My Anchor, My Life

Chapter 3

"What do you mean Stiles is your anchor?" Scott hissed. Isaac shrugged as he stuffed another shortbread biscuit into his mouth. He hummed as the vanilla frosting hit his tongue. Melissa really outdid herself with the food this year. He reached for another biscuit, ready to stuff his face with more baked goods but Scott slapped his hand away. "Would you stop stuffing your face for two seconds, this is important,"

"I don't know what you want me to say," Isaac sighed. He glanced back into the dining room where Melissa, the Sheriff and Stiles were seated around the table for the annual Stilinski-McCall Christmas lunch. "One minute I was losing control and...I don't know. That stupid joke Stiles said in class a couple of weeks ago, popped into my head and then I was...back in control,"
"just like that?"
"yea." Isaac shrugged again. He reached for another shortbread and popped the Christmas tree shaped biscuit into his mouth. Silence stretched out between them. There was only the sound of Isaac's chewing and the laughter from the table behind them. "So, if I think of Allison..." Scott started. Isaac shrugged again. He didn't know any more than Scott did. This whole werewolf thing was still a mystery to him. Derek would know, Derek knows everything. He's like the werewolf equivalent of Yoda, although Scott seemed to think that they didn't need Derek, that they could do this all by themselves but they can't. Being a werewolf is hard. Your entire life changes as soon as you get that bite, everything becomes heightened; your emotions and senses, you can't control it-well not at first anyway. It took months and countless hours of Derek pestering him before he was able to reign everything back in, but even now he still worries that one day he is going to snap and hurt someone he cares about.

"If you two are finished gossiping like a bunch of girls the rest of us are waiting." Stiles cold voice hissed. Isaac's eyes widened in fear, he wasn't sure how much of their conversation he had heard. He turned towards his Anchor with a gentle smile and held out the last shortbread biscuit. Stiles glanced down at the biscuit, back towards his face and then to the biscuit again. He plucked the sugary goodness from Isaac's fingers and stuffed the entire thing into his mouth. Isaac gave Scott a smug smile and followed the other teen towards the table.

He hasn't noticed it before but Stiles has two, little moles on the left side of his face, one by his mouth and the other higher up, closer to his left eyes. They were kind of cute-wait what? He slowly lowered himself into the dining table beside Stiles. Scott took the chair between himself and Melissa. Where did that thought come from? He's never thought of Stiles as cute before or anything really. He smiled at Stiles who was giving him a strange look like he could read his thoughts.

***

To say Scott was annoyed would be an understatement. He's been trying to find his Anchor for months and all Isaac has to do is think of some joke Stiles said weeks ago, and suddenly he's got an Anchor and he's in control of himself. Why does it have to be Stiles anyway? Scott wasn't aware they were even friends or that they talked for that matter.

Scott watched them exchange small talk about school and whatever tv show they were currently immersed in. There was an uncomfortable pain that had begun to bubble up in his chest. He felt angry, annoyed, upset and a bunch of other random emotions that seemed to hit him all at once but Scott simply chalked it up to his ever-changing werewolf emotions, but that didn't stop him from glaring at the pair for the rest of what was probably the most uncomfortable lunch in the history of the world.

***

Lunch was a complete and utter disaster. The tension in the room had been so thick that you could cut it with a knife, and if that hadn't been bad enough Scott opened his stupid mouth and made one of the worst mistakes of his life. He asked Stiles why he was being so rude to him lately. Scott doesn't remember why he asked. He had opened his mouth to ask Isaac to pass the potatoes as a distraction to stop him from talking to Stiles and it just came out. All hell broke loose after that. Stiles stood up slowly, rage etched across his face and he let loose everything he had been holding in, every ounce of hurt and betrayal came flooding out and once he was done he had snatched up his car keys and ran out of the house. Scott was left sitting there in a daze, wondering how things could have gone so wrong.

Scott's phone buzzed in his back pocket. He swerved his bike onto the side of the road and shimmied his phone out of his too tight jeans. It was Isaac. There is still no sign of Stiles. They had checked the park, that disgusting diner on the outskirts of town that deep-fries everything (Stiles has come to love the diner, despite everyone's distaste in it), they even went as far as to check the school but they couldn't catch even a whiff of his scent. There wasn't anywhere left to check...the cemetery. Stiles goes there every year on Christmas day to visit his mother. How could he be so stupid? of course Stiles would go there. He sent Isaac a quick message to meet him at the cemetery. It would be best if he didn't go alone. Stiles won't want to see him, not now but perhaps with Isaac there he would serve as a mediator until Stiles is willing to forgive him and listen.

What Derek said the other night was true, he can either keep Stiles safe and in the dark or tell him everything and run the risk of losing him one day. Any other person wouldn't think twice about this decision, they would vote to keep their friends and family safe but Scott is selfish. He can't imagine living without Stiles, he needs his best friend and if that comes with a little danger then so be it but he will always do whatever it takes to protect Stiles; his friend, his brother, even if that meant giving up his own life in the process.

HO@P/