Luna had been following her for three days without a single word and it was beginning to give Darcy the shakes. Waiting for the beta to begin the interrogation had her nerves more than frayed, they were mutilated. If this was a tactic to spook her and get her to talk once she was finally asked the dreaded question, she feared it was working. Having Luna floating behind her like a ghost rendered her barely able to function. Often she was so quiet Darcy only kept track of her presence by scent.
She had a strong, dominant scent of the forest that clung to everything she touched, as long as it hadn’t already been brushed with the scent of an alpha. Beta scents covered normal wolves’ scents. Alpha scents overpowered all. Alpha scents also stuck around the longest, omegas the shortest. But with omegas having such weak scents of their own, their skin was incredibly easy to scent mark. It soaked up other wolves’ scents with only the lightest touch, then it took a good deal of scrubbing to get it back off.
A teeny, tiny droplet of hope in Darcy’s soul wished she would accidentally get so close in her stalking that she would brush against her. Accidentally scent mark her. Her logic being that she might find some kindness or empathy in her heart for an omega wearing her scent. Right now she could not tell what was in Luna’s heart. She was utterly blank. It felt like Darcy had the cockiest assassin in the world tailing her.
Luna’s lackeys were keeping their distance, it seemed they didn’t know what to make of her behaviour either. Darcy caught them giving her belligerent looks whenever they passed, but they said nothing to her or Luna. More miraculously, they did nothing to her. Not even a sly locker shove.
Unfortunately, her few friends were also giving her a wide berth with her intimidating tag-along. They were scared to even message her while Luna was at her back. At home, Darcy filled them in on what was happening as best she could. But she barely knew herself what was going on. The overwhelming presence of her bully was just… there. She didn’t speak or touch her. Occasionally her breath would breeze over her skin - her neck or crown or shoulder. Darcy didn’t always manage to suppress the shiver that came with it. If Luna noticed, she still said nothing.
They were seated next to each other in only two classes these days, a blessing that Darcy thanked her lucky stars for every day. On the first day of school they had been seated next to each other for every single subject. As the years went by things had shifted little by little. For three days though, even when Luna wasn’t taking class in the same room or even same building, she would be waiting outside the door faster than Darcy could scoop up her things to leave.
On day four, Darcy was a wreck. Her hands were wracked with intermittent shakes, most often triggered by Luna’s presence. Dark circles had bruised her under-eyes. She was expecting a heart attack at any minute.
When her planner slipped from her jittery fingers, clattering to the tiled floor as she made her way to chemistry, Luna snatched it up before Darcy’s knees had fully bent. Her hand a flash beneath Darcy’s nose. Apparently she hadn’t planned to steal it, as she then stood gormless, clutching it in one hand. A week ago, she would have lofted it above Darcy’s head and teased her. Now she seemed lost.
Darcy reached for it at a snail pace, her little fingers dangling in the air between them as she approached. Like a child timidly reaching to pet an animal. She avoided eye contact for as long as she could, but when the tips of her fingers grazed the book Luna lurched it back and her face snapped up to meet Darcy’s. They were frozen like a pair of statues, her hand stretched out, and Luna’s pinning the planner to her chest like a scandalised woman would her handkerchief.
Her expression mimicked the one she had when she first found her after her MYSTIKA appointment. Confused. Uncertain. Curious.
“Please may I have my planner back?” Darcy whispered.
Something crackled between them and the noise of the bustling corridor returned. Students hollering and laughing. Teachers corralling them as best they could in the chaos.
A low rumbling growl came from Luna’s chest but Darcy was sure she was the only one who noticed. She felt the vibration of it on her cheeks even with the space between them.
She lowered the planner robotically.
Darcy still had to lightly pry it from her fingers but she allowed her to take it. Amber eyes watched her as she did. With a pivot on one foot, she scurried to chemistry. Luna hesitated, but was at her back again in seconds.
At the end of the day, she accompanied her to the bus as she had done every day that week since the MYSTIKA Monday incident. She was silent until they reached the steps. As Darcy’s foot flattened on the bottom step, she glanced back at Luna to do her awkward good-bye look over she shoulder that she had gotten into the routine of this week.
“What’re you doing this weekend?” Luna asked.
Hearing her voice after a week of silence was a shock, but it sent a warm tingle over Darcy’s skin. She was still her soul-mate, and her body would not let her forget.
Darcy faltered. “Hmm?”
“You’re either on the bus or off the bus, omega!” yelled the bus driver.
Darcy jolted and continued up a step. “Um, nothing,” she said quickly over her shoulder.
“Good,” said Luna. The single word prodded her right in the chest. She hated that it hurt. She was stupid to think that she might have softened, of course she would love to hear that the omega had no fun plans for the weekend. She revelled in Darcy’s misery.
Darcy skipped up the last few steps, nodded an apologetic grimace to the driver and took her seat.
Luna’s weird words stuck with her all weekend.
Monday came around as heartbreakingly quickly as always and Darcy trudged into the main school building with little enthusiasm.
Luna was waiting at her locker and for a brief moment Darcy considered whether she really needed her books for class. Unfortunately, she feared being chewed out by her teachers just as much as Luna.
Before she could get her combination in, Luna suddenly became incredibly talkative.
“What did you do at the weekend?” she asked, although it sounded like an order for information rather than an innocent inquiry.
Darcy paused with her hand on the lock. “Um, n-nothing,” she answered tentatively.
“What kind of nothing?”
The question did not compute in Darcy’s brain. She finally glanced up at Luna for a hint of whatever answer she was looking for, the beta’s expression was blank. “What do you mean?”
“Who did you do nothing with?”
Darcy scrunched her face. “No one,” she answered with a little more attitude in her tone.
Luna continued to push. “And does ‘no one’ go by any other names?”
“Is there someone specific you’re looking for?” Darcy offered, hopelessly trying to make sense of the line of questioning. Whatever Luna was hoping to hear, Darcy was not catching on. “Because they weren’t with me.”
“Who was with you?”
“No one,” Darcy repeated with a sigh. “I did homework, I watched some movies and I burnt some brownies… then I ate some burnt brownies. My friends were all busy.” Her voice softened as she pooled all of her courage to add, “not that my social life is really your business.”
Luna’s voice became a quiet rumble, approaching a growl. “Everything you do is my business.”
Darcy backed up, pressing her lips together and squashing her brows in confusion. Luna watched her until she got a few metres back, then she rushed forward and snatched Darcy up by the elbow. A shocked squeak came out of her but she did not struggle. She knew enough about Luna to know it would only irritate her more. Her body was so close to hers, her scent was wafting off of her in dreamy waves. Darcy was desperate to bury her face in her shirt. Instead, she turned her face away in what she hoped was an indignant manner.
“We need to talk,” Luna said directly into her ear.
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