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After the Alpha Pack, after the Hunter War, when peace returned to Beacon Hills and Derek rebuilt the house then asked the Pack to move in, Peter thought it would drive him crazy again.
All those people, not family, yet tied to him, in his family home where he was born, where his cub was born.
He thought he'd resent them, see them as interlopers.
But...
They're not.
They're Pack. Hales by bite if not blood, tied as tightly to Peter as his own mate had been. Marta had been an outsider as well, from a long-established pack in New Mexico. Their mating had been arranged to strengthen ties stretching back over a century, but it had gradually grown deep and true.
The rambunctious teenagers that fill the den are young, new, but they feel right.
They touch his soul the same as Marta and Gracie had.
Their hearts beat in sync with his own, as it should be in Pack. He just never expected to feel that again.
It's the day after the full moon. After a night running through the forest, hunting and playing, they feasted on their kills and are now napping, hungers sated.
Well, some hungers.
Not all are asleep. He can hear Boyd and Erica making love in their shower as they wash off blood and mud. Derek has Stiles curled up with him in their bed, the younger man asleep, but not the Alpha as, when he's alone, he can show how much he cares by murmuring words of love to his mate that he otherwise struggles to share.
The others sleep and Peter closes his eyes to drift along on the sounds of their hearts beating restfully. The day after the full moon, Isaac never suffers from nightmares. Allison, though still human, never starts awake thinking of her mother. Their hearts are slow, the rhythm lulling him.
He often used to listen to the Pack this way, late into the nights when all were asleep. From that last night before the fire, he remembers the quicker heartbeat of the cub in his cousin Lisette's womb, her own restless as her back ached even in sleep. He remembers listening to the reassuring heartbeat of Gracie, sleeping in her Little Mermaid themed bedroom next to the one he shared with Marta.
And his mate's heart, racing still a bit after quick, but tender lovemaking.
Peter remembers that last night before it all went to hell, remembers caressing Marta's stomach, feeling the tiny drumming there.
He'll never know if she carried a boy or girl. They'd barely acknowledged it themselves and hadn't told anyone yet. That cub had burned in his mother's womb as Peter had desperately tried to save them all.
A new heartbeat interrupts his sorrowful thoughts and Peter opens his eyes, letting them gleam blue so he can see in the room darkened by heavy drapes.
Frankly, he's surprised by her appearance. She tends to avoid the Pack around the full moon, not liking the violence, not really wanting him to touch her when he's more wolf than man.
"You've been weird for over an hour, Peter. I thought wolves lived in the now." As she talks and walks towards the bed, she discards clothing until she steps out of her high heels and slides nude beneath the sheets, curling against him. "Go to sleep."
Peter grins at her bossiness. If he was still Alpha, she'd be the perfect Alpha Mate, but even as the mate of a Beta, she's strong and powerful, and tends to get her way most of the time. Even Derek can be cowed by his beautiful, young mate.
Which tends to make Stiles snicker until Derek growls and takes him down.
Stiles owes many orgasms to his mate's Alpha-like attitude.
But...now...maybe he'll get one of his own.
Through their bond she can feel his emotions, knows what he desires. Snorting, she wraps her arm over his chest. "Sleep first. You can wake me up later with your head between my legs and maybe I'll reciprocate...if you're good."
"I'm always good," Peter replies smugly and presses a kiss to her forehead.
Lydia's heartbeat speeds up just a little bit.
End