Beta Bully (F/M) - Chapter 38 (Early Access) (Patreon)

No Interview Needed

Beta Oli was leant against their door frame with a coy smile playing on his lips. Luca lowered Darcy until her feet were on the ground again and she fussed with her clothes self-consciously, making sure everything was covered in front of the other beta. She kept her eyes on the carpet.

“Sorry, Beta,” said Luca with an awkward laugh. “I was just showing Darcy the new suite.” He turned back to Darcy and she peeked up at his face: peachy-pink all over with only his eyes remaining golden. She may have just found the perfect colour palette for their living room. “Darce, Beta Oli kindly offered to help with moving the big furniture items like our bed.”

“That’s so nice of you, Beta,” Darcy said, lowering her eyes to the ground again. It made sense, Beta Oli was one of the biggest people Darcy had ever seen with her own two eyes. Even alphas could hide in his shadow.

“I forgot that we had agreed to get started as soon as we got back, though,” Luca added. He took Darcy’s hand and walked them towards the door. “Sorry, again, Beta.”

“Don’t worry about it, Beta.” Beta Oli laughed quietly and stepped back from the door to let them through. “It’s an exciting day. I’m sorry I interrupted.”

“Thank you. Do you mind if I walk Darcy to Alpha Nico’s office first? They could get acquainted while we-”

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” Beta Oli interrupted hurriedly. His hands jerked up a little, too, as though in self-defence. “Nico will call for Omega Darcy when she’s ready, until then I think it would be smart to keep out of her way. She’s got a lot on her plate today.”

Luca nodded his understanding. “Thanks for the heads up,” he said.

“No problem.”

“I can help carry things!” Darcy suggested, popping her hands onto her hips in an attempt to enlarge herself.

Beta Oli’s mouth quirked at one side. “I don’t have much experience with omegas, so please tell me if this is an offensive thing to say,” he said carefully, eyes bouncing between Darcy and Luca. Darcy braced herself for a comment about her height, width or weight. “But would you be up for making some coffee while we lug the stuff around?”

“There’s really nothing you think I’m capable of lifting?” Darcy huffed.

“Well, the pillows are already on the bed,” Beta Oli replied, scratching his head and mussing up the small bun he had on top. “I don’t see a reason to take them off and carry them separately.”

Luca’s lips were pinched. Fighting a smirk. He refused to meet her eyes. Darcy knew if he did, he would burst into hysterics.

Darcy sighed. “Where’s the kitchen again?”

Luca took her hand again and lead her away. Beta Oli followed until they reached the floor with Luca’s old room. He split from them to get started on clearing a path for the large furniture items.

In the kitchen, Darcy filled the kettle and rested her hands on the cool counter while she waited for it to boil. Luca, hovering behind her, unclipped her hair and nuzzled his face into the top of her head. Darcy laughed and let her back fall against his chest.

Luca hummed. “You didn’t actually want to help with moving stuff, you just didn’t want to look weak,” he said.

Darcy flushed. “I don’t want him to think I’m lazy,” she grumbled.

“There’s nothing wrong with letting people help you.” He curled his fingers from her hairline through her brown waves, separating a piece and clipping it back. “Especially when you’re built to bring out a protective response in people.”

Darcy pouted up at him, bending her neck uncomfortably. “I’m not a puppy.”

Luca reached over her head to open the cupboards, showing the mugs and tins of coffees and teas. “You’re right, but your body, and your scent, and even your voice sends similar signals to everyone near you.” He shrugged. “It’s just nature, babe.”

She spun on the spot to face him, leaning against the counters behind her. “How come you didn’t feel protective of me before, then?” She didn’t bother to fill in the silent ‘when you bullied me’.

“I got the signals,” he admitted with an awkward grimace. “I just didn’t like them. They made me feel weird.” He stepped forward, placing his hands either side of her on the counter and trapping her between them. “I’m sorry for making that your problem,” he added.

A crackle of desire ran over them, one body to the other. Luca leant his head down, slowly, leading her up onto her toes to meet him. He trailed his nose down the side of her cheek. The tips of his fingers grazed the outside of her thighs and her stomach clenched.

“Beta-” she gasped. His eyes darkened and his teeth sunk into the soft spot beneath her jaw. Her knees jerked together with the shock of pleasure that came with the bite. “Oli!” Luca froze. “He’s-” Darcy pushed lightly at his shoulders with her palms. “He’s waiting for you.”

Luca unlatched himself from her neck and took a half-step back. They were both breathing erratically.

“Yeah. Thanks for the reminder,” Luca said curtly. He turned to leave, then spun back around and hesitated. He didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. “If you could do me a favour, though,” he said. “And just never again say someone else’s name when any part of you is in my mouth?”

“Sure,” Darcy agreed between her attempts at calming breaths.

After he left, she gave herself a few minutes to cool down before starting on the coffees. Her underwear would stay damp for a while. She hoped they didn’t notice the scent of her slick when she returned.

She hadn’t asked them how they liked their drinks, so she made three black coffees and put the milk and sugar in small containers that she found rooting through the cupboards. She also found a tray to carry her offerings back with her.

It was a long three floors back up to Alder Suite, especially without a free hand to cling to any of the bannisters and drag herself up the stairs. Once she made it to the front door, she was as sweaty as the boys inside.

Beta Oli and Luca were sat with their backs against the furthest wall, huffing and puffing. The moment Darcy breached the threshold, their eyes snapped to her. One pair gold and one pair hazel. They both smiled.

“I come bearing sustenance,” Darcy announced, walking the tray to them. As she lowered herself to her knees between them, she was acutely aware that the three of them must look like an ancient tapestry you would find in a council building. An omega on their knees serving from a tray, with a pair of betas sat casually nearby. Darcy had never felt a great deal of connection to the omegas of the old times. It wasn’t like ancestral pride or culture, passed down through the generations. She wasn’t related to them by blood or marriage, and yet they were the same. They were bound by something invisible and untouchable.

They drank their coffee and made small talk. Beta Oli cautiously insinuated that he was avoiding Alpha Nico’s wrath this morning, and had been very grateful to be allowed to help them move in. He didn’t elaborate as to why she was not in the mood to be approached, but Luca simply nodded sagely as the older beta spoke. Eventually, the coffee had all been slurped and it was time for the organising to commence. Beta Oli took the tray on his way out, and promised Darcy he would do his best to warm up Alpha Nico for her.

As she and Luca were cataloguing their newly joint wardrobe, Alpha Nico summoned her.

A stocky man with a bushy beard knocked on their open door and called in that she needed to report to the alpha's office. Luca gave her an encouraging smile as she hurried out, but remained in his place on the carpet, surrounded by jeans of various dyes.

Darcy adjusted every aspect of her appearance on her way to the office. Smoothing her t-shirt. Tucking the tufty parts of her hair behind her ears. Pushing her shorts' pockets in properly.

The office door was built the same as all the others within the titled members' house, but it had an aura that sunk Darcy's stomach. Even the air around it intimidated her. The bearded man left her in front of it and she thanked him as he left.

Within a moment of her knocking, Alpha Nico called her inside.

The office was decorated as though it belonged to someone much older than the alpha sat behind the ornate wooden desk. Alpha Nico looked to be in her mid twenties, with smooth pale skin and sleek black hair tied back from her face. Shorter strands framed her angular face, but didn’t manage to soften it. She watched Darcy approach with hawk-like eyes. She did not stand from her seat to greet her.

There was nowhere for Darcy to sit opposite the alpha, so she stood in front of the desk, straining her back to keep it straight and appear as tall as possible.

Silence.

Darcy fought the urge to fiddle with her fingers as Alpha Nico appraised her. Already, she felt as though she had done something wrong. Should she have been the first to speak? Was it rude that she hadn’t asked the alpha how she was? When-

“I’m sure you’re over the moon to have such an easy entrance into your first and only job, hm?” Alpha Nico cooed. It did not reach Darcy’s ears as sweetly as it left her mouth. Poisonous honey dripping over her words.

Darcy wasn’t sure what to reply, so she remained silent.

“Some of us are born into our roles,” Alpha Nico continued. “And for one class out of the secondary genders, that role requires no training or proving of their worth.” She leant forward, balancing her elbows on the desk top and pressing her chin against her interlocked fingers. “You probably think this is going to be the easiest money you’ll ever make-”

Darcy jolted. “No, Alpha,” she gasped. That wasn’t true at all. “I’m-”

“Speak over me again and see what happens.” Her words were half spoken and half growled. It sent a freezing tingle up Darcy’s spine. Almost painful. She could only twitch in response.

In the pause afterwards, Darcy could have sworn she could hear her own fingernails growing. The silence made her want to curl up like a pill bug. But it gave her time to release her muscles, one by one. Taking back control over her body.

Finally, she managed to squeak, “I’m sorry, Alpha.”

Alpha Nico blinked once, slowly. Uncaring for Darcy’s apology. “I hate laziness,” she said. “There is no wolf so lazy as an omega.” Darcy gritted her teeth. It would gain her nothing to argue. “You want your pay? You work for it. You are not a pet or a little treasure like some omega are told. You will not be put up on a pedestal to look pretty here. Do you understand, Omega?”

“Yes, Alpha.” She didn’t agree, but she understood.

“Your working hours are whenever the fuck I summon you. Your duties are whatever I ask of you. Do you understand, Omega?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“I have one rule, and that’s for you to stay the fuck out of my way. I don’t need an omega fluttering around me like a lost puppy.” Despite her dark eyes, Alpha Nico’s fury seemed to burn through them brightly. “You come when I call you and you do the tasks that I give you, otherwise I don’t want to see or hear you. Understood, Omega?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

Alpha Nico stared at her for a few moments as though Darcy had just then materialised into the room. After an uncomfortable silence she growled, “get out, Omega.”

“Yes, Alpha,” Darcy responded. She hurried out of the office as fast as her little legs would carry her.