Peter had been so stupid. How could he have been so blind?
Kate Argent was Cora's girlfriend.
How could he have not seen it? It was so obvious. That's why Kate had taken over Cora's class. She'd wanted to seduce Cora and it looked like she had succeeded. Chris had suspected it but they all had been looking in the wrong direction. They had been looking at the men of the pack in search for the one Kate had used to gain intel on them. Peter had learned about that only minutes ago but he still hadn't put two and two together. And he'd known about Cora's mysterious girlfriend.
Peter bolted out of John's office, shouldering his way past Parrish.
"Nancy!"
She was in the middle of a phone call and he had to restrain himself to not rip the phone out of her hand.
"Is Cora still at your place?"
Nancy covered the mouthpiece with her hand but her angry look melted away when she saw his face.
"I think so. She spends most of her time in her room. Why?"
Peter didn't bother with an explanation and ran out of the building. Only then he remembered that he didn't have a car with him.
"Stiles! I need your car." The others had followed him, bombarding him with questions but he didn't have time for that. Kate had used Cora. And now Cora was beating herself up over it.
He remembered her small voice when she'd asked if he would kill everybody involved in the fire. Did she expect him to kill her?
Peter ripped the keys out of Stiles' hand and Stiles just barely managed to get into the car with him before he was speeding out of the parking lot.
"Where are we going?" Stiles asked, holding on to the dashboard.
"Cora." Peter laid on the horn when the car in front of him didn't go fast enough for his liking. He knew that this was stupid and unnecessarily dangerous. Cora had been living with her guilt for days a few minutes didn't matter but the wolf part of his nature couldn't help it. He needed to see her. Now.
"Peter, slow down. You're going to kill us."
"We can hardly die," Peter reminded him but slowed down a bit.
"Others can." Stiles had a point there. "What's going on with Cora?"
"She's the one Kate used to get to the pack." Peter felt his fangs pricking his gums at the thought alone. His white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel had some additional claws to it as well and he knew that his eyes were glowing blue. Lucky them, they were going too fast for anybody to get a good look at him.
"That's just gross." Stiles made an unpleased noise. "Shouldn't she be smarter than that?"
"She's a teenager," Peter said. "And Kate had months to gain her trust." He gritted his teeth. This was his fault, at least partly. When Cora had found out about him and Stiles, she'd been disgusted. She had pointed out how creepy it was for an adult man to be with a teenager. It wasn't like that with Stiles but Cora hadn't known. And Peter had insisted that it was okay. Had she seen him with Stiles and had thought that it was the same with Kate?
Peter brought the car to a halt in front of Nancy's house. Even from the street, he could tell that nobody was home but he let himself in and sprinted up the stairs nevertheless.
The room was as impersonal as before, only some clothes on the unmade bed indicated that somebody was actually living here.
"Call her?" Stiles had followed him and was now taking in the room from where he was standing in the door. Even if this was just temporary, he had the sense to not just enter the bedroom of an alpha. Peter would have appreciated it more if he weren't busy with other things.
"Do you have her number?" Peter asked. "Talia got me a new phone but I'm still missing a few numbers."
Since he was here, he wanted to have at least a quick look around. The nightstand was his best bet to find something personal. Not that he expected to find much. Most personal things had been destroyed in the fire.
Peter's stomach dropped when he found an envelope with his name on it.
"Found anything?" Stiles looked up from his phone.
Peter didn't answer. He had to sit down and for a long second, he didn't dare to open the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
"What is it?" Now Stiles did come into the room. Not that Peter cared.
He was reading Cora's suicide note.
It was only a few lines in her neat handwriting and she didn't outright say that she wanted to kill herself but she was saying that she was sorry, that it was all her fault, and she ended with that she intended to make it right again. Especially the last bit could mean anything but it had a final vibe to it.
Without a word, Peter handed the letter to Stiles to read for himself. Meanwhile, his mind was racing. Where did she go? Where was she now? Was it too late already?
"Give me your phone." Peter snatched the phone out of Stiles' hand. Cora's name was already on the display so he just hit call. It went straight to voicemail. "Fuck!"
Next, he called Talia.
"Do you know where Cora is?" Peter asked the second she answered.
"Peter?" He must have confused her by using Stiles' phone but he didn't have time to explain.
"Where's Cora? I need to find her. Now."
Talia assumed that she was at Nancy's which she obviously wasn't.
"Call the whole pack, we need to find her," Peter ordered. "She might do something stupid."
Of course, Talia had questions but she agreed to mobilize the pack first.
"We should call John as well." Stiles took his phone back and scrolled through his contacts. Peter barely listened when Stiles informed the sheriff that they had found a possible suicide note but no Cora.
Stiles ended the call and then he just stood there, thinking.
"Assuming that she wants to do something stupid." Stiles used Peter's own words. "How would she do that? If it's not an instant death, werewolves are hard to kill."
That was what Peter had been thinking about as well. If he knew how she wanted to do it, he might know where she went.
"Make it right," Peter read the words again. What did she mean by that? She couldn't unburn the house.
"You think she knows where Kate is?" Stiles asked.
"I doubt it." Peter shook his head. "She didn't expect Cora to survive and she knows that she's busted now."
Stiles hmmed to that.
Every fiber of Peter's body ached with the need to move, to run, but he wouldn't save Cora if he ran around like a headless chicken.
"Maybe she means you," Stiles mused. "She left the letter for you and not her mother."
Which just confirmed that it was Peter's fault.
"You're the one who has suffered the most from this," Stiles continued.
Peter had been burned the worst, bad enough to put him in a coma. It had been so bad that his sister had agreed to sacrifice him to Derek as a last resort. It had saved his life, sort of, but now he was bound to Derek for eternity. A fact he still hadn't quite comprehended.
"I know where she is," Peter realized. There was only one place where she could attempt to make it right again. He doubted that it worked that way but he could follow Cora's train of thought. "We have to get back to the lake."
For once he wished they could take the expressway through the pipes. Which would have the bonus that it would keep Derek busy but no such luck.
Stiles followed him out to the car and then Peter was flooring it.
"Derek won't take her and give you back." Stiles had caught up. "You're his, nothing is going to change that."
Derek had said something similar before and Peter believed him. Not that he wanted Cora to take his place.
"If she goes into the water, what will he do?" Peter drove faster than before but this time Stiles wasn't complaining. "Will he take her or just drown her?"
"Drown her," Stiles said darkly. "He doesn't just take people like that. I'm still not sure why he wanted you, don't get me wrong I take it and I'm glad he did but I have no clue why."
Peter let out a growl and put his foot down.
He brought the car to a halt as far up the path as possible and ran the rest of the way. Stiles was somewhere behind him, there was no way he could keep up with the speed of a werewolf.
"Cora!" Peter yelled when he spotted a figure standing out on the pier.
She flinched and for a second he was sure that she would fall into the water with that but she caught herself.
"Cora," Peter said in a lower voice, he didn't want to spook her. "Please come here. Don't do that."
She kept her back to him and didn't move from the edge.
"It's my fault," she said. She had been crying, her voice was still raspy. "It's all my fault. I should have died. Don't say I shouldn't. You said that you'll kill everybody responsible. So did Derek. I am responsible, I deserve to die."
"I know about Kate." Peter stopped at the beginning of the pier. He didn't dare to put his weight on it. Stiles had been right, it was rotten and barely holding it together. Some planks were gone entirely. "It's her fault. She used you."
"You told me to stay away from her." Cora was shaking with her arms slung around her torso. She didn't look as if she was about to jump into the lake any second now but Peter would breathe easier once she was back on dry land.
"I didn't listen. I thought I knew better. I thought she loved me." The last bit came out barely a whisper.
"You loved her," Peter said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stiles coming out of the woods. He gestured for him to stay back but his focus stayed on Cora. "You had your doubts, I realize that now, but then you saw me and Stiles and that gave you the impression that it was okay. It is flattering if someone older than you shows interest in you. She was charming and understanding and you fell in love." Peter paused, watching Cora's reaction closely. She hadn't moved but her shoulders had sagged and he had the feeling that she was listening.
"You didn't know," he continued. "She told you that she wasn't in the family business any longer and you believed her. You didn't know what she was planning."
"I should have listened to you." Cora was shaking with sobs. "You told me she's dangerous but I didn't believe you. I believed her. It's all my fault. I told her about dinner with Stiles, I told her that we would all be home that evening."
"You didn't set the house on fire," Peter reminded her. "You are not responsible for her actions. She used you, you're not the perpetrator here, you're a victim. It's not your fault. I'm blaming her, I want her dead now more than ever but not you."
A bit down to his left, Stiles waded into the water and a second later he disappeared under the surface. Peter didn't know what he was planning, if he wanted to distract Derek or be ready to catch Cora but with any luck, they wouldn't have to rely on either.
"Please, come here." Peter tried again. "We can talk more comfortably in Stiles' cabin."
This time he seemed to get through to her. She nodded and wiped her face with the heel of her hand before she turned around and made a step towards the shore. She set her feet carefully, testing the planks before she dared to put weight on them. Peter held his breath while she slowly made her way over to him.
One plank did give under her foot. She struggled to keep her balance but the rotten wood just crumbled under her weight.
With a scream, Cora fell into the water.
