Page 26 of The Feral Alpha
Rex made an unhappy sound, looking at Olson’s fallen ice cream, then his own destroyed one.
Olson sighed and dragged him back into the ice cream shop, flushing when Mrs. Bentham laughed. She’d clearly seen everything from the window.
“Two more of the same,” Olson groaned.
8
BATHTIME
The only reason Rex wasn’t all over him, Olson knew, was because his arms were occupied with his worldly belongings.
“Now, I know you don’t think it, but you’re filthy,” Olson said. “I’m not sure when you last had a shower. So I’m going to be scrubbing you down real well. No mating before that.”
“Mate,” Rex said, his eyes lighting up.
“No,” Olson said firmly. “I don’t want twigs and forest dirt on my bed.”
He made Rex set down his things in the laundry room. Then he had Rex strip right there, too, because they’d already touched each other in the most intimate places.
What Olson wasn’t prepared for, were the scars.
He’d seen the welts and bullet wounds and healed incisions on Rex’s arms. But there were several more all over the rest of his body. His chest, his abdomen, his thighs. The uneven patches of red and silvery skin overlapped with each other, mottling a crude tattoo on his shoulder blade that Olson had missed earlier.
267
It sickened him to realize that Rex hadn’t been the only one. That he’d just been a number. That there’d been so many people who were captured and tortured before him.
He gentled his touches, leading Rex to the bathroom. There, Olson used his own hairbrush to brush out the tangles and dirt from Rex’s beard. Then, his hair.
Rex watched him.
“Should I trim your beard?” Olson murmured. “I don’t even know if you want any facial hair.”
Maybe it was best to leave most of it intact for now. Just a quick trim to get everything tidy again. Rex could grow it out or shave it off if he decided that he wanted something different later on.
When Olson brought the buzzing trimmers close, Rex turned to stare warily at it.
“This is a trimmer,” Olson said, turning it off and back on. “Used the right way, they won’t hurt you. Here, touch it. It’ll buzz a little.”
He patted it to show that it wouldn’t hurt either of them. Rex frowned. But Rex poked it with one finger, and poked it again. “No hurt.”
“No hurt. See.” Olson pointed at Rex’s reflection in the mirror. “You can watch what I’m doing with it.”
Rex turned when Olson shaved off the first lock of hair; Olson had to cup his head to hold him in place, before trimming off half his beard. He trimmed Rex’s hair so it wasn’t covering his ears anymore, and Rex watched as the clumps of hair fell away.
When Olson finally set the trimmers down, Rex patted his hair, amazed by the transformation.
“Looks better, huh?” Olson tidied the stray ends with his scissors, then swept up the mess on the floor.
The shower was next. Olson adjusted the water temperature, stripped, and grabbed three washcloths just in case. He pulled Rex in with him and shut the door.
Rex rumbled, grabbing Olson’s hips. “Mine.”
Olson gave him a stern look. “No mating. Shower first.”
He positioned Rex in front of the shower spray, letting dirt sluice off his skin. Rex turned his face into the warm water and opened his mouth, drinking from it.
It was such a simple thing, but it made Olson smile.