Howling to the Heart || Isaac Lahey

21.

"Call it again," Scott said for the fifth time as he frantically looked around his room for his phone he hadn't seen since the hunters tried killing him, Derek, and Jackson last night.

"It's not here," Stiles sighed, sitting backward on a chair.

Scott picked up my legs, looking under them as I laid on his bed. "Scott," I groaned, and he dropped my legs, looking under his bed now. "So you lost your phone. Why don't you just get a new one?"

"I can't afford a new one," he said, throwing things out from under his bed that crashed against his wall. "And I can't do this alone. We have to find Derek."

"One," I said, "you aren't alone, dumbass. You still got Stiles and me." Stiles nodded his head in agreement. "And two, didn't you say my asshat of a cousin walked into gunfire? If it was the hunters then he sounds pretty dead to me."

"Argent's plan was to use him to get the Alpha," Scott rambled, almost sounding like he said it all at once. "They're not gonna kill him."

"All right, so then just let them do what they're planning, you know?" Stiles said and Scott started throwing clothes out of his bathroom. "They use Derek to get Peter, problem solved."

"Not if Peter's going after Allison to find Derek!" Scott frustratedly yelled, racing back out of the bathroom. "I can't protect her on my own. Which means we need to find Derek first. Just...Just help me!" He threw a ball and it bounced off Stiles' head, making me laugh.

"You know, you probably lost it when you two were fighting," Stiles pointed out. "You remember that, when he was trying to kill you? After you interrupted him trying to kill Jackson? Are you starting to see a pattern of violent behaviour here?"

"He wasn't going to kill anyone," Scott declared. "And I'm not letting him die."

"Could you at least think about letting him die?" Stiles asked, throwing his hands around. "For me?"

Scott turned to me at his desk. "How are you not mad at him right now?"

I lifted my head up, placing my hands behind it. "My father nearly killed me, twice, and threatened to do something to someone I care about, and Derek is a bipolar werewolf that can't pick a side. I say let them both die."

"See!" Stiles exclaimed, pointing at me while looking at Scott. "Listen to her. She's a Hale so she knows more than us."

I nodded my head and looked over at Scott. "Trust me, my family are just manipulating liars."

"With anger issues," Stiles added.

I pegged a pillow at him, hitting him right in the face. "I don't have anger issues!"

He threw the pillow at my feet and raised a brow. "You just proved it."

"Asshat," I mumbled, looking over to Scott who was staring at the wall, not noticing us. "What is it?" I asked him, sitting up.

"My mom just got home from work," he said with a sad expression and then pointed a finger at me. "Please don't listen in to her."

I threw my hands up. "Noted."

"Is she okay?" Stiles asked gently. Scott only nodded his head, leaning back against his desk. "What's she doing?"

"Crying," he said, sitting down at the end of the bed near my feet.

Stiles sent me a concerned glance and I sat up, crossing my legs. "Scott, you can't protect everyone," I said softly.

He looked up at Stiles and then back at me. "I have to."