5. Revelations

“This might bethe first time I’m glad you ignored me and bought the Jeep,” Olson grumbled as he climbed into the passenger seat. “It doesn’t suit you at all, but I refuse to take another damn step in this stupid forest.”

Linus winced. “How did you end up here, anyway? I thought you were working a shift.”

Linus was an omega professor in his late thirties, roughly the same age as Olson. He worked at Meadowfall College and wore glasses, and he was so darn cute, Olson wanted to fight off all the alphas and protect him from them.

“An alpha showed up at the Wine Shack,” Olson muttered. “He brought me here.”

Linus’ eyebrows shot up his forehead. Then he sniffed delicately at Olson, and his face turned red. “Oh, gods!”

Yeah, he could probably smell the musk that still clung to Olson. Unlike the woodsy scents of alphas, the grassy scents of betas, and the floral scents of omegas, the musk of sex was the same from person to person, and easily recognizable.

Olson sighed. “I won’t pretend it was glamorous. He’s almost entirely feral. It’s like fucking a cave-alpha in his den full of rags and animal bones.”

Linus threw the Jeep into drive and guided them slowly down the off-road vehicle trail. “And you regret it?”

Olson yanked down the collar of his shirt, showing him the dried blood.

Linus gasped and braked hard. “Olson—”

“Yeah, fuck. I didn’t regret it until he bit me there.”

Linus said nothing about trying to move on. Olson loved him for it. In fact, he didn’t say anything at all.

“He smelled like George,” Olson finally muttered. “He had the same damn eyes. I just—I was weak.”

Linus parked the Jeep, unbuckled his seatbelt, and clambered halfway across the center console, pulling Olson into a tight hug.

“I don’t blame you,” Linus whispered, pressing their cheeks together. “Sometimes, it’s all we can do to take our happiness wherever we find it.”

At that, Olson cracked a smile. “Are you trying to tell me that, or yourself?”

“You,” Linus said firmly. He looked into Olson’s eyes. “I will always appreciate you looking out for me all this time.”

“Aww. Now’s not the time to get sentimental, Lincakes. I need to clean up and return to the bar.”

Linus shook his head. “You work too much.”

“I work just the right amount.”

Linus hugged Olson again, then clambered back into the driver’s seat. “There was another alpha who bit you without your permission, too. What’s with all these alphas biting you?”

“That wasn’t an alpha. That was a kid.” Olson pinched the bridge of his nose. “Actually.” He drew several breaths. “They’re both named Rex.”

Linus looked over at him again. “What are the chances that they’re different people?”

Olson bit his lip, his insides squirming. “He disappeared, you know. The kid. He was maybe seven years old. He came up to me at Fast Fries and told me he’d come back to marry me. I completely dismissed him, but... I wondered what happened to him. There’s been no word.”

“And the alpha today...?”

“He can’t string three words together. He’s... damaged.” Olson buried his face in his hands, his thoughts whirling. “He had a fuck ton of scars all over his body, Lin. Like he was tortured.”

Linus looked horrified. “Is that why—”

“Why he can’t speak? Why he lives like a cave-alpha?”

The more Olson thought about it, the sicker he felt. He thought about Rex the boy being captured by the worst people. He imagined Rex growing up knowing no love, and breaking under all the unspeakable things done to him.

“Stop the car. Need to puke.”

Linus stopped. He helped Olson with the seatbelt, and Olson stumbled out of the Jeep.

Olson emptied his stomach into the shrubs. Then he wiped his mouth and wobbled back, accepting the bottle of water Linus handed to him. “What the hell should I do?”

Linus bit his lip. “Do you want to head back into the forest?”

Olson remembered the way Rex had almost bitten the bonding marks on his wrist, and shook his head. “Not right now. I’m not up for more biting. He’s already ruined one of George’s bonding marks.”

“All right. I’m glad you had enough battery left on your phone to use the GPS. I don’t want to imagine you getting lost in here.” Linus reached over to squeeze his hand briefly. Then he took Olson out of the forest, and drove him home.

Rex didn’t showup at the Wine Shack for days. Olson tried not to think about him.

He failed miserably.

On the fourth day, he called his brother, Varrick.

“Before you nag at me to visit our dads, I already did!” Varrick said by way of greeting. “Emmy and Hunter charmed them, as usual.”

Olson sighed heavily. “It’s not about that.”

Varrick’s tone changed immediately, going serious. “What’s wrong?”

“Remember the kid I told you about? The one who bit my wrist.”

“The little shit, yeah.”

“I think he was kidnapped.”

“Fuck.”

Olson told Varrick what he’d told Linus.

“So you want me to take a search party to the forest? Or I could send a Forest Patrol team.”

“No! No, I need information. Like when he was taken. How long ago. I—I don’t want to think that I’ve just slept with someone who’s essentially a child.”

It twisted his stomach just thinking about it.

“Fuck. I have some contacts. I think you know Nate. Ex-agent. I’ll get him or his husband to look into this.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, Gum Bucket?”

The old nickname made Olson crack a smile despite how terrible he was feeling. “Yeah?”

“I trust you. You wouldn’t have slept with someone who felt like a child. You need a real alpha to satisfy you.”

Olson remembered the way grown-up Rex had looked at him the first time, his eyes heavy-lidded, his gait like a predator’s. “He... yeah. He felt like a man.”

“There you go. Don’t stress more than you already are,” Varrick said. “I’ll get you some concrete facts, but trust your instincts. You have good ones.”

Olson blew out a heavy sigh. “Thanks.”

They ended the call, and he hauled out the paperwork from his office so he could get some work done at the bar.

Nate showedup the next day. He used to be a regular, coming in with his firefighting team and being the designated driver, but now that his team had all started families, they spent their time doing barbecues instead.

“Hey, Olson.” Nate slid onto a stool in front of the bar. “Varrick called me.”

Olson couldn’t help flinching. “Yeah?”

“What would you like to know?” Nate asked kindly.

“Just—” Olson took a deep breath. “How old was he when they took him?”

“Seventeen. His dad filed a missing persons report.”

“Seventeen. Okay. Okay.” Olson gripped the bar counter, still trying to breathe. Rex had almost been eighteen. He’d been free for most of his life. It wasn’t the worst case scenario Olson had imagined, where he’d been taken as a child.

But it was still gut-wrenchingly fucked up.

At least he knew now that Rex had almost been an adult. That he’d grown up the rest of the way when he’d been captured. “How old is he now?”

“Twenty-one.”

Something about that number prickled the back of his mind, but Olson wasn’t thinking about it.

Rex was an adult.

For the first time in days, he could take a proper breath. He leaned against the counter, just breathing. Feeling the unease roll off his shoulders.

It wasn’t fully gone, but at least he didn’t hate himself so much anymore.

Nate gave him a moment. “There’s something else you might like to know.”

Olson looked up.

“His dad said he was on his way to meet you when it happened.”

“M-me?”

“Yeah. He went missing shortly after he began his cross-country trip. Turns out, there was footage of him being captured at a gas station, but no one could track him down.”

His heart sinking, Olson stared at the two bonding marks on his wrist.

One larger, one smaller.

He remembered Rex’s dad being furious all those years ago. Had Rex’s eyes been moss-green back then? Olson couldn’t remember.

But there was no forgetting the urgency in that boy. Like he’d needed to get his words through to Olson as quickly as he could, because he was running out of time. And he had. He’d tried to stay, but his father had dragged him away. Rex had kept his gaze on Olson all the way until the restaurant door swung shut between them.

I’ll come back to marry you.

“It’s my fault he got kidnapped, isn’t it?” he said quietly. “But I didn’t even know he was coming. I would’ve sent him back.”

Nate’s smile was wry. “And yet somehow, he’s made it here.”

Olson swallowed hard. “It’s crazy. Why me?”

“No one knows. Not even his dad.”

“That’s just insane.”

Had it been anyone else, Olson’s red flags would’ve all shot up and waved madly in the air.

But he’d known about Rex and his intentions since Rex was a child. He’d looked grown-up Rex in the eye, and all his instincts had said to submit to that man.

He remembered the way Rex had stared hungrily at him through the door, the way he’d cared for nothing else in the bar but Olson. The way he’d touched Olson all over, Olson’s name like a prayer on his lips.

“What are you going to do about it?” Nate’s question broke him out of his thoughts.

Olson bit his lip. He thought about the dirty blanket in Rex’s den, the scant piles of food in there. The leaves Rex hadn’t bothered to remove from his hair.

The way Rex had almost begged him to stay.

“I... I think I have to make some amends,” Olson choked out.

Nate gave him a sympathetic smile. “Good luck.”