Beta Bully (F/M) - Chapter 39 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Wake-Up Call

Darcy returned to the suite on trembling legs. Luca’s back was to her when she entered, he was still sorting piles of items into different categories. She slumped over his shoulder and scrunched his t-shirt in her hands to calm down. His scent soothed her a little, but she was still shaken.

“What’s wrong?” Luca exclaimed. He twisted from his seat on the floor and snatched her into his arms. “Your heart’s beating really fast and you smell scared.”

“It’s-” Darcy hesitated. It wouldn’t do any good to complain to Luca about Alpha Nico. He couldn’t do anything, and he would only worry. It was the first day, she needed to give it time before she started making accusations. At least attempt to get on the alpha’s good side. “Alpha Nico is a bit intimidating.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said with a slow nod. He continued to hold her tightly, though. Squeezing her into his chest and lathering her in his scent. It helped. A lot. “She’s a tough nut. I’m sure you’ll get used to it once you get to know her better.”

Darcy hummed in unenthusiastic agreement.

“And Beta Oli is good at… holding her back a little,” Luca added quietly, as though speaking on a topic he wasn’t supposed to.

“I’m not surprised by that,” Darcy replied as lightly as her hammering heart would let her. “He could be confused for an alpha himself!”

“I know! I was so shocked when I met him.” Luca laughed at the memory. “They’re the exact same height, you know. Down to the centimetre, I’m pretty sure.” He shook his head in amazement. “And some people say the reason why is that Alpha Nico ordered him to keep up with her when they were kids. She kept having growth spurts and then Beta Oli would catch up a few months later.”

“Didn’t you say there was a third friend, though? Did they keep up too?”

“Oh, no, the third friend was a submissive. If he managed to stretch himself to six-six too, I think he’d get called into the council to be studied for a genetic disease or something.”

“Some submissives can be tall!” Darcy protested. She drew herself up onto her tip-toes, towering over his seated position.

Luca jumped up from the floor and swung her in his arms. “Not six-foot-six tall, Darce,” he laughed. Darcy dangled her legs and laughed with him. She felt a little better. That things would get better.

They cleared the majority of the unpacking that first day and climbed into bed exhausted, but pleased with their progress.

Darcy rolled into the centre of the bed and was met with glittering gold eyes.

“What’re you looking at?” she said teasingly.

“My soul-mate’s sharing a bed with me,” Luca whispered. He looked child-like and innocent as he stared at her. Completely unlike the Luca she knew. It was almost more embarrassing in that moment to know that she had once been bullied by him. He was just a sappy boy with a pretty face.

Darcy snorted. “I can’t believe I used to think you were so charismatic and cool.”

“I am!” Luca argued with a laugh.

“You’re a lovesick fool!” Darcy accused, unable to contain her hysterical laughter.

“And what does that make you?”

“The long-suffering idiot that has to put up with you.”

Luca pouted. “I’m just excited to be together, aren’t you?”

“I am, but I’m also so tired I think my bones have crumbled to dust.”

Luca nodded in exhausted agreement. “We own way too much stuff.”

“Can we agree to be lovey-dovey in the morning, when we have more energy?”

“I want to say yes because I feel like I’m about to pass out, but I just need you to know you’re making us sound like a couple that’s been married for forty years and have to schedule when they touch each other.”

“Good idea. I’ll draw one up tomorrow.” Darcy clicked the lamp off, filling the room with darkness. “Goodnight, Luca.”

Luca sputtered behind her. “I can’t tell if you’re joking,” he whispered. “Darce?”

Darcy made a fake snoring sound and he chuckled behind her. A pair of warm hands slipped under her pajama top, digits digging into her squishy stomach, and pulled her against his chest. Luca curled his body around hers like a crescent moon and his breaths progressively deepened. Darcy adjusted herself a little in his grasp and allowed herself to drift off, too.

In the morning, she woke him up by climbing onto his chest and pressing soft kisses over his face. He blinked awake with a drowsy smile. Then his hands slid from her knees, to her outer thighs, then inwards and pushed her to her back on the bed. He curled over her with a wild grin and parted her legs at the folds where her thighs met her butt.

A loud banging noise jolted them both. Someone was hammering on their front door.

Luca scrabbled from the bed, pulling on a t-shirt from a folded pile nearby. Darcy had only a few seconds to admire the flex of his back muscles as she hurried after him.

In their living room the sun was high in the sky, filling the space with bright natural light. They had possibly overslept. A painful twist in her gut warned Darcy she may be about to see her soul-mate in trouble for the first time.

Luca threw the door open with a brash swing of his arm. Bushy beard man was waiting on the other side. He appeared twitchy and nervous.

"Omega, you need to see the alpha in her office,” he said. “Now."

Her gut had only been half correct. She was the one in trouble.

Luca attempted to question the man, but he scurried away. Even in human form he looked to have his tail between his legs. Darcy ran in the opposite direction, straight back to their bedroom. Luca followed her.

“Were you supposed to meet with Alpha Nico this morning?” he asked quietly.

“No,” Darcy replied, tugging on the closest appropriate clothes. “She said I wasn’t to bother her unless she called for me.”

She hopped back towards the front door with one leg in her jeans and the other flailing. She managed to get them on and buttoned as she passed through the frame. A hand snatched at her sleeve.

“Hey,” said Luca. He pulled her back and laid a soft kiss on the top of her head. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry. I’ll have breakfast waiting for you, okay?”

Darcy nodded. It was not going to be fine and she was very worried, but she had no time to waste telling Luca that.

She knocked on the alpha’s office door with a stuttering rhythm. Her hands were shaking. Actually, her whole body was shaking.

Alpha Nico called her in with a bark. She hadn't gotten the door shut behind her when the yelling began. She could only hope that no one was near enough to overhear.

"Where were you?" Alpha Nico seethed. The volume of her voice sent waves of animosity across the room. Darcy felt them physically hit her with every angrily spat word. "I had a job for you and you were nowhere to be found. This is exactly what I knew would happen. I could smell it on you along with your omegan pheromones - laziness." An alpha's emotions could fill a room with intent alone, but Alpha Nico was flinging out fear fuel without any kind of restraint. "What kind of assistance can you be to me if you are lounging in bed at this time?" Darcy's eyes glanced involuntarily at the clock on the alpha's desk. It was eight am. "You think because you’re a beta mate you can slack off, Omega?"

"No, Alpha!" Darcy answered. Her palms had jumped up instinctively and defensively. They trembled in front of her chest. Her voice shook with them. "You said to stay out of your way."

"I know what I said, and I didn’t ask for a transcript," Alpha Nico snapped. "Are you repeating my words for your own poor memory?"

"But-"

"I don’t want excuses. Do I look like I have time for excuses, Omega?" Alpha Nico looked like she had the time to spin Darcy's head with a corkscrew until it came off.

"No, Alpha," Darcy whispered.

They faced each other in tense silence.

"I think, though-"

"Are you being paid to think or to obey?"

Darcy's body was being wrung out by the alpha's uncontrolled emotions. Pressing onto her skin and encouraging her to crumble and cry. She squeezed her hands together, gathering all of the energy she had left to push back, just a little. With a quick, short breath she continued, "-that giving you my mobile number would help with faster communication, Alpha."

“Write it down and get out,” Alpha Nico spat through gritted teeth.

Darcy surged forward, grabbed a pen and post-it on the desk and scribbled down her phone number. She went to tear off the post-it but Alpha Nico snatched the whole pad from her hands. Darcy released it and scarpered out to the non-tainted air, skidding back to shut the door behind her.