A/N.
Hallo again.
I can't say that much about this chapter or lack of updates other than my search for a beta are fruitless and writing too many stories at once.
Anyway, thank you so much to GFM, Izi Wilson and Guest for their lovely reviews.
Chapter seventeen.
Promise me.
"I know it is a bad thing to break a promise, but
I think now that it is a worse thing to let a promise
break you."
―Jennifer Donnelly,A Northern Light
"Then it wasn't about if I wanted to keep my
promise or not anymore… it was about if I could."
―Emiliano Campuzano,Cielo Por Tu Luz
Isaac POV.
He tried to take a deep breath before he got out of the car, Derek sitting beside him, his knuckles strained white around the steering wheel.
"Can't I just stay home?" he asked with a cold tone.
His Alpha shook his head and Isaac could smell the grief that was still poring off the older wolf.
"No. See what the Argent's are doing, don't get too close. And. Don't, Kill. Anyone!"
He sighed before he nodded and got out of the car.
He hadn't been to school on so long time, that if it hadn't been for Derek making sure to bring him his homework, then he would have failed.
He knew something was different from the moment that he stepped into the hallway. At two lockers that stood right beside each other were flowers and pictures. It took him too long to realize that the flowers and other thing was for Lydia and Jackson. He shook his head as he walked past them.
When he lifted his head and looked up to see his locker right beside Scott's, he shed a tear before it was wiped away, he couldn't show his tears in public, not when Allison was looking at him from a small distance.
He flashed his eyes and snarled at her, pleased when he saw her step back and shake her head.
He got his books as fast as he could so he could but some distance from Scott's locker, and walked to class in a numbness that managed to scare him a little.
He went through the day in a haze, he dropped lacrosse, it just wasn't the same without Scott.
He did what Derek had asked of him, and stayed as far away from Allison as he could, even when they had had the same class, had he sat in the other end of the classroom.
Things only went wrong when the last bell rang and all classed ended. He stood by the entrance to the school when his ears picked up the fine sound of a gun being loaded, he didn't even have to look up to know that not less than fifty feet away from him, hidden behind the cover of his car, was Chris Argent holding a gun.
He sighed and shook his head; the hunter couldn't do anything to harm him, not this public anyway.
He raised his eyebrows when he heard Allison walk near him, her only cover was her dear father and the fact that they were public and he was therefore unable to defend himself by shifting, not that he needed to shift for that.
"What happened to Scott McCall?" she asked, her eyes darting to where her father stood when he snarled low in his throat.
He finally looked up at her, his face clean of any emotion as he answered, "You know what happened to him Argent, if not then ask your dear father."
A short bust of anger washed over her face before she was interrupted by a set of squealing tires and he heard his Alpha's voice, it was like music to his ears.
"Get in!" he snarled and was off again before Isaac could even fasten his seatbelt.
The older wolf's anger was all over the car, making him cringe and try to make himself smaller and a small whine passed his lips, but Allison's question still rang clear in his mind.
"What happened to Scott McCall?"
He dared to throw a glance at Derek; the Alpha was looking straight ahead, his scent sour and bitter.
Derek POV.
He kept starring at the road as they drove back to the house. He glanced shortly at Isaac, the beta was pressing himself back into the seat, his scent scared and slightly hurt, it made him cringe and curse at himself as he slowed down and parked at the side of the road, Isaac shooting him a surprised glance.
He sighed and leaned tensely back in his seat, still not looking at his beta.
'His only beta,' he thought.
"What did they want?" he asked, swallowing when Isaac took a sharp breath and he immediately knew that he didn't want to know the answer to his question.
"They act like they don't know what happened to him," he replied, his scent turned into pain and grief.
Derek snorted and shook his head again. Of cause they would deny it, even if the proof of their actions were right in front of them.
He felt Isaac's eyes at him and dared to turn his head to look back, wishing that he hadn't. Pain was evident in the younger wolf's eyes and Derek could see that his hands were clenched into fists.
"What happened to Scott?" he heard a small voice ask, small because he was afraid of the answer, because he was mourning the loss of his mate, but also because he was afraid that the Alpha might get angry and attack him.
He breathed deeply through his mouth and moved his eyes away from his beta, desperately trying to not let his emotions bleed into his scent and scaring Isaac even more and at the same time trying not to panic as the memories of what happened and what happened after, washed over him.
"They blew the lair up. He couldn't heal from the burns," he answered.
Isaac nodded and Derek could hear him sigh before he started the car again and drove on.
Isaac POV.
He slammed the door to his room shut, cutting off all sound from the main area off, and went to sit on his bed.
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, stopping shortly to pull at it with a frustrated half pained groan when he remembered how much Scott had loved touching it, of how it calmed the older wolf when he had woken up screaming at night, trashing, like he was trying to get away from something.
He took his new phone out and looked at the scream, a picture of him and Scott was on it, both of them was smiling, why he couldn't remember but now it just made a tear slip down his cheek.
He couldn't do it; he couldn't go on without Scott like this. He knew that he had promised him once, that if one of them were to die, then the other would go on with their life, but he couldn't keep that promise, and it broke him.
He carded his fingers through Scott's hair, smiling a little when the older wolf made a purring sound and Scott glared at him when he shook with barely contained laughter.
"What?" he asked with a joking tone but it dropped when Scott's smile fell and the wolf's scent turned sad and he turned his head away from Isaac.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked and carefully took Scott's head in his hands and made the older wolf look him in the eyes, growling softly when he tried to look away again.
Scott whimpered and Isaac could see tears well up in his eyes and he ducked his head when he spoke.
"Promise me," he swallowed and took a deep breath, "Promise me that if one of us dies and the other does not follow, promise me then that the one that is left remaining will try to live on, no matter how painful it will be…"
Scott's breath hitched and Isaac held him close as the older teen cried again, his reply nearly missed in the storm that had finally arrived.
"I promise."
He let out a shaky breath and looked around him.
He was hurting, he wanted it gone.
He was lost, he wanted direction.
He was tired, he wanted sleep.
He… he looked at the powdered wolfs bane in his hands and closed his eyes tight against the tears that was falling and he turned his face towards the sky, whispering a broken promise.
"I promise to live on, my love."
He looked down at his hand again.
"I promise no more."
He choked back a sob and a sorry because he knew that this time there would be no forgiving for what he was about to do. He thought about Derek, what would this do to him? He didn't know but it made him open his mouth and call out desperately for his Alpha.
"Derek?"
Derek POV.
He froze when he heard Isaac call out to him from his room, the beta's voice hoarse and when he searched the bond they had, he nearly fell to his knees and hurried to his beta and the sight that met him would give him nightmares for the rest of his life.
In his bed sat Isaac, tears streaming down his face and in his right hand was something that made Derek snort and recoil when he realized that it was wolfs bane.
He didn't give himself time to process what he really saw but walked forward and made Isaac let go of the poison in his hand, hissing slightly at the pain it caused both of them, and he took Isaac in his arms and held him there as both of them mourned their brother and mate.
Neither of them noticed Peter leaning up against the door opening, a frown on his handsome face as he thought about his options. He knew that with the right person and spell, that he could bring Scott back but he remembered a saying that, dead people should stay dead.
His breath hitched and he slowly walked over to the pair on the bed and joined them.
Chris Argent POV.
He sat on his couch, Victoria beside him with her hand on his knee, offering some much needed comfort.
"Did he say anything?" she asked.
"No, he said nothing, they know what we did but.. but." He broke off with a head shake.
He had killed many werewolves before and it had never gotten this reaction out of him, never. But then again, he had never killed a child before.
True, Scott had been born a werewolf but he had never taken a life before, the same thing could be said for Isaac, the last beta had never taken a life before either and Derek, well, he really didn't want to think about what the older Hale wanted to do to them for killing his brother.
"We got to help them," he whispered out, "Because I can't live with his life on my mind till the day I die."
Victoria nodded like she had expected him to say it all along, and maybe, maybe she had.
A/N.
I hope it wasn't too bad.
PLS review and tell me what you think.