broken betas// isaac lahey teen wolf

six

an ugly creak drew jackson's attention, watching in silent fury as stiles clambered into the back of the stolen police truck.

"okay, i brought you some-"

"let me out, now!" jackson lunged, forcing the lanky boy to stumble back into the far corner.

"y'know, i put those pants on you, alright, buddy? one leg at a time!" stiles remarked. "being all up-close and personal with your junk wasn't exactly a highlight of my day, so don't think this is fun for me either. you know we're actually doing you a favor?"

"this is doing me a favor?"

"yes! you're killing people... to death!"  he exclaimed. "and until we can figure out how to stop you, you're gonna stay in here. i'm sorry."

stiles reached into his backpack, pulling out two packages. "do you want the ham and cheese or the turkey club?"

a scowl etched itself onto jackson's face. "do you actually think my parents won't be looking for me?"

"not if they don't think anything's wrong," he said, showing jackson his phone with a text to his parents. "yeah, now if you'll excuse me, i have to make a phone call." stiles clambered out of the van, dialing a number into his phone.

"hannah, we have a big problem."

"what's wrong?"

stiles' eyes widened at his phone at the deep voice. "derek? why do you have hannah's phone?"

"she's at my place right now; she stayed the night."

the boy groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. "okay, well can you give her the phone i have something important to tell her."

"uh, she's a little," derek glanced at isaac who was sitting on the floor beside hannah's sleeping figure, tracing his fingers along the edges of her bandaged wounds. "incapacitated at the moment."

"what?" stiles hissed. "derek, i swear to god, what did you do?"

"nothing!" he growled angrily. "i'd never hurt one of my own."

"then what happened?"

derek sighed. "hannah will explain it once she's awake. for now, just focus on the jackson issue."

"okay," he nodded, "take care of her, alright?"

"of course."

...

a pained groan echoed through the abandoned loft, causing the two male werewolves to shoot up in surprise.

"hannah?" derek spoke softly. "how are you feeling? do you need anything?"

"like shit," she mumbled. "i just need water and maybe an edible."

derek gave her a 'really' look before getting up to get the girl a glass.

the tense atmosphere did not go unnoticed by either of the teens as the deafening silence took them by the neck, daring one to speak.

"why didn't you tell me?"

hannah raised a brow, turning to face the boy beside her. "and say what, isaac?" she sassed. "oh yeah, my dad beats the crap out of me, but there's no marks on me because i'm a werewolf with supernatural healing!"

isaac winced at the girl's words, knowing deep down that she was right, even if he didn't want to believe it. "i'm sorry."

"it's whatever," she brushed him off. "we all have shit going on."

"that doesn't excuse the way i treated you."

"never said it did," she said calmly. "i'm just saying i get why you did it. was it right? fuck no. but everyone deals with shit differently."

the boy nodded his head at her words, grateful that she didn't completely resent him after the things he had done. "do you wanna, um, talk about it?"

she turned her head, rich brown eyes meeting soulful electric blue. "do you?"

he was quiet for a moment, almost losing himself in the story her irises reflected. "what are the burn marks on your neck from?"

"he shoved my face into a birthday cake."

isaac flinched, the image of an unknown man shoving the normally cheerful brunette's face harshly into the celebratory treat. "who-who's birthday was it?"

"my mom's," hannah croaked. "she, um, she died in the hale fire seven years ago. we were part of their pack," her voice filled with emotion as her mom's grinning face flashed behind her eyes. it was the first time she'd really spoken about it with someone aside from derek, but, for some reason, it felt good to talk about. "it was my fault," a single tear fell from her eye, dribbling down to her chin. "i had decided to stay home from school that day. it was one of our monthly big pack meetings; i'd missed the last one, so i begged my mom to let me stay to help prepare everything." a shudder interrupted her thoughts, isaac reaching forward to squeeze her hand in assurance. "everyone was gathered in the basement. i was running around the room showing everyone my fangs since my set of adult teeth had finally come in and i'd recently learned how to control it. we were so unprepared," she murmured. "the fire started out of nowhere, but somehow it was suddenly everywhere. everyone was screaming, trying to escape." tears were now rolling freely down her face as she felt herself being transported back to that day. "my mother was pretty tiny; she had managed to break a small piece of the door out and get inside, pulling me out. she told me to run home and not look back. she said she would see me later and to tell dad what happened. i-i begged her to stay with me. i had third degree burns on my arms and back and i-i-i just wanted my mom."

sorrow washed over the boy as he listed to the girl he'd so deeply misunderstood break down to him.

"but instead she just shook her head and held up her pinky to me. she said she would come back, but only if i ran straight home. i understood because she was her. she always had to save everyone else because that's who she was. she was the person who would never leave another behind, no matter how hopeless the situation was," she sobbed. "and so i ran. i ran home and i didn't turn back once because i promised her not to. and i think i knew deep down that she wasn't coming back." a shaky breath left her mouth as she urged herself to continue. "my dad was at work when it happened, and he didn't find out until he came home to see me sobbing in the corner of the living room with my stuffed wolf, ash and burns covering my clothes and body. he hasn't been able to look at me the same since that day."

"you had to know it wasn't your fault, right?" isaac said gently, doing his best to comfort the girl. "you were a kid. there was nothing you could do."

"i-i," she stuttered. "i don't know. like, i understand that in the moment there was nothing i could do, but it just hurts because maybe if i hadn't been there then-"

"you couldn't have known that was going to happen," he cut her off. "no one did. it's the hunters fault."

hannah nodded her head, only half agreeing with his words. "i just wish my dad didn't hate me so much."

isaac wrapped his arms around the crying girl, doing his best to avoid any of the injured areas. "i know," he whispered. "i know."