AN: Blame this on the fact that Isaac is my little puppy doggy boo boo angel muffin cake who needs all the love and affection in the world. A short write up for post-S2.
:)
It had started as a means to power for him, a solution to the nightly beatings and long hours locked away in the freezer chest. He wanted to breathe, to truly breathe without having to worry about how much air passed through his lungs before his father counted the seconds till he could get his hands dirty with blood again; the literal versus figurative part always depended on the older Lahey's mood that day, and there was only one person around with enough blood to spare.
Isaac can still feel the imprints of his dad's fingers around his wrist sometimes. He supposes that it is too familiar of a touch for his body to reject, and the memories of being dragged from his room to the basement through his kicking and begging come fresh to his mind.
It had started as a means to power, precisely for that reason alone. He joined the pack a year ago so that the surge of fear and helplessness he felt around his father would grow foreign to him. He practically sealed his fate with a demon's kiss (or a wolf's bite) when he met Derek Hale in the graveyard that night.
Several encounters and a painful bite later, lingering insecurities and feelings of weakness seemed to have been flushed from his system. He was becoming the wolf Derek had needed—fearless, willing, obedient. He was trusted with the power that his Alpha expected back from him, and Isaac was perfectly fine with that.
He figured his newfound power could mask the loneliness he felt when the realization had hit him that he had no one to go home to; no one that he could worry about and no one that could worry about him; not a soul alive would know or care if he slept his last night in the darkest of corners at the old Hale manor.
But it isn't power that fills the void his father and Camden had left. Instead, it became a peculiar habit of the pack to act less like trained soldiers and more as a unit. Isaac isn't sure if anyone else pays the same attention to their shift in behavior. It is the way Boyd waits for him and Erica before he choses a table at the cafeteria. It is Erica's moment of hesitation before giving his hand a squeeze as a silent 'Please be careful' when he runs alone to fulfill Derek's instructions. It is Scott's invitation to come over for a few hours and play video games until his mom brings dinner, always enough for three on those nights. It is Stiles throwing himself into trouble to keep the rest of them safe.
Then there is Derek—Derek who, just a year ago, had used his pack as personal bodyguards, as lives easy enough to spare, breaking their bones and ripping them apart during training so they grew stronger, tolerant of pain; Derek who now shows concern during one of Isaac's sleepless nights that are plagued with nightmares of his father, of the Kanima; Derek who stays with him until he is asleep again, soothing his whimpers by petting his hair and holding him close until his breathing turns even and peaceful. Then he leaves to check on the others.
The missing sense of security that Isaac wants comes in form of this pack.
Even now, as he watches from the window, he can see them arguing outside, except it isn't about training or the Argents or which enemy to strike next.
He hears Erica say, "We are not having pizza again." And it makes him smile watching her point accusatory fingers at Scott and Stiles while Derek, looking agitated by the meaningless teenage argument, leans against his car with Jackson sitting by his feet.
"Hey, Isaac. You coming? We're waiting for you," Boyd's voice interrupts from the hallway. There it is again, that feeling of comfort and security, knowing that he is worth being waited on and attended to.
"Yeah, I'm coming," Isaac says with a small smile. He looks down the window once more to see Derek pulling Stiles by his shirt's collar towards the jeep while scolding Erica for her behavior.
It had started as a means to power for him, but it resulted in what he really needed: genuine happiness and a family, albeit a dysfunctional supernatural one, but it is more than he has had recently.