Tethered // Teen Wolf // Isaac Lahey

FIFTY

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ISAAC

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It just watched us, its eyes glowing brightly with such a vividness it was almost painful. Almost, except I couldn't bear to look away from them.

I held my hand out to it slowly, taking a miniscule step closer, "Hey..."

"Isaac," Derek called out to me, "let's go. Deaton is waiting for us. We have to get Aiden to him and try to figure out what the hell just happened."

"You—" I glanced back at him before turning back to the wolf, who sat patiently, its head almost comically tilted, again. "We can't just leave it."

Derek wrinkled his nose at me, "It's a wolf. You can't just treat it like a pet, call it Fluffy and take it home."

The wolf let out a short bark that sounded eerily like a laugh.

"Did you see that?" I pointed at the wolf, "It can understand us," I turned my body to him. "Its eyes were glowing, it healed Aiden, and it understands us— Derek, this is a werewolf, not a normal wolf."

"Or wolves have eyes that reflect light, Aiden healed because he's a werewolf, and it barked because it's wolf," Derek offered, opening the door to his car, "get in."

 I stilled as a wet nose touched the back of my hand, carefully turning my head down to stare as the wolf nudged my hand again before it licked it. I decided to ignore everything that Derek was arguing and against my better judgement, I crouched down to the wolf's height. "You're a werewolf, aren't you?"

The wolf just stared, obviously, but something in its eyes shifted, and it bent its head slightly, almost as if it was pushing it towards me.

I raised my hand as slowly as I could, trying not to startle it before I set my hand on top of its head, stroking its soft fur gently. "You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen."

"Isaac, be careful," Scott quipped out as he came through the tunnel, Allison behind him, "listen, the rest of us are going after Derek to the clinic. Do you need some time or do you want to come with us?"

"Scott, there's something weird about this wolf that... I just can't place," I mumbled, moving my hand further down the wolfs head and ruffling its fur.

"What do you mean?" Scott frowned, stopping a few steps behind me, stretching his arm out so Allison wouldn't go any closer either.

"I mean, I think it's a werewolf," I murmured, drawing my hand back and resting it on my knee as I stared into the wolf's golden eyes, "no, it's definitely a werewolf."

"Can werewolves take on a full wolf form?" Scott looked to Allison in confusion, "I thought that was only were-coyotes like Malia."

Allison nodded quickly, "According to the Bestiary, it's rare but not impossible for werewolves to sometimes take on an evolved form of a wolf."

"What makes a wolf evolve?" I blurted, glancing back at them as well as a fraction, a slither, a speck, of hope bloomed in my chest.

Realisation dawned on Scott's face, "Isaac—"

I shook my head quickly, "Don't. Don't take this away from me, please." I glanced back at the wolf before turning back to him, "She died in my arms. I held her and she died and I couldn't do anything." I swallowed thickly, "Give me this. Let me have this hope."

Scott opened his mouth to try and either comfort me or convince me to leave, but he was stopped by Allison grabbing his arm.

"Death is a way for werewolves to evolve at times," Allison murmured, "it can happen— in fact, wolves in some cases have been known to kill themselves to try and trigger the evolution." She met my eyes, a sadness shining through them, "Korey was stronger than any of us. She could do things none of us could. She unlocked the deepest depths of her mind less than a week ago. What's to say she couldn't evolve?"