Chapter Text
The Lahey kid was different than the other werewolves Chris had interacted with in Beacon Hills. Most of that probably came down to first impressions. Whereas the other wolves usually met the Argents with a crossbow in between them, Chris’ first time actually seeing Isaac was when he was imploring Scott to help him not lose his daughter and then driving them to meet Derek. No wonder the kid didn’t seem to respect him.
Every other wolf either spoke to him with anger and thinly veiled threats (Derek), or forced politeness to cover the fear and noble determination (Scott). And every wolf, no matter their feelings, knew better than to turn their back to a hunter.
Except for Isaac. Tonight Chris was able to add a third category “how werewolves feel about him”: overconfident indifference only a teenager could manage.
Chris and his father tried to indirectly almost got Isaac killed and Allison directly almost killed him, but you wouldn’t know that from the carefree way Isaac was loping through the woods in front of Chris.
“I can’t believe the Lord of the Rings plan worked on you,” Isaac told him.
Chris sighed. “What?”
“Scott totally got that from Lord of the Rings. Asking you to take him past the scene of a crime to change your mind about joining the fight, it's how Pippin got the Ents to join the fight against Mordor.”
Chris didn’t think any amount of sighing could properly convey his exasperation so he ignored Issac and only talked to the two who were taking this seriously.
The boys led him to a clearing where the rogue wolves were last seen.
“You’re tracking them by print?” he asked Scott.
“Trying to,” the kid answered.
“Well, then you’ve been wasting your time. There’s only one creature on earth that can visually track footprints, and that’s man,” he said, quoting what Gerard had told him when he was young and just starting training. “And if you’re not trained like me, you have no idea that this print is Boyd’s and these-”
“Are Cora’s,” Isaac said confidently from where he was leaning against a tree.
“Nope, they’re yours,” Chris said, more amused than annoyed for some reason, but still a fair amount annoyed. “You trampled Cora’s as soon as you walked over here.”
Isaac had the decency and self-awareness to look embarrassed.
Chris never thought he would end up mentoring a bunch of werewolves on how to use their abilities, much less in the context of hunting other werewolves, but he tried his best to use what he knew to help them. He felt both shame and righteous anger at using Gerard’s teachings to help the very creatures they sought to kill.
As they made their way through the forest, Chris asked Derek about his sister, learning that he hadn’t seen her in nine years.
“Do you feel like you have a lock on her scent?” Chris asked. Derek just shook his head in response. It felt odd asked Derek Hale of all people about how his wolf abilities could help.
“Scott? How confident are you in your skills?” Chris asked the younger boy.
“Honestly, most of the time I’m trying not to think about all the things I can smell.”
Chris didn’t bother asking Isaac. It’s important when doing a group mission to identify your weakest member. He went ahead with coming up with a plan to trap the rogue werewolves in the school.
They headed back to Chris' car for the needed supplies. He probably didn’t have to demonstrate the ultrasonic emitters at the boys’ expense but their annoyance made him smile for the first time in a while.
“Does anyone else want to rethink the plan where we just, uh, kill them?” Isaac asked as Chris handed out the emitters.
Chris glared at him and mentally put him on his list fo supernatural creatures to keep an eye on.
He sent the boys out on foot to place the emitters along the perimeter, giving Isaac a few less than the other two.
“You’ll run faster without the leather boots and jacket,” Chris told him as the other two left.
Like every other teenager that had been told their outfit was impractical, Isaac just scowled.
The plan went to shit pretty quickly. As Argent pulled his car up to the school, he saw Boyd and Cora facing Isaac who had somehow kept his impractical outfit, right down to the scarf. It was a good thing he had werewolf healing or his feet would be bleeding from blisters.
Chris honked his horn to redirect the two feral wolves toward Derek instead, who had better odds. Unfortunately, the two seemed to have enough human intelligence left in them to realize they had a better chance running and lept onto the roof.
“The red doors. Someone has to get them open,” Chris barked as they regrouped.
“Someone has to drive them inside,” Scott said.
“I’ll go,” Chris said immediately, charging his baton.
“No. I’m faster,” Isaac said, taking off before Chris could argue it wasn’t safe. All he could do was sigh.
Chris was almost relieved when he, Derek, and Scott got locked in the school with them because that meant Isaac had actually succeeded in driving them into the school. He hadn’t had a lot of hope and he trusted the crew inside the school to stay alive more than Isaac.
A few days later, Chris saw bandages around Allison’s arms. She had obviously been trying to hide it from him, but her sleeves had gotten rolled up when they were eating dinner. He grabbed her arm before she could hide it again.
“What’s this?” he asked sharply.
“Nothing,” she said immediately.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” she said again. “There was an accident at school.”
“What kind of accident?” he asked, fully ready to call a lawyer or put her under house arrest for her own protection.
“There was a kid who was freaking out and he just kind of grabbed me-”
“Who? Give me a name,” he ordered. This kid was never getting near his daughter again.
“Dad! It wasn’t his fault! Another kid trapped us in the janitor’s closet and he’s claustrophobic. He did more damage to himself banging on the door than he did scratching me. And he felt really bad about it afterward,” Allison rushed to explain.
Chris had a suspicion as to who the boy was. He had been to the Lahey house, and more specifically the basement, when investigating the Kanima murders.
“Who locked you two in?” Chris asked, shifting his focus to a new target.
“Just some new kids trying to climb the social ladder,” she said vaguely. Chris knew she was leaving something out but he had promised her he wouldn’t get involved in the supernatural.
“Okay,” he relented.
They continued eating for a minute.
“I can speak to the school on you and Isaac’s behalf, or talk to the police. We can get a restraining order so they’ll leave you two alone,” Chris offered.
Allison shook her head. “Scott said he’d deal with it. I think he’ll be more effective than the police.”
Definitely supernatural involvement.
“Maybe you should stay away from Scott and Isaac for a while, make sure you don’t get caught in the crossfire,” he suggested. He prepared himself for some teenage outrage.
Instead, Allison just sighed. “Neither of them want anything to do with me anyway.”
Chris hated the rueful smile on his daughter’s face but couldn’t bring himself to say anything that could encourage her friendship with the boys so he stayed silent.
It didn’t take long for Chris to find out all about the Alpha Pack. As worried as he was for the boys, he couldn’t lose his daughter or leave Allison without a father. They were sitting this out.