Page 4 of The Feral Alpha
PRESENT DAY
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’.