thegraveheart:

iamthefirechild:

She should be frightened of him. She should be terrified.

He saved her life.

“I’m an empath. And … something else. I don’t know what. I don’t — know how I do that. Other thing. I don’t know how I can.” Her knees wobbled a little again, and she was a little worried she might collapse. She hoped not. That would be embarrassing.

Rather than touch him, she walked around until she could look in his face again. “Hey. Thank you. Again. A lot. Can I know your name?”

With the kick of fight or flight still rushing through him, senses heightened to almost uncomfortable degrees, he could smell her adrenalin, her fear, hear her heart beat rapidly as though his ear were pressed against it.

He took a steadying breath and pulled a hand through his curls, a nervous habit that he just couldn’t seem to break.

“It’s Isaac,” he finally grumbled, shoving his hands back into the pockets of his jeans. He was irritated—not at her, but at himself for losing control like that. Anyone could have seen, and he was fucking lucky that no one had.

As far as he knew, anyway.

“So, what, you feel what other people feel, or something?”

“Yes. Mostly.” Summer glanced around, but no one seemed to be paying attention to them. Most of the students seemed to be more focused on enjoying the fact that they weren’t in class and might not have to go back to class. “We should probably leave while there’s still confusion.”

She definitely needed to talk to Isaac more. He was the closest thing to answers she’d found yet — and he was clearly not going to let anyone mess with her, despite the sarcastic attitude. 

thegraveheart:

iamthefirechild:

Somehow, the hunter twisted /under/ Isaac’s arm, even while the grip on his wrist tightened, and pulled the werewolf’s arm up behind his back. He hissed, “Hard to do when you’re holding on to me,” and jerked his wrist free. “I’m coming back for her. Decide whose side you’re on, wolf-boy.” Then he was gone, back down the hallway and out a different set of doors, seeming perfectly casual.

Summer could sense him leaving, the absence that meant his presence weaving through clusters of the brilliant sparks that were people, normal people, ordinary people. She closed her hands, pulling the fire back into herself. It burned inside her wildly, but she forced every bit of control she had ever learned on it, closing it up, closing herself up, until finally it died, smothered.

Her legs still felt wobbly as she went back across the field toward Isaac. A werewolf. He was a werewolf, and he had just saved her life. “I think I owe you my freedom,” she said, when she was near enough to look into his golden eyes.

Isaac bared his canines at her, but his shift took precedence over his emotions. With a twist of his neck and a pop of his bones, he was human again, fur, brow bone, teeth, claws receding, eyes fading back to their soft blue.

“The sooner you make use of it, the better.” It wasn’t his intention to sound like an asshole, but—”Next time I won’t be around to save your ass.”

A pause, and he turned his face away from the scores of students flooding out of the doors and gathering around campus. “What exactly are you?” he asked, still maintaining eye contact with some far away tree.

She should be frightened of him. She should be terrified.

He saved her life.

“I’m an empath. And … something else. I don’t know what. I don’t — know how I do that. Other thing. I don’t know how I can.” Her knees wobbled a little again, and she was a little worried she might collapse. She hoped not. That would be embarrassing.

Rather than touch him, she walked around until she could look in his face again. “Hey. Thank you. Again. A lot. Can I know your name?”

thegraveheart:

iamthefirechild:

The hunter didn’t sound like he was in pain, despite his broken nose, despite the grip Isaac had on his wrist. He didn’t much sound like he was surprised by Isaac wolfing out, either. “You didn’t answer my question, son. And you didn’t look. Look at what you’re defending.”

Summer stepped forward, feeling as though she balanced a container full of something awful, something dangerous, on top of her head. If she wavered just a little, everything would burn. It didn’t help that Isaac was throwing off waves of emotion, adding to the wobbly feeling the sense of being in rough seas.

“Please stop,” she whispered, reaching out as if she could touch the two men.

This had to be some sort of fucked up parallel universe.

In short, Isaac couldn’t give less of a shit what she was—the only thing that mattered was that this guy was a threat. He could worry about everything else later, when shit made sense again and someone wasn’t pleading for his help.

He twisted his grip, feeling bone strain under his fingers, and bared his fangs, eyes blazing gold under the afternoon sun, vicious, hungry, the wolf so close to the surface that he could practically feel the slide of its pelt.

“Turn around. Walk away.”

Somehow, the hunter twisted /under/ Isaac’s arm, even while the grip on his wrist tightened, and pulled the werewolf’s arm up behind his back. He hissed, “Hard to do when you’re holding on to me,” and jerked his wrist free. “I’m coming back for her. Decide whose side you’re on, wolf-boy.” Then he was gone, back down the hallway and out a different set of doors, seeming perfectly casual.

Summer could sense him leaving, the absence that meant his presence weaving through clusters of the brilliant sparks that were people, normal people, ordinary people. She closed her hands, pulling the fire back into herself. It burned inside her wildly, but she forced every bit of control she had ever learned on it, closing it up, closing herself up, until finally it died, smothered.

Her legs still felt wobbly as she went back across the field toward Isaac. A werewolf. He was a werewolf, and he had just saved her life. “I think I owe you my freedom,” she said, when she was near enough to look into his golden eyes.

a-gravemistake:

iamthefirechild:

[…]

It started with her hands, for some reason, sparks rising off her olive skin into the air. Slow flames twined up her arms, and the void of the hunter’s presence moved toward her.

“Why are you protecting her, boy?” The hunter’s voice was low, calm. Curious. He just kept moving at the same steady pace as he approached Isaac. “Look out there. Look out there, and step aside.”

He put out an arm, to brush Isaac aside.

And Isaac roared, chest rumbling, ground trembling deep, lips skinning back to reveal canines a good inch and a half long—

It’d been stupid to think that this had anything to do with anything normal. The mountain ash in her palm had told him as much (she’d practically thrown the shit at him; he’d been itching to shift for the past five minutes, so bad that it actually hurt) and, well, if the jig was up then the jig was fucking up. When had there been a problem in this godforsaken town that didn’t have anything to do with the supernatural?

He surged forward, the crown of his head smashing into the man’s face, a hand flying out for his wrist and twisting it upwards and outwards, against the natural joints of his skeleton, bringing him to his knees.

“Touch me again and you won’t have an arm,” he snarled out, torquing his wrist just a hair harder. “And if you don’t leave in the next thirty seconds, I’ll take the other one as well.”

The hunter didn’t sound like he was in pain, despite his broken nose, despite the grip Isaac had on his wrist. He didn’t much sound like he was surprised by Isaac wolfing out, either. “You didn’t answer my question, son. And you didn’t look. Look at what you’re defending.”

Summer stepped forward, feeling as though she balanced a container full of something awful, something dangerous, on top of her head. If she wavered just a little, everything would burn. It didn’t help that Isaac was throwing off waves of emotion, adding to the wobbly feeling the sense of being in rough seas.

“Please stop,” she whispered, reaching out as if she could touch the two men.

a-gravemistake:

iamthefirechild:

“Because the police are going to believe that a man is hunting me for an ability nobody believes in,” she spat back over her shoulder. “What makes you think I haven’t tried those things? You’re the first person who knows anything about it to even /try/ to help — pull the fucking fire alarm or I’ll set it off myself. If I accidentally burn this place down I don’t want anyone in it!”

She skidded to a stop at the corner, looking back at Isaac. “Thanks. Stay safe.”

The police would believe that someone was after her period, no matter what the circumstances were. Safety first. But Isaac didn’t have time to explain that, already rounding the corner, yanking the tab to set off the alarm bells as he went. 

His plan was stupid, not much of a plan at all, but it mostly consisted of luring the man outside and leading him away, if not attacking him. They already had enough shit on their plate and the last thing Isaac needed was for Scott to get caught up in a problem that was not their own.

That was what betas did for their alphas, right?

Fuck if he knew, like Derek ever told him.

It wasn’t like he changed his mind, and he took up position in the doorway of the locker room, the one that led out into the lacrosse field, and waited.

Thank god, Summer thought as the fire alarm went off and people began to spill out of every door. She let herself be moved along with them, out to the playing fields. Not as many as during school hours, but enough to rip her apart if things got out of hand. She wasn’t even sure she was capable of what she was thinking of. She could still feel him, or feel his absence, sliding easily, purposefully through the crowd. Moving toward the strange, oddly-wild beacon in her mind that was the boy. She had thought he was leaving her on her own.

Apparently not.

It didn’t make much sense, but she didn’t have time to go into him and untangle the motivations. Not when the hunter was almost to Isaac, not when she was nearly alone on the field.

Summer dropped her shields, body braced against an impact that wasn’t physical in the least, and tried to find the new pathway, the one she’d found a couple of times over the summer.

The one that made fire.

It started with her hands, for some reason, sparks rising off her olive skin into the air. Slow flames twined up her arms, and the void of the hunter’s presence moved toward her.

“Why are you protecting her, boy?” The hunter’s voice was low, calm. Curious. He just kept moving at the same steady pace as he approached Isaac. “Look out there. Look out there, and step aside.”

He put out an arm, to brush Isaac aside.

a-gravemistake:

iamthefirechild:

She muttered, “Mountain ash,” and looked down at the slight remains of it on her hand. “What is he trying to do? What does he think I am?” Her head jerked up at the sounds. “He’s immune to me. I don’t even know how I’m going to get out of this.” Those words were strained. Fear made a pit in her belly, but she squared her shoulders and turned to the boy. “Thank you. You’ve been more help than you realise. I suggest you run now. You might pull the fire alarm on the way out.”

“How you’re gonna—you can start by running or, I don’t know, calling the police—” Isaac’s expression shifts judgmentally in that hello? anybody home? kind of way, and he pushes her none-too-gently into the nearest hallway, the one that leads towards the science labs. “Listen, if he’s the kind of nutjob that poses a threat, we should probably get him off school property. We don’t need another serial killer scare—lure him outside; you can get to the lacrosse field if you go right at the end of that hall and through the locker rooms.”

“Because the police are going to believe that a man is hunting me for an ability nobody believes in,” she spat back over her shoulder. “What makes you think I haven’t tried those things? You’re the first person who knows anything about it to even /try/ to help — pull the fucking fire alarm or I’ll set it off myself. If I accidentally burn this place down I don’t want anyone in it!”

She skidded to a stop at the corner, looking back at Isaac. “Thanks. Stay safe.”

a-gravemistake:

iamthefirechild:

“No, I want to know where I’m going!” Summer stepped up beside him. “You were jerking my arm out of the socket, I can’t go that fast. Guide, lead, whatever, just don’t break me. And what the fuck is that stuff?!”

“—You need to relax and approach the situation one at a time, or I’m letting go and you can fend for yourself. In fact, yeah—fend for yourself. I’m already up to my neck in bullshit, people throwing mountain ash in my face notwithstanding.”

Metal scraped against tile from the classroom down the hall. The lion was awake.

She muttered, “Mountain ash,” and looked down at the slight remains of it on her hand. “What is he trying to do? What does he think I am?” Her head jerked up at the sounds. “He’s immune to me. I don’t even know how I’m going to get out of this.” Those words were strained. Fear made a pit in her belly, but she squared her shoulders and turned to the boy. “Thank you. You’ve been more help than you realise. I suggest you run now. You might pull the fire alarm on the way out.”

a-gravemistake:

iamthefirechild:

A protest died strangled in her throat when Isaac threw the hunter damn near across the room. Trying to keep up with him meant she had no breath for the question that had suddenly become the most important one to have answered. His legs were so much longer, and whatever he was, it gave him incredible stamina and speed. It felt like her shoulder was being wrenched out of the socket. Finally she resorted to the trick that had saved her in high school more than once: she set her feet, reached, and grounded hard, sinking her dead weight to the earth.

Isaac buckled and came a hair closer than he would’ve liked to dislocating her shoulder. His fingers unfurled at the last second and he turned on the spot, breathing hard and burning where the mountain ash had touched his skin. 

He wanted to tear his clothes off, dunk his body in an ice bath, but the mere thought of it forced his body into overdrive to relax. “Do you wanna just stand here in the hallway, in the complete open? Because that’s fine by me. I can go, and you can take that hunter and your ass elsewhere if you don’t want my help. Good fucking riddance.”

“No, I want to know where I’m going!” Summer stepped up beside him. “You were jerking my arm out of the socket, I can’t go that fast. Guide, lead, whatever, just don’t break me. And what the fuck is that stuff?!”