Later the same night Isaac finds Paul napping on the couch in front of the fire place. Kyle catches his eye from the kitchen door so Isaac changes course and walks over to talk to him. Once the door swings shut Kyle shakes his head. "We're pushing him too hard." He says quietly. "How so?" Isaac asks. "The work outs, the training. I think he's hiding how much pain he is in. Look." Kyle holds up the prescription bottle of Paul's pain medication. Quite a few of the pills are gone. "I guess that explains the cologne he's been wearing." Isaac says with a sour face. "He barely wears any though. It can't be enough to cover up medication." Isaac says taking the bottle from Kyle and staring at it like the answers might be printed on the label. Kyle puts his hand on Isaac's arm and tugs him further in to the kitchen away from the door. "I talked to Deaton, he wouldn't come out and say it directly but he confirmed that this type of medication alters scent the least. This is not what he was prescribed at the hospital. I think Paul asked him." "Why would he do that? He knows that any one of us would gladly take his pain away." Isaac says frustration and displeasure broadcasting off him in waves. "We have been." Stiles says walking in the back door with Scott. "I think it's not enough. You should have seen him get out of the car when we got home. He hid it well but he was stiff and sore all over not just his shoulder." Kyle says rubbing his arms as his face clouds with worry. "Could it be the weather?" Scott asks softly looking in the direction of the young wolf's sleeping mate. "All the old injuries from…before…maybe they don't like the change in weather. Deaton was limping a little bit today and he said it was an old injury." "It's probably a combination of things, old injuries, new ones, weather, and all the training and running." Kyle says with a shrug of his shoulders. "Well that's all going to stop immediately." Isaac says eyes set angrily. "I don't know if he will." Kyle says shaking his head.
"Our mate is in pain, for no good reason. He needs to take a break we've been pushing him too hard for too long. Marks gone, Chris is keeping hunters away, Beacon Hills has been quiet for years. As it is he could probably take on half a dozen humans with what he's learned. He's always felt that he wasn't good enough, handsome enough, or strong enough for the two of us. We can't let him keep hurting himself just because he thinks he has something to prove." "What's all the whispering about?" Paul asks walking in to the kitchen his hand covering a huge yawn. "Sorry." He says when his yawn finishes. He smiles and looks at the gathered wolves with tired eyes. "You…. are in trouble." Isaac says seriously. "A Sexy Kind Of Trouble?" Paul asks with raised eye brows. Stiles laughs causing Scott to elbow him. Isaac reaches for Paul and pulls him in to his arms. "We need to talk." He says lifting his mate easily and carrying him towards the stairs. "Night guys." Kyle says with a chuckle and follows..
"You need to stop." Isaac says after setting a confused Paul down on their bed. "Stop what?" He asks. "You're pushing yourself too hard." Kyle says sitting down on the bed next to Paul. "I'm not.." Paul starts. "You get up early to do laundry and house work, then you train with us, then you go to work and put in crazy hours, then you come home and do even more work." Isaac says. "You're hurting yourself pushing so hard and hiding it from us." "I'm…not…" Paul says getting flustered. He looks down at the floor. "Baby." Isaac says sinking to his knees in front of Paul and looking up to see Paul's downcast eyes. "You've got nothing to prove. "You are perfect. No one has ever said 'If only Paul would try harder, or work more, or clean faster.' We've been careless and not seen that you're putting your health at risk." "You don't have to run yourself-ragged to impress anyone or prove to us that you belong. You belong here because you're Paul. Not because of how well you fight or how far you can run." Kyle says leaning against the frowning human. "This isn't just about training. You're more capable than most people will ever be. You're busy all the time. I'm so sorry I didn't realize you were in pain." Isaac says taking both of Paul's hands in his large ones, his thumbs running over Paul's knuckles while looking up in to his eyes. "The pain is only a recent thing." Paul says quietly. "I thought I could manage it. I didn't want to be the broken human anymore." "Anything you need." Kyle says. "Anything and the pack will take care of it. It's what pack does. Pack is closer than family. We don't just protect each other we help each other out. We do everything we can to make sure everyone in the pack has whatever they need in all aspects of their life. Hale Pack has got it down. My old pack was more of a club than anything else. Jeremy is a good person but he is pretty clueless on how to bring his wolves together." "I know." Paul says frowning deeply. "I'm lucky for them to have me at all." "No! That's not what I mean! I mean that all you have to do. All you have to be is you." Kyle says putting his arm around Paul's shoulder and squeezing. "There is nothing wrong with helping out. We all do, but you're trying to do too much and its wearing you out. Just relax some." Isaac says standing and crawling on the bed so that he is on his knees behind Paul. He places his hands on his mate and squeezes gently. Careful to avoid hurting the still healing joint. He kneads and rubs tenderly around the painful area. "Plus. If you wear yourself out all the time who's going to fuck both of us when we get too rowdy and need to be taught a lesson." Isaac says with a grin leaning down and whispering in Paul's ear. "He's right you know." Kyle says pressing against Paul. "Wolfs need to be kept in their place." Isaac pulls Paul back until he's lying flat on the bed and kisses him. Paul responds softly reaching up and tangling his fingers in Isaac's hair. After a few moments his hand stills and drops to the bed as Isaac pulls back. "He's fallen asleep!" Kyle whispers incredulously.
Isaac frowns at Paul a moment. His worry obvious in his expression. "Paul?" He says shaking Paul gently. The human squirms slowly and mumbles. "Don't forget….. to put Kyle's shoes…" "What baby?" Isaac asks softly looking at Kyle with raised eyebrows. "In the microwave." Paul sighs out. Turning to the side. Kyle huffs out a small laugh. "He's so gone. Weird that he just fell asleep so fast though." "Come on." Isaac says quietly gesturing towards Paul's legs hanging off the bed. Kyle stands and grabs Paul's feet then helps Isaac maneuver him in to a normal sleeping position. They both carefully strip Paul down to his underwear and then pull the blankets over him. Noting the humans relaxed easy breath and slow heart rate Kyle whispers. "He is completely out. I don't think I've ever seen him pass out like this before." "I'm going to talk to Danny and see if he can have some time off." Isaac says softly running his fingers through Paul's hair. "Paul won't like that." Kyle warns. Isaac gestures helplessly at Paul. "What else can I do? Even after napping for a few hours he literally passed out." "If you get Danny to force Paul to take a vacation and he finds out he's going to be really mad. Let's just talk to him when he wakes up." Isaac stands up and heads towards the bedroom door. "Isaac please." Kyle says hopping off the bed and rushing to grab Isaac's arm. "Don't forget about Texas. He was so angry at both of us. Please don't do anything to upset him. I don't want to feel those kinds of emotions from him ever again." Isaac pauses looking back at Paul on the bed. He finally shakes his head. "OK. We'll talk to him in the morning. "You wanna..." Kyle says gesturing back towards the bed with his head. "In a little bit, I'm going to go finish some work first." Kyle smiles. "OK." Kyle says stepping forward and kissing Isaac. "If I'm asleep before you get to bed, goodnight." "Good night." Isaac says slipping Kyle's sweater off and kissing him again before quietly leaving the room. Kyle pulls his pants shoes and socks off and slips in to the large bed next to Paul. Paul mutters softly before sliding an arm and leg over Kyle and sliding his head to its usual spot on Kyle's shoulder. "Love you." Kyle whispers softly.
"What's wrong?" Danny says from the doorway of the study. Isaac jerks his head up. "Sorry didn't hear you come in." "We just got back." Danny says as Scott pulls his and Danny's coats off and hangs them in the closet near the front door. "You're brooding quite a bit." Danny says walking in to the study and sitting next to the desk. "Just worried about Paul. He's working too hard. He essentially passed out once we got him to the bedroom. That's after napping for a couple hours on the couch too." Isaac says with a shake of his head. "Want me to…" "No." Isaac says cutting Danny off. "I can't go over his head and ask you to give him time off. I'll talk to him in the morning and see if he can't slow down some." "He is working longer hours than he really needs to." Danny says. "His project is way ahead of schedule. He could take some time off if he wanted to. Maybe you can suggest it?" Danny says with a shrug. "Maybe." Isaac says looking hopeful.
In the hotel on the other side of town the woman is chanting quietly holding Paul's watch. Eventually she sets it down and smirks. Much easier to control than the rest of them. "This is going far easier than I'd hoped." She says to the empty room thinking back to how easily she'd gained entry to Cerberus and found Paul's watch at his desk. The gentle mental nudge she'd given him had him leaving the cherished gift from Kyle and Isaac behind at the end of the day. Its proximity and value to Paul guaranteed that it would have just enough residual energy for her to be able to lock on to him. "Now to find out just how pliable your foolish brain is." She says with a cruel chuckle as she pulls a large ancient tome out of her suit case and flips through the pages. "Probably connected to the rest by the pack bond. My little human conduit." She mutters scanning the dusty pages.