Derek frowned in return, but then shook his head. "It's better you know. Isaac trusts me, and you're pack now."
He shrugged and gestured for Scott to take a seat if he wanted, not at the desk, but at the leather armchair to the side. "It's not much of a story. But it's important you understand what he is to the pack, and he is to you. A slave, yes. A slave who belongs to your packmate. But since he's a werewolf, he's also your packmate."
He exhaled, not pacing, but shifting his weight to one side before he started speaking. "Our families knew each other when we were young. Before the fire. After the fire...I guess his father didn't think he had any more choice. He sold Isaac into slavery to pay his debts. Laura and I had no idea until later, when I found him by accident. I...persuaded...his Master to sell him to me and brought him to live with us about...eighteen months ago now, I suppose," he finished, doing the mental calculations.
"When he got here... we had no idea how to treat him," he admitted. "I tried to free him, but he would go into these...rages and basically shut down. I tried to treat him as an equal, but that didn't work either, and for...whatever reason...he saw me as his Master." He swallowed. "I wasn't looking for a slave. I didn't want one. I...might have made it more difficult than it should have been on Isaac because of it."