This chapter has a lot of dialog between Peter and Scott...some of the explanation deals with Lydia's death which I removed from chapter 5. I felt it would be better if Peter was the only one that understood why she did what she did considering their "connection"...so in places this is a little Pydia heavy.

CHAPTER 7

"I can't talk now...Scott and his friends are in the other room," Deaton whispered.

"Yes...everything went according to plan...the ritual has been completed...the Nemeton is reactivated."

Scott tried to focus on Deaton but his grief combined with his confusion was continuing to draw him back into his own mind.

"Are you sure that you got all the roots?" asked Peter.

"Yes...all of them...We've seen some of the vines die in town...some of the trees as well. Why do we need to return? Just let the poison do it's work." Scott replied.

"It's never that simple, Scott...and you know it," Peter answered, "You've weakened the tree, but it's still drawing the supernatural...it's still alive...it needs to be destroyed once and for all, but first, we have to check its condition."

"Is this about the tree or about Derek and Lydia?" Scott asked bluntly.

Peter's sudden anger was quickly swallowed up by his grief.

"You mean do I want vendetta against that kanima for what it did to them?" he asked.

"The thought had crossed my mind," he replied.

"I don't have it in me...not now...truthfully...I don't think I have much left."

The brutal honesty in the statement shocked Scott.

Peter noticed his expression.

"Obviously, it's the end of the world...I'm being honest," he continued.

The dark circles under the older werewolf's eyes testified to his lack of sleep over the last two weeks.

Scott shook his head.

"Maybe you've just changed over the last two years," he replied.

Peter smirked.

"Don't believe it. I'm still the same werewolf you met in the woods the night you were bitten."

"You've helped us all this time...how can you say that?"

"Because I know me...once the darkness has marked you, you can never go back. I can't go back Scott...I couldn't go back when I came out of that coma 8 years ago...I can't go back now," he answered.

"I don't believe that," Scott replied.

Peter shook his head.

"One day you're going to wake up Scott and take an account of everything you've lost, and it's going to eat away at you until all that's left is that darkness on the inside of you...it's inevitable."

"It doesn't have to be that way," Scott argued.

"In the end you'll be alone like me," Peter continued, "Not really your fault though...you were marked from the beginning."

Scott looked at Peter puzzled.

"What do you mean marked?" he asked.

"Well perhaps not you in particular...It could have just of easily of been Stiles, but it would be one of you regardless," Peter replied.

Scott stared at Peter.

Peter sighed.

"Ill tell you later...after we check out the Nemeton...it's something you need to know anyway and I've kept silent long enough," Peter finished.

The kanima was nowhere in sight. Peter bent down and began digging at the roots with his claws.

"They're definitely damaged...weakened somewhat, but they don't seem entirely dead."

"Do we need to re-poison them?" Scott asked.

"Maybe..."

This was the first time that Scott and been at the Nemeton with Peter since the alpha had first bit him. The irony was not lost on Scott that in the end the one helping him was Peter Hale.

Peter sighed and sat down under the tree.

"What are you doing? You can't just rest here. The kanima could return any moment now."

"Maybe...maybe not."

"What's wrong with you?" Scott asked shaking his head.

"Nothing really...maybe Lydia's death took more out of me than I thought."

Scott remained silent...mentioning Lydia was not something Peter normally did.

"The connection we had when I was dead never really went away after I came back, you know. Don't get me wrong...I couldn't get into her head like before, but something remained...something lingered. I think it was really the only reason she forgave me...because a part of her could never let go of me."

Scott momentarily forgot the danger of being at the Nemeton. He wanted to understand what was between them.

"Like some sort of empathy or telepathy?" Scott interjected.

"Empathy is a good word...I could feel what she was feeling most of the time...It wasn't until she died that I realized how much I had been feeling was her instead of me. After her passing, I felt dead again...I still do."

"Maybe you're just grieving...I feel it too."

"I've grieved before Scott...I lost my wife and son in the fire...this is not the same thing."

Scott did a double take. He had never heard of a wife or a child.

"I didn't know you had been married," Scott spoke softly.

"Doesn't matter now...feels like a lifetime ago. One thing I've learned over the years is that in this life...the life of a werewolf...more often than not you wind up alone."

Scott shook his head.

"It doesn't have to be that way."

Peter laughed.

"You don't give up do you Scott."

"I don't see why I should," he replied.

"Look at yourself Scott...everyone around you is dead and here you sit with me...the man that once tried to kill you...the man you and my nephew did kill...I would say that both of us are pretty much alone."

"I still have my Mom...she's safe on her way out of Beacon Hills. When this is done, I'll rejoin her, and we'll start over."

"Can you really start over Scott...after all this...after Stiles...Allison...Derek...Lydia?" Peter asked.

His voice dropped at the name of Derek and Lydia.

"I'm not saying I haven't changed, but it doesn't mean that I can't live again once this is over...have a chance at a new life."

"Do you really believe that, Scott...do you even want that anymore...a new life?" Peter prodded.

Scott turned away. Peter was right about one thing...he really didn't want to have a new life...he wanted the one he had...the one with Stiles, Allison, Lydia, and Derek. He wanted Isaac, Kira, Danny and the twins back.

"Stings doesn't it Scott...burns inside...that rage when you lose everything...in the end you'll know what it's like to be me...to be that raging beast I was when you first met me."

"I'll never be like you...not like you were then, and I don't believe your like that now...why didn't you try to kill me...I know you wanted to...why don't you ask yourself that?"

Scott's voice was raising. He hadn't meant to argue with Peter out in the middle of the preserve. The noise could attract the kanima.

"You're right, I did plan to kill you but for some reason I kept putting it off...but don't get your bleeding heart all in a knot over it...I think it had more to do with Lydia's influence than any redemption on my part."

"I think you're selling yourself short," Scott replied.

Peter laughed.

"Rainbows and unicorns...you always want to see the best in people don't you...to hope that in the end there was a reason for all the destruction...that it changed someone's life...cue the violins. The truth is Scott sometimes there is no silver lining. But I will concede your point...perhaps your right...maybe I did change a little. If it were only Lydia that kept me from killing you, what would be keeping me from killing you now."

Scott recognized the truth in his statement but didn't want to dwell on it. The mention of Lydia piqued his interest again and without thinking he spoke.

"Did you love her?"

"What?" asked Peter somewhat confused.

"Lydia...did you love her?" Scott asked again.

Peter dropped his head, "Yeah, I think I did."

Scott was a little surprised that Peter had been so forthcoming but was not surprised at the answer. It was something he had suspected all along.

"I kind of think if I had told her it might have made a difference...you know...with the kanima," Peter offered.

"What do you mean?" asked Scott.

"I'm not saying she didn't care about Aiden, but I don't think that her grieving process had as much to do with him as it did in mourning the loss of a normal life. Everything's been so crazy over the last two years. A high school boyfriend represented normality to her...when Aiden was gone, she had nothing."

"What does that have to do with the Kanima?" asked Scott, puzzled.

"Don't you see Scott? Jackson was also her highschool boyfriend and even more he was the boyfriend she had before everything in Beacon Hills went crazy...when she saw that kanima and thought it was Jackson..."

"she wanted to run back to the one who made everything feel normal again," finished Scott.

Peter nodded. "I'm not in highschool, Scott, but I think I could have been that safe haven for her if I had told her how I felt."

"Why didn't you?" Scott asked, "it had been two months since Aiden died."

Peter shook his head.

"I don't know. Maybe I thought it was too soon...maybe I was afraid of a 18 year old rejecting me...maybe I thought she would bring up the past...all the horrible things I did to her...maybe I was just afraid."

"But you said you could feel what she was feeling...didn't you know how she felt?"

Peter avoided his gaze.

"I believe she felt the same...yes...but there was always the nagging feeling I could have been wrong," he replied.

"I don't think so...she sought you out at Aiden's funeral."

"Ironic huh...she was terrified of me just two short years ago after what I did to her."

"Obviously, She forgave you," Scott observed.

"I guess it doesn't matter now...it's too late," Peter stated.

Scott didn't know what to say and the silence grew between them. Scott listened intently for any signs of the kanima's approach.

"You can't trust Deaton," Peter said suddenly.

Deaton was one of the few people that had chosen to remain in Beacon Hills. Although he stayed out of the main battles that Scott and his friends had faced over the last couple of years, he had always been there to offer useful advice and supplies.

"What do you mean?" asked Scott.

" It took me too long to piece it together...if I had figured it out sooner Derek and Lydia would still be alive."

Scott wanted to drill him for answers. He couldn't believe that Deaton wasn't trustworthy...that he might be hiding something, but Scott didn't get the chance.

The Kanima struck out of nowhere taking down Peter instantly. It had gone directly for his juggler. He lay helplessly trying to hold his bleeding neck as he was slowly losing the use of his hands.

Rage built in the true alpha's body and he sprung head on straight at the kanima without thinking. It flared it's wings but Scott ignored the challenge. He plunged his clawed hand into the chest of the beast and pulled out it's heart. It's carcus dropped to the ground leaving Scott holding a handful of kanima flesh.

"Deaton...he's been lying to you Scott...this entire time...he's been lying."

Scott could hear Peter's whisper in the eerie silence. The weakness and hoarseness of his voice let Scott know he didn't have long.

He sat down beside him and in spite of himself found his eyes filling with tears.

"You can't trust him, Scott...you know what to do...how to find out."

The last words were garbled and barely audible but Scott understood their meaning.

Peter made a rattling sound and breathed his last as a stream of blood poured forth effortlessly from his mouth.

Scott bowed his head and wept bitterly for the man who had turned his world upside down.