Beta Bully (F/M) - Chapter 35 (Early Access) (Patreon)

The Ex-Alpha

They managed to do brief introductions with most of the titled guests as they wandered in from the drive, and by the time the stream of arrivals thinned, Darcy was gasping for a drink. She didn’t think she had spoken to so many people in such a short space of time in her entire life. None of the introductions or small talk she had endured had dried her mouth out like meeting Alpha Nico and Beta Oli, though. That interaction had left her even more nervous than she had been when they approached. Luca seemed fine, so she did her best to put the feeling aside.

With a weary smile at the backs of the betas of the Silver Crescent pack, she murmured under her breath to Luca that she was on the verge of death by dehydration. He leapt into action immediately.

By the grace of the gods (and Luca’s hyper-prepared mother) there were still fruit smoothies being brought out to the tables. Luca snagged one for each of them and they clinked their plastic cups with matching grins.

Halfway down her cup, a familiar face came into view, nestled between a small group of chattering people. He excused himself from the conversation as soon as he noticed Darcy watching him, and began to make his way over. Alpha Marshall shimmied between party-goers as he approached, his kind eyes and warm smile locked on Darcy. A pinch of guilt twinged at her stomach as she realised he may have been the only titled member they had not personally greeted yet. She hoped he didn’t think badly of them, especially not of Luca, for not seeking him out first.

She prepared her excuse, self-sabotage on the tip of her tongue to protect Luca’s reputation as a well-mannered beta.

“I thought you said you weren’t coming?”

The teasing words caught her off guard. She didn’t have an excuse prepared for that. Darcy laughed awkwardly. Before she could think of a response on the fly, Luca’s hand was at her back and his other  extended over her shoulder.

“Alpha Marshall, thanks for coming, man.”

Marshall shook the offered hand with an easy grin. “Thanks for inviting me, Beta,” he said. The air around him was completely relaxed, his alpha presence radiating out with ease. It infected Darcy with a sense of tranquillity that she welcomed. There weren’t many alphas who held such a tight grasp over their outward emotions, especially at Marshall’s age. It made sense why he seemed to be so well-liked amongst the local packs. “It’s too bad we don’t have any classes together anymore,” he added.

“I was thinking the same thing, Alpha, I don’t see you often enough.” Luca pulled Darcy in tighter against him and she clutched her cup to her chest to keep from spilling the melting juice. “It’s now even more important for our packs to stay close, given that yours gave me my mate.”

Darcy flushed, suddenly thrust into the centre of attention.

Marshall stepped back a little, opening up the gap between them in what Darcy took to be a respectful manner. “Congratulations to you both,” he said courteously. “And there I thought our pack might have to compete against the others for birthday gifts.”

“There is no competition, Alpha, Darcy is my favourite.”

“This must be such a shock for you, Omega,” said Marshall with a kind head-tilt. “When do you turn eighteen?”

Darcy fought the urge to clear her throat before she answered. “I already have, Alpha.”

“Oh.”

“She didn’t want me,” Luca joked.

Darcy squirmed under Marshall’s curious eyes. She felt compelled to expand on Luca’s words.

“Luca has changed a lot in the last few months. He used to be scary and mean, now he’s… matured.”

“You’re not the only one who has noticed! His attitude change is down to you, then? The power of the soul-mate, I guess.” Marshall laughed and Luca joined in. Darcy smiled politely into her cup. She wished the focus of the conversation would shift to anything that didn’t involve her. “I’m looking forward to our packs tightening their bond with this new version of Beta Luca at the helm.”

“What a diplomatic way of saying I used to act like a dick.”

“You really did, my friend.” Both boys laughed again. “Anyway, I should head over to the buffet table. It would be rude not to have a taste of all that food!”

“Catch ya later, Alpha.”

“Happy Birthday, Beta.”

The boys shared a fist bump.

Darcy bobbed her head politely and said, “Bye, Alpha.”

“See you soon, Omega.” There was something about his smile that seemed to hold a secret that Darcy wasn’t in on. She smiled back nervously.

In his wake, Darcy realised there was something crucial she had missed. Something everyone else had remembered to do but her on Luca’s special day. She pulled gently on the hem of Luca’s shirt. He looked down at her with nothing but adoration. It filled her skin with tingles.

“Happy birthday,” Darcy whispered. She hopped up onto her toes to kiss his cheek. He caught her before she could drop back down and trapped her against his torso.

“Why are you saying that now?” he asked, his voice gravelly.

“I didn’t get a chance this morning,” she answered. “You took me by surprise. Then I was all flustered and I forgot and-”

“I was surprised, too, Darce.” The sultry look in his eyes told her he was remembering their morning a little too vividly than he should while out in public. He caught himself and continued, “Don’t worry. We’ve just gotta look out for those hormones - shit’s powerful.”

“More than before,” Darcy added.

His voice dropped again, turning even huskier. “You were affected by my scent before?”

“Luca,” she replied warningly.

“Let’s talk about it when we’re alone,” he suggested.

“Fine,” Darcy mumbled, hiding her red face in her red cup. All of the ice that had been in her smoothie had turned to water in the summer heat, leaving her with diluted fruit juice.

“You getting a little buzzed?” he teased, nodding at the plastic cup.

“It’s just juice,” she protested with an awkward laugh.

“It doesn’t look like Melody is on ‘just juice’,” Luca stage whispered to her.

Darcy frowned and scanned the crowds. She had yet to see either of her best friends at the party, not for lack of looking. But she was a lot shorter than every other guest around her, so her field of vision never stretched very far.

With a sneaky finger point from Luca, her eyes fell to the pool, and then on her best friends. Melody was draped over an inflatable donut with a lazy grin and a small can balanced in her hand. Reece was bobbing along beside her in the water, trying to speak with her, but Melody was in her own world.

“Oh no,” Darcy groaned. “Please can you get her out of there with as little attention as possible? She’s going to burn to a crisp on that thing and Reece clearly isn’t getting anywhere.”

Reece kept shaking his head and arguing with their visibly tipsy friend, but seemed to be having difficulty with the depth of the water. It kept him from simply dragging the donut back to the edge and forcing her out. He was just over five feet tall, which would only allow his feet to touch the tiles in the shallow half.

Luca put his own drink aside and strode along the edge of the pool, seeking the closest point to reach Melody. When he was as near as he could get, he kicked his shoes off and pulled his shirt over his head, drawing wolf whistles from those dangling their feet in nearby. Darcy frowned. Luca shook his head at them, laughing it off, and dropped his shirt on top of his shoes.

Darcy was half-expecting him to show off and do a spectacular dive. He had already stolen so much attention from everyone in the vicinity with his stupid sexy abs and gorgeous golden skin. It couldn’t become much more of a spectacle if he performed for them like a seal, too. She should be charging them all for the pleasure of looking at him. Only she should get away with gawking for free.

He dropped into the water smoothly and carefully and waded to her friends. He grabbed the rubber ring with one arm, and hooked the other around Reece’s waist to reel the pair to the shallow end. It wasn’t often that Darcy saw Reece’s resting frown become fury. Watching him get carried from one end of the pool to the other had her hoping Luca’s mother had prepared some cans of bug bite treatment for the party. She couldn’t see Luca getting away without some Reece-sized teeth marks.

Luca stepped out of the pool easily, one foot sailing over the tiled lip that Darcy would need a guide rope to climb up. The spectators cleared a path for him to reach her. Not that they had much choice with Melody and her giant rubber ring hanging from one of his arms, and Reece kicking and swinging from his other.

Luca dropped them both to the grass and passed Melody, dawdling on unsteady legs, to Darcy. She lead her friend away while Luca remained behind, catching an earful off Reece about never touching him ever again.

“What the hell, Mel?” Darcy exclaimed, putting her arm around Melody’s shoulders and steering her towards the titled members’ house.

This wasn’t the first time her friend had gotten a little too blitzed. At her own 18th birthday meal she’d had two pints of cider and fallen asleep in the restaurant. Despite her best efforts, Melody couldn’t hold her drink. Not even a little.

“She looked right at me, Darce,” she said, slurring a little.

“Who did, Miss Drunkey Monkey?”

“My soul-mate.”

Darcy faltered. “Are you serious?”

“Yep. She looked right at me.” She sighed dramatically. “And then away.”

“Did you get any of her details? What did she look like?” Darcy began to babble in her shock. “She obviously hasn’t reached mate maturity. Why didn’t you stay with her? What if you can’t find her again?”

“It won’t be that hard.” Melody was slurring over her words again. “She’s in your pack.”

“My pack now or this pack that I’ll be joining?”

“This one. So you have to be my… my spyyyyyy-” She drew out the sound until it had no meaning.

Darcy lugged her friend through the back doors and into the titled members’ house. “Melody, I love you, but you’re a mess,” she said with a groan.

Melody hummed in reply.

Darcy sighed. “Let’s find you somewhere to nap.”