He thought about Sunshine’s offer for therapy. Would she keep their sessions between them, or would she spill everything to the Alphas? Maybe she was required to, because of what he was. Was Fox entitled to any mental privacy here?

He didn’t mean to, but he sighed from discontentment at his thoughts. Ahren glanced at him. Fox wanted the Alpha to not mention his sigh, to not try and strike up more conversation on it.

To his great relief, Ahren didn’t. He kept silent, and they kept walking. Fox decided that he didn’t mind working with Ahren.

They made their way into town. Tension filled Fox’s shoulders, and he kept his gaze down at the sidewalks they traversed as Ahren took him to a clothing store. 

They entered a decent sized store. Fox looked up just long enough to gauge his surroundings, and then returned his eyes to his feet. Ahren took the liberty of leading him over to the men’s clothing section. Fox felt a little better being tucked in between the rows of clothing racks. 

“You can pick out a shirt and a pair of pants,” Ahren told him. Fox looked around at the clothes beside them.

“Any?” he asked. Ahren nodded. Fox fidgeted for a moment, but then he pulled apart some hangers to look at the shirts, and began to make his way down the row. Ahren trailed him at a comfortable pace, not crowding in on him nor giving him too much space to bolt. 

Fox didn’t want to take up too much of Ahren’s time, and he wasn’t picky, so he selected a plain black shirt, and within the next five minutes he found a loose pair of army green cargo pants. He turned to the Alpha when he had his outfit, and the Alpha tilted his head at him to follow. They made their way to the checkout counter.

Fox kept his gaze down again as the Alpha paid for his clothes. Once the receipt was printed and Ahren handed him the bag, Fox’s heart grew elated with joy. An entirely new outfit, just for him. He couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face as he took the bag from Ahren, and he hugged the clothes to his chest.

“Thank you, Alpha,” Fox said again. Ahren smiled at him again.

“Keep doing good and you’ll get more rewards like this,” he told him. Fox nodded. As they walked out of the store, Ahren pulled his phone out of his back pocket. He read something on the screen.

“Seems like Rishima is ready to have you under her wing. I’ll take you to her, she’s in town too,” Ahren said.

“Okay,” Fox replied. He followed Ahren down a few streets. Fox studied the town a little more as they went, and he realized there weren’t so many cars and more people walking on foot. He made sure not to make eye contact with anyone, pretending not to see them. 

The stores they had ranged from big to small, and were comfortably spaced out from each other, but not so much that it took forever to get from one place to another. Fox spotted a couple different cafes, a greenhouse nursery for plants, a post office, a bakery, a library, and so on. He got the distinction that this town had just about everything. 

“I have a question,” Fox said as they passed a game store. 

“Yes?” Ahren replied.

“I’ve heard that your pack is very self-sustainable, but it looks like down here you have the same setup as any other town that relies on shipments. And the road my driver took into your territory was fairly busy. Do you have dealings with humans or other packs outside of the territory?” Fox asked.

“We have one busy road that cuts through our territory, where other species travel through frequently. It’s more along the edge, however, on the other end of town not too far from here. We do get shipments from outside warehouses for things we can’t make ourselves, like certain clothing, hardware, furniture, parts for repairs on cars and appliances, etcetera. For the self-sustainable part, we provide 80 percent of our own food and water, and we provide classes for survivalist lifestyles in case we ever do need to shut our borders from the outside world,” Ahren explained. 

“I see,” Fox replied. Lily of the Valley Pack truly wanted the most for their members. Most packs that Fox had gotten captured by didn’t have nearly as many amenities as this. But then again, they were a lot smaller than this pack.

Ahren took Fox to the town hall building. He took him up the set of stairs at the end of the hall, and down another hall to a door with a label that read “Board of Education.”

Ahren opened the door. Inside was a spacious room, with one long table surrounded by meeting chairs, and a counter with a coffee station and snacks. There were filing cabinets along the walls, as well as bookshelves filled with various textbooks and folders. 

An Alpha, Rishima, sat at the table with two Omegas, one male and one female, and a female Beta. Fox stiffened as their mixed scents invaded his nose.

“Rishima,” Ahren said in lieu of a greeting. Rishima looked up from her pile of papers on the table, and the other three turned to look at who had entered. Fox avoided making eye contact with any of them.

“Oh, Ahren, that was faster than I thought,” Rishima said. 

“We were already in town,” Ahren explained. He turned to Fox and gestured for him to sit at the table. “You’re with her now. I appreciate your cooperation today.”

“Of course, sir,” Fox whispered. Ahren headed out of the room, closing the door behind him and leaving Fox alone with a new group of strangers.