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“Boyd, Erica.”
The tone of surprise in Derek’s voice was what made Isaac look up to acknowledge them. They smelled of other and Isaac’s wolf whined inside him, though all he managed to do was sneer at them. They looked at awkward standing there as they smelled and Isaac was pleased to see that he was on the side with the upper hand, that Derek was unaffected by their bowed heads and smell of sorry. Well, he knew Derek longed for his other betas, that he’d been hurt when they left, but he made no outward showing of it.
“Alpha, Isaac,” Erica replied, voice soft and shaky as she shifted on her feet, hand clenched in Boyd’s. She swallowed audibly and then looked at Boyd, questioning.
“Derek,” He offered, eyes cast down in guilt after he glanced at the curly-haired boy at Derek’s side. Isaac felt himself inexplicably angry at that.
“Why’re you here?” Isaac asked, voice full of disdain, enjoying the winces they gave even as Derek gave him a look. Be nice, it said, they’re Pack.
But they’re not Pack anymore, said Isaac’s frown.
Both other betas knew it too.
“We wanted....”
“We want to come home,” Erica said in a rush, face pained as she interrupted Boyd. “We’re sorry for leaving, Derek. We were scared and things weren’t how you said they were going to be for us but they’re worse out there and the Alpha Pack-”
“Go away,” Isaac snapped, glaring at them. Derek looked at him, eyebrows raised in surprise, but he didn’t stop him. His Alpha smelled impressed and cautious at the same time so Isaac took it as encouragement. “You leave because you can’t handle it here and then you come back when you feel like it? How about the whole thing with the Kanima, with Gerard? You two left during battle!”
“We’re not soldiers, Isaac!” Erica yelled, stomping a foot before stepping away from Boyd finally. Isaac stood up and met her in the middle, eyes yellowing.
“No, we were Pack!”
“We weren’t meant for this, Isaac. Why the hell are you-” Boyd was cut off yet again, this time by the other teenager.
“Are you kidding me, Boyd? You were the one of us with the most reason to stay,” Isaac snarled, barely looking at Erica anymore. “You have your family; your parents and siblings and you left them all behind, not just us, to fight the Kanima.”
“They weren’t in this!”
“All of Beacon Hills was in this!” Isaac yelled back, giving them both disbelieving looks. “Seriously, that’s what you thought? This was between us and the Argents and Matt and Jackson? The people that got killed were humans. Humans, guys! That’s not some stupid turf war anymore; those are our friends in dangers!”
“What friends, Isaac?!” Erica snapped, fangs bared as she pushed him away. “We didn’t have friends before this!”
“Don’t play the needy princess, Erica! We were friends before we were turned. You had Scott too, and Maggie, and Sabrina, even Conner.” Erica’s face crumbled into shock as he rattled off names, too stunned to even yell back as he continued. “You both have families! Jesus, Boyd, you’re one of five kids! You have people here to look out for!”
“What about you then, huh, Isaac? Why the hell did you stay? That was the worse choice you could’ve ever made considering you’ve got nobody,” Boyd asked after a moment, knowing that he went too far when Derek finally brought himself back into the picture and growled low before coming close to Isaac and putting his hand on his shoulder, just as he had when they were watching Jackson’s rebirth. Isaac allowed himself a glance back at the Alpha before looking back at Boyd and Erica.
“I’ve got my Alpha, and I’ve got Pack. Even more than that, I live here. I wouldn’t let some monster terrorize this place anyway, especially if I could stop it.” He paused for the moment, letting it sink in before sneering at them again. “It doesn’t matter that we’re just sixteen. This is our home, and you both went AWOL during battle. You’re both cowards.” Isaac bared his fangs at them, glad to see them flinch, before looking back at Derek, silently asking for permission to leave. Derek squeezed his shoulder once, the only sign of affection Isaac was comfortable with even after all this time, before nodding and letting go. “Even if Derek takes you back, you’ve got a long way to go with me.” Isaac turned and left them, storming out of the Hale House and ignoring Peter’s arched eyebrow at the front porch in favor of running through the woods towards town. He knew Derek would take them back, they were his pups, but that didn’t mean Isaac had to like it and he wasn’t too sure how Scott and Stiles would take it either.