When Peter opened the envelope in the privacy of his hotel room, he expected more bad-quality pictures of him and Stiles. What Deucalion expected to gain from those he didn't know but he would see in a second here, he guessed.
There were pictures in the envelope but they were not of him and Stiles. They were of Isaac. Somebody must have followed him around because they showed him in different locations. On campus, in that coffee shop Peter had been to with Derek, that one had clearly been taken from outside but even through the window Isaac was easy to identify. By now Peter would recognize that shock of curly hair everywhere.
Peter leafed through the pictures. He had run into Isaac by accident more often than he ever should but these pictures were proof that somebody had been stalking the student. If anything Peter had expected Deucalion to target Derek or maybe Stiles but Isaac?
Peter put the pictures aside and called Deucalion.
"I got your pictures," Peter said when the man picked up after the second ring. He must have been waiting for his call.
"I still want the one who killed one of mine," Deucalion said. "Are you going to hand her over now?"
"I fail to see how these photos are supposed to convince me to do that."
"Since your nephew doesn't seem to care that you're sleeping with his husband I thought I'd try another approach. Stilinski got himself a real doormat with him, didn't he?" The smug smile came clearly across over the phone. "But I heard you took interest in this one student. Got him an internship and everything."
"Because he lost his job at Coach's pawn shop because of me," Peter clarified. "Thought he was one of your guys so I had a little chat with him."
"Don't try to downplay it." Deucalion even made the tz, tz, tz. "It did cost you to get him that internship. He's one of your nephew's students, is this the price you have to pay for fucking Stilinski?"
"You know nothing about me or Derek," Peter said but he couldn't quite hide the snarl behind his words. It made Deucalion laugh.
"Did I hit a nerve?"
"What do you want?" Peter asked as if he didn't know already. Deucalion himself had said what he wanted just a minute ago.
"Braeden." The shrug was audible. "And for you to leave. Heard that you're trying to make friends with Satomi, I'm sorry, but I can't tolerate that. I think it would be for the better if you left. Go back to the west coast or wherever you came from. New York is not the right place for you."
"And if I say no?" Peter asked to test the waters. How far would Deucalion go?
"Then I might want to have a little chat with this Isaac as well." With that, he ended the call.
Peter stood there for a long moment, thinking. He had blown it with Derek, leaving would be the easy way out. He would not hand over Braeden and what did he care about that nosy student?
However, Derek hadn't cut ties with him completely. And Peter had called in some favors to get Isaac that internship, which he didn't even know about yet. Peter could chalk it up as a way to make it up to Derek but on some level, he had to admit that he'd fucked up in the way he'd dealt with Isaac. He might feel guilty about it. A little bit.
"Why can't you let it go?" Peter groaned into the empty room. "When it comes down to it, you owe me."
Peter called another number.
"I just had a little chat with your boss."
"What now?" Kali asked, giving Peter the feeling that she did not know what Deucalion was up to.
"Did you know that he had somebody stalking somebody? A student of my nephew I happened to run into a few times too often," Peter explained. "Just got the pictures."
"I'm not following."
"I hand over Braeden and leave New York for good or your boss wants to have a little chat with him," Peter summed it up for her. "I barely know this guy. In fact, I thought he was working for you."
They talked for a while longer and Peter ended the call with a good feeling. Kali had been willing to listen and she had to agree that this was blowing things out of proportion. She promised to have a talk with her boss and get back to Peter.
Peter doubted that she cared about him or the innocent student her boss was threatening, this was more about their standing in general. Deucalion had been in power for quite a while but others were waiting for signs of weakness. Satomi was the first one coming to mind. Peter didn't know her that well but if she saw a chance to take over some of Deucalion's territory, she would take it, that much was clear.
There were others as well. For sure some in Deucalion's own organization. Peter was not so sure about Kali here. He didn't think that he had an ally in her, she had her own agenda, but they might be on the same side here.
Next, Peter called Braeden. He knew it was stupid, she was the one Deucalion's guys were looking for but he couldn't think of somebody better to protect Isaac. He didn't have to suggest it to her, though. He just needed to tell her that Deucalion was targeting an innocent bystander and she offered to keep an eye on him. He warned her that somebody else already had eyes on him but she just snorted at that.
"The same one who took those pictures of you and your lover?"
"The quality of the pictures has not improved." Peter glanced over to where the pictures had ended up on the bed. Whoever had been behind the camera had kept his distance but there were ways to take better pictures even from afar. Nowadays everybody had the technology for that in their pocket.
"Amateur."
"Don't get too cocky," he warned her. "You're still injured."
"I'm a big girl, I can handle it," Braeden assured him.
Peter told her to not take any risks but in the end, they agreed that she would keep an eye on Isaac.
"Be careful," Peter said. "He's already paranoid, two people stalking him won't make it better."
"Please." He couldn't see her rolling her eyes at him but she was definitely rolling her eyes at him. "He won't notice me. And maybe I can get something on that stalker of his."
Peter still didn't like the idea but Braeden promised to keep him updated and with that, she ended the call.
With that out of the way, Peter didn't know what to do with the rest of the day. He'd gotten used to having a date with Stiles on Saturdays but that was canceled now. After Derek's visit the other day, Stiles hadn't contacted him and Derek had made it very clear that it was not on Peter to reach out to them. Not that he was in the mood for sex right now but he would like a distraction.
Restless Peter walked up and down the room.
In his mind he went over his conversation with Deucalion, trying to read between the lines. How quickly would he react? Was he just bluffing?
Thinking about it, Deucalion hadn't used Derek's name once but Stiles' had come up once or twice. Almost as if Deucalion knew him. Maybe not personally but he knew about him. Was that why he'd switched targets? Deucalion was blind so he wouldn't recognize Stiles in a picture so he might only have known that Peter was sleeping with his nephew's husband. Whoever had dug around in his background must have failed to tell his boss Stiles' name. When it finally came up Derek was no longer just Peter's nephew, he was Stilinski's husband.
Peter had no proof, this was pure speculation but it was an entertaining idea.
"Don't tell me Derek is married to John Wick," Peter muttered to himself.
To clear his head, Peter went out for lunch. He trusted Braeden to protect Isaac but she couldn't be around 24/7. Besides, Deucalion's guys were looking for her, the longer she was out there the more dangerous it would become for her. Sooner or later the one who was shadowing Isaac would notice her. She was good but eventually even she would run out of luck.
Peter needed a solution. Preferably a permanent one but he doubted that Deucalion would do him the favor to drop dead any time soon.
Peter didn't have much to offer in return so Satomi's willingness to help would be limited. She would not risk open war with the blind man for him.
Which left Stiles. Peter didn't know if he was able to help let alone willing to but aside from handing over Braeden and leaving New York with his tail between his legs, Peter didn't see another option.
I need your help, Peter wrote in hope that Stiles hadn't just blocked him. The message went through but the check mark did not turn blue. Not that Peter expected an immediate reaction. The message was short enough to be read without even opening it and Peter pecked Stiles for somebody who would do exactly that so he could pretend that he hadn't checked his phone yet.
Peter finished his meal and washed down the last bite with a by-now cold gulp of coffee. He had been sitting here for longer than intended. Peter gave the waitress an apologizing smile and made sure to leave her a generous tip for hogging her table. He could be a decent guy. Why was the whole world against him?
Peter would bet money that Deucalion had eyes on him as well and he probably shouldn't be out here alone for too long. He wouldn't put it past Deucalion to let his guys rough him up just because. Or to put a bullet between his eyes to get rid of him once and for all. However, what he'd heard about the people in Deucalion's organization, they were more the shoot-them-in-the-back kind of guys. Not that there was a body count connected to Deucalion. At least not as far as Peter knew.
What do you want? Stiles finally answered him. If nothing else to find out what this was about, Stiles was a nosy one, Peter had learned.
Can we talk face to face? Peter asked. This was nothing he wanted to leave a digital trail of.
If this is just a scheme to get me into your bed … Stiles answered but Peter was able to read between the lines, Stiles wanted to know more.
They basically agreed to their usual date minus the sex. And minus the cheese, pastries, or whatever Peter would have set up for today. Stiles made that point very clear.
Peter got that he was on thin ice here, he was grateful that Stiles was even willing to see him.
So when Stiles stood at his door Peter let him in with a polite smile. This was a business meeting, nothing more.
"You do know that you fucked up, right?" Stiles strew him a glance when he walked past him. "Badly."
"I know." Peter closed the door and followed him deeper into the room. They sat down like the other day, Peter on the sofa and Stiles in the chair but today, there were no sweets on the table and there wouldn't be sex on the too-small sofa.
"I'm surprised that Derek didn't tell me to lose his number," Peter admitted. "That you're here is a surprise as well."
"Believe me, I paced a path into our carpet in the living room, debating if I should come or not," Stiles said darkly. "Derek basically kicked me out. Just see what he wants, he said." A warm smile ghosted over his face but then he sobered up. "So, what do you want?"