CHAPTER THREE

Stiles wondered if he should have seen this coming as the group continued their leisurely circuit around the Pump Rooms, greeting those they knew well with polite conversation and those they knew only in passing with a small bow or curtsey. At the head of the group were Scott McCall and Allison Argent who, since being introduced by Stiles upon arrival, had been completely inseparable whilst at the back of the group Danny Māhealani and Brett Talbot were equally as focused on each other; he genuinely suspected that the sun could plummet from the sky or the sea could rise up to wash them away and not one of them would notice.

They had come to Bath, or so Stiles had been informed earlier that morning, so that Danny could purchase a new pianoforte as the one that he and his sisters shared had finally given up the ghost after many long years of abuse; of the four Māhealani siblings only Danny, the eldest child and only son, had any talent for the instrument. His younger sisters played only because society demanded that women of their class apply themselves to music and art. He hadn't intended to visit Stiles but when Scott had learned of his intended destination he had suggested that he join Danny, to keep him company on the long journey and to assist with transporting his purchase back home, and had suggested that they call on Stiles for advice.

Advice about what, Stiles wasn't entirely sure, as he was quite possibly the least musically inclined person currently residing within the city of Bath. Lydia, on the other hand, had a natural talent and could sing and play with an admirable level of skill. She had believed that Stiles was exaggerating his poor skills, mercifully whilst they were home, and had forced him to play for her. It had been a disaster, with one of the wires actually snapping in half, and he had been banned, on pain of having his fingers broken, from touching the instrument since.

"I shall take you to the shop where I purchased my own pianoforte, Mr Māhealani," Lydia had informed them, indicating the beautiful instrument in question. It was too large for the Māhealani's, not to mention too expensive as it had been bought with Pack funds, but Stiles was sure that Lydia would have figured this out for herself and wouldn't have recommended a shop that couldn't offer more affordable models. "But first you shall take a turn about the Pump Rooms with us; you cannot come to Bath without making some new acquaintances."

And that had been that.

Lydia had spoken and, as ever, they had all agreed.

Whilst walking to the Pump Rooms she had linked her arm with Danny and deftly quizzed him about his family, his likes and dislikes and, most importantly Stiles suspected, his marital status. Walking behind her with Scott at his side, Mrs Martin suffering another headache which had kept her at home, Stiles got the feeling that she planning to play matchmaker.

"May I enquire as to your age, Mr Māhealani?"

"You may," Danny had responded with a twinkle in his eye. "I am just shy of nineteen."

"And your family? You must excuse me but Māhealani is rather an unusual family name."

"Almost as unusual as Stilinski," Danny had responded, shooting a smile over his shoulder at Stiles before returning his attention to Lydia. "My father, Aheahe, hails from the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific and that's where our unusual surname comes from, whilst my mother, Elizabeth, was born and raised in our village. They met after my father, who is something of an adventurer, accepted an invitation from the Captain of a trading vessel to join his crew which eventually brought him to England. He had intended to return to the Hawaiian Islands but once he'd fallen in love with my mother he decided to make a new life for himself here."

"Oh, how romantic," Lydia had murmured. "You mentioned you have sisters earlier?"

"Yes, three, all younger than myself. Leilani is sixteen, Kailani is thirteen and Noelani is ten," Danny had supplied happily enough before adding quickly, "And before you ask, as everyone inevitably does, my mother chose my English name and my father chose my sisters names."

Stiles missed the moment she managed to extract his marital status from him, drawn into a conversation with Scott about his father, but the fact that he was single pleased her greatly. The fact that he had openly admitted to being attracted to his own sex, something that was still somewhat taboo amongst humans despite the fact that such things were no longer a criminal offence thanks to the influence of werewolf society and the fact that True Mate pairings could be male/female, male/male or female/female, had pleased her even more.

Now he knew why; upon arriving at the Pump Rooms she had made a beeline for where Brett had been stood talking to Liam and Hayden, making the proper introductions between the two handsome young men. A bow from each other, followed by a moment of polite conversation had preceded the all important moment when Brett had inhaled sharply, his eyes going almost comically wide as he reached out to take Danny's hand as he'd gasped,

"I think…I think you are my True Mate, Mr Māhealani…"

How Lydia had predicted that that would be the case no one would ever know.

It had been Stiles that had spotted Allison, walking by herself and looking terribly lonely, and so he was the one at fault for creating the other sickeningly sweet couple within their group.

"And are you in Bath long, Mr McCall?"

"I had only intended to visit for the day, to aid my friend in purchasing and transporting a new pianoforte," Scott admitted somewhat regretfully, drawing Stiles' attention away from his recollections of the earlier hours of the day and back to the couple walking as close together as society would allow them to in front of him. "However, should I succeed in finding suitable lodgings I fully intend to spend the winter season within this fine city."

Here Lydia spoke up from where she walked beside Stiles, her attention split between their own group and scanning the other faces moving about the room for any that were familiar.

"Mr McCall, you and Mr Māhealani are more than welcome to join us for the rest of the season, once you've delivered your purchase to your family, of course, Mr Māhealani," she informed them, her statement proving that Stiles had been wrong to assume that nothing could draw their attention away from their new acquaintances for both Scott and Danny perked up, turning their attention towards Lydia. "I would never deprive your young sisters of their musical instrument. As it is I'm sure Mr Stilinski would appreciate the company of his own sex within a house of women. I assume you'll need a couple of days to sort out your affairs at home so I'll have your rooms prepared for you to return by the end of the week."

"Thank you, Miss Martin," Danny murmured sincerely whilst Scott merely gaped at the attractive young redhead. "If you are sure it won't cause you any great inconvenience…"

"Of course not," Lydia dismissed his concerns with a smile and a wave of her hand. A smile grew on Scott's face as he glanced back and forth between Lydia and Allison. "At any rate you need to be introduced to Mr Talbots Alpha before you can begin courting each other."

The colour drained from Danny's face in an instant, prompting both Liam and Hayden to chuckle where they were stood slightly apart from the group, Hayden speaking up quickly.

"Do not worry, Mr Māhealani, anyone can see that you are indeed True Mates. Alpha Ito will welcome you into the Pack with open arms so long as you promise to treat Mr Talbot as well as he deserves," she reassured him, much to Danny's obvious relief, before chuckling and offering him a deliberately cheeky wink. "Now young Miss Talbot on the other hand…"

"Hayden!" Brett hissed sharply, hurriedly turned Danny to face him. "Don't worry. My sister will love you, none the least because you have sisters of about her age. And there's no rush for us to begin courting; we've only just met. We need a chance to get to know each other."

"But you know…"

"…that you're my True Mate?" Brett finished for him, taking the humans hand in his own so that he could give it a gentle squeeze. "Yes, my senses tell me that. But that doesn't mean we have to rush things. In fact, I'm certain Alpha Ito will encourage us to take things slowly."

"Perhaps you would like to join my family and I for dinner when you return, Mr McCall?"

Scott's cheeks flushed a brilliant red as he smiled at the dark haired beauty beside him.

"I would love to."

Addresses were exchanged, courtesy of the little calling cards that everyone of their social standing carried with them, and promises of calling on each other to arrange their further meetings were made before they all went their separate ways; Brett, Liam and Hayden returned to their Pack house to inform Alpha Ito of the day's events, Allison headed towards the tea shop where she had arranged to meet her Aunt for lunch while Lydia led the way to the music shop she had spoken of where Danny was able to purchase a suitable instrument.

It wasn't until much later, after Scott and Danny had left to return to the village to deliver the pianoforte and sort out the necessary arrangements for them to return to Bath, that Stiles realised for the first time since bumping into their Alpha he hadn't seen a single member of the Hale Pack. Not in the Pump Rooms. Not in the many shops they had visited. Not in the park they had taken a stroll through on their way back to the Martin's residence.

"Huh…"

Mrs Martin looked up from where she was playing a game of solitaire at the small card table situated in the corner of the parlour, a card poised to be placed down upon one of the piles.

"Did you say something, Stiles?"

"No," Stiles murmured, resting back into the comfortable sofa he had been reclining in for the last hour, his book now almost finished. Lydia sat at the writing desk penning a letter to a friend she had attended school with but who had moved to the North with her husband. "That is…I didn't say anything but...I've just realised that for the first time in over a week I didn't come across any of the Hale Pack in town today…and now that I've said it out I realise how ridiculous it's been that I've bumped into one of them every single day until today…"

Mrs Martin and Lydia shared a look.

"I had not realised that you had been making their acquaintance so frequently," Mrs Martin finally murmured, setting her card down on the correct pile before turning to look across at him. "The Hale Pack aren't usually known for socialising. Oh, they appear in society but they normally stay with each other or allies of their Pack. How many have you met now, Stiles?"

Stiles thought for a moment before answering,

"I haven't seen Alpha Hale, his Betas or his niece since that night at the Assembly Rooms but I have since met Miss Reyes, Mr Boyd, Mr Lahey, Mr Whittemore and the two Mr Steiners."

"And you've seen at least one of them every day?"

"Until today," Stiles confirmed, frowning as he thought about it in more details. "Lydia was with me for all of the initial meetings but since then it has mostly been nods across a room."

"I hadn't noticed," Lydia murmured with a frown. "You obviously made a good impression."

"What? By walking into their Alpha when I wasn't looking where I was going?" Stiles snorted rather unattractively, shaking his head. "I don't think so. It was probably just a coincidence."

Returning to his book, content to believe his own conclusion for the time being, he failed to notice the puzzled look that Mrs Martin and Lydia shared; they weren't so easily convinced.

It wasn't intentional but for the next couple of days Stiles kept an eye out for members of the Hale Pack, particularly when attending the Assembly Rooms, but saw no sign of them.

Scott and Danny returned to Bath precisely when Lydia predicted they would, settling into the urban lifestyle with Stiles' eager assistance. They were introduced to the Pack and it was interesting to see the difference between greeting a human who was potentially, or rather almost certainly if werewolf senses were as good as they were claimed to be, and greeting an Omega, a lone wolf without a Pack; Danny was welcomed like a long lost son whilst Scott, good, kind and honest Scott, was treated with suspicion. Satomi quizzed him relentlessly about his intentions towards the Pack and he, so honestly that no one could count a word he said, explained that whilst he would like to become part of a Pack one day he had come to Bath to spend time with a girl who he wanted to get to know better and his friend, Stiles.

"You speak the truth, young Omega," Satomi murmured softly, once Scott had finished with his explanation, even going so far as to share the story of how he became a werewolf. "Your heartbeat does not lie. I am sorry that you had to go thought everything alone, Mr McCall."

"Oh, I wasn't alone," Scott countered cheerfully. "I had Stiles."

That said he turned to offer his best friend a beaming smile, one which Stiles returned with a somewhat bashful smile of his own as the members of the Ito Pack seemed to relax at last.

"And my mother, of course, but it was Stiles who helped me through my first few full moons until I got the hang of things," Scott continued on cheerfully, causing several of the older Pack members to frown across at Stiles. "Although I'll admit that I still struggle sometimes."

"…do you not have an anchor?"

"No, we could never figure out what the books meant by that," Scott answered, his words causing a sharp intake of breath from every other wolf in the room. "Is that a problem?"

"It is…somewhat concerning," Alpha Ito conceded softly, placating her Pack with a simple hand gesture. "Mr McCall, would you be willing to spend the rest of today with me and my Pack. I believe you could benefit from some further instruction from a Werewolf source."

"Truly? You would be willing to instruct me?" Scott responded eagerly. Once Satomi had nodded her head, just the once, Scott's smile reached a point where it must have been hurting his cheeks. Several people, including Stiles, chuckled as they witnessed his response. "Yes! I mean, yes, Alpha Ito, I would love to learn whatever you think that I need to know."

"It's refreshing to find an Omega so willing to learn," Satomi murmured, turning to dismiss her Pack with another single nod. Several of them left the room immediately whilst others lingered, Brett being one of them as he inched closer to Danny. "Come. We shall begin."

Scott barely gave them a backwards glance as he followed her out of the room.

That was pretty much the last time Stiles saw his best friend for the next week, Scott only returning to the Martin's townhouse to sleep; he even ate his meals with the Ito Pack. Brett, on the other hand, may as well have become a permanent resident given how often he had called to spend time with Danny or to invite him out for a walk or to join the Pack for dinner.

And speaking of dinner…

"Mr Stilinski!"

Turning set the sound of his name being called from the other side of the road Stiles smiled as he caught sight of Allison, a hand pressing down on her bonnet to keep it in place as she weaved between the carriages passing between them. Danny and Brett glanced backwards before continuing to walk on towards the Pump Rooms. Lydia, however, paused with him.

"Miss Argent. Good day," Allison murmured, bobbing a quick curtsey as her manners caught with her. Stiles and Lydia responded in kind, well, that is Lydia did. She curtseyed. Stiles gave a bow because he is a gentleman and gentlemen don't curt…"Mr Stilinski? Are you alright?"

"Apologies, my thoughts ran away from me," Stiles muttered quickly before smiling at the young woman standing before him. "Pleasure to see you again Miss Argent. It's been…"

"Far too long, given that our last meeting ending with myself making an open invitation to join my family for dinner, but my grandfather has been unwell," Allison interrupted him, her manner polite if not entirely proper given that interrupting someone who was speaking was considered to be very rude. Stiles would know, he'd been forever reprimanded for doing just that when he was growing up. "Did Mr McCall not return to Bath as he said he would?"

"He did," Stiles reassured her. "He is merely caught up with some business at the moment."

"Oh, of course," Allison murmured, smilingly softly with obvious relief. "Could you please convey a message to him for me? If the five of you are available I'd like to invite you join my family and I for dinner tomorrow evening. Please. My father looks forward to meeting you."

She received two very different reactions to the pair she was speaking to.

Lydia replied promptly and properly,

"We would be delighted. Thank you."

Whilst Stiles frowned for a long moment before blurting out,

"Five?"

"Yourselves, Mrs Martin, Mr McCall and Mr Māhealani, of course," Allison explained with a laugh even as Lydia shot him a minuscule glare for not having worked that out himself. "My grandfather prefers to dine late so I'm afraid that dinner won't be served until eight. I hope that's not a problem. I know some people prefer to their evening meals earlier than that…"

"We usually take our evening meal at seven so one more hour won't be a problem," Lydia reassured the young woman before she could get too flustered. "Shall we see you at the concert tonight? I'm reliably informed that the choice of music will be most entertaining."

"I wasn't intending to but if you recommend it I shall certainly try."

In the end it was Stiles that missed out on attending the concert due to a sprained ankle, brought about by his attention being drawn by what he thought was a member of the Hale Pack and misjudging the placement of the edge of the pavement. The resulting fall had been both humiliating and painful, particularly as it had resulted in Danny having to literally carry him back to the Martin's house, and he had spent the evening with a damp cloth wrapped around his ankle which had been propped up on several pillows by a concerned Mrs Martin.

His injury then proceeded to keep him housebound the following day, throbbing with every beat of his heart, and he was sorely tempted to ask the others to pass on his apologies to the Argents but one look at Scott's puppy dog expression had him reluctantly beginning to get ready whilst trying not to put and weight on his injured limb. It was a challenge, almost resulting in another injury but luckily he had landed on his bed, and by the time he made it downstairs they were already running late. Hannah had somehow found a walking stick for him to use for the evening which made things a little easier for him and mercifully they were taking one of the carriages that were at the Packs disposal saving him from having to walk.

"Mr Stilinski," Allison greeted him warmly when they were shown into the drawing room of their townhouse which, despite being on the other side of town, was almost identical to the Martin's own townhouse. "Oh, your poor ankle. I've worried for you after you took that nasty tumble yesterday. Mr McCall said you were quite miserable at being stuck indoors."

"It wasn't so much being stuck indoors," Stiles explained, shooting a quick look towards Scott who had the decency to look apologetic about having been gossiping about him. Allison took hold of him by the arm and led Stiles across the room to a chair which had been placed near the fire and had a small stool set in front of it. "I'm an avid reader, you see. It was more the pain; I have never been too good at dealing with pain and my ankle throbs."

"Alpha Ito has been instructing me on how to ease a persons pain but I'm not that good at it yet," Scott announced as Allison guided the injured member of their group down into the chair. So focused was he on the young woman dressed charmingly in a white muslin gown with blue trimmings Scott missed the look shared between her father and aunt; a look of undisguised concern. Stiles saw it, however, as did Lydia and the others. What no one saw was the brief look of fury that passed across the elderly man stood in the corner of the room leaning heavily on his own cane. "Might I say that you are looking splendid this evening?"

"You may," Allison responded, a delighted flush appearing on her cheeks before she composed herself and began acting as a proper young hostess should. "May I introduce my father, Mr Christopher Argent, my aunt, Miss Katherine Argent, and my grandfather, Mr Gerard Argent. These are our guests for the evening; Mrs Martin and her daughter, Miss Lydia Martin of the Ito Pack and their guests, Mr Stilinski, Mr Māhealani and Mr McCall."

A quick round of courtesies followed.

"You failed to mention that our guests would be members of a Pack, Allison."

There was no mistaking the fact that Mr Argent, Senior, was less than impressed. Even Scott picked up on it, his smile turning into a frown as the grey-haired man levelled with a glare.

"Oh, I thought I had, Grandfather," Allison responded blithely, ignoring the mounting tension in the room. Her father looked like he has swallowed a lemon and was struggling not to choke hilts her aunt wore a similar expression to the one Stiles had seen upon her face at the a Full Moon Ball. "Besides, I don't see why it should matter. They are the only people who have deigned me to be worthy of their acquaintance since we arrived in Bath."

Mr Argent Sr harrumphed loudly but said nothing in response.

"Perhaps we should head through to the dining room," Mr Argent Jr suggested through clenched teeth, grimacing out a tight smile. He offered his arm to Mrs Martin. "Shall we?"

"Thank you," Mrs Martin returned stiffly, relying on her manners as she slipped her arm through his and allowed him to lead her from the drawing room. "You have a lovely home."

"My wife selected it before she passed," Mr Argent Jr responded tightly as the rest of their less than merry party followed behind them, Scott offering his arm to Allison's who's smile fell at the mention of her mother. "We had been planning this trip to Bath for some time."

"When did your wife pass?" Mrs Martin enquired as he led her, and the rest of them, into their moderately sized dining room before hastily adding, "If you don't mind my asking."

"I do not mind," he assured her although his tone of voice begged to differ. A heavy silence fell upon the rest of them as they quickly took their seats, the Argents settling at one end of the table whilst the rest took their other, Scott and Allison, predictably ended up sat next to each other in the middle of the long table whilst. "We lost my wife and mother shortly after New Years when their carriage was forced from the road and down a steep embankment."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Mrs Martin murmured, her compassion genuine as she focused on the man that she had ended up sitting next to opposite Scott and Allison. "How awful for you."

"The coachman survived long enough to explain what had happened," Kate spoke up before her brother could respond, sipping from her glass of wine which had only just been filled by their housemaid. "A rabid werewolf attacked the horses whilst they were returning from town, causing them to spook. We had no idea anything had happened; it was only when they failed to return in time for dinner that we realised that something was wrong and by the time we found the carriage it was too late. The coachman died later that evening but he was able to give us enough of a description of the beast that we were able to track it down."

Her bluntness caused several members of the group to flinch, Allison in particular, of course, and her use of the word 'beast' to describe a werewolf, rabid or not, made Stiles' blood boil.

Surprisingly it wasn't Stiles that spoke up next, however, but Danny.

"Could you refrain from referring to werewolves in such derogatory terms?" the likeable young man requested, watching as his bowl of soup was carefully placed in front of him. It smelled divine but still that particular moment no one was feeling very hungry. Kate's cold gaze literally snapped towards him. "A rabid werewolf should be treated with sympathy. They do not chose to become so and, contrary to what some narrow-minded fools believe, it is usually due to being ostracised by humans that a werewolf turns rabid as they are Pack creatures and require physical contact, particularly from other wolves, to ground them."

"What an innocent view of the world you have, Mr Māhealani," Mr Argent Sr all but sneered from his seat at the head of the table, the odd number of their party having result in him being seated there with no one at the other end. "Werewolves are creatures of violence–"

"Grandfather!"

"–and whilst the rest of the world seems to be happy to forget about this fact we so-called narrow-minded fools remember the dangers that they pose to humans. You say we should have sympathy for those who turn rabid and I suppose that is easy for one such as yourself echo has never lost a loved one to a werewolf," he continued coldly, his hands clenched tightly around his cutlery. Allison looked painfully uncomfortable whilst poor Scott looked as though he were second away from fleeing the scene, not that Stiles could blame either of them. Danny remained calm and impassive despite the words being directed towards him whilst the two Martin's bubbling anger was hidden behind their blank masks. "My beloved wife's neck was broken because of a werewolf. My daughter-in-law bled to death because of a werewolf. My older brother, Alexander, took his own life as per our Code so as to spare himself the torment of becoming another dangerous beast after he was bitten by an Alpha."

Stiles watched, confused, as all of the colour drained from Mrs Martin's face.

"I apologise for my father, he is unwell and sometimes doesn't realise what he is saying," Mr Argent Jr muttered, rising from his seat and hurriedly rounding the table to physically pull his father up out of his seat, the older man spluttering and protesting that he'd known exactly what he was saying. "Excuse me for a moment whilst I get him settled. Please, eat."

"I am so sorry," Allison apologised, mostly to Scott, once her father had forcibly steered her grandfather from the room. "Grandfather is suffering from a sickness of the mind. It is why we are in Bath so that he can take the waters. He sometimes gets confused, says things that are both inappropriate and upsetting, but he was having a good day today so I thought…"

To say that the remainder of their dinner party was awkward was an understatement and Stiles was thankful when it came to an end, his injured ankle coming in handy as it gave them an excuse not to linger. How Allison, who appeared to be almost as sweet-natured as Scott, could be related to such a man Stiles didn't known. He certainly didn't like her Aunt; she had obviously enjoyed the upset he father had caused and had made several comments of her own throughout the rest of the evening regarding her opinion that werewolves were far more dangerous than people thought. Her father, however, was harder to place and so Stiles reserved the right to pass judgement once he knew the older man's character better.

Following the disastrous dinner, as Stiles began referring to it, he willingly stayed home for another four days as he waited for his ankle to heal. Various members of the Ito Pack called on him to see how he was doing, particularly after hearing about the dinner, and Allison called on him twice; firstly to apologise again for her grandfathers behaviour and secondly to bring him a novel she'd spotted whilst out shopping and thought that he would enjoy.

His ankle wasn't up to visiting the busy assembly rooms, particularly after he'd knocked it a couple of days after he'd reemerged into society, until the night of the New Moon Ball. As the name suggested it was held every month on the night that the new moon appeared, a special night in the werewolf calendar, and was attended by all of the Packs within Bath as well as their human allies and friends although they had to be presented by a Pack member.

Stiles was, somewhat predictably, presented by Lydia.

It was immediately apparent that this was going to be a much more boisterous evening than the Full Moon Ball, the music faster, the dances wilder and the conversation far, far louder.

The room was filled with familiar faces, so many that it took Stiles a long moment to realise that the Hale Pack, who had been missing for two weeks by that point, were in attendance.

"Oh," he exclaimed softly, a strange feeling pooling in his stomach. "They're here."

"Indeed we are," Alpha Hale murmured from close behind him, causing him to yelp rather pathetically as he spun around to face the much taller man. "May I have the next dance?"

That odd feeling in his stomach transformed into an all out churning feeling as he replied,

"Yes."