Luca had been following him 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 his nerves more than frayed, they were mutilated. If this was a tactic to spook him and get him to talk once he was finally asked the dreaded question, he feared it was working. Having Luca floating behind him like a ghost rendered him barely able to function. Often he was so quiet Darcy only kept track of his presence by scent.

He had a strong, dominant scent of the forest that clung to everything he 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 he would accidentally get so close in his stalking that he would brush against him. Accidentally scent mark him. His logic being that Luca might find some kindness or empathy in his heart for an omega wearing his scent. Right now Darcy could not tell what was in Luca’s heart. He was utterly blank. It felt like Darcy had the cockiest assassin in the world tailing him.

Luca’s lackeys were keeping their distance, it seemed they didn’t know what to make of his behaviour either. Darcy caught them giving him belligerent looks whenever they passed, but they said nothing to him or Luca. More miraculously, they did nothing to him. Not even a sly locker shove.

Unfortunately, his few friends were also giving him a wide berth with his intimidating tag-along. They were scared to even message him while Luca was at his back. At home, Darcy filled them in on what was happening as best he could. But he barely knew himself what was going on. The overwhelming presence of his bully was just… there. He didn’t speak or touch him. Occasionally his breath would breeze over his skin - his neck or crown or shoulder. Darcy didn’t always manage to suppress the shiver that came with it. If Luca noticed, he still said nothing.

They were seated next to each other in only two classes these days, a blessing that Darcy thanked his 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 Luca wasn’t taking class in the same room or even same building, he would be waiting outside the door faster than Darcy could scoop up his things to leave.

On day four, Darcy was a wreck. His hands were wracked with intermittent shakes, most often triggered by Luca’s presence. Dark circles had bruised his under-eyes. He was expecting a heart attack at any minute.

When his planner slipped from his jittery fingers, clattering to the tiled floor as he made his way to chemistry, Luca snatched it up before Darcy’s knees had fully bent. His hand a flash beneath Darcy’s nose. Apparently he hadn’t planned to steal it, as he then stood gormless, clutching it in one hand. A week ago, he would have lofted it above Darcy’s head and teased him. Now he seemed lost.

Darcy reached for it at a snail pace, his little fingers dangling in the air between them as he approached. Like a child timidly reaching to pet an animal. He avoided eye contact for as long as he could, but when the tips of his fingers grazed the book Luca lurched it back and his face snapped up to meet Darcy’s. They were frozen like a pair of statues, his hand stretched out, and Luca’s pinning the planner to his chest like a scandalised woman would her handkerchief.

His expression mimicked the one he had when he had first found Darcy after his 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 Luca’s chest but Darcy was sure he was the only one who noticed. He felt the vibration of it on his cheeks even with the space between them.

He lowered the planner robotically.

Darcy still had to lightly pry it from his fingers but he allowed him to take it. Amber eyes watched him as he did. With a pivot on one foot, he scurried to chemistry. Luca hesitated, but was at his back again in seconds.

At the end of the day, he accompanied him to the bus as he had done every day that week since the MYSTIKA Monday incident. He was silent until they reached the steps. As Darcy’s foot flattened on the bottom step, he glanced back at Luca to do his awkward good-bye look over his shoulder that he had gotten into the routine of this week.

“What’re you doing this weekend?” Luca asked.

Hearing his voice after a week of silence was a shock, but it sent a warm tingle over Darcy’s skin. He was still his soul-mate, and his body would not let him 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,” he said quickly over his shoulder.

“Good,” said Luca. The single word prodded him right in the chest. He hated that it hurt. He was stupid to think that he might have softened, of course he would love to hear that the omega had no fun plans for the weekend. He revelled in Darcy’s misery.

Darcy skipped up the last few steps, nodded an apologetic grimace to the driver and took his seat.

Luca’s weird words stuck with him all weekend.

Monday came around as heartbreakingly quickly as always and Darcy trudged into the main school building with little enthusiasm.

Luca was waiting at his locker and for a brief moment Darcy considered whether he really needed his books for class. Unfortunately, he feared being chewed out by his teachers just as much as Luca.

Before he could get his combination in, Luca suddenly became incredibly talkative.

“What did you do at the weekend?” he asked, although it sounded like an order for information rather than an innocent inquiry.

Darcy paused with his hand on the lock. “Um, n-nothing,” he answered tentatively.

“What kind of nothing?”

The question did not compute in Darcy’s brain. He finally glanced up at Luca for a hint of whatever answer he was looking for, the beta’s expression was blank. “What do you mean?”

“Who did you do nothing with?”

Darcy scrunched his face. “No one,” he answered with a little more attitude in his tone.

Luca 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 Luca 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.” His voice softened as he pooled all of his courage to add, “not that my social life is really your business.”

Luca’s voice became a quiet rumble, approaching a growl. “Everything you do is my business.”

Darcy backed up, pressing his lips together and squashing his brows in confusion. Luca watched him until he got a few metres back, then he rushed forward and snatched Darcy up by the elbow. A shocked squeak came out of him but he did not struggle. He knew enough about Luca to know it would only irritate him more. His body was so close, his scent was wafting off of him in dreamy waves. Darcy was desperate to bury his face in his shirt. Instead, he turned his face away in what he hoped was an indignant manner.

“We need to talk,” Luca said directly into his ear.