Beta Bully (F/M) - Chapter 28 (Early Access) (Patreon)

The VIP Invite

Her parents took her confession well. They were disappointed that Darcy hadn’t been able to come to them first, but they were happy she had found her soul-mate. She kept the bullying talk to a minimum, but she could tell her father didn’t appreciate even her watered-down version of pre-MYSTIKA Luca. She didn’t blame him, the Luca of just a few months before was her worst enemy. Not that she had many enemies. Being an omega did help with avoiding conflicts, not many people would bother to fight with someone so much smaller than themselves. Of course, her mate had to be an exception.

She went to bed that night feeling lighter than she had done in a long time. Maybe it wasn’t only her confession that had lifted the weight from her shoulders, it could be the realisation that she had come to terms with her decision to attend the party. Plan A was officially ripped up and tossed away.

Plan B was only party attendance, though. What came after that she couldn’t think about yet. She didn’t need a fresh wave of stress to hit her. The party was too close for her to start over-thinking now. For once, she needed to try and go with the flow.

It was easier said than done. She had one week left.

For the first two days of the week, Luca was incredibly quiet. He would still follow her around, involve himself in her business, and paw at her like a puppy. There was a strange restrained energy about him, though, as if he were bursting at the seams to announce something but couldn’t get his mouth open.

It was Darcy who finally cracked. She nodded him into a nearby classroom during their last break period of the day. Once inside, and with the door shut, she went straight down the blunt path.

“You’ve been acting weird lately, should I be worried?”

“Hmm?” Luca’s cheeks tinted pink in between his acknowledgement and his answer. “No. I’m just thinking about something.”

“Care to share?” Darcy hopped up onto one of the lab stools and dangled her legs freely. His eyes followed them, appearing hypnotised.

“I want to ask you something, but I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, so I’m trying to find a good way to ask.”

“Well, now I feel very uncomfortable,” she teased.

Luca laughed quietly. “I wonder if our kids will have as much attitude as you.”

Darcy’s legs froze mid-swing. “What kids? Is that the question you wanted to ask? If you could rent my womb for your children?

“No!” Luca laughed loudly. “Definitely out of my price range, anyway.”

“No doubt about it,” Darcy agreed with a faux look of disdain. “You’d be on a payment plan for at least seventy-two months. By that point the kid wouldn’t even be small and cute any more.”

“My children will be beautiful from cradle to grave, just like me,” Luca argued with a smirk. He dropped his hands to the stool either side of Darcy’s hips and his scent hit her like a brick wall. She successfully resisted the urge to dive face-first into his shirt.

Instead she said, “But not an ounce of modesty between the lot of you.” And continued her feigned disapproval. She looked him up and down as though he weren’t the most delicious person she had ever laid her eyes on.

“That’s where your genetics come in, you’re too modest,” he replied. “It’ll balance out in the mixing pot.” He lifted his hands from her seat and wiggled his fingers together in demonstration. Darcy laughed despite herself.

“Are you sure your burning question wasn’t about having kids? It feels like we’re stuck on this topic.” It was a topic that made her feel hot, everywhere.

“I swear it isn’t.” He took a breath as though steeling himself. “I wanted to ask if you wanna have a sleepover?”

“The kind of sleepover where you make babies?” Darcy squeaked worriedly.

“No! Forget the baby thing, it wasn’t relevant. I mean, if you wanna have sex-” For once, Luca was the one flustered and fumbling over his words. “I wanted to wait- after my birthday, but that’s- yeah, fine by me-”

Darcy cut off his floundering. “No. Thank you.”

“Understood. One-hundred-percent. Crystal clear.” Darcy hadn’t been expecting him to look so relieved at her refusal. She didn’t take Luca for the type to be performance shy, especially given the way he talked and touched her so far. Her cheeks burned at the memory of his hand between her legs. She almost got lost in the memory.

“You want me to sleep over… at your pack house?” She clarified slowly.

“The night before my birthday.”

Her palms and the skin along the back of her neck became clammy. If that wasn’t a sexual invitation, she didn’t know what was. To stay over at his home, the night before he developed his mate maturity. It was like a human boy asking her to stay over the night before valentine’s day and expecting her to believe his intentions were innocent.

“It’s just- there’s no pressure. I don’t want there to be.” He was babbling again. If Darcy weren’t so overwhelmed with different emotions herself, she’d take humour in his awkward behaviour. “That’s why I was worried about asking, I didn’t want you to feel like you had to… if you weren’t comfortable. I was thinking I might… word it wrong.” He sighed and scrubbed a hand through his blond hair, fluffing out the curled ends.

Darcy took a slow, not entirely calming, breath. “Why do you want me to sleep over if it’s not to do… that?”

His neck was slowly turning peach with pink creeping over his naturally golden skin. His cheeks puffed a little in what looked like embarrassment. It was a new expression to Darcy’s eyes. “I want to wake up on my eighteenth birthday to my soul-mate’s face. Reaching mate maturity and your first sight being your mate is the best birthday present you could get.”

“What if you open your eyes and it’s not me?” she whispered. Self-sabotaging until the end. Darcy wasn’t even convinced it was protecting her any more to do it, she had already succumbed to all of her gross, soppy feelings. She had already agreed to attend the party. But she just couldn’t help herself. So accustomed to brushing him off. Buried deep in her own lie, even when there was no point in seeking shelter within it any more.

“I’ll still be happy to see you,” he replied. “I always am.”

A squeezing sensation took hold of her entire chest. It felt like he had taken her rib cage in his hand and pushed the two halves together. Darcy wanted him to hold her so tightly that it almost came true. She was fighting once again not to dive into his arms. He was so close, his breath brushing through her hair.

“We’ll see how you feel when the big day comes,” she said. She couldn’t fight or tease properly any more, she’d fallen head-first into his sparkling eyes. These days there was always a hint of yearning to them, a restrained hunger that warmed her from the inside. As though cooking her body for him to devour. Darcy’s own eyes glazed over at the thought.

“It’s only a few days away,” he reminded her. “It would mean a lot to me if you came to the party at all, Darcy. Like I said, don’t feel pressured about the sleep-”

“I’ll come,” she blurted. Announcing it before she had time to think too hard and convince herself it was a terrible idea. “The night before, I mean.”

“Awesome,” he said, almost breathless. Silence sat between them for a few moments before he came up with something else to say. “We can go back to mine right after school on the Friday, so bring your bag with you in the morning.”

“Okay.”

“And if you’ve got snack preferences, text me before the end of school and I’ll pick some stuff up tonight on my way home.”

“Sure thing.” She was answering automatically, like a robot. One half of her brain still fantasising about Luca taking a taste of her. The other half barely clinging on to reality.

Luca flicked her forehead, weakly knocking some sense back into her. “Maybe midnight snacks isn’t a good idea, though,” he said. “Because I think I’m supposed to fall asleep before midnight - do you still get your mate maturity if you’re awake as you turn eighteen?”

“How would I know? I’m not old enough,” she answered, laughing through her lie. “But I think it’s traditional to be asleep when it happens, so we can do pre-midnight snacks instead.”

“Maybe a pre-midnight sedative, too, cause I don’t know how I’ll fall asleep next to you.” His voice was syrupy sweet and slow. Darcy averted her eyes, nervous under his flirtations.

“I offer pillow smothering services at a very reasonable price,” she grumbled.

“If I’m going to be suffocated, it’s going to be by your a-”

The door clacked open violently. “Excuse me, Beta and Omega, this is my classroom and you are not members of my class. Please take yourselves wherever you’re supposed to be.”

Darcy left Luca in her dust.