Alpha Assignment (BL) Chapter 57 (Early Access) (Patreon)

It took six men and seven wolves to bring Quinn to the ground and keep him in place for manacling. Half were bleeding or suffering a broken something - the half whose role was prying an alpha’s mate from their arms long enough to secure the metallic restraints. Chains thicker than Remi’s limbs were knotted over Quinn’s frame with weighted intervals to slow his few possible movements.

But Remi was returned to him.

The bites he sustained while being pinned had already healed by the time the truck they were bundled into reached their prison. His pyjamas were crusted with blood, he hated that his mate had endured the sight.

But Remi was still with him.

There were enough vehicles to separate the ‘pack,’ although once Remi was marked there was no chance they would put him in one by himself. He squeezed himself in amongst Quinn’s chains and sobbed softly for the whole journey.

With the lower half of his face muzzled, Quinn wasn’t able to apologise. All he wanted, above even his freedom, was to say those two words. It broke something deep inside of him to be kept from pleading for his mate’s forgiveness. He had marked him without consent, without even asking the question. A moment of panic and he had tossed aside any trust Remi could have built in him since arriving on his doorstep.

But at least they were together. Being separated scared him more than death. Maybe it was the fresh mark, the life-tie between them, altering his instinctual priorities, or maybe he couldn’t imagine returning back to what he had before. Whatever that life was, he didn’t want it anymore.

The double doors at the back of the truck opened into darkness, the same as the inside, but Quinn could see a new group of Assembly goons waiting for them. They weren’t stupid enough to attempt to pull Remi out from his self-imposed chain entanglement, although one cooed something at him about being careful not to get choked, sounding genuinely concerned. A pretty little omega had that affect on those with hearts.

With three uniformed guards on each side, they were marched into a cement-mould of a building. Remi rode Quinn’s chest chains like a swing, with thin arms secure around his neck. Quinn walked with an odd gait to account for all the extra weight, the least of it being Remi. They passed a desk of solemn werewolves in uniform, and took two clunky flights of stairs upwards, passing metal doors with barred holes at the top. They were numbered, and they had already passed the one hundred mark…

Despite the late hour, there were faces peeking through the gaps at them, desperate for any form of entertainment.

“If it isn’t my own little delinquent!” hawked a deep voice from a door numbered one-one-three.

The rise and bump of Remi’s chest into Quinn’s halted. He stared over Quinn’s shoulder at the corridor behind them, mouth slightly open, eyes unblinking. In the toss-up between fight or flight, Remi’s body had chosen to freeze.

Quinn’s body chose to fight on his behalf. The guards reacted at five second delay to Quinn slamming his fist into the bar that Remi’s uncle’s face was pressed up against. It snapped off, he flinched, and got off light with a hopefully-tetanus-contaminated scrape of the bar as it flew into his cell. Despite the ragged cut to his cheek, he howled with laughter, only growing louder and rowdier as the guards leapt into action and manhandled Quinn the rest of the way to their cell.

“He’s MINE,” Quinn bellowed under the muzzle. And Remi wasn’t a delinquent, but that part wasn’t as important. What Uncle Alpha Asshole needed to know was that Remi had a new alpha, a stronger one, one who loved him. Whether anyone could understand the garbled noise didn’t matter, he would make it regardless.

The snarls Quinn sent echoing back as he was dragged only served to delight the disgusting alpha more. Remi shivered under his chin, breathing again, but also whimpering and whining. Too much alpha anger was swirling around his sensitive omega body. Quinn forced thin breaths, begging his body to calm. He needed to be rational if he was going to find them a way out of this.

The moment their cell door was slammed, and the lock clunked shut, Remi was wriggling around the chains, turning and twisting and fighting to free Quinn from the binds.

Quinn let him. At least for a bit, it was something to focus on while his mind reeled. The chances of an omega unclasping the solid metal manacles and freeing him was-

A line of chain fell to the ground like a dead snake.

“I watched the way they interlocked them,” Remi murmured. “Hold still.”

First his body was freed, then his mouth, and then his mouth was captured again under Remi’s. Surrounded by loops of chain, in near enough the middle of a damp, grey prison cell, his mate kissed him with a ferocity that almost set Quinn’s life back in order. His marked mate, bound to him for life.

Before their mouths could fully peel apart, Quinn was apologising, and, for the first time in years, crying. He stumbled and sputtered and begged for Remi’s forgiveness on his knees with Remi between them.

“Quinn,” Remi breathed. He lifted a sad smile to Quinn’s sobs, and pecked the tears from his cheeks. “You have nothing to apologise for. You kept me. That’s all I care about.”

The words soothed his soul, but he could only cry harder, his precious mate clutched close. All he had was his mate, and the mark that kept them together. In the span of fifteen minutes, he had lost everything but his most important person.

And now that person was trapped in the same institution as his abusive alpha uncle. Who had recognised him. And who had spent his entire life attempting to paint him as a troublemaker who deserved every beating he got. And now that abusive alpha had finally been locked up, possibly still pending his trial, they had handed him a perfect piece of evidence for his own defense. All those bullshit reports would fall perfectly in line with the omega put away for being part of a rogue gang. Quinn bit his lip and forced back a fresh wave of tears. The pain of not being able to protect his mate was staggering. It was a small consolation that he was already on the floor of their cell.

It was cold, and grim, and a cursory glance of the unlighted room told him it would not be a comfortable stay. There was bedding, but no bed, and a bucket. Nothing else.

His mate was quickly shivering.

“I’m going to shift,” Quinn mumbled. “We need to get some sleep while it’s still night.” His fur would keep them both warm till morning.

Remi climbed off and stepped back. He didn’t look away.

Quinn stripped and placed his folded pyjamas in the least soggy corner. It took a few breaths to fall back into the feeling of letting his fur free itself. It prickled under his skin sometimes, but he hadn’t allowed himself to shift since entering the human world.

All of that progress. All of his restraint. Pointless.

Stretching and extending, his body transformed to fill their cell. He dropped to four paws with a groan. Only in his mind would he admit that it felt good, an itch scratched after years of waiting. He walked a cramped circle, testing his limbs and shifting his weight. Then he took the corner of the bedding in his mouth and dragged it out to lay on. He curled up into a coil shape and nodded Remi over.

Remi hadn’t taken his eyes off Quinn throughout the process, wide with shock or fear wasn’t entirely clear.

“You’re…” He looked away finally, as though through the bars and back down the corridor. “I’ve never seen an alpha so big.”

Quinn huffed a laugh through his snout. Of all the things his mate could have said… it strangely did make him feel a little better. He may feel weak, but he was still stronger than most.

“I’ll shift, too,” Remi announced, pulling himself free of his top and shorts.

Quinn wanted to tell him it wasn’t necessary, but without a human mouth he had only the bond to communicate with, and his emotions were tempestuous waters. He would hate to overspill, send the stomach plummeting fear he felt into Remi. If anyone had to have some trust and belief that they would make it out, it was him.

A tiny naked Remi turned into an even tinier wolf. Quinn wasn’t sure how his mate would feel about him repeating his own sentiment back to him - but he had never seen an adult wolf so small. His paws were so tiny he seemed to trot on them like a chihuahua or toy poodle, it was both adorable and a little funny to watch. He struggled to climb over Quinn’s limbs to get into the warmth, and had to be lifted by the scruff which earned Quinn an indignant yelp. He hoped the nuzzling he gave him was a suitable apology. Apparently it was, as Remi had no qualms with burying himself into Quinn’s stomach like a puppy, his tail wrapped up to his face. The squeaky yawn that came from behind it made Quinn want to cry again. His mate was too sweet and too innocent to be in this nasty place.

Not that Eveline and Wes deserved to be, either.

He hated the gurgling suspicion in his stomach that he couldn’t force away. Of Eveline and her box of paperwork. Of the ‘evidence’ Graham had claimed they had. Of their lack of competent support going up against their charges.

Wes was too naive to have ratted them out. He hoped he wasn’t suffering in his cell.

The next time he would see them, he was sadly certain, was at trial.