Page 14 of The Feral Alpha

“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 showed up 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.

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