Alpha Assignment (GL) Chapter 60 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Despite the death-stare burning into the side of his head, Isaac testified honestly in their defence. He was a harmless paper-pusher who couldn't see any legal reason to deny the request, so when the application crossed his desk, he approved it and moved on to his next piece of work.

Quinn knew he was lying. The backlog of Sanctuary requests was hefty - theirs didn't just come across his desk by accident. The man worked himself to death for those he was assigned to, and it unnerved Quinn to think of the day that morality got him on the wrong side of the Assembly. The way Justice Mile glared him down throughout his testimony, that day could very well be today.

As soon as he was finished, he was dismissed from the court to go back home and finish dressing. He loped out of the room, with a loose tee and formal trousers paired to patchy slippers, without a look back. For his own safety, Quinn hoped.

Their appeal was won, with just a few sentences from one man they had proven their innocence. The cages were unlocked, and the guards couldn't look them in the face anymore. Quinn led them to the podium to hear exactly what was to come next.

Justice Mile was silent, so Williams and Kelly took over the proceedings.

"On behalf of the Assembly, we would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Alpha Quinn and her fellow Sanctuary seekers. This was a grave mistake on the part of our investigatory team, with no malintent." Quinn grimaced, she knew exactly who held malintent towards them. And if she ever got her hands around his greasy little throat… "And we would like to assure the court that disciplinary action will be forthcoming and appropriate. More importantly, is how we can rectify the damage that has been afflicted upon innocent, Assembly-abiding werewolves."

Quinn peeked over at Eveline, who was fighting a smile - just what could they expect to be awarded for all this?

Where Eveline had struggled not to smile, Quinn struggled not to jump up and down and wave Remi like a flag when the damages package was laid out to them. Luckily, she was able to contain her excitement, as Eveline immediately began negotiating.

The money was pennies compared to what they had suffered. The land a mudhole when held against the laws broken. The health support paled in comparison to the mere mention of base rights.

By the time they walked out of court (headed to an Assembly town car waiting to drive them home with complimentary drinks and snacks), Eveline had argued them into what could be a lifetime of luxury. Instead, as they all grinned at each other in the backseat, they knew exactly what they would be doing with all their reparations.

The drive felt a hell of a lot quicker on the way home than when they had been dragged away from it. Quinn encouraged everyone to eat and drink - no alcohol for the minor - and fill themselves afresh after their time locked away in cold, grey holes. It was a ridiculous sight, four people in raggedy pajamas, filthy from scalp to toenails, driven to the little precipice right before madness, celebrating in the back of a luxury car, covering the leather seats in their grime as they ripped open packets of peanuts and bon bons.

"I would rather have gotten life in that cell than being sent back to my pack," Wes admitted into his orange juice - Remi had decanted it into a tall thin glass for him so it looked like a cocktail.

"I still can't believe I didn't know you're a minor, I thought you were nineteen!" Quinn chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I'm fifteen."

Quinn almost spilled her sparkling water. "You're a tall fifteen!" she gasped. "What were they feeding you back in your birth pack?"

"You should see my dad," he replied darkly.

Quinn hesitated before asking, "Bigger than me?" She’d lost a startling amount of her bulk on the measly Assembly meal plan.

Wes sputtered his juice. "No way!"

"Good." She clinked their glasses.

They toasted Eveline, they toasted Remi, Quinn wouldn't allow them to toast her, they toasted the future and they toasted to Sanctuary, wherever they decided to make their own.

The car pulled up outside Quinn's home and the driver offered them as much time as they needed to enjoy the amenities. They filled up on food until Quinn had to drag her three not-pack members out of the car in sugary snack comas. Remi hung from her front, Wes dangled at her back with a weak grip on her shoulders, and she carried Eveline bent at the waist over her arm. She thanked the driver, who tipped his hat and shut the door behind them.

Quinn waddled up the drive like an over-packed donkey, fuelled by the good cheer of the group, but especially Eveline and Remi's tipsy giggles. Although she and Remi knew nothing of Champagne, Eveline had assured them that the Assembly only stocked the expensive and luxurious kind - so it must have been good. Quinn didn't think they would have turned it down if it wasn't, it had been a long few weeks in confinement. If she partook in drinking, she would have been guzzling from the bottle. Instead, her respite of choice was going to be a hot, dark coffee. Made with the beans she had chosen a month earlier at the supermarket, in the cafetiere she liked best, into a mug that held the familiarity of home.

The journey to the front door took an age with all the extra limbs Quinn had to account for, but once she got there, she noticed something was different. Or, rather, new.

A silver doorbell with a round lens was attached to the frame of her front door, and a red light was indicating that it was currently capturing a video. Quinn stared at it for a few moments.

"Assembly?" she asked Eveline, nodding at the tech. It didn't seem like them to be so open to new human devices. They stayed old school and didn't upgrade until they knew a tech was trustworthy. They hadn't made any accusations in regards to accomplices, but perhaps they were keeping tabs for anyone else who dropped by after the main suspects were rounded up.

"QUINN!" Both a scream and a croak at the same time.

Quinn spun, she knew the voice, but had never heard it so broken. Not even sobbing in the passenger seat of her car on the side of a dirt road.

Jordan was sprinting up the drive towards her, and Quinn became suddenly very aware she didn't have the room to hold a fourth person, but she tried anyway. Turning Remi into their sandwich filling, she crammed Jordan in close.

"Oh my fucking god," Jordan sobbed. "Are you okay? What happened? Where have you been?"

Quinn laughed and nuzzled her hair. "Me first! How did you know we were here?"

"I stuck a camera to your door," Jordan sniffed. "It’s motion activated - I saw you get out of a fancy car and I jumped straight in an taxi from the office!"

"That was you? I was just about to smash it cause I thought the cult stuck it there."

"Cult?" Wes questioned, directly into Quinn's sweaty ear.

Jordan gave the boy an incredulous look, possibly shocked that he was even still alive after the last time she saw him.

"Jordan." Quinn lowered her back to the ground and sighed. "I haven't been completely honest with you. I've been... skirting around what's really going on with code words and euphemisms and... I think it's time to tell you everything."

Remi nodded in agreement, Eveline peered up from her dangling to raise a concerned brow, and Wes apparently didn’t care either way if they revealed their deepest and most important secret to an outsider. He hung from Quinn’s back, neutral.

"About fucking time," Jordan cried, fresh waves of tears bursting out. Her shoulders shook under the arm Remi wrapped around them, while still maintaining her hold around Quinn's neck, too.

"Okay,” Quinn grunted, hating to ruin the moment. “This is real nice and cuddly but I'm gonna need everyone to get down so I can find my spare key and let us all in."

They laughed as they pried themselves free, and hurried into the house once the door was open.

"Who wants a coffee?" Remi called, swanning her way through the mildly-destroyed living rom to get the kettle on.

"Me!" the room bleated.

"You're too young for coffee, Wes," Quinn scolded gently.

"I just got out of prison and I can't have one little coffee?"

"Prison?" Jordan repeated.

"Okay," Quinn sighed. "Everyone sit down and shut up. It's story time."