Beta Bully (F/F) - Chapter 44 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Ancient History

Darcy hadn’t made it within reach of the door knob before Alpha Nico called her through to her office. A common occurrence, the alpha always seemed able to smell Darcy on the other side of the door. It wasn’t a strange feat, but it did feel personal when she made Darcy stand, wait, and knock for no real reason.

Although she had only been back from her break with Luna and her friends a few minutes, she was surprised there was not a single task sent through to her phone in the time that she had been gone. Best to report directly to the source for her next back-breaking job.

Two steps into the room, there was a barrier of animosity surrounding Alpha Nico like a force-field. It brought an acidic taste to Darcy’s mouth. She took a soldier-like stance in front of the desk with her hands tucked behind her back and a flat expression. Bracing herself.

Alpha Nico looked her up and down, contempt glowering from her black eyes.

“Did you enjoy wandering off work for a few hours, Omega?” she snarled.

“I was very grateful that Luna allowed me a break, Alpha,” Darcy replied carefully. Shamelessly name-dropping her mate in case she hadn’t properly informed Alpha Nico of their joint break.

“You may have one of my betas wrapped around your little finger, Omega, but don’t think for a moment that I will allow laziness under this roof.”

“Of course, Alpha,” Darcy said tiredly. There was no point in arguing.

“Beta Luna might not know what comes with having an omega in the pack,” Alpha Nico drawled. Darcy was tempted to retort that neither did she, Luna had told her the Pearl Claw had never had an omega so long as she’d been alive. Alpha Nico knew nothing of ruling over an omega. But Darcy knew for a fact that any kind of rebuttal would only earn her more fury from the alpha. “But I know what to look out for. Entitlement. Self-obsession. Materialism. You will get away with none of that here, Omega.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Alpha.” Perhaps a tad too sugary.

Alpha Nico’s nostrils flared. “Get out!” she barked.

It was the best outcome Darcy could have hoped for, she took the opportunity to flee.

A figure kicked off from the wall far too close to where Darcy was trying to pass through the door frame. She jerked back, pressing the door closed behind her. A delicate hand batted hers to stop her sealing it completely.

“Don’t worry about shutting it, Omega.” Riley’s smile was sickly sweet. “I need to show all my pretty new things to Nico.” She curled around the door like a cat, showing her lithe figure and beautiful lines. Limbs dripping with bracelets and anklets. Hair and face peppered with hair pins and earrings. “Don’t they just make me look darling.” The way she said darling brought out a reflexive grimace to Darcy’s face. She slipped into the office, rattling with layers of accessories, and shut the door firmly behind her.

Darcy pulled a face to the empty hallway and stomped away down the stairs.

“For someone with such little legs, you sure know how to put them in gear.”

Darcy rounded on Beta Oli, in no mood to hear her jokes about her short stature.

“You said that Alpha Nico’s family don’t know how to feel about omegas, but I think she makes it pretty clear how she feels,” Darcy seethed.

Beta Oli raised her hands in feigned self-defence but had the grace to look embarrassed. After a long and uncomfortable pause, she relented. “It’s not that they don’t know, it’s that they feel very strongly but can’t agree,” she said awkwardly.

Darcy gave her a sour look and she sighed.

“We can’t talk about this here.”

Darcy felt the slightest tinge of heat in her cheeks. She was right, the staircase was no place to be interrogating her over Alpha Nico’s family. Beta Oli nodded her to continue her descent and followed one step behind.

Once they reached the kitchen, and all entrances were shut, she said, “You can’t be telling anyone this stuff, Omega.”

Darcy nodded sincerely, her brows set in a serious expression. Beta Oli sighed again.

“I’m only telling you because… indirectly it affects you.”

Darcy nodded again.

“It’s a long story,” she warned. Darcy held her stern gaze and she shrugged. “I’ll try to cut it down to just the important bits.”

She took up a seat on a stool next to the sink again and Darcy hopped up onto a counter on the other side. Settling in for story time.

“Nico’s great-great-grandmother… or maybe great-great-great… it’s confusing-” She scratched at the shaved part of her head with an endearing grin. “Anyway! We’ll say her great-great-grandmother was an omega. And that omega’s son, Nico’s great-something-uncle, really idolised his parents’ relationship. Having two wolves at the complete opposite ends of the power spectrum mated to each other fascinated him. He wanted his soul-mate to be an omega, too.”

Darcy nodded along, unsure how the ancient history was going to lead into present day any time soon, but she listened intently nonetheless.

“Unfortunately,” Beta Oli continued. “He didn’t understand that omegas are rare, so the likeliness of him having been born from one and then being mated to another weren’t very high. He wouldn’t listen to anyone around him, though. He was obsessed.” There was a flash of darkness in her hazel eyes. “All he wanted was an omega mate that he could put on a pedestal, and spoil, and show off to anyone who would look in his direction. Just as his father treated his omega mother. A soul-mate that he could possess like a toy or a trinket.” Alpha Nico’s assumption that Darcy would be lazy and expecting to be fawned over, purely for being omega, made a little more sense. “He wanted an omega so badly, he didn’t care about right and wrong.”

Beta Oli paused and Darcy bit her lip nervously. “I don’t like where this is going,” she squeaked.

It did not reassure her that Beta Oli simply returned to the story.

“Lots of years went by. His alpha sister took over the pack from their father and found her soul-mate. They went on to have children, one of which was the next alpha of the pack: Nico’s grandmother. While this was all happening, the uncle had been left to his own business, from what I’ve been told. He was spending his time learning everything he could about omegas.”

She looked down at her meaty palms, resting on her knees. There was nothing to see there. Darcy knew she was simply avoiding her eyes for whatever was coming next.

“Apparently, no one had informed him that a pack could only have one omega. Which was, at that point, his own mother. When he found this out through his research, he became convinced that it was his mother that was blocking the arrival of his omega. He went completely off the deep end. Not long after he worked out the one omega rule, his mother died.”

Darcy felt a twitch coming on in her left eye. “D-did he?” she asked, uncertain if she wanted to know the answer.

“He almost got away with it,” Beta Oli answered sadly. “She was old, and he messed with her food and drink to slowly poison her. His alpha niece turned him in to the council and he was imprisoned for the rest of his life. The Pearl Claw was slapped with a ban on ‘owning’-” She cringed at the word but Darcy pursed her hips and nodded, she was well aware of how the old council laws described the existence of omegas. She didn’t need to shy away from it for her sake.”-an omega for half a century. With the ban in place, and with their family history, the next two generations of alphas were understandably avoidant of omegas. And that avoidance slowly became dislike, and then maybe…”

“In Alpha Nico it evolved into hate?” Darcy suggested.

Beta Oli pursed her lips and considered her words for a moment before replying. “That’s a strong word,” she said. “Truthfully, I don’t know. I think there’s layers to it. Family shame, grief of losing their omega great-something-grandmother in such a horrible way, and then pack humiliation at being banned from having omega for fifty years. I think Nico and her father both came to see omega as evil omens.”

“Is that why she wants me to work hard but never wants me anywhere near her?”

“Probably.” She shrugged. “I wish I could make it easier, but I think the solution is purely trust-building. The only references she has for omegas are her family history.” She pushed up from her seat. “Give it time, Omega Darcy. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Darcy wouldn’t hold her breath. But she would try her best.