Isaac was exhausted to the point of passing out. His body needed to shut itself off and recover more than anything. He needed days of rest and weeks of pushing his body back to the health that it had been before he'd gone to the bank.

But he couldn't. Not after what Scott had told him. Boyd was dead.

He clutched Scott's waist for dear life for the whole journey. Isaac had never been a fan of being a passenger on a motorcycle because it was uncomfortable but with the small amount of strength he possessed in his post-comatose state, it was physically demanding as well.

The journey from Scott's house to Derek's apartment would normally have taken about ten minutes on the bike but by the time they arrived at the high rise building, they'd been riding for over half an hour.

Scott had driven it slower than normal to make it as easy as possible for his passenger. He'd also stopped four times so that Isaac could strengthen his position on the seat. In addition to that, every single pair of traffic lights (no exaggeration) on the journey had flashed red just before they'd reached them.

Stiles was waiting outside of the building for them, his usually hyperactive personality mollified by the thick fog of sadness that surrounded them. Isaac knew that Stiles couldn't smell the solemn stench in the air but he also know that he could feel it.

Scott parked as close to the entrance as he could possibly get without mounting the sidewalk. He slid off the bike and put his arms around Isaac to lift him off the seat. A spark of electricity ran through Isaac's body before it was ruined by Stiles coming to assist with his dismount.

Stiles took Isaac's full weight for a minute as Scott locked the steering on his bike and fixed it to the bicycle stands.

Isaac slung an arm around Scott's shoulder when he moved back next to him and the other around Stiles's and the three of them moved into the building. They entered the elevator and ascended in silence.

The front door of Derek's apartment was ajar so they didn't wait for somebody to collect them. When the door was pushed wide open, Isaac's nostrils were attacked by a wave of such a thick melancholy odour that his wolfish instincts wailed and he released a high pitched whine. Scott's comforting fingers curled into his waist and Isaac felt warmth momentarily flooded his body. The sensation soon passed, but the comfort it brought with it stayed.

The lounge area was almost always filled with training equipment but when Isaac, Scott and Stiles entered, there wasn't so much as a trace of sweat inducing machinery. Instead, a table stood where a rack of weights had been and atop it was a wooden box about seven feet long in length and three feet wide. It didn't take a genius to guess what was in it.

Derek and Dr Deaton came over to greet the three of them but Isaac ducked around them and moved over to the couch. He dropped down and pulled Erica into the tightest hug he'd ever given.

Once upon a time, when they'd first been turned, Erica had been like a sister to Isaac. They'd spent all of their time in Beacon Hills High together and outside of school, they'd been just as inseparable. After Erica had been turned and before Boyd had joined the pack, they'd been each other's only friend.

When Boyd had come into the picture, Erica had gravitated towards him as Isaac's own relationship with Scott (and by extension, Stiles) developed. They'd still been close, but nowhere near as close as they had been before Boyd's transition.

During the full moon when they'd been locked up in the abandoned rail depot, it had been Isaac, not Boyd or Derek, who had restrained Erica when she broke free from her chains.

When Erica and Boyd had first been kidnapped, Isaac had searched for hours and hours every night in the hope of catching even a whiff of their scent. He'd never been successful.

The history between Erica and himself amplified Isaac's innate need to help people. She was somebody who he could not see suffer. And she clearly needed him there. Isaac's personal relationships may have developed over time but without Boyd, Erica only had him. So he was there for her.

She turned her head and pressed her sobbing eyes into Isaac's sweater and he cradled her head and rocked her back and forward.

"Hey, hey," he said in the most soothing whisper he could muster, "It's okay. I'm here, Erica, you're safe."

She didn't reply but Isaac could tell from the increasing amount of fluid that was leaking through his clothes to wet his skin that she hadn't stopped crying.

Isaac pressed his forehead into her hair. It was affectionate and it was empathetic but mostly, it was him showing her that he was there and he wasn't going anywhere. The gesture seemed to calm her a little.

"…because of me…"

Isaac gripped her tighter, disbelieving that Erica could possibly think that Boyd's death was her fault.

They stayed in the same position while people moved around them, her sobbing gradually slowing until eventually it stopped and her heartbeat slowed right down. Within minutes of her tears stopping, Erica was asleep. Isaac moved away as slowly and as carefully and as silently as he possibly could. He positioned a pillow under her head before pulling off his thick sweater and covering her with it.

Isaac moved back over to where Scott stood with Stiles, Deaton and Derek. In the time that Isaac had been with Erica, they'd been joined by Peter.

"You were curiously absent when I was being beaten to a pulp," Isaac said, surprised at how cold his own tone was. Judging by Scott and Deaton's reactions, he wasn't the only one. Peter, however, smiled and inclined his head.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to rescue you," Peter said, his voice taking on a rare note of sincerity. Mixed in with the ubiquitous sarcastic drawl, it sounded misplaced. "But everybody seems to forget that I have died before. That's something I don't plan on doing again and putting myself in front of a pack of Alphas isn't going to keep me going for very long."

Isaac had to admit that he had a point.

Peter clapped a hand on Isaac's shoulder and looked him dead in the eye. He spoke with a tone that Isaac had only heard Peter talk in once before, in the hallway of Derek's apartment building on the night that Isaac first kissed Scott. It was a tone of concern.

"Honestly," Peter said, "It's good to see you up and moving. You gave us a fright, don't do that again. Some of us might be able to come back from the dead but I don't think you'll be able to. So don't get yourself killed before you get the chance to enjoy life with your boyfriend over there."

Peter stalked away in typical dramatic fashion. Deaton and Derek glanced at each other, both with confused expressions on their faces. Scott and Isaac both flushed and avoided the eye of everybody. Stiles's eyes widened and his mouth worked furiously, quicker than he could possibly form proper words.

"Oh my God," Stiles eventually managed to say, his eyes flicking between Scott and Isaac while a grin grew on his face. "Is he serious?"

Isaac reddened further but from the corner of his eye, he saw Scott nod a little. His heart did a backflip. Scott had just acknowledged that they were boyfriends publicly. They hadn't even discussed what was going on between them but Scott was comfortable calling Isaac his boyfriend. Well not exactly calling him it, but it was close enough.

The jubilation was quickly drowned by a feeling of guilt; Boyd had just died and here he was silently celebrating that Scott and he were officially a thing. He felt awful about it. Luckily, neither Stiles nor Derek or Deaton pressed them any further so Isaac was able to turn the attention back to their dead pack member to assuage his guilty feeling.

"So, um, how did it happen?" Isaac asked, "Boyd, I mean."

Derek looked away uncomfortably and it was Deaton who answered. The veterinarian/werewolf doctor/supernatural encyclopaedia was stoic at the worst of times. In the wake of Boyd's death, he had a stronger face on than anyone, even Peter.

"He'd begun to recover well enough and he was going to pull through," he said. His voice was emotionless. "But then Erica took a bad turn. She was going to die; there was nothing I could do. It was too much for her. He took her pain away and absorbed it into his own body. "

Deaton paused and looked over at Erica observantly as if looking for any tells that she was feigning sleep. Derek, Isaac and Scott could all hear her slowed heart rate and they knew that she wasn't feigning anything, that she was really asleep. After a moment, Deaton carried on.

"Her pain combined with his own was too much for Vernon. The added pain sent him into shock and he fell comatose. He died minutes later. Erica was unconscious the whole time, but her condition stabilized when he took her pain."

Again, Deaton paused. For the first time, emotion flickered onto his face and Isaac thought he could detect sadness in his eyes. Those eyes that were wise beyond their years were grieving for the loss of innocent life.

"Erica doesn't know that Vernon gave his life for her," Deaton said, his voice little more than a whisper. "I told him what would happen to him but he did it anyway. He willingly died to save her."

Deaton let his words hang on the air as the four of them stood in shock as they absorbed this new information. None of them moved to speak, so Deaton saved them from the inevitable silence that would have followed.

"I take it you have a few questions about what happened to you," he said to Isaac.

Isaac nodded and looked at Scott a little desperately. He did want answers but he was still a little wary about talking about what had happened to him. Unquestioningly, Scott moved right beside Isaac and gripped his hand tight. It gave Isaac the confidence to go on and get the answers he so desired.

"Deucalion – he seemed like their leader – said something about mountain ash being controlled and that some people are immune to its effects," Isaac said. "Is that true?"

Deaton tilted his head and contemplated the question for a minute before answering. He didn't look like somebody who was thinking about what to divulge, more like somebody who was deciding on what to withhold.

"I suppose it's important that I tell you about mountain ash," Deaton said. "It can be controlled by people called emissaries. These emissaries are the link between the supernatural world of a werewolf pack and the natural world of herbs and medicines. I am an emissary myself. Or, rather, I was. I was the emissary to the pack of Talia Hale, Derek's mother."

Isaac and Scott looked towards Derek in unison and were greeted by a nod.

"My sister, Marin, is the emissary to somebody that you've already met; Deucalion. He was not always like he is now. Once, a long time ago, he was a very benevolent man. Talia took him under her wing as a sort of protégé. After her death, he turned. As far as I know, Marin still works for him. And, I assume, by extension, the alpha pack."

Isaac glanced at Scott who looked confused. Evidently, he had no idea that Deaton had a sister.

To be fair, Isaac thought, if I had a sister and she worked for an evil psychopath like Deucalion, I wouldn't really talk about her either.

"When we were younger and just beginning to learn the trade, Marin and I found that we had conflicting ideas concerning who could control the effects of mountain ash. It's a magical substance and there is nothing more powerful against werewolves. Even mistletoe cannot stop a wolf in his or her tracks like mountain ash can."

Isaac could remember the time he'd accidentally swallowed a mistletoe berry when he was six and he'd thrown up three nights in a row. The plant had never been good to him even before it was poisonous. So being told mountain ash was worse brought out a wary side in Isaac.

"'But Marin, only people with knowledge of it can truly control mountain ash,' I said," Deaton continued. Isaac couldn't really see where this was going but he stayed silent anyway. Dr Alan Deaton wasn't a man for timewasting anecdotes. "'Oh Alan,' she said, 'surely anybody with the knowledge of the supernatural can learn to control it!'"

Deaton smiled a little as he reminisced but he shook the smile off his face.

"Alas, I still don't know who was right," he said. "But the fact remains, she was fascinated by the idea that non emissaries could be taught to control magical substances. Most emissaries are druids, like Marin and I. We have extensive knowledge of a whole variety of supernatural creatures and herbal substances. But mountain ash is a supernatural substance. It's magical, there's no denying it."

Derek's eyes narrowed. Isaac knew only too well how Derek felt about magic. He did not like it one bit.

"Sorbus Scopulina is a type of tree that grows primarily in the Rocky Mountains. Mountain ash is the name given to the powder created when the flower of this tree is taken and crushed up. As far as I know, nobody has ever discovered why it works. But it is the most common and most effective protection again werewolves. It doesn't need to be ingested to work, like mistletoe."

Deaton sighed. He turned towards Erica and watched her sleep. He seemed to be evaluating her condition in his head while he spoke.

"If Marin discovers that werewolves can be taught how to manipulate and control mountain ash, it will not be good news for anybody. I can form a barrier of it and keep a werewolf out indefinitely. I can use it as poison or as protection or I could even use it as itching powder. I can control who it affects and how it affects them. I could create a barrier that would kill you, Scott, the second you come into contact with it but allow Isaac to pass through it without being affected."

He turned around to face Scott, Derek and Isaac once again. His face looked grave.

"If Marin can teach Deucalion how to use mountain ash against you," he said, emphasising every syllable as if it would be life threatening to miss a single word of what was being said. "You will find yourself in an unwinnable war. He will kill you all."

Derek, Stiles, Scott and Isaac looked from one another. Boyd's death hung over them like a damp cloth. Nobody wanted something like that to happen again.

"Okay," Isaac said, "That's as bad as I thought. How about the Alpha twins? They can, like, combine into one giant thing when they transform. How do they do that?"

"The genetic coding of identical twins is so similar that in transformation, they can combine their DNA and literally fuse together as one being," Deaton said without missing a beat. "This is extremely rare because a pair of identical twins being turned into werewolves is rare in itself but I know of at least two cases like this. As far as I know, it's possible for any pair of identical twins to fuse."

Deaton didn't look to be preparing to elaborate on the explanation. Apparently, he didn't see the fact that a pair of teenage twins could fuse into a three metre tall super wolf as that important. But then, he wasn't the one who had to fight them.

Dr Deaton looked Isaac over as if he was waiting for something. Isaac knew what it was; the inevitable 'pissing' question. Why had Deucalion felt the need to piss on him? Was it a territorial thing or was he just trying to add insult to injury?

Isaac shivered uncomfortably. He didn't want to ask anything. But he wanted to get the answer. But he didn't want to ask anything. It was just too embarrassing having to acknowledge the fact that he'd been helpless and defenceless and covered in urine. It wasn't a nice thing to draw attention to.

Isaac felt something squeeze his hand and he looked down; Scott was still gripping his fingers tightly. He looked up again and met Scott's eye. Scott smiled reassuringly at him. In the end, Isaac didn't need to ask the question.

"When I found Isaac, you know the state he was in," Scott said to Deaton. "Why did Deucalion do that to him? You and Derek have had ideas about it but do you know why yet?"

Deaton breathed out heavily. It wasn't a sigh; it was just the tired breath of a tired man. He looked at Isaac when he spoke.

"I believed that Deucalion did that to inflict as much humiliation onto you as he could. Derek however believes that he was marking you for something. Tell me, Isaac, did Deucalion mention anything about joining his pack?"

Isaac nodded and looked at Derek apologetically.

"He said that I could join him," he said. "He told me that I could join his pack if I killed Derek and took his Alpha powers. He said that Scott has potential and that he and I could both be Alphas and join them. I said no. I think that's what made him angry."

Derek smiled at Isaac in a rare gesture of warmth. These rare gestures were getting less and less rare by the day. Maybe he was getting laid. Deaton however, looked stern.

"In that case, Derek is correct: Deucalion has marked you as his property," he said. "A dog urinates on a tree to mark his territory and spread his scent. He does this to warn other dogs to stay away. I think that Deucalion has marked you to warn Derek that he'll be coming for you. Essentially, he is declaring war on Derek and his pack."

From somewhere, Peter appeared. He gulped theatrically and drew a nervous chuckle from everybody except for Deaton and Derek.

"By marking Isaac," Derek said, "Deucalion's saying that he belongs to him. He sees you as property; a prize pretty much. And if he wants Scott too, he'll get Scott too. He wants you and he'll kill me and Deaton and everybody else to get you, the guy is ruthless. Deucalion won't stop until you two are his."

"Dead or alive," Peter added.

"Exactly," Deaton said.

They held a nice little memorial for Boyd. Everybody got up and said something and everyone ate and cried and laughed and remembered him. Jackson and Lydia arrived at one point and a little later on, Peter made a run to the store and came back with an abundance of vodka and potato chips and a few fireworks.

Alcohol doesn't affect werewolves much. Unless they pour it directly into their bloodstream, their stomachs break it down far too quickly for them to get drunk. However, a room full of sober, sombre werewolves can be immediately brightened up by a drunken Stiles Stilinski.

By nightfall, Stiles was stumbling around the room telling jokes and picking arguments that he would have won asleep let alone drunk. Apparently, vodka brought out his sassy side. Even the now awake Erica saw the funny side of him once or twice.

It was an impromptu wake for Vernon Boyd III but it was one that everyone enjoyed. Boyd had never been close to many of them but his death had brought them together and surely it could only make them stronger.

Peter and Derek carried the makeshift coffin carrying Boyd's body out into the night in the early hours of the morning. They took the fireworks with them.

About half an hour after they left, a firework was sent up into the sky from somewhere in the woods. Derek and Peter were setting them off from Boyd's graveside in one last memorial.

Isaac found himself gravitated to Scott for the whole night. The two sat close together and spoke to each other and everyone else. Isaac couldn't help but feel like they were acting like a proper couple, an actual couple.

Deaton left with Erica at around 2am. He said that she was to remain under his care and she could stay with him at the vet's office. There was a hidden room at the back of the clinic specifically for werewolves stopping over for the night. Isaac thought it was incredibly bad-ass.

Stiles passed out not long after and Isaac carried him to the tiny study room that Derek moved a bed into for Scott once Jackson had claimed the spare room. Scott and Isaac both knew where they were sleeping that night and it didn't involve a single bed in a study room.

When Isaac came back, Peter had left and Derek had gone to bed. He sat back down next to Scott and looked over at Jackson and Lydia.

"How're you doing, man?" Jackson asked. "It's great to see you up and about. I came to see you in the vet's a few times but you were seriously out of it. Except that one time you woke up and started saying how you love McCall and you want to ride that like a pony."

If it's possible to go as pale as a sheet and then as red as blood in the space of a second, Isaac did it then. He moved his lips and tried to form words but all that came out was incoherent babbling. Scott laughed and ran his hand up Isaac's leg tauntingly.

"I'm kidding, Isaac," Jackson said joining in with Scott's laughter.

Isaac's face reverted back to normal and he smiled in spite of his embarrassment.

"To be fair, Jackson," Isaac said, looking over at his newfound friend. "I would love to ride that like a pony."

It was Isaac's turn to laugh and Scott and Jackson's turn to have the smile wiped off of their faces. But then Jackson laughed again; evidently, he thought that Isaac was joking.

Isaac lifted a finger to Scott's chin and guided his head around to face him. He launched an attack on Scott's lips with a melodramatically loud kiss. Scott gave back as good as he got and through the moaning and gasping and "oh Scott"-ing, Isaac heard Jackson give a short chuckle and Lydia gasp.

They broke apart and Scott looked breathless and puppy eyed.

"Come on babe," Isaac said, standing up and taking Scott by the hand. "I'm gonna ride you like a pony."

Isaac's tiredness had been successfully fought for the entirety of the night but it had returned with a vengeance at the thought of going to bed. Admittedly, riding Scott like a pony was off the cards, but they were happy to cuddle in together and settle for sleeping in each other's arms.

Despite his tiredness, Isaac fell asleep after Scott did. He lay in his sleeping boyfriend's arms and listened to Scott's breathing slowing. And then he drifted off into sleep himself, his heartbeat and Scott's heartbeat tap tap tapping in unison.

Had Isaac lasted a few more minutes, he would have heard Jackson and Lydia talking about them.

"What about Allison?" Lydia asked.

"Who gives a fuck about Allison?" Jackson answered the question with a rather blunt question of his own.

"I do," Lydia responded. "She's my best friend. If she finds out she'll be devastated."

"I don't care," Jackson said curtly, "Isaac's a good guy and it's great to see him happy. Don't get involved Lydia."

Isaac's bedroom had a thick window ledge on the outside. It was thick enough for Isaac to crawl out onto when he needed to think and rest his legs over the side.

And had Isaac lasted a few more minutes, he may also have noticed the pair of eyes that watched him and Scott sleep from it through the crack between his drapes.

A/N I hope that this chapter answered all questions you may have had about the urination incident back in Chapter Eight. This week is a busy one for me; I have to do holiday shopping and collect my GCSE results and on Thursday I'm going to the Reading Festival for the long weekend (which I am MASSIVELY excited about) so I probably won't get the chance to update until at least the middle of next week. I've been updating every Monday to coincide with the new episode but with the mid-season finale tonight, I have no incentive to do that any more. I start college soon so the workload might make it too difficult to upload as regularly as I have been but I will do my utmost best to keep it coming as often as possible. Once again, many thanks for reading and I hope you're all enjoying the story!

Special Shoutout To:

Master Gaga; I'm very glad you enjoyed Chapter 10, hopefully 11 did it for you too! And it should be me thanking you for following the story for so long, so thank you!

ekneisler; If Scisaac smut is what you live for, just you wait! In the next couple of chapters, this story will completely live up to its M rating. I'm glad you liked the speech, Scott has very transparent feelings in the show I think so I hope I portrayed him accurately. Thank you for continuing with this story!

motelmccallifornia; I'm glad you found this story too and it's wonderful that you're enjoying it! Thanks ever so much for reviewing, it means a lot. As for Allison, she has potential to be a villain so I love playing around with that haha! Thanks very much for your kinds words and I hope that you continue reading and the rest of the story is good enough for you:)