Blood Runs Cold

Chapter Thirteen

Peter curling up in Stiles' bed went unacknowledged the next morning. The only proof that it wasn't actually all some weird fucked up dream was the black fur that covered Stiles' pajama shirt and the blankets of the bed. There were no other traces of Peter to be found in the small bedroom when Stiles woke up. He was still in the cabin, Stiles could hear him moving around in the kitchen, and Stiles briefly wondered if this was what the aftermath of a one night stand was like.

That feeling was heightened as when Stiles moved out of the bedroom and towards the common area, Peter didn't acknowledge the fact that he had decided to slip in and share Stiles' bed as a gigantic wolf that barely fit. He just raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly and motioned towards the table where there was a plate waiting for him next to Chris.

And know what? Stiles was perfectly happy not addressing the fact that he had once again willingly cuddled up and slept in bed with Peter fucking Hale. So he said nothing, eyes daring Peter to say a single goddamn word.

But Peter didn't, not for the entire day spent beating control into Stiles and Chris, nor when he led Chris and Stiles away from the cabin and back towards the cars, nor in the days that followed.

Days turned into weeks and things started to fall into a rhythm. Stiles would wake up, Peter or Chris would be at his door, he'd be driven to school, and then after school he was driven home. His dad had seemed highly skeptical at first, especially with how being at the door quickly morphed into, well, Chris would wait at the door and Peter would just let himself in.

The first time Noah had been there when Peter either picked the lock or used a dubiously acquired key, Stiles thought that he was going to have a heart attack. It was a good thing that his gun was already put away because Stiles saw him instinctively reach for it when Noah saw Peter sitting at the kitchen table, scrolling through his phone and sipping coffee.

Peter looked as nonplussed as ever when Noah told him that they needed to have a discussion. Honestly, he had probably gotten used to being threatened by men with firearm training with the amount of time Chris had been forced to spend with him.

But aside from that hiccup, the days started to fade back into normality. Stiles went back to having weekend hangout sessions with Scott and Isaac, he started getting a grasp on controlling his emotions, and even Peter had shown signs of relaxing. Of course that all meant that, because Stiles wasn't allowed to have nice things, during the first day of Thanksgiving break, everything started going wrong.

It started just like everything in Beacon Hills seemed to, with a dead body found in the Preserve.

Stiles was chilling at Scott's house, they were celebrating the start of the break playing some Double Dash when he got a call from Lydia.

"Hey Lyds, what's up?" Stiles put her on speakerphone and went back to trying to leave Scott in the dust. In the second it had taken him to answer the call, he had already been whacked with a red shell and had another coming his way. Scott smirked at him when Stiles looked over, offended.

"Stiles, you need to pause whatever game you're playing, I'm in the middle of the Preserve and there's blood everywhere." Lydia sounded shaken up and Stiles had to tense his arms to fight against the claws and fangs that wanted to spring free. He hated that Lydia found herself alone, surrounded by gruesome death so often.

"We'll be there in fifteen," Scott spoke up and paused the game damn near immediately. He put a hand on Stiles' shoulder and looked at him, concern in his eyes. He had obviously sensed the way Stiles was fighting back the shift. "Have you called anyone else yet?"

"Malia's with me, we were—" Lydia broke off and then after a moment, she continued, "I called Allison, her and her dad are on their way which probably means we'll be seeing Peter." Lydia's breathing was loud and sounded like she was just on this side of not having a panic attack. Stiles had to let go of the GameCube controller so he didn't crush it. "You should probably let the rest of the pack know."