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

Ancient History

Darcy hadn’t made it within reach of the door knob before Alpha Nico called him through to his 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 he made Darcy stand, wait, and knock for no real reason.

Although he had only been back from his break with Luca and his friends a few minutes, he was surprised there was not a single task sent through to his phone in the time that he had been gone. Best to report directly to the source for his 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. He took a soldier-like stance in front of the desk with his hands tucked behind his back and a flat expression. Bracing himself.

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

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

“I was very grateful that Luca allowed me a break, Alpha,” Darcy replied carefully. Shamelessly name-dropping his mate in case he 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 Luca might not know what comes with having an omega in the pack,” Alpha Nico drawled. Darcy was tempted to retort that neither did he, Luca had told him the Pearl Claw had never had an omega so long as he’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 him 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!” he barked.

It was the best outcome Darcy could have hoped for, he 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. He jerked back, pressing the door closed behind him. A delicate hand batted his to stop him 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.” He curled around the door like a cat, showing his 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 he said darling brought out a reflexive grimace to Darcy’s face. He slipped into the office, rattling with layers of accessories, and shut the door firmly behind him.

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 his jokes about his short stature.

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

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

Darcy gave him a sour look and he sighed.

“We can’t talk about this here.”

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

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

Darcy nodded sincerely, his 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,” he warned. Darcy held his stern gaze and he shrugged. “I’ll try to cut it down to just the important bits.”

He 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-” He scratched at the shaved part of his head with an endearing grin. “Anyway! We’ll say his 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 he 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 his 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 his lip nervously. “I don’t like where this is going,” he squeaked.

It did not reassure his 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 his 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.”

He looked down at his meaty palms, resting on his knees. There was nothing to see there. Darcy knew he was simply avoiding his 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 his left eye. “D-did he?” he asked, uncertain if he 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’-” He cringed at the word but Darcy pursed his hips and nodded, he was well aware of how the old council laws described the existence of omegas. He didn’t need to shy away from it for his 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 his lips and considered his words for a moment before replying. “That’s a strong word,” he 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 his father both came to see omega as evil omens.”

“Is that why he wants me to work hard but never wants me anywhere near him?”

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

Darcy wouldn’t hold his breath. But he would try his best.