This Long Journey : Full Story

Chapter 5

I stepped out of the shower and tied my towel around my waist. I grabbed my toothbrush and turned on the sink faucet. I wet my toothbrush, put on some toothpaste, and wet it again then turned off the faucet and started brushing. With my toothbrush in my mouth, I looked up into the mirror. My hair had grown longer and the dark circles that used to always be present under my eyes were finally gone. My muscles had gotten more defined thanks to Chris's extreme training regimen and there was a spot of black right under my collar bone. I stared at it for a moment completely frozen before I yelled, "Danny!"

He came running into the bathroom with claws and fangs out. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"What is this?" I pointed where the black triskele overlain with a triquetra just was but seems to have disappeared.

He studied my chest for a moment with his brows creased in confusion before his eyes flared red and his mouth dropped open in shocked awe. He walked forward slowly and traced the mark with a claw-tipped finger. "It's our pack's symbol. It's beautiful Stiles. Your magic is so amazing."

My breath hitched and I whispered, "Magic?"

He nodded and rested his hand over the tattoo. "Yeah, you're spark finalized our bond with the pack and left a tattoo of our symbol like Derek has the Hale pack symbol tattooed on his back. I think it's also trying to protect us by hiding it from people without supernatural senses."

I nodded dumbly and was about to turn back to the mirror to finish brushing my teeth when I realized Danny still had his hand on my chest and his claws were still out. "Okay... okay we need to work on your control today," I said glad to have something other than my weird magical powers to focus on.

He carefully moved his hand away and closed his eyes. It took a few minutes but he was eventually able to get the claws and fangs under control. However, his eyes stayed blazing red. He huffed in irritation and turned to walk out of the door but he stopped right before he went through it. He rubbed the back of his neck and asked, "Do you think you could leave your shirt off today? It's just my wolf doesn't want you to cover the mark yet."

I stared at his back in surprise but agreed nonetheless. "Yeah, yeah I can do that."

"Thank you," he mumbled and left the bathroom.

I stared at the doorway for another minute before I shrugged and went back to finishing my morning routine.

The music was blaring so loudly I could hardly hear myself think. Danny was a heated presence pressed up against my back. He was moving his hips in time to the music and keeping my movements in sync with his. His pulse was steadily rising but mine had gone into overtime the second he slid behind me.

He tipped his head forward to rest against my shoulder when his nails turned into claws. I suppressed a shiver as warm desire flooded through me and settled in a pit in my stomach. I didn't have time to stop and contemplate though so I turned to face Danny and rest my hand on his cheek. "Hey remember what I said. You need to find an anchor, something that ties you to your humanity."

He growled, "I'm trying Stiles. Why did we have to do this ridiculous stunt again?"

I grabbed a clawed hand with the one from my injured arm and rubbed circles against it with my thumb. "Because we're about to start school and you need to learn control. I figured dancing was better than throwing lacrosse balls at you until you got angry."

He huffed then took a deep breath. After about six more he was able to draw the shift back which surprised me. "Okay I think I got it," he said.

I nodded and said, "You definitely do. What did you use?"