across from him, legs tucked up under here. Not a moment later Derek appeared besides her looking at him. It felt like an interrogation. "Why did Chris Argent have you pinned against the wall?"

"Because I am a royal pain in his ass and he was trying to teach me a lesson."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Because he asked me a question and I lied."

"Do be more specific uncle."

It was an interrogation damn it all to hell. "It's really none of your business. Either of yours." He looked at them both, doing his best to fight back the urge to just get up and leave without another word. He respected them both far too much for that. They were staring their combined gaze so intense it made him squirm, which was not an easy feat he was proud to admit. "Chris was someone I knew in my past, someone who is very special to me."

"He's a hunter. He's one of them!"

"Calm down this instant or we're done here," Peter growled at Laura, his eyes flashing red for a brief instant. She slouched back into her chair, arms folded over her chest. "Your father explained to you about finding a mate right?" He could think back to the day when his father had explained it to him and Daniel could remember it like it had been yesterday. It had been the day he had broken up with Melissa. They nodded. "Chris is mine."

Derek's eyes glowed blue as a dangerous growl escape his mouth. Laura sat stunned staring at him, her mouth opening and closing wordlessly. In retrospect their reaction could have been a lot worse. Hell he had been expecting a lot worse.

"Not exactly something that I like admitting to many people." He dropped his gaze down to the floor. "It drove me mad. I told no one, well no I told the girl I was dating at the time. You know her Laura." A hand flew to Laura's mouth silencing the gasp, clever girl she had figured it out.

Peter pushed himself up and out of the chair moving over to the yearbook that lay on the table. His yearbook from his senior year of high school, it had been a present from John Stilinski after the fire. The purpose of the gift had been to cheer him up, remind him he still had friends, people who cared about him. It worked.

He opened it to a specific page a photograph of a group of teens. "Here." He held it out to them. "That's who I was friends with in high school, they should all look familiar to you."

The photograph had five teenagers, four boys and one girl, all smiling. Beneath the photograph it was captioned with their names: Peter Hale, Chris Argent, John Stilinski, Melissa McCall, and Alan Deaton. They had been nominated for most inseparable group of friends, and they had won.

In the picture Chris had his arm around Peter's shoulders, and Peter had his arm around Chris's waist. Melissa had both her arms around the other two boys, on her right giving the camera a small smile was John, and to her left was Alan. They had been inseparable, not even the event at the end of their sophomore year of high school had separated them.

The only reason Peter had left Chris was to save him. The only people who knew the real reason were Melissa, John, and Alan.

"We thought we were on top of the world that year. And we were. Nothing brought us down. John got married to Amelia, Melissa married Frank." Peter smiled slightly and shook his head. "And in one swoop everything started to fall apart. Frank left, the fire, Amelia's death…"

"What about Chris?"

"You want the soap opera tale? Then hold on to your hats kids." Peter's hands had started to shake, he clasped them together not looking at the two younger wolves. "Chris and I started dating our Junior year. Despite everything we stayed together. He's my mate, my anchor, and my one weakness. I ended it with him after the fire…for personal reasons."

He turned to look at them for a moment. "If there's nothing else you two I am going to go meet with him because. Actually I don't have to tell you why since I am your alpha." He paused as he made his way back towards the back door. "Tell Isaac, he's allowed to know. But no one else. Not Scott, not Stiles, and certainly not Scott's girlfriend."

Peter was out of the house in the next moment, his body shifting changing into the form of a large black shaggy wolf. He was larger, stronger and faster. His red eyes glowed in the night as he ran towards the meeting spot. He was going to be late and it was entirely their fault.

The wind rustled his fur as he leapt up onto the rock formation that he and Chris had spent so much time on while growing up. He could think back to the night they had just lain there watching the stars; they had kissed that night. He shifted back, perched atop the rock watching the forest below him. The sounds, sights, and smells of the night were everywhere, they engulfed him, comforted him.

There in the darkness, he could hear Chris's heart beat, the sound of his footfalls as he came into the small clearing. A soft smile formed on Peter's lips. Oh it could very well be that Chris had come here with every intention of putting a silver bullet in his heart, or an arrow with the damn crossbow that was in his hand. "Did you really think I'd ask you here just to kill you? Honestly Chris I do have more class than that."

"This isn't meant for you," Chris replied looking up to where Peter was. "You going to come down here or am I going to have to climb up."

Peter smirked at him, motioning for him to come up. "You come up to me."

It only took Chris a minute before he was on top of the rock, standing beside Peter. "We're going to draw attention to ourselves up here."

"No one is out here besides us. And regardless I would hear them before they'd get to us." Peter straightened up, turning to face Chris. "I didn't think you'd actually show up."

"You asked me to." The shadows danced across Chris's face, cast by the nearly full moon that hung in the sky. "You said to come if I wanted to know the truth. I want to Peter. I deserve to know."

From beneath his shirt he drew out the pewter triskelion charm that Chris had given him so many years ago. "You gave this to me. My pack's symbol. I told you it meant alpha, beta, and omega." He let the small charm fall back down against his shirt. "It has more meaning than that. It can also mean past, present and future." A smile formed on his lips. "Chris Argent you are in my past, my present, and I have no doubt that you'll be there in my future. But not as my friend."

He heard Chris take a breath, their gaze meeting in the dark. Peter took one step, then another, until he was standing right in front of him. He brushed his hand against his cheek. "As my mate." Slowly, cautiously he leaned forward close enough that he could kiss him, and when Chris didn't push him back, he brushed their lips together. He pulled back looking into Chris's face, searching for some sign from him that Chris had not just been playing with his emotions. "I love you, nothing will ever change that."

Chris pressed his cheek into Peter's palm, a flicker of a smile passing over his lips. That was all the invitation Peter needed, and he pulled Chris into his arms holding him close to him. Did Chris deserve his forgiveness? Yes, of course he did. Chris had done nothing wrong. Peter could never hate him, could never stay mad at him, even if Chris had just so willingly accepted their break up. He did not blame him for the fire that was his sister's fault. It had not been Chris's fault that Peter had been forced to leave him.

"Did…you mean what you said at the meeting, that you don't know if you're going to survive the full moon?" Peter pulled back, their eyes meeting once more. There was fear there in Chris's eyes, fear that he might permanently lose him perhaps. Peter nodded. "Why?"

"The wound on my side, it hasn't healed. I won't be able to defend myself as well as I normally have been able to." Chris's heart began to beat faster. "No don't you even begin to start thinking that this is your fault. You were aiming for the rogue not me. I just got in the way." Chris's eyes glanced downward. "Hey hunter boy. Don't worry about me."

"That's not going to stop me, you do realize?"

"I've got something to fight for, something to keep me going."

"Do you now?"

"Yes you idiot." Peter chuckled brushing his lips against Chris's forehead. "It's you."


Peter was in the library the next afternoon, it was small and many of the shelves were still bare, but he had been making slow progress on restocking the collection that his parents had had before the fire. It was just something to distract himself from the upcoming night. Or at least that was what it was supposed to be; in reality nothing actually helped him to ignore the danger that the night would bring.

There was a chance that Scott, being the idiot that he seemed to be, would some how manage to slip Melissa's clutches and not show up. In which case the rogue could get to him and. Peter didn't want to think about that. Then of course there was his own pack. What if the rogue went after John and Melissa? What if Laura got hurt? What about Stiles? And Derek? And then of course there was-

"Is there something you need Isaac?" he asked turning to face the young wolf who almost instantly dropped his gaze. Peter studied him, his posture, the way he avoided his eyes. The boy was submissive. Too submissive. Peter didn't like that. He moved to sit on one of the dusty old couches and patted the spot next to him. Isaac didn't budge. "Hey I don't bite now come here."

Isaac sat down beside him, hands in his lap, eyes on the ground.

"What's on your mind pup?" Peter asked turning his body enough that he could look at him.

"Why do you call me that?"

"Call you what? Pup?" Isaac nodded. "You are a pup to me Isaac. I'm twenty-one years older than you. It's a term I use for the younger pack members, my niece and nephew included when they really get on my nerves." What was that? Did Isaac actually nearly smile? That was progress. "Some come on now. Talk to me."

"I'm frightened…"

"About tonight?" Again, Isaac nodded. "That's understandable. Frightening thing to be taken over by the wolf, but I can tell you from experience. If you fight it, it just makes it worse. The wolf inside you runs on instinct, your instincts. It wants to hunt, and run, and howl at the moon. We're not those bloody thirsty monsters Hollywood make us out to be."

"But…that one…my father."

"From what I heard your father deserved to be killed Isaac. You were given a gift. A chance to start a new with a new family who will care about you and keep you safe." Isaac was watching him, curious, interested. Progress. "That's what the pack is. A family that I will fight to defend every day I am alive. I've lost too many family members to let some one take anyone else from me." He put his hand on Isaac's shoulder squeezing it lightly. "You won't hurt anyone tonight Isaac. I've seen to that."

"How?" He asked not pulling away from his hand.

"The basement is designed to keep werewolves from getting out. Laura will be down there with you and Scott." He saw the boy tense, heard his heart race. "You won't be chained down and this is for your own protection. Laura will be there to help you, guide you, and keep you safe." It also meant he was cutting himself off from part of his pack. Not his best idea but…

His eyes widened slightly as Isaac basically crawled into his lap and clung to him, burying his face into his neck. How long it been since this kid last had someone care about him? Peter wrapped his arms around Isaac and held him close to him, protectively. "Nothing's going to harm you Isaac, not while I'm around."


"Peter. Are you there?" Kathleen Hale's voice was hoarse, her words punctuated by coughing. The smoke made the air thick, heavy, and hot, burning his throat and lungs.

"I'm here," he replied, pushing against the damn mountain ash door that blocked his way into the room. "I'm here. What is it?"

"Forget about us. Save them Peter. Save my children."

"I can't do that Kathleen." There were tears falling down his face, from the smoke stinging his eyes or because…no he couldn't think about the other reason, he wouldn't admit to himself that he was frightened to lose them. Oh he was frightened, he couldn't leave them. He wouldn't leave them there to die. He sank his claws into the wood of the door ignoring the white-hot pain it caused as he continued to try and rip the thing down. But it was getting hard to breathe… Each breath took more and more effort. "I won't leave you all."

No answer just coughing, crying, and howling.

"Kathleen?" He managed to get out before he started to cough, hard. It felt like his throat was ripping itself apart. He sank to the ground, clawed hands scratching at the door, and still he was coughing. The smoke was too thick. He couldn't breathe. He tried to get as low as he could down away from the smoke, but he couldn't breathe…

And the world went black.

Peter was downstairs in the basement, staring at the mountain ash door that was currently propped open. It was dark in the basement, the light coming from a bulb in the ceiling. The stairs creaked as someone descended them, and Chris's familiar scent started to fill the room. "You shouldn't be here Chris." Peter didn't even have to look up to know that Chris had shown up. "You should be at home with your family."

"You should not act like you're going to die Peter. What was that? Telling us you might die?" The hunter sounded as angry as Peter imagined the look on his face to be.

"Been waiting to tell me this since last night haven't you?" Peter turned to face him, studying him. The man was dressed for a fight, black leather jacket, jeans, boots, and some shirt that Peter couldn't quite identify. "I had my reasons."

"And what were those?"

Peter glanced down, nudging the ground with his foot. "Laura. I needed to know that Melissa and John knew the risks…and their reactions. I know now they'll support her as alpha should anything happen."

"Don't talk that way Peter."

"I know I shouldn't." A frown formed on his lips. "But I don't want to take this situation lightly."

"No one is Peter." Chris placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, and Peter let his hand rest on top of his hand. "What's really on your mind? Don't you think for a second I can't see right through you."

"The last time someone targeted the Hale pack, only three of us survived." His grip on Chris's hand tightened slightly. "And I can't go through that again. I'd die for them Chris. I'd do it in a heart beat."

"You worry too much Peter." Chris gave him a faint smile and nodded back towards the house. "Laura and Derek are getting everything set for the full moon." The hunter tilted his head to the side. "You really are afraid aren't you?"

"I have every reason to be afraid of watching that thing kill them…" Peter said under his breath, closing his eyes. "I can't put them in harm's way Chris…I won't. I won't leave them unguarded to die. Not again…"

From the look that the hunter gave him Peter knew that Chris finally understood why he couldn't jut leave them, why he was afraid, and why he had told his friends that the night of the full moon could be his last.

If it came down to it, he'd die trying to kill the rogue. The only way he had been able to admit that to himself, was to admit it to his friends.


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