A/N: For moral support and inspiring Teen Wolf discussions, I am in debt to Emeraldawn and calrissian18.
The final brush over was done by my lovely beta raktajinos whose comments and corrections are always helping me improve the chapters.
Weregrrrl13 Yes, Peter does this all for his own purposes and if needed he can be very nice. As for Derek ... Lydia you'll find out next chapter.
Rinsing out her hair went much faster when she did it herself. After using her toes to dial open the drain, she propped herself up on the edge of the bathtub and carefully rose to her feet. After she had cleared her hair of the excess water, she reached for the bigger towel to wrap herself up, before she stepped out of the tub. Using the second one to rub off her hair and then wrapping it around her head like a turban.
The mirror showed her a surprisingly normal looking view of herself. She had cried a bit earlier but that was all gone. Her eyes were not even puffy looking. 'Because you went under water - into whatever was in that tub,' Lydia thought. Meanwhile the drain slurped as the rest of the water disappeared into it. Drying herself off, she suddenly noticed, that her handbag was lying under the washbasin on a footstool.
Looking from her old dress to the new one that Peter had hung up, the decision was actually not that difficult. After drying herself she went over to the package and found a gorgeous set of shiny silk underwear in the same colour as the velvet blue dress. Something felt wrong about accepting this. Still, the clothes were incredibly gorgeous, right down to the black pantihose with the stitched-in symbol at the ankles.
She waited a moment until her hair was not dripping anymore and then put everything on. Almost expecting Peter to conveniently step in just at the right moment. That did not happen. Eventually she stood there in that gorgeous dress, which fit her perfectly. Even the bra was a good fit and it certainly did brought out the best side of her figure.
For a moment, she hesitated, then she took the comb, washed off the last of the conditioner and tamed her hair, using the spare clips from her handbag to create the resemblance of decent hairstyle. A ringing distracted her and she realised it must have been the doorbell. She listened at the bathroom door and realised that it must be some form of take out.
"If you're ready, dinner certainly is," Peter said loud enough for her to hear it clearly.
"Almost done."
Her reply came almost without thinking. Then she shrugged and went back to the mirror taking her sweet time and care with doing her make-up. She was still barefoot, apart from the pantihose covering her feet. At least the floor was pleasantly warm. Lydia straightened herself before she opened the door. Deciding what ever happened, she would not cry anymore.
"Wow," was the first thing Peter said as he saw her.
"What?"
"You look absolutely gorgeous - much more beautiful than I had imagined."
Lydia found herself blushing and evading his looks, but she was not as shaken as earlier and could not help but realise something else.
"You planned all of this, didn't you? For quite some time. But how could you have known about ..."
"Hmm, you mean that my nephew would get himself into trouble, just in time for your birthday? Believe me, that was coincidence. I figured since I did not exactly say thank you the last time, I would do so this year."
It was of course not the truth, Lydia knew as much. Yet, somehow it did not seem to be complete lie either. Maybe some part of him had indeed felt bad about putting her through all this. However, why wait so long? Peter must have planned something. Maybe he had waited for something else to happen. Maybe it just had seemed somewhat poetic to make it happen again on her birthday. Without knowing more, she would hardly figure it out now.
"Anyway," he continued. "There is pretty nice restaurant close by and they were so kind to deliver."
As Peter stepped out of the way, she saw the dinner table. It was complete with everything, including candles and once more she got the feeling that he was trying to manipulate her. Only she had the growing suspicion that he wanted something else from her. At any rate, it sort of worked. Even though she was not particularly fond of those romantic endeavours. Yet, she liked it, while at the same time, she felt guilty about that.
"Candlelight dinner? Really?" Lydia said sounding as bored as she could.
The good thing was that in this case feigning her disinterest came easy to her. For once, it seemed that Peter either did not know what to make of it or choose not to contradict her. Instead, he pulled up her chair and helped her sit down.
"I used to be quite fond of them. Candles I mean," he sighed. "I figured, I am not going to let unfortunate encounters with flames spoil them for me forever."
That was so typical, she thought. Peter bringing up the fire using it in a way that would make anyone saying something against it look like a total jerk.
"I am just pointing out, that a few nice words and gestures, a dinner are not going to get you on my good side any time soon."
Her comment only got her another smirk and Lydia barely managed to fight of the urge to roll her eyes.
"Which reminds me, I almost forgot about something."
Peter walked back into the bathroom, giving her time to look at the meals on the table. It was far from being take out. She had an general idea what was on her plate and it looked delicious. It probably should not surprise her. He was not exactly one of her disposable boytoys, that at best could spot the difference between Chicken McNuggets and whatever their Burger King counterpart was called again.
At least it gave her something to think about, a nice distraction, and maybe that had been his intention. Nonetheless, whatever it was, it looked nice. If she had to guess it would be some form of poultry her bet was on turkey or chicken breast. With a bit of a fancy crust to keep the meat juicy. The green beans made her smile. To her delight they were prepared in a way that she preferred: They looked still firm to the bite and not overcooked to the point where they were mushy and had lost every last vitamin. The other part seemed to be some sort of potatoes but she was not sure what type.
Peter's dish of course had red meat on it, surprisingly vegetables in form of green peas and carrots that were formed like little bow-ties. The restaurant had also brought up a decanter filled with red wine. There was also a bottle of table water. Then he already came back, holding a pair of blue high heels, that also matched the colour of her dress. Then he knelt down next to her. Lydia tried hard to remember breathing as he took her ankles one by one and put the shoes on her. "I can't continue to let you run around barefoot, can I?"
Lydia remembered all too well, that for some reason she kept up ending traipsing around barefoot in the mud while he made her walk to the Hale house or collect wolfsbane in the middle of the night. There was something about him, that really got to her and it was more than just what had happened between them. They was something going on and whenever she felt his hands on her, it was like she felt scared and excited at the same time.
"I would ask, how you know my size so well - but I have the feeling, I will not like the answer." Lydia sighed and thoughts. 'I think I know the answer.'
Beta or Alpha, Lydia had not forgotten that he was still the most dangerous werewolf in town. At least most dangerous to her considering how she reacted to him. While she wanted to tell him, that buying her good favours was not working either, she kept that comment to herself. After all, it could not hurt if she let him try. She was more concerned about the way he kept touching her, that affected her so much more than any gift or kind gesture.
"Shall we eat then?"
Peter rose and walked over to the other side of the small dining table. Lydia smiled and picked up her knife and fork once he had a change to do the same. She tried the meat first and had to say, it was a particular delicious, juicy turkey. Her parents probably were able to make out all the different tastes easily but she could only discern a few of them, like the distinct taste of saffron. Taking a closer look at the crust of it, Lydia did recognize part of what it was made of: peanuts. Which she had an allergy to. "Are those peanuts?"
Peter had a devilishly smirk on his face. "Yes - but don't worry, you are not allergic anymore and you know it."
Feeling her heart pump against her chest, Lydia wanted to rush to her handbag. She knew this time, that he was not lying. All through the year, Stiles had occasionally offered her chocolate snack, that contained enough peanut traces to cause her a reaction. Only that did never happen.
"You ordered this to point that out?" she said angry regardless of the outcome.
Peter looked at her, calmly chewing his meat before finally answering her. "That and because it is a delicious dish. That you can eat now. There is no reason to be angry, I was not testing a theory. You are a banshee, which gives you certain advantages. Like when Isaac tested the Kanima poison on you - they all thought you were it as there was no reaction. The thing is you are immune to almost everything."
"If I was a banshee all along, why was I allergic to them in the first place?"
"Because your abilities were dormant. It can't exactly say what triggers them, but we know one method that worked. I could taste right away, that there was something different about you."
Lydia flinched. "Could we please not discuss what my blood tastes like on the dinner table?"
"Ah yes, that probably was not the best memory to bring up," he confirmed, then asked with a smile. "Wine?"
"As long as it is not drugged ..."
With that she pushed her glass a bit closer into his direction and watched how he poured the wine in until it was half-full. Then he poured himself half a glass before putting the wine down again. There was already a third gone, so he apparently did not want to get her drunk. Then something occurred to her.
"I can't get drunk anymore, can I?"
"You would have to drink an awful lot to feel any effects from alcohol," Peter said. "Werewolves have the same problem. Our livers just work too fast."
Lifting up her glass, Lydia stared at the red liquid, then looked at Peter's glass. It might be silly but somehow the colour reminded her of that bottle with the drugged energy drink. He must knew what her hesitation meant. Picking up his glass, he held it out saying.
"Here is to a very long life."
Lydia repeated the last words as she followed suit, waiting till Peter had tasted the wine before she could bring herself to take a sip of her own. It tasted like wine, not that she had the greatest experience with it. Her parents took her sometimes for fancy dinners, most of the time she ate with her friends or cooked for herself something that was a bit healthier and nourishing than the meals they got at school. Still, she liked the taste of this one, far better than what she had on family dinners.
"Are you going to?"
"What?" he asked amused.
"Teach me. You said if I helped you, you could help me predict people dying before it happened."
"I can, if you really want me to."
Then he continued with his dinner, while she realised that she barely had touched hers. She began to remedy this but also thought about whether she really wanted his help. Especially, if it meant spending more time with him. Time that might involve her dreams. Considering how glad she had been to get him out of her head, to not dream about rotting or dismembered corpses. She awoke sometimes from dreams that she could not remember but it was not as bad as it used to be. Unless, she had woken up feeling compelled to drive someplace beyond her control. Nothing of the sort had happened, despite the numerous murders occurring.
"Lately, I had not any dreams - but I am still waking up, feeling like I had dreamt something ..."
".. something truly awful?" he finished for her and Lydia nodded.
Peter lifted his glass and stared at it before he took another sip. "It could be one of two things: either you managed to block your dreams yourself or someone is blocking you. Since I have the feeling that you would want to help your friends, I gather it is more likely someone is blocking you."
Something about the way his voice got lost in thought near the end, made her realise that she had been right to wonder if they should not ask him for his opinion on the strange killings. After all, either he was going to tell them if he knew something or not, asking could not hurt.
"Do you know who is doing all these killings?"
Lydia took another bite, somehow not comfortable with the way Peter leaned forward and looked at her. "Why would you think that? Wondering if I might be responsible?"
"We know it's not a werewolf ... which is like all we know. I am asking because you seem to know a lot more about what else it out there."
He shrugged and smiled as he leaned back. "That I do, but I am hardly the only one. Why don't you ask, Dr. Deaton? By now, I am sure you are aware what he is. I expect after seeing the result of your little ritual he must be eager to help you figure out who is causing all these deaths."
The mere mention of the ritual got her hand trembling. If whatever had come to Beacon Hills because of that, then these death were their faults. Of course they had hardly been aware of what that actually meant. Deaton would have, while he probably did not foresee that all these murders would happen, it still seemed odd that so far he had not offered any more insights.
"He says there is not enough information for him to tell us anything."
"Hmm," Peter said and continued with his meal. Eventually he put his fork down. "I'm not sure yet either, but I will look into it. Bodies dropping on such massive scale, that is never a good thing. What I definitely could do, is help you become a more active dreamer."
"More active? Like I need any more nightmares ..." Lydia said.
"I can understand that - but the more control you have over them, the better you will be able to handle them - to use them. You said yourself you would prefer to dream in advance, so that there might be time to get to someone before they're shred to pieces."
Part of her wanted to be done with all this - but Lydia knew that this was not an option. If she could save lives, if there was just a chance, that Peter could help her to figure her dreams so she could use them to find people in time, then she had to take it.
"Just exactly how are you planning to teach me how to control my dreams?"
"It does not involve any more sex rituals, if that is what you are worried about ..."
The way he said it, Lydia had the distinct feeling he was regretting that somewhat. Nonetheless, the more she thought about it, she was convinced that he knew how to do this active dream part. That would certainly explain how he had been able to invade hers with so much ease.
"What do I need to do?"
This time he picked up his fork again, before calmly saying. "First, I would say, you finish your dinner, then I will drive you home and when you dream tonight, you try to hold onto anything you feel, even if you don't remember it."
Lydia looked at her plate, which was almost half full and realised that she probably should eat something. She doubted that she felt up to making anything once she got home. With Peter gone she could of course call her friends but what was she going to say? Somehow she had the feeling they would eventually find out but on this day, she was happy not to get into explanations about what had happened on her birthday yet again. There had been enough complaints directed at her the last time. This time she was even less sure what had transpired. 'Just don't think about it, Lydia - just don't,' she silently urged herself as she emptied her glass of wine.
"What?" she asked when she say how Peter looked at her.
"Most girls your age, usually take only to sweeter wines."
"I am not most girls."
He smiled. "Which is why I choose it."
That was a trap she could have foreseen. Even though she knew why he had brought this up, to show her that he knew her all too well, it still had the desired effect. She liked the fact that he had taken the time to find something more special for her, something neither her parents or her friends would not have been able to pull off. It did not matter, that he did it for his own reasons.
After she had finished her plate he offered her to share the last bit of the wine but she declined since she was not sure how much of that particular wine she could drink without it having side effects on her. She did not fully trust him about being immune to alcohol, after all he had drugged her. If she was to get slightly drunk and ended up doing something she knew she would really regret, she would feel even worse about this. So Peter drank the rest of the wine, having finished his plate a bit before hers already.
"Looks like it is about time to get you home."
Lydia looked at him, still trying to figure out what exactly he was playing at. At the same time she was also thinking about her dreams, how she only remembered having them but not a clear idea what she had dreamt. Something or someone blocking potentially horrible images from her mind seemed better than having someone play around in it. However, ignoring the problem would not make it go away or allow her to do something useful.
"Well, I won't object to that."
With that comment she stood up. Carefully taking the first steps with her new shoes. They fit her well enough to get slowly used to them. As she walked up and down a bit, Lydia noticed that Peter was watching her still seated at the table.
"Well, are you just going to stare or are you going to get the car keys?"
His reply was to pull them out of his pocket, but then he got up in a move so fast that it betrayed his true nature. "Let's go."
Minutes later, taking an elevator down to a subterranean garage, they reached the Jeep with the dirty wheels. In the car, she finally checked her cell phone. It was still not getting a signal and the clock showed that it was past curfew. Lydia could only hope that they were not stopped. If they were, that it wouldn't be Stiles' father.
"You said," Lydia said after a moment of silence, "that the other possibility was that I might have managed to block my dreams. Is that something I can learn as well?"
"Blocking dreams is probably the most easy thing to learn, but it comes with a price. If you do it too often, you will find that sleep won't give you the rest you need."
That was not the answer, she had been hoping for. That solution would have been too easy, life was never that generous. Peter obviously heard the dissatisfaction in her sigh, or maybe he saw her briefly pouting.
"Active dreaming on the other hand, might give you the ability to shape your dreams. That is your own dreams, if you connect to the dreams of someone else, it is harder. As for the prophetic dreams, that is even harder to influence. It will take time ..."
That was the obvious catch. If she was going through with learning what Peter called active dreaming, then she would have to spend more time with him. From his tone and the way he looked at her, he was certainly liked the idea. Lydia could not say that she minded that so badly, as long as he would behave. If she was right and the strange ritual had not involved Derek, maybe there was no need to tell the others. It was not like they had told her everything - at least not right away. Considering that nothing bad had happened the last time, after Peter had used her for a ritual, Lydia felt even less inclined to tell her friends about this time.
"Assuming there is time - nearly a dozen people have died."
Peter looked at her surprised. "So far I counted seven. Five strange animal killings and then two really gruesome murders."
"Our count includes four people who have died in bizarre accidents," Lydia explained. "Stiles has been keeping an eye out for that."
"Interesting," he replied. "No doubt, you have been expecting something like that for a while ..."
There it was again this feeling of guilt. The unnerving feeling that without that ritual these people would still be alive. "Too bad your sister removed the location of the Nemoton from your memory."
"Well, she wanted to keep us from doing what you did - giving power to it."
At the next red light, he turned to her. "Your friends ran out of options, it was either their parents or some vague threat to the town in the future."
"I know, it just - if there is something I can do to help figuring out who is behind those deaths - I want to help. What good did it that I drew those stupid roots, when it was obvious anyway that she would keep them there?"
"Still, feeling left out, aren't you?" Peter remarked. "Don't worry, that will change."
Lydia was not sure how much she would welcome such a change but as they finally came closer to her street, she was distracted. There was feeling of relief. She had not really believed that Peter had been lying about driving her home, but seeing that they headed into the right direction was even better. Although, it made the whole experience almost seem like an unreal dream. He had drugged her, forced her into some perverted sex ritual and yet Lydia felt more like coming home from a date. A date she might have had mixed feelings about, but that had rather pleasantly. Like having a really bad argument with Jackson and then after some angry sex, things turning rather well. She was still upset and confused about last night but she could not bring herself to figure out what she was feeling. That would take some time on her own.
Of that she would have more than enough this night. As they pulled up in her street, she could see the dark house. Her parent's car was gone, which meant they had not noticed anything and gone on their trip as planned. Lydia sighed. It was a good thing - better than them panicking and her having to explain where she had been. Yet, she was not all that happy thinking about that empty house.
"Delivered you back, safe and sound."
Peter stopped the Jeep directly in front of it. Unsure what to say, Lydia opened the door and got out. Part of her suggested just walking away but then she turned back with one hand ready to close the door.
"What happens after the next dream, how will I know that I got it right?"
Leaning a bit into the car, Lydia realised too late that this might not have been the best position given the low cut of her dress and the way the new bra shaped her décolletée. Peter just smirked but did raise his gaze after a few seconds to look at her face.
"Don't worry, I will stay in touch. Tonight - just try to enjoy the rest of your birthday."
"I'll try doing that."
Her sarcasm came through again and she slammed the door shut. As she strolled towards the front door, Peter simply started the car and drove off. Breathing once more with relief, despite not really feeling up to being alone, she got her key from her handbag. She unlocked the door quickly and rushed inside, locking it even faster. As she turned, suddenly the light in the living room went on.
"Surprise!"
Lydia almost dropped her handbag, but caught the strap with her elbow. That was unexpected, but for some reason her friends had been waiting for her. Jumping out from behind the couches and the door to the kitchen. It was so unexpected that she barely had time to defend herself against the traditional next part of these surprise parties.
"If you're going to sing, I am going to scream."
That got them to laugh, but it seemed like apart from Stiles nobody was really that keen on doing that. From what she had learnt, her screams could be quite painful for werewolves, so it remained beautifully quiet when it came to singing. Aidan was the first to approach her, but before he reached her she just had to satisfy her curiosity.
"Weren't you two supposed to be out of town?" she asked Scott.
"We are going tomorrow," Scott said from behind the couch.
Stiles nodded. "You did not think, we'll leave you alone on your birthday. Especially, since the last one got ..."
Then Aidan was drawing her into a kiss. "You look absolutely amazing, birthday girl."
For a moment, Lydia just went along with it, then she ended it far quicker than usual. Something about it felt wrong, but he did not seem to notice. Given that there were six more people coming up to her, hugging and congratulating her, she had not time to think about that. It was actually, nice combination of the party. They were four couples, well that is if one wanted to count Scott and Stiles as one.
Danny and Ethan gave her a small package, which she was sure was some sort of jewellery. -Danny hugged her and Ethan kissed her on the cheek, both complimenting her on her choice of outfit. Making her cheeks burn so much that even the non-werewolves were seeing it. Allison agreed on their sentiment, with Isaac enthusiastically joining in, even though, he seemed a bit unsure if that was the right choice judging by the side glance toward Allison. Lydia had still not figured out if those two were still just friendly or very friendly. After she congratulated her, Allison told her with a smirk, that she had left her present upstairs on her bed, while Isaac handed her something that seemed to be a big textbook by the feel and weight of the package.
She put those on the couch table and let Stiles hug her. As usually it was somewhat awkward. Not just given that he had this crush on her and she had just grown used to him as being a good friend. He was one more person to tell her how great she looked and this time she was not the only one who was blushing. At least this time, Stiles' present was not as embarrassingly large and awkward. It was an envelope with a bow pinned on top of it. Scott was bit more reserved, but also could not help on saying that her dress looked nice. Which was fine with her. At least his package was not that obvious.
Lydia sighed, realising she would have to open them eventually. For now, they all sat down, Aidan holding on very tightly to her waist.
"We just prepared some light snacks, knowing that you would come from dinner with your parents."
Allison said pointing to the bowls of chips and sweets standing around, as she settled down with Isaac on the two seater. Danny and Ethan took the larger couch and Stiles sat down on the edge with Scott settling onto the armchair that completed the couch set.
"Yeah, how was dinner with your parents?" Stiles asked.
"Fine," Lydia said. "Excuse me for a moment."
Then she put down the other presents and rushed upstairs to her bedroom. When she came from her bathroom, Allison was knocking at the open door. "Heh? Everything okay?"
"Yes, yes, I am okay - just a bit tired and really surprised."
"I hope you are not disappointed, given that you always had such great parties ..."
Lydia shrugged. "The last one was not that great."
"Yeah, best forget about that one, I don't think that was such a particularly good time for either of us," Allison said as her gaze fell upon something on Lydia's desk. "Oh my, from Aidan?"
With that she snatched up the little jewellery box on it. The moment her friend commented on how gorgeous the earrings were, Lydia knew somehow that it was not Aidan's present. Quickly, she snatched the little card that was underneath. It read, Sweet Dreams, Peter.
Her eyes darted to the ceiling, as she nearly crumbled the note between her fingers. It was so typical of him. Just as she almost had been able to push him and the events aside, he just managed to intrude once more. The worst part, Allison was right, those earrings were fantastic. Beautiful enough to wonder if she should throw them into his face or just the empty box.
Considering everything, she did deserve some compensation and it did not have to mean that he was buying her forgiveness. In a way it made her even more angry.
"Yes, it is gorgeous, I guess he did not want the others to know. Not that your presents won't be great."
Taking the box from Allison's hand, she quickly closed it and threw it into the drawer of her night stand.
"I certainly hope so, although mine is more practical. Did a little online shopping on my aunt's account."
"Your aunt, the one that burned down the Hale place?" Lydia asked surprised.
Allison sat on the bed, next to her package. "I know, seems a bit off. But since were are not old enough to buy toys ... I figured why not?"
"Toys?" A knowing smile rushed over Lydia's face as she lifted the lid of the gift box. "Oh my ..."
"I figured, you can never have enough of these, and then some ..."
Lydia raised a pair of fur covered handcuffs causing Allison to smile. "They only had pink, baby-blue and tiger-stripes, I somehow thought the tiger one was more fitting."
"Wow, can't believe you remembered that one," Lydia pointed to the butterfly shaped toy that lay amongst a stack of condoms and three tubes of lube.
"Girls?" Isaac called to them from the hallway.
With a quick motion the cuffs went back in and the lid was closed. "Just a second."
Giggling for a bit longer, Lydia had at least for the moment other things on her mind. After she went down, things actually turned rather pleasant. In fact, she realised that there was something more pleasant about a smaller party than a large one with people she barely knew. It felt utterly normal to sit around her couch table, snuggled up against her not-boyfriend just having fun like teenagers had, or at least those not hell-bent on getting drunk.
Although normalcy was a bit relative, since four of the people around her table were werewolves. Which also left one werewolf for each team. After outvoting the Twins, they decided to play Trivial Pursuit, to allow for an easier flow they paired up making for a far livelier game. They were actually fairly evenly matched, although Allison and Isaac were eventually falling behind, near the end it came down to a race between Lydia with Aidan and Stiles with Scott.
Since Aidan's pop culture knowledge was not much better than Lydia's eventually they lost to them. In the end, everyone had fun. Lydia had the feeling that the Twins were also still in the process of getting used to all that normalcy. This was far step from running around with a pack of bloodthirsty killers, considering all they knew before was abuse. It was probably surprising they were even able to sit there and joke around with them.
"Another round?" Allison asked.
"Aw, I am afraid I need to get home ..." Danny said. "My mom is coming home from her late night shift in an hour."
Lydia would have liked for this to last longer but as she looked at the clock it was almost 2 am.
"We got to leave early, too. Deaton will call us with the location where we might find Derek first thing in the morning," Scott weighed in.
"Look it's okay - it was a great party. Maybe one of these days, we can do it again - when less strange murders are happening?"
"That would be nice," Ethan agreed.
It took about half an hour till everyone had said their goodbyes. Ten minutes later, it was just Aidan who stayed with her, very close to her. Lydia felt him moving behind her, running his hands over her sides but as he leaned down to kiss her neck, she found herself stepping forward overtaken by a sudden chill.
"What?" Aidan said disappointed.
Lydia shrugged. "Sorry, just too tired."
Hoping that a half-truth would not trip him off, that the real reason was entirely different. Feeling him pressing against her like that, was only making her recall the way Peter had done the same. Just that he really knew how to use his hands. Either way, Lydia knew she was not up for sex. But she turned and gave Aidan an apologetic smile. After all it was not his fault that she already had her fair share of birthday sex.
"Well, then how about I carry you upstairs and keep you all warm and ..." he kissed her.
"I think I sleep better alone."
It felt really bad rejecting Aidan, especially since he was always so respectful, always ready to stop when she demanded it. In that regard he was so very unlike Peter. Lydia placed a consoling kiss on Aidan's lips then walked off. "You know, if the couch is not inviting enough, there are few guest rooms that are always made."
The frustration was tangible but it was better that way. Every time they had just meant to spend the night sleeping in one bed, they had been doing more than that. Tonight she knew she would only give him false hope. Maybe after a good night's rest in her own bed, without a werewolf around, she would come around and things could go back to normal.
Final Note: Peter won't show up till chapter 8 - but I hope the wait is worth it, I at least has tons of fun writing it. Unfortunately, the betaing and editing needs longer ... but I'll give out the chapters as fast as I can.