Peter growled after Cora for her comment about his scent but she was already heading up the stairs to do something about her own scent, no doubt.
Peter sniffed his armpit to check if things were as obvious with him as Cora had claimed. He did catch a faint whiff of Stiles on him and he couldn't deny the mixed feelings he had about him. Arousal was one of them. So a little freshening up wouldn't hurt.
While upstairs the shower started, Peter gave himself a quick once over in the smaller bathroom downstairs.
He wondered when or if Cora would introduce her girlfriend and how Talia would react to that. She was pretty open-minded and never had a problem with Peter being bi. Not that he had ever made a big deal out of that but he had brought home a boyfriend now and then when he'd been younger. Then he'd met Olivia and other people had been forgotten.
It had been eight years since Olivia had died but thinking about her stirred up the grief again. He probably would never really be over it and he'd meant it when he'd said that he still loved her but it wasn't a thing constantly on his mind any longer. But then there were moments like this, when Olivia had come up again or something reminded him of her, a scent, a song, and the grief felt fresh like on the first day.
Peter sat down on one of the couches, without most of the pack home, the living room felt empty and way too huge, and let his head fall back to rest on the back of the couch.
He just needed a moment. Then he would go upstairs and look at that video Bob had given him earlier. And he should start asking questions about new people in town but he put that off for later.
He was just about to get up when his phone buzzed with a new message.
Stiles. Looked like he had gotten his things back.
They texted a bit back and forth, just the usual banter and Peter just knew that he'd railed him up with answering Stiles' question. It was easy fun.
Not that he was serious with his answer. Maybe a little serious.
Then Stiles brought up dick pics and that did not help to get the images out of his head. Their little chat came to a lull but Peter didn't want it to end on dick pics.
So he asked about the book Stiles was reading. It was the first thing coming to mind but it turned out to be the right thing. Peter had only made the mistake of doing this in the living room. Boyd and Isaac were the firsts to come home, followed by Deborah who had picked up Emily. The little girl was instantly zooming in on Peter, asking him if he was busy.
Peter would have liked to keep his conversation with Stiles going but there were too many people around, the house was becoming louder, so he ended their little chat with the promise to talk again soon.
Cora did not mention Stiles but she was constantly throwing worried glances at Peter as if she expected him to out her right here in the middle of the pack. Which he didn't, of course. He might be a mean bastard sometimes but outing someone like that was just wrong. He hoped Cora knew that.
After dinner, Peter excused himself and retreated to his room. Stiles hadn't sent another message which was good because Peter had work to do and couldn't use the distraction.
He watched the video of the two guys at the gun shop several times. He didn't know these men which was too bad, it would have made things easier. With no audio, Peter had only what Bob had told him to go on with. That they were heading towards Beacon Hills and that they had mentioned wolfsbane and silver. And that they had been speaking French.
Peter extracted some good pictures of their faces, at least Bob had a decent camera and the faces weren't just pixely blobs, but there wasn't much else he could do. He would have loved to get a license plate but Bob only had cameras on the inside and even if the angle gave him a glimpse out of the window, it hadn't caught the hunters' car. That would have been too easy, Peter guessed.
However, he had two faces to look out for and first thing tomorrow, he would talk to a few people. Maybe somebody had seen something. New people in town were usually easy to spot, Beacon Hills was not that big and hunters tended to stand out.
Peter glanced at the time. Not too late to go out, he decided.
There were a few bars that would fit this kind of clientele, it couldn't hurt to check. He would check the hotels and motels around town tomorrow.
The first bar he hit was popular with truckers, it was the closest to the interstate. Peter scanned the room when he entered but at first glance, nobody stood out. Men in worn jeans and trucker caps were all around but nothing that screamed hunter at him. Peter made his way over to the bar where he gave the bartender a nod and got served a beer without asking. Peter accepted his beer and kept his eyes on that and the bar in front of him, he didn't need to look around like a fool to get a feeling for the other patrons. A bit down the bar were a man and a woman, slowly working their way up into an argument. Three men at a table telling war stories from the road. Two women in the corner, quietly drinking their beer. Some bikers at the pool tables.
Peter drank his beer slowly with his ears open but nothing was catching his attention. The couple at the other end of the bar, they were a couple, going on ten years, there was no way Peter could have missed that, was now close to yelling at each other. What the argument was about, Peter still had no clue, though.
"Anything else I can bring you?" The bartender came over when Peter was nearing the end of his beer.
"Seen any new faces around?" Peter asked. He'd made a point of being good friends with the bartenders in town, it did come in handy from time to time.
"Just the usual." He took Peter's by now empty glass. "Truckers and bikers passing through. Nobody who sticks around."
Peter ordered a shot, it would look weird if he was sitting here without a drink, but for now, he didn't touch it. He put his elbow on the bar and was now facing the couple. They had been at the yelling stage a second ago and Peter had fully expected that glasses would be flying by now or at least one of them storming out but they had done a complete one-eighty and were now taking shots together.
"What's with them?" Peter asked.
"They come here a few times a month," the bartender answered with an amused look at them. "They're fighting as if she's going to kick him out tonight and filing for divorce tomorrow but in the end, they're just getting drunk together. Don't ask me." He shook his head. "The make up sex must be great or something."
Peter watched them for a moment longer but they seemed to have calmed down and were just nursing their drinks now.
Shaking his head, Peter reached for his drink. He knocked it back, paid with a generous tip and then he left the bar.
He checked out two more bars but no luck. He did meet some interesting people and got one offer for a fun night, which he declined, but in the end, Peter came home empty-handed.
In the morning, he shot Stiles a message in hope to get their conversation going again. The house was empty and he wouldn't get interrupted but the little checkmark didn't turn blue, meaning Stiles hadn't even read his message.
So Peter grabbed his jacket and keys and left to ask around at some motels if somebody had seen the two men.
Nobody had.
Frustrated Peter came home around noon.
"What's going on?" Pamela peeked around the corner when he slammed the door. She had one look at him and he could almost see when motherly instincts kicked in. Before he knew it he was sitting at the kitchen table and she was handing him a sandwich.
"I was about to have lunch anyway." She quickly fixed one for herself as well and then they were eating quietly. "Do you have time? I need a second pair of strong hands."
And just like that Peter spent the afternoon, helping Pamela in the garden. At least here he got somewhere, he could see the results of his hard work. And it kept his mind from thinking too much.
"Feeling better?" Pamela asked when they were finishing up. It was almost dinner time and most of the pack was home already.
"Yeah, thanks." He hadn't even told her about his frustrating search for these men, sprinkled with a random thought about Stiles now and then. Peter was used to the first, most of the time he had to do a lot of footwork to get some answers and sometimes it just didn't work out, it happens. What was really getting under his skin, though, was Stiles. Who still hadn't even read his message from earlier. Was he ignoring him on purpose?
Peter asked him just that before he went to wash up and join the others for dinner.
When Peter checked his phone after dinner, he did have a new message from Stiles.
Sorry, spent the day under and now I'm late for dinner with John. Talk later
Peter read the message again. The second part he understood. John had told him himself that Stiles would have dinner with him tonight but the first part Peter didn't get. Under? Under what? In any other case, his mind would jump to things like depression but with Stiles, he had the suspicion that he meant it quite literally, that he had spent the day under the surface of the lake.
Peter had seen how easily Stiles had dived into the lake and hadn't come up again. What didn't sit right with Peter was the fact that Derek had ordered him to come with him. He'd come out of the lake to stop Stiles from talking to Peter and it had only taken one word from Derek and Stiles had followed him back into the lake.
However, Stiles hadn't seemed to be bothered by that, he'd looked as if he was used to it.
… spent the day under …
Peter couldn't get that bit out of his mind. Stiles' nature had been constantly on the back of his mind, he'd never really forgotten about it but for a while, he'd been able to kind of ignore it. And now it looked like Stiles had spent the whole day, most likely the night before as well, at the bottom of the lake.
What is it like, down there? Peter wrote but hesitated to send the message. In the end, curiosity won and he did hit send. Like expected Stiles didn't answer right away, he was most likely in the middle of having dinner with the sheriff.
Peter followed the rest of the pack to the living room. Someone had switched on the TV but nobody was watching. Boyd and Erica were quietly talking to each other. Pamela and Deborah had teamed up and were now giving Christina pregnancy tips, somebody would have to rescue her some time soon. There was homework being done and Walter was reading a book. Everybody was doing their own thing but they were all enjoying the company of the pack.
Things became quieter when a show came on most of them were interested in. Peter was not most but he didn't mind either and for a while, he just enjoyed being surrounded by his pack.
Emily was the first who had to go to bed, followed a little later by the teenagers. Peter doubted that those would be sleeping any time soon but they retreated to their rooms for the night. And then, one by one, the rest of the pack said their goodnights until it was just him and Talia.
The phone in his pocket had stayed quiet the whole evening and Peter had checked from time to time if he'd missed a message but no such luck.
"What's on your mind?" Talia asked. They were sitting in chairs with their legs stretched out, just enjoying the quiet that had fallen over the house.
Peter pondered his options for a moment. He had nothing on those hunters, it was way too early to bother her with that, but his mind was more on Stiles anyway. They, the Hales, had done this to him, it was their fault that Stiles had to spend whole days under. And Peter had no idea how to make it right.
"I told you about the monster living out in the lake," Peter started, maybe it was time for a second opinion. "Turned out that's not the only thing living out there. Well, not a thing more a someone."
