After leaving the pond, Stiles flipped open his laptop and directed them to the where his dad's cell phone was supposed to be. Thankfully, it was near a bridge, but it still took nearly 20 minutes of splashing around in Beacon Brook before they found the thing. Sopping wet from the knees down they got back in the car and dropped Stiles off at home. Isaac and Scott parked the car in the garage near Allison's apartment and walked the rest of the way home.
"Hey Scott?" Isaac began tentatively. "When you were fighting the Darach earlier, I saw your eyes turn red and I think Derek and Aidan saw it too. Does that mean you're an alpha?"
Scott sighed. He so wasn't ready to have this conversation. "I don't really know what it means yet. Right now it's just a theory of Dr. Deaton's." Hopefully that would be enough for Isaac.
"Does he think you're an alpha now?" Isaac asked. "Because I do."
"What? You do?" Scott was incredulous. 'What is it with people lately?' he thought.
"Yeah, I have for a while," Isaac said. "I mean, I know that technically Derek's still my alpha, and I try my best to be a good beta for him, but it feels right, I guess, following your lead." Isaac sighed and then continued. "When I agreed to have Derek bite me, I thought that it was because I wanted to have more power in my life. More control over my choices, you know? But it seems that ever since, what I've really been looking for was a place to belong. " He blushed a little at saying these personal things out loud, but pressed on anyways. "I like it when someone notices if I come home late or if I'm in a bad mood. I'm actually kind of glad Derek kicked me out. I love living at your house."
"Yeah, me and my mom really love having you there." He patted the taller boy's back gently. "I'm glad you have such a good relationship with her." He really was. If anyone deserved to feel loved by a parent, it was Isaac.
"It's not your mom that makes it feel like home to me, it's you Scott," he confessed. "My brother was a lot older than me and we weren't that close before he died. I feel like you're more more like my brother now, even though I've only really known you well for the past couple months. I hope that's not weird," he said, and held his breath.
"Well, its a little weird," Scott said with a grin, breaking the tension, "But I feel the same way. You're my bro." Even though Isaac was the same age as him and a lot taller, he had begun to think of him as a younger brother. Isaac beamed, reassured.
"Anyways, when you need my help or give me a job it just feels good, I guess, to be trusted. It makes me feel like part of your team. Part of the pack."
"That pack of humans thing Derek said, that wasn't a real thing, you know." Scott hadn't refuted the statement at the time, because his friends didn't think of a pack the same way as the werewolves did, but he didn't want to give Isaac mixed signals.
"You may not think so, but any other wolf can sense what they are to you. Why else would Deucalion leave Stiles and Alison alone and pursue Danny and Lydia instead? Alison's family name protects her, but to mess with Stiles would be like declaring war. Just caring about them keeps them safe." Scott hadn't thought about it like that before. To be honest, he had tried not to think about a lot of this stuff, but tonight had been a long series of weird conversations with some violence sprinkled in.
They walked the rest of the way home in silence. Scott thought about what it would mean to lead a pack. What would change about his life? 'It would be nice to be the one to be in charge and make the plans.' If he learned anything about tonight's events it was that teamwork and planning really made a difference. Cora had been right when she had said that all they did was react to stuff that had already happened. It had felt so good to be doing something right for once instead of showing up too late. A big part of the reason they were so successful was that no one fought him when he told them what he needed them to do. Sure, there was some back and forth, but he hadn't had to battle over every single aspect. It put more responsibility on him, but he knew that it was worth it if it got results.
Another good thing about being an alpha was the pack. He now knew what Derek was talking about when he said a pack makes you stronger. He couldn't have come up with a plan if it hadn't been for the contributions of everyone else. Having a research team and banshee intuition had helped him find the location, but without Ethan and Aidan patrolling and playing bodyguard, he would have been too worried to piece it all together. Derek came through for him when he needed him to and Isaac and Stiles provided the missing piece needed to weaken the Darach. He was even able to call upon the Allison's skill with a bow as well as Mr. Argent and Dr. Deaton's unique assets. Without any of them they all would have failed.
He also really liked having so many people in his life now. Before it had been just him and his mom, or him and Stiles. It made those relationships really strong, but it was still nice to have more people to care about and who cared about him.
He thought of the things he could do if he were an alpha. He could help keep the peace between Hunters and the werewolves. When they worked together they could accomplish a lot. He and Stiles could help train wolves in how to control themselves so that they wouldn't have to be strapped down with medieval torture devices. He could prevent innocent people from being harmed. He still shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to those kids with the fireflies. 'This town has seen enough death to last a lifetime.' There were a lot of things that would make a difference.
When they got home Scott was still deep in thought. Isaac went off to the kitchen and Scott went upstairs to pass out. He couldn't fall asleep and just lay awake thinking. Alone in the darkness he began to think of the negatives that went along with being an alpha.
'Would I be able to go to college?' he wondered. He was doing better in school this year but he had intentionally been trying to stay away from Derek's pack. If he had his own pack he couldn't distance himself from them just to get a better grade on his history midterm. Could he hold down a job if he had to keep dashing away to deal with one crisis after another? He was the only werewolf he knew of that had a job. 'How the heck did Derek and Deucalion afford their apartments?' he marveled.
And what about his mom? They weren't struggling to pay the mortgage or anything, but they weren't rich either. She worked really hard for the life they had and he didn't want to add more to her burden.
What if he wanted to get married or have kids. Was he supposed to live with a pack for the rest of his life? Derek's pack had lived with him, and he knew that the Hale family had all lived in that big house before it was burned down. He didn't know about Kali or Ennis but the twins lived in Deucalion's apartment. If he was the alpha would he be expected to provide a house for his pack? That level of responsibility was daunting.
Responsibility. He knew he took too much on himself already and had nearly died of guilt in a highway restroom. Would he spend every day waiting to see if his decisions had dire consequences? What if someone he cared about died on his watch. How could he live with that? He was only sixteen; How could he take care of anybody?
As he lay awake, quietly freaking out, he listened to the sounds of his house. Isaac heated something in the microwave and ate it before heading up to his room. He had no trouble falling asleep; Scott could hear his even breathing. He noted the brush of leaves against his house and some small nocturnal animals digging a hole under his porch. He'd see about that tomorrow. He heard his mom's car pull into the driveway and got up to go see her.
She looked tired but relieved to see him when he walked down the stairs and he fell into her arms. The tension fell away and he felt like a kid again for the first time in days. His mom ushered him over to the couch and they sank down into it. She had him lay his head in her lap and she played with his hair like she did whenever he was sick.
Just like that, everything came tumbling out. She listened as he told her everything that had happened since the alpha pack had first shown up and the animal attacks started. She knew about a lot of it already, but his red eyes and Dr. Deaton's suspicions were news to her. She didn't interrupt him though, and he went on to tell her about tonight's events and his conversations with Stiles and Isaac. He told her about his worries and fears about how being an alpha would change his life and how he didn't know how he could handle it all. He also told her all the good things that could come from being an alpha, not just for him and his friends, but for the whole town. Finally unburdened, he talked himself to sleep.
He woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes and bacon cooking and he already felt better than he had the night before. He padded into the kitchen to see his mom at the stove, flipping pancakes over on the griddle and Isaac setting the table. He walked over to his mom and gave her a big good-morning hug. Since it was Saturday, she didn't have to go into work until 10 o'clock and a big breakfast sounded perfect to him.
"So, Scott, any plans for today?" She asked him when after everything had been eaten; With two teenaged werewolves in the house there were never any leftovers.
"Well, I was thinking about going to visit Cora, Aidan and Ethan in the hospital. I know they should be healing soon and I don't want them to start fighting again. Derek's deadline is coming up quick and Cora's not the most cool headed at the best of times."
"Scott, wasn't it this type of thing that you were talking about last night? Are you sure you want to involve yourself in this?" She asked him, neutrally. Isaac looked up with interest. He began clearing the table as unobtrusively as possible to give them space, but Scott thought he probably wanted to know the answer even more than his mom did.
She had a point, though. He hadn't forgotten all the stress he had put himself through last night, going through pros and cons and worst possible scenarios, but now that the choice was upon him he knew that he couldn't just ignore it anymore.
"I can't avoid it, Mom," he said finally. "Even though it might be easier just to stay out of it, I don't think I could if I tried. You always told me to be a leader, not a follower, and I know you were mostly talking about drugs and peer pressure and stuff, but if I can make this situation better, I should do it right?"
"Yes, Scott, I think you should. You're making the right choices for the right reasons. No matter what happens, I'm so proud of you, Honey." She got up and gave him a syrupy kiss on the cheek. He tried to wipe it away but it was too sticky.
"Ugh, Mom!"
He heard her chuckle on her way into the kitchen and figured he could put up with a sticky cheek every once in awhile if it made her happy.