Peter Knox

“Your guess is as good as mines.” Duke scratched the back of his head and shrugged. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about his curse and how his family believed it was coming to an end. “Aries and I were always stuck babysitting.”

“That’s hurtful,“ Duke laughed.

“Somehow I am positive that’s not true.” Peter frowned at the change in mood. “For who? Kaylor’s kids?” He thought he remembered meeting the hellions at some point and Aries having a part in their childhood made sense.

Owayne smiled back at him, “You really wouldn’t consider it? Well then, I’ll amend what I said - you’ll be,” he shook his head and corrected himself, “you are a great uncle.” The wolf let a wide grin spread over his face, “Oh if I find the right person I plan on going full cheaper by the dozen,”

“Thank you.” Peter shook his head with, not able to even imagine that many kids. “How very Clan Wolf of you. Maybe you can out number the Shaws.”

    “Of course they like you, thats adorable.”

“Thank God,“ Duke sighed. “Coming from a large family, I’ve never seen myself as the father but I enjoy being the cousin and hopefully an uncle.“

“Do I look like a stay home dad or a manny? What type of perverted fantasies have you been having?“

Peter snorted. “You do? Why is this the first time any child has been put in your care in the entire time I’ve known you?”

“Or both,” Owayne grinned. “Would it make you uncomfortable if I told you I think you’d make a good father?”

“Naw,” his accent slipped out a bit and he smiled at his friend. “I think in another life maybe I would’ve been one. But I’m old now... What about you? Would you be a future dad?”

“You’d make a great father,“ Duke smiled, he never wanted kids but his cousin look great in Peter’s arms. “Let’s not tell Ronan or Ishtar. We’ll never have a free day to ourselves.“

Peter looked at her sleeping peacefully and sighed. “Well that’s never been in the cards for me; I put that dream to rest a while ago.”His next comment brought a wide smile to his face. “But think of all the ways you could use that excuse to get away from Anonymous.”

“It’s either that or they were threatened to a week worth of sleep from their father.“ Duke smirked. “I think Tayla took a liking to you but Altair is a little more reserved.“ He gestured to the other kid sleeping on their couch. 

“Hey now, don’t take this away from me.” He joked, while carefully dropping down on a chair; mindful of not waking the little warlock. “I’ll take one out of two.”

“What was that? About two hundred plus years ago?“ Luke gave Peter a once over and laughed. “Lookin’ good old man. I have much respect for that,“ he nodded his head. “That’s impressive. And he’s older too? He has that type of air around him that screams ‘I’m old as dirty’ and ‘don’t fuck with me ‘cause I ain’t got time for the bullshit’… Hey, what’s his type? Is he dating anyone? I have a co-worker looking to reenter the dating game but I think she prefers wolves and humans.” 

“Yeah…“ Luke said slowly letting it drop. “Oh. Okay.“

“What can I say? I drink a lot of water and eat all my vegetables.” Peter made a vague noise of confirmation. “Yeah, a bit older than me.” He snorted at the description. “I’d love to be the fly on the wall when you tell him that you think he’s Clint Eastwood.” Peter watched Luke out of the corner of his eye, looking to see if he was implying something. “Duke’s pretty private, and as far as I know isn’t looking. You might want to ask him though.”

“They should be barred,” Owayne replied, looking over his shoulder to where the person in question was leaving. “What actually happened?” he asked, turning back to his friend.

Peter let out a sigh and nodded, knowing the wards would be going up soon. “I was just closing the bar up when the four came up behind. I barely got to the hospital before collapsing.”

“You’re saying a couple of decades as if your… How old are you, Peter?” he asked. “That’s easy to hid but I see where it can become a problem when dealing with humans on a regular basis. You seem to be doing good for yourself. You and your business partner. He’s not as talkative for a bar owner.“

“I think he was trying to hit on me when I first started coming around but I quickly found out it was just his personality,“ Ronan laughed nervously. He nearly stop frequenting Anon because of Garrett at one point. “How did the human shifters become the law around here? Y’all putting a lot of trust in them.“

Peter’s lips formed a smirk. “More than a couple decades old... I was around since before the Revolutionary War.” He nodded agreeing to both things. “Before the clans were so formal I always found it easier to be a drifter. Wolves are territorial, and I wasn’t interested in that for a while.” Peter glanced back at his partner and shook his head. “As for Duke, he’s got a love of the craft. Coming up with all these different brews was all his idea.”

“Two big secrets?“ he asked. “You’re a warrior through and through. I’ve never served in the military but I did fight and protect my pack. How long have you been here in Chicago?“

“Gotcha… And what other type of legendary immortals are you friends with?“

“Yeah. The changing into a wolf thing.” He wasn’t sure if Luke had picked up on him and Duke yet and was waiting to see if he’d comment on it himself. He shrugged, trying to formulate a guess in his head. “Couple of decades maybe?I used to wander a lot. Before here was Louisiana, but things got a little too heated down there and so I found my way up here.”

“Relax, I’m just messing with you mate,” Owayne grinned, “Not gunna lie, if you’d have done it I’d have walked out,” 

Peter shook his head and placed the glass down in front of Owayne. “Why do people want to eat food dye so badly? They dye the river and then expect everything to look radioactive.”

“I wouldn’t mind staying after and lending ya a hand.“ Luke offered. “Thanks, brotha.“

“I appreciate that.” He saw Duke getting into it with a customer and turned away. “Where is Anton?”

Selene watched the patron closely as they took their drink with something of a put out look on their face, and she didn’t blame Peter for how he had said it. She had already dealt with multiple people wanting the same. She moved over, “You okay, Peter?”

“I never needed an excuse to drink. Especially not an entire holiday,“ he shrugged. “Celebrate while you can ‘cause Gen Z is coming after everything.“

“They can take this holiday. Do you know how long it takes to clean this place up afterwards?” He groused while pouring Luke another beer.