Sunday had been spent over-analysing every moment of the hunt, including many replays in Darcy’s head of the kiss. The feel of Luca laughing into her mouth. Smiling against her lips.

Her friends had spent all of their Sunday spamming her with apologetic messages and calls. She had decided to forgive them pretty quickly, but made them wait at least eight hours before informing them they were officially forgiven.

Darcy didn’t know what to expect come Monday, but for the first time in weeks she breezed into the school without a knot twisting at her stomach. Something had released the tension inside of her. Despite having no idea what the day held for her, the high of a Saturday spent in the woods with her mate had left her with a cheerful, glowing sensation.

It was only moments after opening her locker that she noticed Luca on the other side of the corridor, surrounded by his goons. Darcy took an extra-long glance, purely to confirm whether or not he was wearing a t-shirt with her name on. He was not. It was nice to stare at him for a bit, though. And no t-shirt meant the deal was still on. Another win for her.

As she dug through her books, she couldn’t avoid overhearing the rowdy wolves’ conversation behind her. They were having an age-old teenager discussion (at least for those who were athletic or thuggish) which went as follows: who would win in a fight between X and Y? They had run through a few animals and teachers by the time Darcy was sealing her locker.

As Darcy started away for her first period, one of Luca’s goons suddenly turned his attention to her, jolting her on the spot.

“Okay, what about your little omega clinger versus a human?” he asked with a sneer.

Luca and his friends all eyed her up as a group. A congealed monster made of six boys squashed together. Darcy was frozen on the spot in front of them. Unlike a deer, she wouldn’t get the mercy of a truck taking her out of this situation.

“Darcy couldn’t fight her way out of a paper bag,” Luca answered with a laugh.

The original goon added, “we’re talkin’ a scrawny human.”

“Luca’s right,” the tallest one said. “There’s less meat on that omega than a cocktail sausage.”

“What would be a fair fight, then?”

Luca’s eyes grazed over her body from head to toe again, slowly. Darcy glared at him. She didn’t want him to see how much he was hurting her. If she didn’t force anger, she would crumple pathetically in front of them all.

His grin was menacing and his golden eyes glinted at her - a predator sizing up his prey. “A stuffed animal?” he offered.

His weasel-faced henchmen howled with laughter in unison.

“But a regular sized one,” he continued. “Not one of those giant carnival ones, that would be too much for her.”

The widest henchman snorted disgustingly before joining in.“Definitely weighs more than her,” he said, before laughing himself into another snort at his own joke.

Darcy’s size was up there with her biggest insecurities, just like any omega. She clutched her books to her chest tighter. It hurt. She hoped the physical pain would wake her legs up and help her escape this emotional pain. She was transported back to her first day of high school. When Luca first began to tear her apart daily.

He was her mate now, but nothing had changed. Nothing ever would. She had always known that.

Luca sauntered over to her, he looked ridiculously pleased with himself. Darcy looked him over with her strongest stink-eye. Giving back what he had laid on her with his analytical gaze. He huffed a quiet laugh and raised one brow at her.

“What?” he said sarcastically.

“Nothing,” she grunted.

They had a staring match with a foot and a half of height difference.

He broke the silence first. “If you have something to say, then say it,” he said quietly, but with a thick layer of threat over his words.

Darcy finally turned and stomped away. She had a study period first which meant she had a whole hour free to go and cry about her poor fortune in love. Well, perhaps not actually cry. Probably just sulk in solitude. She didn’t hear any more laughing behind her, but it probably couldn’t make her feel any worse than she already did anyway.

Instead of heading to the library with her pile of revision guides, she slipped into the first empty classroom she found. At the back of the room she crawled under a desk and laid her books around her. She stared at them for a few seconds, contemplating whether she actually had the heart to study. She slumped back against a table leg, deciding to wallow in her own misery instead.

Her mate was a jerk. And a bully. He would never tire of taking the piss out of her.

Apparently, he would also never tire of stalking her like a deranged door-to-door salesperson. The door of the classroom opened and closed quickly, and Darcy didn’t need to peek out from under the table to know who had followed her. He had a terrifyingly accurate grasp on her scent by now, it could lead him to her like string.

Darcy couldn’t get a moment of peace. Not even to simply be miserable for a bit.

Luca dropped to a wide-kneed squat and ducked his head under the tabletop. His angelic golden curls bounced around his ears. His handsome tilted face caused a ripple of flutters from Darcy’s stomach to her throat.

“Hey,” he said. His voice was bland, his expression bored.

“We have a deal,” she reminded him. It was all she could think to say.

“I don’t remember signing anything.”

He was right. At the time she had said they would put the deal in writing. Then he made her so flustered she had forgotten. She floundered for a few moments.

“We shook on it,” she blurted.

He laughed quietly. “If there’s no blood or spit it ain’t binding,” he said.

Darcy turned her face away. She was tired of him. Tired of arguing with him. He had an answer for everything. He could defend his own Luca Laws to the death. He followed his own rules and no one else’s.

“Why are you getting so upset?” he asked.

Silence simmered between them as Darcy considered what to say, and whether to answer at all.

She kept her eyes on the back wall when she finally answered. “Because, and this may seem alien to you, I don’t enjoy being the butt of your jokes.” Her voice shook even though she wasn’t trying to speak above her usual timid tone.

“My jokes are funny, you should just laugh along.”

“And what would you have done before?” she whispered. Remembering how he treated her before, and having to combine that memory with how he couldn’t even restrain himself from teasing her when he thought she was his mate. It prickled at every inch of her. Her eyes couldn’t take the pain. They filled with tears, shaking her vision. “If I had laughed along with one of your stupid jokes?”

Luca sighed. “Before what?” he asked irritably.

“Before MYSTIKA. Before she put some ridiculous idea in your head about… us.” Darcy turned her gaze on him again as the first tears dripped down her cheeks. “Before you started pretending to be nice to me.” A rogue sob escaped her and she had to clamp a hand over her mouth momentarily to get a hold of herself again. She had more to say, and he was going to hear her. “If I had laughed along with one of your jokes back then…” She sniffed and brushed at her cheeks with trembling fingers. “The nicest thing you would have done to me would be shoving me in a locker”

“I wouldn’t have done that.” But his voice was uncertain for once, a slight shake in his throat as he spoke. Even he didn’t believe his words.

“But now you want me to laugh at the same jokes that at least before you let me cry about?”

“Crying over a joke-”

“It’s not a joke to me, Luca!” she snapped. Another small sob caught her out, but she continued nonetheless. “Jokes are funny. Your jokes are just mean. If you want to go back to bullying me, at least give me some notice so I can avoid you and your stupid jokes.”

His eyes were aflame. His irritation and condescension turned into something much darker in an instant.

“You can’t avoid me, Darcy. I’m your mate.” He wasn’t wrong about her being unable to avoid him, she had tried and failed numerous times since that fateful raffle day. He always found her eventually. That didn’t mean she would stop trying, she could be just as stubborn as him. Omega may not be known for taking stances against the dominant genders, but Darcy’s parents didn’t raise her to be squashed under some beta’s foot. Especially not some beta that was her mate.

“Says you,” she sniffed.

His sharp teeth poked out from his lips as a hint of a dangerous smirk passed over his face.

“I’ll prove it.”