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Chaotic Chrysanthemums
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A lot of things had changed since the last time Peter had been in Beacon Hills.
Derek had bought a building in the Warehouse District to serve as a pack house. The ruins of the old pack house had been torn down as the hazard it had become. A small greenhouse and memorial garden had been erected in its place. Cora had greeted Peter with a toothy grin and a knowing sparkle in her eyes as she leaned against the small cottage attached to the greenhouse.
"This way, we have a reliable source of herbs," she explained as they looked through the glass wall of the greenhouse at a sea of green dotted by multiple colors of flowers. She had stopped him from opening the door. "None of the wolves are allowed inside without protective gear. Yoshi's orders."
"You take orders from a cartoon dinosaur?" Peter asked. Cora just rolled her eyes before sighing as if from the tips of her toes.
"Like Stiles hasn't made that joke a million times already," she snarked back. She jabbed a finger at the distinctive violet blossoms growing on a trellis among a cluster of similar planters with different colored blossoms. "The orders are basic common sense, not malicious. He's got a lot of aconite variants in there."
"I can see that." Peter debated how to phrase what he wanted to ask. Cora rolled her eyes again, this time without the deep sigh.
"Stiles trusts him," she continued with careful casualness. "He even got Yoshi set up to help at the preschool after we managed to subdue him enough to listen. Which has been good all around, because having a starving nogitsune running around is apparently worse than having a feral alpha doing it. At least according to Stiles."
"You have a nogitsune in your pack?" Peter asked incredulous and completely ignoring how Stiles would be the one to make the comparison. Wolves and foxes of any sort were notorious for their feuds over the pettiest of reasons. Of all the kitsune and assorted fox shifters, the nogitsune were particularly vicious when they felt they had been offended in some manner. Combined with the standard dynamic between foxes and wolves, that was a potential threat larger than Peter expected Stiles to allow.
But neither Derek or Cora had mentioned any conflicts among the pack members whenever they had talked over the years. Then again, they also hadn't mentioned Stiles having a child. So maybe they hadn't been as open as Peter had thought. He was still playing catch-up on what had happened after his resurrection and self-exile.
"Yoshi is probably the closest we have to an emissary," Cora announced, as if she didn't realize how shocking the information was. "Between him and Stiles, no one messes with us."
Peter frowned as he realized that maybe his plan to court Stiles may have a few more obstacles than his previous feral revenge spree.
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The mysterious Yoshi did not live in the new pack house. That wasn't unexpected. Despite the building having ample room, both communal and smaller suites, not all of the rebuilt pack lived in the building. Derek lived in the loft at the top of the building. Cora and her mate Isaac had one of the suites on the floor immediately below it. Another mated pair of Derek's betas had another of the suites.
Yoshi also did not live the little cottage attached to the greenhouse. Apparently, the cottage was more official workshop for all things magical than a residence. No one lived there on a permanent basis, though all of the pack's magic users tended to move in temporary if they had a finicky project that needed intense management.
Peter hadn't been as subtle asking about the nogitsune as he had thought.
"Yoshi lives with at the Stilinski residence," Braeden told him as they lounged around the loft. She had a smile as sharp as any wolf's as she spoke. Stiles had been correct as always about how much of an improvement she was over Derek's usual paramours. Peter even grudgingly liked her, present smugness and knowing sparkle in her dark eyes aside. "Has since he got more or less stable again."
"So not only does he work at a daycare," Peter retorted, trying not to feel bitter, "but he lives with a small child?"
"Looking a bit green there," Braeden said, her grin only growing. She really would make a wonderful wolf, just like Stiles. "But can you really think of a better source of constant chaos than small children and the Stilinski version of ADHD? Because if the kid doesn't get the diagnosis when she's old enough, I will buy a hat just to eat it."
"But he's a nogitsune," Peter stressed. With a gentleness he had a feeling was unusual for the gruff bounty hunter, Braeden placed one hand on his forearm and gave it a squeeze.
"Stiles trusts him," she said, repeating Cora's words from earlier. "That kid is the epitome of trust issues, and no one in the pack can blame him, but he trusts Yoshi with the two most precious people in his life. Yoshi has proven himself over the years, but Stiles trusted him before that." She shrugged. "Stiles has a decent track record on being right about that sort of thing. He's only ever been wrong once that I know of."
Peter had gotten warned against using Scott's name anywhere Stiles could potentially hear it. The exact story hadn't been revealed yet, but enough had that Peter could understand the gist. The decisions surrounding Jolenta's existence had been fraught with conflict. The arguments had been about more than just an unplanned teen pregnancy, as might be expected when the supernatural was involved. Something had happened around the time of her birth. In the end, Scott and the druid had been forced to leave the county.
And a nogitsune had joined the Hale pack along with being trusted with the youngest pack member.
Maybe it was already too late to court Stiles the way he had wanted since he had first seen the boy in the hospital.
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The clearing that they were having the ceremony in was barely large enough to accommodate all of the delegations from the packs invited. Normally, a wedding would be more of a local event, if not entirely central to just the local pack. But the Hales had been a big name once upon a time. Now that they were rebuilding, that reputation was returning.
Not to mention, the fact that the Hale pack has three kitsune of different kind in it brought its own attention. In addition to the nogitsune, they had a celestial kitsune and a thunder kitsune. Those two were a mother and daughter, with the daughter still being new to her kitsune heritage. What was most scandalous was that the thunder kitsune was under the tutelage of the nogitsune as a penance for the celestial kitsune breaking a deal she had made with the nogitsune and trapping the nogitsune for decades.
Peter still hadn't met the mysterious nogitsune, though the thunder kitsune had been working the cash register when he had stopped in that morning. Kira was just as energetic as Peter would have expected from someone with access to excess electricity. Unfortunately, there had also been no sign of Stiles or Jolenta, which was, as Kira had cheerfully informed him, because the pair were a part of the wedding ceremony. Beacon Brews would close early to ensure that all of the pack was able to attend, but morning rush was vital in a small town.
"It is good to see you," Satomi Ito greeted as she approached where he had been lurking at the edge of the crowd. The old werewolf's gaze was as knowing as always. It never failed to make him squirm like a child. "You were gone far longer than I thought you'd be."
"I had never planned on it."
"Ah, but we both know that is a lie, don't we?" She gave him a soft look that probably passed as a smile for her. "As long as the young Stiles was here, you would have found an excuse sooner or later." Peter sniffed but refused to say anything either way. Not that it mattered to the alpha. "I have been elected to be the one to warn you. Mostly because the kids haven't figured out how to explain it. There's a reason that Stiles trusts Yoshi so much."
"They're mated, aren't they?" Peter asked, defeated. Of course he had missed his chance. He should have known that not everyone would be as blind as the puppies Peter had left Stiles with. As if Jolenta wasn't enough proof, this was just— Why was Satomi laughing?
"You are as obvious as they said," Satomi explained as she caught her breath. Her brown eyes sparkled with her continued mirth. "But no, Stiles has not mated anyone, not even the banshee. The boy is more wolf than most of the actual wolves, certainly more than the druid's pet. He would never be so disloyal after accepting your initial courting gift.
"But there's a reason that he trusts the nogitsune."
"So everyone keeps saying."
"Deaton felt that Jolenta's existence upset the Balance. Yoshi was the one to expose the plot."
Peter felt his insides freeze as the knowledge seeped into his consciousness. He knew too well the lengths that Deaton would go to in order to keep his interpretation of balance. He couldn't prove it like he could the other participants, but the Argents had to have gotten the mountain ash that had trapped his family from somewhere. Deaton also had no problem swapping out medication on someone he suspected was planning to be bitten. A newborn would have been helpless against any kind of machinations before even considering how much Stiles had once trusted Scott.
With this new information slotting into place, Peter was more surprised that Scott and Deaton were alive to be banished. Stiles was delightfully vicious in his defense of those he considered his. It was part of what had made him so attractive to Peter. Then there was the nogitsune, trusted with the two most important people to Stiles. Kitsune had killed for less than a genuine threat to a kit.
"How did Yoshi find out?"
"He was possessing Stiles," Satomi continued, still matter-of-factually as ever. Peter felt his eyes flash in protective outrage. Satomi waved away his reaction. "They worked things out afterwards. The traitor thought Stiles would willingly surrender the babe, despite months of plans indicating otherwise. Had circumstances not been what they were, McCall would not have been as healthy as he was when he was banished."
"My feral self was an idiot," Peter snarled. Only to be interrupted by a low horn sounding over the clearing. Satomi straightened her back, coming to attention just like the rest of the clearing. She gripped his forearm.
"Stiles was Yoshi's first host in a long time," she said hurriedly. "While they are separate now, Yoshi has elected to not change his appearance."
"What—" Peter cut off his question as he watched who must be the officiant for the wedding step into the clearing near the altar. Suddenly, Satomi's little story time made sense, as did everyone else's reluctance to bring it up. There were some distinct differences that he could see, but the officiant could easily be mistaken for either Stiles or his twin. "Oh."
"Yes."
Perhaps his goal of having Stiles as his mate was not so unattainable after all.
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"THERE HE IS!"
Peter barely had time to turn towards the voice before Jolenta collided with his legs. She was absolutely adorable in her pale amethyst dress. A matching ribbon had been woven through the crown her red hair been braided into. It was pinned in place by a lovely wooden comb studded with smooth amethysts shaped like teardrops. A leather cord with a pendant matching the hair comb was tied around her tiny neck. And as Peter now knew was normal, the vault key was wrapped around her wrist. She was grinning up at him from the height of his knees.
"Hi, wolfie," she greeted even as Peter acted on instinct to scoop her up to eye-level. She smelled like cake frosting and chrysanthemums. And underneath was the musky scent of fox and Stiles. Peter could have happily buried his nose into her neck and drowned in the smell.
That was his excuse for not realizing right away that the pup had not been on her own.
"Apologies," Peter greeted once he finally noticed the nogitsune standing within arm's reach. The grin he got in return had more teeth than Stiles would have used but was still familiar enough to fit the face the two shared.
"I'm used to it," Yoshi said. "She commands attention."
"I'm a princess," Jolenta declared as she wrapped her arms around Peter's neck. Her nose was icy as it pressed against his throat. "I'm gonna take a nap now."
And with the swiftness of toddlers, she fell asleep right there. If anything, it made Yoshi's grin widen with vulpine pleasure. It was easy to transpose that grin over the muzzle of a dark-furred fox. He could almost see the shadows of multiple tails behind the man. It was gloriously fitting for the face that Yoshi wore.
"Good, now we can discuss how you will chase her father down."
Something inside of Peter relaxed at the nogitsune's words. He hadn't even realized he was still worrying about Yoshi until then. But it was okay, because Yoshi had accepted him, and Stiles trusted Yoshi. Peter had this courting in the bag.