4. Mating

The alpha ranfor a long while. Olson watched as they passed into the outskirts of town, then into the forest surrounding Meadowfall.

The man made his way through the trees, taking particular turns, following a stream and then turning away from it.

Behind, Derek crashed through the underbrush.

The alpha turned and snarled. Derek held his hands up soothingly.

“Keep some distance between us,” Olson said. “I doubt you need to be too close for this, anyway.”

“You’ve never even met him before!”

“I think I know where this is headed,” Olson said dryly. “Just know roughly where I am. Don’t get too close.”

And maybe he wanted to see where this would go. Wanted to see how roughly this alpha would take him.

Olson had nothing else left to lose. He spent his days running a crew of ragtag omegas, and he spent his nights overworking himself to exhaustion. He didn’t go out of his way looking for trouble, but if trouble came looking for him in the form of a big, strong alpha who reminded him of George... Well.

There were worse things.

The alpha brought him to a rock outcrop; a hollowed-out space beneath a large overhang. There, he carefully moved Olson off his shoulders and cradled him in his arms, ducking into the hollow.

It was some sort of den, Olson realized. A rumpled, dirty blanket lay in the middle of the space, piled with rags and old clothes like a nest. To one side was a collection of fruits and boxes of granola bars. The remnants of a campfire sat closer to the den entrance, next to what looked like small animal bones.

The alpha laid Olson in his nest and clambered over him, caging Olson with his large body. Olson’s breath hitched.

“Mine,” the alpha whispered, burying his face in Olson’s neck. “Olllsonnnn.”

He mouthed wetly at Olson’s pulse, his teeth grazing Olson’s skin, his tongue sliding against it. Olson shuddered. If he closed his eyes... he could pretend that this was a very filthy, very big George on top of him.

George had grown more muscular than Olson after he’d presented as an alpha, but they’d still been teenagers back then. George hadn’t had time to grow into his full adult size.

Unlike this alpha.

This alpha was... abnormal. Olson had never seen an alpha this strong. He was all muscle, big thighs straddling Olson, the thick length in his pants straining so hard that the threads holding down his fly had already begun unraveling.

With a soft rustle, the alpha’s cock ripped right through the front of his pants, pushing out, hanging heavily between them.

Olson stared in shock. Heat rushed between his legs. And he whimpered, his fingers itching to touch that big, flushed length. Especially when precome gathered on the alpha’s tip, dripping onto Olson’s belly.

“Mine.” The alpha pawed at Olson’s pants, licking his lips.

“Yeah, okay,” Olson whispered breathlessly. He shoved down his pants, squirming out of his clothes until he was completely naked.

And now he felt especially vulnerable, lying under a huge alpha like that. With nothing separating that hungry cock from his body.

“Olllsonnnn.” The alpha groaned, burying his face in Olson’s neck. He huffed there, sniffing at Olson’s scent gland, licking at it. His cock pushed against Olson’s thigh, smearing precome over his skin.

Olson spread his legs, letting the musk of his slick fill the air.

The alpha groaned. He pulled away and grasped Olson under his knees, shoving his legs wide open. And he held Olson open, his grip so strong that there was no way Olson could close his legs.

It was... nice. Letting this alpha take his choice away. So Olson could just lie here and enjoy the ride without feeling guilty about anything.

“You’ll have to go slow,” Olson croaked. “I haven’t had anyone in a while.”

The alpha leaned in. He nosed at Olson’s nipples and licked them; he nuzzled and licked all over Olson’s chest, too, making his way to Olson’s pulse point, before snuffling and licking further south, Olson’s hard cock brushing against his beard.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Olson muttered, pulling the leaves and twig out of the alpha’s beard. His hair, too. Then Olson lifted his hips, rubbing his cock against the alpha’s jaw.

The man got the hint. He sniffed at Olson’s length, licking at it, sending a hum of pleasure through Olson’s body. He began licking further down, sniffing at the crease of Olson’s thigh, before rubbing his face against Olson’s cock and sac, huffing against them.

It wasn’t long before he pushed Olson’s knees further up, forcing his body to bend in half so his ass rose higher, cheeks spread, hole exposed.

Olson panted. He had a second to feel self-conscious. And the alpha licked Olson’s hole, a single wet stripe over it.

Olson moaned. He shoved his fingers into the alpha’s hair, holding him there. The man dug his fingers into Olson’s thighs and pressed his soft, wet mouth against Olson’s entrance, pushing his tongue shamelessly into it.

“Fuck,” Olson hissed. His toes curled when the alpha licked him inside. The man’s nostrils flared; he stared at Olson, pushing his tongue in again.

The alpha watched as Olson squirmed and cried out with each lick, growing increasingly satisfied. He pushed his tongue deeper and deeper. Then he withdrew his tongue and closed his mouth over Olson’s hole, and sucked. Olson whined, thrashing under him.

“Please. Touch me inside.” His voice broke.

The alpha blinked at him, still sucking. Did he understand? Maybe not.

Olson grasped the alpha’s large hand and straightened his index and middle fingers. Then he pushed them down, shoved the alpha’s fingers into his hole, panting when they reached deeper than his tongue had gone.

The man groaned, pushing his fingers all the way inside. He pulled them out and stared at them, glistening with slick. And he pushed them back in, thrusting like he would with his cock. Olson wheezed. The alpha crooked his fingers experimentally; he spread them. He pushed them against Olson’s prostate, and Olson whimpered, his entire body aching.

“Cock,” Olson panted. “I want your cock.”

He sat up against the man, reaching down to grab his hot, heavy length. The alpha’s pupils blew wide. He snarled and fucked into Olson’s fist, and Olson began dripping, imagining that thickness inside him.

“Cock,” Olson whispered raggedly, rubbing the alpha there. “Just in case it’s not in your vocab yet. We call this a cock.” And he tugged on it, angling it down so its tip pressed against his hole.

The alpha growled, slamming in.

He stretched Olson unapologetically. His cock was an unyielding thickness that plowed deep and ground against his prostate. Olson cried out, trying to breathe, except the alpha filled him up so good that all he knew was the sheer pleasure of their joining.

“Mine,” the alpha rasped. He pressed in so deep that Olson’s eyes rolled back and he came, his entire body convulsing around the alpha.

The man groaned. And he began to pound inside, deep and hard like an animal.

Olson swore and dug his fingers into the alpha’s back, trying to pull him closer. Those green eyes flashed; the alpha pinned Olson down by his shoulders and began riding him roughly, his mouth falling open with his ragged breathing, his entire body taut.

“Good,” the alpha whispered. And more indulgently, “Olllsonnn.”

He kept driving his entire length inside. Over and over, until Olson shuddered and sobbed beneath him, and he came again. It was almost too much, breathing in that maplewood scent. Looking into those eyes. Thinking maybe it was George behind the mess of facial hair.

It wasn’t true, of course. But Olson could pretend, and it felt so good being filled by his alpha again.

“Mine,” the alpha growled. He snapped his hips forward, Olson’s name like a prayer on his lips. “Olson, Olson, Olson.”

He grew thicker inside, like he was going to come. So Olson squeezed around him, and the alpha roared, burying every last inch, pulses upon pulses of warmth filling Olson’s body.

His knot swelled.

Had it been anyone else, Olson would’ve shoved them away before their knot locked inside him. But that maplewood scent was so comforting that Olson let him stay. He let the alpha push in experimentally with his knot, so it rocked against his prostate and sent a shudder of pleasure through his body.

The alpha smiled. “You like.”

“Yes,” Olson groaned.

The alpha rocked in again. “Olson like.”

Olson swore, his limp cock giving a squirt.

And the alpha held him down, sliding his knot back and forth until Olson writhed beneath him, his body clenching in another release.

“Yesss,” the alpha whispered. “Olson like.”

He kept grinding his knot inside until Olson couldn’t come anymore, his mind floating in a sea of bliss.

“Fuck,” Olson groaned. “That was fucking amazing.”

He felt more warmth inside him. And more. And he realized that the alpha was still coming inside him.

“Mine,” the man growled, pushing his knot deeper.

Olson came again, digging his nails into the alpha’s sides.

The alpha hissed, jerking away. Just that his knot was still locked inside, and Olson had to grab both his hands so he wouldn’t rip himself out.

“Wait! Don’t go. Sorry. You don’t like being scratched, huh?”

The alpha paused, eyeing him warily.

Only then did Olson look closer at the alpha’s body. Scars criss-crossed every inch of exposed skin. Welts, star-shaped markings, swathes of paler skin, and thin, deliberate lines.

His heart stopped. “Who did that to you?”

The alpha watched him, saying nothing. So Olson sat up as best as he could given how they were still knotted together, turning the alpha’s hand over and smoothing his thumb over a long, silvery line.

“Where’s this from?” he murmured.

The alpha growled, and he kept on growling.

Olson was starting to get a foreboding feeling that maybe... this was connected. The scars. The feralness. The thick muscles on the alpha’s body.

“I’m sorry about scratching you,” he said, carefully reaching for the alpha’s side. When the alpha didn’t back away, Olson gently rubbed where he’d dug his nails in. “I promise not to hurt you again.”

The man watched him for another long stretch, and slowly the tension drained out of his body.

“There,” Olson murmured, still rubbing. “Things are good between us? You’re not mad at me?”

The alpha snuffled. He leaned back in, nuzzling Olson’s cheek. “Mine.”

Olson cracked a smile. “You know more words than my name.”

“Mine,” the man rumbled. “Cock.” He flattened his hand against Olson’s chest, dragging it down his belly and closing it around his flaccid length. “Cock.”

Olson chuckled. “Mm. Yes. I guess you pick things up fast.”

Deep down, he had the vague, uncomfortable realization that he’d taught the alpha that word for... the future. For if this ever happened again.

Scarcely had it occurred to him, when he knew without a doubt this would happen again. He would keep on letting this alpha touch him, because it somehow felt right.

Even though they didn’t know each other at all.

The man leaned in and buried his face against Olson’s neck, breathing in deeply.

Footsteps rustled through the undergrowth. The alpha turned and growled at the noise.

Olson remembered belatedly that he’d left his employee out in the woods this entire time; Derek had probably heard them fucking. He cringed.

The alpha covered Olson with his body and growled.

“He’s not a threat,” Olson said, petting his chest.

Derek appeared from behind some shrubs. “Boss,” he said uncomfortably. “Are you okay?”

“Sorry.” Olson winced and pulled some rags over himself and the alpha. “I think we’ve come to the conclusion that I’m probably safe here. Return to the Wine Shack. I’m sorry you had to witness all of that.”

Derek frowned. “If you’re sure...”

“I’m sure. Get Maria to take over bar work for me, please.”

“For tonight, too?”

“No, I’ll be back before then.”

“All right.” Derek continued to frown. “Call any of us if you need help, all right? I’ll check in with you by text.”

“Thanks.” Olson smiled, comforted that his employees cared about him.

The alpha gave another warning growl.

“Oh, hush. That’s Derek, my employee,” Olson said. “He’s worried that you’ll hurt me.”

The alpha frowned harder. “No hurt.”

Olson huffed. “Well, you’ll have time to prove it.”

The man pressed himself more firmly over Olson as though that would protect him better, and glared at Derek.

“Shoo,” Olson said. “I think I’ll be fine.”

“Just stay alive,” Derek said warily, before turning away. “I hope I remember how to get back.”

“Please don’t get lost in the forest, or I’ll have to call in a search party.”

“Will you get home safe?”

Olson glanced at the alpha on top of him. “I’ll call if I need help.”

“Fine.” Derek waved again, then crunched through the undergrowth and disappeared from sight.

When he could no longer hear Derek, Olson turned back to look the alpha in the eye. “What’s your name?”

The alpha blinked. He worked his mouth a few times as though he was trying to speak, but no sound came out. Eventually, when Olson was on the verge of picking out a name for him, the man said, rustily, “Rex.”

“Rex?” Olson echoed faintly.

There was only one other person he knew by that name. Rex had been a kid in a fast food restaurant, antsy and wild. Olson would’ve forgotten him if not for that bonding mark Rex had sunken into his wrist.

I’ll come back to marry you. Don’t die.

Time and again, Olson wondered where that kid had ended up. He had to be... in his late teens now, maybe early twenties?

Rex had never come back. Olson refused to think about the bad, niggling feeling he got whenever he lingered too long on those words.

Don’t die.

It reminded him a little too much of George.

He shoved those thoughts out of his mind. This had to be a coincidence. “You’re called Rex, too?”

Rex nodded and wrapped his fist around Olson’s wrist, pressing his thumb against the bonding marks.

Olson’s breath hitched. Just a coincidence. “You don’t happen to be the same Rex, do you? The one who bit me at Fast Fries.”

Rex stared blankly at him. Not the same person, then.

Besides, that other Rex had been chatty. Bright and brash. So different from this alpha.

Rex squeezed Olson’s wrist. He brought it up to his lips, dragging his teeth over the bonding marks on Olson’s scent gland.

Olson snatched his hand back. “You won’t put your mark on me.”

Rex growled. “Mine.”

He took Olson’s hand again, opening his mouth like he was about to bite Olson’s wrist.

“No!” Olson glowered and yanked his hand away. “Not yours!”

The alpha scowled.

Then he ducked his head, and the next thing Olson knew, sharp teeth pressed against the crook of his neck, over the scent gland there.

Rex bit down so hard that pleasure jolted through Olson’s body.

Olson stared at him in shock. Anger flared hot through his veins; he shoved at the alpha with a snarl. “Fuck! I told you no!”

“Mine,” Rex growled back. “All mine.”

When Olson touched the bite, his fingers came away with blood. Fuck! Rex had left a godsdamn bonding mark right over George’s.

“That was my alpha’s bonding mark!” Olson cried, shoving at the alpha again. “Damn you! That’s all I have left of him!”

Even though it had been twenty-one years, it still hurt.

Rex hesitated, pulling back. But he didn’t look sorry about the bite at all. “Mine,” he growled.

“I’m not fucking yours,” Olson hissed. He shoved so hard that Rex leaned back.

Maybe they’d been knotted long enough; Rex’s knot receded. The moment Olson got his arms and legs between them, he managed to push the man bodily off him.

He rolled to his feet and began yanking his clothes back on, hopping awkwardly on the forest floor.

Twice, he almost fell over.

Twice, Rex caught him, steadying him before Olson shook his hands off.

Olson grabbed one of the rags from the nest, wiping off the thick white fluid leaking out of him. He flung it at the alpha.

When he’d gotten his shoes back on and checked for his phone, Olson stormed out of the den without looking back.

The alpha followed him. “Olllsonnn.”

Olson whirled around, baring his teeth. “Stay away from me.”

“Mine.”

“No. I reject that bond. I’m not yours. I will never be yours.”

Rex froze then, moss-green eyes watching him from under that mess of hair. “Mine,” he said, but there was a pleading note to his voice now.

“Leave me alone.”

Olson kept walking. He didn’t know where he was, but what he needed right now was to get as far away from that man as he could.

He was supposed to be over George. He was supposed to let go of the past.

But biting right over George’s mark crossed the line so deeply that Olson couldn’t forgive him.

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Linus. I need you to pick me up.”