Rain had barely managed to convince Mama to erect a couple modern day buildings apart from the wood and thatching the pack previously used so that she can be certain of their safety , pointing out threats like storms, fires and attacks. She did also mention the perks which were electricity, communication with the outside world and air-conditioning to mention a few.
Which is why Rain was seating in her office at six am with her laptop on her desk, its screen alive with her favorite little people, the twins in their matching spiderman pajamas.
"So you stole your grandma's keys because she wouldn't let you have candy?" Rain asked somewhat sternly, although she was trying very hard not to laugh because this situation was just too hilarious.
"mmm Yep" came the reply from her naughty five year old.
"Mommy I told him he'll get us, get us in trouble with grandma and now-"
"What sweetheart? Why are you crying?"
"I told Th-thorn mommy and now Grandma's looking for us!" River was bawling his eyes out while Thorn kept shushing him to keep quiet before they were found from their spot in the closet, which wasn't a very good spot anyway considering they hadn't even shut the closet doors behind them.
"Be nice to your brother Thorn, especially since you started this-"
"But mom, grandma doesn't eat candy, she won't want the key back, River is just being a big baby!"
"Mommy I'm-I'm scared! She's gonna grind us mom, please tell her not to grind us!"
"You mean ground baby"
"Riri stop crying! They'll hear you!"
Thorn was hugging his brother, who by now was covered in snot and tears, their mother's heart warming at their display of affection.
"River honey, I think you boys just should just calm down go tell grandma what you did. I want you to tell her that you are very sorry and that you won't do it again OK? Trust me she won't be mad at you. Can you do that for mommy?"
Rain tried calming her baby down even though Thorn was shaking too now, but he just went on and played his big brother role so well.
Mama was firm and fair, so of course she was a bit scary to more than just pups. While cooing at her pups, our rogue's heart swelled with joy at seeing her little ones being so affectionate with each other, she gave thanks for the gift of her little angels.
Just then, she noticed something. Tilting her face a bit, she smiled and sat back in her chair. A beaming figure was approaching the open closet and the twins weren't even aware, too busy crying out their fear of grandma. The figure signed a hush sign at the chair sat laptop and creeped in...
"Booh!"
"Aaahhh!"
Jousou was almost in tears laughing at the scared pups, and Rain couldn't help but laugh at the way they jumped. Her little ones were so sure of their hiding spot that they didn't notice the closet door behind them wasn't shut, and wasn't even close.
"Uncle Joss its you!" Screamed a now pale River.
"Yeah, you scared us I thought it was grandma."
"Nope, its only your favourite uncle. Now tell me you little rascals, you did not just steal your grandma's keys but you stole my laptop as well?"
"Sorry uncle Joss, but we needed mommy you see?" And Jousou just couldn't resist those boys' puppy eyes being flashed at him.
"Its ok boys, but next time ask for permission ok?"
"Oky"
The twins replied simultaneously.
"Are you done terrorising my kids Joss?" Rain asked finally, almost feeling jealous at the way Jousou had tucked the twins in on his sides so nicely, when she was too far away to physically touch them herself. The young wolf just smiled that pleasant innocent smile of his, all teeth. He wanted to tell his sister the kids missed her too, that the whole family did, but he knew better. Rain would feel incompetent if she couldn't save more of her estranged brothers, if she didn't let them experience family the way she did by way of mama. Jousou chose not to tread those shark infested waters, even though his guy was telling him they were losing time.
"Hey big sis! Sorry but they are just too gullible. Although," He leaned closer to the screen, "I think someone will be happy to know these trouble makers are fine and not locked up in my closet" he winked, crouching a bit.
He went ahead and lifted the boys up into his arms, much to their giggling delight, proudly flexing his bare muscles at them. Jousou's eyes crinkled at the corners from the genuine happiness he exuded, since gaining Rain's trust a few years ago, the young healer had inherited what he thought to be the greatest joys of all in his life, these two boys who were looking into his hazel eyes with adoration and trust since before they could talk. And he never failed to spoil them, more so than ever, he did not want the pups feeling empty of the love they should have been getting from their father, so he happily filled in, no matter how childish it was at times, even for himself.
"Whose gonna grow up and be as strong as uncle Joss?"
"Me!"
"Me uncle Joss!"
The boys' worries were long forgotten as they kept giggling and comparing their small biceps to that of their favorite uncle.
"Keep them out of trouble will you kid?" Rain's teary hoarse voice carried nothing but adoration at the trio. She had this creeping feeling inside of her about all this coming to end, it was stifling but she pushed it all away, she was long damned anyway. Rain held on to the happy feeling instead.
"Bye babies, I love you!" She made a comical wave at the screen, blowing kisses as Jousou lowered the boys' faces a bit closer to the screen.
"Bye Mommy"
"Love you mom"
"Now how about we go and actually nab one or two pieces of candy before grandma catches us huh? You still have the key?"
"Yes!" The twins were laughing conspiratorially now, of course if uncle does it himself, there is no way they'll take the blame.
"Ahh!" Scoffed Rain in mild disbelief.
Jousou winked at her, "Later big sis, love you!"
"Sure you big oaf, now go away with your band of thieves!" Rain laughed, ending the video call.
~~~~
Nobody was in a happier mood than Rain at the moment, the session with her kids always brightened her day no matter what. The stress of planning attacks and keeping head count did tend to take a toll on her, but she didn't run this place alone, no. She had her second in command, Blaze and her third Rhea. Not forgetting her favorite headache, Rush, whose role was to err, just be.
Its not like her rogues needed much controlling anyway, with how much they respected her already. They looked up to her because Rain was never given leadership, she took it by force and made it her own and chose to free them of their burdens and carry them on her own shoulders instead. She sacrificed her happiness, when as young as she is she could've gone and 'lived it up' so to speak, she risked her life on the daily so that they can live theirs, so of course they were grateful, respectful and very happy.
At the moment though our young rogue was on her way to the second floor of the property, on the right wing where her capable IT team was located. The property was a mix between a formal environment and a general home, easily allowing one to make proper moderations as desired. For one, with over two hundred wolves to accommodate, Rain needed a lot of room. As well as for an indoor gym, lab, mini clinic, mass hall and a few offices for official business. The place was more or less a pack-house, unless you ruled that out due to its residents being basically soldiers.
Rain took the stairs two at time seeing as the lift was occupied. She took a corner, wherein she could see much activity in the house, a few wolves were making food for the grown males who were busy training outside, and some were studying since most were homeschooled. It made sense with regards to their safety.
When the Rain reached down to the second floor, where her IT team was located, she stopped to put her thumbs in a finger print scanner just next to the door. She, alongside Blaze, Rhea and the main IT team were the only people that had access to this room. She didn't trust Rush with this yet, it was highly likely he would do something stupid if ever he had access to the resources located in this facility....like wipe some innocent soul's bank account clean.
Inside there were large monitors stuck high on the walls with green digital sequences passing ever upwards, the coding too complicated for Rain to bother much with. From there some monitors had camera footage of their residence and surroundings on display, there was not a single blind spot on the thing, this group took their safety too seriously for that. The lighting was not too bright in the room, it was enough that these wolves had to stare at bright screens all day everyday. There was about 26 wolves in here, with the seating arranged in four rows of technology wired black top desks. Each person had their work divided as per IT requirements, some with keeping the firewalls intact, some with coding and developing of their already intricate systems and some had to do what they basically specialized in. They handled channels of communication by hacking a few satellite connections for signals making sure that the intervals were as odd as they come, while ensuring overhead surveillance over a number of known pack locations. They did this while ensuring nothing was traced back to them.
Our rogue observed the group, walking to stand up front, which automatically was on the wall that hung most monitors and where all the seats were facing.
The wolves in here immediately sat a bit straighter in their chairs, organizing themselves.
"I want an update on our operations, from all teams." Rain spoke firmly, making eye contact with everyone. She looked as fierce as they knew her, wearing camouflage pants with black combat boots on and simple black body hugging vest on top. Her hair was in a somewhat messy bun. The no-nonsense look on her face didn't help either.
Just then Blaze and Rhea walked in and stood by her sides. Rhea wearing grey gym gear, a tiny short and a matching vest and Blaze in his own combat set not much different from Rain's. He lowered his head so his mouth was by her ear. "We've already made rounds on the parameters, its all good. " He said in his deep voice then turned his golden eyes to the wolves looking forward.
Rain gave a nod. Rhea just flashed pretty blue eyes at her, cheeks flushed pink and simply smiled. It was greeting enough for when the girl just finished training.
"Pups, speak." to Blaze's command, Andy, a brown haired, brown eyed 17 year old girl stood with a couple of black folders in hand and walked to the front. Handing them to Rain, she spoke.
"We got an SOS from these three packs, we have verified their information and have acertained its not a trap." She moved back while Rain scanned through the folders, Rhea picking up a few pictures from inside of them.
"OK, what do we know about the Mayan Pack?" Rhea finally asked.
This time it was a 25 year old male that stood to answer, with a slim remote in hand, he pointed at one of the monitors just above the three stood upfront, "Mayan's leaders both passed away while leading negotiations between two conflicted packs two weeks ago, they were basically collateral damage when a war broke out between the culprits."
On the screen, X'd photos of a muscular and quite regal looking couple were displayed next to each other, and a picture of a youthful looking girl just below that and a picture of two other ruggish looking couples just below that."
"The heir to the Alpha title, 16 year old Jessica was left to deal with a pack that is now in a vulnerable state since she is too young to inherit the position."
The pictures of the two couples below were zoomed in. "Surprise surprise, these two actually teamed up with plans to take over this pack since its easy pickings right?"
"So they waged war on the kid?" Asked a pissed off Rain, she really hated bullies.
The male shook his head, displaying multiple photos of mutilated bodies of both old and young on the screen, a gruesome sight that sadly, they were all used to seeing.
"No, she waged a war on them. After a couple of brutal attacks and threats on her packs' livelihood, she called it."
"Damn. Kid must be pissed off." Blaze added.
And the briefing went on in the same fashion with the two other requests.
"OK, case 2 and 3 are nothing major. I'll give 3 to Reynolds team, and I want Rush on case 2, I think a particular Alpha needs a reality check." She said to her supporting leadership, "We are taking filing Mayans as code Red, I will need all hands on deck. This should be attended to in the next five days. Time is of the essence. I suggest we show up on the battlefield since we don't want to further rattle the pack in its vulnerable state."
They nodded, then Rhea turned to the hackers. "Anything else?"
"Me! Me! Me!" A squeaking could be heard in the back where Mahoney, a hyperactive freckled red head, had her hand raised. The whole room cracked up in laughter.
Blaze shook his head with a fond smile on his face, " Yes Mahoney? "
Jumping up and nearly tripping on her chair, Mahoney held up a note happily. "Alpha James is paying us $2 million more-"
She paused for effect. "- to NEVER come near his pack again." They all laughed.
"Thank you Mahoney"
Rain winked at Rhea , she suspected Blaze to have more than just a soft spot for the red head.
"Alright. I think that calls for a celebration, bonfire tonight everybody!" They were too happy to hear Rain's beautiful words.
" I'll tell the rest of the pack" Rhea said softly as they were leaving the crew.
For that, she got a kind eyed nod from both Blaze and Rain.
So much excitement, and it was still morning.
***
A/N
Hi,
I just can't seem to keep to schedule (hides face)
But I love you
Addict.