Once they got the girl's body down from the tree, they decided to bury her. If the Hales weren't so affected by fire, they would have burnt the corpse. Her body being found wouldn't help any of them. Hunters and Homicide investigators would question and blame them and that wouldn't help anyone. None of them could get the girl's image out of their heads, even as they piled on the last remaining shovel-fulls of dirt over her.

The symbol was what bothered Stiles the most. He felt disrespectful when he took a photo of the symbols etched onto her bodies. No one questioned it but he could feel the disapproving glances thrown in his way. Whatever it was, he knew it was important and if he couldn't get it out of them, then he'd research it later and find out for himself.

When she was buried deep enough so that no one could come across her and dig her up, they headed back to the house wordlessly. Reassured that Erica was soothing Heather, Stiles walked alongside Derek and Scott. Peter walked in front on his own as expected.

As soon as they were all changed out of those clothes and bathed, (they didn't want or need that smell lingering on them), Peter called them down for a pack meeting with the main purpose in mind of telling Boyd what he has been surprisingly patient to hear.

"There wasn't any ID on her body. No phone. No purse. Whoever she is, she doesn't matter" Peter remarked harshly before sighing, "This was a message to us"

"So what's the message? Stay sway? You're next?" Heather questioned.

"Possibly"

After some reflective silence on the possible danger, Stiles spoke up.

"Apart from the obvious, what enemies do we have?" surprising himself a little by referring to his former friends as enemies.

There was a look exchanged between Scott, Peter and Derek that made everyone else feel uneasy. A reluctant acknowledgement between the three that whatever they were going to say next wasn't going to be good

"It wasn't just our family that perished in the fire", Derek explained "We had family friends who were there that night too"

"We didn't realise it but we weren't the only survivors left" Scott contributed, "There were others who were alone, scared, who became..." be trailed off not knowing how to phrase it.

''Who became bitter'' Peter finished.

Stiles and Heather took a moment let the knowledge settle with them. If he wasn't so intent on finding out more, he might have checked to see if Boyd and Erica already knew.

''And the markings on the girl's body? I think we can rule out hunters on that one, they never used tags, so who is it?''

Another silence ensued.

''Like humans, we have our own origin stories and religions. The symbols...'' Derek hesitated in remembering, ''… on the girl's body represent a religion-''

''-Cult'' Peter interrupted.

Derek shook his head and rolled his eyes slightly before carrying on, ''- called the Artemists. Their faith devotes itself to the worship of Artemis-''

''-The Greek goddess of hunting'' Stiles interrupts.

Derek nods his head while Peter scoffs, ''A bunch of nonsense''

''Just because you don't believe'' Scott says defensively

''You're right I don't'' He responds bored, ''Anyway, that's not the point. Continue Derek''

Derek raises an eyebrow but continues, ''Anyway, before the fire we were friends with an Artemist priest. Priest Daehler''

''Daehler was a good man'',

Peter's statement was as fond as it was brief.

''Yeah he was'' Derek added quietly.

Another silence filled the room. A sad recognition for a topic unspoken of.

''If you don't feel like you can talk about it-''

Derek cut off Heather ''-We need to talk about it'', he never wanted pity from that girl. He sighed and composed himself from the sudden rise to anger, ''The night of the fire, Priest Daehler and his wife died. So did several others. But what we didn't know was that their son, Matthew, had also made it out alive''

The pieces started to fit together in Stiles' head. ''So you think he did this?''

''No, he probably got some beta do it for him'' Peter sneered, ''He was always a cowardly and creepy kid''

''Beta?'' Heather questioned audibly, ''He's an alpha?''

Peter nodded and Derek explained it, ''Priest Daehler was an alpha. Not a very powerful one with him being a man of the cloth''

''What does him being a priest got to do with his power?''

Peter gave a slightly mocking laugh that wasn't appreciated but he answered nonetheless, ''It has everything to do with his power. An alpha's power is increased by two things: increasing the size of his pack and a higher body count''

''So he wants to become more powerful'' Stiles stated slowly in annoyed realisation.

Peter gave an odd grin, ''Correct''

''That doesn't answer why he left her in the woods for us to find! Or why he scratched that symbol all over her body?!''

Peter gladly stepped forward to explain as he walked around the group, ''When we said he became bitter, what we really meant was that Matt became fucking insane and blamed us for the fire and his parent's deaths''

Stiles scoffed, ''That's ridiculous, everybody knows that-'' and the words became dead in his mouth, feeling immediate shame as he remembered that all of the sorrow and the pain and the heartache in front of him was caused by someone he once loved so dearly.

Whilst he saw the confusion flicker in Heather's eyes, something unrecognisable flooded Derek's. Stiles thought it might be guilt when he looked down at his feet and refused to look up at anyone.

''We know'' Peter offered comfortingly, ''but Matt relied on his faith to cope with his grief too much. Blaming us for not worshipping Artemis. That she punished us all out of insubordination, which I never understood given that I was the only cynic in our family''

"So is this some sort of revenge?"

The cogs turned in Stiles' head.

"What if it wasn't for us?"

Everyone looks at him completely bewildered.

"It's our territory" Derek pointed out, "who else would it be for?"

'Maybe he isn't strong enough to take us on. The fire probably weakened him and his pack probably isn't that big. So if he couldn't take us on-"

"-He'd get the Argents to do it by making us think we killed that girl" Derek finished.

"Then we should counteract" Peter said so casually given the brutal meaning behind his words.

"What? And start a pack war while fending off the Argent's?! Yeah cause that's something we'd survive" Scott added while rolling his eyes.

"I don't see what other option we have" Peter gritted out, his eyes flashing red as he did.

Stiles sighed and suggested the only thing he could think of, "I think we need to go for the diplomatic approach"

"What, with hunters?" Erica laughed derisively before turning serious, "They'd kill us on sight never mind if we tried talking to them"

They all knew it was true. Especially with the Hale pack. They never liked the integration they had with humans. It was always too risky. If the general public found out, the nation would be in pandemonium. Neither hunters nor werewolves wanted that. Even before they started outright hunting the wolves, they were always there. Watching, waiting for a mistake. They even told Derek he had to stop playing basketball if he wolfed out on the court.

After the pack meeting was dissembled, the entire house was too quiet and sullen for several days. They all agreed that the best thing they could do at the moment would be to survey the town to try and prevent any more murders from happening and that was what their nights had consisted of lately. Ultimately they couldn't do it forever. They all knew it would come to a head somehow.

A fight seemed inevitable with Daehler's pack but it was hard to prepare against an enemy you knew almost nothing about. They didn't know how many members they had. How strong they were. If their relationship with the Argents were any worse than the Hale's had. Whether they could agree on a common enemy. There were so many factors they couldn't account for.

Either way it seemed like they would be fighting a war on two sides with no peaceful way out.

Stiles kicked the end of his bed in frustration at the unfair nature of it all.

He had accepted at this point he was firmly on their side. He couldn't go home and after seeing what Heather went through he doesn't want to be reduced to an omega: alone and defenceless. Although those feelings didn't feel too differently to the ones he felt now. A foreboding shadow looming over him that he's felt since the day he turned into a werewolf.

As Stiles sulked across the hall, he regarded Peter with curious eyes when he made a come hither signal with his finger and retreated into his office. His soundproof office. Whatever he wanted, it warranted privacy. He was unsure whether to feel honoured or threatened but he obeyed him nonetheless and shut the door behind him.

Stiles stood there silently while Peter regarded him with a stare that felt penetrating and scrutinising on an uncomfortable level. His arms were crossed and he stood there rigidly. Whether Stiles kept his fists tight by his side out of preparation or fear he was unsure.

''Do you remember that right here in this office when you told me that you felt like pack?''

An innocent enough question that felt almost anti climatic compared to the possible outcomes Stiles was thinking about.

Stiles nodded dumbly.

Peter smiled, ''Of course you do. Now it's time to prove it''

''How?'' was Stiles immediate response, his apprehensive tone not hidden.

''You suggested the diplomatic approach. It's not usually my thing, I prefer to just claw out their throats and be done with it but clearly this calls for something less... primal than that. And you...'' he stepped closer to Stiles. ''… are the key''

Before Stiles had even opened his mouth to question it, Peter began to explain.

''As far as the hunters are aware you are MIA or possibly dead, correct?''

''Yes'' he hissed, still pained at the constant reminder of his lost kin. Even with the addition of a new one.

''So they won't shoot you on sight. And they may have enough sentimentality for you left to at least listen to what you have to say''

Stiles scoffed. ''It won't work. They all take the vow. If Lahey shot his own turned wife, they won't have a problem with me''

''Then that's a risk we'll have to take''

Stiles poked him in the chest, ''Except it won't be your risk, it'll be mine''

Peter's eyes bleed red and Stiles knows he's pushed it too far again when Peter roughly grabs his face with his hand.

''Do you really think patrolling the town's gonna work? Hm? We don't know how many of them there are and we can't an eyes out all the time. Daehler's pack will kill and the hunter will come after us. This is the only way. You say you're one of us now but I don't believe it. Not really. If you're truly my beta, you will prove yourself by doing this. Understood? Argent?''

Stiles remained silent and still, weighing up all his options. A hard thing to do when your alpha is in front of you with his hand clasping your jaw. All of his instincts are telling him to obey his alpha and when his claws start to protrude his cheeks, he grits out a reluctant, ''Yes''.

Peter smiles and scrapes his claws out of Stiles face.

''You go alone and you don't tell the others. If they see you with another werewolf, they won't hesitate to shoot you both. Now prepare to leave before sunrise''

Stiles shut the office door behind him and retreated to his bedroom and curled up on the bed. He felt like a soldier forced into the battlefield. He'll be at the mercy of his former friends. People he lovingly called 'family'. He clamps his eyes shut and wills his heart to calm down.