A/N – So quite a few people liked these stories (except for my favorite Erica-hating fan DJDP) and I am torn between keeping it canon and mixing it up a bit…but we'll see what the future holds. Hope everyone likes…
Isaac and the Wolf
CRACK!
Isaac broke yet another bone as Derek viciously repelled his amateurish attack. 'Seventeen, and counting,' he thought randomly as he cradled his arm, waiting for it to knit. Isaac had suffered more physical abuse at the hands of his new mentor than his father ever dreamed of heaping on him in his wildest drunken fantasies. He closed his eyes and breathed deep, trying with all his might not to show weakness in front of Derek. He remembered this same struggle with his dad…but Derek was someone he really wanted to impress.
He risked a glance over at his Alpha, and Isaac's throat closed at the sight. Derek was smirking at him, shaking his head…and looking at him like he was a complete and total failure.
It was just a bit too much; on top of the physical pain he was in, the rage and hatred he felt towards himself for just never being good enough for anybody ate away at his self-control. A part of him that he had thought dead since getting bitten suddenly awoke, and whispered into his mind that there was a way to forever escape the humiliation of his existence. It would definitely be harder now…but fuck it.
"Try again. Now." Derek commanded, crouching back into his defensive posture.
Isaac lay there, and shook his head slowly, just once.
"Isaac. I am asking you politely, and as Stilinsky could tell you, I only do that once."
Isaac surprised both Derek and himself by laughing. He had to admit, it was a pretty funny line. In fact it was one of the funniest things he heard in a while. Right up there with 'Join me, Isaac, and a whole new life can be yours.' Just a different person beating up on him now, along with a supernatural capacity to get his ass kicked and live through it.
It was like being in Hell.
"Fuck you, Derek. I've had it. You want to kill me…go ahead."
Isaac stood up slowly. Tears that Derek didn't even think the boy was aware of started pouring down his face.
Isaac shot his claws out, reached up and raked them down his own cheek. The pain was a tiny blip on his body's radar.
"You and my Dad could finally take it easy. I don't need you anymore! I'll just save you all some trouble."
He stuck his left arm, the one that hadn't been broken since yesterday between the bars of a grill set in the wall, and used leverage and his own wolf strength to savagely snap it. He screamed.
"Okay Isaac, that's enough-" Derek's eyes flashed crimson, and he put the edge of Alpha command into his voice. Isaac registered his words not at all as he walked painfully over to stone support pillar and slammed his head into it with sickening force. The rough granite tore away a flap of his scalp, and blood poured down the left half of his face. He fell backward, his head crunching into the concrete floor. Unbelievably, he was still conscious. His right hand (trembling uncontrollably as his nervous system tried frantically to repair itself) gripped a sharp-edged piece of steel from the debris on the floor, and brought it up to his own throat (his body was in too much agony to maintain his Beta-shift, and his claws had vanished). The shard was snatched from his hand at the last second.
"See? The s-s-student…s-surpasses….the m-master…." Isaac mumbled before his mind finally shut down.
Derek looked down at him, unmindful of the blood pouring out of his hand as he clenched the steel shard with all of his strength.
What was he doing to this boy? To the others?
Derek leaned down and folded the flap of scalp back onto the boy's exposed skull so that the healing could finish itself. Then he went over and sat down in the empty train car and put his face in his hands and gave a great broken groan. His eyes were blue, and alarmingly…moist. He hoped Erica and Boyd wouldn't return from their mission anytime soon.
The Argents had taught him to be inhumanly tough…but that had come over the course of years. Isaac was already tougher than Derek had been at his age…Derek had a childhood that Jackson Whittemore would have envied. At seventeen years of age he had a huge loving family, the pride of being a werewolf, and he had been in love…
He growled, still pissed off at McCall for besting his Betas, and even more pissed that the stubborn teen refused to join Derek's Pack. McCall was strong in ways he didn't even realize. Derek knew somehow that Scott could provide the missing element that would make real fighters out of these kids. Scott would make a legendary Alpha if he ever got the chance to make the jump. For as much as Scott hated being what he was, where did he get his strength? Why was he so powerful, even without Derek's tutelage?
Derek really thought about this for the first time, and attempted to find the answer.
First: Although Scott tended to take his best friend for granted, he would do absolutely anything for his mother or his stupid high school crush that would no doubt be forced to kill him one day. He was perfectly willing to risk his life.
Second: He was misguided about what Derek was trying to achieve (and Derek could only see himself explaining it to Scott by punctuating each point with a massive injury). But misguided or not, Scott believed in what he was doing, and he believed it was for the greater good. Derek didn't kid himself; slicing open the kid's stomach did nothing to dampen his sense of purpose, as shown when he fought the Kanima at the pool…defending Derek while he did it.
Was it because he believed in what he was fighting for? If so, what did Isaac have to fight for? Any of them? What did they believe in?
He saw now things he should have considered before giving them the Turning Bite…but it was just exactly too late. Maybe…
An idea was coming to him. It was risky, especially considering Isaac's fragile state of mind…but it might just work. It would be far crueler than anything he had done to the boy so far, but it might awaken the fighting spirit Derek needed him to have.
Derek couldn't turn Isaac into a fighter through mere training…he was broken from too early an age and had no motivation to fix it.
Derek was going to give him that motivation.
He heard Isaac moving, and went to check on him.
The boy had healed from his injuries, even the broken bones in his arms. He was still pretty bloody, but he seemed not to care.
He looked at Derek with dead eyes.
"Ready for round two?" he asked.
"Isaac…"
The boy stopped just as he was about to plunge his claws into his own eyes.
"Yeah?"
"I'm…a hardass. I know it. You're probably comparing me to your dad…unfavorably. In my head, it's because I want more than anything for you to be able to keep yourself alive."
"Derek, if you're about to fuck with my head…just don't."
"Did my heart skip? I'm telling you the truth. You can't deny it."
Isaac nodded.
"I just suck, Derek. You made a mistake. You should have just let my dad kill me…like he was meant to. Like he killed my mother and baby brother…or baby sister."
Derek felt a surge of hope as the unmistakable scent of rage mixed with the bloodsmell in the air…he was on the right track. This would work. This was how to give him the strength McCall had.
"You're the one I have the highest expectations for. Erica and Boyd…they'll never be anything more than henchmen." Derek practiced a trick his father had long ago taught him and kept his heart rate steady.
Isaac glared at him.
"Don't underestimate her, or it's your funeral."
Privately, Derek agreed. The girl had the makings of a wildcat…especially since she was in heat.
"Please, I send her on the simplest missions and she comes back a failure…and she doesn't even know why she failed."
Erica and Boyd walked in, looking dejected.
"Told you he'd know." Boyd muttered.
"Sorry Derek, we couldn't find out where that thing came from-"
Derek backhanded her, with all of his strength. She slammed into the far wall two feet to the right of Isaac's own dent.
Isaac was on his feet.
"What the fuck did you do that for?" he yelled, not caring about Derek's wrath whatsoever. Inwardly, Derek was stoked…it was working.
"That's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to her. You have potential, Isaac…but she is completely hopeless. I feel like beating her to death…with Boyd."
"Say what?" Boyd called from across the room.
Derek stomped over to where Erica lay dazed, and picked her up by the collar of her jacket. Her furious eyes focused on him.
"Play along. It's for him." Derek mouthed at her silently. She flicked her eyes over to Isaac who looked to be in a towering rage.
Erica rolled her eyes and resigned herself to some incredible pain.
Then she raked Derek's cheek with her claws.
Derek roared and hurled her into the side of the train car. He didn't expect that…but he admired her improv skills. She knew exactly what Derek was doing, and was pitching in…and getting a little payback at the same time. She did have potential.
Derek started to shift into his Alpha form as he stalked her. She was fully Beta shifted and in an attack crouch. Boyd was horrified, and made no move to interfere either way. A pity, but Derek was already beginning to form a plan to motivate him too.
"Derek!" Isaac roared. The Alpha ignored him, and lunged at the female Beta, catching her arm in his jaws and snapping the bones.
What his own bones breaking failed to do for him, Erica's succeeded admirably.
Isaac leapt, raw hatred on his Beta shifted features as he was, in three quick leaps, suddenly on Derek's back and raking for all he was worth. Derek threw him off, but the Beta twisted in the air, and landed on his feet long enough to spring back at the surprised Alpha in less than a second. He landed a stunning blow to Derek's mid-section that cracked several ribs, and then the Beta was lifting him in the air and throwing him…hard enough to crack his spine into the same abused wall. Derek healed in seconds, and was just starting to be worried he had gone too far when Isaac landed a lightning fast chain of claw and bite attacks that Derek barely had time to block…attacking back was a ludicrous thought.
"Shit…he might actually take me…" Derek thought randomly…
Then Boyd entered the fray, and knocked Isaac off of Derek. Isaac growled, his eyes glowing a hellish amber and showing a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. This was the Isaac that Derek wished had fought Scott that night.
Erica blocked Isaac's path, and for a second, Derek thought he might attack her…but then he backed down.
Everybody shifted back to their human forms.
Derek coughed up some blood.
"Isaac…I'm really proud of you." Derek gave him a weak 'thumbs up' gesture.
Then he passed out.
{}{}{}{}
Once Derek recovered and awakened, he explained to Isaac what it had all been for. The boy sat there, trying to sort through the experience and find something he could use. Derek helped him try to work it out.
"You fought better because I was threatening something you cared about. That's what makes Scott as good as he is…and it's what makes the Argents as deadly as they are. You couldn't do it before because you were doing it for yourself…and you just don't care very much about you."
"So you did fuck with my head." His eyes were hard and flat. Fighter's eyes.
"Isaac, the Argents would cut Erica in half; if given the chance, they'd do it to all of us. Every time you fight, you have to think that you might be the only thing standing in the way of them killing all of us next. We are your family, your Pack…and if you can't fight for yourself, then you need to fight for us. If you can't…you may as well offer your throat to the next predator that comes along. And I may as well start looking for your replacement. Can you do it?"
Derek listened carefully for a lie, but he needn't have bothered.
"No." Isaac said flatly. "And I think you know why."
The silence revolved slowly in the air between them.
Derek shrugged.
"Boyd, Erica. Go back to your homes. Isaac and I will be taking a little trip tomorrow. We'll be back the day after. Lay low, don't go looking for the Kanima and steer clear of Scott, Stiles and the Argents. I mean it. If you guys get yourselves into trouble, I will not be able to get to you in time. Got it?"
They nodded.
Derek turned back to Isaac.
"Tomorrow will be your most important lesson yet. Rest up. We leave at dawn."
Isaac gave him a sullen look.
"Whatever. More torture, I'm sure."
The two men went to their makeshift beds, but sleep was a long time coming for both of them.
{}{}{}{}
The two were on their way after washing up in the functional bathroom that was one of the reasons Derek chose the place as a lair.
They roared out of Beacon Hills in Derek's Camaro and raced past White Rapids and Red Falls…finally leaving California behind altogether.
They crossed over into Nevada, and came to a hot and mostly deserted town called Tonopah. The local high school field was deserted, and Derek led Isaac into the middle of it after pulling some lacrosse equipment from his trunk.
"What the hell, Derek? You want to train me with lacrosse? What kind of Mr. Miyagi bullshit is this?" Isaac hefted the stick in his hand, and swung it around expertly.
"This isn't training. Let's just play. No Alpha/Beta crap, no wolf-powers, just us."
Isaac was listening carefully to Derek's heart, and finally just shook his head bemusedly.
"All right."
They played for nearly three hours, Isaac gradually gaining more confidence as he realized it wasn't some kind of trick. Derek was good; Jackson would have been surprised at how naturally good he was. Isaac was better. When he scored his first goal, he looked furtively at Derek, wondering if he would be mad. Derek just clapped him on the back. The Alpha finally gave up when the score was 12-2, and they packed the equipment away.
"I'm starving." Isaac announced.
Derek drove around until they found a local diner. It was nicely air conditioned, and the owner Sheryl waved at them as they entered.
"Hale, long time no see. Have a seat, I'll send Frieda over."
Isaac ordered enough food for three people, after glancing at Derek for approval.
They ate in silence, neither of them really sure how to start a conversation. The unpleasant memories were still too close for the boy, and he was afraid of saying something that would ruin whatever Derek was trying to accomplish.
After they paid the bill, a teenage boy named Ned who worked as the fry cook came out and spoke a few words to Derek. Isaac at once detected the boy was a Beta. Ned gave Isaac a long look before heading back into the kitchen.
When they were on the road again, Isaac couldn't restrain himself.
"Who were those people? How did you know them?"
Derek sighed.
"My uncle bit Ned while he was visiting Beacon Hills with his family. I found him before they left and explained what was going on, and what to expect. When I became Alpha, I called him and told him about what Peter did, and asked him to join my Pack. He refused. He wanted as normal a life as he could have, and he seems to be getting his wish. His boss and his girlfriend know what he is and they support him. He's in danger, and always will be…but Tonopah has so far remained off the Argent's radar. If you ever decide you want out of my Pack…I'll find someplace for you where you could be as safe as possible. Ned likes his life, but I think sometimes he hates being the only one around. That's why I visit him now and then. In a way, he is in my Pack, because I look out for him. Just like I want to look out for you. I want you to stay though, and I want you to want it too."
Isaac was silent.
There was a traveling carnival at the north end of Tonopah, and they stopped there for a while and had fun with some of the sideshow games. Derek let Isaac use his wolf power to ring a gong with the oversized hammer at the "Test-Your-Strength" attraction. Derek knocked over weighted bottles easily with a baseball. He gave Isaac a stuffed wolf that the boy stuck into his jacket.
"See, now you have your own Beta." Derek joked. "Now let's see you try it."
Isaac took a few throws to get it right, with Derek patiently giving him instructions the whole while, but soon he knocked over his own pyramid. Afterward, they went on a roller coaster (Isaac had to beg Derek for ten minutes to get him to agree). The Alpha screamed louder than anyone else on the ride. After the spinning teacups, a laughing Isaac had to help his mentor walk while he struggled with nausea. The two ate constantly over the course of the day, and decided to go to a local tavern that specialized in beer and hot-wings.
They devoured three baskets of wings, and Derek drank almost a whole pitcher of beer by himself before getting up and singing an incredibly bad karaoke number (the Village People's 'Macho-Man') on a small stage. The audience booed him good-naturedly.
"If I told anyone what I just saw…they would never believe it." Isaac told him, when he recovered enough to stop laughing.
"You will take this secret to your grave, you…you…BETA…" Derek slurred. "I'm your ALFIE and don't you forget it!" Then he fell off his barstool.
"C'mon, Alfie." Isaac shouldered his mentor and somehow managed to maneuver him into the Camaro's passenger seat after finding the keys in his jacket pocket.
As he slid the key into the ignition, it occurred to him that he was about to drive the most Badass muscle car in the universe, and that Derek would never allow it if he had been sober. And conscious. Isaac looked at the snoring Derek and then at the stuffed wolf cub. He thought he was beginning to understand.
"You're my Beta. And I'm your Alfie." he told it seriously.
He stuffed the cub back inside his jacket.
As the engine roared to life and they sped back to Beacon Hills, Isaac thought that this might easily be the best part of the trip. They pulled into a gas station, Isaac filled the tank quickly, hoping he wouldn't be seen and recognized.
As he replaced the pump, Isaac felt something pierce his jacket; a silvery dart seemed to have appeared magically out of nowhere. He quickly pulled it out before falling to his knees. A figure approached him; an older guy with a ridiculous handlebar mustache and brown trench coat. The gas station's lights suddenly snapped off.
"Well, well, well. What have we here? An escaped wolf? The Argents always did suck. I'm in town five minutes and I find a comatose Alpha and a fugitive Beta. I'm gonna dump your bodies on Argent's doorstep as a little Christmas present. My name's Aureus. And yours…doesn't matter anymore. Goodnight, son. Your Alpha will be following you close behind, don't you worry. Betas get cut in half, but Alphas? Let's just say they always seem to lose their heads around me. I'll do him and be back to finish you off, if the aconite hasn't already done so."
Aureus pulled a sword from a scabbard that hung at his side. A freaking sword. He opened the passenger door of the Camaro, and Derek spilled out of it onto the pavement. Aureus looked disgusted.
"Since when can a werewolf not hold his liquor?"
"Since never, asshole."
In a split second, Derek had his devolved jaws sunk deep into the Hunter's leg. He screamed (knowing that the bite meant two very unpleasant choices in front of him) but managed to keep standing and even raise the sword over his head for a fatal downward strike, frantically hoping the legends about the werewolf cure were true. Before he could bring it down and find out, a set of clawed hands gripped his head and twisted savagely to one side. The Hunter collapsed bonelessly to the ground, the sword clattering harmlessly to the side.
Derek shifted back, as did Isaac a moment later.
Isaac picked up two objects from the ground and showed them to Derek. The stuffed wolf cub, and the silver dart. The wolf cub had a hole in its side, and some of the stuffing was poking out.
"He got Snarls."
"Snarls?" Derek asked.
"I named him after our team mascot. He was helpless. He died to save me, got in the way of a bullet with my name on it."
Derek started to smile at what he thought was a joke, but stopped when he saw the look on Isaac's face.
"Then you know why I'm so hard on you guys." Derek stated simply. "I don't ever want that to happen."
"You would do it for us, wouldn't you?"
"Yes. But I'd rather kill."
"Me too. Make be better, Derek. Even if you have to pound my ass into the ground. Make me better."
"I will." Derek thought to himself that Scott might be in for a surprise the next time he went up against the new Isaac.