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

Wake-Up Call

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

“What’s wrong?” Luca exclaimed. He twisted from his seat on the floor and snatched him 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 still the first day, he needed to give it time before he started making accusations. At least attempt to get on the alpha’s good side. “Alpha Nico is a bit intimidating.”

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

Darcy hummed in unenthusiastic agreement.

“And Beta Oli is good at… holding him 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 his hammering heart would let his. “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 his friend to keep up with him when they were kids. He 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. He drew himself up onto his tip-toes, towering over Luca’s seated position.

Luca jumped up from the floor and swung Darcy in his arms. “Not six-foot-six tall, Darce,” he laughed. Darcy dangled his legs and laughed with him. He 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?” he said teasingly.

“My soul-mate’s sharing a bed with me,” Luca whispered. He looked child-like and innocent as he stared at him. Completely unlike the Luca he knew. It was almost more embarrassing in that moment to know that he 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 his 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 him. “I can’t tell if you’re joking,” he whispered. “Darce?”

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

In the morning, Darcy woke his mate up by climbing onto his chest and pressing soft kisses over his face. Luca blinked awake with a drowsy smile. Then his hands slid from Darcy’s knees, to his outer thighs, then inwards and pushed him to his back on the bed. He curled over him with a wild grin and parted his legs at the folds where his thighs met his 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 he 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 his gut warned Darcy he may be about to see his 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 his office,” he said. “Now."

His gut had only been half correct. Darcy 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 him.

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

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

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

“Hey,” said Luca. He pulled him back and laid a soft kiss on the top of his 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 he was very worried, but he had no time to waste telling Luca that.

He knocked on the alpha’s office door with a stuttering rhythm. His hands were shaking. Actually, his whole body was shaking.

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

"Where were you?" Alpha Nico seethed. The volume of his voice sent waves of animosity across the room. Darcy felt them physically hit him 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. His palms had jumped up instinctively and defensively. They trembled in front of his chest. His 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 he 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 his skin and encouraging him to crumble and cry. He squeezed his hands together, gathering all of the energy he had left to push back, just a little. With a quick, short breath he 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 his phone number. He went to tear off the post-it but Alpha Nico snatched the whole pad from his hands. Darcy released it and scarpered out to the non-tainted air, skidding back to shut the door behind him.