Chapter 30: *"How long, mom?!"*
“Mom…why do you look so different right now?” Matt asked, an edge of panic to his question.
Lissanna looked at her son with a raised eyebrow and a half smirk. “You think having Fae blood didn’t leave its mark on you? Think again son, from the moment the Fae power awakens within you, it marks your appearance. Our mother Clan just hides it under a glamor spell so we can fit in better with the pure blooded Werewolves.”
“Does dad know?!” Matt asked, freaking out.
Matt used to think he knew his mother, but he was now being hit in the face with the knowledge that he didn’t know as much about his mother as he had thought.
Lissanna let out a scoff at Matt’s question. “Of course, your father knows everything about me and our mother Clan. Our mates are allowed full disclosure, in fact it is expected. To our mother Clan, mates are our most sacred blessing, to lie and hide this would be a betrayal of that blessing.”
Matt felt like he could breathe again after hearing his mother’s answer. Then he jerked in his seat as a part of what she just said replayed through his mind. ‘...from the moment the Fae power awakens within you, it marks your appearance…’ Standing up abruptly Matt made a run for it back to his bathroom.
“Son?” Lissanna asked Matt in a worried tone.
Matt turned on the light as he flew into the bathroom and slid to a stop in front of the mirror. With a gasp, he realized his mother had been right. From the moment their power awakened it marked their appearance. The blond of his hair was turning white, and his white blond highlights were turning a silvery blue. His dual-colored eyes now had a third color, thin silver blue outer rings had appeared.
Matt stumbled back from the mirror with a startled yell, stunned. He wondered how he had not noticed this change when he was grooming himself earlier. Lissanna, hearing his startled yell from the bathroom, thought that maybe she should have gone about revealing all this to Matt a different way.
Xander had been different from Matt, he had known and been trained since he could walk. Xander had learned to control the glamor hiding his appearance himself when he was just three years of age. It had been clear since their birth that Damien was Xander’s chosen Alpha. That meant Damien was fully aware of their power and origins, just as his father, the Alpha of all Alpha’s, was.
Lissanna looked down at the tome in her lap and frowned in thought. She wondered if she should tell Matt that Damien also knew about all this. Lissanna’s worried gaze was drawn to the silent bathroom, and she wondered if the knowledge would make Matt feel better, or worse.
Lissanna sighed, it was so hard being a mother, raising pups was not easy. There were times like these, where she struggled. Lissanna wanted nothing more than to wrap her pup up in her arms and take away all his burdens. Lissanna knew that she could not shelter her pups all of their lives, there were too many things that could happen during their hundreds of years of life.
While it was hard for Lissanna, and her heart hurt for her boys, she still felt the best thing she could do for them as their mother, was to give them the tools and skills necessary to defend themselves and fight for survival. Anything could happen to her and her mate, the Alpha had lost his parents only decades ago, and they had not even reached a century in age.
Matt splashed his face with water, trying to get himself under control. Freaking out would do him no good, the changes had already happened. His mother said there was a glamor spell their mother Clan used to disguise their appearance, Matt would just ask her to teach it to him.
Matt did some breathing exercises and calmed down, as he did, he realized Aries had been quiet while he was freaking out. Taking a deep breath to center himself, Matt closed his eyes and sent himself into his wolf’s space. Aries was sitting at the edge of his pond, looking down silently into the water at his reflection.
Matt was a little taken aback by his wolf’s new appearance. Like Matt’s hair, the color of Aries fur had also changed. His undercoat was now pure white, the tip of his fur was frosted in a silvery blue. When Aries looked up at Matt, he could see that glowing silvery blue outer rings had appeared. This new power of theirs had marked them both vividly.
Aries let out a whine. “Will our mate still accept us looking like this?”
Matt felt like a boulder had just dropped on his head. Of all the things for him to worry about in that moment, that had not been one of them, no wonder his wolf had been so silent.
“I don’t think our appearance would be a reason for her to reject us, our mate is not that vain.” Matt assured Aries.
Aries looked relieved, then he went back to observing himself in the pond. “The change happened while we were asleep, after we followed our mate on her escape.”
It hit Matt in the face, they had followed their mate. With their new power, they had been able to follow their mate. That got him excited “Aries! We followed our mate, we did, us. It wasn’t just a dream from the Goddess, we ourselves were able to go to our mate.”
This made Aries excited, this meant they c0uld see their mate again. They had already done it themselves once, they could do it again. They needed training, and knowledge of how to access and use their powers on purpose this time.
“Stop wasting time in here with me and go! Go to our mother and find out more! I want to see our mate again!” Aries barked at him.
Matt chuckled at his wolf's attitude, but he agreed with Aries, breaking his trance he opened his eyes. Looking at himself in the mirror, Matt took another moment to see the changes to his appearance. Walking away from the mirror and turning off the bathroom light on his way out, Matt thought about the glamor spell his mother mentioned.
Lissanna watched as Matt walked calmly out of the bathroom and sat back down in the chair across from her. He had a curious expression on his face. Lissanna felt relief seeing that expression on Matt’s face, curiosity meant her pup was willing to listen to what she had to say.
“That glamor spell you mentioned, to hide my appearance?” Matt questioned.
Lissanna tilted her head a bit, curious. “What about it?”
Matt looked at Lissanna silently for a few breaths before he finally asked, “Is it mandatory I hide my appearance, or is it just for convenience?”
Lissanna looked at Matt, her eyes wide, she had not expected that to be his first question. “Well…no…it is not mandatory…now, but a few centuries ago, it was. Your brother and I just find it convenient.”
Matt nodded, and looked down, lost in thought for a moment. When Matt looked up, he asked, “Can I tell Darien and Lauren about this?”
Lissanna blinked as she looked at Mat for a second before answering his question. “As Darien is your Alpha, and Lauren your Gamma, yes. You can talk to them about your powers, they won’t be able to read the tome, but you can talk about it.”
Matt let out a sigh of relief and flopped back in his chair. “Thank the Goddess, it would be too stressful to hide such a big secret from those two.” Then he jerked upright in his chair. “Wait…does Damien already know about this?”
Lissanna felt a little guilty for some reason now and cleared her throat before nodding. “Damien knows, yes.”
Matt narrowed his eyes at his mom, and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “How long has he known?”
An uncomfortable and twitchy smile stretched one half of Lissanna’s mouth. “Well…you see…since their power…it was always apparent…and Xander always followed Damien…so it was necessary…for him to know…”
“How long, mom!” Matt barked impatiently, unable to handle his mothers rambling any more.
Lissanna flinched, she was not going to be able to avoid answering. “Oh! Oh, alright! Alright! He’s known since he was in diapers!”
Matt glared silently at his mom, quietly fuming for a moment. “Okay…okay…this is no big deal. Just a family secret everyone else in the family knows except me. That is just wonderful.”
“Well not everyone, Darien still doesn’t know.” Lissanna offered up hoping it would make Matt feel better.
“Oh…well, that makes me feel a little better at least.” Matt said irritably.
Lissanna let out an uncomfortable sounding laugh. “Right, at least there is that…” Lissanna cleared her throat and placed her hands on top of the tome in her lap. “Let’s get back to business, this tome will be your training guide, and I will assist you in that training process.”
At the mention of training, all of Matt’s grievances were momentarily forgotten. Knowing how to use his new power meant being able to see his mate again. Seeing his mate was more important than being mad at his mother.