The Wolf You Feed
Summary: Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.
Chapter 10:
Sydney had called Derek shortly after getting out of the shower the next morning and, contrary to Peter's belief that a phone call would generally suffice, she had quickly found out that her phone call to Derek wouldn't suffice at all. He had asked Sydney if she minded making her way over to the loft and she did exactly that. She threw her boots on, grabbed her car keys and left the apartment with Peter tagging along.
It had been an almost awkward silence between the three of them. Sydney knew how much tension was built up between the two Hales but she didn't care. Derek was her best friend, someone that she'd always be there for. Peter was her mate and she wasn't going to leave his side. They'd just have to learn to share her attention, especially when it came down to things like this, things like negotiations with crazy mercenaries.
Braeden's facial scars were just as prominent as ever as she sat across from the three of them, Sydney sandwiched between Derek and Peter, her eyes locked on the beautiful, yet scary, woman sitting in the chair directly in her line of sight. She still didn't trust Braeden and she probably never would because no matter how many times the hard-core mercenary bailed her and Scott out of sticky situations, the uneasy feeling in her gut was still there. She wasn't about to take her eyes off the woman.
Tucking her legs up under her bum, she created extra height to her body hoping that her intimidation tactics were working. Peter slipped an arm around her back and shoved her back down so that her butt was flush against the cushions beneath her. Sydney let out a low growl at his actions but kept her eyes locked on the woman across from her.
"This one." Braeden pointed a finger in Sydney's direction. "I don't get how she fits with you two."
Derek rolled his shoulders and met Braeden's questioning gaze, a pair of aviator sunglasses held firmly in his hand. Sydney scoffed, as though the mercenary had insulted her simply by stating her confusion. Maybe it was obvious only to those directly involved in her life but this woman had to know that Sydney was a decent asset, didn't she?
"She's pack." Derek answered flatly.
"Hey, I'm not just pack." Sydney shot back and finally tore her eyes off of Braeden. Peter gripped her hip tighter, his action signaling that he wanted her to just stay quiet, to not give away anything more than she had to. She was an alpha, which was something Braeden didn't need to know. She was Peter's mate, another thing Braeden didn't need to know. All the mercenary needed to know was that she was part of their lives via the supernatural side of things.
"She one of McCall's betas?" Braeden pressed and directed her attention solely towards Derek, as though Sydney weren't sitting five feet away from her.
"Um excuse me, I'm right here." Sydney waved her hand in front of her. "And no I'm not one of Scott's betas."
"She's pack; let's just leave it at that." Derek nodded forcefully and Sydney opened her mouth, immediately falling silent as Peter's claws pierced her skin, shutting her up instantly before she had a chance to reveal anything more.
"Well aren't you one of McCall's betas?" Braeden smirked and leaned forward on her chair, locking her eyes onto Derek's.
"Look lady, mind your own business." Sydney broke in and wiggled her hips slightly, forcing Peter's claws out of her flesh. She could feel droplets of blood running along her exposed skin and soaking into her clothes. "Let's get on with this."
Braeden leaned back in the chair and lifted her one foot up, resting it on the small table that resided between them. Soon enough her other foot followed, crossing over the first at her ankle.
"The table's Italian." Peter pointed out, a disgusted tone to his voice. Sydney moved her hands down to where his claws had been and felt for blood. When she pulled her hand away, she was surprised at how quickly the wounds had healed.
"So are these boots." Braeden countered and Derek dropped his head down, clearly trying not to snicker at the battle of wits going on between the stranger and his uncle.
"You went all the way to Italy for those ugly things?" Sydney cocked her head to the side and looked at the mercenary defiantly, slipping her hand down and resting her palm against her thigh. Braeden simply tilted her head and rolled her eyes in response.
"Are we going to talk interior design and fashion or are we going to talk numbers?" Braeden moved the conversation forward, blatantly ignoring Sydney altogether. Apparently in her mind, Sydney didn't hold much pull, which was rather comical because she was the only one in the room with more than enough money to fund this whole job negotiation.
Derek stared at his reflection in the sunglasses and Sydney found herself wondering what was so amusing. It was just his reflection and although she'd never deny that Derek was an attractive man, she couldn't figure out why he was so caught up with his eyes.
Sydney stared at the woman across from her as Peter picked up the pen lying on the table and scribbled a number down on the piece of paper next to it. Sydney pulled her eyes away from the tough looking Braeden long enough to catch the amount that he had written down before he pushed it across the surface of the table for Braeden to see.
Braeden lifted it up, looked at the number and set the paper back down on the table. She took her own pen, put a heavy line through Peter's offer and scrawled down a number of her own, a higher number, a number that drew a growl out of Sydney. Derek's hand came to rest on the female alpha's shoulder as if he were attempting to calm her down.
Sydney shot Derek a glare but returned her attention to the table just in time to witness Peter flipping the paper around so that it was readable. She furrowed her brows at the girl's counter offer but looked at Peter, hoping that he knew what he was doing.
"We're hiring you to find Kate, not assassinate the president." Peter stated and Sydney leaned forward, fighting off the urge to bare her teeth. Derek's fingers dug into her shoulder and pulled her back, clearly sensing that maybe his childhood best friend would have been better off in a different room.
"I was hired by the Calaveras to find Kate. You're hiring me to find her first. Going against the Calaveras is what's going to cost you."
Sydney lifted her head up and let out a feral snarl. "If you know what's good for you, you'll-"
Derek had followed his uncle's lead and brought his claws to surface. Sydney stopped mid-sentence as his razor sharp talons ripped into the flesh on her shoulder, drawing blood instantaneously.
"Leave it alone." Derek muttered, leaving Sydney silent as she watched Peter draw out yet another offer.
She bit down on her tongue and leaned away from Derek, his claws pulling free from her flesh. She glanced at her shirt and growled at him, knowing that he had just intentionally ruined one of the few shirts she owned. Add that to the destroyed material on her hip and she was out an entire outfit. The Hales were going to pay.
Peter shoved the paper back towards Braeden and Sydney fidgeted with the torn material on her shoulder, trying to make it work, hoping that maybe, by some miracle, she could salvage her shirt and make the puncture holes double as a hip and cool design.
Braeden immediately shoved the paper back without even looking at it. Letting out an unamused groan, Peter threw his hands up in frustration before practically jumping off the couch. Sydney glowered at the mercenary but Derek had already pulled the paper towards him and ripped it in half.
"We'll pay." Derek stated and Sydney whipped her head around to glare at him, Peter doing the exact same thing from his standing position not too far away. "Just find Kate, that's all we want."
Braeden let her head drop to the one side, taking Derek's words as them making a deal with her. Sydney reached out and slugged Derek in the shoulder, causing him to sway sideways before he rose up to his feet, Braeden following his lead. She moved her feet off the table reluctantly and headed for the door.
Sydney watched as Peter followed her towards the large loft door, waiting for her to step out into the hallway before hauling the door shut angrily. Sydney winced at the slamming sound but clambered to her feet, jogging up next to Derek and stopping to stand next to him. Derek turned his back to Peter and leaned against the table in front of the window. Sydney pressed her butt against the edge and slipped up onto it, sitting with her legs dangling over the edge.
"Are you insane?!" Peter shouted and planted his hands on his hips. Sydney shook her head but quickly realized that he was irritated with Derek, not with her. Apparently her little outbursts were nothing compared to Derek and his undermining of Peter's offers.
"We didn't have a choice. We spent a week looking for her and came up with nothing." Derek countered calmly, apparently unfazed by Peter's angry outburst.
"If we don't find out who told Kate about the vault, we don't get those bonds back." Peter began marching towards them, although Sydney took notice that Peter's eyes were set on Derek and only Derek. "What do you think I'm going to do then? Huh? Get a job? My resume is slightly out of date."
"Well that's easy enough to fix." Sydney murmured in an extremely lame attempt to make Peter feel like he didn't have to be as hostile towards Derek as he was currently being. "I can draft one up for you."
Peter shot a glare her way but turned his attention back to Derek, closing in on his nephew and coming to a stop right behind him.
"We got robbed Derek, robbed!" Peter reached his hand out and clamped it down on Derek's shoulder. She wasn't entirely sure if Peter pulled on it or if Derek had immediately gone into defensive mode at the pressure but either way, Derek spun around, broke Peter's grip on his shoulder and wrapped his hand around Peter's wrist. His teeth were sharp, his lips curled back and Sydney felt a shiver course through her entire body as Derek let out a deep, guttural roar, his eyes flickering in the process.
Wait a second though, Derek had killed an innocent, his eyes were supposed to be blue, like hers and Peter's but that wasn't blue in his eyes. No, his eyes were golden, the same colour as a werewolf who had yet to take an innocent life.
Sydney pushed herself off the table and moved to stand between the two males. She shoved at Derek's shoulder, desperately trying to get him to back off but he didn't budge.
"That's a new look for you." Peter pointed out and Derek finally ripped his hand away from Peter's wrist, Sydney immediately squishing herself between their bodies to keep them apart.
"The fuck is wrong with you." She grumbled and looked back and forth between them.
"What happened to your eyes?" Peter questioned and Derek's features seemed to go from wild and angry to lost and confused.
"I don't know, but I'm willing to pay to find out." Derek shot back.
"Did Kate do that?" Sydney asked, her voice now the only calm one in the room. "Did she change your eyes?"
"I said I don't know."
"But your eyes should be blue, not yellow." Sydney reached her hand up towards his face but he flinched, her hand dropping down to rest on her hip now. "No offense but I liked your blue eyes better."
"Syd, not now."
"I'm just saying, they were so much prettier-"
"Sydney." Peter ground out name out and she rolled her eyes at them both. Whatever was going on, whatever had happened to Derek, no one in the loft had any answers.
"Just so you know, Braeden may be able to find Kate but no one is going to stop me from ripping her to pieces." Sydney said and immediately stepped forward, removing her body from between them. She pranced forward, leaving Derek to face Peter head on now. Neither male said another word, instead, both of them turned their attention towards Sydney, watching her from behind as she sauntered away.
"She's pretty confident." Derek muttered.
"She's practically a Hale; I think it comes with the territory." Peter countered and moved to follow her lead. Derek shook his head at the two of them. Yes, Sydney was practically a Hale and he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that.
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
"Hey what did you want for dinner?" Sydney's voice carried out into the apartment from the bedroom shortly after her and Peter had arrived home. She had already gathered up the dirty laundry in the bedroom and was about ready to head down to the basement to wash them.
It was almost weird though, how easily domestication had come to her. She hadn't intended to wind up taking care of Peter, she had never intended to stay in his apartment much longer than a few weeks at most, yet here she still was, doing laundry for them both, cooking meals when they weren't out chasing other supernatural creatures, hell she was even grocery shopping when she had time to slip out and get to the store.
"Really? You're thinking about dinner during a time like this!" Peter called out back to her and Sydney rolled her eyes before stepping out of the bedroom and looking around for him. When her eyes landed on him, she shook her head at him. Once again, as usual, he was perched at the island, only this time instead of a book open in front of him, he was sitting in front of a laptop.
"Well you can't just stop eating because you got robbed." Sydney pointed out and closed the distance between her and him, hauling the laundry basket full of dirty clothes up onto the countertop next to the laptop. "Okay I guess technically you can but you're going to need to eat eventually, I think people generally tend to die of starvation when they don't consume some sort of sustenance."
Peter peeled his eyes off the laptop screen and simply glared at her. She didn't budge, she just stared right back at him, waiting for him to answer her question of 'what do you want for dinner'.
"Sydney now's not the time."
"In that case then I'm going to make myself a nice chicken parmesan, maybe some noodles…I'll leave you to worry about yourself then." She smirked and he let out a low growl at her. Okay so maybe she did have a point, he had to eat eventually. He couldn't not eat and survive.
"What about lasagna?" Peter asked with a defeated sigh and watched bitterly as her smirk grew larger.
"I can do that, but only if you say please."
Peter ground his teeth together and slowly turned to face her head on. She just continued to smirk at him, knowing that he wasn't going to win this battle. Sydney reached her hand out and set it on the side of his neck, running her thumb along his jaw.
"Why are you constantly challenging me?" He asked, his tone softer than it had been mere seconds ago. Sydney shrugged at him and took a step forward, her body now inches away from his.
"I think you're forgetting the colour of your own eyes." She pointed out and lifted her hand off his neck, running it over his scalp, her fingers brushing through his hair. "You may have been the alpha before but you and I both know that you're not anymore."
Maybe she was pushing him a little too far. She had every right to, he had some illegitimate child out there and she was angry. She no longer cared as much about being equals; she was pissed off and maybe a little, scratch that- a lot, jealous of Malia. She wasn't going to just lie down and take it.
"You were the one who wanted to remain equals-"
"There it is. I was never your equal Peter. I was merely a pawn, especially in the beginning. I showed up looking for a place to stay, you saw an opportunity. Even when I first became an alpha you were constantly pointing out that it was about power. Well who's got the power now?" She shot back.
"You know what, on second thought, I'll get my own dinner." Peter grumbled and Sydney leaned forward, pressing her lips against his. He tensed at her actions but she just kissed him harder, pressing her chest against his, pinning him against the edge of the island. His own arms came around her back and he held on to her.
When Sydney leaned back, Peter's hold on her tightening, she smiled at him. Peter cocked his head to the side and studied her expression, waiting for her to flash her alpha red eyes at her. When her eyes didn't change, he leaned in and promptly placed a chaste little kiss on her lips.
"Lasagna it is." She nodded. "Any requests for dessert?"
"Not off the top of my head."
"Well that's good because I was thinking something special, maybe chocolate covered strawberries…and maybe chocolate covered Sydney…" She purred and felt his fingers tightening on her skin, his blunt nails biting into her flesh.
"We could just skip dinner and get to dessert right now-"
"After laundry." Sydney giggled and pulled herself out of his grasp. She flashed him a cocky little grin, took hold of the laundry basket and sauntered out of the apartment, throwing an extra little swing in her steps as she went.
She didn't even bother to look back but it didn't matter, she heard the growl emanating from his throat, she could still hear the pounding of his heart. Yes she could easily get his heart beating faster and it meant the world to her. For as long as she could get Peter riled up, well, then there'd be a place for her in his bed.
Her steps turned into little hop-skips and she galloped down the stairs, making her way to the basement with her dirty laundry in tow. When she arrived on the concrete of the basements floor, she pranced towards the laundry room and took a deep inhale. Ah, just the icing on the cake.
The scent of Peter's neighbour Debbie from the apartment below them filled her nostrils and she recalled their last conversation. Debbie has asked Sydney all about Peter, whether he was single, what she was to him and whether or not he was gay. She had answered that he was single, at the time there were merely bed buddies, she was a friend and that he wasn't gay. Yes, things had definitely changed from that point in time to now.
"Sydney, right?" Debbie's friendly voice was laced with curiosity as Sydney sashayed into the laundry room, heading right for one of the washers nearest Debbie.
"Yes." She nodded. "And you're Debbie."
"Yeah! Hey it's good to see you again. I take it that you're still staying with that attractive Peter fellow."
"Oh yeah, still staying with him." Sydney nodded and set her laundry basket on top of the washer. She started grabbing hold of the items inside and tossing them into the washer. Debbie seemed to be watching her very carefully and when Sydney pulled out her clothes from Mexico, stained with dirt and a little bit of blood, the older woman furrowed her eyebrows.
"My, you're certainly…hard…on your clothes."
"Yeah, I'm into some pretty kinky things. It was hard to convince Peter to join me but once he got a taste of it, god, there was no way I could keep him away."
"Kinky things?" Debbie repeated the words cautiously and Sydney nodded her head.
"Bondage, that kind of thing. You know I really wouldn't have expected Peter to be so submissive but god when a woman gets all dominant towards him he just turns to goo." Sydney explained with a smirk. "You should really try it sometime Debbie, I could totally give you some pointers."
"Pointers?" Debbie echoed before she could even think about what she was saying.
"Handcuffs are my favourite but Peter just struggles so much sometimes that we've destroyed the finish on the bedframe." Sydney cooed and shoved the remainder of her clothes into the washing machine.
"Oh, I see. Well that's…that's interesting." Debbie nodded hesitantly. "I thought you had told me before that you and Peter were just friends though?"
"Things change." Sydney shrugged and Debbie stared at Sydney for a few seconds longer, watching carefully, clearly a little perturbed by the female alpha's presence. Sydney flashed her a mischievous smile and Debbie threw her hand up into the air and waved as she quickly scurried out of the room, leaving Sydney all alone with her thoughts. "Oh Debbie."
She dropped the lid of the washing machine down the slightest bit and held it there, taking hold of the laundry detergent and pulling it out of the bottom of her basket. She set the liquid detergent down on the neighbouring washer and reached around to the buttons at the back. Sydney made the right adjustments to the knobs and pulled the one out, nodding her approval as the washer slowly started to fill with water. She set the lid back, took the detergent and managed to pour a bit in before letting the lid slam shut.
By the time she had finished getting her laundry in the machine and going, she felt her phone vibrating against her hip. Sydney reached in and grabbed hold of the device, instantly answering the call from Stiles.
"Syd!?" Stiles' voice was like music to her ears. She adored the boy still and she hated not having much contact with him since they arrived back from Mexico.
"Yeah Stiles, what's up?"
"I need a favour."
"A favour, uh, sure." Sydney replied and leaned her butt against the front of the washing machine, the vibrations from the appliance flowed through her body.
"I need you to uh, to well, to talk to coach about keeping me and Scott on the team."
"The team?" Sydney countered, a confused tone to her voice. "What team?"
"Lacrosse!" Stiles shot back and let out a small sigh, clearly realizing how trivial a thing like lacrosse seemed to Sydney. "Look, I'll explain everything later but can you please just, just call coach and convince him to keep us on the team?"
"I will do what I can." She offered. "But I can't promise anything."
"That's all I ask!"
"Okay…"
"Anyways, I'll talk to you later, yeah later. Bye Syd!"
Sydney didn't even get a chance to say her own goodbye before Stiles hung up on her. She looked at the screen and debated her next move. She had leverage against the coach, she had his interest too which meant that all she had to do was figure out which way she was going to play this out.
Minutes later she dialed Coach Bobby Finstock's number and lifted the phone to her ear, listening to the thing ring. She waited, the phone ringing four times, for the man to pick up. When he finally did, she was almost surprised at his words.
"You paid my hospital bill!" He accused her and she froze, expecting a slightly warmer hello.
"I uh, yeah, yeah I did."
"I owe you-"
"Oh, you owe me. Huh well, then maybe there's something you can do for me, then we can talk about calling it even." She flipped the charm on and came up with her method of dealing with Stiles' request.
"Name it."
"Keep Stiles and his little friend McCall on the lacrosse team." She offered.
"That's it? You don't want a nice fancy dinner, or a bottle of tequila? A private showing of my coaching skills?"
"Not at this present moment." Sydney faked a chuckle. "Just make sure those two stay on the team, okay?"
"Uh, okay, if you're sure that's all-"
"That's all." Sydney cut him off. "Thanks for the chat Bobby."
"Oh yeah, no problem, any time-"
"I've got to go; I'll talk to you later."
"Right-"
"Goodbye Bobby." She purred and pressed the 'end call' button on her phone. She dropped her hand down to her side and shoved her phone back into her pocket. A smile slowly spread across her face but when the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat was heard from behind her, she jumped and let out a small yelp of surprise.
"That sounded like an interesting conversation, I only caught the end but it sounded truly…riveting." Peter murmured as he stepped into the laundry room, glancing back behind him as he closed in on her. "I also ran into that wonderful Debbie on the way down here. She asked me all about how much those pesky handcuffs really damaged my bed."
"Huh. Yeah. Well see Bobby Finstock owed me a favour so I called it in. As for Debbie, she uh, she needs to learn to mind her own business."
Peter wandered towards her, eliminating any and all space between their bodies. He pinned her against the washer as he reached down and grabbed roughly at her hips. She looked up at him and let out a gasp as he hauled her up, placing her butt on top of the running washer.
"For future reference, don't call me submissive, ever again." He growled and nipped at the base of her neck. She went rigid in his hold but not because she was scared. There was no way that he didn't know exactly what he was doing to her. Heart pounding, blood pumping through her veins, hell even her breathing was rapid; she was definitely turned on.
"Then you better prove to me how dominant you can be."
XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX
Author's Note:
Well, Sydney and Braeden do not like each other. How about the Sydney/Derek interactions, how'd you like that? And what do you think Peter meant exactly when he said that 'Sydney was practically a Hale'?
Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!
As always I'd love to hear what you guys think about the chapters, a favourite part, or even if there's something that you don't like, just please review? I love hearing from you guys!
SarcasticEnigma: Uh oh, Syrrish vs. Syder! Their relationship won't be all smooth sailing...
OutlawqueenFTW: Who wouldn't fall in love with Sydney haha, plus she's legal (unlike certain Banshees)...
cecld16: The story will follow season 4 fairly closely with minor changes, don't worry though, Peter still gets his butt kicked
poorxbrokexcollegexkid: He cares about her! The sheriff and Syd would make a great team!
LirealAion: Liam's in the next chapter woohoo!
If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!