They cleared the left side of the campsite over the next hour. As they came around the back to the right side, they came across the very thing Fox was hoping to avoid.

“Ah… here we go,” Ahren said with an air of long-suffering resignation. Fox grimaced as the Alpha crouched down and used a poop bag to scoop up a pile of werewolf feces that had been poorly buried by some foliage. 

Ahren straightened, holding the pile up. “Honestly, the worst part about my job, aside from what we just discussed.”

Fox watched with a scrunched nose as the Alpha brought the pile close to his face and gathered a deep inhale. Ahren let a good lungful in before he scrunched up his own nose and snorted, shaking his head in a very animalian way. He tied up the bag, sealing the poop away. 

He met eyes with Fox, both of them sharing their silent disgust with each other. “Well, we’re going to have to make a pit stop after this.”

“You know whose it is?” Fox queried. Ahren nodded.

“This isn’t the first time they’ve shat here and didn’t take care of it,” he said, clearly miffed by the transgression. “Next time we need a cleanup, I’m making him do it.”

Fox was a little glad to hear that there was some sort of disciplinary system in place for their own pack members, too. 

They finished up in the campsite, only coming across one other site with plastic trash. When they were done, they tossed the garbage into the trash can by the map billboard, and Ahren held on to the poop bag as they began walking back the way they had come earlier.

“After I take care of this, I’ll give you a tour of my other sectors,” Ahren told Fox. He nodded his acknowledgment and dutifully followed the Alpha. 

Ahren took him through the forest and onto a paved road. They walked alongside said road for about half an hour, until they reached a suburban housing section, mostly filled with townhomes. There were flowery shrubs and tall oak trees lining lawns and curbs, providing a cozy and homely vibe to the area. Fox imagined how pretty it must be in autumn.

As they walked, Fox took in the sight of the townhomes. Each one seemed to have a similar layout, but each one also had its own character. Many houses were painted in fun uncommon colors, or had gardens like Sunshine’s, or toys strewn on the front yard like Rishima’s, or had porch swings with outdoor decorations lining small patios, or had enclosures for pets like chickens and rabbits. There was even a cat lounging on top of a mailbox, who chirped a greeting at them as they passed. Ahren reached up and petted the cat, receiving a pleased purr in response. Fox kept his hands to himself, just in case.

Ahren turned into a walkway that led up to a green townhouse. Fox let himself fall a little behind in step, and watched as the Alpha strode up to the front door and knocked. It was a demanding and resounding sound, and Fox felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Maybe Ahren was more upset by this than he was showing in his body language.

The door opened, and a woman appeared in the frame. Fox came to a stop halfway up the walkway. 

“I’d like to speak with your mate,” Ahren stated, not bothering to beat around the bush.

The woman briefly glanced at Fox, but nodded wordlessly and disappeared inside the house. A few moments later, a man took her place. 

“Hello, Alpha Ahren. What’s the issue?” he greeted, completely unperturbed by the visit. Fox swallowed as he noticed Ahren’s shoulders tighten at the back.

He held up the bag of feces. “This is the issue, Phillip. Your shit.”

Phillip’s face paled, and he averted his gaze away. “Oh, I- I thought I buried it, like you said we could do. We can bury them, right? Did the rules change?” he stammered.

“Yes you can bury them. At least, and I mean minimum, six inches underground. Ideally, ten inches. Even better is to just scoop this up yourself and toss it,” Ahren replied. Fox silently inched away, slowly making his way back down the walkway to the sidewalk by the road. Phillip made a series of uncertain sounds, trying to come up with words to defend himself.

“This is strike three, Phillip. Next week’s cleanup is on you,” Ahren said. “And after that, you can clean the public bathrooms by the pup playground.”

Phillip stiffened in indignation. “The bathrooms too? Sir, I swear I’ll clean up after myself better next time.”

“I’ve heard this excuse a dozen times at this point. You and your mate need to quit bringing packaged snacks and quit shitting in the woods and leaving it behind for other people to clean up. Hiding it under some leaves isn’t doing anything. Do you know why we have to bury our feces? If our shit gets into the wildlife’s systems, it’s going to affect their health, which will affect our food, and could potentially circle back around and get our pack members sick. Do you want to be responsible for a possible pack-wide illness?” Ahren continued. He wasn’t going easy on Phillip, and his heated tone made Fox so wary he turned and hurried to the sidewalk, seeking to hide behind one of the shrubs that lined the curb.

“No, Alpha, I- I— Do you realize your loner is trying to sneak away right now?” Phillip countered. Fox froze.

Ahren turned and found Fox wide eyed and tense, arms tucked against his stomach. He took in the space between them, but Ahren hadn’t originally known how far back Fox had kept from him to begin with. Phillip pointed an accusing finger at him.

“Yeah, he was just sneaking away towards the street,” Phillip continued, and Fox recognized what he was doing. Shifting the Alpha’s attention from him to Fox, and laying new blame on a lone wolf to distract from his own transgression, and to get Fox into trouble in hopes of Ahren forgetting about his anger towards Phillip.

Fox met Ahren’s gaze. It wasn’t challenging, just imploring. Ahren had narrowed eyes, but the set of his eyebrows and mouth told Fox that he was pondering him, not yet angry. Fox didn’t know what to do. He turned his gaze down and crouched down onto the pavement, resting on his heels and hugging his knees to his chest.

“No, don’t play innocent, I just saw you!” Phillip accused. Fox merely stayed as he was.

“Enough, Phillip. He’s not going anywhere now, and I’ll deal with him in a moment. But as for you, you can certainly highlight next Thursday in your calendar for cleanup of both the campsite and the playground bathrooms. If I catch you leaving shit out in the woods, regardless of what kind, you’re going to be on cleanup duty for the rest of the year. Am I clear?” Ahren said.

Phillip fidgeted in his spot, glancing between Fox and Ahren. Eventually, he replied with a resigned “Yes, Alpha.”

“Good.” Ahren tossed the bag of poop onto the pavement in front of Phillip’s front door, and without another word, he turned and headed back down the walkway. Fox felt a bolt of painful panic shoot through his chest at the Alpha’s approach, and hid his face in his knees.

The Alpha came to a stop in front of him. He was silent for a moment, and Fox continued to hide in the only way available right then. Anxiety slowly seeped into his muscles, though, making each breath gradually feel more and more like needles in his lungs. 

“I want you to be completely honest with me, Fox. Did you or did you not just try and sneak away to run?” Ahren asked.

Fox swallowed. He swallowed again. He drew in a stuttering and sharp breath. “No, Alpha,” he answered. He swallowed once more and gathered the strength to lift his head up to peer at the Alpha. “No, Alpha,” he repeated.

Ahren was looking down at him with that same unconvinced but thoughtful expression. “What were you doing?”

“I…” Fox licked his quickly drying lips, “I didn’t realize how-“ he paused to suck in a breath, “how upset you were, and I just wanted to-“ he sucked in another breath, “to put distance between us. Just distance, I promise, Alpha.”

To Fox’s great relief, Ahren’s expression melted into sympathy. Maybe it was because of how obvious Fox’s anxiety was, how nervous Ahren’s potential anger was making him. “Distance?” he repeated, but he didn’t sound like he didn’t believe Fox. Fox nodded quickly, hiding his face in his knees again.

Fox gasped as he felt a hand ruffle his hair. “I see. I appreciate your honesty.”

Fox was momentarily stunned, both by the gesture and his words. He had a feeling that if Evander had been here instead of Ahren, Fox wouldn’t have gotten off so easily. 

“I think Leyra said you were supposed to get some new clothes today,” Ahren stated, and Fox’s heart leapt at the word clothes, plural. Would he get more than just a shirt?

Fox looked up at him, surprised and needing to see if Ahren was being serious. The Alpha smiled at him. He waved at Fox to stand. “Come on then. We’ll do your tour first, and then clothes after.”

“Thank you, Alpha,” Fox replied, and forced himself to stand despite the fact that his legs were still ridding themselves of his anxiety’s effects. 

Fox glanced back at an open-mouthed Phillip, who still stood by his front door and had watched the whole exchange. Ahren ignored him, however, and began walking to the road. Fox followed.

“Well as you’ve seen already, this section here is where the pack members live. Bigger families live in houses, and single or double occupants live in townhouses like these,” Ahren explained as they walked down the road.

Ahren didn’t seem so upset anymore, so Fox didn’t feel a need to keep his distance. He kept at Ahren’s side but not directly next to him, like he had earlier in the day. Walking helped the rest of his muscles unwind, and soon the needles in his chest were gone.

Ahren took him to the pup playground he had mentioned to Phillip. It wasn’t very far from the housing sector, but it was just far enough that it was surrounded by a decent amount of forest and required a quick trip down a small dirt trail. The playground itself consisted of two large separate jungle gyms, both connected by one long row of monkey bars. In one section of the park, there were swings, in another there was a sand pit with the type of sand you would find at a seaside beach, and in another spot were horizontal spinning wheels you could sit on and have someone else spin you around in circles, and in another area was maze of boulders and rocks that created small alcoves and caves. In its own little area were two picnic benches covered by a wooden roof, and the public bathrooms Ahren had mentioned before, as well as a small field that Fox could only guess was used for the pups to run around and play tag or play-hunt.

Fox could tell the pups here were well entertained. He himself would’ve had a blast here when he was younger. He probably would have come here every day. He tried not to feel jealous of the fact that he hadn’t gotten to play in a park like this when he was younger.

After showing him the playground, Ahren took Fox to a large field he called the bonding sector. Fox thought he meant it was for mate bonding, but Ahren was quick to explain that this large field was dedicated to events that all pack members were invited to, every Friday and Saturday night. They sometimes held dance parties, or outdoor movie nights, or adults-only nights, or mates-only nights, or festive get-togethers around holidays and other significant days of the year. Ahren tried his best to keep the events fresh and regularly circulated, so that the pack wouldn’t get bored of the same thing every weekend. 

“For Halloween, we turn this into a haunted ‘house’, among other fun festive activities for all ages,” Ahren put his fingers up in mock quotation marks for ‘house’. Halloween wasn’t for another couple of months, but it was the closest upcoming holiday that Fox knew would be excitedly celebrated by the pack. Fox, once again, tried his best not to feel jealous at the fact that he hadn’t gotten to experience celebrating Halloween with a pack. He hoped, at least a little, that he might get to have a small share in that experience this year. If things didn’t go south for him before then.

Aside from a snack shack similar to the one in the training sector, there wasn’t much to see in the way of the bonding sector, so off they went again without further ado. “That’s mostly everything for my specific sections. There’s also an office down at the town hall building where pack members can leave complaints, suggestions, or reviews for me to consider. A few Betas help me with event planning and maintenance of my sectors. You’ll probably help with cleanup most of the time, or since you’re docile, you can help run some stands during events,” the Alpha said.

Fox wasn’t sure how he felt about potentially being amidst so many werewolves during those events. A trickle of anxiety slipped through his veins at the thought. He didn’t comment on it, though, he just nodded to show the Alpha he understood and was willing to obey whatever he was directed to do.

Fox hadn’t asked many questions, or even talked that much at all, since their visit to Phillip’s house. The two of them were walking along the road towards town now, presumably to get Fox his new clothes, and Ahren studied Fox’s profile.

“You’ve grown awfully quiet again. Like how you were in the prison hole,” Ahren noted. His voice held a gentle invitation to it, something that Fox picked up on, but was confused by. He frowned a little. He tried to think of a response, but came up with nothing, so he merely shrugged his shoulders.

“Do you think I’m still upset?” Ahren asked him. Fox tucked his jacket around himself and shrugged again. 

“I… with all due respect, sometimes I don’t need to talk,” Fox said. He added the beginning part in when he thought his statement might come off as rude. He thought about when Sunshine had mentioned how it was nice that Fox hadn’t filled space with unnecessary talking.

“That’s fair,” Ahren replied, and he fell quiet. The two of them continued to walk in silence, listening to the wind rustle the tree leaves around them. Fox puzzled over why Ahren had picked up on his silence, why he worried if Fox thought he was still upset, or if he was even truly worried at all and was simply trying to figure him out, the same way Leyra tried to figure him out sometimes.

Fox was used to not talking for long periods of time. He’d gone weeks without uttering a word before, and more than a few times. He knew he could be quiet, but whenever he found himself in company with relatively friendly lone wolves, he exchanged unimportant conversation easily. He supposed he didn’t really talk unless he needed to, or if he just had some questions.

Fox hoped that the Alphas would appreciate that. But he worried that the Alphas might be suspicious of him for his silence. He really didn’t want to, but if he had to dredge up his past for the sake of gaining their favor, he’d try his best to do it. To an extent, though. He didn’t think they needed to know every detail.