Alpha Assignment (GL) Chapter 6 (Early Access) (Patreon)

The silence finally began to crush Quinn beneath it.

She plucked an interview question out of the tense air. “Do you have any hobbies?”

“Hobbies, Alpha?” Quiet and polite. Remi was now only picking at her plate.

“Anything you like to do?”

“I like to do well at my chores, Alpha.”

Quinn couldn't keep her sarcasm at bay. “Okay, what about outside of your servitude?”

Remi glanced about the room as though waiting for someone else to answer for her.

“There’s nothing you enjoy?” Quinn pressed. “Nothing you are interested in?”

“An omega can only partake in activities that their alpha orders, Alpha,” Remi answered as though reading from a script.

“Well, your alpha is trying to think of what activities to order you to do.” Maybe not order, but certainly pay for the supplies of. “Tell me what you’d like to try.”

“I don’t know, Alpha.”

“You like sports? Or making things? You look like you would sew stuff.” She didn’t mean the words as a comment on femininity or omega stereotypes, but because of her new housemate’s thin fingers.

A small perk to Remi’s posture. “I can sew up holes in clothes if you need me to-”

“I meant as a creative outlet.”

Remi shrugged and her enormous cardigan slid from her shoulders again. It was with almost saintly restraint that Quinn stopped herself from pinching the seams and wrapping the tiny creature back up. Instead, she opened a fresh tab on her screen and searched the name of the local leisure centre. She’d gone to an exercise class there before she found her current gym. They probably had some recreational classes open to beginners. She nodded Remi over to her and the small woman obeyed immediately, leaping from her seat like she’d taken a shock to the buttocks.

“Let’s see what’s on offer and book you some activities,” Quinn announced, more to herself. She started clicking on the Autumn schedules for different departments of the centre.

A small figure crept to her shoulder. “Would I go by myself?” Remi whispered.

Of course not, was Quinn’s first instinct. But if Remi wanted the freedom, Quinn was happy to give it. Granted they had a very thorough pep talk on the dangers and intricacies of human society beforehand.

“Do you want me to come with you?” she asked carefully. Keeping any pressure from her tone to push Remi either way. It was up to her.

“I want what you want, Alpha.”

Quinn's fingers curled on the keyboard momentarily as she suppressed a sigh. “I want you to feel comfortable. Would you feel uncomfortable if you were left at the leisure centre alone?”

Remi nodded.

“Okay.” Quinn began opening up every option from the next week’s schedules in a new tab. “We will both go and learn something new.”

Having run through every available class and club on the centre’s schedule, Remi had simply nodded to everything Quinn suggested.

Quinn sighed, no longer able to keep her frustration silent. “How about you pick your top three from the activities we looked at? Take the rest of the day to think about it, write it down for me, and I’ll book in the ones that have space at a time I can take you.”

Remi nodded obediently. "Yes, Alpha."

Quinn didn’t have it in her to argue over the title today. She was about to begin the second half of her work day and she was already exhausted. There had been tardiness, tears and tension that could be touched in the air… It was nothing like a typical day working from home for Quinn.

With Remi agonising over her choices at the other end of the table for the rest of the afternoon, Quinn was free to complete her report. It was all she managed to do with the second half of her day, but she didn’t have the energy to beat herself up about it.

It was only for the sake of Remi’s nervous disposition that Quinn didn’t smack down her laptop when the clock reached four. Instead, she closed it gently, rose from her seat, and announced she would be taking some time to do yoga in her bedroom. Usually she would head to the class she attended a few times a week, but the thought of trying to navigate that situation with Remi stuck to her side like a limpet told Quinn she wouldn’t get the unwinding she needed from the session. A youtube video guided her through a gentle flow for forty-five minutes. Afterwards, she felt fractionally better.

For dinner, they cooked together again. The vegetables were split into a pair of unequal piles to be prepared for soup. They peeled, chopped and boiled in silence and Quinn wondered if Remi was as overstimulated by the day’s events as she was.

The silence continued at the table, where it became uncomfortable once again. After scooping half her bowl down, Quinn decided to make another attempt at getting to know the woman at the other end of the table. She really didn't want to discuss any topics that touched on packs or their cultures, but with that ruled out there was nothing they could talk about. Remi had made it clear she had no hobbies, and the only time she had spoken freely was to discuss trade between her pack and another. As much as Quinn hated to admit it, being wolves was all they had in common.

“Did your pack get absorbed into one of the mega packs or split up into the smaller ones?” she asked, not caring for the answer.

Remi dropped her spoon into her bowl with a clatter. “Split up,” she answered hurriedly.

“That's probably for the best, they'll blend into their new communities better.” Quinn nodded to herself as if she knew anything about these things. Remi joined her, bobbing agreeably. “Did you get the pack names of any of your friends before they brought you to me?”

“No, Alpha.”

“That's a shame. You'll make lots of new ones once they find you your new pack, though.”

“Maybe.” The tone had changed, but Quinn didn’t have the right words to ask what it meant. She shrugged it off and finished her dinner.

They separated to bathe and get changed into pyjamas. It had barely reached nine when they met back in the living room with nothing else to do with themselves. And Quinn had dragged her ten-step skincare routine out as long as was physically possible before her skin cracked under the intense attention. She could happily turn in to bed immediately, but it felt like she should entertain her guest, offer something for her to do.

“You can watch TV for a bit if you like, but I’ll be heading to bed soon.” The weariness in her own voice somehow added even more weight on her back. “Please keep the noise down after ten, though.”

Remi shook her head. “I will go to bed too, Alpha.”

“Sure. Before we head to bed I need to show you how to use the assistant, though.”

“Assistant?”

“It’s a device that uses voice commands to take notes or play music or other stuff,” Quinn explained as patiently as her fatigue would allow. She walked to the corner of the living room and pointed to the cylindrical speaker atop the side table beside her sofa. “You can use it to contact me until you get a phone. You need to learn how to use it tonight since you’ll be here alone tomorrow.”

“Voice commands?” Remi repeated.

“It’s always listening for commands, so as long as you are on the ground floor and speak clearly, it should be able to understand you.”

Tiny hands twisted at drooping pyjama sleeves. “You can listen to the house through this while you’re away?” Remi asked, trepidation filling her voice and eyes.

“It’s not like I can just tune in and listen to anything,” Quinn assured her. Not that she thought for a moment that Remi would require spying on anyway. “I get messages or recordings from the assistant when a command is used. So if you said, ‘Assistant! Send a message to Quinn’s phone.’” She paused, awaiting the virtual assistant’s response.

A monotonous voice answered, “what is your message to Quinn’s phone?” It pronounced her name like it was winded.

“Hello Quinn, I have used up all the coffee. End message and send.”

“Message sent to Quinn’s phone.”

Quinn held up her phone to show the message, much to Remi’s wonderment.

“Give it a try. But make sure not to use any wolf-related language, these messages could be seen by humans at my work if my phone is left on my desk.”

Remi glanced nervously between Quinn and the small speaker.

“Hello Assistant,” she said quietly.

“Hello,” the robotic voice replied. “How can I help?”

Remi jumped back a step and laughed nervously. “Please send a message to Al-”

Quinn gave her a warning look.

“-to Quinn’s phone.”

Hearing Remi pronounce her name through her pretty and pouty lips brought a tingle to the back of Quinn’s neck. Her name had never been so delicate.

“What is your message to Quinn’s phone?” the virtual assistant enquired.

“Please tell her that… um…” She floundered, eyes darting around as she tried to think of a message.

“Message sent to Quinn’s phone.”

Quinn held up her phone and laughed at the message of ‘Please tell her that yummy.’

Remi flushed.

“And that’s how it works. So if you need me tomorrow, use the assistant to send a message to my phone, okay?”

“Okay.”

As they climbed the stairs, Remi ahead with Quinn taking the rear and turning off the lights on the way, Remi mumbled, “having a robot assistant isn’t so different from having an omega.”

Quinn could only snort in response. She didn’t have the energy to get into a debate about sentient versus non-sentient servants. Maybe she could just recommend Remi watch ‘I, Robot’ while she was at work tomorrow.