Alpha Assignment (GL) Chapter 42 (Early Access) (Patreon)

The first update from Jordan came within minutes of shutting the front door. Both women gathered around Quinn’s phone to read it.

They took him straight in after triage. Receptionist was a dick.

Straight in where? What was a triage? A doctor receptionist - like a trainee? Quinn wanted to ask for further explanation, but a human might be expected to know these things. Instead, she thanked Jordan and asked that she keep her updated.

Quinn and Remi pried their shoes off and made it through the doorway into the living room before the phone buzzed again.

I was geared up with a whole story to tell them but once someone with some medical training saw him no one gave a fuck to ask anything. I said I just found him when they asked about allergies. They didn’t ask me anything else.

Another message followed while they were still reading the first.

I asked about costs. Turns out that emergency healthcare is free no matter where you’re from. Small win!

They shared a look over the screen, awaiting another blue box. After two minutes with no further update from Jordan, the phone was taken off silent and placed in the centre of the dining table for easy monitoring.

Children had taken to the streets outside now that the sun had been down for a few hours. There were screams and squeals that grated on Quinn’s nerves. She couldn’t find any distraction in the wait for more news, pacing around the table or staring out into the back garden while Remi sat curled up on one of the chairs, heels to butt.

Eventually, they had to force themselves to go through the bedtime motions. They took turns washing while one watched the phone. Brushed their teeth with it balanced on the edge of the sink. Climbed under the covers and placed it on Quinn’s night stand. As she switched off the lamp, one last message for the night came through.

Police are here.

The human police would only make thing things worse, but Quinn had to trust that Jordan wouldn’t say too much to them. She didn’t answer any of Quinn’s follow up questions. The line of communication falling silent.

Quinn didn’t sleep. Remi burrowed into her bed with her and never fell into her deep rhythmic breaths either. They had barely spoken to each other since getting home. Only joining heads to read messages. Now their heads were a hair’s width apart, chin-to-crown, Remi encroaching onto the bottom of Quinn’s pillow.

Well before the sun had come up, Quinn gave up on rest. Remi watched her from the blankets as she pulled on fresh clothes, checking anxiously on her still phone. Except, it wasn’t the phone that announced Jordan’s next update - it was the doorbell. Quinn flew down the stairs, Remi stumbled behind, still in her fleecy pjs, and found Jordan, visibly exhausted, on her door step.

Quinn stepped back to let her in, and watched her slouch to the living room with heavy shoulders and feet. Quinn followed, and Remi made up the third person in their line. She didn’t join Jordan, then Quinn, on the sofa.

Instead, she paused in front of Jordan, offering, “Tea or coffee?”

“You’re a gem, Rem,” Jordan sighed, sinking into cream cushions. Despite the serious situation, Remi’s cheeks perked at the praise. “A milky tea would sort at least ten problems right now.”

She didn’t need to ask what Quinn would prefer. While she busied herself in the kitchen, Quinn couldn’t help but start her questions.

The most important being: “Are you okay?”

Jordan offered a weak smile. “I’m at one-percent battery, but otherwise fine.” Her phone clearly wasn’t, as it started buzzing in her pocket. She ignored it.

“I’m so sorry that you got dragged into this,” Quinn said, hoping even half od her sincerity could be felt.

“Don’t be, we saved that guy’s life.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, he did a runner not long after he was stabilised.” Quinn’s stomach dropped at Jordan’s words. “So who knows now… but for a short while there he was expected to make a full recovery.”

Quinn sunk back into the sofa with a sigh. Half relief and half frustration. “What the fuck was he thinking?” she murmured to the ceiling.

“I don’t know, but he was not impressed at all the hands on him. Maybe he couldn’t take any more poking and prodding. When they laid him down on a stretcher thing and hauled him off after triage I didn’t see much except him batting nurses away from touching him. One of them told me later that…” She winced, looking almost a little embarrassed. “He bites?”

Quinn squeezed her eyes shut. “For fuck’s sake,” she hissed between her teeth.

The clunk of mugs on a mini tray announced Remi’s return. She handed them out: Quinn first, as alpha of the pack, then Jordan, and then she took her own and squeezed into the sofa between them.

Jordan warmed her hands around the cream ceramic before continuing, “Bad patient behaviour aside, the doctor said that once they had cleaned and closed the cuts, he started healing crazy fast!” She slurped the top centimetre of tea and moaned, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. “Fuck, I needed that. So yeah, once everything was sewn back where it was supposed to be, he stabilised, is what the doctor said.” Jordan sighed. “So then they moved him to a ward and let me up to sit with him - this was after a few hours of surgery and my butt going numb on the A&E seats - and he was wide awake with a face like a slapped arse.”

“What do you mean?”

“Furious. Like he couldn’t believe the surgeons had the audacity to save his life.”

Quinn groaned into her black coffee.

“He didn’t say a word, though, almost had me convinced he really doesn’t speak English!”

“That’s one good thing…” Quinn grunted.

“They offered him pain meds and he just stared at them. Since he wasn’t making any noise or showing signs of distress - you know, except being mad that he’d been touched by non-cult-people, I guess - they just gave him the basic drugs.” Jordan shrugged. “If that were me,” she admitted, “I would have got the full works, why not?”

“When did he run, then?” Quinn’s mind was already racing - where would he go? Sanctuary? Back to his pack?

“After a few hours on the ward. I went to the loo and his bed was empty when I got back. All the tubes and stuff had been yanked out like in a movie.” Jordan tipped her mug for a deeper drink. “Left his hospital gown behind so I can only assume he’s out there streaking.” She shook her head. “You got people from witness protection on this? I doubt he’ll be hard to spot.”

“Yeah, they’re looking into it so they probably already know he left the hospital,” Quinn lied. “What did the police say?”

“Oh, they interviewed me while he was still in surgery.” Jordan accepted a milk top-up from a tiny jug that Remi had brought with her into the room, smiling gratefully. Her tea had become the colour of porridge. “Tipped off by the hospital that it looked like GBH or attempted murder, I guess,” she added. “They said they’d come back to talk to him today once all the drugs wore off.” She took another long sip, shivering around the cup. “I explained that I didn’t know the guy, just found him and brought him in. They kept asking if there was anything else I could remember, anything he said to me. I said I didn’t think he spoke English.” She relaxed a little more into the cushions. “They wrote everything down, along with my contact details, and sent me back to the waiting area with the worst cuppa I’ve ever tasted.” She turned to Remi, lifting her mug like a trophy. “This one’s perfect, by the way.” Remi smiled and looked down at her own drink, cheeks pink. “Oh, they also asked me why I didn’t call an ambulance and I just said I panicked. They were surprisingly easy to convince, but then I guess they have better shit to do on Halloween than interview me.”

Quinn nodded as though she knew anything about the human police’s priorities or what they had to do with Halloween. Ghost hunting? Paranormal patrols?

Jordan bit her lip, concern clouding her features. “I won’t get in trouble for lying, since it’s secret government stuff, right?”

“Of course, it will be dealt with internally,” Quinn assured her. Internally being that the Assembly would lock Wes up and throw away the key if they found him jeopardising werewolf anonymity. Whether they had any sway with human governments was a complete unknown to Quinn. “Just stick to the story you’ve already told and the agency will do the rest.” Jordan nodded, her shoulders unbunching a little. “You have no idea what a help you’ve been.”

“I’m always happy to help you two.” She raised her mug again, tapping it to Quinn’s and then Remi’s. “Here’s to the team effort that kept Wes alive for at least one more day.”

Quinn laughed uneasily. What Wes did next could be catastrophic for the werewolf community, or just for Quinn and Remi if he recounted his human hospital experience to anyone with authority. The best outcome was that everyone shut the fuck up about everything, forever.

“I do hope he is okay, though, wherever he is,” Jordan mumbled.

They didn’t need to fret for long, a weak knock came to the front door as Jordan was allowing Remi to persuade her into a chocolate biscuit. The inside of Quinn’s home had never seen so much processed sugar until Remi came along. Not that it was Remi doing the purchasing, all of a sudden the brightly-coloured cartoon marketing materials were catching Quinn’s eyes, reminding her of someone small, sweet and bright who might like gummies shaped into the fruits they supposedly contained an extract of.

She hopped to her feet and answered the door, leaving Jordan and Remi and the biscuits on the sofa.

Wes was balancing on two feet, teetering as though he had just quit leaning on the house as Quinn had appeared. He looked surprisingly well, all things considered. No longer roadkill, but a dog that took a tumble. No shoes, feet crevices filled with dirt. No shirt, with tiny strips of white stuck all across his cuts. A pair of sweatpants that Quinn was half-certain he’d been wearing when she carried him to her car. He looked like a lunatic, sure, but not one that was going to keel over any time soon.

“Hello,” he grunted, like someone had kicked him in the stomach. “Al-”

“Come inside,” she told him, against all of her sense.

He nodded and followed.