Howling to the Heart || Isaac Lahey

3.

"How come we didn't see you after school? I sent you like three texts and I know Stiles sent you like twenty," Scott said when we walked into Stiles' house a few days after I'd gotten a lift back to Stiles' from Derek.

"I was grabbing something to eat with Derek," I answered, telling the truth. After school, Derek was waiting for me in his Camaro outside of school, saying we needed to talk about the Alpha. I made him buy me something to eat first.

"I still can't believe he's back," he said, walking up the stairs with me. "Is it weird having him around?"

"Kinda," I admitted. "I'm not really use to the whole family thing. But we'll see how it goes." I stopped outside of Stiles' door, knocking a few times.

The last time I barged into his room wasn't my best time. He was in the middle of getting changed and I froze at the sight of his bare chest, causing me to turn red. He still teased me about it to this day.

Stiles opened the door with a cautious look. "Get in." He opened the door more, stepping back. "You two gotta see this."

"Hello to you to," I said, walking into his room and throwing myself onto his bed as Scott followed in and Stiles closed the door behind him.

"I've been up all night reading," Stiles said, his words sounding mumbled together as he waved his hands around walking over to his computer. "Websites, books. All this information."

I raised a brow at his state, sitting up on my elbows. "How much Adderall have you had today?" I asked him.

He looked over at me with a nod. "A lot. Doesn't matter. Okay, just listen," he said, and I snorted with Scott.

"Is this about the body?" Scott asked, sitting down beside me. "Did they find out who did it?"

Stiles spun around in his chair, facing us with papers in his hands. "No, they're still questioning people," he paused, looking over at me. "Even Derek Hale."

"What?" I breathed, sitting up.

Scott looked at me with raised brows. "Weren't you just with him? Did he tell you that?"

"He didn't even mention it once," I answered quietly.

Stiles threw his arms open, eyes wide at me. "You were with him? He could be a murder, Riah!"

"I think I would know if my cousin was a murder considering I'm moving in with him," I said, placing my hands in my lap.

"You're what?" Stiles and Scott exclaimed at the same time. "Why would you do that when you could live with one of us?" Stiles asked with concern painted across his face.

"He's my family," I answered with a shrug. "I told him about my situation, and he offered for me to live with him."

"I-Jesus," Stiles groaned, rubbing his hand down his face. "Okay, we'll come back to that." He turned his attention to Scott. "Remember the joke from the other day? Not a joke anymore."

"Stiles," I murmured in quiet warning, having a strong feeling of where this conversation was going.

He brushed me off, waving a hand. "The wolf. The bite in the woods," he continued on, and I mentally slapped myself for coming over. "I started doing all this reading. Do you even know why a wolf howls?" he asked, rising to his feet.

"It's a signal," I answered, and they both snapped their heads to me. Stiles looked like he was going to have a heart attack. "When a wolf's alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack."

"How the hell do you know that?" Stiles asked, looking baffled.

"I read it somewhere," I lied, biting my lip. Knowing Stiles, he already figured out what I knew which meant I was fucked.