Transition - Alpha's Trouble Maker

« Seff » The conference room was stuffy and the heat almost unbearable, but most of all I did not want to be here. I did not want to be doing this on my last day of school before the summer break. Instead of doing what I wanted to be doing, which was spending a bit of time with my girlfriend, I was stuck sitting here waiting for this meeting to get started. Why did my father insist on having meetings before school? I glanced down at the screen of my phone to check the time. Quarter past seven. “Dad…” I hissed out to get his attention. Marric Logan looked over at me and crocked his head to the side in silent question and I quickly showed him the time on my phone, and he frowned for a split second before he hurriedly nodded and stood up from his seat to address the others. “Alright, the kids have to get going for their last day of school, so let’s get this meeting over with as quickly as possible,” he said, rather loudly, and I cringed as I pressed back into the uncomfortable wooden chair as I hung my head. I already knew that my best friend, Decker Kenway, and my cousin, Luca Logan, were in here somewhere, and although I wanted to seek them out, I was not interested in getting into trouble with my father for not paying attention, again. “Reed, would you care you do the honors?” my father asked as he casually sat back down, and I let out a silent groan. Decker’s father is currently the pack’s Beta, second in command, and every time my father let Reed run the meeting, it would always go on for what felt like forever. “Of course, Alpha,” Reed said as he stood up, facing the small group of males that filled the room. The worst part about this stupid meeting was that it was pointless. “On Wednesday night, the patrol heard a commotion down by the waterfall,” I rolled my eyes at that, but as always, I kept my mouth shut. “They came across a group of teenagers having a little drinking party,” his voice held so much disgust that I glanced up to see the annoyance on his face. “Unfortunately, ninety-nine percent of the group were humans with only one wolf,” everyone turned, including me, to look at Gavin Barrett, who was a warrior in his own right. “Robin did not even try to hide or run away! Most of the humans ran but those that stayed behind had questions they wanted answered. Robin just sat there, like she was enjoying the show. Luckily, Nikko had been on the patrol and informed the group that they were trespassing on private ground and to leave immediately,” Reed was referring to Nikko, the Delta of the pack, and my uncle, as he was my father’s younger brother and, of course, Luca’s father. “I do not know what to say,” Gavin said, breaking the silence that had formed. “I have warned her time and time again to behave…” his voice trailed off and I kind of felt sorry for him. However, this was the same thing that happened every single time Robin got caught going against the rules of the pack. Robin is more than just a handful as she was more than destructive and I had no idea why my father allowed her to stay. “We know, Gavin, but she brought humans to our territory, and they were drinking!” Reed exclaimed and his face started to get red with frustration. I snuck a look over at Decker, who looked as though he wanted to make a run for it. I felt the same way. “Underage drinking,” Nikko added, and this time I could clearly hear someone groan and I kept my head down even though I had a pretty good idea that it was Luca. “What?” Nikko demanded and I looked up to see Nikko glaring at his son. “Dad, why do we have to be here for this?” Luca questioned as he stood up. “It’s almost half-past seven and you know it takes us a good twenty to twenty-five minutes to get to school,” he was right and at this rate, we would be here for another hour, at least. “Show some respect boy!” Nikko yelled and I flinched at the sound of anger in his voice. I knew that he did not mean to be so loud nor so rude, but it was the warrior in him, and he was far too used to yelling at his warriors and often forgot his place and, as if he sensed this, Nikko blushed slightly and turned to my father. “My apologies, Alpha, I did not mean to yell,” my father nodded but he also stood up. “Luca is right though; they need to leave for school. However,” he looked around the room, making eye contact with Luca, Decker, and myself before he continued. “You know why you are required to be at these meetings, as this is part of your training. I apologize that the timing is inconvenient, and I expect all three of you in my office once school has closed for the day,” Decker shot up and my father raised a brow at his abrupt actions. I also noticed Reed’s anger was starting to flare. “We have a small get-together after school for summer break,” Decker informed my father, and I kept my cool as I waited for his reaction. “Oh, I forgot about that,” Nikko said as he glanced over at my father. “Luca mentioned it to me last week, I had not realized that today was that day,” “Alright, how long is this little get-together going to take?” my father asked as his gaze shifted from Decker to me and I shrugged. I was not planning on being at the get-together, I was planning on taking my girlfriend to our special place instead. “Seff?” my father questioned as he continued to stare at me. “An hour or two,” I said as I stood up. “Three to be safe,” I added as I turned to leave the room. “I expect the three of you in my office by no later than six pm, got it?” “Yes, Alpha,” Decker and Luca agreed as I heard them shuffling behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and gave my father a single nod before I pushed open the office door. We will be late for school. There was no doubt about it as the three of us hurried toward my black ranger. I got into the driver's seat as Decker got in next to me and Luca in the back. I roared the engine to life and pulled out of the dirt driveway of the packhouse and all was silent as I made my way down the dirt road through our town to the main gate. I could already see two of the patrolmen standing on either side of the open gate. My father must have let them know we were in a hurry. I saw Luca giving them a wave as we drove through and as we left the territory of The Silent Warriors Pack, I felt myself relax. “Man, did you see my dad?!” Decker groaned once we were away from the pack's territory. “Your dad! Did you see mine?!” Luca complained from the backseat. “Show some respect boy!” he mocked loudly, and Decker chuckled as he shook his head. “Oh, but then he can apologize to Marric but not to me…seriously!” “Why would you expect him to apologize to you?” Decker asked him as I glanced at the time on the dashboard. It was five to eight and we were still a good twenty minutes away and that meant we would have to stop by the principal’s office before heading to our lockers. Make no mistake, Mr. Carter was not going to go easy on us, especially since it was the last day before the summer break. “I don’t know, because he should,” Luca stated before silence filled the vehicle. Decker eventually leaned forward, plugging his USB from his phone into the car radio and the silence was broken by the sound of music. I inwardly cringed at the noise, but I made sure to keep a straight face while Luca immediately started singing along to whatever it was that was playing. I noticed Decker was quiet although he was tapping his hand against his leg to the beat. This continued for the rest of the ride until we reached Apple Bridge High School and, as I had expected, there was not one single person anywhere to be seen. “Damn it,” Decker muttered as I pulled into my favorite parking spot under one of the many trees that were scattered throughout the parking lot. Cars of all sorts and colors filled most of the parking spaces and I was almost certain at least twenty percent of the students had decided to ditch today. Switching off the engine, we all jumped out before heading toward the front of the school building. It was quite a sunny day, so I slung my leather jacket over my shoulder as Luca pushed open the double glass doors. Walking through those doors, the heat immediately went down as the air-conditioner hummed and let out a cool air that made all the difference. Without a word, the three of us headed straight to the office and as soon as Decker pushed open the door, the secretary, Miss Lawson, looked up from her laptop. “Oh, boys…really? Late again…” she shook her head as she stood up and placed her hands on her hips. She was one of the humans that knew what we were. “The meeting ran a bit long,” Decker informed her, but it did not matter, we were not privileged in any way. “Well, in you go,” she said as she pointed at the closed door, and I gave her a quick nod before I led the way to Mr. Carter’s door. “Don’t forget to knock!” she called out, but it was too late as I had already opened the door and Mr. Carter looked up and frowned. “What is it now?” he snapped as we filed into his office. “Let me take a guess, you boys are late again because of a meeting?” I nodded while Decker and Luca stood silently just behind me. Mr. Carter sighed loudly as he folded his arms. “What am I going to do with the three of you?” he asked. “Ah! Come on Mr. Carter, you know it is not our fault!” Luca complained and I was tempted to roll my eyes at his outburst, but I stopped myself. “You state a good point there, Mr. Logan…ah…Luca, but it is still your responsibility to make sure you get to school on time,” he turned to look at the time on his computer before he sighed once again. “Although you are not too late, so I will let it pass,” almost immediately Luca fist-pumped the air, but our principal was not quite done as he held up his hand. “However, I hope that you will see to it that this does not happen again, otherwise I will have to dish out some formal punishment, understood?” “Understood,” I said firmly before I turned to leave his office. Luca and Decker were right behind me as we left the reception to get to class and, since we were already late for our first period, we each split off to head to our second period. When I reached the science classroom, I was not surprised to see the door open, even though I knew Miss Jacobs did not have a first morning period and that meant the room would be empty. As I walked in, she looked up from the board she was standing in front of and smiled. “Morning Seff,” she greeted warmly, and I smiled as I deliberately looked her up and down before I headed to the back of the class. She did not say anything further as she continued to write out the rest of the assignment.