Beta Bully (F/M) - Chapter 42 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Wants And Needs

“Actually, I wanted to ask you about this guy I met.”

“You’re moving on to a newer model already?” Luca teased.

“Well, he has all the shiny new upgrades that us girls need,” Darcy replied with a wink.

“Is he a new friend?”

“Not exactly." She shuffled closer across the bed and Luca curled his hand under her chin, wiggling her head in his palm like a doll. Darcy gave him an exasperated look. "He came out of nowhere and started making these weird comments to me." Luca's ears pricked up and his eyes switched from weary to alert in an instant. "Implying that I was trying to-” Darcy shrugged awkwardly, suddenly not sure how to phrase being accused of trying to get into her new alpha’s pants. “-get Alpha Nico’s… attention.” She raised her brows and pursed her lips after the last word, ensuring Luca knew exactly what kind of attention they were talking about.

"Submissive?" Luca asked.

Darcy replied eagerly, "Yep, and blond - really blond!"

"Hair all twisted with pins and bows and shit?"

"That's him!"

"Ah, yeah." Luca nodded with a grim expression. "That’s Riley."

Darcy tilted her head curiously, silently asking for more information on the strange submissive. Luca’s mouth was set in a hard line. She pouted and squished her cheek harder into his hand. Luca sighed.

"You remember when I told you that Alpha Nico and Beta Oli had a friend they grew up with?"

"Riley is the third musketeer?" Darcy guessed.

"Exactly. They were very close."

"They’re not anymore?" Nico and Oli seemed attached at the hip, she wondered why Riley would be the only one to pull away.

Luca rocked his head from side to side as he considered his answer. "I don’t know all the details, but since Alpha Nico took over the pack, Riley hasn’t been seen at her heels as much anymore. That might just be because they hang out in private, though."

“Private?” Darcy repeated, heavy with insinuation.

“You wouldn’t be the first person to wonder if there was something there,” he said quietly. “But personally, I think if Riley were the alpha mate he would ensure everyone and their ancestors knew about it.”

Darcy nodded. “I got the same feeling from him,” she said. Prideful and believing himself to be better than anyone else. Especially Darcy. Clearly, he actually cared about ‘the ladder’ as he’d called it. Darcy wondered if his confrontation had been an attempt to disguise his own secret desires as Darcy's.

Luca interrupted her thoughts. “Stay away from him.” It wasn’t said with venom, but his words were stern.

“Hm?” She glanced at him, confused.

“If you can,” Luca added. “I’m not saying he’ll hurt you, but I get a bad feeling from him. Just…” He scrubbed a hand over his forehead, smoothing the shallow creases of concern that had appeared there. “With my workload increasing so much, I can’t watch over you all the time-”

Darcy huffed. “I don’t need you to watch-”

Luca’s torso twisted, flipping his body over, and slammed his palms into the mattress beside her ears. He braced his knees either side of her and allowed his chest to drop low enough to graze Darcy’s. Her reflexes were slow, sending a jolt through her after they were already nose-to-nose.

“-but I want to, Darcy,” he growled. There wasn’t anger in his expression, or in the emotional emanation that pressed Darcy deeper into the bedding. Instead, desire. Fatigue. Worry. Mostly desire.

Darcy flushed.

He watched her carefully, and a small smile began to creep along his mouth. The fire in his eyes dimmed a little.

“I want to be able to be with you all day,” he explained softly. “I want to take care of you, and guard you, and keep you within kissing distance at all times.” He lifted a hand, shifting his weight onto the other, and stroked the crook of a finger from her jaw to her cheek. “I know you’re never further away than the pack boundaries, but it still feels too far.”

Without the words to comfort or reassure him, Darcy tilted her head back and kissed the skin between his brows. Luca’s eyes softened further. On a slow, cathartic-sounding breath, he sunk down closer and latched his mouth to hers.

With his balance shifted to his elbows, he used his free hands to squeeze Darcy’s cheeks. The squish pushed her lips out and he chuckled into her mouth. Darcy kicked her feet against the sheets in response and the hands slid down her throat. Occasionally pressing the delicate skin with a pulse of extra firm grip that had her thighs twitching under him.

“How have you become more jealous and possessive now that we’re together?” she mused through half-lidded eyes. She thought back to the kitchen, where he had been horrified after she used Beta Oli’s name in a sentence while Luca had been trying to nibble on her. Now he was worried about some submissive messing with her. As if she was no match for some guy just a few inches taller than her. As though all the time Riley clearly spent preening himself would have built up a supreme upper body strength.

“It’s only going to get worse,” Luca promised.

Her face warmed even further when she mumbled, “I’m all yours now.”

“And I’ll never let you forget it.”

Their lips were locked again. Rumbling growls ricocheted trembles over her body. She dragged her knees open as he kissed her deeper, begging him to grind in closer. He rolled his body against hers and she moaned around his tongue. The weight of his huge body was squashing her in the best way. Comfortingly covering her in his scent like a warm blanket.

Sliding down her body, he released her tongue and mouthed his way round her jaw. Canines scraping the tender flesh of her throat coated a fuzzy filter over her brain. Hormones swirling. It was the first morning all over again. The air was heady and her limbs heavy. Darcy wanted to surrender herself over to Luca, offer her body up like a gift to a god.

She dragged her sweatshirt off, revealing nothing underneath but her peachy pink skin. Luca kissed each of her nipples extra gently and Darcy kissed him back on the forehead. It wasn’t often that part of him was close enough for her to touch.

Long fingers dipped under the waistband of her lounge pants. Golden eyes darted up to meet hers, gaining silent permission. Darcy bobbed her head, suddenly shy. It was only the second time he was going to see between her legs without the swimsuit. She was still acclimatising to the sensation of her soul-mate’s gaze on her skin. The hunger that came with it. He ripped them down with her underwear still attached and tossed them over his shoulder.

Darcy pulled her knees up reflexively, but Luca snatched her ankles and pulled them out wide.

“I’m so glad they gave us the top floor suite,” he said.

Darcy tilted her head questioningly.

“No one nearby to hear you scream.”

Darcy’s tummy flexed as a shudder ran through her. Her entire body burned, head to toe. As though she could break a sweat solely from her soul-mate’s sex appeal. She squeaked and covered her face.

Luca reclaimed his throne between Darcy’s thighs.

Once the sun finally returned to the sky, Darcy was hoarse. And officially mated. Luca clutched her to his chest, refusing to release so much as a pinky from trapping her against him. She watched him sleep until the alarm sounded, and another long day was upon them.