He stepped in. He noticed Leyra toe off her shoes, and did the same. He placed them in a partially hidden spot behind a small bench in the entryway, so no one would find his shoes easily and take them. 

“Leyra? That you?” another woman’s voice called from deeper in the house.

“Yes. I have a lone wolf with me, too,” Leyra responded. She set the lantern down on the small bench, then gestured to Fox. “We can leave that tray in the kitchen,” she said.

Fox followed her through the house. Dark hardwood floors were cool on his feet, and simple but boho-chic decorations filled empty spaces on the walls. Their furniture looked simple as well, but comfortable. As they entered the kitchen, Fox laid eyes on the other woman he’d heard. 

In height, she reached up to Leyra’s chin, and she had dark skin and dark eyes, and her coiled hair was done up in two small buns atop her head. She wore a flower print dress in a shade of green that appeared very becoming on her.

She glanced at Fox. “A new one?” she asked Leyra, who nodded. 

“He just arrived today. He’s docile enough that we decided he could fill the spot of collective personal assistant for the Alphas,” Leyra explained. As she spoke, she gestured at the tray Fox still carried and pointed at the counter by the sink. Fox set it down.

“Hm,” the other woman hummed in interest, looking right at Fox without even trying to be inconspicuous about it. Fox watched as she took in his appearance. He wondered if she saw all the same things Leyra had seen. Fox took this chance to scrutinize her a little more, too. 

She wasn’t as built as Leyra, her thighs and arms softer, but not skinny. Her knees and palms seemed calloused, and Fox wondered if she was a gardener or a cleaner. Judging by the plants he saw scattered around the house, and the smell of flowers in the kitchen windowsill, she was probably the former. He noticed that she also had a tattoo of an ink-pressed paw print on her forearm. Fox realized, just then, that these two were mates.

“I’m Sunshine,” she greeted, and held out a hand for Fox to shake. Fox glanced warily at Leyra, but she wasn’t glaring a warning at him, so he tentatively reached out and shook her hand.

“I’m Fox,” he replied. He took his hand back the moment her gentle grip loosened.

Sunshine smiled at him, a wide and warm thing, and Fox felt slightly flustered at such a sight. He turned his gaze to the floor. “Where will he be staying?” Sunshine asked.

“One of our spare rooms until a bunker opens up,” Leyra said. “Are you comfortable with him staying here, or do you want one of the others to take him?” 

Sunshine shrugged, still smiling. “Here is fine. If he gives off any bad vibes, we can move him,” she said. Fox couldn’t help but raise his brows at the notion of staying in someone’s house. A real, sturdy house that looked and smelled like a home. It had been a long time since Fox had gotten to stay anywhere like this. He was used to camping, motels, sheds, cells, sometimes even up in trees. If he was lucky, he found a vacation cabin, but that was the closest thing he got to a comfy shelter, and he could never stay there for very long.

Fox wanted to ask how long it might be for a bunker to open up, how long he’d be permitted to stay in this house, but he couldn’t find his voice. Leyra turned to him. “I’ll show you your room, then.”

Fox followed her through the house again, up a set of stairs where a vine plant was growing around the banister, and down a small hallway. They passed a bathroom, which Leyra pointed out as the guest’s bathroom and was free for him to use. Fox’s mind reeled some more at the promise of getting to shower in warm water. Not much farther down from the bathroom, Leyra opened a door to a plain room, with only a queen bed and a small dresser. 

Fox stared at the bed. Two plush pillows, one thick brown comforter, one knitted patterned blanket. He felt like this was too much to allow a lone wolf to use. 

“Here it is. And here’s the rules. No funny business, no stashes, no sneaking out through the window like a teenager. I don’t want to catch you roaming the house while we’re sleeping. You come and go with permission only, and you ask before helping yourself to anything in the house. That includes food. I swear, if I catch you stealing anything from us, your ass is getting a hard whooping and you’ll never get to stay in anyone’s house here again. You’ll sleep outside until a bunker opens up. Am I making myself clear?” Leyra said.

“Yes ma’am,” Fox replied immediately. He didn’t want to know what it felt like to get a beating from her. “I understand.”

He still couldn’t take his eyes off the bed. He could feel Leyra staring hard at the side of his head. 

“How- how long until a bunker opens up?” he finally managed to ask.

“Until one of the other lone wolves dies,” Leyra replied. She didn’t care to sugar coat it. This caught Fox’s attention.

“Dies?” he repeated.

“That’s the only way a lone wolf leaves here. You mess up enough times, you’re executed. You get into a nasty fight to the death and lose, that’s it. You try to leave, you’ll be hunted down.” She said it so matter of factly, Fox wondered if she had any warmth in her heart. She must have some, if she had a mate like Sunshine, but it was probably very little. Fox didn’t think he would enjoy living with her.

“I see…” he replied, turning his gaze away from her strong unwavering one. “Mess up how?” he asked.

“Theft, fighting, attempting to escape, disobeying enough orders. You get the idea,” she answered. Fox nodded. He curled his toes against the carpet. 

“There’s a laundry bin in the closet; you’re expected to clean your clothes yourself. Keep that bathroom clean, too,” Leyra added. Fox nodded again, with a whispered polite acknowledgment. 

The two of them stood there for a long moment, Fox unsure if he was allowed to break away or await an order, and Leyra simply studying him. 

“What’s West?” she asked at length. It took a second for Fox to understand where the question came from, but when he remembered, he sighed.

“Just… a bucket list destination,” he said. It was a partial truth.

“Oh. Where to?” Leyra asked, sounding interested.

“Redwood National Park,” he said. 

“I’ve heard that’s a good one. Very touristy though,” she replied. Fox grew a little skeptical and confused by this small talk, after all the information she just gave him. 

“I think most national parks are,” he mumbled. She nodded agreement. 

“It’s late, so you can turn in for now. Tomorrow you’ll be given a tour, and then a rundown of what’s going to be expected of you,” she said. 

“Okay,” Fox replied, and stepped into his room. Leyra turned and left him alone, heading back downstairs.

Fox looked at the bed again. It looked clean and untouched, and the idea of lying down in it reminded him of how filthy he was. He just remembered he had lost his pack of belongings when he’d gotten captured; it had been confiscated before he was dragged to the hole. He wondered if the Betas had thrown his stuff away or taken it somewhere for holding. He hoped he could get it back, because that’s where all his toiletries and clothes were.

Fox went back downstairs. He found Leyra and Sunshine in the kitchen. “Excuse me,” he said, and they turned to look at him. “Would it be possible to get my bag back?” 

“Oh right,” Leyra said. “Come with me, we’ll go get it.” She started forward, and Fox felt a rush of relief at knowing his things hadn’t been discarded. Leyra led him over to a garage door, grabbing a set of car keys from a hook on the wall. They descended a couple stairs into the garage, and Leyra pressed a button on the wall, and the garage began to open.

She gestured to the passenger door as the lights flashed on a sleek black suv, the car doors unlocking. The two of them climbed into the car, and Leyra pulled out of the garage. Fox was glad they were taking a sheltered method of travel, because the light sprinkling outside had quickly turned into a steady downpour.

Rain beat against the roof of the car, and Leyra turned on her windshield wipers. Fox watched the road as she drove down the dirt path, away from the four big houses and down the hill through the trees. It was starting to get a little darker outside, which filled Fox with a sense of anxiety. He reminded himself that he didn’t have to rush to build a warm and dry shelter tonight, that he already had one provided for him.

Leyra drove down out of the trees onto a more solid asphalt road. Fox calculated that it took about five minutes to drive into town, the trees dispersing and buildings taking their place. They passed by a gas station, a liquor store, a grocery store, a hardware store, all normal things you would find in any other town. The roads were wide, but only had one lane each way, and Fox noticed that the sidewalks were very wide and lined with well-lit lamps, as well as shrubs serving as partitions between the road and the sidewalk. It was both a drivable and walkable town.

Leyra didn’t drive into the heart of town, luckily. Fox wanted to avoid getting gawked at, or humiliated. She turned into a small parking lot of an old building. It looked like a town hall or a bank, with its limestone material and arched windows.

Leyra parked, and the two of them got out and ducked their heads against the rain. Fox followed the Alpha inside. 

The interior of the building struck him as more of a courthouse now, with muted sounds and thick wooden doors and marbled floors. “This way,” Leyra said, and she took him down the entryway hall to a big set of stairs. They went up to the next floor, down another hall, and finally stopped at a door with a plaque labeled “Confiscated/Holdings”.

Leyra searched through the keys she held in her hand and unlocked the door. Inside, a Beta sat immediately to their right, behind a desk. Fox avoided looking at him.

“Oh, Alpha Leyra. What can I help you find?” the Beta asked.

“This one’s bag,” Leyra replied, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at Fox.

“Ah,” the Beta responded, his tone suggesting that he easily recognized Fox. “His stuff is in locker 12.”

“Thanks,” Leyra said. The Beta stood up and took them down a row of lockers. There were a lot of them, arranged like bookshelves in a library. All of them either had key locks or combination locks, or both. They stopped in front of locker 12, where the Beta spun a dial to unlock it. Fox anxiously awaited for the door to open, and he let out a breath of reassurance as he laid eyes on his bag.

It was a tattered thing, rumpled and stained and patched in some places, a few loose threads coming off the straps. Fox reached his hand forward to grab it, then stopped halfway. He looked at Leyra, uncertain.

She reached forward for him and grabbed his bag, handing it to him. Fox gratefully took it and hugged it to his chest. He turned around and crouched down on the floor, unzipping the bag and searching through its contents to make sure all of his things were still there. 

Three pairs of clothes were still there. His jacket was still there. His travel bag of toiletries were there. His tin box of knickknacks and mementos of his travels over the years, where he kept magnets and pins and photos and keychains of various places he had visited, was still there, sitting buried at the bottom. His giant water bottle/thermos was still there, unopened. His collection of paper maps was still tucked in the same pocket it had been in before. He still had his compass, his fire starter, his camping tarp, and even his Swiss Army knife. Not even his meager roll of cash had been taken.

“Are you done?” Leyra asked when Fox finally paused in his search. He figured they would have taken the valuable things, and especially his Swiss Army knife, but everything was still there.

“Yes…” Fox mumbled, and stood, hugging his bag to his chest again. 

“We looked through it, but didn’t take anything. We don’t condone theft, even if it belongs to a lone wolf. Just don’t make us regret letting you keep that knife tool, because we will take it if you use it to hurt someone,” the Beta told him. Fox didn’t want to meet his gaze, but he was grateful for their unexpected gesture of kindness. 

“Thanks. And I won’t,” he said.

“Good,” Leyra said, then sighed heavily. She was probably tired. “Let’s head back, then.”

They drove back to Leyra’s house. It was thoroughly dark by the time they got back, and lightning was starting to flash across the sky, booming thunder following close behind. The moment they were back inside the warm, sturdy house, Fox went upstairs to shower.