Alpha Assignment (GL) Chapter 25 (Early Access) (Patreon)

"It's not hotel-standard but I did my best," Quinn announced, hoping her awkwardness wasn't visible.

Jordan gave a small smile, muted in comparison to her usual cheer. "Thanks, Quinn, I really appreciate it.” She rubbed her arms. “Would you mind if I took myself to bed now? I'm beat."

It was incredibly early, but Quinn wasn't going to argue with her. “Of course, it’s been a long and stressful day.” She walked her upstairs and wished her a good night at the door. Jordan ducked her head away when she closed it.

When she got back, Remi was sipping at her wine on the sofa.

"You like it?"

"Mm." Remi placed her glass on a side table without leaving her seat, a tough stretch for such short arms. "I have questions."

Quinn shut the living room door and took the space beside her on the sofa, attempting to lower herself slow enough that Remi wasn’t caught in the seat sink-hole it created when she dropped in. "I don't know anything about alcohol, but I'll do my-"

"No."

Quinn blinked. "No?"

Remi twisted onto her knees at Quinn's side, a deep, puffy pout drawing Quinn's eyes. It was possible that little Remi... was a little tipsy.

"No, I want to know... about mates. About... yours."

Quinn knew Remi didn't mean 'friends' when she said mates. Werewolf mates. The equivalent of 'getting serious' in a human relationship. Committed relationships with the eventual expectation of a ceremony. Of permanent marking.

"Um-" Quinn kept her tone lowered, acutely aware of Jordan upstairs. "I've never had a mate,” she admitted. “I've fooled around with people, but nothing so serious as to... you know, ask them to take a title. Have you eve-"

"Did anyone come close?"

"Not re-"

"Do you want to?” The questions fired too fast for Quinn to think of an answer, let alone say it. “Are you looking for someone?"

"Um, I-"

"What kind of person? Could it be a human? Do you have a type?" She said the word ‘type’ like it was something dirty.

"Rem-"

"Do you imagine what they look li-"

Quinn snatched Remi by the t-shirt and shut her up with her mouth, capturing pouty lips in a greedy kiss. Greedy to a point that her body's cravings had taken control, taken what it wanted so desperately.

Because the answer was too difficult. Because Remi wouldn't give her a moment to think. Because even if she had all night she might not have the right words still.

How could she bear to explain that she had never had a clear idea of her 'type' or the mate she wanted, but that in the last two months it had morphed into a reflection of Remi? That when she pictured the future, it no longer included a shadowy figure that would be filled in later. Once she met the right person, she had told herself before, then it would fill with a face. A person she could never meet without integrating herself back into a pack. She hadn’t let herself dwell on it, the sinking, clawing loneliness that her future would entail.

But the shadow wasn't in her plans anymore. A tiny omega in oversized woolly clothing stood there now.

The kiss, the sweet, cloying taste of Remi, set Quinn’s body alight, as though it had triggered her deeply buried wolf-half to break free. The wolf that wanted to drag her omega away and do dirty unspeakable things to her until at least one full moon had passed. Quinn's self-control shattered under its howl of victory. With her grip tight against Remi's chest she dragged her into her lap by her fisted shirt, never breaking the kiss. Pale thighs were spread either side of her own, with Remi's knees barely reaching the sofa. The hand in her top slid over Remi's navel, brushing the tiny sliver of skin between it and her shorts. A shiver in her lap and Quinn had zero strength to restrain the groan against Remi's mouth. Her wants, needs, verbalising out of her control. Both hands grabbed at Remi's hips, squeezing and teasing at the edges of the fabric, threatening to dip under and touch more. MORE. Her body screamed for it. For all the things she could do with that teeny, tiny, peachy body. The pleasure she would bring to her omeg-

Quinn fought her way through the primal fog, bursting back into the cockpit and forcing her hands back to the seat beneath her. They broke apart, panting. And Remi's face contained only one emotion: shock.

Regret stabbed at Quinn's throat, puncturing, stealing her air.

"Remi," she croaked. "I'm so sor-"

Remi leant in close, a curious look sparkling from her deep, dark eyes. A ghost of a kiss bounced off Quinn's mouth, silencing her, and Remi pulled back again. She didn't vacate Quinn's lap. Not that Quinn minded the little weight.

Remi watched Quinn. Quinn watched Remi. Their chests heaved in the gap between.

She was flushed pink all over, eyes bright, with a tinge of confusion still coating her pretty features. Quinn wanted to say something, break the silence, make it okay again. But she'd already tried to say sorry and gotten cut off. She would stay still, and silent, and let Remi lead. Give her back the control she had stolen with her stupid primitive urg-

Remi kissed her again, and this time she didn't immediately retract. Her lips pried Quinn's open and she let her weight fall forward, resting her hands against Quinn's chest. They dragged up and down and to the sides, feeling the muscle and breasts under her small hands. Their tongue touched in short, exploratory strokes. Hesitant, Quinn lifted her own hands again and slid them from Remi's knees to her thighs, and back to her hips, relishing in the petal-soft skin and its radiating warmth. She wanted so badly, so deeply, to mark it. With her hands, with her teeth, with her mouth.

They kissed and kissed, breaking only for a few seconds at a time to gasp or gaze at each other. Each kiss got longer and messier. Quinn was determined to replace the taste of wine in Remi's mouth with her own scent. Claiming her inside and out. Her wolf still lingered at the back of her mind, still influencing her thoughts. The yearning for Remi was Quinn, the voice howling at her to act on it in depraved and feral ways was the wolf.

Remi began to rock her hips in Quinn’s lap, small humping motions against Quinn’s crotch that had her core clenching. Desperate. Pulsing. Aching. But overly aware of the intoxication of the woman in her lap. Quinn threw her head back against the sofa cushions behind and gripped Remi’s waist in her hands, shifting her back a few inches. Remi was dazed, lips puffy and hands still twisted in Quinn’s top. She frowned, as though questioning why Quinn would stop. Her eyes were half-lidded, blinks slow. Now she was reaching the sleepy drunk stage.

And that was exactly why Quinn needed them to stop. If Remi wasn’t multiple glasses of cheap plonk deep, and was still grinding herself against her, Quinn would have wrecked Remi’s new bedroom decor by fucking her on every inch of it. But under the influence, absolutely not. Someone had to be the sensible one, and Quinn’s wolf definitely couldn’t be trusted with that responsibility.

“You need to sleep off the wine, Remi,” she murmured. “We can’t… this can’t go too far while you’re drunk.”

Remi’s expression dipped into a sulk. “’m not drunk.”

“Just a bit tipsy, then,” Quinn conceded.

A high whine almost sent Quinn feral. Her nails dug into the couch cushions for a few moments while she caught her breath. An omega’s whine was… something else. She blew out slowly, regaining composure. Remi was still frowning so sweetly.

“Please trust me when I say I don’t want to stop.” She didn’t want to ever stop. She wanted to shove her tongue in Remi’s small mouth and suck on her pointed pink tongue. She wanted to grind Remi against her until she came in her adorable shorts. “But we need to see how you feel in the morning.”

Remi’s head tilted, sending her bouncing hair with it.

“When you’re sober again, we can kiss more. I’ll kiss you all day long if that’s what you want. But if you wake up tomorrow and you don’t feel… the way you do now, we never have to talk about it again.”

“A whole day of kisses?” Remi repeated, her words slurred.

“A whole day,” Quinn promised.

“Fine.” Remi slumped forward, letting her chin rest on Quinn’s shoulder and mouthing a little at her neck. Looks like it was up to Quinn to get them to their respective rooms, then.

She carried Remi to her bed, prying her off when she tried to bush baby Quinn’s chest at the last moment, and tucked her in with a selfish forehead kiss. On her way past her own bedroom, she took a moment to listen near the door, but heard nothing.

On the sofa, with a few fluffy blankets layered over her, and both feet hanging over the end, Quinn laid awake all night, dreading Remi’s decision in the morning.