3. The Feral Alpha

Olson flipped his locket absently,unable to let it go.

Stupid,he thought. I should throw this away. There’s no point hanging on to it.

And yet his fingers turned the circular disk around and around, like worrying an old wound that couldn’t heal.

On one side, the stainless steel was smooth like a mirror. On the other side was a shallow, intricate carving of half a heart, with a tiny ruby embedded, and the heart’s broken edges unfurling into emptiness.

Take it off,he told himself. It’s been twenty-one years.

The locket stayed on, and still his heart ached.

“Big O!” Emmy waltzed into the bar with an infant strapped to his chest. “You need a big thick love cucumber to make you smile. Where’s that butt blessing I gave you?”

That broke Olson out of his thoughts. Emmy was a young omega who was highly... eccentric. “Isn’t that baby giving you sleep deprivation? How are you still so bright and chirpy?”

“My studly banana muffin gave me a good dicking this morning,” Emmy announced, covering his baby’s ears. “I am on top of the world with all the tentacles and butts!”

Well, at least one of them was having a good day. Olson smiled. “You know I enjoy living vicariously through you, right?”

“But it won’t get you a love stick in your butt,” Emmy whispered loudly.

Olson sighed. “Let’s not talk about my butt. How’s my nephew this morning?”

“Good! He slept for longer last night.” Emmy beamed at the six-month-old in his baby carrier. Hunter babbled and smacked Emmy’s chest with his little hands. “I can’t wait ‘til he’s a mini banana muffin and we can run around scaring all the birds at the lake.”

“Well, don’t scare the swans, or they’ll attack you like a hell bird,” Olson said dryly.

Emmy frowned. “How do you know that?”

“Once upon a time, I was at the lake with—” Olson breathed out that bit of memory. “I was at the lake, and thought it would be fun to pet a swan. Spoiler alert: It is not fun to pet a swan.”

Emmy grew wary. “What happened?”

“It ran me down and bit me, is what happened,” Olson said dryly.

The swans had been graceful and majestic. Seventeen-year-old Olson had wanted to cuddle with one, except the first swan he’d approached had hissed and spread its wings, and promptly pecked him on his inner thigh, too close to his sensitive parts. Then it had chased him, neck extended like it was going to peck him again.

Olson had screamed and taken off. Somehow, that giant bird had been fast. Olson would’ve been caught and annihilated were it not for George, who’d come running. George had raised his arms and roared, giving the creature enough pause that Olson had a chance to scramble behind him.

George had made damn sure to kiss Olson’s leg all better.

“Did it get blood all over you?” Emmy asked warily.

“No blood. Just a bruised thigh and ego.” My alpha was mad on my behalf, Olson wanted to say, but he’d promised Emmy he was done with the past. George was gone. Olson had watched him take his last breath, and buried him.

Sure, Olson had kept an eye out for a new alpha because his friends and family wanted him to. Someone who might be worth taking a second look at.

But no one had come close to his alpha. The safety George had provided, the adoration he’d freely given. The way he’d held Olson and looked into his eyes, like Olson was his Heaven and Earth.

“You’re getting that look again,” Emmy said, scowling. “The sad look that says ‘I’m gonna be a stick in the mud and sleep in my office tonight.’”

Olson shrugged. Office work got him so exhausted that he fell unconscious without dwelling on his thoughts. “Get to work, Em. I’m not paying you to stand around telling me what I’m doing wrong.”

Emmy rolled his eyes, but he wriggled and pranced off to the employee break room.

Olson went back to wiping the clean glassware behind the bar. Under the counter, a square of orange paper peeked out. Emmy had made Olson draw a dick on it last year, before waving it in the air for ‘blessings’.

Dicks don’t change lives,Olson had said.

Dicks give lives,Emmy had answered. Maybe it’ll give yours back.

Nah, Olson didn’t believe in the supernatural.

“Boss, that alpha’s back,”Derek said quietly when most of the lunch crowd had dispersed from the Wine Shack.

Olson frowned at his bouncer. “Didn’t you say he disappeared?”

“Yeah, he’s back. Still not saying more than a word or two.”

There had been complaints from the bar patrons about a hulking alpha lurking around the premises. Olson had never actually come face-to-face with him in his patrols; he’d only glimpsed the alpha from a distance.

Then the man had disappeared for a few months, and Olson had forgotten about him.

“He wants to see you,” Derek said warily.

Olson blinked. “Me?”

“Well. All he said was, ‘Need Olson.’”

Olson glanced at the double-door entrance that Derek had locked behind him; the alpha was on the other side of them.

In the day, he was a large shape with tangled hair and ragged clothes, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on Olson.

Olson drew a deep breath, his instincts stirring. Alarm? “I guess we’ll see what he has to say.”

“Are you sure?”

Olson shrugged. “I have you with me, don’t I?”

Derek was an alpha, too, and he’d been working for Olson for a while. Olson trusted him to get a good read on situations before they got out of hand. Besides, Derek was strong.

“He’s a lot bigger than me,” Derek said.

“He hasn’t proven to be violent so far.” Olson left the bar, walking to the door with Derek.

The alpha’s behavior changed the closer they got. He began breathing harder, fogging up the door with his breath, his gaze raking over Olson from head to toe. Then he pressed his face and hands against the glass, licking his lips.

Olson swallowed.

“Boss,” Derek said in warning.

“Open the door.”

Derek unlocked the doors and pulled one open. The alpha prowled into the bar like a predator, his entire form hunched toward Olson.

There wasn’t much to be seen of his face. Matted dark hair covered most of it. He had a thick beard and hair that went down to his shoulders, leaves and twigs tangled up in it.

But his eyes...

They were a shade of moss-green Olson had thought he’d never see again.

His stomach dropped. It’s just a coincidence.

He made himself look away from those eyes. The alpha was a full head taller than him, with plush lips and broad, muscled shoulders straining behind a ragged shirt. One of the sleeves had ripped around his girthy bicep. There was dirt on his pants—straining at the seams—and he smelled unwashed.

But beneath all that... was a very faint hint of maplewood.

Olson hadn’t smelled that in a long time, either.

“Olllsonnnn,” the alpha rumbled, his voice so deep that it stroked down Olson’s spine. “Neeeeed.”

He stalked forward and closed the distance between them, leaning in so their faces were mere inches apart.

It felt as though someone had sucked all the air out of the room.

“Hey, you,” Derek growled.

“Stand down, Derek.” Olson didn’t know why he’d said it. Only that it felt right.

The alpha grasped Olson’s shoulders and pushed him up against a nearby wall. Olson’s pulse spiked. More so when the alpha leaned in, burying his nose in Olson’s hair.

This close, it was easy to see he was twice Olson’s size, with a fine dusting of hair over his skin, almost like fur. The alpha huffed several times like he was smelling Olson, and Olson couldn’t help sniffing back at the maplewood, at the scents of old sweat and dirt and musk.

Except that musk swelled between them, rich and heady. Olson realized that the alpha’s bulge was growing, straining at his threadbare pants like it might tear right through.

He wasn’t wearing any underwear, either. And he was big. A spot of fluid darkened the almost-translucent fabric at his very tip. Olson gulped.

“Olsonnn,” the alpha purred as though he was rolling Olson’s name in his mouth like fine wine, stroking his fingertips down the side of Olson’s face. He picked Olson up by his underarms, lifting him off his feet.

And he pinned Olson to the wall with his own hot, solid body, his bulge wedging neatly between Olson’s legs.

Grinding pointedly upward like he was trying to push between Olson’s cheeks.

Olson bit his lip, shuddering.

“Boss,” Derek growled, stepping closer.

The alpha growled over his shoulder.

“Stay back,” Olson said to Derek.

He couldn’t help being aware of where they touched, this strange alpha who had no qualms about pushing himself against Olson’s most intimate parts within seconds of them meeting.

“Olsonnnn,” the alpha said again. He dragged his sharp teeth down Olson’s throat, all the way to the crook of his neck where the bonding mark was. His teeth pressed deeper.

Don’t touch that mark!

Olson shoved his hands against the alpha’s chest. “No. Not there.”

The alpha growled and frowned. But he drew back, staring at George’s bonding mark with an unreadable expression.

He set Olson back on his feet and caught Olson’s right hand, turning it to expose the double scars on his wrist.

One smaller, one larger.

“Yes,” the alpha said, running his thumb over both. “Right.”

He raised Olson’s wrist to his mouth, and licked the bonding marks.

Olson stared. “What the hell?”

“Mine,” the alpha said.

And he picked Olson up, slinging him over a broad shoulder.

“Hey!” Olson smacked the alpha’s back. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Derek tensed, ready to attack. Olson shook his head.

“He still hasn’t hurt me,” Olson said to Derek’s increasing consternation. “But feel free to follow us. I have my phone on me as well.”

Across the bar, Emmy whooped. “Time for some alpha love rod, Big O!”

Of course all the remaining patrons were watching. Of course.

“Sorry!” Olson waved at them. “We’ll be gone in a second!” He patted the alpha on the back, pushing himself up to try and catch the alpha’s eye. “C’mon, big guy. Where were you thinking of taking me?”

Derek made a choked sound.

“Take.” The alpha grinned. He turned and bounded out of the Wine Shack, down the streets of downtown Meadowfall, his bare feet pounding against the pavement.

Gods, he needed a shower. But was there even running water where they were headed?