“I’ll prove it.”

Luna lunged under the table.

Darcy skittered back along the floor, but soon ran out of space to run when the wall met her shoulder blades. She caged her in beneath the desk, her oversized hands tracing her hips. Darcy flattened her skirt with trembling hands, and a quiet laugh rumbled against her cheek. Darcy jerked her face away with a whimper.

Luna dragged it back by the chin, two fingers pinching almost firm enough to hurt. Her face drew in close again. The golden tones of her skin, hair and eyes warmed Darcy’s insides. She squeezed her eyes shut and folded her lips inwards. She couldn’t let Luna being her soul-mate sway the situation - she was angry with her. A breathtakingly beautiful face wouldn’t change that. She pried Darcy’s mouth open with sheer force of her tongue, inviting herself inside to play with hers roughly.

Darcy used all of her concentration to try and force her body to go limp against her. It only served to Luna’s advantage, though, as her chest bumped against her, knocking Darcy further and further into the ground until she was almost flat. When Luna curled her tongue around hers, her knees jolted towards each other and her thighs shivered reflexively. Luna pushed her way between them and moulded their fronts together. A full body tremble ran through Darcy before she could suppress it. It was hopeless. Her body was built to respond to her. Ignoring her mate would always be an impossibility. Fingertips tickled under the hem of her skirt, raising goosebumps along the skin of her thighs. Darcy twisted beneath her, struggling against the weight above her.

She raised her hands from the ground, no longer using them now that she had been pressed flat beneath Luna’s bulk. Her palms had no impact against the beta no matter how hard she pressed them against her shoulders. Pushing Luna away while her mate maturity instincts screamed to pull her closer. The open-mouthed kiss became loud, filling the room with indulgent, wet noises. The itch came back to Darcy’s fingers, desperate to sink them lower and feel under her shirt. The more she fought with herself, the less energy she was putting into fighting Luna. She took the opportunity to claim full control of her mouth.

Darcy melted beneath her.

Staving off your basic instincts was tiring. Darcy soaked up Luna’s dirty affection as she dished it into her mouth directly. Luna ground between her legs gently, coaxing timid noises from her. She was both too hot and not hot enough in equal measure. She wanted to be her temperature, to synchronise herself body and mind with her mate. Perfect soul balance.

When Luna finally pulled back, Darcy was panting.

“A kiss doesn’t prove anything,” she managed to gasp out.

The steamy, glazed look in Luna’s eyes was blinked away and she fell back onto her heels with a frown. Her head almost bumped the tabletop above them.

“What do you want from me?” Luna growled. “How do I convince you? Because I know that MYSTIKA is genuine. I may not be eighteen yet, but…” She gestured to herself with both hands, unable to convey whatever horny teenage emotion she was feeling and apparently confusing for mate maturity.

“If you believe I’m your mate, stop making fun of me to anyone who will listen,” Darcy snapped. She really didn’t think it was that wild of a concept to expect someone not to poke at your insecurities if they cared about you. But especially not in public. “You can’t be my bully and claim to be my soul-mate! If you were really my mate you’d-” She snatched her tongue back into her mouth and pinched her lips. She almost hadn’t caught herself, riled up in the heat of the moment, the heat of her mate’s body looming over hers.

“I’d what?”

Darcy could barely squeak the words out. Humiliation was burning through her blood and she felt feverish before even opening her mouth. “You’d protect me from people who pick on me.” She snatched up the collar of her sweater and pulled it up over her face. She never wanted to look Luna in the eyes again. That was one of her most secret desires, for her mate to protect and defend her against all the cruelty of the world. Especially as an omega. A stupid damsel-in distress desire.

But Luna was a bully, and she always would be. If she wanted to change, she would have. Kidding herself would only lead to more hurt. And Darcy already hurt so much.

Luna spoke quietly, “I would never let someone pick on my mate.”

Darcy scoffed without thinking. “You pick on me,” she said, dropping her collar slightly to pull a face at her over it. Forgetting, momentarily, that in the lie she was living within, she was supposed to be unconvinced that they were mates.

Luna’s face pinched. Darcy scrunched her nose in return. It was meant to be a rude gesture. A tiny smile tickled at Luna’s mouth.

“I tease you,” she said slowly. “There’s a difference.”

“Is that what you were doing before?”

“Before, in the hall?”

“You know the before I’m talking about,” Darcy whispered with barely contained fury. Playing the fool did not look good on Luna, and it only frustrated Darcy.

Her eyes flicked away uncomfortably. “I don’t want to talk about… before,” she admitted.

“But there’s no difference between before and now,” said Darcy. “That’s the problem.”

“If you don’t like something, then say it.”

Darcy collated her last drops of courage to reply, “I’m telling you now.” Her voice somehow managed to stay stern.

“No, I mean at the time,” Luna said with an eye-roll. “Tell me to fuck off or something.”

Darcy froze, her eyebrows raised to the heavens. When she finally found where she had left her tongue (unfortunately, not in Luna’s mouth) she sputtered out, “You would kill me. Or your goons would.”

“I won’t,” Luna groaned. Apparently she was as tired of this argument as Darcy was, despite not having nearly as much reason to be frustrated. In Darcy’s opinion, anyway. “You’ve proved you can be sassy, and you can yell at me-”

“That has only happened when we were alone and you really wound me up! I can’t do that in public.” Darcy shook her head with exasperation. “Because nothing is different between us in public. Even since MYSTIKA you’ve only changed in private with me.”

“We’ve agreed it now, right? So it will change, because you’ll stick up for yourself.”

“Our last agreement fell apart quicker than a jenga tower,” she reminded her. “Why should I trust this one?”

“Because this isn’t just a competition or a trade. It’s forever. You’ll stick up for yourself from now on.”

“I’ll stick up for myself and you’ll get ten times worse,” she assured her with a sigh. “You hate when people challenge you.”

“Yeah,” Luna chuckled to herself. “But… you’re an exception.”

Darcy hated how much she loved those last three words.

“Okay,” she mumbled. It took her a moment to steel herself for her first attempt at what Luna was calling ‘sticking up for herself’. “Okay, then fuck off.”

“Right now?”

“Yep, leave me alone.”

She scoffed, full of mirth, and shook her head. “Fine, if that’s what you want.” She shuffled backwards and pulled herself up by the edge of the table.

Once she had taken a few steps away, Darcy blurted, “I’ve changed my mind.”

Her laugh echoed through the room before she dipped back down to peer under the tabletop.

“Actually no,” she said with an extra helping of attitude. “Your face grossed me out. Go away again.”

She pitched forward, landing on her hands and knees on the floor, hanging her head as she laughed delightfully. “I can’t believe an omega is saying this to me.” She kept laughing, harder. It began to prickle Darcy with anxiety. It reminded her of cartoon villains.

“You’re laughing too much,” she complained. “It’s making me nervous, like you’re about to have a psychotic break and murder me.”

“So Queen Darcy’s next order is to stop laughing?”

“No, it’s still to get out.”

“Your wish is my command, your highness.”

And her command was obeyed. Luna closed the classroom door behind her with a click that could be heard from Darcy’s hiding corner.

Darcy drew her knees up to her chin and counted to fifty. More than enough time for Luna to scram. After crawling out from under the table, she shuffled to the door and peeked out. No sign of her. She slipped out and had a Luna-free afternoon. It was both blissful and anxiety-inducing. Her mind was glad to be putting that distance between them. Her body missed her touch, her scent, her voice.

And who knew what was to come next. It seemed regardless of any progress she thought she was making, nothing ever really changed. A leopard couldn’t change its spots and neither could a wolf its fur.