diff --git a/src/shared/options.c b/src/shared/options.c
index c5e7057bf8..09b677f813 100644
--- a/src/shared/options.c
+++ b/src/shared/options.c
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ int option_parse(
 
         /* Look for the next option */
 
-        const Option *option;
+        const Option *option = NULL;  /* initialization to appease gcc 13 */
         const char *optname = NULL, *optval = NULL;
         _cleanup_free_ char *_optname = NULL;  /* allocated option name */
         bool separate_optval = false;
@@ -206,6 +206,8 @@ int option_parse(
                 }
         }
 
+        assert(option);
+
         if (optval && !option_takes_arg(option))
                 return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL),
                                        "%s: option '%s' doesn't allow an argument",