Peter backs down almost immediately, at that first flare of aggression from Derek. It's in the way his shoulders curl and his eyes dart to the ground. No challenge, no threat here. He's maybe not harmless, but he's not a threat. He shifts a little under the intensity of the gaze, reaching up and raking fingers through his hair.

"Uh, I guess."

Brigid had made it sound like control meant something different to Derek than it had to Nicolai. And the thing was that Peter didn't really know. He'd never really been put in that situation. But for the few months they'd had together he'd understood that you didn't tame the wolf that clawed inside him with every beat of his heart. You worked with it, you understood it, but sometimes it was still faster.