Beta Bully (M/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. He didn’t think he had spoken to so many people in such a short space of time in his entire life. None of the introductions or small talk he had endured had dried his mouth out like meeting Alpha Nico and Beta Oli, though. That interaction had left him even more nervous than he had been when they approached. Luca seemed fine, so he did his best to put the feeling aside.

With a weary smile at the backs of the betas of the Silver Crescent pack, he murmured under his breath to Luca that he was on the verge of death by dehydration. His mate 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 his cup, a familiar face came into view, nestled between a small group of chattering people. They excused themselves from the conversation as soon as they noticed Darcy watching them, and began to make their 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 Darcy’s stomach as he realised Marshall may have been the only titled member they had not personally greeted yet. He hoped he didn’t think badly of them, especially not of Luca, for not seeking him out first.

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

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

The teasing words caught him off guard. He didn’t have an excuse prepared for that. Darcy laughed awkwardly. Before he could think of a response on the fly, Luca’s hand was at his back and his other  extended over his 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 he 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 he clutched his cup to his 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 his throat before he answered. “I already have, Alpha.”

“Oh.”

“He didn’t want me,” Luca joked.

Darcy squirmed under Marshall’s curious eyes. He 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 his cup. He wished the focus of the conversation would shift to anything that didn’t involve him. “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 his 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. He smiled back nervously.

In Marshall’s wake, Darcy realised there was something crucial he had missed. Something everyone else had remembered to do but him on Luca’s special day. Darcy pulled gently on the hem of Luca’s shirt. His soul-mate looked down at him with nothing but adoration. It filled his skin with tingles.

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

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

“I didn’t get a chance this morning,” Darcy 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 Darcy 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.

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

“Luca,” Darcy replied warningly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

With a sneaky finger point from Luca, his eyes fell to the pool, and then on his 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 her. 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. Darcy should be charging them all for the pleasure of looking at him. Only he should get away with gawking for free.

Luca dropped into the water smoothly and carefully and waded to his 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 him hoping Luca’s mother had prepared some cans of bug bite treatment for the party. Darcy 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 Luca to reach him. 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 the other.

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

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

This wasn’t the first time his 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 his 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 his friend through the back doors and into the titled members’ house. “Melody, I love you, but you’re a mess,” he said with a groan.

Melody hummed in reply.

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