Iron Claws and Fragile Hearts

Chapter 54: It's About What You Don't Smell

"Thanks for the ride," Isaac said as he climbed off the back of Ethan's motorcycle in the school parking lot. Malia and Lydia were sitting a couple dozen feet away on a bench along the sidewalk that led to the main entrance.

Ethan smirked at him, the corners of his eyes crinkled and his scent creamy-smooth with affection. "So I'll see you tonight?"

Isaac licked his lips and nodded. "Yeah."

Ethan's smirk softened into a smile and he stood, straddling the motorcycle. Isaac realized what he was doing a half-second before it was too late and turned his head as Ethan leaned into his personal space. The kiss landed on Isaac's cheek and Ethan cleared his throat and looked away as he withdrew and sat back down.

"Uh, bye." Isaac bent and kissed Ethan's cheek too. Maybe it wouldn't be awkward if Isaac pretended this had always been how he planned to bid Ethan farewell.

Ethan furrowed his brow and blinked and – nope, it was still awkward.

Isaac breathed a sigh of relief as Ethan puttered out of the parking lot and whipped onto the road with a noisy rumble.

After Ethan's story about what had happened with Rick, Isaac had sat with him as he reminisced about their brief relationship and about Rick in general. Once he had gotten it out of his system, Isaac had tried to distract him by filling him in on Ms. Newcastle's visit that morning and the next steps in the adoption process.

They had also discussed Isaac's plans to search the school for the darach's journal with Lydia, Liam, and Malia that afternoon. Ethan had offered to help, but as tempted as Isaac was to let him – after all Ethan was indisputably more experienced at scent location than the rest of them, and Isaac didn't exactly hate spending time with him – he had politely rejected Ethan's offer, and thankfully Ethan hadn't pushed it. Isaac wanted to keep the search a pack activity, minus Scott and Stiles unfortunately.

Isaac and Ethan had spent the remainder of their time together sitting on Ethan's couch watching TV. For such a mundane activity it had felt weird as hell, and almost every time Isaac had opened his mouth it had been with the intention of telling Ethan about his relationship with Stiles. He couldn't do it. Ethan smelled too vulnerable, and he kept looking at Isaac like he was the only thing holding him together. It was pretty damn obvious that Ethan no longer viewed them as just friends, and Isaac himself felt more like he was trying to work up the nerve to tell his boyfriend that he was cheating on him than to tell his friend that he had entered a new relationship. It didn't help that Ethan was being touchy feely or that he kept trying to reassure Isaac that he was okay, apparently misinterpreting Isaac's anxiety as worry about Megan and her pack's revenge plans – and part of Isaac's anxiety was about that, but the rest was about the news he had to deliver.

Ethan had invited Isaac over for dinner that night, and of course Isaac wasn't stupid enough to have dinner alone with Ethan, but Aiden and Malia were going to be there too, and since he still needed to find a way to tell Ethan about Stiles he had reluctantly accepted. Ethan had been surprised by his casual willingness to share a meal with Aiden. Isaac was surprised too, but he figured he deserved to be punished for what he had done, and there was no harsher punishment than enduring Aiden's company. In fact perhaps Isaac was being too hard on himself. He had accidentally strung someone along, not set fire to an orphanage or drowned a basket of puppies. Did he really deserve a night with Aiden as penance? Anyway, it had seemed important to Ethan, and the last thing Isaac wanted was to disappointment him any more than he already had to.

"Liam here yet?" Isaac asked, ignoring the knowing look Lydia shot him and the way she glanced after Ethan. She was wrong for once. Nothing had happened between them. All the dinners in the world with Aiden couldn't atone for something as egregious as cheating on Stiles, and there was no way Isaac was going to let that happen.

"Not yet," she answered.

"What's with her?" Isaac asked, nodding at Malia. Her eyes were closed and her legs were crossed underneath her on the bench.

"She's meditating." Lydia smiled at her. "It's something I'm teaching her to help with her control."

"Is it working?"

"Well she hasn't reacted to you, has she?"

Isaac stepped closer to the werecoyote and waved a hand in front of her face, half-expecting her to strike at him. She didn't. "Ma–"

"Don't say her name. You'll break her concentration. It's the only thing she listens for."

Isaac arched his brow. "Really?"

Lydia nodded.

"Oh damn, what am I gonna do with all this deer meat?" No response. "Whoa, and why is Aiden sending me all these nudes?!" Still nothing.

Lydia snickered. "Satisfied?"

Isaac shrugged.

"She's improving." Lydia angled her body toward Malia and regarded her with concern. "I just hope she's ready for tomorrow."

"Do you think she is?" Isaac asked. Tomorrow would be Malia's first day of school. "She won't be able to meditate in the middle of class."

"No, but she can step out and regain her composure." Lydia frowned. "I checked her schedule. She has three classes without anyone in the pack or Aiden or Ethan. Those are the ones that worry me."

A twinge of anxiety twisted in Isaac's stomach as he realized something. "It's Liam's first day as a werewolf tomorrow too. He's a year younger than us, so I don't think he has any of the same classes. But we do all have cross country practice together after school."

"At least he's used to having classes and going to school. She hasn't been in eight years."

Isaac eyed his new packmate skeptically. "I'm surprised she's even going to high school, much less starting two months into the year as a junior."

Lydia bristled at the comment. "She's smart, and she needs to spend time with people our age, especially her pack. Her dad considered having her home schooled until she could get her GED, but Aiden and I convinced him otherwise."

Isaac's eyes widened. Lydia could certainly be persuasive, but he couldn't reconcile the image of the stern man he had briefly met the previous weekend taking parenting advice from Aiden. It also simply didn't seem like very good advice.

"Won't she be incredibly behind academically?"

"Yes, but I'm planning to talk to Morrell tomorrow about shadowing her for this week. That way I can help her adjust and get up to speed with her classes."

"Isn't it..." Isaac hesitated but continued when Lydia gave him an expectant look. "Isn't it weird for you spending so much time with her? You know, since she's seeing Aiden?"

Lydia took a long breath, her scent filling with distress. "Yes, but I can't control who either of them date." She glanced at Malia with a look Isaac couldn't interpret. Wistful? Fond? Protective? "Besides, I think they're good for each other. They don't have any baggage, and he really is her anchor." She giggled and shook her head. "All of him. She makes him happy too."

Isaac sniggered and rolled his eyes. "Do they even do anything but fuck?"

Lydia pursed her lips, but they twitched with amusement. "Do you and Ethan?"

Isaac glared at her and shot a nervous look at Malia. Her eyes were still closed and she showed no indication that she was aware of their conversation.

"We're friends." He folded his arms, legitimately offended. "We hang out and do other stuff too."

Lydia shrugged one shoulder and smiled. "So do they, and it's really none of our business."

The smile didn't reach her eyes and she smelled sad. Isaac's irritation drained away as he crouched beside her and brushed the backs of their hands together. He understood that she was trying to be reasonable and supportive, and as much fun as it would have been if she had sat there badmouthing Aiden to him, he didn't want to instigate anything that would make her feel worse.

She squeezed his hand and tugged it onto the edge of the bench beneath her own. Her hazel eyes softened as he tilted his head and gave her his cheekiest smile.

"We're not going to have sex anymore," Isaac whispered.

Lydia laughed, low and playful, and trailed her fingertips over his knuckles. "Well damn. That fantasy was short lived."

"Huh?" Isaac's face heated. Was she implying...? Oh god, where was that offer six months ago? He cleared his throat. "Me and Ethan aren't going to have sex anymore."

She smirked. "Sure you're not."

"I'm with Stiles now."

"What?!"

"You remember I told you we were going to hang out last night? It turned out to be a date...and now we're official."

"Oh my god!" She squealed and clapped her hands.

Isaac glanced at Malia again. If that hadn't disturbed her concentration nothing would.

Lydia hugged him, enveloping him in excited joy. It was tangy and sweet, and smelled incredible against the backdrop of her floral perfume.

He hugged back as tightly as he dared, touched that she cared enough to have such an emotional response to his relationship.

"So how did Ethan take it?" she asked, growing serious as she sat back.

"Oh uh..." Isaac dropped his eyes to the ground. "I haven't told him yet."

"Auh!" She swatted his shoulder. "You hung out with your ex–"

"Not my ex."

She waved a dismissive hand. "Fine your friend with benefits" –she curled her fingers into air quotes– "without telling him you're in a new relationship? Isaac, that's frankly very shady."

"I'm having dinner with him tonight, and–"

Her jaw dropped and she blinked at him. "Oh my god, you're a terrible boyfriend!" Her face hardened. "You can't do that to Stiles."

Isaac scowled. "I'm only seeing him to tell him about Stiles. And Aiden and Malia are going to be there too."

"What?" Malia's eyes snapped open, and she shifted on the bench, shaking out of her rigid posture. "What about me?" She looked around. "Are we ready to start? Where's Liam?"

Isaac swallowed and gave Lydia a panicked look.

"What's wrong?" Malia asked him, cocking her head.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Isaac's nervous about the dinner he's going to have with you and Aiden and Ethan tonight."

She wasn't lying. Isaac was very nervous about that.

"It's okay." Malia smiled reassuringly. "Aiden's cooking, not Ethan. We'll be fine."

Isaac snickered. "Have you tried Ethan's cooking before?"

She grimaced and nodded. "Once…it made me miss the days when I used to eat roadkill."

They shared a laugh, and Lydia gave them a confused look before changing the subject. The next few minutes were spent chatting about what Malia could expect for her first day of school with Isaac and Lydia giving her tips. During the conversation Lydia kept catching Isaac's eye and throwing him pointed looks. He ignored her. It wasn't like he was trying to get out of telling Ethan about Stiles. He was going to do it. He just needed to work up to it.

It was a relief when Aiden's motorcycle revved into the parking lot with Liam riding on the back.

Liam hopped off and waved at them as he removed his helmet, which Isaac was pleased to see him wearing. He didn't like that Aiden wasn't also wearing a helmet. His utter indifference to Aiden's risk of head injury notwithstanding, it set a bad example for Liam for him to go without one. Never mind that Isaac himself only sometimes wore a helmet when he rode with Scott or Ethan. He trusted their driving; Aiden probably drove like a maniac.

Liam hung the helmet on the handlebars and grinned at Aiden. His claws glinted in the sunlight as he raised his hand into the air as if to swipe. Aiden snarled and held his palm up with his claws also extended and the muscles in his forearm and bicep bulging. They growled and slammed their hands together with a resounding clap. Then, hands still clasped, Aiden stood and Liam leaned forward. Their chests collided in a bizarre werewolf bro-hug and they slapped each other's backs and mock-growled.

"Your cheek kiss with Ethan was much less ridiculous," Lydia whispered.

"Tell me about it."

Malia crossed the grass and stood on the pavement beside the motorcycle as they finished.

"Make the yellow sauce I like for dinner."

Aiden chuckled. "It's hollandaise sauce, and it won't go with what we're having."

"Make it anyway." Malia slung a long leg over the motorcycle, and Aiden sat and scooted back, making room for her to climb into his lap. She gyrated her hips, grinding against him in her thigh-high denim shorts and kissing his neck.

"I can't say no to a request like that." He trailed his hands down her back and squeezed her ass.

"I know." She bounced and nodded innocently at him. "That's why I asked this way. I wanted to increase my odds."

Aiden tilted his head and smirked. "Well played." He kissed her.

Isaac turned to Lydia with concern.

She swept her hair back and shrugged. "His hollandaise sauce is really good."

"It sure is!" Liam declared as he joined them by the benches. "I've had his sauce too. It's creamy yet mouthwatering."

"I can't believe we're talking about actual sauce," Isaac muttered.

Liam's forehead creased with confusion, but he shrugged and shifted closer to Isaac.

Isaac growled as their shoulders brushed.

"What?" Liam frowned at Isaac but didn't move away.

"You reek."

Liam flushed with embarrassment. "I got sweaty in the woods."

Isaac grumbled but draped an arm around Liam. The fabric of his t-shirt was damp across his shoulders, and his face and neck glistened with perspiration, but that wasn't the problem. The offensive odor was Aiden. By the smell of it, they had spent the entire afternoon wrestling and rolling around together. Possessive rage bubbled beneath Isaac's skin as he rubbed brisk fingers over Liam's back and pressed the sides of their bodies together, desperate to mask Aiden's scent with his own. Liam was supposed to smell like pack, not like a smug, sauce-making psychopath.

"Awww, I'm glad to see you too!" Liam grinned and threw his arms around Isaac, burying his face against Isaac's chest. "Sorry I smell bad."

Isaac tucked his chin over Liam's head and squeezed him tight. Aiden and Malia were still saying their goodbyes, so Isaac shot Aiden a dirty look and flipped him off before stroking Liam's back with the same hand.

Aiden smirked and winked at Isaac as he drew Malia closer and ran his hand through her hair.

Asshole.

Lydia laughed and shook her head at Liam. "Why is it you had to act like you were going to tear Aiden's head off before you could hug him, but you have no trouble cuddling up to Isaac?"

Liam turned his head to look at her, rubbing his cheek across Isaac's chest. "Isaac's my First Bond. You wouldn't understand 'cause it's a werewolf thing."

"Oh, I see." She nodded sarcastically.

Liam tipped his head up and smiled sweetly at Isaac as he clung to his back. Isaac returned the look with unguarded affection, and their packbond throbbed and hummed, shooting off sparks behind Isaac's eyes and soothing away every bit of his jealous anger. Liam was right; it was a werewolf thing. Lydia wouldn't understand.

"Okay, do you two have Stiles' scent?" Lydia asked, directing the question to Liam and Malia once Aiden had left.

"I'll know it when I smell it," Malia answered.

"I think I will too," Liam said, uncertainty coloring his voice.

"He smells like rich, dark roast coffee bathed in sunlight and sweetened with honey. There are also notes of sage, sap, and rain from his darach possession. The effect is like sunshine on a spring morning in a little cafe overlooking the woods."

Everyone gaped at Isaac.

He coughed and shrugged. "But uhm, yeah, I'm sure you'll know it when you smell it."

"What kinda journal are we lookin' for?" Malia asked.

"Brown I think," Isaac answered.

Liam giggled and side-eyed him. "What's it made out of?"

"Oh, leather, and he said it was dated from the 1940s, so the pages probably smell old and musty."

Lydia unzipped her purse and took out a folded square of paper. "I'll show you around the school and we'll do a walk-through of your classes while we look," she said to Malia.

Malia nodded and they split up with Isaac and Liam setting off to do a lap around the perimeter of the school grounds while Lydia and Malia entered the main building.

"Slow down," Isaac shouted to Liam as the eager new beta jogged away. "We need to be thorough not fast."

"It's okay, I smell fast!" Liam called back over his shoulder.

Isaac huffed and sprinted after him, closing the distance in a few strides and snagging the back of Liam's shirt. "You're not doing it right."

Liam stopped and folded his arms, a pout forming across his bottom lip.

Isaac patted Liam's shoulder and tilted his head. "Like this." He took a deep breath through his nose as he slowly turned in a semicircle.

"Aiden says I have to use more than just my nose when I'm tracking someone, and that if I go too slow they'll get away."

Isaac glared at him. "Yeah, well I don't think the journal is moving around or making much noise."

Liam furrowed his brow and nodded. "You have a point. I think he might agree."

Isaac growled and grabbed Liam's arm, dragging him forward. "What do you smell?"

Liam sniffed the air and exhaled slowly. "You, our pack, your mom, grass, bird poop, that social worker from this morning, like fifteen other people's scents I don't recognize, and a piece of orange."

Isaac glanced at the slice of fruit a few feet up ahead on the sidewalk where it was teaming with ants. He clapped Liam's back. "Good job. It's more like twenty or thirty people's scents but it's hard to differentiate them until you get used to them. I don't know most of them either, but they smell like people I'm used to smelling around school. If you really concentrate you can begin to decipher their moods, cosmetics, clothes, and stuff like that. Someone spilled some milk over there before the weekend." Isaac pointed first into the grass, then over at the flowerbed planted around the base of a nearby tree. "And don't forget nature smells like that pine tree and the flowers. There's some rats or mice or something living nearby too."

"Wow!" Liam grinned and gave him an impressed look before his face fell. "Do I really need to pay attention to all that?"

"Nah, not in general, and you got most of the things anyway. Just try to passively watch out for scents that seem out of place, but leather and paper aren't unusual enough to stand out, so you need to be more careful while we're looking. Also, you said you smelled our pack. Stiles is in our pack, so he might blend in, but you really need to look for his scent specifically."

Liam frowned. "It's like a collective pack scent." He sniffed a few times. "No wait, I can pick out Lydia and Malia if I try." He took another long whiff and his face lit up. "And now I smell Ethan and Scott on you, and Aiden on me...but I don't think I smell Stiles."

"Ethan and Aiden aren't–"

"Yeah, I know." Liam sighed and they resumed walking down the sidewalk that framed the front of the school. "So how'd things go with Ethan? Did you cockblock yourself like you wanted?"

Isaac groaned and shoved Liam's shoulder. "He's going through something so I didn't bring up the just-friends thing yet."

Liam's heart accelerated and anxiety filled the air between them. "You mean that crazy pack that wants to hurt them?"

Isaac probably shouldn't have been surprised Aiden had confided in Liam – he was clearly using him to try to infiltrate the pack after all – but it still caught him off guard. "Yeah."

"We have to protect them."

"Yeah."

Liam did a double take. "Oh...I thought you were gonna argue."

Isaac shook his head and his eyes flared with heat. "If that bitch comes near Ethan, I'll tear her throat out."

"That's the spirit!" Liam bumped Isaac's arm with his fist.

They continued chatting as they completed their circuit around the school and entered the sophomore hallway. Liam pointed out his locker as they passed it, and Isaac laughed and pointed out his own from the year before. As they sniffed around a display case containing trophies, Liam brought up a new topic.

"So can you come to dinner on Tuesday night? My mom keeps bugging me to have you over." Liam's tone was casual, but his scent was full of nervous anticipation.

It was adorable and Isaac made a point of bracing himself against Liam's shoulder as he stood on tiptoes to check the top of the display case. "Yeah, Tuesday night sounds good."

"Awesome!" Liam punched the air and grinned. "It's gonna be fun."

"Yep, it will." Isaac squeezed the back of Liam's neck as he guided him down the hall. "Oh hey, I just remembered I wanted to ask you something too."

"Hmm?"

"Do you know a guy named Brett from Devenford? I can't remember what his last name is but he's about my height, wavy brown hair, blue..." Isaac trailed off as Liam's eyes flashed amber and his hands closed into fists.

"I hate that guy." He growled in the back of his throat.

Isaac's stomach dropped and a wave of cold guilt washed over him.

"How do you know him?" Liam demanded, anger billowing from his pores.

"I met him Friday and saw him again yesterday."

"What?!" Liam's mouth dropped open, fangs protruding from his lips. "How?"

"How's not important."

"I wanna know how you met him!" Liam's eyes blazed with fire and his fists tightened by his sides. "TELL ME!"

Isaac let his face shift as he stepped into Liam's space. "Stop."

A muscle in Liam's jaw twitched and his whole body quivered with energy. His brow thickened and his face turned feral. An instant later he lunged forward and slammed against Isaac's chest, his claws curling through Isaac's shirt and puncturing the skin beneath.

Isaac had been ready for it and had squared his stance. The force of Liam's strike was too strong to resist completely, but Isaac only budged about a foot before he countered the assault, knocking Liam backward and pinning him against the wall with his hands clamped around Liam's biceps.

Liam snarled and dug his claws deeper into Isaac's chest, ripping through his pectoral muscles and slicing open one of his nipples.

"STOP!" Isaac roared in Liam's face.

Liam curled his lips back and snapped at Isaac with his fangs, but Isaac held him out of range.

"STOP!" Isaac tamped down his anger and forced his eyes to cool. He needed to regain his composure and help Liam calm down. "Stop."

The rage didn't dissipate from Liam's body, but a human gasp shuddered from his mouth. "CAN'T."

"Yes you can." Isaac brushed a finger over Liam's bicep as he held him in place.

Liam tightened his grip on Isaac's chest, shredding more skin and muscle, but it seemed less like an attack and more like he was clinging to a lifeline. He closed his mouth, lips bulging but fangs covered. "TRYING."

"I know," Isaac whispered, ignoring the sharp, burning pain and the rivulets of blood that trickled down Liam's arms and dripped from his elbows to the floor between their feet. "Breathe with me like we did on the phone the other night."

Liam shook his head, trembling and growling, but the growls were more ragged and less hostile, and he struggled against Isaac with less force than before.

"Breathe in and hold it." Isaac took a long, deep breath.

Liam took a short, clipped breath through his nose.

"Almost." Isaac channeled calm through their packbond and chanced easing his grip on Liam enough to rub his arms.

It was a mistake.

Liam snarled and sprang forward, slamming Isaac against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway and savagely raking his claws down Isaac's chest and into his ribs, carving out deep gashes.

Isaac howled with fury and clamped his arms around Liam. For a split second he meant to tear Liam's back open and hurl him to the ground, but then Liam shuddered against him and their packbond throbbed with fear. Isaac's anger evaporated in an instant, and he instinctively wrapped Liam up in a tight hug and nuzzled his ear. "You're safe. I'm not gonna hurt you. We'll figure this out."

Liam growled and shook but the pressure on Isaac's ribs eased. "Breathe?"

"Yeah, breathe," Isaac whispered, rubbing Liam's back. "In."

They inhaled together and held it, their chests expanding against each other.

"Out."

Liam's breath tickled Isaac's neck, and Isaac shuddered as he realized that Liam could have gone for his jugular.

"In."

Isaac banished the ridiculous notion as he trailed his hand down Liam's spine.

"Out."

Their packbond surged with security and trust from both directions. A few scratches were one thing, but Liam would have never seriously injured Isaac.

A few minutes later they were sitting on the floor in the hallway facing each other. Liam was fully human now, and Isaac's chest and sides had quit bleeding.

"I don't know what to say," Liam mumbled, staring at his lap.

"Say you're sorry."

Liam looked up and gave Isaac a tentative smile. "I am. I'm very sorry."

"Okay." Isaac gripped Liam's shoulder, but then in a burst of affection cupped the side of Liam's face. "You're forgiven."

"Really?" Liam nuzzled Isaac's hand and gave him a look that was fraught with tortured emotions. "You don't hate me?"

"Ptah!" Isaac grazed his thumb across Liam's cheekbone. "I hate you so much. I can't possibly understand what you're going through or relate at all."

Liam sniffled and surged forward, wrapping his arms around Isaac's neck.

Isaac hugged him with inhuman strength and tried not to freak out about how tightly their packbond was wrapped around his heart. Part of Isaac wanted to run out of the school and hide until he got some emotional distance, but Liam needed him and that trumped all else.

Liam's lip trembled as he pulled back. "If I had done that to my parents...or to Mason..."

"You wouldn't have," Isaac answered, confident he was right. "You knew it was okay to rage out on me."

"This was not okay." Liam's face crumpled as he dropped his gaze to the blood-soaked remnants of Isaac's shirt and the raw, healed-over skin visible through the tatters. His heart pounded and his eyes glistened as he lifted his hands and studied the gore caked beneath the nails of his sticky red fingers.

"Stop." Isaac grabbed Liam's hands and kept his fingers covered as he flicked away the biggest chunks of flesh with his thumb. "We're gonna figure out who your anchor is and–"

"Brett ruined my life." Liam tugged his hands away and crawled forward to prop himself against the wall next to Isaac. "That's why I freaked out. It-it smelled like you liked him, like, you know, liked him."

"Yeah...I had sex with him." Isaac draped his arm around Liam's shoulders in an attempt to keep the words from stinging. "I didn't know you hated him or I wouldn't have."

"You had sex with him?!" Liam glared at Isaac before lowering his head and collapsing against Isaac's side.

"Liam–"

"I'm okay." His voice was harsh and animalistic, but his fingers were soft as he hooked them into the holes of Isaac's shirt. "I'm pissed but I'm okay."

Isaac rubbed his back. "What did he do?"

"He blamed me for losing a game we should have won. Said I let too many players get past me." Liam sat up and shrugged. "I did."

"Everybody has an off game."

Liam laughed, sharp and bitter. "Him and the rest of the team took me out to the old abandoned zoo and put me in one of the enclosures."

"What? Why would they–"

"They pelted me with lacrosse balls."

Isaac snarled and dragged Liam back down against his chest, wrapping protective arms around him. Fuck Brett and his stupid bedroom eyes and rippling abs. Isaac was going to kick his ass the next time he saw him.

Liam sighed and relaxed into the embrace, laying his head on Isaac's shoulder. "I always had anger issues, but they got a lot worse after that. I fouled out every game until Coach cut me from the team."

"Is that why you changed schools? So you could be on our lacrosse team?"

"No." Embarrassment thickened in Liam's scent.

"What happened?" Isaac asked softly, massaging Liam's shoulder with his thumb.

"That all happened last season. I assumed I'd be allowed to play this coming season, so I practiced every day, and I made sure to keep my grades up, and I stayed the hell away from Brett and the rest of the team as much as I could...Then a few weeks ago Coach told me I could forget about playing this year, that he'd never let me back on his team." Liam's hand closed into a fist, tearing more of Isaac's ruined shirt. "I was so fucking mad. I didn't plan it or anything, but I-I trashed his car. I busted all the windows and I wailed on it with my lacrosse stick until some of the guys pulled me away...I was expelled the next morning."

"Liam, I–"

"I know I fucked up." Liam raised his head. His eyes were damp and unfocused. "My parents were so frickin' ashamed of me, they couldn't even look at me. I've been in anger management ever since, and it was helping, but now–now it's like all my progress is destroyed and I never–" Liam gasped. "I can't–" He trembled and his eyes blazed amber as if to burn away the tears that threatened to fall. "I never know when I'm gonna explode. And I hate it! I don't wanna be that guy."

Isaac gently pried Liam's hand away from his shirt and uncurled his fist. "Then it's a good thing you became a werewolf."

"What?!"

Isaac smirked at him. "My life sucked until I became a werewolf. I had no control over anything when I was human." He squeezed Liam's hand. "But now everything is so much better."

"Yeah but you..." Liam curled his other arm around Isaac's leg. "Before you lived with Scott and Melissa you were...Our situations are really different. My parents are always there for me."

Isaac shrugged. "Learning control is learning control. And you're doing really well."

Liam huffed and pulled his hands away so he could wave them at Isaac's chest. "Look what I did to you!"

"Yeah, to another werewolf who could take it. And you stopped. This is the worst it gets, Liam." Isaac caught his eye and held it. "It only gets easier from here, I promise. Once we figure out who your anchor is you're gonna be able to control yourself like a boss."

Liam cocked his head and gave Isaac a thoughtful look. "Maybe it's you. You stopped me and calmed me down."

Isaac laughed and tugged the wet, bloodied shirt away from his skin. "Yeah, you wouldn't have done this if I was your anchor."

"Oh." Liam's face fell. "Then I guess that rules out Aiden too."

Cool relief followed by seething anger poured over Isaac as he recalled Liam's description of how Aiden had corralled him during full moon and traded blows with him until Liam had worn himself out and given up. "Yeah, not Aiden," Isaac said between clenched teeth.

They fell silent, and Isaac assumed Liam was pondering who his anchor might be, but when he spoke he changed the subject.

"So why did you have sex with Brett anyway?"

Isaac laughed and smirked at him. "Take a wild guess."

Liam groaned. "Ugh, why do my friends always think Brett's hot? He's so lame. Besides you're crushing on Ethan."

"Oh, uh, Ethan was involved too."

"Involved?"

Isaac shrugged. "Threesome."

Liam gaped at him. "Seriously? And yet you're trying to convince everyone and yourself that you're just friends with him?"

"It was a friendly threesome."

"And you would have to pick Brett to do it with," Liam muttered. He folded his arms and gave Isaac a pleading look. "Please don't date him. It would really bother me."

Isaac licked his lips and focused on keeping his heartbeat steady. He wanted to tell Liam about his relationship with Stiles, but Liam wouldn't understand considering that Isaac had just announced that he'd had a threesome with Ethan and Brett earlier this weekend.

"I'm not going to date him," Isaac answered, "and do me a favor and don't tell anyone about this stuff with Brett or Ethan. I don't want– It's, uh, personal."

"Yeah, of course." Liam bumped their shoulders together. "I guess Brett must be bisexual. He used to have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is," Isaac answered, recalling that Brett had been dancing with both a guy and a girl when they had met, and that he had seemed interested in both. Pride rushed over Isaac. He and Ethan had turned Brett's head. Although that might have been in part because they were also– "Hey, did you know Brett's a werewolf?"

Liam gasped and choked, sputtering our heaving coughs.

Isaac patted his back.

"No way." Liam clenched his fists and his eyes blazed with golden fire. "There's no way he's a werewolf. That's too much of a coincidence."

"Dude, it's Beacon Hills."

"But–"

"Liam, we wolfed out together. I'm positive."

Hurt replaced the anger on Liam's face and he pouted. "You wolfed out with him?"

Isaac snickered and cocked his head. "Does that bother you more than the sex?"

Liam stared off into space for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, I think it does." He worried his lower lip. "Do you think that's like a pack thing?"

"I guess." Isaac shrugged.

"So is he an omega?" Delight flickered across Liam's face.

"Nah, apparently there's a pack of Buddhist werewolves on the other side of town."

"Are you screwing with me?" Liam angled his head toward Isaac's chest and visibly listened to his heartbeat.

Isaac chuckled and assured him he wasn't.

They decided to go to the locker room and change into their gym clothes since Isaac's shirt was shredded and Liam's had also gotten bloodstained. Before they got up, Liam peeled his over his head and used it to wipe up as much blood as he could from the floor.

Isaac became distracted the moment Liam took off his shirt. He had an amazing body and even in fall still sported a rich, golden tan. His biceps flexed and relaxed as he worked, the thick muscle straining and bulging beneath his smooth skin. His shoulders were strong and rounded, flowing gracefully up into the subtle arch of his trapezius muscles. A dense sprawl of dark hair trailed across his upper chest and clavicle, thinning out over his sternum and pecs as if to line and showcase the hard swell of muscles without obscuring them. His nipples made Isaac's fingers twitch to play with them. They were pert little brown nubs that graced the centers of dark circles of supple flesh.

Isaac's gaze tracked lower and he watched the sinews of Liam's stomach rhythmically tighten and contract as he scrubbed at the stubborn red smudge on the floor.

"You think there's a mop around here?"

Isaac cleared his throat and forced his eyes up to Liam's, missing the opportunity to properly gawk at the swirl of fuzzy hair decorating Liam's navel and the outline of his hipbones as they descended into his pants.

"You can leave it like that. That's hardly the worst thing that's happened to this school. Someone'll find it in the morning and clean it."

Liam frowned and grunted but quit scrubbing and rose to his feet. He tucked his shirt in one of his back pockets and smiled shyly at Isaac. "Can I have a hug?"

Isaac swallowed and his heart stuttered as he involuntarily raked his eyes over Liam's body before enveloping it with his own.

"Thanks." Liam took long, deep breaths and went slack in Isaac's arms, forgoing squeezing him in favor of melting against him.

Isaac moaned as quietly as he could and angled his hips away. Liam was by far one of the most delicious treats that had ever melted on Isaac.

"Thank you," Isaac answered with a laugh. The front of his body tingled with pockets of warmth where Liam's bare skin pressed against his own through the holes in his shirt.

"Hmm? For what?" Liam pulled back and tilted his head, innocent confusion written across his face.

Fuck. Isaac was such an asshole for making this sexual, especially since it wasn't remotely like that for Liam. Oh yeah, and Isaac had a boyfriend, not to mention another guy he needed to set the record straight with.

I'm a dickbag.

Isaac smiled at Liam and rubbed heavy hands across his back and down his shoulders. "Just for being you. I've been a lot happier since you've been in the pack."

Liam's face lit up, his bright blue eyes sparkling as he flashed a toothy grin. "I really love being a werewolf in spite of everything, and that's pretty much all because of you."

Warmth coursed through Isaac's body until–

"And Aiden."

Isaac growled and Liam laughed – laughed, the little asshole.

When they got to the locker room they both threw away their shirts, and Isaac spent a few minutes at the sink washing away the worst of the blood on his torso. He frowned as he took off his blood spattered pants and put on a pair of athletic shorts. He hoped the stains would come out. The loss of the shirt wasn't a big deal, but the pants were only a couple of months old and one of his favorite pairs.

Liam had already changed into a sleeveless workout shirt and was eying Scott's locker by the time Isaac was done.

"What's up?" Isaac asked, trying to figure out what Liam was reacting to.

"This is Scott's locker right?"

"Yeah."

"I don't smell anything."

Isaac snickered. "Probably a good thing."

"No, like, I don't smell anything coming from it. It's like a blank space."

Isaac stepped closer and hovered his nose right in front of the ventilated slats. Liam was right; it was like sniffing a void, but that didn't mean there was nothing to perceive coming from the locker. Isaac's blood ran cold as he detected a soft, whining buzz just within the edge of his range of preternatural hearing.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Liam asked, pressing his head to the metal. "Oh wait, now I do. I don't know what it is, do you?"

Isaac knew. He would have recognized that awful sound anywhere, despite it being the quietest he had ever heard it.

"It's the druid amulet."

"You mean the druid amulet that Stiles stole from that creepy supernatural museum place and wore when he was trying to ritualistically murder Scott in his sleep that one time while all those weird grasshoppers were attacking your house, but then Iron Claw grabbed Stiles and broke his arms like a bunch and bit him super hard, and he was in that coma for awhile and everyone was all 'Oh no! Stiles is gonna die or turn into a werewolf! Ahhh!' and you guys couldn't take the amulet off him because Lydia was convinced it would be hella bad if you did, and she musta been right because it did end up healing him, so it seems like a case of all's well that ends well, except maybe it's not because now it's back and mysteriously sucking all the scent out of Scott's locker, and that'skind of ominous – that druid amulet?"

"...yeah, that one."

"Thought so." Liam nodded. "What do you think we should do?"

Isaac considered their options for a moment before the answer came to him. "We should get Lydia."

-000-

End Notes: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! There's a chance I'll be able to get another chapter out between Christmas and New Year. Things are going to heat up on all fronts very soon, and I'm super excited for the coming week in story time! They'll be a lot more danger and drama.

I hope Liam's 'that druid amulet?' ramble at the end wasn't too character breaking. It was just meant as a little humor moment as well as a quick, playful way to re-summarize those story events for readers since it's been awhile. I won't do that type of thing often and he'll go back to normal next chapter.

About Character Ages/Years:

You may have noticed that I made Liam a year older in the story than he was when he joined the show. He's a sophomore not a freshman, and Isaac, Ethan, Stiles, Scott, Lydia, Malia, Aiden, and Danny are all juniors. Likewise the rest of Liam's cohort – Mason, Corey, Brett, and Hayden – are also a year older and sophomores. Basically since the show skipped Liam, Mason, and Corey ahead a year in the final season anyway, I decided I'd rather just make them closer in age to the others from the start. That's not a story retcon; I was always considering doing that so I intentionally kept Liam's age/year ambiguous until now. I just personally think it works better for Liam to have spent a full year at Devenford and then transferred in his sophomore year instead of only spending a few months and transferring in his freshman year.

I think that also fixes an incongruity with the canon timeline as it relates to sports seasons. Season 1 has lacrosse starting in January, and it continues through season 2 all as the same sports season (Scott, Stiles, and the gang are sophomores). Seasons 3A & 3B are the next fall/start of a new school year (junior year for the older pack) and feature cross country instead. Season 4 then has lacrosse starting again in January. I'm a lot less clear on the sports seasons/times of year in 5, 6A & 6B, and it looks like by 6B they have lacrosse happening at the start of the school year in the fall instead...which seems completely inconsistent to me, but anyway for the sake of this story I'm assuming cross country is always in the fall and lacrosse is always in the spring...which would mean that Liam couldn't even have played a single season of lacrosse at Devenford since lacrosse wouldn't have been happening the first semester of his freshman year, and then he's at Beacon Hills High for the second half of his freshman year/his actual first high school lacrosse season...yet we know that he did play lacrosse at Devenford. So yeah, to me it just all makes a lot more sense if Liam and the others are a year older.

Anyway feedback on this chapter (or if you just want to weigh in on the timeline, lol) is greatly appreciated and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays everyone!