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Find your trigger. Find your anchor. Chain yourself up at the Full Moon. Protect your Pack. Follow your Alpha. Beware of Hunters.
One would think Derek would've bothered to tell them -any- of this before he turned three awkward, social ridiculous, outcast teenagers. But no. He had promised them a powerful transformation and confidence beyond their wildest dreams. He had left all of the important stuff out! Well, not entirely. He had been surprisingly honest with Boyd, even if he had kept the other two in the dark.
Isaac had spent several hours trying to figure out -why- Derek had done it that way. In the end .. he really hadn't liked the only theory he could come up with. Derek knew that the two of them had nothing to lose. Isaac was being physically abused by his only family and was a social outcast at school. Erica had a debilitating illness that had made her a laughing stock on more than one occasion. They were too desperate to ask questions. But Boyd? The quiet giant was smart. He might not say much, but when he did, it was usually important. He would've questioned Derek through and through, and the Alpha would've had no choice but to answer if he wanted three Betas ASAP.
So, in the end, Isaac isn't necessarily -angry- that Derek had left things out. After all, he's the Alpha and has his reason for doing the things he does.
He just wishes that Derek had had the foresight to explain to him why the hell he suddenly has a very weird word tattooed across his heart.
The night of the concert ... when Erika and Isaac had helped Stiles sedate Jackson and question the creature lurking within him, everything had changed. As he stood there holding an empty vial of tranquilizer, withering under Stiles' disapproving gaze for having used it all in one go, everything changed. When Stiles grabbed the vial from him, brushing their fingers together, Isaac had experienced an intense, burning pain.
It felt like someone took one of those wands from a wood burning kit and pressed it against the skin above his heart. Had the Kanima/Jackson not immediately begun to move and threaten them, he probably would've curled up in pain. However, his own instinct had been to protect Stiles and Erika. Imagine his surprise when it ended up being Stiles trying to protect them.
It will never cease to amaze and annoy him, how Stiles risks so much to protect those stronger than him. He won't say more capable, because the human has his own capabilities, they're just not supernatural.
When he got back to the train depot that night, he had embedded himself in one of the old cars and carefully removed his shirt. For some reason, he was surprised that there was no blood. No scorching or burning, or any other remnant of something having physically happened. Slowly, his fingers traced the skin above his heart, and felt as if he might swallow his tongue in surprise. The skin was very faintly raised. Almost like he got a tattoo that he had totally forgotten about. However, he didn't think that's possible, for many reasons. First, he'd remember getting a tattoo. Second, logic suggests it would take a special technique to get a tattoo when you heal almost instantly.
He slowly traced what he could feel, eyes closed so that he could concentrate.
M ..
i ...
e ...
c ...
z ...
y ...
s ...
l ...
a ...
w ...
What the -what-?! His mind had begun to ache as he tried to decide what that could even mean! There is no way he could begin to pronounce whatever that was, let alone try and understand what it meant! In the end, he had growled in frustration, yanked his shirt back on, and decided to sleep on it. Some part of him had been hoping that it would all be a dream.
It's been a week since he got his brand new, weird tattoo-thing. Looking in a mirror had actually just made it all worse. Seeing that weird word salad spelled backward had actually made his head hurt. And despite promising himself that he wouldn't ... he had ended up doing an internet search.
Mieczyslaw .. a polish name meaning sword and glory/famous ... he had laughed for nearly twenty minutes as he tries to wrap his head around the fact that he has a name tattooed on his heart. Only after he managed to get himself under control, did he go in search of his Alpha.
"Derek!" The usually docile Beta is practically snarling the name as he bursts into the training warehouse. His voice is sharp, reverberating around the room, as he looks for his Alpha. When he doesn't get an answer, he growls. "DEREK!" He roars it this time, various objects in the room shaking from the power of it.
"What the hell is your problem, Isaac?" Derek yawns as he comes walking out of a room, rubbing his fists against his eyes to clear them. Isaac is fairly trembling by the time his Alpha finally makes an appearance. "Shouldn't you be in school?" It's the closest the older man ever comes to sounding as if he cares, and on any other day, Isaac would be touched. But right now, he's annoyed and not in the least bit in the mood to put up with anything but answers.
"I'm cutting. Because you apparently forgot to tell me something. Again. This is becoming a pattern with you!" Isaac can feel his shift trying to figure, and he struggles to get himself under control. Tries to remember one of the few good moments with his Dad. It's only after vividly remembering a summer with homemade lemonade that he manages to calm down. Though he's still glaring at the older man.
"I've told you, Isaac. I'll tell you things when and -if- you need to know them. If that's all --" Derek sounds tired, and Isaac would actually love to be able to tell his Alpha to go back to bed. -AFTER- he explains this.
"Nope. Not in the least, Derek. This is something I -need- to know." He reaches up and yanks his jacket off, letting it fall to the floor. Derek's eyes have opened wide and he looks utterly shocked. Once Isaac starts to yank his shirt off as well, Derek looks utterly -panicked-.
"Already been through this with Erica, Isaac. This is a whole lotta NO!" Isaac ignores the panic and slings his shirt to the floor. Then points almost violently at the scribble over his heart. Derek's has gone from panicked to pale and haunted in just a few seconds.
"THIS is need to know, Derek. Why the hell do I have some weird name tattooed on me??" Isaac can feel a wave of panic coming, and once again, finds himself struggling to concentrate on a happy thought to keep himself under control.
"That ... that isn't possible." Derek reaches a shaky hand up, presses his palm roughly against his own chest over his heart and looks more than just haunted, now. He looks splintered, broken. Isaac feels sorry for him, but he -still- wants answers. "That's only supposed to happen to born werewolves. I mean, that's what I always thought. Only born werewolves have mates." Isaac stumbles back, almost tripping over his discarded clothing. A MATE!? This is about a -mate-!? He swallows heavily, trying to swallow down the need to laugh hysterically.
"Yeah, well, apparently not, Derek. Because about a week ago, this suddenly seared itself onto my skin. I looked it up earlier .. it's a Polish name. What's going on?" Derek shakes himself almost violently, but doesn't look any better. He waves Isaac over to a collection of crates and they settle so that they are facing each other.
"Okay. Born werewolves have mates ... a single person they are destined for. To a werewolf, a mate is .. everything. It is our end all, be all ... all of that fairytale BS is true. When we turn 16, our mates' name appears above our hearts. If they ... if they die .. they disappear." His hand flies up to his heart again, fingers digging into the material of his muscle shirt. Derek had lost a mate!? The thought of that nearly sends Isaac sliding off the crate, his wolf instincts howling insanely with fear and sympathy. He is suddenly terrified at the prospect of whoever Mieczyslaw is, dying. His own hand moves to his heart, scrunching the material of his replaced shirt.
"So this ... this is my mate?" Isaac can barely form the words, causing them to come out as a soft whisper that Derek has trouble hearing.
"I ... guess. Like I said, I thought it only happened for born werewolves. But, you are the right age for it." Great, so there's some Polish dude running out there, and he's his MATE. Isaac swallow down another hysterical laugh, and is just preparing to get up and go, when it feels .. as if all the breath has been sucked from his lungs.
An unusual, hard to pronounce Polish name. He can think of a single person that description fits.
No. No way! There is no WAY in HELL that Stiles Stilinski is his mate! The guy gets on his last damn nerve! Yeah, okay, so he's ... brilliant, in a lot of ways. He's cute and funny, smarter than everyone but Lydia. One of the most loyal people Isaac has ever known. But his -mate-!? That makes no sense!
..... until his mind conjures what it had felt like when dealing with Jackson. The fact that it had nearly physically -hurt- to know that he had let Stiles down by using all of the tranquilizer. The fact that the moment Stiles' touched his fingers, the searing pain had begun.
His world .. feels off kilter.
"... I know who it is." Derek's head snaps up, eyes narrowed when Isaac says this. He has to admit that he's a little curious. "... and there's no way I'm telling him. He doesn't deserve to have to go through .. all of this."
It would be easy enough to confront Stiles about this. To show him the proof of his real name right there, on Isaac's heart. But the thought of doing that? He doesn't think he could stand the rejection. But worse than that ... he -knows- he couldn't survive being the reason Stiles gets even -more- involved in such a dangerous world.
No. There's no way that he'll tell Stiles. He rubs his palm against his chest and then stands.
"Don't tell anyone about this, Derek. It .. it's my burden to bare."
"I understand, Isaac." It pains the Beta to know that Derek means that so truthfully. One day, when he has a better handle on this, he might ask his Alpha about his own mate, but not for now. For now, he just wants to go curl up somewhere.
Fin