Baseball Bats and Sour Wolves

Chapter 50

After the talk with Erica and Boyd, Peter and Derek come downstairs, and they chat for a while. Shortly after that, the others begin to arrive to the loft. Stiles' nerves kick in a little, and he fidgets on the couch, Erica nudges him gently. Stiles turns to look at her, but she just shoots him a reassuring smile.

Stiles gives her a smile in return, but he isn't sure its a nice smile. Stiles waits until everyone is inside the loft and seated before standing up and clearing his throat. The others all stop their own conversations and turn to look at him.

"I thought we'd do something else for the pack meeting tonight," He starts, and they all stare at him curiously. "Of course it's completely optional, and up to you if you want to participate, but I expect everyone to do it eventually, it will strengthen us as a pack, and help bonds form." Stiles continues, Peter shoots him a pointed look from his spot on the couch.

"Right, well I figured we should talk to anyone that we have a bit of negative feelings toward. For example, if there's anyone in this room that you are even a little mistrustful of, I want you to talk with them tonight. Just let them know how you feel, and what they can do to gain your trust back." Stiles explains, a couple of them exchange worried glances.

"Just talk to them?" Lydia questions, and Stiles glances over at her.

"Just talk, and if you aren't ready for that today, that's perfectly fine. I know I kind of sprung this on you guys without warning." Stiles smiles kindly, and looks at all of them in turn. "Like I said, it's completely optional. Although, I do want you to at least try at some point." Stiles finishes, and they all nod in agreement.

"Okay, so I know of the top of my head that Peter and Scott need to have a chat," Peter glares at Stiles openly, and Stiles has to try very hard not to grin back. "Erica, Boyd and Alison need to as well." Stiles states, he glances over at Alison to see her look up in surprise.

"And the rest of us?" Jackson questions with a raised brow, Stiles grins at him.

"You know better than I do who you have problems with, just approach them and see if they're willing to chat, or if you don't want to approach them, then come see me and I'll talk with all of you to get you started." Stiles claps his heads, and Peter reluctantly gets up, and walks over to Scott.

Alison follows suit, and heads over to where Erica and Boyd are sitting. Stiles stays to the side of the room, Derek joins him, the rest of them scatter around the room.

"It'll be okay, everything will work out." Derek nudges Stiles gently with his shoulder, Stiles shoots him a smile.

"I know, I'm more worried about them." Stiles inclines his head to Peter and Scott, Scott is glaring while Peter talks.

"I'm sure it's fine." Derek tries to reassure, Stiles is a bit doubtful.

"Should I go over there make sure everything's okay?" Stiles makes a move to go forward and then rocks back on his heels, unsure.

"They can handle it, plus they should be doing it without interference." Derek answers, and Stiles smiles, then suddenly turns to Derek.

"I actually forgot to ask you, uh would you be willing to talk to Scott about what happened with Gerard and any other issues you have with him?" Derek looks surprised for a minute, before he averts his eyes.

"I can't say I'll be thrilled, you know I'm not much of a talker, but I understand that it's important for the pack. I'll try, but only because you asked so nicely." Derek grins, and Stiles smiles sweetly. 

"That's great, you don't have to do it tonight, I have a feeling they'll be talking a lot more in the future, they have a lot of issues with each other." Stiles amends, nodding again to Peter and Scott. Derek cracks a smile.

"Peter will love that." Stiles feels bad for the grin that pulls at his lips, but then there's a flash of annoyance through the pack bond, and Stiles has to stifle his laugh. Derek snorts beside him, and Stiles has to lean against him to not fall over with his amusement.

Stiles decides to cut Peter some slack, and sends some of his amusement down their bond only, allowing Peter to experience what he's feeling. Stiles subtly glances over at Peter, just in time to see him raise a hand over his mouth while he full on smiles, with an almost bubble of laughter. Stiles feels a swell of pride at seeing him smile like that for the first time.

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Peter isn't sure how the conversation with Scott would go, but he wasn't really expecting for Stiles and Derek to laugh about his predicament. He also wasn't expecting the pure amusement and joy that Stiles through their pack bond, and the bubble of laughter he had to hold back. Bringing his hand up to cover his lips was the only thing he could think of on the spot. 

Scott isn't saying anything since Peter's stopped talking, he's glaring but Peter didn't really expect anything else, so he isn't disappointed. Peter frowns, and shakes off the rest of the amusement he feels, slipping on a mask of indifference. 

"You didn't catch any of what I just said did you?" Peter questions, and Scott scowls. 

"I heard you." He grits out, and Peter rolls his eyes.

"But," Peter draws out the word. "You don't understand do you?" Scott's scowl deepens, but he doesn't protest. Peter sighs.

"Fine, I'll elaborate then." Peter leans forward and folds his hands in his lap. "When your an Alpha, and you bite someone, there is a bond between you. It's what you felt every time I called for you, I was pulling at our new pack bond, and as you know it's easier to call on a newly bitten wolf." Peter starts, and Scott leans back into the chair his sitting on.

"What does this have to do with not trusting me." Scott growls, and Peter rolls his eyes.

"I was getting to that, can I finish?" Scott frowns, but dips his head.

"When your Betas accept you, it's," Peter pauses. "Well, you know what it felt like after biting Liam and he accepted you as his Alpha." Peter waits for Scott's reply.

"I felt a bit more powerful." Scott agrees, and Peter purses his lips.

"Right, that's a part of it, you gain power, but that's not all. When you have a Beta and they accept you, it also fills this void in you, it makes you feel whole. Especially if the Alpha is unstable, like I was." Peter explains, and Scott crosses his arms over his chest. 

"So when your Betas reject you, that void gets bigger, makes you feel like you aren't a worthy Alpha, that on top of being unstable can make a wolf become even more feral than before." Peter continues, and Scott uncrosses his arms and leans forwards. 

"Are you," Scott pauses, and licks his lips. "Are you saying that's what happened to you when I refused to join your pack?" Scott asks softly, and Peter nods, averting his eyes. 

Peter misses Scott's horrified expression.