Peter awoke to being smacked in the face by the sleeping man that he had had such loving thoughts about not too long before.
He snickered to himself as he carefully rolled Stiles onto his side and tucked his arm under him, spooning in behind the Spark so he could bury his nose into the growing hair, breathing in the scent of the amazing young man.
"Mmm not this time Iron Man! It's the Tango not th…." Stiles muttered in his sleep before starting to snore a little again making Peter grin to himself.
"Peter?" Derek frowned confused as he sat opposite his Uncle, his face unusually serious and concerned.
"We need to talk," Peter sighed.
"Oh god, did the Sheriff catch you and Stiles having sex? Are we fleeing town?" Derek asked with such sure horror that Peter had to stifle his laughter.
"No, no nothing like that, we're not having sex yet,"
"Ugh didn't need that information, a no would have done. So, what is it you need to talk to me about?" Derek frowned confused.
"Stiles told me some information a little while ago, important information about our old Pack. It was something that I did not want to get your hopes up over until we were a little closer," Peter explained.
"Ok…"
"But, we are closer now and I don't want to keep things from you. Cora survived the fire," Peter reached out when Derek swayed and took his hand, squeezing it, offering the feelings of comfort and Pack that he could.
"What...but...where?" Derek breathed out.
"That is the part we don't know. Stiles wasn't informed in...his previous timeline, but he knows she is alive. He also knew of someone that could help us find her soon, sooner than in his timeline. A Bounty Hunter, a good one. She's been found, and she is with Satomi who we are meeting with this morning,"
"I want to be there!" Derek said quickly. Peter inclined his head.
"Of course, go and get ready," Peter managed to smile.
Derek nodded and hurried up the stairs to get ready and Peter dropped his head into his hands. He didn't doubt Stiles, not at all, but this part of Stiles' plan was unknown, Cora had appeared in Beacon Hills last time. He seems sure of this Braedon, but if she couldn't find Cora...He wasn't sure that he would be able to cope with the disappointment, never mind Derek's.
He sighed when arms twined around him from behind, and the scent of Stiles filled his senses. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes as tender kisses were scattered over his face, down his nose making him smile before those delicious lips found his own and bestowed a kiss upon them that was pure comfort.
"It will be ok," Stiles assured him, rubbing their cheeks together gently in comfort as he scented the Alpha. Peter gazed up at him, aware that Derek could hear them from upstairs, but as he looked into those honey eyes he suddenly realised that it would be. If it did not work with this Bounty Hunter, there were other things that they could do, and Stiles wouldn't give in.
"Yes," Peter nodded.
"Now, let's go get things going," Stiles smacked a noisy kiss to Peter's cheek before pulling back to stand as Derek stepped into the room. "Ok?" he asked the other werewolf.
"I'm...alright," Derek said hesitantly.
"We will do this," Stiles said to both Hales.
"Together," Peter nodded standing up.
"Together," Still nodded.
"Do I have hug you both right now?" Derek grimaced.
"Stiles, where are we going?" Peter asked curiously when he realised that the younger man had diverted the jeep from the road that they were supposed to be heading down.
"There is something that I want us to do before we meet Satomi. I trust her, but the trials that bound our packs together last time aren't there this time, and I want us going in with a little something more behind us. Also, there is something that we need to deal with," Stiles explained.
"OK, what is it?" Derek asked curiously leaning forward in his seat.
"What do you remember about the Nematon?" Stiles asked softly.
"It was a magical tree stump on Hale Land, a focal point of magic or something like that," Peter said before glancing back at Derek.
"Do you know?" Derek asked hesitantly.
"I do, I am sorry Derek, you were both young and stupid, but it wasn't either of your fault,"
"Paige wasn't…" Derek flared up growling and flashing the blue eyes that he had acquired through the death of Paige.
"I was talking about you and Peter, not Paige," Stiles interrupted before he could get his knickers into too much of a twist.
"Me!" Peter protested.
"You were trying to be clever and manipulate things to the way you wanted them to go, you were pushing against Talia's authority. You had a part to play well," Stiles scolded gently.
"I…"
"Why are we going to the Nematon, Mom removed the memories of where it was and some of what happened from our memories," Derek interrupted, his curiosity of that place enough to allow him to brave the snarl of his Alpha he knew he would get, and did indeed get.
"Stop posturing just because you have your tail in a twist," Stiles reached out and whacked Peter in the chest before he pulled the jeep to a halt in the clearing where the large, ominous stump sat waiting for them.
"What are we doing here Stiles?" Peter asked, not taking his eyes off of the stump, all three of them feeling the magic of the place.
Stiles, however, seemed to be someone completely different, someone, that neither of them had seen before as he slid out the jeep and made his way as though in a trace to the stump. Peter and Derek exchanged a look as they both could feel the echo of pain coming from Stiles.
When they reached him he was at the Nematon and was reaching out to brush his fingers over it before he turned to them with a serious expression.
"The Nematon is currently asleep, hibernating, but all it takes is one wrong move, one wrong person and they will be able to gain control over it and use it. I believe that the Nematon is meant to be awake during this time, but the Nematon is a neutral power, it doesn't care as long as it is getting power. What happened with Paige, it fed it power, it saw it as a sacrifice…"
"It wasn't…"
"It does not matter how you meant it, the reason you did it, or the pain that it has caused you, the Nematon doesn't care it just sees power," Stiles said, and he seemed...tired. "It woke briefly when the Alpha Pack was formed a few years ago, a young emissary was nearly killed by her Alpha Kali. She managed to make it to the Nematon and take the power that had been fed into it just long enough to hold on for my dad to find her,"
"Ok, what does this have to do with our pack?" Peter asked seeing the shadows in Stiles' memories.
"I believe that if we don't bind the Nematon to us, then others will be able to and the risk for our Pack could be large, I am worried that if we are not proactive in this we will be reacting to it the way that we did before,"
"And what is the negative to it?" Peter asked without accusation.
"It can give us more power, and it will make a lot of people think twice before they try to take us on with the power of it at our backs," Stiles explained before he meant Peter's eyes. "But we would bind ourselves to it and to the land. The original Hale Alpha made a promise to the Nematon that she would protect it and the land, and in return, the Hale spark has been a strong spark. Were we to reiterate that promise, it would make us more secure, but we would be bound to this land,"
"When you say we…"
"You and I, you as the Alpha of this land, me as your emissary, making sure that the magic is used to its full advantage," Stiles tilted his head back in challenge as Peter approached him, gripping his chin and meeting his amber golden eyes with his own red ones.
"You would be binding yourself to me too,"
"This isn't some cheesy love story, I am not binding myself to you forever in a loving act because I have realised that I want to spend the rest of my life with you in the short time that we have been doing this," Stiles motioned between himself and Peter.
"Derek," Peter commanded over his shoulder.
"Yeah yeah," Derek grumbled to himself. Stiles watching over Peter's shoulder as Derek climbed back into the jeep, closing the door and turned the radio on loud, blocking the sound of the conversation that was clearly going to take place.
"I shouldn't have done this now," Stiles said softly.
"But we are, and you were partially right, doing this before seeing Satomi was the right thing to do. So now we talk about it," Peter smiled gently, running his fingers over Stiles mole dotted cheeks.
"We should wait and…"
"Bind me to the Nematon and then later we can discuss you," Peter said firmly.
"The magic could rip you apart," Stiles shook his head.
"I am a Hale, this is my land, the chance of that is not likely. And I don't want us bound together because you are worried about the future that could repeat itself…"
"You can't do that Peter, I am…"
"I am your Alpha, it is my job to look after you and make sure that we are the strongest and the best that we can be, it is my job it look after you, and I want to care for you, to take what weight from your shoulders that I can," Peter pulled Stiles closer when he opened his mouth and sealed their lips together.
"You can't…"
"I can, and I will," Peter growled and yanked Stiles firmly against him. "You fought hard to come back here, you chose this moment, you have fought to get us here, now I am going to do everything that I can to make sure that you never suffer that future again, and together we can avoid that. But you don't have to take it all onto your shoulders, you don't have to make the sacrifices constantly to stop it,"
"Bind myself to you wouldn't be a sacrifice," Stiles frowned.
"Of course it wouldn't be, have you seen me, and I am sane now as well. But not right now. Bind me as the Hale Alpha, and later when we both know the time is right, we will enhance the bond with you. Besides, I am offended at the lack of confidence that you have in my ability to control my own land,"
"I know exactly what you're doing," Stiles narrowed his eyes.
"That is because you know how good at manipulation I am. Now, tell me how you bind me to the Nematon and how we will bind you when the time is right," Peter brushed over it.
"You're annoying. To bind you all it will take is a little bit of your blood and a small chant from me and you will be bound to the Nematon, it is refreshing the Hale bond with it rather than forging a new one. As for me…"
"Why are you blushing?" Peter smirked.
"If you are already bound to the Nematon, adding me into the bond, the best way to do it will be...well..sex magic," Stiles could feel his face burning, and Peter was clearly relishing in it.
"Could you repeat that?" Peter asked lowly.
"No!"
"Just how innocent are you sweetheart?" Peter asked, managing to sound both hungry and gentle at the same time.
"In case you didn't pick up on it, I have been busy fighting and surviving and…"
"Didn't say it was a bad thing sweetheart, knowing that I am going to be the only person that knows the heat and embrace of your body, knowing that I am going to be the only person that gets to know you, that is beyond my wildest dreams,"
"You're so sure that you are going to be the only person that I have sex with, but you want to wait for me to bond to the Nematon as well?" Stiles frowned.
"I want to be your choice Stiles, you will choose to spend your life with me, you will choose me to be the first and only person that you share your body with, just as you will choose to bond with the Nematon as well, and bond the two of us together, but because you're scared," Peter shook his head before claiming those lips again.
"Peter," Stiles topped the older man as he turned towards the Nematon once he released the Spark, clearly ready to complete the bonding.
"Hmm?" Peter turned to face Stiles, his blue eyes glowing in the sunlight almost as though they were supernatural.
"Maybe this could be one of those love stories," Stiles said softly enough that only supernatural hearing would have heard it. He turned his eyes away from those intense eyes to complete the ritual needed to bind Peter to the Nematon.
Because he would not accept losing Peter to the Nematon, it was going to be a bonding and nothing else, he wouldn't lose Peter. He glared at the Nematon and made the silent vow that if it did anything but bond with Peter he would make sure that he burnt it to ashes.
"Peter Hale, it has been a while," Satomi nodded as they walked into the front room and found the other Alpha sitting there waiting for them.
"Quite a while,"
"You were so young the last time that I saw you, and Derek Hale, you were little more than a boy the last time I saw you," Satomi ran her eyes over the two Hales before she then turned her attention to Stiles.
"Hello," Stiles waved cheerfully.
"And you are the mysterious new pack member that organised all this on behalf of Peter. But, you are not a wolf," she said curiously.
"No I am not," Stiles grinned.
"Stiles is something else," Peter snorted and actually grinned when Stiles nudged their shoulders together. Derek sighed in quite the put upon manner rolling his eyes.
"Yes, I can see that age has its advantages," Satomi was scanning her eyes over Stiles with the look of faint recognition but not being able to put her finger on it.
"And the fact that you are quite intelligent," Stiles chuckled.
"Quite intelligent, considering you are with Peter and from I remember of him his intelligence was always incredibly impressive, I will take that as a compliment," Satomi smiled a little.
"It was meant as one," Stiles nodded.
"So, first things first, you have asked me to track down Braedon the Bounty Hunter, she is here now," Satomi nodded to her second who opened the door and disappeared into the house.
"Thank you for finding her for us," Peter nodded his head.
"I have to admit that I am curious as to what you can want with her, considering that you have avenged your Pack and have only just taken control of Beacon Hills,"
"I have to admit I am curious about that myself," Braedon said as she strolled into the room. She looked younger, and she, of course, did not have the distinguishing scars that Stiles was so used to seeing on her face. "Do we know each other?" She asked seeing Stiles attention on herself.
"In a manner of speaking. This is the amount that you will get upon the completion of our request, this is our deposit," Stiles threw the pouch he had in his pocket down onto the coffee table.
He had Peter settled back onto the sofa looking as relaxed as they could, Derek less so, but then he did not have the experience that they did in the politics of Pack.
The two of them had agreed upon the amount that they would offer Braedon, Stiles knew the amount that she would work for, the lowest amount, and Peter had agreed to the amount that he could afford and still set up their Pack with a comfortable future. Something that was not difficult considering the amount that the Hales had.
"And what am I being propositioned for?" Braedon asked curiously as she leant forward before blinking when she opened the pouch and her deposit fell out. "This is…"
"A defence charm it will deflect most attacks and harm for against you on an initial attack that will give you time to defend yourself and go onto the offensive," Stiles nodded.
"This is worth a lot of money," Braedon blinked looking up at them.
"It is worth more than money, it is worth your life," Peter snorted.
"And why would you do something like this?" Braedon asked him. He was keeping himself as steady as possible, but Stiles knew that Braedon would have noticed the twitch on his face, even though she was looking at Peter. The truth was he didn't want to risk her being harmed the way she had before, he didn't want to see her ripped apart.
"Because I want to make sure that you do what I am hiring you for as quickly as possible, and not to be distracted," Peter leant back and placed his arm along the back of the sofa before Stiles, offering the support that he knew Stiles needed.
"And what is that?"
"Find Cora Hale,"
