For Want of Change

C2: After School

Rilen stepped into his truck, throwing his bag into the back as Sophia did the same, brushing some of the leaves off of Rilen from when he was out back, skipping school to calm his nerves after this morning. He pulled out of the lot carefully, before speeding off, making sure that the school cop didn't see them. 

They headed towards county limits and then headed for the city, which was where everyone went when they wanted to get away from their werewolf-infested little town.

The place Rilen's and Sophia's packs lived was called the Tetrad, as it was where the borders of four very strong packs touch, and in the middle was where the school and the small town were, serving as neutral meeting grounds and a place for the four packs to congregate in relative peace. The only problem with it is there was practically nothing to do and if you wanted to have fun, you had to make the two-hour drive to the next city over, Sun Rock.

Sophia and he were going to the mall to get new softball equipment for Sophia, who needed a new bat after getting angry and breaking the last one while practicing for the next game, which was in a few days. They also just wanted to hang out since it was just the two of them for a while; Merlin was going away to his mom's Coven in England and Tray was been sent to what was effectively Omega boot camp for getting one too many detentions and getting suspended. Tray wouldn't be back until the end of the month and Merlin would be gone until the ascension ceremony, which all wolves in the Tetrad had to attend in three months.
The drive over was mostly filled with Sophia playing R&B music and singing along in-between the sentences of the almost one-sided conversation she was having about some of her classes that day. Role listened intently, making sounds here and there to show that he was listening as he kept his eyes on the road and hummed along to the music.

Once they got to the fairly big mall in the fairly large city Rilen found a parking space near the door and they got out of the car. They made their way into the sporting goods store and Sophia got what she needed before they roamed around, having fun as they went about their business, until Rilen's phone buzzed with a message and Sophia's started to ring. They both sighed as they looked down at their phones, if for very different reasons.

Omegas in Sophia's pack had a curfew of about 6 pm, back any later and they'd send a pack member after you to bring you back home. It had barely been 30 minutes since they parked but it was 5:47 and the drive back would put Sophia getting late, so her brother was calling to bring her back home.

Rilen on the other hand had a curfew of about midnight, and if he couldn't make it all he had to do was let someone know where he was at just in case he needed help. Though he wasn't being texted by a relative, no, he was being texted by his Alpha, who probably had something for him to do.

They both answered their phones and before long, they were back in the car and dejectedly making their way home. The music still played but now the car was near silent. Sophia grabbed her bag from the backseat and bus him farewell with a kiss to the forehead before dashing into the gate and setting off down the road to her home. Rilen back out and made his way home, but instead of turning right once he entered pack grounds, he turned left and headed for the packhouse, where the Alpha and his family live.

Upon entering he headed straight up to the office, where he caught sight of two other people.

One was a girl with strawberry blonde hair and baby blue eyes, which paired nicely with her slightly tanned skin from hours of work out in the sun in her dad's mechanic shop and working on her car, which she had custom ordered the parts for and put together herself. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't short either, standing evenly at about 5'5 which irked her greatly as it was still not tall enough to reach the top shelf of the cabinets in the packhouse for communal dinners. She wore the standard issued uniform that everyone in ORA unit-1 wore: a black jumpsuit with cargo-style pants and a bulletproof vest top with long sleeves and a hood, along with standard issued boots, also black.

 The boy next to her was brown-headed and brown-eyed, which paired with his rather pale skin, made him look rather plain, someone you wouldn't be able to pick out of a crowd easily, which was perfect for his job. He was only about two inches taller than the girl next to him, but he lorded that height over her head at every opportunity he got, laughing slightly when she had the same reaction every time, hitting his chest lightly and calling him an ass. He also wore the uniform, the only difference being the belt he wore around his waist, which held the medical supplies they took on every mission, as he was one of their trained combat doctors.
The girl was Angela, code name Magnolia, and the boy was Rex, code name Sunflower, and they happened to be mates, which wasn't known when they picked their names. They had been in the unit almost as long as Rilen had, which was about five or so years. 

Rilen walked up to them and fell in line, giving the Alpha a salute before greeting him.

" Commander Stardust reporting, good afternoon sir."

" Afternoon Star, sorry to bother you but I got word from Alpha Kingston that they'd been having issues with rouges around the edge of their territory, and they were requesting help as well as that we stay alert to their movements. I want the three of you running border patrol for the Crimson pack while I get Red and Kira to monitor our territory. As usual, remember to stay out of sight of the border patrol, and keep your eyes out for any danger." Rilen would have just nodded and taken his leave, but then something occurred to him.

" You couldn't have told me this over text, I was in the middle of something."

" Nope, I didn't feel like it, too much moving my fingers, besides, I have a lot of work to do, and talking is much faster than typing! Oh, and, while you're here, I have you and your team on security detail and wait staff for the ascension!" The sunny smile on the man's face made Rilen feel exhausted, so he just turned to his team and discussed what their strategy was before bidding them all a goodnight and seeing himself back to his own home, where he completed that night's homework before heading off to bed.