As he stepped outside, the morning warmth enveloped him. He took in a deep breath and sighed. Part of him wanted to go off and do his own thing, scavenge for firewood or hunt for food. He had gotten so used to living like that, to moving at his own pace, according to his own schedule, only submitting to the sun and how long it would stay in the sky. He hoped he would be allowed a day off to spend some time by himself. He didn’t really want to be catering to the Alphas every single day.

He made a mental note to ask Rishima about that. 

He set off towards the bunkers. Just as he arrived there, the other lone wolves were emerging from their bunkers and taking seats at the picnic table. Six Betas already stood around it, two at the same food cart as last night and one at each corner of the table. 

Fox took a seat at the same spot he’d sat at last night. He kept his head tilted down and his hands folded in his lap, but he secretly watched the other loners as they took their seats. Fox noticed that this time, there didn’t seem to be an apparent order in which everyone sat. Disgruntled faces mixed with tired faces. 

Someone sat down next to Fox. He looked over and found Star there. She smiled at him, waving in a silent greeting, and Fox smiled a little in return. An anxious twist in his chest unwound when he saw that a friendly face had sat next to him. 

But a moment later, it twisted tight again when he saw that Seb sat down across from him. Fox’s brows furrowed in a displeased frown, but he didn’t look at Seb. 

Seb kicked his foot under the table. “So where are you staying, if it’s not in a bunker?” he bluntly asked. His tone was already bordering on hostile, either because he was still unhappy about yesterday, or he was unhappy about the fact that Fox had gotten to sleep elsewhere. Maybe it was both, stacked on top of each other to create a pile of general dislike.

Seb asked his question just loud enough to catch the attention of a few other lone wolves at the table. Fox pretended not to notice. He leveled a look at Seb. “In one of the holes,” he lied.

Seb narrowed his eyes. For werewolves, detecting lies was based entirely on skill, on being able to read body language so well you knew what was true and what was fake. Alphas were trained to have this skill. Betas were also adept at deciphering truth from lie, although they could still have some difficulty. Regular pack wolves struggled more. Lone wolves learned this skill through bad encounters with each other. 

Fox could pick up on lies in an instant. He wasn’t sure if Seb held the same level of skill.

Fox watched as Seb’s eyes flitted over Fox’s face and upper body. Fox did his best to appear bored and not nervous, keeping his shoulders relaxed and his expression blank. 

“You don't look like you’ve been sleeping in a hole,” Seb observed. 

“I took a shower before I came here,” Fox stated. Seb’s eyes narrowed again, his lips pressing together.

“Where?” he pressed.

“Who cares, Seb?” Star interjected. 

Seb bared his teeth at her. “I care, and so should every one of us, because this sack of fresh meat is living better than the rest of us, and I want to know why.”

“I’m not living better than the rest of you,” Fox retorted, feeling figurative hackles rising on the back of his neck. Fox might’ve been dealt a good hand for his time here at Lily of the Valley Pack, but Fox had lived a life as difficult and painful as any other lone wolf. Perhaps more so, if Fox dared to bring up memories of darker times with the scientists who had experimented on him.

“I saw you heading to the Alphas’ houses last night. You’re living large with one of them, aren’t you?” Seb accused. His brows were furrowed in a glare, and his teeth were growing sharper. 

Fox could feel Star’s gaze on the side of his head. He didn’t want to lose a potential friend just because he’d been placed with an Alpha for the time being. Fox exhaled sharply through his nose.

“There’s no room for me here right now, so they’re letting me stay at one of their houses. But the moment I slip up, I’m stuck sleeping outside in the rain. And the moment one of you dies, I’m moving into your bunker. I’m not living large. I’ve kept my head down enough for the Alphas to give me their spare room, but they’re watching me like hawks,” Fox admitted. 

He hated outing himself, hated revealing that he had a room instead of a hole in the ground. But maybe admitting this to Seb and Star, and the rest of the table that was surely listening in now, Fox could decipher who was a true ally and who was a true threat. Chances were, Fox had just made enemies with everyone here. But Fox hadn’t been expecting anything different.

“Did you fool them? Or are you truly a good person?” Star asked him. Fox was suddenly aware that the Betas were listening, too. He could feel their curious gazes, and their lack of interference up to this point hinted that they were gathering more information on him.

Fox exhaled soundly again, though this time it was less temperamental and more mildly exasperated. “I’m just trying to get by with the least amount of pain possible. Alphas will treat you better if you respect them. That’s all I’m doing. Respecting them so that they won’t hurt me.”

“Smart,” someone else at the table said. Fox looked over to see the scarred older lone wolf with graying hair had spoken. “Some of us still haven’t figured that out.” He gave a pointed look at Seb. Seb met it with a glare.

“Some of them are still assholes even if you do follow orders,” he retorted. 

“Enough,” one of the Betas barked. “Settle down or your portions will be two scoops instead of three.”

Everyone quieted down. Seb crossed his arms in petulance, scowling at Fox. Fox held his gaze, a silent gesture of defiance. Seb didn’t like him, he didn’t like Seb. Fox wanted to avoid fighting as much as possible, but he also didn’t want Seb to think he was timid enough to be pushed around.

The Betas portioned out their breakfast and set everything down in front of the lone wolves. This morning, their meal consisted of leftover undercooked waffles, blueberry pancakes, chopped fruit that was a little slimy and bruised, and scraps of eggs varying in texture. It was better than last night’s meal, and the lone wolves, including Fox, dug in and ate every last morsel. Fox and Star didn’t trade anything, but neither of them had anything they wanted to trade.

Cups of water were emptied and plates were scraped clean. When everyone was finished, the Betas had everyone throw their trash away and line up to be given orders on where to go for their labor. Fox listened in, even though he already knew where he was going. Some of the lone wolves were sent to Evander to assist with more recruit training. Some were sent to town to help with a construction project. A couple were sent to what a Beta called the ‘waste sector’, and Fox wasn’t sure if that meant general trash or excrement. He didn’t want to find out. Star and a couple others were sent to the farm sector. 

A Beta told Fox where to go, even though Fox already knew, but he didn’t say as much and simply trekked back through the trees to the Alphas’ houses. 

He made his way over to the house with a bunch of toys scattered on the lawn, and found that the garage door was still open. Fox slowed to a stop at the end of the driveway, uncertain about how to proceed. Should he walk up to the front door or the inside garage door? Should he take advantage of this chance to have a little more time to himself and wait until someone comes outside? 

Fox remembered Evander’s harshness yesterday, the way he still treated Fox like any other lone wolf even though Fox hadn’t yet acted like every other lone wolf. Evander was searching for any hint that Fox was an unreliable and ill-natured person, prone to violence and bad temper. Fox liked to think that he was none of those things, that he was cautious rather than unreliable, level-headed rather than ill-natured, self-preserving rather than violent. But Fox knew that every lone wolf held those traits, too, but they grew worse over time, feeding the stereotypes and proving the pack wolves right. Fox didn’t want to become another terrible loner. He wanted to be viewed as someone different in a good way. He wanted to look out for himself and ensure a decent life here. 

In order to do that, he needed to be on his best behavior, and he needed to make good decisions. A good decision would be to knock on the front door and wait for someone to answer it. A bad decision that would surely catch Evander’s attention would be to loiter out in the street.

Fox approached the front door and knocked. As he waited, he could hear commotion inside the house, feet thumping in quick fashion on hardwood floors, a door slamming shut, someone reprimanding the door slam, a little kid screaming, an older kid’s voice asking where her shoes are, someone else yelling that they saw them by the front closet, and the older kid replying that they weren’t there, and so on. After a minute of no one answering the door, Fox considered the doorbell. It was louder and announced his presence more directly, something that made him uncomfortable. He decided against it and knocked again.

More commotion, no answer. Fox sighed and scanned the front yard. On their brick patio, they had some cushioned outdoor chairs and a table. Fox sat down in one of the chairs and waited. 

He was a little glad no one had answered the door to let him in. He didn’t really want to be caught up in the chaos ensuing inside the house. This gave him a chance to have more time to himself, too, and if Evander spotted him, or anyone else for that matter, he could say that he knocked twice already with no answer, and it wouldn’t be a lie.

Fox let his gaze roam as he waited. He gathered some finer details on his surroundings, like moss growing between the bricks in Rishima’s yard, and a few homemade bird houses hung up in the trees in the Alphas’ front yards, where robins and chickadees flitted in and out. A calm breeze had picked up since his trek from the bunkers, which left him wondering if the wind would worsen and bring rain clouds with it.

Movement caught his eye. The other male Alpha he hadn’t yet officially met was emerging from the blue house that had the outdoor heaters and swimming pool. He locked his front door with a set of keys and ambled down his front porch steps, taking his time. 

The Alpha swept his gaze over the trees and the other houses. He seemed to just be taking in the view, but the muscles in Fox’s back wound tight when the Alpha’s gaze halted on him. Fox wanted to look down, avoid eye contact even from this far away, but a survivalist impulse made him watch the potential threat.

The Alpha, Ahren, seemed to glance around Rishima’s house, then returned his gaze to Fox. Fox wondered if he was going to get in trouble, either for waiting out here or for sitting on furniture that wasn’t his. But even despite his growing anxiety, he stayed put. Maybe he was stuck in a freeze response.

Ahren started walking over to him. Fox’s breath caught as a bolt of panic shot through his chest, a painful sensation, and he gripped his thighs tightly to balance it out. He couldn’t take his eyes off the Alpha as he approached. 

Ahren moved just as leisurely as he had when he emerged from his house. He wore brown outdoor pants similar to Fox’s, and a regular gray shirt. He had full brown hair grown out just enough to cover his forehead and curl around his ears, and his skin was incredibly suntanned, more than anyone Fox had seen so far. As he grew closer, he cataloged a few patchwork tattoos on his forearms, as well as the same amount of scarring as the rest of the Alphas, and the same amount of musculature. He seemed a bit more lean than Evander, though, but roughly the same height, give or take a couple inches.

Fox watched as Ahren walked up the brick path to the patio. He didn’t take his eyes off Fox, probably gathering the same information that Fox was obtaining on him. Ahren finally moved his gaze away to stare at the front door, listening to the noise inside the house. 

A smile graced his face, and he turned a pair of dark brown eyes on Fox. “How long have you been waiting?” he asked.

Fox drew his shoulders up with a nervous glance at the door. “A few minutes, I think, sir. Maybe ten.”

Ahren’s smile widened a little more when Fox said “sir”. He considered the door again, then swept his gaze over the area again. “How about you come with me for now. Rishima is probably going to be a while, and I can send you over when she needs you later.”

Fox hadn’t been expecting this. Ahren seemed a thousand times calmer than Rishima’s house, though, and he had a feeling he might fare better with him than with her. “Okay,” was all he said.

He stood, and Ahren began to lead him to some unknown destination.