Beta Bully (F/M) - Chapter 51 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Walkies II

A shadow came over her, blocking the warmth she had been happily bathing in.

Darcy cracked an eye open to appraise the great furry beast standing over her. His shaggy fur couldn’t cover his dopey expression and Darcy huffed a laugh at it. Whatever he wanted from her, she wasn’t picking up his clues. This shouldn’t be surprising to him, she had explained more than once that she had no natural ability to read wolf body language. She tucked all four of her feet in and rolled out from under him like a sausage, back into the sun.

He was so oversized compared to her, she really did feel like a puppy. Maybe a little playful. Especially when he followed, side stepping to place himself over her again like a parasol. She rolled away. He followed. She jumped up and ran through his back legs. He swiped at her with his tail. She ducked and rolled and darted away from him every time he approached until she was panting. Luca, predictably, appeared unbothered by the heat and continued to chase her at a delay. Toying with her at half-speed.

Darcy skipped back to the shade to cool down, and a furry form was at her back in an instant. She tried to groan at him, to let him know she was overheated, but it came out as a rumbling sound - almost a growl. Darcy started at the sound. It had come out of her. She had never growled before. Or barked. Or howled. Luca scooted back a little behind her and she scurried back to him, burying her face in his furry stomach. Even though she knew the growl had come from her, it had startled the nerves back into her.

She didn’t know how to do this. It didn’t come naturally to her. She was going to get herself hurt if she couldn’t even keep from making threatening noises. Luca made no noise in response, but he nuzzled the top of her head gently and Darcy whined. She really hoped he knew she didn’t mean to growl at him. He was good at this stuff. As a beta, he had to be.

Darcy swivelled her butt to sit back against him, mirroring his body language like a pair of nesting dolls. The heat wasn’t too intense anymore, and his body warmth was comforting rather than overbearing. After what couldn't have been more than a few minutes, she could feel Luca growing restless behind her. She glanced at him over her shoulder, tilting her head like he had done. Asking him what he wanted.

A damp nose nudged the base of her skull, urging her forward.

Now who needed walkies?

Darcy begrudgingly straightened her hind legs and picked her way through the dry undergrowth daintily, avoiding sharp sticks and thorny tendrils. Luca had no such qualms, bounding over her and straight through a bush that parted for him like the red sea. It created a path for Darcy to follow, though. She let him forge out their trail while she carefully manoeuvred through the destruction he left in his wake.

Clearly, he had a lot of energy to release. Darcy couldn’t relate, she was exhausted already. She took a last look at the pretty patch of grass amongst all the dry, brown earth and sighed to herself.

A blond ball of fur bounded back towards her, his ears were up and his movements were tighter than before. Darcy could see these things, but what they meant was a mystery.

Luca trotted a loose loop around her before moving in close to her side. His back paws aligned with hers while his front paws were planted much further forward. Darcy gave him a questioning look, knowing she wouldn’t understand any answer he gave. Luca started forward again, slower. Darcy matched his pace, attempting to stay in line with him.

A cacophony of thrashing branches and barks preceded a small group of wolves bursting out from between the bushes ahead. They were all smaller than Luca, and coated in much darker fur. A hulking mass followed them, though. A latte-coloured monster brushed past them to take the front spot. And a familiar scent came with it.

Beta Oli.

He sniffed in Darcy’s direction and she skittered back a step. He tipped his nose to Luca at an angle and Luca moved a little closer. Darcy wished he wouldn’t, it meant she was obliged to follow.

The wolves behind him were fixated on her. A patrol squad, she had to assume. So many sets of black eyes bore into her that she almost squeezed her own shut to pretend they weren’t there. Instead, she kept her eyes flicking between Luca and Oli, but they were having their own quiet conversation in huffs and ear tilts.

The more they stared, and she could feel them still staring, the more she wished she were a burrowing mammal. With tiny steps, she retreated deeper into Luca’s side. He and Oli continued to exchange noises and head jerks.

As the wolves either side of the larger beta grew restless, their eyes finally darted away from Darcy and into the trees. But they always returned to her. Darcy dropped to the ground where she was. Sat beside Luca was the safest place to be, anyway.

Luca lifted the paw by Darcy’s head and stepped it over her, covering her entire body like a pop-up gazebo. Then he lowered himself down until his fur was just close enough to mesh with hers. A chicken resting over an egg.

Beta Oli almost looked as though he were smiling. Without bared teeth, of course. If anyone flashed a single canine at Darcy she was going to cry. There was something in the tension of Luca’s body pressed to her back that told her he wasn’t smiling. Almost as though his fur was bristling with annoyance against her.

The conversation between the wolves came to an abrupt end, with Oli leading his troop away in a burst of scattered leaves and mud. They took off into the forest at top speed, in the direction of the boundary line.

Luca rose slowly, then paced back and forth in front of Darcy a few times, then shook his fur as though throwing off all of his frustration. Why he had suddenly become so agitated was still a mystery. Perhaps one of the guards had offended him with the wrong ear movement. Darcy didn’t know how these things worked. She expected to be mauled for leading with the wrong paw.

With her fears dulled now that Oli and his team had taken off, it left room for her hunger to make itself known. Her tummy growled louder than she had on the grass patch. Luca’s dark gold eyes were on her in an instant, he sniffed at her sides and she huffed through her nose at him. She was just hungry, not hurt.

Satisfied via his sniffing, he nudged her back the way they came. Then he took off again, racing ahead and leaving her to trot behind him with her nose in the air, trying to ignore the prickling pain in her delicate paws. She was just too small, and everything else was too big! Luca would never understand.

They shifted back once they had located the backpack, Darcy once again hiding behind a tree, and dressed quickly. On their walk back home, they were mostly silent, except for picking up lunch at the bakery.

There were a lot of questions in the back of Darcy’s mind, but she didn’t have the energy to put them into words just yet. Nor did she want to start a conversation that would open up the wolf-form debate again. Today was enough.

As soon as their front door was shut, Luca broke the comfortable silence.

“Did you enjoy it?” He laid out their collection of foods across the coffee table while he waited for her answer.

“The scenery was nice,” Darcy said carefully.

“What about the run itself?”

“I’m sure the exercise did me good.”

“But did you like it?” His hands had stopped arranging sandwiches, and his eyes were burning into her.

“I don’t know if that’s the word I would use.” Stressful. Unnerving. Uncomfortable.

Luca sighed.

“It’s not your fault, Luca,” she reassured him quietly. “I’ve never had that connection that you have with your wolf form. I’ve always known I was odd for not having the built-in instincts.” Odd didn’t even begin to describe how she had felt growing up and into her wolf form. “It makes my wolf form almost… exhausting. Because I have to think so much to make up for the lack in natural cues.”

“Well, thank you for giving it a shot.” He smiled sadly. “I had a really good time.”

And now Darcy’s heart hurt.

“Movie?” he asked. Pandering to her, and trying to save the rest of the day, she could tell.

“Sure,” she agreed softly. “You pick, I just want to cuddle on the sofa with background noise.”

His smile became ten percent more believable. “Perfect.”