Chapter 29: *"What is going on?"*
Matt lay in the bed till he could catch his breath and most of the trembling in his limbs had stopped. Then he got up and stripped his bed of the sweat soaked linens. While he was tossing the dirty bedding into the laundry closet, he stripped himself of his clothes as well.
Matt decided he would make the bed after he had a shower, with that in mind, he left fresh beading from the laundry closet on his bed as he went by it into his bathroom. Matt took a hot shower, going over everything he had dreamed in his mind again.
It was at this point that he realized how drained his wolf was feeling, and that alarmed him. This made Matt wonder how it was that a dream was affecting them to this degree.
*“Ares?”* Matt asked in a worried tone.
*“I’ll be fine, but I don’t think the Moon Goddess is directing our dreams anymore.”* Ares responded.
*“If the Moon Goddess is no longer directing our dreams, then who is?”* Matt asked.
*“Judging by the amount of energy we lost while sleeping, I believe we did it ourselves this time.”* Ares said, his tone serious.
Matt was startled by the answer his wolf gave him. *“How?”*
Inside his head, Ares was in his space, and in his space was a small grove of tall red alder trees. Surrounding the trees was lush green grassland liberally sprinkled with wild flowers, and a small pond surrounded by different sized rocks. This surprised Matt, this was the first time his wolf's space had been so vivid in his mind’s eye.
*“I believe it is an ancient power, an ancient primal power that once belonged to our ancestors. However, this power was lost to us over a million years ago.”*Ares told him.
*“If the power was lost to us over a million years ago, why is it showing up now?”* Matt asked, feeling a little alarmed.
*“The Moon Goddess must have seen a need for the return of primordial powers. Our body is not used to it yet, which is why we are so weak at the moment.”* Ares said to Matt.
*“In other words, it is here because the Moon Goddess needs it to be here. How do we train this power, and what does all this power entail?”* Matt asked his wolf.
*“I don’t know. We’ll need to find someone knowledgeable of primordial powers to get more information about it.”* Ares said.
Matt got out of the shower, dried off and did his usual grooming routine. Not bothering to cover up with a towel, Matt walked out of his bathroom to go get clothes out of his closet.
He didn’t know anyone was in his sitting area till he heard the voice. “Son, you really should take your clothes with you into the bathroom before you shower.” The voice, although reprimanding him, was sweet and loving, and the absolute last thing Matt ever expected.
Jumping like a scalded cat and covering his genitals, Matt yelled in a panicked roar. “Mom!” His back slamming against the wall he jumped against to hide his rear end.
“Well don’t just stand there, go get some clothes on.” Lissanna told her son.
More embarrassed than he had ever been in his life, Matt practically teleported into his closet he ran so fast. Matt would have been a thousand times better if it had been anyone else in his sitting room. Matt felt like the Gods and Goddesses had to be having a good laugh at him right now.
His whole body flushed a deep crimson, Matt tossed on a pair of shifter friendly black cargo shorts and a dark blue sleeveless V-neck t-shirt. Matt rubbed his hands on his face then through his hair, trying to work through his embarrassment.
‘I’m a shifter, we all end up nude in front of everyone at some point or another in our lives anyway. There is no reason to be embarrassed.’ After giving himself this little pep talk, Matt finally walked out of his closet to ‘face the music.’
As Matt got a good look at his mother, something made him pause. Lissanna Frost Stonemaker, sat in one of the overstuffed chairs. One leg was crossed over the other, and her back seemed to only just barely be touching the back of the chair. One elbow was resting on one of the chairs arms, her chin was set directly on her raised hand, the fingers curled.
There was an icy cold delicate elegance about his mother, but in contradiction to that air, there was a feeling of deadly strength subtly flowing under it. That wasn’t the only thing that caught his attention, there was a huge ancient looking book his mother was holding in her lap.
Matt’s embarrassment was long forgotten at this point, and only curiosity remained as he took a seat across from his mother. Something about his mother’s hair caught his attention. It was no longer just a light blond color with a few streaks of white through it. His mother's hair was now mostly white with lots of sparkling silver blue strands liberally laced through it.
Lissanna’s eyes had changed as well, originally her eyes were just two colors, the inner rings of her eyes a bright ice blue with the outer rings a darker aqua ice blue. Now, there was a third ring of color outside of those, a very thin glowing outline of silver blue appeared. His mother's already pale skin seemed to be even whiter.
“Mom?” Matt asked, unsure of everything now.
Lissanna just smiled faintly, the air around her warming up just a tad. “When you mentioned your Goddess given dreams, I started to suspect, but I put it off. But this time, I felt the change in your power as you slept. You have finally inherited the power of your grandmother's bloodline.”
Matt was reeling, he was more confused now than before his mother spoke. “What?”
Lissanna smiled lovingly at her son before looking down at the book in her lap, running a gentle hand over the top of it. “This tome is an ancient accounting of your grandmothers and our blood lineage. It tells of our origins, what we are, how we came to be, our power, and how to use that power. This tome, and its sisters, are only read by those of our bloodline who have the power.”
“Tome? Bloodlines? Grandmother? What does all this have to do with the Frost’s?” Matt was so confused, he felt like his mother was revealing a deeply held secret, but what secret could his warm and loving mother possibly have?
Lissanna laughed, and it was the disdain in her laugh that caught Matt’s attention and had his fur standing on end. “The Frost’s?” His mother laughed again. “No, my sweet boy, this has nothing to do with that loathsome Clan.”
Matt felt shell shocked, he had never heard his mother refer to the Frost Clan that way. *“What is going on”* Matt asked his wolf, his voice sounding panicked.
Ares felt that whatever their mother had to say, it was important, but he was just as clueless as to what was going on. *“I don’t know, let's just listen for now.”*
Matt agreed with his wolf to just listen to what his mother had to say for now.
“The only reason I was born into the Frost Clan was because your grandfather is your grandmother's fated mate. At the time, even though your grandfather was already dissatisfied with his Clan, he was still a part of it. It was after they demanded I reject your father that made your grandfather separate from them completely.”
“Is that why, when grandma and grandpa are not traveling around, they only stay here with us and refuse to go to the Frost Clan?” Matt asked his mom.
Lissanna nodded. “Yes. Your grandfather severed his ties with that Clan, so he will not step foot in their territory. Even after your father became Beta of this Pack and they invited us back.”
“Then why do we carry the Frost Clan’s name in our own names?” Matt asked.
Lissanna laughed again. “The Frost in our names is not after the Frost Clan, it is after your grandmother’s original Pack, the Permafrost Pack of the Antarctic.”
Matt could not be more shocked. “Pack of the Antarctic! But that place is unlivable, a desolate wasteland of snow and ice! It’s impossible to live there.”
Lissanna nodded, smiling. “For normal humans and even most Werewolves and other supernatural beings it would be, but for Werewolves born from ice Fae, it is no problem at all.”
At this point, his mother was just dropping one bomb after another, and he felt like he had entered a permanent state of shock.
“You said only those of the bloodline are shown those books, has my brother been shown that book?” Matt asked, his voice hoarse.
“Tome, and yes. Your brother Xander’s power, like Damien’s, was clear from the moment of his birth. Xander has been to the Permafrost Clan for training more than once over the years.” Lissanna said, dropping yet another bomb of information inside Matt’s already overloaded mind.