Alpha Assignment (GL) Chapter 14 (Early Access) (Patreon)

The stress of the week caught up to Quinn in a wave of exhaustion Friday night. She flopped into bed at the beginning of her reading time and was asleep in an instant. Every part of her body was heavy - eyelids to fingertips.

Saturday morning, it was a soft voice that woke her. With slow, still-drowsy blinks, a soft face to match came into view. The haze of weariness gave Remi a fuzzy filter, like an angel peeking out from the clouds.

“-your alarm had rung three times in forty-five minutes so I was worried, but I didn’t mean to disturb you if you wanted more rest. I just-”

Her rambling faded into the background when Quinn laid her sights on the numbers glowing from her alarm clock’s screen. Quinn hadn’t had a lie-in since she moved into her house. The after-shock of stress had knocked her out then, too.

“Shit,” she said to herself.

Remi’s ramblings halted.

“’scuse me,” Quinn mumbled. “Shouldn’t be using those words in front of an omega.”

Remi laughed. A sweet sound that perfectly cleared the fog between Quinn’s ears.

“I’m a grown-up omega,” she said, the laughter still in her voice.

“You say it, then.”

“P-pardon?”

Quinn dragged herself up in bed, resting her shoulders against the headboard lazily. “Say a cuss word,” she said with a grin.

Kneeling beside the bed as though to pray, Remi’s mouth hung open, brows squeezed together and eyes darting anywhere but Quinn’s face.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want t-”

“Shit!” Remi yelped, quickly covering her mouth afterwards.

Maybe it was the stress of the week, or sleep deprivation, but something about such a big word coming out of such a small person had Quinn howling with laughter. She rocked onto her side and pressed her face into the pillow to muffle the noise.

“Alpha!” Remi whined. It didn’t help, the cuteness overload simply multiplied.

Quinn groaned into the pillow, and forced herself to take a few calming breaths. Once she had control of herself, she lifted her head again. She was met with a pout.

“Sorry, Remi.”

“It’s okay, Alpha.”

“I’ll make it up to you, let’s do something fun today.”

“Fun errands and chores?” Remi asked, quoting the schedule written out in her notebook by Quinn herself.

“More fun than that,” Quinn chuckled. “Let’s go to the park and get some fresh air.”

“The park?”

“Humans don’t have as much green space as we do in packs, so they make their small grassy spaces into communal areas to visit so everyone can experience nature.”

Remi frowned, tilting her head and knocking her top-knot lopsided. “But… they also have gardens attached to their homes?”

“Not all of them do,” Quinn explained as she climbed free of her bedding. “Parks are much bigger than gardens, almost as big as pack lands. And they have equipment for children to play with, too.” She stretched until her muscles squeezed back against the action. “Swings and slides and stuff.”

“Only for children?” Remi asked from her spot on the carpet.

“Unfortunately.” Quinn would pay an exorbitant amount for the opportunity to see Remi crammed into a baby swing. “But we can take a nice walk, clear our heads with fresh air… see some really big trees?”

Remi let her face flop to Quinn’s sheets, staring up at her sideways. “I like fresh air and big trees,” she said.

Quinn laughed again. “I think that comes with the genetic code, Remi.”

They had a quick lunch and went to wash up with the promise of meeting at the front door.

Down the stairs hopped the tattiest pair of jeans Quinn had ever seen. Hanging misshapen over the waistband was the hem of a grey-blue sweater whose neckline exposed both sides of Remi’s collarbone. When she reached the last step, Remi smiled brightly up at Quinn, oblivious to the surge of concern that had hit her. It was only September, but the chill of Autumn had rolled in without mercy over the last few days. A loose sweater and worn jeans would not protect Remi from the weather outside.

“It’s very cold out there, and even colder in the open space of the park,” she hinted, hesitating by the front door.

“Oh, should I bring my jacket, Alpha?”

An orange, corduroy jacket with extremely rolled sleeves returned to Quinn’s mind. It was something, but it didn’t ease the worry in Quinn’s chest. It felt rude to suggest something thicker, something Remi may not have stored in her colourful suitcase.

“I think that would be a good idea.”

Remi scurried back up the stairs, using her hands to brace herself against the wall and carpet. When she returned, orange-clad, Quinn had dug out a hat, scarf and gloves and squeezed them into her pockets, leaving her own jeans bulging at the hips. They stepped out into the September wind, omega first, and Quinn locked up behind them.

Remi sat in the back seat again; Quinn decided not to ruin a good day with an argument. The drive to the park was very quick, in fact the parking took longer than the journey. In the car park, there were bunches of children everywhere, screeching with both excitement and upset. Shivering in her scuffed lace-up boots, Remi watched them openly, without the understanding that their parents may not appreciate her stares. In a wolf pack, all of the adults knew all of the children and vice versa. Out in the human world, most people you came into contact with in a public place were strangers.

Pushing a few fingers between Remi’s shoulder blades, Quinn directed her onto the grass and away from all of the minivans and snot monsters. Far enough away from the car to seem less suspicious, she produced the extra items she’d had stuffed in her jeans.

“I brought these, but I’m not as cold as I thought I’d be,” she announced, wondering if she sounded as much of a pantomime dame as she felt. “Walking back to the car would be such a pain after we’re already this far out…” She held the woolly pieces in front of her as though contemplating what to do in such a serious dilemma. “Would you mind wearing them?”

Beside her, Remi’s eyes lit up at the chance to be helpful. She chirped, “Of course, Alpha!”

Quinn shoved the hat over the wild flicks of Remi’s hair roughly, shaking her a little with the action. “None of that out here, okay?” she said, her words far more gentle than her actions.

Remi laughed, eyes covered with the knitted band of the hat that was meant to be folded over. “Sorry.”

Scarf looped four times, gloves wriggled on, and hat rim folded up twice to reveal dark, shiny eyes, and Quinn felt at ease again looking at her little accompaniment. The shivering had even subsided.

They walked the outskirts of the main field, where it met woodland, keeping the maximum distance from the playground in the centre. Remi’s nose was twitching just above the well-wound scarf, attempting to register hundreds of new scents. Her eyes bounced along every figure, near and far. Quinn knew the intensity of the adjustment Remi’s brain was trying to make while processing so much new and strange information. She stayed silent as they walked, allowing her to take everything in in her own time.

It hadn’t been that long since Quinn had first entered the human world full-time. And she had submerged herself without nearly enough preparation. Cold turkey. The first six months had almost had her sleeping on the streets. The open woodland environments of public parks fucked with her head most. Grass, trees and dirt urged her brain to shift and run feral. But the area was not owned territory, and humans and their dogs were scattered everywhere. The humans were too friendly, and the dogs prostrated themselves mortifyingly.

For her, it had been sink or swim in the adjustment. For Remi, Quinn would be her water wings, letting her paddle as long as she needed to. Until she was ready…

Quinn peeked down at the woolly woman waddling at her side… What exactly was it she thought Remi needed to be ready for? Once they found her a new pack, she would probably never have to face another human again. Quinn returned her gaze to the mud path ahead and winced. Even the thought sounded flat in her head. Remi wasn’t going anywhere, and she knew it. The Assembly’s dumb and dumbest had made it clear from day one that they had no plan to even look for a new home for her.

What Remi needed to be ready for was a life in the human world… with Quinn.