Stiles went to school for the first time on Wednesday.

The night before, Peter and Talia had a late-night discussion if they should tell Cora that one of her teachers was a hunter but they had agreed that they wanted to wait for Stiles' report.

On one hand, Peter was breathing easier because now there was somebody who had an eye on Cora and Kate.

On the other hand, Peter was worried how Stiles would fit into school. According to him, he'd never been to one. He'd watched High School Musical if that counted as research? Peter hoped that he'd been joking.

Over the morning, Peter got two text messages from Stiles, telling him that everything was fine, which was not reassuring at all. What was happening over there that Stiles felt the need to tell him that everything was fine?

Peter would drive out to the lake later, he wanted a detailed report, but for now, he could only wait. There was no news on the other hunters so Peter kept himself busy with checking out hunting cabins in remote areas. They hadn't been spotted in town for days now and neither Chris nor Kate Argent had anything hinting at their true profession at home. If Peter didn't count the guns Chris had in his garage but the ammunition he also had in there were just regular bullets. He was an arms dealer by trade. It led Peter to the conclusion that they had set up base somewhere else. Somewhere remote.

Without a hint in which direction to look, the search was time-consuming and frustrating but Peter needed to do something. Aside from a pissed off raccoon, he found nothing, though.

When he came back to the house in the afternoon, most of the pack was already there.

With the hunters in town, things were tense but since there was no immediate danger, the normal day to day problems were more important.

Michael and Christina were discussing baby names, with input from Pamela and Deborah, while Anthony was helping Emily with her homework. Boyd and Erica were in their own little world while Isaac was glaring at his homework as if he wanted to set it on fire. Talia and Walter were in the kitchen, preparing dinner it sounded like but Peter didn't go to check because he didn't want to get roped into helping. Instead, he headed over to the group currently arguing if Timothy was too old-fashioned.

However, before he could join the discussion, Cora came out of nowhere, grabbed him by the wrist, and hissed: "We need to talk."

With that, she dragged him out of the room.

This was about Stiles, Peter knew that. Maybe he should have given her a warning. He let her drag him up the stairs to the library.

"Why the fuck is Stiles in my class?" She hissed once Peter had closed the door. Even with a closed door and one floor between them and the rest of the pack, they better kept their voices down if they didn't want half the pack to know what they were talking about.

"Language, young lad," Peter said just because and sauntered over to one of the chairs. "He's the sheriff's nephew and I heard that he'd moved in with him. At least for now. So, of course, he goes to school here." Peter made himself comfortable in the chair but his mind was racing. How much should he tell her?

"Bullshit." She was looming over him, an accusing finger right in his face.

Flashing his eyes, he snapped his fangs at it.

Cora growled back at him but kept her fingers to herself.

"Kate Argent, your English teacher." Peter made a decision. He'd wanted to keep Cora in the dark, partly to protect her, partly so that she couldn't give away information by accident, but he had to give her something now.

"What about her?" She blinked in surprise, the gold vanishing from her eyes.

"She's one of the hunters your mom told you about." Peter made an inviting gesture to the chair next to him and to his surprise, Cora sat down.

"No, she's …," she started but didn't know what to say to that. "You're wrong."

"No." Peter shook his head. "She comes from a long line of hunters. I don't know what she's planning but I doubt that she's taken the job as a teacher just because she was bored. It is not a coincidence that she's in your class."

"No."

"We didn't want to tell you," Peter admitted. "We didn't want to worry you."

"You didn't want me to give away that you know about her." Cora gave him a look that was hard to read.

"You're my favorite for a reason." A feral grin spread over his face.

"Don't sweet-talk me. I'm mad at you." She sounded distant, most likely going over every class she'd had with Kate, looking for things off. "Are you sure she's a hunter?"

"Yes.," Peter said. There was a roller coaster of emotions coming from her, this must be quite a shock. "I did my research, I'm sure."

"Why Stiles?" She changed the topic.

Peter looked up at the ceiling, not sure how much he wanted to tell her.

"The hunters don't know that he has a connection to us," Peter stated the most obvious fact.

"The only connection he has to us is to your dick," Cora muttered in disgust. "You lied about how old he is. He lied as well. He told me that he's eighteen but I heard his heat-beat, he was lying. He's not even seventeen, is he? He would be in class with Isaac and the others if he were."

"You are a very smart young lady." Peter had to give her that. Maybe he should start training her, the pack would need a new left hand sooner or later. "You're right, he's not eighteen."

"I knew it."

"He's older than me." Peter dropped the bomb.

"He … what?"

"He actually has a good century on me." Which still felt weird. Stiles didn't look that old. And he didn't act his age either.

"He's not human?"

"I'm not going to tell you the details." This was way more than he'd ever wanted to tell her. "But a long time ago, he was eighteen at that time, something happened to Stiles and he stopped aging."

"What happened to him?" She was hanging on his lips now.

"That's not on me to tell, you'll have to ask him yourself." Peter didn't give in to her pleading eyes. "All you need to know is that he's here to help. Boyd, Erica, and Isaac can look after each other but you're alone in your class and a hunter is your teacher, I need someone there to look out for you. And to keep an eye on Kate."

She nodded to that, still mulling over what he'd just said. He expected her to tell him that she could take care of herself just fine, thank you very much, but she seemed to be more caught up in what he'd just said about Stiles.

"And the sheriff is in on that?"

"You're too smart for your own good, you know that?" Peter got up, the noises from downstairs were telling him that dinner was ready.

"That's why I'm your favorite." She smiled at him but it was more mechanic than anything else. She was still deep in thoughts.

"Your mom knows about Stiles," Peter said. "But the rest of the pack doesn't. I would like to keep it that way."

"Of course." Cora nodded, now nibbling at her thumb. She looked a lot like a younger version of Talia like that. "If mom knows …," she started but had to collect her thoughts for a moment. "You won't tell her … you know."

Right, they had a deal. Cora wouldn't tell Talia about Stiles and Peter wouldn't tell her about Cora's preferences.

"You're the one going to tell her," Peter assured her and after a second he added: "When and if you're ready."

Relieved she let go of her thumb.

"How are things with your girlfriend anyway? All good?" Peter was already on his way to the door but he did want to know.

"Not sure," Cora admitted which made him stop in his tracks and turn back to her to give her his full attention. "I thought … but then …" She made a vague gesture. "Things got complicated?"

"Want to talk about it?" Peter offered. Teenage love affairs were not exactly what he wanted to talk about but he got that he probably was the only person Cora could turn to.

But Cora shook her head and then Isaac came upstairs to tell them that dinner was ready but Peter hoped that Cora got that the offer stood.

Peter let the kids go ahead and took the moment to text Stiles that Cora would bombard him with questions tomorrow. They would see each other in a bit but he didn't want to forget to give him a heads-up.

Cora stayed mostly quiet over dinner, still deep in thoughts, but there were enough conversations going on that nobody noticed.

After dinner, Peter packed some leftovers before he slipped out of the door and drove over to the lake.

"Why is Cora going to bombard me with questions?" Stiles asked the second Peter entered the cabin. "It's bad enough that she was trying to glare me to death all day, why would she question me?"

"Because I told her that you stopped aging when you were eighteen and that she has to ask you if she wants to know the details." Peter closed the door and put the leftovers on the table. "Did you have dinner?"

"Did you have to tell her that?" Stiles groaned, already rummaging through the food Peter had brought. "Man, I think I love you." He'd found the chocolate muffin Peter had thrown in.

"That's called dessert." Peter snagged it out of his hand and put it aside for later to which Stiles pouted but he did sit down with the salad and the still lukewarm casserole.

"I also told her that Kate's a hunter." Peter sat down in the second chair and watched Stiles stuffing his face. The I love you was still ringing in his ears but he had the suspicion that Stiles would declare his undying love to anybody who brought him food.

"How was your first day of school?"

"Not like they tell you on TV." Stiles made a face. "My chemistry teacher hates me. I've met the guy today and he already hates me. That's not fair. Kate's suspicious but that was expected, think I annoyed her with too many questions." He grinned at that. "And PE is hell. Coach is insane. He also teaches Economics and that's kind of fun if he can stay on topic for two minutes but on the field, he's just a nutcase. I almost collapsed when he made us run laps. I'm not a runner."

"You have the physics of a runner." That was one of the things Peter admired of his body, the lean form, and the muscles under smooth skin.

"I have the physics of a swimmer," Stiles corrected. He'd finished the casserole and was now munching on the salad but his eyes were on the muffin. "I live in a fucking lake, what do you think I do all summer?"

"Skinny dipping?" Peter couldn't help but ask.

"Sometimes." Stiles shrugged. "We should go swimming sometime. But not in this lake, Derek would drown you."

"Don't want that to happen." Peter shuddered at that thought. "Met some new kids?" He hurried to change the topic.

"Yeah, I think I got adopted." Stiles chuckled to himself. "There's this Scott guy and I think he doesn't have any friends. And since I'm new he decided that we should be BFF."

"Play along."

"I am." Stiles finished his salad and made grabby hands for the muffin. "Oh, and then there's Lydia Martin. Man, I'm telling you she's giving me the weirdest case of deja vu ever." He bit into the muffin and closed his eyes in bliss.

"How so?" Peter prompted when Stiles just made out with the muffin instead of telling his story.

"Knew her grandmother. Or was it her great-grandmother? Can't remember." He licked crumbs off his thumb. "This Lydia was named after her and damn, she looks a lot like her."

"Martin?" Peter recognized the name. They were what counted as high society in Beacon Hills. "How did you get to know a Martin?"

"Was running errands for them one summer. Lydia was home from some fancy school and she was kind of lonely. She was the one who taught me to read." His eyes glossed over at that memory. "When her dad found out that she was hanging out with a street kid, he chased me off his property with his dogs." He popped the rest of the muffin into his mouth with a grin.

"Only you." Peter shook his head.