Apologies everyone for having to wait a few weeks for a new chapter. With the holiday's being back-to-back and my grandfather's passing, I haven't had any time to really sit down and write. Family time has been important. Two more chapters will be released within a week. Enjoy!!!
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"That is a terrible plan." Peter grumbled, arms crossed over his chest as he watched his nephew pace back and forth.
They had stepped out into the small laundry room that was also the door that led into the back yard.
Noah and Scott had gone upstairs to watch over Victoria while Chris began to inform his daughter more in depth about everything that was happening and the supernatural world as a whole.
Stiles stood just behind Peter, nervously playing with his fingers. Peter could easily sense how difficult it was for the boy to stay still and quiet while Derek paced back and forth, deep in thought.
Worry began to seep in as Derek paused and turned to exit the house.
"She has to think she caught me off guard." Derek huffed as he stalked forward, letting the screen door swing shut behind as he went out the back. Peter cringed at the awful noise the hinges made.
"Derek, wait!" Peter called as he hurried after his nephew.
Stiles hesitated before following after his alpha.
Peter grabbed onto Derek's bicep and pulled his nephew to a stop. "Why go back there? That place has nothing but pain and death. Why put yourself through that once more?"
Derek paused, eyes firmly on the cement that was the Argents back sidewalk that cut through their back yard towards the pool deck.
"Because she doesn't know I have a pack, that I have anyone other than Ellie. She won't think I have anywhere else to go. It's where she found me the first time. She'll expect me to go there first."
Peter blinked dumbly. 'Fair point.' He thought, not liking that that sentence had made sense.
But Derek wasn't alone anymore. Peter needed Derek to know he would never be alone again. That people really did care for him. Derek was the only family he had left. The only person left who linked him to his beloved sister. Derek was more like Talia than any of her other children.
He wanted to regain that closeness that they once held... Before Paige. Before Kate.
She had taken everything from them... She seduced his nephew; a boy who was left completely vulnerable after the death of his girlfriend... Whose family hadn't done their job correctly in taking care of the grieving child.
Peter frowned. He remembered how angry he and Talia had been when Derek had approached them about a teacher and her inappropriate advances. How uncomfortable he had been and how he just wanted her to stop.
Talia had always put her children above all else before and the pack had always been right there beside her. She had been ready to storm the school and even had Peter get one of his many contacts to draw up a restraining order against Kate. They had both been ready and willing to protect Derek.
So why had they stopped caring? He and Talia had planned on confronting the school about it... Then nothing. It hurt just thinking about it. Their anger had simply disappeared. Vanished as if it had never existed.
Peter had called off the restraining order and they had both ignored Derek's claims. Derek had been devastated. That was the moment when Derek had realized his family wouldn't have his back. They simply had not believed him. Or rather, something had made them ignorant to Derek's cries for help and made them turn the other way.
So why had Derek suddenly accepted Kate's advances when he previously hadn't wanted anything to do with her? Something wasn't adding up. None of it made any sense.
Looks like Peter would have to visit the Hale Pack's old emissary. He shook those thoughts away.
He would deal with that mystery after. He needed to focus on finding Ellie and taking care of Kate first.
Just the thought of that woman's name made bile want to climb its way up his esophagus and make itself a home on the Argents pretty landscaped yard.
"She's going to torture you, Derek. I know you need to do this and I hate how right you are." He paused, watching as Derek tensed as if expecting Peter would stop him.
Peter felt Stiles grab onto the bottom of his shirt. The boy did not like the thought of Derek being tortured. Not one bit.
"She's going to pay for her crimes against our family. For everything she has done to you. God, Derek... I am so sorry and ashamed for how Talia and I ignored your cry for help. I don't know what happened, but I know something stopped us from reacting the way we should have; the way that we would have. I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for those mistakes, but I will get to the truth behind that." Peter could feel the tears burning in his ducts, wanting to be released.
"When you can, howl. I will follow.." He stressed out. If Derek didn't howl, he would stop at nothing until he found them. Nothing would be able to stop an alpha on a warpath.
Derek's head shot up and Peter's wolf whined at the vulnerable look that flooded his nephew's face. God. Derek was barely an adult himself and he had been forced to grow up too soon, too early.
"I will not lose anyone else." Peter nearly growled when Derek looked down again. He stepped closer, curling a hand around the nape of Derek's neck and made his nephew look at him, scenting him in the process.
"Derek. You are all I have left of Talia and the others. I cannot.... Will not lose you as well."
Derek swallowed thickly and gave a jerky nod before leaning forward, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead into Peter's shoulder.
Stiles shuffled closer and Derek's arm shot out, pulling the boy in beside them, wanting nothing more than to be as close to his packmate as possible. Stiles was family now. All of them were.
They would get through this. They would get Ellie back and be a big, happy family once more.
Peter held Derek close, soaking up his nephew's warmth, basking in it. He knew Derek was hurting without his mate. And Stiles. Peter knew Stiles was worried he would lose his beloved sister, like he had lost his mother...
Peter's brain came to a sudden halt. Wait. Claudia had been their emissary but had gotten sick! It was only a year before the fire when she had to take a leave due to her illness. Why didn't he remember that at all?
He pulled back and cupped Stiles' face in his palms, squishing the boy's face forward.
Stiles let out a whine in confusion as Peter tilted the boy's head side to side.
"My god. You look just like your mother." Peter whispered in shock.
At the wide-eyed look both Stiles and Derek were giving him, Peter released his son's face... His son. Because that was what Stiles was now, and it warmed Peter's heart.
"Your mother was our emissary before she had gotten sick... For some reason, that was wiped from all of our memories. It just came back to me. She was a very powerful Spark."
Derek's eyes widened even more, and his recognition of her name flashed across his mind. "Aunt Claudia? Why? Who would make us forget about her and the Stilinski's? I can faintly remember babysitting Stiles. God, you had to have been like eight or nine." Derek said as he gazed fondly at the boy.
Peter's eyes hardened. "I don't know. But I will find out. She was in charge of caring for the Nemeton... If she got sick, then something must have happened to it. Someone betrayed us more than we ever could have thought."
Stiles had so many questions. He bit his lip and opened his mouth to speak only for Peter to shake his head. "I will tell you everything I know soon." He wanted his son to know that since Claudia was a Spark, Stiles most likely was as well.
He'd have to speak to Noah as well.
Though he and Noah hadn't spoken much about what the shift in their own relationship meant quite yet; they had other things to deal with right now; but Peter was sure he would be reacting the same way as Derek was if it was Noah in Ellie's shoes.
Peter was pretty sure his wolf had claimed Noah as a mate... He just hasn't had the opportunity to confirm that theory yet.
After a few moments, Peter made sure both of his boys were looking at him before he spoke.
"We will bring Ellie home." Even if it killed him.