Aiden crouched low, fangs bared, a low rumble seeping out of him in waves. Isaac sat mesmerised. He was clutching his left arm in his right, feeling the bones knit together once more, a broken arm his gift from his own fight with Aiden. He leant his curly haired head against the railing, letting the cold wood soak up some of the pain in his head.
The pack had met up at Lydia's who was working on something schooly in the kitchen as the rest of them, less Stiles who was working, were outside training and generally hanging out.
"You good?" Asked Scott from his right.
"Yeah, he's fast, I was surprised…" Isaac trailed off as he realised that Scott wasn't paying a huge amount of attention. That was solely focused on Aiden squaring up against the lithe, dark haired girl in the black leathers. Scott's eyes narrowed, and Isaac could hear the newly formed Alpha's heart rate rise, concern obvious to anyone, let alone someone with enhanced werewolf senses.
Isaac felt butterfly wings closing round his heart. His chest compressed and he felt his eyes start to sting. Oh, get a grip, Lahey. Of course Scott is more concerned with her than he would be with you. Hell, he was concerned for Allison, but she had insisted. After watching Aiden and Ethan spar – a ferocious fight that Aiden won in quite the underhand manner – Scott had asked Isaac to spar with Aiden too. Isaac was still getting used to transferring his allegiance to his new Alpha, but he was happy to comply with this request.
Isaac wished he could pretend he put up a good fight, but there is only so much denial one guy could live with. After crashing into the wall and deciding the stone floor was actually very comfortable, he heard Allison's declaration of challenge too. Isaac's head had ben ringing, so watched rather than heard the furious argument between Scott and Allison. Him clearly trying to refuse, her stubbornly insisting. Even from his wounded corner, Isaac had smiled, knowing who would win and once again thinking how well paired they were.
Another of the packs perfect pairings had helped Isaac up and checked him over. Ethan being the support and Danny efficiently and effortlessly checking the severity of Isaac's injuries. Isaac really liked having Danny fully in the pack now, not only because they had been friendly-ish on the Lacrosse team, but also as Danny had taken on all the little jobs no one had noticed needed doing until someone was doing them.
"X-Men First Class on Allison" whispered Danny with a smirk.
"Oh my God, done!" replied Ethan with a roll of his eyes, but a spark of humour there as well. Everyone, especially Stiles, had had a mini-meltdown on discovering the twins had never seen an X-Men movie, or Star Wars, or the Hunger Games. The formerly terrifying Alpha Twins looked painfully cute being frog marched into the living room by Stiles, who had been talking so fast and insistently the werewolves had been backed into chairs and forced to watch Katniss and Peeta before they knew up from down. Aiden had taken to movie night instantly, whereas Ethan could be heard sighing at plot holes and tsking at the admittedly flimsy science in some of the pack's favourite films. Hence Danny now betting movie nights at every opportunity.
Isaac rolled his head a little and looked up at his friends. Ethan's hand was placed carelessly over Danny's, neither paying any attention to the casual affection, merely accepting it as fact. Isaac smiled again, he was happy for them, he was, but again his heart caught as he studied his own hands. Hands which had never been held like that, and probably never would. Hands which to everyone else looked healthy, but Isaac could still see the scars, still knew what they really looked liked before his werewolf healing fixed them.
Isaac knew only a few things for certain in life. The sky was blue, Derek's bite had turned him, he hated how he towered over his friends, and, most importantly, he was an unwanted failure.
His Dad had drilled it into him with every beating. He would never amount to anything. He wasn't wanted. Why couldn't he be more like his brother? He didn't deserve what everyone else had. He would die alone. No one could ever love him.
Isaac was pulled out of his shame spiral by Danny gripping his shoulder, hard, as Aiden roared and pounded towards Allison. He moved as fast as Isaac remembered, feeling not quite as useless for being beaten so soundly. Suddenly, he realised Allison was still just standing there, not moving a muscle. He was almost up and over the railing as, with split second precision, she twirled to the side as Aiden flew by, bringing down the butt of her bow on the back of his head. Aiden hit the ground hard, and Allison sprang onto his back, once knife pricking the larger boy under the ribs, one curled under his chin. She looked up at Scott standing before her – Scott who clearly had jumped down from the balcony as soon as Aiden leapt – and raised one eyebrow in a perfect arch.
The moment stretched as everyone mentally reshuffled just how dangerous his girl could be until-
"HA! Yes! Geek o'clock tonight, pizza is on the twins!" Danny yelled. Ethan threw his hands in the air and started down the stairs to check on his brother, who's dignity more than anything else may be well and truly damaged.
"Nice work Danny" Isaac said, punching Danny on the shoulder. Danny beamed at him and Isaac smiled back. It was hard not to smile back to Danny, his optimism and enthusiasm were infectious.
"You know, I'm sure Ethan likes them really, he spent two hours dissecting the physics of spiderman's webbing the other night. What a dork!" Danny grinned, and Isaac couldn't help but laugh, remembering the serious whole weekend debates he, Danny, Scott and Stiles had had on the coolest, best and most logical mutations. They trotted down the stairs to encounter the end of Allison's gloating.
"I told you, I've been training with my Dad, you wolves rely too much on your 'hyper' sense and haven't spent enough time observing the fight. That's all."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just glad you're OK." Scott looked bashful at making a fuss, but that was him, always caring and looking out for others.
Allison caught Isaac's eye and smiled slightly, more of a smile grimace. They'd made up recently, and gotten surprisingly close for people who had tried to kill each other. Isaac even got the sense Allison was developing feelings for him, which made him pretty uncomfortable to be honest.
Not only because of the stabbings, or because she was his friend's ex, but just because he didn't want to go there with her, and couldn't see what she'd get out of it. How could someone have feelings for him? Then he remembered again, that these people only knew what he tried to show them, the mask he wore to fit in, only slipping up a couple of times.
He'd avoided being alone with her since the night Jennifer died, while happily spending time building the bonds of pack Scott was making. He was such a different Alpha to Derek. Scott's Alpha influence was more subtle, more like a beacon than the demanding pull Derek had placed on him. Bizarrely, Isaac missed that force Derek had, he had known where he was with that, obey and obey quickly.
Scott wanted them all to learn and grow themselves, always encouraging and supportive and always ready to smile and listen. Which was great if you knew what you wanted, or had the time or inclination to be introspective, sometimes Isaac wished Scott would be a bit more… dominant he guessed was the right word.
The pack was breaking up a little, all making plans to meet up at Stiles's for the film night. Between Scott's Mum working nights, Stiles's Dad working insane hours and Lydia's mansion the pack normally had somewhere to be each night that wouldn't have a lot of adult supervision.
No one, not even Scott, had mentioned the empty Lahey house, for which he was grateful. He'd strayed back there only a couple of times recently, and both occasions had led to blistering tears and panic attacks.
Isaac waved to Danny and the twins as they drove off, shaking his head at how quickly he'd adapted to thinking of the red-headed werewolves as friends, but it was obvious how much this second chance meant to them, and how much they wanted to be part of Scott's pack. He turned and blinked at the scene in front of him.
Lydia was sitting at the kitchen table, three or four assignments in front of her, which wasn't what made Isaac freeze.
Allison was lying face down on the couch, grimacing slightly as Scott kneaded his hands into her lower back. Not only did it look intensely intimate, it also drove another spike into Isaac's stomach. He was fascinated. Scott's fingers were pressing firmly and carefully into her smooth muscles until she gave a slight gasp. Isaac felt himself blush at the sound, closing his eyes and trying to block everything out. When he opened them again, Allison was looking right into his eyes from across the room.
Isaac turned away, flummoxed, spinning a little before heading to the kitchen to get water. Damnit, damnit, damnit. He hated it when he panicked, it felt like at any moment someone would come up and say 'Oh, this is the real you, the awkward, weird guy who doesn't get that no one wants you here'. Isaac poured and downed a large glass of cold water. The refreshing liquid calmed him and giving him a chance to settle again.
"Are you okay?" Lydia asked. Isaac was just about to respond, when Allison's voice spilled into his revere.
"Yeah, I hadn't stretched enough and that twist caught a muscle. Scott was just massaging it better."
"Uh-huh, I bet he was…" Lydia responded, the smirk apparent in her voice as well as her on her face.
"Oh, shut up," Allison laughed throwing a dish towel at her friend, "he's actually a really good masseuse, he's getting really into it!'
"Sure…" Lydia giggled out. How the girl could make one word sound so loaded and, well, dirty, Isaac would never know.
He gave his own little chuckle, which earned him a withering glance from Allison and more giggles from Lydia.
"What's funny?" Scott asked innocently from the door. Isaac looked down embarrassed, worried his friend would think he was laughing at him. A chorus of 'Nothing" came from the three of them, which caused Lydia to laugh raucously and Scott to just roll his eyes. He walked over to Isaac and gently lifted his friend's arm.
"It looks OK, is it OK?" He looked down into Scott's deep brown eyes, for a moment losing all perspective and feeling like he would drown in them. He nodded not trusting his voice. Scott smiled and placed his warm, dry, sure hands over where the break had been. Before Isaac could protest, Scott removed the last of the pain, and beamed up at his taller friend.
"Come on, we promised to cook for Mom before heading out tonight. See you later guys." Scott smiled to Lydia and Allison, who they left in the kitchen and headed out into the afternoon sun.