17. Meet The Parents

Rex wasn’t nervous,but Olson was. Very much so.

Olson kept pacing in the living room, wringing his hands and glancing at the wall clock.

Rex tried to hold his hand. Olson wriggled it free and kept pacing.

It felt so wrong, but Rex didn’t how to help. “Olsonnn. Why?”

“So much can go wrong.” Olson cringed. “They might not believe me. They might think I’m trying to take you away from them. They might take you away—”

Rex wrapped his arms around Olson, dragging him to the couch. There, he wrapped his legs around Olson, too, and held him so he couldn’t move.

Olson sucked in a shuddering breath. “You should hold me tighter. Until I can’t think.”

Rex tightened his grasp, but not so much that he crushed his omega. Yet Olson’s heart still pattered against his palm, his breathing unsteady.

“Olllsonnnn,” Rex whispered.

He pressed his teeth into the scent gland at the crook of Olson’s neck, worrying it lightly so Olson felt the threat of Rex’s bite.

Olson sighed. Instead of pushing Rex away like before, he went limp in Rex’s arms. “Do what you want.”

What Rex wanted was to bring Olson into their bedroom and tangle up with him in bed.

Before he could attempt to show Olson that, the doorbell rang.

Olson sat bolt upright, his entire body going stiff. Rex hugged him. “Keep Olson safe.”

“Keep you safe.”

Olson nuzzled Rex, then pried off his arms to answer the door. Rex followed behind.

“Stay here,” Olson said, making Rex stand behind the door. “Let them come in first.”

Then he opened the door, and Rex watched Olson, ready to jump in if anyone made Olson more anxious than he already was.

“Mr. and Mrs. Worster,” Olson stammered, welcoming them in. “And Mr. Harding.”

Olson had been through this with Rex earlier. Mr. and Mrs. Worster were George’s parents. Mr. Harding was Rex’s dad, who had filed the police report when Rex had gone missing some years back.

“It’s been a while,” a man said kindly. “How have you been, Olson?”

“You saw my message, right?” Olson turned to someone who hugged him. From his place behind the door, Rex couldn’t tell it was. “About the reincarnation?”

“It’s not possible,” a woman said.

Olson sighed. “That’s what I thought, too. But you’ll see in a bit.” Then he turned. “Mr. Harding. I’m sorry. I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”

“No, this is plenty good. Rex is alive, and you have him here, right? That’s the best news I’ve heard in years. I’m just sorry about the bite he gave you when he was six. I tried to curb his obsession over the years, but on hindsight, he’d only kept it a secret until he grew older.”

“About that...” Olson sighed again. “It’ll make a lot more sense when I explain it, but it’s also going to sound crazy. I believe that Rex is a reincarnation of my alpha who passed away twenty-one years ago. For the lack of a better term, Mr. and Mrs. Worster were my to-be-in-laws.” Olson gave a small, sad laugh. “Anyway. Rex. Are you ready?”

Olson poked his head around the door. Rex nodded, so Olson shut the door, revealing Rex to the three people on the other side.

“Please don’t get heart attacks,” Olson said.

The two men gasped. The woman cursed. And all three of them stared at Rex.

One of the men stepped forward first. He was tall and broad-shouldered like an alpha, slightly older than Olson. He didn’t really look like Rex, but he felt... familiar. “Rex?”

Rex frowned, unsure what he was supposed to do.

“Like I said, he’s lost a lot of his memory,” Olson said. “And his humanity. Rex, this is your dad. Joseph Harding.”

Rex blinked. His dad carefully stepped forward and pulled him into a hug, and it felt... familiar, but also strange.

“Rex,” his dad said, his voice breaking. “I thought you were dead. I looked everywhere for you. Reported your case to so many authorities, but nothing showed up on the searches.”

He sounded so sad that Rex hugged him back, but there was nothing in his memory that told him what history he had with this man. He felt... sad. Like there was an emptiness where there should’ve been something.

“Sorry,” Rex said.

“No, don’t be.” His dad hugged him tighter. “Gods, and these scars—Who the fuck did that to you?”

Rex flinched.

“We don’t know,” Olson said quietly. “But my friends think he escaped from captivity to make his way here. His captors are still around somewhere.”

Rex’s dad grimaced, then looked determined. “I’ll protect him.”

Rex growled. He didn’t need his dad’s protection. “Rex fine.”

His dad sighed. “You’re not fine, kiddo. You need to go to therapy. You need to... to relearn everything. Plus self-defense. Oh, gods. You’re so vulnerable right now.”

Olson twitched, guilt darting through his face, but he hid it quickly. Their visitors didn’t see. Rex caught it, though.

“George?” Mr. Worster said quietly.

Unlike his dad, Mr. and Mrs. Worster looked similar to Rex. He recognized his eyes on Mrs. Worster’s face, his mouth and nose on Mr. Worster. Mrs. Worster was the alpha—she had broad shoulders and muscular arms, and Mr. Worster was thin and small next to her.

It felt like Rex knew them, too, but he didn’t know how.

The Worsters were holding hands, both of them staring at him with wet eyes.

“How is this possible?” Mrs. Worster said. “You look exactly like our George. Just slightly older than when we lost him.”

“Do you think he could be George’s cousin? Distant relative?” Olson asked, but his expression said he already knew the answer.

Mr. Worster shook his head. “No. We would’ve known if someone in our family looked this much like George.”

When Rex’s dad finally released him, the Worsters came forward hesitantly.

“Can we hug you?” Mrs. Worster asked.

Rex nodded, and they wrapped him up in their arms, holding him tight.

“Oh, gods, you even smell the same,” Mr. Worster said tearfully.

Rex wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react, when he had no memories of them, either. But he hugged them because they too wore the same kind of grief that Olson had at first, when he’d shaved off Rex’s beard.

Rex patted their backs awkwardly, feeling cherished, but also itching to return to Olson. After he’d gone on longer than he was comfortable with, he squirmed out of their embrace, returning behind Olson so he could hug his omega. This, this felt right.

Olson stiffened, his ears turning pink. “Uh. I promise I didn’t make any moves on him when he showed up at my bar. He bit me first.”

It wasn’t the exact truth because there were other things that had happened in between, but Rex wasn’t too fussed.

“Mine,” he growled.

His dad sighed. “Seriously? Again?”

Yes, and Rex would prove it.

He took Olson’s wrist, the one with only one bonding mark. And he brought it to his mouth, looking their visitors in the eye.

“Rex,” Olson yelped, his face turning pinker. “Are you sure—”

Rex sank his teeth hard into Olson’s wrist, into his scent gland, breaking skin.

Olson shuddered and swore, his blush deepening.

“Mine,” Rex growled. When he pulled away, droplets of blood welled up on Olson’s wrist. Rex licked his bite clean. His marking was now on all of Olson’s scent glands, and Olson was completely his.

He slipped his hand under Olson’s shirt to touch his bare skin, bringing his own unbitten wrist to Olson’s lips.

Olson made a soft, choked sound. “N-not here! Not right now!”

He covered his face with his hands, moaning softly. “I didn’t—I swear I’m not trying to—Oh, gods.”

“You’re... much older than Rex,” Rex’s dad said slowly.

Olson cringed, hunching his shoulders like he was trying to shrink into himself. Rex growled at his dad.

His dad shook his head and sighed, looking at Mr. and Mrs. Worster, and back at Rex. “I never understood why Rex never looked like either of us. Even though my omega swore up and down he’d never slept with anyone else. But I remember the day Rex told me who he wanted to marry. We’d never seen you before, Olson. Rex didn’t even know until he saw you. And he went up and bit you, and said he was going to marry you. I thought he’d gone insane.”

Olson grimaced. “I would’ve stopped him if I’d known. As it is, it’s the only way I realized who he was when he showed up last week, because there can’t be two Rexes both biting me without my permission.”

Rex’s dad sighed, studying Rex. “I’m not going to keep you away from him. But I would like to visit you both more often, if that’s okay.”

Olson nodded quickly. “Yes.”

“Also...” Rex’s dad paused. “I trust you not to take advantage of him.”

Olson looked like he might faint.

“If anything, Rex would be the one taking advantage of Olson,” Mrs. Worster said dryly. “Biting Olson twice without his permission? If he’s anything like George, he’ll be the one convincing Olson to do his bidding.”

Olson squirmed. “So you don’t... mind...?”

Mrs. Worster’s gaze softened. “We haven’t spoken recently, but I remember you in your younger days, Olson. I remember when we lost George. If this is life’s way of giving you a second chance with your alpha, I don’t think you’d waste it. I know you’ll take good care of him.”

Ever so slightly, Olson relaxed in Rex’s arms.

There was still something about his expression that said he was keeping a secret, but Rex wasn’t about to push him for it in front of their visitors.

“I’d like to hear more about your George,” Rex’s dad said.

“Oh, he and Olson met when they were nine. At ten, George proposed.” Mrs. Worster laughed. “They were inseparable all the way until they were seventeen, when George died.” She grew sober.

Olson winced. “Um, I don’t mind if you guys exchange stories,” he said quietly. “But I’d really rather not listen to it all right now.”

Mr. and Mrs. Worster smiled. They eyed Rex, then his dad. “We won’t stay for long today. I’m sure this is quite a shock for Ge—for Rex.” To Rex’s dad, they asked, “How about a coffee?”

“Sure.”

They exchanged hugs again—Rex very reluctantly released Olson to hug them back—before finally leaving, their voices trailing off outside the apartment.

Olson turned and curled his fingers into Rex’s shirt, his shoulders slumping. “That was exhausting.”

Rex kissed him softly. Then he scooped Olson into his arms and brought him to their bed, carefully undressing him.

Olson cracked a smile. “You don’t have to—”

Rex was getting better with clothing now. Especially removing Olson’s without damaging them. “Mine.”

He got out of his own clothes and joined his omega in bed, pulling their bodies flush, skin to skin. Olson moaned and snuggled closer.

When he held Rex this time, it was all comfort. Olson pressed his face against Rex’s chest, just breathing quietly.

It was nice like this, too. Just having his omega in his arms, feeling him breathe.

Both of them alive.

Rex remembered what Olson said about his captors still roaming the world out there, and his instincts prickled with worry and anger. “Keep safe,” he growled, fumbling with his words. “Keep Olson safe. Need more. More strong.”

“You want to be stronger?” Olson murmured.

Stronger. That was the word.

“Stronger,” Rex said. “Keep Olson safe.”

Olson’s smile grew warm and soft. “I’ll have Jag teach you. Maybe his friends might want to help, too. You’ll play nice with them, all right? Don’t hurt them.”

Only if they proved that they wouldn’t hurt Olson.

Rex didn’t have the words to tell Olson that, though.

He brought his own wrist up between them, offering it to Olson’s lips.

Olson sucked in a quick breath. He grasped Rex’s hand, and Rex’s heart skipped.

Olson was going to bite him.

Except Olson lowered Rex’s hand, his gaze shadowed. “Not yet,” Olson murmured. “I need to make sure I won’t end up hurting you.”

“No hurt.” Rex pressed Olson’s hand over his own heart, wanting to tell his omega how much he trusted Olson to keep his heart safe. But the thoughts got lost between his mind and his tongue.

Olson shook his head, looking away. “No, I need to know that for myself.”

Rex scowled. He needed to make Olson understand that Rex wanted him, that he was Rex’s everything. But how?

He took Olson’s phone, prodding at it to make the screen light up.

Olson watched him curiously. “What do you want?”

“Play,” Rex said haltingly. “Watch.”

At least, he hoped those were the right words.

“You want to watch a video?”

Rex nodded.

“Any one in particular?”

Rex shrugged.

Olson hummed, pulling up a video of some animals in a forest. Rex had seen those on his way to Meadowfall.

“This,” Olson decided. “Want to watch a wolf pack documentary?”

Surely there were some words in there that would help. Rex nodded and took the phone from Olson, listening carefully.

He had to start learning, fast. He wanted to tell Olson the important things before his captors found him.