Love's Spiral

Quiet. The entire warehouse was quiet.

Spencer had been tiptoeing through the building, holding her claw-bared hands out by her sides. She was prepared for anything to pop out at her. Spencer’s eyes were flashing gold so that it was easier for her to see, even though it wasn’t dark yet. She had learned her lesson about going out searching at night. During the day, at least she could see something before it came out at her.

Spencer slowly walked through the entire right side of the building before going back towards the middle hallway. When she turned around a corner, she ran into a Isaac. Spencer jumped back, gasping and holding a hand to her chest.

Isaac steadied her with his hands on her shoulders. “I’m so sorry.”

Spencer shook her head at him. “Did you find anything?”

Isaac raised his brow and smirked. “I found you.” He joked, lowering his hand to grab hers.

Spencer smiled, blushing, and turned her face face away. She took a step away from him, making him release his hold on her hand. Spencer cleared her throat. “I was sure we’d find something here.” She said, before she made her way out of the warehouse to her truck.

Isaac followed after her. “Maybe if we had something.” he said. “We can’t just keep going off of nothing. We can’t just keep searching empty buildings or abandoned warehouses.”

Spencer shrugged, taking a deep breath. “Problem is, all we have is nothing. That’s literally all we have to go off of. We don’t know who they are. Or what they really want. All we know is that Boyd and Erica are gone. And it’s the worst feeling in the world because they’re pack. They’re family and we can’t do anything about it.” She stopped just outside her driver’s side door.

Isaac caught up to her and grabbed her arm. He realized it was wrong of him to say they were at a loss. “Hey, Spencer, look at me.” Isaac put his hands on either side of her face. “Take a deep breath.”

Spencer took a large gulp of air in along with Isaac.

“We’re gonna find them. We’re doing everything we can with what we have.”

“Yeah, but - ”

“You’re doing great.” Isaac insisted. “Okay?”

Spencer nodded to the best of her ability.

Isaac wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a tight, secure hug. “We’ll find them.” He said into her ear.

Spencer wrapped her arms around his waist. “Yeah, we will.”

“Good.” He pulled away from her and reached for the door handle. “Now, let’s go home. See what else we can find.”

That made Spencer groan.

Isaac pursed his lips, opening the door for her. “Or we could go take a nap?”

Spencer smiled and climbed into her truck. “No. I have some work to do.”

Isaac nodded, closing her door and walking around to get in the passenger side.

“You can help me!” Spencer exclaimed. “I’m sure there are plenty of documents that could use a second glance.”

Isaac shook his his head. “Yeah, uh, no thanks. I actually have some reading that I need to do for school.”

Spencer furrowed her brow at him. “It’s summer.”

Isaac nodded. “That’s why they call it summer reading. Which you probably have, too.”

“Yeah, I’ll get to it.” Spencer nodded, lying to her friend.

“You know school starts at the end of next month.”

Spencer started her truck. “And I’m a fast reader. I’ll get to it. Right now, this is more important.”

!@#$#@!

When she got home, Spencer dug through the box Derek had sorted through months ago. At the bottom of the box, there was a book. It was a small black notebook with the triskele embossed into the leather. Spencer furrowed her brow at it, confused because she hadn’t ever seen it before. She took the book with her into Isaac’s room and held the book up to show him. “Have you ever seen this before?”

Isaac looked up from his book and shook his head.

Spencer hummed in curiosity. She sat against Isaac’s headboard while he laid next to her with his book leaning on his chest. Spencer began to go through the most recent entries in the book. It looked almost like someone’s journal. She flipped through the singed papers carefully, not wanting to rip any of them.

In the book, there was an entry about a hunter problem. Spencer knew that the hunters were always present, especially in Beacon Hills. This entry described one really bad instance where a few packs from nearby had gotten together hoping to dissolve the problem. There was one name, one alpha, that stood out to her. One name that was repeated a few times. “Deucalion.” Spencer said aloud, biting her lip, thinking about the name. “Deucalion.” She said again, before repeating it a few more times.

After a while, Isaac finally got annoyed by her repeating herself. “Okay. Say ‘Deucalion’ one more time.” He joked.

“Deucalion.” Spencer said just to spite him.

Isaac laid his book on his chest. “You wanna tell me what it means?”

Spencer shrugged. “I don’t really know. I think it’s a name. There’s a whole story in here about a few packs coming to Beacon Hills. But that’s all I can really make out.” She looked from the book over to ISaac. “It seems important, but I don’t know who he is.”

“Maybe Derek does.”

Spencer nodded, turning away from him. She had hardly talked to Derek in a month, only to tell him they hadn’t found anything. “Maybe.”

Isaac noticed her hesitation. “I can talk to him. Tell him what you found so you don’t have to.”

Spencer shook her head, reaching for her phone in her pocket. “I can do it.” She dialed Derek’s number, and waited for it to ring, but Derek sent the call straight to voicemail. Spencer cleared her throat. “H-hey.” She said. “I, uh, I might have found something. Not Erica and Boyd, but maybe something about the alphas.” Spencer paused. “Come home soon.”

Isaac watched her as she dropped the phone into her lap and stared at it. “You okay?” He asked her, sitting up and turning towards her. Isaac moved his book to the bed next to him.

Spencer nodded. “Mostly because of you.” She smiled at him.

“Glad I could be of service.” Isaac said. “I’m not doing much but listening.”

Spencer shrugged. “Exactly. I like talking to you because you listen. I hope you like talking to me. Especially when we talk about certain things. Like our dads.”

Isaac blushed.

Spencer laughed at the curly haired kid. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“I’m not embarrassed.” Isaac said.

“Then why are you blushing?” Spencer asked, furrowing her brow.

“Because I’m nervous.”

“Nervous? Am I making you nervous?”

Isaac nodded, looking away from her.

Spencer smiled at him. “I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t realize.”

Isaac tied his hands in a knot. “D-do you remember w-when I kissed you?”

Spencer nodded. “It’s kind of hard to forget. You made a huge show of it. Nearly bit my head off.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about it. Since we’ve been hanging out more.”

“Look, if you’re worried that it pissed me off, you don’t have to freak out. We’re okay.”

“Yeah, but - ”

“I mean, I know we never really talked about it, mostly because we never had the chance.” Spencer explained. “What with the game and then Jackson and Gerard. We can talk about it now and get the awkwardness out of the way.”

“I’m not awkward about it. I - I liked it.”

“You did?”

“W-well yeah.” He laughed quietly. “I mean, I kissed you. And I have had this huge crush on you since we started studying together. And I - ”

“Wait, what?” Spencer interrupted.

Isaac met her eyes. “How did you not know that?”

Spencer let out a breath and ran her hand through her hair, thinking about it. “That’s why you were worried about me alone with Derek after his outbursts.” She rubbed her hand over her face. “Oh, and the rave. The tickets you got.” Spencer covered her face with both of her hands. “Oh, shit. I’m so awful.”

“N-no, Spencer, you’re not.” Isaac tried.

“That’s why you said that elementary school thing after you did it. I’m so stupid. You literally said that you had a crush on me and I passed it over like it was nothing.”

Isaac shook his head, trying to stop her from thinking like that.

“And with Derek!” Spencer exclaimed. “God! I was just rubbing it in your face! And you heard so much of it!” Under her hands, Spencer’s face turned bright red.

Isaac grabbed Spencer’s wrists and pulled her hands away from her face. “Look at me.” Isaac forced.

Spencer looked at him shyly, her face still a dark shade of red.

Isaac smiled and shook his head. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“I just had no idea. You literally told me and I had no idea.”

Isaac released his hard grip on her wrists. “Did you like it?”

“What, the kiss?”

Isaac nodded.

Spencer let out a long burst of air, recalling the kiss. Her head cradled between his hands, the softest touch of his lips to hers. The corner of Spencer’s mouth turned up and she looked down at her lap. “I didn’t hate it.”

“Can - ” Isaac cleared his throat. “Can I try again? You know, unless you don’t want to because it’s too soon or something.”

Spencer licked her lips and nodded her head.

Isaac took a deep breath. He hardly believed that he’d gotten to kiss her the first time. Now Isaac had the chance to do it again. He lifted a shaky hand, putting a finger under her chin to lift her head. Isaac leaned in closer to Spencer. He studied Spencer’s face for a moment while her eyes were closed. Isaac nervously swallowed. “Are you sure?”

Spencer let out a frustrated breath and opened her eyes.

Isaac dropped his hand from her chin and looked away from her. “I mean, not to long ago you were...with Derek and I don’t want to - ”

“Isaac?”

Isaac looked up at her through his lashes. “Yeah?”

“Would you kiss me before I kiss you?” Spencer asked.

Isaac furrowed his brow. “You kiss me?” He asked, like he didn’t know the difference.

“For God’s sake.” She pushed herself forward, connecting her lips to his. The kiss was forceful at first, but when Isaac got over the shock, he took her face in his hands, gently slowing the kiss down.

It didn’t get too heated after Isaac took the control. He seemed to be taking his time and enjoying the feeling of his lips against hers.

Spencer grabbed a fistful of his shirt, unsure of what to do with her hands.

Isaac slowed the kiss to a stop and pulled away.

Spencer opened her eyes to find his still closed. She smirked. “Isaac?”

Isaac blinked his eyes open. “Yeah?” He said, still looking dazed.

“You okay, there?”

“I, uh, yeah.” He stumbled. “Can we do that again?”

Spencer laughed, shaking her head. “Maybe later, wolfboy. We’ve still got some work to do.”

Isaac puffed out his lower lip and turned so he could reach for his book.

“Did you just pout?” Spencer asked.

“What?” Isaac looked up at her in surprise.

“You did.” She smiled. “You pouted because I wouldn’t kiss you again.”

“No, I didn’t.” Isaac huffed back into his lying position and reluctantly started to read his book again.

Spencer bit her lip, thinking. “Okay, how about this?”
Isaac looked up at her.

“Let’s take a break.” Spencer offered. “I can’t remember the last time I did something like a normal teenager. So, let’s go to the movies, and maybe get some food? Something greasy that’s not part of the diet Derek’s had us on.”

Isaac furrowed his brow, but leaned up on his elbows. “You sure? I mean, you just found out a clue and I thought you’d want to try and find more on this Deucalion guy.”

Spencer shrugged. “A few hours won’t kill us. Besides, Derek probably won’t be back tonight, running off who knows where.” Spencer sat up and ran to her room for her lap blanket to take to the movies. “Plus, I’d like to make things up to you with a redo date.” She said, from her room.

Isaac quickly sat up in his spot on the bed. “Date?”

Spencer peeked her head into his room with a sweet smile. She jerked her head out of the room. “C’mon, wolfboy.” Spencer walked away, leaving Isaac dumbfounded on his bed. “You comin’, Casanova?”

Isaac smirked and quickly chased after her.

!@#$#@!

The two beta wolves were standing in the elevator as it slowly lifted to the third floor of the building. There was a silence between the two for a moment until Spencer laughed loudly.

Isaac looked to her and smiled. “I cannot believe that you wanted to see that movie.

Spencer shrugged. “What can I say? I am a huge fan of raunchy movies. Horrible Bosses is the one that’s out right now.”

“Yeah, but you’re so…” he thought, searching for the word.

“So what?” Spencer asked.

“I don’t know. So reserved.”

Spencer laughed. “Do you know me at all?” She joked.

“I like to think I do.” He took a step sideways to get closer to her and grabbed her hand.

Spencer blushed at the contact. She looked away shyly but continued to hold his hand. “I guess that’s what this whole dating thing is about. Finding out more about a person.”

Isaac smiled and nodded. The lift stopped and Isaac kept his hold on Spencer’s hand, pulling her towards the large door to the loft. He used his free hand to pull open the door.

“Thanks.” Spencer said, smiling and looking to him.

Isaac looked from her to the inside of the loft. He pulled his hand from her grasp almost as quickly as it got there.

Spencer furrowed her brow, wondering why he had let her go so quickly and forcefully. She looked forward into the room and saw Derek standing there.

Derek had his arms crossed over his chest with his normal grouchy look on his face. “You found something?” He asked.

Spencer gave him a disbelieving look. She scoffed at him but nodded. Spencer walked passed him towards the spiral staircase. She paused when she got to Isaac’s door and saw that only Isaac was behind her.

Isaac put his hands on the tops of her arms, standing behind her. “You okay?”

Spencer nodded.

“Just breathe, okay?”

Spencer’s shoulders rose as she took in a deep breath.

Isaac reached around her and grabbed the knob to open his door. He walked in and sat on his bed to reach for the journal.

Spencer heard Derek approach behind her. She cleared her throat and the nervousness. “Have you ever heard the name Deucalion?” Spencer took a few steps into the room going towards Isaac. She stood in front of him and faced Derek.

Derek nodded. “He was an alpha that was visiting Beacon Hills a long time ago. What about him?”

Isaac poked Spencer in the back with the journal.

Spencer reached behind her back and grabbed the book, holding it up to show Derek. “Do you recognize this?” she asked.

Derek crossed his arms again, nodding. “It’s my mother’s.”

Spencer raised a brow. “Was that the reason why it was buried at the bottom of the box we have from your house?”

“I didn’t think it was important. I thought it was her journal or something.” Derek paused, recalling the memory of his mother with that book. “I used to watch her write in it when I was a kid.”

“I’m sure that’s exactly what it is.”
“Is that what you found? What you wanted to talk about? Some journal?”

Spencer shook her head, regaining her train of thought. “I know that you don’t know much about keeping a journal or a diary or anything. But when a woman does it, she’s usually writing to get the word out of her head. Women go into so much detail about things that it’s almost overwhelming. I mean, even I can go on and on, pages and pages, about certain things.” Spencer eyed the alpha in front of her.

“So?”

“So...whatever your mom says is important. Especially when she talks about a bunch of packs getting together.”

“What does she say?”

“I don’t know. Deucalion was the only thing that stood out to me. Something my gut told me was important.”

“How many different ways will I have to say ‘what does the journal say’ before you actually grasp it?”

Spencer couldn’t believe that he was being this harsh to her. “I didn’t read all of it.” She admitted. “There wasn’t even much too read. And I had it in my hands for all of ten minutes before we left.” Spencer glanced down at Isaac for some support.

Isaac picked up on her plea and nodded. “Yeah, the only thing she said to me was Deucalion. A lot of the pages are nearly gone.”

“So you have nothing?” Derek asked.

Spencer gaped, but sighed. “Essentially.”

Derek groaned in frustration and turned his back.

“But it’s not really nothing. I mean, sure we don’t really know if this is who we’re looking for but it’s som - ”

“I’m trying to find my pack!” Derek interrupted her loudly.

“I am, too!” Spencer said with a sudden anger that she forced herself to hold back. “They’re my friends too! I want to find them just as much as you do. But I can’t help you to do that if I’m burnt out. I can’t do that if I can’t see straight because I’ve been staring at the same shit for hours!” Spencer took a hard, defensive stance with her hands at her sides, nails digging into her palms.

Isaac stood up next to her, his hand barely touching her back to show that he was there. He knew that him being part of the memory that was her anchor and having that contact would help her to calm down.

“We’re trying, Derek.” She said, practically pleading with him. “Please see that I’m trying.”

Derek narrowed his eyes at her, not letting his true feeling show. He knew that she was trying. Derek knew that Spencer was working as hard as she could. He knew that finding his betas was going to be a long process, especially when they were up against alphas. Derek shot his eyes to Isaac, noticing his arm was raised behind Spencer’s back. He had to guess Isaac was trying to comfort Spencer in a way that Derek, himself, should be. Derek considered Spencer to still be his best friend, maybe even more. But she couldn’t know that.

Derek huffed out a breath, looking back to Spencer. “Get back to work. Let me know when you find something. I’ll be out of town for a while.” Derek left the room without another word.

The two waited in Isaac’s room, not moving an inch until they heard the elevator start moving.

Isaac took a step forward and turned around so he stood directly in front of Spencer. “Spencer?” He questioned.

Without a word, Spencer turned into Isaac’s arms, holding her own around his waist tightly.

Isaac slowly working his arms around her shoulders. “It’s okay.” He rubbed small circles on her back. “We’ll find them. It’ll be okay.”

!@#$#@!

Spencer woke up the next morning, curled up against something hard. She furrowed her brow, eyes still closed and slowly started to stretch herself away from the object. When Spencer couldn’t get away, she started to freak out, hitting and pushing hard against it.

“Spencer!” Someone shouted.

Spencer managed to calm herself the second that she heard the voice. She opened her eyes, seeing that the thing next to her was Isaac. That’s who she had been hitting. She gasped and quickly backed out of the bed.

“Spencer?” Isaac questioned.

Spencer quickly left the room. She hurried into the bathroom and started the shower. Spencer took a deep breath and leaned against the bathroom wall. She held the breath for a good minute to get control of her heart rate. Spencer squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t believe that she was so stupid. How could she do that to Isaac? The only person she had left.

Spencer groaned. She made sure that the water was hot before stripping and entering the shower. Spencer seethed as the water hurt her bare skin, but it helped her to relax. After showering, Spencer stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself. She walked to her room, ignoring Isaac, who was leaning against the kitchen counter eating a bowl of cereal. Spencer closed the door to her room and quickly dressed. She used the towel to pat down her hair, then threw it into the corner she had dirty laundry in.

Spencer took a deep breath with her hand on the door knob. Finally, she swung the door open, revealing Isaac still leaning against the counter, watching her door. He had been waiting for her.

Spencer looked to him and bit her lip. “I’m sorry.”

Isaac shook his head. “Nah, I get it.”

Spencer furrowed her brow. “You do?”

Isaac nodded. “Of course. It’s too soon after Derek. And you know, I’m me.” He placed his bowl in the sink. “I’m the kid who spent nights in the graveyard. The kid who was too shy to say anything to you. The kid who was - ”

“Wait, what do you think I’m sorry for?” Spencer questioned.

Isaac paused, confused. “For staying the night with me? For yesterday? The date and the kiss?”

Spencer laughed to herself and shook her head.

“Is that not what you’re sorry for?”

Spencer sighed. “Isaac, I-I hit you. Like physically laid my hands on you, kind of hit you.”

Isaac looked at her, still lost and confused. “So?”

“You’re really not affected by it?”

Isaac continued to stare at her until he grasped what she was getting at. “Oh…” he said.

Spencer nodded. “Yeah.”

Isaac took slow steps until he was directly in front of Spencer.

Spencer looked up at him through her lashes. “I’m sorry.

Isaac shook his head. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “I know you didn’t mean it.” Isaac told her. “I know you just woke up and you were disoriented. “I get it. Yesterday was a small rollercoaster.”

“You shouldn’t justify it like that. It’s never good for anyone to hit you. You shouldn’t have to put up with it.”

“I’m not. Not anymore.” Isaac promised her. “But what just happened wasn’t anything. We’re okay.”

Spencer shrugged. “I’m still sorry.”

Isaac laughed quietly, pulling away slightly. He tilted his head down. “C-can I have another kiss?”

Spencer rolled her eyes. “You know, I think we’re almost to the point where you don’t have to ask.”

“Maybe I like asking.” Isaac told her. “Maybe I like that I get to hear you say yes.”

Spencer smiled. “Yes, you can have another kiss.”

Isaac dipped his head down, capturing her lips with his. He smiled through it and the softness of it.

Spencer pulled away and hugged him, putting her ear to his chest. “I like you, Isaac.”

“Me, too.”