Almost a whole week had passed since Isaac's run in with the hunters. The house was back in order, and life had returned to normal, or at least normal for a werewolf.

"So if I was to apply sodium hydroxide to calcium chloride, what would happen? Mr Lahey?"

"It...it would make calcium hydroxide?"

"And what sort of reaction would there be?"

Droplets of sweat started to form on Isaac's forehead, as he tried to think back to the prep the night before. Considering that he was having to research ancient old werewolves and possible ways of stopping them, it was little wonder that anything went in.

"I. I don't know." He said at last looking at the floor.

"You don't know? Did you do last night's prep?"

"Yes Mrs Martin."

"Then what is the answer?"

"It would make a solid white papist." Said Scott, jumping to his friend's aid.

"Did I ask you Mr McCall?"

"No."

"No. Mr Lahey?"

"If you mixed them together and put them in them in a vacuum then they would eventually become a white past." Said Isaac still looking at the floor.

"What would happen if you were to grind it, Lydia?"

"It would become a powder."

"How long would it take for it to turn from a liquid into a solid, Mr McCall?"

"Approximately, twenty minutes."

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Scott and Isaac winced as the sound of the bell shot through there wolf ears.

"Good work everyone. Mr Lahey could I see you for a second please?"

Isaac watched as his friends with sympathetic looks left the class room.

"We will wait for you." Scott whispered, knowing Isaac would here through his wolf hearing.

"Mr Lahey, I have been looking over your Chemistry scores over the past two years. I find it surprising that someone who scored a D on their final paper would choose it for their senior year. Care to elaborate?"

"Maybe I suck more at everything else." He said with his smug expression.

"Don't try it. I have a daughter who perfected the "I am not very bright act", and I am not going to be fooled. You didn't have to tell me about the vacuum, you could have repeated what your friend told you. Why didn't you?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do."

"I just remembered."

"Do you have trouble remembering things?"

Isaac could feel his body begging to shake. "You forgot! What did you mean you forgot!" Came the voice of his father.

"Mr Lahey. Isaac!"

Isaac head shot up.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes. Everything is fine."

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"What did my mum want." Asked Lydia once Isaac had finally been allowed to leave the classroom.

"She was just wondering why I decided to take Chemistry."

"I am sorry my mum..."

"Please, it's alright. Don't you have another class now?" He said whilst putting his books away in his locker.

"Wanted to make sure you were ok."

"It wasn't the first time a teacher wanted a private word with me."

"That is not it."

"Is this because of what Stiles said?"

"No. It is because your claws are out."

The bête looked at his hands. His fingernails were growing rapidly. He grabbed his wrist, and focused on retracting them. His heart rate was growing faster. He needed to calm down. "Lydia, get away. Go!"

Lydia ran to the library to find Scott who like Isaac had a free period.

"Scott. Quick Isaac is in trouble."

The alpha followed the sound of his bête's increasing heart beat until he found him standing under a cold shower.

"Isaac? What happened?"

"I am ok." He said turning off the water and starting to walk away. His alpha grabbed him by his arm, swinging him round.

"No you are not ok. Now tell me what is going on?"

"You mean besides from staying up all night reading about a century old werewolves and Hell hounds and not finding anything we did not know already. Not to mention the run in with Theo and his pack. "

Scott loosened his grip. "I know it bothers me too. But you know what bothers me more? When you were in France, the pack fell apart. I thought I lost you all..."

"We are all together now Scott."

"Yes. But it terrifies me that it could happen again. We need to trust each other Isaac, that means no secrets, no losing control and wolfing out, and we face everything as a pack. Ok."

"Ok. Does that include homework? Because I don't know about you but I am seriously struggling with this week's Chemistry assignment."

"If I help you with Chemistry, do you think you could explain why "The Great Gatsby" is called The Great Gatsby?"

"Sure Scott."

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The message alert on Chris Argent's phone went off.

Isaac

Hi. I have gone to Scott's house.

Argent

That is fine. I will be working late. Don't wait up.

"Everything alright?" Asked Derek.

"Everything is fine." Replied Chris.

"Are you ready?" Said Braeden

"As ready as I will ever be." Answered Argent.

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With both Argent and Scott's mum working late, the teenaged werewolves decided to order pizza. By then they had managed to complete their Chemistry assignment and Isaac had written a list of possible reasons for how "The Great Gatsby" obtained its title.

"So the Gatsby is called great because the book is from the perspective of Nick Caraway, and it is he who sees Gatsby as being great?"

"Pretty much."

Once the pizzas arrived they moved onto translating the Argent Bestiary from Latin into English.

"Since when do know Latin?" Asked an amazed Scott.

"I had a good teacher." Was all Isaac said.

Guessing who his teacher might have been, his friend did not press the matter further. In truth this was the first time the two of them had hung out since Alison's death, and despite their mutual broken hearts neither of them felt comfortable talking to each other about her loss.

After three hours, they were still no closer to finding their werewolf.

Scott phoned Kira and Malia to see if they had had more luck. Sadly, they hadn't.

"We could try calling Lydia? She is better at translating Latin anyway." Suggested Isaac, rubbing his tired eyes.

"Her mum has been removing her phone every evening since she returned from the asylum, so she can focus on her study's. What about Argent? Does he have any idea what it could be?"

"No. But we haven't really talked about it much. He has been a bit preoccupied lately."

"Anything we could do to help?"

"Thanks but, whatever it is he would rather deal with it on his own."

"You mean he hasn't told you?"

"He says if he needs to he will, but I think I have a pretty good guess what it is. Don't you?"

"Kate."

Just then Scott's phone rang. It was Stiles.

"Scott, you know that image of a wolf fighting a hell hound?"

"Yes."

"Well I found it in this old book I got from the library on legends related to wolves and werewolves. The trouble is it is in French."

"Isaac, can you read French?"

"Yeh."

"Stiles can you scan the pages to my computer?"

"Already did. You should have it by now."

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"Come on Chris. My berserkers have your friends, and you are almost out of ammo, and don't think I didn't count the spares you keep up your sleeves. You are only delaying the inevitable". Came the voice of the ware-jaguar as she followed the blood trail left by her older brother.

Argent took deep agonising breaths, as he pressed against the bullet wound to his stomach. He could feel the temperature drop. But he was not going to let his body go into shock. Derek and Braeden needed him, and he was not going to let them down.

He took out his twitch blade, which he kept concealed in the back pocket of his jacket and slowly pulled himself to his feet. He only had one shot, and he needed to make it count. As he saw the shadow of his sister approaching he braced himself for what he was about to do. He knew the knife wouldn't kill her but a part of him was still saddened by what his sister had become and how they had found themselves on opposite sides.

"You know. There is one thing I don't get. You hunt your one and only sister, and let's face it the only real family you have left. But you invite one of them into our home. Yet he is not here to defend you. Why is that?"

Chris resisted the urge to ask how she knew about Isaac, knowing that she was only trying to rile him so that he would give up his position.

"Wait. You don't seriously think you are protecting him do you? Do you think I won't go after him after I am finished with you?" Her brother was now within touching distance.

Swiftly, Chris jabbed the knife into her stomach, catching her off guard. In her surprise she had relaxed her grip on her gun, making it easy for the trained hunter to snatch it.

He fired at her legs before heading towards where he last saw his companions fighting off Kate's monsters. He fired at the giants' heads, who started to walk towards him, allowing Derek and Braeden to break free.

By then Chris was on his last legs. Barely conscious he stood his ground.

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"A "D" in Chemistry that is what you call trying your best?"

"I'm sorry I will do better."

"You can do better? So when you said you were doing your best, that was a lie."

"No."

"No. Which means you are lying to me now."

"No I..." Isaac did not have time to finish before his father struck him. His eye stung from the tears, which he swiftly whipped away. Not quick enough.

"What is this? You still can't face your punishment like a man! You are weak you will always be weak! Now get out of my sight."

Music began to play. It was Isaac phone. He fumbled on the key pad unable to turn it off.

"You moron. You can't even do the simplest thing! Give it here before we both go mad through your incompetence."

"Isaac. Isaac! Wake up!" Called Scott shaking his friend awake.

The teen's eyes shot open as he flinched under his friend's hand.

"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you. Your phone is ringing."

The call was from Derek.

"Isaac. It is Argent. You need to come to the hospital now."

Without a moment to lose Scott and Isaac hoped on the bike and raced to the hospital.

As soon as they entered, Melissa McCall came racing towards them. Clip board in hand. "He is in the ICU. He has lost a lot of blood, but the doctors are optimistic."

"What happened?"

Melissa's heart sank at the sound of tearful voice of Isaac. She could barely believe that the cocky teenager had uttered the words.

"He had a run in with his sister. But that is not all of it. Derek says she may have been working for the Mexican hunters."

"What! Why would they want Argent dead?" Scott's surprise only too clear.

"Can I see him?" Isaac did not sound angry or scared, or even vengeful. The voice was so still that if they hadn't been standing by him, neither McCall would have thought it was the same teen who had arrived at their door drenched and in need of a place to sleep.

"Yes." Whispered mother McCall. "But if anyone asks, you are his son, you got that."

Isaac nodded.

Her son watched her and his friend as they headed off to the ICU.

"Scott." Derek had been sitting in the waiting room. On seeing his wolf brother, he made his way over to him. "What is it?"

"I don't know yet. But something is not right. What do know about Kate's connection to the hunters?"

"Only that she said "they" wanted him alive for now. She didn't say who "they" are but we are certain she means the hunters."

"Why?"

Derek gave him a puzzled look. Then returned to his usual stern expression. "Isaac didn't tell you?"

Then it struck him. Isaac wasn't completely surprised when his mum told them of the hunters' involvement.

"Derek what didn't he tell me?"

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Isaac and Melissa walked into the ICU. Chris seemed to be plugged into every monitor imaginable.

"It looks worse than it is." Said nurse McCall putting a reassuring arm on the teen's shoulder.

Isaac gave a slight nod before walking over to his guardian. He wondered if Alison had felt as helpless as he did when she had come to see him, in the same room which was now occupied by her father.

"I am sorry." With a heavy heart he took hold of the hunter's arm. The pain immediately burned through the black vanes in his arms working its way to his head. He fought back the urge to scream, as his head felt like it was about to explode. Blood was dripping from his nose. But he held on, until there was no more pain left to take.

"You ok kiddo?" Asked mother McCall.

"I'm fine." He said whipping his nose on his sleeve. He stumbled backwards, just managing to stay on his feet.

Melissa rushed to his side. Grabbing his arms to steady his balance. "Want to try answering me again?"

"If you ever lie to me again you will get worse than that! Make no mistake son."

A startled Isaac pulled back from the concerned mother's grip.

"Ow! Easy on the wolf strength Mr!"

"Sorry I didn't mean to do that." He said Sincerely turning his gaze to, the floor.

"Isaac, I know I am not your mum, and where you stay is none of my business. But if for no other reason than my own sanity I need to know you are ok. So please, talk to me."

He clawed his curls in his fingers as he continued to look at the floor.

"Kiddo..." Melissa put a reassuring hand under his chin. "...look at me."

Slowly the mass of curly hair lifted to reveal the sad eyes of the troubled teen. His whole body trembled. Every breath that flowed from his lungs felt like a hand pulling on his insides. He put a hand to his aching stomach, and in little more than a whisper he ushered the words "I am not ok."

Melissa wrapped her comforting arms around him, like a mother wolf carrying for her cub. Under her embrace, the boy who had lost so much could no longer hold back the tears behind his eyes. Gently she pulled his head onto her shoulder, and soothingly stroked his hair, as her shoulder moisten from Isaac's silent tears.

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"They chained him up?" Said a shocked Scott.

"Apparently it is against their code for a hunter to be a guardian to a werewolf."

"I should have done something..."

"You can't be everywhere Scott."

Derek's words cut deep into Scott's heart as he was transported back to watching his first love die in his arms. Because he wasn't there to save her.

"You can't blame yourself." Said a more comforting Derek.

"Why didn't he tell me?"

"Ask him. "

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Chris opened his eyes to find himself lying down in a hospital bed.

"Welcome back." Came the kind voice of Melissa McCall.

The hunter scanned the room, eventually focussing on the sleeping teenager in the chair across from his bed.

"Has he been here all night?"

"He is watching over you." Said the nurse with a grin, remembering the time when she had woken to find her son and Isaac asleep at the foot of her bed, having been watching over her.

In truth she had thought about sending Isaac back with Scott to crash on their sofa. After seeing the look in his puppy dog eyes she did not have the heart to do it.

"What time is it?"

"Four in the morning. Try to get some rest, I'll be back in a couple of moments."

The hunter continued to stare at his young charge, remembering how he had found him chained up, and wounded. He clenched his fist, slowly feeling his strength return. He tried to sit up. A sharp burning pain, like a knife wound immediately changed his mind. "If it wasn't for me... If I hadn't taken you in... I caused this. I am sorry Isaac."

"I should never have taken him in." He confessed to Melissa a few hours later, when Isaac had gone to school.

"So why did you?"

"Alison."

A shiver came over Melissa, as she was reminded of how the hunter had to go through the death of his daughter less than a year after his wife's suicide. The nurse knew he wouldn't want pity.

"She had a caring heart. I remember when Isaac got electrocuted, she stayed outside his room all night, hopping that she would eventually be able to see him." She said sympathetically, allowing a sad smile to take form.

"She...Alison talked to me about it afterwards. It broke her heart to see him having to be alone, because he has no family..." For a split second his voice cracked, before he regained control of his emotions.

In that moment Melissa realised that there was more than the mutual loss of someone they both cared about between them.

"Melissa, I need to ask a favour."

"What sort of favour?"

"Isaac needs to move back in with you and Scott."

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Isaac and Scott went to school in silence, not that a motorbike is the easiest place to have a conversation. When they arrived, they parted ways, since apart from Chemistry and English, they took different classes.

After their first two periods were over, the two of them made their way to lacrosse practice. As usual they suppressed their wolf like abilities so that they would not have an unfair advantage.

After practice McCall looked around for his curly haired friend but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Stiles have you seen Isaac?"

"Not since practice why?"

"I need to talk to him."

"Something is wrong isn't it? I mean besides from our other werewolf, Dread Doctor related problems. So, come on what is it?"

Scott felt torn between his loyalty to Isaac to keep his secret and his instinct to tell his best friend everything.

"What you can't tell me? What happened to no more secrets!"

"I know. But it is not my secret to tell."

"What does that mean, is Isaac one of the bad guys now?"

"What, no! Stiles, once I have spoken to Isaac I will tell you everything. Until then I need you to trust me."

"I do trust you. Could you at least tell me if this has anything to do with the demon werewolf or..."

"No. This has nothing to do with our other problems. It is a personal issue."

"Oh. Ok dude. See you after school?"

"Yes."

Scott continued to look for his friend but there was no sign of him.

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The bell echoed through the corridors of Beacon Hills Elementary, beckoning everyone to lunch.

Scott had still not managed to locate his missing friend and he was starting to fear that he had done something stupid, like going after his guardian's attackers.

He surveyed the lunch room for his friends, only managing to locate Liam who was sitting with a group of fresher's. Apprehensively, he made his way over to his bête, remembering how his older bête had dislocated Liam's shoulder.

"Liam, hay. Have you seen Isaac?"

The bête took a deep breath, depositing his anger into the air."Yes he is in the locker room. He may have recovered by now." With a revengeful smile Liam, took a bite out of his sandwich.

The smile immediately turned to a remorseful glare, when he saw his alpha's red eyes.

Scott promptly found his friend sitting alone on one of the benches in the boys' locker room.

"Hay Isaac. You ok".

"Fine." He said looking at the ground. The taller werewolf was always a bad liar.

"Are you sure?"

"Well I am little bummed about my guardian being shot, and almost killed but other than that..."

"Derek told me about the hunters." Said the frustrated alpha.

His friend looked up in surprise, as if he didn't know that his former alpha was able to impart the said information.

The two werewolves stared in agonising silence for a moment, before the bête looked away. A second later he stood up and looked his friend straight in the eye.

"Don't worry about it Scott. We can't save everyone right?" With that he walked away.

The words cut deep, as the dark haired teen was once again reminded of his failure to save his first love. He knew that his friend was hurting too. But just like everything else Isaac brushed his feelings away with sarcasm.

"Isaac!" Scott grabbed his friend by his arm as he walked past him.

The bête turned, unable to resist the call of his alpha.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Stiles almost lost his dad, there is a hoard of Dread Doctors trying to recreate a centuries old werewolf, and a pack of kanimas terrorising our school. I thought that was enough for everyone to be dealing with."

"You matter too."

"No I don't." Smirked the tall teen.

"Isaac, you are our friend. Our friend ok. So let us help."

"I am not sure the others would consider us friends."

"We are pack Isaac. Friends doesn't scratch the surface."

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By the time the school day was over Chris Argent had checked himself out of the hospital and had gone home, with a stern warning from Melissa McCall. Sharp, agonising stabs of pain still worked their way from where his sister had shot him. But the hunter was stubborn, and had dealt with far worse injuries.

Once he had arrived back at the flat, he poured himself a scotch before sitting down at his desk. Ever since the night he had found Isaac, he had been looking for the hunters, hopping to stop them before they came for the young wolf and him.

The sound of the lift made his hairs stand up as he gathered what strength he had for the task at hand.

"Argent? Shouldn't you still be at the hospital?" Came the voice of the concerned teenager.

"No." Sighed Chris, taking another sip of scotch.

Isaac continued to stand by the open door of the study/ living room, contemplating whether or not to enter. When he used to sneak in to help Alison, he wouldn't think twice about entering the study. With her father on the other hand he was never sure if he would be welcome.

"Come in I need to talk to you." Ordered the hunter, sounding slightly mournful.

"Are we going after them?" Said Isaac, with a vengeful smile.

"I am going after them. You are moving back to the McCall's."

"What? No, I want to help."

"This is not a debate. I have already told Melissa to expect you."

Isaac was staring at the floor. He knew Chris Argent was not his father, and that he had no obligation to keep him or even like him. After all, what was Isaac? His dead daughter's boyfriend.

Still for the first time since his father's death the lonely boy felt that he had finally found a place he could call home.

"Did...did I do something wrong?"

The guardian stood up, with his glass in hand.

Isaac closed his eyes and braced himself for the inevitable impact to come. He could hear his father and Derek's voices and the breaking of glass.

"Absolutely Spotless!" Crash! "Well that was your fault."

"Go!" Crash!

"Isaac. Look at me." His guardian was standing right in front of him.

Trembling the boy slowly opened his eyes, dreading his guardian's wrath.

But the older man's eyes only conveyed a deep sorrow. "You didn't do anything wrong." His words were reassuring in a way that only a father's can be. "This is something I did. Something I must put right."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to shut up!"

Isaac felt a hand on his shoulder, but it was not the hash painful grip of Mr Lahey. It was a comforting grip, a caring grip. The kind that makes you feel like everything will be alright.

"I want you to finish High School. I... I want you to live."

A surge of energy rushed through Isaac, driving him forward and pulling his guardian into a hug. Whether the hug was for him or the hunter he did not know. What he did know was that for the first time since his mother died he had something resembling a caring father.

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Three days had passed since Chris Argent left Beacon Hills with Derek and Braeden in search of Kate and the hunters.

Isaac had moved back into the fold up bed in Scott's Dad old study. After sleeping in a proper bed in his own room, he found it hard to sleep on the squeaky contraption. At least he was more help to Scott when they were living under the same roof, and Mrs McCall certainly appreciated having someone to help round the house again.

Still Isaac hated being left behind, and wanted nothing more than to slash the hunters' throats. But he had made a promise to Argent that he would not go after them. That he would stay at Beacon Hills and finish High School.

During his free period, he ran off into the woods to practice fighting with his daggers. He may have promised not to after them, but if they came after him, he wanted to be ready for them.