For Want of Change

C3: Kel

Kel was a pretty simple person, he had three goals in life. Be a good leader to his pack, be a good husband to his mate, if they so chose to have him, and to keep the peace his pack had maintained for over a century now. The last one he was accomplishing now, by being a pack warrior and keeping their shared borders safe, the other two he couldn't accomplish until he turned 18, which wasn't for another three months. Luckily he had other things to fill the time, or he'd likely be bored to death. Currently, he was hanging upside down off the balcony, watching as his twin sister made her way up the driveway, making a very sour-looking face as she stayed half turned, watching the silver truck drive off down the road like she did nearly every time it left. Kel sometimes wondered what was so intriguing or marvelous about that silver truck.

Once it had disappeared completely, Sophia turned and waddled her way angrily over to the house and into the front door, slamming it loudly as she went. Kel could hear his father downstairs yelling about how Sophia didn't pay bills and so she had no right to slam doors. Sophia fired back that they wouldn't let her get a job, and how, by their logic, she wouldn't have a right to slam doors even in her own house, which her mate would pay for and take care of. Kel wondered what had made her upset, for her to so boldly yell at their father and Alpha like that. He listened as Sophia's heavy footsteps stomped up the stairs and trailed down the halls, before she slammed the door to her room open, and then very violently slammed it shut once more. All noise from her stopped as the total silence runes that every room was equipped with kicked into place. Kel imagined she was throwing a tantrum right about now, expressing her emotions like a hormonal teen Omega would, maybe she was crying, Kel didn't know. He decided that he'd check on her later when she was calmer and climbed back over the railing, trailing his way down to the kitchen where his father was currently helping his mother with dinner, turkey burgers, and pork chops.

Washing his hands after finishing he trailed his way up the stairs and down the hall to his sister's room, knocking on the door softly before waiting for the sound of the lock clicking, indicating that he was welcomed into her space. The door swung open and Kel was greeted by the sight of his sister's back as she walked back over to her bed, shuffling the blankets around a little to give him some space to sit on her bed. Sophia climbed over to the corner near the wall at the head of the bed and curled up as small as she could make herself, hugging her arms around her chest and bringing her knees up as she leaned her head against the wall, only moving her eyes to look at Kel. Kel sighed as he turned and closed the door behind him, locking it once more as he made his way over to the indicated spot. He was careful not to touch her blanket, which their parents weren't even allowed to touch after Sophia figured out how to use the laundry room.

For a while, they just sat in silence as Sophia pulled out her phone and tapped away at the screen, audio playing every now and then from the speaker as she switched between apps. Kel had never been adept at comfort or emotion, no one really thought to teach the tougher kids about stuff like that since they were supposed to be strong, so he had no idea how to start this conversation, but he had to make sure his family was ok, so he was determined to try.

" You good?" a solid start, or at least he thought it was, but all he was met with was silence after that. Sophia didn't even look up from her phone, the only indication she had heard him was the slight slowing of her fingers. The quiet stretched on, flowing like water through stone and carving a divide between the two. Kel was about to leave, taking it as a sign that Sophia wanted more time alone when her soft hoarse voice rose from her little corner.

" I never get to do anything. No matter what I say, or how safe I am, I can't do anything."

" Ah, so this is about curfew. Little Bee, you know why that exists, you guys are smaller and less able to gain muscles, so even a human kidnapper could take you, let alone an enemy pack or some other supernatural. You know werewolves aren't the most popular."

" THAT'S NOT THE POINT! We can't go anywhere after 6 even with an escort, and the rest of you are just allowed out whenever, even if you're by yourselves. I'd be willing to let any one of the pack warriors follow me around just to hang out with my friends until midnight like the rest of you! I have so much to do after school with being the softball captain, and the nearest town with an arcade is two hours away! The weekends aren't any better because we have games! It doesn't even have to be until midnight, just long enough to have some real fun!" Sophia was huffing and puffing, looking like she was back on the verge of tears.

Kel had no idea what to say. He'd never really thought about that, he'd always just thought they were safety rules and changing them would be unsafe, but the sun didn't really go down until 8 and a little extra time to spend outside should be fine.

" I talk to dad about it, you're right, this is a bit unfair, but I don't think staying out after sunset is an option."

Sophia's head snapped up and the tears finally came as she dove over her blankets and rammed herself into Kel's side, nearly knocking them both off the bed. Luckily Sophia wasn't too heavy, and Kel did weight training nearly every day. Once she had calmed down Sophia stayed attached to Kel's side.

" Thank you."

" No problem Little Bee."

" I told you to stop calling me that, I'm older than you."

" Yeah by like, five minutes. And you're still smaller than me, so I refuse."

Sophia giggled as she pounded her small fists into his sides, making him play wince a little as she called him a bozo and demanded that he get out of her room and leave her alone.

Kel laughed as he made his way out of her room and down the hall back to the kitchen, where his father and a couple of the other pack members were helping the Omegas set the table. Kel made his way over to his father, tapping the man on the shoulder before whispering that he'd like to talk to him in his office. His father nodded before telling the others that he had business to attend to and that he'd be back before dinner started. Kel knew this meant that his father was telling him he had about five minutes once they got to his office to present and argue his case, meaning he was still upset about Sophia. Once he had the understanding of everyone in the family dining room, he briskly made his way out of the room and up the stairs, Kel following at his heels swiftly. Once they were in the room Kel rehashed what he and Sophia had talked about in her room. Victor, Kel's father seemed to sigh into his fists as he listened to his successor, contemplating to himself and grumbling about some Rain Pack Omega putting ideas into his precious perfect daughter's head. Kel could see the gears turning in his father's head, should he or should he not, being debated as he took in his children's thoughts and opinions on the matter. At the end of his time limit, Victor only told him to give him some time as he thought it over and talked with the elders about it. Kel sighed as he nodded and made his way down to dinner with the rest of the pack that stayed in the main house instead of living in their own places on pack land. He hopped his request went through, he really wanted Sophia to be content with life, after all, that's what his sister deserved.