Alpha Assignment (GL) Chapter 21 (Early Access) (Patreon)

ACT 2: Sanctuary

A stillness blanketed the area. Not a sound or movement permeated the tranquillity amongst the trees. The bark was old, spotted, and housing clumps of moss. Rogue logs had been overtaken by it. It felt sacrilegious to be disturbing the silence with her heavy footsteps. Not intentionally, alphas are born, raised and live their lives at a larger scale than everyone else. To walk these tiny trails without disturbance to the habitat required delicate toe-steps. Quinn felt like a rhino trampling a sparrow’s nest. The thick scent of wild flowers covered all else. Her nose would be useless to track Remi through the undergrowth. Not that she had hunted anything in a long, long time.

It was impossible to see more than a few feet ahead with the twisting and turning trees forming a maze. Quinn allowed the gaps to guide her until the lightest whiff of a familiar scent finally caught her. She gasped Remi’s name and her feet picked up speed, slipping and stumbling through the roots and branches.

The leafy tunnel opened, and she had breached the cocoon. A million tiny streams of moonlight filtered through the branches overhead and lit up the enormous clearing. In the very centre, perched on a mossy log, was Remi, dolly suitcase propped at the end.

There were so many urges overwhelming her. Quinn wanted to scold her for scaring her. Beg her to return. Clutch her close and check for injuries. Squeeze her tiny face between her hands and feel her temperature against her palms.

Instead, breathless, she croaked out, “What is this place?”

Remi’s eyes twinkled, reflecting the stars that were still slowly coming out of hiding above the trees. No longer blocked by the foggy pollution of the city. Further out into the countryside, Quinn could only imagine how beautiful Remi’s eyes would be under the stars in their full glory.

“Sanctuary.” The word was rasped like it was taboo.

Quinn crept to Remi’s side, as though one misstep could disturb the peace of the place.

“Under Sanctuary laws, you cannot force me out of here,” Remi added quietly. Words firm, eyes uncertain.

“I would never force you to do anything, Remi.”

Remi stared up at her for a few moments, watching Quinn lower to the log before snapping her face away. “I know,” she whispered.

“How did you find this place?”

“I was led here a long time ago, like most… runaways.” She didn’t seem to like the word. “The only people willing to tell you which lands are Sanctuary-bound are the ones with nothing to lose.”

“I’ve never even heard of Sanctuary lands.”

“Why would you need to? You’re an alpha.”

“I was also a runaway.”

Remi smiled to herself with sad eyes. “Mmm. But no one dragged you back, kicking and screaming.”

“They can’t drag you from here?”

Remi shook her head. “They can block your supplies, set up a barricade of wolves waiting for you, threaten your friends and family… but no, no one can physically remove you from Sanctuary lands.”

“Why can’t they just let people leave if they’re not happy?” Quinn sighed. “Why force someone to live with you that doesn’t want to be there?”

“Power. Pack size. Control.” Remi tapped the tips of her thin fingers with each count.

“And despite being a badass rebel runaway, you still try to live by the Assembly’s rules?” Quinn was only half teasing.

“Because… I feel more comfortable doing what I know.” Remi’s pouty lips scrunched to one side. “And I’m not a rebel.” She gave Quinn a sharp look through pointed lashes. “I don’t want to be.” Her body seemed to slump a little, defeated. “I just want to be a good omega to a good alpha.”

Quinn knew she wasn’t, and couldn’t be, a good alpha. “What if you decide you want to do something different? I’m sure there are days when you want to go out and have fun.”

“I learnt my lessons a long time ago and now they’re stuck on me,” Remi mumbled, dropping her chin to her palms.

Quinn decided not to push her on the cryptic answer. “Remi, I promise you that those are lessons you will never need again. If you choose to stay with me, I will never be expecting you to adhere to the rules of a conventional pack. As long as we share a home, we are equals.”

“We can’t share a space, you said.”

“Of course we can - as long as we are equals.”

Remi refused to look at her. “I’m ruining the perfect life you have made for yourself.”

“I want that same life for you, Remi. I want us to both be free and happy and able to live our lives without being stuck under our titles.”

Remi glued her eyes to a far-off tree. “You don’t need to put yourself out for m-”

“Remi, I love having you in my home. Our home. You’ve brought something to my life that I can’t let go of anymore.”

“Alpha-”

“Please, Remi.” Quinn sunk to her knees on the spongy grass, forcing Remi to look down at her. “Please come home.”

“And be an omega without any… direction?”

“An omega whose only rule is to enjoy herself.”

“What about when you’re at the office? What do I do then?”

Quinn fell back onto her butt to think. Solo activities for a little wolf that doesn’t want to leave home and mingle with humans… “I see you staring into the backyard. You’re welcome to use the space how you want. It could be a project for you.”

Remi perked up, finally turning towards Quinn, swivelling on the mossy log like it was a barstool. “I could grow food for the house,” she offered.

“It doesn’t need to be something that brings a return on investment.” Quinn shook her head and groaned, but with an exasperated grin. “If you want to make a veggie garden, I’ll buy you the tools, but you don’t need to produce anything to earn your fun.”

“What about the bills? If we’re equals, we should share the pack responsibilities.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Aren’t you worried about it?”

Quinn scoffed. “No. We’re fine. Not caviar-for-dinner fine, but sleeping-easy fine.”

Remi let out a short breath, but an enormous flood of pressure blew out with it. Tension released her shoulders into soft slopes, her face appeared less pinched, and her legs dangled loosely over the log now.

“I don’t ever want you worrying about that, okay?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Quinn rolled her eyes with a weary smile.

“Thank you, Quinn,” Remi said softly.

“For what?”

Remi slid down from her seat and expertly attached herself to Quinn’s side, burrowing in close to her grass-stained cream jumper. “For coming to bring me home.”

Quinn’s smile was injected with energy, her heart finally thrumming with something other than anxiety. She beamed up at the obstructed sky. “You’re welcome, Remi.”

They sat in silence for some time, huddled against the chill that had set in. Quinn had no intention of hurrying Remi away, if she wanted to sit and cuddle in the forest for the rest of the weekend she’d find a way to make it work.

Tiny legs stretched out with a shake, wiggling the muddy shoes at the end before retracting back up to Quinn’s hip. “I think I’m ready to go home,” Remi announced.

Quinn nodded, stroking Remi’s arm with the hand curled around her shoulders. “I need to confess something first.”

Shuffling up onto her bare knees, Remi pressed her chest into Quinn’s armpit, putting her face directly beneath hers with a curious look. “What is it?”

“I opened your file, the one that Isaac left.”

Remi waited patiently for whatever Quinn was going to say next, her expression still perplexed.

“I'm really sorry to have invaded your privacy like that. I never intended to look in that file - ever. But when I ran out of places to look for you, I was so worried and I just-”

“Al- Quinn, I thought you would have read the file on the day I arrived. I didn't know... that you hadn't.”

“That's your private information, I don't think it's right for me to know anything you don't choose to share with me.”

Remi tilted her head, inadvertently leaning it on Quinn’s bicep. “But you're my alpha, so it's okay.”

The words felt good, but Quinn still needed to get the rest of her reasoning off her chest.

“When I was a baby, I was given to a pack after mine was dispersed.”

Remi gasped quietly. “Like me,” she whispered.

Quinn nodded. “And I had one of those files. And by the time I was ten it felt like every person in the pack knew everything that was written in it. My family history, the diseases I might inherit, any crimes that the wolves in my original pack had committed, every detail of my parents' lives and appearances. Things that hadn't been shared directly with me, yet. When I found out I was adopted, I found out the same day that not only did everyone else in the pack know I wasn't my parents' biological child, but they knew everything else about my past - about the life I would have had.” She did her best to keep her voice even and emotionless, as though she had told the story a hundred times. “I never got to read my file.”

“I'm sorry.” Barely audible. A sweet, rasping voice. It soothed her just a little.

“Don't be, it's not either of our faults. Blame the Assembly.”

“But... Mister Isaac might be able to get your file. A copy of it. Maybe you could finally read it?”

Quinn looked away. “I don't know if I want to anymore.”

“At least you would have the choice if you had it,” Remi reasoned.

Quinn hummed in agreement, although she wasn’t entirely convinced.

“I don't mind that you read mine. Not just because you're an alpha, or my alpha. I'm glad that you know because…” Remi clammed up, suddenly incapable of eye contact and twisting her fingers between their clothes. “Um-”

“I only skimmed it,” Quinn clarified, partly just to give Remi an out of the sentence she’d started and couldn’t finished. “But if you want to go through it together sometime?”

“With hot chocolate and blankets,” Remi said. “It's not something I'd like to talk about without hot chocolate and blankets.”

Quinn scooped Remi into her arms and climbed up from the forest floor. “I think I would feel the same.” She hooked a pinky finger under the suitcase’s handle and dragged it behind them.

Remi nuzzled in close and let her limbs hang limply from Quinn’s hold. By the time they had reached the car, she was asleep.

Jordan inundated Quinn’s phone with heart and sparkle emojis at the good news: Remi was coming home.