Chapter 07

Once Isaac was certain that nobody was going to kill anyone, he decided to retreat to his truck to make them all lunch. He needed to get his mind back in order and cooking helped him a lot. He wasn’t going to do anything fancy, mostly raid his leftovers and perhaps add some more sandwiches, but he simply needed to get out of there to take a breath.

Peter, Derek and Bella were talking about their lives and Isaac was surprised by how accepting the two Hales were over their new family member. How it made sense to them that Talia had had a trick up on her sleeve. Isaac could tell that Derek was on the fence, Peter was more outgoing and he was definitely up to something, but Bella wasn’t in any danger, and it was safe to leave her alone with them for 30 minutes or so while he scraped himself together.

Because in a way, Bella had been right. The past was the past, he shouldn’t allow it to hurt him still. But it did, it was one of the reasons why he preferred to be on his own, so he wouldn’t get hurt again. Or used. There were good memories in Beacon Hills too. Like how his father used to take him and his brother to the forest to play catch or run for miles on end. Or that one time where they all went to the ice rink when Isaac was still very young and he was being sled around by his mother.

It was hard to think of the good stuff when so many bad things had happened too. Like being electrocuted because Stiles had been taken over by a Nogitsune. Like being stabbed. A lot. Or electrocuted by Argent because Argent didn’t want him and Allison to get hurt. Or when the twins got to him and stole his memories, beat him up. When his dad locked him in the freezer. Or threw shit at him.

He was thrown out of his dreams when his truck moved and Scott stood inside the truck at the door. “The fuck, Scott? Ever heard of knocking?”

“You don’t write, you don’t call… and you look like shit.”

“You ignored my messages and my emails, I’ve sent you plenty over the years I was in France,” Isaac retorted, feeling his anger bubble up again. “You abandoned me. Just like everyone else. Like Derek and Argent. You abandoned me.”

“I was busy!” Scott defended himself and his actions. “Come on, Isaac, it’s been years. We can really use you here with all that’s going on right now.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard about the wars, Gerard is an idiot,” Isaac replied bitterly. “Most of the French hunters are behind him last time I’ve heard. They’re gaining more hunters every single day.”

“That’s why we need you, we’re swamped here and thinly stretched.”

He let out a dark chuckle. “No, thanks.”

“Isaac, come on,” Scott smiled at him, placing his hand on his arm. “It’ll be like old times.”

Isaac let out a low growl then, before grabbing Scott by the side of his head and knocked him into the counter before throwing him out of the truck. His rage now taking over, he leapt after his former Alpha and started to hit him, each punch landing where Isaac wanted them to hit, moving when Scott did. Isaac had always been faster than him, and he still was, now backed with some hunter training. He should have gotten the electricity stick from underneath the sink, that would have been great to use on Scott.

He saw Scott’s eyes flash red and heard something in the background, but Isaac kept hitting him until he was pulled off of him by Derek and smacked into the truck, denting it as Derek kept him there, but Isaac was struggling to get out of his hold. He wasn’t done yet. “Well, one thing’s for certain, he’s definitely not one of your pack anymore,” Derek quipped as he looked at Scott. “In fact, I think he really doesn’t like you anymore.”

“Let go of me!” Isaac growled.

“Calm down,” Derek said kindly as he looked over to Scott before looking back at Isaac. “You’ve had your fun, now calm down.”

“Let me go,” he said with a slight yelp as Derek smacked him against the truck again.

Bella looked at what was unfolding in front of her. Seeing Isaac going nuts on Scott had been… perversely enjoyable. Derek wasn’t doing a good job at calming Isaac down; you simply couldn’t solve violence with violence. She hesitated for only a moment before she stood in front of Isaac and placed her hands on his chest. “Hey, look at me,” she said kindly as she looked at his wolfed-out face. “Isaac, look at me,” she said again, gently pushing against his chest before he finally looked at her. “Take a deep breath and calm down.” Oh, she knew that he could easily tear her to shreds, but she trusted him not to do that. “That’s it,” she smiled at him, reaching out to his cheek and cupped it. “Calm down.”

When Isaac was calmed down enough, Derek stepped away, and Bella turned around to confront Scott, who was still on the floor, his face bleeding and covered in cuts and bruises. She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to his feet before she pulled back her fist and launched it into his face, sending him flying for a couple of meters. “Oh, that was so cool,” Bella said breathlessly as she looked at her knuckles, flexed her fingers and was surprised that it didn’t even hurt that bad.

“And that shouldn’t have been remotely possible already,” Peter said, his voice clearly showing signs of concern. “You’ve only stopped taking the poison for one day?”

“Well, I might have forgotten to take it a couple of days because my future in-laws were stressing me out… and of course there was the whole wedding planning… so I’ve been off of it for a couple of days already with two nights ago the first dose again,” Bella said as a matter of factly as she walked back over to Isaac and started to check him over to see if Scott had hurt him.

“Wedding?” Derek and Peter chorused incredulously. “Wait, what? To the Cold One?” Peter added after remembering what she had told them while Isaac was in his truck. “Don’t tell me you fell for their charms.”

“Do I need to remind you that the pills made me mostly human?” Bella retorted angrily. “I am well aware that if it hadn’t been for Isaac and his friend Peter I would have been dead the second Edward would have tried to turn me.”

“He’s not my friend,” Isaac murmured.

“In any case, Isaac and I are leaving. We’ll be back tomorrow,” she said as she got inside the truck, put the plate of sandwiches that Isaac had been preparing out on the ground before getting in the passenger seat. Isaac closed the doors and sat down next to her and quietly drove off. It was the middle of the day, but Bella needed some time to clear her head, trying to remember all that she had learned and experienced in the past 24 hours and decompress. “Is there like a luxury hotel in this town? You know, with a jacuzzi or something?”

“There’s a small resort at the lake. I’ve never been there, but it’s supposed to be really fancy.”

“Good, we’re going there,” she said resolutely. “Your Peter will pick up the bill, right?”

Considering Isaac had been living out of his truck, showered at gas stations or gyms, Peter would be happy to pick up the bill seeing as he’d been nagging Isaac from the start. ‘I shouldn’t have given you a comfy food truck, any old regular truck would have done if that meant getting you into a hotel and get the rest you need’. “It’ll be fine,” he smiled at her and pointed at the dashboard. “His credit card is in there.”

“Ohh,” Bella said as she opened the lid and was surprised that it looked absolutely organized. There were even little shelves built in the little cubbyhole. “Did you do this?”

“Yeah, it’s easier to grab things this way because I know where it is. Upper left corner.”

She also noticed a wad of cash in another compartment. “Isn’t cash easier?”

He let out a chuckle. “I thought you wanted Peter to pay for it? That’s a bit of my money, from what I’ve earned with the truck, well… a part of it. I mean, I’m not crazy enough to drive around with a lot of cash but yeah.”

“The truck is not just a ruse?”

“The truck is my main source of income, in fact, Peter called me when I was on a food festival in Florida last week telling me to make my way up to Forks as soon as I possibly could,” Isaac replied with half a shrug. “So I did. But he usually only calls me when he can’t do it himself due to his… physical handicap in the sun. And I’d have to be close. But for some reason he pulled me all the way out of Florida. Just for you.”

“Don’t I feel special,” she laughed as she looked out of the window while they passed some trees, making her believe it was the forest. “I still can’t believe I was able to punch Scott that hard and pull him to his feet like that.”

He was more concerned about how she had been able to calm him down like she had. He no longer heard Scott, but she about managed to calm him instantly. There was no way that he was going to allow someone to have that effect on him again. He was fine on his own and he’d be happy to have her as company, but there was no way that he wanted to be in a pack again. Not now, maybe in the future. God forbid she was a freaking Alpha already.

He wouldn’t automatically be in her pack, a bond like that had to grow, but what if it already had? There had been plenty of examples in the past that something like this happened; two lone wolves creating their own pack. The strongest one growing into an Alpha, earning the spark and both becoming stronger by forming their own pack.

Or was he that deprived of female attention that he’d do just about anything?

No, he needed sleep. That was all.

He turned into a small road that gave access to the resort and suddenly wondered if they’d let his truck on the parking lot. Speaking of his truck, he needed to inspect it for an Isaac-sized dent, Derek did smack him a little. His truck needed to be pristine. Undented. He needed to make room for Bella’s clothes and belongings if she was going to stick around, the bags were fine, for now, but they were going to be a nightmare later. She deserved her own space to place her things. So many things he needed to do.

The receptionist looked at them as if they were severely out of place asking for rooms, but upon seeing the Centurion Card, she was more than willing to give them two adjoining rooms, with a door in the middle so they could get into each other’s rooms without having to cross the hallway if they so desired. She also encouraged Bella to make use of the spa and indoor pool, like any good receptionist would do.

Isaac carried their bags as they were shown their rooms and handed Bella hers. “If you need anything, to talk or to cry or whatever…”

Bella smirked. “Sex?” Oh, how Isaac’s face flushed was adorable. “Just kidding,” she laughed. “Go rest, I’ll keep myself entertained. Might even do some research on my own.”

He sheepishly nodded before getting into his room, threw his bag into a corner and walked to the king size bed that looked way too appealing and dropped himself onto it. Within five minutes, he was fast asleep.

Bella sighed as she looked around in the room. It was super fancy. Everything was nicely decorated, the bed looked very comfortable and the bathroom was big enough to hold a dance recital in. The bathtub was a whirlpool and that’s the first thing she did. She filled up the bath, choose one of the very expensive bath bombs that were on the side of the bath, undressed herself and got into the bath, drawing out a very long, happy sigh. This was heaven.

She was alone. No Cold Ones listening in from somewhere in the building, no need to hurry things up. Just her and her thoughts. And there were so many. Why was it easy to accept that she was a werewolf and had a family? A full brother at that? Likely for the same reason why she wanted to be turned into a vampire the moment Edward told her that he was one; as a human she had always felt out of place. Out of step. And now she knew why; she hadn’t been living her full potential.

It was a whole new world for her, and she was ready for it. Oh, of course, she knew that she was likely going to see a lot of violence from now on, with the whole war between the supernatural and the hunters, but she also knew that she could make a difference. With Isaac, and the help of Peter. They could make a difference. Continue to help those who can’t help themselves. And in their downtime, help Isaac with his food truck. She may not be a trained chef, but she could cook. Especially fish or venison on a barbecue or grill.

Freedom. She was free. And she was a werewolf. This was both scary and awesome. She’d never been able to pick up someone as big as Scott before, not to mention to make him fly and have him end up meters away. It felt great. Powerful. Would she be able to take on a Cold One if she had to? Isaac had had a few fights with them and he survived, but would she be able to do so?

And how big was this supernatural world, anyway? She was going to have to ask Isaac for more information. For him to teach her. She wanted it all. Yes. Letting out a giggle, she closed her eyes and relaxed some more. She had always felt wise beyond her years and now it turned out that she was, in fact, 5 years older because Charlie had put her in the supernatural witness protection thing.

When the water was sufficiently cooled off, she got out of the bath, wrapped herself in a fluffy towel and headed to her bag to find some clean clothes. She then flopped onto the bed and turned on her television before grabbing her laptop and decided to do her research, much like how she’d figured out that Edward had been a vampire. Granted, the information may not be entirely accurate, but it’d give her a head start. Maybe she could do some research on Beacon Hills. Yes. That was a better idea.

One of the first images that popped up on an image search was an image of a man, a girl and a woman, likely a family, on a graveyard. Clicking on it, she saw the name Argent and the article accompanying it. It was the funeral of Kate Argent, sister of Chris Argent, aunt of Allison Argent. The girl – Allison – was beautiful. Her mother looked like an absolute wench and her father looked kind, warm. Something in his eyes.

Another picture she found was of the Lacrosse Team from 2012 who someone plastered on facebook. She recognized Scott, and Isaac. They both looked so young, it was only 8 years ago but they looked like babies. Literal babies. Well defined babies. So Isaac had still been in Beacon Hills in 2012. She expanded her search to include 2011, 2012 and 2013 and was hit by articles about strange occurrences. Deaths. People missing. People returning. Arrests. Strange lights. The years following weren’t better, but how could one small town be at the center of all of this darkness?

And Isaac had lived through it, aside from his own personal problems? Jesus fuck. No wonder he hadn’t liked coming back here.

She kept reading for hours until she started to feel uneasy. Fear. Cramped. Cold, but she had no reason to feel this way. Bella had felt intense anger coming from Isaac when they were at Derek’s, but this was… different. Like she was in a fog. When she heard a yell and whimpering come out of Isaac’s room, she stumbled to the door, nearly tripping over her feet in her mind fog, and headed inside his room.

Isaac was turning in his bed, sweating, not comfortable at all in his slumber. She crawled onto the bed and gently shook him awake. “Isaac, wake up. You’re having a nightmare,” she said as she kept shaking him. “Wake up.”

His eyes shot open, looked at her before scrambling off the bed and hitting the wall as he sat up. He looked so confused for a moment before realizing what was going on. “Bella,” he said as he took a few deep breaths. “Are you okay?”

“Are you?” She asked him as she looked at him from her position on his bed. “Do you get nightmares often?”

He ran a hand through his hair as he blinked at her. “Not often, only when triggered by something… I’m sorry- if I woke you.”

“You didn’t wake me,” she held out her hand to him to pull him back onto the bed. “I was doing some research and I felt strange, then I found out it was you,” she smiled at him as he took her hand and got back onto the bed. “It’s nearly time for dinner, you didn’t sleep for that long.”

“Long enough,” he said as he sat on his bed. “What were you researching?”

“Beacon Hills, mainly around ten years ago… was about to look for stuff on the time that the Hale house got lit on fire before I needed to come to you,” she smiled and gently squeezed his hand. “Is your life always this… crazy?”

He wished she hadn’t, but he couldn’t stop her from doing research. It was only natural to look things up. “It’s dangerous,” he sighed, slowly nodding. “And crazy. Definitely crazy. I’m not sure if it’ll get better when we’re going to Virginia, but yeah, you always have to expect the unexpected to keep you on your toes. But I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe, I promise,” he said, a yawn escaping his lips.

“I’ll have your back too.”

“Good,” he then realized that he felt sticky and dirty and she was clean as freshly washed clothes. “How about I take a shower and we go for dinner in the restaurant?”

“Sounds great,” Bella watched him get off the bed, stumbling a little before grabbing his bag and taking it with him into the bathroom. Bella headed back to her own room and continued to get ready. Shoes. Hair. Likely hair tie. Would be sufficient, wouldn’t it? It was likely that Isaac was suffering from PTSD and never received the right help, but she couldn’t be sure. She needed more information, she needed to get to know him better. And after only a day and a half, she didn’t know him at all, but she wasn’t going to pry, either.

One Comment:

  1. Go Isaac! You definitely needed to hand Scott his ass.
    So is Bella the alpha then from the Hale line?

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