The two of them exited the house, and Evander led the way across the field to some unknown destination. Evander had a long stride, and Fox had to walk a little faster than his usual pace to keep up. 

They headed into the trees. The path they took was narrow and tread-worn. It took them a while to traverse through the woods, and Fox expected Evander to strike up conversation like Leyra had, but he kept quiet. Evander didn’t seem too interested in Fox and his backstory, and that relieved Fox.

Eventually, they broke out of the woods and walked out onto yet another field. This field, however, had what looked like an obstacle course, starting from one end of the field and arching around the perimeter to the other end. There was a building that looked like a concessions stand with a handful of benches beside it, where Fox could see a group of young men and women sitting and eating. There was also a big sand pit that two males were wrestling each other on, a group of onlookers cheering them on. 

Evander held up a palm, not turning to look at Fox. “The training sector,” he stated. 

The group of werewolves noticed Evander’s approach and began to stand up, giving him their attention. 

Fox held back at this point, slowing his steps until he was a good distance away from the big group. He watched as Evander came to a stop, crossing his arms and watching the two males wrestle in the sand.

The group of werewolves swiveled their heads between Evander and the wrestlers, probably unsure if they should intervene and tell the wrestlers to stop and stand at attention. Fox studied Evander. He couldn’t tell if the Alpha was waiting for the wrestling to stop, or if he was scrutinizing the way they were fighting.

Fox watched the wrestling match. One male kept his legs spread at a wide stance and was partially crouched, using his center of gravity as an aid to not get knocked over. The other male kept trying to get his arms around his opponent’s leg to trip him up, but his stance made it difficult.

Eventually, after some obvious struggling, the male with the wide stance grabbed the other male’s arm and twisted it around, shifting his feet to catch the other male’s ankle, and used both leverage points to shove the other male to the ground. He landed with a hefty grunt, and the other male pinned his knee to his chest. The one on the ground struggled, trying to get his opponent’s weight off him, but to no avail. After a few failed attempts, he slapped the sand and growled. “Tap, tap.”

Evander clapped a few times, which finally caught both wrestlers’ attention. They whipped their heads around and realized who had arrived, and quickly scrambled up to their feet.

“That was good form. What’s your name?” Evander asked the victor. 

“Luke, sir,” he responded. The other werewolf had an embarrassed blush on his cheeks and neck, probably not happy about losing in front of one of his Alphas.

“Luke. Take a spot back in the sand pit. And you,” Evander said, pointing to the loser, “go sit down over there.” He pointed to an open spot in the grass on one side of the sand pit. The loser complied with an unhappy sigh. Evander turned to the group.

“Each one of you is going to take a turn wrestling. Whoever wins stays in the pit to go another round, whoever loses sits down over there with him. If you manage to win three times before being bested, you take a seat over there.” Evander pointed to the other side of the sand pit. 

The group collectively nodded their understanding. “Alright. You’re going first,” Evander said, pointing to a random werewolf in the group. 

The matches began. Fox waited off to the side, keeping an eye on both Evander and the other werewolves. At one point, Evander seemed to remember that Fox was there. “Fox, go in the snack shack and help the other lone wolf with stocking and cleaning. I won’t need you two until after this.”

Fox didn’t want to say anything, but he didn’t want to make Evander angry at him, so he responded with a quiet “Yes, sir,” and headed over to the concessions stand.

He opened the door that read “staff” and entered. Fox felt like he was hit in the face by a wall of scents, varying from salt to sugar to bread to meat. He paused and swallowed down the sudden buildup of saliva in his mouth, willing himself not to eat anything without Evander’s permission. He didn’t want to experience a punishment from him.

The snack shack was mostly one big room, with a couple fryers, a fridge, a freezer, an ice machine, and a couple tabletop ovens. Straight ahead at the other end of the building, he spotted another lone wolf leaning against the counter of the ordering window, watching the wrestling match. He had blond hair that looked like it needed to be brushed, and white skin with a sunburned neck and arms. He wore a plain gray shirt and jeans. Fox noticed a black band around his neck, like a collar or choker.

“Um, hello,” Fox greeted. The other wolf bolted upright and turned around. His caught-red-handed expression relaxed when he saw Fox, and Fox saw the rest of the band around his neck. It was a shock collar.

“Hello. You’re the newbie, aren’t you?” he replied. At the term, Fox wondered how quickly news of his capture had spread throughout the pack. He wondered how many knew of his specific position, and whether or not it was a bad thing for them to know.

Fox nodded. The other wolf looked him up and down, his visage not betraying any inner opinions on Fox, which made Fox wary. “I’m Seb,” he said.

“I’m Fox,” Fox replied. Seb raised a brow, like many people did when they heard Fox’s name, but he didn’t comment on it.

“You here to help with concessions?” Seb asked.

“Alpha Evander told me to clean and stock,” Fox said. Seb waved a hand at an open closet where cleaning supplies were kept. Fox could see a broom, dustpan, mop, a stack of rags, and a couple cleaning chemicals. 

“Cleaning stuff is there.” He waved a hand up towards the ceiling, where Fox saw a bunch of high shelves with boxes stacked on top. “Cups and plates and whatever are up there.”

Fox nodded again. He swept his gaze around the space to see where he should start. He decided to grab some rags and start wiping down surfaces.

As he worked, silent and minding his business, he noticed Seb was just standing there, watching him, not minding his business. Fox did his best to ignore it, but after a while, he began to grow a little suspicious of Seb’s intentions. He stopped cleaning and looked right at him.

“What?” Fox asked. Seb tilted his head a bit.

“You’re really making sure it’s spotless, huh? Why are you putting that much effort into following Alpha Douchebag's orders?” Seb asked.

“I don’t want to get into trouble,” Fox told him.

Seb snickered a little, his eyebrows tilting up to form an expression of pity on his face. “He’s gonna beat you up anyway.”

Fox’s shoulders tensed. “Why? I’m doing what he told me to.”

“That’s what he does. It doesn’t matter how well you behave, he looks for ways to trip us up and punish us. It’s his way of reminding us that we’re below everyone else here,” Seb stated. “We don’t have rights like everyone else. Sure, we get little prizes for good behavior, but it doesn’t last long. Evander doesn’t want us getting comfortable or thinking we’re finally getting accepted.”

“Why?” Fox asked again. “What’s so bad about accepting us if we’re doing good?”

Seb shrugged. “Fuck if I know,” he said unhelpfully.

Fox didn’t understand. Why would this pack keep their trespassers from leaving? Why would they reward them for good behavior, but never fully accept them if they kept being good? Why would Alpha Evander purposely look for ways to beat the lone wolves back down into the dirt? If Leyra was so concerned about the lone wolves snapping or panicking and hurting her pack members, why keep the potential threats around? Or why not help them regulate their issues?

Fox had a feeling that he had a lot to figure out about Lily of the Valley Pack.

But even despite this revelation, Fox continued to do what he’d been told to do. Seb watched him think for a moment, and then turn and pick up the broom to sweep. Seb scoffed in disbelief. He shook his head and turned to watch the wrestling matches again.

Fox didn’t care to pay attention to the werewolves outside. He just narrowed his line of sight down to the task in front of him. This pack didn’t yet make sense to him, but he had learned from dozens of other packs he’d encountered; Alphas were the kind of wolves who demanded respect and obedience, and if he complied, they tended to go a little easier on him. Even if Evander would cook up some excuse to keep putting him in his place, Fox hoped that obeying his orders would make his punishments less severe. It had worked for him enough times in the past.

So Fox scrubbed every surface that looked remotely dirty. He cleaned the windows and stainless steel. He swept and mopped the floors, twice. He opened the boxes on the shelves and stocked the plastic cups and paper plates and disposable utensils and napkins, and he broke down the clumping ice in the ice machine, and organized the food stored in the freezers and fridges, and even changed the trash, leaving the full bag over by the door, out of the way.

By the end of his chores, Fox was thirsty. Seb was still distracted by the wrestling, and Evander was out of sight, so Fox secretly took a cup and filled it with water. He looked at Seb again, who was still not paying attention to him, but Fox didn’t want to risk it. He tucked himself behind a fridge, hiding, and gulped down the water like Evander was about to open the door and catch him.

He tossed his cup, pushing it as far down into the trash as possible. He looked around for anything more he could do, but everything was as good as it could get. Tentatively, he inched closer to Seb so he could look out the ordering window and see the progress outside.

It seemed like only two matches were left, with one in progress. There was a sizable amount of werewolves sitting on the loser’s side, and only about ten on the winner’s side. Fox leaned forward a bit to see Evander making notes in the binder he brought with him.

When the matches finally finished, Evander told everyone to run four laps around the obstacle course. There were some groaning and grumbling amongst the group, but Evander growled loud and clear, and any disgruntled protesting ceased, and everyone obeyed. 

Evander turned to the concession stand. Fox tensed and backed away from Seb, looking around for any last minute fixes he could make. Seb stood up all the way and leaned back against the counter with his arms crossed, looking far less stressed than Fox felt.

The door to the shack opened, and Fox froze. The Alpha swept his gaze around the building, taking in its state of cleanliness, and his eyebrows rose a bit in mild surprise. “Hmm. This looks a lot better than I was expecting.” He turned his gaze to Fox and Seb. “The two of you did this together?”

Seb was very quick to answer. “Yep. I cleaned everything and Fox stocked.”

Fox gave him a sharp look, almost glaring, but he didn’t want to start a fight, so he looked at his feet. Evander was silent for a moment, long enough to set Fox’s nerves off. 

“Really?” Evander asked. His low tone revealed that he was not fooled at all. “Fox?”

Fox’s lips parted, but Seb interjected. “Yeah, we did rock paper scissors on it.”

“Is your fucking name Fox?” Evander growled. Seb shifted his stance, nervous.

Fox wrung his fingers together in a fidget. “Um, I… we…” he glanced warily at Seb, who was harshly side-eying him. Evander stepped forward, and Fox flinched and backed up against the fridge. 

“Don’t look at him,” Evander ordered. He put himself between the two, his gaze narrowed on Fox. “He’s not here right now. I am asking you. Did the two of you do this together?”

Fox swallowed. He could pick two sides here, the lone wolf or the Alpha. If he picked the lone wolf, he would get on the Alpha’s bad side and be seen as a liar and in league with the other lone wolves, which would put him on everyone’s bad side, except for the lone wolves. If he picked the Alpha’s side, he would win points with the four of them and be seen as somewhat loyal to them, but he would be labeled as a snitch and an enemy by the lone wolves, and if they were conniving enough, they could scheme to thwart Fox’s livelihood here, or attempt to seriously hurt him behind closed doors.

Fox had experience with both. He knew that loyalty to an Alpha had far more long lasting benefits than loyalty to a lone wolf. Alphas had changed their opinion of him, had treated him halfway decent instead of terrible, and had given him freedom instead of death. Lone wolves were hit or miss; they would either decide against stealing his stuff while he slept, or they would take advantage of his attempt at good will and screw him over, landing him in precarious situations while the other lone wolf got away.

Fox didn’t know Seb at all. He didn’t know what Seb would do if he sided with him or not. Fox risked more if he sided with him. He was nearly guaranteed benefits if he sided with Evander, even if that meant the lone wolves turning on him.

In conclusion, it was an easy choice to make. Fox needed to look out for himself, because in the end, he was always the only one left.

“No, sir…” Fox whispered. He could hear Seb stifle a snarl under his breath.

“Am I right in assuming that you did all this, by yourself,” Evander responded, gesturing widely to the snack shack. “And this lazy fuck,” Evander turned and pointed to the floor where Seb stood, “stood here and did jack shit the entire time?”

Fox could feel the growing irritation in Evander’s body, so he couldn’t bring himself to look at his face. His gaze was where he was pointing, and that was how he noticed that the spot Seb stood in was the only dirty spot on the entire floor. Fox hadn’t wanted to tell him to move while he was mopping, and Seb hadn’t bothered lifting his feet, so he had mopped around him and left that one spot dirty. 

Fox hadn’t realized what a stark difference there was between the dirty spot and the rest of the newly-cleaned floor. That was how Evander knew Seb was lying.

“Y-Yes, yes sir,” Fox stammered quietly. Evander exhaled in a very aggressive manner, and turned to leave the shack. 

“Come here, both of you,” he commanded. Fox eyed Seb, who was glaring daggers at him.

“You little…” he fumed, his teeth growing sharp as he bared them at Fox. 

“Now!” Evander yelled over his shoulder. Fox scurried to obey. Seb snarled behind him, and the next thing he knew he was being tackled to the ground.