Chapter 21: *"You've matured..."*
Brock didn’t know what he could say at the moment to comfort his nephew. However he knew what Matt needed from him the most at this moment was for him to listen. To get Matt to talk, so he could help Matt work through his problem, he would need to ask questions.
“Do you know your female’s names?” Brock asked, this would be an important bit of information to start the search for his mate with.
Matt nodded, then frowned when he felt dirt embedding itself into his hair. He sat up, bending his knees up, his feet flat on the ground. Matt raised on arm and dusted out his hair, bracing the forearm of his mother on one of his raised knees.
“What are they?” Brock asked after Matt had been quiet a moment.
With a faraway look in his eyes, Matt answered in a hoarse voice. “Her humanoid form is named Rain, her wolf is named Hope.”
Keeping his deep voice gentle, and his tone patient, Brock asked, “Have you tried looking for her using those names yet?”
Matt shook his head, took a deep breath in, and let it out in a gust of air. “I thought about it tough. I’m planning to go to the Pack Library and search for wolf and wolf hybrids registered with those names.”
“You don’t sound too hopeful that search will yield any results.” Brock said, looking at his nephew curiously. “Why?”
Matt looked at his Uncle, met his gaze, and said, “I seriously doubt the Black Magic Coven would register the name, or names and species of their slaves to the World Council’s Supernatural Genealogy database.”
Brock went utterly still, not moving, not even breathing. It took him a minute to process what Matt had just said to him. “Did you say the Black Magic Coven?”
Matt looked at his grim faced Uncle and nodded his head. “In one of the dreams of Rain being tortured, it was Sarah who was carving her up with a silver dagger.”
“Sarah?!” Brock asked, shocked.
Matt nodded, and Brock had to take a moment to think. “If this is as you say, why are you still going to search the database?”
Matt ran a hand through his hair. “I know it doesn't happen often…. Well, at least not in our Pack, beings go missing. So…I figured I would look, you know, just in case…” Matt’s words trailed off and he shrugged.
Knowing what Matt meant, Brock said, “You figured you would check just in case she was registered but later captured and made a slave of the Black Magic Coven.”
“Yes.” Matt said, resting his chin on his crossed arms set on top of his raised knees.
“Were you able to get a sense of how big this Coven was and whether they’re an active threat?” Brock asked in a grim tone.
Matt shook his head and said, “I don’t have anything but theories.”
Brock looked at Matt seriously in silence for a moment. “Your father has an instinct for things. When he gives us his ‘theories,’ we listen seriously to his words.”
Matt frowned then asked. “Why?”
Brock shook his head, then pat Matt on one shoulder. “I’ll tell you a few stories about your father and why later. At this moment however, I want you to tell me your theories.”
Matt just stared at Brock, he wanted to know what was so important about these theories his dad came up with and why Alpha Andrew and his Uncle Brock would listen to them seriously. Knowing he wasn’t going to get any answers about that yet he decided to tell his Uncle his.
“This portion of the BMC has to be old, she was in a cell carved into rock under a building. I also believe, for Sarah to be there, and not as a slave herself, she has to be there with someone high up in the BMC’s hierarchy.” Matt paused, thinking.
“What else, there is more.” Brock said confidently.
Matt lifted his head from his arms and met his Uncle's serious gaze. “I believe that person is the female Sarah called Aunty. The Witch who was banished from the Pack for her use of Black Magic within the Pack.”
Brock thought about it, then nodded. “It makes sense. The female disappeared from our Council’s custody before she could be given to the Supernatural Council’s custody.”
Matt nodded. “It got me wondering how long there were corrupted wolves serving on our Werewolf Council.”
Brock was a little startled at that conclusion from such a young pup. “You’ve matured a lot in these last several weeks.” Brock’s voice was a little hoarse with emotion.
Matt gave him a small half smile. “Now that I’m no longer under a spell, and I have lost my first mate, don’t you think it was about time for me to mature?” Matt said in a wry tone.
Brock let out a short laugh at his nephew's dark humor. “I believe you are right, what you have experienced were life altering events, and it would have been abnormal if you had not matured even a little from those experiences.”
Matt let out a short laugh, running a hand through his hair again. “I’m not sure what I should do from here really, or who I should be talking to about this. Lauren was the one who suggested I should talk to you.”
Brock looked at his nephew, he wondered again about what the Moon Goddess had planned for his nephew. “For now I think we need to talk to your father and Alpha Andrew about this.”
Matt looked at his Uncle startled, talking to his father about this was one thing, but… “Why do I need to talk to Alpha Andrew?” His voice held a note of panic.
Brock put a comforting hand on the middle of Matt’s back. With a calm and even tone, Brock explained. “The information you have could be vitally important to the safety of our Pack.”
Matt felt like a deflated balloon, and all he could say was, “Oh.” When his Uncle put it that way, he couldn’t really protest talking to the Alpha about this.
Brock pulled his phone from his training pants and sent a message to both Andrew and Boris. Andrew responded by telling him to bring Matt to his office at the Moonstar Mansion. Boris messaged him telling Brock he would meet both him and Matt there as well.
Tucking his phone back in his pocket he patted Matt on the back again. “Come on, it’s time for you to hit the showers. We'll be going to meet the Alpha and your father after.”
Matt nodded then got up off the ground, “Let's get Lauren, we came here together today. I don’t want to leave her stranded.”
Brock thought about it for a moment then asked, “Do you want Lauren to be with us when you meet with the Alpha and your Father?”
Matt thought about it, then she shrugged. “It would be nice, but that’s only if she’s okay with it. Lauren’s been a good friend to me since all of this happened. She was a good friend before we were spelled, Beatrice and Agatha too.”
“Go ask her, then hit the showers. I'll go meet up with you in Alpha Andrew’s office.” Brock said, then he turned and walked away.
Matt went to find Lauren, it didn’t take long as she wasn’t that difficult to spot. Matt dodged the body of a fellow Beta that Lauren had just kicked back as he approached. With a back flip and a spin kick, Lauren sent her other opponent flying before he could get his hands on her.
Lauren landed with her feet braced apart braced in a martial arts pose. The pose made Lauren look like a crouching tiger waiting to viciously fend off an attack. Lauren’s third opponent came at her, and she pounced, with a spin in the air she threw the Werewolf panther shifter a dozen feet through the air.
The male managed to flip and his feet hit the ground as he slid a couple more feet. It was an impressive battle, especially when you considered the fact that she was a Gamma going up against three Beta Class fighters. The hybrid male let out a snarling hiss and charged at Lauren, leaping into the air to attack from above.
That was a big mistake, as a smaller being, Lauren was naturally used to attacks from above. With a leap and, using more of her extensive martial arts training, Lauren caught the male. With a spin in the air she slammed the male to the ground with a surprising amount of force.
Matt could feel vibrations under his feet from how hard Laren had slammed the male into the ground. Lauren landed in a crouch next to the male, ready for another attack. The male Lauren had kicked passed Matt, made the next attack.
Matt shook his head as he watched the large wolf attack low. Lauren leaped up in a spinning move, appearing behind the wolf. The male couldn’t turn in time to escape the powerful downward kick Lauren delivered to the middle of his back. A cloud of dust rose around male as he hit the ground hard enough for Matt to feel vibration under his feet again.
Two of the three were down for the count, Lauren turned towards the third. Her head was low and her gaze was narrowed in challenge, daring the male to come at her.