10. Teaching Rex To Be A Human

Aaren calledhim into the kitchen when Rex’s lunch was ready. “Is this what you wanted?”

Olson checked that the burger was plain. “Yes. Thanks.”

He grabbed a fork and knife and brought the plate to the bar counter, where Rex was sipping from a new glass of raspberry iced tea. “Like the tea?”

Rex nodded, nudging the glass over. “Olllsonnnn.”

Olson cracked a smile, setting the plate on the counter and taking the seat next to him. He stole a sip of Rex’s tea, then pointed to the condiments on the plate. “I don’t know if you like any of these, so I had Aaren separate them. But they usually go into the burger here.”

He lifted the bun and veggies, pointing the knife at the glistening beef burger. “Taste them if you want, or add a bit to the burger so you can try some without ruining the whole thing. Like this.”

Olson slathered some ketchup on the edge of the burger. Then he replaced the veggies and bun, picked up the burger, and angled it at Rex. “Bite here to see if you like it.”

Rex bit into the burger, chewing. “Mmm.”

“All right. I’ll add the rest of the ketchup.” Olson spread it on with the knife. “What about mustard? This yellow thing here.”

He smeared some on the burger’s edge, and held it up again.

Rex bit into it, chewed, and made a face.

“No mustard. Got it. What about pickles?” Olson slipped a slice under the lettuce. “Try this.”

Again, Rex bit into the burger. “Mmm.”

“Sounds good.” Olson added the rest of the pickles to the burger, and tore off a corner of cheese. “What about this? This is cheddar cheese.”

Rex carefully took it with his teeth, licking Olson’s fingertips before he began chewing. Olson blushed. Rex smiled. “I like.”

“So the cheese goes in, too.” Olson arranged it on top of the pickles, and slid the plate over to Rex.

Rex frowned, sliding the plate back. “Olson eat.”

Olson sighed. “I told you. I had chicken earlier. And ice cream.”

Rex scowled. “Eat.”

“Fine.” Olson took a small bite of the burger.

Rex caught his wrist, pulling Olson’s burger-filled hands toward him so he could take another bite.

“You just want me to hold your burger for you.” Olson huffed.

Rex grinned. He plucked out one of the pickle slices and bit into it, humming with enjoyment. Then he offered the other half to Olson, his gaze bright.

“Gods, you’re something else,” Olson murmured. But he ate the offering off Rex’s fingertips. “Thank you. Remember? We say that when someone does something nice for us.”

“Thank you,” Rex rumbled.

“You’re welcome.” Olson set down the burger, spearing a broccoli floret on Rex’s fork and popping it into his own mouth.

Rex watched him. Then he took the fork from Olson and tried stabbing the broccoli, too.

When he’d succeeded, Rex bit down, flinching when his teeth crashed into the stainless steel tines. He pulled the fork out and scowled at it in betrayal.

Olson suppressed his smile. “You have to be gentle with the fork and knife. It’s not meat. It’s just helping you move the food from the plate to your mouth.”

Rex abandoned the fork grumpily, using his fingers to pick a French fry off the plate. Olson stole his fork and speared a few fries, nibbling on them.

Rex watched him. After more minutes of Olson stealing his fries, Rex took the fork back, stabbing the fries, too.

He carefully ate the fries off the fork, then stabbed the burger and tried to lift it. The burger slipped off.

Olson grinned. “I use my hands to pick up the burger. It’s easier that way.” He ruffled Rex’s hair. “Anyhow, I have to get some things done. If you need help, wait for me to come back. I’ll check in with you every so often.”

Rex nodded. Olson went to prepare the drink orders coming in from the lunch crowd. Some customers sat at the bar and chatted with Olson; they shot curious looks at Rex, and one even said hi. Rex stared warily at them and didn’t answer.

The rest of the time, Rex watched Olson unwaveringly.

Olson waited for a lull in the orders to approach Rex from the side. “I’m taking a potty break. Do you need to pee, too?”

Rex shrugged, sliding off the seat to follow him.

Olson showed him both restrooms. The small employee-only one in the back room, and the one for his customers.

“This is a bit of a strange restroom,” he said, leading Rex down the aisle and showing him the cubicles. “If you want complete privacy, use the first two cubicles. The others have holes in them.”

He pointed out the fist-sized holes in the walls of the other cubicles, most of them at hip level.

Rex frowned and reached out to touch the closest hole. Olson grabbed his hand.

“They may not be all that clean,” Olson said dryly. “We disinfect them every night at closing, sometimes more often, but it’s not a priority.”

Rex kept on frowning, trying to form words with his mouth. “Wh—?”

“Why?” Olson smiled. “It’s for people to put their cocks through, mainly. If they want sex but don’t want to know who they’re having sex with. But if someone’s drunk, they’re not allowed to use these.”

Rex looked at the glory holes again, then back at Olson. “Olson cock?”

“Funny enough, I’ve never used them myself.” Olson shrugged. “Just haven’t had the urge to mate. I guess I was waiting for the right alpha to come along.”

Rex rubbed his chest proudly. “Mmme.”

Olson dropped his gaze and blushed. “Yeah. You.”

Except he didn’t want to have a wall between their bodies; he wanted Rex to hold him sweetly when they fell into bed together.

Rex caught Olson’s chin, tipping his face up. And he looked tenderly into Olson’s eyes, rubbing his thumb over Olson’s lips. “Mine,” he whispered.

Nope, not answering that.Olson caught Rex’s wrist and nuzzled his palm. “C’mon. I need to pee.”

He stepped into a cubicle, unsurprised when Rex crowded in behind him. “No mating,” Olson added.

He had to reach around Rex to lock the door. Then he undid his pants, huffing when Rex wrapped his arms around his waist.

Before he could tell Rex to release him, Rex peeked over Olson’s shoulder, and dropped his arms so he could watch Olson piss. Olson blushed.

“I don’t think most alphas do this,” he mumbled.

Rex sniffed his hair and rubbed his sides, still watching.

When Olson was done, he flushed the toilet. Except Rex began fumbling with his pants, too, pulling out his cock like Olson had done.

There weren’t many places to look. Olson ended up watching Rex piss, and Rex rumbled with pride.

Rex flushed the toilet after. Olson nodded in approval. “You learn fast.”

Rex grinned. “For Olsonnnn.”

Olson couldn’t help himself. He leaned in, pressing a kiss to Rex’s cheek. Rex gave a pleased growl.

The next stop was the sink. Rex remembered how to wash his hands with soap—Olson had taught him this before they’d left the apartment, because his hands had been covered in slick and come.

He pressed his wet hands to Olson’s shirt, leaving his large handprints on Olson’s body.

“Mine,” Rex rumbled.

Olson sighed. “Of course you have to mark me again.”

Rex nodded. “‘Course.”

“Back to work,” Olson said. “And you... back to watching me, I guess.”

Rex’s smile curled his toes.

An hour later,Olson emerged from the storeroom to find Rex sitting at the bar with Emmy and his baby.

Colorful squares of paper littered the counter in front of them. Rex had his fist wrapped around a marker, painstakingly dragging its tip across a blue square, his forehead wrinkling in concentration.

When he saw Olson approaching, Rex covered his drawing, his ears turning pink.

Olson didn’t need to get close to see what they were drawing. There was only ever one thing Emmy used those squares for, anyway.

“Oh, gods, Em,” Olson groaned. “Are you—”

Emmy beamed. “We’re making butt blessings!”

“You’re not supposed to do that on your shift,” Olson grumbled. But Emmy was teaching Rex how to put pen to paper, and Olson hadn’t had time to do that yet.

Even if Emmy was accomplishing it through terrible dick drawings.

Olson stopped across the counter from Rex, reaching over to cover Rex’s hands with his own. “Show me?”

Rex looked embarrassed and worried.

“I promise I won’t laugh,” Olson said.

Slowly, Rex lifted his hands off his drawing.

It was... an attempt at copying Emmy’s simple dicks, the lines uneven and shaky. But it was recognizable as a cock and balls. Olson smiled, patting his hand. “You’re doing great.”

Rex’s shoulders sagged with relief. He wrapped his fist around the marker again, and Olson had sit on the lower prep counter so he could reach Rex’s hands properly, arranging his fingers around the marker to show him the best way to hold it.

“Like this,” Olson said. “You’ll control it better, and it’ll be easier when you get used to it.”

Emmy slid over a purple square of paper. “You should draw one too, Big O.”

Olson sighed and picked up a marker—mostly because Rex was watching him in anticipation. Dick drawings were easy if you weren’t too concerned about being realistic. Olson drew a long thing and two circles under it, and slid it over to Rex and Emmy. “There.”

Rex pored over it. And he carefully completed his own dick drawing, setting down his marker with a proud smile.

“Yay!” Emmy got to his feet excitedly. “Now we lift them up and collect the butt blessings. Like this.”

With both hands, Emmy held his own drawing high in the air, waving it back and forth as he did a little dance. “Oh, dick gods! Oh, butt gods! Give us some good butt blessings!”

Emmy made soft sucking sounds, like the blessings were being sucked into his drawing. In the baby carrier, Hunter kicked and giggled.

Rex looked at Olson expectantly. Olson winced. “I’ll do it if you do it with me.”

Olson raised his dick drawing above his head. Rex did, too. And Olson did a small wriggle. “C’mon, dick gods. Please give us your butt blessings.”

Rex shimmied along with him, his mouth pulling into a smile. “Olllsonnnn.”

“It’s not like I’m the one putting the blessings in there,” Olson said.

“You’re already blessing Rex with your bossly presence,” Emmy pointed out.

Rex grinned, his eyes damn near sparkling, and, well. Olson did the dance for a bit longer, just to give Rex more reason to smile.

“There,” he said when he was done, offering his purple square to Rex. “You can have my butt blessing.”

Rex took it, pressing it against his chest like Olson had bestowed upon him a sacred gift.

Then he handed over his own blessing, all excited. Olson melted a little inside.

“Thank you,” Olson murmured.

“Thank you,” Rex replied.

They watched each other for a long while, until someone cleared their throat.

Olson turned to find Jag Gardner on the other side of the counter. Jag was an older alpha with scars on his face and arms, like he’d been in a few fights. Landon’s brother-in-law. Fresh out of jail. “Oh! Hey, Jag.”

Jag nodded a greeting, glancing at Rex. “Got yourself cleaned up, huh?”

Rex growled, but he didn’t seem to be making a serious threat.

“Is this the Jag who’s been feeding you?” Olson asked, reaching over the counter to touch Rex’s hand.

Rex nodded. Jag’s eyebrows shot up.

“Really. All this time, you could’ve done more than growl and you didn’t?” Jag said flatly.

Rex grinned. “Olllsonnnnn.”

Jag’s surprise grew. “I gotta say. I’ve known him for months. This is the happiest and most vocal I’ve seen him.”

Olson blushed. “Thank you for taking care of him.”

Rex rubbed Olson’s dick drawing against his chest. “Mine.”

Jag snorted, shaking his head. “Figures. He needed an omega to bring him out of his shell.”

At this point, Olson was fairly sure no other omega would have that effect on Rex, but he wasn’t about to share that. “I’ve moved him out of the forest.”

“Gonna give him a job?”

Olson blinked. That hadn’t occurred to him. “I haven’t decided if he’s a good fit for the Wine Shack. But maybe.”

Rex lifted Olson’s drawing to his nose and sniffed at it. Then he leaned over the counter and caught Olson’s hand, pressing his nose to the scent gland at Olson’s wrist. He rubbed his face against it and smiled.

Jag looked extremely amused.

“You’re slightly besotted,” Olson said dryly to Rex. “Just slightly.”

“He’s had a hard life. I think it’s time he got to be happy.”

Yeah, Olson thought so, too. “Is there anything I should know about him?”

Jag hesitated. For the first time since they’d known each other, Olson saw him turn uneasy. “I don’t know if he has anyone after him,” Jag said quietly. “He never told me where he came from. Or how he escaped. He still had freshly-scabbed wounds when I first found him.”

“Do you mean... wounds from getting into fights on the street?”

Jag shook his head. “No. Senseless injuries. Clean, deliberate incisions that didn’t just come from some drunken punch.”

Olson’s stomach turned. When he chanced a peek, Rex had narrowed his eyes, growling softly.

How was Olson going to protect him, without knowing what he had to look out for?

“What should I do?” he asked.

“Stay close to him.” Jag scanned the patrons in the Wine Shack. “I’ve been teaching him to fight, on and off. I can’t visit often—got a boy to protect. But I’ll give you some emergency contacts. My sworn brother, Hades, is in town. Storm is on his way. Fury, too.”

More help was better than less. Olson had a few friends he could call, too. “How do you know these people? They... have interesting names.”

Jag gave a sharp smile. “Prison.”

“That reassures me more than it probably should,” Olson admitted.

Jag laughed. “You know my brother will be happy to help, too. Although he’s busy right now with babies and sleep deprivation.”

His brother was Troy Gardner—one of Landon’s alphas, currently an assistant soccer coach, and previously an agent.

“I know a couple other ex-agents,” Olson said. “I’ll look into being prepared.”

Jag nodded at Rex. “Anyway, give him a haircut. I think he’ll be more difficult to track down without that beard.”

Unease fluttered in Olson’s gut.

Something told him that maybe he shouldn’t shave off Rex’s beard.

“Soon,” he said without quite meaning it, even though he knew the sooner they got that hair off, the safer Rex would be.

“Good,” Jag said. He tapped on the counter, turning to leave.

“Wait,” Olson said. “Did you come in here just to tell me that?”

“I thought I saw a familiar face.” Jag raised his eyebrows at Rex. “What’s your name, by the way? I can’t believe we’ve gone months without me knowing.”

Rex gave that little growl that said he wasn’t going to answer.

Olson sighed. “His name is Rex. Rex, sooner than later, you’ll have to start talking to people other than me.”

Rex rolled his shoulders, his mouth curving into a grin. “Olllsonnnn.”

“Guess not.” Jag snorted and waved, and Olson stopped him again.

“Wait. Let me get you a drink, on the house. For all your help.”

Jag tilted his head, thinking about it. “An iced lemon tea, to go?”

Olson blinked. That wasn’t Jag’s usual.

“It’s for Niall,” Jag said. “My neighbor. The boy I’ve been watching over. He’s been cooped up at home all day; thought he could use a treat.”

Olson remembered a timid omega around Emmy’s age, small with deformed hands, and nodded in understanding. Niall visited the Wine Shack occasionally, but more often than not, it was only because his brother Ingle brought him here.

“I’ll get him some soup as well.” Olson headed into the kitchen to put in an order with Aaren, before mixing up an iced lemon tea in a to-go container. He prepped another to-go cup with Jag’s usual—White Zinfandel, a semi-sweet rosé wine.

“If the cops catch me with alcohol in the car, I’m blaming you,” Jag said dryly.

“Just make sure it’s Varrick pulling you over,” Olson replied just as dryly. “In which case, take a butt blessing with you. He’ll let you off easy if Emmy’s involved.”

Emmy gasped from the other side of the bar. “You’re gonna get pulled over?” he asked excitedly, before brandishing several squares of butt blessings. “Take this! It’s your Get Out Of Jail Free card! My studly banana muffin can’t resist them.”

He stuffed them into Jag’s hands, delighted that he’d found someone who hadn’t been acquainted with the blessings.

“I’m sure there’s enough there for Niall, too,” Olson said.

“Niall?” Emmy grew even more excited. “You’re gonna see him? You’re his alpha daddy, aren’t you?”

Jag’s ears turned pink. “I’m protecting him—”

“Lemme write him some pickup lines,” Emmy whispered loudly, pulling out his order pad from his apron pocket. “Don’t peek,” he said sternly to Jag. “These are for Niall’s eyes only.”

He scribbled furiously onto the order pad, then ripped off the sheet and folded it into quarters. “No cheating! No peeking! Or the butt gods won’t like you.”

“I promise I won’t,” Jag said solemnly.

Olson exchanged a look with Rex and chuckled.

Finally, Jag left. Olson rounded the bar, coming to stand next to Rex. “That was exciting.”

Rex slipped a strong arm around Olson’s waist, nuzzling his ear. “Mine.”

They hadn’t spent that much time together, but already, Olson was starting to savor the closeness they shared. The hugs and the touches, Rex’s soft smiles that were all for him.

For the first time, he felt as though he was soaring in the sky, and seeing just how far down the ground was. Knowing how far he could crash.

“I’m so fucked,” Olson murmured.

“Mate?” Rex’s eyes lit up.

“No. Not that kind of fucked. Fucked also means I’m screwed. Well. In trouble.”

Rex’s gaze clouded over. He hugged Olson tighter. “Keep safe.”

But Rex was still learning to function as a man. How well could he keep Olson—or himself—safe?