Alpha Assignment (GL) Chapter 49 (Early Access) (Patreon)

The noise that woke Quinn was electronic, but not her morning alarm. Her phone. Ringing into the dark of the night with a melodic beeping. At her side, Remi stirred, mumbling nonsense. Quinn struggled up out of their warm blanket lasagna, flinging her hand at the bedside table. The screen was bright, and the call still ringing, when she managed to bring the phone to her face.

Jordan's name almost blinded her. She accepted the call.

"'ullo?"

"Quinn." Her name was sobbed, it struck a lightning bolt of energy into her. "I'm so sorry, I know it's late, I-"

"Jordan, are you okay?"

A crackling cry came down the line. Quinn leapt out of bed.

"Alpha?" Remi whined from under an avalanche of duvet. A top-knot poked out like the greens of a turnip.

"Where are you?" Quinn asked.

Through hiccups and sniffs, Jordan offered a road name. Quinn knew it: it connected the rural area Jordan lived in with the main city. It was a no man's land with nothing but that road to show civilisation had arrived there.

"I'm so sorry, Quinn, I can't get a taxi and I don't know which way to walk an-"

"I'm on my way, share your live location and I'll be there in ten."

Remi watched her leave with a confused, sleepy expression, but when Quinn called over her shoulder that Jordan needed her, her mate nodded and retreated back to the covers.

She broke some speeding laws to reach Jordan within the ten minutes promised, but it was worth it to skid to a halt at her friend's side. Before Quinn could jump out and open the door for her, Jordan had already scrabbled into the car, face red, tear-streaked and puffy. She was dressed nicely, with well-fitting jeans, a pretty blouse, and a knee-length heavy coat, open despite the chill and with the waist tie that had clearly been dangling in the mud that made up the banks either side of the road.

Quinn ramped up the heat and pulled away to find somewhere safer to stop. Jordan cried the entire drive, covering her face with her hands, sleeves soggy from a combination of rain and tears.

On a small side road, under a tree, Quinn rolled to a stop.

“Jor-”

“She went nuts,” Jordan gasped. She was staring through the wind shield, as though she could see anything out in the darkness. Quinn could, but she knew that skill wasn’t one humans shared. There wasn’t much to see anyway, just more dirt road.

“Jay?” Quinn guessed.

A nod, and Jordan continued. “We had a nice date - the food was good and the conversation was normal and… then on the drive back she just switched.” She sniffed hard and gurgly and Quinn regretted not taking an extra moment to grab some tissues on her way to the car. “Sh- she started throwing these crazy accusations around.” She wiped her eyes harshly. “I’m not fucking cheating on her, but it obviously doesn’t matter if I am or not.” She took a moment to breathe, almost wheezing. “I can’t even find one good person to like me, let alone a second or third!” Sniffs broke way to sobs again.

Quinn unclipped both of their seat belts and pulled her into an uncomfortable hug.

“This is on her,” she murmured. “Not you. You’re great and-”

“And deserve love and kindness or whatever you said to Jay in the office?”

“I- I’m sorry.” Quinn pulled back, shamed. “I crossed the line there, I-”

“No, I’m glad you did it.” Jordan watched her for a moment, as though uncertain whether to share whatever came next. “She was so angry, and so scary, I think things could have gone a lot worse if she didn’t have the threat of…” She gestured at Quinn’s general body with her soggy sleeves. “She left me in a ditch, but at least I’m not dead in it.”

Quinn’s fists clenched against the upholstery of her seat. “I’d have killed her if that happened.”

For a few seconds, Jordan stared at her, her expression strange. A mixture of acceptance, sadness, and longing. Finally, she just nodded, turning back to the darkness ahead.

“What will happen now?”

Jordan scrunched her mouth in thought. “I avoid Accounts like the plague, take a few weeks to enjoy all that the single life has to offer - which is mostly just unregulated ice cream eating… and then…” Her eyes welled again. “Start all over again trying to find someone to love me.” On the final word, her voice cracked and Quinn snatched her into another hug. Rough and manhandling.

“You are so lovable, easily lovable,” Quinn said into Jordan’s damp hood. They were ear to ear, Jordan silent on her shoulder. “If Remi hadn’t come along…” They both tensed, unsure if they were ready for these words to be out in the open. “-and given a little more time for me to adjust to someone with no experience in the cult, I would have- we could have-”

“Yeah.” A croak.

“Maybe it wouldn’t have been a good fit, and maybe it would have ruined our friendship, and everything I’ve made for myself outside of the cult… But you are very easy to love, Jordan.”

“Thanks,” Jordan whispered, pulling back. “So is Remi.”

“She is, but I didn’t have any intentions to end up…” In gridlocked obsession with an omega? “… together when she arrived.”

“No? But she’s so pretty.”

“She is.” Quinn couldn’t help but smile at the thought of just how pretty her mate was. “But I was really mad that some ex-cult member was being shoved into my house without my permission. No one asked me if I was willing to take someone in and support them and teach them how the outside world works- I barely understand it myself, still!”

A watery giggle escaped Jordan. “You are much more capable at blending in than you think. You’re the most computer literate country bumpkin any of us normies have ever met!”

They both laughed now, it prompted a short coughing fit from Jordan as she fought against her own snot and tears. They settled into silence, listening to the wind rocking trees outside the car.

“I hate that I’m so desperate for it,” Jordan mumbled.

“It?”

“Love. A relationship. Someone that’s special, and only for me.”

“I only understood that feeling recently, to be honest.”

“Because of Remi?” Jordan smiled sadly. “That’s sweet.”

“Mmm… not quite.” Quinn took a second to try and source the right words. “I think, outside of the cult, I had created this bubble that only had me in it. And that seemed safe, the only way I was going to make it amongst-” She smiled. “-normies. I couldn’t even imagine myself being in a relationship because those outside the cult are like a whole other species.” Are literally a whole other species, she added in her mind. “And I went so long without indulging in that idea, not even fantasising about it as a far-future goal, that I almost forgot it was something we need. Until I had someone like me dropped on my doorstep, I hadn’t realised how deeply lonely I was.” She thought of tiny Remi and her tiny suitcase, and all the impossible-to-predict emotional developments that had unfolded from the domino flick that was her arrival. “I can only describe it as being the last person left on a deserted island - why let yourself feel lonely when there’s no chance to have that need fulfilled? It was actually you that really set things in motion.” They shared a look, Jordan’s pained understanding, and Quinn’s apologetic. She needed to get the truth off her chest. “It was like you reminded me that romantic love existed. If it wasn’t in my planner, it wasn’t part of my life. You reintroduced it to me right as Remi arrived. And if she hadn’t…”

Jordan nodded.

They could only watch each other for the next minutes that passed, there was nothing more that could be said.

Quinn broke the silence. “There’s no point in me saying it will happen for you, because we both know it will, and that doesn’t help with how it hurts now.” A redundant statement, but she had already revealed her truth, and this was Jordan’s.

“Thanks, Quinn.”

Pulling out of their private spot and turning back to the main road, Quinn announced, “Let’s get you home.”

Jordan took two days off sick, although she kept Quinn updated via text as to the self-care routines she was partaking in. Jay was nowhere to be seen, either, but she would have to come back to work sometime, and when she did, Quinn would be lying in wait.

Coming home Tuesday, Quinn allowed herself to temporarily shed the anger that had been clouding her thoughts since dropping Jordan home. She would be getting a sliver of hers and Remi’s routine back tonight - painting class. Wes was so almost ready to leave, a few more hearty meals and they would be free of him. Until then, they just had to try for normalcy, or Quinn would combust.

There was an eery silence to the house when she entered, shucking off her backpack, coat and shoes.

“Remi?” she called up the stairs.

“In here, Alpha.” The response came from the living room, but Quinn hesitated before stepping in. Was Remi calling her Alpha for Wes’ sake? Sometimes it slipped out in front of him, as though the presence of another werewolf put her back in the pack mentality.

But they weren’t a pack, she ensured Remi understood that. They were an alpha and omega couple… plus a non-titled werewolf guest who would soon be on his way. An alpha alone was just that, an alpha with a mate was a couple, an alpha plus two or more lower ranks was a pack.

Still in the hallway, she sniffed lightly so as not to be heard doing so. Her heartbeat quickened. There were three scents in the coming room: Remi’s, Wes’, and another wolf. No secondary gender - a regular like Wes. As she stepped around the door, Quinn’s suspicions were unfortunately correct: Remi had not called her Alpha for Wes’ benefit.