wayward // d. hale

fifteen

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It's safe to say when the doorbell chimes Sunday evening, the last person in the world Willa expects to find on the other side of the door is Peter Hale. Her hand tightens exponentially on the door frame as she notices the smug smirk pulling the corner of his mouth upward.

Willa had been ecstatic for her aunt when she mentioned she had a date, she had even helped her get ready for it. When the doorbell rang, Melissa had quickly shooed her away from where she had been fretting over her hair and asked if she would get the door for her since she wasn't quite ready yet.

Willa had happily obliged, even finding herself skipping down the steps and grinning widely as she opened the door. The wide smile on her face had disappeared the second she locked eyes with Peter.

"Hello there," he smirks.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" she snaps, her mind not willing to put two and two together.

The smirk on his face widens as his eyes rake down her body, though it turns into a sinister sneer as they trail back up to her face. He opens his mouth to give an answer, but Scott interrupts before he can.

"Will!" her cousin calls from the top of the stairs. Willa blinks and Scott's standing by her side, a deep furrow in his brows as he glares at the alpha before them. He doesn't utter another word, instead letting his anger take hold as he slams the door in Peter's face.

Tries to slam the door in Peter's face, at least. The elder werewolf stops the door with his hand and shoves it back open. Scott stumbles back a step into Willa but manages to catch her before she can topple over. He makes sure to keep her behind him, though.

"Really?" Peter asks. "Slam the door in my face? Come on, Scott. Take a second to think that through."

"I'll tell her," Scott threatens, though even Willa knows that's a bluff. There's no way he would ever tell Melissa anything about the supernatural world, but even if he did she would never believe it without solid proof, and he would never put her through that willingly.

Peter doesn't look impressed. "That I used to be a catatonic invalid with burns covering half my face? Good luck with that."

"If you hurt her, if you even touch herー"

"Scott, if I may interrupt your listing of the top five most impotent-sounding threats for a moment, try to remember that I've been in a coma for six years," Peter says. He pauses and briefly meets Willa's wilting gaze before glancing back to Scott and asking, "Don't you think I'd like to have dinner with a beautiful woman?"

Melissa comes down the stairs, then heads into the kitchen as she calls over to the trio, "JustーJust half a second! Sorry!"

Peter nods to her with a pleasant smile gracing his face. As he looks back at the pair of cousins standing before him, that smile drops. "Or maybe... you think that I've come up with an idea. Like how it might be easier to convince you to be a part of the pack... if your mother is, too."

Willa's heart drops. A quick glance at Scott shows he feels the same way if the horrified expression on his face is anything to go by.

As Peter steps forward and through the threshold of the door, Willa's protective instincts take over and she shoves herself between Scott and Peter. The elder wolf snarls down at her, but does pause in his steps. After a brief stare-off between the two, Peter surprisingly gives in and backs off a little.

He meets Scott's eyes over Willa's shoulder. "You need to understand how much more powerful we are together. You... and me... and Derek."

Willa tries not to flinch at the name of the younger Hale, though the slight shift in Peter's eyes lets her know she probably wasn't very successful. Instead of commenting on it, though, Peter once again ignores Willa and focuses on Scott.