Chapter Twenty-Two
Danny was in his room with the door closed when Chris got downstairs. He knocked and waited for an answer. When none was forthcoming, he called softly through the door.
“Danny, can I come in or do you need some space?”
“You can come in,” Danny called back, so soft that even his shifter ears only just caught it.
Danny was sitting on the floor, his back against the end of the bed, his knees tucked up tight to his chest. Chris closed the bedroom door behind him and sat on the floor in front of it.
“You did so well this afternoon. I can’t believe how brave you were.”
Danny made a face. “I ran away.”
“You had enough, and you needed a break. You didn’t run screaming from the room the moment you watched me shift. You stayed, you walked right up to me, you put your hands on me. I thought it would take days, maybe even weeks, to get to that point.”
“I was petting you like a dog.”
Danny’s words surprised a laugh from him. “I’ve had worse, believe me. At least you didn’t call me ‘good boy’, that would have been unforgivable.”
That got a chuckle out of Danny.
“Where do we go from here?”
“Tomorrow, we do that again. And after that, maybe I can spend half my time in wolf form around the house, just so you get used to it.”
“Does it hurt a lot, the change?”
“You saw how quick it was, right? And that was me going kind of slow so you could really see what it looked like. It hurts, yeah. For about a second or two. And then you get this rush, of adrenaline, of endorphins, you know, the happy hormones. Shifting isn’t just something your body can do, it’s something your body likes to do. There are all sorts of benefits, not just the advantages that come with becoming a wolf whenever you feel like it.”
“Like what?”
“Strength, for one. Better healing. Sharper senses. A stronger libido, and a more potent response to sex. We don’t tend to suffer the same level of human illnesses or problems.”
“Aren’t most of those enhancements there just by being shifters?”
“They’re present, yeah, but to really get them going, get them working at a high level, you need to switch forms regularly. At least a few times a week.”
“How often do you shift?”
“Daily, when I can.”
“But at the hospital—”
“I ran in those woods we walked in. Went out at twilight, the best time for hunting. I’ve changed in my room here, while you were sleeping.”
“Weren’t you scared you’d run into people or hunters out in the woods?”
“Nah, I’d scoped the place out first. It wasn’t frequented by humans and wasn’t a designated hunting area.”
“What do wolves do here, in the city?”
“Change indoors, mostly. And there are a few privately owned places where it’s considered safe. Some of them are walled, like orchards, just to make doubly sure humans don’t wander in. When you get the hang of things, we’ll ask Will about going to Knowledge Park, it’s just outside the city. There’s nothing like getting to stretch your legs out in the wild.”
He let his head relax back against the door.
“How will I know when I’m ready to change? Will it just come on me suddenly or will I have some warning?”
Danny’s embarrassment seemed to have abated without the need for much persuasion.
“You’ll start getting an urge, like a hot itch under your skin all over your body. That’ll be the first sign. Some shifters have dreams, of being wolves, running through forests, hunting, howling at the moon, that sort of stuff. There’s some argument as to whether the dreams mean anything. Some say it’s old memories carried through generations. Others say it’s just psychological. You know you’re approaching your first change, so what’s going to be on your mind but being a wolf?”
“Is it kind of a mind over matter thing?” Danny asked. “I had a teacher who used to talk about that a lot.”
Chris smiled but shook his head slowly. “Not exactly. In this instance, your mind and matter, meaning your body, need to work together, in tandem. If you overthink it, you won’t have much luck either. You have to be relaxed, ready, and accepting of the changes that are going to come.”
“Can you get stuck? Like as a wolf or halfway through?”
Chris hid a smile behind his hand, forcing his expression back to something neutral before he answered.
“Changing is an all-or-nothing thing. Once the process has started, it’ll finish. If for some reason you can’t change, like you’re injured or you don’t have enough energy, you just won’t be able to get things going. It’s easily remedied by looking after whatever the problem is.”
“So no half-wolf, half-man, deformed monster things.”
“Only in the tabloids,” Chris joked.
The next day, they tried it again. This time, as agreed beforehand, Chris let Danny come to him. But once Danny had had a few minutes to get used to his presence, he got up and moved around.
At first, that seemed to unsettle Danny, the Omega watching him with wide, uncertain eyes. But he relaxed when all Chris did was explore the room, sniffing out the various scents around the place. He could tell the only people who’d been there recently were them, Jake, Rhea, and Will. There was one unfamiliar shifter scent, probably the person Mitch had sent to get the place ready for them.
Danny started walking around the room after him, more curious than scared. Chris made sure to brush against him as he moved past, Danny tensing at first, but easing off again once he realized Chris didn’t mean him any harm.
The day after, Chris spent most of his time as a wolf, even eating his meals that way. Danny seemed torn between bewilderment and bemusement, but there was little to no fear.
Danny fell asleep on a beanbag in the relaxation room that afternoon, Chris at his feet, Danny’s hand resting on his head. He woke with a jump and curled onto his side, peering down at Chris, fingers idly trailing through the fur on Chris’ neck. Chris could see the tears trailing down his face, could smell the salty liquid. Danny slid down to sit on the floor next to him, throwing his arms around Chris' neck and burying his face in Chris’ fur, wetting it with his tears. Chris whined, low and keening, as Danny cried quietly against him.
On the fourth day, Chris woke before dawn to find Danny standing by the end of his bed, pale but triumphant. “It itches all over, under my skin. Does that mean I’m ready?”