Beta Bully (F/F) - Chapter 45 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Trust & A Test

Building trust was easier said than done. Darcy completed every task she was given as quickly as possible. She avoided Alpha Nico whenever she was not called upon. Out of Alpha Nico’s sight, she prepped for the alpha’s daily routines as much as she could. Laying out the tray, cutlery, and coffee mugs in the evening to be ready for Alpha Nico’s breakfast, that kind of thing. And yet, Darcy felt absolutely no difference in the alpha’s attitude towards her.

She stared down into the steaming mugs, watching her own grim expression wobble back at her in the dark liquid. For some reason, Alpha Nico hadn’t called down for her breakfast at the usual time that morning. Unfortunately, Darcy had attempted to be proactive and already prepared everything. And now the coffee was cooling and the mini pancakes were going soggy under the melting butter. She had wanted to make something special for the alpha, in the sad hopes it might buy her some favour. She always made an extra coffee for Beta Oli, just in case she was there, too.

Fifteen minutes after Alpha Nico’s usual summoning time, Darcy decided to take the initiative and go up. She wasn’t a lazy and spoiled omega. And she would show as much. This may even be a test from Alpha Nico, to keep Darcy on her toes. Maybe she had already failed by waiting the fifteen minutes for the alpha’s call.

She stood outside with the tray balanced on her palms, but the alpha did not call her in. Perhaps she was still furious with her, demeaning her to the point of having to knock as though the alpha couldn’t easily smell her approach. Or perhaps she really wasn’t at her desk.

There was noise inside, though. And Darcy could smell Alpha Nico and Beta Oli nearby. She may not have the nose of a dominant wolf, but their faint traces were fresh.

It was time to take initiative. Pass the test. Prove that omega can make decisions for themselves when needed. She pushed the door handle down with her elbow and let herself into the room.

The breakfast tray almost slid from her arms.

Her senses came back to her with a sharp gasp and she curled her fingers around the plastic edge, although not fast enough to stop the spill of lukewarm coffee over the pancakes and across all of the cutlery. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she couldn’t think straight.

All Darcy knew was that she never wanted to make decisions for herself ever again.

She placed the tray onto the nearest flat surface with shaking hands and made a run for it, pulling the door closed firmly behind her. She sprinted all the way back to the kitchen and locked herself in the pantry. Alone, her own breaths were too loud around her, panting and stuttering. She needed to calm down. She sat on the small wooden stool in the corner and covered her eyes.

Immediately, the scene burst back into her vision.

Alpha Nico with her shirt completely unbuttoned and splayed around her, laid over her own desk with hands clutching the edge above her head. Her legs had been bare, hooked loosely around Beta Oli’s hips, with curled feet almost able to meet at the small of the beta’s back. With every rock of Beta Oli’s body against hers, Alpha Nico’s breasts had bounced a half-beat behind her tempo.

Their eyes had found hers instantly. One pair dazed and upside-down; they then grew in furious recognition as Darcy had fumbled the tray into the room. The other pair had held only surprise. Darcy hadn’t hung around to see anything else.

And now she was trapped amongst tinned tomatoes and a stockpile of laundry detergent. Frozen behind a locked door that wouldn’t hold back an alpha. She shook her head, clearing the irrational thoughts. Alpha Nico wouldn’t be angry enough to hurt her. That would get her in serious trouble with the council.

A repeat of her family’s shame brought upon the Pearl Claw.

But from the look in Alpha Nico’s eyes as she dangled over her own desk, Darcy couldn’t say for sure that the woman didn’t want her dead.

She paced the pantry in search of a plan that never came. Too scared to leave. Too anxious to properly hide.

A message brought her phone to life. The screen blared two words Darcy would have sold her soul not to have seen there. She was being ordered back to the scene of her crime. For prompt execution, she assumed. The lock would barely turn in the pantry door as she fumbled it multiple times under flustered fingers.

She wanted to drag her feet and extend the journey back to Alpha Nico’s office as much as possible, but she knew it would do her no favours.

At the door, she raised her hand to knock, but Alpha Nico yelled through the door for her to enter before she could.

There was no sign of Beta Oli inside, and Alpha Nico had returned to her signature spot behind her desk. Her clothes we righted. A barely-contained rage seemed to vibrate out of her. The tray remained in disarray where Darcy had left it in her hasty getaway.

Darcy stood as far back from the desk as good manners would allow. Hoping the added distance would make it harder for Alpha Nico to hit her with a launched paper weight.

“I will make this quick, Omega,” Alpha Nico spat. “Because if you don’t get the hell out of my sight soon I might not be able to stop myself from throwing you out the window.”

“I appreciate that, Alpha,” Darcy whispered, sounding choked.

“Shut. Up.”

Darcy nodded obediently.

“You will take that tray. You will leave my office. You will never step foot in my office again. You will never speak of what you saw in my office again. And you will perform nothing more than cleaning duties from this moment forward.” Alpha Nico’s jaw was clenched so tightly she could barely snarl out the terse orders. “Clearly you are incapable of anything else.”

The cruel words bounced off Darcy’s frozen form. Alpha emotions swirling around her, prickling at her skin. A good, considerate alpha would use their training in emotional restraint to protect other wolves around them from their fury. Alpha Nico let everything loose in the room. Like demons running amok.

“Leave, Omega,” Alpha Nico growled.

Darcy suddenly became aware of her entire body shaking. She twisted slowly, snatched up the sopping tray, and stumbled out the door as though on stilts. Whether she managed to close it behind her, she didn’t know.

After dropping the tray off in the kitchen, Darcy climbed to Alder Suite in a daze. Inside, she flopped into bed and laid amongst the pillows deadly still.

She didn’t watch the clock, but the clunk of the front door told her when the end of the day had arrived, along with her soul-mate. She had achieved nothing all day but making a mess.

“Darce?” Luna called through the suite.

Darcy made a groaning sound into the pillows. Apparently it was enough to lead her to her side. The bedding beside her shoulder dipped under Luna’s weight.

“Babe? What’s wrong?” She brushed a hand through her hair. “Are you feeling sick?”

Darcy twisted her head, bringing her face out of the pillow. “Can I talk to you about something?” she said softly.

Luna’s concern physically doubled. “Of course.”

“It’s about Alpha Nico.”

“Oh?” She winced. “Yeah, she’s a bit tough-”

“She yells at me.”

Luna froze. Only a twitch in her eye showed sign of life. They stared at each other for a few moments before she managed to growl, “What?”

“She shouts in my face and calls me lazy and entitled,” she continued. “She’s hated me from day one. She hates omegas, Luna.”

“Are you serious? Darcy, if-”

“I swear,” she said on a shudder. “Beta Oli told me it’s because of her family, and the omega ban that the pack got because of what her uncle did.”

Luna’s eyes were wide, and uncertain. “What did her uncle do?” she whispered.

“I thought you knew,” Darcy said slowly. “You’re a beta, too.”

“I know the Pearl Claw wasn’t allowed an omega until recently,” Luna replied, with just as much caution. “But the reason why isn’t public knowledge. Beta Oli would only know because she’s so close to Alpha Nico, not because she’s a beta.”

Darcy thought of Beta Oli’s insistence that she tell no one about Alpha Nico’s family history. Then she thought of Alpha Nico screaming in her face.

“Her great uncle killed his omega mother because he wanted an omega mate,” she said.

Luna stared at her. Her mouth and eyes were stretched wide.

“Darcy,” she breathed. She shook her head, words evading her as she took it all in.

“I don’t think Beta Oli understands how bad it gets either,” she added, hushed as though the alpha and beta may have their ears against a glass on their front door. “She only acts that way when we’re alone.”

“We need to catch her in the act.” Luna’s voice had turned dark. As had her eyes. “Preferably both of us there to see it.”

“She would smell either of you from a mile off,” Darcy reminded her dejectedly.

“There will be a way, Darcy, don’t worry.” She sighed and scrubbed her hands through her angelic golden curls. “I just don’t have the authority to raise the issue without evidence.” She sighed again. “I can’t believe this.”

“I know.” Darcy smiled sadly. “I just didn’t want to go through it alone anymore. Thank you for listening to me.”

“Oh, Darce,” she crooned. “You’re breaking my heart.” Her arms circled her waist and tangled their bodies together. She peppered kisses over the top of her head and stroked her back.

They remained wrapped in their self-made bubble of peace for most of the night.

As Darcy lay beside her, she contemplated telling Luna what she’d seen that morning. Alpha Nico and Beta Oli… doing the dirty on her desk. She squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to force the image from her mind. No, it wasn’t her place to tell others’ private business like that.

It wasn’t relevant to how Alpha Nico treated her anyway, she had hated Darcy long before she walked in on something she shouldn’t have.