Alpha Assignment (GL) Chapter 13 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Despite Wednesday being a day at home for Quinn, she needed space from Remi, and Remi definitely needed space from her. She didn’t bother knocking on the guest room door before she left for the office, but left out a note on the dining table about the available food in the fridge.

At her arrival in the office, Jordan’s head bounced up from behind her screen with the excitement of a puppy, but Quinn wasn’t in the mood for socialising today. It only took a few grunted responses for Jordan to catch on. She sunk back into her seat with what looked like a pout.

At home, the note hadn’t moved from the table and the fridge appeared undisturbed. Quinn couldn’t tell if anything had been taken from the cupboards, but she hoped so. There wasn’t a peep from the guest bedroom, so Quinn let Remi have her peace. She went about her evening routine, almost reliving her life before Remi for a night.

It was rinse and repeat on Thursday: no sign of Remi in the morning, a grouchy office day, and then returning to an undisturbed home in the evening. Quinn checked the fridge, inside the bin, and every cupboard. Not a morsel had been moved.

Her pack hadn’t eaten. The very thought twisted at her gut, punishing her for being a poor alpha. Rushed by the painful sensation, she plated a combination of finger foods: carrot sticks, salted tortilla chips, a banana, and mixed nuts. The contents of the plate shivered as she hurried up the stairs and to Remi’s door.

Quinn hesitated. Remi had made it clear she didn’t want to see Quinn, otherwise she wouldn’t be hiding in her room. She carefully placed the plate on the carpet, knocked, and headed back downstairs.

After eating her own dinner, in complete silence for the first time in almost two weeks, Quinn hovered at the bottom of the stairs. There had been no sounds from the upper floor, nothing to reassure Quinn that Remi had taken her plate.

There was a war waging inside of her as she clutched the bannisters: was it concern or alpha instincts pushing her to intervene? If Remi wanted to be left alone, she should respect that. But Remi was her... guest? Quinn frowned. At what point did Remi stop being a temporary hurdle in the road? And when that happened, what were they?

She knew, staunchly, that they were not alpha and omega. Master and servant. King and commoner.

Quinn launched herself up the first step and thundered halfway up the staircase before realising that could be incredibly intimidating to someone under six feet tall. She took the second half at a light jog.

The plate remained untouched outside Remi's door, the carrot sticks dried a little along their edges. Quinn lifted it with one hand and knocked with the other.

"Remi, can I come in?"

"Yes, Alpha." Zero hesitation, but one-hundred-percent squeak.

Quinn hesitated. It didn't sound as though Remi had given her agreement because she wanted to, rather, it sounded instinctual. Against her better judgement, she entered.

The room was clean and tidy with curtains drawn and bed made, not at all the hovel hide-away that Quinn had been expecting to find Remi buried in. At the foot of the bed, Remi was stood to attention. Her eyes were red rimmed, puffy, and half-hidden under lowered lashes that were glued together into clumps. Her clothes hadn't been swapped since the day of the painting class, and her hair had retained its colourful crust.

"Dinner," Quinn offered awkwardly, holding out the plate to her.

Remi started, but otherwise didn't budge to take the food.

"Not hungry?"

The tiny topknot bounced with the shake of Remi's head. "No, Alpha. Not until I've thought about what I've done."

A long pause held them, with the plate outstretched between.

"Remi, please take the food," Quinn said, weary. “Please.”

Despite a very confused expression, Remi finally accepted the plate in both hands.

"Bed," Quinn grunted, ushering them both onto the white duvet. They sat on opposite corners, and Remi placed the plate back between them. "Eat," Quinn ordered. She was tired of the games and the wordplay, at the very least she wouldn't have a woman starving to death in her house.

Remi's fingers circled the plate, trembling, and Quinn restrained a sigh, she was becoming so easy to read. Red wire, green wire, blue wire, trying to pick the right choice that would keep her alpha from exploding. She settled on a cashew, the smallest item on the plate, and stared at Quinn for the entire journey it took to her lips. Quinn stared back.

The eye-contact stand-off continued as Remi ate one of every item that Quinn had brought her, including a single tiny bite of the banana. Relieved, Quinn flopped flat on the bed, legs still dangling over the edge, feet firmly in the carpet.

"I think my dinner can finally digest now I know you're not going to starve," she joked, although she was entirely serious. She stared at the white ceiling, urging it to relax her.

When she glanced over at Remi, still curled on the corner, the small woman was poking at the plate with longing in her eyes.

“You’re not angry with me, Alpha?” Timid and tiny in tone.

“Angry?” Quinn repeated, sounding breathless from the shock of Remi even suggesting such a thing. Remi flinched at the word and Quinn quickly shook her head, pulling herself up onto one elbow. “Remi, I’m not angry with you. I’ve never been angry with you.” A short huff of a laugh burst from her chest. “I don’t know if I ever could be.” Because you’re too damn cute. She kept that addition to herself.

“I ruined-”

“Nothing was ruined," she said, gentle as her exasperation would allow. "Messes can be cleaned up. It’s an art class, Remi, they expect mess!" She laughed again and Remi's eyes darted between her face and the plate uncertainly. Visibly unable to comprehend how her alpha could find this situation funny. "Why do you think they had us layer the floor in newspaper?" Quinn reminded her. Remi scrunched her mouth and shrugged. "You saw the state of the sink, clearly they’re used to spilled paint.”

"I was doing my best," Remi croaked. "I swear, Alpha."

"Remi, you could have been doing your best to make a mess and I wouldn't be angry with you."

It was obvious Remi wasn't convinced.

"I was way more worried about you hiding up here than about some stupid spilled paint."

"I wasn't hiding." Almost a tiny, little bit defensive.

Quinn sat up properly and leant forward over the plate. "This is another one of those rules, isn't it?"

Remi's cheeks puffed and her lips scrunched as though she were holding in her breath. Or a rude response. Quinn grinned.

"Whatever you want to say, say it."

Remi's puffed cheeks popped. "An omega must wait in their alpha's office or other assigned space if a punishment cannot be dealt at the time of the offence. They must not take any other actions to delay punishment or cause issue for their alpha in the pursuit of just consequences." Breathless, she added, "I was not hiding, I was waiting."

Quinn raised her brows and nodded slowly, pretending to mull over Remi's informative explanation. After a few seconds, she dropped the act, letting her face fall neutral and watching Remi immediately pick up the change, an alertness running over her tiny body.

"There was no offence," Quinn said firmly. "There will be no punishment. Don't ever starve yourself under my roof again."

"Y-yes, Alpha." Remi still appeared unconvinced, but Quinn wasn't in the mood to argue the point further. And she wouldn't cross the line of forcing a bond to check, the ice was thin and she wasn't looking to skate.

Instead, she stood, leaving behind a cavern in the duvet that could hold Remi like a nest. "Eat your dinner, have a shower, get into your pjs, and meet me downstairs," she said. "We're going to watch a movie and have an early night."

"Yes, Alpha."

"Take your time. Don't rush because you think I'm expecting you."

"Yes, Alpha."

Quinn nodded, more to herself, and left, pulling the door closed quietly behind her.

After preparing a tray of snacks to sit beside them on the sofa, Quinn queued a wholesome cartoon family movie on TV, paused at one second in, because she couldn't bear any more peril or other intense emotions. She had found herself naturally pushing their viewing habits towards younger content, and she knew it was some ingrained omega effect. The thought of letting Remi watch an action film filled with gore made Quinn feel more sick than seeing the blood on screen herself. But Remi was a grown woman, those instincts were just dumb werewolf shit.

The softest pads of mini feet sounded from the hallway as Remi descended the stairs. When she entered the living room, she was freshly scrubbed and donning her fleecy pjs. The familiar scents of Quinn's toiletries clouded the air around her small form.

The next best thing to a scent mark, an intrusive thought that was accompanied by a rumble deep in Quinn's chest. She forced it away, focusing her body on moving about the room and dimming the lights. Remi shifted the tray to the end of the sofa and took the middle spot. Apparently, they were sitting together again. Quinn gave a crap summary of what she thought the movie was about while she grabbed a couple of blankets and double-checked they had everything they needed. Remi said it sounded fun, and Quinn pressed play.

Under nine minutes, and Remi was dead weight against Quinn's side. The movie was of no interest whatsoever anymore.

There had been a prickle of suspicion at the very back of Quinn’s mind since Remi’s arrival. A possibility at the edge of her consciousness that the small woman was sent to spy on her. To bring forth something incriminating to allow the Assembly to cast down a charge upon her. But this creature curled into her side…

Innocence incarnate.

Quinn could barely hold her gaze upon her petite snoozing form for more than a minute before the urge to touch and squeeze overwhelmed her. She clenched her fists over her knees in the hope of dispelling some of the thrumming energy she felt when she looked at Remi. It was charging her up for something. Something that heated the lowest point of her stomach.

Quinn took a low and slow breath and hooked her arms under Remi’s neck and knees. She carried her to the spare room and laid her carefully atop her bedding. Then she took herself to her own bed and simmered in her warring emotions and ridiculous animalistic urges all night.