Peter did not get a chance to see Kate Argent's reaction to Stiles being back in her class but he got to witness Chris Argent's face when he spotted Derek's mugshot. He tried to glare it to death.

Peter was at the station to talk to John right when Chris came in to give his statement. There had been gunshots at his place last night and a neighbor had called it in. Peter doubted that Chris would have bothered with reporting the intruder otherwise.

"So, Derek paid the Argents a visit?" Peter couldn't help the smug grin when he watched Parrish leading Chris into an office.

Chris had spotted him as well but they had already established that Peter was working with the sheriff, no point in hiding that fact. It might even do them some good if the hunters knew that the pack had a good standing with the department.

"Chris said last night that he was shooting at an intruder but that he didn't get a good look at him," John told him with a glance at where Derek's mugshot was hanging. "Kate hasn't reported anything."

"All sides prefer to keep the authorities out," Peter admitted.

"Not that I could do much anyway." John agreed. "It's not as if I can arrest Derek."

"Maybe he spooked them enough to make them rethink their next actions," Peter mused but he had little hope. Kate was more of a fight than a flight person.

Later that day, when Peter came out to the lake, Stiles confirmed his impression.

"How was school?" Peter prompted.

"She tried to threaten me." Stiles came right to the point.

They had made themselves comfortable on the pile of pillows and blankets Stiles called a bed.

"Said that I should stay out of her business or else." Stiles shrugged. "Tried fishing for information on Derek."

"In context with Derek, fishing gives some interesting images." Peter tried to gloss over the fact that Stiles was now on Kate's radar.

"I suddenly remembered why I hate the Hales." Stiles gave him a dirty look.

"I have intel that you are quite fond of one particular Hale."

"Isaac's not a Hale."

"Touche." Peter leaned back and let his head fell against the wall. He liked this. The easy banter with Stiles. "He must have left quite an impression when they picked you up this morning."

It had come as quite a surprise that Stiles had agreed to getting in a car with four werewolves. Peter wanted the teenagers to stick together as much as possible but he had not expected that they would include Stiles like that.

"Hope Erica didn't force you into this." Peter became more serious. "She can be quite pushy."

"I like her," Stiles assured him. "But no, it's okay."

Stiles stretched out his legs and scooted closer until his shoulder touched Peter's. "And this way I get to know all the young ones first. That's way better than to get thrown into the whole pack at once."

Stiles had a point there and Peter couldn't say how relieved he was that Stiles got along with the younger members of his pack. Aside from Cora they were all bitten, they knew how it felt to be the new one in a tight-knit pack.

Stiles could be pack and Peter kind of wanted him to be pack, he wanted his mate to be part of what was an integral part of his life, but he understood that Stiles didn't want that. Maybe over time. If anything they had time. At least until Peter grew old. Would Stiles still want him if he was an old man? If he even lived long enough to grow old. Out of the pack, the left hand was the one most likely to die young.

"You haven't met Emily yet," Peter reminded the youngest member of his pack.

"We could change that when you take her to her guitar lesson on Friday," Stiles offered after a long second. Last Friday Peter hadn't left to go to the library, he'd hung around until her lesson was over. This week he was even less keen on leaving Emily anywhere alone.

"We can pick you up on the way," Peter agreed easily to not make a big deal out of the fact that Stiles had just offered to meet another member of his pack. "You can keep me company while I wait for her lesson to be over."

"After that it's only the adults, right?" Stiles was playing with the blanket, worrying the hem.

"We don't bite."

"You do," Stiles said without missing a beat. "You like to maul my neck when you go feral."

"You like it." Peter shrugged.

Stiles gave him another dirty look but the wave of arousal coming off him was answer enough.

"Let's watch something." Stiles changed the topic and reached for his laptop.

It was late and they both had a long day, they were drifting off to sleep only half-way into the movie. Peter wouldn't mind going to sleep like this but Stiles violently jerked awake every time his head started to drop.

"Do I have to fuck out your lights again?" Peter let out a sigh but when he caught Stiles' heart-beat perking up and the scent of bare need coming from him, Peter felt instantly more awake. He set the laptop aside, it had mostly slipped off their stretched out legs anyway, and then, with a growl, he swirled Stiles into a lying position. With a yelp, Stiles went down.

Fangs out and his claws digging into Stiles' shoulders Peter was looming over him. Stiles looked up at him with big eyes but there was not a hint of fear in them or his scent. Quite the opposite, his pupils were blown, his breath came out in hot puffs between slightly parted lips, and his scent made Peter dizzy. Stiles had gone from mildly aroused to beyond horny in seconds and Peter felt himself respond to that.

"I'm going to mount you," Peter informed him through his fangs. "I'm going to make you take it. No touching your dick, you're going to come from that alone."

With that, he flipped him over and nudged his legs apart. Peter was bigger when shifted and Stiles whimpered under him when he entered him after only a quick prep but when Peter stilled to give him a moment to adjust, Stiles gritted out a "fuck me" and ground his ass into Peter's groin, taking him even deeper.

Peter didn't have to be told twice, with clawed hands he held Stiles in place and started to thrust.

Stiles came with a strangled cry and not one touch to his rock hard dick bouncing between his legs. With one clawed hand under his front, Peter was holding him in position and didn't stop pounding into the twitching ring of muscles until he followed him over the edge a few thrusts later. He spilled his release deep inside Stiles while his jaws clamped down on Stiles' neck. Peter tasted blood but that only made him come even harder. He felt Stiles weakly twitching around him, a desperate attempt to come again. Riding out his own orgasm, Peter held on to Stiles for a moment longer, before he gently lowered him into the blankets.

"Damn, you're an animal in bed," Stiles mumbled into the fabric. Peter let out a confirming growl before he let his features shift back to human.

Once they were lying warm and cleaned up under the blankets, Peter spooning Stiles from behind, they quickly drifted off to sleep. This time Stiles wasn't fighting it and Peter closed his eyes in hope that they would get a peaceful night.

He woke up to a scream.

Peter was out of bed and ready to defend himself in a heart-beat. Crouched and ready to sink his claws into the attacker, he scanned the room and it took him a long second to realize that he was in Stiles' cabin and that it was Stiles who was screaming in his sleep. There was no attacker.

"Stiles." Peter approached the thrashing mess on the bed but had to duck to not get a fist to the face. The other night Stiles had been tossing and turning, now he was fighting for his life, throwing fists and kicking against the blanket tangled around his legs.

"Stiles!" Peter caught Stiles' wrists and stilled his hands before he broke his hand by hitting the wall. And before he could break Peter's nose.

Stiles was strong and he was trying to break free with all he had. Peter had to shift to keep him under control but in the end, he managed to manhandle him into sitting with his back against Peter's chest. By hugging him from behind Peter pinned Stiles' arms to his torso and a leg thrown over Stiles' kept those in check as well. It was still like wrestling an octopus.

And Stiles kept screaming.

"Stiles," Peter growled into his ear but Stiles was not waking up. "It's okay, you're safe. I got you."

His speech was hindered by too many teeth but Peter hoped that his voice would still be able to reach him.

It didn't.

Peter was about to roar Stiles awake when suddenly the door flew open and Derek stormed in. In the darkness, he was just a dark figure in the rectangle of the door but his eyes were glowing blue. Not the electrical blue with which Peter was looking back at him, Derek's eyes were paler, almost white like the eery lights he'd seen over swamps before.

"Let go of him," Derek said, his voice low, almost gargling. "Now!"

"He's having a nightmare," Peter told him while he still tried to keep Stiles from hurting himself. At least the screaming had died down to little sobs and whimpers. There might even be a "please" mixed in there. Whatever he was dreaming about, Stiles was about to give up and surrender. It broke Peter's heart.

Derek stepped closer, having a real look at what was happening here.

Peter and Stiles were both naked and the smell of blood told Peter that his claws had broken the skin when Stiles had tried to break free. However, his resistance had died down, by now he was only weakly struggling against Peter's hold.

"Stiles," Derek said and crouched down next to them.

When he reached for Stiles, Peter jerked back and tried to protect Stiles' face with his hand.

"No," Peter growled at Derek, the memory of that hand over his mouth and nose way too vivid in his mind.

Derek looked at him with eyes made out of mist and blue fire.

"I'm not going to hurt him," Derek said. At least he seemed to have abandoned the idea that Peter was the one hurting Stiles.

When he reached for Stiles again, Peter allowed it but he was ready to fight Derek off if necessary. Instead of placing his hand over Stiles' airways Derek gently cupped his cheek.

Stiles instantly stopped fighting and with a sigh of relief, he snuggled into Derek's hand. Like always, water was dripping off Derek, giving Peter goosebumps where cold droplets hit his bare skin, but Stiles didn't seem to mind the cold touch. He went lax in Peter's arms.

"Stiles?" Peter asked and dared to melt back into his human form. He had not been able to reach Stiles, he'd been too caught up in his nightmare, but one touch from Derek and Stiles calmed down.

"He's still sleeping," Derek informed him. "I'm taking him with me."

"Don't," Peter said but didn't try to hold him back when Derek lifted Stiles out of Peter's arms.

"There are no nightmares with me," Derek said, the still stark naked Stiles now firmly in his arms. Peter wanted to argue with that but Stiles unconsciously snuggled into Derek's chest.

A stab of jealousy went through Peter's heart at that sight.

Derek, however, seemed done with him and was marching out of the cabin. Peter scrambled to his feet but he let Derek walk out into the lake with Stiles.

Peter stood there for a long minute, watching the now calm surface, but the night was chilly and he was standing here naked so he stepped back into the cabin and closed the door.

It was three in the morning, way too early to get up, but it didn't feel right to crawl back into the nest of blankets.

Deep in thoughts, Peter got dressed and drove home.

The Hale house was dark and quiet at this time of the night but Peter still went through his routine to keep them safe. Then he went upstairs to get an hour or two of sleep before everybody got up. His room was at the far end of the hallway and he took comfort in the heart-beats coming from the rooms he was passing.

There was only silence coming from Cora's room.


A/N Sorry for skipping last week's update. Real life and Camp NaNo are killing me, I'll have to skip next week's update as well. However, I finished writing this story, I might be able to post more often soon.