Howling to the Heart || Isaac Lahey

51.

Neriah was thankful the summer wasn't eventful. The lazy summer was exactly what she needed. There were no hunters chasing her, no murdering creatures, no deaths, and rarely any visits from any of the Hale's. She ended up just spending most of the summer with Stiles and Scott at her apartment or at either of their houses.

Jackson got moved to London, which Neriah had to admit was a concern, especially with the boys new werewolf abilities. Derek had helped him learn, but...It was Derek.

Gerard was a no show and she hoped it would stay that way for the rest of her immortal life. The man was too old to be acting young, honestly. Allison and her farther had gone to France, so they were quiet, thankfully. But that did leave a heartbroken Scott with Neriah and Stiles to deal with.

Thankfully over the summer, Neriah got to work on her drinking habits with blood, meaning she was now in full control of her werewolf side and her vampire side.

Stiles had finally grown out his hair and holy lord did Neriah love it. She loved buzzcut Stiles, but longer hair Stiles was a new level, and she never knew she needed it in her life. The pair had grown together over the summer, always stuck together with their time killed with kisses and movies, but they still weren't dating, yet.

Even over the summer, Neriah had gotten a difference with her appearance. Her brown hair was longer, but she'd dyed two streaks of her hair dark red, which Stiles seemed to rave about any chance he got to twirl his finger around it.

And then there was Scott, who Neriah was currently staring at with a shake of her head in a tattoo shop.

"When this is over, I'm going to laugh at you," Neriah hummed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What? Why?" Scott asked, furrowing his brows at her disappointed look while Stiles nervously looked around, wishing to be anywhere but in the shop.

"You'll see." Neriah shrugged her shoulders. Maybe she should've told Scott that his tattoo wouldn't stay, but she did try to talk him out of it twice already and he refused to listen.

"I still think this is a dumb idea," Stiles threw in, wrapping an arm around Neriah's back as she faintly smiled at his touch.

Scott rolled his eyes, sitting in the chair. "It's just one tattoo. You didn't say anything to Riah when she said she'll get one with me next time."

Stiles pointed a finger at the girl. "She terrifies me," he stated in a serious tone and then pointed at Scott. "You terrify me, but you can't hurt me without making her mad and she terrifies you."

The tattoo artist, covered in ink with a thick beard, chuckled deeply, looking around at them before landing his eyes on her. "I'm gonna take a guess that you pull these two into line often?"

"You have no idea," she mumbled, receiving an annoyed look from the both of them.

The man chuckled again and then turned to Scott, holding his hand open. "You got me a photo of what you want or what?"

Scott quickly stuck his hand into his pocket before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to the man. "It's pretty simple."

"Boy, it's a good thing you drew me a picture," the man sarcastically remarked and Neriah snorted.

"Hey, Scott," Stiles said from beside her, "sure you don't want something like this?"

Neriah looked over to see him holding up a tattoo folder of what she thought was the freaking kanima, making her heart slightly drop in her chest.

"You're cruel," she cringed, slapping his shoulder. "That thing ki—kindly hugged me," she quickly corrected herself.

"Stiles raised a brow at her. "Too soon?" She rolled her eyes and he flipped through the folder again. "I don't know, man, are you sure about this? I mean, these thing are pretty permanent, you know?"