#third chapter guys

Pushing him forward, she kicked him into a tiny room, locked the door and barricaded it by pushing a huge object in front of it. Isaac was lying on the ground, but not minding the pain, he immediately scrambled up and tried to push the door open. A hopeless case, as it was a big iron door, closed from the outside and on top of that, held close with a heavy object the woman had found.

‘No,’ Isaac breathed, his heart accelerating with the seconds. The room was beyond tiny and reminded him just a little too much of the horrid freezer his father used to use as a means of punishment. He had to get out, or he’d lose it.

‘No, no, no, no, no,’ Isaac muttered repeatedly, punching and kicking the door so hard, he tore the flesh around his knuckles open.

‘Fuck!’ he yelled as loudly as he could, letting out his fury and fear.

  { -x- }

  Derek sighed. Yet again a place he’ll have to cross out without even having found so much as a hint. Finding Boyd and Erica seemed to be getting more and more hopeless with the days and momentarily, he thought they maybe should just give up. Maybe they did find a better pack and they were happy now and who was he to take that away from them? They’d wanted to leave, after all. Just as he was about to text Isaac that they’d done enough searching and better head home, he heard a painfully familiar scream, coming from the level floor. His heart made a jump, but he tried to remain calm while speeding down the stairs as fast as he could.

Just as he was trying to listen for where the screams were coming from, the screaming stopped. Instead, he heard some fumbling, a door closing and the sound of something heavy being pushed around. Making sure he memorized where the sounds came from, he began running.

   { -x- }

  ‘No, no,’ Isaac felt the tears prickling in the corners of his eyes, out of anger and helplessness. He couldn’t stop punching the door, even if it couldn’t be helped. The scratches on his stomach an cheek were still bleeding, and for a moment, he worried about why it hadn’t started healing yet.

‘Fuck!’ he gave the door one last punch and slid down the wall and onto the floor, hiding his face in his arms.

‘Stop,’ he sobbed. ‘Please make it stop.’

  { -x- }

  Derek ran as fast as he could, because by now he’s heard some serious cursing and pounding. Assuming what had happened to his Beta, he ran faster. The fact that the factory was huge, didn’t really work in his advantage either. He finally heard silent sobbing becoming more clear and finding a big iron door with an old, heavy closet pushed in front of it, he now knew for sure someone had locked his Beta in there.

Anger filled Derek’s mind and pushed by his fury, he smashed the closet out of the way, completely crushing it, and unlocked the door. For a moment, he saw Isaac completely hunched away against the wall, gripping his head between his hands.

‘Make it stop, make it stop,’ he was whispering, so lost he didn’t even notice Derek standing right next to him. The sight was something Derek was sure would take ages to erase from his memories.  

‘Please let me out, I’ll be good, I swear,’ he continued sobbing.

‘Isaac?’ Derek almost didn’t dare to interrupt this trance he was in, afraid Isaac would break. So fragile, he seemed. Yet he looked up immediately, revealing a face smeared with a few tears and at least twice as much blood. One big mess.

Getting up, Isaac threw himself into Derek’s chest, letting out a tiny sigh of relief. He gripped Derek’s shirt as if his life depended on it and wondered how it was possible that Derek’s faint smell of cologne and cigarettes – he’d never bothered to tell Isaac he smoked occasionally, but Isaac knew – could feel so safe and familiar after having lived together for only a few days.

Derek merely froze under the close contact, but the desperate clutching of his shirt by Isaac made Derek get a lump in his throat. Silently, he brought up one arm and putting his hand on the back of Isaac’s head, he pulled him closer to his chest. Derek had to admit that he too had been scared for the life of his Beta, if only for a moment. And the relief he’d felt when finding the younger one more or less unharmed, was something he hadn’t felt since years.

Isaac cleared his throat, and by the sound of his heartbeat, Derek knew he’d almost completely calmed down. Letting go of Derek’s shirt, he rubbed the blood off of his hands and onto his shirt, which was ripped to pieces.

‘So, have you seen who did this to you?’ Derek asked, trying to hide the hate and anger he felt for whoever made Isaac go through shit like that.

‘I didn’t. It was too dark and it all happened in a rush.’ Isaac’s voice trembled. He wished he could’ve remembered more. ‘But it was a woman. And an Alpha; she was a lot stronger than me.’

Isaac pulled away his shredded shirt and took a look at the bleeding wound, which suddenly made him remember the pain he was still in. His broken arm still hadn’t healed as well.

‘Why am I not healing?’ Isaac asked, his breath ragged.

‘She probably used wolf’s bane while attacking you. Can you walk?’ Derek asked, already making his way out.

‘Yeah, I’ll get there. Just give me a moment.’

Derek looked back and watching Isaac slump forward, having difficulty with breathing because of his wounds, he suddenly felt for the boy. Going back, he grabbed Isaac’s arm, pulled it over his neck for support and slowly but surely, they made their way to the car.

  { -x- }

  By the time they reached the door of the loft, Isaac had completely slumped towards Derek, putting all his weight on the latter’s shoulder. Fiddling with the keys, Derek was finally able to unlock the door. Almost dragging Isaac in, he closed the door and brought him over to the desk, lightning the little desk lamp.

‘Can you sit on the desk?’ Isaac jumped onto the table, albeit with a little difficulty, while Derek made his way to the kitchen. Filling a pot with water, he took a cloth and ordered Isaac to take of his shirt. As he returned to where Isaac was seated, he put the pot next to him and wetted his cloth. As quickly and swiftly as possible, he cleaned away most of the blood around the side of Isaac’s stomach, so he could see the wound more clearly. Isaac winced.

‘It’s not that bad,’ Derek reassured him. Isaac snorted in response, clearly not agreeing. ‘But the wolf’s bane refrains your body from healing. You know what that means, right?’

Isaac sighed, knowing Derek would have to break a few bones in order to trigger the healing process. Extending the arm that hadn’t been broken yet, Derek took it in his hands and gave an apologizing look before breaking exactly three bones, knowing precisely which ones. Isaac screamed and leaned forward, resting his forehead on Derek’s shoulder.

‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ Derek grinned, though Isaac couldn’t see it since his face was still buried in Derek’s shoulder.

‘No, I’m not,’ the humor in Derek’s voice was apparent.

‘Yes, you are,’ Isaac exclaimed, somewhere between crying in pain and laughing at the same time. It made Derek snicker.

‘Maybe a little,’ Isaac snorted again in response.

‘Look,’ Derek pushed Isaac away to show him how the tissue around the deep scratches had started knitting itself together.

‘It’s over already,’ Derek smiled contently, glad his Beta was almost completely patched up again. Taking the cloth, he wringed it out  and rubbed away a little blood still left on Isaac’s cheek, just with the tip of the cloth.

Isaac laughed, jerking his head away slightly. He couldn’t help but find the sight amusing. It reminded him of those typical movies he’s seen, in which the boys go out on their first date and the moms put their thumb in their mouth and rub away anything that disturbs them on their son’s cheek. Trying again, Derek rubbed the last blood away.

‘Why’d she do it, you think?’ Isaac asked after a moment.

‘Lock you up?’ Isaac nodded.

‘Who knows. Maybe just to scare you. Give a warning?’ Derek guessed. It made Isaac think.

‘Well, I think she was following us from the beginning. The first thing she did was break my phone, so I couldn’t contact you. She didn’t want you to find me, Derek.’ He listened intently.

‘You think she’s part of the Alpha pack?’ Derek shrugged.

‘Most likely.’

 ‘But, imagine, Derek. If Erica and Boyd are taken by the Alpha pack and she already did that to me just to scare me…’

‘Or give a warning,’ Derek continued. Isaac nodded in agreement.

‘Exactly! But can you imagine what they’re doing to Erica and Boyd? Every single day? Right now?’ Derek sighed, not wanting to think of the endless ways there are to torture a person. He refused to believe they were taken by the Alpha pack, until he was proven otherwise.

‘We’ll just keep looking,’ Derek avoided his question, getting up and leaving to throw the dirty water away.

‘You should go shower,’ he didn’t finish his sentence yet, as he heard the bathroom door close already. Isaac had probably wanted some time to himself from the moment they’d returned to the loft.

Sighing, Derek put the dishes away and returned to his desk, taking out his map and marking yet another cross right next to all the others.