Chapter 22 : *"...talk to the Alpha..."*

Matt saw a multitude of expressions across the males face. The male wasn’t as large as the other two, he was leaner and faster. Matt knew that Lauren was faster, he wondered what the male would decide to do. Matt stood to the side, just waiting for whatever would come next.

The male finally lifted his hand in surrender. “I’m good, I know when to back off and admit defeat.”

Matt laughed and Lauren turned in his direction, one eyebrow raised. “I see I’m not the only one who’s improved dramatically with Uncle Brock’s training.” Amusement in his voice.

Lauren grinned at Matt, “I have benefited greatly from that wolf brutally beating me to a pulp over the last several weeks.”

Rolling his shoulders and feeling how sore his body was at that moment, Matt could agree that his Uncle's training was like taking a beating. “Yeah, brutal beating seems to be a good description.”

Lauren smirked and let out a chuckle before her expression turned serious. “What’s up?” she asked.

Matt shuffled his feet a bit, and was grateful Lauren’s three opponents had his distraction of her attention to escape. “I talked to my Uncle like you said.”

“And?” Lauren asked.

Running a hand through his hair before gripping the back of his neck, Matt said, “I now have to go talk to Alpha Andrew and my father about this because it could possibly impact the safety of our Pack….and other Packs.”

Lauren was nodding, she didn’t seem surprised by anything he had just said, instead she asked, “You want me to come with you for support?”

Matt felt grateful Lauren had asked, letting out a relieved sounding breath he said, “I would be really grateful if you would.”

Lauren patted the sleeve over Matt's arm, then coughed when a plume of dust flew up and hit her in the face. With a grimace she said, “Alrighty then, I think you should hit the showers first. That way you can wash off all this dirt you’ve been rolling around in before we go and see the Alpha and your dad.”

Matt looked down at himself and a wry grin spread across his face. He could barely see the original color of his shirt with all the dirt covering it. Matt’s skin was almost caked in it, he really did look like he had been rolling around in the dirt.

“Yeah….the consequences of being distracted while training with my Uncle.” Matt said dryly.

Lauren laughed, then gave Matt a tug in the direction of the entrance to the Training Arena’s structure. Inside the building it was a short walk to the massive shower rooms. There were shower rooms with large group showers, shifter type supernatural beings were not bothered by nudity.

There was a large shower bath house style room with a large bathing pool, and a few smaller shower and bathing pool rooms big enough for a family, or mated pair or mated triad.

There were shower rooms with large enclosed individual showers big enough to be comfortably occupied by a mated pair, mated triad, or a being with one or more pups in training. All these shower rooms took up a large portion of the first floor of the Heartsong Mansion’s Training Grounds facility.

Matt and Lauren headed to one of the group showers, stopping at the lockers they had claimed to grab their bathing supplies before going to the shower wall closest to them. A couple of females and a few males were already there, chattering away as they showered. Talking about the training sessions they just had and were making plans for after they left.

“Dude! Did you see that female who kicked Luca’s ass! Sent him flying with an amazing kick! Then she just slammed him into the ground so hard there was a boom.” One of the young males was saying excitedly, he had his back to Lauren and Matt.

Lauren and Matt, who were both shampooing their hair, looked at each other with wide eyes and pursed lips. They chose to ignore it and continued to shower.

“Who was he fighting?!” One of the females asked excitedly.

“I couldn't really see who it was, her hair is medium dark color and she has a killer body.” the male gushed.

Lauren hunched a little, and her shoulders were shaking, it was such a vague description of her. Lauren and Matt’s eyes met again, their gazes filled with mirth. They sped up the shower process, Lauren wanted to get out of there before she was recognized.

Matt had to shampoo his hair a second time to get all the dirt out of it. Some of the dirt was caked to his scalp and he had to scrub real good to get it all.

“Well that's real specific.” One of the males said scathingly.

“I know who it was.” One of the other males said.

“Who?” asked several of them.

“Her name is Lauren Blackfire.” the male said.

Lauren froze again for a moment, then started scrubbing faster. Matt, not wanting to get left behind, hurried faster as well. He just needed to ring off all his soap now.

“Isn’t she just a Gamma?” One of the girls asked.

“She is a Gamma, but she’s a Beta Class fighter, maybe a bottom tear Alpha Class fighter now actually.” The male said.

Now that they were both rinsed they left the shower to dry off and get dressed. Matt was hoping they could make it out before the others finished their showers.

“Dude, I could be as badass as her, or Alpha Alora.” One of the females said, envy in her voice.

Dressed, Matt and Lauren made their escape out of the showers. They didn’t stop till they were in his car. Then they threw their heads back and laughed. “It’s nice to know my skills are awe inspiring.” Lauren said laughing.

“And apparently you have a killer body.” Matt added, amused, backing out of his parking space.

Lauren smiled, letting out another laugh. “That was also flattering, but it would have been more so if he could have come up with a more detailed description of me.”

The wind on their face was clean smelling as they drove out of the parking garage and made their way onto the road. Lauren’s wet hair would dry in the wind by the time they made it to the Moonstar Mansion. Matt turned on to a little known route that led directly from the Heartsong Mansion to the Moonstar Mansion.

Lauren leaned over and connected her phone to his radio, and soon Love by TeZATalks was blasting through the speakers. Leaning her head back against the headrest, she closed her eyes and relaxed.

The drive between the two Mansions didn’t take that long and they arrived just as Ciara’s rendition of Paint It, Black finished. Turning off the car, Matt and Lauren hopped out of their car and walked into the Mansion in silence.

Matt was starting to feel nervous the closer they got to the Alpha’s office. The walk down the hallway seemed longer to Matt for some reason, like it had stretched somehow. Finally they were standing outside the door to the Alpha’s Office.

Matt felt Lauren pat his back comfortingly, and was able to breathe properly again. Matt reminded himself that there was no reason to be nervous. All he had to do was tell the Alpha and his father about his Goddess given dreams and subsequent theories.

Matt knocked on the door, and didn’t have to wait long before he heard the Alpha’s deep baritone. “Come in.”

Stepping into the Alpha’s large office, he felt like he was thrown back to Centuries past. There were a few modern conveniences, like the original gas lights had been replaced by led imitations. There was a state of the art computer on the Alpha’s large antique desk. Lots of dark red wood and dark leather.

Matt knew the leather of the couches and chairs were not genuine leather. Wolves and most other supernatural beings had a sensitive sense of smell. After a few years, genuine leather had a scent that most couldn’t stand. Not many wanted the smell of dead animal flesh, even treated, permeating their dwelling.

Alpha Andrew was standing behind his desk with his Uncle Brock and his father Boris standing on either side of them. Behind the Alpha was a floor to ceiling bookcase with one floor to ceiling window on each side. In front of the desk were two comfortable looking wide bottom chairs.

Alpha Andrew gestured to the two chairs and said, “Come in Matt, Lauren and take a seat.” The Alpha’s deep voice was gentle. Matt and Lauren walked forward and sat in the chairs. “Brock said you have been on the receiving end of some Goddess given dreams, I would like you to talk to us more about this.”

“Uh…” Matt drew a blank, he didn’t know where he should start with this explanation.

The Alpha, seeing Matt struggle, offered up a suggestion. “How about you start with when you first had one of these dreams, and then go from there.”

It was like Matt had been thrown a lifeline with that suggestion from the Alpha. With a starting point Matt was able to tell them everything, and then he offered up his theories. As soon as he started to talk about his theories the Alpha’s eyes lit up, his father smiled, and all three shared some kind of secret look.

This had Matt and Lauren facing each other with mutual expressions that asked, "What the hell is going on?"