Howling to the Heart || Isaac Lahey

76.

Scott, Stiles, and Allison had been under the water for nearly half a day, and in that time, Lydia had fallen asleep with her head in Neriah's lap. Isaac had been pacing in the hallway behind them and Deaton had been sitting on the ground across from the girls, staring at the tubs. Even the sun had come up, making the room glow brighter.

"They're gonna come back, right?" Neriah quietly asked Deaton, gently running a hand through Lydia's hair. "They have to come back."

Deaton stayed unusually quiet, still staring at the tubs with a blank expression.

"If they don't come back..." she gulped, turning her attention to the tubs. "Scott and Stiles have been my family since I could remember."

"I know," Deaton finally said, looking at her with a nod as she looked at him. "Do you know why I've always trusted you like I trust Scott?"

Neriah furrowed her brows, shaking her head. "I honestly didn't even know you trusted me."

"When you were seven, Talia Hale brought you to me," he started and her hand froze on Lydia's hair as she blinked hard. "Somehow, you turned into a black wolf on the full moon—just like she could—but in the process, your legs were shattered due to you being so young with no control."

"M-My legs?" she stuttered, glancing down to her black jean legs that weren't shattered. "What happened?"

"Well, you stayed as a wolf for three days here. Your mother knew and she stayed by your side with Talia, but your father...they didn't trust him to know that you could transform," he said grimly, and she couldn't blame him. She didn't trust her father either. "When you changed back into your human form, Talia said one thing to me about you and it has always stayed with me since."

"What did she say?" Neriah whispered.

Deaton looked back to Scott for a long minute, before sighing. "You were meant to be the next alpha of the Hale pack." The was a long pause as Neriah's eyes widened and questions filled her head. "Her plan from the night you transformed into a wolf, was to make sure that when she had to step down, it would be you taking her place."

"Huh?" Neriah's jaw dropped as Lydia groaned. "But what about Derek or her own kids? Why would she make me the alpha?"

"I never got to ask," he admitted, leaning his head back against the wall. "She asked me to be your emissary when the time came for you to be the alpha."

"Now that's something," Isaac said, stopping in the doorway with a raised brow. "Don't let Derek or Peter find out."

"No way in hell—"

Three heartbeats and gasps filled the room, making Lydia jolt up, nearly head butting Neriah. But she got to her feet, pulling Lydia up with her to see that their friends were alive with surprised faces, looking around.

"I saw it!" Scott said, getting out of the tub. "I know where it is."

Stiles started to get out of the tub next to him. "We passed it. There's—There's a stump, this huge tree. Well, it's not huge anymore. It was cut down. But it's still big, though, very big."

"It was the night we were looking for the body," Scott said, nearly clashing his words with Stiles.

"Yeah, the same night you were bit by Peter," Stiles finished.

"I was there too, in the car with my mother," Allison added, still standing in the tub. "We almost hit someone."

Scott widened his eyes at her. "It was me. You almost hit me." Allison gasped and Scott turned back to the others while Neriah's head swirled with information. "We can find it."