"So what are you going to do this weekend, you know, with Stiles off college hunting with his dad?" Isaac asked as he sat on the couch watching Derek search for a book from the shelf.

Derek's shoulders tensed and he grit his teeth. "Isaac, why are you still here?"

He shrugged. "Scott's got some big paper due on Monday and says he can't concentrate when I'm there."

"Neither can I." Derek grumbled.

"On what? Staring at the same row of books for five minutes?"

Derek spun around, raising his eyebrows and huffing out loudly through his nose.

Isaac rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, we both know that you let me stay here because you don't want to be alone."

Derek shifted his feet to square up with Isaac, folding his arms across his chest with his expression unchanged. "Did you ever think maybe I'm waiting for you to leave?"

Isaac thought for a moment and then shook his head. "Nope, I think you don't care either way." Derek narrowed his eyes. "I do think you might be waiting for me to shut up though, yeah, I'm going to shut up now." He said.

Derek just huffed out again, his eyes spinning in their sockets and turned back around to the bookshelf, back to staring at the same shelf again.

Isaac sighed and lay back on the couch.

"Is there absolutely nowhere else you can be?" Derek asked after a few minutes of nothing but their near-silent breathing.

"Alright, alright, I'm going. But if you get lonely without Stiles I am not coming over to sit with you while you mope about." Isaac said, knowing that he was walking on ice thinner than tissue paper.

"You know that we spend time apart. I don't actually live with him." Derek said.

"No, not yet." Isaac sniggered. "Don't expect that to be your permanent situation." He said before peeling himself off the couch and shoving his wallet into his pocket. "Not going to tell me to be back in by ten?"

"If you're stupid enough to get yourself into trouble then you deserve what you get." Derek said. "Now get out."

Isaac smiled. He knew that Derek was just being his usual grouchy self. He still liked to hide himself behind that mask but the more time he spends with Stiles and the rest of the pack, the more he softens, the more he shows glimpses of the other side to him. Isaac knows that there is a playful part of him in there, a happy, friendly, open and caring guy in there hiding behind the guilt and the tormented past.

He sometimes wished that he would let go of the guilt he felt at being the only one in his family to make it out alive – aside from Peter but in the eyes of most people he really didn't count – not to mention how he felt responsible for all of it. Despite that, Isaac was just glad to see Derek smile from time to time.

"I'll see you when I see you." He waved a little as he stepped into the elevator doors.

As they began to screech shut he heard Derek call to him. "If you wake me up when you get back I will definitely kill you!"

Aw, he does care. Isaac thought.

Derek waited until he couldn't hear Isaac anymore before he sighed and looked around the empty loft. Stiles wouldn't be back from Oregon until late Sunday and he knew he would be far too tired to see him until Monday night at the earliest.

As much as he complains about wanting his time to himself, he's spent too much of it with Stiles to know what to do with himself when he actually is alone. Especially when he would be alone all weekend.

He just hoped that Peter wouldn't catch wind of it for fear that he would show up for some family bonding time. That usually meant that he was up to no good.

It's not like he hadn't thought about what Isaac had mentioned; living with Stiles that is. Of course he had, even if he would vehemently deny it. The major factor when it came down to decisions like that was their age difference. Stiles was still in school for Christ's sake.

Derek groaned and walked over to fall into one of the armchairs with his head in his hands. The other major factor was the reason for his empty loft; college. That was one thing that Derek did not want to think about.

As if hearing his thoughts, his phone buzzed in his pocket; a welcome distraction.

He fished it out and swiped the screen to open up the new message. His brow furrowed as he read the small digital words.

I think it's time you and I had a chat. Meet me tonight at that café you and your human trigger are so fond of. 8pm – don't be late.

K

There was no doubt of who it could be. The single letter was enough to tell him that he was about to have a meet and greet with his fellow alpha, whether that would be friendly was another question entirely.

Isaac walked along the path away from the loft, slowly shuffling and waiting for a message from Scott. He had said earlier that he would let him know how well he was going with his study, sadly, it wasn't great.

Won't be able to see you tonight, this assignment is killing me. Raincheck? Promise I'll make it up to you ;)

Isaac sighed. He understood why, of course he did. Scott promised Melissa that he would work on his grades for senior year so he didn't begrudge him that. He was just bored was all.

You better. Love you.

He replied. This was the worst part, finding something to do with himself. He wasn't really that close to Lydia or Jackson, and he and Allison were sort of a tricky subject at the best of times, what with the whole Scott thing.

Then there was Stiles who was away with his father, and Derek wasn't in the friendliest mood of all but he suspected that was because he was brooding on some bottled up emotion that he didn't want to talk about.

He had no idea what Boyd and Erica were up to. Even so he didn't really feel in the mood to deal with Erica so he called up the one person he could think of to spend some quality time with.

The phone rang almost five times before he heard a voice pick up on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cass, you busy?"

"So you looking forward to this kiddo?" The sheriff asked, looking away from the road for a second to smile at his son.

"Yeah, it'll be good to actually see a campus, you know, like a real one not just Beacon Hills Community College." He said, resting his elbow on the crook of the window.

"You know you could have invited Scott, or Derek if you didn't want to spend the weekend hanging out with your old man." He said and Stiles chuckled.

"Well I'd hardly call you old… not really anyway."

"Careful there kid." His dad smiled.

Stiles sighed. "Well I did invite Derek but he's not so thrilled about the whole twelve hours away thing, and Scott doesn't really want to be too far away either." The sheriff just nodded. "Plus there are plenty more weekends to go on a college road trip with my friends, hell, Isaac's friend Cassie said she'd give us the guided tour of Denver if we ever decided to go."

"She the one who sits on the floor of the spare office down at the station surrounded by mounds of our old files?" He asked.

"Sounds about right, thanks for doing that by the way. She seems to mean a lot to Isaac. You know how old friends are." Stiles said. "What do you think of her by the way?"

"No problem, and she seems like a nice girl. She sure does ask a lot of questions though." He said with a smile and Stiles went to apologise but he just shrugged. "Hey, that's a good quality for someone wanting to get into my line of work, too bad I can't tell her half of the things she wants to know, some of those cases are still open." He seemed to sigh a little at that. "Most of them are cold cases by now though."

Stiles felt a pang of guilt. He knew that a lot of those old unexplained attacks and killings were probably the work of werewolves and it was sitting right under the sheriff's nose. Literally, between Scott and Derek and all the things that happen to Stiles because of supernatural forces, it's a wonder he hasn't suspected anything abnormal.

"That boyfriend of hers is a little quiet. I don't think he likes all the paperwork. They'd make a good pairing if they joined the force, there's always one who loves to sit and go over the details. She's passionate, I'll give her that."

"Well that makes me feel better about recommending a total stranger to you." Stiles smiled.

"She had some papers and a letter from her professor in Denver anyway. We don't just let anyone in to the precinct."

"I don't know, I've been in there a few times."

"I said 'let them in' Stiles, having them break in is an entirely different thing." The sheriff chuckled.

"To be fair I never broke in… I borrowed your keys."

"Oh borrowed, is that what you call it?"

"Next subject." Stiles said with a grin.

"You want to stop for burgers in an hour?"

"Are you kidding? I'm freaking starved."

Derek wasn't stupid. There was no way he would ignore the message he had gotten from Katherine, but there was no way he was going to go alone either.

He thought about calling Isaac back but changed his mind, knowing that he relied on him far too much. His next thought was Scott, but even though this was important Isaac had told him that Scott was studying most of the weekend.

He thought about how he was possibly ruining someone's plans on a Friday night but this was important.

He called Boyd but it went straight to voicemail – twice. He wouldn't have worried if it had been anyone else but Boyd was usually on his calls in the first few rings.

Instead he decided on an unlikely candidate – Jackson. He may be a hot-headed, impulse driven newbie but he was strong and he could hold off any of the betas that Katherine may decide to bring with her. And Jackson wasn't one to say no to some rival pack confrontation.

He gave him the meeting point and told him to be subtle, not to do anything unless Derek gives him the signal. Derek also called Erica and asked her to check in on Boyd when he found out that he wasn't with her.

After that he looked at his watch and realised that he had fifteen minutes until he had to meet Katherine so he climbed into his Camaro and began the short drive to the place Stiles likes to call their own private coffee haunt.

The timing was perfect, he was right on time. He could smell Jackson's scent and knew that he was lingering about somewhere. As he pushed the door open to the moderately packed coffee house the bell above it made a tinkling sound and he scanned the room with both his eyes and his nose until he locked onto her.

She sat in the back corner booth, a cup of steaming coffee in her hands despite the time and she was more than overdressed in a deep purple dress with her big black pumps visible from under the table.

Her eyes flicked to him and she turned up the corner of her mouth in a smile. "Nice to see you Derek." She said, loud enough for his wolf ears to hear her.

He said nothing, he just walked over to her and took a silent seat opposite her.

"Can I offer you a drink? On me." She said, her smile still stuck to half of her mouth.

"It's a bit late don't you think?" Derek said.

"Maybe," She said, her smile widening. "I see why you like this place so much, their coffee is just to die for."

"You've been watching me." He said, causing her to let out a small laugh, putting her cup down gently in its saucer and folding one hand over the other.

"On the contrary Derek, it's you who's been watching me."

Isaac met Cassie on the edge of the town in her dirt-cruncher boots and brown leather jacket with jeans, smiling wildly as her hair fell in cascades around her face.

"Well hello there." She said.

"Hello yourself, why are you so happy?" Isaac asked.

She pulled a bottle of half-drunk scotch from her satchel and winked at him. "Want to have some real fun? Like old times?"

"Define real fun." Isaac smiled.

"Take a walk with me." She said, crossing the road and taking quick steps towards the woods.

She turned back and gave him an expectant look.

"You aren't serious." He said.

"Are you scared of the woods Isaac?" She grinned. "Come on! Or are you going to let the mountain lions get me!" She laughed and he shook his head.

"Cassie!" He called as she almost slipped behind the tree line.

He trailed after her, her feet heavy on the dead leaves. He heard her stop and anticipated her jumping out from behind one of the larger trees at him, which she did.

"Oh come on, we always used to go for walks in the woods." She said once they had set out on a more defined path.

"Yeah, until my father found out, remember?" Isaac said.

She winced a little. "Oh yeah… sorry about that. Did he come down pretty hard on that one?"

Isaac shrugged. "I'd had worse." He recalled the throwing of fragile objects and the words 'if I wanted another dead son I'd ship you off with the army too'.

Still, his words rang true; he'd seen a lot worse than that night.

She looked a little sheepish for bringing it up and held out the bottle. Isaac smiled and took it, knowing that it didn't matter what he drank from the bottle, it wasn't going to affect him, at least not in a major way.

"So are we going anywhere in particular or are you just looking for some kind of sick thrill?" He asked.

Cassie laughed and took the bottle back after he took a short swig. "Is it wrong that I have a sense of adventure?" She asked, taking a sip herself.

"I'd call it a death wish."

She put a hushing finger to her lips and took a seat at the base of one of the trees. "Relax, when it gets too dark we can head back. I hope you left a trail of bread crumbs."

"I think we'll be okay." Isaac said.

Cassie took another drink from the bottle and pulled a face. "So…" She said, her face settling after the sharp taste of scotch had dispersed. "Where's Scott tonight?"

"He has an assignment to do."

"That sucks, I know how he feels."

"Yeah."

"So do you know what you're doing after you graduate yet?" She asked.

"Haven't I already told you that I have no idea what I'm doing when I finish high school?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you'd made a decision." She said.

"Not yet, no."

"Well you and Scott and Stiles should come with me to Denver for a weekend. I'll show you around campus, where all the good parties are… we'll totally tear it up." She said.

Isaac laughed. "Yeah, yeah maybe."

"Well don't let me be drinking all of this. I don't want you to have to carry me home." She smiled.

He took the bottle from her and took a drink, knowing that she would be tipsy well before he felt anything.

Erica headed to Boyd's house without any warning, she didn't want to give him a chance to hide what she suspected she would find. When she arrived she could tell that he was inside just from the potency of his scent.

She knew where they kept the spare key so she took it and silently let herself in, his mother and father must have been out because there was no car in the drive. With her feet treading as softly as she could she walked through the living room and down the hall to where she could hear the two heartbeats.

She knew Boyd would hear her coming in a moment so she took three quick steps to his door and wrenched it open.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" She said as Daisy pulled herself back from Boyd, one strap of her tender sun dress fallen from her shoulder and a warning in her eyes.

"Erica!" Boyd said.

"What Boyd? I'd love to hear an explanation for this. Surely it's not what it looks like." She said, leaning against the door frame and folding her arms.

Daisy pulled her hand out from underneath Boyd's and stood up, never taking her eyes off Erica. "I think I should leave now Vernon." She said coolly.

Boyd stood up with her and she slowly walked past Erica who waved a little as she passed her in the hall. He gave her a shake of his head and a little growl escaped from his throat.

"You didn't have to do that." He said.

"Oh that's rich. Tell me, is she the reason you ignored your calls from Derek? I wonder what he would have to say about that given where he is right about now." Erica hissed. "I know he said we could keep an eye on them but don't you think this is a bit much?"

"It's not like that. I trust Daisy."

"Oh you trust her? I hope you haven't let slip anything you shouldn't have."

"I'm not stupid; I would never put any of you in danger no matter what my feelings are in the matter." He said.

"Your feelings? You can't seriously tell me you have feelings for her, of all the werewolves to choose from you chose her?" Erica said heatedly.

"We understand each other." Erica scoffed. "Why do you care so much? Are you jealous that I've managed to find someone that I connect with?"

"I am not jealous!" Erica growled, her eyes flashing gold. "I just don't want anything to cause trouble for us. Did you know that Derek's meeting with Miss Daisy's alpha right now? I don't think either of them would be too happy to learn that the two of you have been… seeing one another like this."

"You can't say anything to Derek." Boyd said.

"He's my alpha!"

"He's mine too and I'm not going to let him forbid me from seeing her because then I'll have no choice but to obey him! No one else knows about us."

"Please," Erica scoffed again. "I had my suspicions, you get all weird when you talk about her, and not weird like Jackson about Ethan, weird like Isaac was when he was trying to hide his little liaison with Scott. I see more than people think you know. It's like that when you have no one to distract you." She said, bitterness in her voice that Boyd almost felt sorry for.

"Erica, please." He said. "I care about Daisy. Why does this have to be about her pack and ours?"

She rolled her eyes. "I feel like I just walked into Wuthering Heights."

"Does this mean you won't tell Derek?" Boyd asked and her shoulders relaxed a little as she sighed.

"Boyd, you're my best friend. If you want to trust this girl then that's fine, and no, I won't tell. But if shit hits the fan I am not going down for this." She said.

He exhaled with relief and Erica looked down to her feet. "I do trust Daisy, and I like her, a lot." He said.

"Yeah I heard you." Erica said.

"I like her, but I love you. I never had a best friend before you." Boyd said.

"Now you're just making shit up." Erica mumbled and Boyd smiled as he pulled her in for a hug.

She let him for a moment before wriggling out of his grip. "Okay I get it. I'll figure out something to tell Derek, alright? I'll say you were in your bedroom doing god knows what."

Boyd let out a rumbling laugh. "That's the best you can do, huh?"

"It's the best of the truth to stop him from realising that I'm lying."

"Thank you." He said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll just add you to the long list of people who owe me shit."

"I'm not sure what you mean by that." Derek said in return to Katherine's allegation.

She smiled coyly. "Don't lie to me Derek, that's no way to a woman's heart."

Derek said nothing. He sat with his usual blank glaring face, trying to give nothing away and decode her words at the same time.

"I thought we agreed to a peaceful truce." She said. "But then again I seem to remember some terms, and I believe they were yours."

"Stay out of our way and we'll stay out of yours." Derek stated, rehashing their earlier conversation.

"And yet here we are." She said.

"What are you accusing me of doing?" Derek's eyes narrowed.

"I am accusing you of breaking that word that we agreed on. You and your pack have been watching us, closely. Don't think I haven't noticed Derek." She said, a hit of menace in her voice.

She sounded like she was worried about something, whether that was Derek's pack finding out about something or her pack failing to complete some predetermined task, something was off.

"Your betas attend the same high school as mine, you can't expect there to be no crossover."

"No, maybe not, but there is no coincidence that all of them took an interest around the same time." She said.

Derek let out the smallest hint of a sigh. His betas weren't the stealthiest of werewolves.

"I'm going to assume you're not alone." He said.

Katherine actually laughed at that, a loud cackling sound that ended with her shaking her head. "Now Derek, I couldn't show up alone could I? Not when I knew that you wouldn't be honouring that."

"So we agree… we don't trust one another."

Katherine smiled that twisted half smile again. "Keep your betas at bay. I don't want to catch anyone snooping around in my business."

"What do you have to hide?" Derek asked.

This time Katherine's face dropped into a dark glare. "If I'm hiding something then it's mine to hide. I just thought I would offer you the courtesy of a warning."

"Is this a warning or a threat?" Derek asked and Katherine just smiled, her eyes looking past Derek to Jackson, who was standing by the counter and staring at them.

"I'll let you decide." She said as Aiden appeared by her side, giving them the same smile as Katherine was.

She stood up slowly and ran her hand over Derek's shoulder as she walked past him, winking at Jackson before heading to the door.

"See you in school." Aiden said cockily and Jackson let out a low growl, his eyes never leaving the two of them until his nose could no longer smell them.

He took long strides over to Derek and sat down in the spot that Katherine had just occupied.

"You think they're hiding something?" He asked softly.

"Something's not right." Derek said.

"So what are we going to do? Do you take her threats seriously?"

Derek thought for a moment. "I won't discredit them. We need to be careful where they're concerned now. No more detailing them."

"If they are up to something they have my best friend in the crossfire I can't just―"

"I said no detailing them I didn't say we were going to do nothing." Derek said.

"So… what are we going to do?" Jackson asked.

"We're going to talk to the others, figure out the best way to draw out her secrets."

"I feel like that's going to involve making her angry." Jackson groaned.

"That's usually the way to get something out of someone."

The darkness of the night began to swallow up the forest. Isaac almost didn't notice as he and Cassie sat up talking and drinking. He felt a sense of nostalgia at that. Just the two of them, wandering through the trees and laughing at every word.

"You ever wonder what things would be like if I'd a stayed here?" Cassie asked, a slight slur in her speech.

"Sometimes," Isaac admitted. "A lot more now, but I know why you had to leave."

"It was never because of you, Isaac, you were that one thing that almost made me want to stay." She said, her voice soft, almost wishful.

"I told you to go Cass, you needed to get out of here. I mean it was bad enough for me but you―"

"Well I got away from that." She said sharply.

"Did you?"

She looked up at him with her lips in a flat line. "You never did, you never will. No one does, not really. It's not the place that holds the memories."

Isaac swallowed and looked away.

"Sorry…" she said softly. "I just… you learn things in the big wide world. You learn lots of things about… you learn the truth, you know?"

"I know." Isaac said, because by god did he know.

His senses began to tingle, at first he thought it was the direction of the conversation but when he heard the far off footsteps from inside the trees he knew that it was more than that. He stood up and tried to look around but he couldn't see anything, he could just hear it, smell it.

"Isaac what's wrong?" Cassie asked.

"Nothing, I just think it's dark enough for us to make our exit now." He said, offering her his hand and keeping from her the rest of it.

"Scared of the dark?" She asked with a smile.

"Not really, but I probably should be." He said, keeping hold of her hand to make sure she didn't fall as he led her out of the woods.

It didn't take them long to see the blaring lights of the town and they walked along the road for a long while, Cassie leading him back to her apartment. It was only when they stopped outside a short street that he realised he was still holding her hand.

"Thanks for walking me back, feels a lot safer with you here than doing it alone." She said.

"Anytime Cass, really." He smiled.

She reached up to hug him, her arms circling his neck and her eyes closing as she took a moment to breathe him in. When she finally let go she wobbled a bit and laughed to herself.

"Sorry, I think that scotch got to my head." She smiled.

"I'll see you round okay?" Isaac said.

She leant up to place a kiss on his cheek, her unstable gait making her lips fall slightly off centre, the corner only briefly glancing Isaac's to which she apologised again and waved him goodbye and began walking down her street.

He watched her go, making sure she got to her door safely and in the distance saw Cal open the door for her and then she was gone. He sighed and took out his phone.

You sure you're too busy for just a little bit of spooning?

He sent to Scott but after a few minutes of silence he heard nothing and so he sighed again, heading back to Derek's for the rest of the night alone.