Chapter 32: *"...exposed to the elements."*
The trek through the escape tunnels was long, at one point Rain could swear she felt someone touch her face, then the faintest of whispers came. The message was what had her thinking that maybe what she felt was real. ‘Come to me at the Moon Mountain Pack mate, so I can claim you.’
Rain had other things to focus on, like what they were going to do now that they had reached the end of the escape tunnels. They were now on the other side of the toxic haze, and without the tunnels would soon be exposed to the elements. A cold wind blew in from the exit of the tunnels, a hint of how cold it was outside.
Turning at the exit, Rain faced the group to address them. “Everyone needs to make sure they have their cloaks and protective footwear on now.” she said in a firm voice. “From here on out we are going to be exposed to the elements. We are going to travel a hundred leagues before we reach our first rest point. We will stop at this rest point for no more than two hours, before pushing on for another hundred leagues to our second rest point. There we will rest again for two hours before we travel another hundred leagues and reach our third rest point. At our third rest point we will set up camp. We will be there for several days before we can continue our journey.”
After addressing the group, there was a lot of shifting of satchels and the rustling of cloth, as everyone who had not put on their cloak and protective footwear, did so now. Assured that everyone was as protected from the elements as they were going to get, Rain stepped out into the cold north wind. There was to be a massive storm soon, and Rain needed their group to be as far away from the Black Magic coven as possible when it hit.
They traveled at a steady jog, with decades of strenuous hard labor under their belts, this was nothing to them. In fact, for many of the full shifters, werewolves, and the shifter, werewolf hybrids, the jog was perfect for them. The full Witches cast spells that allowed them to basically glide along several feet every step, this allowed them to keep up with everyone else.
They would cover three leagues an hour, if they kept this up, they could reach their first rest point in a day and a half. This meant they would reach their third rest point, a cave system where they could set up camp, in four and a half days. By then the storm would be fully upon them and they would be unable to travel because of it.
Rain found the cave system on one of the oldest of the Coven’s maps. On the newer maps, the mountains where the cave system was found were marked, but the cave system itself was not marked. Looking at the maps, Rain could not see a significant enough shift in the topography of the area for the system to have been destroyed or buried in a cave in. This was why Rain still chose to chance sheltering there before the storm hit.
During the storm, they could rest up and regain their strength and maybe gain some vitality while they were at it. The cave system was marked as a place of power on the map, and they were in sore need of some of that power if they were going to succeed in escaping the Black Magic coven. Just getting out of the Coven itself and the tunnels did not mean they had successfully escaped yet. Rain would not consider themselves officially out of reach of the Coven till they reached the Moon Mountain Pack.
That was another thing Rain found interesting on the old maps. The Moon Mountain Pack was shown to have been created at the beginning of the Age of Beasts. Only at that time, the Pack was made up of the giant wolf beasts that existed before the Werewolves came into existence.
The Moon Goddess’s mate was a God of those wolf beasts, the first of the beasts to split his soul in two. One half became a two legged form modeled after the Sidhe’s two legged form, the other half stayed the form of a wolf beast. The lycan form was made when the two souls merged their forms together.
Knowing how one’s species came into existence could be very humbling. Rain thought on all this and more as they jogged, at one point the speed the group was traveling at increased to ten leagues an hour. They were no longer traveling at a jog anymore, they were now running at a steady pace. At this rate they would reach their first rest point in less than a day. Rain hoped they would be able to keep this pace up till they reached the cave system.
****
Matt must have read the book for hours, because when he looked up from the book, it was dark outside. His mother had turned on the lights in the sitting room when it had gotten dark. Now Matt’s mother was curled up asleep in the chair across from him. She had crossed her arms over one stuffed armrest of her chair and then laid her head on them and fallen asleep.
The information in his mother’s tome was so fascinating, Matt never knew the kind of power he was capable of till now. Now that he knew what he could do, Matt was eager to start his training. However, after looking at his mother and seeing what time it was on the digital clock by his bed, Matt decided it was best to call it a night for now.
*“Dad?”* Matt inquired through a mind link, trying to get his father’s attention.
Matt wasn’t worried about disturbing his father at some important meeting, this late at night. So, he hadn’t bothered with his phone and just mind linked his father.
Boris was swift to respond to Matt, proving that his father was not busy at the moment. *“What is it son?”*
*“Mom fell asleep in my sitting room while I was reading the family tome.”* Matt told him, a smile in his tone.
*“So that was where she got off too, I was starting to worry. I will be there soon to collect your mother.”* Boris said, sounding a little amused.
*“Okay, see you soon dad.”* Matt said, then ended the mind link.
Matt got up and checked the temperature of the room, he wanted to make sure it was warm enough for his mother. Putting a blanket on her would wake her up, and Matt didn’t want to disturb her. Lissanna worked hard for not only their Pack, but for all the Packs under the Alpha of Alphas.
A lot went into being the Beta pair to the Alpha of Alphas and the Luna of Lunas. It was also why having a Gamma like Rick and his mate was so important. Gamma Rick’s mate helped him run the Pack and the Moonstar Clan when the Alpha, Luna and Beta were performing their duties for all of the Packs of the fist continent.
Not too long after Matt mind linked his father, Boris was gently knocking on his door. When Matt opened the door, Boris held a finger to his lips and tapped his temple with another. Matt understood at once.
*“Hey dad, mom’s in the chair.”* Matt told him through a mind link, then he made a gesture in Lissanna's direction and stepped back.
When Boris saw his mate curled up in the chair after stepping into the room, a warm and loving smile stretched his lips, and his eyes went soft.
Matt and Xander took after their father a lot, in their facial features and the build and musculature of their bodies. Boris’s hair was a honey brown with gold and white blond highlights. His dual colors were inner rings of aqua blue and outer rings of aqua green. The two rings of color are barely different, allowing light to create the illusion that the colors were switching back and forth.
Boris walked forward and gently picked up his mate, tucking her head under his chin. Lissanna frowned, her brow furrowing a little. Boris kissed her head. “Shhhh my sweet, I have you.”
Matt smiled as he watched them, the love and trust his parents had for each other was plain to see in that little interaction. It made him long for his mate even more, the image of Rain flashed through Matt’s mind. Matt hoped he would soon be able to have these kinds of sweet moments with Rain. That desire had Matt’s eyes settling on the open tome he had set down on the table to get the door.
Boris, turning with Lissanna in his arm, caught the expression on Matt’s face. The face that looked so much like his own with a little influence here and there from his precious Lissanna. Now his son’s eyes and hair showed just how much of his mate was in both their pups.