The Wolf Within
Summary: Having a pack was nice, having her family together would be nicer but Sydney was well aware that things weren't going to be easy when it came to piecing her life together. This was Beacon Hills after all… Season 6: Peter Hale/OC
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.
Epilogue: many years later…
"Mom?" Sam was trying to be quiet but at the same time she was desperate to locate her mother in her very own house. She wasn't sure who was home but she knew that someone was; she had heard their heartbeat from outside the front door. There was only one person who she wanted though and that was her mother, Sydney Hale, and no one else.
Not Peter, not Bruin, not even Derek this time. She just wanted her mom, she needed her, she didn't know what to do and she trusted that her mother would be able to help her out of the pickle that she had managed to get herself into.
At eighteen Sam wasn't by any means vying for her parents' attention like a little kid, but tonight was a special circumstance, a very, very special circumstance. She needed her mom, she needed to know what to do about what had just happened to her and she knew that the only person who wouldn't immediately fly off the handle at her was Sydney, who would hopefully help her. Peter, now he was a different story.
Yes he loved her, he trusted her and he would do anything to protect her, but this was something totally unexpected, something that Sam had never anticipated happening to her. She didn't trust that her dad wouldn't get mad at her and yell at her, as she rightfully deserved. She didn't want that though, not now anyway, not until things were taken care of.
"Mom, hello?" Sam hissed as she ventured further into the house. She still had an hour until curfew but this was much more important that worrying about being home on time, in fact, she knew she'd be heading back out of the house, just as soon as she had her mother in tow, and maybe some helpful equipment. "Anyone?"
She wasn't expecting her little sister to step out into the main hallway, but when Bruin wandered into her line of sight, Sam stiffened and stared at the girl that was biologically Sydney and Peter's. Part of her always felt like she wouldn't be able to live up to her parents' standards, especially not with Bruin being such a perfect little child, and especially not after they found out what had happened to her tonight.
No, Sam wasn't perfect anymore, she had ruined her good daughter reputation, and that scared her more than admitting to what she had done.
"Where's mom?" Sam asked, going on the defensive before Bruin could get a word in. She knew that her little sister could hear her heart pounding in her chest, hell she could probably smell the nervousness wafting off her body, but the one good thing about Bruin was that she was often on Sam's side, not ratting her out to their parents, not that she really ever had too.
"She's out with Charlie, at least I think that's where she is." Bruin answered with a shrug. She looked at her older sister, studying her and taking a few steps closer to her. Bruin stepped around her, but came to a stop in front of her, looking her up and down. "Are you okay?"
"I'm uh…yeah I'm fine." Sam lied through her teeth and when Bruin, who was cleverer than anyone had anticipated leveled her with a glare, Sam let out a frustrated sigh, throwing her arms up into the air. "I'm not fine, I need mom, something bad happened tonight."
"But are you okay?" Bruin pressed, hoping that her sister was physically fine. She didn't want Sam to be hurt, she didn't want Sam to be in trouble, she just wanted her sister to be okay.
"I guess…yeah." Sam let out a sigh and Bruin launched herself at her older sister, wrapping her arms around her bigger sister's middle, trying to offer her any sort of reassuring she could through physical touch. "Bruin, it's…"
"It's okay, I still love you." Bruin whispered. "No matter what."
Sam sucked in a shaky breath and hugged her sister back. When Bruin finally pulled away seconds later, she met her little sister's eyes and flickered her irises, showing her exactly what the trouble was. When Bruin met Sam's eyes, she gaped at the sight of alpha red eyes on her sister, whose usual colour of werewolf eyes was yellow.
"Sam." Bruin whimpered. "Dad's not going to be happy."
Sam took her bottom lip in between her teeth and blew out a breath, letting her eyes return to their normal human colour, "I know, that's why I want mom."
"It's kind of cool." Bruin forced a smile onto her face, but Sam could tell it was more for her benefit than anything. She wasn't lying though, Sam could tell that her little sister was actually sort of impressed, she just didn't know how their parents were going to handle the news, but Sam figured her mom would be a little more accepting than her dad, plus her mom would be able to help her break the news to her dad, right?
Oh dear god she hoped that her dad wouldn't be too upset.
"She's not here." Bruin echoed her words from earlier. "But dad is…"
Sam tensed at the sound of approaching footsteps and when her dad stepped around the corner and stopped a few feet in front of her, she froze and felt a shiver run down her spine. Okay, maybe she could bypass him completely, maybe she could simply ask him where her mother was exactly and when she was going to be home, and then be on her way. Peter Hale, as infamous as he was, didn't seem like the kind of father to let his kid get away with murder, literally.
"Your mother's out with that incessant woman she calls her best friend." Peter pointed out and crossed his arms over his chest. He studied Sam in the dimly lit hallway and narrowed his eyes in on her as he took in her scent, which was somehow different that it normally was. "You smell like blood."
"Huh, yeah, about that-"
"Are you hurt?" Peter rushed forward and stepped around her, looking for wounds, searching for the source of the blood. Sam shook her head and spun around on her heel, coming face to face with her dad.
"Not exactly." Sam shied away from his gaze and it wasn't until Peter's hand rested gently on her shoulder that she looked back up at him, her heart beginning to pound in her chest. "When do you think mom's going to be home?"
"I'm not sure. Is there something I can help you with?" Peter drawled and narrowed his eyes in on Sam, even going as far as to bring his vibrant blue irises out. Sam knew that she was supposed to do the same except he'd be expecting golden eyes, when she squeezed her eyes shut though, she prayed that he wouldn't freak out too much.
Sucking in a nervous breath, she slowly opened her eyes and watched as her father took a step backwards, a curious expression etched on his face at the sight of the glowing red eyes of his daughter. Well that was certainly not what he was expecting.
"Dad-" Bruin started but Peter held up his hand to her, silencing her with the action.
"Where did you get those?" Peter asked, eyes glued to Sam as he fought off the urge to growl. Part of him was proud that Sam was now an alpha, sure, but another part of him, a bigger part, wanted to know how the hell she had managed that and what exactly had happened to her? Was she in danger, was the pack in danger?
There was so much more at stake than just Sam's well-being at this point in time, but Sam was his little girl, and she would come first.
As much as he believed in true alphas, he figured that she wasn't that type, which had to mean that she had stolen the alpha spark from someone else.
"You can't freak out!" She exclaimed and planted her hands on her hips. "This is why I wanted mom."
"Well she's not available. Sam, tell me what happened." Peter stated firmly and closed in on her, leaning down to get a better look at her glowing red eyes.
"I was with Raleigh and this guy just attacked us." Sam murmured and tensed as Peter's hand came down on the top of her head. He gently twisted her head to the side and continued to study her eyes, a knowing look taking up residence on his face at the mentioning of Raleigh, who was one of Sam's closest friends. "It was self defense, I swear, I didn't mean to kill him."
"Where's the body now?" Peter asked firmly and let go of her head. "Please tell me you didn't just leave him-"
"Raleigh's there, he said he was going to carry the guy to the preserve. I just left him to get mom, I figured she'd know…she'd know what to do."
"In all honesty, you probably should've gone to Derek, he's the one who's dug the most graves, although I can't fault you for thinking your mother would know what to do, it wouldn't be her first experience with a dead alpha." Peter rolled his eyes and bit back a smile, the thought of his own young wife being an alpha had pleased him, for the most part. "Go to the garage, grab all the shovels you can find. I'll go call Aidan to watch Bruin and then head upstairs to change."
Bruin made a move to protest but before she could get a word out, Peter leveled his youngest with a glare, silencing her with a mere look. Bruin raised her hands in surrender, waiting for Peter to instruct them further.
"Dad, I swear I didn't mean to." Sam pleaded and Peter shook his head.
"I believe you. We'll get this all squared up okay."
Sam's nose scrunched up in confusion, why wasn't her dad freaking out on her? She had killed a man, she had taken someone's life and he seemed more concerned with why Sam was looking for her mother instead of asking Derek for help. What was wrong with him, why wasn't he reacting more like she had been expecting? Why was he being so…so calm?
"Dad-"
"Sam, shovels." Peter cut her off and stepped around her, heading for the stairs so that he could change, just like he had told her he was going to do. "If you can find a pick ax, or even a hatchet, I'd grab that too."
"Dad, what are-"
"I know the perfect spot to bury him but we're going to need to work fast." Peter glanced over his shoulder and leveled a glare on his daughter. "Try calling your mother while I call Aidan, see if she can't meet us at the entrance to the preserve…alone."
Sam bit down on her tongue and kept her mouth shut. She wasn't entirely sure what the hell was going through his head and she wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of helping him bury a body that she was responsible for. Then again, what other choice did she have? She had no idea what to do or where to bury the guy, she wasn't sure how Raleigh was faring getting the body to the preserve to start with. All she knew was that she was going to take what she could get and right now that was an eerily calm offer of help from her very own father.
As soon as he was no longer within sight, Sam produced her cell phone from her pocket, shot off a quick text to Raleigh letting him know that she was bringing reinforcements and then called her mother, praying to god she didn't sound as freaked out as she was.
Bruin shot her a reassuring smile and disappeared into the kitchen where she would wait until Aidan showed up to look after her. She would've argued that she didn't need a babysitter but the unsettling look on her dad's face had suggested maybe she should just accept it. There was no point in fighting, there were bigger things to worry about and Bruin just prayed that Sam would be okay.
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Peter had surprised himself by being so calm, but then again, Sam was his daughter. Biological or not, he had vowed a long time ago to protect her at all costs and the current predicament that she had gotten herself into wasn't something he was unfamiliar with. His own wife had ended the lives of a couple of people, his nephew had been responsible for a couple of his own, but Peter knew that he was the least innocent of them all. His total number of kills was bigger than both Sydney and Derek's combined, one of the victims had been his own family, ripped in half before she had even known who had attacked her.
He had known, the second Sam confessed to what she had done, that he didn't have a solid leg to stand on. With that in mind, he had instructed her on what to do, which is precisely why he was now knee deep in a giant hole in the forest floor next to Raleigh: Sam's best friend.
The boy was digging alongside Peter while Sam worked away on wrapping the body of the fallen alpha, if only to stifle the putrid stench of death. What the hell had she gotten herself into and why was Peter helping her without pressing her for more details, or being a little more upset with her for what she had done?
When the hole was about halfway dug, he paused and listened to the fast approaching footsteps. Peter glanced upwards and caught sight of Sydney running right for them. She slowed down as she closed in on them and wandered over towards Sam, who was using duct tape to secure the wrapping around the body.
"What the hell happened?" Sydney asked and suddenly her red eyes were boring in on Peter, who merely scoffed at the silent accusation.
"She did this all on her own." Peter countered calmly and waved a hand in Sam's direction.
"What?" Sydney gaped at him and looked back towards Sam, who was clearly avoiding Sydney's gaze like the plague. "Sam, what did you-"
"He attacked us." Raleigh spoke up and paused in his digging. "This guy came out of nowhere and just went after us. He was an alpha, I didn't think we stood a chance but Sam, she just…she was amazing."
"The female of the species is more deadly than the male." Peter muttered, a hint of smugness to his tone, and carried on digging.
Sydney cocked her head to the side and dropped down into a crouch next to her daughter. She set a hand on the blonde teenager's shoulder and drew Sam's gaze towards hers.
"Is that true?" Sydney asked in a hushed whisper.
"Yeah." Sam sighed in response.
"And you're okay with this?" Sydney directed her question in Peter's direction.
"You and I don't really have the right to reprimand her considering our pasts." Peter pointed out and drove the end of his shovel into the ground. "I'm not happy about it but what's done is done. At this point, I'm more concerned about how we're going to explain her new alpha status to the rest of the packs."
Sydney nodded her understanding and slipped an arm around Sam's shoulders, feeling the girl collapse against her. Sydney held on to her and peered over at Peter, who was focused right back on digging, Raleigh matching his every move without skipping a beat.
"Mom, I swear, I didn't mean to." Sam murmured and Sydney ran her hand over Sam's back, trying to reassure her that it was okay, it would be okay.
"We could tell them the truth." Sydney said with a sigh and waited for anyone to object. When no one did, she shook her head.
"I'm sorry." Sam whimpered. "I'm sorry that my eyes are different now."
"Different but still beautiful." Peter stated without missing a beat. Sydney felt her lips pulling upwards into a smile and when she peered back over at Peter, he was still digging.
It wasn't ideal that her little girl had ended up taking the life of an alpha and Sydney knew that it wouldn't come without consequences, but for that minute, that very second, she'd do whatever she could to let Sam know that she wasn't going to be loved any less.
Peter caught Sydney's gaze and brought out his own glowing blue irises, Sydney countering with her red eyes, both of them knowing what colour her eyes had been prior to her becoming an alpha.
Peter, as usual, was right. Neither one of them really had anything they could say to her. They'd just have to figure it out as they went because nothing was going to hurt their little girl, alpha or not, and Sydney knew that this was only the calm before the storm.
Killing an alpha never went unnoticed, but Sam had Sydney and Peter to protect her, no one, not a soul, was going to get anywhere near her.
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That's it, that's all there is...I hope you guys enjoyed Peter and Sydney's journey, I put a lot of effort into it and the response was great! Thank you everyone who read, reviewed, favourited and alerted!