Alpha Assignment (BL) Chapter 36 (Early Access) (Patreon)

The pumpkin had been consumed, in its entirety, by the next afternoon. Even the seeds had been roasted and sprinkled into a pesto dish. Remi had managed to create soup, pasta sauce, and even pumpkin-flavoured bread all from the one giant gourd. Not a scrap had gone to waste, there had been hardly anything for the garden.

Somehow, he wasn't sick of it. And neither was Quinn. Remi was far more talented in the kitchen than Quinn's ingredients gave him credit for. He should start taking him out grocery shopping...

"Will we get another pumpkin next year?" Remi asked, cradling his freshly-baked bread close and inhaling the steam. "For Halloween?"

"We can get another one tomorrow if you like." What a sweet Sunday date that would be.

Remi's eyes lit up and his smile filled Quinn with energy to push through the food coma that his heavy pasta lunch had put him in.

"Pumpkin patches are open this time of year, we can choose our own." It was only a shame they wouldn't make it in time today.

"And then, maybe we could grow some next year?"

"Sure, whatever you like." Anything. A pumpkin or its weight in gold.

Sunday, they bundled up and headed out to the countryside.

It made Quinn a little nervous to be any place outside of the city that wasn't explicitly claimed by a pack or the Assembly. Any rural area could be quietly under werewolf control, and he didn't like the thought of being caught out. The chances of anything happening at a pumpkin patch, filled with humans, were very low. Quinn would prefer zero, but it would have to do.

The farm that was running the pumpkin patch was wet, muddy and filled with loud children racing around the legs of adults, including Quinn and Remi.

"You don't need to pick me up every time one gets close, Quinn, they aren't trying to hurt me." Remi smiled at the snotty wildlings. "They're having fun."

"They're careless," Quinn grunted, walking Remi by the armpits through the front gates. "They might not mean to but that doesn't mean I'm going to let them."

Remi giggled as his boots met the floor again. They were heavy-duty, bought for garden use, and embroidered with wild flowers along the side zippers. They were going to get ruined in the muck of the pumpkin patch.

Thoughts of dirt and puppies running amok dissipated when Remi took Quinn's hand and whispered, "Look at them all!"

And Quinn took a moment to look away from Remi.

Orange as far as the eye could see, in rows and rows with thick vines curling out around them. Clusters of two to six humans were gathered in different spots, appraising the choices. Some were lounging amongst them or posing for photos. In the very centre was a monstrous pumpkin, a show-piece that was drawing camera lenses in all directions. Remi took off towards it, dragging Quinn by the hand.

"We're not getting that one," Quinn laughed. It probably wasn't even for sale, it would no doubt do well in some mega-veg competition.

Remi grinned over his shoulder. "I just want to see it!"

They had to wait their turn to get close to it, but once they did, it was surprisingly worth it.

The pumpkin was bigger than Remi.

"Aren't you going to take a picture?"

Quinn jumped a little. "Me?"

An elderly man in a wool jumper and tweed jacket nodded to the pumpkin. "That's your boy, isn't it?"

"Y-yes, my boyfriend."

He nodded. "You want me to take your picture together? I'm not so good with these new phones and the touch screens-"

"Oh, that's okay, I'll just get one of him." Quinn drew out his phone and framed Remi in the centre with the giant pumpkin as his backdrop. "Remi! Smile!"

Simultaneously the old man yelled, "Say cheese!"

The result was one smiling Remi photo and one confused Remi photo, both were beautiful.

"Thank you for reminding me," Quinn said to the man. "Did you need any pictures taken?"

"I'm fine, young man, you have a good day."

"You too."

Remi ran back, and straight into Quinn's arms. "Did you take a picture?"

"I did! You look very cute."

Remi hid his blush in Quinn's sweater. "Let's go pick a pumpkin," he mumbled.

Over the threshold of the house, Quinn carried an enormous pumpkin under one arm, and a teeny Remi under the other. Remi giggled the whole way up the drive and into the living room where he was dumped on the sofa. Quinn had locked the car after he jumped out, trapping Remi in the front seat so that he could steal a chance at holding him.

There was a playful feeling in the air that Quinn couldn't quite place. It felt like he wanted to run around on all fours with Remi, and tease him. Not in a cruel way, but to get his attention.

He deposited the pumpkin in the kitchen. When he wandered back out, he noticed their landscape paintings still waiting by the dining table, un-hung.

"Where should we put these?" he called to the sofa. Remi was pulling off his coat and getting tangled but he managed to make an 'I don't know' noise in response.

"There's not really room in here for two more, and they look best as a matching set..."

A gasp of relief and Remi was free of his outer clothing, appearing weary from the effort. "Maybe the hallway upstairs?" he suggested, breathless.

Quinn nodded. "Perfect, I'll get my tools."

As he passed the sofa on his way out, Remi pouted up at him. Quinn gave him a questioning look but got no answer, so he continued with his task.

An hour or so later, the paintings were hung side-by-side and pin-straight. Hands-on-hips, Quinn proudly took in his handiwork. At some point, they could get them framed, but for now he quite liked the raw canvas look. He should also ask Remi to sign his work, they were masterpieces to Quinn that needed to be claimed. He took his tools back to the cupboard, passing a still-sofa-bound Remi on his way, and received a light whine.

Quinn raised a brow, but again, Remi did not explain further, so he didn't stop.

With everything put back where it was found, he came to the archway that separated the living and dining rooms and leant his hip to the wall.

Bark-coloured chunky knitwear layered over and under dark green shortalls had Remi resembling something a dung beetle would take for a walk. But cute. Always cute. And right now, moping. Flopped across the cushions with his cheek to his elbow, Remi was, without a doubt, sulking over something.

Quinn frowned, everything had been going so well. Had he thrown him down on the sofa too hard? Surely he would have heard an 'ow' or 'ouch'... Did Remi want help getting out of his coat? Quinn had pulled both their shoes off at the door when he came in but maybe he should have thought about that too...

Quinn watched him for a few more seconds before extending the bond. Remi didn't look up, but allowed immediate entrance.

Oh.

It wasn't the drop and it wasn't the coat. That energised, playful feeling suddenly made a lot more sense. The only emotion Remi was releasing was arousal. Taking another look at Remi’s outfit, Quinn realised the bulge between his legs wasn’t the bunching of corduroy.

Remi had been expecting Quinn to... initiate things. And when he had instead turned his attention to DIY...

Quinn hurried to the sofa and dropped to his knees in front of it. Remi was hiding his red face in a cushion, but it wasn't his face that Quinn needed. He unhooked the straps at his shoulders, stripped his shortalls in one fluid drag, took two delicate ankles and pulled them apart over his shoulders.

A twitch ran up velveteen thighs to the omega blushing above. Remi’s body was curled into a c-shape, hands clutched the pillow to his chest, and his eyes peeked over the top; prey staring down the predator about to take a taste. Quinn shimmied down his underwear and let them hang off Remi’s ankle, a flag waving at his back.

Where the thighs opened, a pink, perky cock had jumped up between the minute gap, although they were still connected with the glistening slick that had been waiting so patiently for Quinn. He pressed the point of his tongue against twitching hole and dug his way up to Remi’s taint and over his balls as though he could split him in two with only his mouth. If he got his tongue deep enough, they could never be separated again.

That cloying taste filled his mouth again when he reached Remi’s length, fuelling an addiction he had no interest in recovering from. He indulged in long, slow suctioning pulls of his mouth over Remi, interspersed with flicks at the swollen head that made his little obsession squirm and moan into his cushion.

Sliding from calves to knee-backs and down to plush thighs, Quinn’s hands squeezed tighter against Remi’s reflexive humping. Humans said patience was a virtue - not one that either of them possessed, it seemed.

Quinn pulled back, a string of slick and saliva connecting his mouth to Remi’s tip.

“I have to ask you something,” he gasped. A line of pre-cum dribbled down his chin.

Remi frowned over his emotional support cushion. His legs tested Quinn’s grip with a wriggle before settling on his shoulders again. No escape.

“Why did you refuse the bond the first time I did this?” A head tilt and a few flush-faced blinks were not enough answer for Quinn. “I won’t keep going till you answer,” he warned.

Remi’s bottom lip poked out, pink and pouty and delectable. Just like his ass. A high whine almost broke Quinn’s resolve. Why didn’t he want to tell him?

“Did you feel pressured into letting me lick you? Or worried that if I read your feelings I would be put o-”

“I was impatient,” Remi huffed, half-muffled by the cushion.

“Impatient?”

“You… sometimes you’re too careful with me.” He looked away, mumbling, “I’m an adult, you don’t need to baby me.”

“I’m sor-”

“That only applies to sex,” Remi added in a rush. “I don’t… mind you babying me other times.”

Quinn chuckled. “A man in the sheets and a puppy in the streets?”

Hidden beneath the cushion again, Remi groaned. His little fingers were squeezing the edges so tightly his knuckles were white. Quinn bent him in two and returned his mouth to the pink hole rocking up to meet him. This time, when he pulled flesh between his lips and sucked, he kept Remi’s cock tight in his hand, swiping back and forth across the slit with his thumb until the omega cried into the cushion he was cowering under.

Quinn sat up tall on his knees and watched Remi’s twitching thighs fall wide at his sides against the sofa. He snatched the cushion away and smirked at Remi’s glassy-eyed expression. His blinks had slowed till they were barely still in time with one another, almost weary winks.

“Bedtime for you,” Quinn murmured. He slipped an arm between Remi’s back and the sofa back, and another under his legs, and carried him upstairs.

In his own bed, Remi was quickly dozing. Quinn tucked him in, duvet to chin, and retreated.

They were keeping separate bedrooms for now - it seemed like the right thing to do while everything was so… unspoken? Maybe that wasn’t the right word for them… they weren’t humans with different dating stages. But a human-like conversation might make things clearer for them in the house. They’re not in a pack, those dynamics don’t apply. In a pack, penetrative sex was for mates. And Quinn had already fucked that up. Werewolves that were interested in becoming mates would flirt, show their intentions, maybe fool around physically, but ‘all the way’ was supposed to be for once you were official.

Of course, Quinn wanted Remi to be his mate. And he’d told Remi his intentions when they discussed dates. But the power imbalance was always there at the back of his mind, because an alpha asking an omega to be their mate could so easily feel like strong-arming. There was unspoken pressure that Quinn would never want to put on Remi, and there was a lack of choice for him. It might feel like Quinn or nothing.

Even if Remi agreed to be his mate, that also implied they were on track to marking and a life-mate ceremony. Once you started down the path of a serious relationship, it was assumed that you eventually wanted all the milestones. And every time, Quinn would be worrying as to whether Remi did.

Quinn sighed to himself and set about the cleaning chores they had left over from the day before. For now, he would stick to their ‘dating’ plan and avoid any mate behaviours. Eventually, it would be helpful to have a human-like conversation about the future. In a pack, these things were assumed, and Quinn didn’t want Remi to be ruled by an alpha’s assumptions.