5
Charlie
As we ambled through town,I noticed a couple things that struck me as odd. The sidewalks, for example, were freshly paved and many of the streetlamps lining the road looked brand new. Little architectural details took me off guard because there was so much less of it in ScarletRidge.
“How do you get the town to look this nice?” I askedFlint.
He looked a bit surprised at my question. “Hired help.. But if you mean all the new things, it’s because we recently had human workers come into renovate thetown.”
That was one more thing that surprised me. “Humans? Like, real life humans?Here?”
Flint gave me a wry smile. “No, fake humans. But seriously, we all pitch in for infrastructure. It was getting a bit dated, so we called a nearby human company forhelp.”
“And they came over, just like that?” Iasked.
Flint’s expression was one of confusion. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t they? Is this another weird Scarlet Ridgething?”
“It must be,” I said. “Gunner banned all interactions with human society. Our previous top alpha never forbade it, but Scarlet Ridge has never really interacted with humans at all. Gunner says our technology is more advanced and that we don’t need their help.” I shrugged. “I guess that’s just another thing they drilled into me that’s not true atall.”
“That is strange,” Flint agreed. “I’m glad you don’t have to deal with that shitanymore.”
“Me,too.”
We entered a store with a charming striped awning. A bell rang as the door opened and closed behind us. From the front desk, a woman smiled at us. Judging from her scent, she was a betashifter.
“Hi there,” she said. “Let me know if you needanything.”
Flint nodded. “Ofcourse.”
The woman tilted her head and stared curiously at me. “You must beCharlie.”
“I am,” I confirmed. “And youare?”
“Oh, sorry. I’m Mattie. I’ve heard about you from the hunting guild,” she said. She peered over the counter. “And that must beCasey?”
Casey perked up at the sound of her name. “That’sme!”
“You are just the cutest thing!” Mattie said. “Are you helping your dad goshopping?”
“Yes,” Casey said,nodding.
“I didn’t know we were so popular,” I murmured toFlint.
“Word gets around quick here at Indigo Mountain,” Flint said with a wry grin. “But that’s not a bad thing. Everyone’s mostly just curious since you came from outside thepack.”
“We don’t have many outsiders around here,” Mattie said, smiling. “So you probably seem hot and exotic to all thealphas.”
I didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or offended, but I ended up blushing either way. I’d never thought of myself as hotorexotic, and now I was apparentlyboth.
“Anyway,” Flint said, with an edge to his voice. “We’re here to buy Charlie and his pup some clothes, so we’ll just be browsingaround.”
“Of course. Let me know if you needhelp.”
“Wewill.”
Now free from the conversation, I instantly ambled past the expensive front racks to the clearance section at the back of the store. Flint caught up with me with a quirkedbrow.
“What are you doing all the way over here?” heasked.
