Stiles is just finishing with re-checking their bags to make sure the have everything they need. When Kira approaches. Boyd had brought her few belonging that would be allowed with her down to the stables earlier, giving Kira nothing to worry about but her final goodbyes to her parents.

"We are only taking one horse?" The fox asks quietly as she takes in the large beast before her.

Stiles can't keep the proud grin off his face. "Roscoe is the best there is. She'll get us where we need to go."

He lovingly pats her flank. She was large for horse standards, could almost rival that of a draft horse, but she had the steady speed to her that would make a thoroughbred jealous. Jet black hide with streaks of baby blue in her mane, large gleaming black hooves, and intelligent eyes; to Stiles she was a beautiful creature and a strong friend.

"Are you sure she can carry both of us? She seems old."

"Hey, don't insult my baby. They grey on her muzzle is natural for a horse her age." The mage glares at his friend as he goes to scratch behind Roscoe's ear, soothing her from the insult.

"Do you know what you are looking at, Kira?" Boyd asks with a smirk. He had been just as skeptical of the horse when he first met her as well.

"No?" Kira frowns taking in Roscoe as if she's a new puzzle to solve.

"She's a shadow stallion; one of the last of her kind. She is among the few creatures that can transport other living beings across the border." Kira's mouth forms an 'O' as she looks a Roscoe with new understanding at Derek's words. "And since she is our only way to get you across the border, I suggest you be nice to her." Before the young fox can speak Derek is beside her, handing her a few sugar cubes.

With slow movements Kira makes her way to Roscoe's head and offers her the treat of forgiveness on a flat hand. The horse doesn't hesitate to nibble up the snack. Kira giggles as the stallion's lips at her palm for more.

"She's going to be okay, right? We aren't really heading anywhere safe."

Stiles is touched by the worry. "I won't let anything happen to her." He buries his nose in the stallion's neck, breathing her in. "Just like she didn't let anything bad happen to me all those years ago."

No one speaks of the night he is meaning. Even if Kira doesn't truly know she has an idea, just like most of the kingdom, on how an orphaned mage came to be I the company of the Royals.

"Are we ready?" Stiles asks breaking himself out of his memories.

When everyone nods Stiles pulls himself into the Roscoe's saddle, fixing his cloak before helping Kira up to settle behind him; her dark purple cloak clashing with his blood red fabric.

Stiles raises an eyebrow at Derek, "Are you going to shift, Sourwolf?"

The prince rolls his eyes though he can't hide his smile on his lips. He and Boyd disappear in a stable, seconds later two large wolves emerge. One a deep chocolate, the eyes the same dark coloring of Boyd's; the wolf with green orbs dons a pitch-black hide that seems to glisten in any lighting. Stiles loves Derek's wolf form. He is gorgeous as a man, but there is something breathtaking in the powerful grace of the beast.

Both wolves' eyes flash electric blue, telling him they are ready to go. With a soft nudge of his heel, Stiles urges Roscoe on. Her hooves are soft thuds on the dirt road leading from the stables to the woods, the wolves silent escorts beside them.

"I've never been to the border." Kira says softly after some time of riding in silence.

"No? Most make it a goal to make a trip to the border at least once in their youth."

"I hadn't been away from my village until I was brought to the castle."

Stiles stomach twists into knots. "And here we are making you leave again."

"Don't sound so bitter. I've made my peace with it. Its part of who I am. I need to learn to control this before I truly hurt someone. I need to learn how to keep my loved ones safe, no matter how long it takes." She wraps her arms around his waist, hooking her chin onto his shoulder. "Thank you for looking out for me." She says softly.

Stiles can only nod. If he were truly looking out for her he would have found another way.

"How many times have you been to the border?"

"Many. Its part of my duty to keep tabs on the border and the kingdoms beyond."

"So you've crossed the border several times?"

"No." He pauses, eyes catching on how Derek's ear twitches towards him. "Only once."

He has only ever discussed his experience twice. Once as a tearful child trying to explain everything through his terror to a very intimidating werewolf with a crown and one night he whispered the memory into his wolf's chest as strong arms held him tightly.

"Can you cross by yourself like most of the stories say?" Kira asks quietly.

Stiles shrugs. "Supposedly. All shadow walkers can cross the border on their own, but only a few creatures can truly navigate through the border. According to legend, mages have a sort of connection with the border."

"Druids can understand the forest, mages the border." Kira mutters.

"Yes, exactly. Most books about the mages say that. But legend is one thing and reality another. There aren't many of us out there, though. I've never even met another mage. I have no one to ask if the theory is true."

"Do you feel a connection to the border?"

Stiles is quiet. Every time he's been to the border he's always felt the shadows calling to him, caressing him as they invited him in. Standing on the edge was like being so close to breathing in fresh air, as if he knew everything would be so much clearer if he just took a step inside. He'd never gotten around to asking Derek what the border was like for him. Maybe he should after this trip.

Maybe he should stop being so afraid of the border.

"Stiles?"

He blinks not realizing he had been quiet for so long. "Yes?" He meets the green-orbed stare as Derek turns his head to him.

Yes, they will be discussing this sometime in the future.


It takes them three days to arrive at the border. They could have traveled through the shadows, but no one wanted to speed up the trip.

Roscoe picks up her pace as they near a wall of ever moving shadows that makes up the border. Hills line the black river that touches the clouds. They might have been mountains once, a mighty range that stretched across the land, but the shadows seem to have crushed them under their weight. Warping them into something just as ridged as the border's outline.

A hut sits at the base of one of the grassy peaks. Stiles has always been amazed with how dark and lush the grass is this close to the border. It wasn't just the grass; anything that grew near the border was always vibrant with life.

"A hut is allowed to be this close to the border?" Kira asks.

"Yes, its where a border guard lives."

Just like the other huts that are stationed along the border. All a calculated distance a part; far enough to cover as much ground as possible, but not to far to be able to see a great man-sized fire on top of a peak.

A man steps out of the hut, muscular chest on display as he dons only a pair of loose trousers. His smiles is as bright as his blonde hair gleaming in the sun-light.

"Parrish." Stiles calls in greeting.

"Stiles!"

A soft rumble emits from the black wolf at the cheerful greeting. Stiles rolls his eyes. "Don't be such a sourwolf. I've told you there is nothing to be jealous of." He admonishes causing Kira to giggle and Boyd to huff with amusement.

Derek bows his head, grumbling again as Parrish approaches.

"What brings you to the border? You visited no less then a month ago." He takes Roscoe's reins. Helping Stiles keep her steady as she paws at the ground.

Normally on his visits he lets the stallion roam the border to her delight. He isn't sure where she goes or what she does, but she is always back when he whistles for her.

"We are needing to escort Lady Kira to the desert. We'll be passing through today."

Parrish's blue eyes take in the fox seated behind him. She must flash her eyes for understanding passes Parrish's face.

"My name is Jordan Parrish. I'll be sure to welcome you home when the time is right, Lady Kira."

For the only creatures that could possibly live as long as a fox is a hellhound. The species also seems to have a peculiar way of passing important memories down to their offspring. As long as Parrish sires a child Kira will always be welcomed home at the border even if she outlives the hound before them. Though the memories can't be accessed until the child presents. The only way for a hellhound to present is to die and be reborn from the ashes. Stiles thinks it's a gruesome process even if none of the hellhounds seem to be bothered by their metamorphoses process.

Kira's arms tighten around Stiles' waist as Roscoe becomes antsier. Parrish seems to notice the wolves for the first time as his nostrils flare.

"My Prince." The hound bows his head towards Derek who flashes his eyes in acceptance. Parrish takes in everyone as if calculating something in his head then nodding to himself. "I will be on the look out for your return. Safe travels."

Parrish leads Roscoe to the edge of the black river like border; one step and they will enter the abyss. "Do you need me to guide you?"

Shaking his head, Stiles takes a deep breath before calling up his magic. He lets a rope of blue light slip from each hand. The magic snakes towards the wolves on either side of Roscoe, wrapping around their necks to create a loose collar and leash.

"What are you doing?" Kira questions.

"Like we discussed earlier, Derek and Boyd can cross through the border though they can not navigate it. From my understanding they won't even be able to track us once we are in the shadows. This keeps us connected so that we emerge in the same place on the other side." Stiles adjusts his grip on the reins, the magic still pulsing from his palms to hold the connection.

"They can not manipulate the border like shadows, but you can?"

"From what I've read its extremely difficult. It's easy to get lost in the border without a sense of direction. Some have entered and never emerged on either side. Lucky for us Roscoe knows what she's doing leaving me to focus on my magic so that doesn't become either of us." He nods to Parrish.

"Hold on tight." Is his only warning to the fox and wolves before the hellhound releases the reins and Roscoe is barreling forward. Kira squeak, fingers digging into Stiles' clothing as she clings to him.

His suspicions are right; it is like feeling his lungs with the freshest air – as if for the first time he's truly breathing. His eyes take in the darkness, takes in the fact that he can see in the darkness more clearly then any shadow he's experienced. He can see the hills, the grass. He can see to each hut lining this beautiful place; the river before them, the trees outcropping the Hunter kingdom, the fields of purple wolfsbane flowers in the Alpha territory. As if the border is allowing him to see through it. Allowing him to see everything it can.

Then Roscoe is leaping and they erupt into sunlight on the other side of the river. Stiles' chest seizes as he takes a breath of stale air. His heart hammers in his chest as his sight is taken from him by the dots dancing in his vision. He can't breathe – can't speak. Adrenalin races through his veins causing him to shake. He doesn't realize he's fallen out of the saddle until a pair of strong arms is jarring him as they catch him. Someone is speaking to him but he doesn't know what is being said.

He needs to breathe.

He can't breathe. Why can't he breathe?

Something soft and warm is being pressed against his lips. Lips. They were lips – familiar ones at that. When they leave him he is able to take in a shaky breath. Blinking away the dots Stiles takes in Derek's face hovering above him. He runs trembling fingers along the stumbled jaw; confirming that this is real and that his body is beginning to calm down.

"You were having a panic attack." The wolf whispers.

Stiles can see the worry in his eyes. "Yes." He breathes.

"You haven't had one of these for years."

Not since the short months after his arrival in the Shadow Realm; the days where he could barely function without seizing into a breathless fit.

With help from Derek, Stiles manages to pull himself into a sitting position.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Kira asks as she climbs off Roscoe.

Boyd shifts to grab the stallion's reins before she can wander off.

"Stiles." Derek ducks his head to catch the mage's eyes again. "Can you tell us what happened?"

He swallows thickly. "I could see everything. Everything the border touches, everything in the border. I could feel it. It was like…. Coming up from the bottom of a lake and breaching the surface." His eyes fall onto the border. "Then we were here and it was like I was a candle being snuffed out."

He takes in Derek's expression. Waiting for the worry to turn into fear, fear of him – of what he can apparently do. But it doesn't. The worry remains, though it softens a bit.

"This didn't happen before?"

Slowly Stiles shakes his head. "I wasn't focusing on the border before."

Green orbs take him in again. "We are camping here for the night."

"What? No. This isn't the Shadow Realm. We aren't safe here and its only noon."

"Stiles, you just had a panic attack. You need to rest. We'll make camp here close enough to the border if we need to run. I promise we'll leave by first daylight."

Stiles opens his mouth to argue but Boyd's soft words cut him off. "There is no need to rush."

The mage's whiskey orbs flicker to Kira who stands tall with her lips pierced, not looking at any of them. Prolonging their trip one more night wouldn't hurt them.

With a sigh he settles more into his sitting position. "Fine. We'll camp here for tonight." His eyes roam over the prince's body. "Time for you to put some clothes on."

Kira gasps as if she is just now discovering that the two very attractive werewolves are buck-ass nude. The wolves are quick to grab a pair of undershorts from the saddlebags and slip them on. Once they are covered they begin the task of unstrapping everything from Roscoe. Derek raises an eyebrow at Stiles, who is still sitting in his soft patch of grass, silently asking what to do with the reins.

"Go ahead and free her. I'll call her in the morning."

Once the stallion is bare she takes off towards the border, clearing the river in one mighty leap.

The three weres get to work at setting up camp. They hadn't brought a tent; only the essentials. If the weather turns bad they will have to find shelter. Taking them farther away from the safety of the border.

Derek unrolls Stiles' bedroll next to his own gesturing for Stiles to join him once he sits.

"Kira and I are going to go hunting for supper." Boyd speaks just as Stiles settles between Derek's legs.

Derek hums pulling Stiles back to lean against his chest. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. I promise. It was just…. overwhelming."

"I wish there were more mages out there so that you could speak with them. To learn more about this spark inside you."

"If only my kind hadn't been hunted to near extinction. I find it ironic that my own people is to blame."

"I wouldn't call the riders your people."

"But they are. Mages that fell into dark corrupted ways, they became so sick on power their magic turned green. They needed more, wanted more, and the way to get that was by draining the magic from other mages." Derek wraps his arms around Stiles as the younger man loses himself in his rambling. "They say the riders still live. That they've whipped out villages so thoroughly that we can't even remember them. All in their quest to hunt down the few mages that are left. They'll kill anything in their way. Won't rest until they have what they are hunting."

Derek nuzzles his neck. "They haven't come for you."

Stiles tilts his head giving Derek more access to his neck. "They've not set their sites on me yet. They won't until they are done hunting the poor souls they target before me. Who knows I might be next."

"I don't believe so. There hasn't been a single whisper of the riders for decades."

Stiles turns his head. "Did you not hear about the destroying whole villages part? There wouldn't be any witnesses to spread whispers." The wolf huffs, opening his mouth to say something but Stiles speaks again. "What did you see?"

"What?"

"While we were traveling through the border."

The prince frowns. "Nothing. I couldn't see, hear, or smell anything. With shadows I know where I am, where I'm going. I can track through them with sight and smell. I can see the lighted gateways of places to emerge from. But the border cut off all my senses. It was actually quiet unnerving. If I hadn't felt your magic around my neck I could have easily been lost."

Stiles turns until his legs are on either side of Derek's hips. The wolf curls his own legs in, as if trying to hold Stiles in a nest of limbs. "I will never allow you to be lost."

Derek's smile is brighter then the sun. He leans in, lips softly grazing Stiles' own. The mage wastes no time in burying his fingers in dark locks, pulling the wolf closer.

Why hadn't he allowed Derek to fuck him at least once the night before they left? Why hadn't he even tried to ride his wolf to completion? Because this was everything.

Hips grinding, clothed cocks grazing, tongues exploring on another, yes this is everything Stiles will ever need.

Derek breaks away. Leaving them both panting with glazed eyes. "We can't. Not here. Boyd and Kira are bound to return any moment with meat for supper."

"Then we find somewhere we can."

"And make them worry where we've gone?" He smiles seductively as he leans in to nibble at Stiles' ear. "I promise that when we return I will thoroughly fuck you into my bed. Make sure you won't be able to leave my room for a week."

A moan leaves Stiles' throat as his hips jerk at the thought.

"No! Stop it right now!" Boyd growls as he emerges from the woods, a deer slung over his shoulder. Kira's face a bright red as she looks anywhere but at Derek and Stiles.

With a frustrated groan Stiles climbs out of Derek's lap and begins to prepare a fire. He most certainly does not acknowledge his tease of a lover as they prepare the deer and cook a hardy meal. What they don't cook is properly wrapped and packed in the saddlebags.

While they are eating Stiles notices Kira staring at him. "What is it?"

"Your cloak. It didn't change with the rest of our clothing."

The mage takes in the fabric surrounding them for the first time. The fox was right. Everything was black. No matter what the true color had been while in the Shadow Realm, it had all turned the color of night. The cloak around Kira's shoulders – that was a type of black that seemed to eat any light that touched it. Yet Stiles' cloak remained a brilliant red.

"It was made from the fibers of a nemeton, like all true cloaks are. But it was made before the border – before the day one of the oldest nemeton was cut down. That day changed everything, from the creatures that lived in the Shadow Realm to the very things made there. Our clothes will change to the color of shadows. A mage's magic will only reveal its true color when they are on the right side of the border. Every shadow wolf will be born with blue eyes instead of the typical gold of others. Every creature that belonged to the Shadow Realm has something about them that sets them a part from the people this side of the border." He lets his fingertips dance with his magic. The once brilliant blue color is now a formidable black. "It's a way to tell our people where they belong. To tell them where they are safe. To tell them where their home is."

"How did you come to find your cloak? I thought all possessions before the border were lost by now."

"It has been passed down in my family since the first mage appeared in our bloodline. My mother gave it to me before…."

Derek's hand finds its way onto his knee, squeezing gently. He has always encouraged Stiles to be more open about his past, but it was hard.

After a few beats of silence Kira asks, "Do you think my lightening has changed color?"

Stiles can see the real question in her eyes. 'Do I belong in my own home?' He smiles softly at her. "I fully believe it has, though I suggest you not try it."

She giggles softly, relief on her face. The rest of the night passes peacefully.

At daybreak Stiles whistles for Roscoe. Within seconds she is bounding up to them. Once everything is strapped into place, Stiles and Kira are seating themselves in the saddle and the wolves are shifted beside them. They follow the river northwest; to the desert behind Hunter borders.


A/N: Well I hope you are enjoying the story so far. I will do my best to have weekly uploads but I make no promises. Until Next Time.