Peter strained his ears. His pack was sleeping all around him and it was never easy to pick out one particular heart-beat in a house full of people but he was quite familiar with the noises in the house, especially at night when everything was quiet, and something was missing.
Peter cracked open the door. Cora was not in her bed.
Dread settled in his stomach. He stepped farther into the room, sniffing the air and straining his ears but he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. Cora's scent filled the room, it was hers after all, she'd left an imprint on everything, most strongly on the bed and her clothes. There was no sign of an intruder, no sign of a struggle. Peter doubted that anybody would be able to kidnap somebody from the house of a werewolf pack, though.
Derek could, he remembered which brought back the image of Stiles, naked and sleeping in the arms of the water creature.
Peter's eyes fell on the window which wasn't closed properly. He stepped over and opened it fully. This was the second floor but not a problem for a werewolf. Still no sign of anything amiss so Peter closed the window again, leaving it slightly ajar as he'd found it. Then he settled in the chair at Cora's desk and waited.
Cora was a teenager, she had a girlfriend, and Peter, the person who was checking if everything was in order every night, was supposed to be out all night. Peter would be lying if he said that he'd never sneaked out to go to a party or to see somebody. Or to do more nefarious things. He could relate and under other circumstances, he would have just gone to bed and never mention it but there were hunters out there. Boyd and Erica had been abducted just the other day, this was not the time to sneak out. If Cora went missing, nobody would notice for hours.
So Peter sat there and waited for her return.
Which gave his mind the chance to go back to what had happened earlier. Stiles' nightmare. Which had been more of a night terror. His screaming still echoed in Peter's head.
Peter had not been able to reach him. Stiles had been caught up so deep in his nightmare that Peter had not been able to wake him up. However, one touch from Derek had done the trick. Like flipping a switch Stiles had gone from fighting for his life to peaceful sleeping.
Peter knew that Stiles had been with Derek for decades, Stiles called him a friend but their relationship was complicated. Stiles had mentioned what being under felt like but he'd never really tried to explain it and Peter doubted that he could. Or that Peter could understand it.
Peter was still mulling over this when half an hour later a shadow appeared outside the window. Cora slipped into the room and turned to close the window without noticing him.
"Morning," Peter greeted her.
She almost jumped right out of the window again.
Slowly she turned around, looking at the floor.
"Usually we use the door," Peter informed her and got more comfortable in his chair which made her even more uncomfortable. Perks of being the uncle, he hid a grin.
"I can explain …," Cora started but Peter was quicker.
"You sneaked out to see your girlfriend," he stated. It would be amusing to see her struggle through a lie but he was not in the mood for that. This night had been long enough already.
"At least you were smart enough to take care of your scent." He made a point of sniffing the air but there was no hint of another person on her.
"Are you going to tell mom?" She asked, eyes on the floor and fingers fiddling with her sleeve.
Peter let out a sigh and set up straighter.
"No," he said. "And usually I wouldn't care if you sneaked out once in a while, believe me, I did it and for sure your mom did it as well. If she gives you trouble for that, just ask her about Nathan Calmer."
Cora lifted her head with a glint in her eye and Peter knew that she would save that name for the right moment, atta girl.
"However." Peter became more serious. "This is not the time for fooling around like this. We're lucky that Boyd and Erica are alive. One of the hunters is your English teacher. Ever wondered why she wanted to be in your class? You're a target and I can't keep you safe when I don't know where you are."
Cora was back to looking at the floor but she was working herself up to saying something, that much was clear. Peter waited her out.
"What if she's really just an English teacher?" She finally asked. Her heart was beating rapidly now and Peter could smell her anxiety.
"She comes from a long line of hunters," he reminded her. "That's a fact. She's here, her brother is here, and at least two other hunters are here in Beacon Hills as well." One was dead by now but that was not the point. "That's no coincidence."
He fixed her with a stern look. "Derek might have thrown them off for the moment, they didn't expect anything but werewolves here, but they won't back down."
"She said that she doesn't do that anymore," Cora said in a small voice. "That she left the family business."
"You talked to her about this?"
Cora gave him a small nod but then she looked up again and set her jaw.
"She's not like that."
"Don't talk to her." Peter got up, he couldn't sit still for this.
"Sit in her class, hand in your homework but beyond that, don't interact with her. Don't go anywhere alone with her. Stick to Stiles and the others. Keep away from her as much as possible." He'd stepped closer and was now standing right in front of her. He fought the urge to grab her by the shoulders to shake some sense into her.
"She's dangerous."
"You don't even know her." She sounded like the angry teenager she was, all her frustration about being caught now channeled into this one thing.
"She's a hunter, that's all I need to know," Peter said coldly and turned to leave. He was done with this. "No more sneaking out, you understand me?"
"Says the right one." She called after him. "You did not take care of your scent." Now it was her, sniffing the air.
"Take a deep breath," he told her. "Does that smell as if Stiles had a good time?"
He couldn't smell his own scent but he knew that the lingering traces of sex were over-layered by Stiles' terror.
Her eyes widened when she realized what she was smelling on him.
"He got abducted and beaten," Peter reminded her. "He's not talking about it but Boyd and Erica have seen it, have you seen their eyes? They had to watch when that hunter beat him half to death. And don't forget what they did to them. Being back with the pack helps but they are traumatized."
He gave her a few seconds to let his words sink in.
"Hunters have killed us just because we're werewolves," Peter said. "They will do it again. It's my job to keep us safe and I can't do that if I don't know where you are."
Cora was shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other but she did give him a nod.
"I'm sorry."
"Just don't do it again." Peter let out a sigh, this night had been way too long. "I need a shower. Somebody told me I need to take care of my scent."
It was meant to lighten the mood and it seemed to work.
It was way too late, or too early, to go to bed so after his shower, Peter put on some fresh clothes and went downstairs to start the coffee maker. Since he usually was the last one up in the evening, he came downstairs last most mornings but today he was the first in the kitchen. It was even too early for Walter who was their early bird.
Peter kept his hands busy with getting coffee ready but then he was just leaning against the counter while the machine was doing its thing. Cora was still fresh on his mind and he could only shake his head about stupid teenagers but he hoped that he'd been able to talk some sense into her.
It didn't take long for his mind to wander back to Stiles. How easily he'd responded to Derek. Even in his sleep, caught in a nightmare, Stiles had reacted to him and had been looking for comfort in the hand gently cupping his cheek. Derek had a very distinctive touch, Peter guessed, so Stiles had known that it had been Derek touching him. Peter had just been someone he needed to fight off.
His dark thoughts were interrupted by Walter coming downstairs.
"You're up early," the old man commented from the doorway but when he had a closer look at Peter, he added: "Did you sleep at all?"
"Not really." Peter turned his back on him to fix them their much needed morning coffee. Walter took the cup from him with a wary look but he didn't ask the question clearly on his mind.
Asking Peter what he'd done all night was something everybody in the pack knew not to do. Not that he would answer honestly or even at all but that alone made clear that he'd been up to no good. What he did for the pack was necessary but most of the members preferred to ignore the dirty work a left hand had to do.
The nights he came home reeking of sex were a different matter, and more frequent lately, but nobody wanted to know about those either.
So they just sat there in comfortable silence, nursing their coffees until the others started to pile in.
Breakfast was not as loud as usual. Boyd and Erica were holding hands under the table and pushing food around their plate without saying much. Cora was grumpy as well and she made a point of not looking at Peter who was just fine with the silent treatment, his mind was swirling with other things.
When everybody got ready to start their day, Peter did wonder if Stiles would be there when the others came over to pick him up but he didn't say anything and just watched the four teenagers getting into the car. Today Isaac was driving with Cora next to him and Boyd and Erica huddled in the back seat. Stiles would fit right in with them. If he was there.
Peter had left his phone in his room but when he went to get it to shoot Stiles a message, he already found one waiting for him.
Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, Stiles had written. Talk later?
Since Peter knew that the kids would pick him up any minute now, Peter did not call him and just agreed to talk later. After a long second of consideration, he added: I was worried
Instead of an answer, Stiles replied with some hearty eyes.
Peter felt a smile tugging at his lips.
"You got it bad," Talia spoke up behind him. Peter hurried to put his phone away, not that she was able to read the screen from where she was standing. His scent and other signals had given him away.
"I like him." Peter shrugged. He hadn't liked somebody like this since Olivia, he couldn't deny that.
"He's complicated and maybe dangerous."
"That's part of why I like him."
Talia had met Stiles once in a stiff and formal setting, she didn't know him as a person. Peter could tell her that Stiles was not dangerous. At least not to them. He had deliberately used Derek to kill the hunter who had tortured him, Erica had told him that. And Peter remembered his reaction to a dead body. Stiles was not as innocent as he looked. But he was not a threat to the pack.
"What about Derek?" Talia asked. "If you and Stiles argue, if you break up, how would he take it?"
Peter thought about last night when Derek had shown up, thinking that Peter was the one hurting Stiles. Derek had been ready to kill him but he'd backed off immediately when he saw that it hadn't been Peter's fault. Even wolfed out with fangs and claws, Derek had looked into his glowing eyes and had known that Peter was not the bad guy.
"If we don't do something drastic to him or Stiles like trying to kill him, he won't come after us," Peter assured her.
"I hope you're right."
"So do I."
