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ELEVEN
THREATS BACKFIRE
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"Don't let it bother you," Scott muttered to Isaac as the taller boy walked a little ways in front of him. "It's just lunch time detention. If all they want to do is piss you off, then you can't give in."
That was easy for Scott to say. It was much more difficult for Isaac to even attempt to do as Scott guided, considering all that had gone down last period. One mind numbingly boring Physics class had quickly turned into a brawl when Isaac, who had still been enraged by the twins, asked to go to the bathroom. Scott had warned him to stay away from the twins until they had all the information (or basically just an answer on whether the murders were human sacrifices or not), but Isaac hadn't wanted to hear it.
So he had found himself in the hallway, when all of a sudden Aiden and Ethan made their appearance. He had thought they were looking for a fight, and they were; it just wasn't with him. Aiden had literally kicked the living shit out of his brother, before vanishing around the corner. So when Mr. Harris came to see what all the 'damn ruckus' was about, all he found was Ethan laying in a pool of his own blood and Isaac merely six feet from him.
And thus, Isaac was awarded lunch detention. It was safe to say he was even more pissed than before.
The two boys finally reached Isaac's locker, to which he began angrily opening.
"They're just trying to get to you," Scott reminded softly, as to alert no one else of what they were talking about.
But one person, who was walking down the hall towards them from behind, could hear anything.
Carson was suddenly between the two boys, one hand on each of their shoulders. She looked up at the taller boys brightly, before giving them each a nod. "Who's trying to get to who?"
"The twins are screwing with Isaac," Scott told her, to which she nodded.
"Well, then Scotty's right, Isaac. You can't let them get to you. They're only trying to piss you off. And as of right now, you're doing a fairly crap job of not falling for their trap my friend."
Isaac glared at her momentarily, before nodding at something across the hall. "It's not just me," he muttered before turning to shove books in his locker.
Carson and Scott glanced over to where their friend was originally looking, only to see the last thing that anyone wanted to see. Much like Isaac, Lydia was at her locker getting ready for the following period. And she wasn't alone either. Aiden (at least, Carson was pretty sure it was him; she didn't know the twins specifically by name nor did she care to learn) was leant up against the locker beside her, a smug grin on his face.
Lydia was occasionally looking over at him with an unimpressed face and it wasn't long till both of the werewolves watching them began taking full advantage of their enhanced senses. Carson blinked a few times as she tried to tune into their conversation. She picked up on an egotistical voice and could only assume it was Aiden.
"So what are you doing tonight?" he asked with a grin.
A locker slammed shut and Lydia slipped the lock through the hole before pushing up on the bottom. "Studying," she told him in a definitive tone.
"I could help you," Aiden offered.
Lydia raised an eyebrow at him, before crossing her arms and leaning her back against her locker. Looking at the alpha with a sense of fake shock, she asked, "Do you have an IQ higher than one-seventy?"
Aiden's eyes widened at the large number and faltered, before smiling brightly. "Okay . . . you could help me." Lydia scoffed but smirked at him. "So, tonight then?"
Lydia chuckled at him in her usual manner before patting him on the chest. She then walked off, leaving Aiden to watch her backside before she rounded the corner. The alpha had figured out very quickly that there were three sets of eyes watching him and he met them with a smirk, as if to ask if they enjoyed the show. He gave one last dangerous stare to the three betas before heading down the hall, opposite of the way the strawberry blonde had just exited.
Beside Carson, Scott was frowning heavily. He could feel Isaac's gaze on the back of his head and he let out a frustrated, "What?"
The snap in his tone didn't faze Isaac a bit and he gave the shorter boy a smug smirk, not too different from the one Aiden had been giving moments ago. "Now they're getting to you."
He let out a laugh of disbelief before heading off and it was only moments before Scott followed after. They had the same fifth period class, it only made sense that they walked together. Neither bothered to say anything to Carson, as she continued to stand in front of Isaac's locker, eyes locked on Aiden's backside as he was at least halfway down the hall from her. Isaac and Scott had thought nothing of leaving her behind, thinking she would end up heading to her own locker, which wasn't that far from where she stood now. Neither one figured what had just gone down had bothered her.
No one had expected her to be the one to get mad.
But mad she was. It was one thing, Aiden and Ethan picking fights with them. Scott, Carson, and Isaac were werewolves. If the bodily harm done wasn't too severe, they'd survive. But Lydia? She was entirely different ballpark. It hadn't taken long for Carson to catch onto Aiden's very obvious plan; he was planning on using the strawberry blonde to get to them. And Carson wasn't too keen on her best friend being used as a pawn in this game of strategic warfare.
Her fists were balled and her jaw was clenched tightly as she continued to stare at the violent alpha, who was taking a turn towards a stairwell. Carson knew she shouldn't have made her next move the way she did, but right now she didn't care.
She was pissed.
She headed down the hallway angrily, nearly shoving Greenberg out of the way when he got in her path. She was walking far too fast for anyone wearing a pair of four inch heels, but she didn't care, each stomp more furious than the last. When she reached the staircase, she almost smacked right into Aiden's chest.
He hadn't even gone down the stairs. He was waiting for her.
"I was wondering when you'd show up," the light haired boy smirked, balancing perfectly on the ninth step from the bottom.
Carson glared wildly at him, eye level considering she was two steps higher. "What the actual hell are you trying to pull here?"
"Excuse me?" Aiden asked, feigning innocence. His head cocked to the side and Carson was very close to knocking the smug smirk right off his face.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she snarled. Her eyes were narrowed, and they flickered gold once, twice, before fading back to brown.
"You might want to put those glow sticks away, kitten," Aiden chuckled humorlessly. He gestured around him to the nearly empty hallway. No one seemed to have noticed their confrontation yet. "Someone might see."
"Stay the fuck away from Lydia."
Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Is that a threat, then?"
"No, it's her best friend trying to make sure she doesn't fall for the lies of a murderer," Carson snapped. "This is a threat."
She brought up one hand and by the time it came swooping down, five claws were mere inches away from colliding with Aiden's torso. But he was quick and one of his arms shot out, hand catching hers. He gripped tightly, before taking her arm and spinning her on the step so that her backside was pressed against his front, her arm caught between them at an awkward angle. He grabbed onto her other free hand, who's claws were struggling to sink into his thigh, hoping he'd let go. He held that arm up in the air, slightly bent back.
Aiden sneered as his lips neared her head. "Really? Do you really think you can fight an alpha, Carson? You just got bit days ago."
She narrowed her eyes as she struggled against his grip, plotting her next moves in her head. There was only so much space to move without her tumbling down the steps and causing a giant commotion. She bit her lip as her arms were practically locked in Aiden's iron clad grip.
"I can take you," she snarled, before bringing up one of her legs and jamming it backwards.
Aiden stumbled and Carson took the opportunity to force herself forward, effectively yanking her arms out of his hands. She heard a growl from behind her and she spun quickly on the heels of her shoes and shoved him back against the wall of the stairwell, arm against his throat.
His eyes gleamed red but she ignored that, rasping out, "You stay the hell away from Lydia or I swear to God, I'll — "
"You'll what?" Aiden asked, eyes still blaring with rage, even though the color was beginning to dim down slightly. He seemed to be looking at something behind her but she wasn't paying attention, laying down her next threat.
"I'll be your worst nightmare."
Aiden grinned and in a deathly low voice, one so soft that even she had to strain to hear, he said, "Work on your hearing, beta."
She heard a series of three short, sarcastic claps behind her and Aiden smirked wildly. Her grip on his throat loosened and she turned around, only to face the amused expression of one Adrian Harris. His glasses were perched on the end of his pointy nose and Carson nearly groaned at the sight of him. She figured that in those last moments, Aiden must have realized that Harris was coming which was why he didn't put up a fight as her pint-sized body rammed him against a wall.
She sighed heavily. "How perfect," she muttered to herself, to which Aiden laughed at.
"As lovely as it is that you've realized how much of a, how you put it, nightmare you are, Miss Bradley," Harris started with a tone as equally amused as his expression. But it wasn't really a happy amusement, more like he was taunting her. "I do believe that you've violated Beacon Hills High code of conduct."
"Well, according to you everything I've done since the day I've walked through the door to your class is violating the conduct," she retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "Personally, I think you need to lay back a bit and maybe loosen the collar on your shirt. I'm afraid it's stopping the oxygen flow to your head. But then again, it's already inflated enough."
"Ah, there it is. One of the only sounds that has ever made me — "
"Have the desire to hit a student, repeatedly and violently," Carson mimicked in what she thought was her best impression of the devil that was Harris. "We've all gotten the spiel before. Just tell me what the punishment to the crime is?"
Harris narrowed his eyes at her. "I think you'll have a very fun time at lunchtime detention."
She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Sounds delightful," she said sarcastically through her teeth.
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It was only forty-five minutes later when Carson trailed through the doorway to Mr. Harris's classroom. Almost immediately, her eyes landed on Isaac who was sitting at one of the tables closest to the front. She bit her lip, as she made her ways towards him. They hadn't really talked much since the cross country practice turned murder scene, but all she could remember was the feeling in the pit of her stomach.
It was something she had only felt millions of time before and she wasn't sure if she was okay with feeling it right now, considering everything that was happening in her on life and the world around them. She knew that she was comfortable around Isaac; it had been that way since he helped her fall asleep on one of her first nights being a werewolf. She remembered falling asleep to the gentle lull of his heartbeat, wrapped tightly in his arms.
She would be lying if she said she didn't feel safe there.
But she was trying to ignore those thoughts and the rate her heartbeat had raised to when he told her she was nice to look at. These were just things that she couldn't focus on as of right now. It just wouldn't work if she did. They were all at war physically and casualties would arise. So she was trying to minimize the numbers that would come from her own emotional battles.
As she got closer to Isaac, his head snapped up and his originally annoyed and near expressionless face broke out into a rather large grin and his eyes seemed to light up just a little bit. "You got detention, too? What a scandal. A pretty, popular girl in detention with the rest of us degenerates."
Carson let out a snort and shook her head. "This place is practically my second home. Ever since I met the evil that lives and breeds inside Adrian Harris and his terribly awful head of greasy hair, I've been getting detention. And you my friend, are sitting in my detention seat."
Isaac chuckled. "Oh, really? I don't see your name on it."
Carson walked forward a little bit, pulling Isaac's shoulder towards her. Carved into the material of the seat were the initials CMB. There was the basis of an explosion pattern around it, like the ones that usually contain the word pow in comic books. The brunette had carved it there back in freshman year, when her and Stiles had landed their fourth consecutive detention. At that point, they realized they were going to be frequenting the place very often, especially if Harris continued to thrive in his reign of terror.
"Damn," Isaac chuckled, before rising off the seat and transferring to the one beside him.
Carson nodded with a proud look on her face, before dropping her bag on the floor and taking a seat.
"So why are you even here?"
She clacked her tongue against the backside of her top teeth before sighing. "If you must know, I may or may not have been threatening Aiden to stay the hell away from Lydia."
"So they're getting to you too?"
"They're trying to use one of my best friends as a game piece to win a war that we're already losing," Carson told him, placing her elbows down on the table before she leant her head against her hands. "I just — "
"Miss Bradley. If you're done with your little gab fest, I have much better things to do than wait around to give out detention tasks," Harris called out as he sauntered into the room. He barely gave time for her to glare in response before nodding at two kids in front of him. "The two of you will wash all the boards in this hall. Re-shelving the library."
Harris was pointing at every two students, assigning tasks and Carson let out a small sigh of relief as the library assignment was given to someone else. The last time she had been handed with re-shelving duty, Jackson morphed into the kanima and tried to kill all of them.
Real fond memories she had of him.
Harris came to stand in front of Carson and Isaac now and he smiled deviously at them. "Restocking the janitor's closet."
"You've got to be kidding me," Carson muttered. "Isn't there anything else?"
"Now that I know that you don't want to do it, yes it has to be that."
"Great."
Harris was going to die someday and Carson was all for taking one for the team and doing it herself.
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"I hate this," Carson groaned as she readjusted her grip on the three packages of paper towels she had in her hands. Behind her, Isaac was pushing a dolly that held three boxes of cleaning supplies.
The two made their way to the end of the hall before they made it to the janitor's closet they were ordered to restock. Carson sighed and pulled the door open, letting Isaac go through first with all the boxes. Once he was inside, she propped the door against the wall it swung out to meet and followed him in.
The closet wasn't that small, about the size of a one person bathroom one would find in a restaurant. It had boxes lining the walls, all similar to the ones Isaac had just brought in. There was a large metal rack that was backed against the wall opposite the doorway, stocked with things like toilet paper and lemon pledge.
"Well, this sucks," the girl muttered, moving forward to place the paper towels on the rack.
"Yeah," Isaac agreed, somewhat shakily.
Carson's eyes darted over to him, where he was trying to not to gag at the scent of the bottle of bleach he produced from the box. But there was something else about the way in which he existed in that moment, something in his eyes. A sense of uneasiness about them, not the same happy crystal blue irises she had seen moments ago. If she knew better, she would even say he looked scared.
"Are you okay?" she asked, cocking her head slightly.
He nodded warily and she could see his Adam's apple bob as he twitched slightly. "Yeah, just not big fan of small places."
Carson's eyes widened as it seemed to make sense. She suddenly seemed to remember Isaac's asshole of a father, who had basically kicked the shit out of him since he was just a kid. And she definitely remembered Scott telling her all about Mr. Lahey's basement of horror, including the freezer he used to lock Isaac in with absolutely no way out. She remembered hearing that Isaac used to be locked in the freezer for long periods of time, just if he did one thing wrong. That was exactly why Isaac had wanted to receive the bite from Derek, so he could feel powerful against his father; so that he could fight back.
Surely though Mr. Lahey was rotting in hell, considering Matt Daehler had controlled the kanima into murdering the old man in cold blood just a few months ago. At least, Carson hoped he was rotting in hell. Or wherever he was.
"You don't have to be in here if you don't want to," she told him with a nod. Glancing out at the hallway, she added, "You can wait out there. I shouldn't be long."
"You're not doing this by yourself, Bradley," the taller boy stated. "I can manage a few minutes. As long as I know I can get out, I should be fine."
Carson nodded, not really believing him but choosing not to stress the matter anymore. It wouldn't do them any good. So she turned back to one of the boxes and began grabbing more supplies to put away. Beside her, Isaac turned to open one of the boxes and his arm ended up hitting her shoulder. It wasn't painful but she jumped and a hand was on her shoulder within seconds.
"You good?" Isaac asked, looking down at her in concern.
"Werewolf, remember?" she laughed slightly, moving away from him. "Can't hurt me with one bump."
He nodded, pulling a bottle of glass cleaner out of the box. "So, have you finally accepted your new life then?"
"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it accepting," she sighed, placing the last of the paper towel rolls down. "But I figure I should learn to live with it."
"It's not that bad," Isaac shrugged, grabbing out another bottle of cleaner.
"Yeah, that's what you say," she scoffed. "You wanted this but I didn't. You got a choice, Isaac, and you made yours wisely considering all the situations that you were in last year. I didn't get a choice and I didn't get to weigh the options of me being . . . this. I'd been asked before, if I wanted this life. And I gave the same answer both times. I wanted nothing to do with being a werewolf. They took my choice away."
She sighed and turned to one of the boxes to grab something else to put away, but Isaac grabbed her wrists and made her look up at him. "Look, Carson, we're going to make them pay for all they've done. For killing the girl, that guy earlier, for Erica. For you. They're not going to get away with anything."
Carson nodded as she looked up at him, their eyes locking. She was biting her lip and those feelings she had in her stomach only a few hours ago were starting to circle back, practically knocking the wind out of her with their reappearance. She let out a shaky breath as he stared down at her, a jumble of emotions clouding beneath his eyes.
One of the bottles of Windex that was perched far too close to the edge of the shelf suddenly teetered at the end before falling forward. Carson let out a tiny squeal and moved before it could hit her in the face, her body pressing closer to Isaac's. He chuckled and she could feel the vibrations as she was against his chest and she rolled her eyes at him.
"You're a dick, Lahey."
"And you're beautiful," he countered softly, words falling from his lips with ease.
A gasp got caught in her throat as she tried to think of some witty remark to combat his last statement. But nothing came to mind and her entire thought process felt like it went off the rails. She blinked twice and every time her eyes reopened, it seemed like Isaac's face was only getting closer to hers.
You know, until the door to the closet slammed shut behind them.
Isaac and Carson sprung apart like the other was on fire, heads practically snapping as their necks did one-eighties to see the only exit from the closet. The door was definitely shut and it stared back at them in a taunting way.
A small groan left Carson's lips at the sight and again as the light above flicked off, but it was Isaac who reacted more quickly. Within seconds, he was out of her reach, pressed up against the door and wriggling the handle. It moved in a way that felt like it was going to open but he couldn't get the rest of the door to comply. It barely pushed out a centimeter before he heard it thumping against something.
Something he couldn't move with the door.
Carson was watching as Isaac grew more panicked and she opened her mouth a few times before saying, "Uh, maybe it locked from the outside?"
"No, there's something against it," Isaac moaned, restlessly shoving his entire body weight up against the door. He had to get out. He had to get out now.
"Oh God," Carson muttered, knowing exactly where this was headed. "Okay, it'll be okay, its okay. Someone will remember we're in here, Isaac. They'll have to. Scott knows you're in detention, he'll come looking for you eventually."
Isaac shook his head, shrugging his cardigan off leaving him in a white t shirt that seemed to strain against his muscles underneath. A small, tiny part of Carson's brain felt her eyes drawn to that area, knowing exactly what it looked like without the shirt. But she shook her head, knowing that was exactly the last thing she should be thinking in this moment right now.
"Okay, uh, all right. Just relax," she spoke again, watching the way his shoulders shook rapidly. He was freaking out.
"No."
That was all she got from him before he leaned his hands against the door, before smacking it five times in a row angrily. His other hand gripped the door frame and Carson watched as the familiar sight of claws started poking their way out ever so slowly.
"Isaac, come on," she said to him, reaching forward to place a hand on one of his shoulders. "Just relax."
"Come on," Isaac breathed through his teeth before he started bashing the door with his fists.
"Isaac. Isaac!" Carson cried. "Okay, Isaac. Isaac, just relax."
She was trying to keep calm throughout all of this, seeing as there should only be one panicked person in a small confined area at a time. But that didn't stop her from bouncing on the balls of her feet, trying to wane the sense of fear that was hitting her like a brick.
"Come on!" Isaac screamed, hitting the door again.
And then his spine went rigid as he went perfectly still, breathing heavy against the door.
"Isaac?" Carson asked tentatively.
It was then that the boy turned around, one werewolf baring fangs and yellow eyes at the other. Carson gulped as he sprung towards her, grabbing at her wrists.
"Don't! Isaac, stop this isn't you!" Carson screamed as she struggled against him. His claws tore at the skin on her arm but she ignored it, trying to push down her wolf as she tried to knee him in the gut.
He howled at her, teeth gleaming in the absence of light in the small closet. They snapped together a few times and he had her backed up against the rack, shaking her like a rag doll.
"Isaac!"
And at that moment, the door was ripped open and suddenly, Isaac wasn't towering over her but was on his ass in the hallway. Carson watched as Scott nodded to her before heading back over to him. He knelt down over him, trying to restrain the snarling werewolf. Isaac growled viciously at him as he struggled.
Scott narrowed his eyes, which were now lit with their own gold color as he stared down at his fellow beta. "ISAAC!"
And much like the wolves acted when an Alpha cried out, Isaac's body fell slack and his fangs retracted along with his teeth and the unearthly color in his eyes went out.
Scott nodded to himself, before standing up to see Carson making her way out of the closet, holding her wounded arm to her chest.
"Carson," Scott breathed, going over to her and forcing her to bend her arm down so he could see the extent of the damage.
There was blood dripping from three long scratches on her arms but Carson could no longer feel the pain on the limb. "I'm okay. I'm fine," she told the two boys, glancing down to see that the wounds were slowly stitching themselves back together and that the blood was almost being sucked back inside. Only seconds later were they looking at the smooth skin of her arm.
"I'm sorry, I didn't I didn't mean to do that," Isaac choked out, using his hands to push himself up. He gulped as he watched the girl, knowing that whatever kind of moment they had almost had practically had an axe shoved through it at that.
But Carson shook her head, knowing Isaac was telling the truth. "I'm okay."
"I'm so sorry."
Scott opened his mouth to counter something but Carson gave him one shake of the head. "It's not his fault."
He sighed, before responding, "I know. I guess now we know they want to do more than get you angry. They want to get someone hurt."
"So are we gonna do something?" Isaac asked, looking up at the tanned boy.
But it was Carson who answered. "Oh, we're going to get them angry. Really angry."
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author's note: So my last day of 2014 was spent writing Carson and small Brahey scenes, and I'm pretty sure it was a damn good way to spend the end of this year. This chapter took me a lot less time to write than they normally do and I'm pretty sure its due to third person which I seem to click with a lot more.
And to those of you who are iffy about Brahey, I'm sorry, but you might be seeing more and more of them as the season progresses. And to those of you loving it, jump aboard the Brahey train (Tara's driving it tho so if we crash, I take no responsibility)
Love you all and happy new years!